Born to be Broken

Disclaimer: YES IT'S MINE! ALL MINE! (Cackles like evil Shuichi and gets carted away in a butterfly net) Well, maybe it's not really mine. Just a little. Though I do claim ownership over Akito Sohma since he gets no respect no matter where he is these days! (Yells at manga readers) HE'S NOT A GIRL!

Note: I'm not going to go overboard apologizing for my absence; I'll just be brutally honest. The manga revealed Akito to be a girl. I thought, fine, but I doubted it had any real reflection on his character in the anime so I just went about my business and kept on writing away. Then I got the overflow of reviews of people constantly reminding me that Akito was a girl. (As if I could easily forget something so horrible. Much in the manner that people cannot forget witnessing a murder, only worse) I tried to point out valiantly that Born to be Broken continues on from the anime and the anime never revealed Akito as a girl and so as far as I'm concerned, he wasn't a girl in the anime! Not a great argument, but there you go. Then people started to like the idea of Akito being a girl and started once again to remind me that he was a girl. I'm sorry folks but I'm only human. I cracked and gave up.

I realized that I wasn't going to get any rest if I continued on with this particular storyline because I would forever be haunted by reviewers reminding me that Akito has a vagina. And breasts. Which scares me quite frankly. So I had to completely rewrite the story plan of Born to be Broken to fit in with some of the changes going on around the net. Not to be concerned though all you people who love Man!Akitty. Akito is still a boy in this fic, though I've completely revamped the storyline to take some changes into account and frankly I'm quite pleased I did!

Now, I'm sorry for the huge delay, but what with me getting pissed off with Fruits Basket and shifting to another anime to save my soul and reconfirm my belief in God, I am finally brave enough to face this fic again. Though there will be some ground rules if people want me to keep writing. And there is but one: If so much as one person reminds me needlessly that Akito is OMG a girl in the manga, I will cease this fic immediately, delete it from the net and wipe all traces of it off of the face of the planet. (Perkily) K? Other than that tell me off about anything else. Apostrophe's, bad spelling, bad plot, bad characterization whatever you see fit. Just not the other unmentionable.

So, with that being said, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter and will show some compassion to poor Akitty fangirls who've had to adopt lesbianism as a result of their true love getting a sex change. (Ears hang low) HERE COME'S THE 'S'! (Sorry! Couldn't help myself!)

"And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth thou shalt eat all the days of they life."

– Book of Genesis. 3: 14-15

By the time the elders had arrived at Ritsu's room, the dark haired monkey of the zodiac was well and truly composed. They found him packing undergarments into the drawers of a large mahogany cupboard near the door and he apologized profusely for disturbing them. Apparently he had tripped and hit his head on one of the furniture's corners, the shock more than anything making him react so violently. Only one of the elders, Susumu, detected that there was something amiss in the cursed zodiac members' flimsy excuse. And when the other elders had taken their leave, Kureno Sohma stepped into Ritsu's room and slid the door shut behind him.

The monkey had his back to him, folding up some shirts on the top of the bed.

"It was him."

Kureno knew who he meant but hadn't been expecting Ritsu to have come around yet. "Bane? He was here in the estate?"

"Yeah… he was here all right…" Ritsu sighed tiredly and rubbed at his eyes. He flashed a sad little smile over his shoulder at the other man. "Now I know why you asked me if I came back here for any other reason. I guess you were right after all. I came back to remember."

"Ah Ritsu…" Kureno stepped up close and took the younger man into his embrace, gently rocking his body from side to side. "I didn't want you to have to remember. It was I alone who was responsible for maintaining this memory. This… humiliation."

Ritsu laughed a little tenderly. "And that's exactly why he gave me my memory back, Ku-Ku-chan. The Bane doesn't want anyone to forget what we did to him." He drew himself out of Kureno's arms and then made his way over to the cupboard near the door. He fished around beneath the clothing for a while and then turned back to the elder, holding some small articles of paper out to him. "I understand that this too was withheld from you. The other elders meant to hide it from Akito. Perhaps you would like to read it yourself, Susumu?"

Kureno stuffed the paper into the back pocket of his trousers. "That can wait. Where is the Bane now?"

Ritsu gestured with his head. "While I was recovering he went straight out through the bedroom door. He mentioned Shigure. He may intend to revive his memories too."

"Shit." The older man cursed. "He sure is bold. But knowing the Bane he would never do the obvious. If he left by the window that would mean he was heading in the direction of Shigure's house. Your window faces out directly to the woods. That would be the most direct route. The only reasonable explanation that he left by the door is-''

"-That he has something to do here at the estate." Ritsu concluded. Kureno punched his palm with his fist.

"We must search for him. Split up and cover both sides of the Main Estate. Since you and I are the only Guardian's that remember, we alone are capable of restraining him. Do you think you're up to it? It's been a while."

"I'll say it has…" The monkey said softly, his eyes facing toward the ground. "But what choice do I have? It's not as though the Bane's going to be exactly thrilled after he was screwed over so badly."

It was settled. In the dark of the night the two men entered the shaded hallway. Without a word to the other, they set off in separate directions.

-SCENE CHANGE-

When Akito awoke, the last thing he expected to see was Shigure. It was barely midnight and the young family master had barely dozed off, when he was suddenly and inadvertently jerked awake. As he sat up in bed, rubbing his forehead and wondering what could have woken him, he spotted the older man standing by the window staring out.

There was only twelve feet between Akito and Shigure; the latter staring out into the darkness of the woods, lower arms leaning against the circular frame. Lost it seemed, in the tenacity of his own thoughts. The wind outside was tinged with the bitter cold of night and Akito could see it toying with the man's hair, blowing the long dark strands across his slightly tanned neck. Even from that distance he could see his throat rising and falling with the intake of breath, the soft discolored skin rippling down his collar and shifting fluidly like silk across his smooth, bare shoulders. Akito's breath caught, tangled up within the boundaries of his own throat as it became more and more difficult to control. Still within the drowsy trance like state that one succumbs to upon awakening, it did not occur to him to question what Shigure was doing in his room in the dead of the night. All he could feel was his own aching desire, desperate to be sated by the other man's strong body and skilled hands. Perhaps Shigure had finally realized his correct place by his side, rather than in the arms of that vehement snake he called a lover. Now, here he was before him in all his velvety perfection, delighting the younger man in a way he couldn't even begin to describe.

Akito slowly angled his body to the side and slid his feet onto the floor, purposefully trying to make it noticeable to the other man.

"Shigure?" He called, sounding pathetically hopeful even to his own ears.

The elder man raised his head, registering the conscious presence and then turned to face Akito, a shadowed smile stretching across the lower half of his face.

Akito felt his breath catch and quickly pulled his legs to safety against his body, scuttling away until he felt the securing touch of the wooden headboard against his back. Now that he was face to face, he realized with a rude shock that the intruder was not in fact Shigure.

"You… you're not…" He mumbled, lacking the forthright dilution to engage this man properly. "I mean… uh…"

The man's teeth gleamed in the darkness, shining from the moist saliva thinly coating them. He seemed tempestuous toward the younger boy and cruelly amused by his stunned reaction.

"Were you expecting someone else?" He drawled in a voice so clearly seductive Akito felt the passing compulsion to slide out of his robes. Dismissing the urge completely, he instead pulled the blankets back over his body as though to hide from the stranger who was beginning to walk slowly away from the window and its' blustery breeze.

Akito could see how he managed to fool himself so effectively into mistaking the man for Shigure. The resemblance was uncanny to the point that they could have been twins. He was around the same height, though broader across the shoulders and certainly better built. His legs, clothed in faded denim jeans were long and as slender as the waist that birthed them. He had the same gentle smile that could too easily shift to manipulate or mock for the owners' personal entertainment. In fact, their facial structure was practically identical if you were not to take in the wider mouth and fuller lips. When this man spoke, the movement looked kind of uncomfortable though he clearly exuded confidence in his manner and tone. The similarity ended here however. The most noticeable difference between them was that this mans' eyes were far too wide in diameter, as though the eyeball itself was too big for the socket and appeared to be pushing the upper lids at a higher axis. The color was a crimson red, like old blood with none of the warmth of Shigure's deep brown twins. His hair, whilst also dark, was not the passive black of Shigure's. It was a rich chestnut brown and it was tied back in a short ponytail, allowing the shorter pieces at the front as well as his long bangs to frame his slightly feminine face.

Regardless, the stranger highlighted by the moon outside was positively one of the most striking figures Akito had ever set eyes on. The menacing structure of his eyes aside, Akito sensed that there was benevolence to the man and he meant him no harm. It was the same as the figure on the tape…

The figure on the tape!

"You!" He snapped, putting some venom into it. His voice sounded suitably inclement. "I know that voice, those eyes… you were the one on the tape, were you not?"

There was a long silence as the stranger came closer in order to perch at the very base of Akito's bed. He crossed his long legs eloquently and folded his hands, resting them on the raised knee.

"Bingo." He concluded sounding altogether too cheery. "And I must say, it is good to hear your voice. I've been waiting a long time to see you again."

Akito kept his eyebrows furrowed and his body withdrawn as far from the other man as was possible. The brunette had a very noticeable accent, weakened a little from the strength it may have originally possessed. Akito could not pinpoint it and frankly, couldn't give a damn at the moment.

"Forgive me if I seem less riveted than you expected." He said coldly enough to form icicles within the man's ear canals. "But it is a little difficult you must understand, if I have absolutely no conception of who you are."

The man regarded him casually; his expression and then his voice both completely unreadable. "I am the 14th sign of the zodiac."

Akito snorted condescendingly. "There is no 14th sign."

The other man only grinned in reply. "Oh really?" He climbed to his feet, stretched and then let out a very loud and attention grabbing sneeze. Akito looked on apprehensively.

"Are… you all right?"

It truly hit him then. Dear God, this man was real! The one on the tape, the man who said he loved him was not part of his messed up imagination. Here he was! Standing right here in front of him!

The stranger shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. "Uh… not to complain or anything but… I don't suppose you have something around here that I could wear? Something baggy? You're quite a bit smaller than me after all, Sugar-skin."

Sugar-skin. The name he had been called that day in the shower when something had attempted to seduce him. Akito wondered if it could have somehow been the man in front of him but couldn't reason how it was possible. He was real. Whatever had tested him that day could not have been anything more than something intangible. Something he could not fathom could not see.

Akito carefully pulled himself out of bed and slowly made his way around the room, looking for something to give the other man. Eventually he came across his usual attire of the white and red robes. They would have to do. He picked them up and then made his way over to the stranger, forcefully shoving them at his chest.

"Here. Put these on."

The chestnut smiled appreciatively as he accepted the garments and unashamedly began to wriggle out of the remnants of his jeans. Akito discreetly turned his back, marveling at the lack of modesty.

"Hmm… removing the red robe before me, huh?" Came the thick accent from behind his back. Akito felt his face go red at the suggested implication. "Does that mean-?"

"No." Akito said bluntly. The other man shrugged.

"Worth a try."

Akito glanced once over his shoulder and saw the chestnut was dressed. He found his eyes straying to the sloping neckline that ran directly down the others bare chest and immediately felt a small tingle of guilt. Dammit, what the hell was wrong with him? He didn't even know who this guy was and he was checking him out?

The chestnut noticed the aim of Akito's gaze and modestly drew his robes in tighter around his body. Akito did the same with his own robes, feeling almost a little disappointed. Then he made his way over to the window and slid it shut. The room was cold enough without the breeze from outside leaking in.

"Uh… I'm guessing you have a lot of questions, right?" The crimson-eyed man Eienstiened, lowering his head in a mock bow. Akito didn't respond to his tease and continued to stand by the window, gazing at the stranger who should never have been a stranger. It had been years since the Bane had felt that scrutiny bear down on him and he loved it when Akito looked at him like that. He'd missed that. Though now he couldn't help but think those eyes had different intentions then they did seven years ago. They were no longer the eyes of a child. They were the eyes of a beautiful yet sad young man.

"For one…" Said the master softly. "How did you manage to get in here?"

The stranger seated himself casually back down at the foot of the bed, his glowing red eyes subjecting Akito to his full attention. "Circum-navigated the rooftops."

Akito raised an eyebrow. "You came here via the rooftops?"

"Didn't have much of a choice, lad. If the family elders saw me they'd be chasin' me down like a pack of hyena's houndin' a beef trolley." He stretched his fingers out before him, cracking them one by one. "Owing to the somewhat… tumultuous circumstances of our past history, I decided to be a little more tactful about my return."

"Yes, about that," Akito mused as he leant back against the wall, stifling what threatened to be a hearty yawn. "On the tape you said you used to work here and none of us would remember you after you left. I saw you speak with me on the tape."

The man's eyes were not in the least bit indicative of his feelings. They were as cold as shark's eyes, misleading to the nature of the figure himself. "And have you yet come to the conclusion that I was telling the truth?"

"I want answers." Akito said firmly.

"Then answers I will give you. Granted you are ready to hear them?"

"I've been ready." Akito's voice was tarter than he had intended.

"I'll be the judge of that," replied the stranger superciliously. He slowly raised himself from the bed and started to pace about the open space of the room, his arms above his head and one hand locked around the opposing wrist. "First things first-'' At this he became fully animated, leaning down to face height with Akito and pointing one finger directly at his face. "I suppose you're wondering who I am and what I have to do with your family. Right?"

Akito crossed his arms. "It would be a good start. You did not give me your name on the tape."

The brunette's mouth formed a grim little line. His mouth seemed to be the most expressive part of his face, in order to compensate for the emotion his eyes were unable to exhibit.

"There's not much in a name, lad. I didn't think I would really need to give one." He said sadly and then cleared his throat. "Anyway, I must confess that I don't really have a name. But the family elders, in their immediate assumption of my charming disposition, were kind enough to bestow me with a most becoming title. Ironically befitting, I would say in light of my role in the cursed zodiac."

"Which is?"

The strange man had opened his mouth to reply, when a dark voice beat him to it.

"The 14th member of the zodiac – The child of O'yama, Light shunner – 'Lucifuges – The God's Bane.'"

Both men looked over to see Kureno Sohma's shadowed form lingering in the doorway. With some antagonism, he shoved the door completely into the wall and slowly slunk into the room, eyes narrowed dangerously at the intruder. "But you were too young to pronounce it properly Akito… so you used to call him 'Lucky.'"

X x X x X x X

"No! No! I won't go back into the darkness!" The boy screamed. A strong clawed hand reached out and snagged itself in his long dark hair, causing him to cry out in pain. The owner of the hand smiled at the boy's agony and twisted sharply, tearing out a clump of hair at the roots.

"It is your honor... and your privilege to be thrown into darkness." A cold voice hissed from those still smiling lips. "Why such a fuss? You are so very special to us... we love you with all our hearts..."

"LIAR!" The boy sobbed, clutching at the hand that still gripped his blood stained hair. "If you loved me so much you would have let me go to her! But you didn't! You want her to die just like they do! I wanted to stay out here in the light with her! With everyone! I don't wanna go! I don't w-wanna g-g-go!" His words broke off into a series of sobs so that he could no longer articulate himself. The man before him snarled at the sight of those tears and raised his free hand to shoulder height. He brought it down with bone breaking force; cracking the boys jaw and splitting his lips open from top to bottom. His crying ceased immediately as he fell backwards from the impact, crawling away like a wounded animal.

"SILENCE!" The man shouted as the boy whimpered in pain. "You are to be the master of this family and there is no place for weakness here! Your destiny demands you to be strong!"

"I don't want my destiny!" The young man screamed blood splattering from his bruised lips as he spoke. "I want to stay here in the light! I don't want to be in the shadows again! I LOVE her and you tore us apart, just like that thing now tears her apart! If you truly loved me, you'd let me go to her! She needs me and she doesn't know..." He fell forward, face pressed against the wooden floor as blood dripped from his mouth to splatter against the paneling like infant artwork. "She... She'll die never knowing the truth! That it's YOUR fault! It's YOUR fault for all of this! My love is not false; let it be known to her! Please! ...Please?"

There was stillness, a passing silence that hung in the air as sweet as an autumn breeze in the very depths of winter. The boy continued to cry from the corner, unable to comprehend which parts of his body were hurting and not knowing how to fix it. Knowing that no one would heal them for him and that he was doomed to fight against the pain, alone in the darkness. As it always had been. His hands clenched against the stab wound in his side; the cut only deep enough to cause excruciating pain at every movement, but not enough to kill him. He wished that it would. He prayed that it would. If only they had stabbed deeper and the horrific torment that twisted his heart from inside would be allowed to end! But no... no, they would never give him an easy way out. This was his punishment for betraying them and they were going to exact it as they saw fit.

"This is unacceptable..." The man said at last with a sneer. "You sicken me... you sicken us all with your pathetic asinine actions. Now, you will return darkness! You will suffer! You will suffer as you deserve for your traitorous ways! Then and only then will you arise to ascension, when and only when we deem you worthy!"

"Go to Hell!" The boy screamed, clutching the wooden carving around his neck and rubbing it between his fingers, obscuring the symbolism of the piece. "I WON'T go! I'll tear you limb from limb before you drag me back to that infernal damnation!"

"You won't be needing such a petty decoration where you're going..." The man said, ignoring the boy's words. He reached out and snagged the necklace, tugging the knotted cord so tightly that it choked the boy for a second before it was torn from his neck. The necklace was discarded to the side, tumbling across the weathered floorboards before slipping down between an enlarged gap. The boy gasped and dove after it, long fingernails scrambling at the sides of the space as he tried to pry it open far enough to reach his hand inside.

"No! It was a gift from her! It's all I have left!" He cried.

"Silence!" The man shouted and there was enough seriousness in his voice that the boy obeyed immediately. Though he did not raise himself from the floor and continued to cower there, shaking and trembling.

"Now... it's time to return to darkness." The man said.

The boy burst into tears. There was none of the sniffling and sobbing preliminaries that usually led up to a full blown outburst, there was just a loud wailing onslaught that echoed around the dank room like a beasts cry. The man was momentarily taken aback, unprepared for such a violent reaction. For a while he simply stood there, watching the blood covered lad clutching the floor, as though it were his only anchor in reality. But then he got a hold of himself. This was not what the Other's wanted, said a less emotional voice inside of his head, reassuring him. This was of no importance to those in the higher order. So instead of reaching out to reassure the frightened youth he reared back his hand and slapped him again.

"Shut up." He said. "It's time to go."

The boy did shut up. But he found an alternative to the impending prospect and it suited him much better. As the hand struck him he spun with the glancing blow, leaping to his feet in one fluid movement and back flipping away, putting a reasonable distance between them. The man barely had time to react; the response was so unexpected. Before he could blink the boy had reached the opposite side of the room and had ripped an ornamental dagger from the wall; it had seen some heavy wear and was most probably not just for show. The blade gleamed as though it had been thoroughly sharpened time and time again, though never dulled to begin with. The boy perceived this and knew from experience how deep the knife cut, simply by running the tip of a finger over it. He thus anticipated the depth of a wound it would sew, when thrown from a great distance, with a great anger behind it.

It sliced through the air, faster and harder than the man would have believed possible. The youth's strength was indeed admirable, but it paled in comparison to everything that he himself was capable off. The man snapped forward and the blade was ensnared between the nails of his index and middle fingers. He allowed it to hang there, suspended for a moment until the weight bore it to the ground. It fell, embedding itself deep within the soft wood and the man stepped over it's quivering hilt towards the boy, who stared at him with a complex expression on his youthful face. Not shock so much as bitterness towards the situation itself. As though he knew that the action was pointless in the first place but nonetheless he had still hoped...

"Valiant attempt, but futile none the less..." The man whispered almost sinisterly, robes swirling around him as though a breeze had filtered within the confined room. Of course there was no way in which any such breeze could have entered. "Now come..." He stretched out his hand. "Your destiny awaits..."

The boy did take the hand extended to him. Instead he made a sudden rapid dash to the side as though he meant to escape. But his wound would not allow it. The flip he had performed before had split the slash open even wider and blood was pouring from his side, staining his white robes red all the way down to the hem. He staggered, fell over the low table in the center of the room and was promptly caught in the arms of another robed individual.

"Let me help you." The man said. Though he wasn't speaking to the boy. It was the other man that he was addressing.

"Yes, that might be wise..." He agreed, watching as the youth thrashed as much as his abused body would allow. "He may injure himself permanently at this rate and we don't wish to inflict wounds on him that may never heal."

The First came around and grasped the boy by the wrist, tugging him in the direction of the doorway, as the Second held him constrictively by the shoulders. As they shoved the door open, the youth latched his spare arm around the frame, clinging on as tightly as a child to its mother's bosom. The First darted forward, long fingers wrapping around the circular curve of the boys shoulder, trying to pull him out from where he had wedged himself. The boy put up a fight, lashing out with his free hand and swiping at the two older men with a viscous expression on his face. The First uttered a guttural snarl and, placing both hands on the boys shoulder, pulled backwards with the entire weight of his body. There was a muffled crack; like the sound of a brick falling against concrete as the boys' shoulder popped out of joint and the youth was now screaming in a long sustained note of pain. His grip loosened on the doorway and the two men bundled him between them; the Second clasping a hand over his mouth to stifle the screams. Together they dragged him outside, where the only light visible was from the three-quarter moon that hung in the cloudy sky. He twisted within their grip, crying from behind the rough palm that encased his mouth. Crying for help, calling for the neighbors that were too far away to hear anything. He relaxed the weight of his body dramatically, such as a child might do when they don't want to go somewhere, making it more difficult for the robed ones to carry him. His bare feet sought out notches in the ground to halt or slow the continual progress, but this effort only resulted in the skin being torn off against sharp rocks and other protrusions.

A trail of blood indicated the path of the three men and it wove out into the dark woods, coming close to the border of the lake and then veering off back into the forests very depths, where no light penetrated at all. Even without the aid of illumination the robed ones were able to find what they were after; a seemingly harmless looking shed hidden within a low hanging canopy formed of trees and leaves. The First threw his weight against the door and it sagged beneath him, creaking inwards revealing darkness eternally spiraling downwards into the earth. The youth flinched away from the foul odor that was released from confinement, whimpering in pain and fear. He visibly jumped as a woman's scream filtered up from below, a horse continual cry of suffering, blended with tears. The boy's mouth opened and shut in rapid succession as he realized exactly where he was.

He was taken deep within the bowels of the earth, dragged through dirt and grime and the scent of blood. A pungent intoxicating stench of urine and human excrement soon raped his nostrils and he dry retched, eventually vomiting when his eyes saw what his nose forewarned. He was pulled back up from his own bile and dragged roughly by the hair southward, to a dark room. From the outside, you might not have even known it was there, as it blended right into the wood. There was a coldness in the room that was the first thing the boy was reminded of as he was thrown inside. His back hit another door, with three great elaborate locks on it. The First and Second stepped in behind him, closing the first door almost entirely. A sliver of light was allowed so that they could see.

Whilst they fished through their pockets, searching for the keys that would unlock the second doorway, the boy crawled forward trying to see out through the space that remained, lit only by dull candle light from outside. He had to see. He had to know if it was really—

The First kicked him cruelly in the side, exacting such force that the youth rolled back towards the other door, slamming into it. His injured shoulder took the brunt of the impact and he moaned weakly, too ill from the small glance he had been able to steal, to even scream properly.

"... So much blood... so much blood... so much blood..." He whispered, feeling his mind threatening to cave in on itself and wanting to let it. It was too horrible... what they had done... what they had done to... her...

He vomited on himself again, seeing blood within the almost transparent fluid and wondering if he would ever escape the memory of that vile red color. The robed ones had finished unlocking the door and were reaching out to reclaim him again.

The youth wiped his mouth with his sleeve, his face an animalistic mask of rage. "YOU FUCKING MONSTERS! HOW CAN YOU JUSTIFY ANY OF THIS! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS! HOW DARE YOU!"

The voice screaming from within him was thickening, as though the substance of his own individual persona was being sucked out and replaced by something else. Another something that was more powerful... infinitely omnipotent and dominant in the compressed nature of its state. The robed ones paid no mind to it, hefting the boy between them, not registering the sunken gray ring that had formed around the center of his now glassy, blankly staring eyes. Perhaps they perceived it as merely shock, the inability to focus on anything as a result of fear. Whatever the case, they bound the youth within the third room, beyond the third door that was behind the second with the three locks. His clothes were stripped away and thorned willow branches twined around the length of his body, arms strung up unnaturally into the air, suspending him in the center of the room like a fly caught in an expansive spider web. The branches being his only support tore into the flesh, dripping blood down onto the already stained dirt floor. Nothing about this room had ever, ever been altered since it had first been made.

"Close the door..." The Second hissed, stepping out ahead of his compatriot, robe swirling around his slim form. The First cast one last glance at the nude lad as he dangled there in agony, blood dripping steadily from each cruel laceration, creating a steady repetitive noise in the otherwise silent room. He moved to close the door, his hand ensnaring the handle when the youth spoke. It was with some difficulty as one twine of willow was drawn across his jugular and constricted his Adam's apple.

"...We'll come back..." He rasped. The First stared as the boy painfully lifted his head, blank eyes settling on his own with a frightening indifference. "... She and I... we'll come back... And I assure you... you will pray for death at my hands... long after death finds me."

"Don't speak nonsense." The First tried to say firmly. But his voice wavered.

The youth snickered, blood peeling across his face and into his eyes. "We'll never leave... not ever... you'll never be rid of us, even after you're dead and rotting in the ground." His voice lowered even more so that it was almost inaudible; like a broom sweeping across a wooden floor. "And let it be known, that this face will haunt your dreams... your reality... your every step... even as it rots away within these walls. Ah... yes... because there shall be no sleep for the damned... nor the dead."

And there was a sudden burst of laughter echoing around the room; the youths own as it erupted from his slack jawed mouth, combined with several other indistinct voices that had no visible point of origin. As it increased in strength, the First finally jerked himself into action, slinging the door closed with so much force the dirt walls shook. He quickly dashed through the second door, slamming that also and jamming the keys into the locks in rapid succession, panting with fearful relief as he heard each one click into place. Only when he had shut the final door and locked that too, did he feel safe and was able to slow down. He leant his forehead against the wood paneling, taking deep shuddering breaths as he tried to slow his heart rate. Though it was muffled by the constraints of the walls and doors, he could still hear the distinct sound of laughter from far away. Deep within the earth, in a room where no light penetrated and the only companion of those inside was the dripping of their own blood.

And the laughter...

It wasn't a cold night but Shigure Sohma shivered in his sleep.

Beside him, Ayame Sohma slept soundly for the first time in weeks

X x X x X x X

Akito tried the name out. "Lucifuges? Isn't that Western title for O'yama?"

Lucifuges, as he was apparently called, said something in English which Akito didn't understand. Being home schooled, he only spoke Japanese and had little to no grasp of the English language.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked.

The Bane seemed embarrassed at his lapse. "Forgive me," He said in Japanese. "Japanese isn't my first language sosometimes I tend to slip into back into English. What I meant to say was the demon that you are referring to is known as Satan in the Christian religion. I believe you are referring to Lucifer; the supposed fallen angel spoken of in the Old Testament."

Once again, they were lost in translation. The name Lucifer and Lucifuges were delivered from the stranger in a phrasing that hardly discerned one from the other. It took Akito a while to make the difference and even then it still confused him.

Lucifuges just smiled ironically. "Makes sense. You've had difficulties pronouncing that name since the moment I was awarded it. Explains now why you chose to give me a nickname."

"Lucky…" Akito murmured, finding that this title was much easier to distinguish. "I see… this is why that word has been popping up everywhere…"

Lucifuges nodded and then flashed Kureno an obnoxious look. His smile was mocking. "I'm flattered by the way. I'd really thought that you'd forgotten me." He spoke without the hint of expression.

Kureno's voice was just as bland. "How could I forget such a pretty face?"

The stranger laughed out loud, though there was no humor in this action. The tone was vehement. Cruel and purposefully devoid of empathy. He lowered his eyes and set them on Kureno and Akito was a little taken aback at the coldness he exuded. "Or maybe… it is Hatori who couldn't make you forget such a pretty face." He titled slightly to the side and glanced at someone out in the hallway. "Right Hatori?"

Akito peered around the erstwhile form of his servant. The physician was standing in the doorway, highlighted by the passage light, allowing his confused and incensed expression to be seen clearly. He took a step into the room, dismissing the usual ritual of requesting Akito's permission on entering his living quarters. Manners had hence taken a backseat at the Bane's arrival.

"Who the Hell are you?" Hatori hissed. His voice was as cold as snow.

Lucifuges looked mildly amused. He swept his arms before him in a phony pretense of respect, obscured somewhat by the fact that the robes hung down low exposing a great deal of his chest. "As Kureno just said, I am Lucifuges Sohma. Servant of O'yama. The God's Bane. The Light Shunner. The Marquee of Hell. The Prince of Darkness. Apocalyptic, sexed up anti-Christ. Depending on which particular elder you ask about me."

This had gone on long enough. Akito consciously shook himself out of the daze he had been in and strode between the Bane and Kureno, sensing that this was the forefront of the electric tension circulating about the room. "Hold on just one friggin' minute!" He snapped, reminding everyone that he was in charge here. "Would you mind explaining this a little better to me please? The two of you are staring at one another like jackals! Tell me what the Hell's going on here!"

Lucifuges opened his mouth as though to reply but promptly shut it. His eyes focused on Akito and he gazed dazedly at him for a moment.

As a result of his lack of social interaction and sexual encounters, Akito managed to miss the particular meaning behind the other man's expression. He simply became frustrated at the hesitation in responding to his order. "What!"

Lucifuges snapped out of it. "I'm sorry, it's just… My God Akito… you've gotten so beautiful. You look so much like your mother…"

Akito shifted uncomfortably, finally realizing just why Lucifuges had been staring at him that way. He was grateful it was dark in his room; otherwise they may have seen the flush that spread across his cheeks. The other man had been admiring him! "My mother and I are nothing alike… she was the beautiful one." A rare show of modesty on his behalf. Or perhaps his own insecurities peeping through. "Now, would you mind telling us who, what and how you are?"

The elder man grinned. "Well, for a start I can kick off and tell you how I am. And that's pretty dosh darn terrific if I do say so myself! I've been snoozing away in a hospital for the past seven years, waiting for the day when you'd need my help and call me back here. Now, here I am! Seven years older and back in the place I loved the most, with all the handsome blokes I loved to spend time with!" He leered suggestively at both Hatori and Kureno, before turning his complete attention to Akito. His expression was soft and gentle. "And with all due respect Kito-kun, you are like your mother. She denied her own beauty due to insecurities, just as you do. But you're both beautiful none the less."

This made Akito's ears perk up. "You knew my mother?"

Lucifuges smiled and looked around as though he only now registered where they were. "I think we're going to need some coffee." He clarified at last.

Ten minutes later they are seated in the kitchen drinking coffee. Lucifuges, who apparently hadn't eaten for quite a while, had wolfed down all the food he could lay his hands on and was now nursing a cup of the strongest coffee they had available. The other Sohma's watched this demonstration with verifiable trepidation.

Kureno was the first to speak and rather tentatively. "After a display like that, you'd better tell us something worthwhile."

Ritsu, who had since joined them, glanced apologetically at all the empty food wrappers as though it were somehow his fault that the Sohma house was now devoid of sustenance. "Or maybe at least offer to pay for the replacement groceries." He suggested softly.

The least apologetic one in the room (happening also to be the one who'd just put away three months worth of food) merely smiled contentedly and patted his swollen belly. "After the way this family treated me in the past, I would have thought you could have afforded one teeny token gesture of hospitality after seven years of agony, discomfort and leaking."

This was news to a couple of family members, namely Hatori and Akito in particular. The prior pulled out a seat at the kitchen table and sat down on the right side of the Bane, keeping a reproachful body length between them. Akito was setting no such formalities and was sitting on Lucifuges' left, so close he may have practically been perched on his lap. He seemed particularly attentive to what this handsome stranger had to say.

"What are you talking about?" Hatori asked forthright, arms crossed over his chest. He hadn't yet taken a sip of his extra strong black coffee.

Lucifuges straightened up, puffing out his chest importantly as though he were addressing the Pope. Kureno rolled his eyes, knowing this act well enough to discern its actual intent. As always, this self-righteous demon was taking the piss out of the entire family. "Right… where to begin…?" He mused, tracing a pattern on his cup. "I suppose perhaps the best place to begin is… really the beginning! Alrighty… my service to the Sohma family began… ooh… around fourteen years ago? My parents, who were both immigrants from Scotland, God bless em," He paused to make a sign of the cross. "Had just been killed in an oven fire in our home and I'd been shuffled off to an orphanage here in Kyoto. I was fourteen when I was adopted by Tamiko Sohma."

Hatori did a quick calculation. "That would make you twenty-eight, then?"

"Aye. Twenty-eight as of two or so weeks ago." Lucifuges nodded, taking a quick sip of his coffee. His face was a touch maligned. "Not that I was in any state to celebrate the occasion…"

Akito noticed his expression and a sudden wave of affection for the stranger swept over him. Clearly Lucifuges had just recovered from some awful ordeal, in which his family seemed to have had a part in. Whatever the case, he didn't like seeing the other man sad. He reached over and gently touched his fingertips to the square of Lucifuges' hand, hoping to distract him from unwanted thoughts. Lucifuges met his eyes and Akito gave a sympathetic smile. For some reason or another, though the Bane's eyes were frightening and unnatural, he just couldn't bring himself to react accordingly. He just wasn't intimidated by them.

"My mother adopted you?" He asked a hint of skepticism in his soft voice. "Why would she want another child, what with everything else she had to deal with already?"

"Well you see that was the thing, kiddo." Lucifuges said, giving Akito's fingers a quick, momentary squeeze. The master felt a shiver of heat race throughout his body at the contact. "Your Mama only had a short time left to live by the time she came across me. She was looking for a playmate and had noticed you'd formed a particular attachment to the dog of the zodiac, our dear friend Shigure. An interest that clearly has not faded."

Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Akito blushed a little, a part of him feeling guilty for some reason. The Bane laughed it off, waving a hand as though latent attraction to an older man with the ability to turn into a dog when hugged by a member of the opposite sex was nothing to be ashamed of. Akito was starting to get the impression that Lucifuges wasn't the type to feel shamed about much of anything.

"Because Shigure was not her child to do with as she pleased, she decided she'd make one last stab at ensuring her child's happiness, even after she was gone." The Bane continued, swirling the deep brown liquid in his cup without even casting a glance at it. "At least… that's what she told me. When she saw me workin' at the orphanage, she figured I was perfect for the job. I could cook, clean, easily obey and execute orders and I bared an uncanny resemblance to Shigure which startled many of the other Sohma's when I was first introduced into your lives. I know now it was not just a coincidence."

He paused to take a breath. "Tamiko entrusted her child to me, because she saw something in me that no one else was able to rationalize. She made me promise to raise her son; a tiny five year old with the palest, silk white sugar skin you'd ever seen. She told me his name was Akito and all she wanted was for me to learn to love him; for it would forever be denied by the others that raised him."

"The family elders." Came Kureno's dark voice from the other end of the table. Lucifuges grinned sharply, though he didn't turn to acknowledge the roosters' intervention.

"Aye." He said simply. "Anyhow, when I first came to the estate, I learnt that my charge already had a playmate in the boy Kureno Sohma. Tamiko had confided the families curse in me, knowing that I being as close as I was to her son, would need to understand otherwise I could not form an effective connection with him. Kureno was the rooster. And I began to wonder to myself, why she needed me to be Akito's playmate, if she already had one for him? A damn good one at that too. Kureno has always been a faithful and loyal friend to Akito over the years."

Kureno forcefully unrolled his eyes from their sockets. "Please. You're making me blush."

Displaying a profound lack of maturity, Lucifuges retaliated by sticking his tongue out at him. "You're a mean old chook, Kureno. Moving along; I was led to the little boy's room and I picked him up in my arms." He smiled genuinely at Akito "Like carrying a teddy bear, you were. This… gorgeous little thing with a messed up head of black hair and these beautiful dark eyes framed by the longest lashes. You clung to me like a koala you did and buried your face in my chest. I think I fell in love then and there. With you still in my arms, Tamiko and Keni'shin led me deep into the Main House to meet the elders, to explain my admittance into the family. That I was to become Akito's Guardian in the event of her death. And when I say Guardian, I don't mean that of a parental substitute or adult supervisor, oh no. This was Guardianship of an entirely different magnitude. It meant a binding of sorts; I was to be his protector, his servant, the eye that watched over him. Of course I had no idea as such until it was read to me by the Elder Michi, from the Book of Archon and then I understood the consequence at finding a family at last. The Elders of course were not happy that an outsider obtain such an esteemed position within the House of Sohma but they remained true to their customs and before you could say Dennis Rodman, I became one of you."

Lucifuges paused for a moment and Akito watched his face through the curl of steam spiraling up from his coffee cup. The Bane appeared to be stinting on what he was about to say, judging whether or not it would be appropriate or necessary. By all marks he did not appear to be a simpleton, nor uneducated. Rather Akito got the impression that he was quite a bright young man. However, he seemed to be the sort that preferred to keep things simple and not complicate situations by presenting unfavorable information. Whether it be true or not. Perhaps he was hoping to convey as much as possible for the sake of Akito himself, rather than invoke sympathy on his own behalf for the past misgivings. Akito folded his hands atop one another and rested his slight chin on the bridge he had formed, eyes boring so deeply into the Bane's that Lucifuges began to wonder whether or not he had tunnels drilled directly into his brain. Akito wasn't under the conception that such devoted attention could be unnerving. Devoid of interaction amongst large diverse groups of people his whole life, Akito wasn't aware that people were intimidated by such intense consideration. Lucifuges smiled to himself. What a delight this boy was.

"My birth name was originally, Nanashi which, if you wanna screw the translation around a bit, means; 'One without name'." He continued after a deep submergence in his coffee. Akito had been started to think the Bane was attempting to drown himself in the beverage. "But when the Elders finally met me, they became suspicious. They believed my uncanny similarity to one of their own clan (AKA: Shigure) was a sign of the gods. That my coming here was no pure coincidence. They were terrified by what I could become, something I had no initial understanding of at the time. I was just a confused boy, happy to have found a home no matter how bizarre my new family believed me to be.

Regardless, I was made to learn very quickly just what my birthright was. My reason alone for being given life in this world. My lie that was existence in this pitiful human form. I was made to kneel, whilst they read a passage from the Book of Archon. If I recall correctly, it was passage 14: 18-24." Here, he paused to clear his throat and then began to recite the passage word for word in a pompous accent, ringing mock English. "The Archon's of Destiny govern the weak and disorganized trepidation of the zodiac and all its subjects, for they are the manifestation we adhere to as the Family Master; the descendant of blessed Kanikito; the child of the Archon and the first priestess under the name of Sohma. Symbolized as the overseer, they stand above us depicted with whip in hand in order to chastise humanity to ensure our progress. As such, we bow our heads low and adhere to the God of the Zodiac. But there is naturally a counter balance to distinguish that who is obliged to evolve the zodiac through suffering and responsibility of existence and that is one whom is obliged to bring trials and temporary suffering to the God, in which he will learn strength to exist and obtain eternal happiness through his broken heart and the hearts of others. For where there is good there is evil. Where there is God there is the Light Shunner. The Celestial one represented in the ailing embodiment of the glorified Family Master and the Dark one recognized by the gaping scarlet canals adhered to in the fable, in which the demon gauged its' own eyes at, as atonement for its' act of wickedness unto the Celestial One."

What a mouthful. Akito knew very well of the Book of Archon, though he'd never had the pleasure (nor the interest) to set eyes on it himself. It was the official Bible of the Sohma clan; depicting a long dead religion, exclusive to the family itself, first formed over 500 years ago and surrounded by controversy. Rumors of bloodied Shinto Rituals hung heavy about the clan those many centuries ago, outlandish beliefs in demi-Gods invoked to speak through a chosen medium and relay their commands to the servants of those appointed. It was a ridiculous belief and one dismissed amongst the general family nowadays. … Or so he thought. As Akito watched Lucifuges sigh and rub at his temples, he started to think for the very first time, that the secrets of the Sohma clan ran even deeper than his own involvement. The elders manipulated the strings from the shadows; that he had always known. But to go this far? To flesh these ancient beliefs into conventional society in which it had no place? Akito shook his head, in mirth. This was all too much like the dried blood beneath his nails. Something he intended to get around to picking out and something he never seemed to touch upon. Clandestine blood and cruelty; hidden beneath a supposedly hard and impenetrable surface. Lucifuges saw the young master shake his head and made a contradictory nod in confirmation.

"Yeah, I know. Ridiculous, aye?" He chuckled. "I'll never forget those words… for I was made to read and revise them a hundred times following that day. So that I would never forget the difference between the merciful God and the unmerciful O'yama. I remember Arata slamming the book shut with the strength of the PMS'y witch she was and pointing at me, declaring for the whole bloody world to hear; "Who stands before us, if not the incarnation of the Dark One himself? Sent to bring forth the God of the Jyunishi as was foretold in the fable. See in his eyes, we shall plant the seed, the testament of this dark power. The zodiac wheel where his pupil should be, contains the fourteenth symbol of the Black Daemon itself! He has been sent to test our new Family Master as the other was sent to test Tamiko. Hear now the words as they are spoken in the 'Louviers affaire!' And this, my friend's, she actually quoted from memory:

"I also approve thy Book, and I give thee my true signature on parchment, which thou shalt affix at its end, to make use of at thy need. Further, I place myself at thy disposition, to appear before thee at thy call when, being purified, and holding the dreadful Blasting Rod, thou shalt open the Book, having described the Kabalistic circle and pronounced the word Rofocale. I promise thee to have friendly commerce with those who are fortified by the possession of the said Book, where my true signature stands, provided that they invoke me according to rule, on the first occasion that they require me. I also engage to deliver thee the treasure which thou seekest, on condition that thou keepest the secret for ever inviolable, act charitable to the poor and dost give me a gold or silver coin on the first day of every month. If thou failest, thou art mine everlastingly."

Hatori thought that it was just as sad that the Bane himself had memorized that cryptic folderol, but like most things he kept his thoughts dually guarded. Lucifuges puffed out his cheeks as though irritated and took a deep sip of his coffee, savoring the feel of the caffeine as it washed down his throat. For seven years he had been drip fed and he couldn't even begin to describe the liberation of being able to eat and drink at his own leisure. Something people took for granted he now cherished. The weight of the cup, the manner in which his fingers distinctly curled about the handle to prevent it from falling away, the heat of the steam on his face.

You couldn't possible understand it. Unless of course you had been condemned to darkness.

"That quote," he said. "Was made by a demon, not the devil as some mistakenly believe, despite the similarity in their names, called Lucifuges Rofocale in an interview from Grimorium Verum, in which he promised his services to a particular master. He swore by his own signature in the book he had chosen with which to impart his promise all of which you yourselves heard only moments ago."

Akito cleared his throat a little, eyebrows axing down forcibly to express his irritation. Lucifuges glanced over at him.

"I hate to sound like the uneducated one in this little gathering," the family master hissed, clearly hating even having to make the clarification. "But I wasn't raised on a diet of riddles, secret codes and figurative… blasting rods…" He very nearly blushed. "I don't even know where to begin with that quote."

Lucifuges seemed to consider this. "You certainly raise a very valid point. All right, I'll explain it. Lucifuges, the demon in the text, signed his name on a sheet of parchment, which was attached at the end of this particular book. The signature tied him to his master; a contract if you will. A contract with a demon.

'I place myself at thy disposition,' so he say's. What he mean's is; I am yours to command. Ask of me what you will. I shall obey whatever it is that you command. 'To appear before thee at thy call, when being purified, and holding the dreadful Blasting Rod.'"

Akito nearly fell backwards off of his chair. He was blushing so hard he thought he might get a nose bleed.

'Could this have something to do… with this morning?' He wondered, clasping a pale hand across the lower half of his face. 'I wanted someone to save me. I called out to be saved. … Did he answer? Was it this man who sits before me now that heeded my call, just as the demon Lucifuges said he would? As for what it says about the… 'dreadful… blasting rod…' Another blush. 'Well, I've certainly heard it called weirder things on television but I surely hope that I am tangling my symbolism here.'

Lucifuges had noticed Akito's embarrassment but tactfully chose to ignore it. Bringing up a person's discomfiture in the company of others was discourteous. Besides, he was sure that the others hadn't missed it anyway so no need to point it out. It was obvious enough without any help from him. A passing ship could have sailed into port, following that glow.

"'I promise thee to have friendly commerce with those who are fortified by the possession of the said Book, where my true signature stands,'" Lucifuges continued, tapping the table distractedly with his fingernails. Hatori glanced down upon hearing the noise and nearly gasped aloud before gaining control over himself. The Bane's fingernails were femininely long and sharp, even more so than Akito's. But unlike Akito's, Lucifuges possessed neither the pale pink half moon nor cuticle. The nails were pure black. No… not so much black but closer to being the corroded carapace of green that a bruise sometimes transmutes after a certain period of time. They were not shaped with a pretty curve but were square and chipped. After so many years in a coma that was to be expected he guessed. Hatori tried to divert his eyes before Lucifuges could see his disgust but the Bane noticed anyway. He just smiled grimly and withdrew his fingers, tucking them into a loose fist like a turtle pulling its' head into a shell. He continued to speak, unperturbed.

"Lucifuges meant in that statement that he would loyally serve and befriend those who owned his book. This book possessing the contract with his signature. He also made clear that he would only do so in accordance to the original rules of his invocation. I cannot further define that because those particulars are as unclear to me as they are to you. 'I also engage to deliver thee the treasure which thou seekest, on condition that thou keepest the secret for ever inviolable, act charitable to the poor and dost give me a gold or silver coin on the first day of every month. If thou failest, thou art mine, everlastingly.'"

Lucifuges looked each Sohma in the eye and gave a heady wink to all of them. "With the exception of that silver or gold coin crap, I can see how the Sohma's took exception to this baloney. Their contract was with me and when I signed my name in the back of the Book of Archon, I became their slave. But in accordance to the particulars of Louviers affaire, there were certain rules they had to follow in my so serving them. 'Fortified by the possession of the book?' It is simple my friends; I am the servant of the Sohma family. The Avatar of their believed Dark One, their Bane from the Sohma parable."

He took another gulp from his coffee and swished it around his mouth for a moment. Once he appeared to have approved the taste, he carried on.

"After the 'honor' of listening to all that crap, they then liberally baptized me with a stinkin' fistful of bloody water, waving incense sticks round my head until I nearly passed out…" At this, his voice faltered and Kureno's eyes became downcast. Akito noticed, figuring that there was more to this affair than the Bane was willing to tell. However, when Lucifuges looked up again, his smile was firmly painted on his face, not a hint of the consternation he clearly had been feeling only moments earlier. "Well… let's just leave it at that, shall we? Ultimately some other shit went down and by the time Arata finally concluded the whole lame affair, I knew that something had changed about me. They'd revealed me for my purpose. I tried to keep my eyes veiled because I could see them staring at them. I know why now. They're ugly and frightening. But, the elders grabbed me and forced my lids apart to inspect the markings. Where my pupil is supposed to be, there has been a mark there ever since that stinkin' ritual went down. The symbol of the Chinese zodiac that continually rotates about my cornea. They were able to decipher it. It is the sign of the Black Daemon, one of the Twin God's from the original Zodiac legend, the biblical adaptation. When they saw this marking in my eye, Arata seemed satisfied that they had proven themselves right. 'From this day on,' she said. 'You shall walk these halls Guardian as you have been rightfully accorded by our master but also rightfully as the creature you are. Family of Sohma, I give you; 'The Child of O'yama. Light Shunner 'Lucifuges- The God's Bane!' Lots of cheering and clapping ensured I can tell you.

According to the Book of Archon, there is a Fourteenth additional member to the zodiac that appears only every few or so generations and not necessarily related to the family by bloodline. This member is tied to the master of the cursed family, called to their side in times of great need. They will answer that call, regardless of whether or not they know the nature of their calling. This bond is sometimes attributed to the feeling of love and I can safely assure you that there is no love I have ever felt, as strong as this bond that draws me back to Akito time and time again. Not even love could save someone from the brink of death."

Akito felt a little touched, though he did his very best to conceal it. "The brink of death?"

"Ku-ku-chan?" Lucifuges called over the table. The rooster slightly lifted his chin to show that The Bane had his attention. "You have the articles in your back pocket. Let Kito-kun read them. He may understand somewhat then."

Kureno didn't ask how Lucifuges knew he was in possession of the articles. Such questioning would only be met by further ambiguity and even worse, snide posturing. Rather, he obeyed the command and retrieved the articles from his trouser pocket. Hatori watched questioningly as they were passed over to the pale grasp of the family master, who read them quickly and astutely. Every moment or so, his expression would twist to that of anxiety or disgust. He would elicit a small noise of shock and at one point, lowered the pages to caress the area of skin between his eyes as though the articles were too distressing to continue reading. At long last, he completed his task and delicately placed the pages atop the table. His mouth was open to question Lucifuges, who merely held up a hand for silence. Akito wasn't used to following another's orders but the look on the Bane's face was so temperate, what little protest he felt rise in his throat, withered away to nothing.

Lucifuges smiled and reached out to inoffensively brush his fingers along his chin. Akito forced himself to suppress a sigh. "I will answer all your questions soon, pet. Just allow me to finish telling you what I need to, hmm?"

Akito nodded. That's all he felt he was capable of right then.

Lucifuges mouthed 'Thankyou' and withdrew his hand, allowing it to fall atop Akito's own. He lifted the family master's fingers to his lips and lightly kissed the knuckle, an act that would have seemed phony as hell if anyone else had been the one to do it. In this sincere man's case, it merely appeared gallant, though it was being extended towards another man. Akito felt his cheeks go red again. For the love of God… how many times could this man make him blush in one night?

Lucifuges winked and softly deposited his hand back atop the table. Akito drew it to him as though it were a cherished possession, nursing it with his opposing fingers as the Bane continued his tale.

"This sign, called the Black Daemon, is supposedly what I represent. Though, might I just say, there have been enough women who have been more than happy to help me prove that I do not transform when hugged by a member of the opposite sex." He laughed. "For that matter, I don't have difficulties when embracing members of either sex!"

Akito frowned, his respect for the stranger going down a fair few notches. He was always… reproachful when it came to sexually confident people, believing them to possess a snide manner in which boasting about their escapades made them infinitely better than those around them. Particularly virgins. Immediately, he felt the burgeoning desire to take this guy down a peg or two.

"No wonder you skirt the family elders." He murmured, making sure his voice was suitably injurious. "You have committed the sin of Multiple Partners, the sin of Exceeding Copulation, the Sin of Intercourse before Wedlock and the sin of Gender Treachery. Unless of course you are like most men today and you are, how you say it… bullshitting?" He used one of Shigure's words, a word not so much spoken by him as it was in books he had read, movies he had watched and in the conversations of common folk around him. He liked the way it made him sound. Sort of tough. Sort of… sassy.

Lucifuges chuckled, the rusty laugh echoing from deep within his chest. It was more deep body movement than it was sound. He winked at Akito again, complimenting him for this delightful reprimand. "I'll leave that up for you to decided, sugar. Point being that I was a lost cause anyway. A sin before I'd even sinned. So why bother to stress? Following the rather rambunctious baptism in which they didn't even serve snacks and drinks, you kept trying to call me Shigure. I told you that my name was 'Lucifuges' but you didn't have much luck pronouncing that. You had this adorable little lisp thing as a child, so with that in mind, I suggested you call me 'Lucky' which you had no trouble with."

Akito nodded thoughtfully. "So that's why that name keeps popping up so much…"

"The psychological animation of the Family Master is an understated power attributed to the declining state of mental stability that the elders enforce." Lucifuges rambled, as though this should make perfect sense. "They aspire control themselves you see, pulling the strings in the background. Akito, your sub-conscious mind recalled my memory in some minor way. Without even knowing it, you perceived things changing around you; events unfurling that can be accorded as nothing more than the power of your mind at work."

"Even things that I… feel?" Akito wondered, thinking back to the shower that morning.

Lucifuges smirked. He seemed to be doing that a lot. "Well with… one exception. …That was me on the deck. Unfortunately, my physical state was dependent on that point by the memories of those around me. Of particular individuals. Even now I'm not entirely complete. My wounds couldn't heal properly because in essence I exist because this family is essentially what makes my existence count. Without anyone knowing of me, I could not assume physical form. It went in leaps and bounds but I was able to go from a purely spiritual form, to the form in which I left Sohma house seven years ago, to this form here. The one before I was Sanctioned. Everything else you thought you may have saw, was the work of you Akito. You have powers at your fingertips you can't even possibly imagine. Powers that have been lost to all the family masters over time. Lost because of those damn elders."

Akito didn't particularly understand, though he liked the passionate way in which the Bane was speaking. It was more than enough to compensate for his naivety at this point. And the very confirmation that this handsome man in front of him had been the same figure touching him in such an evocative way… It was too exciting. Could it be that Lucifuges really wanted him? God it would have been nice to have had sex with someone like him. Well… in his case it would have been nice to have had sex with anyone. He lightly touched his fingers to Lucifuges' arm again, wanting to convey his desires in a subtle and yet detectable way. "Lucifuges…"

But Lucifuges was finished with that particular detail. He cleared his throat and gave Akito's fingers a gentle, but dissuasive squeeze. "To continue…I served in Sohma House for seven long happy years as Akito's Guardian. I was one of his teachers."

"What exactly did you teach me?"

"Why the most important lessons of all!" Lucifuges declared with more than just a hint of pride in his accented voice. "Reading, writing, how to play the piano. Tried to teach you to draw but you just never seemed to get the knack of that one. We sang together a lot." He chuckled. "Boy, you had the voice of an angel. Probably still do, if you'd care to sing to me now."

"No." Akito finalized bluntly. "Now, why is it that after all those years you went away and left me here alone?"

Lucifuges considered his expression for a moment, his brow cocked upward expectantly. "You sound angry… are you angry?"

"If you promised my mother that you'd care for me and then rescinded on that, then yes, I am angry." Akito said in a hushed voice, so low it was barely discernable.

Lucifuges showed only the smallest sign of annoyance. The very suggestion that his expulsion from the Sohma house had been his fault outraged him! Much to his credit though, the only sign of discomfort he allowed to peep through, was a slight gnawing at his bottom lip.

"How about I tell you the particulars of it foremost before you start frowning at me like that?" He perked up instantaneously and scooted his chair back a little, patting his thighs. "Why not come and sit in my lap? You always used to like that as a kid."

Kureno and Ritsu laughed lightly, though Ritsu did try to hide it with his hand which only resulted in him making loud raspberries into his palm. Akito became even more irate and shot them both a look that could kill. Then he turned his eyes back to Lucifuges.

"I don't even need to use the 'I don't remember' excuse because I know I never would have done that." He snapped, crossing his legs and flipping the halves of his kimono about his body tightly. He was starting to feel very exposed in this clandestine man's presence. "Now, would answer my God damn question!

"Why don't you lower your God damn voice?" Lucifuges shot back unperturbed. The others blinked, surprised by his boldness. "I came back here because your soul cried out for me and as such, you might show me some common courtesy and address me politely! For Heaven's sake, I taught you that myself!"

By this point Akito was moving beyond the capacity of rational consideration and merely felt the burgeoning desire welling up within him to cause this man pain. He felt like a bird, driven into a corner and ever in danger of shattering its brittle bones against the wall. He felt threatened and frightened and defensive. And the only resolution Akito could ever find in these situations was to lunge on in, all fists and teeth and nails.

"Oh?" He exclaimed. "Well, that little tidbit of information must have slipped out of my mind, what with the whole 'you're going to die for this family' lesson that's been drilled into my noggin since day one. So excuse me if hospitality has taken a backseat!"

Lucifuges' hard expression softened a little. "My, my…" He gently touched his fingers to Akito's chin. "They've really ground you down, haven't they?"

He didn't bother to refute the Master's words with anything suitable scolding and simply withdrew his fingers and set them down around the coffee mug, a benign smile on his passive face. "Very well then, here's the story:

Seven years ago, the doctor Minoru Sohma… went ahead with a procedure that as your Guardian, I did not wholly approve of. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

Akito thought back to the word's he had heard Arata speaking that horrific day, seven years ago; "He won't let you." It suddenly occurred to him the connection. That he must have been Lucifuges. Akito nodded grimly, his mouth as dry as carbon paper.

"What procedure do you speak of?" Hatori asked. He had inconspicuously edged his seat closer to the Bane's side during the conversation.

Lucifuges sighed heavily. "An immoral procedure. Minoru, the doctor before you Hari… he… violated Akito for his semen. When he was only twelve years of age."

The physician rocked back in his seat, not quite believing what he had heard. "What!"

"Why would he even be allowed to do something like that!" Ritsu asked.

Lucifuges shrugged. "This family is a law unto itself my friend." He took another sip of his coffee and then with another sigh, set the cup down and pressed his head against the frame of his hands. "They made a rash assumption that Akito was homosexual and decided that to avoid the impossibility of him never producing an heir; they would acquire his semen and then artificially inseminate a chosen female. Rather than simply ask for the semen sample, like all things they chose to take it. I guess they figured Kureno and I would never allow it anyway.

I had been sleeping outside, like I always did. Near Akito's room I'd strung up a hammock. I can't stand sleeping indoors, I like being out in the fresh air unless of course the weather doesn't allow it. I noticed movement in the Main Entrance so I went up to check on Akito. Once I'd done that, I stepped out of the hallway and BAM! Got hit with a two inch hypodermic needle. I went down like a sack of potatoes, couldn't move a muscle. Believe me… I tried like Hell. Whilst I was incapacitated, he went inside and-''

He cut off, too disgusted to continue. Everyone looked over at Akito in shock, who simply skirted his shoulders in closer to his body. It looked all too much like he was trying to hide inside of the loose fitting bed yukata and no one felt as though they could blame him at this point.

"Oh Akito… I'm so sorry…" Ritsu whispered.

Akito frowned, brushing it off. "Never mind about that now."

Lucifuges cleared his throat. "He took his sweet time and the longer I lay there, unable to do a damn thing the angrier I got. By the time he was done, the adrenaline had completely flushed the drug out of my system. The moment he stepped out into the hallway, I knocked him down, smashed that god forsaken vial… and then…"

He trailed off.

"And then…?" Hatori prompted.

Lucifuges spoke with insidious reference. "Well in case you hadn't noticed… you don't see much of Minoru now, do you?"

They all fell silent as this fact sinks in. Minoru was known to have died seven or so years ago but the Elders' had insisted that it was a heart attack. Could it have been that they were covering up Lucifuges' part in it?

As though reading their thoughts, the Bane continued along these lines. "When the other elders found out what I had done, they ordered that my memories be erased. By none other than Hatori himself."

Hatori frowned, trying to recall a memory of his own that did no exist. "I don't remember such a-''

Lucifuges held up a hand. "It will be clear in a moment my friend. Just listen please. I of course, refused to undergo the procedure willingly because Akito was everything to me. I'd spent most of my life with him and I wasn't about to let that go, not for the sake of anything. Not even at the cost of my life itself."

"Y-You would have chosen death over your memories?" Ritsu stuttered. He was momentarily awed. No one would have ever done anything like that for him.

"It… really is a matter of speech but… to be forgotten is worse than death. …In my opinion at least. Hatori did indeed erase my memories. … Or should I say attempted to."

"What do you mean 'attempted?'" Asked the dragon, frowning from the dark shadow his hair cast across his face.

Lucifuges grinned a little fiercely. "I awoke from the sleep following the procedure and I had not forgotten a thing. Perhaps it was Tamako's blessing or my curse as the Black Daemon, who knows? But I remembered and my presence was no longer acceptable to the Family Elders. They gave me a night to say my goodbyes and the following day, they performed a dark ritual on me known as 'The Sanctioning.' They couldn't exile me from the family, knowing what I did. Imagine the kind of trouble I could cause with that information. The Sanctioning is conducted by three specific elders. Essentially, they tear the physical body apart to the point of death. And then they cast a spell, a spell that carves a mark into the victim and leaves them trapped in darkness within their own body, for the rest of their life."

"A coma." Kureno established for all those who had no imagination.

"Aye." Lucifuges murmured darkly. "Only they never got a chance to complete the ritual. Kureno here caused a distraction… and I was able to get away." He grinned slyly at Kureno, earning a disinterested head toss for his effort. "As foretold, I did indeed fall into a coma but since the spell was incomplete, it wasn't strong enough to resist the call of my master. Once I awoke a few days ago my body finally began to heal. And I knew it was time to leave."

Akito looked at him thoughtfully out of the corner of his eyes.

"That night I made the tape and hid it beneath the floorboards in Akito's room, hoping that one day when his need of me was great enough, he would be compelled to find it. Before I was dragged off to undergo the ritual, Akito awoke and come after me." His voice cracked a little and everyone was surprised to see those hideous red eyes starting to well up. He placed hand over the top half of his face, as though caging himself up and spoke between the gaps in his fingers. "He was screaming, wondering why everyone had a hold of my arms. He didn't understand where I was going without saying goodbye. I kept on kissing his face, trying to calm him down before he had another panic attack. The grief was unbearable for us! Here was my boy, my little brother, my beloved and I was being sent away from him. Sent away because I was protecting him and had failed besides, yet still sent away so that he would not know love. That was what it was ultimately about, you see. Other methods could have been used besides the Sanctioning but they used this hoping that it would leave me irreversibly scarred. I guess they didn't compensate for my abilities as the fourteenth member of the zodiac because despite the mess they made of me, I don't have one scar to show for it!"

"Why reason did they have for scarring you? What could they possibly hope to achieve by that?" Hatori wondered.

Lucifuges sighed and lowered his hand, revealing that he now had control over himself. Both his abnormally colored eyes were clear and bright. "I'm not quite sure…" He mused, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "So I would be unrecognizable should I ever return, I imagine. My face may have spurred the memories into reawakening so the less I looked like my old self the better. It's a moot point anyway."

Kureno frowned. "No, that's not it."

He had the small gathering's attention as he took his weight off of the wall and stepped forward into the light of the single bulb, his expression dark enough to cast a shadow over the entire group. "It was one of the reasons. The real reason though was because they could see that Akito was falling in love with you. He was reaching puberty and they didn't want him to engage in a relationship with you and compromise his position as Family Master. He couldn't form worldly attachments if he was going to die for us. If he fell for you, it would have ruined everything they worked for. Heaven knows, he may not have even produced an heir." He leaned his arms down on the table, eyes aimed so directly into the Bane's it was as though he were boring a tunnel into his brain. "They wanted to scar you. So that on the off chance you returned, you would be so ugly he could not possibly fall in love with you again."

Lucifuges blushed and ran a hand through his hair. "Wow, am I really that good looking, Ku-ku-chan?"

"Don't call me that!" Kureno hissed, flushing angrily.

Akito couldn't say he was exactly surprised by this revelation. He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest and smiled in an extremely self-satisfied way at the Bane. "Oh I was in love with you was I?"

This elicited a big grin. "Can't say I blame you. I really am quite the stud!" Lucifuges squealed, striking a pose. Kureno rolled his eyes.

"Wow, and I thought you were insane to begin with." He said, never missing a beat. "Obviously those seven years haven't improved your mental state. Now you're having hallucinations."

Lucifuges slumped in his seat. "Aww… Ku-ku-''

"Shut up and finish the damn story!" The rooster roared, nearly punching a whole clear through the table. He managed to get in control of himself just in time and skulked back over to lean against the wall.

Lucifuges sniffed. "Ku-ku-chan is so mean to me!" He wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of the kimono and then returned to the point in the story. "So, as I was saying, I guess the elders had it in for me since day one. I was the Bane after all!" Cue bitter laughter. "As I left Akito… you threw your arms around my waist screaming; "Don't go! Please don't go! I don't wanna be left alone again!"

Akito's eyes started to tear up at the emotion of the memory he cannot even remember.

"And all I could say was; 'I have to.' I looked the elders right in the eyes and said; 'See here what you are doing to him. I don't care what you do to me but I will never forgive you for what you have put this child through. This is the true evil of this family… to allow him to suffer like this.' You were crying so hard and so fiercely I thought you were going to collapse Kito-kun… I started to cry, I couldn't handle seeing you like that and I screamed for someone to take you away so that you wouldn't see what was going to happen to me. You wouldn't survive seeing me like that. Hatori grabbed you from behind and slapped his hand across your eyes. There was a flash of light and just like that… I was gone from your life. I continued to tell you how much I loved you, even though you couldn't hear a word I said. I left you a gift though, something you keep close to you, even until this day. Sazume, a small white finch. I placed him in a cage in your room and I doubt that you had any idea who left it there, even until this day am I correct?"

Akito nodded.

"Once I had been expelled from Sohma house, I gather that everyone who had ever known me was called to Hatori and he erased their memories of me as though I had never even come into your lives at all. Following this, Hatori too was forced to erase his own memories and just like that, I was forgotten.

After seven years in that god forsaken hospital, I awoke and made my way into the woods, where I have remained as little more than a cloaked apparition until I could take on a more tangible form. One that wasn't quite so… carved up. To gain the strength to heal properly, I needed to restore the memories of at least on or more of the Sohma's who had undergone the Dragon's Touch already. As the dragon can erase memories, I can restore them. Unfortunately, there are only three members of the zodiac who are susceptible. Don't ask me why but it has always been that way. I chose to return Ritsu's memory tonight because well… my original choice was one who had not forgotten after all. Like me, his memory remained, though for what reason I don't know. Kureno, Akito and I grew up together and of the three of us, Akito alone has forgotten."

There was a long hiatus as everyone took the time to dwell on these words. Then one by one, it all started to click into place and their heads started turning to look expectantly at Kureno.

The rooster tried to ignore them but the intermission was beginning to drag into uncomfortable lapses, punctuated alone by the drumming of the Bane's long fingernails atop the table. He wanted to take to those horrible things with a file.

"I thought for sure you wouldn't be coming back." He said at long lost. His voice was a flat undertone but his eyes flared with a reminiscent anger. "In fact, I was near to certain."

Hint hint. Nudge, nudge.

Lucifuges chose purposefully to avoid the specific allusion, and merely tilted back in his chair as though he were the coolest person in the Universe. It was rather impressive to have walked away from a Sanctioning without a scar but Kureno didn't think that necessarily gave him the right to be so god-damn cocky. "Should have known better than to assume mate." The Bane casually spun the coffee cup around on the tip of his nail and then neatly caught it again before the liquid could spill. "I'm The God's Bane. I'll always find a way. Besides, I was never the type to break a promise."

Kureno opened his mouth to retaliate, when Akito suddenly drove to his feet and lashed both eyes toward him like the sharpest of whips. Kureno could already feel the sting of the accompanying words and wondered whether or not he was about to be rewarded with another nice little shiner to match his first one.

"You knew all this time and you never said a word!" Akito shrieked. Kureno edged away slightly. He had twenty or so years of martial arts training but he still would have put his money on Akito when he was mad enough.

"I couldn't tell you!" He insisted, wishing he had a sharp stick or a heavy net or something. "I was under oath."

Akito was either getting bigger or he was getting closer. Both of which was really bad for Kureno. "By whom!"

The rooster decided that his safest route of action was to shuck the blame away from him and throw the remnants upon someone else. He gestured at Lucifuges. "By him. By the elders. If I had mentioned it, it would have meant more trouble and perhaps an even more dire consequence for Lucifuges. And besides… it's such a mad story. Without evidence, no one would believe it."

This was actually the truth, though he wasn't about to admit his own specific responsibilities as a family elder and what blabbing out the secret to others would have entailed him.

Fortunately, Lucifuges was not the kind to dob others in and merely nodded supportively. Kureno was thankful for this same extension of mercy from the usually piquant man.

"It is pretty crazy!" The Bane declared as though it were in fact, the most wonderful thing he had ever heard. "But hey, it's a crazy world we live in! Cheers darlings!" He beamed and held up coffee cup as though toasting his crazy clarification.

Everyone stared at him, thrilled to the bones at being awarded a brand new psychotic family member.

"You're going to fit right in." Hatori confirmed, rubbing the space between his eyes and wondering what merry hell there was to be had when this guy was placed in the same room as Ayame and Shigure.

Speaking of the devils and no pun intended to our new friend here, it was at the precise moment that the door slid open and in walked Ayame and Shigure. Looking sleepy, still wearing their pajamas and rubbing their eyes.

Hatori sighed. "I just had to jinx it."

Kureno frowned and scrunched up his shoulders like a chicken puffing up its feathers in a barnyard scrap. He didn't say anything but he was clearly less than thrilled at the arrival of the two hyperactive lovers.

Akito was less subtle. "Oh splendid. What are the two of you doing here?" He sniped in the most unbelievably bitchy fashion. Not that he wasn't glad to see Shigure. He was always pleased at Shigure's presence. It was the fact that Shigure was carting along that caustic snake as though he were some kind of cockney fashion accessory that annoyed him.

Shigure responded mid yawn. He wasn't really a 'waking-up-in-the-dead-of-the-night' kind of guy. Though he was pretty sure it had gotten him out of what must have been a horrible dream so he wasn't going to complain. … Too much.

"Hari called us and said there was a disturbance in the Main House. He made us get out of our warm bed to come on over here and everything."

"So, what's the big emergency?" Ayame murmured rubbing some sleep out of his eyes. He was wearing an orange long sleeved leopard skin patterned pajama top, with little more than a pair of shorts underneath. Kureno was staring at him like he'd never seen the likes of such a fashion travesty before. "It had better be worth it because I was having the best sleep I'd had in – hold the phone…" He suddenly noticed the new addition to the happy little Sohma family and discreetly slunk over to Lucifuges, hopping up on the corner of the table near him, his long bare legs practically hanging right in the Bane's face. "And just what might be your name handsome?"

Shigure made big puppy dog eyes and waved his hands about erratically. "Oh honey, don't do that! Really. I'm about a second now from being kinda jealous."

"How can you even think about that so early in the morning?" Hatori wondered, clearly baffled that their hormones could wake up at a much faster rate than his two friends. Shigure gave him a little pat on the back.

"Aya doesn't exactly put a time period on his flirty ness, Hari." He explained, looking inexplicably proud for some reason.

Hatori sighed, suddenly feeling very old, very quickly. "Long story short: This is the fourteenth member of the zodiac, which is the Black Daemon. The elders called him Lucifuges because they have a tongue in cheek sense of humor. He was adopted by Tamiko when he was fourteen to be Akito's guardian and playmate. But seven years ago the doctor Minoru acquired Akito's semen sample in a very immoral way and Lucifuges taught him a lesson, thus leading the family elders to beat the shit out of him and put him in a coma which lasted for seven years. Now he's come back."

"Hey, you summed that up nicely!" Lucifuges said, holding up a finger.

"I'm one of those people who like to keep things brief."

Shigure considered this for about two seconds. "Right. Fair enough. And the reason I can't remember who the hell he is, is because…?"

This time Lucifuges took on recapping duties. "'Cause Hatori was forced to erase all your memories including his own!" He practically cheered, taking another sip of his beverage. "Boy, I sure love coffee!"

Shigure thought this over for another two seconds and finally shrugged. "Damn. Thems the breaks. Well, what can I say but… 'Welcome back buddy!'" With this cheerful declaration out of the way, Shigure pulled out a chair and practically shoved Akito aside in order to move his seat closest to Lucifuges. He sat there, elbows rested atop the table, beaming at him as though they were pen-pals meeting up for the first time.

Ayame remained in his roost atop the table, leaning his face down close to the handsome stranger. His eyes had taken on a vehement gleam. "Now, more importantly, are you single Lucifer?"

"Yes, but you're not Ayame." Kureno reminded him, sweat dropping.

"He seems to forget very easily, doesn't he?" Ritsu confirmed, smiling nervously. Hatori predictably looked weary at his friends' behavior and was patting down the clothes he had thrown on at the last minute, for the chance there might have been a cigarette fluttering around one of the pockets.

"I think both he and Shigure have forgotten at this point." He grumbled when his search came up empty.

While all this was going on, Akito was getting increasingly more frustrated at the amount of attention Shigure and Ayame were lavishing on the stranger. He wouldn't go so far as to say he was jealous but in a strange sort of way he felt a sudden affinity to the man who had appeared in his room in the dead of the night. A sudden possessive urge overwhelming all his senses and that aggravation finally got the better of him. With a growl, he grabbed the bar at the back of Shigure's chair, pulled it as far from the table as his minimal strength would allow and shoved his foot hard into the dog's stomach before he could utter so much as a squeak. The master's eyes were furious.

"Would you all please shut up!" He yelled darting his gaze about to each individual member in attendance, before allowing them to stab directly into Ayame. He pressed down harder with his foot, making sure Ayame knew full well the seriousness of his next words by threatening physical violence against his lover. Shigure groaned as the wind was pushed out of him. "And you snake – you can damn well back the Hell off and keep that forked tongue right where I can see it!"

Ayame whimpered slightly and noticeable scooted away from the Bane's end of the table, seemingly much to the disappointment of Lucifuges himself. When Akito was satisfied that he was a good affirmable distance away, he relieved Shigure of the pressure upon his stomach. Akito straightened up and then surprised everyone by making a slight bow in Lucifuges' direction.

"Beg your pardon." He said in his most respectful voice. This was hardly heard of by the other family members. "His awareness of the teachings and how he is accorded to act before an elder is not exactly up to scratch."

Only Kureno and perhaps Ritsu had some idea of the carefully implied intention of Akito's words and thus the others were confused as to what he meant. Lucifuges understood but did not seem to have been offended in any manner by Ayame and Shigure's casual manner towards him. He merely shook his head. "God Akito… you're so damn cute I almost forget the severe brainwashing you've endured." He mused, eliciting another unintended blush from the family master. "Ayame can speak to me if he wants to." He suddenly grinned in a rather frightful manner. "All he likes really. It's nothing I haven't heard before."

Ayame, felt safe to speak again now that he was out of arm reach of Akito and Shigure was hiding behind him. "You knew me too?"

"Oh yeah!" Lucifuges declared as he looked the snake up and down pointedly. "We knew each other very well. If you catch my drift."

Ayame's eyes widened. "Ah… I see…" And the usually unabashed snake actually blushed at what the stranger was suggesting.

Shigure smacked his lover lightly on the back of the head. "Aya, I'm ashamed of you!"

"Okay… offended." The Bane sniffed.

"I uh… hey, wait a minute!" Ayame took a moment to try and ready his offense. "You can't blame me for something I don't remember doing!"

"You don't remember half the things you do anyway, so why the hell not!" Shigure retorted looking fairly outraged that his current boyfriend was sexually intimate with other men before the two of them had gotten together. Ayame could see that he was not going to win this argument by rational explanations and his next move was to check to see whether or not the stranger was actually having a lend of him or not. If it was a joke, it wasn't a funny one.

He turned to Lucifuges who seemed to be forming deep emotional attachments to his coffee and clasped his hands together in a prayer like gesture. "Did we really sleep together?" He asked with a fairly pathetic expression on his face.

Lucifuges was not sympathetic enough to lie and merely nodded happily in response. "Mmmhmm! Only once and we were both quite drunk. It was fun. Though you actually thought I was Shigure at the time.."

"WHAT!" Shigure and Ayame screamed in unison. Kureno tried not to show his amusement.

"And you played up to it! How immoral!" Shigure snorted.

Lucifuges wasn't the least bit thwarted by this rebuke. "Just livin' up to m'name bud. Besides, if a guy that hot was coming onto you in a dark room, wouldn't you play up to it? And like I said… I was drunk. No one has ethics when they're drunk."

Akito crossed his arms across his chest, finding that the stranger was a lot more likable when he was talking in riddles and acting scary. His real personality was turning out to be a lot more… promiscuous than he had ever imagined. Perhaps he was more like Shigure than Tamiko ever expected. "You strike me as the type who has no ethics whatsoever." The master said softly.

Lucifuges was quick, he would give him that. "Throwing stones in a glass house, Akitty?"

Akito glared, his fiesty nature igniting further more, especially with the weird honorific. "I am adding; 'Sex with snake' to your already extensive Sin List."

"Sex with me is a sin?" Ayame asked glumly.

"Well I'm damned then!" Shigure cried, never missing a beat. Both men laughed jubilantly and held out their thumbs to one another. "Yes!"

Cue group sweat drop.

Akito sighed and rubbed his forehead. "At any rate… there are a few other questions I've been meaning to ask."

Lucifuges opened his mouth and the words just spilled out. "You want to ask me out right? It's the accent. People dig the Scotty accent. You hear it and you just can't help yourselves."

Akito stared at him, eyes wide and for a moment the Bane had thought he'd made a mistake, that he wouldn't realize that he was just fooling around to lift the mood. He supposed he should have known better than to be messing about in a confusing situation like this. It was a bad call. Just as he was about to apologize, the corner of Akito's mouth lifted slightly and he leant over the Bane, allowing the front of his kimono to slope revealing a long lean portion of smooth pale chest. His grin widened, becoming almost playful in its properties.

"Actually, oh one whom is clearly sex deprived from his long stay in hospital-'' Lucifuges allowed himself to grin at this delightful comeback. " –What I was going to ask is… what the Hell is going on? Strange things have been happening around here. Really bizarre things if you catch my drift."

Lucifuges took on a dramatic voice of suspicion, thrilled by the bright glimmer of humor he saw in Akito's eyes and wanting to prolong it. "Like, people getting hugged by the opposite sex and… turning into animals!"

That had been a mistake. Now Akito thought that he was mocking him. The shred of light heartedness suddenly fled from the young man's face and he lashed forward, long fingers closing around the front of the Bane's borrowed kimono. He leant close, his breath ragged. But not from anger the Bane was guessing. He'd heard that noise from men enough times to know the difference.

"Don't you dare make fun of me!" The master hissed, in a drawl more serpent like than the silver haired man sitting down the far end of the table, snuggling up to the dark haired dog of the zodiac. It was so clear to him the similarity. Not just between himself and Shigure… but them as well. When Lucifuges spoke again, his voice was a lot cooler.

"Hey, take it easy kiddo. Just trying to get a laugh out of you, that's all." He got to his feet, pulling free from Akito's grip with minimal ease and started to pace about the room like a caged bear, his thoughts racing a million miles ahead of his body. "When you say bizarre I take it that you mean you see and hear things you can't explain. You… notice strange phenomena, otherworldly apparitions, weird cloaked figures that sort of thing, right?"

There was a murmur of agreement.

Lucifuges nodded. "Let me cut right to the chase then." He stretched upward, straight and tall like an elegant Siamese cat and then and slowly made his way over to the window in order to appraise the night with his bizarre crimson colored eyes. He spoke to the families' reflection in the glass.

"There is a particular day attributing to the Sohma family that had a greater meaning in the past than it does today. Certain rituals were performed on this day to increase its power and potency. This day is called Shoki's or the Boy's festival, and it occurs on May 5th. In past era's it was believed that this day heralded the coming of demons and evil spirits such as ghosts or yurei as you might be comfortable calling them. You'll have to excuse me; my Japanese never has been that great. Ceremonies were conducted on these days to drive away the negative spirits and the Sohma family was no different. The last time this particular ritual occurred was hundreds of years ago and something went wrong. As a consequence the Zodiac curse was born and it was said that when the twenty-first master reigned, the souls of all those who died or were tormented as a result of their connection with the Sohma's, would return to exact their vengeance. At first I didn't believe it. And then I saw a wraith with my own eyes. It was believed that the reign of the twenty-first master, would also herald the return of this cult god the Sohma's had come to believe in those centuries ago."

"The Twin God's?" Ritsu piped up.

Lucifuges looked over his shoulder at him, an eyebrow raised to indicate his approval. "You've done your homework. It's not actually the Twin God's they expect though… but rather, the second coming of the Jyunishi God."

"What do you mean 'the second coming?'" Ritsu asked, though he already had a fairly bad idea from the obvious statement. Kureno answered his question for him, though his statement was clearly seeking out a denial of sorts rather than confirming anything for fact.

"Are you saying it has already been born once?" The rooster snapped.

"I'm telling you what those cuckoo elders believe, not what I know for fact, okay?" Lucifuges defended, both hands raised as though to shield them the two of them off. "Geez, don't wet your yukata's. Now, this is some pretty heavy stuff, so you are all gonna have to try and stick with me. You hear the stories about the paranormal, the unexplainable, right? In the spiritual world there are Stone Tape recordings (Imprints of past events), Ghosts, Phantoms, Shades, Specters, Wraiths, Yurei etc. What distinguishes that last one is its peculiarity in soul fermentation."

Ayame leaned close to Shigure. "This is all going over my head." He confessed.

The Bane struggled for a moment, trying to think up a simple way of explaining the facts. He looked around and finally spied a few sheets of paper strewn out across the kitchen bench. "Okay… imagine that this sheet of paper represents this place. The Casual space where all living things intermingle, right?" He held up one piece of paper and wrote the words 'Real world' on it. "We call this reality 'Real' for it is our plane of existence, the world of factual, no how no give me that with a fistful of salt crap. And this sheet of paper is called the 'Otherworld.' He scribbled 'Otherworld' on a separate sheet and held that up also for them to see. "This is where all the heebie-jeebies come from. Now when a person dies usually they go to judgment through this Otherworld and from there on, its' anyone's guess. But some folks don't get from Point A to B for some reason or another. Maybe they died a violent death, maybe they've got unfinished business, maybe they got tired halfway there, I don't know. But these folks become our spooks. At some point in time, the Sohma's and anyone acquainted with the Sohma's became incapable of passing through the Otherworld completely."

"You mean they all became… ghosts?" Kureno asked raising an eyebrow.

"Bear with me. I know it sounds ridiculous. But, there is something that literally blocks the souls from passing through this place, causing what's known as Soul Fermentation. This is where a soul remains for too long in that place; they must adapt and be processed. They become ghosties. This barrier is almost like a net."

"Or a spider web." Akito suggested softly.

Everyone turned to look at him for a moment.

Lucifuges inclined his head. "Yeah. Sorta like a spider web. Now… I don't know how this web got there or why but its' been there an indecent amount of time and in that time a whole lot of Sohma's have died. Now the notion of a wraith is that it is a ghost, an essence that denies its' own death to the point that it will consume other souls in order to obtain for itself a new life. Akito knows this because all of you have a wraith within you, an evil spirit. As the core of the zodiac curse it is the family masters' burden to take on the hunger of the souls in order to spare you all from being consumed. Up until now, the souls have been able to be contained in a place buried deep in the earth known as The Blindfold. It is a room that no light penetrates and sacrifices were made, so that the victims soul upon death, would act as a sort of plug. When the rituals ceased, the demand of the despairing spirits continued only now the thin balance that held them back has gotten weaker and weaker. Up until now they've been restrained between their own world and ours. However, this is what happened on May 5th, the day of Shoki's festival when all evil spirits gain power." He placed the piece of paper reading Otherworld over the one reading Real. "This is how we existed –'' Lucifuges took up a pen and punched a hole straight through both overlapping pieces of paper. "– and this is the current situation. To put it simply, you've sprung a leak. Souls from the Otherworld are leaking out into our world and they aren't exactly good house guests. These spirits are not purified. They're angry, they're confused, they died without any of the proper rights to relieve them of constricting emotions such as jealousy, envy, hate and it all comes back in the guise of a wraith. They persecute those responsible for their fate."

"Which would be the Sohma's… that's us Gure! I'm scared!" Ayame cried, flinging his arms around Shigure's neck and hanging on for dear life. Shigure placed his arms around him comfortingly but his skeptical gaze never left the Bane.

Lucifuges sniffed. "Well ya should be, little snaky. These spirits have got no mercy for the living. Their only desire is to live again… by taking the bodies of others if so be it."

"But why is it happening now?" Kureno wondered, finally conceding to taking a seat at the table and as such drawing the group even closer together. "What makes the twenty-first generation so damn special?"

Lucifuges had no answer to this. "I'm not entirely sure… I think the number may have magical connotations, or it relates somehow to the previous ritual…'' He considered silently for a moment, searching his memory for any recollection of his studies on the history of the Sohma family, but no explanation was ever given as to the relevance of the number 21 itself. "No… sorry but I have no answer for why its' happening now. All I know is that it was foretold that the Second Coming would occur in the 21st reign. That time is now. The Akito is the 21st master, the direct descendant of blessed Kanikito."

"Kanikito?" Shigure asked with some trepidation. Lucifuges glanced at him, though the expression was neither warm nor comforting in any way. It was brutally honest.

"Kanikito was…" And here he hesitated in closing the sentence. "She was the first family master. The Goddess of the Jikan Jyunishi. The daughter of the Twin God's."

Hatori frowned at him. "Just one moment; what on earth is this Jikan Jyunishi religion you keep on babbling about? I've never heard of anything remotely like that in all the time I've been here."

Lucifuges frowned back grimly. "That is because my friend, this creed has been around for far longer than you have and this family has grown particularly adept at concealing its secrets. As you are well aware.

The Jikan Jyunishi Creed is the original religion of the Sohma family; the following of the Chinese Zodiac had as its' deities two twin Gods, who by unnatural means conceived a child who lies suspended just out of reach of our own realm. Waiting for the chance to be born. Or so they say. The twin deities; both male, are revered but not on an equal basis. The Celestial God is accorded worship as unequivocal and benign good, despite his extremist one sided dictatorship of power when 'ALL' was made. HE believed that he had made no mistake when HE created the world. However, when HE was confronted with something so conflicting to all that he understood, HIS lack of knowledge took the place of acceptance and HE immediately lashed out and went to war with that which he saw opposed him. This is the irony of the religion itself and in its' earliest days, before the Sohma's took to twisting it in four different places and picking and choosing what best suited them, the very essence of the Jikan Jyunishi Creed was not anyone deciding right or wrong; it was people coming to the understanding that ignorance is the only true evil in this world. It corrupts us, corrodes us and that is where hence lies the embodiment of damnation. Not any perceived sin by insignificant mortals on this planet. We are unworthy of deciding for ourselves what is to be seen as right or wrong. The Celestial God was omnipotent, but HE too was not beyond making mistakes. Just because he didn't understand or like what was in front of him, didn't mean that it was necessarily evil and deserved to be punished. If you jump to conclusions, the real harm you inflict is that chip you take out of your very own soul.

As it was, the Celestial God found, as do many of us, that when we come to truly see and feel by example, we find that we are not preternaturally deposed to what we have for so long condemned. The religion itself is not so much the fable of two gay lovers finding the other a 'bit of alright', more importantly; it is not people we are seeing in the story. The Celestial God and the God's Bane? They merely represented the two branches of humanity. Those whose eyes were opened and those whose eyes were closed. As such, it was ultimately not the Celestial God who was presented as the 'good' character; if you want to think of it as shallowly as that. HE represented the people of our world whose eyes are closed. The Dark One, that which is more often prone to be misunderstood and live its life in solitude more often as a result, represents those who accept and are open-minded. As such, they are faced with persecution, when really all they want is to be accepted into the arms of those whose eyes are closed. They want to be understood. That is what the union between the Celestial God and The Dark One finally concludes; that the Jikan Jyunishi Creed sees all humanity uniting as One someday. And fighting to keep that justice. The birth of the child concludes that. A child is only figurative; what is really born is enlightenment. A new world. The blind now see and the persecuted are accepted. They are one at last.

Later Christian religions warped these teachings however. Not purposefully you must understand, though one can't deny that as a fledging religion the Christian's worked tooth or nail to get their point across, even at the expense of scrutinizing other religious icons, their symbols their beliefs. Sacred Pagan pentagrams now represent satanic worship. Certain lifestyles and acts are prohibited, partly because of their personal issues with them. Unsurprisingly, the Jikan Jyunishi Creed was one of many that was attacked for its cryptic and often disputed ambiguous, multi-layered interpretations. Rather than viewing the symbolism of the idea of the Twin God's in representation of a society in turmoil coming to peace, the Church scorned it because at that point in time homosexuality was viewed as sin. At least, by them it was. Why? Well there are many reasons, each one more outdated than the last but the point I'm making is that the particular marking in the bible, condemning homosexuality as a sin, was placed there to crush the creed of the Jikan Jyunishi. Soon the idea of two men together, rather than the concept of acceptance and understanding, became looked upon as something filthy and unnatural. The Christian God, one God alone so goes the belief, created the world with a flick of his finger according to them because to be omnipotent, to be omniscient and all benevolent is beyond human conception, human need of love, acceptance and understanding. Yet they insist that God made man in his own image. As a result, in the centuries following, the Jikan Jyunishi Creed struggled and became stained and became twisted by Christian influence. The remaining followers adopted the Dark One, originally what was perceived as a tragic hero figure whom encouraged one who was so close minded to open up to new experiences, as their fallen angel figure. They needed to categorize evil, where evil before had no place in this fable. And because the Christian God created all things and HE was good, the Celestial God now stood in his position as omnipotent, never wrong because he is the ONE outline. The Dark One is further persecuted. The fable loses its' original purpose, its' original and righteous beliefs. You can see why this child of the Celestial God and the Dark One is now viewed as an abomination. The elder's upholding the corrupted religion now; carry the Christian stain that homosexuals are Satan Spawn. A child of two men, though figurative, can only be bad news. It's unnatural to them. It can only be evil.

Now, this religion has gone from being a prophecy that gave people hope, rebirth as a society and a brighter more accepting future to look forward to, has been twisted to adopt a more literal and more repugnant belief. About five hundred years ago, the elder's took the belief too far and started messing around with Shinto rituals, corrupting them by bloodshed so that they no longer marked that stem of the original Japanese religion itself. They did some sick things. The sickest they ever did however, was to actually invest the 13 animals, including the cat from the fable and adhere to them as demi-gods. They made sacrifices of animals to them, every year named after them. For instance; were it the year of the horse, every month a horse would be taken to the altar before the stature of the horse and the animal would be killed. Its soul sacrificed to the demi-god. It's blood to drink, as Christ's disciples drank the figurative wine at the last supper. The body, of which they partook. Also figurative and quite beautiful in that symbolic tense. Not what our ancestors did. The past Sohma's twisted it to meet their foul end. For they did the unthinkable after the thirteen years passed and all the sacrifices to all the animals had been made.

They invoked the God of the Jikan Jyunishi. The one they feared would be born. They brought it out to guide them.

First, they used a medium to make contact with the fetus I suppose you could put it, in the spiritual realm. It spoke to them, whatever it was and it asked that measures be taken in order for it to be born into this realm."

"What do you mean by 'whatever it was?'" Hatori asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Lucifuges chewed his bottom lip. "Well, it surely could not have been the child spoken of in the creed, could it? After all, that was purely symbolic fiction. A state of belief rather than a bold statement on mere mortals knowing the thoughts of immortals alike." He paused for a moment and lowered his head as though something had just come to him. "My personal belief is that spiritual powers in the Sohma family are quite strong. So strong in fact, that after so many years of killing, bloodshed, the passing of souls, perhaps the belief in what they hoped to achieve became so strong, that they did indeed create this 'thing' they made contact with. For they reached something that day. And this something had but one desire; to be born.

The ritual was complicated; it required as its' base ingredients a vessel into which the child must be born. The vessel must be the body of a child, not yet removed from the womb of its mother. The mother must be only six months into her term of pregnancy. For some reason, the time frame was made a rather large point, seeming to suggest that the spirit had more likelihood of shaping the body to its' own design or control would be easier to ensnare. Of that I'm not sure. The final prerequisite was that the mother must be dead at the time of the invocation. The Sohma's did not hesitate. This being they had contacted, promised to provide them with comfort and prosperity. With luck in fertility, financial matters, farming and so on and so forth. It was like forbidden fruit in the Christian's Garden of Eden. And in an irony so deep you could not even hope to cut it through part way, the elder's snatched it.

They chose a woman perfect for the procedure and she offered her own life and the life of her unborn child, willingly. The elders performed the ritual and once this being had entered into the body of the deceased child, it began to kick against the wall of the mothers stomach. They cut the child free and it came from the body in a rush of blood. It was premature but very well formed for one birthed so young. The elder's naturally were a mixture of emotions. Elated. … Terrified. I feel that the latter may have applied more so than the prior."

I get the feeling that I'm not going to like where this is heading, Akito thought, crossing his slim arms across his chest. Goosebumps had broken out across his skin and he didn't think it was because of the chill in the kitchen. "Idiots." He grumbled, rubbing a hand up across his flesh, trying to warm it. "They do something like this and what did they expect?"

"I believe that they expected the child to be born as the child it would originally have been born." Lucifuges said as he titled back his coffee cup, draining the last few dregs of luke warm beverage. "What they got instead was… something else."

"Something else… you mean to say it was born such as the way in which the cat was?" Shigure inquired, recalling mentally back to Kyou's birth. He had come out of his mothers' body in the form of the True Cat, a terrifying thing for any mother to see. He could imagine some mysterious cult god being ten times as bad.

Lucifuges however shook his head. "No. And I feel that something like that would probably have frightened them less. No… this terrified them because the child was still essentially human. What it bore was traits that are uncommon even today and back then were seen as the most terrifying abnormality for a child to be born with. I don't know personally the name for the symptom but…"

He cleared his throat as though too disgusted to continue. He plowed on ahead valiantly however.

"They named the child Kanikito and she became the first family master. There was always something different about her, despite her physical faults, which were kept hidden from the rest of the world. She was unbelievably beautiful. Many remarked that her beauty was not of this world and of course naturally, it was not. She was able to see things before they happened, often terrible things which made those families surrounding the Sohma's suspect that she was a witch. All those who tried to harm her however, befell grave and often brutal deaths. Her eyes were haunting. They were like a cat's iris and they were the most brilliant shade of green. Her hair was long. In the records I found no one knew how to describe it. They said it was the color of ice, the sea when it is clear enough to see straight to the bottom. Or, my personal favorite; the lining of a cloud. Kanikito's hair, I have come to believe as such, was platinum blonde or silver.

Kanikito had one trait though that terrified even the elders who had given birth to her."

Lucifuges took a breath and was preparing to launch into his next explanation when someone beat him to it, with the exact words that he had been about to speak. The others were surprised by Ayame'sintervention but the Bane had almost expected it.

"No one knew how to explain it." Ayame said, speaking as though there was little doubt in his mind as to the authenticity of his words. "Why she had been born that way or for what reason." He stopped, sniffing back what threatened to become tears and stuttered upon the next sentence. "She… she was born with both male and female sex organs. Something back then that wasn't treatable. She went through her entire life believing that she was a freak, feeling that there was no one she could speak to candidly about it. Whatever she was, she had the mind of a mortal and she needed someone to love her. But no one ever did. Behind her back, they all called her a monster. They made her cry for hours in that room of hers, locked up so high above the rest of the world. She'd stare out the window and pray for someone to come and save her. 'Please come,' she would say. 'Please come.'"

Shigure glanced at him sidelong, shocked by what his lover had just said. "Aya… how do you know this?" He asked.

The snake's eyes were downcast. "I'm not sure… I just…" He seemed to be suddenly and inexplicably upset by even speaking aloud in the first place. "All I know is is that weird things are happening around here and… it may sound arrogant Gure but I get the feeling that somehow… it's got something to do with me!"

"More than you know." Lucifuges stated with astute clarity. His eyes were shut as he spoke, as though he were reflecting back upon the past events themselves. As though they were playing across a screen in his mind. "More than anything, Kanikito desired to be accepted. She was the child of the Twin God's, born to present this world with something they didn't understand. A martyr to suffer and be persecuted, whilst she provided guidance to those that saw her as damned. They brought her into this world a monster and took no responsibility for her agony." He groaned and hanged his head, as though revulsion for past actions in the present were any sort of contrition. "Kanikito was born this way because she represents equality. In the creation fable of the Jikan Jyunishi there is no female figure. Only the figurative symbols of the two men. Not to outwardly suggest inequality but to propose that the compassion of woman is greater than that of men and that only through man finding peace with all the folly of the world, can they live with that very same compassion and acceptance that gentle woman has always possessed. Kanikito, unfortunately, represented the bridge. She was not born whole but rather came into this world a broken mess, shattered by the misleading beliefs of the elders who conceived her. If you stain a religion enough, you have not the power to change it completely. You cannot vanquish it from the face of this planet. What is most horrendous are those who believe but their belief is false and selfish. Through their arrogance, cruelty and bloodshed, Kanikito, the fragile perfect flower, a being to represent transience above all narrow-mindedness, was born reverted somewhat, back to the symbol of hatred she was intended to draw us all away from. It's mortifying. She was corrupted by them and instead became a figure somewhere between ignorance and understanding. In this physical reality, the confusion of the ideal took that body in order to present the mistakes and wrongdoings of the elders in a form that they could understand. But they didn't understand. They saw this mutation as her sin. Not theirs.

… Kanikito was the one whom created the zodiac curse. To be shunned your entire life creates in itself, hatred and bitterness. But, she also passed along a little something also. A factor that remains in the bloodline even until this day.

Hatori gasped. "You mean -?"

"Yes." Lucifuges said looking meaningfully at Akito. "The elders have more control than you think. For when each new family master is born, they decide on how far their acceptance and understanding shall go. Akito, you and yours are the direct descendents of Kanikito; the god of the Jikan Jyunishi. You were born as any other zodiac member was born but like Kanikito you, your mother before you and all those that came before her, were born both a man and a woman."

This naturally served as a shock to Akito and at first he couldn't think of how on earth to respond. Somehow it felt as though a part of his identity, which he believed himself to be, was shattered by this suggestion.

That he was born a broken freak like that?

He parted his lips as if to speak and then shut them again. What on earth was there to say in this situation? What in God's name could he possibly say to that?

Finally, he went with the obvious. Denial. "That's not true." He growled. "I wasn't born that way! It's not possible! How on earth could that symptom be treated?"

Lucifuges eyes were twice as cold as usual. "You were born that way Akito. And you were operated upon to make you a boy because that was what the elders preferred. This is a patriarchal family in case you hadn't noticed. Your mother was allowed the right to be a woman because they needed her to give birth to the next generation. You however, were not required to keepthat privilege. Owing to Tamiko's curse you are predictably more woman in that body than you ever will be a man. You do not age like a man. Your frame is too slender, your hips too wide as a result of your original intent. To bear children."

He didn't want to hear this! He wanted to slap his hands over his ears and block it out. Or failing that lunge across the table and tear those lying lips right off of the man's face.

"That's… that's a lie!" He shrieked stumbling out of his seat, tipping it over backwards in his haste to flee the scene. "My frame is a family trait! And I'm thin because of my sickness! And as for my hips… well, I'm sure there are plenty of men with hips like mine! It's not some abnormity!"

"There is no need to be defensive, Akito." Lucifuges stated calmly, rising to his feet.

Akito shot a look at Kureno. "Tell him!" He shrieked, pointing a quaking finger at the Bane as the came around the table towards him. "Tell him he's lying! Tell me… tell me that what he's saying isn't true!"

When Kureno refused to follow his demand, Akito felt himself lose hope completely. The tight reigns he held over his emotions shattered and he broke down sobbing, still pointing at the tall dark haired man with the blood-red eyes. "Kureno… tell him…" He begged.

Kureno's eyes were downcast and he seemed to be suffering from something that conflicted a wrenching battle within the tide of his own emotions. When he spoke his voice was barely a susurration. "It's true Akito…"

"NO!" Akito screamed.

"I was there the day they performed the procedure. Minoru did it. They made you a man because it is what they wanted."

Akito glanced around the table in horror, seeing looks of pity, of revulsion, even of fear from the faces of those present there that night. He didn't know what to do. He had never witnessed any physical evidence upon his body to suggest that someone had corked him up like a sink. The very idea made him sick to his stomach. He truly did feel as though he had become a completely different person in the last few minutes. A great kick surged upon his stomach and he heaved, bending in the middle and he very nearly vomited there and then. Lucifuges looked on in sympathy.

"You're not alone Akito…" He told the young master as he wiped at his mouth with his yukata sleeve. "There was one other born before you that went through the exact same thing."

It almost didn't seem to register, particularly in Shigure's mind, as Lucifuges stopped his trail around the table only to come to a standstill behind Ayame's chair and rest his long fingers atop his shoulders. Ayame looked predictably aghast.

"Huh?" He intoned.

Akito stared at him. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I don't kid about such serious things." The Bane assured, pressing his sharp nails tightly into the snake's shoulders. Akito swallowed back another gag.

"But why… him?" He wretched, lowering himself down on his knees as the strength left his body. Lucifuges' face held no emotion when he answered.

"Because the two of you are both descended from blessed Kanikito." He explained brushing his hand across the crown of Ayame's head. "Isn't it obvious to you all by now? Ayame is the spitting image of the god of the Jikan Jyunishi. He is the direct descendant. Tamiko's first born and the true master of the Sohma family. The one she named Akito."

A/N: Egads! (Faints) Been meaning to get that done for a LONG time folks! Do I hear my review panel flooding with lots of outraged flames? Oh well, send 'em my way, I don't care. I like this twist and if you don't then take a hike. This damn chapter took a lot of effort so I hope someone out there appreciates it.

Again, sorry to all my readers of Born to be Broken who were waiting with anticipation for me to update and me not getting around to it soon enough. Like I said, a certain little manga revelation destroyed me for a while but hopefully this new update will make amends!

Please R and R and I'll see what I can do about that next chapter. (I liked how I worked the manga revelation into my fic without compromising my own beliefs, don't you guys?)

Well, 'till next time; HERE COME'S THE 'S!'