Author's Note: So yeah...words can't express how sorry I am to keep you hanging for this long. Really. I'm a bad person. I just got back from Europe 3 days ago : ) I'll be honest, I tried to upload this before I left, and it wouldn't work, so it's been done and ready to go, except Fanfiction didn't want to let me upload : ( But anyway, it's up now. Sorry for the long wait! I love you muchly!
Disclaimer: Don't own it (Don't I know it) well, except for what i do own, and you already know what that is.
Chapter 17: Growths and Transformations
"We were waiting for the day you were going to find out," Yuki said quite honestly, "there were quite a few times we seriously thought you would."
Tohru came into the living room with a tray full of tea. It was a few days after Akemi had made her courageous journey to the Sohma house to beg Akito's favor. She had no idea why she had gotten so lucky.
"Is that so?" Akemi said, amused.
"Yes," Tohru said, sitting down with a cup, "the time you and Amaya slept over was a close one."
"So which one of you is Spot?" Akemi asked with a grin.
"Shigure," Yuki said, "I was the poor mouse your sister tried to squish."
Akemi laughed and replied, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I saved you though, didn't I?"
He nodded. "That you did. I pretty much thought I was toast."
"So what does Kyo transform into?" Akemi asked curiously.
"He was the orange tabby…'Fred', I believe we called him?" Yuki remarked.
Akemi frowned. "A cat? There's no-"
"cat in the zodiac?" Yuki filled in.
Akemi nodded.
"The legend says that god invited all the animals to a banquet, and only 12 showed up…well, apparently that's not quite right. See the rat tricked the cat into thinking the banquet was the day after, so the cat missed the banquet altogether," Tohru explained.
"So that's why you and Kyo clash so much," Akemi said, fitting the pieces together.
Yuki nodded. "He's an idiot. He thinks that violence and anger is going to make him successful. He needs to use his head."
"He knows how," Akemi murmured, "I've seen him. And he's reasons for anger are usually just ones." She thought back to the night Kyo had saved her from Haru's split personality. How fortunate she was to have a friend like him.
"So have you talked to Haru since you went to the main house?" Tohru asked.
Akemi shook her head. "Nope. I just haven't seen him. I really hope he isn't mad or avoiding me…"
"I doubt it," Yuki said thoughtfully, "probably embarrassed. He probably thinks it was his big mess to clean up. I'm sure he's ashamed of nearly getting your memory wiped."
"He shouldn't have to be," Akemi said, frowning. "I'll talk to him at school tomorrow."
The door opened and Kyo came in from outside, obviously out of breath. He wiped some sweat from his forehead and took a huge gulp of the water bottle in his hand. He had been training.
"What are you doing here?" He asked Akemi. His tone was not unkind, but not exactly friendly either.
"Came to visit," She said simply, "is that ok?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, guess so." He sat down and asked, "So…you went and talked to Akito?"
Akemi nodded. Kyo shook his head, "You're crazy, you know that? I can't believe you escaped alive."
"Why's that? I thought he was very respectable," Akemi said with a shrug. When she saw the expression on his face she said, "What?"
Yuki stood up from his spot and left the room. She winced. "Was it something I said?"
Tohru shook her head, "NO…Yuki just doesn't really get along with Akiko all that well."
"He's controlling," Kyo said, sounding a bit angry, "he latches on to certain members of the family and tries to organize their life like he wants. I'm pretty lucky- Akito and I don't talk."
"Because of the cat," Akemi said before she could stop herself.
"Yeah," Kyo answered tersely, not willing to talk about it. "I'm gonna go back outside to train." He stood up and slammed the door behind him.
Akemi sighed. "I should think about what I have to say before I open my mouth," she groaned. She too stood up, followed by Tohru. "I should go home soon. My dad is leaving this afternoon on business. He's supposed to be gone for a whole week."
"What does your dad do?" Tohru asked.
Akemi shrugged, "I'm not quite sure exactly, but he works for Kamikara industries. Family thing, of course. He used to work out of our house, but now he's started going around. God knows what grandfather has him doing these days."
"You promise?" Akemi said for the eighth time.
"Yes, I promise," her father said lightly, his eyes smiling behind his half rimmed glasses. "I will call you when I get to the hotel."
"I don't believe you," Amaya said distrustfully.
"Girls, I wouldn't forget to call you," he laughed, "you are the most important thing in my life. Have a little faith in your old man!"
"Alright," Amaya said, also laughing, "I believe you."
"How long will you be gone?" Akemi asked.
"No more than two weeks," he said, zipping up his suitcase. "And that's my word. Now come give your dad a hug goodbye." The two teenage girls hugged their father tightly. Why did he have to be gone so long?
"Do you know where your mother is?" He asked, looking around.
"Downstairs in the kitchen," Amaya said lazily, "She insisted on making lunch herself. She's constantly arguing with the cook these days."
They followed their father downstairs, who said goodbye to his tearful wife. Akemi sighed. If she was going to have to deal with a melodramatic mother for two entire weeks…. that would not be fun. Her parents were very much in love and to the best of Akemi's knowledge, had not been separated for long periods of time.
Not like two weeks was incredibly long anyway.
Her father looked out the window. "Well, that's my taxi," he sighed, "I'm sorry to leave like this guys. But I promise, I'll call you as soon as I get to the hotel."
The girls smiled at him, gave him one last hug and watched out the window as the car pulled away.
"So your dad left then?" Tohru asked on Monday at lunch.
Akemi nodded. "Yeah, I miss him already." She frowned. "But I'm sort of mad…he never called me, like he said he would."
"I'm sorry,"Tohru said sadly.
"No, it's ok. I'm just sort of disappointed…'Have a little faith in your old man!' He said. I can't believe him." She sighed. "I still haven't talked to Haru. Are you sure he's not mad?"
"Pretty sure…he doesn't have any reason to be," Tohru insisted, "But you should still talk to him. Whatever he's thinking, it needs to be said. You should go and find him now."
"You sure?" Akemi asked doubtfully.
Tohru nodded happily, "Yeah! Go on. He's bound to be around here somewhere. I have to go find Uo and Hana anyway."
So Akemi made her way down the hallways of babbling girls and mischievous looking boys, sights set on finding the black and white haired boy. Near the end of lunch, she gave up and decided to go up to the roof – perhaps she could find Kyo up there.
She gasped in surprise when she saw none other than the one she had been looking for.
"Hey there," she said quite cheerfully, walking towards him.
"Hi," he said, looking down at the ground that was so far below them. He hardly seemed to notice her.
"Um…how are you? I haven't talked to you in a few days-" She began the conversation lamely.
"Why did you do it?" He asked suddenly. "Why did you go to Akito?"
Akemi was almost glad he'd gone straight to the point. "I wanted to make sure that you weren't the one being blamed. If they were going to erase my memory, I didn't want to go without a fight. I wanted him to know that it was my fault and not yours."
"But it wasn't your fault," Haru protested, "I was the one that told you!"
"It doesn't matter now," She said with a sigh, "Akito promised me he wouldn't punish you and I'm allowed to keep my memory. We got lucky I guess."
"Akemi," He said seriously, "no one has ever dared go to Akito like that before…and no one has ever done anything like that for me." He lowered his voice and said in great sincerity, "thank you so much."
Akemi could feel her cheeks grow hot as that Haru's face was only inches away from hers. She shook her head and said in embarrassment, "Nah, don't worry about it. You're my friend, right? What friend wouldn't look out for you?"
"You'd be surprised," Haru said, turning back to the ledge of the building, "Yuki once had friends find out – he tripped playing tag in the garden and ran into a girl – he lost all his friends. They were scared of what he was- and of course it didn't last long. Hatori had to track down every single child and erase his or her memories. But we were young then, the secret could have gotten out very easily." He spoke casually, yet softly, as if to be cautious with a fragile memory.
"That's horrible," Akemi said, bringing her hand to her mouth.
"It happens," Haru said dejectedly, "we've all lost people that way." He turned to look at her and gave her a small smile. "I'm just glad I didn't lose you."
She smiled back; her dark green eyes crinkled and said, "you never would have."
"Hey, do you want to hang out after school?" He asked, "I'm meeting a few people after school and I think you'd like to meet them as well."
"Sure, I'd like that a lot," Akemi said. Her ears perked up as she heard the final lunch bell ring. She sighed, "Time for class. I'll meet you at the front gates after school then?"
He nodded and waved goodbye as they parted for class.
"So where are we going?" Akemi asked Haru curiously.
"You'll see," He said with a small wink.
"Haru, sorry to break it to you, but you don't have the best sense of direction," she warned him, "why don't you just tell me where we're going?"
"Alright fine," he said finally, "we're going downtown. We're supposed to meet these two right outside our favorite coffee shop. I hope they can get there ok…"
"Let's work on getting us there ok," Akemi said, tugging his collar, "we've been going the long way."
When they finally made their way, Akemi looked around for kids their age. She didn't see anyone – only bustling people on their way home from work, and two little children looking dreadfully bored. I wonder if they're waiting for their mother outside, Akemi mused.
"So where are they?" Akemi asked lamely. She felt silly asking as if she was blind.
"Right there," Haru said, pointing to the two children. She blinked again. Those were the people they were meeting?
The two children looked rather old to be called children, around the age of 12. The boy looked extremely bored and cynical, kicking stones as he walked in circles, occasionally staring at his watch. The girl sat quietly leaning against the wall, her sandy hair cut short in a bob. She looked up to see Haru and a look of joy spread across her face. Without a word, she ran and hugged him around the middle.
Akemi raised her eyebrows, expecting him to transform. When he didn't, she immediately thought that this girl must be a member of the zodiac as well.
"Hey there Kisa, how are you this afternoon?" Haru asked her pleasantly, ruffling her hair slightly.
"Good," she said in a meek voice, a large smile on her face.
"Kisa, I would like you to meet my friend Akemi. She's also friends with Tohru, Yuki and Kyo," Haru said, pushing her forwards towards Akemi.
"It's nice to meet you Kisa," Akemi said, smiling down at the girl. Kisa looked shyly up at her and waved hello.
"She's a bit shy," Haru said, "she's just started talking again, thanks to Tohru."
"And what am I, a statue?" The boy said rather rudely, coming over.
"This is Hiro," Haru said offhanded, "don't be offended if he's rude. It's his way of showing he cares."
"I don't show people I care unless I do," Hiro said blatantly. He looked at Akemi. "Who are you?"
"Akemi Kamikara," she announced with a bow, "nice to meet you."
"You don't act like a Kamikara," he said frankly, "Kamikaras are rude and stupid."
"From what I've learned, I'm not much like other Kamikaras," Akemi said with a shrug. "I don't talk to my extended family that often."
"I knew a Kamikara once," Hiro continued, "he went to school with me for awhile, until he started picking fights with me. When his parents found out who I was they sent him to a private school."
"That sounds about right," Akemi said shaking her head, "my father's told me about some of my cousins and other relatives. I can't exactly say I'm proud of what my family name stands for."
Hiro observed her for a moment, as if to judge her with his calculating brown eyes. Then he shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose you're ok."
Akemi smiled. "Good to know. It's very nice to meet you both." She lowered her voice, "So…are you both members of the zodiac?"
Hiro glared at Haru, "you told someone?"
Haru shrugged, "Akito didn't erase her memory. It's fair game now."
"I'm the tiger," Kisa said proudly. "And Hiro is-"
"Don't say it," Hiro interrupted.
"The sheep!" She finished with a smile. Then she turned to Hiro, "Sorry, it just slipped out!" Her voice was fragile sounding- almost a whisper.
"It's ok," Hiro said, shrugging again, "I guess I don't care if she knows."
"Those are both very cool transformations," Akemi said, trying to make light conversation. She unfortunately did not get another word in before her cell phone began to ring.
"Excuse me a moment," She said, taking it out of her bag, "Hello? Hi mom. Now? Do I have to? What do you need my help with? Well Amaya can always…No, no. I'm sorry. Ok, I'm coming back. Goodbye mom." She sighed as she hung up the phone. "That was my mom. She's near melting point. My dad only left a few days ago and already she's having trouble maintaining her sanity. I'll see you later Haru." She turned to both Hiro and Kisa and said, "it was nice meeting you both, I hope to see you again soon."
Kisa (and a reluctant Hiro) waved goodbye as she biked away down the street.
"Akemi Kamikara, you said?" A hollow voice said in the dark room.
Hiro nodded. "Yeah. She seems to be pretty good friends with Haru…it was weird. I don't think I've ever seen him act that way."
"I see…"
"What are you going to do, Rin?" Hiro asked, almost nervously.
Rin ran her long, bony fingers through her ebony hair. A thin smile passed her red lips. "We'll see Hiro. I'll think of something."
I'd forgotten how much I liked this chapter. It's not one of my favorites, but I'd forgotten it wasn't that bad of a filler. A few key things happened inthis chapter..by next chapter you'll understand.
Much love!
Lola
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