Chapter 8
A Nightmare from the Past
Naomi walked into her building and made her way to her apartment. She couldn't stop thinking about Hatori's smile when she left the car. She couldn't stop smiling herself once she thought back to the two of them dancing, the way he looked at her. She blushed at the thought that he would've kissed her. She reached her door. It opened.
'I thought I had locked it' she thought to herself. She turned around and the light turned on.
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and had his hand over mouth. "Weren't expecting me huh were ya you little bitch?"
She shook her body trying to pry out of his grip and she was able to move her head enough so his hand was off of her mouth.
"How did you find me?" She cried in fear. Nothing scared her more than this man.
"You're not good at hiding your trail." He laughed maniacally and tighten his grip on her wanting to cause as much pain as he could.
"What do you want?" She said trying to hide the panic in her voice but he easily saw right through it. He was sadistic in that way and he took much pleasure in her pain.
"The fuck do you think? My property can't fucking leave unless I tell her too!" He yelled.
"P-please stop!" She stuttered in fear. He grabbed her arms tightly. Gripping them so hard they might get bruised.
"You've had your fun, now let's go home." He said to her in a menacing tone.
"No! I'm not leaving with you!" She tried to get out of his grip. She didn't want to go back to her old life. She wanted to stay here. She wanted to be with Amaya and Shigure and all of her friends.
She wanted to be with Hatori. She wanted to live.
He shoved her against the wall roughly and he smirked as he heard a crack in her bones.
"Come on you little slut, I won't say it twice."
"No! I'm not leaving with you!" She yelled again and tried to move around him to get away. He looked at her, and raised his hand and hit her across the face. Then grabbed her and threw her against the wall again and it was more powerful this time. The first attempt was to mostly scare her. This time it was an intent to hurt her. "If don't come willingly, I will just drag you."
"No! Stop!" She screamed and fell to the ground and tried to scoot away to get away from him. He stood over top of her with a sadistic grin and grabbed her ankle and lifted up her leg and gripped it tightly hurting her. He stood over her and watched as she cried and tried to wiggle out of his grip but he wasn't going to let go of her.
"You're still a little slut I see." He said and he looked up her dress.
She whimpered and looked away. "I'm not a slut.." Eito raised his hand to hit her again but he was stopped. A punch to his left cheek had pushed him out of the way and knocked him out. It was only a for a few moments but when Eito had opened his eyes he had seen Hatori hugging Naomi worried for her well being and his anger rose. How dare another man touch what was his?
"Yo, who the hell do you think you are?" Eito shouted and glared at Hatori as he scramble to get back up on his feet. Hatori slowly stood up and face him with a cold unforgiving expression in his eyes that Naomi had never seen before. "It would wise if you left this place."
Eito looked at Naomi with a hard and angry glare and he clenched his fists in his anger.
"Is this the bastard you've been fucking, huh you little bitch?" He said as he regained his balance.
Hatori stood in front of her. "Sir I will not ask you again." He said in the same cold voice that he had used only moments prior. Eito just smirked and went after Hatori with his fists of rage.
"She is mine, I can do whatever the hell I want to her." He said sadistically and threw a punch at him. Hatori grabbed his wrist and was easily able to twist it making Eito fall to his knees as he twisted his wrist.
"Miss Naomi does not belong to you nor to anyone." He said with the same cold voice. It was rare that anyone saw Hatori angry or mad. But it was happening right now.
"Yeah, sure keep thinking that. Did that little bitch tell you about her sad childhood and how mean her step daddy was? Just so you can feel sorry for her. That little whore, huh she is so easy even stepdaddy had a chance to fuck her." He continued to speak ignoring the tight grip Hatori had on him.
Hatori didn't say a thing and twisted Eitos hand more. "I am a doctor you know. It would be easy to completely break your hand so you can never use it again." This was a side of Hatori no one saw before. He wasn't going to let Eito's words affect him. All he was doing was buying time until the police would show. All Eito was really doing was fueling Hatoris anger.
"Whatever" Eito said and pushed him back causing him to dislocate a few of his own fingers.
"Nothing I haven't done before" He said as he turned around and struck Hatori in the face.
"Stop it, Eito!" Naomi screamed as Hatori took a few steps back trying to regain his balance, she tried to get up but the pain on her shoulder wasn't helping her. Eito glanced at her with a smirk.
"What, am I hurting your boyfriend, huh?" He said and went after Hatori again.
Hatori stood back up and grabbed his wrist and pushed Eito into the wall holding both of his wrists now restraining him making him completely immobile. "Naomi. Call the police now." Hatori said with a serious Naomi even had a chance, the cops were opening the door.
"Hands up where I can see them!" The cops yelled. Hatori lifted his hands and so had Eito. Handcuffs were put on Eito who kept screaming and yelling at Naomi as they took him away.
Hatori went up to Naomi once the police cleared him and looked at her with worry in his soft eyes. "Are you alright?"
She nodded and started crying. "I am sorry about this." She cried and hugged him, then quickly let go remembering the curse.
"Oh crap" she said and moved her arms away from him fearing he would transform.
But he didn't.
Hatori was surprised but he didn't worry about it now. He didn't want people questioning him and it was the farthest thing from his mind. "Where are you hurt?"
"Just my arm. I think I might have dislocated it." She said then looked at his face and it was red from getting hit.
He looked at her. "Let's go to my office alright? One of the officers is a close friend of mine and will meet us later to talk about what happened."
She nodded and wrapped one arm around him. He helped her up and with wince.
"It's alright don't worry." He whispered to reassure her. They made it to his car and he drove silently and she cried softly.
"I don't know how he found me, I am so sorry he got to you and I couldn't help you." She looked down with a sad expression.
"Naomi do not apologize for something you can't control." He reached over and decided to hold her hand as he drove. "I'm just glad you are safe."
She gently pulled her hand away and brought it over to her shoulder. Hatori was silent as he drove the rest of the way to the hospital. They got to the hospital and he helped her out of the car. He helped carry her in and got her to a wheelchair and he took her back to help inspect her wounds. She sat on the examination table and he cleaned the minor cuts on her lip and cheeks. She brought her hand up to his face gently touched his cheekbone which swollen.
He looked up at her. "Miss Naomi please relax."
Once she took in a breath to help herself relax he continued tending to her wounds. "Where does it hurt most?"
"My shoulder... Like I said I think it might be dislocated." She rapidly blinked as tears rolled down her cheeks.
He rubbed her shoulder in various spots. "Tell me where it hurts okay?"
"Aahh" she winced and leaned towards him and he rubbed where it hurt and heard a loud pop.
"Alright...from the looks of it it was dislocated but it was popped back into place and you're just feeling the bruising on the bone."
She nodded and held on to her shoulder. She looked back at him and took a deep breath, she smiled softly as the scent on his cologne hit her nostrils.
"Hatori, can I ask you something?" He nodded as he was writing a prescription up for her.
"How come you didn't transform? I keep on thinking back to when you came in and you hugged me. You didn't transform." She said and looked at him.
He stopped and he looked at her. "I...hadn't even noticed.." he mumbled to himself and walked over to her and he hugged her. When he didn't transform his eyes widened and he slowly pulled away. "I suppose...my curse broke.."
"Nice." She laughed and looked at him.
He stood back still slightly in shock. Why now? Why had the curse taken so long to break for him? And why did it decide to break when he had to save Naomi? He didn't understand. He stood there for a moment trying to process this. He had no idea why it would break now.
"Alright, well it's getting late. I suppose I might get a hotel for the night, I don't really wanna go home." She said and stood up.
"Naomi I don't know if that will be safe." He looked at her. "You may stay at my home if you wish."
"You sure, I don't want to be a bother." She said worriedly.
He nodded. "Miss Naomi you could never bother me." he chuckled softly. She blushed at his nice words.
"Thanks doctor." She smiled.
He chuckled. "Call me Hatori..now come I'll call the prescription for the pain for you."
"Once you stop call me miss Naomi, I will stop." She laughed. Then nodded and followed him.
He chuckled and led her to his car. "I shall try Naomi."
She smiled as he said her name. She liked hearing him say it. She wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm.
He helped her to the car and started to drive off. "I believe the police may head over soon however...we will have to explain what happened this time Naomi but I will be there with you." He wanted more than anything to make sure that this wouldn't happen to Naomi or to anyone else again. He knew for a fact he was going to press charges. He just hoped that Naomi would too.
"Thank you Hatori." She nodded and smiled.
He nodded. "You're Welcome." He drove to his home in almost complete silence or perhaps they both were just in very deep thought from the whole ordeal which was more than understandable. They got to his place and the officer was waiting outside his house already. Hatori opened the door and walked in with Naomi and the officer followed. Naomi walked in and looked around Hatori's house. It was nice, traditional Japanese house. She was a bit surprised that his house would be like this. It was very clean and it was obvious that Hatori kept his home in good shape. Everything looked very new.
The police officer sat down and looked at them both. "Miss Naomi if you could please explain what happened."
She looked over to Hatori and took a deep breath. "He is an ex of mine, I left few a few months ago and moved here. I have no idea how he found me." She started to feel nervous as her hands began to shake. The memories of everything that had happened started to surface put his hand on top of hers to help calm her down.
"Then today I came home and he was already there. He wanted me to go back with him, I said no and that when he started hitting me." She said and inhaled deeply.
"Was this the first time he hit you?" The officer asked as he took down notes for future reference so they could convict him. She shook her head and looked down.
"No... He has done it before." She started to cry. Hatori put his arm around her shoulders and slowly rubbed her arm. "Naomi it is alright...I can take it from here if you wish." He whispered. She nodded and leaned her head onto his shoulder.
Hatori looked to the officer. "Miss Naomi had forgotten something in my car and I walked up to give it to her when I saw him hurting her officer. He started to try and swing at me and I retaliated in self defense."
"Hmm I see. Would miss Naomi or you like to press charges against him?" The officer looked to them again. Hatori nodded almost instantly. This was his goal now and he only hoped Naomi would do the same.
"Yes..." Hatori looked at her. "Naomi...you have to."
"Yes, I'd like to..." She said then sat up straight.
The officer nodded. "Well he won't be posting bail you don't need to worry...Miss Naomi it may be best if you sell your apartment and stay with Dr. Sohma."
"I couldn't possibly do that, I have a lease on that place. I can't just leave. I will be fine." She said quickly disregarding what the officer had said.
The officer sighed. "Miss Naomi you can't be naive on how serious this situation is. It would be best if you're at a location he knows nothing off."
"I will be fine alright. Are we done here? Because I am tired. It's been a long night I just wanna go to sleep." Naomi said with hint of annoyance in her voice.
Hatori looked to her. "Naomi...calm down." He stood up and walked with the officer to the door and was speaking with him until he left. Hatori looked to her. "Naomi...it isn't wise to be annoyed with an officer who is just doing his job and trying to help."
"I know, but I don't think it's his place to tell me that should stay here with you." She crossed her arms and was stern with her words.
He sighed. "Naomi...you are taking it the wrong way. He's talking about you staying here as an informal witness protection." He was slightly confused that she would be acting this way to someone who was trying to help. He had thought that any other woman would agree because of how dangerous the situation was. But then he remembered that sometimes Naomi can be feisty and stubborn and while at the moment it kind of annoyed him.
He enjoyed it as well. He wouldn't want her any other way.
"Hows staying here safer than where I was? I don't know how he found me? I paid cash for everything here... If I stay here I would just be putting you at risk." She said slowly becoming more annoyed and she looked at him.
He looked at her. "Because Miss Naomi he wasn't the only one who had connections...I have my own connections and could move us both back to the Sohma house for your safety. And you wouldn't be alone. That's how."
"Thanks but no thanks." She said and walked outside the sliding doors. Hatori felt offended but he decided to not fight with her about it.
Hatori sighed. "Miss Naomi if you're not going to stay then let me drive you home." She looked him then looked at the bruise on his face. She felt terrible that he had gotten hurt because of her and she knew she was being difficult but it was because she didn't want him to get hurt again.
"Hatori it's not that I don't think it would be a good idea for me to stay with you, is just that I don't want you to get hurt. You've been hurt enough with the whole Cana thing and I don't want you to get hurt again." She looked at him and lightly brushed her hand over his cheek.
He looked at her with soft eyes. "With all due respect Naomi...everything with Cana was much different than this and I've been taking care of myself for a very long time. You needn't worry." He smiled softly at her as he looked into her eyes. "Stay the night...if you wish I will take you home but it's best if you stay here tonight."
"I will stay..." She smiled softly giving in.
He nodded as he stared into her eyes and he held her hand. "I am glad.." She Squeezed his hand and smiled.
"I am pretty tired." She yawned. She looked into his eyes and smiled
"Well...don't worry you may sleep in my bed tonight I'll take the couch. And no arguing me about it either." He chuckled.
"But... Fine... I will take the bed." She laughed and looked at him and she could feel her heart racing. Their bodies were so close to each other at this moment. He looked at her softly and moved the hair from her eyes. She slowly blinked the looked into his eyes and blushed. She could feel the warmth from his body standing in front of her. She wanted to step in closer and hug him one more time. He hugged her close and when he pulled away he stared at her eyes again and his arms were still around her. She smiled and chuckled softly trying to ease her nervousness. He was slowly leaning closer to her. He didn't fully know what he was doing and he didn't know why either.
But he wasn't going to stop either.
She smiled and looked into his eyes. Her heart started to race, she could feel her cheeks turning red. 'Is he going to kiss me?' She started to feel nervous.
He leaned in closer to her. Their noses even touched before his phone went off and he backed away. "Pardon me."
"Yeah, no problem" she said and took a step back trying to regain her thoughts. She signal to him that she wanted to go back inside. He nodded and opened the door as he spoke with the officer. She walked inside and sat on the couch. She waited for him to come back inside but it took him a while to get back. She started to fall asleep on the couch.
Once he was off the phone he had seen that she had fallen asleep and he chuckled. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to his bed and laid her down. "Good night Naomi." He tucked her in. She woke up as he finished tucking her in.
"Goodnight Hatori. It's always you taking care of me, I would like take care of you." She mumbled and dozed off. Hatori chuckled softly and turned off the light and quietly closed the door and went to lay down on his couch and soon succumbed to sleep.
Moments later Naomi woke up, she tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. She sat on the bed and turned the light on. Hatori had left a spare set of his PJs for her to change into in case she woke up. She got up and changed in the PJs.
She walked out his bedroom into the living and saw Hatori sleeping soundly. She smiled at how peaceful he looked. She walked over to him and saw the bruise on his face. She didn't want to wake him up. She went into the kitchen and grabbed and ice pack then walked back to Hatori and sat on the floor in front of him and ever so gently she placed the icepack on his cheek. He inhaled loudly and she smiled.
"I guess this is the only way I get to take care of you, otherwise you say I'm fine I am fine." She giggled softly. She continued to hold the ice on his cheek and gently play with his hair. She sat there for a while watching him sleep. Once she started to feel tired again she put the ice pack away and grabbed the throw blanket from the chair and placed it over Hatori and gently moved his hair once more then went back to his to sleep.
