Akito (A Fruits Basket Fanfiction)

Curse of the Cat

"Kyo Sohma" I drawled, smiling slightly sadistically at the quaking young man who stood before me. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You bastard!" he yelled suddenly. Interesting... it seemed he was trying to mask his fear with aggression. He was nothing more than a poor little lost kitten trying to be a tomcat. "You were going to lock me up?"

I sighed. I knew this moment would have to come but a part of me had hoped it wouldn't be for a while. I'd been watching Kyo Sohma for a long time now- seen how desperate he was to prove himself and I'd somehow found myself relating to this boy who was so terrified that everyone would see the monster he hid inside him; that he'd lose everyone if they did and to me, he'd become oddly endearing. But it seemed that he'd discovered his fate prematurely.

"Kyo, the curse of the cat could be dangerous to you and people around you. It's really in your best interest to remain separate-"

"Shut up!" Kyo screamed. He shuddered involuntarily and struggled not to cry. "Don't you dare say that this is in my best interest"

He looked so hopeless and distraught that I couldn't quite bring myself to argue with him. With a roll of my eyes, I made the decision to give in to what he wanted.

"Very well" I said softly and he stopped yelling and looked up at me in shock.

"I-er- what?" yelped Kyo. "You mean-?"

"I won't put you in the Cat's Room" I reasoned calmly. "If you can beat Yuki"

Kyo's face fell and he blinked rapidly. "B-beat Yuki?"

"Why yes" I said coldly. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

"Beat Yuki... in a fight?"

I chuckled. "Beat Yuki at anything. I'll bet you can't. Children of the rat are always so gifted, especially when compared to the useless children of the cat!"

An expression of loathing began to creep up Kyo's face and he glared at me; remembering, I was sure, the jeers of all the Sohma's as they compared him to Yuki as a child. He morphed his face into a determined expression and made a fist with his left hand.

"I'll do it!" he snapped. "What happens if I don't beat Yuki?"

"Then you'll go to the Cat's Room"

He looked slightly confused, as if he'd been bracing himself for an even worse punishment. "What? But that would have happened anyway! Why take the risk of me winning if you don't get to up the punishment on your end?"

I looked at Kyo and Kyo looked at me and I saw the realisation in his eyes as he worked it out- he knew that I knew that the chances of him winning were less than zero. I had nothing to worry about there.

"Oh for-" he started, then stopped. "I'm gonna beat him!"

"Go ahead" I smiled.

"WHERE'S THAT DAMN RAT" he cried, then ran away, obviously with the intention of me thinking he was going to find Yuki, oblivious to the fact that I knew he was going to find a place to cry in the garden somewhere- or maybe on the roof. I sighed reflectively and spoke to no-one but me.

"You know, I think I might visit him when he's in the Cat's Room"

"Kazuma turned up at my house" Shigure announced, coming wearily in to my office in the morning. It was a little odd to see him so early, normally we avoided each other until later in the day when it was easier to pretend that nothing had happened.

"Really?" I said, unsurprised. Of course I was unsurprised- naturally, he had told me he was coming. Shigure knew I knew aswell so the question was why he was here telling me about it. "Kyo always was his favourite apprentice, is it not normal for him to want to see him?"

"He told me he had an idea, a plan to get Tohru to accept Kyo's curse."

"Did he now?" I asked, with little interest. I knew of the plan and it wouldn't work. It was probably hearing Kazuma talk about his plan that brought on the dream I'd had last night- the one about the Cat's Room.

"I think it'll work" Shigure said, and I looked up at him in horror.

"You what?" I almost laughed. "You really think that just whipping the bracelet off in front of Tohru will make her like that- that monster?"

He thought about it for a moment, then- "Well, I think that Tohru cares enough about Kyo to let their friendship be ruined by something like this"

"WERE YOU BORN YESTERDAY?" I roared suddenly, out of anger, frustration that he didn't see what was so painfully clear to me. "IT DOESN'T MATTER, SHIGURE. NO MATTER HOW MUCH SOMEONE SEEMS TO CARE ABOUT YOU, THEY'LL ALL REACT THE SAME WAY WHEN THEY FIND OUT THE TRUTH! THAT'S WHY WE HAVE TO HIDE!"

Shigure turned to me and for a moment seemed as if he was going to slap me or argue back. But then he turned and left me alone with my thoughts, alone until my fists which had been shaking with anger began to tremble in fear.

I'd already been walking for two hours that evening when I finally found what I was looking for. And when I did stumble upon Tohru Honda, collapsed on a tree stump and crying her eyes out, for some reason it did not give me the relief and satisfaction I'd expected. Confused by the bitter feeling of... was that sympathy?- rising in my chest, I crossed the small clearing to stand beside her.

"What are you doing out in such bad conditions?" I asked, trying to sound like a parody of kindness rather than giving in to the genuine concern that was creeping into my voice.

Tohru merely shook her head and buried her face into her hands. I sat down reluctantly and glanced at her. "You look terrible." I told her- it was the truth after all- and laughed softly. "It serves you right, you know. You know nothing of the Sohma family. You cannot possibly imagine just how serious our curse is!"

I realised that my eyes were beginning to fill with tears and swallowed tightly. "My curse as head of the Sohma family makes me very weak. I won't... be around much longer"

And this is true. The weight of all of these secrets on my shoulders, all the time was getting to be too much. Sooner or later, they were going to find out about Shigure and I and it would all be over. I didn't know how much longer I could cling to my male persona and I knew that very, very soon everything would change.

Swallowing my emotions, I turned back to Tohru. "So don't even think of trying to break the curse. You're in no position to do anything heroic at the moment, are you? I'll make you regret-"

"KITO!" came Shigure's holler as he ran towards me. "WHAT THE HELL?"

He was completely out of breath, I realised as I tried my best not to think about how the way the rain was making him look like a wet dog was possibly the hottest thing I'd ever seen in my life. He was also completely terrified: really, vulnerably, endearingly frightened.

"I'd better go. I'm soaked" I complained and, sticking my hands in my pockets, I left Shigure to deal with the fact that actually, Tohru couldn't deal with the curse and actually, people would always desert us no matter how much they seemed to care. And although I knew I should have been happy that I'd proved my point, for some reason I wanted nothing more than to run deeper into the woods, sit on a stump and cry.