✔Fighting Hearts |Fruits Basket| Kyo Sohma

29- Monster

I was walking down the hall from my bedroom, like dad had asked me to right after dinner. As I neared the stairs, Kagura appeared around the corner, looking down at the floor. She looked up, her eyes widening when she saw me. "Sato-" She sounded almost breathless, like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"What's wrong?" I asked, eyeing her careful as she stood there.

She shook her head, running up and enveloping me in a tight hug. "It's nothing." She whispered softly. "I'll see you in the morning." She smiled and bounced off, a completely different attitude than before.

I shivered a bit from the out of character way she'd just hugged me and headed down the stairs and outside, where dad was standing alone. "Alright, whatever this is better be good, I'm getting my pajamas soaked for this." I laughed.

Kyo stepped out of the doorway, a confused look on his face. "Listen master, whatever this is about, couldn't we have talked inside?" He asked, holding a hand up to shield himself from the rain. "You know I'm no good when the weather's like this."

I looked up at dad, waiting quietly for an explanation as to why we were standing outside in the middle of a thunderstorm. "My grandfather suffered the same way. Apparently rainy days often left him feeling weak." I felt my eyes growing wide.

"Why are you-" I started, but he held a hand up to silence me.

"But is it the cat spirit, or is it the spirit of your true form that can't stand the rain?" He asked.

I could hear Kyo go still in front of me, and my eyes trailed over to his. He stared at me, his eyes wide and fearful. I stepped forward, holding out a hand for him but dad pulled me back. I looked up at him, angry.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, frowning at him. "What good-"

"It's time." Dad said, cutting me off again. "To move forward you must fully accept who you truly are. If you cannot do that-"

"I accept it now!" Kyo shouted, startling me. "I have for a long time. Being born with the cat spirit meant my life was already over. And that it's the rats fault." He smiled almost proudly. "He's the reason all this happened. Everything would have been different if it weren't for him."

The three of us stood silently, watching each other closely. Eventually it was dad who broke the silence. "I see you haven't changed." He took a step forward. "You need to make a choice. Is this how you wish to live your life?" Another step. "Covering your ears? Closing your eyes? Burying everything beneath the hate you feel for Yuki? Is that the only way you can keep yourself from falling apart? If that's how you live, then that's how you'll die."

"Dad!" I shouted, tugging on his arm. "Knock it off! Please stop this!"

"Lost. And alone. Like my grandfather." He didn't make any more movements, but didn't stop either. "You hate it here. That's what you said. But it's not true. You're simply trying to run away." Suddenly he shrugged me off and grabbed Kyo by the wrist holding the Rosary he always kept close to him on it. "You realized you'd grown comfortable here. This lukewarm bath makes you feel safe. Except you're also scared. You don't want your true form to be discovered. Because of what you stand to lose."

Kyo's fear filled eyes flickered over to mine and almost instinctively I reached out to calm him. I didn't know what dad was doing, and it was scaring me. It was almost like he was trying to strike fear into Kyo- and for what? Some stupid plan of Akito's?

"Instead of risking that loss, you'll run away and spare yourself the pain. Therefore-" Dad spat. "I will take away your escape route. And we'll see what happens." He turned his head to me. "Sato, remember what I told you."