After Spring
A/N: I don't own Fruits Basket.
Hatori was winter. He was the cold season. He was heartless, emotionless, and cold. Doomed forever to spend his life in an eternal winter, surrounded by snow that never melts.
It didn't matter who he hurt. It didn't matter how much they begged and pleaded. As long as Akito ordered it, he obeyed. He would obliterate the memories of the people his family members were closest to without even a second thought.
He hated himself. He hated the wall he had built around himself to keep out others. He hated the cruel, emotionless person he had become.
But he loved her.
He loved Kanna. She was beautiful, kind, sympathetic, and caring. She was warm and gentle; a good person. An honest person. She was someone who cried when she was sad and laughed when she was happy.
She was spring.
To Hatori, Kanna was his spring. His savior. His warmth. She was the only one who was able to melt the ice surrounding his frozen heart. She was the only one who could truly change him, truly save him.
She was spring. It was destiny he would fall in love with her. Her sweet, warm personality reminded him exactly of the beautiful spring that came after the cold, harsh winter.
But it was also destiny that they would fall apart.
Spring is a short-lived season and Hatori's time with was short-spent. Before he knew it, their time together was over. Just like that, their happiness was shattered, destroyed. He was forced to erase the memories of the time that was most precious to him. Of the happiness that was most precious to him. The person that was most precious to him.
And then…she left.
In the same fleeting way that spring melts away, Kanna left Hatori, and Hatori locked himself up, destined to live surrounded by snow that never melts…forever.
……
…So he thought, anyways.
Then there was Mayu. She was different from Kanna in so many ways. She was strong, sarcastic, and came off as a little rough around the edges at first sometimes. But she also had another side that she tried not to show. Another side that was sensitive, sentimental, and kind. Deep down, she could be really sweet.
She was exactly the person Hatori needed.
She cried for his sake. At a time when he could not cry on his own. She truly and honestly cared about him. She wanted to be around him.
She was summer.
She wasn't spring like Kanna was. No, Hatori knew he would never meet a person quite like Kanna ever again. But he did meet Mayu. And for him, she was perfect.
She was the hot, sunny, blistering summer that came after the rainy months of spring. She was bright and warm. She was strong and passionate. She was the beautiful flowers that bloomed when spring ended.
And best of all, summer was long-lived.
When Kanna left Hatori, he was so sure he would be stuck in his winter forever. But he was wrong.
Because, actually, winter doesn't come after spring…
…After Spring…
…comes Summer.