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Honda Tohru glanced out the train window and tried not to cry. She was a pitiful sight on the hard plastic seats of the modern bus, a slight young teenager, long brown hair tied up in a hurriedly done ponytail, and a face ashen with ill-concealed worry. Her hands gripped the small purse she carried around, fingers fiddling nervously with the strap that went around the shoulder. Less than ten minutes earlier, she had received a phone call in the Souma house from the hospital staff, telling her that her Yuki had just had a severe attack of bronchitis. At that instant, all sounds seemed to closed down slowly until everything was just a shrill void, like those sounds heard on television sets when the cable is cut off. All she heard was: "...Lung failure." and "...critical condition" and "...legal papers..." All she saw was the hospital's emergency number flashing on the caller ID section of the phone, almost seeming to pulse with the knowledge of the news that that number was now bringing to her. Numbly, without saying a word, she'd put the phone down. Several seconds later, she was running out of the house. And now, she was on her way to see how Yuki was doing. Tohru seemed unaware of the mildly curious glances of the other passengers as she glared at the blur of the window, willing the train to move faster...
Tohru burst inside the hospital room, and rushed in, obviously worried half to death. From the couch set in the side of the room, Kyou looked up, his orange hair emphasizing the paleness of his tanned face. He'd been sitting down heavily on the couch, his head in his hands. After glancing at him, Tohru whipped her gaze to the hospital bed, located at the center. She was almost afraid to look. Taking a deep breath, Tohru strode over to the center and gazed down at Souma Yuki. Her breath caught in her throat as she studied him. He was apparently sleeping; his long eyelashes seemed almost dark against the grayish pallor of his complexion. Breathing seemed like a difficult task for him. His breaths were short and wheezing, the breaks in between long. Somehow, Yuki's face seemed narrower, his body frail. Tohru's hand reflexively reached for his, then dropped like lead when Souma Hatori's voice drifted inside the hospital room. "Yes, I've known his condition since he was a child," Hatori was informing a nurse that was trailing him closely. "I know the history of his bronchitis, much better than your Doctor Yamashita." Hatori strode into the room, a powerful figure in his business suit and trademark doctor's gown. He took a cursory glance at the white washed walls, closed around like a white prison, the running aircon, the closed windows, and the three teenagers. He turned around on the poor nurse, who was looking quite hassled trying to get Hatori to wait before she'd consult the head nurse for the records of Yuki's current condition. "That's all right, I've already got a copy," Hatori told her coolly and firmly, holding the slim file that he'd got from the counter before barging his way into the room and holding his own fat folder that was Yuki's bronchitis file from birth onwards. "Please leave," Hatori continued. The nurse paused, bowed slightly, and haughtily left the room, displeased. Hatori gave Tohru a cursory glance before his gaze moved to Kyou. Kyou had stood up when Hatori came in, and his torn and dirty school uniform suggested that he'd been involved in some sort of ruckus just before Yuki had gotten his attack. Hatori gave him an unsurprised, level cursory glance as well before spouting orders. "Tohru, turn that aircon off. It circulates the dust particles from this room. And open the windows, why don't you. Fresh air is better than what that thing can give us. Kyou, go out and request a thicker blanket for Yuki. And elevate his bed a little higher. Tohru, when you're done with that, go take Yuki's temperature." Tohru and Kyou set off to do what they were told, while Hatori browsed through the thin file that he held. When Tohru was done opening the windows, she opened the drawer of the small table beside the bed to take the thermometer out, then turned to Yuki. Kyou was roughly jolting the bed handle up, struggling with the slightly rusted handle. He was shaking the bed up and down quite a bit. Before she could stop him, Tohru saw Yuki's eyes open slllooowwllly in irritation. His weak glare flew to Kyou, who stopped when he felt Yuki's eyes on him. Tohru saw the sparks fly between them despite Yuki's weak state. She cleared her throat. "Ah, Yuki, I have to take your temperature," she said, already holding the thermometer in front of his mouth. Kyou fled to get a thicker blanket. Yuki's annoyance evaporated in a flash when his watery eyes flashed on Tohru. But then his gaze slipped to Hatori, who was standing discreetly in the background, and his eyes narrowed. Only then did he realize that he wasn't at home, in his familiar environment. He sprang up from the bed, knocking the thermometer from Tohru's hand. Instantly, his right hand was on his chest as he coughed uncontrollably. "Y-Yuki," Tohru said anxiously, reaching out to steady him. She put one hand on his arm and another around his shoulders. "Where am I?" Yuki choked out when he'd gained control of his voice. When he looked again at Hatori's cool profile, his eyes narrowed noticeably. Hatori's eyes regarded him levelly. He stood up, and reached for his stethoscope, and stalked towards the bed. Tohru moved away to make way for Hatori. The doctor placed the stethoscope on Yuki's chest. "Breathe in." Yuki took a wheezing breath that sounded like it was trailing off to a cough. Yuki made a visible effort to hold in the cough. If Hatori noticed this, he gave no sign. He glanced at his wristwatch, counting a few seconds... "Breathe out." Yuki breathed out, again controlling the urge to cough.
"Again."
Yuki did the exercise again, this time, failing miserably. His hacking filled the room. That was when Kyou came in with three extra-thick blankets in his arms. He walked up to the bed, nudging Hatori aside, and proceeded to dump them on a recovering Yuki. Yuki's eyes turned into slits, and his voice became deadly.
"Hey," he started, before waves of blankets fell on top of his head.
Kyou walked to the couch and plopped down without waiting for Yuki to finish his sentence. Tohru hurriedly gathered the blankets and started arranging them.
Honda Tohru looked on nervously at the figure concealed in the shadows. The last time that she had come across him face to face was the time he'd grabbed a handful of her hair and shoved her head down. Souma Akito stayed in the darkened area of the room, his profile blurred by the shadows. Tohru, Shigure the dog, and Hatori the dragon. They sat at a safely unreachable distance from Akito's figure, all having been victims of his anger at least once in his lifetime.
"So we come to this again," Akito was saying. Tohru snapped out of her dazed expression and tried to concentrate on what he was saying without listening to the ill-concealed dislike.
"Once again, I'm telling you to leave the Souma house," Akito continued in a sulky voice that was considered natural for him. Tohru's stiff back stiffened even more. But she dared not say anything for fear that she make her situation more unstable than it already was. She felt a hand go on her shoulder, and she reached for it thankfully. Shigure gave her shoulder a squeeze and drew it back.
"Well..." Akito's voice was starting to become strained. "Say something, why don't you."
Tohru cleared her dry throat.
"I..." But she seemed unable to find the words to express her rising panic. From her left side, she felt Hatori shift slightly. He too cleared his throat.
"Akito," he began, his voice calm. "I think it would help Yuki's recovery if Tohru were to-"
"Help him?" It was a cruel sneer that put a chill in the room. Akito started to step out of the shadows, then stopped just before coming in front of the window that would be able to show his pale face. His shadow cast on the soft tatami mats was long and made his nose look curiously long.
"Why do you think poor Yuki is in the state he's in now?"
Tohru's mind was slowly coming to a halt.
"Why do you think men working under the Souma household suddenly appeared in front of two young Souma Juunishi members after school and proceeded with a beating?"
"You mean..." Tohru nearly jumped when Hatori's low voice wafted from behind her.
Shigure bristled from her right side.
"Is Akito saying..."
"And to think. All my men wanted to do was tell the young boys that a certain girl's extended welcome was expired."
Tohru watched in horrid fascination as Akito stepped up from the shadows. In her mind, his face was distorted, filled with the evil and corruption of the human mind. She realized that her hands were shaking, and she clasped them together quickly. She stammered.
"B-but you wouldn't have..." her voice trailed off, already knowing the answer of what had happened. Akito's thin lips twisted into a snarl.
"Anything for my Yuki," he said lightly, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Damn you..." Tohru heard Shigure fairly growl. She turned her head slowly to shoot him a look of warning. He was almost trembling with vexation. She saw his fists clench and unclench as Akito's image swam in his eyes.
He was oblivious to her anxious glance. Hesitantly, she reached out and put a cool hand on his clammy hands. It took a while, but gradually, he calmed down. When he settled down, Tohru glanced at Hatori and he gave her a reassuring nod. All the while, Akito was watching these exchanges with grim interest. He saw that Tohru was more important to these two men than he had first realized. This made him annoyed. Annoyance showed on his face.
"Why don't you just leave-?" he almost demanded, stumbling on the edge of irritation. "As long as you stay in that house, you'll be endangering the Souma clan secret."
Of course he was talking about the fact that several of the Souma clan could transform into animals once a person of the opposite sex hugged them. And of course, the real reason why he wanted Tohru to be kicked out was because she made Yuki a stronger person. If Yuki became stronger each day because of her presence, then there would come a time when he'd rebel against Akito completely. For Akito, the thought alone was blasphemy. He'd controlled Yuki since he was a young child still. He couldn't stand the thought of his young mouse cousin not scampering off to obey his whims.
"If you don't leave..." Akito heard the brashness in his voice, not caring.
"What..." Tohru started from several feet in front of him. Akito let his gaze slide up to her shaded eyes, watched with mild interest at the way Hatori and Shigure straightened up at once.
"What do you want from me?" Tohru asked softly. "I haven't done anything! I've been staying at the Souma house as a maid!"
She looked up at Akito. He was grinning at her cruelly. Then she realized that it didn't matter. What mattered was that she was close to his precious Yuki. Nobody was supposed to come close to his precious Yuki.
"Anytime I wish..." Akito began. Tohru couldn't keep the disgust from her face. "Anytime I want. I can force Yuki to let you go. It's only a matter of time before a man slips and his fist hits Yuki's weak chest too hard...So hard that..."
Akito let the sentence trail off. Then his eyes became hard gray discs. "If Yuki's not mine, then he cant belong to anyone."
Tohru saw the self-loathing in those eyes, and she just knew as certain as she knew that her own life may very well be in danger as well, the Akito meant to veiled threat.
"What...do you want me to do?" she asked wearily this time. Akito smirked.
"Simple. Make Yuki hate you."
"Make Yuki..." Tohru tried repeating the sentence, sounding like an idiot.
"If Yuki hates you," Akito reasoned, "then there's no reason for him to go after you once your memory is erased."
"Erased?" her voice was a whisper.
Akito grimaced. "Can't you think of anything on your own to say?" he snapped.
The corners of his mouth were starting to turn upward in a triumphant sneer. Things were going his way, it seemed. From where she sat numbly, Tohru hoped, prayed even, that Hatori or Shigure would jump up and argue. Neither did. Her shoulders reluctantly slumped in defeat. Of course, their cousin was more important than a random girl who happened have been found in a sleeping tent in the middle of the city.
Outside, Hatori hugged Tohru as her face crumpled and she started to cry. Shigure put a comforting hand on her head. Still, even without Akito's presence, neither of them complained.
Souma Kyou rapped twice, and then stuck his head inside.
"Tohru?" He asked, dumbly noting the almost empty bedroom. Almost all traces of Tohru were missing, except the picture frame that belonged to the Soumas. It was a picture of Tohru, Shigure, Kyou, and Yuki on the New Year's celebration a few months before.
"Oh, Tohru's visiting her grandfather for a few...days," Shigure said. Kyou looked at the Juunishi canine and looked bad at the room dubiously.
"So she took all of her things to move out?" Skepticism rung in his tone.
"...Or for a few weeks," Shigure quickly improvised. When Kyou seemed to think nothing of this, Shigure thanked the stars that Kyou was a cat and not a dog. A dog would have been able to detect the lie in seconds. Dogs were natural lie detectors, for some reason. It came from the fact that dogs were man's best friends. And men lied at a rate of almost at least one lie every three hours.
"Not that you'd know," Shigure said. "You've been away for four days now, off to heaven knows where."
"I was training in the mountains, in case those thugs come back," Kyou said, and stalked down the hall.
Shigure didn't bother telling Kyou that those thugs were actually hired by Akito himself. He watched Kyou stalk down the narrow hall tiredly. He must have been tired, after four straight days of training.
"Hey," Kyou said, turning back and looking over his shoulder. "What's the phone number of Tohru's grandfather? I'm going to ask her when she's coming back."
Shigure turned to walk down the stairs into his study.
"I'll go look for it," he said as he went down the stairs. "Get ready to pick up Yuki this afternoon in the Souma car. Tohru will be there."
Yuki, Kyou, Shigure, Hatori, and Tohru walked through the halls of the hospital. Tohru was her usual bright self, and Yuki was looking pleased at the attention that she was giving him.
"Stay out of trouble," Tohru said. She deliberately slowed her pace, making Yuki slow down his pace as well. They lagged on behind the group. This was the reception area, where there were many people. Her heart started to grow heavy as she thought of what she was supposed to do.
If she was going to make Yuki dislike her, then she could only think of one way to do it. The only thing that made her tolerable around the Soumas was the trust of most of the Souma family members. If she'd break that trust, she'd be the thorn in their side. Still she hesitated, not wanting to let go of what precious last moments she had with Yuki. But her mind was set already. There was nothing else to be done. Akito was a demented, frenetic man, but he had the Soumas cowering at his fingertips. Tohru had no one except Yuki, Kyou, and Shigure. Now, she was going to lose them all.
"Y..." Tohru's lips wouldn't move properly. What came out was an indistinct little noise. Yuki glanced at her from the middle of his conversation. His gray hair brushed his eyelashes gently. His usually flat gray-blue eyes were now expressive as he told his stories about his childhood.
"Yuki," Tohru repeated. The easy smile was gone from her face, and it was replaced with a small, sad smile. Yuki became concerned.
"Honda-san," he said. He only called her 'Honda-san' when he felt something was wrong.
Tohru stopped in front of a young woman carrying a baby, who watched them with beautiful liquid brown eyes.
Kyou noticed their stop and looked back to glance at them. Hatori and Shigure, who were in front, stopped at looked back at the two, who were behind. They knew what she was going to do; she'd told called them on the phone to tell them. Tohru lifted her eyes to Shigure, and he didn't hesitate to give a soft grin. Unseen by everyone except Hatori, he lifted his right hand up slowly in a silent farewell. From the right, Hatori paused, and then put his hand on Shigure's shoulder to share in the farewell.
That was all Tohru needed. She saw Yuki become blurry in front of her. She bit back the apology she meant to give in advance. Before he could react, she slipped her arms around his shoulder. At that second, the baby decided to cry, a lonely sound in the middle of a huge waiting area. Several heads turned to look at a normal looking high school girl and a good-looking young man, who stood right before the child. Tohru felt the slenderness of his form and she looked up to see his shocked look before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. What was left was a slightly larger than normal gray rat. Everyone had seen it. Tohru's hands dropped like leaden weights to her sides.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Tohru whispered to Hatori softly as she passed by him on her hurried way to the exit. If Hatori hadn't heard it, for sure, Shigure would have heard with his sharp hearing senses.
In her grandfather's newly built house, Tohru burned every picture she of Yuki and Kyou and of any of the Soumas. She wasn't going to be involved in their lives after tomorrow, and she shouldn't be reminded of them in any way. When the last picture was burned, and the last calling which bore Hatori's name torn into pieces, she looked on with dry eyes to the future.
At 9:00 AM, a young woman entered the Souma premises, looking confident and composed; sure of what she was going to do. She wore her high school uniform; a fact, which aroused some curious looks, because the day was a class day. The Monday air hung with responsibility and work.
At 9:15 AM, the same young woman emerged from the same entrance. She looked slightly dazed. She leaned against the lamppost at the side of the gate, and glanced up, seemingly lost. She asked an artist nearby sketching a river for directions.
At 10:00 AM, this young woman arrived in her high school classroom, late by nearly three hours. Two people named Souma Yuki and Souma Kyou did not acknowledge her presence, and she didn't acknowledge theirs. They sat looking at her with the detached interest of passersby, just like the rest of her classmates. She gave an embarrassed smile and sat down on her chair.
END CHAPTER 1
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Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. Please try to click on the review button every time your finger muscles need some exercise as you go along. Thank you! (heart ()
Honda Tohru glanced out the train window and tried not to cry. She was a pitiful sight on the hard plastic seats of the modern bus, a slight young teenager, long brown hair tied up in a hurriedly done ponytail, and a face ashen with ill-concealed worry. Her hands gripped the small purse she carried around, fingers fiddling nervously with the strap that went around the shoulder. Less than ten minutes earlier, she had received a phone call in the Souma house from the hospital staff, telling her that her Yuki had just had a severe attack of bronchitis. At that instant, all sounds seemed to closed down slowly until everything was just a shrill void, like those sounds heard on television sets when the cable is cut off. All she heard was: "...Lung failure." and "...critical condition" and "...legal papers..." All she saw was the hospital's emergency number flashing on the caller ID section of the phone, almost seeming to pulse with the knowledge of the news that that number was now bringing to her. Numbly, without saying a word, she'd put the phone down. Several seconds later, she was running out of the house. And now, she was on her way to see how Yuki was doing. Tohru seemed unaware of the mildly curious glances of the other passengers as she glared at the blur of the window, willing the train to move faster...
Tohru burst inside the hospital room, and rushed in, obviously worried half to death. From the couch set in the side of the room, Kyou looked up, his orange hair emphasizing the paleness of his tanned face. He'd been sitting down heavily on the couch, his head in his hands. After glancing at him, Tohru whipped her gaze to the hospital bed, located at the center. She was almost afraid to look. Taking a deep breath, Tohru strode over to the center and gazed down at Souma Yuki. Her breath caught in her throat as she studied him. He was apparently sleeping; his long eyelashes seemed almost dark against the grayish pallor of his complexion. Breathing seemed like a difficult task for him. His breaths were short and wheezing, the breaks in between long. Somehow, Yuki's face seemed narrower, his body frail. Tohru's hand reflexively reached for his, then dropped like lead when Souma Hatori's voice drifted inside the hospital room. "Yes, I've known his condition since he was a child," Hatori was informing a nurse that was trailing him closely. "I know the history of his bronchitis, much better than your Doctor Yamashita." Hatori strode into the room, a powerful figure in his business suit and trademark doctor's gown. He took a cursory glance at the white washed walls, closed around like a white prison, the running aircon, the closed windows, and the three teenagers. He turned around on the poor nurse, who was looking quite hassled trying to get Hatori to wait before she'd consult the head nurse for the records of Yuki's current condition. "That's all right, I've already got a copy," Hatori told her coolly and firmly, holding the slim file that he'd got from the counter before barging his way into the room and holding his own fat folder that was Yuki's bronchitis file from birth onwards. "Please leave," Hatori continued. The nurse paused, bowed slightly, and haughtily left the room, displeased. Hatori gave Tohru a cursory glance before his gaze moved to Kyou. Kyou had stood up when Hatori came in, and his torn and dirty school uniform suggested that he'd been involved in some sort of ruckus just before Yuki had gotten his attack. Hatori gave him an unsurprised, level cursory glance as well before spouting orders. "Tohru, turn that aircon off. It circulates the dust particles from this room. And open the windows, why don't you. Fresh air is better than what that thing can give us. Kyou, go out and request a thicker blanket for Yuki. And elevate his bed a little higher. Tohru, when you're done with that, go take Yuki's temperature." Tohru and Kyou set off to do what they were told, while Hatori browsed through the thin file that he held. When Tohru was done opening the windows, she opened the drawer of the small table beside the bed to take the thermometer out, then turned to Yuki. Kyou was roughly jolting the bed handle up, struggling with the slightly rusted handle. He was shaking the bed up and down quite a bit. Before she could stop him, Tohru saw Yuki's eyes open slllooowwllly in irritation. His weak glare flew to Kyou, who stopped when he felt Yuki's eyes on him. Tohru saw the sparks fly between them despite Yuki's weak state. She cleared her throat. "Ah, Yuki, I have to take your temperature," she said, already holding the thermometer in front of his mouth. Kyou fled to get a thicker blanket. Yuki's annoyance evaporated in a flash when his watery eyes flashed on Tohru. But then his gaze slipped to Hatori, who was standing discreetly in the background, and his eyes narrowed. Only then did he realize that he wasn't at home, in his familiar environment. He sprang up from the bed, knocking the thermometer from Tohru's hand. Instantly, his right hand was on his chest as he coughed uncontrollably. "Y-Yuki," Tohru said anxiously, reaching out to steady him. She put one hand on his arm and another around his shoulders. "Where am I?" Yuki choked out when he'd gained control of his voice. When he looked again at Hatori's cool profile, his eyes narrowed noticeably. Hatori's eyes regarded him levelly. He stood up, and reached for his stethoscope, and stalked towards the bed. Tohru moved away to make way for Hatori. The doctor placed the stethoscope on Yuki's chest. "Breathe in." Yuki took a wheezing breath that sounded like it was trailing off to a cough. Yuki made a visible effort to hold in the cough. If Hatori noticed this, he gave no sign. He glanced at his wristwatch, counting a few seconds... "Breathe out." Yuki breathed out, again controlling the urge to cough.
"Again."
Yuki did the exercise again, this time, failing miserably. His hacking filled the room. That was when Kyou came in with three extra-thick blankets in his arms. He walked up to the bed, nudging Hatori aside, and proceeded to dump them on a recovering Yuki. Yuki's eyes turned into slits, and his voice became deadly.
"Hey," he started, before waves of blankets fell on top of his head.
Kyou walked to the couch and plopped down without waiting for Yuki to finish his sentence. Tohru hurriedly gathered the blankets and started arranging them.
Honda Tohru looked on nervously at the figure concealed in the shadows. The last time that she had come across him face to face was the time he'd grabbed a handful of her hair and shoved her head down. Souma Akito stayed in the darkened area of the room, his profile blurred by the shadows. Tohru, Shigure the dog, and Hatori the dragon. They sat at a safely unreachable distance from Akito's figure, all having been victims of his anger at least once in his lifetime.
"So we come to this again," Akito was saying. Tohru snapped out of her dazed expression and tried to concentrate on what he was saying without listening to the ill-concealed dislike.
"Once again, I'm telling you to leave the Souma house," Akito continued in a sulky voice that was considered natural for him. Tohru's stiff back stiffened even more. But she dared not say anything for fear that she make her situation more unstable than it already was. She felt a hand go on her shoulder, and she reached for it thankfully. Shigure gave her shoulder a squeeze and drew it back.
"Well..." Akito's voice was starting to become strained. "Say something, why don't you."
Tohru cleared her dry throat.
"I..." But she seemed unable to find the words to express her rising panic. From her left side, she felt Hatori shift slightly. He too cleared his throat.
"Akito," he began, his voice calm. "I think it would help Yuki's recovery if Tohru were to-"
"Help him?" It was a cruel sneer that put a chill in the room. Akito started to step out of the shadows, then stopped just before coming in front of the window that would be able to show his pale face. His shadow cast on the soft tatami mats was long and made his nose look curiously long.
"Why do you think poor Yuki is in the state he's in now?"
Tohru's mind was slowly coming to a halt.
"Why do you think men working under the Souma household suddenly appeared in front of two young Souma Juunishi members after school and proceeded with a beating?"
"You mean..." Tohru nearly jumped when Hatori's low voice wafted from behind her.
Shigure bristled from her right side.
"Is Akito saying..."
"And to think. All my men wanted to do was tell the young boys that a certain girl's extended welcome was expired."
Tohru watched in horrid fascination as Akito stepped up from the shadows. In her mind, his face was distorted, filled with the evil and corruption of the human mind. She realized that her hands were shaking, and she clasped them together quickly. She stammered.
"B-but you wouldn't have..." her voice trailed off, already knowing the answer of what had happened. Akito's thin lips twisted into a snarl.
"Anything for my Yuki," he said lightly, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Damn you..." Tohru heard Shigure fairly growl. She turned her head slowly to shoot him a look of warning. He was almost trembling with vexation. She saw his fists clench and unclench as Akito's image swam in his eyes.
He was oblivious to her anxious glance. Hesitantly, she reached out and put a cool hand on his clammy hands. It took a while, but gradually, he calmed down. When he settled down, Tohru glanced at Hatori and he gave her a reassuring nod. All the while, Akito was watching these exchanges with grim interest. He saw that Tohru was more important to these two men than he had first realized. This made him annoyed. Annoyance showed on his face.
"Why don't you just leave-?" he almost demanded, stumbling on the edge of irritation. "As long as you stay in that house, you'll be endangering the Souma clan secret."
Of course he was talking about the fact that several of the Souma clan could transform into animals once a person of the opposite sex hugged them. And of course, the real reason why he wanted Tohru to be kicked out was because she made Yuki a stronger person. If Yuki became stronger each day because of her presence, then there would come a time when he'd rebel against Akito completely. For Akito, the thought alone was blasphemy. He'd controlled Yuki since he was a young child still. He couldn't stand the thought of his young mouse cousin not scampering off to obey his whims.
"If you don't leave..." Akito heard the brashness in his voice, not caring.
"What..." Tohru started from several feet in front of him. Akito let his gaze slide up to her shaded eyes, watched with mild interest at the way Hatori and Shigure straightened up at once.
"What do you want from me?" Tohru asked softly. "I haven't done anything! I've been staying at the Souma house as a maid!"
She looked up at Akito. He was grinning at her cruelly. Then she realized that it didn't matter. What mattered was that she was close to his precious Yuki. Nobody was supposed to come close to his precious Yuki.
"Anytime I wish..." Akito began. Tohru couldn't keep the disgust from her face. "Anytime I want. I can force Yuki to let you go. It's only a matter of time before a man slips and his fist hits Yuki's weak chest too hard...So hard that..."
Akito let the sentence trail off. Then his eyes became hard gray discs. "If Yuki's not mine, then he cant belong to anyone."
Tohru saw the self-loathing in those eyes, and she just knew as certain as she knew that her own life may very well be in danger as well, the Akito meant to veiled threat.
"What...do you want me to do?" she asked wearily this time. Akito smirked.
"Simple. Make Yuki hate you."
"Make Yuki..." Tohru tried repeating the sentence, sounding like an idiot.
"If Yuki hates you," Akito reasoned, "then there's no reason for him to go after you once your memory is erased."
"Erased?" her voice was a whisper.
Akito grimaced. "Can't you think of anything on your own to say?" he snapped.
The corners of his mouth were starting to turn upward in a triumphant sneer. Things were going his way, it seemed. From where she sat numbly, Tohru hoped, prayed even, that Hatori or Shigure would jump up and argue. Neither did. Her shoulders reluctantly slumped in defeat. Of course, their cousin was more important than a random girl who happened have been found in a sleeping tent in the middle of the city.
Outside, Hatori hugged Tohru as her face crumpled and she started to cry. Shigure put a comforting hand on her head. Still, even without Akito's presence, neither of them complained.
Souma Kyou rapped twice, and then stuck his head inside.
"Tohru?" He asked, dumbly noting the almost empty bedroom. Almost all traces of Tohru were missing, except the picture frame that belonged to the Soumas. It was a picture of Tohru, Shigure, Kyou, and Yuki on the New Year's celebration a few months before.
"Oh, Tohru's visiting her grandfather for a few...days," Shigure said. Kyou looked at the Juunishi canine and looked bad at the room dubiously.
"So she took all of her things to move out?" Skepticism rung in his tone.
"...Or for a few weeks," Shigure quickly improvised. When Kyou seemed to think nothing of this, Shigure thanked the stars that Kyou was a cat and not a dog. A dog would have been able to detect the lie in seconds. Dogs were natural lie detectors, for some reason. It came from the fact that dogs were man's best friends. And men lied at a rate of almost at least one lie every three hours.
"Not that you'd know," Shigure said. "You've been away for four days now, off to heaven knows where."
"I was training in the mountains, in case those thugs come back," Kyou said, and stalked down the hall.
Shigure didn't bother telling Kyou that those thugs were actually hired by Akito himself. He watched Kyou stalk down the narrow hall tiredly. He must have been tired, after four straight days of training.
"Hey," Kyou said, turning back and looking over his shoulder. "What's the phone number of Tohru's grandfather? I'm going to ask her when she's coming back."
Shigure turned to walk down the stairs into his study.
"I'll go look for it," he said as he went down the stairs. "Get ready to pick up Yuki this afternoon in the Souma car. Tohru will be there."
Yuki, Kyou, Shigure, Hatori, and Tohru walked through the halls of the hospital. Tohru was her usual bright self, and Yuki was looking pleased at the attention that she was giving him.
"Stay out of trouble," Tohru said. She deliberately slowed her pace, making Yuki slow down his pace as well. They lagged on behind the group. This was the reception area, where there were many people. Her heart started to grow heavy as she thought of what she was supposed to do.
If she was going to make Yuki dislike her, then she could only think of one way to do it. The only thing that made her tolerable around the Soumas was the trust of most of the Souma family members. If she'd break that trust, she'd be the thorn in their side. Still she hesitated, not wanting to let go of what precious last moments she had with Yuki. But her mind was set already. There was nothing else to be done. Akito was a demented, frenetic man, but he had the Soumas cowering at his fingertips. Tohru had no one except Yuki, Kyou, and Shigure. Now, she was going to lose them all.
"Y..." Tohru's lips wouldn't move properly. What came out was an indistinct little noise. Yuki glanced at her from the middle of his conversation. His gray hair brushed his eyelashes gently. His usually flat gray-blue eyes were now expressive as he told his stories about his childhood.
"Yuki," Tohru repeated. The easy smile was gone from her face, and it was replaced with a small, sad smile. Yuki became concerned.
"Honda-san," he said. He only called her 'Honda-san' when he felt something was wrong.
Tohru stopped in front of a young woman carrying a baby, who watched them with beautiful liquid brown eyes.
Kyou noticed their stop and looked back to glance at them. Hatori and Shigure, who were in front, stopped at looked back at the two, who were behind. They knew what she was going to do; she'd told called them on the phone to tell them. Tohru lifted her eyes to Shigure, and he didn't hesitate to give a soft grin. Unseen by everyone except Hatori, he lifted his right hand up slowly in a silent farewell. From the right, Hatori paused, and then put his hand on Shigure's shoulder to share in the farewell.
That was all Tohru needed. She saw Yuki become blurry in front of her. She bit back the apology she meant to give in advance. Before he could react, she slipped her arms around his shoulder. At that second, the baby decided to cry, a lonely sound in the middle of a huge waiting area. Several heads turned to look at a normal looking high school girl and a good-looking young man, who stood right before the child. Tohru felt the slenderness of his form and she looked up to see his shocked look before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. What was left was a slightly larger than normal gray rat. Everyone had seen it. Tohru's hands dropped like leaden weights to her sides.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Tohru whispered to Hatori softly as she passed by him on her hurried way to the exit. If Hatori hadn't heard it, for sure, Shigure would have heard with his sharp hearing senses.
In her grandfather's newly built house, Tohru burned every picture she of Yuki and Kyou and of any of the Soumas. She wasn't going to be involved in their lives after tomorrow, and she shouldn't be reminded of them in any way. When the last picture was burned, and the last calling which bore Hatori's name torn into pieces, she looked on with dry eyes to the future.
At 9:00 AM, a young woman entered the Souma premises, looking confident and composed; sure of what she was going to do. She wore her high school uniform; a fact, which aroused some curious looks, because the day was a class day. The Monday air hung with responsibility and work.
At 9:15 AM, the same young woman emerged from the same entrance. She looked slightly dazed. She leaned against the lamppost at the side of the gate, and glanced up, seemingly lost. She asked an artist nearby sketching a river for directions.
At 10:00 AM, this young woman arrived in her high school classroom, late by nearly three hours. Two people named Souma Yuki and Souma Kyou did not acknowledge her presence, and she didn't acknowledge theirs. They sat looking at her with the detached interest of passersby, just like the rest of her classmates. She gave an embarrassed smile and sat down on her chair.
END CHAPTER 1
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