Disclaimer: HYD does not belong to me. But the new characters belong to me, although I'd like to get rid of Franz and Marques.

Chapter 29 The Reckoning Part III

Dr. Nishikado had been right. Shone woke up approximately 2 hours after crying herself to sleep. She looked around wondering why she was in her room instead of the infirmary although grateful at the same time. She looked up to find Rui sitting on the bed watching her. She breathed a heavy sigh. "I guess the concern on your face means that everything that happened wasn't a dream. We did catch Franz, and he did confess that he was behind all of the kidnappings and my parents de ..." She began to sob. "Death." She finished. The flood of tears began again. Rui picked her up and sat her in his lap.

"I know you need to let all of this out, but you also need to remember that the crying hurts your ribs. So be careful." She nodded and buried her head in his chest again. She tried to stem the tide of tears long enough to look up at him. "I'm (sniff) I'm sorry about (sob) about your shirt." She began crying again. He shook his head.

"You mean far more to me than any shirt. Besides, you can always design me a new one to make up for it." Through her tears she laughed at that. She looked up at him.

"Rui, tha (sob) thank you. I (sob) I love you." She continued crying.

"I know you do. I love you too, and I will always be there for you if you will let me. Now, if you want to really thank me, you need to eat something. Do you think you feel up to it? I don't want you throwing up again. It has to hurt you, and sensei says that he can't give you anything for the pain. You need to eat to keep up your strength though."

She nodded, and he called Dr. Nishikado and had room service to bring her some soup and tea. Dr. Nishikado admonished her to eat and said she looked okay. She managed to keep it in and to sleep most of the night. The next morning, she was sick again. Rui heard her stir and was at her side in an instant. "Do you feel sick?" She nodded. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" She nodded again. He picked her up and supported her while she emptied her guts again. "How long is this going to last?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'll be glad when it goes away, though."

"So what can I do for you now, are you ready to try to eat or what?"

"I'd like a bath and then to go back to bed."

"At your service, madame. I'll draw your bath, but I have to call Nishikado sensei, and then you have to eat." He looked at her sternly. She nodded.

After her bath, she felt a thousand times better. Dr. Nishikado examined her again. "You're looking much better than yesterday. How do you feel?"

"Numb." He nodded and left.

Rui fed her breakfast and made sure that she had some tea. She lay down on the opposite side of her fractured rib. She stared outside at the beach as tears flowed silently. Rui lay beside her with his arm resting on her waist. He stroked her hair and occasionally wiped her tears. She eventually fell asleep as did he. Rui was the first to wake up, and he heard his cell phone buzzing. He picked it up. "Hello."

"Rui, did I disturb you? How is my daughter doing? Is she feeling better? Have you had lunch yet?"

Rui yawned before answering. "Yes, I was sleeping but that's okay. She is still out of it. Yes, she feels better but not herself. No we haven't had lunch."

"Is she awake? I'll bring up lunch. I would like to talk to her." Rui looked over at Shone. She turned around and mouthed the word "Uncle?" He nodded. She nodded.

"Yes, she's up, and she says it's okay for you to come up." Within 15 minutes, there was a knock at the door. Her uncle was at the door. Rui was wearing pajama bottoms and a robe only. He opened the door and let her uncle in. She was wearing the top to his pajamas and a robe as well. She looked up at her uncle.

"Room service." He said as he pushed a cart in with all of her favorite foods on it. He placed it in front of the bed.

She frowned slightly. He came and kneeled next to her and looked in her eyes. "Sweetheart, how are you feeling?"

She thought for a second and sighed. "Numb."

He nodded. "I'll be right back. Wait right here." He returned carrying a huge heart-shaped balloon that read: "I'm sorry," a huge stuffed teddy bear, and a big bouquet of cherry blossoms. She smiled in spite of herself.

"Uncle, what's all this?"

He looked at her and then knealed next to her placing his hands over hers. He shook his head. "Princess, can you ever forgive me?"

She shook her head and frowned. "I don't understand. Forgive you for what?"

"For ever bringing that cretin in your life and letting him cause you so much pain and for taking away so much from you."

She frowned. "Uncle, do you think any of this is your fault? This is no more your fault than it is my fault for being a cute eight year-old. Do you think any of this is my fault?"

"Of course not, how can you say that?"

She put her head down. "I blamed myself for about a second, but I never blamed you. However I realized that if we accept some of the blame, then we are assuaging his guilt. He is totally to blame for all of this and no one else. And I guarantee you that right now he doesn't feel any guilt, he doesn't accept any of the blame, and he doesn't think he did anything wrong. I know I didn't do anything wrong and neither did you. We can't take any of his guilt from him or for him."

"You're right sweetheart, but I have to make this up to you somehow. I mean he took away …" She placed her hand over his mouth and stopped him from saying it again.

"No Uncle, how can I repay you for taking me in?"

He frowned. "It's not necessary. I would do anything for you. You don't owe me anything."

She nodded. "That's the way I feel about you, too. The only thing we can do is to improve our screening methods for psychological behavior and change our surveys to our clients to see if we can screen for abnormal behavior. You have to admit that he met the qualifications for loyalty. Unfortunately, it was loyalty to an obsessive level. We have to figure out a way to discern absolute loyalty vs. obsessive loyalty when hiring security personnel from now on."

"How did I get so lucky to be able to adopt such a wonderful daughter?" He smiled at her.

She smiled and then looked away. It's because he killed my parents. She gave way to tears again briefly and then made them cease. She looked at the cart. "Uncle, how do you expect me to eat all of this? Just looking at all this food makes me." She put her hand over her mouth. "Uh oh, Rui." He scooped her up and rushed her to the bathroom as she emptied breakfast from her stomach. She rinsed out her mouth, brushed her teeth and went back.

She rubbed her stomach. "I guess I am ready to eat now. I have enough room."

"Are you sure you will be okay?" She nodded.

"Well, I promise you everyone will leave you alone today, but I can't guarantee that tomorrow. The other F4 are doing their best to distract the ladies from coming to see you or look for you or ask about you."

She nodded. They ate lunch and her uncle left. As soon as he left, she was back in tears. Rui went over and hugged her. He rocked her back and forth. She stopped shortly. She shook her head. "This is the last time. I promise. I can't allow him to keep affecting me like this. This time it's different, though. I can't stand the thought of my uncle thinking he is at fault or taking any of the blame. He's been so wonderful to me." She cried herself to sleep again. This time Rui moved her on the couch so he could sleep with her sitting up. She woke up 2 hours later and just sat there for a while with her head down. Rui waited.

"You know, it took me a year to get over my parent's death. I could accept it because I knew that there death wasn't in vain. They died how they lived, doing what they believed in. But to find out after all these years that their death was unnecessary due to the greedy, selfish, and miscalculated actions of other people is like experiencing my parents' death all over again. What's worse is that the person they were helping spends the week with my family every year to memorialize my parents'death. All this time, I thought that they were really nice people trying to help me get through this and honor my parents. It turns out that they were only trying to assuage their own guilt by making sure that I was coping. I accepted the people who caused my parents' death into my life, into my family, into my heart. I can't fathom it." She shook her head. The tears started to flow silently down her face.

Rui nodded and looked at her. "So what are you going to do about them?"

She shook her head. "I'm going to forgive them. If I don't, I can never move on with my life, which reminds me. You and I need to talk about something, but there is one thing I need to do first." She told him what she needed to do. He was shocked, but he went along with it. He could see how it important it was for her to do it. However, he insisted that he call all the others to accompany her. She reluctantly agreed.

"Is that the only way you are going to let me do this?"

"Yes."

"Alright, agreed." Rui called the rest of the guys. He got the same response.

"She wants to what? Absolutely not."

"If we don't do it with her, she'll find someway to do it by herself." They all nodded and agreed to meet.

When they arrived at the jail, she hesitated before she slowly limped inside to go see him. They watched over her like a hawk. Then she asked them all to wait outside and let her do it alone.

She went in to talk to Franz. He looked like he hadn't slept. Already the shadow of a beard was creeping onto his face. He turned around to look at her. All the tiredness left his face and was replaced with genuine elation immediately when he saw her. "Cherry Blossom, I knew you couldn't stay away from me. I knew you would forgive me. I knew you would come for me. I knew you understood. I knew you loved me. Now, can you please tell them to let me go so that we can be together now?"

She frowned and shook her head. "I'm afraid that I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't love you. I don't have any feelings for you. I thought that I could hate you. In fact, I should hate you, but I don't. Instead I feel nothing for you, only a numbness." She spoke gently.

His face fell at her confession and then brightened at a sudden thought. "Then why did you come if you feel nothing for me? You have to feel something."

She shook her head. "I came to say goodbye to you for the final time. I will never see you again after this. I no longer live with your shadow hanging over me. I can say goodbye to that life too and move on. I also wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend so that you can see what true love is like."

She started to turn to go get Rui and then she turned back and said quietly. "Oh by the way, I figured out what the implant does, and I'll let you in on a little secret." She whispered something to him.

He went pale, his mouth dropped open, and he covered it shocked. He felt like someone had kicked him in the groin.

She smiled and went to get Rui. They came back arm in arm. "Franz this is my true love, Hanazawa Rui." Franz stared at him bitter and angry. Rui glared at him and then turned away disgusted. She and Rui walked off.

Franz called after them. "This isn't over. You'll never be able to care for her or protect her. I will find a way to get out and come for you.

Rui turned back in an instant and had him by the collar through the bars. "Don't even try it, or I swear you will never live to regret it." He let him go and walked off with his arm around Cherokee.

Uncle Jin Woo ran over and hugged his daughter. "That's my girl. It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back." She replied.

They had all watched her bravely face the man who caused her so much heart ache. "You didn't need us here." Akira commented.

She shook her head. "I wouldn't say that. Knowing you were all here for me gave me confidence to do what I had to do. Besides, I know you were all worried about me, and I wanted you to see that I was finally okay and can move on with my life."

"So what are you going to do now that you can finally move on?" Soujiroh was curious.

She looked at Rui. "I'm going back to my room and have some dessert."

"What kind of dessert do you want? You name it, and I'll have someone make it and send it up to you." Her uncle asked.

She tried not to laugh. "That's okay Dad. Rui's got it covered. He knows exactly what kind of dessert I like."

Her uncle was touched. "You called me Dad?"

She smiled. "Yes, I've always wanted to, but you insisted that I didn't. I was never confused, and I knew you weren't replacing my father. You've always been Dad to me. He was my daddy." Uncle Jin hugged her tightly.

"I love you baby girl."

"I love you too Dad."

Her uncle looked at Rui. "Take my daughter to her room and see that she gets whatever she wants."

He smiled. "Yes, sir."

When they returned to the hotel, Rui laid her on the bed and kissed her and then looked in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

He groaned and kissed her. He made sure that he was gentle with her avoiding aggravating her wrist, her ankle, and her ribs. Three hours later they went to sleep and slept soundly for the first time in many nights.

The next morning, she woke up happy. She turned to watch Rui's face. "Rui."

"Good morning." He smiled at her and kissed her. "Wait, are you sick? Do you need to go to the bathroom?" She shook her head.

"I wanted to finish our conversation from the other day when you fell asleep."

"Well, I am awake right now, and you have my undivided attention."

"Do you remember that conversation we had after our first night together?"

He nodded. "You mean when I asked you about marrying me?"

"Yes, that was part of it, but …" She was interrupted by a loud knock at the door.

Rui rolled his eyes. "Let's just ignore it. Maybe they will go away. Besides it is really early in the morning." The knocking became more insistent, and they heard Tsukasa's voice.

She looked at him. "He is not going to go away. We better answer that." Just then her phone buzzed. Rui put on a robe and went to answer the door.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." He opened the door to find Tsukasa on the phone. He yawned and put his hand on the door frame. "Tsukasa, what do you want? People are trying to rest and recover." He was trying to give Shone enough time to put on a robe.

Tsukasa looked at him and hung up the phone. "Yo Rui, where's my little sister? Tsukushi and I want to have breakfast with her. I came to get her." He pushed past Rui and came in and sat down on the couch. He smiled at her. "Hey Tsunee, how are you doing this morning? Listen, Tsukushi and I want to have breakfast with you this morning, and we have a surprise for you."

She smiled. "Good morning Tsukasa, I'm fine. Thank you for asking. We'll need some time to get dressed." She was hoping he would leave so she could finish talking with Rui.

"Take your time. I'll wait. Oh, and it's just you. Rui can eat with Shizuka or someone else." He picked up a magazine and began to thumb through it. She looked at Rui. He shrugged and picked her up to take her to the bathroom to get ready. He ran their bath and helped her bathe. He came out in a towel around his waist and got her the clothes she asked for and went back in. She came out ten minutes later dressed in a short-sleeved short set and flip flops. Her hair was still in a French roll in the middle with the rest down her back. She modeled for Tsukasa.

"How do I look? Does this hide all of my bruises? Remember, Tsukushi doesn't know about all of this unless you told her." She glared at Tsukasa.

"Don't be ridiculous. I know better." She was relieved.

He came and kneeled down next to her. "Okay, hop on. I'll take you to see my lovely bride now." She shook her head.

"No way, Tsukasa, you'll definitely jostle my ribs. I can walk. I just need to lean on your arm." He shook his head.

"That will take too long. I'll carry you." He scooped her up in his arms and headed to his room. When they got to the door, he put her down. He knocked. Tsukushi opened the door and smiled.

She hugged her friend. "Cherokee, it is so good to see you. You are looking well."

She kissed Tsukushi on the cheek. "And what about you? Married life is agreeing with you I see."

"You ought to try it." Cherokee smiled at the not-so-subtle hint. Tsukasa moved behind her to help her walk to the balcony where breakfast was. They ate. She had a light breakfast of tea, toast, and fruit. Tsukasa had warned Tsukushi that she was feeling ill from the drugs in her system and couldn't stomach much.

"We wanted to properly thank you for all you did for us with Tsukasa's mother and with the wedding and just everything." Tsukushi smiled at her. "We have a surprise for you." She pulled out a brightly colored vellum bag with tissue paper. Cherokee accepted it and frowned.

"You know it is not necessary to get me anything."

"Yes, but we wanted to. Please open it." She opened it and gasped at the lovely gift. It was a folded antique silver picture frame and mirror. She opened it and saw a wedding picture of Tsukasa and Tsukushi in it. On the other side was the mirror and engraved over the top were the words. "You are part of our family." She smiled, put her hand over her mouth and then tears started to flow.

"Thank you, this is lovely." She hugged Tsukushi and Tsukasa.

"Wait, let me get you my gift." Tsukasa went back into the room.

Tsukushi took that opportunity to ask quickly. "Have you talked to Rui?"

"Not yet. Every time I get an opportunity we keep getting interrupted. I was going to talk to him this morning, but some insistent person came knocking at my door." She nodded.

"Sorry about that."

"No, I don't regret it. We still have time to talk."

Tsukasa came back with what looked like a jewelry box. He gave it to her. She opened it and saw a beautiful silver carved and engraved spoon. The initials CM were engraved upon it. She looked at Tsukasa. He explained. "All of the Doumyouji children are given a silver spoon with the family's crest and their initials carved in it at birth. It's kind of how you say born with silverware in your mouth." She wanted to correct him but was too touched at the gift to ruin the moment. "Well since we adopted you, that's yours. I had it made, but it is actually from all of us, Mother, Father, Tsubaki, but mostly the 'Great Me.' He smiled. She began crying again, and she got up to hug him tightly.

When the tears finally subsided, she looked at him. "Thank you, Tsukasa. You know how much this really means to me." He nodded. She sat down and looked at his shirt. It was soaked from her tears. "I'm sorry about your shirt. I'll design you a new one, at least that's what Rui said to me about his shirt." She sniffed.

He frowned. "Don't be silly. I don't care about this shirt. I most likely wouldn't have worn it again anyway." He knealed down to look at her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "You would think I wouldn't have any tears left after all of the crying that I have done in the past two days." They looked at each other and laughed. Tsukushi looked confused.

"You've been crying a lot, why?" Tsukasa was about to stammer out an answer when Cherokee intervened.

"Due to the pain of my ankle and wrist. Sensei has been making me endure some harsh physical therapy, but it is worth it. I can almost dance again." Tsukasa breathed a sigh of relief.

"I enjoyed spending time with you two, but I think you need to get ready to go on your honeymoon now that the family business has been resolved. I'll call Rui for a ride back to my room." Tsukasa scowled.

"I'll take you back." Tsukushi stopped him and shook her head. She stood up and went into the other room to call Rui. "Hey sleepyhead, did you eat breakfast yet or did you go back to sleep?"

He yawned. "You know me too well. I had room service send up something for me, and then I went back to sleep."

"Hey, I'm done here with Tsukushi and Tsukasa. Can you give me a lift?"

"I'll be there shortly." Sure enough, he was there within ten minutes. He greeted and kissed Tsukushi on the cheek. He picked up Cherokee and her packages and left. When they got back to the room, he sat her down on the bed.

"Finally, let's finish that talk we were about to have this morning." He looked at Shone.

She nodded. "As I was saying, do you remember all of the conversation that we had after our first night together?"

He nodded. "Yes, I remember the conversation vividly."

"Well, I want to talk to you about that." His phone rang. He picked up looked at the number, didn't recognize it, and then ignored it.

"Continue, please." Before she could finish, the phone rang again. This time he recognized the number and answered it. "Hello, what can I do for you?" He nodded. "Okay, I'll be there right away." He looked at her. "I'm sorry. Shizuka needs me for something very important. Can we put this conversation on hold one last time? I promise it will be the last time." He kissed on her the cheek.

"Can I just tell you right quick before you leave? It's very important."

"I won't be long. Just hold that thought. It can wait for 10-15 minutes can't it?"

"Yes. I suppose so." He left, and she thought long and hard. Tsukushi's words crossed her mind. "If he wanted to be with Shizuka, everyone would know. There would be signs." I think I have my sign, now. She sighed and smiled. Well, I guess I have no other choice.

Sure enough he returned within 15 minutes in a serious mood, masking the joy that he had felt. "Okay, now continue."

She began slowly. "Rui, I love you."

"I love you, too Shone more than anyone else."

She nodded, not believing him. "What I wanted to tell you, what I wanted to say is really hard for me." She was losing her courage and was backing out of it. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be. He put his arms on her shoulders.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I can handle it. I'm here for you always no matter what."

She put her head down. "Rui, I (pause) I'm, that is to say, I'm…" She was about to change her mind, when Franz's words replayed in her head. No, not Rui, not like my parents. She looked up at him and then put her head down quickly and mumbled. "I'm leaving Japan."

His heart stopped. His breathing stopped. It was as if all time stopped at that instant. His chest felt constricted. Surely this is how she must feel with a fractured rib. Who knew that a broken heart could hurt this much? He finally found his voice and began to breathe again. He swallowed. He looked up at her hoping he didn't hear her right. "When?"

"In six weeks. I want to wait for Tsukasa and Tsukushi to come back from their honeymoon, and I need that time to settle all my affairs?"

"Are you leaving indefinitely, or are you coming back?" It sounded like she was leaving indefinitely.

She shrugged. "I am not sure, yet. It depends on how things go with me. I'll definitely come back to visit."

He couldn't think. He wanted to sleep, to fall into a deep sleep and wake up from the nightmare that was unfolding in front of him. "Why?"

She sighed. Her heart felt heavy. Her chest hurt more than the pain from her fractured rib. "I told you it took me a year to recover from my parents' death. I feel like they died all over again. I need time to recover from that, more than that. I need time to recover from everything. I can't help anyone in this state. I'm no good in this state to anyone."

He shook his head. "Can I come with you?"

She thought it over and quickly shook her head. How badly she wanted to tell him yes but refused. "Can you come with me? Can you leave all of your obligations and take a whole year off?"

"I'll find a way. I'll manage."

"I need to do this alone, Rui. I hope you can understand."

"So, does this mean that you are breaking up with me?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just putting us on hold for a while?"

"So, what was all that talk earlier about our conversation after our first night?"

Think quickly. "It was (pause) I wanted to tell you that if you think you are ready to get married, and if you find happiness with someone else while I am away, please do not hesitate to go for that happiness. Don't wait around for me." She looked up and was heartbroken when she saw tears coming out of his eyes. She reached up to wipe his tears. "Rui, I'm sorry." Then she took her hand down. "You probably don't want me to touch you right now. You're probably furious with me or really hurt. I don't blame you."

He shook his head and grabbed her hand, kissed her palm, put it back on his face, and closed his eyes. "That's what I want right now the most, to feel your touch since I won't be able to in six weeks." She looked at him surprised through her teary eyes. "I was angry for a second. I thought look at what we have been through. Then I thought about it. Look at all you have been through. No one has suffered more than you have and deserved it less. So, how can I not understand?" He looked at her and smiled. He moved behind her and hugged her to him. "You're wrong, you know. I won't find happiness with someone else, and I will wait for you. You are always giving to other people and so unselfish. Why shouldn't someone give something back to you for a change? Why shouldn't you ever think about your self for a change? It's okay. I understand. Just do one thing for me?" She looked up at him.

"Anything."

"Let's make the most of the time we have left together." She nodded.

"Please don't tell anyone else, Rui. Not even my uncle knows. I don't plan on telling anyone either, except sempai." He nodded.

For the rest of the trip, they were inseparable, happy and yet miserable at the same time.

(A/N) I apologize if I sent your emotions on a roller coaster ride and left you bittersweet at the end. I'll try to finish this. If my calculations are correct, I have four chapters left.