The Dragons Darkness

Chapter 1 : The Letter

~ Greetings everyone, just a little heads up...In the manga Akito is female, however in the anime; Akito is male. (Well suspected to be) I'm working off of the anime for this fanfic, so for this fanfiction, Akito is a guy. Also they refer to Akito's curse as the 'God's Curse' but in this case I use 'Dragon' as it is the remaining member of the zodiac. Hopes this clears up any confusion... Hope you enjoy ~

There has been no news since the final meeting with Akito, however, Tohru remained hopeful... Everyone knew that Akito was bearing the heaviest burden of the zodiac curse, even so... There was never, not once... An exception to an outsider knowing about the zodiac curse that haunted the Sohma family... Tohru had somehow managed to become an exception though...

It was noticed by everyone, that by knowing her... Everyone's hearts were slowly healing from the wounds caused by their curse.

Secretly though... Tohru feared, that she would lose her memories, all of her precious memories of all the people that had become family to her, all the meals they have shared, the tears they shed together and even the smiles through the pain that plagued them... Tohru began tearing up, holding back her tears trying her hardest not to cry...

"Have to smile, have to be positive!" She said out loud to encourage herself, she slapped her face between her hands and was fired up to do what needed to be done.

Yuki, Shigure and Kyo had all gone out shopping, Tohru stayed behind to clean and prepare dinner for her housemates.

She realized that she had to be her positive, always-smiling self, as to not alert anyone of the secret worry she carried in her heart. Even now, she was thinking sad thoughts, but if you saw her you'd never know... She stood in front of the stove, cooking and humming a happy tune with bright eyes and her calming smile.

Sometimes, people considered Tohru conceited to how she could say she understood their pain, how she could understand their burden and loneliness, it was sad...in fact, it was tragic... She was no stranger to pain, sacrifice, loss, loneliness... She knew all of these things well, enough to still be able to smile through her own pain to help heal those around her.

Tohru continued her cooking, happy humming and less-than cheerful thoughts when the boisterous noise of Kyo and Yuki arguing, came flowing into the kitchen, she heard the door open and walked in a drained Shigure, he carried the all the groceries in fear that their argument might spark into a spontaneous duel, causing the groceries to spoil from unfair and brutal treatment of being thrown into the middle of a fight.

"Tohru, smells like you made something delicious!" Shigure exclaimed accompanied by his grumbling stomach.

"Yes, almost done Shigure" Tohru replied with an audible smile.

Tohru had set the table and served the food, a few minutes later... A dishevelled Yuki and beat up Kyo trotted into the house, the tense atmosphere suddenly disappeared when they were welcomed back home by Tohru, as well as greeted by a wonderful meal.

Everyone ate, laughed, spoke about their days and enjoyed the meal... As usual Tohru smiled, laughed and participated in the conversation, but at the same time she thought the same thing she always did...

"I wish this could last forever"

Yuki cleared the table whilst Kyo did the dishes, Shigure was in his study trying to think of new ideas for his novel... Tohru was packing groceries away and thinking about meals for tomorrow.

Everyone was just carrying on with their own thing, when they were alerted of someone's presence lurking at the door.

They opened and found Hatori standing there...Shigure invited him in, Tohru was preparing tea and entered back into the room... Carrying tea and refreshments. Hatori carried a darkened expression, this fact alone left everyone on edge... Hatori would not have come if he had no reason, and a tense, gloomy atmosphere around him just added to the stifling mood.