Oh my! I'm so slow! My schedule is so hectic!!! Gomenasai!!! I would really like to finish this fic so that I can write a new one! Oh what the heck! On with the story.
"Honda-san!" Yuki approached hastily towards her but Hatori was faster than him.
"I want to talk to you… privately…" he whispered.
"But---"
"Don't resist, Honda Tohru-san." He hissed as he grabbed her elbow and led her to a room. "Don't let him in here." The doctor said firmly to everyone. Before he closed the door, Ayame gave a secret signal to Shigure and both of them went inside the same room.
"Why are they---" Yuki tried to get in but Momiji stopped him.
"Don't go."
"Why?! Am I not allowed to see her?!" the nezumi yelled at his cousins. "I wanted to talk to her for a while. Please, let me in."
Momiji just shook his head silently as Yuki banged his fist on the table.
Dammit, what is Hatori planning?! What is he going to do to her? With those two perverts with him, I think they're really planning something… suspicious…
"Let me go, Shigure!" Hatori tried to free himself from the inu's grip but it was no use. Even if he can struggle himself free, he had to walk across the whole room to get to Tohru.
"Tohru-chan, I want you to stay here." Ayame whispered assuredly to the teenage girl tucked at the corner of the room. "Don't worry. Tori-san had to get through me first before he reaches you."
"Why do you have to do this?! Let me go! I order you!"
"I'm sorry, Tori-san but…" Shigure tried to talk and hold Hatori as long as he can. "I can't let you do anything to her."
"I'm not a murderer, Shigure." Hatori eyed his cousin.
"I meant the thing you did with Kana---"
"NEVER MENTION HER NAME!" At last, Hatori got one of his arms free and struggled the other one out as well. He pushed Shigure on the floor. "I… did that… for her own good."
"Why? She did not choose you because you're rich!"
"You don't know peasants, Shigure!"
"Ayame-san… What are they talking about?" Tohru whispered.
"Ne, it's about a thing in the past… about Hatori. Don't think about it much. It's way too personal." The snake replied.
Okaa-san… I can't ignore it. I already heard the name. I know I can remember things very well. Now, I seems like the name Kana is very familiar to me. Yes, Kana Sohma… she was the late wife of Hatori… the murdered wife of Hatori-san. But does this mean that… she was killed by…
"No…" Tohru whispered.
"What is it, Tohru-chan?"
"This is enough." Hatori declared. "I told you. I need to talk to her privately. Everything can turn out smoothly until both of you came!"
"Smoothly?" Shigure got up from the floor and stared at his cousin.
"We were just thinking about her sake. You can't just do it to her like you did to Kana!"
"Did to---Kana has nothing to do with this!"
"What did I do?"
All of them suddenly stopped and looked at Tohru.
"What is it?" Hatori asked.
"What did I do?" she asked him again. "I'm just a young innocent girl who lives with my father in the mill. And one day, I met him in a form of a mouse. I inherited him from my father---"
"Now that is the problem." Hatori pressed. "You know already about the thing we Sohmas keep. That is very wrong. That shouldn't happen!"
"Cmon, Tori-san, Tohru-kun won't tell anyone." Shigure cooed. "Right, Tohru-kun?"
"O-Of course! I won't" she nodded over and over again. "You can count on me about this!"
"Are you telling me that I'm going to trust you?" Hatori chuckled. "Don't make me."
Ayame shot an angry look. "Don't think like that on Tohru-chan. She knows how to keep secrets. I trust her!"
"You do, but I don't." The doctor sat on a empty chair.
"But… you trusted Kana on this!"
"I told you Shigure that never mention Kana's name in this."
"But, Hatori-san…" Tohru whispered. "I… can promise you that… I can keep this secret. I swear!"
"… I can't trust you…I'm sorry."
"Wait , Tori-san! I have an idea!" Shigure clapped his hands. "What if we keep her near us so that we are sure that she won't tell anyone about it."
"Hmm…" Hatori thought for a moment. "That's not a bad idea…"
Okaa-san… these people…they're planning about my life…"But she can't just stay in that mansion like that." The doctor continued. "She has to do something while she is inside."
"Please don't make a her a statue or something." Ayame begged.
"Wait… I know…" Hatori smiled mysteriously.
"Are you alright, Tohru-chan?" Ayame asked Tohru one day. She suddenly snapped out from her deep trance and smiled at him.
"E-Eh? Nothing. I was… just thinking about… whay Hatori-san said…" she whispered.
"Ne, don't worry. That would be for a while only." Ayame assured her. "It will be all back to normal after Akito leaves again."
"Ayame-san, is Akito… really that rude?"
"… you'll understand his personality once he gets here." He smiled. "For the first time, we have somebody inside that mansion like you!"
"…Actually, I'm the second person." She giggled. "Kana Sohma was the first."
After that statement, Ayame stood up and walked away, which made her wonder.
"She'll be living with us inside the mansion?!" Kyou asked.
"Yes!" Kagura yelled happily. "I have a companion!"
"Maybe not too long. She'll be staying here while Akito's here." Shigure explained. "Please… don't tell Akito that she knew about it."
"Hey, is Yuki going to stay here too?" Kagura asked.
"…that's up to him." the inu replied.
Yuki kept his chin tucked in between his knees as he stared at the midnight sky by that window and wondered about the things passed by.
…all the things that passed by.
"Tohru-kun!" Yuki yelled as she walked out of the room. Shigure and Ayame followed her out. "What happened? What did Hatori tell you?" he quickly asked. "… Do you remember me?"
"Relax, my dear brother." Ayame giggled. "She's perfectly fine. We just talked, ok? Right, Tohru-chan?"
"…y-yes." She whispered. "Hatori-san allowed me to stay with you inside the Sohma mansion. That is… if you allow me to---"
"Of course I do!" the nezumi said happily, not knowing what she tried to say to him. "You'll be staying with me inside the mansion! That's fantastic!"
Tohru looked down and kept her mouth shut when Hatori came out of the room and smiled. "So, he agreed?"
"Yes…" she whispered.
"Good, then follow me. I will show you around in the mansion."
Tohru obediently followed the doctor out of the house and inside the carriage. After they drove off, Shigure hastily went toward Yuki and slapped him hard on the face.
"How dare you!" he said angrily. "Why did you say yes?! Why didn't you listen to her, you freak?!"
"Stop it Shigure." Ayame held his cousin back.
"Why… what did I do?" Yuki asked as he touched the aching part in his face.
"You didn't give her a chance to explain! You just said yes!" the inu said angrily. "If I were to gave that decision, I would say no!"
"What the---this is the only opportunity that I would be with her inside the mansion---"
"As she serves Hatori… and Akito?!" Shigure yelled. "As she becomes their slaves?!"
Yuki's mouth dropped open and the others let out a loud gasp.
"What?" Haru said surprisingly.
"Ne-san… will be a maid???" Kisa asked.
"Serves her right." Hiro murmured.
"HIRO!"
"I was just kidding."
"W-Wait…" Yuki stuttered. "A… A servant? A personal maid?"
"Yes, Hatori told us that he does not trust her about keeping the secret of the Sohmas so he decided to keep her inside the mansion just to prevent her from telling the secret to anyone." Ayame explained. "But she can't just roam around inside the mansion freely while Akito is around so he thought that she would be maid… a personal maid for Akito and for him."
"And you said YES." Shigure pressed. "You agreed as the acting mayor---"
"She'll be starting tomorrow." Ayame told his brother.
"What have I done?" Yuki thought.
She was so good to me… and she nursed me to health and…god, she'll be a maid tomorrow… inside the mansion…
My conscience is bothering me already… how am I going to face her tomorrow?Tohru tucked herself under the soft covers of her bed. Okaa-san, I don't know why… but I have a sudden feeling that it won't be very nice inside that mansion. I think Hatori-san is planning something about me and…
I'll be meeting Akito tomorrow… what is he like?
Am I going to survive this?
Now I realize that it's really hard if you inherited a Sohma from somebody.
But at least I'll get to be with Yuki-kun once more. It doesn't matter to me now if he's a Sohma or not.
