********
The Ceremony of Innocence
a Fruits Basket fanfic by Ysabet MacFarlane (ba087@chebucto.ns.ca)

Chapter Four: The Color of Her Eyes at Midnight [4/10]

********

"The pretty boys dive
And thru the pinhole stars
Into the shadow mind
You will lose him then
On some gentle dawn
This boy is here and gone"
			-- Smashing Pumpkins, "Daphne Descends" (Adore)

********

Friday dawned clear and bright, the first day in a week that had held a promise
of spring.  Kyo had finally dozed off while watching the hues of sunrise that
leaked into the living room, and when he woke Tohru was in the kitchen, cooking
breakfast.  She smiled at him when he came in, and at Yuki and Shigure when they
were lured downstairs by the smell.  He could almost pretend it was just another
morning, even when he discovered that Tohru was making some of his favorite
food--she tried to make things he and his cousins were fond of as often as she
could.

He didn't have the heart to tell her that he wasn't hungry, but he would have
eaten anything she set down in front of him, regardless of appetite or what was
on the plate.  Lunch tended to be lighter, so this might be the last full meal
of hers that he ever ate.  He wondered what kind of food the family would think
was appropriate for the imprisoned Cat.

After breakfast was over, both Shigure and Yuki left the house--Shigure
promptly, Yuki after helping with cleanup.  It was almost starting to feel
normal to be in the kitchen with him, instead of leaving him to help Tohru.  As
soon as the dishes were done, Yuki said something to Tohru; something odd in his
expression caught Kyo's attention.  Before he could identify it, Yuki was gone.

"Kyo-kun, do you want some tea?" Tohru asked.

"Sure.  Thanks."  He wandered into the living room to wait while she set the tea
to brewing, listened to the homey noises of her moving around.  Even the muffled
exclamation when she banged into something caused a pang of melancholy.  But
after several minutes she appeared with a pot of tea and two cups, which she set
down and filled carefully.  Then she sat down across from him, resting her
elbows on the table as she twisted her teacup in her hands.  Her eyes were
focused on the air between them.

"Where'd the rat go?" he asked, mostly to break the not-quite-awkward silence.

"I think he's weeding the garden," she replied.

Kyo felt his forehead wrinkle.  "How often does he have to do that?  Don't you
usually help him?"

"Usually."  She gnawed on her lip.  "We did it a few days ago."

"The weeds grow that fast?"  Kyo didn't pay much attention to plant life cycles,
but it seemed a bit excessive.

The cup continued to turn.  "Not really.  It's still too cold for much of
anything to grow."  Tohru took an audible breath and a sip of tea.  "Ah . . . do
you know where Shigure-san went?  He disappeared after breakfast without saying
anything."

"He's probably at the Main House."  Kyo felt his lips twist.  "Akito does like
to have all of the details arranged perfectly for things like this."  He found a
small laugh from somewhere.  "I ought to appreciate the effort, I guess.  It's
the only family ceremony I get to be part of."

Tohru's hands jerked, spilling tea on the table.  "What will happen?"

Kyo rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes.  "Someone will come to get me
when they're ready, I guess."  He tried to find the anger he'd always warmed
himself with, but only felt cold.  His guts felt as if they'd crystallized with
ice and now worked sluggishly under its weight.  "I don't really know what'll
happen.  They're probably scared I'd run if they told me."

"Would you?"  Her voice was barely audible.

"Dunno.  I wouldn't get very far."  His throat was tightening so that talking
about it hurt.  "I don't know what about the ceremony could be so awful compared
to being locked up."  He shrugged painfully.  "Yuki and I'll probably have to do
something symbolic.  That's all I can think of."

"Would Yuki-kun hurt you?"

Kyo blinked at the earnestness of the question.  "He will if Akito tells him
to."  He half-expected her to reject his answer, but she only swallowed another
mouthful of tea.  He supposed she'd seen enough evidence of Akito's control over
the family that even she couldn't doubt his power.  The fact that Kyo was still
sitting with her waiting for the last piece of the Cat's fate to descend on him
should have been evidence enough on its own.

There was a heavy clunk as she set her cup down.  "Do you know if Shigure-san
will come back before . . ?"  She trailed off and turned her head toward the
door as if expecting Shigure to appear.

"Probably not.  He said goodbye to me last night before he went to bed."  The
farewell had been brief, with Shigure at an uncharacteristic loss for words. 
Shigure's awkwardness had managed to convey more emotion to Kyo than one of his
cousin's usual polished speeches could have.  It had been the first time Kyo was
reasonably certain--with Shigure, nothing could be absolutely certain--that his
presence in the house was more than an imposition.

"Ah."  Tohru had an odd expression on her face and Kyo found himself staring at
her; she looked both embarrassed and determined.  She stood up and walked around
the table so she was standing beside him.  She knelt and placed one hand
carefully on the table and took a deep breath, let it out, took another. 
"Kyo-kun, hold still."

"What?"  Puzzled, he stared at her.  She was blushing, and close enough that
something about her scent was dizzying.  He inhaled slowly, trying to work it
out.  "What're you--"  Her free hand touched his chin; before he could
straighten his thoughts out, she had bent over and kissed him.

Instinct told him to reach out for her, but his entire body seemed to have gone
slack; he tilted his head and kissed her back, as clumsy about it as she was. 
Her mouth was warm and tasted of tea, and made his skin tingle.  When she lifted
her head away he forced himself not to catch at her.  She was blushing harder
than before, not meeting his eyes.  He swallowed hard.  "Um--"

"I--I didn't know if you'd want me to--ah--didn't know if you'd like it if I--" 
Tohru's words were almost tripping over each other as she tried to stammer out
an explanation.  As Kyo stood up she hesitated, then repeated, "I didn't know if
you'd like it if . . . "  She trailed off and stood motionless under his gaze.

"I--"  His own voice didn't seem to be working properly.  She risked a glance up
at him.  "Hold still," he echoed her earlier instruction.  Not needing to hold
onto anything for balance--she was still leaning against the table, he
noticed--he set one hand on each side of her face and leaned down to return the
gesture.  No longer off guard, he had a slightly better idea of what he was
doing; the second kiss was more exploratory and, for a moment, much harder than
he'd intended as the intoxicating tang in her scent strengthened.  He let go
when she wobbled, watched as she breathed carefully and pressed a hand against
her mouth.

"Kyo-kun."  Tohru straightened after a moment and finally looked at him.  "I
wanted to ask you if you--if you wanted to . . . "  She bit her lip, blushing
furiously again.

He stared at her in confusion.  "If I wanted to . . ?"

"Ifyouwantedtosleepwithmebeforeyouhavetoleave."  She pushed all of the words out
in a single rush.

"If I--"  He found himself rubbing his eyes again.  "If--but--we can't--"  He
felt something like anger.  "I'm _cursed_."

"I know that.  But . . . Shishou-san said his grandfather had the same curse as
you, so I thought it should be possible."  Having forced the difficult part out,
Tohru suddenly sounded almost calm.

Kyo blinked at her logic.  He'd somehow never made the connection.  "But I don't
exactly know how--"

"I do.  I asked Hatori-san."

"You asked _Hatori_?"  He abruptly ran out of words, feeling dazed.

"Well . . . he's a doctor, and he was going to marry Kana-san . . . so I thought
he'd know.  He--" she was blushing again "--he told me a couple of ways."  She
laughed awkwardly.  "They involve me staying very still, because I'm clumsy, but
. . . "

Despite the interesting pictures her words were conjuring up, his mind seemed
determined to thwart the definite interest his body was feeling about the idea. 
"Are you sure?  You saw me--saw what I am."  He found his fingers wrapped around
his bracelet.

"I know what you are," Tohru whispered.  "And you know what I told you when I
saw you.  I still want to be with you."

"And Yuki."

"And Yuki-kun."

*Please don't let her think I don't want to be with her, too . . . *  He closed
his eyes.  "And . . . what about him, then?"

"Yuki-kun is weeding his garden."  There was something taut and precise in her
voice now, an element of maturity that had been blossoming in her throughout
this sudden discussion of things he'd never really thought she'd considered. 
Kyo found himself hastily reevaluating her naiveté.

"He--"

"Kyo-kun."  Her eyes were becoming uncertain.  "Kyo-kun, he knows the garden
doesn't need weeding."

"He knows," he echoed.  Tohru nodded.  "Does he know you were going to ask
me--what you asked me?"

"I didn't tell him, but . . . "

Kyo closed his eyes, praying his mind wouldn't come up with another reason not
to do what she'd asked.  Nothing came, but--  "Are you _sure_?"  He hadn't meant
to whisper, or to let her hear the longing he'd thought he'd concealed from her.
 He felt her hand slip into his.  He pulled it up to his mouth, let her feel his
hunger and the edges of his teeth, a reminder that the cat's nature wasn't a
gentle one.

"I'm sure."

********

Yuki was sitting on the bottom step of the staircase leading upstairs when he
heard the car pulling up to the house.  He'd come inside against his better
judgment, not really wanting to know what might be happening, at least not until
after the fact.  Still, he'd had a hunch that he should be more effectively
keeping an eye on the house than he could from out back in the garden.  He'd
entered as silently as a true rat, quelling the spasm in his stomach when he
confirmed that the main floor was deserted.  It could only be a streak of
masochism that made him decide on the stairs, but he shoved it to the back of
his mind as he settled in to stand guard.  He rested his head against the wall,
not eavesdropping, but unable to completely ignore the occasional sound that
drifted down to him.

Upstairs had been completely quiet for some time when the car came, for which he
was thankful.  He waited for the door to open, hoping it wasn't Akito come to
personally collect Kyo; it was hours yet before the ceremony at the Main House,
but Akito might want to make sure Kyo wasn't thinking about anything else.  The
knocking startled him--none of the Jyuunishi were likely to knock on Shigure's
door.  Puzzled, Yuki went to answer it.

"Yes?"  The single word almost didn't make it out of his mouth as he found
himself face-to-face with Kyo's father.  He couldn't remember the last time he'd
laid eyes on the man in front of him--his uncle, he reminded himself--but there
was no mistaking him: he looked very much as Kyo would look when he was older,
except for the ordinary coloring.

"I've come to see the monster."

Yuki felt an irrational urge to smile and reply with 'sorry, no monsters here'
before closing the door.  *We'd all be so much better off if we'd raised
ourselves.*  He examined Kyo's father, taking in the lack of any parental
concern.  Years apart from his son clearly hadn't fostered any love.  "Did Akito
send you for him?"

"No, Yuki-san."  The respect the uncursed Sohmas traditionally accorded the
Jyuunishi seemed wildly out of place.  "I came to see it on my own.  And I
_will_ see it."

Yuki hesitated only a moment longer.  "I'll go get Kyo for you."

"Where is it?"  His uncle seemed inclined to simply head past him and search the
house; Yuki threw an arm out to block his way.  As far as he was aware, the
older man had no martial arts training; he could force him to stay downstairs if
he had to.

"_I_ will go get Kyo," he repeated, pronouncing his cousin's name more carefully
the second time.  "Please wait in the living room."  After waiting to see that
his uncle cooperated, he headed for the stairs, careful not to run.

********

The knocking on the door startled Kyo out of the soft haze he was drifting in. 
It was quiet but insistent.  He glanced at Tohru as she rolled off the bed and
started to dress.

"Kyo, let me in."  Yuki's voice.  Kyo winced; it would have to be him.

"Can I talk to you downstairs?" he called.

"You don't want to do that," Yuki replied as he opened the door and slipped in,
quickly shutting it behind him.  He fixed his gaze on the wall while Tohru
finished pulling a shirt over her head.  "I already knew Honda-san was here,
anyway."

"Then why did you come in?" Kyo demanded, hearing the familiar edge in his own
voice.

Yuki took a deep breath.  "I'm not going to freak out.  I have more respect for
all of us than that."  He sounded very calm, even as he glanced at Tohru.  Kyo
saw the flicker of raw emotion between them, the hurt Yuki couldn't quite bury
beneath understanding, and the far more complex response it evoked in her. 
"Kyo."  Yuki's hand was gripping his shoulder, and Kyo had an instant of
premonition.

"No--"

"Kyo, your father's downstairs."

"My father."  Tohru's hand was warm in his, suddenly, and he wanted nothing more
from the world than to curl up with his head in her lap, even if Yuki was there.
 The rat was far safer than his father.

Yuki tried to stay focused on his cousin, but the whole situation was too
distracting.  He kept glancing sidelong at Tohru, his eyes relentlessly drawn to
her lips, which were slightly swollen, and to her subtle shifting as she tried
to get comfortable.  He'd thought he had reconciled himself the possibility that
she and Kyo would be lovers before the cat was taken away, but being faced with
it was more upsetting than he'd hoped.  It was, he thought, mostly the way that
Kyo's scent had permeated her skin that was inescapable.  The animal instincts
he usually ignored were all shrieking that another male had claimed something he
had wanted.  It was difficult to keep his hand on Kyo's shoulder gentle.

"What does he want?" Kyo managed.

"I don't know.  He only said he wanted to see you."

"I do _not_ need this," Kyo muttered, reluctantly letting go of Tohru's hand to
start pulling his own clothes on.

"I'll come down with you," Tohru said.

"It could get ugly," he warned her.

"I'm coming anyway.  Just let me brush my hair."  She looked toward the door,
then shrugged and picked up Kyo's brush and began to apply it with quick, tense
strokes.

"I'll tell him you'll be there in a minute," Yuki said, not wanting to stay in
the room any longer than he had to.

When he was gone, and Tohru had set the brush down again, she and Kyo checked to
make sure they were presentable.  Kyo put a hand on her shoulder and kissed her,
lightly running the other hand down her side to feel the warmth of her body
through her clothes.  "Tohru . . . " he said, and she took a step back to see
him clearly.

"I know," she whispered back, tracing the angle of his cheek with her thumb. 
Tears shimmered in her eyes but didn't fall.  She took his hand, and they
followed Yuki downstairs.

********

"Hello, Father."  Kyo took a grim satisfaction at his father's anger at being
forced to acknowledge the address.  "What do you want?"

"Who is this girl?"  His father looked as if, suddenly faced with a nearly-adult
son instead of the child he'd last seen, he'd forgotten what he was planning to
say.

"Honda Tohru," he replied.  "Tohru-san, this is my biological father."  The
honorific on her name felt so odd in his mouth that he wondered if he'd ever
applied one to her before.  Probably not, he admitted to himself.

Kyo's father barely acknowledged the introduction.  He flicked a glance at Tohru
and opened his mouth as if to say something.  Then his gaze returned to her, as
he looked back and forth from her to his son and somehow saw the connection
between them.  The sheer disgust that twisted his face was worse than the
indifference he'd been trying to convey.  Tohru flinched from it; he looked as
if he might actually be sick at the idea of someone being intimate with his son.

"Do you know this boy, young lady?"  The worst of it, Tohru realized, was that
the man was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt.  She felt a sudden
surge of fury, almost staggering in its unfamiliarity.

"I know your son quite well," she said, meeting his eyes impolitely.  If her
family could see her now . . . well, she thought ruefully, it would only confirm
their opinion of her.  "Shigure-san has allowed me to live here for two years
now."  She ran her fingers pointedly over the beads on Kyo's wrist.  She felt
him trembling under her touch, and was glad Yuki was standing close behind them.

"And you let--it--touch you?"  Disbelief was giving way to horror.

"No," she said coldly.  "I _asked_ him to touch me."

"What do you _want_, Father?" Kyo repeated, but his father was still staring at
Tohru, incredulity turning to contempt.

"Are you one of those girls they talk about, who'll sleep with anyone?" he spat
at her.  "Or do you have a taste for the exotic?"  He looked as if he meant to
go on, but Kyo had let go of Tohru's hand and closed the distance between them.

"You will shut your mouth about her, or I'll touch _you_ next," he said softly,
relaxing into an easy stance that set him up for several possible attacks, and
clenching his hands into fists in case his father missed the more subtle threat.
 "And I don't think I'll be the only one."  He didn't need to turn to know that
Yuki was only a step behind him.  "Now say what you came to say and get the hell
out."

"I have no more to say to you than I ever did," his father said flatly.  "I came
to see what you've become in my absence."

"And what do you think you see?"

"That you haven't changed at all."

"No?"  Kyo laughed, clean anger for Tohru's sake replacing the sick rage he
usually felt when thinking about the man in front of him.  "If you think I
haven't changed from the child you blamed for Mother's death, than you're a
fool."

"I only see more clearly than most people that it's good that you're being
locked up where you can't kill anyone else," his father flung back at him.  "It
should have been done sooner."

Behind them, Yuki spoke up.  "You _are_ a fool if you don't see that if Kyo was
going to kill anyone _you_ would be dead now."  He moved forward.  "Kyo, are you
done with him?"

"Yeah."

Yuki smiled at his uncle.  "Get out before we throw you out."

"You wouldn't--"

"Oh, yes, we would.  Literally if we have to."  Yuki was still smiling.  "And
unlike Kyo, _I'm_ still going to be around, Uncle.  If I hear any mention at all
of you talking about Honda-san, I'll come and find you."

"Are you _threatening_ me?"

"Yes, I am.  And I'll tell you something that plenty of people in the family
don't know, Uncle."  Yuki leaned close and said, carefully enunciating every
word, "I can take Hatsuharu in a fight.  I've restrained him when he's Black,
and I think very clearly when I'm angry.  Bear that in mind.  And get out."

Kyo's father hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between them; then
he turned on his heel and walked out without another word.

********

Tohru went to bathe after Kyo's father left, leaving the two boys alone.  Kyo
sat by the window, a distant expression on his face.  As if, Yuki thought, he
was already trapped inside.  He took a deep breath and moved to sit beside him.

"Kyo, can I talk to you?"  He heard an edge in his voice already, and tried to
push it back.  It was a bad time, but there had never been a good time for them.

"What, rat?"  Kyo continued to gaze out the window.

"About Honda-san."  Kyo stiffened but said nothing.  There was no easy way to
ask what he needed to know.  "Kyo, did you hurt her?"

A long silence stretched between them.  Yuki gritted his teeth and held himself
still for as long as he could.  Finally, as he opened his mouth to repeat the
question, Kyo answered.

"I tried not to."  His voice was hoarse and defensive.

Yuki's stomach twisted.  "What does that mean?"

Kyo slowly turned to look at him.  "It means neither of us knew what we were
doing.  It means I'm not a fucking gentle person, rat.  I _tried_."  His eyes
were livid with anger, but it was not, Yuki realized, directed at him.  "I was
as careful as I knew how to be."

"Did you hurt her?" Yuki repeated.

"I think I bruised her mouth," Kyo mumbled.  He licked his own lips nervously,
as if they were sore.  "And she . . . she started bleeding."

"She--"  Yuki felt an almost overwhelming urge to start hitting his cousin and
not stop for a long time.  The effort it took to keep his hands still made him
queasy.  He closed his eyes and tried to clear his head.  "Um.  Wait.  I think
that's normal.  The first time."

Kyo blinked at him.  "It is?"  The relief in his eyes was tentative.  "How do
you know?"

Yuki shrugged awkwardly.  "I've read a lot."  Almost against his will he added,
"Did she like it?"

Kyo flushed and hugged himself.  "I think so."  His gaze softened into wonder,
no longer seeing Yuki.  "It was the only time we'll have, so . . . just touching
her was . . . I wish I hadn't needed her so badly, I wish--"  He snapped back
into focus.  "You'll be gentle with her, right?"  Yuki started and then nodded,
not sure what to say.  "I wonder how hard it is for her, loving both of us?  At
least it'll be simpler for her after tonight."

The raw honesty was unnerving Yuki.  "She doesn't care about simple, stupid
cat."

The phone ringing jarred them out of the moment; Yuki went to answer it with
relief.  The conversation was short.  He came back a minute later and leaned on
the wall beside Kyo.  "That was Hatori."

"And?"

"He'll be here to pick us up in half an hour."

"So soon?"  They both jumped at Tohru's voice; for once neither of them had
heard her approach.  She was barefoot, bundled into a robe, and almost as pale
as the white towel draped over her shoulders.  "I heard the phone, so I hurried
with the bath," she said, pushing a damp lock of hair off her face.  "Kyo-kun,
what do you need to do before he gets here?"

He blinked.  "Nothing.  I don't think I can take anything with me."

"Are you hungry?"

"No."  His stomach clenched at the idea of food.  "I don't think I could eat." 
The flicker of emotion on Tohru's face was easy to read, as she desperately
searched for something she could _do_.  "Will you sit down?" he asked quietly.

"I--"

"Please?"

She nodded and went to sit beside the table.  Kyo followed and dropped beside
her, curling into a very feline ball with his head in her lap.  She touched his
head lightly, the feel of her fingers in his hair familiar and comforting after
the last week.  He could sense Yuki's presence in the room with them, but for
once it didn't bother him, and the rat showed no sign of leaving.  Kyo turned
his head to look up at Tohru, and read her longing to reach down and hug him. 
He shook his head slightly in refusal.  For his last moments with her, he wanted
to be human.

*As human as I can be.*

The three of them sat still, not trying to make conversation, until inevitably
the outer door slid open and Hatori's footsteps sounded in the hall.  After a
moment he entered the living room and stood gazing down at them.

"It's time," he said simply.  "Yuki, Kyo, please go out to the car.  I need to
talk to Honda-kun for a moment."  Yuki stood first, walked to stand behind
Tohru, and rested his hands on her head.

"I'll see you later tonight, Honda-san," he said.  As he stood there, Kyo lifted
his head and came to his feet; they each offered Tohru a hand and helped her up.
 She looked back and forth between them.

"Yuki'll be with you," Kyo whispered.  "You'll be ok."  Her grasp tightened on
both of them, and she closed her eyes tightly.

"I love you," was all she said, not facing either of them.  She took a deep
breath, opened her eyes, and reached up to touch Yuki's face.  After a moment
she dropped her hand and turned to Kyo, leaned over, and kissed him.  His eyes
flicked closed as if in pain, opened again as she stepped away from them,
breaking all contact with them both.  She hugged herself, shivering but
dry-eyed, and looked away; after a moment they turned and went to the door,
passed Hatori, and went outside.

When he heard the sound of the car doors opened and closing, Hatori stepped into
the room.  "Honda-kun."

"Yes, Hatori-san?"  She was shaking violently.  He knelt and switched the
kotatsu on.

"Don't let yourself get chilled," he said firmly.  "Sit down."  Tohru obeyed
slowly, let the doctor deftly tuck the quilt around her.  "Akito summoned me
before I came here.  He requests your presence at the ceremony tonight."

She looked at him as if his voice was coming from far away.  "Akito-san . . .
requests?"

"He can't command someone not of the Sohma," Hatori replied.  "If you are
willing to go, call Kazuma.  He'll come and get you on his way."  He checked his
watch.  "Three hours until sundown.  You should decide soon."

She straightened up.  "I want to know what happens to him, Hatori-san."

Hatori didn't argue with her, but his lips tightened.  "As you will, Honda-kun. 
Now I have to take the boys to the House."

Tohru nodded, but said nothing.  After a moment Hatori stood and walked out of
the house.  When she heard the car start and pull away, Tohru unwrapped herself
from the kotatsu and went to call Kazuma.

********
 "I'm trying not to move
it's just your ghost
passing through
I never seen a light move
like yours
can do to me
but now I've got to worry
cause boy you still look pretty
to me
when you're putting the damage on"
			-- Tori Amos, "Putting the Damage On" (Boys For Pele)
********

The sun was going down when the Sohmas gathered in the largest open space at the
Main House.  Kazuma walked among them, Tohru close at his side, wending his way
through the crowd of relatives until they were close to the area set aside for
the ceremony.  There were clouds moving across the sky now, promising a dark
night if not rain, but it was slightly warmer than it had been recently.  Kazuma
nodded acknowledgement to the relatives who greeted him, but there were more
people who stared and murmured than people who approached him.  He had chosen to
take the Cat into his home, and although the stigma of that choice had died down
in the intervening years, tonight it was back in full force.  He looked around
cautiously until he saw Akito, standing under some unlit torches, waiting.  And
then the Jyuunishi appeared with Kyo, moving to the cleared area where the
night's events would play out.

"Stay still," Kazuma murmured to Tohru, his mouth barely moving.  She had to
strain to hear him.  "It will be horrible, but you mustn't move.  Don't draw any
attention to yourself."

"Why?"

"I don't know why Akito wants you here, but I can guess.  The more pain he sees,
the more he wants.  If you react, he'll probably try to make you react even
more.  No matter what, don't make a sound.  You understand me?"  She nodded
stiffly, but he guessed that she didn't understand.  She was one of those
people, Kazuma mused, who seemed incapable of imagining true cruelty.  His heart
went out to her almost as much as to his adopted son, who now stood surrounded
by the Jyuunishi.

They ringed him in silence, not one of them meeting his eyes.  Akito stood at
the top of the stairs leading to the back door of the main house.  Kazuma
couldn't recall another time when he'd seen all of the Sohmas who bore the curse
in one place.  At the New Year's celebrations, when those of the family who knew
the secret gathered, the cursed didn't stay to mingle with anyone else.  They
arrived individually then, and when they weren't sequestered together many of
them ignored each other.  Their collective presence now threatened more darkness
than the overcast dusk.

Well away from them stood the rest of the family who knew of the curse.  There
were perhaps fifty of them, many of them immediate relatives of the cursed. 
Most of them looked uncomfortable, but Kazuma's eyes were drawn to Kyo's father,
whose expression of triumph was jarringly out of place.  Only one or two, the
eldest of the family, might have been alive when this ceremony was last
performed.  Kazuma's grandfather had lived in the cat's cell for almost seventy
years before his withered body finally succumbed.  Kazuma looked back to Kyo,
the horror of what was about to happen hitting home yet again.  And again, he
could think of nothing at all to help him.  *Stay still,* he reminded himself. 
*Say nothing.  Anything you do will only make it worse.*

Still the Jyuunishi were motionless, as more torches were brought and shoved
deep into the earth, as the small fires were ignited and began to cast their
uncertain light against the deepening evening.  Kazuma wondered if Kyo's fear
was as obvious to the kin who had shunned him as it was to him.  Standing still
and silent, dressed only in a pair of thin silk pants, the boy seemed painfully
small.  His natural flurry of motion and brash personality usually made him seem
larger than he was.  He didn't search the crowd for friendly faces; surely he
knew, as Kazuma did, that any show of support for him would only prolong what
was now inevitable.  Kazuma wondered if Kyo even knew that Tohru had been
summoned.

The tense silence lasted for far too long before Akito spoke.  The entire family
was thoroughly on edge, waiting.  The Head came forward, smiling languidly.  *Is
he even going to try to hide his delight over this?* Kazuma wondered.

"My family."  Akito's eerie voice drifted out over the assembly, caressing the
possessive words.  "My family.  We are gathered together to fulfill the needs of
the curse that binds us all together.  For eighteen years the embodiment of that
curse has walked free among us, as tradition dictates.  We have gazed upon its
face; we know the darkness incarnate in its flesh."  Kazuma felt Tohru stiffen
beside him.

*Oh, child, he's only warming up.*

"The clan of the Sohma has watched it grow, watched it lash out in its hatred
and lust for vengeance, and we have permitted it to live among us.  We are
reminded that its fate could be ours.  Any one of us could have been born with
the abomination creeping beneath our skin, barely held in check.  That memory
will linger until the Cat is reborn.  We have no further need of this reminder. 
And should any of us forget--" the soft voice was hypnotic "--we need look no
further than the honored Jyuunishi to remind ourselves.  They are your children,
your brothers and your sisters.  They bear the curse for the rest of you.  With
them among us, we can now return the Cat to its darkness, before its destruction
is unleashed and its hatred infects us all."

Akito glanced out over the family, located Kyo's father and beckoned to him. 
"The vengeful Cat murdered your child before he took a breath.  You are gazing
on the monster that wears your son's stolen, rightful flesh.  Have you anything
to say?"

Kyo's father stepped forward, staring at Kyo's pale face.  The disgust that
distorted his features, shadowed in the torchlight, was indescribable.  "I do
not.  My child died before he ever heard my voice."  He bowed deeply to Akito
and turned his back on his son.

Kazuma stole a look at Tohru.  She was so rigid that he was afraid her muscles
would cramp with tension.  "Breathe, Tohru-san," he murmured.

Akito was continuing.  "You of the Jyuunishi, the beast would number itself
among you, where it has no place.  Drive it from you; mark it so it will never
forget or repeat its presumptuous behavior."  Kazuma had once seen a text in the
family library referring to the binding of the Cat.  It had implied that at this
point in the ceremony it was not unknown for the Jyuunishi to descend on the
outcast Cat in a frenzy of bloodlust, to collectively shred their unfortunate
kin half to death.  It was that description which had once convinced him to
fight against Kyo's imprisonment, for all the good his resistance had done.  It
would not have surprised him if the curse's influence had extended to driving
the current Jyuunishi to that action; he was half braced for it.  Instead they
stood uncertainly.  Akito was clearly annoyed by their hesitation.

"Kureno."  He snapped his fingers at the circle of the cursed, and the quiet
young man who was always kept apart stepped away from the others.  He went to
Akito and bowed.  Akito smiled down at him and handed him a small knife.  "Mark
it," he repeated.  Kureno nodded and walked back through the gap where he had
stood in the circle.  He stepped up to Kyo, grasped the boy by the hair, and
pulled his head back.  The knife flicked out and drew blood from his bare
throat, a small dark line marring skin that had gone unnaturally white despite
the firelight.  Dusk had passed into night.  For a moment the assembly was so
still that it seemed the sound of the Cat's blood dripping to the earth should
be audible.  Kureno returned to his place and handed the knife to Hatori, who
stood on his right.  Hatori accepted it and entered the circle in turn.  A
second cut blossomed on Kyo's shoulder.  He too resumed his place and passed the
blade along.  It traveled among them without hesitation; they all knew more
keenly than anyone that Akito would not be thwarted in this.  Even Kisa and
Momiji, the gentlest of them, cut unflinchingly.  The only pause came when Kisa
handed the knife to Yuki.  Before he could move, Akito interrupted.

"Give it to Isuzu."  Yuki made the mistake of glancing up in surprise.  Akito's
eyes snared him and he froze until Akito released a soft laugh of contempt. 
"Isuzu."  Rin reached out and took the knife out of Yuki's hand; as she
unwrapped his fingers from the hilt he came back to himself.  His arm dropped
back to his side as she knelt to make her addition to the bloody network
spreading over Kyo's body, her long hair trailing on the ground while she cut.

Kyo endured it all without protest.  His blood looked almost black against his
skin, running freely to stain the silk he wore.  When Hiro had made the eleventh
cut, he glanced from Akito to Yuki and back.  Akito nodded, and Yuki found
himself holding the knife a second time.  He braced himself and went to make the
final ceremonial wound.  He stepped close, leaning in to run the blade along
Kyo's flank.  It was extremely sharp, opening the skin with no resistance.  For
the first time Kyo reacted.

"Don't suppose you feel like slipping with that thing, rat."  His lips hardly
moved as he spoke, so softly that Yuki could barely hear him.

He slowed the downward stroke and replied in kind.  "What?"

"I'd rather take a few minutes to die than however many years."  Kyo was looking
away from him.  Yuki heard him swallow hard.  "Yuki.  I'm scared."

For a moment that seemed to stretch into infinity, Yuki considered it.  He
watched the knife in his own hand continuing its motion, the blood welling up in
its wake.

"It would kill Honda-san."

"She's stronger than that," Kyo murmured as Yuki withdrew the knife.  Slowly,
slowly . . .  Kyo's eyes flickered closed and opened again.  "No, it's ok. 
Forget it."

The entire exchange had taken only moments, and Yuki turned away.  He walked to
the foot of the stairs and knelt to clean the blade on the grass, trying to
remember if there was more left to the ceremony than taking Kyo to the room that
would define the rest of his life.  Akito smiled down at him.

"Yuki."  His voice was both caressing and hard, carrying over the assembled
family.  Yuki glanced away, back to the other Jyuunishi; for the first time in
his life, they looked like a safe refuge.  "Yuki, you will punish the Cat."

"I--Akito?"  He was confused, sure that the 'marking' of the Cat was all the
punishment the ceremony required.

"When the Cat has begged your forgiveness for holding its grudge against you, it
will be taken to its room to spend its life in contemplation.  Until it begs,
beat it."  Akito's smile widened, and Yuki's blood ran cold.  Akito knew as well
as he did that Kyo's pride would keep him from groveling.  The Head was in a
position to indulge his sadistic streak, and seemed not to care who saw it. 
Everyone present could hear his words.  Across the space between them, he saw
Kyo staring back at him.  "Yuki.  Obey me."

********

Tohru watched as Yuki began to walk away from Akito.  Her entire body ached from
the tension of watching the infliction of Kyo's ritual injuries.  She risked a
glance up at Kazuma, saw that he was shaking his head minutely.  He felt her
scrutiny and turned his head slightly to face her.  His expression told her as
clearly as any words that what Akito had ordered was not supposed to happen. 
For the first time she felt real fear freezing her distress into a solid knot of
anguish.  She had known that Kyo would probably be hurt, but no one had implied
it would be serious.

Kazuma must have read her face.  "Be still.  Remember what I told you."  She
forced a nod and fixed her eyes on Kyo and Yuki as they met again in the center
of the circle.  She saw Yuki's lips move, Kyo's head shake in denial.  For an
eternal moment they stood together in a motionless tableau, framed by the kin
who shared their curse.  Tohru stood perhaps thirty feet away, just outside of
the torchlight.  It might as well have been a world between them as Yuki visibly
braced himself and struck.  Kyo blocked the first punch, but made no effort to
retaliate.

She watched intently as the two boys began the intricate dance of violence; she
realized after two more blows fell that Kyo would not fight back.  She knew he
had never defeated Yuki, but his entirely defensive response to Yuki's attack
told her that he knew Akito would interfere if he did anything but block.  She
stood still, as Kazuma had told her, and watched as Yuki stopped holding back. 
She dug her fingers into the sides of her thighs to hold herself still and
silent.

When Kazuma tore his eyes away from the scene playing out before them, he saw
Tohru staring at the two boys with an intensity that frightened him almost as
much as the sight of his son being relentlessly hurt.  Her eyes were dry and
unblinking, as if she believed that one or both of the pair would die if she
looked away.

********

Fruits Basket is the creation of Takaya Natsuki, and is licensed in North
America by FUNimation (anime) and Tokyopop (manga).  Used without permission or
the intention of making a profit.  Please support the original work!

"The Ceremony of Innocence" © 2004 by Ysabet MacFarlane (ba087@chebucto.ns.ca).
Edited by Alishya Lane.

Comments and criticism welcomed at the above address.

Full author's notes available at (http://bounce.to/ysabet)

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Notifying the author of any such use is an appreciated courtesy.  NO CHANGES OF
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