The Beloved Curse

Chapter Nine

"Yelling at her like you did, you should be ashamed of yourself, stupid cat!" Yuki said softly, but his voice was deadly as he walked down the stairs. Kyo punched the wall. "You don't have any idea what Kara went off and did! She basically sold herself to Akito!" Yuki was stunned, but he managed to keep his composer at bay. "Kara must have had a good reason for doing whatever she did. You shouldn't have yelled at her." He sighed and looked at Kyo. He advanced upon Yuki until they almost were nose to nose. "Listen rat, how would you feel if Kara got married to Akito?" Kyo searched Yuki's eyes and saw something. What was it? Rage? Hurt? Kyo sighed. "I know you love her. That's why...that's why her doing this is just so damn wrong!"

Yuki looked away. Kyo knew his feelings towards Kara. Stupid cat! Stupid me for being obvious! He clenched his fists, turned and left the room, walking back upstairs. He slowly walked down the hall. Akito and Kara. Getting married. What the hell? He walked by Kara's room and noticed her door was slightly open. He quietly walked up to it and glanced in, seeing Kara laying face down on the bed. Yuki noticed her body was shaking, then listened closely as he heard her muffled sobs. She was crying and it broke his heart. Yuki quietly slipped in, closed the door and silently walked across the floor and sat on the edge of the bed.

My body tensed as I felt someone sit down next to me. I looked up, wiping my tears away, and saw Yuki staring down at me, a look of worry and concern all over his face. He slowly reached out and wiped the few tears that were still there, away. I just wanted to leap into his arms, to hold him, to hug him. He rested his hand on the side of my face and I reached up to hold his hand, not wanting him to remove it, not wanting to let go.

"Kara.." I heard Yuki say, softly. I continued looking into his sad, purple eyes. "Tell me what happened today with Akito." I looked away, my hair falling in my face, the tears coming again. Yuki brushed my hair out of my face, tucked it behind my ear and tilted my chin up to look up at him again. He looked at me sadly again. "What happened?" he asked, wiping the tears away again.

I started chewing on the inside of my lip. Would he be mad? "I'm not going to get mad..or upset at you Kara." Yuki said softly, reading my mind. "You know...you know I have feelings...strong feelings for you and I hate seeing you like this. I hate how you thought you had to hide something like this from me. You could have told me about seeing Akito." I shook my head. "No. You know I couldn't tell you. You'd try to come, then if you did come he'd get mad...then who knows what he could have done. I just...I don't want him to hurt anyone anymore." I said softly, looking down. "You'd do the same if it was reversed." Yuki sighed and took hold of my hand, squeezing it gently.

"What did he want?" he asked. I remained silent for a bit. "He...he knew about us, Yuki. Whatever we are, but he knew!" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and told Yuki everything. The marriage to Akito, in exchange for Kyo living his life and Akito leaving Yuki alone. As I talked, leaving out the part where Akito attacked me, Yuki never interrupted. He sat there and listened and I watched him, his expressions were mostly expressionless but I could tell he was seething with anger. I was afraid. Afraid Yuki would go and confront Akito. When I finished, I begged Yuki. I begged him to not confront Akito, afraid that Akito would hurt Yuki. "Please..just leave things as they are.." I said quietly, looking away.

"Kara.." Yuki said again, softly, brushing the fallen hair away again. He leaned closer to me, and I looked over at him. "You're such a special, caring person Kara." he whispered as his hand brushed my face gently. My heart started beating faster. What was going on? "I'm wonderful to have known you, I'm grateful you are in my life Kara. You make life worth living for." he said, then softly placed his lips on mine slowly kissing me. I froze in surprise. Yuki is kissing me! I closed my eyes and kissed him back. I didn't want the kiss to end, but when we pulled apart; he leaned his forehead against mine and looked into my eyes.

"I'm sorry Yuki. I'm so sorry." I whispered. Yuki put a finger to my lips. "Shh. It's alright. It will be alright." I looked up at him. "How Yuki? How will anything be alright now? I ruined any chance we might have to be together..if that would ever be possible." I said. Yuki kissed me softly again. "We'll just have to take the risk and go behind his back. I love you, Kara." Yuki said.

I bit my lip, stunned. He loved me! I shook my head. "No. No Yuki." I was terrified of going behind Akito's back even after him telling me; no forbidding me to not have a relationship with Yuki. "It's too risky, Yuki. If Akito finds out, he's going to severely punish us and go back on his word." I looked at Yuki, pleading with him. "Did you know he's planning on locking Kyo up? He can't lock him up for the rest of his life just because..just because he's the cat." I sighed.

"I know you hate him, and I know you two will never get along, but Yuki, I know you would think that taking someone's life away by locking them up just because he's different is wrong. You were locked up for a time too, right? You know how it feels, so please..let's just do what he wants. Besides, I don't want him to hurt you if we get caught. I'd never forgive myself."

Yuki sighed and held my hands. "To be able to love someone like you, Kara, is worth it. To be able to spend as much time with someone as caring and thoughtful as you is worth it. I can't stand to not be with you. I need you in my life. You're my sunshine, you make me smile like no one else can, to laugh, to just be myself, you make me happy and I love you for that."

I looked up at Yuki, tears falling again as I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, even if it was just a second as Yuki turned into his rat form. I picked up Yuki and looked into his tiny rat eyes. "I love you too Yuki and I always will no matter what happens." I told him and smiled. "Thank you Yuki."