Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Long Denied ❯ Long Denied Explanations ( Chapter 21 )

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

Chapter 21: Long Denied Explanation


Tohru-


She woke laying on a soft patch of grass and looking up at a canopy of tree branches, full and
lush with bright spring leaves. The sun shone brightly through the branches and Tohru had to
blink from the sharp, almost painful brightness of it. She couldn't see the sky, only the sunlight.

‘A forest?' Tohru sat up slowly and looked around. ‘Shigure's forest? Where am I?' She wasn't
hurt at all, but she remembered falling from the second story window of Shigure's house. She
should be hurt. Tohru wasn't one to question good luck, but it was strange. How could she have
gotten so far from Shigure's house?

She was also completely naked. Tohru gasped and put her arms up to protect her modesty,
though it really didn't do any good. Where on Earth had her clothes gone to? ‘Thank goodness
there's no one around.'

"What a pretty little thing you are."

Tohru screamed.

"I'm not that scary."

When Tohru stopped screaming and actually looked at the speaker, she saw a strange boy
standing with her. He was about her age, but she had never seen anyone so wild looking. His hair
was bright red and tied into a very long braid that hung over his shoulder with careless ease. One
of his ears was pierced with a dangling metal fish and he wore tall black combat boots. Over a
sleeveless black shirt that revealed quite a good deal of his stomach, the boy wore a see through
shirt and a gold crucifix on a chain around his neck. She couldn't try any harder to cover herself,
but Tohru tried.

The boy didn't seem to even notice Tohru's state of undress.

"I heard we had a new lady with us, but I didn't believe it. Especially not when the lady is put in
my glen. No one ever comes here, especially not someone like you." The boy stepped closer
until he stood over Tohru and held out his hand to her. His fingernails were long and sharp, like
little knives. "Let me help you to your feet, lady."

"Lady?" Tohru's voice squeaked and she blushed at such deference. Yuki was the only person
who'd ever spoken to her with such out of place respect and she was only just learning how to
deal with that. She could think of Yuki as a prince and that explained his exquisite manners, but
she didn't even know this boy. "Oh, there must be a mistake. I...uh...I don't really know what's
going on, but you must have mistaken me for someone else. I, that is, could you tell me where I
am and how I get home?"

"I can tell you where you are, but I don't even know where your home is." The boy was still
holding out his hand and grinning wickedly. "Won't you let me help you, pretty lil' miss?"

He was being so polite and it would be rude to refuse. "Yes, of course. Thank you very much."
Tohru reached up and let the boy take her hand. His fingernails, while very long and sharp,
didn't dig into Tohru's hand. "Please, do you know where I can find some clothes?"

"What a lot of questions you have. I can find you some clothes, lil' miss. You can have anything
you like, we're all pretty relaxed about that sort of thing. I'm not sure why you'd want to put on
clothes though. It's not like you have anything to be ashamed of." His eyes crinkled, as if he
were trying not to laugh, and his tongue shot out to lick over his lips. "You're so...delicious
looking."

Tohru paled and snatched her hand away from the strange boy's. ‘Kyou always told me I'd get
kidnapped and Shigure said to beware of perverts in the forest...! What have I walked into?!'

The boy laughed merrily and danced away from Tohru on nimble feet. "Teasing! Just teasing!
Don't worry, here, you can have this. There ya go." He slipped off his sheer shirt and tossed it to
Tohru. Unfortunately, Tohru had to reach out to grab it, giving the strange boy a clear look at
Tohru's body and he laughed when she pulled the shirt on as quickly as possible and held it
closed with her hands. It didn't do much good, but Tohru felt better jut having something on.

"You can call me, Ten-chan." The strange boy said when he'd finished laughing. "That's what
the Count likes to call me. You're in my glen, just like I said. It's a little too quiet here, but it's
home. Certainly better than where I came from. The way you're talking, I guess you must be
new here, huh?"

"The Count? Who's he? Where am I new?" Tohru tried not to sound as horrified as she felt, but
she couldn't help but think of all her friends. What would everyone think if they saw her like
this? Naked but for a see-through shirt and talking with a complete stranger in the middle of a
forest. If Ten-chan would just point Tohru in the right direction, she could find her way home
and find out what happened to everyone.

Ten-chan looked surprised and his eyes, shaded with orange color, sprung open. His eyes, when
Tohru looked closely, were different. They were green, but the pupils were long and slanted.
"The Count? Well...he's the Count. You must have seen him when he brought you here. Didn't
he give you a room?"

"I don't remember anyone bringing me here. I just woke up. I thought I was at Souma Shigure's
house. Do you know where that is? I really have to get home, everyone will be worrying."

"No matter where your home is, it's no where near here." Ten-chan shrugged, making his narrow
shoulders roll. "Oh, well. The Count will be back soon and I'm sure he'll explain everything. He
must have a reason for bringing you here, even if I still can't figure out why you're in my den
instead of with the other birds."

"But who is the Count?" Tohru paused when she realized what he'd said. "What do you mean,
‘other birds'?"

Ten-chan looked up at the canopy of trees and the light shining down at them. "You really don't
know anything, do you?" With his head tilted back, Ten-chan's hair fell back, revealing his ears
and Tohru gasped in surprise. Ten-chan's ears were long and pointed and the first thing Tohru
thought of when she saw them was a movie she'd seen with Kagura and Kisa. The three of them
had taken a girls night out, on Kagura's insistence, and gone to see a movie about elves. The
elves in the movie had all been very beautiful, but nothing like Ten-chan except for the long,
tapered ears. "Do you honestly believe you're human, little miss?"

"Of course I'm human." Tohru answered, though she had a troubling memory. Something that
nagged at the back of her mind. Just after she'd been thrown out the window there was a strange
memory of feathers and a warm hand holding her.

"I can see you and, trust me, you are NOT human." He smiled at Tohru, showing off his sharp
canines. "Why don't you come to the lake and wash up a bit? You look like you'd like to wash
your face."

"I really shouldn't stay." Tohru tried to protest, though Ten-chan didn't listen and pulled her
along anyway. "I have to go look for Yuki and Kyou; I need to see if they're all right."

"Who're they?" They'd already gotten to the lake which Tohru somehow hadn't noticed before.

"My friends. They were attacked and I tried to help, but..."

"Wait, wait. YOU tried to fight?" Ten-chan asked in amazement. "Lil' miss, you can't go against
nature and you, most definitely, were not meant to fight."

"How do you know? You don't even know me."

Ten-chan laughed again. "It's pretty obvious, don't you think?" Ten-chan squatted down next to
water and gestured at it. "Take a look at yourself, lil' miss."

Tohru did as he said, though she felt more than a little nervous, and looked into a water. Her
reflection wasn't there. Instead, fluttering in the air just next to Ten-chan, was a small, grey bird.
When Tohru spoke, her voice was no more than a whisper. "What's happening?" Tohru's knees
felt weak and she moved to sit on the ground next to Ten-chan. When she did, the little bird that
was her reflection, also landed and stared back at Tohru with shiny black eyes. "What am I?"
Tohru's voice was faint, but she could clearly see the little bird's beak opening and closing with
her words.

Ten-chan put a hand on Tohru's shoulder and his reflection put a hand on the little bird's head.
"A bird. Who do you think you are?"

"I'm Tohru. I KNOW I'm Tohru. Please, I just want to go home." Tohru couldn't stop herself
from crying and she doubled over, squeezing her eyes tightly closed. She really didn't want to
look at her bird's reflection.

Ten-chan patted her back. "Awww, come on, don't cry. It's not really all that bad. You're a very
pretty bird." He didn't seem to understand the problem, but Tohru was glad he was such a nice
boy.

She leaned into Ten-chan's side for just a moment before Tohru realized just how foolish she
was being. Crying never solved anything and she wasn't going to just sit here and feel sorry for
herself. She was a person, not a bird. It was a trick or something. "I'm sorry..." She started,
looking up at Ten-chan. "I'm being very silly. I really have to leave."

Ten-chan didn't look happy with that. "I really think you should talk with the Count before you
go anywhere, lil' miss. You shouldn't be wandering around on your own if you don't even know
what you are."

Tohru managed a strained laugh. "I get it. You're playing a joke on me. You really had me
scared, but I have to go."

Ten-chan turned his head slightly to the side and then closed his eyes. All of a sudden, in a
graceful, fluid movement, Ten-chan changed shape into that of a silver-white fox with nine long,
fluffy tails. It wasn't an illusion or trick of the light. The boy, Ten-chan, was gone. "Don't be
afraid." The white fox told Tohru. "You'll get used to us. You're in no danger so there's nothing
to be sad about. I'm new here, myself, so I'll look out for you. I'm a kitsune, so I can take many
shapes and forms, but this is what I really look like. You belong here with us."

And Tohru found that it was true. She tried to touch Ten-chan, but her hands weren't hands any
longer. Instead, she had wings. Tohru found herself on the grass, looking up at the now huge
Ten-chan. He leaned down and lay his head on the ground next to her. "Stay here a while, lil'
miss. The Count will be back soon and I'll stay with you till he gets here."

It wasn't a dream. It was all real. ‘I'm not human.' Tohru couldn't escape that reality. Ten-chan
was no boy, but a fox spirit. Tohru felt very lost and very alone.


Yuki-


It was perhaps the most stressful couple of hours that Yuki had ever had to endure and that
included the nights he'd spent locked in the small room in Akito's house. At least when Akito
decided Yuki needed punishment for something he perceived Yuki had done wrong Yuki knew
what was going on. He knew Akito was sick and he knew the door would eventually open and
he'd be let out. At the time, Yuki had felt as if he were going through Hell every time he was
locked in that room or Akito would start in a rage and beat him. Now, knowing that Tohru and
Kyou were in serious danger, Yuki felt as if nothing else mattered. He hated, more than anything
else, depending on other people yet somehow he'd come to depend on Tohru and Kyou very
much. He needed them.

Shigure had been largely silent ever since they'd started towards the estate and that was strange
in itself. Though Shigure was still leaning on Yuki, he didn't seem nearly so dazed as he'd been
when Yuki had found him. Shigure's eyes were far away, as if he were thinking deeply about
something.

"I think I've figured it out, Yuki." Shigure said all of a sudden. "It's taken me a long time, but I
think I know what's going on." It was Shigure's idea to go to the estate and Yuki really didn't
have any better ideas. His rats weren't giving him any information at all and he had no clue
about where to look for Tohru or Kyou. After he took Shigure to the estate, he would go to
Kazuma's dojo, that seemed like the most logical place to look. He still couldn't figure out what
had happened to Tohru, though.

Yuki scowled, the stress of the passed few hours coming out in his venom laced words. "You
only NOW figure out that we're in trouble? My, but aren't you sharp today?"

"We've been in trouble for a long time, Yuki, but you don't know just how long. Thousands of
years it's been going on and now we have to deal with the past. He went after Kyou, you know.
What is it about the cat that makes it special? Different?"

"We all know how Kyou's different. What's all this babble about?" Yuki didn't want to listen to
Shigure's nonsense. This day was hard enough to deal with without Shigure's going on about
who-knows-what. He desperately wanted to go look for Kyou and Tohru, but he couldn't just
leave Shigure alone, not in his half-dazed condition.

"How different is Kyou? Why?" Shigure persisted, meeting Yuki's eyes with an intense gaze.
"Kyou is a Souma, one of the cursed. We all know that. If he were just like us and reality
followed the legend, Kyou should change from a human into a cat and that would be all. Didn't
you ever wonder about Kyou's original self? None of the rest of us has an original self, only the
cat. Doesn't that strike you as just a little bit odd?"

Yuki turned away from Shigure, uncomfortable with the questions he had no answers to. Yuki
was a very intelligent boy and he was rightfully proud of his mind. These questions that Shigure
were asking had no answers and Yuki didn't like that. He'd always believed that every mystery
had a solution, but he never had been able to figure out the curse. "It's just the way it is. What
are you hinting at? Do you know something about that man who attacked Kyou?"

"I think...I just think I may. But there wasn't only one, you saw three of them, just like I did. I
want to know who the other two are. They didn't try to hurt Kyou and tried to stop the first one,
from what you tell me. They might be who we need."

"I don't understand a thing you're saying." Yuki told Shigure and wondered if his eccentric
cousin was delirious. He'd seen the three men who all look very similar, like twins, and the one
cloaked man who'd told him that Tohru wasn't human. He'd seen them come in through the
window, which wasn't normal for a start, and he'd seen how badly the long haired one had hurt
Kyou. What was Shigure talking about? ‘They might be who we need.' Why would they need
people who could hurt them so badly?

Shigure's hand tightened on Yuki's shoulder, almost painfully. He whispered softly, "He cursed
our family."

"What?"

"He is the cause of...of everything!" Shigure's normally placid face twisted with hate for but a
moment and his fingers dug painfully into Yuki's shoulder. Then, his face went calm again and
he seemed to look within himself. "All the pain. It's all his fault. He took something from us that
was so vital to the family that it nearly destroyed us."

"What did he take?" Yuki asked in spite of himself. Whatever had happened to Shigure was
obviously affecting his mind. Shigure couldn't know the cause of the curse. It was just to much
to hope for. He would keep Shigure happy and talking until they reached the estate and Yuki
could deliver him to Hatori.

"Our cat." Shigure went on in a dreadful voice. "He murdered our cat and that set the family in a
downward spiral."

"Kyou's not dead, he's still alive!" Yuki didn't like the thought of Kyou dead. Despite all the
fights they'd had, Yuki's stomach clenched at the thought of Kyou being killed. It was possible,
Kyou had lost a lot of blood and he'd been disoriented when he'd left the house. Anything might
have happened to Kyou.

Shigure wasn't listening to Yuki. "Everyone wants power. Its greed, pure and simple. What
power, though? What does Kyou have that no one else on Earth has? His original self. It must
have something to do with the original self and the bracelet. Power. That's the key. Everyone
desires power of one kind or another. Power to protect. Power to excel. What can the cat do?
There must be something..." Shigure's voice died away and he suddenly stopped walking, his
eyes fixed on something ahead. When Yuki followed his gaze, he saw the strangest animal. It
looked like a rabbit with bat wings and horns. It's feet were webbed, like a ducks, and it had a
long, rat-like tail. "Q-chan." Shigure gasped, his eyes wide with shock.

"You know what that thing is?"

The rabbit thing was sitting in the branches of a tree on the side of the road. It wasn't actually
doing anything and, if it weren't for the fact that it was blinking at them, Yuki might have
thought it was some kind of joke. The little rabbit thing squeaked at them before it flew off the
branch it was sitting on and flew down, hovering in front of Shigure. It looked him square in the
face.
"You are Q-chan, aren't you? Just like in the diary." Shigure's voice was hushed with awe and it
froze Yuki to hear something like that from Shigure.

What diary could Shigure be talking about and why was his talking to an impossible creature? It
was impossible for that rabbit thing to exist, yet it did. Yuki was looking at it with his own eyes
and he trusted his eyes more than anything. He believed in what he could see, therefore he had to
believe that the rabbit thing was real. Impossible, yet real. Just like the Zodiac curse.

Shigure let go of his hold on Yuki and, for the first time since the bizarre attack on their home,
stood up straight and tall, staring back at the thing he called Q-chan. "What's going on? You
helped us before. Can't you help us again?"

Q-chan didn't answer, but kept flapping it's wings and staying in front of Shigure. It squeaked
unintelligibly and showed off tiny little fangs.

"Please," Shigure begged desperately. "Tell me something! Anything! I need to know what's
going on! I'm the protector, how can I protect if I don't know what's going on?"

Again, Q-chan just squeaked.

Yuki spoke up, still not sure why he felt slightly disappointed that Q-chan failed to answer when
Shigure obviously expected it to. "Shigure, you said we have to get to the estate and I have to
find Kyou and Honda-san. We should go." He didn't know what the rabbit thing was, but they
had more important things to do than talk to a strange animal. Kyou could be dying and Tohru
was probably very badly hurt from her fall. To make it all worse, not one of the rats Yuki had
sent out to look for his missing friends had returned with any word of them. In fact, it was almost
as if the rats were purposely avoiding Yuki.

"No!" Shigure shrugged off Yuki's hand and spoke with more life that he had in all the time that
Yuki had known him. "We can't leave now! Q-chan has the answers." Just as Shigure said that,
Q-chan abruptly turned and began to fly away, down the sidewalk towards the local park.
"Wait!" Shigure called out after it. "Come back, don't go!" Shigure started after Q-chan and
Yuki went after Shigure.

"Where are you going?" Yuki cried out. Shigure was a lot faster than Yuki had thought he was
and Yuki was only just able to keep up, even running as fast as he could go. It was shocking,
really. "You said we have to get back to the estate!"

Shigure slowed a moment, but he didn't stop chasing Q-chan. "I have to have answers. I've
waited so long to know, this could save us all."

"What are you talking about?!" Why was it always so hard to get answers from Shigure? Even at
times like this Shigure seemed to be talking in circles.

"The curse! He knows how it began!" Shigure put on another burst of speed and Yuki found
himself falling behind.
‘Damn him!' Yuki thought as he grit his teeth and prepared to try and catch up with Shigure.
Before he got very far, though, Yuki saw something out of the corner of his eyes. A long haired
man in a kimono that made Yuki looked twice, it was Kazuma and there were red hand prints on
his kimono sleeves. Kazuma, a highly intelligent and serene man, was standing with a shocked,
almost horrified look on his face. He was staring down a street that intersected the street Yuki
and Shigure had been running down. Yuki looked back up at Shigure, quickly vanishing into the
distance, before he sighed and changed directions. He'd catch up with Shigure later.

Kazuma, a kind and quiet teacher, had always been good to Yuki. He never pushed Yuki for
anything and gave him space, even in training. Training had always been a special time for Yuki.
It was a time when nothing mattered, not the curse, not the family. Kyou took classes with Yuki
and it was the only time when neither of them fought. Kazuma, unlike the rest of the family,
expected them NOT to fight. Controlled sparing was allowed, brawling was not. So though they
disliked each other and didn't actually talk during lessons, Yuki and Kyou were able to get along
for an hour or so every few days. Even their expected feud meant nothing during training.

For Kyou, Yuki knew, martial arts was a way to show his gratitude to Kazuma for adopting him.
Kyou knew how much Kazuma valued his training in the art of fighting, so Kyou went to great
pains to become the best possible student. Naturally, Kyou had become excellent at fighting as
he threw himself into it, body and soul.

Yuki had also become very good at the martial arts Kazuma taught, but for a different reason.
Yuki had no one to impress, no family that would be proud of him for his accomplishments. At
the time, it had seemed that Yuki had no one to impress but himself. It was a control issue for
Yuki. At a time in his life where he felt completely out of control and he'd begun dangerous
experimentation at finding something he could control, a time he'd gone through a battle with
anorexia, silence, and suicide attempts, martial arts lessons had become a saving grace. While
Kazuma's lessons weren't able to entirely stop Yuki's self-destructive behavior or make life all
that much more attractive, it was able to give Yuki a small amount of pleasure to know he could
control one small thing: his own body.

Kazuma's patience and kindness were the only happy memories he had of his childhood and
Yuki had always been grateful. He couldn't just walk away when Kazuma was looking so lost
and forlorn.

"Master?" Yuki called out when he crossed the street. "Master, are you all right?"

Kazuma didn't seem to hear Yuki at first, he was staring down the side street so intently with
unreadable eyes. When he did turn to look at Yuki, Yuki saw that the red marks he'd seen on
Kazuma's arms were hand prints. Bloody hand prints. "Yuki." Kazuma said in greeting.

"What's going on? Are you hurt?" Though for the life of him, Yuki couldn't imagine anyone
strong enough to hurt Kazuma. Even in the Souma family, where fighting was as much a
tradition as anything else, Kazuma was a legend.

"Kyou..."
"You've seen Kyou? Where is he?" Yuki asked urgently, desperate to find at least one of his
friends.

Kazuma raised a hand and pointed down the street he'd been staring down. "That way. He...he
ran away from me. Said he didn't want to be near me." The pain was so bare that it hurt Yuki
just to hear it and he looked at Kazuma with pity. "Something happened. There was blood
everywhere." Suddenly, Kazuma wasn't the ever calm, serene teacher he had always been. He
was a father and he was terrified for Kyou.

"I'll find him, master." Yuki promised.

Kazuma nodded and looked at Yuki. "Bring him home, please."

Yuki's eyes went to Kazuma's temple, though. "Master, what happened to your head?" There
was a small cut on Kazuma's left temple. It was barely bleeding, but there was a thin trail where
a few drops of blood had dripped down the side of Kazuma's face.

"Kyou's gotten stronger." Kazuma said, raising a hand to his cut temple. "It surprised me. He
wasn't so strong or fast just a short time ago."

"Kyou attacked you?!" Yuki couldn't help the disbelief in his voice. He knew how deeply Kyou
loved and revered Kazuma. He had never thought that Kyou would ever raise a hand to
deliberately hurt Kazuma.

"He didn't want me near him. He said I couldn't help him. I tried to talk to him, but he didn't
want to talk. He gets so stubborn and he was so upset. He didn't mean to hurt me. I think he was
as surprised as I was."

Yuki didn't know what to say to that. He nodded once and started away in the direction Kyou
had gone.


Kyou-


Kyou didn't know how far he'd run or where he'd gone, all he wanted to do was get away from
what he'd done. He couldn't stop himself from shaking, even as he ran. He just wanted to get
away from the blood. ‘I never wanted to hurt anyone. Not even Yuki, really.' That was a big
admission from Kyou, but it was the truth. The whole rivalry was ‘expected'. It wasn't real. Oh,
that didn't mean that Kyou liked Yuki. The rat irritated Kyou more than anyone else on the face
of the planet, but Kyou didn't actually hate him. Well, not all the time, anyway. He was family
and Kyou enjoyed the thrill of the fight to much to want to hurt Yuki. The objective was to
defeat Yuki in fair combat, not kill him. He didn't want to kill, but he had. He'd killed so many
people.

"Damn it, this is your fault." Kyou growled once he began to slow his break-neck pace and he
looked down at his wrist. It was just like that horrible dream, that wasn't a dream. The guy that
hurt him so bad and made him so sick had come to him in a dream and the bracelet bled. Now,
the bracelet was once again coated in blood. "Other people's blood. I don't want you. Why me? I
never did anything to deserve this. I never wanted to be a monster." He didn't care that people
were staring at him as he walked down the street. What did any of them matter? They all went
about their blissful lives, ignorant of anything that went on around them. None of these stupid
humans had the slightest idea that a monster walked amongst them.

"That boy's soaked in blood!" Someone whispered, staring at Kyou.

"Someone call the police."

"No! It's not our business."

"But, he must be hurt."

"Leave the kid alone. Pretend you don't see him, he'll be fine. He could be dangerous, from one
of those gangs."

Pretend you don't see him. Pretend he doesn't exist. It sounded so familiar. Pretend you don't
see the cat, maybe he'll go away. ‘None of them wanted me around, anyway. Smart. I was just to
stupid to realize they were right. Mom killed herself because she couldn't bear to be near me.'
Kyou thought of his mother, her face strained with a smile and lined with wrinkles worry had
brought to her early in life. Kyou had always thought his mother was so beautiful, right up until
the end when he watched her raise a gun to her forehead and... "She knew I was a monster, but
she tried to love me. Maybe she was right. Death was the easiest way out for her, no problems
after death, right? Maybe...' Kyou's eyes lifted from the bracelet that kept his hated self from
emerging to what lay before him. The street. At this time of day, the streets were filled with cars
and it would be so easy to just step out in front of one of them. ‘Maybe death's for me, too. The
family can't lock me up if I'm dead. I'll never hurt anyone again if I'm dead. The monster won't
get loose. No down side, right?'

Kyou was so focused on what suddenly seemed like a very good idea that he didn't see where he
was going and he rammed right into someone.

"Kyou! Where have you been? I've been terribly worried."

"M-master?" Kazuma had grabbed Kyou by the arms and Kyou reflexively did the same. They
stood there a moment like that, just looking at each other. "What are you doing out here?" Kyou
was very conscious of the drying blood on his face and hands and clothes. He thought there was
even some in his hair.

"Looking for you." Kazuma swallowed hard and looked Kyou up and down very slowly. "Is any
of that yours?"

"No, master." Kyou answered. "I have to go, master." He had no excuses for the way he looked
and didn't think he could tell Kazuma the truth. How could he possibly tell his gentle master
what he'd done? To Kyou, it didn't matter that he'd done what he'd done in Kureno's defense or
to protect more than a dozen children. Excuses were worthless and the only fact that mattered
was the end result. The simple fact was that he was a murderer. Kyou tried to push passed
Kazuma, but Kazuma stood firm.

"Go? Kyou, tell me what happened. We have to get you home and cleaned up. No matter what
happened, we'll fix it."

Fix it? Kyou began to laugh. He couldn't stop and he felt really stupid for it, but it really was the
funniest thing. They could fix the fact that Kyou had killed. He'd left the still warm corpses just
laying around and the police were sure to find them sooner or later. Lots of people must have
seen Kyou walk into that weird place. So Kyou laughed. Kazuma was right, though. Akito could
fix it all. With one phone call, Akito could make it all go away. No police, no newspapers. No
one would ever hear a word about what had happened; that was how great the power of the
Souma name was. Kyou kept laughing until tears ran down his face and Kazuma was staring at
him as if he'd gone mad.

"Fix it? It won't go away." Kyou said when his helpless laughter dissolved into sobs of despair.
"None of this is ever going to get better." His voice began to rise hysterically, but Kyou couldn't
seem to stop. "No matter what anyone does, it can't be fixed. You can't just fix what I am!"

"What can't be fixed?"

Kyou looked up at Kazuma with tears still in his eyes. "Me." Kyou let go of Kazuma's arms and
held his hands up in front of Kazuma's face. "THIS! Look what I did. I killed them."

Kazuma's expression softened into an affectionate smile he often wore for Kyou. "I don't care if
you ate them after you killed them. You're my son, in all but blood. I love you." Kazuma put a
hand on Kyou's head. "I will help you, no matter what's happened."

"But you can't help." Kyou tried to explain. He realized he couldn't. No matter how much
Kazuma might want to help, he would never be able to understand what it was like for Kyou to
be a monster, to know he was dangerous.

"I'll do anything I can for you."

Kyou knew Kazuma meant what he said. Kazuma never lied. He would do anything for Kyou if
he thought it was for the best. Kazuma had taken the risk of stealing Kyou's precious bracelet
and though he though Kyou would hate him and maybe even kill him, Kazuma had done it. Now
that the whole nightmare was over, Kyou understood that Kazuma had done it for Kyou's benefit
and not as some kind of hateful punishment. He'd done it so that Kyou would finally know
whether the people he cared about could fully accept him. It was a worthwhile pain, as far as
Kyou was concerned. Kazuma had done something for Kyou that Kyou would never have had
the courage to do. He showed Tohru what Kyou really was and, thankfully, Tohru could accept
it. If Kazuma hadn't done what he'd done, Kyou might have had to keep that secret from Tohru
forever and he really didn't like lying to her.

"I'm sorry." Kyou muttered.

"Sorry? For what?"

Kyou swung his fist up and hit Kazuma on the side of the head, sending him rocking to the side.
Kyou started running, not looking back even when he heard Kazuma call for him. He owed
Kazuma everything, but, more importantly, he loved Kazuma. No one could ask for a better dad
and it was just because of his respect and love for Kazuma that Kyou had hit him. He wouldn't
allow himself to stay near anyone he cared about when he was so dangerous.

Kyou didn't run long before his legs began to tire very suddenly. He was coming to the end of
the alley, but there was a figure standing, outlined against the light at the other end of the alley.
He thought it was a woman, at first, but when Kyou got closer, he wasn't sure.


Shigure-


Shigure followed the fluttering Q-chan like an obsession. He hated leaving Yuki behind, but
Yuki was unharmed by the attack and quite able to get back to the estate on his own.

Q-chan, the talking animal that had helped the first Souma's to escape the clutches of Count D.
Could this be the same Q-chan or was it a descendant of the first one? Shigure desperately hoped
that whatever the creature was, it could answer his questions.

Q-chan led Shigure to the nearby park, always staying just far enough ahead that Shigure
couldn't catch up with him. Finally, after leaving the main paths of the park and blindly
following Q-chan, Shigure was nearly out of breath. It was then that Q-chan perched on a low
hanging branch of a tree and stared at Shigure with what seemed like amused eyes.

"Well?" Shigure demanded, half bent over with his hands on his knees as he panted for breath.
"What now? Don't just sit there looking at me. You know what's going on, don't you? Tell me!
It's not fair, we're the ones who have to suffer with it, we should at least know what's going on.
Who the Hell are you?"

Q-chan took flight again, but didn't fly away. Instead, it hovered for a moment and, before
Shigure's shocked eyes, began to change form. It wasn't a puff of smoke or the terrible,
agonizing change that took the Junikyu or Kyou. This transformation was graceful, as delicate a
change as a the day fading into night. Q-chan folded it's wings around itself and it grew,
stretching until it was nearly as tall as Shigure and Shigure's mouth fell open.

"You have questions?" Q-chan was gone and, in it's place stood a man shrouded in a long black
cloak. Shigure couldn't see the person's face well, nothing more than the nose and mouth, due to
the deep hood that shadowed the person's face.

"Who are you?" Shigure breathed. He shouldn't be so shocked. There was more magic in the
world than most people would ever want to know about and Shigure was part of that magic,
whether he liked it or not.

"You know who I am. I am now called Sofu D. I am the original, you might say." The cloaked
figure didn't look up enough to give Shigure a close look at his face, but Shigure wasn't entirely
sure he wanted a close look. He had a pretty good idea what he would see, anyway. "And you
are Souma Shigure of the cursed Junikyu, the Twelve. The dog guardian of a dying family."

Shigure tried not to react to the ‘dying family' part, but it was hard. "What do you want? Why
have you done this to my family?"

"I have done nothing to your family that has hurt you. However, I will admit my part in this. My
beloved child has committed this crime and it will be corrected. He is already being punished."

"Punished?" Somehow, the word didn't seem strong enough. This person had caused so many
generations of pain for the Souma's. "What kind of punishment could be sever enough for nearly
destroying my family?!" Shigure demanded.

"I never said he was being punished for what he did to your family." The cloaked Sofu D
grinned at the idea. "He is being punished for a broken contract."

"A contract?"

"All contracts must be honored and my beloved child did not full fill his part of the bargain. The
one you know as Ren signed a contract with my child. She would provide a distraction so he
would have the opportunity to get the cat of your family. In exchange for the distraction she
would provide, my child promised to deliver into her hands the Souma family. This woman,
Ren, kept her part of the contract, but did not receive her payment. She is dead, you will be
pleased to know."

Shigure's mouth fell open at the mention of the name. "Ren? She was involved in all of this?"
He hadn't seen Ren since last New Years, the only time of the year when she was allowed to
associate with the family. In fact, though Ren was ostracize from the family, she was still
expected to at least make an appearance at New Years. Shigure had to admit that he was pleased
to hear Ren was dead.

Shigure remembered it well, because he and Kureno each took turns guarding Akito during New
Years for fear that Ren would do something stupid. Of course Kureno would be constantly on
guard, but even he needed time to rest and Shigure would cover him then. At nights, when
Kureno slept, Shigure would spend that time with Akito. It was no great hardship to spend New
Years with Akito.
"Yes, Ren WAS involved." Sofu D smiled. "She has suffered a most regrettable accident."

Now confronted with the people who had tried to destroy his family, Shigure really didn't know
what to say. There was one question that needed to be answered. "Why Kyou? Why was he
attacked and why is the cat so important?"

The man held out one of his pale, long nailed hands and opened it, palm up, to show what he was
holding. A small cocoon, like that of a moth or butterfly. "This is an infant. A precious,
defenseless treasure locked in a prison. It doesn't yet know what it will become. It doesn't
understand what a glory it will become in just a short while. This is your cat." Sofu D whispered
his words now, as if speaking any louder would break the magic his very presence cast. "A
cocoon is a thing of great magic. A few threads of protein all woven together in an instinctive
pattern. The larvae don't even know how or why they do what they do when they weave the
cocoon around themselves. Genetics drive them, as they do all living creatures."

"Are you trying to tell me Kyou's monster is a result of his genetics?" Somehow, that sounded
terribly wrong.

"I am trying to tell you that the monster, is not a monster." In Sofu D's hand the tiny cocoon
began to unravel. "For to long has the cat of the Souma's been restless. It, too, needs a cocoon. A
place of peace to rest and grow, allowing it to maturing into it's ultimate form. Your cat is in it's
larval form. It has yet to grow."

Shigure wanted to interrupt, but he felt speechless. Like a child, Shigure just listened and tried
to make sense of what Sofu D was saying. It seemed to make sense, but Shigure had never
though of Kyou in this way before. A larval form? Kyou was a teenager, nearly an adult, but it
was true that he still had much maturing to do. Kyou was often like a young child, throwing
temper tantrums when he didn't get his way and running from problems instead of dealing with
them. Since Tohru's arrival, Kyou had begun to grow, but he was still child-like.

"A great transformation has been long denied." Sofu D whispered as the cocoon tore open and
revealed a small, wet creature with faint colors decorating it. It dried far faster than Shigure
believed was possible for a newly emerged butterfly and began fluttering its wings. "If your
family is to survive, your cat must endure one last transformation."

"Another one?" Shigure was horrified at the thought of Kyou having to suffer yet another
transformation, something to make him even more of an outsider than he already was. "He's got
to suffer more than the cat and his monster?"

"Your cat suffers not from any of his shapes, but from the lack of his proper shape. He suffers
from emotional stress put on him by a family that does not know how to accept him. He suffers
because he has been taught to despise himself." Sofu D held his hand up slightly and the brightly
colored butterfly took off, fluttering away until it was so far into the sky that Shigure lost sight of
it. "To thrive, the butterfly needs only a short time of rest and solitude. Your cat requires the
same and, once his metamorphosis is complete, he will heal your family."

"I don't understand."Shigure hated the way he sounded, so helpless and stupid. He felt like the
whole puzzle was on the table in front of him, but he was still missing one very important piece.
"How can Kyou heal the family? Can Kyou break the curse, is that why the cat isn't included in
the Zodiac?"

"You know that the cat holds a power unique even to your family."

Shigure went cold at that statement. The only way Sofu D could know that was if he knew about
the diary and that was supposed to be a closely guarded secret. Even the rest of the Souma's
didn't know about it. Did that mean all the secrecy had been for nothing? Had Sofu D and his
strange offspring been watching the family the entire time?

"I see the worry in your eyes." Sofu D said, unconcerned. "No, I have known nothing of your
family until recently. I know what I know because I am Kami. You wouldn't understand any
other explanation. Your ancestor hid your family well, concealing it from my child by diluting
your blood with that of humans. It was a very clever idea and it worked very well. We had no
idea where you were until a few short days ago. That was a pity. Had we been able to find you
centuries ago, we might have been able to help each other."

This brought a whole new spin into the situation. "You need something from us?"

"From your cat, to be precise. The bracelet. My grandchild needs that bracelet, it is apart of him.
Your family could have been healed long ago had we only been able to find you."

Shigure remembered the words of the wolf bitch he'd run with just a short time ago, the one
who'd warned him of the coming of the three Kami. "The unwanted child." He said out loud
without really meaning to.

"Yes," Sofu D said, though slightly grudgingly. "I suppose he could be called that. His creation
was...less than ideal. His perfection was marred by careless thought."

"Then the other would be the Lost Son and you would be the Father of All."

"Poetic descriptions. You seem to know my family. I suppose your canines told you of our
coming. No matter. As I was saying, we can help each other. The work has already begun. You
cat is cleansed of human blood, now returned to it's natural larval state. Now it will begin to
desire the change that will come upon it. My grandchild is determined to help, he feels the guild
of what his father has done."

"I didn't think a Kami would feel something so human as guilt." Shigure knew it was a cruel
thing to say, but Sofu D didn't seem bothered at all.

"Yet you feel guilt. Are you going to try to convince me you are human? No, my grandchild is
Kami, though imperfect. His heart is to open and he feels for the unkind things his papa has
done. This is not the first time my grandchild has worked to undo damage his papa had wrought,
though this is the first time it has been such a grand scale. Never before has my beloved child
come so close to genocide."

"Genocide?" Shigure asked. "What's he trying to kill?" The destruction of an entire species was
never something to wish for, but Shigure wondered why this had anything to do with his family.

"Do you not understand? He has come very close to destroying your species. The Zodiac. Now,
my grandchild speaks with your cat and tries to convince him to return to our home. The damage
done to your family must be undone and now that it has begun, it must be completed."

"Why? Can't you just leave Kyou alone?"

"If we do, he will die with in days."

"What!?"

"Perhaps even hours. His source of power is the sun and he is unable to control how he absorbs
it. Even now, his body is like a sponge, taking in more and more energy until he won't be able to
hold it any longer. As an adult, he would be able to control how much he takes in and he would
be able to give energy. Did you never wonder why the sun affects him so greatly."

"But it's not the sun, it's the rain that affects Kyou. When it rains..."

"When it rains, during daylight hours, your cat becomes moody and listless. He has no energy.
At night, your cat sleeps very deeply and always wakes at sunrise. It is not the rain that makes
your cat sleepy, but the lack of the sun that saps his energy. His body expects the sunlight, but
can not have it. Once he has matured, your cat will be able to store the energy gained from the
sunlight and use it even when there is none available."

Shigure swallowed hard as the realization hit him. "So...Kyou's a battery?"

"Yes. A solar battery and he is meant to be the power source for your family."

"No, no." Shigure interrupted as one of the foundations of his life was questioned. "Not the cat,
the head of the family gives his life energy for the family. We never understood how, but the
head of the family gives his own life energy to sustain the rest of the family. We couldn't survive
without him."

"And where, do you suppose, does the head of your family get his power?"

That single question make Shigure stop and pause. It wasn't possible...was it? There was one
more question that worried Shigure. "Why are you telling me everything, now?"

"Because you are necessary to the survival of your family. My grandchild heals your cat, but
there is one other person in your family that needs healing, immediately. The head of your
family, Akito, is dying even as we speak. If he is not brought to my home very quickly, he will
die before your cat is able to help him. You must convince him to go with my grandchild."



Count D-


The cat was in deep despair, a grief so black it made him run from a person who offered him
unconditional love and support. It wasn't an unsurprising act and for it, D was reminded of what
Leon might have been like in his youth. A hot temper and so unsure of who might care about
him that he pushed everyone away. Though Leon knew he was cared about by many people,
most of all D and Chris, he still tried to push them away at times. It was almost as if he couldn't
believe it wasn't some kind of cosmic joke and he didn't want to take the risk of being hurt when
he lost the people he cared about. That was just how the poor cat was acting, especially now that
he didn't understand why his body was changing so rapidly.

D had to pity the cat child, Kyou. Now that D knew Chris was safe and being taken back to the
Petshop, where he'd be safe, and that Leon was well on the road to recovery, thanks to the
Gattolotta, he could concentrate fully on why he'd come to Japan in the first place. He would do
what he could to help the Zodiac family. Of course, there was only so much he could do. It was
all up to the cat, in the end.

Kyou ran smack into D, knocking himself down he was running so fast. He fell with a curse
hissed between his teeth.

Kyou was truly a beautiful child and D felt a stirring of want, desire, to have this unique cat as a
part of his collection. With orange hair and freckles, the cat looked as if he would one day grow
into a lovely adult. Of course, that was now a necessity.

D could see the poor child's hands shaking uncontrollably and knew that Kyou wouldn't even
know why he couldn't control himself. The sun's energy was so great that the cat's immature
body couldn't handle it. If all things were as they should be, the head of the Zodiac family could
siphon some of the energy from the immature cat until it grew into it's true shape and was able
to control how much of the sun's energy it absorbed. In this case, since the head of the Zodiac
family was also polluted with human blood, he was unable to serve his function properly. This
was possibly a deadly circle and D once again caught himself cursing his papa's actions. If only
he'd been able to reach the cat first.

When the cat, Kyou, looked up and saw D, he immediately went on the defensive. Not at all
surprising considering what Papa D had done just a few short hours ago. The pain and agony had
been completely unnecessary and, had D been the one to take the cat's human blood from him,
he could have made sure Kyou slept through the entire ordeal. He wouldn't even have had to
remember what happened.

‘Papa always has to do things the hard way.' D thought. He knew his papa hated humans and
that, in his mind, papa D probably thought he was only hurting the human part of the cat. It
wasn't a very good justification, though. After all was said and done, not considering the
potential power within the cat, Kyou was a child and D hated seeing any child in pain.


Kyou-


The man smiled even as Kyou's body tensed. He wanted to run, but just couldn't seem to move.
"What do you want?" Kyou snarled. This man was far to much like the other one, the one that
had pushed Tohru out the window. For a moment, Kyou visualized Tohu's broken, twisted body
in the garden under the window. He hadn't seen her body like that, though. Yuki said he didn't
know where Tohru was either and that was worrying. Maybe Tohru had hit her head and she was
confused. What if she'd just gotten up and walked away, into the forest, before anyone had
realized what had happened to her? Tohru wasn't able to look after herself properly when she
was well, what if she was hurt and just wandering around?

"You are such a beautiful child." The man crooned. "Full of fire and life."

The stranger's hair was shiny in the sunlight and almost purple. The whole problem was that he
was to much like that other man, the one with long hair. Kyou knew it wasn't the same person,
but only because of the hair and the mismatched eyes. Everything else, even their voices, were
identical.

"Shut up."

"Even so frightened and confused, you are beautiful."

"Shut up!" Kyou had no idea what to do. He knew this man was dangerous, but every part of his
instinct told him to go to the man. This man was with the one that hurt Yuki and Tohru.
"Just...just leave me alone!" He felt so stupid! There was no way Kyou could find the words to
say what he wanted to say.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, little one. You feel like a thousand insects are crawling
all over your flesh. You can smell everything, hear everything, see everything. A short while
ago, you vomited a large quantity of blood, yet you don't really feel the loss. You have so much
energy building inside of your body, but you don't know why. Your mind is racing and your
heart thudding, but you can not stop either one. You feel unsteady, as if you might lose your
balance at any moment. You feel the monster within you trying to escape and, what frightens
you the most of all, you wish to release the monster."

Kyou swallowed hard. How? How had the man known so intimately what Kyou was feeling?
"No." Kyou shook his head as he started to back away again, but stopped when his feet bumped
into his master's fallen body. "You're wrong! I don't want to let my monster go. Who the Hell
are you, anyway?" Kyou desperately wanted answers and hoped that maybe a few would stop his
world from collapsing around him.

"You may call me Count D. I think..." He came foward until Kyou could see both of the man's
eyes very clearly. "It is time for you to grow up. I must apologize for what my papa did to you. It
was terrible and I never would have done anything like that. I can give you peace, child. What
would you do for that? Just peace and rest."

To just rest for a little while...it sounded very tempting. "I"m a monster. I'll hurt you." Kyou
knew he shouldn't go with the strange man, there was no reason why this guy wouldn't hurt him,
too.

"Perhaps you will, but I doubt it." Still, the beautiful man held out a hand to Kyou and simply
waited. "I can make you whole, again. Would you like that? Shall I show you what you are
capable of being?"

Kyou raised a hand to brush the hair away from his face, a habit he had when nervous, but
noticed something. The blood around his bracelet was still fresh and wet. The blood on his
hands, from his terrible crime, had dried a short while ago into dark stains, but not around the
bracelet.

"Ah," Count D breathed, his eyes suddenly going to the black and white bracelet. "So, there it
is." Kyou instantly put his other hand over the bracelet, as if to protect it. Count D smiled at the
sight. "No need to worry. I won't steal it from you, child. If I'd wished to do that, I could have
done it long ago."

"What's so important about it?" Kyou's curiosity got the better of him. "Do you know how it
works?"

"Oh, yes. It's simple really." Count D held out his hand and, much to Kyou's surprise, Kyou felt
his wrist being pulled towards Count D. It was as if the bracelet was alive and trying to get to
Count D. "Apart of me, it wishes to return to me. The black, dried blood even renews it's life
when it gets near me."

Kyou blinked and looked down at the bracelet. The black beads were indeed turning red and
Kyou realized that the blood on the bracelet wasn't from the people he'd killed, but from the
bracelet itself.

"It's only a bracelet, it's not alive!" Kyou insisted.

"Perhaps." Count D shrugged as if it didn't matter and lowered his hand. When he did, the force
pulling his hand toward Count D vanished. "Will you come with me, child? Back to my home
and allow me to help you?" When Kyou didn't answer for a moment, Count D added, "Shall I
make your monster go away?"

Kyou's eyes widened with fear. "You know about..."

"I know everything about your family, Kyou. Yes, I know about your ‘monster' and I know how
your own family treats you for your monster."

Count D's eyes were very deep and Kyou couldn't help but remember a trip he'd once taken
with Kazuma to the sea. It was Kyou's tenth birthday and Kazuma had taken Kyou out sailing on
a ship. Kyou had loved it, but the thing he remembered most was when he'd looked over the
railing and down into the sea. The rolling dark sea was unlike anything Kyou had ever seen and
he couldn't help being afraid. The sea had seemed so endless and Kyou could see dark shadows
of...things...moving just under the surface of the water even though he couldn't quite see what
they were. That was what Kyou thought of when he looked into Count D's purple and golden
eyes. It was dark and unfathomable, but utterly transfixing.

"I can change everything for you. Is that not what you always wanted?"

Kyou thought back to what he really did want, what all his fighting was all about. The real
reason why he kept fighting with Yuki. "I want freedom. Can you stop the head of my family
from locking me up?" It was a ridiculous question. Even Kyou knew that no one could stop
Akito from doing whatever he damned well pleased.

"Easily. When we are finished, child, you will take orders from no one." Count D spoke with
such great confidence that Kyou found himself hoping that maybe it might be true. "Will you not
come with me, child?"

"With you? Why would I go anywhere with you?" Kyou felt as if something were building up in
his heart, but he wasn't sure what it was. His head also felt like it was filling up and his blood
still felt like it was burning. Even the hairs on his arms seemed to sensitive, itching with every
little breeze.

"Because I can help you, child. I know what you are feeling and I know why." Count D went on,
keeping his voice soft and low. "Come with me to my home. I can give you a place of peace and
safety for a time. Wouldn't you like to know what is going on within yourself?"

"I know what's wrong with me. You! Longer hair, but it was you. You say that guy was your
dad, well why should I believe you?" Kyou shook his head and regretted it almost as soon as
he'd done it. The throbbing of his building headache increased with the sharp movement. "I'm
not just going off with you." Kyou gasped and squeezed his eyes shut as a shot of pain ran
through his head and he could feel his heart start to speed up. "You think I'm stupid?" That was
still bothering Kyou; why he'd been attacked in the first place. Why had he dreamed about his
attacker and who was it in the cape who'd helped Kyou in his dream. What about the winged
rabbit? Had that been real or just apart of the nightmares?


To many questions and Kyou's head was hurting so badly. He had to find out what happened to
Torhu and Kureno had been shot, Kyou ran off without even trying to help his cousin, Shigure
had been laying on the ground and now he'd been so rude to Kazuma. So many problems and it
was all because of Kyou.

"I am telling the truth. I look just like the who hurt you because he is my papa." The man's smile
turned slightly sad. "I can tell you that what he has done to you was necessary, though
unpleasant."

"Unpleasant?! I thought I was gonna die!"

"No. You will not die, yet. Not if I am able to prevent it." Count D said thoughtfully. "My papa
does many things I do not approve of and the treatment of you and your family is one of them."

"My family?" Kyou opened his eyes as much as he could, the pain was nearly blinding from t he
sunlight. "What did he do to my family?" It went against all logic to believe anything this
strange man said, but with all that had happened in the past few hours logic wasn't the first thing
in Kyou's mind. He couldn't imagine anyone else in his family being put through the Hell he'd
had to suffer through at the hands of that long haired guy.

"My papa cares nothing for your family, child. He will not lift a finger to harm or help them, it is
you that is on his mind."

"Why me?" With the headache subsiding, Kyou was able to focus on the conversation again.

"Because he knows what you will become and, now that I have met you, I also know. You are a
very valuable child."

Kyou glowered. He knew the truth and didn't need this guy lying to him. "I'm nothing." He
grumbled. Not only an ugly monster, Kyou as now a murderer many times over. "Why don't you
just leave me alone?"

"Because this is my responsibility." Count D sighed dramatically. "I had hoped to do this in a
more comfortable situation, perhaps with tea and cookies, but if you're going to be so stubborn
and suspicious, we'll have to do it here."

"Of course I'm suspicious! You're not a trustworthy person!"

Count D's eyes widened a moment before he laughed. "For a moment, you reminded me of
someone I know. You both have the most fiery tempers. As for being trustworthy, I only do what
I must do. You should be pleased; this time I must help you." He reach out and touched Kyou's
shoulder. "I will not fail you and, once we return to my home, you will be safe. No one will hurt
you in my care."


Kyou actually found himself considering it, even as he pulled away from Count D's hand. He
didn't want feel like this. He didn't want to feel so sick and out of control.

"There is only one thing I ask of you."

‘I knew there would be a catch.' Kyou thought.

"I must ask for your bracelet."

Kyou balked, his hand going to his bracelet, protectively. "It's mine."

"After all of theses years that it has been in your family, considering how emotionally dependant
you are upon it, and that my papa gave it to your family, I have to agree. It is yours. However, I
must warn you that it is doing nothing to benefit you."

Kyou, quite rightfully, thought that Count D was only trying to get the bracelet. He needed it,
even if he didn't want it. Even if it did feel heavy and itchy, as if it didn't belong on him any
more. He still needed it. He needed to keep the monster under control.

Count D seemed to know what Kyou was thinking. "You are quite mistaken. That bracelet is not
for controlling yourself. It is your prison. A cage you keep yourself in."

Kyou remembered the dream so clearly. The black and white beads of his bracelet surrounding
him, a prison he couldn't get up the courage to break free of. "I don't keep myself in a cage." He
protested. That was what he was fighting for, all this time. Freedom from that stupid family
custom of enforced isolation.

"If you take off the bracelet, then you will truly begin to grow." When Count D saw in Kyou's
face that he really didn't understand, he seemed a bit disappointed. "An explanation in full then?
Well, best that you know everything, I suppose." And he began to speak.

Kyou listened in dumbfounded silence as Count D spoke and he couldn't believe what he was
told.

"My papa took the human blood from you, leaving only the pure blood of your people. That's
why you feel so sickly, you are not used to the sudden blood loss or your body operating as it
should. My papa intended to harness your power, your ability to absorb the energy of the sun,
and use it for himself. My family is the only one, outside of your own, which can utilize your
gift. It would give us some power, such as being able to feed our more exotic pets, but little
beyond that. My papa wants you chained to that bracelet and in his power for a much simpler
reason. I believe he simply wanted to add to his collection. The rarest of the rare, you are a
beautiful addition to any collection. Aside from that you and your family has a talent that my
family does not and that is rare. My family has the ability to compel any creature to do exactly as
we please, we are able to force obedience. Animals love your family, however. You do not need
to force your will upon them. My papa is jealous. I am afraid it really is as petty as it sounds."

Kyou felt as if his brain were stuck on one little fact. "He took my blood?"

"Well, it is more to the point that he forced your body to reject to reject all of the blood in your
veins which was not from your original species. That is why you vomited so much. This will
make you both more powerful and easier to control. You feel ill because your body has not been
allowed to mature naturally, impeded by the bracelet. It was the human blood, dulling your
power to the point of nonexistence, that kept you from feeling so terribly ill.

"Your ancestor, the first and only cat to be forced to endure being imprisoned by the bracelet
without human blood, felt the way you do now her entire life. She lived in constant misery while
my papa forced her to murder when contracts with our family were broken. Fortunately, she did
not live long after escaping my papa. Only when she was with my papa could she live with the
pain. Once away from him, she began to unconsciously absorb energy from the sun. At that time,
the head of your family was able to take small amounts from her, even though the cat did not
mature. That extended her life somewhat, but as soon as the head of your family died, so did the
cat. You see," Count D fixed his deep eyes on Kyou's. "If you do not have some way to release
the energy building up inside of you, you will die. Your body won't be able to handle the power
and there will be fatal consequences."

Kyou had no reason to believe anything Count D was saying. No reason except the pain, the
vomiting blood, and everything else that had happened in the passed few hours. "Maybe that's
best." Kyou's voice was unusually quiet. "I'm not sure I want to live, anymore." After what he'd
done, how could Kyou want to live? He was dangerous. "Maybe I should die."

"Do you believe that death will absolve you of what you have done? The lives you've taken will
never be replaced. Think about your motive for seeking death. Do you feel badly that you had
killed or that you are proven wrong? You know that the people you killed earned their fate, you
have nothing to feel guilty about. I think, perhaps, you agonize because you believe you are
proved to be the monster everyone always thought you were. Taking your own life because you
are afraid to face reality is such a cowardly reason." Count D's smile never faltered as he said
this and if saw anything in Kyou's face, he didn't show it. "What do you think will happen to
your replacement, though? A new cat will be born and the cycle will begin again. The next cat
child will be subjected to the same pain you have lived through. The next cat will be ostracized
and rejected. The next cat will be imprisoned by both the bracelet and the human blood. Will you
put that burden on a child, knowing that you can prevent it? You alone, Kyou, can break your
family's curse."

Stunned, Kyou stepped away from Count D. "You don't know what you're talking about. That
whole story! It must have happened hundreds of years ago, you weren't around then!" It was
more than that. He's come so close to the truth, far to close. Kyou was afraid, not that he'd ever
admit it. He was afraid of what everyone would say once they found out what he'd done. Tohru
wouldn't want to talk to him again and Yuki would just look at him like he was slime. Kazuma,
who'd always had such faith in Kyou, wouldn't trust him anymore. Kyou knew it was the truth.
He was a coward and he wanted nothing more than to escape. To break the curse? Kyou couldn't
do something like that where everyone else in the family in past centuries had failed. It was
impossible.

"I was created shortly after my papa captured the original Zodiac family. My only purpose was
so that my papa would be able to create that bracelet you are wearing. It is made from my blood
and bone. I know what I know because my Sofu told me. Your body will never mature, no
matter how old you may get, as long as you wear that bracelet and I will never be complete
without it. It is in both of our best interests that you give that bracelet up. Will you? Will you
save your family?"

It seemed to much, Kyou just couldn't accept that he could save his family. "This is nuts..." He
muttered. The idea of being so important went against everything Kyou had ever been taught
about himself.

"Perhaps a compromise?" Count D offered. "I see that you are not convinced of my good
intentions. Return with me to my home and take off the bracelet, assume your true self. This
human guise is useful, but unnatural. Stay for a time, a short time, and see what happens. I offer
you a safe haven to stay in. No one will look at you or speak to you unless you wish it and the
bracelet will remain in your possession. If you wish to put it on again at any time, you are free
to. If you wish to leave, you are free to."

"No strings attached?"

"Look at me, child. I am small and frail, am I not? Surely, as your true self, you would be able to
easily overpower me should I try anything underhanded."


It sounded very reasonable and Kyou really couldn't see a downside. If he died, then some other
kid would have to go through everything Kyou had gone through and that wouldn't solve
anything. Maybe...if it was possible...maybe Kyou should trust Count D. It couldn't hurt, really.
Count D already knew about the curse, for some reason, and this way he'd be away from the
people he cared about and wouldn't risk hurting them. What was the worst that would happen?
Perhaps Count D would try to kill him. Would that really be so bad? At least Kyou wouldn't
have to worry about anything anymore and, who knows? Maybe he could save the family, just
like Count D had impossibly promised.

Kyou nodded. "Alright, then." He said in a cautious voice. "Just for a little while."



To be continued...


Thanks to all of you who've reviewed.

Demeter 1: I hope you liked Ren's death, I'd been planning it for a while. I have to admit, I do
enjoy a good death. Yes, I suppose that makes me rather morbid, but she did deserve it. Poor
Kyou had to see the whole thing, but just image if he hadn't been there? Poor Kureno probably
would have died and I just couldn't let that happen. Right? As for Akito's ‘death'...that's another
part of the story I've been waiting to do for a long while.

Grrl N: I hope you liked Haru and Rin's break up. I'm not really sure how it went, so I had to
make it up, pretty much. I hope I got it close to the canon storyline. Kureno started out a cold,
empty husk of a boy and now, thanks to Akito, he's grown into a homicidal, overprotective,
single-minded man. He'll do absolutely anything for Akito. Sigh...I'm very fond of my Kureno,
though I'm told he's not really like that in the manga. Pity.
Anee: Thanks for the review, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. It won't be long till the end,
now.

Ruby Love: This chapter probably answered your questions about what happened to Kyou. With
any luck you enjoyed it, I know I did. Guilt is a wonderful thing, isn't it? It can make a character
do so many interesting things.

Kim C.: I tried to add in the lesser mentioned characters, like Hiro, Kisa, and Ritsu who don't
get as much mention in the story, as I love them all so much. I thought that if anything could
make Hiro keep his acid tongue still and keep Ritsu controlled, if only barely, it would be Akito.
For the first time in his life, Ritsu found himself in a position of responsibility. There were no
other adults around to take care of Akito and Ritsu HAD to control himself. Yes, Kureno is still
locked into a slave mentality, but at least now he serves a better purpose. He guards the entire
Junikyu by guarding Akito and that's certainly better mindless killing for the amusement of
others. It might occur to Kureno that he could call child welfare, but I don't think he would do it
without orders from Akito. He might tell Shigure or Hatori about the situation and ask them to
call, but I don't think Kureno would do it himself unless Akito told him to.
Muchacha: Thanks for writing and I'm glad you liked it. I had almost no transformations in the
story, so I figured that Kyou's ought to be something spectacular. I was very pleased with it.

Ayako: Thanks for taking the time to review. Sanity? Since when have the Souma's had
anything to do with sanity? :)

Twinfin 666: Wow! That's a long review! I'm flattered. I actually enjoy spoilers, thanks for the
info about Kureno. I don't have the later volumes of FB, in fact, the last volume I have is where
Kureno and Uo-chan meet. Hee, hee. That was so sweet. Anyway, I have to admit, I'm a little
disappointed that Kureno's not going to be my vision of a nearly psychotic killer, but I'm sure
he'll be wonderful, nonetheless. He's a Souma, after all. Hmmm...that's a lot to go on in just two
manga, but I'll look forward to getting it for myself. With the Souma's, I'll take any pairing,
they're all lovely together. Shigure and Akito are my favorite characters, though. Oh, I rather
like Kagura. Just think of the intensity of her faith in Kyou. She knows what everyone thinks of
him, the monster, she's seen his original form and she still loves him with every beat of her
heart. All right, so maybe she needs to learn a little restraint, but I still like her. I'm glad to have
helped get your friend into FB, it's one of the best series I've ever run across so the more fans
the better. To be honest, though, Tohru does look like an alien with those eyes. A cute alien, but
an alien. :)

Mercedes No Inuarai: I'm honored that you think I do a good job with Akito. Of course, he's still
scary, but I've always believed that behind every villain is a story. There is a reason why people
do what they do and I really enjoyed inventing Akito's reasons. I wasn't sure about how Yuki
and Tohru ended up in the same class, but it seemed to fit at the time. As for Tohru going
home...I suppose now that she's learned what she is, she'll have to decide where she belongs.
Won't she? I find Ritsu to be one of the most pitiful characters. He's dangling on the edge of
suicide and no one takes him seriously. At best, it seems that he's ignore and just pushed away.
I've always felt very badly for him. Kureno's devotion to Akito is a thing of beauty, isn't it? I
don't know that they ever said anything was going on between Leon and D, but I was a very
deep relationship, whether you believe if it was just friendship or something more.

Harakiri: Wai! Thanks for the gold star! I'll stick it on my computer and keep it forever! Don't
worry about it, Love the review. Hope you like this chapter, too.

Fireblazie: Shigure is, in my opinion, the greatest character in the entire FB series and possibly
in all of anime. I highly suggest Petshop of Horrors, even if you only browse through it at the
bookstore. It's a great series with interesting characters and beautiful artwork.

Cor-chan: I'll take that review as a compliment :) I'll try to inspire the same awe again.

Kireina: That's wonderful! I'm so glad you were that much into Kyou's monster as well as Ren's
death. It was actually difficult to write. I'd been looking forward to it for so long, I wanted it to
be perfect.

Kechara123: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Leon and his vendetta against the Black
Scorpion. I may also do something about poor Murakai still languishing in coma back in
America. Besides, Leon's had a lot of cases, mostly involving Count D and the Petshop, where
he doesn't get many good answers. In this case, though, I don't think Leon would be willing to
just let it slide. Do you?