Hatori felt strained. The banquet had seemed to be progressing well. The man managed to shirk Shigure's attempts at photographing him in the damn costume. Rika was safe at Kazuma's place. In short, he could focus on the night without persistent worry in his gut. He had been so smug in the knowledge that so much had gone to plan that perhaps that was why the whole thing had gone topsy-turvy.

Trudging back to his own house with Yuki in tow, the man had noted two things upon entry. First, he certainly hadn't left the lights on, and secondly - a pair of discarded shoes at the entrance.

Requesting Yuki to wait while he gathered his kit to stitch the wound, Hatori hesitated outside the old clinic his father had kept. Sliding the door open revealed a sleeping form, Rika's limbs long and scattered across the coverings of the small bed. Directing Yuki to his living room, he covered her with a blanket and noted the puffiness around her eyes. The pale edge to her skin. With a hand lingering on her cheek, Hatori recognised the that bruises had blossomed in a circlet around her neck. He was going to have to get to the bottom of that but, not yet. He sighed.

Why had he been smug?

Dealing with Yuki was quick, cleaning and tidying up the wound left in the wake of Akito's outburst. He ushered the teenager out the door as curtly as he could manage, still unsure how to deal with the next problem. Hands fixed into fists, Hatori was uncertain whether he was angrier at Rika or himself more.

Until he knew what particular brand of stubbornness had come along tonight when he had explicitly told her to stay away, Hatori had to hold his tongue. With no sign that the young woman was going to wake anytime soon, Hatori moved back to his living room just in time to see the sliding door open and a hand appear holding a bottle.

"Oh Toriiiiiiii ~" The man hesitated just long enough for Ayame and Shigure to get both their heads into the space between the living room and porch before he could slam the door shut, "Come play with us!"

"Not now you idiots -"

"But it's tradition!" Ayame was pouting.

"You never come play anymore."

"And we brought the good sake too."

"If you don't, how ever will I fill the void of our dear Tori's absence?"

"I! My darling Shigure, will have to simply fill the emptiness in your heart and your -,"

"Enough! Just get in here and shut up, would you?" He immediately regretted the order, reeling back from both men as they disposed of their shoes and began commandeering his kotatsu, "You smell like a brewery! I've only been gone a half hour."

"We wanted to make sure it still tastes good." Ayame's giggle was enough to leave Hatori pressing forefinger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. How had he ended up with these two nitwits as his closest friends in life? "And Gure was pouting because Akito left with Kureno." Throwing a last haggard look at the door behind him that led to where Rika slept, Hatori closed the three of them off into the living room amid Shigure's drunken complaints. The action, of course, drew the attention he didn't want.

"Where's my dear young brother? I thought to hold his hand in his time of need." Hatori had to forcibly pull his friend back from going to the hallway as he spoke, relieved Rika hadn't yet come to investigate the noise. If she was sleeping through this, something must have wiped her to the point of exhaustion.

"The only thing he needs is space from you!" He shoved a hand down on Ayame's shoulder, snagging the bottle they'd brought with them from his hands and examining it critically. "Have you two just been chugging this stuff from the bottle?"

"Oh no!" Both exclaimed, "We came prepared!" And from their sleeves they drew out a number of small cups, some of the snack food left over from the banquet and another bottle of sake. His mind boggled. How on earth?

Ayame, sensing confusion, tugged the corner of the sleeve back to reveal a double lining.

"Sleeve pockets Tori, they're all the rage!" It was the kind of imbecilic comment that had the man grabbing a relatively clean cup of his own and divvying out two others to his friends. He poured them each a reasonable helping of alcohol. Hatori suspected he'd need it before long. There was an aspect of familiarity in the chatter that rose around the table, much of it aimed at poking fun of one of them or another in quick succession. Before he knew it, the three had polished off one bottle of sake and begun the next.

It was at this point, just as his shoulders relaxed and the anger he'd felt earlier diminishing that, of course, the door opened.

All three men froze, Hatori feeling Ayame and Shigure's eyes dart from a confused Rika in the doorway to his own face and back again. Colour flushed along his cheeks.

"Now who's been keeping secrets!" Shigure finally burst out as Ayame rose to beckon the girl in and under the edge of the kotatsu beside him between her panicked attempts at refusal. "You told us our lovely Rika was spending her evening with Kazuma!"

"He just wanted to keep her for himself."

"What a cruel man our Tori, stealing away our innocent flower." The more the pair went on, the deeper the red across his skin became and even Rika's protestations fell on deaf ears. He tossed her a look of apology, knowing all too well where their minds had begun to dance towards. The harder he tried to refute such comments, the lewder they'd get. His cousins sober were a handful. With undiluted family sake coursing their veins, they couldn't be stopped.

"She looks tired, did he simply ravish her," Shigure had grabbed hold of Rika's chin, Ayame nodding along in a mockery of serenity, "But when did he find the time?"

"Before! In my costume. Oh Tori!"

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Rika's voice cut through the amusements, her face glowing with mortification and her hand reaching out for a cup. Knowing better than to protest at the look of mutinous disbelief that had spawned across her expression, Hatori dutifully picked up the bottle of sake and poured her a measure.

"Even getting her drunk!" Shigure's laughter was cut off by the hand that snagged in his collar, Hatori's frayed temper having finally snapped.

"Do you want me to describe the ways I could murder you, or simply begin?" This earned shocked laughter from both Rika and Ayame and he let his cousin go, though not without a look of disdain first. Accepting a cup that had been refilled by Rika herself, Hatori waved off whatever excuse she was about to give for her presence there. That would be a conversation best saved for sobriety, and in private. Somewhere between waking and coming to join them, he noted that she'd pulled her shirt collar higher to obscure the marks on her neck.

"See how he pines for her." Ayame had sprawled across Shigure, both men sharing loud wistful sighs that rose the blush in Hatori's face once more. What had he done to deserve this? Hubris, he thought. He'd expected the night to go well and now he was paying for that expectation with a horrifying, mortifying, reality.

Hatori drew the conversation back to where it had been before the interruption, something to do with a recent order to Ayame's shop from some kind of celebrity. He didn't much care, alcohol and the accompanying suggestion in his friends' words having created too much of a whirlwind in his head to pay attention. Against his better judgement, he allowed himself to look at the young woman once she was fully engaged with Ayame's story.

When he'd first seen Rika again after her return, he'd been breathless. Stunned. At fourteen she'd been gangling and coarse, trekking mud and antagonism into every room if given half the chance. Never rude, but she'd known herself. Held her decisions with pride. The past few months had changed that perception. He would always have the memories of her as the child she'd been, but now he had to see the woman she was too. The softened-out edges and the perfume. The determination she applied to every part of her life, whether it was at the dojo or exams or finding her way back to the Sohma's. Through it all, whichever form of her he met, Hatori found himself offering promises of honesty and protection that he'd never been able to keep. Not if the bruises she bore were anything to go by.

Consumed by his thoughts and the calming edge of her voice as she engaged with Shigure and Ayame, Hatori let his mind wander. Seconds rolled into minutes, minutes to hours and through it all he found his eyes kept coming back to her. A glance here. Something more lingering there. He'd contributed when asked, but the more they all drank the less logical the conversation grew. In those conditions, it was easy to allow himself time to think. Easier still to trace the curve of her smile with his eyes. The long slim reach of her arms as she topped up drinks and brushed her fingers against his.

The clatter of a cup made him jump, Rika's voice low and strained.

"What did you say?" Hatori cursed himself for not paying attention, for allowing himself to relax so completely. Shigure had a sly look creeping across his face, one eyebrow hitched upwards at her. In a fight of wits, Hatori knew where his money would go and it only made him more determined to reach across the table to where Rika sat and guide her away from whatever was about to come next.

"I said, rumour has it that Ren has been seen with a private guest. You wouldn't happen to know about that would you?" That Shigure even said the name of Akito's mother was a faux pas, let alone to saying it to Rika. Quickly following that nugget of awareness was something else. Her reaction was wrong. Too hesitant. Guilty.

Realisation hit the man like falling bricks, things crashing into place with violent clarity between the haze of the alcohol.

The times he'd seen her figure on the estate but convinced himself otherwise. Her increasing knowledge of the Sohma customs and rules. Things he'd thought she was recollecting but -

"So, it was true then? You were all laughing at me," Rika's gaze twisted from the two men opposite her to Hatori, violence curling her mouth and below it – pain. Incomprehensible, wrenching pain. He cringed backwards from it. "Laughing at my attempts to fit in when I could never – when all I would ever be is a bastard."

Her riposte changed the tone of the room, the smallest ripples spreading outwards and swallowing their amusement like a black hole. As quickly as it shifted, it snapped back with uproarious laughter from Shigure and Ayame, both men buckling over the table as they were brought almost to tears. The whiplash of it sent Hatori reeling, never mind what Rika herself felt. It was the sight of her standing with clenched fists that brought his anger back to simmering point.

"Enough!" His hand came down on the table hard enough to cause the timber to creak and he swore under his breath as Rika flinched.

"Temper temper," Ayame crooned, at the same time Shigure made a show of studying the woodwork to check for damage and make silly comments under his breath, the tail end of which Hatori heard - at least it's not my one this time.

He regretted doing it as soon as it had happened but what had inspired it had been feral in his chest. A hint of betrayal mixed with compassion for how the young woman trembled where she stood, body fighting every urge to flee or weep so that all that was left was the anger she'd spat at them. He wanted to talk her down, to pull her body against his as he had when they were children. Until he heard the softness come back into her breathing and her body calm. He wanted it desperately. So much so that he knew it wasn't just the urge to protect her driving it alone but the memory of Shigure and Ayame's teasing earlier that evening, adding a sliver of what if that'd he'd not let his mind linger on for more than a brief second before tonight. A sliver that drowned out the betrayal in his chest at the thought of her going to Ren of all people for answers.

He was drunk. So terribly terribly drunk.

"How long have you been -" That was all he managed to ask before Rika turned on him.

"Why shouldn't I?" She was on the defensive to hide her anguish and Hatori smarted at the glare thrown his way, "She was the only one telling me anything!"

"That's not true, we -" Shigure's voice faltered as the look was turned on him.

"Kept discussing me behind my back? Discussing my life and my history and not telling me why I only remember fragments, why I was taken away?! Not telling me that all my attempts to fit in were always going to be useless."

"There are better ways than Ren!"

"Like what? Expecting any of you to suddenly clue me in?"

"Ren lies Rika. That's what she does. She twists the truth into fiction just to hurt people. How much has she told you? What has she told you?" Hatori struggled to keep the desperation from his voice, knowing he was too drunk for this. Ayame and Shigure were caught between disbelief and mania, both shaking their heads behind Rika's back. The calm air he tried to project seemed to offer some effect, Rika's shoulders drooping downwards. Her eyes filling with moisture.

"She told me -," Her hands gestured wildly, jaw ticking from the pressure under her clenched teeth, "Akira -"

"Let me guess," Ayame interjected, "Akira and your mother are your true parents." Rika nodded; eyes glossy. She was drunk too, Hatori realised, and clinging feebly to her self-control. It had been Ren who chose to pierce her with those half-truths. To mar the pale skin on Rika's neck with violence. He wanted to kill that woman. Maybe that was why he couldn't get the words past his own throat to explain it to Rika. If he spoke it would come out in a scream of unchecked rage.

"You're an illegitimate heir, Akito's bastard half-sister. The unwanted one." Hatori tried to kick out at Shigure's shin but was unsuccessful judging from the look he received in return, "We've all heard it. It doesn't make it true."

Some of the fire wilted out of Rika, and she sank back down to her knees.

"Then what is?"

"Your mother and father loved you. They married and gave birth to you by choice." Ayame had taken the lead on the honesty. Hatori nodded along, reaching forward to capture her hand without meaning to. He felt her respond to his touch just like she had when she was younger. Moving along the edge of the table so she could curl herself against his chest. Hatori obliged. Drawing his own calm from the feel of her skin under his palms.

"Why would she say it then? What - could she possibly gain from telling me that?"

"Rika, you are not and never were an illegitimate child but -," Hatori's head snapped upwards, wanting to tell Aya to stop, to slow down. He knew that if he did then they'd lose whatever trust she'd tentatively placed back in their hands. He captured his tongue between his teeth instead, sharp enough to draw blood, "Your mother was. Kimiko was the daughter of the previous tiger Zodiac, but she wasn't conceived with his partner. It was Akira's mother -," Hatori pulled her closer to him, feeling how unsteady she was beneath his touch.

"Ren detested that Akira loved your mother. She refused to allow a bastard take pride of place in the household after their marriage, but there was nothing she could do to stop Akira choosing to spend time with his sister without imploding her own relationship. He was the one who put all the kids in your mothers' hands. Akira believed she could change the perception of things like that …" Hatori knew the tale but listened as Ayame spun it with grace. How Akira had loved his sister as if she were a product of his parents' marriage, too kind to do anything else. So strong was his persistence in making her part of the household that she had been placed in charge of all the Sohma kids, providing their elementary education - particularly those from the Zodiac's. He saw endless goodness in his sister and hoped she could pass it along.

Kimiko didn't possess the bond of the god, but she was adored and some had even suggested that she might take over as head when Akira's health had begun to wane. Then Ren had gotten pregnant and pulled her stunt with bullying everyone into raising Akito the way she demanded. Kimi had argued with, begged, Akira to see sense but when she too had become pregnant with her own child - Ren had lost all sense of logic.

Rika's birth resulting in a strained Zodiac bond had made everything worse. After Akira died, the truth was moulded by Ren, and Ren alone. Ren, who had been filling Akito's head with nonsense on every facet of Rika's life. She was a bastard. She wanted to steal the Zodiac's. She had tried to steal Akira. She would take the role as head of the family. It didn't matter how often people refuted it, by the time they'd been able to try make Akito realise the truth it was simply too late. Hatori had learned most of the information in pieces, the full extent of it not being made clear until he himself was in his teens. Back then, it had rattled him. He couldn't begin to comprehend how Rika felt now. From the way she'd curled an arm around his, Hatori suspected vulnerable was pretty high on the list.

"Do you believe us now?" Shigure's voice ripped apart the silence and Hatori felt her nod. "And understand why we have been so careful about telling you all this?"

Rika said that she did. Somehow, Hatori suspected that that wouldn't be the last of it but for now it would have to be enough. He leaned forward, trying to see what she was carrying in her expression.

"Are you okay?"

"Look at him, all concerned." He wasn't sure which of them said it but there was something in the humour that shattered the residual tension and Rika leaned away from him again to snag the sake once more. Her face had shuttered. Hatori wanted to smack the two idiots for opening their mouths.

"You two need to drink more and shut up." Rika filled up all the cups, twisting to place one into his hands. "You too. No one chickens out here." A finger tipped the cup towards his mouth and she raised her own.

"To truth."

When they'd finished their drinks, Shigure and Ayame stood unsteadily and said their goodbyes, mercifully, devoid of any further insinuation. Their good moods had been vanquished once again by the invisible presence of Ren Sohma. Hatori had never hated someone as much as he suspected he did that woman. Shutting the door, his hands rested against the frame while he took a breath.

Rika had begun to clean the room in silence, gathering glasses and straightening out cushions. The normality of it had Hatori's already frayed patience crumbling. Turning to face her the man straightened up.

"Why did you go to her and not me?"

It sounded juvenile to his own ears but his wince was more for how she flinched at his voice, tugging the blanket she held against her chest.

"I needed someone impartial," He opened his mouth to protest and quieted when she raised a hand, "I didn't understand what the bond had to do with me. I still barely do, but I needed answers from someone who wasn't going to fudge the truth to protect me."

Hatori's hand reached for the door. Missed. It landed on the second try.

"I don't -"

"Yes. You do."

He wasn't sure if the sway of her body was because she'd drank too much, or he had. It made it hard to counteract her and harder still to formulate the words that could be used to do so.

"Sometimes I think you look at me and only see that scared kid -" Her voice was soft but riddled with tension. Rika was close enough that he could see the red rim to her eyes and the blown-out shadows of her irises. The soft red curve of her mouth. "You've spent all this time protecting me instead of giving me a choice. I believed her because she gave me more than you did."

Hatori felt the bob of his throat as he swallowed, holding fast to the door for support.

"I almost believed you all hated me. That you spoke about me behind my back because of that lie," Her eyes had filled with moisture again and the man could only stare, "I'm trying to be your friend. To find who I was then. I don't need a protector Hari. I need –"

"You need?"

"I need you to see me. To trust me not to crumple at every hurdle."

"I do -,"

"Stop it!" Rika's voice rose. "Stop lying to yourself. To me."

The blanket was shoved unceremoniously into his arms and Hatori didn't need to hear the sharp thud of the doorway to know he'd misstepped. Closing his eyes, he swore under his breath and turned out the lights.