Fruits Basket, Volume 21 By Natsuki Takaya

Tohru and Kyo finish their confrontation. Kyo confesses that after he froze when he saw Tohru's mother being killed, he blamed everything on Yuki, blaming him for taking Kyo's happiness away. He hid in the mountains with his mentor Shiseo, and when he finally came back to the Sohma house, he confronted Akio, who said if he could beat Yuki before they graduated from High School, he would forgive Kyo and accept him into the Zodiac, and throw Yuki out.

He came to the house to attack Yuki, but he hadn't counted on seeing Tohru again, or on falling in love with her. As for Tohru, she can't forgive him, and she can't not forgive him, either. She loves him, and to her that's all that matters. She asks her mother's spirit to forgive her, and she says she loves Kyo.

But they aren't alone, and Tohru confronts Akito, who has been watching them the whole time. She hoped Tohru would push Kyo away, and is enraged that Tohru still loves Kyo. She spits out her hatred of Tohru, accusing her of thinking herself better than the Sohmas, and more importantly, better than Akito. She accuses Tohru of trying to steal the family away from her, and Tohru tells her that the family is pulling away from her because of the way Akito treats them, that she treats them like herself, Akito, is the only one that matters.

But Tohru says she can still change that, and introduces herself to Akito again, and asks if they can be friends. Akito hits Tohru, but Tohru doesn't stop holding out her hand in offered friendship. Akito trembles, and realizes how it could be between them, and is about to take it, when the cliff crumbles away beneath Tohru and she falls.

Akito runs for Shigure, and gets help for Tohru, but she is barely able to get the words out at first. She is afraid that Tohru is dead, but Tohru is merely injured and must go to the hospital. Akito, shaking, confesses that she stabbed Kureno, but Shigure comforts her.

With Tohru in the hospital, Yuki, who witnessed Tohru crying, attacks Kyo, and during the fight, both end up confessing that they each wanted to be the other. Coming to the conclusion that they can only be who they are, they end the fight, and while Kyo retreats to undergo some introspection, Yuki confesses his feelings to Machi and buys her a Mogeta doll to replace the one she lost.

But what will happen between Kyo and Tohru and Tohru and Akio when she finally recovers enough to leave the hospital? Will this finally be the end of the Sohma family curse?

Wow. This volume had a lot of emotional angst and emotional battles, but the curse finally seems to be nearing its end. I can forsee some more battles for Akito with her mother, or maybe just one more, which will finally clear the air between them. Yuki seems to have made his own happy ending, and Kyo and Tohru theirs. And Kureno will have Arisa, of course.

But whoa, that emotional stuff is pretty heavy stuff! We finally get to see Akito's emotions, and they are just as bad as I feared they were. But even though she's a bitch, she isn't completely hopeless. She's very afraid. Afraid of being left alone and friendless, which is due to her mother, the biggest bitch in the series, who has been telling her for years that the family only abides her because she's the reborn God. But by spitting out all that bile and still being accepted as a friend by Tohru, hopefully, she will have gotten rid of it, and for good.

The rest of the family still has their problems, and I don't know exactly how the curse will finally end. It may be that Akito must release them, or by agreement between the spirit of the reborn God and the reborn spirit of the animal-possessed Sohma. However, it will end, and hopefully, the endings will be happy for everyone.