Description
Your eyes were still wide when you met the gaze of Yuki Sohma, and you had to quickly look away to hide your flaming cheeks. The dream was still fresh in your mind, and even though you knew the whole kissing thing had not been real, it still felt as though it had been. A moment later, however, you were yanked out of your thoughts when you heard an angry voice speak.
"It’s the Sohma's. What are they doing here?" said Miki, voice even colder than yesterday. You turned your head towards her, a small frown appearing on your face. Seeing your cousin like this made you uneasy and slightly uncomfortable…strangely a little irritated too. Yesterday's talk of her sister dying quickly staunched the irritation though and was instead replaced by guilt for feeling the way you had a second ago.
"I don’t know," chimed in Ranmaru. "They’d better stay on the other side of the beach though, or there’ll be trouble." As he said this, you noticed the venom laced into his words as well, and looking around, you could see the menacing expressions on all of your family member’s faces (with the exception of your mom and dad).
You looked up once more, this time noticing other people gathered around Yuki. To your shock, the orange headed boy from the other day was next to him, as well as the innocent girl that he’d been screaming at. He was currently all up in Yuki's face with a menacingly competitive facial expression, though the purple headed boy seemed to be ignoring him.
Again, your gazes met.
This time, you didn't stay seated. Your body seemed to be moving of its own volition, as for a moment, all you could think of was the mysterious boy. As such, you didn't hear the warnings from your family to come back, nor did you notice the gazes of the people in Yuki's family as you walked up to him.
The boy in question was looking at you with slightly raised eyebrows, unsure of how to react. There was no need for him to because after a brief moment, you came back to yourself, blinking a few times to clear the haze in your head. What just happened?
Just then, the orange headed boy spoke. "Hey rat, who's that weird chick? She your secret girlfriend or somethin'?" he asked, a taunting smirk creeping onto his face.
At that, Yuki also began to speak, and although his voice held no emotion you could see something in those dark purple eyes of his. "I do not know her, and even if we were in a relationship, that would be none of your business cat."
His words immediately angered the other boy, and he was about to open his mouth in retaliation when the innocent looking girl suddenly moved up and grabbed his wrist. "Please calm down, Kyo. You two shouldn't be fighting, especially at the beach," she said, sending the boy now known as Kyo a pleading look. He noticeably blushed, snatching his arm away from the girl but complying nonetheless.
"Whatever, I was getting bored anyway," said the boy who promptly left and headed for the water to swim.
After he had gone, the innocent looking girl turned to face you with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, he and Yuki don't get along too well as you can see," she murmured before a look of surprise crossed her expression. "Oh! and by the way, I'm Tohru Honda. I live with Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure, he's the owner of the house."
You were a little taken aback by what Tohru said, but you bowed respectfully and smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, my name is ____ ______. I'm sorry for coming over here so suddenly, I guess I'll head back to my family now..." you said a bit awkwardly.
Your gaze shifted to Yuki one more time as you turned to leave, but before you could get far, someone suddenly grabbed your wrist and halted your movement forward.
"Leaving so soon? You haven't even had the chance to greet the rest of the family yet," whispered an unfamiliar voice near your ear. Without looking, you could tell that the person was male due to the deep voice, but as you turned around, you were surprised to see just how woman-like the person's attire was.
Standing behind you was a tall and beautiful older boy who looked to be approaching his twenties with short black hair almost the same length and style as Yuki's. His face was very handsome as he smiled, yet he wore what looked to be a woman's traditional kimono.
Unsure what to say in response to his earlier comment, you simply smiled with an apologetic look on your face. However, as your eyes shifted behind the man in front of you, you noticed the sudden tenseness in the muscles of every Sohma there. Their expressions became worried and wary, almost as if they were waiting for something horrible to happen. And once the person in front of you said their name, you realized exactly why Yuki and the others reacted the way that they did.
"My name is Akito Sohma, yours is ____ right?" he asked, a sinister smile replacing his once gentle one.
At that moment your heart jumped in your chest, but, in order to appear unfazed and not egg the older boy on, you did your very best to maintain the smile on your face. "Yes, it is. Nice to meet you."
Just then, something changed in the older boy's demeanor and his expression seemed to lose a bit of interest. Those black irises momentarily shifted behind you, then as fast as it had gone, the sinister smile returned. "Now that I think of it, you remind me a lot of your cousin," he said, making your heart jump once more in your chest. "It's truly a shame that she passed away so tragically."
As he said that last sentence, his hand rose up to your cheek, caressing it softly.
You flinched as if you'd been touched by a hot poker, your eyes widening in slight fear despite your initial attempt to remain neutral. Meanwhile, Akito simply continued to stare deeply into your eyes as if peering into your very soul. He seemed to feed off of that fear, his expression radiating delight at the knowledge that he was affecting your emotions so easily.
"Did you hear about how it happened?" He continued in that same sinister voice. "Did you hear how she begged me to stop, to spare her life?"
Your heart was pounding wildly in your chest now despite your attempts at control, but not all of it was from fear. Hearing this man that you had just met say awful things about your cousin and mock her death like this made you so incredibly angry.
He was still holding onto your wrist, although his grip had tightened since he began speaking. You snatched away from him, eyes narrowed in disgust over how he was making the murder of your cousin sound like something entertaining and fun for him.
Akito raised an eyebrow at your sudden action, his eyes narrowing as well when he saw the look of disgust on your face. Who were you to snatch away from him like that, he thought indignantly, taking a step in your direction and raising his hand in the air.
"You despicable woman, how dare you look at me like that!" He shouted, bringing his hand down swiftly as if to slap you, but before he could do it, another man came up behind him to grab his wrist at roughly the same time Miki and Ranmaru appeared by your side.
"That's enough, Akito. You don't want to wear yourself out by moving around too much," the man said, bane covering one side of his eye and his facial expression neutral. Akito briefly glanced at the man in surprise, a tiny grimace appearing on his face from being restrained, but he seemed to be pretty obedient of the guy even as he snatched his arm away.
Miki and Ranmaru were staring daggers into the slightly disheveled man before them, daring him to say something else provoking about their sister or try to harm you again. But, he did neither of those things, instead glancing at the three of you with a smirk before turning around indignantly and heading back to his space on the beach.
Your eyes once again met with Yuki's whose seemed apologetic, but before you could assure him your were fine, your cousins grabbed each one of your arms firmly and half dragged you back to their side of the beach, all the while scolding you for walking over to the Sohma's side in the first place and causing such an uproar.
After a few moments of sitting down, your family came to the conclusion that it was better they left before anything else could happen and quickly packed up their belongings then began the silent trek home.
You felt so guilty, but the gentle reassurances from your mother who was sitting beside you left you feeling a little bit better. Plus, your cousins didn't seem to be too mad at you anymore and even began to chat with you again as your family neared the house.
Once inside, the usual chaos ensued with the younger kids rushing to take a shower first so they could watch their favorite television shows while dinner was prepared. This made you glad, seeing as the warmth and energy from the first night there seemed to return. From then on, you told yourself that you would do everything in your power to forget Yuki Sohma and all the drama associated with his family and apparent cutesy house guest Tohru.
--
Yuki's P.O.V...
Just when I thought this day couldn't get anymore annoying, Shigure told us that we had to stay over at the main house tonight... that in itself was bad enough, but I just received a summons from Hatori that Akito wanted to meet with me. I tried not to tense up automatically at the thought. It wasn't like I was a kid anymore; I could stand up for myself now if he tried anything or simply walk away.
Still, I kept my guard up as I was let into Akito's large dark room which seemed so empty and cold like the person inhabiting it. I bowed respectively then took a seat in the middle of the floor, the dimly lit candles just barely revealing the head of the house's face and body outline.
"Yuki... thank you for coming so quickly, I hope I didn't wake you," he said in that deceptively sweet voice he liked to use in order to reel in his bait.
"Not at all," I responded, because even if he had, what right did I have to complain after receiving such a sudden summons nearing late at night? Absolutely none is the answer.
"Did you enjoy your time at the beach? Looking at your lovely pale skin today, I'm surprised you don't get much sun these days, considering how that Honda girl seems to always be dragging you about," he said still using the same voice as before. Akito always had been great at giving backhanded compliments. However, I was in no mood to make small talk and simply asked the head what this was really about.
Akito chuckled lightly before responding, the weight of his words sinking in despite his voice being relatively quiet.
"I want you to get close to ____. She reminds me so much of her late cousin that I just feel the urge to bother her. You can do that for me can't you Yuki? You and her already seem close," said Akito, the smirk in his voice evident.
"We're not close," I clarified as politely as possible, despite my increasingly sour mood. "We only ran into each other at the convenience store and the beach today."
"Doesn't matter," the older male said a bit more aggressively, excitement clear in his voice. "It's obvious that she's taken with you. I know a young maiden in love when I see one," he said cryptically, his position on his futon shifting slightly.
"You'll do this for me, won't you Yuki?" Akito asked, even though we both knew it was an order that, if refused, would likely lead to some form of punishment for my refusal and disobedience.
"I'll do it," I replied reluctantly, feeling afraid more so for Tohru who I knew still wasn't one hundred percent in the clear in the cruel male's eyes.
"Good, you're such a well behaved child...now, leave me," said Akito briskly, not giving a second thought about my presence as I bowed respectively once more then left.
Meanwhile, Akito's smile twisted into a cruel one, his mind turning over the plan he had in mind over and over again as he lie on his futon, the same eagerness and glee he felt when Miki's sister looked at him in terror stirring his blood.