The Beloved Curse

Chapter Seventeen

It was the night of the banquet. New Years. The day I was dreading the most. I wrapped myself up in the kimono and made sure it looked extremely perfect on me. Akito would have a fit if it wasn't. I looked in the mirror, noticing all the zodiac animals. It truly was something beautiful – even if it came from Akito. There was a soft knock at the door and I turned around and opened it to see Tohru standing there, her hands were fidgeting. "What's up?" I asked her. She looked up at me and smiled, then she took out a cat shaped pattern and showed it to me. "Hi!" Tohru said in her usual cheery voice. "I made this for you. I..I noticed that on your kimono there was no cat, so I thought I would make one for you! Just so all the zodiac's can be together!"

I slowly took the orange cat pattern that reminded me of Kyo and smiled "Thank you Tohru. I really like it." I said. I wasn't going to tell her that Akito would kill me if I showed up with this orange cat on the kimono, like it was part of the zodiac family. "Now where will be the perfect spot for it?" I heard her think aloud. "Oh! I know!" she said, excitedly as she held the cat pattern in the center, right under the obi. "It'll be perfect! Don't you think so?" Right where everyone will see.. I thought, but I smiled and nodded. "Oh great! Lovely!" Tohru said excitedly clasping her hands together. "I'll be right back! I'll sew it on for you!" She ran out of my room and two seconds later, she came back with her small sewing kit. She knelt down in front of me and got to work. "This will be the first year without mom.." I heard her say sadly. "My first New Year alone.." Tohru looked up at me. "Oh! No, no, no! I don't mean to make you sad or anything.." Was it written on my face? I bit my lip. I did feel sorry for her, because I would rather be here than anywhere else tonight. Tohru smiled again as she went back to carefully sewing the cat. "Mom and I would make a bunch of New Year's food and stay up all night to watch the first sunrise to make a wish for the whole new year!" She laughed, but it sounded sad, that it broke my heart.

"What about your friends? Why don't you spend it with them?" I asked in curiosity. Tohru shook her head. "No, I don't want to interrupt and bother them. Hana, she and her family usually spend it with other family members and Uo spends it with her dad. It's alright though!" she said and smiled. "I have mom with me, even if she's a picture, she'll keep me company." Tohru took a deep breath and stood up. "There! All done!" She took a step back to admire her work, then turned me around to look at it in the mirror. I gave her a small smile as she was grinning. "Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself, Tohru?" She nodded and once again smiled. "Of course I will be. I'll just guard the house while you're at the banquet! Tell me all about it when you get back, alright?" I nodded slowly and again, gave her a small smile as I heard Shigure calling out for me and Kyo. "Thank you Tohru." I said, then left my room, the wheels turning in my head. Kyo stepped out of his room, yawning and stretching and he looked at me, examining the zodiac kimono, his eyes fixed on the cat pattern. "Don't say anything..Akito is making me wear it.." I said quietly, my face was starting to feel flushed. Kyo just snorted and headed towards the stairs. I grabbed his arm. "Wait Kyo..what if we don't go this year.." I whispered to him. "I mean..we should keep Tohru company. It's her first New Years without her mom and she's going to be all alone.."

I could feel Kyo pat the top of my head. "But Kara, if we don't show up, you know there will be some sorta consequences from Akito.." I nodded. "I know..I know that Kyo..but..I don't want to go and this is for Tohru. Besides.." I pointed to the cat that was newly added. "Akito will end up being pissed off anyways no matter what happens." I looked up into his eyes. "Please Kyo?" I pleaded. Kyo sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his hair. "Fine, not like I really want to go to this stupid thing anyways." I smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you Kyo!" I said and ran downstairs to where Shigure and Yuki were waiting. "Kyo and I are staying home." I said to them before Shigure could say anything. "Oh?" was all Shigure did manage to say once the surprise wore off. He rubbed his chin. "Yes, it wouldn't be fair to leave poor Tohru all alone, it is the first New Year without her mother."

Yuki glanced at me while Shigure was thinking about the situation. I pleaded with Yuki to stay behind with us as well. If he did go, Akito would zoom in on him all night long, it wouldn't be fair to Yuki. Kyo came down the stairs and I could feel him standing behind me. "I think it would be nice to keep Miss. Honda company Shigure." Yuki piped up. I could feel Kyo starting to rage, Shigure did too and cut Kyo off before he could say anything. "And what about Akito?" I looked to Yuki, then to Kyo and bit my lip. I then looked up at Shigure. "Tell Akito it was my idea. I'll take the punishment. Please..just tell him that I didn't want Tohru to be alone and Kyo and Yuki thought it would be best to just keep us company. She's not allowed to attend the banquet so I think we need to stay."

When Shigure didn't say anything, I looked away. "Or..you could tell Akito we all ended up with bad colds.." I could feel Shigure look from me, to Kyo, to Yuki. "Is this what the three of you really want to do?" he asked. I quickly nodded, Kyo nodded grudgingly looking at Yuki. "Let's do this for Miss. Honda. She's given, and done so much for us already." Shigure nodded. "Then it's decided. You guys can stay here and I'll just have to think of something to tell Akito. He won't like it, you know." Shigure looked right at me when he said that. I shivered because I knew that he wouldn't, but I'd have to worry about that later. Right now, I was happy. I threw my arms around Shigure, hugging him. He then poofed into his dog form. Oops.

Once he transformed again, I quickly thanked him. "Thank you Shigure! You're the best!" He laughed and walked out scratching his head. "Yeah yeah, I know I am the best! Do your best to not wreck my house." he said and grinned. "You four have fun now!" He slid the door closed behind him.

"Akito's going to kill me.." I muttered to myself. "Think he's going to kill each of us individually." Kyo muttered back. Yuki was going to say something but Tohru came down the stairs and jumped in surprise when she saw the three of us standing there. I grinned at her, but stopped when I noticed that her eyes were red. She had been crying. "I – I thought you left for the banquet." she said, wiping her eyes. We smiled at her. "What kind of friends would we be if we left you alone on New Years, Miss. Honda?" Yuki said. Kyo leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah we didn't want you to be lonely. You can thank Kara for that." Tohru looked at the three of us. "But..what about the banquet? You'll miss it.." I smiled at Tohru and took her hand. "It's fine if we miss it tonight. We'll go apologize to Akito later, but right now we need to go make lots of food, play games and have fun! Then we can all go watch the sun rise and make good wishes for the new year. Sounds fun?" Tohru smiled and nodded and wiped a few fresh tears that had fallen away. "That sounds like an amazing time! Thank you Kara, Yuki and Kyo!" I smiled again. Tonight would be a night where I didn't have to think about Akito...or the ring.

*******

Hi all! Raven here!

I just wanted to give a really big, big THANK YOU to all of you who read, voted, and added this to their book list. I also want to thank those who wait ever patiently for my very slow updates..

Why the slow updates you ask? Well, it's mostly because of writers block. Also I have bad mental health issues which tend to lead me down a dark path when it comes to writing and I don't want to make this story too dark. And summers tend to be a bit more hectic, but I will try my hardest!

I do have a few chapters that are ready and hopefully not too dark (I have to go through them before posting), but maybe you guys can help me. Leave a comment, or message me about where you think the story should go. Do you think Kara should marry Akito or end up with Yuki in the end? What would you like to see happen in the New Year? Send me your ideas! It would be interesting to hear what you all think! And thank you all again! It means so, so much to me! 🖤

~Raven