Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Long Denied ❯ Wished to Die ( Chapter 9 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Cousin D 
Yuki is so tired...he just wants it all to end.
Anime/Manga: Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Supernatural / Occult / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.22.2003 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.2K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed
Yuki is so tired...he just wants it all to end.
Anime/Manga: Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / / Supernatural / Occult / Fantasy / Drama | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 11.22.2003 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.2K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed
Petshop of Horrors X-over Fruits Basket
A/N- I realize many of you don't know the story of the Petshop of Horrors. This first part is for those of you who don't know it, yet. If you know how Leon met Count D, feel free to skip it.
Long Denied
Chapter 9: Wished to die
Year: 2002
Akito: 21
Ayame: 26
Shigure: 27
Hatori: 26
Yuki: 15
Momiji: 14
Hatsuharu: 14
Kureno: 27
Kagura: 17
Rin: 17
Ritsu: 17
Hiro: 12
Kisa: 12
Kyou: 15
Tohru: 15
Leon Orcot: 22
Chris Orcot: 7
San Francisco, California-
We sell love, hope, dreams, and happiness.
If you choose to break the terms of the contract, we can not be held responsible for the results.
Welcome to my petshop. I am Count D.
This is China Town. A mysterious place filled with rare and valuable commodities. Tonight you shall find something you desire.
Leon-
Leon Orcot knew there was something suspicious about that petshop. He could feel it in his bones, even as he sat in his car and stared at it from where he was parked on the opposite side of the street. Leon took a drag on his cigarette and looked again at the papers he'd brought with him, just to be sure. All his facts pointed to this petshop as being the only logical connection between all the murder victims, but no one else had picked up on it.
Shaking his head, Leon wondered how such an obvious fact could be missed by absolutely everyone. Sill, he was glad. This was the kind of thing that could make his career. He could finally get out of that shabby little apartment he'd been in since graduation high school and maybe even buy himself a new car with the promotion this would bring. So many people had died and each and every one of them had been a recent customer of this petshop.
The latest victim had been that guy who looked like he'd been torn to pieces by something. Leon felt sick just remembering the crime scene. Something terrible had happened there, even if it had been to one of the top contenders for China Town's Mafia. Liu Tai Wei hadn't been a nice man, of that Leon was dead certain. He had his sticky fingers in everything from prostitution to drugs and there were more than a few mysterious deaths that had been linked to him. Perhaps Liu Tai Wei had gotten what he deserved, especially after that little girl had been strangled in his house.
Again, Leon shook his head. It wasn't his job to decide if Liu Tai Wei should have died. He just had to find out how the man had died. Just asking around the neighborhood, Leon had found out that this particular petshop had a great reputation for being able to supply nearly any kind of exotic pet and Leon wondered if that also included dangerous pets. A few of Lui Tai Wei's close associates reported that he said he'd bought a tiger from this petshop.
The owner was Count D, though why a count would be working as a shopkeeper, Leon just couldn't figure out. 'Let's get moving.' Leon told himself, snuffing out his cigarette and taking a deep breath. He was here completely on his own, without any kind of authority, which meant he was also without back up if this was something big. 'Drugs, I'll bet.' Leon had learned from experience that drugs were behind almost everything. It was made even more likely by the knowledge that Lui Tai Wei had been into drugs. Perhaps that was how the two of them had met in the first place.
Leon Orcot, detective at only twenty-two years old, was very proud of himself and took his job very seriously. After spending most of his past few years in foster homes and group homes, Leon had learned to take care of himself. He had learned the hard way not to depend on anyone and he had learned that he could do almost anything if he put himself to it. After all, Leon had worked two part time jobs through high school to earn the money for college when most of his classmates were busy chasing girls or out at parties. Leon studied hard. He might not have been at the top of his classes, but he was far from the bottom.
'I'm certainly smart enough to deal with some China Town punk who thinks he can get away with murder!' With that last little pep talk, Leon confidently got out of his car and began to make his way across the street. He ignored all the curious stares coming from the people of China Town, focusing on the very ordinary looking building.
He couldn't help but feel, as he got closer and closer to the petshop, that he should turn around and leave. He should forget this lead and find some other connection. The building was...wrong. It wasn't just a building...
'Stop it!' Leon shouted at himself. 'It's just a damned petshop! Stupid China Town, it's getting the better of me.' Leon didn't like China Town. There were to many weird rumors floating around and to many secrets. There were tales of magic and mystery that just couldn't be true. Leon didn't like magic. If he couldn't control it, Leon didn't like much of anything. More than anything else, Leon hated not being in control. It made him feel weak.
He found that the doorway of the petshop opened up to a set of stairs that led down to where the shop was. The stairway was lit with several lanterns hung from the slanting ceiling, just high enough that Leon didn't hit his head as he walked down. The lanterns cast foreboding shadows on the walls, but Leon ignored them as best as he could. Walking up the stairs, Leon saw a man walking with a little girl, probably his daughter. The girl was carrying a birdcage with a small blanket covering it. Curiously, Leon lifted the little blanket and peeked in at the bird.
"Cute bird." He told the kid before continuing on. The minute Leon opened the doors of the petshop, he had the distinct feeling that he wasn't welcomed. "Hello?" Leon pushed open the heavy doors and looked in cautiously. The place was huge and looked very expensive. There was what looked like a parlor or sitting room with a sofa and a few high backed chairs in the only well lit part of the room. Beyond that first room, Leon could see a few doors that must have led to the rest of the petshop. "Shoot." Leon muttered, seeing that there was no one around. "No one's home." Still, if there was no one here, that meant no one could stop him from just poking around a little to see if there was any evidence of...
There was a soft footfall and Leon froze, turning to see a figure walked gracefully out of the darkness. Greenish hair fell to the shoulders of this strikingly beautiful person and cast a stark contrast with skin as white as porcelain. Dressed in an ethereal looking outfit of pale blue with large pink flowers all over it, Leon knew that he'd never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. Hands clasped before the person showed off nails that were almost two inches long and painted dark pink, looking more like elegant talons than fingernails. Even this person's lips were painted, dark purple that looked almost black against the to pale skin.
"Shit. You scared the heck out of me." Leon tired to sound at ease, but it didn't sound quite as relaxed or carefree as he'd hoped it would.
"Welcome. We have everything from dogs to cats to birds to insects to reptiles. What can I do for you?"
It took a moment for Leon's eyes to adjust to the dim, smoky atmosphere of the petshop, but when he did the...person was still there. The person was real and not some hallucination. Couldn't be a man, no man was that beautiful. Couldn't be a woman, it was far too masculine. The voice was definitely male and Leon felt a part of his settle. Very male voice, despite the weird dress and long hair. No, it wasn't quite a dress. It was more like a robe and Leon could see that the man was wearing dark pants under the robe when he moved slightly.
Leon didn't like the intense gaze the strange man had fixed on him and he walked away slightly, more to give himself something else to look at other than that single purple eye staring at him.
"There have been a string of unnatural deaths. All of the victims were customers of this petshop. I hear this petshop is a cover and your real business is the human trade, drug dealing, and Chinese terrorists. The petshop is suspected of selling animals prohibited by the Washington Convention."
Strange noises drew Leon's attention away from the man for just a moment. It wasn't the ordinary sounds one would think of coming from a petshop, but then, this wasn't a normal petshop. Even as Leon quickly glanced around, looking for the source of the shrill cries and unfamiliar chattering noises, he saw no animals. There were cages and glittering eyes peering out at him from behind the bars of the cages, but he saw no animals. There also wasn't the usual smell of sawdust or other animal smells. The petshop actually smelled quite nice, like some kind of spice Leon was sure he'd smelled before, but just couldn't recognize. The air was foggy, and Leon realized that the smell must have been coming from incense from the braziers hanging from the high ceilings.
It felt like he'd walked into another world.
Leon showed his badge to show his authority to Count D, but the reaction wasn't what he was hoping for. Instead of at least mild panic, Count D almost seemed amused.
"You must be mistaken. We do not handle such species here."
"Shut up!" Leon hated it when people tried to be smart with him. This...this weak pansy was just playing with him! Leon felt his legendary temper start to boil. "It's not worth discussing with you. Where's the owner?"
"I'm afraid my grandfather is out of town. I am tending the shop in the meantime."
"Then tell me what you sold to Liu Tai Wei. Don't try to lie to me. I know he frequented your shop. Right?!"
Count D gave Leon another amused smile. "Yes. We did sell him an animal. A tiger."
It was a shocking confession and Leon's felt his mouth fall open for a moment as his professionalism deserted him. In all honesty, he hadn't expected Count to just come right out and tell him something like this. "I knew it." He muttered to himself, even as he stared at Count D's still smiling face. The man wasn't even worried and that irritated Leon more than anything.
"If you'd like, I'll show it to you." Count D turned and looked at Leon over his shoulder to see if he would follow. "He didn't like it and returned it to us."
"What?" This was all going a little to fast for Leon. What kind of maniac just showed a live tiger to the police after admitting that he'd practically killed a man with it? No...that couldn't be. Count D said Liu Tai Wei returned the tiger. So how...?
"Right this way." Count D walked over to one of the large curtains that hung over the walls of the petshop and pulled it aside so Leon could see behind it. "The only tiger we have here."
Leon wasn't at all amused by what he saw. It wasn't a tiger at all, but a painting of a tiger walking through a bamboo forest. "What...what is this!?" Leon couldn't help his fury at this obvious criminal making a complete fool of him. "You bastard! You scum! You'll see me again." It was all Leon could do to turn around and start walking out of the petshop instead of attacking the Count. "I'll get you next time!" Even to Leon it sounded like a line out of a really bad old cop movie.
He stomped out of the petshop, glad to be out of there. The smell of the heavy incense had been starting to make him sleepy and he didn't like all those strange noises that seemed to come right out of the shadows at him. Trying to forget what he'd felt in that place and how beautiful Count D had been, Leon made his way back to the police station.
Count D-
Count D watched the young police detective leave and he smiled. 'How cute.' He thought. 'He believes he can punish me for something. Humans...how amusing.' A faint grumbling noise caught Count D's attention and he turned to the painting of the tiger. "Yes." He whispered comfortingly. "Yes, it's all right. Time for you to rest now. You'll know when you're needed again."
The tiger, painted in black and white, blinked at Count D once before it's image faded away, leaving nothing more than the bamboo forest Lui Tai Wei had bought. The tiger would rest until it was bought again.
And that was how Leon met the most extraordinary person, Count D. It was also the beginning of the strangest, most intimate friendships Leon would ever have.
Japan-
Yuki-
"I won't have this, Yuki. I won't have you irritating Akito and making us look like unfit parents. You will behave yourself!" Yuki's foster mother scowled blackly at him as she stood next to her husband. Yuki wondered if they had a right to be so angry. He hadn't done anything really wrong, just gone out for a walk alone. Yuki didn't sat stiffly on the couch of his family's home and watched them carefully, though he said nothing for a while. He was so tired.
"You know the rules!" Yuki's foster father thundered, his deep voice carrying through the house and Yuki wondered if the people outside could hear the yelling. "You aren't to go out alone. Akito-sama likes to keep you close, he sent for you when you were out and we had to tell him we didn't know where you were. Do you have any idea how bad that made us look!?"
Yuki didn't care. Why should he care if they looked bad in front of Akito? He was the one who would have to go sit with Akito and he was the one who would have to listen to Akito's ravings or endure that damned whip Akito had gotten from somewhere. Worse still, Yuki was the one who would be locked in that room until Akito thought he could behave.
"I don't want to see him anymore." Yuki said, speaking up for the first time since he'd arrived home and his foster parent's had begun yelling at him. He knew the consequences of his words and, perhaps, he had even been hoping for the reaction he knew he would get. Yuki would find a way to escape them. He would escape everything and he would finally escape the curse.
"You're Akito-sama's favorite, you should show more gratitude!" Yuki's foster mother told him, scandalized that Yuki would say such a thing.
"I don't care." Yuki felt his breath start to quicken, but it would take more than this little argument to start the asthma attack he was hoping for. Yuki screwed up his courage and looked straight at his foster father. "I hope Akito decides you aren't fit parents and he gives me to Hatori." That was all it took.
They were furious.
The blow came from his foster father who still stood off to Yuki's left, his heavy hand slamming into the side of Yuki's head like a brick. Yuki could have dodge the blow or blocked it, Kazuma had trained him very well, but he didn't bother. Compared to Kazuma or Kyou, Yuki's foster father was pitifully slow.
The backhanded blow knocked Yuki into a wall and he fell dramatically to the floor after a frighteningly bright flash of light blinded him when his head hit the wall. He felt his lungs compress and hid a smile of satisfaction. He really shouldn't be happy to bring on an asthma attack, should he?
"Damn it, Tashei!" Yuki's foster mother swore. "You've cut him! Look at his forehead. What are we going to tell Akito? He wanted to see Yuki as soon as he came back."
Yuki's foster father was silent a moment. "We won't. Just tell him Yuki isn't feeling well for a few days. We'll say his asthma's acting up and he can't see anyone. He's a strong kid, he'll heal fast."
"Hatori-sensei will want to see him."
"We'll think of something. With luck, Akito will have forgotten all about Yuki. Maybe he's gotten sick again and Hatori will be busy tending him. We can hope."
Yuki, in his still dazed state of mind, found the fact that they hoped Akito had gotten sick again highly offensive. He wanted to hurt them, wanted to defend Akito. How strange. 'I hate him. I love him.' It was all to confusing, but Yuki had never been able to find any kind of logic that would explain how he felt about Akito. It wasn't right to love someone who was so cruel and hateful. It wasn't right to hate someone who gave everything for him. Nothing could explain how Yuki felt about Akito. It couldn't be hate and it couldn't be love, but it was definitely a powerfully passionate emotion. 'I wish I could hate him, maybe then I could leave. Love couldn't hurt like this, though. No sane person would love someone like Akito.'
They'd made Yuki go to bed and told him he wasn't to leave the house. That wasn't a problem. Yuki hadn't been planning to leave. Even as his chest began to tighten with every breath, Yuki pulled a key out of his pocket and locked his bedroom door from the inside. There...safe. The asthma attack was coming on just as Yuki had thought it would, it usually did after a physical trauma. Yuki went to his bed, but instead of sitting on it, he slid down to the floor and sat with his back against the bed.
Very slowly, Yuki pulled the string that hung around his neck, the string with his inhaler on it, and lay it on the floor beside him.
He just didn't care anymore.
It wasn't that he was depressed or angry...he simply didn't care. He felt so tired all the time and didn't want to deal with anything.
Yuki had decided that a natural death was best and he would let his own body's defects kill him.
That was why Yuki sat in his room with his inhaler on the floor beside him as he wheezed, his body struggling to breathe, even as his heart wished to die. He made no effort to even reach for the inhaler, but tried to relax as he hoped death would find him quickly. Death was something he'd been thinking about for a long while, but he never seemed to have the courage to do it before.
He was fifteen years old and even Yuki knew all the legends of the cursed Junikyu. He was one of the gems of the family, or so everyone would have him believe. Yuki didn't believe it. He was scrawny, sickly, and a liar on top of everything else. How could anyone think he was anything special?
'Fifteen. I should be allowed to have my own house.' Yuki knew that the rat's house was his, by all rites, and if he told Akito he wanted it, he would be allowed to have it. 'I'm a coward. Not even brave enough to leave. Why should I leave my parents? They're all I have.' Yuki hated admitting that he was afraid to leave them, even to himself. If he did leave, they couldn't hurt him anymore. But...he'd still be alone. What difference would it make?
'No one can love you but me.' Isn't that what Akito had said? 'You're a freak. You can't get close to anyone. Just like me. You're just like me.' Akito had said it so tenderly, so gently as he'd hugged Yuki close to him that day. It made Yuki's flesh crawl at the time.
That all happened a long time ago, after the day Yuki had cried himself into exhaustion, begging Hatori not to take his friend's memories. Hatori, though, knew his duty and hadn't been swayed by Yuki's tears. Yuki knew, that day, that he would never let anyone get close to him again. Caring about people hurt to much. It hurt watching his friends be carried away because of what Hatori had done to them and knowing that it was his fault. It hurt knowing that it was his fault Hatori had been bedridden for three days with a migraine for his mistake.
'No more mistakes.' Yuki thought. 'I'll never make another mistake and no one else will ever be hurt for me.' There was no chance that his parents would find him like this; his death would be disaster for them. Yuki was old enough now to understand he was nothing more than a tool for them and they used him to get all their rich things.
Yuki felt a surge of cold delight that they would lose everything when he died. Akito wouldn't let them keep all their fine things, the big house, or the servants. It was a great satisfaction to know they'd suffer after he died.
-Wheeze!- Yuki's lungs pained him as they struggled for air, but Yuki still didn't reach for his inhaler. He put both hands on his lap and leaned his head back, onto his bed, as he closed his eyes. He could almost feel his life slipping away and that made him happier than he'd been in a long time.
'If I'd been braver, then I could get away from them. I could have run away. Maybe things would be different if I had been away from them.' But Yuki wasn't brave, he had never been. He'd always been afraid when he tried to tell Akito he wanted to get away from his foster parents and just couldn't say a word. He was to cowardly to even tell Hatori that his foster parents hurt him sometimes, even when Hatori asked. 'I could stop them, if I wanted to.' Yuki knew he was stronger than both of his foster parents were, Kazuma had taught him to fight on a request from Hatori who said it would benefit his health. He didn't have the courage to fight back, though. They were his foster parents and what if he really hurt them? What if he killed them?
That thought sent a chill down Yuki's spine. Sometimes, he wanted to kill them. He wanted to hurt them so badly that his fingers itched to wrap around their throats and start squeezing till they turned purple and died. 'I'm NOT a bad person! I don't want to hurt people.' It sounded like a lie, even to Yuki. 'Even if I asked for my own house, the rat's house is right next to Akito's house. What if he wanted to see me every day? What if he made me stay in that room every day? I can't do it.'
The whole problem, as Yuki saw it, was that he was lonely. It sounded so pathetic when he thought about in that simple term, but it wasn't pathetic and it wasn't simple.
He was lonely and there was no way to stop the loneliness.
Yuki couldn't seem to get out of the habit he'd been trained in. Making friends had always been discouraged, so Yuki had never learned how. He hadn't been encouraged to make friends with even the other cursed Junikyu and, for the most part, only saw them once a year. When he was a child, Yuki remembered watching them all play together and he watched them go off to school together while he was driven to a private school some distance away. It didn't seem fair. Why should he be so alone? To top it all off, Yuki didn't like talking to people, it made him afraid that they'd see how weak he was.
Really, the only person who talked to Yuki on a regular basis was Hatori and that was mainly for his medical exams. Well...Hatori and Haru. Yuki wasn't sure how he felt about Haru. Haru was sort of a friend, at least he didn't treat Yuki as if he were some kind of prized pet. Haru wasn't entirely sane, Yuki had realized the first time he'd seen Haru's 'black' personality explode into life, but Haru was generally pleasant.
'He probably only hangs around me so he won't have to go see that therapist. He couldn't really like me. No one could. I guess I won't have to worry about it anymore. Now, I'll never have to feel lonely or afraid to make a mistake.' Yuki almost smiled at that thought. 'Death. It sounds...comfortable.'
"You aren't like the rest of them." Yuki's foster mother, Yoko, had told him. "You're special and Akito-sama wants to keep you near him. You want to make Akito-sama happy, don't you? You have to always stay near him."
Yuki knew he was Akito's favorite. 'So why does he...' Yuki shook his head at that thought. He knew why Akito did what he did, he was sick. Hatori had explained that often enough, even when he had stitched closed a two-inch long cut in Yuki's back closed because Akito had grown cross and pushed him down a set of stairs. That had been when Yuki was younger and he hadn't had Kazuma's training to break his fall.
Akito had apologized and cried about how sorry he was, but Yuki hadn't forgiven him. Not really. Why should he? Being sick wasn't all that much of an excuse. There were sick people all over the world who didn't hurt people, so why should Akito be forgiven?
Yuki's favorite days were when Shigure visited. Yuki was always grateful to see his older cousin stroll onto the estate and casually walk into Akito's home. He would stay there almost the entire day and sometimes into the night. When Shigure visited, from wherever he lived, no one else was called to sit with Akito.
Though he would never admit it to his flippant cousin, Yuki rather admired Shigure's courage. Shigure alone, out of all the family and all the cursed Junikyu, never crawled to Akito. He never begged for anything and never asked favors. Shigure could tell Akito the truth about anything and he wasn't afraid.
Once, Yuki had wished he had Shigure's courage.
Now, though, Yuki sat in his room and hoped to die. It was possible, Hatori had once warned him, to die from a severely bad asthma attack. It wasn't likely, but it was possible. The hard part about the whole plan was that Yuki's athma attacks were growing weaker as he grew up and, strangely, that was the problem. When he was younger a single asthma attack could have killed him.
This asthma attack wasn't enough, Yuki realized. It was painful, but Yuki knew it would subside with or without his inhaler soon enough. He needed something more.
Yuki reached under his bed where he kept something he'd stolen a few weeks ago. It had taken that long to build up the courage to use these, but today was the day. He'd stolen the cigarettes from Hatori, sneaking them when he'd gone over for a visit and found no one home. Smoking, Hatori had told him, was the worst possible thing for his body.
So Yuki pulled out a cigarette and wondered if one would be enough or if he'd have to use up all six. He lit the cigarette with a match from his foster parent's fireplace and took a deep breath, sucking in as much of the noxious, poisonous smoke as possible. It hurt and Yuki had to struggle not to cough when the smoke hit his lungs, making them spasm. He breathed out only when he had to and winced at the horrible taste. He wondered why Hatori smoked so often, if it was always this bad. Still, the cigarette had the desired affect and Yuki felt his asthma attack get worse almost immediately.
Yuki took a few more drags from the cigarette before lay down on his bed and rested his head on his pillow. He thought about extinguishing the cigarette, but kept it in his hands just in case he needed a few a little more to kill him.
Unfortunately, his mind drifted back to one of his visits with Akito when he was far younger.
Flashback-
"I won't let you escape." Akito had muttered when he seized Yuki by the collar and hauled him to that dark room. "You can't ever go away from me. I won't let you leave me, again." Once, and only once, Yuki had risked a look at Akito's eyes and was more frightened by what he saw than the dark room he was brought to.
"I...I won't leave you, Akito." Yuki whispered, trying to keep up with Akito who, despite his bad health, was surprisingly strong. He wanted to calm Akito, maybe if Akito calmed down...
"You dare?!" Still holding Yuki's collar, Akito whirled around suddenly and slammed Yuki into a wall. Now, both of Akito's hands grabbed the front of Yuki's shirt and pinned him to the wall. "You left me! You promised and you lied!" Then Akito burst into tears and rested his face on Yuki's chest.
Yuki was, even at that young age, a very good fighter. Kazuma never trained anyone who didn't turn out at least a decent fight, but even with how frightened he was, Yuki didn't try to fight to get away from Akito. If he hurt Akito, even by accident, it would be a terrible thing. Akito was sick, Hatori had told Yuki long ago. He had to try to be nice to Akito, because he was sick.
"How could you lie to me, Junko? How?" Akito wept.
Yuki had learned, long ago, not to correct Akito when Akito when called him Junko. That only resulted in Akito flying into another temper and probably hurting Yuki. "I'm sorry." Yuki said, keeping as still as he could. He didn't want to upset Akito anymore than he already was; Akito was to scary when he acted like this.
"Sorry...sorry...you'll be sorry. Sorry you left me. You made me cry." Akito took a deep breath and lifted his face from Yuki's chest, their noses were only inches apart and Yuki really didn't like being so close to his temperamental God. "Pretty Yuki. I think you look like me. Not a little boy anymore." One of Akito's hand drifted up and touched Yuki's cheek and he stared deep into Yuki's eyes. "You're almost grown up. Almost." His eyes were far away; as if he was looking at something in Yuki that wasn't really there. "We're both almost grown up. What happens then?"
Yuki swallowed hard and his fists tightened at his sides. Akito scared him so much when he was like this.
Then, Akito was off again, nearly dragging Yuki along until they reached that hated room. Yuki didn't try to dissuade Akito, not at this point. It would be useless.
"You'll be safe here." Akito told Yuki when he pulled the door open and looked at Yuki. "Safe. I'll take care of you. I won't let anything hurt you." His voice, so different than only moments ago, was strangely gentle.
"Please, Akito, don't make me go in there." Yuki began to shake. He hated that room, but he hated the way he was acting even more. He was ten; there was no reason for him to be acting like such a coward! He was practically a grown up, he should be able to handle a few hours in a small dark room. A very small dark room. Yuki even hated walking down the halls of Akito's house, the corridors were so narrow and he felt as if they'd close on him and squash him.
"But I have to keep you safe." Akito walked behind Yuki, a place Yuki really didn't want Akito, and put both hands on his shoulders. "It's my responsibility." He looked into the dark room. "I like the darkness. Everything around me is dark. If no one can see you, no one can hurt you."
"I'll be safe at home." Yuki protested, even as Akito applied pressure to his shoulders and began to push Yuki into the room. Though Yuki knew he would end up obeying and would spend the day in the room, he couldn't help but drag his feet. "My mother..."
"Is dead." Akito's voice was almost careless. "Ayame cried for hours."
"Ayame?" Yuki had no idea what his cousin had to do with this. He rarely even saw Ayame. He tried to push away the hurt he felt when Akito spoke so callously about his dead mother and focus on why Ayame had been mentioned. Akito didn't care about the rest of the family, only the cursed Junikyu.
"Oh, didn't anyone tell you?" Akito raised an eyebrow as if he really were surprised. "Ayame's your brother. Now you be a good boy and stay here, Yuki." Then he left Yuki alone in the small room, locking the door behind him.
With the door closed, the darkness seemed to press to close to Yuki and he immediately huddled on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees. He hated feeling so helpless. He could get out. He was strong enough to break the door down and even kick a hole through the walls. Training with Kazuma had given him that strength, but Yuki didn't. He stayed where he was on the floor with his eyes clenched shut and completely silent.
'No one told me.' Yuki felt numb. 'Ayame never told me. Why?'
Hours later, Yuki opened his eyes when he heard the door slide open. In the dim light of the open door, there stood Hatori dressed all in dark. He seemed to blend in and Yuki met Hatori's eyes, almost frightened by what he saw. He saw himself in Hatori. Cold...distant...Yuki realized at that moment that Hatori had given up his life for the family, for Akito. He had known that Hatori became a doctor for the benefit of the family and had known that Hatori, like most of the cursed Junikyu, had a terrible childhood. But he hadn't understood until just that moment how empty Hatori was. Well...not empty, exactly. He knew Hatori cared.
"Are you hurt?" Hatori asked in his normally hushed tone, stepping into the room.
Yuki shook his head, standing with some effort. He'd been in a crouched position for quite a good time and now his body was aching.
"Akito's just gone to sleep." Hatori said, putting a hand on Yuki's arm. "Go straight home. I'll take care of Akito."
Yuki nodded his thanks, but he didn't do as Hatori told him to. Instead, Yuki went to the back of the estate. It was dead silent in the middle of the night and Yuki had no problems finding his way to his favorite spot on the estate.
There was a beautiful garden he'd found outside the old abandoned house at the back of the estate. It was the one house he'd been forbidden to go to, so he went there whenever he had the chance and there were such beautiful wild flowers. It looked as if the garden had once been lovingly taken care of; it was so peaceful and calm. Now the garden and the house had been completely forgotten, by all but Yuki. That night, Yuki had lay down in the flowers and stared up at the stars sparkling though the tree leaves.
'Someday, I'll have a garden of my own. When I get away from them all and when I can do whatever I want, I'll have a beautiful garden.'
End of flashback-
It hurt Yuki to admit it to himself, but he'd had never seen an ounce of love in his foster parent's eyes.
Of course he knew he was adopted. He'd heard stories about his real mother from the other cursed Junikyu at the banquet every New Years. He knew his mother had died when he was born, though no one had ever mentioned his father, and that Yoko and her husband had kindly offered to adopt him. It was really only at the New Years banquet that Yuki had a chance to see and talk with all the other cursed members of the family.
Thinking of the lavish party that ended and began every year, Yuki lifted the still burning cigarette to his lips and took another lungful. It was getting harder to breath by the moment.
Yuki hated the banquet.
He hated sitting almost all night with Akito and watching him sleep while everyone else had fun. When Akito did finally fall asleep or Shigure came to sit with him, Yuki was allowed to mingle with everyone else, but that was just as bad. He hated seeing Hatori dote on Momiji, swinging the little blonde hare in his arms as they danced. Hatori always wore the same colors, black and grey, in his ceremonial robes. Momiji always wore yellow and gold. They made quite the combination as they danced.
Hated watching Kagura wax poetic about her 'beloved' Kyou who was outside somewhere, doing whatever he pleased. Kagura had always fascinated Yuki. She knew what Kyou was, had seen his original form, yet she still loved him. She was more devoted to him than any princess was to her prince in a fairy tale.
He hated seeing Rin dancing with Hatsuharu, totally enthralled with each other, as if they hadn't a care in the world. They were both tall and lithe, graceful as unearthly spirits while they stared into each other's eyes. Yuki knew that Haru had a crush on him, he didn't bother to hide it, but that didn't seem to damper his affection for Rin.
He hated seeing little Hiro and Kisa playing together in a corner, closer than Yuki had ever been to anyone. The two were the youngest of the cursed and had taken to each other almost as soon as they'd met. Hiro was a very intelligent, quick-witted boy, though for gentle Kisa, he'd do anything. Yuki wondered if the two of them would end up like Rin and Haru.
More than anything, though, Yuki hated Ritsu. Yuki was sure that he hated Ritsu even more than Kyou. After all, Kyou had really done nothing to him, other than call him names and yell at him. Ritsu, though, had quite innocently stolen Ayame away from Yuki.
'That's unfair to Ritsu.' Yuki reminded himself. 'Ritsu couldn't take what was never mine and he wouldn't have done it on purpose, anyway.' Yuki hated seeing Ritsu dancing with Ayame, and how happy the two looked as they sat together and played with each other's hair. He tried not to let it show, tried not to let poor Ritsu find out. 'Ritsu's about as harmless as any Souma ever was, he'd never deliberately hurt anyone.'
It wasn't Ritsu's fault, after all, that Ayame loved Ritsu more than he loved Yuki.
Jealously, that's all it was, pure and simple.
Yuki understood that Ritsu idolized Ayame and that Ayame was doing his best for a family member who didn't have a father, since Ritsu's father had mysteriously vanished some years ago. It was only when he was with Ayame that Ritsu looked really happy and Yuki knew how horrible it was of him to begrudge Ristu for that.
'But I could have loved Ayame, too. If he'd let me, I'm sure I could have love him. He could have done his best for me instead of Ritsu.' Yuki hated himself for those kind of thoughts. They were petty and shameful. 'I shouldn't be so selfish. I don't care about him anymore, anyway. He's nothing but a fool with cotton for brains. He's to silly and too much energy. I could never keep up with him.'
Ayame had never looked at Yuki with even kindness, let alone love. He'd confronted Ayame about it, once. That hadn't gone well. It was hard to find time to talk to Ayame, without anyone around, but he'd managed it when Ayame had come to visit Hatori. Yuki had been sick for a long time and he was just getting well when he heard voices coming from Hatori's living room. He recognized them all. Shigure was talking and laughing about something. Hatori said something dryly to which Kana replied in a much more passionate tone. Then Ayame spoke and Yuki finally got the courage to do what he'd wanted to do for a long time.
"Big brother?" Yuki had whispered tentatively, standing in the doorway of Hatori's living room. Everyone looked at him, surprised to see Yuki out of bed, but it was Ayame's head that shot around as quick as lightening and stared at Yuki with an expression of something close to fear. Yuki stepped a little further into the room. Ayame did look like him and Yuki had wondered why he'd never noticed it before. "Big brother? May I sit with you?" Yuki had looked at Ayame with so much hope, desperately wishing for just a tiny show of affection.
Ayame stood very quickly and nearly bolted out of the room, his long hair swirling in his haste to leave. He was practically running to get away from Yuki.
Yuki didn't cry. He watched Ayame dart through the open doors of Hatori's house and speed away until he was no longer in sight. Yuki realized that he wasn't worthy of being loved, right then. If his own brother couldn't love him, then who could?
"Yuki?"
Yuki looked up and saw Shigure standing near him. "Yes?" Shigure frightened Yuki sometimes, but Yuki wasn't sure why. It seemed that, when he looked into Shigure's black eyes, that Shigure was thinking of some great, terrible secret.
"Ayame doesn't mean to hurt you..."
"He doesn't." Yuki said brusquely. 'He does.' Yuki walked away, back to the infirmary part of Hatori's house and got back in bed. He wouldn't cry for Ayame. Yuki understood well enough that life hurt and it was better to get used to it than to spend all your time crying. 'I won't try anymore. I don't care what he thinks of me. I won't ever care about him.'
Yuki listened for a time to Hatori and Shigure, they sounded like they were arguing about something, then there was silence.
In his own room, Yuki shook his thoughts to get rid of the memories. They still stung painfully and he didn't want to be reminded of them. -Wheeze!- Yuki winced as an especially painful breath took him by surprise. It wouldn't be long, now.
He became uncomfortable sitting on the floor and moved to lay down on his bed. If he was going to die, then he should at least be comfortable for it, right?
Hatsuharu-
Haru missed Yuki.
It was more than just missing the quiet rat, Haru needed someone to talk to and Yuki was quite possibly the most sensible person Haru had ever met. Yuki didn't talk much, but when he did it was almost always important. Actually, the first person Haru would usually go to for advice was Momiji, but that wasn't really possible. Momiji was the reason Haru needed to talk to Yuki.
It had only happened two days ago, but Momiji was still crying.
Kana had left. Well, saying that she'd 'left' was a little to kind. She'd run away. Not literally and not exactly run away, but she had left. Haru remembered seeing her being carried away from Hatori's house and everyone watching. Hatori had stood with Ayame on one side of him and Momiji on his other side when Kana left them. With her memory of Hatori gone, she had no reason to stay and Momiji was dealing with abandonment issues, again. Not only had his mother and father abandoned him, but now Kana had left, too.
'Momiji acts like nothing's wrong, but I've known him longer than anyone. He can't fool me. I'm might be a bit slow, but I'm not stupid.' Haru knew he wasn't stupid because Yuki told him so. 'I heard him crying when they took Hatori to the hospital...'
Hatori had lost his eye, had it taken from him on what was the happiest day of his life. It was the day he'd proposed to Kana.
Haru didn't like thinking about that, but it was the biggest news in the family and everyone had been warned against talking to the police. They'd had to take Hatori to the hospital so quickly that no one had bothered to think of a suitable lie as to what had happened to him. Haru was certain that Shigure would have done the lying, but he'd stayed at the estate to calm Akito who'd gone into a rage.
All of the doctors had been suspicious as to why a gentleman like Hatori, a known and respected doctor at that particular hospital, had suddenly been brought in and refused to talk to anyone except two of his cousins. They'd called the police almost immediately when Hatori had been brought in, afraid that he'd been attacked. Of course, there was no police involvement allowed, by order of Akito and general common sense. The police had come to the estate and spoken with Momiji, since he was the closest family member to Hatori, and then to Akito. Just to be sure, Shigure had been with Akito when the police interviewed him, pleading Akito's ill health as reason for his presence.
They couldn't very well let the police know that it was Akito who'd smashed the large vase over Hatori's face. He'd been aiming for Kana, Haru was sure, but Hatori had gotten the vase in the face and was lucky that he'd only lost one eye. Oh, he could still see from that eye a tiny bit, but no more than shadows.
The police had believed Shigure's story, of course. Shigure was a VERY good liar. The official story was that Hatori had been gardening when he slipped with a pair of large garden shears in his hands and had fallen on them. It was a ridiculous lie, Hatori hated gardening. The police bought it, though, and that was the important thing. They had gone and hadn't come back to the estate, so there was no danger for any of them.
Except that Hatori wouldn't see anyone since he'd come back from the hospital and Momiji was still crying. Besides all that, to keep the incident as close to the inner circle as possible, it had been Haru who'd cleaned up the mess. He was the one who'd had to pick up all that little pieces of bloody, broken ceramic and toss them away.
That was what Haru wanted to ask Yuki about, how to cheer Momiji up. He might not be able to do anything about Hatori, but he sure as anything could do something for his best friend. He'd tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked. Oh, Momiji smiled and acted like nothing were wrong, but Haru knew better. Momiji had thought that he would be getting another mother when Kana had entered their lives. He had fully and wholeheartedly encouraged Hatori's relationship with Kana and now he felt guilty and believed he was responsible for Hatori getting hurt. He'd wanted a mother so badly, a woman who could give him all the love his own mother had been incapable of.
'Stupid.' Haru thought. As if Momiji blaming himself would make Hatori feel better. Momiji was a lot smarter than people gave the little bunny credit for, but he wasn't thinking straight and Haru didn't like it when Momiji was upset. Without Hatori to ask, Haru had faith that Yuki would know what to do.
When he got to Yuki's house, Haru was actually feeling a lot better than when he'd started out. He didn't go to the front door, Haru didn't like Yuki's foster parents. There was something about them that set him on edge. Instead, Haru did what he did every time he went to visit Yuki. He went to Yuki's bedroom window and peered in. The window was high, but Haru was just tall enough that if he stood on his toes, he could see in.
What he saw made Haru's eyes widen in panic.
Yuki's eyes were closed, but he was even paler than normal and there was a terrible cut on his forehead that didn't even look like it had been cleaned. The room was filled with a very faint blue tinted smoke and Haru was shocked to see a cigarette held loosely in Yuki's fingers.
"Yuki!" Haru knocked hard on the window, trying to get Yuki's attention, but Yuki didn't move. "Yuki! Can you hear me!" Haru no longer cared if Yuki's foster parents heard him, he was getting angry enough to smash the window to get in, but if he did that, the broken glass would hit Yuki. "YUKI!"
In slow motion, Yuki's eyes drifted open and he turned his head just a little to look at Haru. Their eyes met for just a moment before Yuki closed his eyes again.
'Hatori! I've gotta get Hatori!'
Yuki-
"Yuki?"
Sitting in his room on his bed, Yuki tried not to listen to Haru. Blood dripped into his eye, but Yuki didn't bother wiping it away. A gasping wheeze as his body struggled for air shook Yuki's body.
He just wanted some quiet, why wouldn't Haru just leave him alone? Closing his eyes against the offensive world around him, Yuki concentrated on his breathing. It hurt, each painfully drawn in breath, and Yuki knew it wouldn't be long. It felt like his lungs weren't working, but Yuki had felt this before and wasn't panicked. He remembered previous asthma attacks and how frightened he'd been when he suddenly couldn't breathe.
"Yuki! What's wrong?"
Yuki let his eyes open and he slowly turned his head towards the window where he saw Haru's shockingly white hair and his dark grey eyes peering in. Haru often came to Yuki's bedroom window, asking to play. Yuki would have sighed, if he had the breath. Haru looked so worried and he was the last person Yuki had wanted to worry.
'Go away.' Yuki thought, no bothering to even open his mouth to answer before he closed his eyes again. 'I don't want to play anymore.' His head felt strange, like it was filled with air. 'I'm so tired. Tired of everything.'
To be continued...
Dear readers, I promise Petshop will meet up with Fruits Basket people soon. I swear it. I just enjoy writing long fics and it's fun to torture the Fruits Basket cast.
I'll admit, it was a lot harder to write Yuki than I thought it would be. There's so much written about him, it seems, that I didn't give his character credit enough. Fun, though:) I have no idea if this is what really happens in the true storyline, but I'm making guesses as close as I can from what I've read online and from what people have told me.
A/N- I realize many of you don't know the story of the Petshop of Horrors. This first part is for those of you who don't know it, yet. If you know how Leon met Count D, feel free to skip it.
Long Denied
Chapter 9: Wished to die
Year: 2002
Akito: 21
Ayame: 26
Shigure: 27
Hatori: 26
Yuki: 15
Momiji: 14
Hatsuharu: 14
Kureno: 27
Kagura: 17
Rin: 17
Ritsu: 17
Hiro: 12
Kisa: 12
Kyou: 15
Tohru: 15
Leon Orcot: 22
Chris Orcot: 7
San Francisco, California-
We sell love, hope, dreams, and happiness.
If you choose to break the terms of the contract, we can not be held responsible for the results.
Welcome to my petshop. I am Count D.
This is China Town. A mysterious place filled with rare and valuable commodities. Tonight you shall find something you desire.
Leon-
Leon Orcot knew there was something suspicious about that petshop. He could feel it in his bones, even as he sat in his car and stared at it from where he was parked on the opposite side of the street. Leon took a drag on his cigarette and looked again at the papers he'd brought with him, just to be sure. All his facts pointed to this petshop as being the only logical connection between all the murder victims, but no one else had picked up on it.
Shaking his head, Leon wondered how such an obvious fact could be missed by absolutely everyone. Sill, he was glad. This was the kind of thing that could make his career. He could finally get out of that shabby little apartment he'd been in since graduation high school and maybe even buy himself a new car with the promotion this would bring. So many people had died and each and every one of them had been a recent customer of this petshop.
The latest victim had been that guy who looked like he'd been torn to pieces by something. Leon felt sick just remembering the crime scene. Something terrible had happened there, even if it had been to one of the top contenders for China Town's Mafia. Liu Tai Wei hadn't been a nice man, of that Leon was dead certain. He had his sticky fingers in everything from prostitution to drugs and there were more than a few mysterious deaths that had been linked to him. Perhaps Liu Tai Wei had gotten what he deserved, especially after that little girl had been strangled in his house.
Again, Leon shook his head. It wasn't his job to decide if Liu Tai Wei should have died. He just had to find out how the man had died. Just asking around the neighborhood, Leon had found out that this particular petshop had a great reputation for being able to supply nearly any kind of exotic pet and Leon wondered if that also included dangerous pets. A few of Lui Tai Wei's close associates reported that he said he'd bought a tiger from this petshop.
The owner was Count D, though why a count would be working as a shopkeeper, Leon just couldn't figure out. 'Let's get moving.' Leon told himself, snuffing out his cigarette and taking a deep breath. He was here completely on his own, without any kind of authority, which meant he was also without back up if this was something big. 'Drugs, I'll bet.' Leon had learned from experience that drugs were behind almost everything. It was made even more likely by the knowledge that Lui Tai Wei had been into drugs. Perhaps that was how the two of them had met in the first place.
Leon Orcot, detective at only twenty-two years old, was very proud of himself and took his job very seriously. After spending most of his past few years in foster homes and group homes, Leon had learned to take care of himself. He had learned the hard way not to depend on anyone and he had learned that he could do almost anything if he put himself to it. After all, Leon had worked two part time jobs through high school to earn the money for college when most of his classmates were busy chasing girls or out at parties. Leon studied hard. He might not have been at the top of his classes, but he was far from the bottom.
'I'm certainly smart enough to deal with some China Town punk who thinks he can get away with murder!' With that last little pep talk, Leon confidently got out of his car and began to make his way across the street. He ignored all the curious stares coming from the people of China Town, focusing on the very ordinary looking building.
He couldn't help but feel, as he got closer and closer to the petshop, that he should turn around and leave. He should forget this lead and find some other connection. The building was...wrong. It wasn't just a building...
'Stop it!' Leon shouted at himself. 'It's just a damned petshop! Stupid China Town, it's getting the better of me.' Leon didn't like China Town. There were to many weird rumors floating around and to many secrets. There were tales of magic and mystery that just couldn't be true. Leon didn't like magic. If he couldn't control it, Leon didn't like much of anything. More than anything else, Leon hated not being in control. It made him feel weak.
He found that the doorway of the petshop opened up to a set of stairs that led down to where the shop was. The stairway was lit with several lanterns hung from the slanting ceiling, just high enough that Leon didn't hit his head as he walked down. The lanterns cast foreboding shadows on the walls, but Leon ignored them as best as he could. Walking up the stairs, Leon saw a man walking with a little girl, probably his daughter. The girl was carrying a birdcage with a small blanket covering it. Curiously, Leon lifted the little blanket and peeked in at the bird.
"Cute bird." He told the kid before continuing on. The minute Leon opened the doors of the petshop, he had the distinct feeling that he wasn't welcomed. "Hello?" Leon pushed open the heavy doors and looked in cautiously. The place was huge and looked very expensive. There was what looked like a parlor or sitting room with a sofa and a few high backed chairs in the only well lit part of the room. Beyond that first room, Leon could see a few doors that must have led to the rest of the petshop. "Shoot." Leon muttered, seeing that there was no one around. "No one's home." Still, if there was no one here, that meant no one could stop him from just poking around a little to see if there was any evidence of...
There was a soft footfall and Leon froze, turning to see a figure walked gracefully out of the darkness. Greenish hair fell to the shoulders of this strikingly beautiful person and cast a stark contrast with skin as white as porcelain. Dressed in an ethereal looking outfit of pale blue with large pink flowers all over it, Leon knew that he'd never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. Hands clasped before the person showed off nails that were almost two inches long and painted dark pink, looking more like elegant talons than fingernails. Even this person's lips were painted, dark purple that looked almost black against the to pale skin.
"Shit. You scared the heck out of me." Leon tired to sound at ease, but it didn't sound quite as relaxed or carefree as he'd hoped it would.
"Welcome. We have everything from dogs to cats to birds to insects to reptiles. What can I do for you?"
It took a moment for Leon's eyes to adjust to the dim, smoky atmosphere of the petshop, but when he did the...person was still there. The person was real and not some hallucination. Couldn't be a man, no man was that beautiful. Couldn't be a woman, it was far too masculine. The voice was definitely male and Leon felt a part of his settle. Very male voice, despite the weird dress and long hair. No, it wasn't quite a dress. It was more like a robe and Leon could see that the man was wearing dark pants under the robe when he moved slightly.
Leon didn't like the intense gaze the strange man had fixed on him and he walked away slightly, more to give himself something else to look at other than that single purple eye staring at him.
"There have been a string of unnatural deaths. All of the victims were customers of this petshop. I hear this petshop is a cover and your real business is the human trade, drug dealing, and Chinese terrorists. The petshop is suspected of selling animals prohibited by the Washington Convention."
Strange noises drew Leon's attention away from the man for just a moment. It wasn't the ordinary sounds one would think of coming from a petshop, but then, this wasn't a normal petshop. Even as Leon quickly glanced around, looking for the source of the shrill cries and unfamiliar chattering noises, he saw no animals. There were cages and glittering eyes peering out at him from behind the bars of the cages, but he saw no animals. There also wasn't the usual smell of sawdust or other animal smells. The petshop actually smelled quite nice, like some kind of spice Leon was sure he'd smelled before, but just couldn't recognize. The air was foggy, and Leon realized that the smell must have been coming from incense from the braziers hanging from the high ceilings.
It felt like he'd walked into another world.
Leon showed his badge to show his authority to Count D, but the reaction wasn't what he was hoping for. Instead of at least mild panic, Count D almost seemed amused.
"You must be mistaken. We do not handle such species here."
"Shut up!" Leon hated it when people tried to be smart with him. This...this weak pansy was just playing with him! Leon felt his legendary temper start to boil. "It's not worth discussing with you. Where's the owner?"
"I'm afraid my grandfather is out of town. I am tending the shop in the meantime."
"Then tell me what you sold to Liu Tai Wei. Don't try to lie to me. I know he frequented your shop. Right?!"
Count D gave Leon another amused smile. "Yes. We did sell him an animal. A tiger."
It was a shocking confession and Leon's felt his mouth fall open for a moment as his professionalism deserted him. In all honesty, he hadn't expected Count to just come right out and tell him something like this. "I knew it." He muttered to himself, even as he stared at Count D's still smiling face. The man wasn't even worried and that irritated Leon more than anything.
"If you'd like, I'll show it to you." Count D turned and looked at Leon over his shoulder to see if he would follow. "He didn't like it and returned it to us."
"What?" This was all going a little to fast for Leon. What kind of maniac just showed a live tiger to the police after admitting that he'd practically killed a man with it? No...that couldn't be. Count D said Liu Tai Wei returned the tiger. So how...?
"Right this way." Count D walked over to one of the large curtains that hung over the walls of the petshop and pulled it aside so Leon could see behind it. "The only tiger we have here."
Leon wasn't at all amused by what he saw. It wasn't a tiger at all, but a painting of a tiger walking through a bamboo forest. "What...what is this!?" Leon couldn't help his fury at this obvious criminal making a complete fool of him. "You bastard! You scum! You'll see me again." It was all Leon could do to turn around and start walking out of the petshop instead of attacking the Count. "I'll get you next time!" Even to Leon it sounded like a line out of a really bad old cop movie.
He stomped out of the petshop, glad to be out of there. The smell of the heavy incense had been starting to make him sleepy and he didn't like all those strange noises that seemed to come right out of the shadows at him. Trying to forget what he'd felt in that place and how beautiful Count D had been, Leon made his way back to the police station.
Count D-
Count D watched the young police detective leave and he smiled. 'How cute.' He thought. 'He believes he can punish me for something. Humans...how amusing.' A faint grumbling noise caught Count D's attention and he turned to the painting of the tiger. "Yes." He whispered comfortingly. "Yes, it's all right. Time for you to rest now. You'll know when you're needed again."
The tiger, painted in black and white, blinked at Count D once before it's image faded away, leaving nothing more than the bamboo forest Lui Tai Wei had bought. The tiger would rest until it was bought again.
And that was how Leon met the most extraordinary person, Count D. It was also the beginning of the strangest, most intimate friendships Leon would ever have.
Japan-
Yuki-
"I won't have this, Yuki. I won't have you irritating Akito and making us look like unfit parents. You will behave yourself!" Yuki's foster mother scowled blackly at him as she stood next to her husband. Yuki wondered if they had a right to be so angry. He hadn't done anything really wrong, just gone out for a walk alone. Yuki didn't sat stiffly on the couch of his family's home and watched them carefully, though he said nothing for a while. He was so tired.
"You know the rules!" Yuki's foster father thundered, his deep voice carrying through the house and Yuki wondered if the people outside could hear the yelling. "You aren't to go out alone. Akito-sama likes to keep you close, he sent for you when you were out and we had to tell him we didn't know where you were. Do you have any idea how bad that made us look!?"
Yuki didn't care. Why should he care if they looked bad in front of Akito? He was the one who would have to go sit with Akito and he was the one who would have to listen to Akito's ravings or endure that damned whip Akito had gotten from somewhere. Worse still, Yuki was the one who would be locked in that room until Akito thought he could behave.
"I don't want to see him anymore." Yuki said, speaking up for the first time since he'd arrived home and his foster parent's had begun yelling at him. He knew the consequences of his words and, perhaps, he had even been hoping for the reaction he knew he would get. Yuki would find a way to escape them. He would escape everything and he would finally escape the curse.
"You're Akito-sama's favorite, you should show more gratitude!" Yuki's foster mother told him, scandalized that Yuki would say such a thing.
"I don't care." Yuki felt his breath start to quicken, but it would take more than this little argument to start the asthma attack he was hoping for. Yuki screwed up his courage and looked straight at his foster father. "I hope Akito decides you aren't fit parents and he gives me to Hatori." That was all it took.
They were furious.
The blow came from his foster father who still stood off to Yuki's left, his heavy hand slamming into the side of Yuki's head like a brick. Yuki could have dodge the blow or blocked it, Kazuma had trained him very well, but he didn't bother. Compared to Kazuma or Kyou, Yuki's foster father was pitifully slow.
The backhanded blow knocked Yuki into a wall and he fell dramatically to the floor after a frighteningly bright flash of light blinded him when his head hit the wall. He felt his lungs compress and hid a smile of satisfaction. He really shouldn't be happy to bring on an asthma attack, should he?
"Damn it, Tashei!" Yuki's foster mother swore. "You've cut him! Look at his forehead. What are we going to tell Akito? He wanted to see Yuki as soon as he came back."
Yuki's foster father was silent a moment. "We won't. Just tell him Yuki isn't feeling well for a few days. We'll say his asthma's acting up and he can't see anyone. He's a strong kid, he'll heal fast."
"Hatori-sensei will want to see him."
"We'll think of something. With luck, Akito will have forgotten all about Yuki. Maybe he's gotten sick again and Hatori will be busy tending him. We can hope."
Yuki, in his still dazed state of mind, found the fact that they hoped Akito had gotten sick again highly offensive. He wanted to hurt them, wanted to defend Akito. How strange. 'I hate him. I love him.' It was all to confusing, but Yuki had never been able to find any kind of logic that would explain how he felt about Akito. It wasn't right to love someone who was so cruel and hateful. It wasn't right to hate someone who gave everything for him. Nothing could explain how Yuki felt about Akito. It couldn't be hate and it couldn't be love, but it was definitely a powerfully passionate emotion. 'I wish I could hate him, maybe then I could leave. Love couldn't hurt like this, though. No sane person would love someone like Akito.'
They'd made Yuki go to bed and told him he wasn't to leave the house. That wasn't a problem. Yuki hadn't been planning to leave. Even as his chest began to tighten with every breath, Yuki pulled a key out of his pocket and locked his bedroom door from the inside. There...safe. The asthma attack was coming on just as Yuki had thought it would, it usually did after a physical trauma. Yuki went to his bed, but instead of sitting on it, he slid down to the floor and sat with his back against the bed.
Very slowly, Yuki pulled the string that hung around his neck, the string with his inhaler on it, and lay it on the floor beside him.
He just didn't care anymore.
It wasn't that he was depressed or angry...he simply didn't care. He felt so tired all the time and didn't want to deal with anything.
Yuki had decided that a natural death was best and he would let his own body's defects kill him.
That was why Yuki sat in his room with his inhaler on the floor beside him as he wheezed, his body struggling to breathe, even as his heart wished to die. He made no effort to even reach for the inhaler, but tried to relax as he hoped death would find him quickly. Death was something he'd been thinking about for a long while, but he never seemed to have the courage to do it before.
He was fifteen years old and even Yuki knew all the legends of the cursed Junikyu. He was one of the gems of the family, or so everyone would have him believe. Yuki didn't believe it. He was scrawny, sickly, and a liar on top of everything else. How could anyone think he was anything special?
'Fifteen. I should be allowed to have my own house.' Yuki knew that the rat's house was his, by all rites, and if he told Akito he wanted it, he would be allowed to have it. 'I'm a coward. Not even brave enough to leave. Why should I leave my parents? They're all I have.' Yuki hated admitting that he was afraid to leave them, even to himself. If he did leave, they couldn't hurt him anymore. But...he'd still be alone. What difference would it make?
'No one can love you but me.' Isn't that what Akito had said? 'You're a freak. You can't get close to anyone. Just like me. You're just like me.' Akito had said it so tenderly, so gently as he'd hugged Yuki close to him that day. It made Yuki's flesh crawl at the time.
That all happened a long time ago, after the day Yuki had cried himself into exhaustion, begging Hatori not to take his friend's memories. Hatori, though, knew his duty and hadn't been swayed by Yuki's tears. Yuki knew, that day, that he would never let anyone get close to him again. Caring about people hurt to much. It hurt watching his friends be carried away because of what Hatori had done to them and knowing that it was his fault. It hurt knowing that it was his fault Hatori had been bedridden for three days with a migraine for his mistake.
'No more mistakes.' Yuki thought. 'I'll never make another mistake and no one else will ever be hurt for me.' There was no chance that his parents would find him like this; his death would be disaster for them. Yuki was old enough now to understand he was nothing more than a tool for them and they used him to get all their rich things.
Yuki felt a surge of cold delight that they would lose everything when he died. Akito wouldn't let them keep all their fine things, the big house, or the servants. It was a great satisfaction to know they'd suffer after he died.
-Wheeze!- Yuki's lungs pained him as they struggled for air, but Yuki still didn't reach for his inhaler. He put both hands on his lap and leaned his head back, onto his bed, as he closed his eyes. He could almost feel his life slipping away and that made him happier than he'd been in a long time.
'If I'd been braver, then I could get away from them. I could have run away. Maybe things would be different if I had been away from them.' But Yuki wasn't brave, he had never been. He'd always been afraid when he tried to tell Akito he wanted to get away from his foster parents and just couldn't say a word. He was to cowardly to even tell Hatori that his foster parents hurt him sometimes, even when Hatori asked. 'I could stop them, if I wanted to.' Yuki knew he was stronger than both of his foster parents were, Kazuma had taught him to fight on a request from Hatori who said it would benefit his health. He didn't have the courage to fight back, though. They were his foster parents and what if he really hurt them? What if he killed them?
That thought sent a chill down Yuki's spine. Sometimes, he wanted to kill them. He wanted to hurt them so badly that his fingers itched to wrap around their throats and start squeezing till they turned purple and died. 'I'm NOT a bad person! I don't want to hurt people.' It sounded like a lie, even to Yuki. 'Even if I asked for my own house, the rat's house is right next to Akito's house. What if he wanted to see me every day? What if he made me stay in that room every day? I can't do it.'
The whole problem, as Yuki saw it, was that he was lonely. It sounded so pathetic when he thought about in that simple term, but it wasn't pathetic and it wasn't simple.
He was lonely and there was no way to stop the loneliness.
Yuki couldn't seem to get out of the habit he'd been trained in. Making friends had always been discouraged, so Yuki had never learned how. He hadn't been encouraged to make friends with even the other cursed Junikyu and, for the most part, only saw them once a year. When he was a child, Yuki remembered watching them all play together and he watched them go off to school together while he was driven to a private school some distance away. It didn't seem fair. Why should he be so alone? To top it all off, Yuki didn't like talking to people, it made him afraid that they'd see how weak he was.
Really, the only person who talked to Yuki on a regular basis was Hatori and that was mainly for his medical exams. Well...Hatori and Haru. Yuki wasn't sure how he felt about Haru. Haru was sort of a friend, at least he didn't treat Yuki as if he were some kind of prized pet. Haru wasn't entirely sane, Yuki had realized the first time he'd seen Haru's 'black' personality explode into life, but Haru was generally pleasant.
'He probably only hangs around me so he won't have to go see that therapist. He couldn't really like me. No one could. I guess I won't have to worry about it anymore. Now, I'll never have to feel lonely or afraid to make a mistake.' Yuki almost smiled at that thought. 'Death. It sounds...comfortable.'
"You aren't like the rest of them." Yuki's foster mother, Yoko, had told him. "You're special and Akito-sama wants to keep you near him. You want to make Akito-sama happy, don't you? You have to always stay near him."
Yuki knew he was Akito's favorite. 'So why does he...' Yuki shook his head at that thought. He knew why Akito did what he did, he was sick. Hatori had explained that often enough, even when he had stitched closed a two-inch long cut in Yuki's back closed because Akito had grown cross and pushed him down a set of stairs. That had been when Yuki was younger and he hadn't had Kazuma's training to break his fall.
Akito had apologized and cried about how sorry he was, but Yuki hadn't forgiven him. Not really. Why should he? Being sick wasn't all that much of an excuse. There were sick people all over the world who didn't hurt people, so why should Akito be forgiven?
Yuki's favorite days were when Shigure visited. Yuki was always grateful to see his older cousin stroll onto the estate and casually walk into Akito's home. He would stay there almost the entire day and sometimes into the night. When Shigure visited, from wherever he lived, no one else was called to sit with Akito.
Though he would never admit it to his flippant cousin, Yuki rather admired Shigure's courage. Shigure alone, out of all the family and all the cursed Junikyu, never crawled to Akito. He never begged for anything and never asked favors. Shigure could tell Akito the truth about anything and he wasn't afraid.
Once, Yuki had wished he had Shigure's courage.
Now, though, Yuki sat in his room and hoped to die. It was possible, Hatori had once warned him, to die from a severely bad asthma attack. It wasn't likely, but it was possible. The hard part about the whole plan was that Yuki's athma attacks were growing weaker as he grew up and, strangely, that was the problem. When he was younger a single asthma attack could have killed him.
This asthma attack wasn't enough, Yuki realized. It was painful, but Yuki knew it would subside with or without his inhaler soon enough. He needed something more.
Yuki reached under his bed where he kept something he'd stolen a few weeks ago. It had taken that long to build up the courage to use these, but today was the day. He'd stolen the cigarettes from Hatori, sneaking them when he'd gone over for a visit and found no one home. Smoking, Hatori had told him, was the worst possible thing for his body.
So Yuki pulled out a cigarette and wondered if one would be enough or if he'd have to use up all six. He lit the cigarette with a match from his foster parent's fireplace and took a deep breath, sucking in as much of the noxious, poisonous smoke as possible. It hurt and Yuki had to struggle not to cough when the smoke hit his lungs, making them spasm. He breathed out only when he had to and winced at the horrible taste. He wondered why Hatori smoked so often, if it was always this bad. Still, the cigarette had the desired affect and Yuki felt his asthma attack get worse almost immediately.
Yuki took a few more drags from the cigarette before lay down on his bed and rested his head on his pillow. He thought about extinguishing the cigarette, but kept it in his hands just in case he needed a few a little more to kill him.
Unfortunately, his mind drifted back to one of his visits with Akito when he was far younger.
Flashback-
"I won't let you escape." Akito had muttered when he seized Yuki by the collar and hauled him to that dark room. "You can't ever go away from me. I won't let you leave me, again." Once, and only once, Yuki had risked a look at Akito's eyes and was more frightened by what he saw than the dark room he was brought to.
"I...I won't leave you, Akito." Yuki whispered, trying to keep up with Akito who, despite his bad health, was surprisingly strong. He wanted to calm Akito, maybe if Akito calmed down...
"You dare?!" Still holding Yuki's collar, Akito whirled around suddenly and slammed Yuki into a wall. Now, both of Akito's hands grabbed the front of Yuki's shirt and pinned him to the wall. "You left me! You promised and you lied!" Then Akito burst into tears and rested his face on Yuki's chest.
Yuki was, even at that young age, a very good fighter. Kazuma never trained anyone who didn't turn out at least a decent fight, but even with how frightened he was, Yuki didn't try to fight to get away from Akito. If he hurt Akito, even by accident, it would be a terrible thing. Akito was sick, Hatori had told Yuki long ago. He had to try to be nice to Akito, because he was sick.
"How could you lie to me, Junko? How?" Akito wept.
Yuki had learned, long ago, not to correct Akito when Akito when called him Junko. That only resulted in Akito flying into another temper and probably hurting Yuki. "I'm sorry." Yuki said, keeping as still as he could. He didn't want to upset Akito anymore than he already was; Akito was to scary when he acted like this.
"Sorry...sorry...you'll be sorry. Sorry you left me. You made me cry." Akito took a deep breath and lifted his face from Yuki's chest, their noses were only inches apart and Yuki really didn't like being so close to his temperamental God. "Pretty Yuki. I think you look like me. Not a little boy anymore." One of Akito's hand drifted up and touched Yuki's cheek and he stared deep into Yuki's eyes. "You're almost grown up. Almost." His eyes were far away; as if he was looking at something in Yuki that wasn't really there. "We're both almost grown up. What happens then?"
Yuki swallowed hard and his fists tightened at his sides. Akito scared him so much when he was like this.
Then, Akito was off again, nearly dragging Yuki along until they reached that hated room. Yuki didn't try to dissuade Akito, not at this point. It would be useless.
"You'll be safe here." Akito told Yuki when he pulled the door open and looked at Yuki. "Safe. I'll take care of you. I won't let anything hurt you." His voice, so different than only moments ago, was strangely gentle.
"Please, Akito, don't make me go in there." Yuki began to shake. He hated that room, but he hated the way he was acting even more. He was ten; there was no reason for him to be acting like such a coward! He was practically a grown up, he should be able to handle a few hours in a small dark room. A very small dark room. Yuki even hated walking down the halls of Akito's house, the corridors were so narrow and he felt as if they'd close on him and squash him.
"But I have to keep you safe." Akito walked behind Yuki, a place Yuki really didn't want Akito, and put both hands on his shoulders. "It's my responsibility." He looked into the dark room. "I like the darkness. Everything around me is dark. If no one can see you, no one can hurt you."
"I'll be safe at home." Yuki protested, even as Akito applied pressure to his shoulders and began to push Yuki into the room. Though Yuki knew he would end up obeying and would spend the day in the room, he couldn't help but drag his feet. "My mother..."
"Is dead." Akito's voice was almost careless. "Ayame cried for hours."
"Ayame?" Yuki had no idea what his cousin had to do with this. He rarely even saw Ayame. He tried to push away the hurt he felt when Akito spoke so callously about his dead mother and focus on why Ayame had been mentioned. Akito didn't care about the rest of the family, only the cursed Junikyu.
"Oh, didn't anyone tell you?" Akito raised an eyebrow as if he really were surprised. "Ayame's your brother. Now you be a good boy and stay here, Yuki." Then he left Yuki alone in the small room, locking the door behind him.
With the door closed, the darkness seemed to press to close to Yuki and he immediately huddled on the floor with his arms wrapped around his knees. He hated feeling so helpless. He could get out. He was strong enough to break the door down and even kick a hole through the walls. Training with Kazuma had given him that strength, but Yuki didn't. He stayed where he was on the floor with his eyes clenched shut and completely silent.
'No one told me.' Yuki felt numb. 'Ayame never told me. Why?'
Hours later, Yuki opened his eyes when he heard the door slide open. In the dim light of the open door, there stood Hatori dressed all in dark. He seemed to blend in and Yuki met Hatori's eyes, almost frightened by what he saw. He saw himself in Hatori. Cold...distant...Yuki realized at that moment that Hatori had given up his life for the family, for Akito. He had known that Hatori became a doctor for the benefit of the family and had known that Hatori, like most of the cursed Junikyu, had a terrible childhood. But he hadn't understood until just that moment how empty Hatori was. Well...not empty, exactly. He knew Hatori cared.
"Are you hurt?" Hatori asked in his normally hushed tone, stepping into the room.
Yuki shook his head, standing with some effort. He'd been in a crouched position for quite a good time and now his body was aching.
"Akito's just gone to sleep." Hatori said, putting a hand on Yuki's arm. "Go straight home. I'll take care of Akito."
Yuki nodded his thanks, but he didn't do as Hatori told him to. Instead, Yuki went to the back of the estate. It was dead silent in the middle of the night and Yuki had no problems finding his way to his favorite spot on the estate.
There was a beautiful garden he'd found outside the old abandoned house at the back of the estate. It was the one house he'd been forbidden to go to, so he went there whenever he had the chance and there were such beautiful wild flowers. It looked as if the garden had once been lovingly taken care of; it was so peaceful and calm. Now the garden and the house had been completely forgotten, by all but Yuki. That night, Yuki had lay down in the flowers and stared up at the stars sparkling though the tree leaves.
'Someday, I'll have a garden of my own. When I get away from them all and when I can do whatever I want, I'll have a beautiful garden.'
End of flashback-
It hurt Yuki to admit it to himself, but he'd had never seen an ounce of love in his foster parent's eyes.
Of course he knew he was adopted. He'd heard stories about his real mother from the other cursed Junikyu at the banquet every New Years. He knew his mother had died when he was born, though no one had ever mentioned his father, and that Yoko and her husband had kindly offered to adopt him. It was really only at the New Years banquet that Yuki had a chance to see and talk with all the other cursed members of the family.
Thinking of the lavish party that ended and began every year, Yuki lifted the still burning cigarette to his lips and took another lungful. It was getting harder to breath by the moment.
Yuki hated the banquet.
He hated sitting almost all night with Akito and watching him sleep while everyone else had fun. When Akito did finally fall asleep or Shigure came to sit with him, Yuki was allowed to mingle with everyone else, but that was just as bad. He hated seeing Hatori dote on Momiji, swinging the little blonde hare in his arms as they danced. Hatori always wore the same colors, black and grey, in his ceremonial robes. Momiji always wore yellow and gold. They made quite the combination as they danced.
Hated watching Kagura wax poetic about her 'beloved' Kyou who was outside somewhere, doing whatever he pleased. Kagura had always fascinated Yuki. She knew what Kyou was, had seen his original form, yet she still loved him. She was more devoted to him than any princess was to her prince in a fairy tale.
He hated seeing Rin dancing with Hatsuharu, totally enthralled with each other, as if they hadn't a care in the world. They were both tall and lithe, graceful as unearthly spirits while they stared into each other's eyes. Yuki knew that Haru had a crush on him, he didn't bother to hide it, but that didn't seem to damper his affection for Rin.
He hated seeing little Hiro and Kisa playing together in a corner, closer than Yuki had ever been to anyone. The two were the youngest of the cursed and had taken to each other almost as soon as they'd met. Hiro was a very intelligent, quick-witted boy, though for gentle Kisa, he'd do anything. Yuki wondered if the two of them would end up like Rin and Haru.
More than anything, though, Yuki hated Ritsu. Yuki was sure that he hated Ritsu even more than Kyou. After all, Kyou had really done nothing to him, other than call him names and yell at him. Ritsu, though, had quite innocently stolen Ayame away from Yuki.
'That's unfair to Ritsu.' Yuki reminded himself. 'Ritsu couldn't take what was never mine and he wouldn't have done it on purpose, anyway.' Yuki hated seeing Ritsu dancing with Ayame, and how happy the two looked as they sat together and played with each other's hair. He tried not to let it show, tried not to let poor Ritsu find out. 'Ritsu's about as harmless as any Souma ever was, he'd never deliberately hurt anyone.'
It wasn't Ritsu's fault, after all, that Ayame loved Ritsu more than he loved Yuki.
Jealously, that's all it was, pure and simple.
Yuki understood that Ritsu idolized Ayame and that Ayame was doing his best for a family member who didn't have a father, since Ritsu's father had mysteriously vanished some years ago. It was only when he was with Ayame that Ritsu looked really happy and Yuki knew how horrible it was of him to begrudge Ristu for that.
'But I could have loved Ayame, too. If he'd let me, I'm sure I could have love him. He could have done his best for me instead of Ritsu.' Yuki hated himself for those kind of thoughts. They were petty and shameful. 'I shouldn't be so selfish. I don't care about him anymore, anyway. He's nothing but a fool with cotton for brains. He's to silly and too much energy. I could never keep up with him.'
Ayame had never looked at Yuki with even kindness, let alone love. He'd confronted Ayame about it, once. That hadn't gone well. It was hard to find time to talk to Ayame, without anyone around, but he'd managed it when Ayame had come to visit Hatori. Yuki had been sick for a long time and he was just getting well when he heard voices coming from Hatori's living room. He recognized them all. Shigure was talking and laughing about something. Hatori said something dryly to which Kana replied in a much more passionate tone. Then Ayame spoke and Yuki finally got the courage to do what he'd wanted to do for a long time.
"Big brother?" Yuki had whispered tentatively, standing in the doorway of Hatori's living room. Everyone looked at him, surprised to see Yuki out of bed, but it was Ayame's head that shot around as quick as lightening and stared at Yuki with an expression of something close to fear. Yuki stepped a little further into the room. Ayame did look like him and Yuki had wondered why he'd never noticed it before. "Big brother? May I sit with you?" Yuki had looked at Ayame with so much hope, desperately wishing for just a tiny show of affection.
Ayame stood very quickly and nearly bolted out of the room, his long hair swirling in his haste to leave. He was practically running to get away from Yuki.
Yuki didn't cry. He watched Ayame dart through the open doors of Hatori's house and speed away until he was no longer in sight. Yuki realized that he wasn't worthy of being loved, right then. If his own brother couldn't love him, then who could?
"Yuki?"
Yuki looked up and saw Shigure standing near him. "Yes?" Shigure frightened Yuki sometimes, but Yuki wasn't sure why. It seemed that, when he looked into Shigure's black eyes, that Shigure was thinking of some great, terrible secret.
"Ayame doesn't mean to hurt you..."
"He doesn't." Yuki said brusquely. 'He does.' Yuki walked away, back to the infirmary part of Hatori's house and got back in bed. He wouldn't cry for Ayame. Yuki understood well enough that life hurt and it was better to get used to it than to spend all your time crying. 'I won't try anymore. I don't care what he thinks of me. I won't ever care about him.'
Yuki listened for a time to Hatori and Shigure, they sounded like they were arguing about something, then there was silence.
In his own room, Yuki shook his thoughts to get rid of the memories. They still stung painfully and he didn't want to be reminded of them. -Wheeze!- Yuki winced as an especially painful breath took him by surprise. It wouldn't be long, now.
He became uncomfortable sitting on the floor and moved to lay down on his bed. If he was going to die, then he should at least be comfortable for it, right?
Hatsuharu-
Haru missed Yuki.
It was more than just missing the quiet rat, Haru needed someone to talk to and Yuki was quite possibly the most sensible person Haru had ever met. Yuki didn't talk much, but when he did it was almost always important. Actually, the first person Haru would usually go to for advice was Momiji, but that wasn't really possible. Momiji was the reason Haru needed to talk to Yuki.
It had only happened two days ago, but Momiji was still crying.
Kana had left. Well, saying that she'd 'left' was a little to kind. She'd run away. Not literally and not exactly run away, but she had left. Haru remembered seeing her being carried away from Hatori's house and everyone watching. Hatori had stood with Ayame on one side of him and Momiji on his other side when Kana left them. With her memory of Hatori gone, she had no reason to stay and Momiji was dealing with abandonment issues, again. Not only had his mother and father abandoned him, but now Kana had left, too.
'Momiji acts like nothing's wrong, but I've known him longer than anyone. He can't fool me. I'm might be a bit slow, but I'm not stupid.' Haru knew he wasn't stupid because Yuki told him so. 'I heard him crying when they took Hatori to the hospital...'
Hatori had lost his eye, had it taken from him on what was the happiest day of his life. It was the day he'd proposed to Kana.
Haru didn't like thinking about that, but it was the biggest news in the family and everyone had been warned against talking to the police. They'd had to take Hatori to the hospital so quickly that no one had bothered to think of a suitable lie as to what had happened to him. Haru was certain that Shigure would have done the lying, but he'd stayed at the estate to calm Akito who'd gone into a rage.
All of the doctors had been suspicious as to why a gentleman like Hatori, a known and respected doctor at that particular hospital, had suddenly been brought in and refused to talk to anyone except two of his cousins. They'd called the police almost immediately when Hatori had been brought in, afraid that he'd been attacked. Of course, there was no police involvement allowed, by order of Akito and general common sense. The police had come to the estate and spoken with Momiji, since he was the closest family member to Hatori, and then to Akito. Just to be sure, Shigure had been with Akito when the police interviewed him, pleading Akito's ill health as reason for his presence.
They couldn't very well let the police know that it was Akito who'd smashed the large vase over Hatori's face. He'd been aiming for Kana, Haru was sure, but Hatori had gotten the vase in the face and was lucky that he'd only lost one eye. Oh, he could still see from that eye a tiny bit, but no more than shadows.
The police had believed Shigure's story, of course. Shigure was a VERY good liar. The official story was that Hatori had been gardening when he slipped with a pair of large garden shears in his hands and had fallen on them. It was a ridiculous lie, Hatori hated gardening. The police bought it, though, and that was the important thing. They had gone and hadn't come back to the estate, so there was no danger for any of them.
Except that Hatori wouldn't see anyone since he'd come back from the hospital and Momiji was still crying. Besides all that, to keep the incident as close to the inner circle as possible, it had been Haru who'd cleaned up the mess. He was the one who'd had to pick up all that little pieces of bloody, broken ceramic and toss them away.
That was what Haru wanted to ask Yuki about, how to cheer Momiji up. He might not be able to do anything about Hatori, but he sure as anything could do something for his best friend. He'd tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked. Oh, Momiji smiled and acted like nothing were wrong, but Haru knew better. Momiji had thought that he would be getting another mother when Kana had entered their lives. He had fully and wholeheartedly encouraged Hatori's relationship with Kana and now he felt guilty and believed he was responsible for Hatori getting hurt. He'd wanted a mother so badly, a woman who could give him all the love his own mother had been incapable of.
'Stupid.' Haru thought. As if Momiji blaming himself would make Hatori feel better. Momiji was a lot smarter than people gave the little bunny credit for, but he wasn't thinking straight and Haru didn't like it when Momiji was upset. Without Hatori to ask, Haru had faith that Yuki would know what to do.
When he got to Yuki's house, Haru was actually feeling a lot better than when he'd started out. He didn't go to the front door, Haru didn't like Yuki's foster parents. There was something about them that set him on edge. Instead, Haru did what he did every time he went to visit Yuki. He went to Yuki's bedroom window and peered in. The window was high, but Haru was just tall enough that if he stood on his toes, he could see in.
What he saw made Haru's eyes widen in panic.
Yuki's eyes were closed, but he was even paler than normal and there was a terrible cut on his forehead that didn't even look like it had been cleaned. The room was filled with a very faint blue tinted smoke and Haru was shocked to see a cigarette held loosely in Yuki's fingers.
"Yuki!" Haru knocked hard on the window, trying to get Yuki's attention, but Yuki didn't move. "Yuki! Can you hear me!" Haru no longer cared if Yuki's foster parents heard him, he was getting angry enough to smash the window to get in, but if he did that, the broken glass would hit Yuki. "YUKI!"
In slow motion, Yuki's eyes drifted open and he turned his head just a little to look at Haru. Their eyes met for just a moment before Yuki closed his eyes again.
'Hatori! I've gotta get Hatori!'
Yuki-
"Yuki?"
Sitting in his room on his bed, Yuki tried not to listen to Haru. Blood dripped into his eye, but Yuki didn't bother wiping it away. A gasping wheeze as his body struggled for air shook Yuki's body.
He just wanted some quiet, why wouldn't Haru just leave him alone? Closing his eyes against the offensive world around him, Yuki concentrated on his breathing. It hurt, each painfully drawn in breath, and Yuki knew it wouldn't be long. It felt like his lungs weren't working, but Yuki had felt this before and wasn't panicked. He remembered previous asthma attacks and how frightened he'd been when he suddenly couldn't breathe.
"Yuki! What's wrong?"
Yuki let his eyes open and he slowly turned his head towards the window where he saw Haru's shockingly white hair and his dark grey eyes peering in. Haru often came to Yuki's bedroom window, asking to play. Yuki would have sighed, if he had the breath. Haru looked so worried and he was the last person Yuki had wanted to worry.
'Go away.' Yuki thought, no bothering to even open his mouth to answer before he closed his eyes again. 'I don't want to play anymore.' His head felt strange, like it was filled with air. 'I'm so tired. Tired of everything.'
To be continued...
Dear readers, I promise Petshop will meet up with Fruits Basket people soon. I swear it. I just enjoy writing long fics and it's fun to torture the Fruits Basket cast.
I'll admit, it was a lot harder to write Yuki than I thought it would be. There's so much written about him, it seems, that I didn't give his character credit enough. Fun, though:) I have no idea if this is what really happens in the true storyline, but I'm making guesses as close as I can from what I've read online and from what people have told me.