Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Long Denied ❯ The Death Room ( Chapter 26 )

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

A/N: Dear readers,

Terribly sorry about the delay, I couldn't get onto the site yesterday. I hope no one minds. We're going back in time a little bit with this chapter. I remembered, after posting the last chapter, that we'd left Leon and Jill at the Pit and poor Kazuma didn't know what the heck was going on. So, here we are with them.

Dear Evil Immortal Fanfic Chibi, Is this quick enough for ya? :) Hope you enjoy and thanks for the nice reviews.

All reviewers, I want you to know that I really appreciate you taking the time to write to me, it's very thoughtful of you. I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors ahead of time, but I haven't had as much time to work on this chapter. I've been ill lately. I'll go back and proof read it, but I didn't want to miss my deadline. Sigh...not that it mattered, I missed it anyway. Oh, well.


Warning: gets a little ugly at the Pit.


Chapter 26:


Two weeks previously, at the Pit-
Leon-


It didn't take Leon or Jill long to get their wits together at the Pit. There was too much to do just to sit around with their mouths agape like raw recruits on their first homicide scene. "Police?" Jill asked, keeping her voice low.

"Yup." Though Leon wanted dearly to have a hand in bringing down the Black Scorpion, he knew that they'd have to call the local police in on this, now. While Jill pulled out her cell phone and spoke softly to whoever answered, Leon's eyes scanned over the children they'd just found. They weren't all starved and frightened, as he'd half expected them to look. How else would a bunch of kids look who were forced, according to Omi, to fight for their lives? They should be cowering in fear from anything that moved and looking like little skeletons. Instead, all the kids were of a normal weight, though nearly all of them bore wounds of one kind or another. Most were simple bruises and scars, but there were other, worse injuries.

One boy, perhaps thirteen years old, had a bandage wrapped under his chin and then up around his head. There was a small stain of blood on the bandage and Leon knew something had happened to the boy's ear.

"What the Hell are you talking about!?" Jill's enraged voice nearly screamed into her phone. Leon turned to her at once, he'd never heard her so worked up. In fact, is was usually Jill who calmed Leon out of his bursts of temper. "You've gotta be kidding me! What do you mean you aren't coming?" She listened into the phone, her face paling and then turning bright red with fury. "You cold-hearted bast-" She paused and stared at the phone in irate disbelief. "They hung up on me. They actually hung up on me!" Her hand clenched so tightly around her phone that Leon feared it might shatter in her little hand.

Leon's face darkened. He wasn't the most perceptive of men, but he wasn't entirely stupid. "The police won't come?" It wasn't exactly a question.

"They...they said," Jill took a deep breath and tried to control her temper. "Anything that happens in this neighborhood isn't their concern. They're afraid. They wouldn't even listen to me when I said where we were, those..." Jill's language, usually so civilized, degenerated into foul mouthed curses. After a moment, she seemed to get a hold of herself. "Okay. We'll deal with them later. Right now, we've gotta get these kids out of here." Jill's eyes narrowed as she looked around at the grimy, stinking room. It was really no different than the rest of the Pit they'd explored wit the exception of the arena where the paying audience would have sat and the office with all the records. Those places were clean and well-kept.

"I say we take them back to that guy at the Souma estate." Leon said.

Jill frowned, but considered the idea. "Why?"

"The rest of the kids are already there. Where else could we take them? We'll call the cops again, this time tell them to go to the Souma estate." Leon felt his stomach roll at the thought of the cowardly police. "It's in a good neighborhood, so they shouldn't have to worry about getting their hands dirty." He sneered this last.

Jill shrugged. "I haven't got any better ideas. Let's do it. I want to check them out, first. Make sure they're fit enough to walk." She moved a bit closer to Leon and whispered, "We have to be careful. If these kids are trained like Murakai, then they're all dangerous. We don't know what kind of orders they've been given before we got here."

Leon nodded, but he didn't like it. Jill was talking about taking them down, if necessary. If these kids threatened innocent passersby's then they'd have to get rough with the kids and that thought didn't appeal to Leon at all. "Let's do a weapons check while we're at it."

"You read my mind."

In fact, most of the children were more than capable of walking and some looked as if they were capable of running for several miles. Some of the children were a bit too skinny and no one was an ounce overweight, but they were, for the most part, healthy. The only thing that seemed, in Leon's opinion, to be unwell about the children, was their apparent completely lack of fear. The only exceptions were four or five very small kids who couldn't stop crying. These little children were generally ignored by the older ones and huddled together near the back of the room. Not only were most of them not afraid of Leon or Jill, but they didn't seem to care and just let Leon and Jill inspect their bodies.

The short time they'd spent in the office, with Jill tapping away at the computer, they'd found more than enough evidence to not only make the Black Scorpion headline news all over the world, but also to make them both feel ill. Jill had made copies of all the files and tucked the disks into the pocket of her jacket.

Records of hundreds of kids over nearly twenty years some with a short note attached about how they died. There was only one constant about the files on the children: they had all died. There were files marked 'active' were the children left alive and some were earmarked as Black Scorpion recruits. Jill had found Omi's name in one of those files with a note that he was to be sold to the Black Scorpion in three days.

'He only just made it.' Leon realized, looking over the computer screen at Omi who had stood silently at the door. 'A few more days and he'd have been just like Murakai, a killer.' Leon wondered if Omi knew or even cared how close he'd come to the point of no return. Three days? Could this kid kill now, if so ordered? Leon decided that he would keep a closer eye on Omi. How much practice had Omi had in killing?

Now, in this pitiful excuse for what must be the children's bedroom, Leon wondered if his worry was misplaced. None of the other children seemed to be afraid of Omi and, other than casting him cautious glances, they paid him little attention. Omi had done nothing threatening or even violent since Leon had met him at the Souma estate. A bizarre sort of assassin trainee.

Leon and Jill made their way around the room, taking a quick look at everyone, when Leon found himself at the back of the room and squatting down in front of a little girl with dead, staring eyes. She was wrapped in a thin blanket that covered her from the neck down.

"Hey." Leon said, in way of a greeting.

The little girl didn't answer, but she did look closely at his face. "You look like that kid that was here." She said in a slow voice, as if measuring her words.

"What kid?"

"Suki called him Chris, I think. He's gone, now. I haven't seen him in a while."

Leon had known since Tet-chan had brought Chris home that this was where Chris had been, but the reality of it all still hurt Leon. He hated to think of Chris being in a place like this and was thankful that it had only been for a few hours. It could have been a lot worse if Tet-chan hadn't found Chris when he did. "Chris is my brother. I found him a little while ago and he asked me to come here and help all of you. Who's Suki? Can you tell me what happened here?"

"Suki's dead. They shot her." The little girl said as if it were the most natural thing in the world and nothing to be worried about. "I think she was in the arena. We saw her when we came back. Everyone's dead there. I don't know what to do. We've been here a while and no one's come before you. Do we get to eat now?"

Leon felt a surge of anger when he realized the poor dead child they'd found at the arena with all the dead adults must have been Suki. Now he was going to have to tell Chris that he couldn't save his friend, after all. As hard as it was, Leon tried not to think of the little girl who'd been so callously shot. "Back from where? Where did you go?"

"The outside and around." She told him vaguely. Her eyes shifted uneasily from side to side as if she was nervous just talking to him. Leon wondered if they'd been taught not to speak to adults. Maybe that was apart of why everyone was so quiet. "They let us out sometimes so we can see the sun and have some fresh air, if we're good. We just wander around, sometimes. Sometimes we go up to the roof, you can see the river from up there." The girl looked over Leon's shoulder to where Omi was still standing. "Did Omi bring you here?"

"Yep."

"Oh." That seemed to mean something to her, but whatever the girl was thinking she kept to herself.

"Do you have family?" Leon asked, more to break the silence than anything else.

The little girl looked at him blankly and just pulled the blanket closer to herself. "Not anymore."

"How about a name? What should I call you?"

"Do you have food?" She deliberately changed the subject.

"When did you last eat?"

"Yesterday."

"I'll get you something when we get out of here." Leon let the subject drop and wondered if that guy, Shigure, would have enough food to give these kids. If they hadn't eaten since yesterday then they were all probably starving. Leon had a couple of hundred yen in his pocket, changed from American money, but he wasn't really sure how much food that would buy. "Don't worry, we won't let anything bad happen to you anymore." Leon tried to sound reassuring, but the little girl didn't look all that impressed by his words. "You think you can walk? We're all going somewhere safe. Away from here."

The word 'safe' didn't seem to mean anything to the little girl. "I can walk." She told Leon hesitantly.

"You don't sound to sure." Leon commented. "Can I take a look at your legs, just to make sure you aren't hurt or anything?"

The little girl's expression didn't change, but she opened up the front of the blanket that covered her. Leon blanched when he saw that she was completely naked but for a pair of underpants and he looked away instinctively. "My foot." Leon looked back when she'd spoken, but kept his eyes firmly on the girl's foot, quickly seeing the problem.

Leon touched the little girl's ankle. Without her clothes, Leon could see that she was probably about ten years old, but she was very small for her age. It looked like these kids were fed just enough to keep them healthy and nothing more. This girl didn't even get enough to keep them healthy. 'Maybe they make the kids fight even for their food. The loser goes hungry.' Leon thought, his thumb rubbing against her protruding ankle. Her ankle had obviously been broken a short while ago, but had healed incorrectly. "Does it hurt?" Leon asked. He would have to get her to a doctor as soon as possible. That thought made Leon wonder how the other kid was doing, the one back at the Souma estate who'd been shot.

"Not much." The girl kept very quiet and her guarded eyes never left Leon's face. "Only when I walk." It looked as if her ankle had broken and no one had ever bothered to have it set properly, resulting in the unnatural angle of her foot. "Did you want sex?"

Leon blinked, not sure he'd heard right, at first. He couldn't have heard that right. Leon had thought that his Japanese was pretty good right up until that moment; he'd never had any misunderstandings before then. "Huh?"

"Sex. Do you want sex?" As if every ten-year-old offered sex. "That's what I'm used for now. I used to fight, but I can't with my ankle. So they let people have me for sex. Is that what you want?"

"NO!" Leon tried not to yell, but he didn't succeed well. His face was burning and Leon quickly pulled the blankets back over the girl to cover her. "Don't even think that again!" Leon knew he shouldn't be insulted, the girl had no idea that what she was talking about was wrong. 'Christ, the kid's been raped. How many times?' Leon was sorry that there was probably no way they'd ever be able to catch the people who'd hurt this poor child so badly. Of course, it wasn't just this girl. Leon glanced around the room and wondered how many of the other kids had been violated. It made his stomach roll just thinking about it. Fighting and killing or allowing themselves to be raped. Those were the only two lives available to the kids. Leon swallowed hard. "You said you were away when all this happened?"

"I was on the roof with some of the others. I can walk enough for that."

"You didn't try to get away? Did you try to find a police officer?" Surely if they were allowed to just wander around, then it would have been easy for at least one of them to get free.

She turned her head, curiously. "Where would I go?" It seemed obvious to her that she had no where to go in life other than to this nightmare.
pulling the blankets back over the girl to cover her.

"Where's your clothes?"

"They took them away." She told Leon. "I didn't need them anymore, they said."

"Didn't need them? Why..." Leon broke off when he realized why they thought she didn't need them anymore. With a ruined ankle, she couldn't fight and was useless. They, whoever they were, didn't plan on giving her any medical attention. She wouldn't need clothes if all she was being used for was a sex toy and why waste clothes on her when she was going to be naked all the time, anyway? Leon gave her the best smile he could manage. "Don't you worry. We'll get you fixed up in no time and you'll be running races with the best of them."

She didn't share his optimism. "It won't get better."

There wasn't a lot that Leon could think of to say to that. He tucked the blanket around her tightly and picked her up with his arms under the girl's knees and around her back. She was light as a feather when Leon picked her up and carried her over to where Jill was sitting with some of the older kids, along with Omi, and scribbling quickly on a little pad of paper she always kept handy.

"You've been here for six years?" Jill was asking a red haired boy with only one ear.

The boy nodded. "I guess so." He, like all the children they'd found, was dressed in plain grey clothes. The missing ear, the boy had told Jill, was yet another result of the fighting they'd done all their lives. "I think I was four when I came here. I can't remember exactly."

"That's okay. We just need to know a few things and you're all doing a great job." She turned then and looked at Leon, a grave look filled with grief for these children. "Are we set?"

"I think so." Leon didn't put down the girl in his arms. It would be cruel to make her walk on a foot like that. "I count twenty-eight kids. You?"

"Same here. With the ones we saw back at the Souma place that makes more than fifty." Neither Jill nor Leon said anything in front of the children about police. It was very likely that they'd been taught to either fear or hate the police as a way of keeping them from going for help. This whole situation would have to be handled very delicately.

Leon was never very good at being delicate.

"Come on!" Leon said, raising his voice until the eyes of all the children were on him. "Let's go." Not a single person moved. "Up on your feet." Leon said, hoping to get at least one of the kids standing. When no one moved, still, Leon frowned. "You don't WANT to stay here, do you?"

The little girl in Leon's arms looked up at him with suddenly amazed eyes. "Do we have a choice?"

"Where do we go?" Another child asked, though Leon wasn't sure who had asked.

Omi saved Leon from having to answer, speaking up in his low, monotone voice. "Everyone's dead. There's no one here to feed us. No more orders to follow. We have to leave. There's a place with another master to follow. He helped kill the owner and the guards. Him and the monster."

The children must have had questions, but they voiced none of them.

Leon wondered about the monster Omi mentioned, but all these kids were so screwed up it was a wondered they didn't see pink elephants walking down the halls. He was glad that they had Omi with them, it seemed that he had some kind of authority among the other children because after he'd spoken, they all started to get up. Some of the children, the younger ones mostly, had to be helped up, but the girl in Leon's arms was the only one who was unable to walk. They all followed Jill, with Leon bringing up the rear with the little girl.

They hadn't gone far when Omi stopped walking and went to a large door on the left side of the hall which had a small window up high.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked when Omi began to fiddle with the door. He was trying to open it, but was having little luck as it was apparently to be locked.

"We shouldn't leave them here. Not if you want everyone." Omi pulled on the door once again before he started to look around on the floor.

"Them? Them who? Jill, wait up!" When he saw that Jill had stopped, and the rest of the children with her, he started looking on the floor, too, though he wasn't sure why. "What are we looking for, kid?"

"The key." Omi found the key after just a moment's search, hidden well under a patch in the floor. At Leon's questioning look, Omi explained, "The guards tend to loose it, so the owner decided to hide keys every few yards. They cut holes in the floors and then cover them up with a little bit of metal." When he unlocked the door, Leon thought that it was empty, at first. The room was completely dark. A closer looked, however, showed Leon a very still figure sitting on a bed on the floor. Omi flipped the light switch and Leon saw that the occupant of the room was a very pretty little girl.

The girl's hair was the color of honey and fell down her shoulder in soft curls. Unlike many of the other children, she looked completely untouched. There wasn't a single scar from what Leon could see. She really was a very pretty little girl, but so still and silent that Leon thought she might have been a doll. She was very young, probably no older than the girl Leon was holding.

"Hikari." Omi said. "We're leaving."

"No orders." Hikari, the beautiful child replied. She made no move to even look at Omi.

"The owners are dead. No orders from them will follow. We must leave."

Hikari focused on Omi, her eyes nearly shining in the darkness. "Dead?"

"Dead. We have to go find new orders." The only thing these children seem to think about was orders. "Come."

When Hikari moved to stand, Leon saw a flash of something under the collar of her loose shirt. "Black Scorpion." He muttered. When the girl and Omi turned quickly to look at him, Leon almost wished he hadn't spoken. They both looked very defensive and Leon knew enough to be careful of them. Now that he'd spoken, he might as well finish his thought. "Are you Black Scorpion, too?"

Hikari and Omi exchanged a glance before the girl pulled down the collar of her shirt just enough for Leon to see the black tattoo on her chest. "I am marked by the Black Scorpion."

"How many more of you are there?" Jill asked as she made her way back to them and had heard everything.

"Five are at that house where we were." Omi said. "Seven more are here."

Seven more children, five boys and two girls, all sharp-eyed and silent as graves were found in just the same manner as Hikari. It turned out that the Black Scorpion children were kept more or less under lock and key. They were far to valuable to be allowed to just wander around like the other children. The only reason Omi and the five other Black Scorpion children had been free was that they'd been taking a shower when chaos had broken loose. While the other children they'd found all deferred to Omi or the others marked by the Black Scorpion, it seemed that the Black Scorpion children themselves deferred to no one but whoever owned them.

"This place is like a Goddamed maze!" Leon complained as Omi led them through the passages and halls back to where they'd come in. Dark and damp, Leon could think of many places he'd rather be than in this place. Then he thought that most of these children had probably lived here their whole lives and he was in an even bigger hurry to get them out.

While they walked, Leon's eyes were drawn to yet another large metal door (the whole place seemed filled with large metal doors) but this one was a bit different. There was a sign on the door, in bold red letters: No Entrance.

The little girl's hand tightened on Leon's shirt and, for the first time since Leon had met her, her face showed terrible fear. She wasn't looking at the door and, when Leon looked at the rest of the children, he saw that they were determinedly not looking at the door, too. Every one of the children kept their faces bowed to the floor with only the Black Scorpion children showing no fear of it.

Leon stopped walking again, curious about what could get such a reaction from these cold children. "What's wrong?" Leon couldn't see anything but a metal door, much like all the other doors. "What do you see?"

The little girl lowered her face even more than it had been and buried it in Leon's chest. "I'm Maru. Natsu Maru. There. I told you. Now, don't go in there." She was very close to begging. "Keep walking."

"What are you talking about?" Leon held the little girl a bit tighter. It offended him, somehow, that she didn't feel safe with him. Leon tried to squash that primal notion, D would have laughed at him for feeling such a thing. It was arrogant to think that she should feel safe just because he was around. "What's in there?" It was definitely the door she was afraid of. "Hey, Jill..." When Leon turned he saw that Jill, too, was being held back. It looked as if Jill had been trying to get to the mysterious door, but the children were hanging on each of her arms, holding her back. Their eyes, like the eyes of the little girl in Leon's arms, were wide with fear. "What's back there?" Leon demanded. Not one of these children had shown any fear of anything, not even the bodies of the adults back in the arena, but this one little door scared the crap out of them.

"Death." Omi answered. Even Omi's eyes looked a little wild, when he glanced at the door. Instead of cowering behind Jill, though, Omi walked right up to the door and put his hand flat on the door. "This is where life ends."

"What the Hell's that supposed to mean?" Leon, in spite of himself, stepped backwards, away from the door. He didn't like thinking about death anymore than the next person.

Omi slid his hand slowly off the door and stared at it for a long time in silence, but Leon wasn't so sure that he wanted to know what Omi was thinking. The boy's eyes looked just as cold as ever, but there was something different about his face. "We shouldn't be here." Omi said, finally. "We should leave." Despite his words, Omi just turned to look at Leon and Jill, as if waiting for their final say in the matter.

Leon was in no mood to screw around. He went to Omi and handed the smaller girl to him. Omi was a tall kid, strong though he was narrow, and he easily took the Maru. "Go stand with Jill."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jill asked, guessing what Leon was going to do.

"Nope. Stand back." Leon took hold of the door handle and gave it a gentle tug. When it didn't budge, Leon pulled harder until it creaked open slightly. When he could look in Leon saw nothing but darkness, at first.

The stench was overpowering and Leon stepped back, gagging despite himself. The smell of ashes and death, Leon had a horrible suspicion of what this room was. Despite his misapprehension Leon took a few steps into the room. He could feel something soft under his feet. "What is this place?" No one answered him, but when Leon glanced back at the open door way, Jill looked just as unease as he felt.

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Leon."

"Me, too." Leon went a little further in and his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He half expected Omi to find the light switch for him, as Omi seemed to know where everything was in the Pit, but Omi wasn't enthusiastic about going into the room. He stood at the doorway with everyone else and just watched Leon. What Leon saw, when he could see in the darkness, was one of the most awful things he'd ever seen.

In the center of the room was a huge iron furnace, but it wasn't really the furnace that horrified Leon. At one wall there was a table with something on it. Leon couldn't see it well, so he went closer. There was a terrible smell coming from it, the smell of death. He knew what was on the table before he got close enough to check. It was a boy, maybe seven years old, and dead. Leon looked at the furnace, the ashes covering the floor, and then back at the corpse of the boy.

'They burn the kids.' Leon realized. 'No evidence if the kids are never found. How? This building looks abandoned, so anyone who sees smoke from it would be suspicious. I guess they might do the burning at night. But they couldn't stop the smell. Burnt flesh has a particular smell and that would draw to much attention so what...?' Leon's eyes fell on the wall above the boy's body. There were perhaps a dozen different types of knives hanging on hooks. 'No. Anything, but not that...' Leon looked closer at the boy's naked body and saw there was a large slice of meat carved out of his upper thigh. It was a very precise cut done with a blade. 'Oh, shit. They...they cut the kids up. Take the flesh off and then just burn the bones. Oh my God...' Leon retched and vomited unashamedly. What they did with the meat, Leon didn't want to know. For all he knew, they fed it back to the living children to save on the price of hamburger. Leon threw up again, hacking until his stomach was empty and he spent a few moments with his hands on his knees, panting for breath. 'This place is just...evil.'

"Leon?" Jill called, concerned. "What's in there? What do you see?"

Leon gathered himself. "I'll tell you later. Let's get out of this hell hole." Leon didn't think he could stand another minute here if he had to. "Omi, we got all the kids?" Leon asked briskly as he strode out of the room. He had to get out. The sight of that carved up child was going to haunt him for a long time.

"Yes. There is no one left."

"Good. Jill, you got what you need from the computer?"

Jill patted her jacket pocket. "I've got it all copied and saved. If the police chose not to investigate, we can keep going on our own."

"Let's get outta this place."


At the dojo-
Kazuma-


Kazuma had been patient all night.

It was a very long night.

Kazuma hated this. He hated being patient when he what he wanted to do was to be out scouring the streets for his son. Kazuma was long passed being confused and was now caught between being worried and angry. There had been no answer when Kazuma tried to call Shigure's house, for the fourth time. There had been no answer at the Main House, calling either Hatori or even Akito's house. Kazuma had even tried calling Ayame's shop in the hopes that Ayame had heard something from Yuki. Nothing.

Kazuma sat up all night, after Kyou had run from him, waiting for the telephone to ring. Kyou would call, Kazuma was sure. No matter what was bothering him, Kyou would calm down eventually and he'd call home. Then Kazuma could go and pick him up and bring him back to safety. That was the way it had always happened when Kyou got upset and ran away from whatever was troubling him.

The phone never rang.

The sun rose and the sky turned purple then blue with the coming of a new day and still, the phone didn't ring. Kazuma called all around without getting anywhere.

When Kyou had run away from him, Kazuma had been too stunned to do anything, but stand there and gape and now he cursed himself for that stupidity. He was trained for emergency situations, so how could he just stand around dumbly when Kyou had obviously need him? Should have run after him. Should have at least yelled after him to stop. At least Kyou wasn't alone. Kazuma was glad that Yuki was with him, he had no doubt that Yuki had found Kyou after he'd left Kazuma. If anyone could find him, it would have been Yuki.

All afternoon and all night Kazuma had let this maddening waiting continue and simply hoped for the phone to ring. It never did. Very late the night after Kyou had run away, actually, it was very early the next morning, Kazuma had a visitor.

"Sensei?"

Kazuma looked up at the unexpected voice and found one of his students standing in the dojo's doorway. "Yes, Shin?" Shin was a Souma, like so many of Kazuma's students, but had not the slightest clue about the whole Zodiac curse. In such a large family as the Souma's, it wouldn't have been hard for Kazuma to get all his students from within the family.

"Are you going to have classes today?" Shin wasn't dressed in his gi, Kazuma noted, but in jeans and a red shirt. He didn't expect Kazuma to have classes.

"No. I'm sorry, but..."

"Don't apologize." Shin hurried to say. "Everyone was just worried about you, so I thought I'd ask. Kyou-kun hasn't come home, then?"

Kazuma swallowed hard and it seemed to stick painfully in his throat. "No. Not yet." Kazuma didn't add that he thought Kyou might not come home. Ever. Kyou had seemed very angry. Kazuma was used to Kyou's bouts of temper, but never directed at him. Kyou had never so much as yelled at him, let alone say that he didn't want to see Kazuma. It had hurt, very deeply. The vision of Kyou covered in blood.

"Do you want us to go look for him?" Shin asked. "All of us will help, sensei. We know you're worried and we'd heard that Kyou ran off." It was a very generous offer.

"You know? How?"

"Ken saw you yesterday when you and Kyou met on the street. He said Kyou was all bloody and he ran away. He tried to chase after Kyou for you, but," Shin shrugged helplessly. "You know how fast Kyou is. Ken lost him and then came and told me what he'd seen. May I ask, have you called the police, sensei?"

"No. I had hoped that he'd be home by now. Kyou often needs time for his temper to cool down." Kazuma shook his head, his shaggy grey hair falling into his eyes. If Kyou were around, he'd be nagging at Kazuma to go get a haircut. "You go home. I'll find Kyou, but thank you." There was no need to involve the students in something like this. If Kyou wanted to stay hidden, there was no one who would be able to find him. Better to keep this within the Inner House.

"If you say so, sensei. Sensei? You really don't look well. You should get some sleep before you go out looking for him. Try not to worry, Kyou-kun's smart, he won't do anything stupid." Shin answered.

Kazuma wondered if he'd done the right thing by sending Shin away without asking for help in finding Kyou. In the Souma family, the most widely believed maxim was to keep family matters within the family. To a greater extent, keep Zodiac matters within the Zodiac. It was against all etiquette to involve members of the family who knew nothing of the curse and it nearly forbidden to involve the police. In fact, it was rumored that no police officer had ever been on the estate. Akito, and all the previous heads of the family, had always made sure that there was no reason for the police to visit. Usually that involved bribery.

Kazuma kept doubting his choice of doing nothing, thinking that a real father would have never just sat around while his son was in trouble. Still, Kazuma knew how much Kyou treasured his freedom and thought that if he gave Kyou time to cool down, he'd at least call home again. If Kyou didn't want to talk to Kazuma, he would have called Shigure or Kagura.

Shin was right, though. Kyou was smart, and strong, he'd be able to get himself out of almost any situation that he'd gotten himself into.

But...still...

'He's my son.' Kazuma told himself as he sat, not in the middle of his dojo where he usually sat when he wanted to think, but in Kyou's bedroom. 'How can I just do nothing?' Very few people had ever seen Kyou's bedroom, the boy was such a private person. It was painted white, very simple, with few decorations. However, there were a few things that showed off Kyou's personality. Books. Everywhere there were books and Kazuma knew he had Shigure to thank for influencing Kyou when he was young. Kyou had a great appetite for books and collected them. There were no pictures or posters on the walls, Kyou had always thought they were silly, but there were airplanes hanging from the ceiling by fishing line. It had been one of Kyou's hobbies as a child, model airplane building. In the corner of the room was a small basket of Kyou's latest, half-finished knitting project, a green and blue afghan he'd planned to give Kagura on her upcoming birthday. Everywhere Kazuma looked, he was reminded of Kyou, as if Kyou had never stopped living with him.

"I don't want you around, just leave me alone!" Kyou had shouted, just a short while ago.

Kazuma didn't really believe Kyou, Kyou said many such things in the heat of the moment. Obviously, whatever had been happening, had a terrible effect on Kyou. Covered in blood. He'd killed people. 'There was blood everywhere.' That single thought kept running though Kazuma's mind. Not Kyou's blood, thankfully, but Kyou had been so horrified by it. The image of Kyou like that, nearly soaked in blood with eyes wide from terror, kept replaying itself in Kazuma's mind.

While he waited, pacing quietly around his house and dojo, Kazuma came to a decision. He had called everyone he could think of and was getting no help. He couldn't seem to even contact any of the other Junikyu and the servant who answered Akito's phone just kept saying that Akito wasn't feeling well enough to come to the phone.

There was only one choice left to Kazuma and he made it without any more hesitation. He'd given Kyou a full night to calm down. Now it was time to find the boy and bring him home. Kazuma went to the front hall and slipped on his shoes before leaving the house with his precious cell phone in his hand. If Kyou tried to call now, Kazuma didn't want to be without it.

Exhausted and worried more than he would ever have thought possible, Kazuma tried to keep calm. Yuki should have called, he was a very responsible boy and if he hadn't called to let Kazuma know what was going on then it meant that either nothing was wrong and Yuki saw no reason to call or...or that something was horribly wrong and Yuki COULDN'T call.

There was no answer when Kazuma called Shigure's house, again, and that alone made Kazuma worry. Shigure worked from home and rarely ever left his secluded little house. Even if Shigure had left the house, it was Sunday and the children should still be there. If Kyou was still missing and Yuki was still looking for him, then Honda-san should be around to answer the telephone.

Then, Kazuma broke one of the biggest rules of the Souma family. He took dialed his cell phone and waited for the answering voice,

-Hello, police department. How can I help you?-

"Hello?" Kazuma steeled himself and did what he knew Akito would be angry about. It was possible that doing something like this would be seen, in Akito's eyes, as a betrayal. He might never be forgiven when police officers turned up at the estate looking for information about Kyou. "I need to report a missing person. My son ran away yesterday afternoon."

-I see, sir. What's the boy's name and what does he look like? I'll need a physical description to give our officers.-

"Souma Kyou. He's sixteen years old and about five feet six inches tall. His hair's dark orange and his eyes are crimson. He's got freckles and he was wearing khaki trousers and a blue shirt the last time I saw him." Kazuma did not add that Kyou had been covered in blood, nor did he tell the police officer that Kyou admitted to killing people. "He was very upset when I saw him. Angry. Your people will have to be careful if he's still in that mood. Kyou's been taught to fight and he's very strong."

-Thank you, sir.- The police officer said, sounding very professional. Kazuma could practically hear the man writing all the information down. -Do you have any idea why he would run away? Had something happened at home?-

Kazuma hesitated for a brief moment. "Not that I know of. I'm not exactly sure he has run away. He's just missing. He's not living with me at the moment. He's living with some of his cousins, their house is closer to his school and he doesn't have to walk so far. I saw him yesterday, a little after noon, and asked him to come home and visit for the afternoon. He looked frightened, but wouldn't tell me why." Now that was and out and out lie.

-Is there any possibility of abuse in the house he was staying at?-

"No." Kazuma said without hesitation. "I've known the man who owns the house since the day he was born, he'd never hurt a child."

-People can surprise you, sir. May I have the name and address of this man whom your son was living with? We'll have to make a visit and speak with him.-

"Of course. Souma Shigure. He lives at one honkaku lane. It's technically on the Souma estate, but it's far from the Main estate. It's a very long dirt road that leads to the house; it's not even visible from the street. Your people might have trouble finding it."

-We'll find it, sir. All right. I've got it all and we'll have officers looking for him. If you can think of anything else, please let us know.-

Kazuma had the sinking feeling that the police would have no luck in finding Kyou. It wasn't that he thought the police were incompetent, but anything could have happened to Kyou considering the state he'd been in. A sick feeling twisted itself around Kazuma's heart as he considered a possibility. What would he do if the worst had happened? What if Kyou was...

Kazuma gave the police offer his cell phone number in case they found anything and then, after the police officer had hung up on him, went back to his own searching. He would go to Shigure's house first and then to the Estate.

'What if he's hurt? Kyou wasn't thinking clearly when I saw him. He could have gotten into an accident or...no. He wouldn't hurt himself.' Kazuma was sure of that. While suicide ran like wildfire through the family, Kyou loved life. It was for his life that Kyou fought Yuki every day, in the vain hope that Akito would allow him to be part of the family. It would never happen and everyone knew it but Kyou. Actually, Kazuma rather suspected that Kyou knew it, too. The fighting was just a way for Kyou to prove to himself that he hadn't given up his life. Still, Kyou hadn't been quite himself and he might have been hurt.

Kazuma dialed his cell phone again then and began to call all the hospitals in the city. There was no unknown boys matching Kyou's description at any of the hospitals and Kazuma felt slightly relieved. It didn't mean that Kyou wasn't laying in a gutter somewhere, dying or dead, but it did give him reason to hope. Kazuma wondered if he should call the city morgue.

It was a terrible feeling of lost control that Kazuma hadn't felt since he was a child. Kazuma prided himself on his control and his calm attitude toward life. It was his most remarkable feature, everyone told him. So Kazuma hated his shaking hands and his heart thundering in his chest. He wasn't just worried, he was terrified for Kyou and every passing moment was just making things worse.


At Shigure's house-


There was nothing at Shigure's house. The house was completely deserted, but that didn't mean that Kazuma had no clues. While the whole house seemed to have been abandoned, Kyou's bedroom was another story. It was completely destroyed. Kyou didn't have many belongings in the first place, but some great force had disrupted everything, overturning Kyou's bed and knocking over the book shelves. Most horrifying, was the dried, black blood that nearly covered the whole floor. It was every father's worst nightmare, but at least now Kazuma knew then how badly Kyou had been injured.

If that was any comfort.

Kazuma turned away from the blood and left the room. It wasn't the least bit comforting at all.

'I've no time for this,' Kazuma thought, making his way back out of the house. 'Every wasted minute is a minute that Kyou is in danger.' After he'd assured himself that the house was empty, Kazuma stalked purposefully out of the house. Before he'd even left the front door, however, one of the other rooms caught his attention. 'Shigure's office. I remember Kyou said they'd all helped Shigure move his books down to this room.' However careless Shigure might seem, his office had never been anything but impeccably tidy. Shigure was fanatical about keeping his writing space neat. That made the sight of Shigure's office, with the small table overturned and hundreds of books Shigure had collected all through his life, was almost as shocking as the blood all over Kyou's bedroom.

Shigure's office had been ransacked, that's what it looked like, anyway. All of Shigure's precious books had been dumped on the floor and there were papers, notes for his manuscripts and household bills, strewn everywhere. A closer look told Kazuma that the other rooms in the house showed signs of being searched though. It could have been a burglar, but why search Shigure's books?

This mystery deepened and Kazuma didn't like it. Time to go to the estate.

There was a mess waiting for Kazuma at the estate. He had no identification to show the guard at the gate, but was lucky that one of the other guards in passing recognized him. Kazuma didn't waste any time trying to figure out what was going on, he rushed to Akito's house.


At the estate-


"I'm sorry, sensei." One of the maids told Kazuma when he arrived at Akito's house and asked to see anyone of the Inner House. "I'm afraid everyone's gone."

"Gone?" There had never been a single moment in the recorded Souma history when everyone of the Inner Circle had been missing from the estate. "May I ask where?"

The young maid just shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, sensei. It all happened very early yesterday afternoon." She bit her lip, almost fearfully, and leaned in close to Kazuma to whisper, "I think Akito-sama is dying. I don't know for sure, though. There was a call out to all the Inner Circle and everyone rushed over right away. Well, everyone but Yuki, Kyou, and Shigure. I thought that maybe Kyou wasn't called, seeing as how Akito feels about him...er..." She glanced guiltily at Kazuma, apparently having forgotten whom she was speaking to.

"Please, continue." Kazuma urged, far more interested in what was going on than what people thought of Kyou.

"Well, Hiro's my little brother, as you know, so I heard when he took the phone call. It was Ritsu who called, Ritsu of all people! I suppose it's understandable as it was Ritsu who...did you hear about what happened earlier? Someone tried to kill Akito and then kidnapped a little boy right outside the main gate. That's why the security's so stepped up. I heard that it was Ren, can you believe that?!" As she spoke, her tone changed from the polite maid giving information to the gossipy teenager that she was. "The arrogance! She actually tried to shot Akito-sama. Kureno-san went after her, naturally." That the mention of Kureno's name, the girl blushed furiously. It wasn't a surprise, many were infatuated with Kureno, though very few knew him well. "Kureno-san's so good to Akito-sama. Where was I? Oh, yes. Akito-sama didn't die then only because some hulking foreigner shielded Akito-sama with his own body. I heard he was beautiful with wavy gold hair, just like a grown-up Momiji-san. Sigh..."

Kazuma tried to get the maid back on track; he really didn't have time for this nonsense. "Was Akito-sama hurt?" Normally, Kazuma didn't refer to Akito with the honorific 'sama', but if he didn't, this loyal little maid might not be as forthcoming with her information. She might think he was being disrespectful.

"Well, that I'm not sure about." She frowned and her eyebrows pressed together as she thought. "I only know what I hear from other people, but the rumor is that Ritsu-san had to nearly carry Akito-sama to his house. Akito-sama didn't want anyone else to help him. Like I said, it was Ritsu-san who called all the other Inner House and did they ever come running. No one was let into the house after that and Hatori-sensei chased all of us out." 'Us' no doubt indicated the few maids and servants Akito kept around the house. "The next thing we knew, some strange man, I think he was a man, drove up in this gorgeous car, it was some kind of antique. I saw, with my own eyes, I saw this guy carrying Akito-sama out of Akito-sama's own house and put him in the car. Now, what do you think of that? It's not the last of it, though. Hatori-sensei and Kureno-san both went with Akito-sama and no one's heard from them since."

Kazuma looked up at the lightly cloudy sky. "Surely, Shigure didn't let them just leave without getting a phone number or something? The stranger was from a hospital or something, maybe."

"I don't think so. There was a lot of yelling coming from Akito's house right after. I snuck closer," She glanced around as if afraid of being overheard. "Everyone was fighting. I heard my own brother and Rin-san yelling at Shigure and Ayame was shouting, trying to calm Rin-san down. Ristu-san and Kagura-san both ran off together and no one knows where they were going. Right after they left, Hatsuharu-san tore away at top speed, then he came barreling back with some big book. A little while later, it was dark, almost ten last night, and all the rest of the Inner House took off. Together they just walked away as calm as anything. Of course, they didn't tell anyone where they were going. Hiro called our dad and told him he was going to stay at Kisa's house for the night, but that was a lie, wasn't it? Kisa was with Hiro when they all walked off the estate. Where do you think they've all gone?"

One thing was certain. This maid shared Hiro's gift for talk.

"I don't know. I'm trying to find Kyou and I thought I might find him here, but I guess not." He hid his disappointment with a smile. There was no reason to worry this girl. Kazuma had always been good as concealing his emotions. "You seem to have head a lot of what's going on around here, lately. Have you heard anyone mention Kyou?"

"I'm sorry, but no. I spend most of my days in Akito's house and you know he doesn't even like to hear Kyou's name mentioned. I'll have word sent around that he's run off. I'm sure someone will know where he is."

Her light, careless tone made it sound like such an unimportant thing that Kyou was missing and Kazuma felt a bitter, though fleeting, hatred for the girl. Kazuma did not hate easily, but Kyou was the center of his life. How could Kazuma not hate anyone who did not treasure Kyou as he did?

"Oh!" The maid smiled brightly all of a sudden and snapped her fingers, painted bright orange. "I just remembered. Shigure-san's still here, does that help?

"Yes, immensely." Kazuma gave a quiet sigh of relief. Shigure was very clever and if anyone knew where the rest of the family had gone, it would be Shigure. "Where is he?"

"Umm...I don't know. Someone saw him talking with Ayame in the garden outside the Rooster's house, though. Ayame-san left and Shigure-san went back into the Rooster's house. It's funny, isn't it?" She got the first thoughtful look she'd had since Kazuma had begun speaking to her. "I don't think Kureno's ever even stepped foot in there."


Not ten minutes later, Kazuma had reached the Rooster's house and he knew what the maid had meant when she'd said that Kureno had never lived there. It was well known in the Inner Circle that Kureno's childhood had been less than ideal and he hadn't actually lived on the estate until he was a young man at about twelve years old. When Kureno had come to the estate, it had been amidst a great hurricane of gossip one New Years. Akito vanishing and causing a terrible stir amongst everyone, especially the cursed. Kazuma remembered everyone rushing around, racing about the estate and out of it, searching for Akito. Kureno reappeared with Akito in tow a few hours later with Ren's wrath like flames around them. After that, Kureno had rarely left Akito's side for even a moment.

Rumors, as they always did in the Souma family, whirled around like wildfire. They said that Kureno was in love with Akito or that Akito had begun to lose his mind, even at that early age, and couldn't bear to be away from Kureno. They said that Kureno would let Akito beat him or that Kureno would beat Akito. No one really knew the truth, except that Kureno followed Akito everywhere.

The house of the Rooster was as decrepit as any house on the Souma estate ever became. The truth was that Akito loved beauty and he couldn't stand to have anything around him that was ugly. It was a very simple explanation for what Kazuma suspected went on in Akito's mind. It was this love of beauty that made Akito fear and hate Kyou and his inner repulsive self. Akito wouldn't allow one of the houses on his estate to become so dilapidated as to have the roof falling in or an overgrown garden. Oh, the paint was fading a bit and the grass was in need of a trim, but other than that, it was in good condition. Outside the front door of the house sat Shigure on a stone bench. He was looking up at the morning sky with a blank expression on his face. It seemed odd that Shigure wasn't smiling.

"I was wondering when you'd come." Shigure said when Kazuma sat down next to him.

Kazuma had known Shigure for many, many years and still remembered the days when Shigure wet his diapers. It was hard to think that Shigure would deliberately deceive him, but Kazuma knew that was what Shigure was trying to do the moment Shigure had spoken. Something was just not right with the man. Kazuma focused on his breathing, keeping it steady and even, and stayed calm. There was not yet any reason to panic. "Where is he?"

"I guess you mean Kyou, right? Well, it's a bit hard to explain. No. It's not hard, I guess I'm lying. I just don't want to explain. It's been a long day. And a long night. I'm afraid things are going to get a lot more complicated for the Souma family in a short while."

"Where's Kyou?" Kazuma honestly couldn't care about the complications for the Souma family while Kyou was missing.

"He's...away. Safe, I believe, but not here."

"Where?" Kazuma was rapidly loosing his calm, visions of blood flashing before his eyes.

Shigure hadn't looked at Kazuma once since he'd arrived. "There's a little known legend in the family about how the curse was started. You can read about it, there." Shigure gestured absently to a book that had been dropped in the grass absently.. "Hundreds of years of suffering for nothing." He smiled slightly, a not quite real smile. "You should be proud. It's going to be Kyou who saves us all. I'm not sure how, but he'll do it. He's the cat. Ha! I shouldn't say that. Everyone used to say that I would know best because I was the dog. That doesn't mean anything; it never made any sense to me, either. I don't know what the Hell I'm doing. For all I know, I could have killed everyone with what I've done."

Kazuma went cold. "What have you done?"

"Ayame forgave me. I'm glad of that, anyway. I gave them all up. I know who cursed our family and I gave everyone to him. Kyou was first. He was attacked, I think. Yuki said there was a lot of blood and they couldn't find Tohru-chan. Kyou wandered off and Yuki went to look for him. They're with Count D now. He's the one who's family cursed us. He told me that Kyou's going to change and that change will save our family. All that blood you saw in Kyou's room, which I'm sure you saw, is all apart of the process, I'm told." He glanced at Kazuma for the first time since Kazuma had sat next to him. "Oh, now don't look at me like that. I'm not telling you where he is. You'd only want to take him away or interfere. I don't think you'd interfere deliberately, but all the same, we can't have it."

"Shigure, he's my child. I love him as if he were my real son; you know that. Tell me where Kyou is. What's happening to him?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what's happening to him. It's all very mysterious. You never should have trusted me. I gave him away, just like I gave away the rest of the family. I hope I did the right thing. I believe I did."

Kazuma took a deep breath. "I'm sure you did, Shigure. I have faith in you, you'd never act against the family. Please, where is Kyou? I must know if he's all right. I just have to see him for a moment."

"No."

"What?" Kazuma had been trained to keep his emotions under control and for years he had been a master of that art. There was very little that could upset Kazuma enough to even raise his voice. At that moment, however, looking at Shigure's tragic face, he saw red and his fists shook with rage.

"I'm not going to tell you where they went." Shigure's expression didn't change. "This is all for the good of the family. If you interrupt things now, I don't know how everything will be affected. It's safer if you stay here, anyway. For all your fighting skill, I don't think even you'd stand a chance against this guy. Kyou would want you to be safe and, as a fellow Junikyu, I must say that his wishes come before yours. I can't really tell you anything else, I don't know much. If you read the book, you'll understand as much as I do."

Kazuma couldn't believe this was happening. He'd trusted Shigure to take care of Kyou. It had been working out very well for so long. "You must tell me what happened. I went to your house and there was blood everywhere. Kyou told me that he'd killed people. Do you understand? He KILLED people! Kyou's violent, but never to such a monstrous extreme. I find it so hard to believe that he'd do anything like that."

Shigure looked surprised. "Killed? That doesn't sound like Kyou at all, does it? Still, it doesn't change anything. I won't tell you where he is. I can tell you that he's safe...urk!" Shigure stopped talking when Kazuma lashed out and grabbed him by the throat, reminding Shigure why, exactly, Kazuma was 'the master'. Kazuma's hands wrapped around Shigure's throat and they both tumbled off the seat they were on to the ground with Kazuma ending up straddling Shigure's waist, both of his hands still wrapped around Shigure's throat. "Please! Kazuma..." Shigure gasped with what little breath Kazuma allowed him to have.

"Where...is...my...son?!" Kazuma snarled. No more games. Kazuma just wanted Kyou back safely.

Shigure stopped struggling then and let his whole body go limp. He closed his eyes and just waited.

"Shigure!" Kazuma snapped, enraged. "Tell me! My son's in danger, tell me where he is!"

Still, Shigure didn't answer

"What's going on?"

Kazuma's attention was drawn away from Shigure to the doorway of the Rooster's house. There stood more than a dozen children all watching Kazuma and Shigure with curiosity and not a hint of fear as they watched Shigure being strangled. Kazuma dropped Shigure's throat, shocked "Who are they?"

Shigure didn't have a good answer and just shrugged awkwardly as he massaged his sore, reddening throat and pushed himself up to lean on his elbow. "They were just...here. I think Kureno brought them home. Now he's gone with Akito and the others and the police know about them. The police have been bribed, they won't interfere. They know about Kyou's true self. I don't know what to do with them." It wasn't uncommon to bribe the police to stay out of a Souma matter. Having police snooping around the estate would be a bad thing.

"Shigure, children can't just appear out of nowhere. They must have family's somewhere." Kazuma stood up from the ground and helped Shigure up, he would act civilized in front of children, if nothing else.

"Nope. They just sit there and wait. They're waiting for Kureno, they tell me. He should be back whenever Kyou comes back." Shigure stood up dusted himself off before he spoke to the children. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong. This is my friend, Kazuma-sensei. Kazuma," Shigure looked back at Kazuma. "I believe these children are all from wherever it is that Kazuma came from. He brought them here after he'd gone to deal with Ren. Did anyone tell you that Ren tried to murder Akito last night? She'd dead, now. I wonder what happened to that little boy she snatched? I suppose I should have asked. Anyway, I really don't know what else to do with the children. I don't want the police snooping around but," Whatever Shigure was about to say was cut off when he looked up and gave a brilliant smile. "Ah, welcome back, Orcot-san."

It wasn't just a single man who walked down the path to the Rooster's house, but a whole group of children of all ages. Kazuma was reminded of the poem, the Pied Piper of Hamlin, when the children walked towards them. The only difference was that there was a woman leading these children, a woman with curly brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses, and that these children were not the gay, laughing children the Pied Piper had led away from Hamlin town. These children were grave and unsmiling. Behind them, carrying a little girl wrapped tightly in a blanket, was a very tall man with bright yellow hair. Kazuma remembered what Akito's house maid had told him about the man who'd saved Akito's life. He nodded back at Shigure and Kazuma figured that this must be Orcot-san.

Orcot-san was very tall, about three inches taller than Kazuma, and had a slightly green cast to his face. He didn't seem in the mood for pleasantries. "Yeah, whatever. The cops come yet?" He had a very common, abrupt way of speaking and when he did speak it was with a pronounced American accent. Despite the accent, his Japanese was impeccable.

"Not yet, I'm afraid. It seems that they are reluctant to involve themselves in these children." That was a blatant lie as Kazuma knew Shigure had just admitted to bribing the police. The entire cursed family, every one of the Junikyu, was severely xenophobic. They'd been taught to dislike and distrust outside forces, especially authority figures like police, doctors, and teachers since the day of their birth. Shigure was no exception to this rule and he would do nearly anything to keep police off the estate. It was amazing what money could do, especially since Ren's attack had happened outside the walls of the estate and there must have been dozens of witnesses on the street who'd called the police.

The stranger, Orcot-san, cursed vilely under his breath. "We'll see about that. Here, I brought you some more kids." He gestured to the other children. "If the cops are being stupid, I don't know where else to take them." He looked embarrassed. "Sorry about this, must be hell on you to have all these kids underfoot."

"Not at all." Shigure argued, brightly. It was amazing, really. Though Kazuma was usually proud of how well he controlled his emotions, there was no one who was master of his emotions like Shigure. He could easily switch from melancholy too jovial in the blink of an eye and it was entirely believable. As so many people in the Zodiac family knew: Shigure was a very good liar. "We'll make room, this is a big house."

It took a while to find space for all the many children, but in the end, everyone had at least a small space they could sit or rest in. There was one who worried Kazuma, a little boy who'd been shot. Shigure assured him that one of the family doctor's, not Hatori, had already taken care of the boy and that he'd be fine with a little rest.

Kazuma's parenting nature began to nag at him. The children would need food and some better clothes. The night would be cold which meant they'd need not only night clothes, but blankets. It wouldn't be hard to get the family to donate things. They'd need food first, though. Kazuma liked to see healthy children and all these children looked just a little bit to skinny. He would have to send out to the store to buy quite a bit of food. No matter, the family had plenty of money. He would rather have the boy who'd been shot taken to the hospital and there was a little girl Orcot-san had brought in with a badly healed ankle, she should be in the hospital, too.

While Orcot-san and Shigure spoke together and the young woman, Jill-san, yelled at police on the telephone. Given the two conversations he had to listen to, Kazuma decided to listen to Orcot-san and Shigure.

"I wish I could help more, but I really don't know much about this Pit they've come from." Shigure said in a voice that usually meant he had a plan of some kind.

"So you do know something?" Orcot-san asked. He didn't know that Shigure was using him for some reason.

"Very little. I think if I could find Kureno then I'd know more. I've...heard rumors that Kureno came from the Pit." He hurried to add, "I don't know for certain, you understand. It's only rumors. However, Kureno did bring the children back here after he'd gone to find a woman who tried to kill the head of our family and..."

"Head of your family? You mean that scrawny, pale kid? What'd he say his name was? Akito? Something like that?"

"Yes, Akito." Shigure hesitated, no doubt surprised to hear someone describe Akito as scrawny for the first time. "Well, he found all the children there, so he would be able to tell you more than I could. I really don't mind keeping the children here, they seem very well behaved."

Orcot-san shook his head. "I don't really think we can do that. You see, I think they're dangerous."

"Dangerous? Children?"

"You have no idea what they were doing to those kids." Orcot-san turned a bit green again. "I don't even want to think about all that. I want to talk to this Kureno you mentioned. Omi mentioned the name, too. He said they were going to follow Kureno's orders, so Kureno needs to be aware of that. Do you know where he is? Come to think of it, do you know where Ayame is? I wanted to see if he was all right after that whole mess earlier."

Shigure was silent just a moment longer than necessary, a sure sign that he was working over all the possibilities of the situation. "Actually, I do know where he is. He and some other relatives of mine with off with your friend, Count D. At least, I think that's who it was, Ayame mentioned the man's name."

Orcot-san frowned, puzzled. "Why would they go with D?"

"I really don't know. They mentioned something about a petshop. Do you suppose you could take me there? I'm a bit worried about them. One of them, Akito-sama, wasn't feeling at all well. I think he might also know where one of our children, a boy named Kyou, is. He ran away from home and we really must bring him back."

Orcot-san shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Shigure," Kazuma said, "May I have a word in private before you leave?" They went to another room to talk. "I apologize for attacking you." Kazuma said to begin the conversation. He hadn't let his temper get that out of control for years.

"That's not what you want to talk about, is it?" Shigure brushed the apology off without even acknowledging it. "You want to go to find Kyou?"

"Do I really need to answer that?"

"No. I can't let you, though."

"I don't need to ask your permission." Maybe it was time to remind Shigure who he was talking to. "I rarely ask permission to do anything, not even from Akito himself. I have ordered my life perfectly well up until now and my life includes Kyou. Kyou is mine. When no one else cared for him, I took him as my own. I will not allow anything to hurt him." Kazuma was one of the very few Souma's in the world who did not revere or fear Akito and the cursed Junikyu did not order him around.

"And I wouldn't let him be hurt." Shigure tried to sound reassuring. "He's being healed."

"Then there's no danger of me going to see him."

"Except that I'm going myself. I thought I'd be able to stay away, but I don't seem to be strong enough to do that." He put a hand to his chest, just over his heart. "I can feel something pulling at me. I have to go find the others."

"Then we'll go together."

"What about the children?" Shigure asked with a raised eyebrow. "You heard Orcot-san say that they're dangerous. They came from that Pit Kureno told us about once. That's where he became a killer, Akito told me. He tells me everything and he told me what he saw the day he bought Kureno. They teach little children to kill. All those little children in the other room are killers and they have no understanding of right or wrong. Should we leave them here to kill anyone who happens to walk into the house? There is another problem. Some of them saw Kyou change into his original self."

Kazuma felt a sinking feeling of dread at those words. If they knew about the curse, then more problems would arise later. They'd have their memories taken. Kyou would be punished for letting himself be seen. If the children were left alone, one of them might inadvertently say something to someone who pops into the Rooster's house and by then the whole secret would be exposed to the world. They couldn't be left unguarded until Hatori could steal their memories.

"I see." Shigure was right. Kazuma would have to stay for the good of the family and, more importantly, for Kyou's good.

Shigure touched Kazuma's arm lightly. "Don't look so down. I've taken pretty good care of the children up till now. I don't want anyone hurt." He turned then and went back to Orcot-san.

'Forgive me, Kyou. I'd come if I could. I'll trust Shigure one more time.' Kazuma couldn't help but feel that he was letting Kyou down, somehow.

For Kazuma, the next two weeks passed painfully slowly. He kept all the children close to the Rooster's house. It was impossible to keep most of the family from finding out about the children, but he was able to keep contact to a minimum. He told everyone who asked that the children were from a now closed orphanage and Akito was taking pity on them, giving them a home until a new orphanage could be found. The family always liked hearing about their kind, generous leader.

Two weeks crawled by agonizingly.


At the Petshop-
Yuki-


Everyone had appeared together, shortly after Kagura and Ritsu had arrived at the petshop. Tohru had told Yuki that she saw Akito, Hatori, and Kureno sleeping in another room of the petshop, but that Michael had told her not to leave Kyou's room again. Food and anything they might need would be brought to them. Yuki was glad, he didn't like the thought of Tohru wandering around this place all alone.

Michael was still a mystery that Yuki was trying to solve. He was sure he'd met Michael somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where. Not that it mattered at the moment.

For days they waited, most of the Souma family sleeping on the soft grass near Kyou's cocoon, but nothing happened. It was hard to tell day from night in this place, the sun never set or even moved from its high point in the sky. Still, they slept as well as they could and tried to be patient. It was hard on everyone. All the time alone had been good for thinking, though. Yuki was coming very close to sorting out his feelings on certain important subjects.

Finally, the two weeks Count D had predicted was done and Yuki was woken from a deep sleep by a rustle and the sound of something ripping.

Kyou's cocoon was moving.

"Honda-san." Yuki moved slightly away from the cocoon and to where Tohru was sleeping on the other side of Kyou. There really wasn't any better place to sleep, but the grass was cool and soft and actually made an adequate bed. "Honda-san?" Out of habit, Yuki was hesitant about touching her. After a moment of reminding himself that he didn't have to be so careful with Tohru and that he should start to think of her like Kagura or Rin, Yuki shook her shoulder. This sudden change in reality was nerve wracking. "Tohru, wake up."

She woke almost as soon as Yuki touched her and blinked up at him, sleepily. "That's the first time you've used my given name." She smiled at that thought, finding great pleasure in such a simple thing. "What's going on?" Her attention was taken quickly from Yuki to Kyou's cocoon.

Yuki could only shrug. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that he's hatching. Or whatever it is that cocoons do."

"Kyou's trying to get out." Tohru said, watching the cocoon as it wiggled slightly and parts of it would start to press outward. "Should...should we help him?"

It did look like Kyou was having trouble finding his way out, but Yuki shook his head. "He's managed well this far. I think we have to leave him alone. We'll trust him. Let's wake the others."

To be continued...