Gengaku Sohma's Story

Gengaku Sohma

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Gengaku Sohma

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Tomaya was so distracted by watching the rain, that she didn't realize what was happening until after the event. One moment she was sitting on the edge of his bed, her hand on his head, and the next she was being pulled down beside him, immediately swallowed by his blankets.

"Read to me ...You're useless and all you can do is read, so read to me."

The warmth of her hand in his cold ones was a jolting difference in temperature. Grabbing his other hand, she pressed them both together between her own set, drawing them up near her face and pressing the tips of his fingers to her cheek in an attempt to warm them. His words stung, but she knew that he didn't mean them. He was trying to be mean - trying to hurt her. It was the only thing that he knew, and by hurting her, it somehow made him feel that he was not attached to her and that it would protect him from the hurt that he expected from her in the future. The hurt of her finally leaving him, too.

Not that she ever could. Firstly, she was devoted to him through the Curse. The Zodiac members could not survive without their God.

And secondly ... She couldn't live without him. His former self may have been overtaken by a cold, cruel man with no kind intentions, but there was still a small ray of hope inside of her that the Yamato she knew would someday return.

He just needed a little coaxing to come out again.

Biting her lower lip, Tomaya thought for a moment. She didn't have any books with her, nor could she have grabbed one if she did due to her position on the bed, lest she disturb Yamato, so instead she brought forth a story that she had long-ago memorized.

Thank you photographic memory.

Drawing in a breath, she began to speak, closing her eyes as she did so.

'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary. Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore ...'

And all the while that she spoke, she knew that Yamato was asleep.



'And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor ... Shall be lifted - nevermore ...'

As she finished, Tomaya opened her eyes and turned her gaze upwards. Yamato was still asleep, and when so, his face took on the relaxed look that she had grown accustomed to for the first few years of her knowing him.

In truth, he looked like a little boy again.

Her heart wrenching and her attempting to blink back tears, she turned her face into the pillow that her head rested on.

Why? Why does he hate me so much? How can he hate me so much? He keeps me around simply to have something to play with and hurt, and has done nothing kind to me since I awoke from that damned coma. Honestly, it's been six years! How can he still be angry with me? It isn't fair ....

Shaking her head, she tightened her hand slightly around his, which had finally grown warm.

No, you can't allow him to get to you. Take a deep breath and push it from your mind. Become the docile girl you are and sit back and let fate take its' flow.

Turning her face back towards his, she bit her lower lip and sighed slightly.

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Callista waved a cheery goodbye to the two as they left, snickering evilly to herself. Once they were out of sight, she rubbed her hands together as evilly as she could with her injury.

"Alas, my plan has gone into motion ... Plan Save-The-Sohmas is a Go!" she cheered to herself, doing a small spin.

Freezing at the end of the spin, she turned a bright crimson.

"Did I really just do that?" she asked to no one, eyes wide. Straightening and smacking her forehead, she slowly shook her head. "I think I need to have my brain examined ..."

"Did they leave? ... Another disaster averted, I think."

Raising her now-cooled face, Callista focused her eyes on the person who had spoken. Kaze had appeared through the curtain separating the back room from the main one, his expression weary and hesitant.

Allowing a relaxed smile to return to her lips, and straightened to her normal posture and crossed her arms.

"Yeah, Tweedeldum and Tom - that's the nickname I decided to give Turi - left already to get her back to her work on time. Besides, I couldn't see it becoming a disaster in any way - I was here to play neutral territory," she joked, watching him as he crossed to the room to one of the plush, comfortable chairs adorning her shop.

"Is there anything else you need help with? Cooking, shopping, baking, delivery? Hell, at this point I'm willing to sweep floors. Just give me something to do so I don't have to rot away with boredom."

Tapping her chin in thought, she began flipping switches and pressing buttons on the machines that prepared several of the drinks - the coffee, tea, and hot chocolate - while plugging in the blenders for the smoothies and milkshakes. Once that was done, she followed him to the table and dropped down into the chair beside him, brushing her hair back from her face.

Finally, she answered his question.

"Other than to do minor cleaning activities, you know as well as I do that the only thing to do in this place is eat, sleep, study, or have sex," she said, obviously joking on the activity listed. Suddenly straightening, she quirked an eyebrow, giving him a laughing grin that betrayed the fact that she was joking. "Hey, let's have sex!" she exclaimed, immediately erupting into giggles afterwards. Once her giggle-fit had subsided, she straightened and sighed.

"Why don't I give you a can of glass-cleaner and some paper towels and you can wash my windows and display cases. Deal?" she asked, already rising and fetching the items in question from behind the counter. She returned quickly and held them out to him, tilting her head and leaning forward, her face near his. "Or would you really rather become a pervert like Gengaku and have sex?" she asked, teasing him once again, yet not obviously-so this time.

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Gengaku Sohma

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Akihiko narrowed her eyes at the older woman, her lips curling up a bit at the ends. While she admired the woman, she didn't appreciate being berated by her for merely looking out for her closest and best friend - and honestly, one of her only friends, too.

"I get that you might be older than me, and that you're a teacher and all, but I'm not your student and I'm not a little kid. I might act like one sometimes, but I don't appreciate being lectured over me defending my friend. That stupid cat has been nothing but trouble since the very beginning and everyone knows that. She has no right to treat Renny like that and I'll be damned if I'll just sit back and let her," she snapped, sneering at the woman through the rear-view mirror.

"Enough worrying about me! You're the one who always gets sick, look at you all soaking wet! Now if you come down with a cold, I'll be the one making the soup, and we both know what a horrible cook I am!"

Aki had only just turned her face towards Ren's when her head was overcome by a jacket. It enveloped her hair and moved around it before dropping over her shoulders, and she had barely enough time to pat down her frizzy excuse of hair before a hat was pulled down, blinding her as it went over her eyes.

It's really not her fault. It's mine for provoking Turi. Akihiko was just being a good friend. Maybe too good a friend ... Oh! I almost forgot! Thanks for the ride, and sorry for getting your backseat all wet...if you'd like I can clean your car for you after school's finished."

Lifting her hand from where it was caught between Ren's, she pulled up the hat that Ren had pulled over her head, peaking out from beneath it. "You didn't provoke her, she's just a bitch," she said simply, raising a brow.

It was then that they finally pulled up to the school and the car stopped. Ushering Ren out of the car, she clambered out after him.

"Thanks for the ride," she said, her voice a bit cold as she shut the door. Pulling the hat completely up from her eyes, she waved at Suzu as they took shelter under the canopy hanging over the walkway to the school. "Let's walk to class together, Ren!" she said cheerily, linking her arm through his.

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"Ahahaha... As tempting as that sounds, I think I'll just clean... Besides, Gengaku would probably kill me if I so much as touched you."

Watching him walk to the window, she straightened and crossed her arms over her chest, a slight pout appearing on her lips.

"Well, don't I feel unwanted and rejected," she scoffed out, moving behind the counter and opening the register. Parting her lips to ask Kaze a question, she was stopped by an abrupt onslaught of customers.


Collapsing into a chair, Callista pulled a napkin from the center piece of the table and tossed it over her eyes.

"Jeez, who knew running a store on your own could be so difficult ..." she groaned, slumping down in the chair so that she was nearly laying across it. She peaked out from under the napkin and focused an eye on Kaze. "Hey. Do you want a job? I could use the help and I can afford to hire an extra hand around here. Gengaku can't be here all the time," she said.

Frowning a bit, Calli felt tears threaten behind her lids. It really wasn't fair. She was left alone in the world, with very few people to call friends, and no one to call family. So she couldn't really call on someone to help her out on a daily basis, but instead was forced to look for someone to hire.

Not that she would mind having Kaze around, even if he was being paid to be so. Granted he had classes, but so did she, and a lot of his classes went during her off-time, and her classes went during his. So it would actually work perfectly to have him work at the store, since they could trade off and on in between classes.

Sitting up suddenly, she raised both of her brows. "Oh! That reminds me. What was that that you mumbled about Gengaku earlier? I heard you say that he would kill you, but I missed the second part. Care to share?" she asked.

When this gained no response, she jumped up from the chair and crossed over to him, smirking down at him. "Either you tell me or I'll make you tell me," she warned.

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"... Getting out sooner or later, so we can stick to who we know is home."

Tomaya blinked her eyes open and sat up abruptly. Her eyes darted around the room in an effort to get her bearings, and when she realized where she was, she relaxed a bit. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep, to be honest.

"It's settled. We're are going to see Miyako."

Turning her attention to Yamato, her lips turned down into a frown.

"Yamato, you shouldn't leave bed," she said, attempting to quickly leave the bed. Instead, she found her legs tangled in the sheets, causing her to fall face-first from the bed and collide loudly with the floor of the room. Grimacing, she untangled herself and sat up, rubbing at her face. Instinctively she knew that her nose would be swollen, but she pushed herself up as quickly as possible and crossed the room.

"Yamato, stop," she demanded, moving between him and the door, her arms spread wide to halt any attempt to exit the room. Her expression was stern and her eyes set. "You know as well as I do that with that cough you can't afford to go anywhere. If you do, I can't guarantee that you won't grow more ill."

Reaching out to grab his arm, she looked up at him with an odd desperation in her gaze. "Please, Yamato, don't go outside. It isn't safe for you. And ... And we can't live without you," she said quietly, tears glittering in her eyes.

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Gengaku Sohma

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*I thought you had gone with the sea you little brat!
**And what do you mean, "how did I find you?" I'm wondering what you're even doing here at all!
***"If anything! I wish I hadn't found this place at all you fuc-
****Finish that sentence and I will shove your head into the oven, Landvik.

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Callista had barely enough time to prepare herself before she found Aurel to suddenly be directly in her face. He was so close that she could smell his breath - which was a bit rank, mind you.

The close proximity of her and her past tormentor caused her entire body to lock, making it impossible for her to move or even step back from the man. Feelings that she had believe long-since banished and forgotten rose up, threatening to swallow her whole. What could she do? Here was the man who, as a teenager, had made her life more of a living Hell than it already had been.

When she had shown up to school wearing clothes that bespoke her poor status, he and his friends had gone after her, finding her weak and an easy target of their masochistic ways. She couldn't recall a single day that had passed that she had been able to walk home without them appearing out of nowhere. In fact, she had once taken it upon herself to carry a switchblade and mace, if only to protect herself, but they had easily knocked both weapons out of her hands and restrained her.

The fear that was now a tense ball in her stomach caused a wave of nausea to assault her body.

She flinched at his yelling, the language that he spoke being the one of their home country. It rang in her ears, and for some odd reason, gone was the current Callista. In her place was the Callista of years and years before - the Callista who lived in fear of the boogeyman, or Aurel and his gang.

If there was anyone she believed to be purely evil, it would have been Aurel and his gang, right alongside her father.

It was doubtful that Aurel even knew of what his gang had done to her on the fateful day that stung in her mind, even to this time.

He had left the beating early, claiming that he had a 'date with the sexiest piece of meat they could have seen', and as soon as he had gone, his gang set in on the rape.

Rape. Not many people knew of what had happened. In fact, the only people who did know were the boys who had done it to her, herself, and the chief of police. He had managed to keep it on the down-low and, due to the way that the government had been run at the time, the only other person to have known was the judge who passed the verdict.

Although Aurel undoubtedly didn't know of what had happened, or why his gang of delinquents had been put away for fifteen years to life, she still blamed him for it, too.

For he was the one who had always instigated her attacks, and he was the one who had left her there for them to assault.

She still had the scars from their knives, their beatings, their sticks, their lighters, and other weapons that they had simply picked up on the side of the road. Which was why she had never had consensual sex with a man, in the entirety of her life.

Shaking her head a bit, she felt a wetness trickling down her cheeks, and only then did she realizing that she had begun to cry. Sniffing a bit, she attempted to call to herself the aloof nature that she had become accustomed to, but was unable to do so. More tears escaped her eyelids, creating fat trails down her porcelain cheeks.

In an instant Aurel was gone, his hair clenched in the grasp of the only person she knew who could have such a big hand - Gengaku.

Biting her lower lip an attempt to rid herself of her tears, for Gengaku had never seen her cry - in fact, no one had ever even seen her shed a tear, other than her parents and sister - she balled her hands into fists.

"Dra til helvete, Aurel!" she shouted, whirling away and rubbing at her cheeks. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes had grown red with her tears, and her face was flush from her crying.

After a moment, she whipped back around and approached Gengaku.

"How can you even associate with this scum!?" she demanded, her entire body trembling with anger. "Do you have any idea what he and his goons did to me over the years!?" she exclaimed, her emotions obviously getting the better of her.

Taking several steps back, she wrapped her arms around herself, more thick tears trickling down her cheeks, the crying now beyond her control - the exact self-control that she had managed to keep a strong hold on for the past four years.

"They did ... So many things to me ... I have ... So many ... Scars ... Both on my body ... And on my mind ..." Her eyes were wide and staring, and a headache began to enter her skull, threatening to cause an explosion of her mind. The colors that she saw - there were too many. They kept changing, from bright red to neon green, to hot pink to dark gray - she couldn't control them. Lifting her hands to her head, she clutched her hair in her fingers, her eyes clenching shut. She dropped to her knees, a sob escaping her throat. "They ... They did so many things ... I can't ... My sanity ... I can't ... Please ... Make it stop!" she cried, the memories escaping the filing cabinet that she had long-ago shoved them into, in the far recesses of her mind. Another loud sob made its way past her lips, and she leaned forward, holding her bright hair tightly. "The colors ... Make the colors stop .... Make the memories stop!" she whimpered.

Gengaku Sohma

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It's raining still...

Days like this were Miyako's enemy. She was already sniffling and had a slight cough, but she knew it was nothing major. Probably just a minor cold, nothing a little soup and medicine couldn't fix. The scent of lasagna wafted through the air, but it would still be a little while until it was done. Miyako had been craving something sweet lately, and many members of her family had spoken of the bakery that wasn't that far. So, prepared this time, Miyako left her warm house to see what would be consumed for dessert.

The rain dripping against her umbrella was nostalgic in a way, it calmed the Rat on her venture. Miyako wasn't stressed, mind you, but the rain calmed her much more than she was. The Rat rubbed her tired eye, letting out a yawn to match. Maybe if she went to the market and bought some sleeping medication she would be able to get a full night of rest for the full day that lay ahead tomorrow. It was her birthday tomorrow after all. Miyako smiled to herself as she ran down the things to do. Some of the girls in her university wanted to take her out to lunch as a present. Maybe she would go out for once, Miyako would just have to be really on her toes about being near any men.

Within only a few minutes, Miyako happened upon the bakery, standing under the awning to shake off her umbrella. Once she had entered the bakery, however, she had noticed that several of her cousins were gathered there. It was really cool actually, the lot had been running into each other so much more often these days. Miyako kept her eyes down as usual, but the slick spot on the floor hadn't registered in her mind until it was to late. Miyako slipped, falling forwards and, you guess it, fell into a magenta-haired man who had been standing in front of her. She saw Gengaku pull a pink-haired woman to the back, so the only two who had noticed her transformation were Kaze and Turi. In a poof of smoke, Miyako was laying in her rat form atop her pile of clothes. She simply squeaked before skittering off to hide in the back. Miyako really hoped that no one would try to squish her. Being something that had been hated by humans for millions of years was tough. Especially when you randomly transformed and had to hide before anyone saw you.

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Yamato listened to the words coming from Tomaya's heart. But they wouldn't reach his. Something in his mind was convincing him that it was all lies, that if they all had the chance, they would run far from him and this curse. "I won't be here for you out of some sort sense of duty given to me because of the curse, and I won't be here for you because I'm the family doctor and I have to care for you. Just as your brother won't be there for you because he feels some sort of familial obligation to be so. If that were really true, I wouldn't be here right now, and your brother wouldn't talk about you like you were some almighty deity unbeknownst to the rest of us," she laughed softly, causing a small smile to appear on Yamato's face for a split second.

"Tamaki will be here for you because he adores you. Not just as his older brother, or as the ruler of the Sohma family, but because of who you are." She paused, gathering her words and attempting to order them in the correct way. "And I will be here for you because I care about you. Not just as my patient, or as my God, but as a man. Yamato, your brother and I both love you - very dearly, might I add. And no matter how fast you run, you can't escape that. No matter how far you go, you can't outrun your problems. You may still hate me because I left you for a few months due to my being in coma, but I can't help that. I'm sorry, Yamato, but it wasn't something I could prevent. If I could go back and change that, I would - you know that. I never wanted my family to die. It almost destroyed me."

"The only reason it didn't ... Was because of you. And I'll be damned if you try to pass that off on the curse, because that isn't why. You were my best friend growing up, and I've loved you since the very beginning. You may hate me with all of your heart, but nothing will change how I feel."

Yamato buried his face deeper into his knees as he felt tears escape. Yamato wasn't supposed to cry, he was the God, the strongest of all the Sohma family. So why were Tomaya's words ripping his wall out bit by bit. With every brick that fell, Yamato felt a ping of pain and a tear fell. His hands balled into fists and he clenched his teeth as tight as he could. In a way, he felt defeated, embarrassed and pissed off at the world. All he was ever told was that the Curse was the only reason anyone stayed with him. His bitter attitude and selfish ways were to much for even his own mother to handle.

Both Tamaki and Tomaya had been there for him, but he only recognized Tamaki. Was it because Yamato was in such an emotional state when Tamaki had found him? Yamato was full blown ready to die right there in the snow. Maybe then the stupid Zodiac would recognize him. But like he had said earlier, he was replaceable. He was so disposable, yet, the words Tomaya spoke reached him so deeply that he was crying. Yamato squeezed his fists tighter as he let out a long scream of frustration. He wanted to flail like an infant, these emotions he was feeling were tearing him apart. Would it have been this way if he had grown up as a normal boy with normal health to go with it.

No more medicine or cold packs, no more bedridden weeks or months. He could play with his younger brother, free of restraints or rules or risk of isolation. It seemed like a while before he let his scream end, his voice was weak by that point and it had only lead up to a coughing fit. His lungs were killing him from the running, crying and screaming. And now his streaming tears were jerking sobs that made him shake with every breath he took. Why was he, a grown man, crying? If he knew, he would say so. But he couldn't figure out what he was feeling. If it was causing so much pain, it couldn't have been good.

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Before she had even realized what had happened, Callista found herself being lifted, almost like a child, and tossed over a shoulder that, despite her rarity in touching, was all too familiar to her. It belonged to Gengaku, of course, for who else could have such a broad set of them, so much so that she was just about the perfect size for the one he had tossed her over.

Blinking, her tears did not slow but her surprise was evident. Normally she would have started pummeling his back, demanding that he put her down. This time, however, was quite different. By the color that the sound of his footsteps gave off, she could tell that his intentions were not those of perverted or evil nature, but instead that of a caring and gentle one. This only served to further surprise the robot-like girl, who rubbed at her cheeks, obviously too surprised to even whimper at this point.

She soon found herself plopped down on one of the comfortable couches in the back room that was used for breaks, with Gengaku leaning over and nuzzling his face into her hair. What shocked her even more was the thought that immediately rose to her mind, uncontrollable to her.

Thank God I showered and don't smell like sweat.

Wait, what? You're thinking that at a time like this? The man who made you contemplate suicide randomly shows up in another country at your bakery of all places, and you have time to think about how grateful you are to have showered? Get your shit together, Callista! You aren't thinking straight!

"You're gonna be okay, Callista. Just breathe. Breathe."

Pulling in a deep, shaky breath, she puffed it out slowly, the out-breath trembling just as much as the intake. Her hand numbly found a nearby towel and lifted it to her cheeks, where it was gently patted against, the wetness slowly becoming a light damp to the touch. Her eyelids fell closed for several moments as she savored the feel of Gengaku nuzzling her hand - who knew that such a simple action could provide so much comfort to someone? - before she slowly forced them open.

"The only reason why I know him is because I roomed with his ass in college and kicked the shit out of him during that time. I don't know what he did to hurt you this way, but I'll make it right for you if I have to. Okay? Or do you need the ox me?"

It was obvious that she thought about it for a moment, before she shook her head just enough so that Gengaku could notice. Just in case he hadn't, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"I'm ... I'm alright now ..." she said quietly. She slowly raised her eyes, his head removed from her hair and her face directly in his. She pulled back a few inches so that she wasn't touching his nose with her own before continuing. "I couldn't ask you to do that for me. I know how troublesome it is for you and your family to change, so I wouldn't ask you to do that. You know that," she told him, the tiniest of smiles appearing on her lips. Her cheeks still flushed, she closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm fine with you just being here to offer me comfort. You wouldn't know this - since you know nothing of my history - but I never really had anyone to give me that. And for that small action, I'm very thankful, Genny," she finished.

Lowering her face towards her lap, she twined her fingers together on her legs, clenching them tightly as her memories once again intruded her mind.

"Let's just say that although I'm not ready to tell you of my history, seeing as I don't want your opinion of me to change, I will tell you of Aurel's contribution to it."

Drawing in another deep breath, she bit the inside of her cheek. Would he change his opinion of her if she told him even of what Aurel and his goons had once done to her? Or would he grow angry? Or better yet, would he just nod simply and be there for her? Honestly, she couldn't see him doing the very first one, but she could see the last two occurring. All that she knew was that she couldn't afford to lose Gengaku - and not just because he was in her band and gave her a place to live.

Because in that exact moment, everything came crashing down around her. Frozen in place, her eyes widened slightly as the three little words slithered through her mind, despite her insistence on them staying hidden for her own emotional sanity.

She loved Gengaku.

Shit! Don't think like that, Callista! If you start to admit it to yourself, than you'll begin to believe it! And if you begin to believe it, it will make it all the more difficult for you when he, too, inevitably leaves you alone.

Clenching her hands again, she lowered her head even further.

"It ... It started when I was a first year in high school. My mother and sister were ..." She paused, mulling over how to word what she said next, without completely giving away the fact that they had abandoned her and made it perfectly clear that they cared not for the younger woman. "... They were no longer in the picture. My father ... He wasn't much help with anything - he never was, to be honest - so I was left to fend for myself."

"We were never the richest people. In fact, we were quite poor. Due to this, my quiet nature, and my Chromesthesia, I was made an easy target by 'bullies'," she made air quotes are the word, showing quite obviously that they were far more than just that, "And I never fought back. Actually, that's an incorrect way to word it. I attempted to fight back, but it was really to no avail. Instead, they simply fought harder - far harder than I could, anyways."

Lifting her head a bit, she lifted the towel to her eyes as more tears threatened to spill, catching them before they made their presence obvious.

"Aurel had what I would refer to as a gang. He was the leader of them and made it a constant habit to pick on and target anyone he found to be weak and helpless. It was a coward's work, to be completely honest with you ..." The sunlight that streamed through a nearby window was slightly gray, as the outside of the building portrayed the foul atmosphere of the inside. It streamed across the two inhabitants of the small break room, casting an ethereal glow over them. Reaching up, she grabbed Gengaku's wrist in a hard grip, her head still lowered. She tugged on it, showing that she wanted him to sit beside her on the couch.

"He and his lackeys would find me, every day after school, and they would jump me. They used so many ways to torture me, some of which were their own inventions. Teenagers ... Can be quite creative when they wish to be," she whispered, her voice cracking a bit.

Drawing her legs up and onto the couch, she wrapped her arms around them, burying her face in her knees.

"In school, they would push me against walls and lockers. They put gum between my books, hid my belongings, and graffiti-ed my locker with horrible words ..." Her accent grew thick with emotion, causing her to pull in a shuddering breath in an attempt to calm herself a bit before continuing. "They actually got a lot of people at school in on it. They conned some girls into taking my clothes after gym class once while I was showering. I had to walk to the principal's office in nothing but a tiny towel, and I was the one who was in trouble for it. 'We can't allow students to walk around and flaunt public nudity', they said. 'We're giving you three days of out of school suspension'."

A shake of her head was all that she did when she paused to gather her story and wits once more.

"They would throw my lunch in the garbage or on the ground, and at the time, that was often the only food I would have to eat all day. They would take it and force me to do embarrassing things in order to get it back, and in the end would simply chuck it to the floor and spit in my face. Their laughter still echoes around me ... And it haunts my nightmares ..." she choked out, lifting her hands to her ears.

"The colors that I would see ... They showed me true evil. My classmates - they weren't even human. They were the devil's spawn ... And Aurel was the devil ..."

She shoved her hand into a nearby bag, withdrawing a wallet and flipping it open. After searching through it for a moment, she held it up for Gengaku to see.

"This was the only family picture we ever had taken. It was before everything went down-hill ... But we were happy at the time, and it brings back the only good memories of my childhood that I could ever have." Directly beside that picture was the only school picture of herself that she still had, which showed just how nerdy, poor, and easy of a target that she had been, once upon a time.

Lowering the wallet, her shoulders slumped.

"Aurel didn't play a part in the dirtying of my body on the fateful day that broke me. In fact, he wasn't even there, and I doubt that he has any knowledge of what they did. Needless to say, his goons were put away for fifteen-to-life, and Aurel got off scott-free." Pausing, she bit her lip. "I know it isn't right, but I can't help but blame him. If he hadn't made me a target in the first place, and if he hadn't left me alone with them to go on a damned date, they never would have done it. So I still blame him for it. Plus, there's all the years of torture that he gave me ... Even while he attended college. He didn't go far - simply went to the next town over. I had to go to that town frequently for school, seeing as I pushed myself to be my best in what I did. I earned a lot of academic achievements and often had to attend ceremonies for my awards," she explained.

Her hands rose and her arms clutched her body, as if to hold herself together.

"The only reason I was able to stay sane when my sister and mother left the picture, was that when Aurel left for college, an ox appeared and offered me comfort." Blinking and turning her face towards him, her brows drew together. "In fact, that ox looked an awful lot like your ox form does," she said, her puzzlement evident. Shrugging, she looked back down at her lap, shuddering out a sigh. "And the only reason I was able to be sane when I came here, was because I met the band ... And I met you," she said, the last part so soft that it was almost unheard by even herself. "Otherwise ... I would have killed myself a long time ago ..."

Letting out a soft chuckle, she wiped at her watering eyes and turned a small smile to him. "I'm sorry to have burdened you with my boring life story, but now that you know it, you won't ever have to listen to it again. It was nice, though ... To finally tell someone ..." She pushed herself up, grabbing a nearby bottle of Ibuprofen, musing over the fact that he was the first and only person who knew that story about her, or even that much of her history. "If you decide to change your opinion of me and wish for me to move out, I'll understand. I can just crash here at the bakery until I find other arrangements, okay?" she asked, tossing a large, forced smile over her shoulder at him.

Gengaku Sohma

---

Callista only nodded in response to his question. She turned to face him, fresh tears welling up in her eyes.

What Gengaku said was true - he had told her that there was nothing she could do or have had done to her that would warrant him forcing her to leave his house. That mere fact alone made a warm feeling spread through her chest, but as her eyes fell on Gengaku, she couldn't prevent the trembling that began in her lower lip.

Why? Why was he so kind to her, when no one else had ever been even remotely so? Here he was, confronted with the perfect opportunity to rid himself of what she considered to be a nuisance - herself - and yet he denied that she leave, instead confirming that she could stay.

No one had ever been so kind to her.

Turning her face away so that he couldn't see it, she swallowed down the thick ball that had risen up into her throat. It ached and her eyes stung as she fought back fresh tears, but she rubbed at her cheeks nonetheless, causing them to become even redder than before. Finally, once she felt a bit more composed, she faced him once more and closed the distance between them. In the only way possible due to his curse, she hugged him, her alternative something that had become something special between them - at least in her own opinion.

She simply lifted his hand and curled her pinkie finger around his, once again trying to shove down the aching lump in her throat.

"Thank you, Gengaku," she choked out, her emotions still causing the lodge in her neck to persist. She went on her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek, the only other thing that she could think to do when a hug was not allowed, before stepping back and releasing his finger.

The sound of commotion in the front of the building called her attention to the fact that her bakery was open, and she immediately jolted back to what had just recently occurred.

"Oh, that asshole had better not have scared my customers away," she growled out.

It didn't take Callista long to reach the entrance to her restaurant, and when she saw Yuki and Aurel going at it, while a pile of clothes sat almost completely behind the register, scattered across the floor. It took her several minutes but she finally connected the dots, and as she studied the clothes, it struck her that whoever had been in those clothes had been female. A closer inspection of them betrayed the owner to have been Miyako Sohma, a close cousin to Gengaku.

Turning to the man in question, she gathered the clothes and nudged him out towards where Aurel and Yuki were bickering. "You had better stop them before they rip each other's heads off," she suggested, starting towards the back, where Miyako had undoubtedly scampered to when they hadn't been looking. "I'll take care of Miyako." With that, she disappeared through the curtain that separated the two parts of the building, setting the pile of clothes on a chair as she passed by it.

"Miyako? It's Callista. Callista Nroiji? I live with Gengaku and own this bakery. We've met a couple of times. You can come out - I promise not to scream," she said, her knowledge of the rat's form forewarning her of what she would see. "And I promise that no one will see you if you do. I'm the only one back here, and am also the only who works in this place. Gengaku helps out every now and then, but obviously you don't need to worry about him," she said, a small smile cracking across her face. "So you can come out - you don't have to be afraid."

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