It must be so horrible for one who was told they were born to be loved, to be, in reality, so feared and hated by the people they so cherished.
Akito had protected that world, her perception of reality would collapse without the Zodiac, and without her place as their God she had nothing but a familiar of sinister and reproachful individuals.
Her world was collapsing when she ran to Tohru that day. And since then, everything which happened to their family had only been for the best. She no longer clung to the Zodiac for protection, she accepted that the curse was broken, she could deal with it.
However, as time passed, there were some aspects of her personality Akito could never quite let go of.
She'd always had a temper, since she was a tiny child. Sometimes her rages and tempers would be that bad; she'd scream and attack anyone close to her. In those days, much like today, he was able to calm her by taking her in his arms and rocking her gently as she cried like a lost soul. He'd taken on her temper, knowing what it was like; he assured himself he'd be able to deal with it. He had done his entire life.
At first he found it sweet… adorable even, that she'd get so jealous if he so much as spoke to another woman. But then she got violent again… shaking and clinging to him the instant he got home, smashing things in the house while he was out.
"Akito, I'm home?" He called, closing the front door behind him and slipping off his jacket, "Aki-chan? Honey, where are you?"
The man's eyes narrowed as he saw a smashed pot scattered across the ground. Shigure bit his lower lip, "Akito? Akito, I'm back!"
He heard a bump and someone rushing across the corridor. She flung herself into his arms, clutching at the folds in his shirt. Her chest was heaving, from the glimpse he got at her eyes; it looked like she'd been crying.
Shigure lowered a hand and stroked her hair, "Akito, why are you crying?"
She looked up at him and shook him, "You were gone for hours – hours, Shigure - out with some woman!"
"I went out to dinner with some old writer friends, I told you earlier!"
"Don't lie – it was some woman – I heard her voice on the phone!"
"There were a lot of us there, Akito, yes, some of them were women, but that doesn't mean anything," he lowered his hands and wrapped them around her tiny waist, "Please calm down… I don't have to justify myself to you. You know how I feel about you, so why do you do this every time I leave you?"
Akito wiped her eyes and clung to his shoulders, pulling him down to her a little, he could feel her heart pounding against his, eventually calming herself, and she rested her head in the crook of his neck, releasing a tiny contented sigh. "I hate it when you leave me alone… I just… don't know what to do with myself."
They argued like this often, each time it was concluded by him picking her up and carrying her off to bed. Some nights they'd make love, others he'd lie with her curled up against him, waiting patiently for Akito to fall asleep.
But of course, her temper was not restricted to house hold objects… it didn't take long for it to stretch to people too.
Not that they were very good at it, but occasionally they went shopping together for groceries. More often than not, they'd send a maid to get it for them, but sometimes it was nice to get out of the house.
Now into his thirties, Shigure found it amusing that the teenage check-out girls would still flirt with him, it reminded him of being a teenager himself.
"Is there anything… else I can get for you today, sir?"
"Oh, no, you've been so generous already," he chuckled as the girl handed him his basket, "I don't know what I'll do with all these free coupons."
"Just pop by to the store anytime," she waved. The way she was pushing her arms together to emphasise her breasts (not bad for someone who couldn't be older than eighteen), was only really drawing to his attention that her name badge read 'Sayu'. The uniform they wore at this shop was rather adorable as well…
"Thank-you, Sayu, I'll make sure to do that."
"Oops, careful, sir, you almost dropped your bag," she reached out and handed it to him, closing her fingers over his for just a second.
He smiled politely, about to thank her, when someone shot out of no-where and shoved the poor girl hard. Sayu fell onto her back, staring up in surprise and fear; a hand grabbed onto Shigure's arm, wrenching on tight.
"Don't touch him – you stupid, ugly woman!" Akito was yelling, "You're disgusting, what chance did you think you had anyway! Don't touch him – how dare you try and take him from me!"
He managed to yank her back before she could do anything else to the startled girl on the floor, "Akito – stop it!"
"And you're no better, Shigure! Do you act like this with every woman who touches you? You haven't changed, you haven't-!"
"Akito!"
He thought for a second she'd ignore him, but she didn't, her grip loosened, but she kept hold of his hand.
This was the woman that he loved more than any other. Nobody ever compared to her, yet she was constantly looking over his shoulder, afraid he'd leave or betray her in some way. The reason he was so patient with her crazed jealousy was because he'd probably done this to her when he slept with her mother.
His logic for doing so had been childish. Akito slept with Kureno, that had hurt him more than anything ever had… so he slept with the person Akito despised the most in the world.
It seemed fair, an eye for an eye.
But now things weren't like that anymore. Kureno had been married a year now, to a friend of Tohru, the scary Yankee girl with blonde hair.
He'd been planning on asking Akito to marry him for too long now. She was so sensitive; he needed it to be the perfect moment. He hoped that once she was his wife, she'd stop being afraid of him leaving or sleeping around.
Their lives, especially Akito's, had been caught up and contorted from childhood. Even such a simple thing as loving each other had been denied to them for so long.
Now they were older, they were together, surely that would mean their suffering was at an end?
Not for Akito.
Shigure had always hoped that married life would change them, and life could only become better. However, for those of us who have lived a harsh reality, we know that hoping and happening are two very different things.
*
I'm not sure whether I shall make this a one-shot or not. If you guys like it, I'll consider writing more, so please review if you'd like to hear more, okay?
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