"Hatori." The voice that spoke his name was flat and unemotional. Hatori tried not to shiver. Her voice was sooo…. Eerie, when she spoke like that. He preferred her crying and vulnerable, or even ranting and insane. He could handle her in those states. When she went all cold… it always meant she was plotting something.
"Yes, Akito." He quipped back as he finished jotting down his notes for the day.
"I want you to erase them." Akito intoned. The pen slipped from his hand. He left it where it fell, barely able to believe his ears. His stomach flip-flopped queasily. He felt the blood rush to his ears as his knees went weak with shock.
"Erase… erase w-w-what?" He stammered out. The legal pad fell from his other hand as he unconsciously slid his hand into his pocket reaching for a cigarette, cursing his trembling fingers for their inept grasping as they slid around his lighter, pushed aside a pencil, gouged angrily behind the stethascope he kept in there but the cigarette proved elusive. He knew! He knew what Akito meant. He just didn't want to believe it. His golden eyes met Akito's smirking black eyes. Black as hell. He thought on a brief surge of defiance, almost immediately regretting it as the animal spirit within him rebelled.
"Her memories. Tohru Honda's. I want it done tonight." Her thin lips curled in a vindictive smile. Hatori could only nod is submission forcing his eyes not to fill with tears. He knew what this would mean to all the Juunishi. If they never hated him for his ability before they would most certainly hate him now.
He left the Honke, to wander aimlessly down the road in the darkness. No, that wasn't true, he smiled despairingly to himself as his fingers, still grasping finally found the death stick he had been looking for. He lit. He inhaled. He hoped for cancer. He wanted it now. He wanted it quick. He prayed to Kami to take him before he reached Shigure's house, before he saw her! For his wanderings were not aimless. Inevitably and inexorably each step forward brought him one step closer to a girl he adored who he would be forced to hurt- no- violate in a most profane manner, all on the whim of an insane God whom he loved and loathed with equal passion. The spirit within him slammed furiously against his skull and he winced before taking another drag on the cigarette.
He had no choice.
He would do as his God commanded. He raised the cigarette to his lip when a cold wind rose up around him. The wind stole the warmth from his soul, the light of the moon was swallowed in darkness and sound was robbed from the earth.
A death-like silence enveloped him and the world was suspended in time. He could feel it. Time had stopped all around him. He looked around. Leaves on the branches of trees were frozen midsway, immobile.
Then he saw her. She detached herself from the darkness as if she were a part of the night.
"Hello doctor." Her voice was as cold as the timeless night. He released his breath an exhalation of nervous energy. The air fogged in front of his face.
"Hanajima." He whispered, inclining his head respectfully. This was Tohru's friend, the psychic.
"How are you doctor?" She questioned her eyes piercing him, liquid pools of evening that seemed to enter him, swirl within him, measure him, judge him, and find him lacking.
"I am well. I am on my way to see Tohru as a matter of fact." He stated baldly. If anything the night seemed to get colder.
"I know." Saki Hanajima softly replied. She stepped toward him, he could feel his body hair rising in response to the electrical currents he felt in the air, a low hum had begun in his ears, a very annoying ringing pitch screaming in his brain. He cocked his head to the side, struggling not to look away. He would not be stared down by a slip of a teenage girl.
"You know?" He asked. Her eyes never left his.
"What you plan is rape. I will not allow it." Hatori suddenly and inexplicably found himself on the ground looking up at Saki Hanajima. She stared coolly down at the doctor sprawled unmanfully at her feet. "You seek to get inside my Tohru and take that which she would never give. You would force your way where you are not welcome and violate the trust she has given you."
Her words slammed into him with such force that he gasped at the visceral response he felt at their truth. She was exactly right! Tohru… innocent loving Tohru… he had been ready to rape her mind!
"I will offer you this warning only once doctor, and only because Tohru cares for you. Tread not upon sacred places where you are not invited. If you take or touch that which is not yours-"
She passed him, but he could swear he felt her at his neck, her voice inside of his mind, what felt like claws gripping and twisting his soul, 'I will rip from your mind every memory you steal from her, and then lock you in the farthest corner of your psyche, trapped inside your worst fears to be tortured so horribly you would claw out your own eyes to make the visions stop. But they never would. They would repeat every moment for the rest of your life without end. And I guarantee that end would be a long time in coming.'
"You will regret it. Do her no harm, doctor." Time resumed its forward march and as Tohru's dark and mysterious friend vanished so too did the otherworldly cold. As Hatori stood he shuddered slightly, but a small smile curled across his face. His cigarette lay forgotten on the ground as he resumed his trek to Shigure's. Akito would have to find some other way to have her foul desires served. Hatori would not be raping Tohru.
He spent the evening glorying in the attention Tohru showered on him. He delighted in her fussing and laughed repeatedly throughout the evening as she moved from one Sohma to the other, a whirlwind of motherly instinct and tender love. He drew in a shuddering breath as she passed behind him to reach for the dessert tray, her hand resting briefly on his shoulder as she braced herself for support.
To think of what he had almost done! He had almost destroyed this.
"Hatori, would you like some more dessert?" She asked, a dimpled smile on her face her eyes gazing on him with a hostesses concern and another, warmer emotion that Hatori could only helplessly define as love.
"No, Tohru. My thanks. You didn't have to do all this-"
"No!" She gasped, "It's no trouble at all, I'm only happy that you came by for a visit! It's not often I get to have two of the famous Mabudachi trio together in one room." She smiled again, "Besides, I never did get to thank you for coming so quickly to my rescue when I got that cold." Hatori didn't know how to respond so he raised his teacup to his lips and drank. Tohru took this as a signal and began clearing the dishes. His eyes lingered lovingly on her. He noticed Shigure, too appeared just as enchanted. The boys were also watching her as she bustled about the table. It occurred to Hatori, as he watched his cousins observe their little houseguest that Tohru was precious to all of them because she gave each of them something they had all never had. She gave them contentment.
She was their peace.
No. There would be no rape this time. Hatori loved Tohru. He would never take her memories from her. He would never hurt her like that. When Akito learned about Tohru's friend, she would not require it of him. Serene in the knowledge that he had cheated fate Hatori basked in the glow of Tohru's tenderness.
In the darkness outside a lone figure stood silhouetted between a white moon and a darkened earth. Some bonds were worth everything. Unconditional love is a rare commodity in this world. Saki Hanajima had found such love in Tohru Honda. And Saki Hanajima would allow no one to harm her Tohru. Tohru was her sunlight. Without her the world was dark. And Saki had learned through painful experience that she did prefer to live in the light.