Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Long Denied ❯ Kyou's Monster ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Evil Little god of Writing: Hello, readers. Cousin D isn't feeling well these passed few days, so I'm doing this chapter. Hee, hee. Poor Kyou. He's mine. All mine.


Slight warning for violence


Chapter 20: Kyou's Monster


Leon-


Leon drifted in a warm sleep. Like pleasantly warm water, it surrounded Leon as he once remembered his mother's arms doing. He could hear the soft voice of someone he knew, but couldn't recognize. Maybe it was D. D was always nearby when Leon needed him and that was a great comfort. Leon smiled lazily at the soft, murmur, and was glad that D was nearby.

One of these days, Leon was going to tell D how much he appreciated having him around. One day. In fact, Leon could almost see D's face floating in front of him. D was smiling, as he always did and looking at Leon with those warm, mismatched eyes of his. Leon actually liked D's eyes. He'd never known anyone who had eyes like D's, two different colors and unusual colors, too. One was so dark that it was almost purple and the other, the eye half-hidden behind his dark hair. Leon had the unpleasant feeling that D could understand everything he felt just by looking at him with those warm eyes and Leon hadn't felt so thoroughly understood by anyone since his mom had died. It was as much a comfort as it was a worry; Leon wasn't sure he wanted anyone to understand him that well. Still, D didn't seem bothered by whatever he saw when he looked at Leon with his mysterious eyes.

'D? What's going on?' Leon's voice didn't sound right. Leon was pretty sure he'd been shot, but nothing hurt. Quite to the contrary, he felt relaxed.

Instead of answering, D reached out and touched Leon's face, stroking his cheeks and forehead with his cool fingers.

'What are you doing? Is something wrong?'

Still, D didn't answer. Around D Leon could see some kind of viney plant growing at a ferocious rate, twisting and winding impossibly until it began to block everything. Leon wasn't afraid, though, not even when D reached out to one of the vines and touched one of the small, rapidly growing buds. When D's long nailed fingers touched the bud, it opened into a full, bright red flower that looked hauntingly familiar. They were so fragrant flowers and Leon had seen them before, but he couldn't quite remember where. More and more of the bright red flowers began to open all around Leon and his mind grew pleasantly fuzzy with the scent. D faded away and the flowers clouded Leon's vision.

'Gattolotto? Is that you?'


At the Hosptial-
Rin-


"What?!" Hatsuharu threatened to become black Haru in an instant, but he managed to restrain himself. Rin didn't flinch from him, not even when he stood up so quickly that the chair he'd been sitting in fell backwards with a crash. She met Hatsuharu's enraged eyes evenly and waited to see if he would be stupid enough to attack her. She doubted it; Hatsuharu would never deliberately hurt her. Rin didn't think Hatsuharu was stupid, far from it. Right now, however, he wasn't in the clearest state of mind.

"You heard me." Rin told him coldly. She'd been in the hospital for only a few hours and already wanted to leave. She felt like she was wasting time, though there was something important she had to before she left. "I don't want to see you anymore. It's too dangerous. Akito's not going to let us be together." Rin was sitting up in her hospital bed, propped up by several pillows with her hand folded on her lap. The Souma room at the hospital was nothing if not comfortable, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Akito had arranged it and Rin planned to leave as soon as she got rid of Hatsuharu.

Hatsuharu looked like he would explode. His hands clenched at his sides and his eyes widened, showing far too much white. It was strange to see Hatsuharu like this when he wasn't getting ready for a fight, Hatsuharu was normally a very calm boy when he was with Rin. She was used to seeing his easy-going, almost lazy nature. Rin wasn't afraid of Hatusharu's darker nature. She was afraid of very little.

"Shit!" Hatsuharu cursed and looked as if he wanted to hurt someone, but he couldn't decide whom. Considering that he was alone in the hospital room with Rin, he had very little choice. "Rin...why? Damn it, I'll get you away from Akito, I swear..."

"What?" Rin raised an eyebrow at Hatsuharu. "You'll steal me away? Oh, that's a very clever idea. What do you plan to do when New Years rolls around? What about the Banquet?" She snorted indelicately and hardened her eyes into a glare and her hands tightened around the crisp white bed linens. "You're a fool, Hatsuharu. We can't get away, you know that. As long as I'm with you, I'm in danger. Akito hates it when his family has relationships, even with each other. He obviously disapproves of us, so there won't be anymore 'us'. You think you're that important to me that I'll risk my life just to be around you?"

"We can hide 'us' from Akito." Hatsuharu persisted. "He never notices anything if it's not right in front of him, you know that. He didn't even know Hatori and Kana were together until Hatori threw it right in his face. We'll just stay away from him."

"You're so naive." Rin said, scathingly. "He caught sight of us one, just one time, and he tried to kill me."
"I'll protect you." Hatsuharu insisted, love shining from his eyes as bright as sunlight. Every gesture he made spoke of his love for Rin.

"You didn't do a very good job." Rin said evenly.

Her reply brought Hatsuharu up short and obviously hurt him. He stepped back, away from the hospital bed and Rin, with a look of disbelieve in his eyes. He didn't say another word before he turned and nearly ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Rin slumped down the moment he'd left, relieved that she'd finally gotten it over with. It was harder to do than she'd thought it would be and, looking at Hatsuharu's hurt eyes, she almost hadn't been able to do it.

'It's for his own good.' Rin reassured herself. It didn't matter if Hatsuharu hated her or not, so long as he was safe. 'I know what would happen, if he stayed near me.' Rin wasn't so worried for herself as she was for Hatsuharu. She was strong, but Hatsuharu was...fragile. He was very sensitive and if Akito took out his anger against Hatsuharu instead of Rin, it would hurt him terribly. The best thing to do was to keep Akito certain that Rin and Hatsuharu had broken up. Hatsuharu would be safer this way Rin would be able to work.

Rin knew Shigure knew something. Every ounce of her instinct screamed at Rin that Shigure was holding a big, possibly dangerous secret. She believed, had no proof but believed, that it was a secret involving the curse. If she could get the secret from Shigure, maybe it could be used to end the curse. With the curse ended, then Hatsuharu would be safe.

Rin took a deep breath before she began disentangling herself from the monitoring wires that attached her to the hospital equipment. It was time to go. Her back still ached from the fall, but Rin wasn't about to let that stop her. Laying around in bed wasn't going to do any good at all.

When she was fully dressed Rin left the hospital room, intending to head to Shigure's house. She wanted another look at that book he didn't want her to look at. She didn't get far. In fact, she didn't get passed the room right next to hers where Ayame was fiddling with the doorknob.

"Come on, what's going on? This is just ridiculous. Who would lock it?"

"Are you talking to yourself or the door?" Rin asked sharply. She hadn't expected to see Ayame here, but it was reasonable to assume that he was visiting Hatori.

"Oh, Rin-chan." Ayame smiled and brushed a hand through his hair, looking surprised to see her. "What are you doing up? 'Tori said you should be resting."

"Don't call me Rin-chan and I decide what I do." Rin replied sharply. "You didn't answer my question. Why are you arguing with a door?"

"Because it won't open." Ayame stood up straight and glared at the door with his hands on his hips and looking indignant. "It's locked and I don't know why. It shouldn't be locked, 'Tori just went in there a few minutes ago." Ayame was a very flamboyant character, one of the most visible members of the Souma family. While most cursed Souma's tried to seem as normal and average as possible (usually failing miserably) Ayame gloried in being seen. He loved the spotlight and acted as if he had the lead part in a very bad play. In short, he irritated the blazes out of Rin.

"Who's in there?" Rin put a hand on her still sore lower back. It was starting to throb again and she knew she'd have to get out of the hospital before Hatori caught her. He'd order her back to bed and Rin wasn't sure she could argue her way out of it; Hatori was quite implacable when it came to the health of the Souma family.

"A friend of mine." Ayame looked suddenly sad and Rin wondered if it was Mine-chan in the locked room. As far as Rin knew, Ayame had no close friends besides Mine-chan. "Oh, this is awful." Ayame moaned before he attacked the door again, pulling on it as hard as he could.

"What's going on?"

Rin had never seen the foreign woman who'd spoken, but she'd seen Mine-chan many times. It was hard to mistake Mine-chan, she usually dressed almost as eccentrically as Ayame. Today Mine-chan was dressed in a nurse's outfit, including the little white hat, with white stockings and stiletto heeled pumps that were definitely not apart of a nurse's regular uniform. Her normally curly hair was smoothed down and tied into a series of long braids. Mine-chan was a bubbly, bright young woman and she was a great support for Ayame outside the family.

The foreign woman looked a bit older than Mine-chan as well as having a more stern, serious face. She had curly brown hair, much like Mine-chan, but was taller and narrow. There was something about her stance that showed she was a woman who meant business, a seriousness that Mine-chan lacked. She dressed very casually, in denim jeans and a green t-shirt and worn sneakers. She looked like any woman one might see walking down the street, a stark contrast to Mine-chan's wild appearances. Yet they stood together, looking completely at ease, with Mine-chan holding onto the foreign woman's arm.

"Good evening, Jill-san, Mine-chan." Ayame gave them a strained smile. "Thank you for coming, I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Leon. Jill-san, you look tried, I'm sorry if I worried you when I called."

"Of course I came and of course I worried! Leon's practically my little brother." Jill answered in a strained voice. "Where is he?"

"He's inside." Ayame answered, gesturing to the door that continued to confound him. "I just can't get the door to open!"

Rin wondered why Ayame, normally prone to overreacting in the smallest situations, didn't think to go to a nurse's station and get someone to unlock the door. Then again, that would be a sensible idea, so perhaps it was only natural that Ayame didn't think of it. Rin wasn't sure she cared enough to go to the effort, after all, she had things to do. She'd sent Hatsuharu off so coldly and it wasn't going to be for nothing. With him avoiding her, as he no doubt would, Rin would be able to find out whatever secret Shigure was keeping. It could be the answer to breaking the curse and then, maybe, she could apologize to Hatsuharu and they could be together.

"Oh, let me see it." Jill said impatiently, brushing passed Ayame and looking down at the keyhole of the door. She examined it for only a minute before she snorted and pulled a wallet out of her back pocket. The wallet opened to show several pockets and she pulled three narrow wires out of one of the pockets. "This shouldn't be difficult."

"What are you doing?" Mine-chan asked, curiously when Jill stuffed her wallet back into her pants pocket.

"Lock picking really isn't all that hard, once you know the basics and hospitals don't use the most modern of locks." Jill replied as she began sticking the picks into the lock and fiddling them around.

Rin rolled her eyes. 'Why doesn't anyone just go get a spare key from the nurse's station?' But she didn't make any attempt at the obvious solution to this problem, either. She didn't know Ayame's friend, so why should she care?

The door's lock opened with a soft 'click' and Jill stood up straight with a satisfied smile. "There." She announced, putting her lock picks in her pocket. "It only takes a little effort."

Mine-chan looked very impressed and put a hand on Jill's arm. "That was wonderful!" She cooed happily. "Did they teach you that at police academy?"

"Nope." Jill blushed a little. "Two years in juvenile detention will teach you a lot of things."

"Juvenile detention?" Mine-chan's eyes opened quite wide.

"I'll explain later. Now, let's go see Leon...what the...?" When Jill opened the door, she had to back away when a cloud of overly sweet smoke flooded out of the room. It was such a powerful scent, that everyone put a hand to their face and waited a moment for the smell to dissipate before they entered the room. "Cripes, open a window. The Count was definitely here. He's always burning this stuff and he probably thought Leon might like it." Jill said, sounding unconcerned as she went to the apparent source of the faint smoke and the overwhelming smell, a small, round incense burner that had been placed in the center of the floor. Jill blew out the small flame that burned and set the incense burner on the windowsill. She looked at the iron burner and gave a chuckle. "Leon would have yelled at him for the effort if he knew what the Count was trying to do. He's such a blockhead sometimes."

Rin didn't care about the patient, Leon, or this Count person. Her eyes went immediately to Hatori, sound asleep in an armchair. He looked strangely serene; his legs slightly stretched out and his head leaned to the side, resting on his shoulder. Rin had never seen Hatori look so peaceful. Hatori was never violent, he never even raised his voice, but there had always been a depressing feeling of despair around him.

"He hasn't been sleeping well, lately." Ayame muttered half to himself as he covered Hatori with a spare blanket.

Jill went to the side of the man in the bed, Leon, and looked down at him. "This is all my fault." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "I came all this way and I couldn't even help him. Jeeze, I knew it. Let him out of my sight for one minute and he goes and gets himself shot again." She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes. "Damn it. Why can't he keep himself out of trouble?" When Jill did open her eyes, they were flinty and filled with fire. "If he dies, I'll never forgive him." Her voice drifted away when Mine-chan touched her back gently and the two seemed to share some unspoken communication.

Rin couldn't help but wonder what Leon's connection to the Souma family could be. Hatori wouldn't take a patient outside the family without Akito's permission, so Leon must be somehow important enough to be valued by Akito. He was a blonde man and not much older than Rin, maybe a few years, but besides that Rin couldn't see anything wrong with the man. He looked as if he were just asleep.

'What an ugly plant.' Rin thought when she saw the dark green plant that had been sitting on the side of the man's bed. Some idiot had gone and put the plant on Leon's bed, no pot, just dirt falling over the otherwise clean sheets. It was amazing that Hatori hadn't seen it, if he had he surely wouldn't have let it just sit there. Jill saw the ugly, dying plant as soon as Rin had and scooped up the dry, dusty dirt and the dried out leaves of the obviously dead plant and dumped it on the side table. There were also fallen red flowers that were all over the body of the foreigner and Rin carefully picked them each up and disposed of them with the dirt and the rest of the plant.


Ayame-


It was obviously all Ayame's fault. 'I never should have invited him here. It was selfish, I'm always selfish! Why can't I just think of other people for once!? If I hadn't wanted to see him, he wouldn't have been shot. Leon didn't even want to come in the first place, I had to practically beg him.'

Ayame had done what he could, when he called his house and told Jill what had happened, but there was little else Ayame could do and he felt guilty about that. He should at least tell Leon's boyfriend what had happened, but he had no way of contacting Count D. No phone number or address and even Jill didn't know where Count D was staying. He remembered Leon mentioning that his little brother was living with Count D and felt even worse. What if Leon died and his brother was suddenly without a family?

Jill frowned and reached over Leon's body, picking up a wire that even Ayame knew should have been attached to Leon's chest, a heart monitor. "None of this equipment's being used? What's going on?"

"I don't know." Ayame went to have a closer look. "It was all attached when I left the room, before 'Tori fell asleep." That was only minutes ago and nothing should have changed. The only person in the room had been Hatori and, according to Jill, Count D and neither of them wouldn't have done anything to hurt Leon.

"Umm...boss?"

"Yes, Mine-chan?" Ayame looked at her and saw that she was missing her normal smile. Instead, she looked a bit nervous.

"You got a call just before we came here. One of your cousins, Ritsu, was looking for you. She sounded very upset and said that there was something wrong with Akito. She seems to think he's dying."

At that moment of heart stopping terror, Hatori woke up with a soft yawn. "Where is he?"

"He who?" Ayame asked, more than a little distracted by the news that he and all his loved ones might die any time. At least, that was the theory. The Souma family had never gone without a head for very long and every time it was forced to go for a short time without a head the family had suffered. It had been awful. Sudden sickness and rashes of suicide ran through the family, sometimes whittling it down to nearly extinct. Somehow, a head was always born and it was obvious who the newborn child would be. The child was always born small and sickly, born the usual two months premature, and always with dark grey eyes. It was the eyes that gave away the child's destiny. No one had such eyes as the head of the Souma family.

Hatori looked around, looking confused, before he shook his head. "No one. I...I guess I was just dreaming. I thought I could stay awake longer than that." He stood slowly and looked at Rin sharply. "I didn't tell you to get out of bed."

Rin opened her mouth, no doubt to retort, but Jill interrupted her. "Did you take these things off Leon?" She held up one of the disconnected wires to show Hatori, who looked mystified.

"Good afternoon, Jill-san. No, I didn't." He went to check Leon, looking him over carefully, though he didn't reattach the wires immediately. Leon had been shot in the back so he'd been put on his stomach to rest with his head turned slightly to the side. Hatori looked at Leon's face, pulling back Leon's eyelids to look at his eyes. "This is...very odd."

"What's odd?" Ayame and Jill both asked at the same time.

Hatori didn't answer. He put his fingers on the side of Leon's neck, feeling for the pulse and what he felt must have surprised him. He quickly pulled down the blankets on Leon and looked at the white, gauze bandages covering the bullet wound. The bandages were slightly pink, showing that blood was starting to leak through. He pulled a pair of tiny scissors from the pocket of his white doctor's coat and began cutting the bandages. When he was able to peel back the bandages, Hatori's scowl only deepened. "It's only been a few hours. This isn't possible."

Ayame stepped closer and looked over Hatori's shoulder. Leon's back was completely healed. Where there had been a terrible hole in Leon's back, there was nothing but a faded pink spot. "'Tori? What happened to him?" Even Ayame was certain that this wasn't normal.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say this man was never shot." Hatori shook his head and pulled the bandages off Leon before he replaced the blankets, pulling them securely over Leon's naked back. "There's nothing I can do for him. He's better, but I don't know how. I'll have to run more tests, but, from what I see here, he's just sleeping."

"We should go to the estate." Ayame said. He didn't want to think about a new worry, though he was immensely relieved that Leon was going to live. Hatori was the smartest person Ayame knew and it made Ayame nervous to think that Hatori couldn't explain something. "Ritsu called and he said Akito isn't doing well."

Hatori was alert at once, straightening his jacket and turning to Jill and Mine-chan. "Will you stay and keep an eye on him? If you need anything, press that button," He indicated the nurse's call button. "Or go to the nurse's station down the hall to the left. They'll take care of everything for you." Hatori then left, not waiting to see if Ayame or Rin would follow him, though they did.


At the estate-
Ritsu-


"S-shall we go inside?" Ritsu asked, trying not to let his voice shake as he held onto Akito. He wasn't at all used to being so close to Akito and it was making him very nervous. Akito was much smaller than Ritsu had imagined, even smaller than Ritsu himself.

"Yes." Akito said, his breath heavy. He had his arms around Ritsu and leaned so much against Ritsu that Ritsu nearly had to carry him inside.

Ritsu wanted to have someone else around, anyone else who could deal with crisis better than he could. If he wasn't totally supporting Akito's weight, Ritsu knew he'd be pulling at his hair and screaming. One couldn't scream right in Akito's ear, though. So Ritsu bit the inside of his cheek and struggled to bring Akito inside. It was a long walk and Ritsu had time to get nervous. Akito shouldn't have to depend on him.

When they'd gone nearly have the distance to Akito's house in silence, Akito finally spoke in a near whisper. "It all looks clear."

"Akito?" Ritsu looked at Akito out of the corner of his eyes, but didn't stop walking as he dragged Akito as well as he could. Akito didn't answer Ritsu, but his eyes looked as if they were focused on something far away.

"Everything seems clear. Oh..." Akito nearly sobbed. "What have I done?" One of Akito's spider-like hands clutched tighter at Ritsu's kimono. Ritsu had to strain to hold up Akito. "I can't feel my legs." Akito raised one hand up and stared at it as if it were something that didn't really belong to him. "My fingers...they're numb. It's coming for me." Ritsu struggled with Akito, desperate to get him inside where he could get Akito into his safe bed, but it was hard. Akito wasn't making it any easier as he couldn't move his feet, but Ritsu didn't have any choice. There was no one to help and he HAD to take responsibility. Everyone else was gone and Akito was notorious for not letting anyone but his Junikyu touch him. Ritsu held onto Akito's arm that was slung over his shoulder and had his other arm around Akito's waist, not letting him slip. Not for the first time, Ritsu wished he were bigger.

They made the rest of the way through the estate in silence, though Ritsu was very conscious of the stares from nearly everyone on the estate. Rumors traveled remarkably quickly on the Souma estate and it seemed that everyone had already heard of the attack at the front gates. No one approached them, though, and Ritsu was glad. He couldn't deal with the stress of talking to anyone; it was taking all his strength not to burst into tears right on the spot and had the terrible feeling that this was all his fault, somehow. He wasn't sure how, but it must be.

It took nearly an hour to get to Akito's house and, just when Ritsu realized he would have to find a way to open the front door without dropping Akito, he was saved. Hiro and Kisa appeared, both looking as worried and frightened as Ritsu felt, and Kisa slid open the door for them.

"No," Akito protested when Ritsu headed them for Akito's bedroom. "Not there. Take me to my garden. I want to see my birds."

Ritsu had no choice, even though he was pretty sure Hatori would want Akito to be in bed if he couldn't walk or feel his fingers. This didn't sound at all good. Ritsu clumsily helped Akito to sit on the edge of the back porch. "I-I'm going to call Hatori." Ritsu said, desperate to get out of Akito's presence before he did something stupid to upset Akito.

"No." Akito said. "Hatori's taking care of that man, Leon. He saved me, so he deserves to best of care and that means Hatori. I'm just tired, that's all."

"But...your legs..."

"I said I'm just tired! Listen to me, just once I want someone to listen!" Akito snarled, suddenly angry.

"Yes, yes. I'm sorry." Ritsu struggled not to go hysterical. "I'm so sorry, I just thought, I mean...It's nothing." This was why he didn't live at the estate, it was too hard to apologize to Akito.

Akito just looked sulky and put his hands on his lap, though he moved them slowly and Ritsu wondered exactly how much of Akito's hands were numb. "Stop staring at me." Akito grumbled, looking over his shoulder, not only at Ritsu, but at Kisa and Hiro, also. "Why are you staring at me? Why don't you sit down?"

Ritsu didn't dare open his mouth for fear of saying something unforgivably stupid. Instead he began to sit, when Akito spoke again.

"Not back there. Come sit next to me. All of you."

It was the most uncomfortable few moments of Ritsu's life; just sitting in silence with Akito. The birds, Akito's beloved birds, were in bright spirits for some reason. They were singing madly and flying from tree to tree as if they couldn't stand the excitement. Akito was entranced by the exhibition and marveled, "Aren't they beautiful? Shigure gave them to me, when I was very young. That one bird he gave me had babies and they had babies and it kept going on. I loved him then. That moment he gave me the little wren, I knew he was the best. He's smart and very kind. I love him best. He shouldn't have left. I wish Shigure would come home."

Ritsu didn't know what to say about that. It was well known that Shigure was Akito's confidant and if something needed to be done in the family, Shigure was usually the one who 'dealt' with Akito, persuading and manipulating Akito to make sure what needed to be done was done. All at once, though, Ritsu got the feeling that perhaps their relationship went further than anyone guessed. The way Akito spoke of Shigure, it sounded very much like love. Akito loved all his Junikyu, but this sounded like...well, like more.

"I going to die." Akito said suddenly, in a very small voice. "Today, I think. I want to see everyone before I die. Where is everyone?" He looked at Ritsu and then turned to look at Hiro and Kisa, who sat just as awkwardly as Ritsu on the other side of Akito. "Where's my family?"

Hiro spoke for Kisa, as he often did. "I think Kagura's still at the university. She should be coming home soon." Hiro had no snide comments for Akito, he never did. In fact, only for Akito and Kisa would Hiro hold his sharp tongue. "We'll go wait for her at the gate and bring her when she gets home."

Akito nodded absently. "Yes. Good idea." Just as Kisa was getting ready to stand up and go with Hiro, Akito looked at her softly. "I'm sorry. I thought you would hurt him. I wanted to hurt you, but...I didn't want to. You're my family, my tiger. I want to protect you, too." He muttered. "You aren't her. I know that." Then he laughed wildly and leaned against Ritsu's side. "Women. It can't be all women. Junku, she wasn't like that. I remember...I remember her. She would never hurt me." His gaze shifted again to the unusually active birds. "Go away now. Go get the rest of my family."

Hiro and Kisa wasted no time in obeying and nearly ran out of Akito's house. Ritsu felt so helpless. "Would you like me to call Ayame and have him come?" Ritsu asked timidly. He'd be glad to have Ayame close and, if he knew Ayame, Ayame would likely bring Hatori, no matter what Akito had said to Ritsu. Ritsu wouldn't disobey Akito, but if he didn't tell Ayame that Akito wanted Hatori to stay with Leon, then Hatori would come.

"Yes. Call Ayame and tell him to bring Shigure. My Yuki, too. I want them all here. Even Kyou. He's mine, too."


At the Pit-
Chris-


Chris was startled so badly by the gunfire that he stumbled and slipped on the wet floor of the showers and had to be helped to his feet by Suki. Everyone in the shower froze, but very few of them looked afraid. It was Omi, the boy with the scorpion tattoo, who moved first, even when the gunfire continued. Omi dropped the soap and, with the half-dozen other tattooed children, moved towards the single door.

"Stay with me." Suki whispered to Chris. "Omi will check it out." By this time, not only Suki, but everyone in the showers had gone down to their knees and were huddled around each other. Some of the older kids still stood, staying just behind the tattooed children, but looking just as ready to fight.

Chris just felt kind of numb. So much had happened in just the last few minutes that he didn't think he could feel more frightened no matter what had happened. He'd been kidnapped, stripped naked, and now there were gunshots just a short distance away.

Omi went to the door, taking the lead from everyone else and peered outside, cautiously. "It's clear." He announced. "Everyone, get your clothes. Sounds like its coming from the arena."

"Some of the guys were outside." Suki spoke up, though she kept her voice as soft as Omi's.

"We'll worry about them later." Omi started out, not even checking to see if anyone would follow him or not. Everyone did follow and Chris wondered if Omi was the leader of all the kids. Suki said they fought each other. Sometimes they died. But Suki was worried about some of the kids and Omi seemed to be looking out for everyone. So...were they kind of like a family? That didn't seem right. If they fought and hurt each other, that couldn't be a family.

Everyone put on their clothes, abandoned in the hall outside, though to Chris it felt like he was in the middle of a pride of lions. Everyone was highly on alert and their attention was only half on getting dressed. Everyone kept looking down the long, dark corridor where they'd come down to get to the shower and every now and again a gunshot would ring out. One by one, all the kids followed Omi down the hall, though most hadn't bothered to put on shirts and they were all still soaking wet. Omi and the other kids with the black scorpions went first and Chris with Suki went right after them. When Omi came to a door and pushed it open, Suki and Chris were very close to all the kids with the black scorpions.

Chris gaped when he saw what lay beyond the door. There was a man with a gun and a body on the floor in front of him. Across the sand filled room, Chris saw dozens of grownups all holding guns. Chris slapped a hand over his mouth and wanted to get away. He reached out and grabbed Suki's arm, thankful that she didn't pull away as he thought she might. The moment of comfort didn't last long as there was a gunshot and Suki fell.

Unsure of what had just happened, Chris held onto Suki's arm even as she fell and let her weight pull him to the ground. She fell on her face and didn't move again. All Chris could think of was his last memory of Leon, falling from a bullet. Leon had been shot. Maybe Leon was dead. Suki was dead. She wasn't moving at all.

Someone grabbed Chris and pulled him away from Suki, taking him back to the relative safety of the passageway they'd all just come through. Only Omi didn't move; he stood at the front of the passageway, watching the confrontation and Chris was practically pulled to the back of the crowd when he finally looked at whoever had torn him away from Suki.

>Tet-chan!< Chris threw himself into Tet-chan's arms, more pleased than he'd ever been to see his friend and protector. He started to cry, finally able to release all his fear now that he was safe with Tet-chan. >They killed her! They just shot her and she was nice to me!<

"Hush." Tet-chan whispered, petting Chris' hair kindly. "Are you unharmed?"

>I'm all right, but they killed Suki, my friend, and there was someone else dead in that other room.<

"Friend?" Tet-chan's nose wrinkled at the word. "I don't know what's going on here, but the Count said to get you out of here. Let's go home." Tet-chan lifted Chris onto his back and ran very quickly down the maze-like passages that led around the building.

>What happened to my big brother?<

"Your brother's in the hospital. Don't worry, the Count's taking care of him."

So Leon was alive. Chris sighed with relief and let his head rest on Tet-chan's shoulder. Everything would be all right so long as Leon was alive. Leon would find the bad people who killed Suki and he'd make that woman sorry for taking Chris and hitting him. Leon would make everything better.

They were running through the halls when Chris saw a pile of bodies. All of them were very dead, the bones half stripped of flesh and innards showing. >What happened to them?< Chris asked, feeling sick to his stomach. He was going to have nightmares for the rest of his life about this horrible place.

Tet-chan laughed wickedly and ran his tongue over his lips. "They were delicious. Not prime, but very good, nonetheless."

>Huh?<

"Nothing. Let's go home."

There was a terrible scream from behind them and Chris hugged his arms tighter around Tet-chan's neck. >What was that?<

"I saw someone interesting when I was looking for you. I think that's him."


Tet-chan-


Tet-chan had locked all the doors leading into that big room before he'd found Chris, making escape for those inside very difficult. The only door he hadn't locked was the one the children had gone through and that was only because he needed the escape route. Well, that and because it was more fun if one's prey were given a sporting chance. Tet-chan locked the doors happily, nearly laughing with glee as he thought of all the delicious humans he would eat his fill of later. All of the ones in that large, round room were responsible for Chris being kidnapped and now none of them would be spared. It wasn't Tet-chan, though, that posed the greatest threat for those unsuspecting humans at that point. Right then, Tet-chan's main responsibility was to get Chris somewhere safe.

It was the orange haired boy who was trying to look human that would do the damage. Tet-chan knew the boy would as soon as he saw him. It was instinct that told Tet-chan that the orange haired boy was a predator.

Tet-chan also knew that this orange haired boy was of interest to the Count. He could feel the potential for violence lurking under the boy's skin. Tet-chan guessed that this orange haired boy would do most of his work for him. It didn't bother Tet-chan, he could always come back after he'd gotten Chris to safety and hunt down the one this orange haired boy missed, a few always escaped. Oh, and then how he would feast! Those few that Chris had seen were nothing more than an appetizer and Tet-chan hungered for more humans to devour.

For now, Tet-chan was just happy to have Chris.


Kyou-


Kyou followed Kureno's scent through the building until he came out at the strangest place. The long hallway Kyou was following went up a flight of stairs and brought Kyou to, in a strange contrast to the rest of the dilapidated building, a set of large, polished wooden doors. Kureno's scent led through the doorway and Kyou saw no reason not to follow. Still...the doors did look strangely out of place.

Going through the doors, Kyou found himself standing behind two rows of chairs that formed a large circle and, just in front of the first row of chairs, was a waist high metal railing. The room was very large, nearly fifty feet across, with lit with long, florescent lights. Each of the chairs were very fine. They were made of wood with well cared for red, velvet cushions. Unfortunately, the most distinctive thing about the strange room was the stench. It was so horrible that Kyou had to raise a hand to cover his nose and mouth, the smell making his still uneasy stomach roll.

'Jeeze, it smells like a hundred locker rooms in here!' The whole place reeked of sweat, plus the metallic scent of blood that was so strong Kyou could almost taste it.

Kyou walked between the chairs and looked over the edge. He saw that the circle of chairs surrounded, of all things, a pit sunk down about ten feet. The floor of the pit was covered in freshly raked sand and several doors leading out of the pit in different directions. 'What is this? The freakin' coliseum?'

"Stop! Get away from me!"

Kyou looked down at the pit just beneath him and a door flew open and a woman ran out, nearly stumbling when she ran onto the sand.

"You can't do this!" The woman turned and looked in the direction she'd run from, giving Kyou a clear look at her face.

Kyou frowned. Ren. She was infamous within the inner circle of the Souma family and even Kyou knew of her and had been warned. She was dangerous enough that Akito had given standing orders that she was not to be associated with for any reason. She'd murdered and worked very hard to help Akito down the road to insanity. They all knew Akito's decree; no one would speak to or acknowledge Ren. She was, in a way, dead to the family. The only time she was allowed back to the estate was at New Years but, even then, she was shunned even more than Kyou was.

"Guess again." The reply was from a very familiar voice. Kureno walked into the lowered Pit far calmer than Ren. Dressed as he usually did, in plain trousers and a white shirt, Kureno hardly looked threatening. Kyou didn't know him well, only that the rooster was always with Akito and was probably his most faithful servant. Kureno would do anything Akito asked, without question.

Kyou's hand inched towards his bracelet, but Kyou stopped himself. He had the strongest urge to show himself, to set his monster free. 'What am I thinking?' Kyou shook his head. 'Must be something in the air.' He focused on what was happening below him and tried to ignore the urge to take off the bracelet. He didn't want to do that. He didn't want to be a monster.

Kureno was holding a gun and Kyou sucked in a breath at the sight of it. He wondered how long Kureno had been carrying a gun and if that was why he was always with Akito. A bodyguard. It wouldn't have been unusual for the head of a house as prominent and wealthy as the Souma family to have a bodyguard and, given Akito's sickly nature and importance to the family, it was unthinkable that he not have a bodyguard. Still, this was the first time Kyou had ever really thought about it.

"You'll be thrown in jail!" Ren screamed desperately. "Whose orders are you following, anyway? Akito's mad as a hatter and you're nothing but his tool! He's using you! Don't you have a mind of your own?"

Kyou couldn't help but think that Shigure was right when he'd once said Ren was as bright as a rock. She was in no position to insult Kureno.

"Yes, and my mind tells me to obey Akito." Kureno answered, without a trace of emotion. "Your reaction is foolish. Akito warned you very clearly to stay away from the estate and the family. You disobeyed. You were warned about the consequences." Kureno aimed calmly and Kyou thought that maybe he should try to stop Kureno. He should yell out or something. Instead, Kyou just stood where he was and watched.

Ren's eyes grew wide with terror as she saw her own death swiftly and surely approaching. She grew desperate. "You're surrounded by armed men, you'll never leave this place alive! You shoot me and all the guards will come running."

Kureno fired the gun and Ren didn't have time to react before she fell, hit. It wasn't a quick death, Kureno had shot her in the belly. Ren screamed with all her might and tears ran down her cheeks. She clutched her stomach as if that could stop the blood from leaking out.

"Justice." Kureno said, walking towards Ren. "You tried to kill Akito. You shouldn't have done that."

"Freak!" Ren screeched up at Kureno who now stood over her. "You're nothing but a freak of nature! Oh, God! You've killed me."

Kureno lowered his gun only long enough to pull out a knife from one of his boots. It was quite long with one serrated edge. Kureno plunged it into Ren's chest and, for the first time since Kyou had seen him, showed emotion. Kureno's face hardened with something far greater than fury. He pulled hard at the knife, now yanking it downward right down to Ren's pelvis. Ren's innards spilled out onto the sandy floor before she died and she spent a moment staring down at her insides in stunned disbelief before she heaved one last gasp and fell face first onto the sand. She twitched once before her body stilled and Kyou nearly choked on the smell.

'He killed her. He really killed her.' Kyou felt his racing heart stop. He'd never seen anyone killed before. 'This can't be happening. He's a murderer. What am I going to do? Shit, oh, shit.' Kyou's hands tightened on the banister. He felt cold all over. 'My cousin's a killer.'

As Ren had predicted, Kureno's gunshot had roused the rest of this strange place and the doors around sandy pit were opened to reveal a great many people with guns raised. Kyou became even more alert with the guns trained on Kureno. He couldn't allow one of the Junikyu to be killed. Kureno was family. Kyou's hand slid down to his bracelet again and his fingers hooked over the beads.

Kureno didn't seem all that upset, finding himself the target of so many guns. It was as if he didn't care at all. He just stood there, the gun held loosely at his side.

Kyou wanted to take the bracelet off. It had felt heavy ever since that weird guy with the purple eyes and long hair had done...whatever it was that he'd done to Kyou. Since he'd been sick the bracelet felt heavy and Kyou wanted nothing more than to be rid of it.

"Welcome back, Kureno." A man dressed very finely stepped out among the armed men and women, looking very confident. He was tall and heavily built, with a black cigar hanging from his lips as he spoke.

"Wei." Kureno said, evenly.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to return." He glanced at Ren's body, now staining the sand with her blood. "Still, it's good to know your training wasn't in vain."

One door, the last unopened door, opened and Kyou was shocked to see a dozen or more children appear. They were all different ages and some of them looked as young as five years old. The first one through the door was a boy no older than Kyou. He wore plain grey trousers and a tattoo on his chest. There were several children behind him, some with tattoos and some without, both boys and girls.

It was bad timing.

One of the gunmen, Kyou couldn't see which one it was, opened fire, probably startled by the sound of the door opening. One of the children, a girl with shaggy grey hair, jerked and fell forward. The children surged back the way they'd come, but that one gunshot was enough. The first boy who'd come through the door, one with the scorpion tattoo on his chest, stood in the doorway as if he were shielding the other children behind him. His eyes never strayed from what was going on in the middle of the arena. Not a single person made a move towards the shot girl, not even to check and see if she was still alive.

Kyou saw red.

That little girl was no older than Kisa.

Kyou's tore off his bracelet and let it fall to the floor before he threw himself over the railing and let himself fall the ten or so feet to the sandy floor where Kureno was in the line of sight of all of those guns. He couldn't control his fall, as the change began to overtake him the moment his bracelet had come off, and he landed roughly on his side.

The agony!

Kyou arched and writhed, biting back screams as his body reformed itself into his other, natural self. He heard screams around him, he heard Kureno yell for him to stop, but it was to late. Kyou's body grew, the bones and muscles lengthening, his eyes changed showing the world in strange colors of black and white and red and green. He heard the sizzling of his own flesh as it reshaped, the terrible heat burning him from the inside out.

Then it was done and Kyou stood up, raising himself to his full height, looking around at his stunned, silent enemies. They'd killed a helpless little girl and they were going to kill Kureno. Kyou's vision refocused on the human creatures around him, their thundering heartbeats and the scent of fear that suddenly permeated the pit.

"Dear God, what is it?" Came a frightened whisper.

"That smell! I'm going to puke!"

"Kyou! Get out of here!" Kureno seized Kyou's arm and tried to pull him away, but even Kureno was no match for Kyou's tree form enraged. Kyou grabbed Kureno's hand and lifted him easily into the air. Kureno gave no sign or hint of fear when he met Kyou's eyes. "Akito will be angry when he heard you've revealed yourself to so many people."

Another shot rang out and Kureno's winced when the bullet hit him in the arm. He didn't cry out, though the colors did drain from his face.

"Kureno!" Kyou snarled and turned away from his injured cousin. He tossed Kureno backwards, towards the children, hoping that Kureno would be able to keep the children safe, before he looked at the shooters. It was the man, Wei. His eyes narrowed and cold, Wei took aim again, this time at Kyou.

"Shoot, you clods! Wei shouted without taking his eyes from Kyou. "It's a monster of flesh and blood. Kill it before it attacks."

The hail of bullets began immediately and Kyou held up his massive arms to shield his faces. It didn't take long for Kyou to realize the bullets weren't hurting and he lowered his arms. Oh, he could feel the bullets, but the pain was nothing more than that of bee stings to his hard exoskeleton.

'They're killers. Evil.' Kyou looked again at the body of the little girl who'd been killed. 'Kisa. That could have been Kisa. Not one of them even tried to help her.' A stray bullet that was meant for Kyou hit another child, a little boy near Kureno. The child grabbed his stomach with both hands and fell to his knees. Crying, the little boy didn't die, but kept his eyes clenched tightly closed and it was Kureno who put an arm around the little boy and was helping him to lay down. Kureno didn't try to get near Kyou again and Kyou was grateful. He didn't want Kureno to be hurt.

"Stop it!" Kyou yelled, his screeching, inhuman voice resounded like thunder even above the gunfire when he looked at the gun wielding men and women.
No one listened. The guns never wavered in their aim at Kyou, even though it was obvious that it was doing no good. The bullets bounded off him.

"Stop! Stop!" Kyou raised both of his claw-like hands over his head and bashed them into the floor, sending up a cloud of sand and dust. "I'll kill you all, stop it!" One child dead and one injured. Kureno was shot. "Don't make me kill you!"

Still, no one listened.

"They're only little kids! You'll kill them! Stop it!" It was no good. Kyou knew, by this time, that they wouldn't listen and there seemed to be no end to the rounds in their guns. If he didn't do something, everyone would die.

Kyou sprung at the attackers and the first one he killed was Wei. The man looked surprised when Kyou was at him so suddenly, but it wasn't hard with Kyou's true body. His long, muscular legs were able to make the long leap across the sandy floor and his hand was around Wei's head before his feet landed. It was so easy. Kyou crushed Wei's head before the man had time to cry out. Blood and pink brain leaked out between Kyou's fingers before he opened his hand and let Wei's corpse fall.

Silence virtually echoed as the gunfire had stopped when Kyou had begun to move. As if his sudden movement had made them all realize what they were up again. A few tired to escape, but found the doors they'd come in from locked tightly. A mass panic spread through the crowd of attackers and the gunfire began again in desperation.

It didn't matter what they were thinking or feeling, Kyou didn't care. They were worthless, undeserving of pity or mercy. They hurt little children.

Kyou remembered a lesson his master had once taught him. "You must always protect those weaker than yourself. You've been blessed with great strength, Kyou. Use it."

Kyou did as his master had once taught him. Kyou began killing and just couldn't stop. Kyou's mind dulled to the screams and the smells and the sights around him. He didn't care, so long as they all died. He went through the terrified crowd, killing and killing, lost in the carnage. Kyou ripped them apart and beat them against the floor or walls until they were nothing but unrecognizable lumps of flesh.

When it was over, Kyou stood in the middle of the sandy floor, his heart rate slowly lowering and his breath evening out. For a moment, he looked around, alert for more enemies, but no one was left. The only life in the room was Kyou and the cluster of staring children who huddled around Kureno.

Kyou realized what he'd done and horror overtook him.

'Akito was right.' Kyou looked down at his bloodied hands and back at his victims. The people he'd killed. 'Akito was right all this time. I AM a monster.' What he'd done stunned Kyou. This time it was bad people he'd killed, but what about next time? What if he got to angry and he hurt Tohru or Yuki? What about the rest of the family? The people at school? 'I should be locked away.' Kyou gave one great leap upwards and landed where he'd begun, at the raised seats. He paused only long enough to grab his bracelet and slip it on before he began running.


Kureno-


"Kyou! Kyou!" It was too late. Kyou was gone and Kureno was left alone with a room full of corpses and a dozen or so children. It was time to evaluate his priorities.

Ren was dead. That was the most immediate problem solved.

A bullet had hit his arm, but it was little more than a big scratch. The blood loss was minimal, so his life wasn't at risk. It could be taken care of at a later time.

Kyou's actions were very...unexpected. Yet, not an emergency. Kyou was unharmed, except for possibly his emotional state, and would survive. He would return to one of three places-Kazuma's dojo, Shigure's house, or the estate. At any one of the places, he would be taken care of. It was the result of Kyou's transformation that would have to be fixed.

That left one problem to be solved. The children were all witnesses to the Souma family secret. They had seen Kyou's original self.

Kureno looked at the children and saw so much of his life in them. He knew them, their lives and fears; he'd lived them, after all. All the stony faces that looked back at Kureno were masks, the only protection that these children had. Without hopes for a better future outside the Pit or a dream of what life could be, all they could do was turn inward and try not to break under the stress of their lives.

"Your owners are dead." Kureno's statement was met by calm, guarded stares. They didn't care. Why should they? Not a one of them harbored affection for the adults who 'took care of them'. The children all knew they were nothing more than valuable property. "What will you do now?" This time, Kureno got more of a reaction to his question. Some of the younger children looked confused. Kureno knew they were probably frightened, even if they wouldn't show it. They had no life outside the Pit, no family or friends or even an education. They couldn't live outside their only known world.

If Akito hadn't bought Kureno and taken him into the safety of the Souma estate, he never would have left the Pit. As one of the few lucky chosen to be marked by the Black Scorpion, Kureno would have survived his childhood, though he didn't know what lay beyond it. For those children not marked by the Black Scorpion, life ended at their eighteenth birthday. Adults were useless to a business that was supported by child murderers. Customers paid to see children, not adult, fight and kill.

"Come with me." Kureno holstered his gun and began his way out of the Pit. He wouldn't force any of them to go with him, but he knew they would come.

"Why?" The question was asked by the oldest boy amongst the group, one of the Black Scorpion and therefore one of the more dangerous ones. It was this boy who now carried the younger injured boy. The poor child had long since passed out from pain and was held limply.

"Why not?" Kureno locked eyes with the boy. "Where else will you go? Come with me and I will give you food and a place to spend the night." It was all Kureno could offer, but it was enough. Really, they had no where else to turn. "I'm Kureno."

"I'm Omi."

So, like the pied piper leading his band of laughing children, Kureno led the somber faced children of the Pit out into the light of day. They followed him without question about where they were going. It wasn't trust, but a lack of any better direction. There were other children, the ones who'd been outside the Pit, a few lucky ones who had been given permission to sit in the sun for a few hours. They hadn't seen anything and were no risk to the family, but Kureno didn't turn them away when they fell in with the rest of the children. They wouldn't survive without help.

'Hatori can take their memory of Kyou's transformation and then...then...' Kureno had no idea what would happen to them. Akito would perhaps turn them out onto the streets or, if he were in a kindlier mood, perhaps he would call child-welfare on their behalf.

Part of Kureno wished that they would be treated gently, in whatever life they were given after this. They deserved a childhood. A real childhood.


To be continued...


Author's note: Thank you for all of you who've reviewed the past chapters. The next chapter, I'll thank you properly. I hope everyone's enjoyed this chapter..

Till next time...