A/N: Gyah! I'm sorry this is late, but my mom yelled at me for not getting all of my school stuff in order so that kind of over took most of my creative time. Also this chapter was a little harder to write because I had a really hard time trying to keep Tokito in character. I'm only on Volume 17 so I haven't seen much of her so all I really have to go off of are scans of the later volumes in Japanese which I can't read and what other people have written her as. I hope I didn't do too badly with her, but at this point I just wanted to get the chapter done.
The only other thing that I really want to point out is that with the reading that Tokito does is actually legit. The meanings of the cards are what they actually mean and the Celtic Cross spread is real. However, each card can be interpreted differently when it is read so if you also know how to read tarot cards, please do not criticize what I took it to mean.
Disclaimer: If I wished really hard, maybe I could, but it won't happen so I don't own it.
Absently listening to the voices drifting from the kitchen, Tokito was focused more on the old pieces of lacquered paper she was laying out in front of her than the conversation about how work had gone that day or the open text books lying on the far end of the table. The various patterns for creating a spread withher precious cardswere so engrained in her mind that she was positive that she could do it in her sleep. Smiling secretively as she watched the Celtic Cross take shape before her eyes, she wondered how her eldest cousin would take it if he knew that she was performing this ritual for him this time. She knew that he thought what she did was foolish and a waste of time, but that had not once prevented him from listening to her when she told him about what misfortunes were going to befall her delinquent sister.
Pausing above the final spot on the cross, a small frown replaced the smile for a moment as she considered Kyo's reactions to her predictions. Now that she thought about it, he always seemed to be amused when she told him what the cards had said, but he had never let on what he had been so amused by.
Shaking her head to clear it of distracting thoughts, she turned her attention to the ten cards lying face down on the coffee table in front of her and focused on the present situations surrounding her cousin, more importantly the question she wanted answered about him. Gripping the right edge of the card in the centre, she flipped it over and silently studied it for a moment.
"Death," she murmured softly, "the giving up of something of lesser value in exchange for something of much greater long term value."
Turning the card set length-wise under the first over, a small smile twitched her lips at the second card's position.
"The Emperor reversed, too headstrong, unable to heed the advice of others."
Her hand automatically moved to the card crowning the first two.
"The Devil, do not let your own negativity hold you back."
The card underneath the first pair was flipped next.
"Seven of Swords, the feeling of being ripped off by others."
Her hand paused for a moment above the card to the left of the centre before she shook her head again and turned it over.
"Five of Swords, crossed swords resulting in a parting of ways, the feeling of being alone due to a sudden loss."
The sixth card was set to the right of the original two.
"Two of Cups, a new relationship."
Working now on the vertical line of cards lying to the right of the cross, she flipped over the bottom one.
"Nine of Wands, break down barriers only when others can be fully trusted, establish this first and foremost."
The second card in the line was turned.
"Strength, allowing one's immediate impulses to be directed by the use of reason."
The second to last card was slowly flipped.
"Six of Wands, a victory, the turning of the tide, the seemingly stronger enemy suddenly routed."
With a quick indrawn breath, Tokito turned the final card.
"Ace of Cups, emotional fulfillment at finding one's destiny, finding the value of love in one's life."
Leaning back against the couch behind her, the frown returned to Tokito's lips as she studied the spread in front of her. Most of the cards certainly fit her cousin and some of the ones that had appeared in this reading had also been present in previous ones she had done for him. The most startling change from the regular cards was the centre card, the card that represented the general situation of her cousin.
Reaching out to pick up the card, she studied the skeletal figure on it, her mind going over all the possible meanings of the card she had the most fun with. It was easy for a person to see this card and immediately think that it was telling them of their own death, but this was most often wrong. While a person focused on the skeleton reaper coming for them, they would miss the sunrise present in the background, signalling a new beginning.
"I guess," Tokito said slowly as she tapped the card against her lips, "that even though Kyo lost Sakuya, he's going to find someone else that will be of much greater importance to him. I wonder whom?"
She put the card back in its place and began to analyse the rest of the reading.
"Well, I'm not surprised to see you again," she murmured to the emperor card. "He's too stubborn for his own good, but you," she said as her eyes shifted to the crowning card, "are new. Is Kyo going to spiral into a negative thinkingpattern that will spawn an intense depression that will prevent him from achieving all that he was meant to? Or is he so focused on the loss to Kyoshiro that he will allow it to block all of the good things that could happen to him?
"You I understand," she told the card at the bottom. "He feels he has unjustly lost to the 'superior' Kyoshiro once again, but at something that actually mattered to him."
Tracing along the swords on the fifth card, Tokito mumbled, "Do you mean to say that, even though they are twins and bound by blood ties, now that they have fought over Sakuya, they will go separate ways because of her and that Kyo now feels that he is truly alone for he lost her, supposedly the only one to understand him?"
Not waiting to see if the card would respond, she moved on to its counterpart on the other side of the centre. "But you tell me that, despite what has just happened to him, a new relationship will form in his life," she said softly. "Twice now, you have stated that there is a new beginning for him, a beginning with a new person who is greater than Sakuya was."
As she mentally stored this information away in her mind Tokito turned to the four remaining cards. "Another normal card," she muttered, tapping the nine of wands. "He doesn't trust anyone enough to let them get close to him; the walls that surround him will always be permanent structures that would take an army years to scratch.
"You are strange though. Kyo has never acted impulsively and now you are saying that he is going to have to suppress his immediate urges to use the way of reason?" Tokito continued in a confused voice to the next card displayed. "Kyo's always kept his temper, but maybe this fiasco with Sakuya was the final straw. Maybe now we'll see what Kyo can truly be like when he no longer follows the way of reason.
"Once again, back to the normal," she murmured, her eyes finding the six of wands. "Always hoping to best the supposedly stronger enemy, this time for the love of the girl that chose the other. I wonder if you will be the same when next I read for him."
Picking up the final card, she studied the one that was supposed to represent the overview of the reading. "Emotional fulfillment at finding one's destiny? The value of love in one's life? That doesn't sound like Kyo at all," she muttered. "Since when has he ever cared about finding emotional fulfillment or his destiny?"
Returning the card to its place, she sighed, "Oh well. Everything will unfold as it is supposed to, I guess."
Green eyes shifted away slightly from the cards to regard the books that symbolized her homework and her nose wrinkled in disgust. What good was mathematics anyways? She had no plans of every using it so why did they force it upon her in school?
Tossing her short hair in annoyance, she looked away from the books, figuring that she would just 'borrow' the answers from Akira before she went home. Resting her arms on the coffee table, she leaned over her cards and wondered if she should tell Kyo what she had seen.
"Are you playing with those old things again?"
Blinking at the sudden question, Tokito glanced up to find Kyo leaping over the back of the couch to land stretched out on the cushions. "Do you not have eyes?" she demanded with a lift of her brow, instantly deciding to keep the information the cards had told her to herself.
A small smirk crossed his lips before he closed his eyes and slid his hands under his head.
Turning from him, the girl began gathering up her cards, carefully moving them into a small pile before returning them to the deck.
"So did you get what you needed done?" Kyo muttered without opening his eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Tokito snapped, wrapping the cards in the black silk cloth she had originally found them in.
"I saw you talking to those kids that lit the cars on fire, Tokito."
"Oh and talking to people is a crime now?"
"No and in all honesty, I don't really care. I was just curious if it actually worked."
"Akira got home reasonably early didn't he?" she demanded irritably.
"So it worked," he mumbled, his smirk tilting the corners of his mouth again.
Leaning back against the couch again, the two fell into silence, Tokito getting lost in her thoughts and Kyo seemingly falling asleep. Tokito's eyes began to wander over the pictures hung on the wall across from her, her mind remembering each of the events depicted there or at least the ones she had been alive for.
The predominant picture was of her aunt and uncle's wedding, the couple smiling happily at each other. Fanning out around the gilded frame were the school pictures of their three children and two nieces for all of the years they had attended that institution so far. There were also pictures of holidays and major events dispersed among the school photos, but Tokito was not paying attention to those. She was staring straight at the pair of blue eyes she had not seen in real life in what felt like ages.
Standing up, Tokito walked over to the picture wall, still gazing at the picture of Akira. "Three years ago," she murmured softly. "Three years since the accident."
"You really need to stop talking to yourself, kid," Kyo growled from the couch.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Kyo," she said sarcastically, turning around to face him again. "Am I interrupting your precious nappy time?"
One red eye cracked open to glare at her. "Yes, you are, Toki-chan, now shut up."
Bristling at the nickname that all three of her cousins insisted on calling her, Tokito growled, "I'd like to see you make me shut up."
The matching crimson orb opened as a smirk crossed his face. "No, you don't, now shut up so I can get some sleep before that traitor shows up."
"Why? You do something that took all your energy?"
"Toki-chan," Kyo said slowly as he closed his eyes, "do you really want an answer to that question?"
Her face twisted in disgust and she turned back to the pictures. "You're a pig, Kyo," she muttered.
"No, I'm a ladies man," he said softly.
Tokito blinked at Kyo's voice and glanced at him over her shoulder. Green eyes narrowed at him when she saw that he appeared to be sleeping again, but she said nothing.
"What are you staring at?" Kyo demanded after a few more minutes had passed of her studying the pictures.
"My cousin," she responded automatically.
"Ha ha, Tokito." There was a pause where Tokito heard Kyo shift on the couch. "You thinking that much about it can't be good for your health, you know?"
"I'm not thinking about it," she said sharply.
"Liar."
"I am not!"
"Then why are you staring at Akira's picture so hard? Last time you did that, you broke into tears."
"I did not!" she growled. "Besides, why should I care what happens to him? He was a spoiled brat three years ago and he still is today!"
Without waiting to see if Kyo was going to respond to that, Tokitostalked through the doorway leading into the dining room and went to sit down at her spot at the table.
"Is something wrong, Tokito?"
Jumping at the unexpected voice, green eyes jerked up to find her uncle standing at the end of the table, a stack of plates in his hands. "Oh, no, nothing's wrong," she said quickly.
Muramasa studied his niece for a moment before his smile crossed his lips and he motioned to the plates with his free hand. "Would you help me then?"
Nodding silently, she rose from her chair and took half of the plates from her uncle.
"So anything interesting happen at school today?"
Tokito warily glanced at Muramasa out of the corner of her eye and wondered how much her uncle already knew about what had happened at school. Choosing the safer topic, she nodded. "The Crimson King made an announcement about a huge school project for the fair in June," she answered, putting a plate down.
"Ah, yes, I had heard about that."
A frown touched the girl's face before she shrugged it away. None of the kids on the street had been able to figure it out, but they were all positive that Muramasa could read minds. It was the only explanation they could come up with for how he knew almost everything that went on in the city.
"So is the drove going to participate?"
Tokito nodded as she put down the last plate. "Yes, we're having a meeting tonight at the park to decide on what we should do."
A smile returned to Muramasa's face. "Ah, that should be interesting," he said softly as he turned back to the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready shortly, Tokito. You can just stay at the table if you like."
Returning to her chair, Tokito pondered over whether or not her uncle knew of the other event that happened at the school. He would have known about Akira's detention because the school would have called the house to inform his parents of it, but did he know about the fire in the parking lot?
Drumming her fingers on the table, she rolled around the information that could be used against her to prove she had anything to do with the fires and began to work out a strategy to keep her from being discovered. Kyo was the biggest threat, having seen her talking to the boys who set the fires, but, as she had said before, talking to people was not a crime. She could brush that accusation aside easily by saying that she was talking to the boys about a project in their history class and it would hold up since she had talked to them about it.
A small smirk crossed her face as she wondered if telling the boys that she would inform the teacher they were cheating on their assignments if they did not set the fires was really considered talking to them.
Glancing up when she heard someone walk into the room, Tokito's eyes narrowed as the only other problem she could think of walked into the room. Akira suspected that Tokito had something to do with the fires, but she could avoid that with the simple fact that the two of them were always at each other's throats.
"Are you just sitting there waiting to be served?" he demanded, stopping in the doorway.
Taking the incentive, Tokito lounged comfortably in her chair and waved her hand at the kitchen. "Of course, why don't you go get me my food, boy?"
"When hell freezes over."
"Did I give you a choice? Now get and bring me back my food!" Tokito commanded.
"I said no, you little-"
"Dinner's ready!" a happy voice called, silencing the both of them.
Both cousins looked towards the door leading to the kitchen and the woman who walked into the room carrying a large covered tray.
"Akira, sweetie, would you please go help your father bring in the rest of the food?" Mayumi asked with a smile.
Tokito tried not to snicker when Akira bristled slightly, knowing that he was thinking of what they had been talking about.
"Come now, sweetie, go help Father."
Akira sighed softly and nodded. "Yes, Mother," he murmured as he walked past her to the kitchen.
Placing the tray down in the centre of the table, Mayumi glanced at Tokito. "Did your reading turn out well, Tokito?" she asked as she removed the lid from the platter.
"Mmm," Tokito mumbled, inhaling the aroma wafting off of the main course of the meal and completely ignoring her aunt's question.
Mayumi laughed and waved her hand above the steaming dish towards Tokito. "Hungry, I take it?"
"N-" Tokito stopped abruptly as her stomach made a rude noise.
Laughing again, Mayumi smiled at Muramasa as he entered the room with Akira in tow. "Ah, good timing," she said as they put down what they were carrying.
Muramasa smiled back at her, but Akira remained silent as he took his seat across from Tokito.
"Smells good, Mom!" Kyoshiro chirped as he hurried into the room.
"And where exactly have you been, young man?" Mayumi demanded, rounding on her second son. "You were supposed to help me tonight, but you were no where to be found!"
"He was at the Shiina house, Auntie," Mahiro supplied as she sneaked in behind Kyoshiro.
Mayumi lifted a brow at that. "Spending more time with Sakuya were you?" she murmured, waving her son to his seat. "You need to learn to better budget time for what goes on in your life."
"Mayumi," Muramasa said with a smile, "why don't you just get him to help with the clean up instead?"
"Mmm, yes, I guess that will have to do for now. Kyo!" she called, turning to the door to the living room. "Dinner!"
"Not hungry," his voice called back.
Tokito smirked slightly when she saw the irritated look on Mayumi's face and began dishing up her plate, not bothering to wait for Kyo to show up. She ignored the look Mahiro shot her from her spot to the right of Tokito, continuing to ladle food onto her plate.
"I don't care if you're hungry or not, young man! You will be joining us for dinner!"
"Akira. Potatoes. Now," Tokito said sharply, her eyes focused on the dish set near her cousin's elbow.
"Manners, Tokito," Mayumi chided before she turned back to the door and missing the smirk Akira threw at Tokito. "Ky-oh!" she exclaimed when he suddenly appeared at the door.
"Yeah, I heard you, Mom," he muttered as he walked to his spot beside Mahiro.
Mayumi made a face, but took her spot at the end of the table near Kyo. "You need to learn to make more noise when you move, dear," she scolded softly, passing a dish to him.
He made no response as he began filling his plate.
"Akira, don't horde the potatoes," Muramasa said when he noticed that his youngest was not moving the dish. "There's more than enough for everyone."
"Yeah! Hand them over!"
"Tokito, please, an inside voice."
Akira smirked again as he passed the dish to Kyoshiro and stuck his tongue out at Tokito.
"I saw that, young man!"
Tokito snickered at him.
Rolling his eyes dramatically, Muramasa sighed as he looked at Mayumi. "I guess we will never have a normal meal around here," he said, feigning sadness.
She laughed at him. "Normal? Love, this is normal!"
The saintly smile returned to his lips as he accepted the vegetable dish from Tokito. "So," he said as he spooned food onto his plate, "Tokito tells me that the drove is going to work on a project for the summer festival. Do you have any ideas as to what you would want to work on?"
"That's what we're meeting for tonight, Dad," Kyoshiro said quickly.
"Yes, that's what Tokito had said, but shouldn't you go to it with ideas? It won't be very productive if no one has any ideas as to what they want to work on."
"Good point," the younger twin muttered.
"Well, I guess it's understandable if you haven't come up with something yet," Muramasa continued, handing the bowl off to Akira's waiting hands. "It was just mentioned today."
"Do you have any ideas, Uncle?" Mahiro asked, passing on the potatoes without taking any.
"Ah, Mahiro, that wouldn't be fair now would it?"
She blushed slightly and murmured, "I guess not."
"Did anything else happen at school today?"
"Akira got another detention," Tokito supplied quickly as she began piling the potatoes on her plate.
"It was not my fault."
"Uh huh, that's right. Blame Hotaru."
"I didn't do that either!"
"Stop," Muramasa said sharply when both Tokito and Akira inhaled to start their argument in earnest. "If it wasn't your fault or Hotaru's, why did you getanother detention, Akira?"
"She's sick," he muttered.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Speak up, sweetie, we can't hear you," Mayumi said from the other end of the table.
"The teacher just got mad about something stupid and gave both Hotaru and me a detention."
"They were talking during a test," Tokito quipped. "The teacher thinks they were cheating."
"Akira!"
"Mom, I wouldn't cheat!" Akira protested.
"Why were you talking then?" Muramasa asked.
"Hotaru wanted to know why I was listening to him and all I wanted to know is why he thought I was listening to him!"
"Your teacher wouldn't give you a detention just for that, Akira," Mayumi said disapprovingly.
"I don't know, Mom," Kyoshiro said cautiously. "Didn't Akira say that she gave him a detention last week because he had 'looked' at her funny?"
Mayumi faltered at that before she shook her head. "I'm calling the school tomorrow to get this figured out," she said to close the subject.
"At least I didn't set several cars on fire," Akira muttered just loud enough to be heard.
There was a started silence before Mayumi exclaimed, "What!"
Kicking Akira under the table, Tokito glared at him. "Akira seems to think that because I was the one the Crimson King sent to tell our teacher about her car being on fire that I had something to do with them," Tokito said in explanation, not waiting for anyone else to jump in with their side of the story.
"I don't think, Toki-chan, I know you had something to do with them!"
"Why would I do something as low as that?" she demanded of him.
"To help your cousin out?" Kyoshiro ventured.
"Why would I want to help a stupid kid like him!"
"Who's the stupid kid! At least I don't rely on pieces of ancient papers to tell me what I'm going to do in a day!"
"They are not stupid!" Tokito cried angrily. "If you had listened to me this morning I would have told you that something was going to go wrong in last block and you wouldn't have been in the detention!"
"You didn't know that was going to happen!"
"I did so!"
"You did-"
"Stop."
Both teens fell silent immediately as the soft voice of Muramasa cut through their yells.
Taking a drink, Muramasa stared down at the contents of his cup before he looked up, pinning both Akira and Tokito to their chairs. "You both know the rules," he said quietly. "Arguing is allowed as long as it is conducted in a civil manner and you do not lose your temper, but not when we are at the table. This is one of the only times that we actually get together as a family now that you kids are older and I am not going to have it filled with anger. Do you understand?"
Akira nodded while Tokito mumbled, "Yes, Uncle."
"That goes to the three of you as well," Muramasa added, his eyes moving to the older teens.
"What are you talking-"
"Don't play dumb, Kyoshiro. Both you and Kyo have been at odds more than usual and I am not going to be pleased if I hear from your mother about another one of these altercations."
"Like what, Dad?" Kyo demanded. "We've always fought so what's the big-"
"You think your mother and I haven't noticed the fact that you're getting more violent, Kyo?"
"Muramasa," Mayumi said softly, shaking her head when she saw Kyo stiffen in his seat.
"Mayumi, this has to end. They are brothers and twins. They should be getting along."
"Getting along?" Kyo repeated, his voice low. "Why should I get along with a traitor and a bastard on top of that?"
"Kyo!" Mayumi gasped while Muramasa's eyes narrowed.
"Don't insult your mother and brother like that, Kyo," he said quietly.
"Well, if I'm so insulting, I'll just leave."
The group watched as Kyo shoved his chair back and left the room. Tokito caught the look that Mayumi and Muramasa shared, but thought nothing of it. Her mind was more focused on what the cards had told her. "Five of swords," she murmured, "the crossing of swords resulting in the parting of way. The cards never lie."
A/N: Doing that reading for Kyo was murder I tell you! MURDER! Gah, going through my cards to find the ones that fit my story? (beats head against desk) Although now I have the mad urge to do an actual one on him and the rest of the characters to see if anything rings true for them. Hmm…Oh well, I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible! …Just as soon as I figure out what character's point of view it is going to be in. (scampers away to play with tarot cards)