Fumei no Musubi
Chapter One 
by Ina-chan
First Posted Online: December 16, 2002
History: Sequel to Jyuunishi no Enkei Monogatari

The silence of the room made the faint beeping of the monitor and the rhythmic pumps of the respirator like a booming orchestra. He hated this room. Ironically, this was also the first time he entered it. This room was quite infamous in the Souma Main House compound. When he was little, he still remembered how his cousins told him of its gruesome history and the frightening family legends that developed from it. Family folklore or not, this room had driven many generations of Souma children’s imagination to its full morbidity. 

That was… because… For as long as the family could remember, this room had traditionally become the place where many members of the Souma Family were brought home to die. 

 As a child, he always imagined that the room would be dark, dank, and creepy. Now, with all the medical equipment needed for the current person residing in it, the room looked more like a private room in a hospital. Personally, he didn’t know whether he should be relieved or disappointed. 

The man took a deep breath before forcing his vision to pan across the sterile environment until it finally rested on the figure literally buried under the tubes and wires of the complicated technology of the room. His arms automatically wrapped around himself as a chill ran down his spine at the sight that greeted him. 

All his life, his hatred made him dream and fantasize of fates worse than death to befall this person before him. As much as he wanted this person beaten, bruised, and humiliated, never in his life did he wish for… this. Never in his life did he expect this to happen. In fact, just the day before this happened three weeks ago, they were arguing over something petty and trivial with their wives shaking their heads over their childishness. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of guilt. 

“Don’t. None of this was your fault. Tooru-kun is blaming herself enough for all of us,” as if reading his silent thoughts, a voice suddenly spoke behind him 

The young man spun around in surprise to see Shigure standing by the doorway with a solemn expression on his face, “H-how long have you been watching me?” 

Shigure let out a small knowing smile as he stepped inside the room, “Long enough to hear your body language screaming out your pathos over the whole situation.” 

He had no idea what his older cousin just said, but was pretty sure he wasn’t doing it. Damn writer-speak. He let out an annoyed frown before speaking out loud, “What are you doing here? I assumed that it would either be Tooru or that Ayame-person doing the 24-hour vigil.” 

“You just missed them. Ha-san and I just kicked them out so they can have some rest. But the real question is…” Shigure paused as he gave the younger man a meaningful look, “What are YOU doing here?” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He scoffed, angry now. Just because he hated the damn mouse, and it took him three weeks to sum up enough nerve to visit… that didn’t mean that he was heartless.

“Ah, I see,” Shigure intoned, as he rubbed his chin solemnly, “Kagura threatened to not let you have some until you came to see him.” 

“THE HELL!” The young man hissed at his older cousin, completely scandalized. Shigure was the only person in the world who can come up with ridiculous things to say on inappropriate moments. 

“Now, now, Kyou-kun, there’s no need to yell. That’s just simply inappropriate with an ill person in front of us to boot,” Shigure calmly berated, “Well, you came just in time. It’s just about time to turn Yuki-kun and I could use your help. Ha-san said, Yuki-kun need to be moved him into another position every two hours or he’ll start to develop bedsores.  And in his condition, Yuki-kun is too much of a dead weight for one person.” 

Kyou winced at his cousin’s unintentional pun. He then clenched his teeth as he reluctantly stepped forward to help with the task. At the same time, quietly pounding down deep inside the urge to reach out and strangle the damn dog. There was simply no way to win a verbal match against Shigure! He’s almost as bad as… 

His eyes swept an involuntary glance at the figure on the bed.  All this time, he was actually expecting the worst. After all, Kyou had his share of seeing dying people. Hell, Akito, himself, was a walking dead for as long as he can remember! But the figure before him looked nothing like Akito’s sickly frame. He didn’t look like he was dying at all. In fact, if it weren’t for the telltale wires and tubes stuck on him, it almost seemed like the mouse was just simply sleeping peacefully. Kyou was even half-expecting the damn mouse to suddenly sit up and take a swing at him. Just like that one time, back when they were children, when he tried to sneak on him while he was sleeping. 

“What did you mean about what you said earlier?” He asked hesitantly, as he quickly took a step away, after the task was done 

“About what?” Shigure stated seriously as he pulled out a chair and motioned his younger cousin to sit 

Kyou straddled the chair to rest his arms of the backrest, as if trying to put any form of barrier between himself from everything else in the room, “You mentioned something about Tooru… I know she’s the one hardest hit by this and she does take blame for everything needlessly… but…” 

Shigure turned to him in surprise, “Didn’t Kagura tell you?” 

The cat let out another frown. Kagura refused to tell him anything in order to force him to come there himself if he wanted to know what was going on. Damn woman. “Just answer the question.” 

 Shigure took his own seat and gazed at their sleeping cousin, “That morning, Tooru-kun said that she noticed Yuki-kun didn’t look too well. She tried to get him to stay home and see Ha-san, but Yuki-kun simply dismissed it. She let him convince her that it was just a bad headache that would go away. Of course, you know what happened after…” 

Three hours after, they received news that Yuki collapsed from a massive brain aneurysm. By the time he was brought to the hospital, the damage was so substantial that the doctors were ready to pronounce him dead and pull the plug off life support, had Hatori not intervened. That same day, three weeks ago, he was brought home to the Main House. 

“If Tooru managed to convince him to see Hatori, would it have changed anything?” Kyou asked numbly 

The older man closed his eyes and shook his head, “Even if Tooru-kun convinced Yuki-kun to see Ha-san that day, it still would have been too late. Ha-san said that if it was caught many weeks before that, something might have been possible. Yuki-kun was probably suffering from the headaches a long time without telling anybody. And you know how Yuki-kun is about seeing Ha-san regarding his health…” 

At hindsight, it did explain a lot why the damned mouse seemed more irritable and preoccupied. Guilt started to bear down heavily on the younger man’s shoulders upon remembering that he, himself, have nagging feelings that something was a little off with their cousin for some time in the recent past. 

But… what a stupid girl! Blaming herself for something that she couldn’t control. But still… 

“And what does Hatori think about the situation now?” I asked

“Same as the doctors in the hospital. Right now, without the life-support, there’s no way for Yuki-kun to survive. It’s already a miracle by itself that he already survived the past three weeks. Ha-san said that Yuki-kun still has some substantial swelling in his brain. They won’t know for sure the extent of the damage for another few days. But it doesn’t look very good.” 

“Feh, this is Yuki the walking miracle we’re talking about,” the cat uttered, trying to sound sarcastic, though for some reason… the usual bite was not present in his voice, “The damn mouse is too stubborn to die.  In a couple of days, he’ll be back to his annoying perfect self and…” 

“Ha-san said,” Shigure interrupted firmly, the serious expression on his face making the younger man to immediately bite his tongue, “The best prognosis he can give is that there is a very small possibility that Yuki-kun may still be able to breathe on his own.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kyou frowned 

“It means that…” Shigure stated patiently, “Whatever we do, or how long we wait… Yuki is never waking up.” 

“The hell…” The cat unconsciously gripped the backrest of the chair tightly as his older cousin’s words registered in his mind. An inexplicable feeling of rage started to build up in his chest. He bowed his head and desperately tried to swallow it back down, before it spilled out uncontrollably, “So what the hell are you waiting for?” 

“Waiting for?” Shigure turned to him questioningly 

“If that’s the case, why are you doing this? How long are you going to keep him like this?” he continued slowly, trying to keep his control 

“For as long as possible,” Shigure replied a-matter-of-factly 

“What?” The cat snapped furiously as he stared at his older cousin in shock. He did not have the same level of understanding with this medical jargon as Hatori or even Shigure. But he knew enough to understand this particular situation. A person dependent on life support would only have less than a few minutes to live without it. But a healthy person, like Yuki, being continuously hooked on life support… would live like… THIS… for a very, very, long time… And Hatori agreed to this? 

“That’s just too cruel!” Kyou blurted indignantly, rising to his feet as he glowered over at his cousin 

Shigure raised an amused eyebrow at the younger man’s reaction, “Since when have you been this concerned about Yuki-kun, nee… Kyou-kun?” 

The cat bristled at the dog’s mocking comment, “THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT!!! NO PERSON IN HIS RIGHT MIND WOULD WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!! AND WHAT ABOUT TOORU?!?! HAVE YOU EVEN CONSIDERED HER FEELINGS!?!! THIS IS HER HUSBAND’S FATE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!!!” 

Shigure shifted his gaze to the peaceful figure on the bed before speaking, “How’s Kagura?” 

“DON’T TRY TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!”

 “But Kyou-kun, this is your wife I’m talking about, shouldn’t you be the little bit at least concerned?” Shigure said quietly, easily throwing back his cousin’s comment, “How long is it before she’s due? Three? Two months?” 

“WE’RE TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU AND HATORI ARE DOING TO YUKI!!! SHE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!”               

“She has EVERYTHING to do with this,” Shigure’s voice boomed uncharacteristically within the walls of the room, even forcing his younger to freeze on his tracks, “Have you forgotten the nature of OUR curses Kyou? If Yuki dies now, there will be an empty slot in the Jyuunishi circle. Who do you think is most likely to take the mouse’s place?” 

The young man’s eyes widened in shock upon realizing his older cousin’s words, his lips moved to say something in rebuttal only to find that he had lost his voice. 

“And have you forgotten the nature of YOUR curse, Kyou? The cat and the mouse are destined to hate each other, no matter what the circumstances,” Shigure’s cold voice continued cruelly as he slowly turned his dark gaze at the petrified young man in front of him, “Are you saying that you’re ready to hate your own child?” 

“Or should I say, are you prepared…” 

A sardonic smirk lined on his lips as he measured the younger man’s reaction to his final words 

“…to have your own child hate you?”

 The young man continued to gape at his cousin’s unrelenting indifferent glare, the fire of his indignant fury quickly being doused by the cold tendrils of inexplicable fear. Kyou finally bowed his head in defeat and turned around… slowly making his way out of the room. Shigure listened to the slow footsteps echoing from the hallway hasten until the patterns became similar to that of a person breaking into a full sprint. He waited until the only sounds in the room were that of the deafening cacophony of the monitors and the respirators before leaning back in his seat and closing his yes. 

“You went too far this time,” Hatori commented as he quietly entered the room 

                “I know, but I can’t help it. This is my personality,” Shigure replied tiredly, “And it was still something that he needed to hear, no matter how painful. He’ll get over it. How’s A-ya?” 

                The doctor let out an exasperated snort, “He’s fine. But I gave him a sedative just to make sure.” 

                “And Tooru-kun?” 

                “Kagura and Momiji are with her right now. If Kagura can’t convince her to lie down and rest, Momiji will eventually wear her down to exhaustion,” Hatori replied monotonously 

                “What’s wrong?” Shigure asked as he opened his eyes and turned to face the doctor 

                “What what’s wrong?” The doctor echoed blandly 

                “Ha-san, we’ve known each other all our lives, I can tell that there’s something you’re not telling me,” Shigure continued insistently 

                The doctor sighed as he ran his fingers tiredly through his hair, “We’ve run into another complication.” 

                “Complication? About Yuki-kun?” Shigure’s eyes widened in concern 

                “Not quite. The test results arrived today,” Hatori shook his head, “It’s positive.” 

                Shigure let out a weak smile, “This is good news.”

                “Yes, it is,” Hatori agreed               

                “Then why does it feel like you just said someone died,” Shigure murmured absently, as he made another glance at the sleeping figure on the bed, “Do you think he’ll last long enough for this one as well?” 

                “Shigure…” The doctor began in a warning tone, before letting out another long sigh, “You’ll be hated, you know.” 

                “Ah… but that’s the way it is in every great story,” The novelist simply made pained smile, “In order to achieve the greatest common good, someone has to play the role of the villain.” 

                The doctor didn’t know what to answer to that, so he simply let the faint beeping of the monitor and rhythmic pumping of the respirator drown out the silence of his incapacity. 

End of Chapter One
Continued on Chapter Two 

This fic is dedicated …
To P.R. (November 2, 1925 – December 11, 2002), a dear friend’s mother, who reminded me the fragility and uncertainty of human life.
And to S.B., a dear friend, who reminded me that the greatest show of strength is having the ability to move on.

~~@~~

 AUTHOR’S SQUAWK:

 Haaaa… I’ve been debating whether or not to actually write this fic for the main reason that… I have no idea how it would go. If case you’re wondering… that’s the reason why it’s titled the way it is. Ha! Ha! Funny joke, isn’t it?

 But certain events that happened in my life recently, and eerily similar to when I was originally formulating the idea for this fic kinda pushed my hand to actually put it on paper. Whether I will actually continue it… that’s another question.

 Well… this is an AU in the future fic. Again, I dismissed the “Kyou will be imprisoned in the main house after highschool” storyline. Akito is alive and… well… still alive. Whether or not he will play a significant role in this fic… I haven’t decided yet.

 Though I know for sure that I didn’t want to do another Yuki-centric fic… that’s why I did what I did to Yuki right at the beginning… Sorta to force me into using the other characters in dealing with the situation. I think I’d like to focus a lot more on Shigure in this piece, than with any other characters… but again, I dunno what direction this fic is headed for, so that could change somewhere along the way as well… ^_^.

 Ja!
Ina-chan