Hatori walked down the hall of the main building of the Sohma estate, toward the room of the man who had nearly blinded him with a vase: Akito. The young head of the family was almost constantly ill, and because Hatori was a doctor by trade, it was his job to treat the sadistic young man. Once he made it to the door, he called inside, barging in would only make Akito angry and result in…a very unpleasant afternoon.

"Akito," he said from outside, "may I come in?" He stood for a few minutes, surprised at the silence. Usually there was an answer immediately, either positive or negative. Hatori called again, but still received no answer. Slowly, he slid the door open to find Akito's room empty. His eyes widened at this. Akito barely went outside or even left his room on most days. The doctor walked inside, making his way to the window on the other side of the room. He looked out, half expecting to see the Sohma family head sitting in the garden, but after looking left and right and back again, he found nothing. Confused, Hatori moved back into the hall and decided to simply search the house, or at least the parts of the house his patient was likely to be in. Sadly, an hour's search proved fruitless and Hatori was beginning to worry. Akito needed his medication. Finally, he decided to look in the places that Akito had no reason to be in, considering he was in none of his usual haunts. First, Hatori checked the outlying building of the estate, but again found neither hide nor hair of his patient. Growing more and more frustrated with every failed location, Hatori stopped in the kitchen of the main building to find some water, or maybe a stronger drink.

As he entered the kitchen, Hatori spotted a person hunched over a counter. Robes fell off the black haired person's thin shoulders and his dark, usually scheming eyes were focused entirely on his task. The strangest thing of all was that Hatori swore the person was humming, and not just any humming, humming to the tune that Shigure often used when thinking about high school age women. The doctor moved forward slowly until he was about five feet away from the person before he spoke.

"Akito?" he asked hesitantly. The man turned to face his physician, confirming Hatori's suspicion that it was in fact the head of the Sohma family. Hatori immediately moved into a kneeling position once he registered that it truly was Akito standing in front of him…with a butter knife in his hand. Of all the things Akito had wielded as a weapon (a vase for example), Hatori had never thought that he would use something as bland and blunt as a butter knife.

"What do you want, Hatori?" Akito grunted, turning back to the counter. Hatori remained silent for a few seconds, trying to piece together the right words.

"Well?" Akito snapped, obviously already losing what little patience he had.

"I came to find you. It was time for your latest medication dose an hour ago." He finally said.

"Then why didn't you come an hour ago?" was the growled response. Hatori debated pointing out the fact that he had been trying to find his patient for the last hour and that was the reason he was late, but that would only make Akito angrier.

"I'm sorry, Akito," Hatori said, still kneeling. He heard Akito "humph" above him at the apology.

"Well, you're here now; let's get this over with." Hatori nodded and stood, moving to where Akito was standing by the counter. For the first time the doctor saw what the head of the family had been so concentrated on. It was a cake, a half frosted cake. Hatori stared at it blankly for a moment before turning to face Akito who was waiting none too patiently for his doctor to begin.

"What's that you were working on?" the doctor asked, trying to make conversation.

"A cake." Akito responded flatly.

"Why are you making a cake?" Hatori continued as he inserted the first shot into Akito's arm. Somewhere in his mind, Hatori made a mental note to check Akito's temperature for any major spikes.

"We had no cake. I wanted cake."

"Oh," Hatori responded, inserting the second and final needle. Once he finished, he fished a thermometer out of his bag. He handed it to his patient who grudgingly stuck it in his mouth. As the two waited for the small machine to beep, Akito went back to frosting his cake. After about a minute, the thermometer finished and Akito handed it back.

Hatori's eyes widened slightly. Akito's temperature was slightly higher than an average person but low for him overall. Well there goes that explanation Hatori thought. He put everything back into his bag as Akito put the finishing touches on his cake. As Hatori turned to leave, the Sohma head cut out a piece, dug a fork out of one of the drawers in front of him, and sat down at the table to eat.

"Don't eat too much," Hatori said as he left, "we don't want your blood sugar spiking." Akito gave an annoyed grunt as a response, waving his doctor away.

Once Hatori was back in his office, he tried to forget about the more awkward than normal encounter but one thought kept nagging him: when did Akito learn to bake?