DISCLAIMER - I do not own Fruits Basket or any of its characters
"Hatori." Akito's soft alluring voice purred. Hatori looked up, the left side of his face obscured by his long dark fringe. He knelt on the floor in the plain, empty room facing the open doors that led to the wintry garden where everything was covered with snow, his white doctor's coat fanning out across the hard wooden floor behind him. Akito lay sprawled by the door in long flowing white robes looking at Hatori with a cruel glint in his eye that Hatori had become accustomed to and also learned to dread. "Ah, Hatori. You would never disobey me would you?" he purred as he stood and walked towards Hatori until he stood in front of him, one hand reaching down and caressing his black tie.
"No." Hatori replied obediently as Akito smirked, tightening his grip on the tie and pulling Hatori closer, the knot tightening painfully around his neck,
"Good, because I have a task for you Hatori…" he replied as he dropped the tie and walked away. Hatori watched, trying to keep the dread from showing in his good eye. "The time has come. Tohru Honda. You shall erase her memory of ever having met the Sohmas." He continued, turning to look at the strain on Hatori's face as he fought against the pain.
"Akito…" he said, not looking up at the head of the family, who was leaning on the wall running a hand through his ebony locks. At the mention of his name he paused, "I beg you to reconsider." Hatori said, knowing what the answer would be.
"Are you questioning me?" Akito asked with a warning in his voice. Hatori bowed down until his forehead touched the floor.
"No Akito. If this is your wish, it shall be done." He replied mechanically. He felt a hand grab his hair and gritted his teeth as Akito yanked his head up roughly, locking his brown eyes to Hatori's amber one for a moment,
"Good. Never question me again." Akito replied as he released Hatori's hair from his death grip. Hatori stayed when he was for what seemed like an eternity until he heard the words he longed to hear, "Leave me now." Akito said dismissively as he turned away. Hatori got to his feet and left, shutting the door behind him. He felt his heart sink as he thought of Tohru, Yuki and Kyo. The three of them were inseparable, how could Akito do this? How can I do this? Hatori wondered as he walked through the long echoing halls of the main house. Once he was at the front door he walked down the steps towards his own house, not even registering the young blonde boy who skipped along at his side, crunching the fresh snow under his feet happily.
"Ha'ri, are you alright?" the small half German boy asked as they reached the door. Hatori didn't answer as he opened the door and went inside, why? Why do I have to hurt people? Why do I have to do this? Hatori thought despairingly as he stood in the hall,
Hatori looked down at the young trembling girl in front of him. She can't have been more than seven years old, her brown eyes wide with terror as Hatori lowered his hand to her eyes gently,
"Don't worry. You won't feel a thing." He assured, though this didn't offer much comfort to the small brunette, who was quivering. Hatori concentrated as he always did until there was a flash and the girl fell back to the floor unconscious. Hatori heard clapping and looked at the wall to see a very young Akito smiling maliciously,
"Well done Hatori, my ice king. Now for the rest." He said smugly as he looked at Hatori's calm expression, but knowing the pain and guilt he felt inside as it ate away at him. A young woman quickly carried the girl away to another room where she could recover from the memory wipe and in the doorway, hidden from Akito's view, he saw Yuki looking at him accusingly with watery violet eyes.
"Please send the next in." Hatori said tonelessly, ignoring both Akito and Yuki as the next child entered, this one a young boy with light brown hair, who looked around curiously, even smiling at Akito, who smiled back in amusement,
"Will this hurt?" the boy asked as he looked up at Hatori, who knelt down and put a comforting smile on his face, though his eyes showed nothing but pain and regret,
"Not at all." Hatori replied, his voice almost breaking as he raised his hand again, "Just stay still and you won't feel a thing." He added as a flash lit the room and the small boy fell down to the floor unconscious.
"Why? Why did you do it Hatori? They were my friends! Why?" a very young Yuki cried as he sat leaning on Hatori's knee as he crouched on the grass by the main house. Hatori, still in his dark school uniform, looked down at the grey hair boy with a heavy weight in his chest.
"Yuki. You know we cannot allow the secret to become known to outsiders." He replied, leaving out the fact that Akito had demanded that he do it, after all, it wasn't Akito's fault. Rules were rules.
"But why couldn't we still be friends?" Yuki sobbed. Hatori raised a hand and laid it on the young boys shoulder, but he knew it offered little comfort.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked the beautiful blonde woman, who sat opposite him in his office at the Sohma estate. She looked at him with large blood shot eyes and a manic grin,
"My only regret is that that thing came out of my body." She replied in a mad quivering voice. Hatori glanced towards the doorway, where he saw a very young Momiji peering round the door with large brown eyes that shed tears as Hatori raised his hand and blanked him from the woman's mind.
"Why?" the small boy asked from the doorway. Hatori looked at him pityingly as he looked at the unconscious woman sadly, "Why couldn't you hold on." He whispered as he buried his face in his hands.
"Erase his memory of us Hatori. It is your duty as a Sohma." twelve year old Akito ordered as he looked down at Hatori's kneeling form. Hatori bowed and got to his feet, looking at the cowering teen,
"No! Please! I beg you!" he cried fearfully as he raised his hands over his head. Hatori knelt down to his level and gently put his hand under the man's raised arms to rest on his forehead,
"I am sorry." Hatori whispered before there was a flash and the man was unconscious.
"Momiji, I told you to be careful." Hatori said as he looked down at the young blonde boy, who looked up at him innocently,
"But she won't tell anyone!" he said imploringly, grabbing his lab coat pleadingly as Hatori opened the door to his office where a small girl sat in a middle school uniform, looking at him like a rabbit caught in headlights.
"You know the rules Momiji." Hatori replied firmly as he walked towards the quivering young girl and placed a hand on her forehead.
"I-it would have been better…if we had never met." Kana cried as they stood in his office. He felt his heart break again as he saw her tears and raised his hand, placing it over her eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry." She whispered before the flash erased her memories of him and she fell to the floor, where two young maids helped her to her feet and led her away to recover, leaving Hatori in his office with tears streaming down his face as he watched her retreating form, her light brown hair hiding her face as they turned the corner at the end of the hall.
"Ha'ri? Hey, wake up!" Momiji said cheerfully in a singsong voice as he hopped around Hatori, who was still standing in the hall. He paused at the look on Hatori's face. It was one he had never seen before, full of self-loathing and rage. For as long as he could remember Hatori had held his emotions on the inside, showing only the occasional smile now and then,
"Momiji. Go out." He ordered, his voice low, harsh and quivering as he stepped further into the house and pulled off his white coat roughly, throwing it on the floor with a loud rustle,
"But Ha'ri…you want Shii-chan? Or Ayame-chan?" he asked worriedly as Hatori's hands clenched into fists and started to shake, making the young boy step back fearfully, what's going on? Why is Ha'ri so scary all of a sudden? Momiji wondered almost terrified,
"Just get out." Hatori replied coldly, but the boy made no move to leave, seemingly frozen to the spot in fear. Hatori felt something snap and punched the wall as hard a he could, splintering a picture frame and cutting his hand on the glass, "Get out!" he roared angrily, not feeling anything but his own rage as the boy ran out the door crying in terror. Hatori looked at the blood on his hand, savouring the pain and release from his outburst. What good am I? All I do is hurt people! I'm useless! After all of the things I've done I don't deserve to live! He thought as he picked up a vase and threw it at the wall roughly, shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces. Next to go was the coffee table in the living room, which knocked the television onto the floor where it fell apart, littering the floor with wires and screws. He worked his way to the bedroom, where he collapsed on the floor beside his medical bag crying, how can I do that to Tohru? He thought.
"Look Hatori it's snowing…funny how I'm seeing the first snow of the year with you isn't it?" she added as they stood in the street, her cute face looking up to the sky with a bright smile, her long brown hair tossing in the wind, and while he stood beside her, just watching her innocent joy as the snow fell into her out stretched hands.
"When snow melts what does it become?" Hatori asked as he stood up from the bench, careful not to slip on the snowy ground. He looked at Tohru, who smiled brightly through her dark brown bangs,
"It becomes spring doesn't it?" she replied cheerfully, her smile so bright that Hatori felt his chest warm just a little bit.
"Ha'ri, I brought you some Valentines Day chocolate." Shigure said brightly as Hatori opened the front door. Hatori closed it roughly with a bang and turned away, listening as it slid open behind him and Shigure sighed, "Alright, it's not from me, it's from Tohru." He replied sheepishly as her entered the office.
"Oh, Hatori, what do I owe you?" Tohru asked as she sat up in bed, her face slightly red from a fever, almost matching the pink of her pyjamas.
"Get well soon." Hatori replied with a slight smile as he left her with Momiji and Kisa, the small girl clutching her arm worriedly as her golden eyes looked closely at the girl she had come to see as a sister.
"I can't do it…I won't do it…and I'm the only one who can do it." He said firmly as he pulled his medical bag onto his lap and searched through it, pushing aside the stethoscope and bandages until he came to a small black case, if something happens to me, Akito will no longer be able to erase Tohru's memory…and this family will be so much better off with Tohru in it than with me. He thought as opened the box and examined his small collection of surgical instruments, selecting one of the delicate silver scalpels.
"Momiji? What's wrong?" Haru asked as the blonde boy ran towards him crying. The taller and older looking boy leaned down and put his arms around his cousin. They were still in the main estate, right by Kagura's house, the lights still on inside, I had hoped to see if Rin had come back…oh well, Momiji looks like he's in real trouble, Haru thought as the blonde boy cried against his chest,
"Haru! Hatori's mad! He's gone mad!" Momiji cried almost unintelligibly, "He just told me to get out and…I'm worried Haru, please come back with me, I'm scared to go alone." He replied tearfully. Haru ruffled his white and black hair as he looked at Momiji's pleading eyes, I really don't know how much I'm going to be able to do about Hatori…then again I'm the only one around…he thought, Momiji looking up pleadingly,
"Well, that doesn't sound like Hatori…alright. We'll call Shigure and Ayame when we get there." Haru replied as they ran across the gardens together and up the steps to Hatori's house, Haru's black boots giving him no trouble in the snow with the large black soles. "Hatori?" Haru called as he pulled his long cream coat off and let it fall to the floor, following the path of destruction through the living room and into the bedroom. "Hatori?" he called, unable to see him anywhere. He walked around the bed and looked in the bathroom, "Where did he go?" he wondered as he turned around, feeling his breath catch as he looked down at the unmoving body on the floor and the endless stream of blood flowing from his slit wrists and staining the wooden floorboards, "Shit! Momiji! Call Shigure and Ayame now!" Haru shouted as he pulled a mobile from his pocket and called for an ambulance. Momiji walked in curiously and saw Hatori on the floor, tears streaming down his face as he ran to get the phone. He dialled Shigure with shaking hands and waited fearfully,
"Hello, who is calling?" Yuki's voice asked politely on the other end as he stood in the hall, a physics book tucked securely under his arm as his violet eyes looked into the empty dining room, everyone in their rooms studying, or working in Shigure's case.
"Yuki! I need Shii-chan now!" Momiji cried, his German accent thicker than usual, Yuki holding the phone away from his ear as the younger boy shouted, his expression taking on a more worried tone as he headed down the hall towards Shigure's study near the back garden, the cordless phone in hand,
"Alright, calm down Momiji, what happened?" Yuki asked soothingly on the other end, the background noise changing as Yuki moved through the house, apparently on his way to find Shigure.
"Ha'ri, he-he…" Momiji trailed off as a new bout of sobbing started, Yuki opening the sliding door of the study to find Shigure slowly writing across a mostly blank page, his glasses resting on his nose as he stared at the page, looking up questioningly as Yuki came in with the phone,
"It's Momiji, he sounds really bad; you have to talk to him!" Yuki mumbled seriously as he got closer, Shigure's expression anxious as he took the offered phone and held it to his ear,
"Momiji?" Shigure's voice asked seriously and more than a little worried, the sound music to Momiji's ears as he clutched the receiver to his ear desperately, Ha'ri's the closest thing I have to a father! He thought as tears streamed down his cheeks,
"Shii-chan! You have to come to Ha'ri's, he…he's hurt, badly hurt!" Momiji cried, Shigure gasping sharply, his brown eyes widening as he looked up at Yuki, who looked even more worried as Shigure paled, whatever Momiji was saying certainly wasn't good.
"Alright, we'll be right there. Are you alone?" he asked worriedly as Yuki nodded and ran out of the room, probably to call the others down,
"No, Haru is with me." Momiji replied on the other end, oh thank god! At least Haru has an ounce of common sense, though I would have preferred an adult to be there, Shigure thought as he got to his feet,
"Alright, just stay there." Shigure replied before hanging up. Momiji looked at the phone and started dialling Ayame's shop, going back into the bedroom to see Haru tightly bandaging Hatori's wrists, but suddenly a hand raised up and stopped him, trying to push Haru away,
"Leave it…don't…help…me…" Hatori rasped weakly before his hand dropped away and his eyes closed again.
"What's wrong with Hatori?" Yuki demanded as Shigure headed for the front door with a pale face, Yuki already in his shoes and jacket as Tohru and Kyo appeared both looking very worried.
"What? Hatori?" Tohru asked; worry etched into her features as Yuki held her coat out for her, Kyo pulling his sneakers on quickly, not even bothering to tie the laces.
"What happened Shigure?" Kyo snapped as he stepped towards the door. Shigure looked at the three faces. One fearful, one worried and one scowling trying to hide the worry. Shigure slipped his shoes on, not changing out of his evening kimono as he grabbed his coat,
"I'll tell you on the way, but I don't know that much myself." He replied, not needing to wait long as the three continued pulling on shoes and coats on in a flurry, all of them recognising the need for haste.