Forever and a Day (In Progress)

Forever and a Day
sassy_lion

“Shigure?” Yuki called into the old house of Shigure’s. It had been more than three years since he had last stepped foot into this house. The last night he had slept in this house had been the night Akito had died. Though continuously wanting to forget that night, he always seemed to remember it at the most inopportune or inappropriate moments. Now was one of those moments.

“Shigure?” Yuki called again as he motioned for his taxi to wait for him. As he stepped into the house, thousands of both happy and sad memories hit him at once. The first memories that hit him were his first lunch with Miss Honda, all of his fights with Kyo, and his last miserable days as well.

Yuki has stopped by the house to let Shigure – who was now ruling member of the Zodiac – know he was leaving Tokyo for college. He had put it off long enough, over a year and a half now.

As Yuki stepped into the kitchen, he remembered the day Miss Honda had first cleaned it. Chuckling softly to himself, Yuki walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway to Shigure’s bedroom – which was adjacent to his study.

Yuki paused a moment, remembering the day Miss Honda left. It had been late in the morning, about 11 am, when Yuki had finally crawled out of bed. He had been up most of the night taking care of a sick Momiji – who Hatori had sent to Shigure’s house because Akito was sick as well and didn’t need more complications – and everyone had allowed Tohru to go to bed early because she had mentioned that she was tired. Knowing it was Sunday; he had been prepared for a wonderful breakfast. He had descended the stairs to find the house completely empty. No Shigure, no Kyo, no Tohru, and no note mentioning where they had been going.

He had found out later, from Black Haru, that Akito had summoned Tohru for some reason or another. Akito had become extremely angry with Tohru and had ordered Tohru’s memory erased of everything about the Sohma family. She had been put on a plane and sent somewhere, no one except Akito knew, and obviously he wasn’t going to tell anyone now that he was gone. While he had erased her memory, Hatori had managed to convince Akito to allow Tohru to finish school wherever she was. Yuki had not known that, and had found out about two weeks ago that Akito had made Hatori pay for everything.

Akito had also ordered Shigure’s memory erased of everything having to do with Tohru, and no one – absolutely no one was allowed to mention anything of Miss Honda again. Though, carefully, the other zodiac members talked about her from time to time behind Akito’s back.

Kyo, apparently so angry with Akito and Hatori, took off. Although he had not told anyone where he went, he had later called Kagura and entrusted her. In the three years and half years since Kyo had been missing, Kagura never told anyone where he was, and probably never would.

As for Akito, a few months after banishing Miss Honda, he came down with a severe case of pneumonia and died less than a week later, with nine of the thirteen animals present. The ones who had not made it and had found out later, were Shigure (due to the fact he had been with Mii on a trip to Yokohama for some research on a new book), Haru, Yuki, and of course, Kyou.

“Shigure?” Yuki called out one last time as he opened the door to Shigure’s room. If he doesn’t answer this time, too bad, my taxi is waiting. Shigure’s bed was empty, but the doorframe to the porch wasn’t.

“Yuki!” Shigure’s chipper tone called out, acting as if he couldn’t hear Yuki calling out through the house. “What brings you back to my house after so long?”

“I just wanted to let you know, since you are head of the zodiac now, that I am leaving Tokyo.”

Shigure frowned slightly. “You can tell your taxi to leave, there are a couple of things I would like to speak with before you leave Tokyo completely.”

Yuki shook his head. “Well, I can’t stay too long. My flight leaves at 4:45.” He turned away from Shigure and exited the room, returning a minute later folding his wallet. Yuki looked at his watch. “It’s noon now.”

“Yuki,” Shigure’s tone became serious. “Do you ever wonder if Akito did something and not let the rest of the family know about it?”

Yuki knew where this was coming from, and yet he didn’t. He knew Shigure sensed something in his memory had been erased, but obviously he didn’t know what it was. Almost every one of the other zodiac knew what had transpired, but was forbidden to talk about it with Shigure. Even Hatori and Ayame were ordered quiet, which was especially hard for Ayame since he was the one who knew Shigure the best and was trusted the most in return.

“Shigure,” Yuki treaded into that had been forbidden by Akito, “Do you… remember… Miss Honda?” He let the rest out slowly, hoping Shigure would not be mad at him for keeping it a secret after Akito died.

“Yuki,” Shigure sighed. “I’ve realized for quite awhile that part of my memory had been erased.” He stood up and started to pace. “I was just waiting to see if someone would ever mention it to me.”

Yuki bowed his head, his voice low and sad. “Everyone was ordered by Akito not to mention anything about Miss Honda.”

“I figured.” Shigure shook his head and sat back down. “I remember Akito being up to something, but I just couldn’t remember what it had been.” Shigure laughed slightly. “Wow, Hatori did a terrible job erasing my memory.”

“Personally, I think Hatori did it on purpose.” Yuki added nonchalantly and without thinking.

“You know what, Yuki?” Shigure looked up, a sparkle in his eyes. “I think you’re right.” He laughed lightly and turned back to the door, intending to go out it. Yuki stopped him before both feet left the room.

"I will look for Miss Honda in the US. Will you help me by looking for her here?" Yuki dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Flipping it open, he reached behind his ID and pulled out a worn and tattered picture. It had been in his wallet since before Tohru had left, since the New Years that the three of them had spent in the company of each other and not the family. It was of Miss Honda sitting quietly in a chair, her face pointed towards the open window above her. Yuki had looked at it often in the last three years, sometimes desperately wishing things could go back to the way they had been then.

"Yuki, if you stay any longer, you are going to miss your plane," Shigure pointed out as he broke Yuki's reverie. "Go." Shigure smiled slightly and pat Yuki on the head as he had when Yuki was little. "Just call the house and let me know that you got there okay."

Yuki nodded and left for his still-waiting taxi.

*~*

"Damn it, Sohma, you scared the hell out of me!" Ryu yelled as he jumped out of the way. "Let someone know you are there!"

Kyou chuckled to himself as he jumped onto the steps of the house he was currently living in. It had been more than three years since he'd had a permanent house to live in. But it was all right, Kyou had become used to living from one place to the next.

TBC...