Blue Heaven, chapter 12
Chapter 11 was here.
Blue Heaven 12
by cinnamongrr1
“Akito-san,” Kasuma said to the furious face before him, calmly faking surprise, “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Akito replied, shouldering his way into the house. “I know perfectly well the monster and that ugly girl ran here when they left Shigure’s house.” He turned around, fixing Kasuma with a beady stare.
“They’re not here, Akito-sama,” Kasuma replied, careful to keep his voice even. He’d heard tales of Akito’s episodes of rage but never before witnessed one first-hand; he wondered how close to such a thing Akito was, at that moment. There was high colour in Akito’s face, his breath was coming fast and shallow, and his eyes were almost feverishly bright.
“I know they’re here,” Akito insisted, his voice pitching higher with each word. “I know it!”
He stalked down the hall, flinging doors open as he went. “I know they’re here!” he shrieked, increasingly frustrated as each room revealed no fugitives.
“Akito-sama, I must respectfully ask that you stop searching my home in this way,” Kasuma said, following Akito’s erratic path down the hall after glancing at Hatori and Kureno. They both looked embarrassed and apprehensive, but mostly helpless, and he sighed-no help from that quarter, then.
Akito ignored him, of course, and continued his search. Kasuma’s stomach clenched when Akito started for the last door, the door to the practice room, in which hid his foster-son, Kunimitsu, and Tohru. He shot another look Hatori’s way, this one of blatant pleading.
“Akito-sama, perhaps we should-“ Hatori began, his hand reaching out to grasp Akito’s stick-thin arm, but Akito wrenched free with a furious glare.
“Never touch me!” he said coldly, and flung open the final door. Behind it, Kyou and Kunimitsu stood side-by-side, an obvious barrier between Tohru behind them and the rest of the world. She peeped over their shoulders, eyes enormous and scared.
“Well, he’s in his usual good mood,” Kyou commented dryly. Kasuma, at Akito’s side, sighed; so much for trying to smooth things over, he thought.
“Ah, there’s my monster,” Akito purred, good humour miraculously restored at the sight of his wayward Cat. “You thought to escape me, but I’ll always find you, don’t you know that?” He stepped closer. “We’re connected, no matter how the fact disgusts me. No matter how little you deserve the honour, we’ll always be together. Well, until you’re locked away in that tiny little cell, that is.”
His smile seemed to eat up his entire face; his posture spoke of victory. “And that will be very, very soon, my Kyou,” Akito continued slowly, drawing it out. “This entire incident has shown me that the Cat can’t be trusted to live so far away from my control; the monster in you drives you to be terrible, just terrible. Being with this ugly girl must be so confusing, hm? She’s led you to believe you’re not just a hideous creature, alive because of my forbearance and compassion.”
“Stop…” Tohru breathed, hating to hear such things about Kyou.
“You’re such a cruel thing,” Akito told her petulantly. She shrank back, shaking her head in denial at the accusation. “You’ve told him such lies, such lies… given him false hope, made him think there’s a future for him with you, out in the world.” His head tilted consideringly, lips pursed into a concerned little moue. “And perhaps you even believe it. But you don’t understand, you never have.”
He smiled indulgently, but the edge of it was razor-sharp. “Nothing will ever come between us. No matter how much you think you love such a thing, nothing will ever come between us. I will make sure of it.”
To Kyou, he stretched out a hand, long and languid, the bones fragile as a bird’s. “Come with me now, my poor monster, and we’ll put you into your room, right this moment. You’ll be safe there, away from this vicious girl who’s made you believe terrible, false things.”
Kyou didn’t move; he stood there, stricken, staring down at Akito’s hand with eyes full of dread, as if it were a viper about to strike.
“Come with me, Kyou,” Akito said impatiently, and this time there was no entreaty; it was a command.
Kyou’s face became very red, and his limbs began to tremble. Clearly, he was fighting against himself, but one foot, and then two, started to move toward Akito.
“No,” whispered Tohru, clutching at his sleeve. “Kyou-kun, no. Don’t do it.”
“Now, Sohma Kyou!” There was a strange light in Akito’s eyes, something that went beyond the usual manic glint usually found in them.
Kyou leaned back, hands clenched; it was obvious he was struggling against the order. And still he took another unwilling step toward Akito. “I’m sorry, Tohru,” he told her through gritted teeth. “I have to. I can’t… stop myself.”
Kasuma had not realized the extent of the Akito’s power over the Jyuunishi; it was like nothing he’d ever seen before. He knew that Kyou did not, with all his heart, want to go with Akito; knew that Kyou was fighting it with everything he had, and it was as if his body were not his own: he was still moving.
He also knew that, as long as there was strength in his own body, he would not allow Kyou to be forced into captivity. He was not alone, however, because just as he was placing himself between Akito and Kyou, halting his son’s progress, Tohru darted around Kunimitsu to push Akito back.
“I’m sorry, Akito-sama,” she said, head down, voice quaking. “But I can’t let you do this to him.”
Akito stumbled back against Hatori and Kureno, then struggled free of them when they tried to steady him on his feet. “You can’t let me?” he drawled, sounding both amused and bored, but there was a vicious thread running behind the words. “Who are you to let me do anything?”
“I’m no one,” Tohru replied shakily. “But who I am doesn’t matter. Kyou-kun doesn’t deserve to be locked away. He doesn’t want to go, so I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do it.”
Akito pursed his lips in consideration. Without removing his narrow basilisk gaze from her, he said, “Hatori. Kureno. Take Kyou and bring him out to the car.”
But they didn’t move, not immediately, nor even after a few moments. Akito whipped around to glare at them.
“Hatori!” he snapped. “Kureno! What are you waiting for?”
Hatori looked steadily at him, but didn’t speak; Kureno turned his head away altogether.
“Ah, do you two defy me as well?” His voice sounded like it was ragged, fraying around the edges. He stood perfectly still, and silence reigned for the space between heartbeats; Akito’s form, taut, frenetic, was the very picture of suspended animation. He appeared to be puzzling something over, if the crease between his brows was any indication.
Finally, blessedly, he seemed to come to some decision, because the moment of stillness ended with the slow, malicious curve of his lips. Kasuma felt his stomach clench at the sight of it, because it meant something was going to happen.
“It’s all your fault,” Akito told Tohru, finally. “It has been, all along. Everything was fine before they met you. Everything was perfect… we had harmony. We had unity.” He took a step closer to her; Kyou tensed, wary. “And then you intruded on our lives, and made them--”
He stopped himself there, his breathing so ragged at that point that it stirred the bangs on Tohru’s forehead. She seemed hypnotized by the rage marking his delicate face, at the flush on his cheeks and the brightness of his eyes. There was something profoundly naked at the moment, as if both he and she had been peeled bare and revealed to the world.
“Made them what?” she asked in a whisper.
“You made them hate me,” Akito replied, just as softly, the words trembling on his lips, a wealth of pain and fear woven between them.
Tohru’s face changed, smoothed with comprehension and a profound pity. Then, amazingly, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath, blinking away the tears that had started in her eyes.
“No, Akito-sama,” she corrected gently, in quavering tones. “I didn’t do a thing but love them. You made them hate you, all by yourself.”
Again that terrible stillness as Akito froze, processing what Tohru had said. Then, as if something had detonated within him, his eyes and mouth stretched open in the purest expression of fury Kasuma had ever seen.
“Disgusting girl!” he screamed, “how dare you come between us with your lies? Your lies! How dare you?”
He leapt at her, hand drawn back to strike her, but before he could swing it back toward her-before Kasuma could even hope to intercept the blow- there was a strangely piercing frequency in the room, and the air seemed to warp oddly around them.
Pain welled up in Kasuma’s head, a shrieking and relentless thing, and it was all he could do to keep from dropping to his knees. What was this? What was happening? Forcing his eyes open, he saw that Akito, Hatori, and Kyou had fallen to the floor and were crying out. Kunimitsu and Tohru were on their hands and knees, trying to reach Kyou, and Kureno was trying to control Akito’s movements. Kasuma wondered, for a split second, why Kureno wasn’t as affected as the other Jyunnishi, but the thought was quickly gone as he struggled to figure out what was going on.
Hanajima Saki stood in the doorway, head tilted back and eyes closed as her hair and clothing crackled stiffly around her, floating on some invisible breeze. He went to her, and took her shoulders in his hands.
“Hanajima-san,” he said over the roaring in his head, but she didn’t reply. “Saki!” He shook her lightly. Her eyes opened at that, unfocused and faraway.
“Kasuma-san,” she said hazily. “Is Tohru-chan safe?” He shifted so she could see around him. Behind him, the three Zodiac members were writhing. Weeping, Tohru had put Kyou’s head in her lap while Kunimitsu sat helplessly nearby and Kureno struggled to keep Akito from banging his head on the floor.
“What have you done?” Kasuma demanded, aghast, then winced at how loud his voice seemed alongside the ringing whine that filled his skull.
Saki’s face went white as chalk, and she let out a sob of dismay. Abruptly, the pain left Kasuma, and he sighed in pure relief. Behind him, Tohru stopped crying. But all was not well again with the others; the two Jyuunishi and their god continued to twitch and spasm, their bodies convulsing as if being electrocuted.
“Kyou-kun!” Tohru cried, her eyes huge and desperate. “Please, Hana-chan, Shishou-san, do something! I don’t know what’s wrong!”
Saki dashed over to Tohru, dropping to the floor beside her friend. “I’m so sorry!” she gasped. “I only meant to stop the mean one from hurting you-“
Tohru ducked to avoid being struck by one of Kyou’s flailing arms. “Hana-chan, you have to make it stop!” she whispered, her throat hoarse. “Please, do something!”
Saki closed her eyes, brow furrowed in concentration, and seemed to be straining against something. A slow trickle of blood began to stream from one nostril, the colour of it shocking against the deep pallor of her face, and Kasuma knelt by her side, taking her in his arms as she began to shake. She heaved in a breath and gave a short scream, the sound bouncing off the walls, and went still at the same time as Kyou and the others. For an endless moment, there was utter, overwhelming silence.
“Kyou-kun! Hana-chan!” Tohru’s voice cut through it. She sounded panicked and at the end of her endurance. “They’re not moving, Shishou! They’re not breathing!” Indeed, their skin was beginning to turn faintly blue.
Kasuma thought his own heart might have stopped. “CPR,” he declared, motioning to Kunimitsu. “Tohru, do you know it?” Mutely, she nodded jerkily. “And you?” he asked Kureno, but the Rooster was already performing it on Akito.
Kasuma lay Saki flat on the floor and began to compress her chest, and noted out of the corner of his eye that Tohru was doing the same to Kyou. Across the room, Kunimitsu had begun tending Hatori. After a few long, anxiety-ridden moments, Hatori jackknifed to an upright position with a gasping lurch. His eyes were wild, and he thrust Kunimitsu from him.
“The others,” he rasped. “Where-“ He caught sight of Kyou and Tohru. She was doing her best to perform compressions on Kyou, but couldn’t stop crying, and her slight weight wasn’t having much affect on her patient. Hatori scrambled in an odd, crablike manner over to them, brushed her aside and took over.
“Take his pulse for me, Tohru,” he told her. She shifted to the side and took up Kyou’s limp arm, fingers fumbling at his wrist.
Beneath Kasuma’s own hands, Saki made a hiccuppy sound and opened her eyes. Her head lolled around on her mass of black hair, and she reached out toward him. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way,” she murmured. “It wasn’t, it wasn’t.” She curled onto her side, her face buried in Kasuma’s lap, and began to cry.
Chapter 13 is here.