Akito's sister

I don't own the rights once again, those of you who say or think so are truly ignorant, my only claim is my character Ashi.

Note: This story take place after episode 26 of the TV series.

Chapter Two

Not too long after the night that Tohru asked if Ashi would tell her story to her, actually the day after, Ashi wore her sleeves rolled up, beckoning questions with her scars and bandaged arm.

Then the councillor called her into his office one day.

"Are there things going on Ashi?" He asked.

"No, sir." She told him handing him the same note he had handed her home room teacher.

He read it and then handed it back. "Very well Ms. Sohma,you're free to leave."

She left without a word. Left school for the day entirely.

And everyone noticed at lunch.

"Hey." Uotani asked, "Where's that new girl, Ashi?"

"I don't know." Yuki said.

Nobody knew. (Not even Hanajima.)

"She went home early." Momiji said as he sat down. (He wasn't there at the beginning.) "The councillor called her out to talk to her. Moment later she walked out and said she was leaving for the day."

"Oh." Was the stereo reaction.

She was on the roof at Shigure's house.

"You know Ashi, it's not good to ditch school." She heard Shigure say as he stood on the ladder. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I can do this Shigure. It's too strange, I want to go home." She told him.

"There's your problem, you can't."

"I know that, it's just that it's all I know, the inner house." She buried her face in her knees.

"You know that's how I used to feel."

"What?"

"Yep. I lived in the inner house most of my life, just like you. Then Akito sent me out, just like you. All you have to do is find out another thing to know, you just need to learn a different way of looking at things." He told her looking at the rapidly sinking sun.

"You're not going to turn this into a perverted moment are you?" Ashi asked him smiling, she knew Shigure.

"No. I'm serious this time, if I was able to do it then you can too." He said getting up to leave. "Besides, it looks like you have to, Akito will take his sweet time about inviting you back."

Begin Flashback

She had been only seven years old when her brothers father had died. That was when it first started.

Mother had been yelling at Akito telling him that he would always be alone, there was no such thing as the zodiak and the head of the family living together forever. At this Akito had banished her from his presence and locked her in her room.

"Ashi, did you love my father?" Akio had asked her when everything was quiet and she was in his room playing with him.

"Of coarse Akito, but you were his favorite. He loved you most." She replied.

Akito smiled at her. "You're right." He said. "I was my fathers favorite."

Akito looked at her, and threw his toy at her. It hit her in the head, breaking her nose and making it bleed.

"Akito, why did you do that?" Ashi asked him calm as could be.

"Mother said everyone would leave me. That my zodiac would leave me." He complained. "I won't let them! I won't let them leave me, not like father did!"

"What mother said was stupid Akito. She was wrong, not everyone will leave you. Adults say stupid things sometimes, mother more than most." She told him, smiling. It was a sad display with blood all over her face.

He smiled back and leaned down to wipe the blood off her face with his shirt. "I'm sorry I did that. Forgive me?"

"It would be a shame if I couldn't forgive my own brother." She had told him. "I will always forgive you, no matter what."

End Flashback

It had been nearly nine years since she had told him that, and yet she had understood exactly what it had meant when she had said it. But now she didn't, not exactly, not in the same sense. All she could remember understanding back then, when she had said it, was that she would forgive Akito no matter what he did. But now, she understood it as forgiving him of what he did to her, and her alone. If her brother continued to force those in the zodiac to stay, they would leave anyway. She had failed to protect them and Akito.

The next day she didn't go to school, she went back, back to the Sohma house.

They let her in at the front gate like normal, the maids directed her to Akito's room like normal, and she sat at the doorway to Akito's room like normal.

The only thing that wasn't normal was the fact that when she had sat down, a ceramic bowl collided with her head. She felt her nose break, just as it had all those years ago.

She hit the floor without a sound, except for a thud.

"What are you doing here?" Came the sound of Akito's voice. "I told you I never wanted to see you again."

She spat out the blood in her mouth. "I know." She said sitting up.

"Come here."Akito told her.

She obliged and sat cross-legged in front of him.

He slapped her four times and as she hit the floor again asked, "Then why are you here?"

"What mother said was stupid. What I told you was stupid." She spat out blood again.

"What do you mean?" Akito said picking her up by her hair.

"What mother told you after your father died was stupid and I said that the zodiac wouldn't leave you. But they will if you make them."

"Why, you." He threw her across the room into the table against the far wall, she heard her arm break with a familiar, yet sickening, pop.

"'They will leave because there's no bond that connects them here', that's what she told you. They won't leave you for that reason, they might leave you for another though."

She felt him hit her several more times before grabbing her face and making her look him in the eyes, asking, "What did you mean by coming here and saying that?"

"Mother was wrong, in a way, but she was also right. The zodiac will leave you. If you force them to stay, they will leave. I cannot forgive you of what you do to them, only what you do to me." She said. "By keeping them here you will destroy them, and they will hate you for it."

"What does this have to do with how I sent you away?" Akito asked. "How can you defend them, when you don't defend yourself?"

"It doesn't and I don't defend myself because I don't want to. The zodiac will defend themselves, to the very end against staying here because they don't want to stay here. I cannot forgive you of what you do to them." She said.

He banged her head against the wall. "Why did you come here?" He asked. "Why are you telling me this!?!"

"'It would be a shame if I couldn't forgive my own brother.'" She said before passing out in his arms. "I forgive you, as only I can. I cannot forgive you on their behalf."

Three days later she woke up in Shigure's house, in Tohru's bedroom. Her head felt like it had stitches in it, her arm was in a plaster cast, her nose was swollen, and her tongue felt heavy with pain medication.

Of coarse Hatori sat in a chair by the bedside, like a good doctor.

But Tohru sat in a chair slumping over the edge of the bed asleep. The fact that the girl, whom she had never known before. cared enough to do this was comforting.

She got out of the bed carefully, without disturbing either, and went into the kitchen. There she found a couple of left over rice balls and got a glass of milk. Going outside onto the porch to eat she watched the sun rise.

A ruckus told her that Tohru at least was awake, calling her name. "Ashi." She called as loudly as she dared.

"Out here."

Tohru came through the door moment later and sat next to her. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes it really is." Ashi agreed.

Tohru stared at her. "Why did you go back?"

Ashi just stared at the sunrise for a moment. "I don't know."

"Hmm."

"Why, is that bad?" Ashi asked.

"No, it's just that my mom used to tell me that if you didn't have an immediate reason for doing something, then what you did was right. You may think of that reason later, but by then you've already done it." Tohru said smiling. "If you don't have a reason then I guess what you did was right."

Whether she was delusional or dreaming she herself smiled, sincerely, and began to believe what Tohru said with all her heart.

Two weeks flew by faster than you could notice when Hatori came to check on Ashi.

There was laughter as the four of them walked into the living room that day, from all four of them, even Ashi.

"It's nice to see you laughing Ashi." Hatori said as they sat down.

"We were just laughing of how Yuki caught Momiji trying to get a popcicle from the ice cream truck at lunch as it started to drive away. He wouldn't let go, it was funny how he just held on as it drove away, demanding his popcicle the whole way." Ashi laughed again. "And they didn't even have any."

Hatori smiled at her laughter. "How are you stitches healing?"

"I keep telling you that if they itch any more I'll tear my damn head off." She said sarcastically, leaning forward so he could see them.

"I think I could take them out now if you want me to. But that cast has to stay on for the next four weeks. You may hate it but think if the other one had broken. You would have had that gash underneath it." Hatori told her as she began to protest, silencing her.

"I'd appreciate it if you could get rid of the stitches. They itch like mad." She told him. She sat in front of him and leaned her head forward.

"Would you all excuse yourselves, this is not for the faint hearted." He said, everyone got up and left. "Why on earth did you even go over there, you knew Akito was mad."

"Yes I did, but I had something to say to him." She told him.

He started pulling at the stiches and she felt the peroxide he used run down her face.

"I have asked you this questions many times and you've never given me a straight answer but, why do you let him do this to you?"

She sighed. "I don't have a very good reason, but, I do it to protect all of you."

"What do you mean?" He asked as he continued to pull at the stitches.

"I mean that if he didn't do it to me, then you all, the zodiac, would suffer. You have never seen him when he's mad enough to kill you."

"Yes I..."

"No. You haven't. Yes he's nearly killed me before but when he's intent on killing something, he just sits there staring at the mirror, yeah he'll hit something now and then, but, there no feeling to it, he just wants you out of the way. He's not there in essence, it's not like when he beat me two weeks ago." She explained. "If I didn't take it upon myself, then he would beat those of the zodiac, he'd kill you for disobeying him like you have. Through me you have the freedom you do."

"I know that. But what I don't get is why you do it."

"Before Akito's father died, he told me something. Something I will never tell Akito."

"What?"

"His father thought that Akito would take out his hatred on others, even kill them for any disobedience. Though I was only six, I knew what he meant. I knew a lot of things back then that I wasn't supposed to. I decide then that I would do my best to protect everyone I could, my prime concern was Akito and the zodiak." She explained. "He is my brother. I couldn't bear to see him hurt. Then his father died. You should have seen it, he disappeared. He wasn't there, he was so depressed and he was only five years old!" She told him. "I couldn't stand it, seeing him that way. So I allowed him to take out his frustrations on me, telling him I would forgive him for anything."

"Though your logic is understandable, I still don't know why you continue. You do understand that he may kill you one day."

"Yes I do. He's nearly done it before, that was when Yuki found out."

"So that's the infamous incident that made Yuki so shy?"

"Yes." She told him. She closed her eyes as he finished the last stitch and put a bandage on.

Well that should do it, just be careful not to open it on accident, otherwise I'll have no choice but to put them back in." He told her standing up and picking up his bag to leave. "Tell Shigure and the others bye for me."

"Alright." She said seeing him out.

That night as she went to bed Tohru once again asked about her scars.

Along pause followed and Ashi sighed deeply. "I got them from Akito, Tohru, all of them." She answered, she got up and sat on the foot of Tohru's bed.

"How?"

"Before I start I want to tell you that this is just as much my fault as it is Akito's." Tohru nodded and Ashi continued. "It started just before Akito's father, Akira, died. Akira called me into his room privately, he wanted to tell me something. He told me that when he died my mother would try to keep Akito from being the head of the household. Whether she succeeded or not wasn't important, either way Akito would be devastated and never allow anyone to leave him again. The outcome of such a thing would seriously impact those around him. Akira was afraid that his son might hurt them, both emotionally and physically. When I left I took his words to heart, vowing that no harm would come to Akito or the zodiac, or anyone, if there was anything I could do about it." Ashi sighed. "When Akira died, yes Akito was devastated and he swiftly went into a depression, but mother was never able to diminish his power within the Sohma house. But she could tell him things. The first time he ever hurt me was when we were little, I was seven and he was five. It was right after mother had told him he would always be alone. He threw a toy at me and it broke my nose, he didn't mean to hit me but the fact that he did I saw made him feel better. That was when I realised that he was relatively happy after something had accepted some sort of punishment. Since then only the people who come around the most to see Akito know about me, that I'm basically a punching bag. The only one that ever found out without being told was Yuki. He was young four years younger I think than I was, he wanted to leave, and Akito wouldn't let him. When Akito raised his hand to strike him I called Akito's name like I usually would when I noticed he was going a little too far. Yuki was sent away, and Akito proceeded to take out his frustration in beating me. But Yuki was watching. He tried to stop Akito." Ashi told her. "All of that resulted in the incident that made Yuki so shy. I won't tell you what happened, that's for Yuki to tell. But after that incident was the first time Akito ever nearly killed me, yes he had beaten me before but never this bad. After beating me so I could barely see, let alone breathe, he threw me into one of the full length mirrors in his room. I spent a month in the hospital."

"But you still forgave him?" Tohru asked.

"Yes. I forgave him and went back." She looked at her. "Was that the right thing to do after nearly being killed?"

"Well, if you love him enough that you don't want to see him hurt, and care enough for those around him, even if it's only because you don't want him to be hurt by what he might do to them, then I consider that very noble of you to do such a selfless thing. I guess it just goes to show what sibling love can do." Tohru tol her smiling.

And Ashi couldn't help but smile back, because for once in her life she felt as if there was a hope to tomorrow, that her life didn't have to be so sad in a way. It was because she had been accepted by someone who now knew mostly everything that had happened to her, and didn't pity her.

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