Prologue – On a Stone Bench Spring, the Day After
It was noon of a very long day. Sakura watched sympathetically from her bed as Hatori stretched the muscles in his back. In the last 24 hours, Hatori and the rest of the Sohma had been through much. Momiji and Hatsuharu graduated yesterday, and yesterday she returned to Japan. Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame recovered her from a Tokyo hospital and brought her to the Sohma compound where she now rested. It was true she was in the clinic, and not the main house, but she was home. That was yesterday. This was today.
Today was surreal. Akito was dead, and Tohru was suffering because death took the man she loved. She'd expected Akito's death, even yearned for it. She felt very little grief at his passing.
However,Tohru was another matter, the one at the root of the surrealism. How did Tohru get close enough to Akito to fall in love with that horrible man? She shuddered at the thought and yet… Hatori's soft, mellow voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Sakura, let me help you to the window. There is something that I want you to see."
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood carefully. She sighed in relief when her legs didn't collapse beneath her. She feared they might. She took a step toward the window and almost fell. Hatori was immediately at her side supporting her with his arms lifted her and placed her on the window seat so she could have a front row view of the tableau unfolding just outside. That accomplished, he placed his arm about her shoulder and held her close to his side.
Surprised, she glanced at him, but her violet eyes met only his profile. Hatori, oblivious to her expression, watched a solitary figure seated on a stone bench in the garden. Tohru sat with her knees huddled to her chest and a caramel strands of hair concealing her features; if the dictionary had a picture of sadness, this would be it. Sakura gasped in concern and tried to rise from the window seat. Her knees almost buckled and Hatori once again saved her from falling. "Be still Sakura, I don't want you to hurt yourself any further."
"Go to her Hatori, someone needs to".
Hatori clasped her hand in a firm grip and directed her once more to the scene below. "Wait, Sakura, and watch."
She turned back to the window and watched Shigure's lean graceful figure hove into sight and stride toward the bench. She couldn't hear the words, but she saw Tohru turn in Shigure's direction. A few words were exchanged, and the dog's lanky form folded down beside the girl. Tohru turned into Shigure's open arms and buried her head in his chest. Shigure enfolded the slim figure within his arms and rested his chin upon her head.
"I loved Akito, as did Kureno, but those two loved him best. Sakura isn't it possible that someone loved that much had redeeming qualities. Akito only wanted to be loved. He just didn't know how to accept it until Tohru-san showed him the way."
She saw the evidence with her own eyes, but did not believe what it was telling her. Akito and love did not fit into the same sentence, unless it was Akito's narcissistic love of himself and the power he held over his family. It was possible though...she glanced at Hatori. He was her happiness and she belonged with him. Perhaps Tohru's destiny was one of the others. Kami-sama knew that enough of them loved her in one way or another. There had to be a way for her to get through heartbreak and find happiness on the other side.