In the Darkness, 1
All was quiet throughout Shigure's house as people slept peacefully. All except Honda Tohru who was quietly creeping towards the bathroom. Upon entering she quickly and quietly closed the bathroom door, careful not to wake any of the other occupants of the house. Tohru needed it. Although no one would ever guess innocent little Tohru of having an addiction, she did. Opening the medicine cabinet and taking out her makeup compact, she sat down on the edge of the bath and began to run the water. Opening her compact, Tohru took out the razor from its hidden hollow and gently smiled. Raising her pajama top, Tohru took the shiny blade and placed it against her silky skin. Pressing hard and pulling, she sliced through her flesh. The blade slide effortlessly through silky unblemished areas and tugged slightly when crossing older scars while leaving a trail of crimson blood.
Inhaling sharply at the pain, Tohru smiled as she genuinely let go of all her worries of the day. This was how she got through the day. People often wondered how she stayed so happy and optimistic, this was how. At the end of everyday, Tohru transformed all her pain and turmoil into physical pain. A pain she could control, when everything else in her life seemed so chaotic. Between the recent guilt about her mother's accident, Hana-chan and Ou-chan constant hijinks, and Kyou-chan and Souma-kun's ceaseless fighting, Tohru needed something that she could have some say in. Placing the razor on her stomach to begin another cut, she was startled by the door opening and quickly hid the razor.
Yuki had woken up needing a glass of water. Upon hearing the trickle of water in the bathroom he decided to investigate in case the dumb dog had accidentally left the water running from earlier. Upon entering, he was shocked to see Honda-san bleeding profusely at the edge of the bath. "Honda-san! What happened?" he yelled frantically, trying to find the source of the blood.
Upon his yell, Kyou and Shigure ran towards the bathroom woken from their sleep by the alarm and panic in Yuki's voice. Stunned at the sight before them, Shigure leapt into action. "Kyou, call Hatori. NOW!" Grabbing a few towels, Shigure quickly tried to staunch the blood on Tohru's stomach as Yuki stared disbelieving at her. Yuki did not know what to think. He knew there was no way Shigure or Kyou would have actually hurt her. How did this happen? Had Akito been here? His thoughts kept racing as an unnoticed tear slipped from his eye.
"I'm fine." whispered Tohru, so quietly that they had to strain to hear her words.
"Hatori's on his way," Kyou panted back up re-emerging into the bathroom, "who did this to you, Tohru! Tell me!"
"I'm fine." Tohru stated again, "No one did this to me. I did this myself."
Shocked could not properly describe the reaction of the other occupants. Even Shigure who was used to the dark side of Akito was stunned that Tohru could have hurt herself, upon understanding her statement his hand holding the towels against her began to shake as all three stared at her in shock and confusion.
"Why on earth would you have done such a stupid thing?" screamed Kyou. "Don't you know me and Hatsuharu beat up all the jackasses at school who even look at you funny? How could you hurt yourself? If you weren't you I would go kill whoever did this!"
In agreement with Kyou, Yuki interjected, "Baka neko is correct Honda-san. We would take care to protect you, but why would you have done this to yourself?"
Realizing that Yuki had agreed with Kyou, Tohru realized the extent of the seriousness. "Please forgive me", she bowed over Shigure's arm catching his eye. It seemed serious for the first time, no sparkle of laughter or mirth was present in the author's eyes.
Upon that statement Kyou stormed out followed by Yuki, silently the waited on the porch for Hatori's car both too preoccupied by their own thoughts to break the silence. Meanwhile in the bathroom, Shigure continued to ponder the situation and none of the thoughts had to do with his hand on a high school girl's stomach. After what seemed like hours, the twin beams of light turned towards the house, signifying the doctor's arrival.
Hatori had asked them to leave the room while checking on Tohru's injuries. What he saw shocked him, all across her torso and upper thighs were a web of cuts. There were old scars of shiny flesh, deep cuts that were scabbed over, shallow cuts that had angry red swelling, cuts that seemed infected, and most of all the two fresh cuts that were still bleeding. Unable to do anything but stare for a moment, Hatori knew that this abuse had been occurring for awhile and that Tohru was in need of more help that just medical. After cleaning and bandaging her wounds, Hatori lightly binded the wrists of an unresponsive Tohru with gauze. He didn't know where she had hidden the blade and did not want to worry while he discussed with the others outside. Leaving the door slightly cracked Hatori decided to present them with a difficult decision.
"I think we should bring Tohru-kun back to the main house." Hatori stated calmly, a contradiction to how he felt inside. "It would be better for her."
"How would it be better for her to be near that lunatic?" snapped Yuki.
Taking a deep sigh, Hatori replied, "Think about it, obviously Tohru-kun should not be left alone. I know that you two care for her deeply but with school, you can not be with her constantly. I think she needs some serious help." There was a slight pause before he continued, "At the main house, I can have servants watch over her while I am away. I promise I will not let Akito-san know that Tohru-kun is in the house."
Upon mulling over the logic, the cat and mouse shared a look. Neither wanted to have Tohru move to the main house, but obviously they couldn't keep a close enough watch over her. Shigure interrupted the silence by clearing his throat before speaking. "I know you two care for Tohru-chan very deeply and would not want her to leave. However, I think Ha-san is correct in this case. Obviously we were unable to protect her under the same roof, the extra help would be necessary to prevent her from injuring herself further. Plus, you could always go visit her whenever you want."
Knowing they were defeated, Yuki and Kyou looked at Hatori before giving them an imperceptible nod of acceptance. Yuki went to Tohru's room to gather the items she would need for her stay at the main house, while Kyou went into the bathroom and carried Tohru out to Hatori's car. When the youths were downstairs, Shigure finally turned to Hatori to ask the pressing question.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Ha-san?"
"I'm not sure, I really hope it is.. I can't think of another way to keep Tohru-kun monitored until she gets better."
"This has been going on for awhile. I don't know if Tohru-chan will be able to get better." Shigure whispered, not joking about Hatori stealing his bride for once.
"I know," Hatori sighed. "We can only hope that Tohru-kun will get better. Perhaps now that we are aware of the issues, they can be addressed." At that statement, Hatori walked down the stairs while Shigure trailed him. Shigure, Kyou and Yuki stood on the porch long after watching car drive away.