"Are you sure you're ok?" Hatori hurriedly opened his bag and pulled out his stethoscope.
Yuki quickly shook his head. "No… I'm fine…" He was slightly panting but he tried to speak up. "Tohru… she---"
"I know. I called some of my nearby colleges to find out where that car gone to. In the meantime---"
"I'M FINE, Hatori!" Yuki answered firmly.
Momiji went out of his house and spotted the two on the ground nearby. "Hey! What happened?!"
"Akito found Tohru… and now he had her on her birthday." Hatori explained. "We have to find where Akito lives!"
--------------------------
Tohru's eyes slowly opened. The light from the windowsill blinded her for a moment, as he hands felt the sheets she had above her. It must be morning, but that was just a guess. Then a voice came from the corner of the room.
"Had a pleasant dream, princess?"
She sat up and looked for the origin of the voice. "W-Where?"
"Right here." Akito showed himself to her and grinned mysteriously. "I was wondering when you will get up."
"Meiko-san… where are we?"
"Ah, my dear, I am no longer called Meiko in my home." He hissed at her. "For you to recall, I saved your life and you have to do whatever that may please me."
Tohru stared at his deep dark eyes as he approached her at the bed. He slightly touched her cheek and smiled, "Don't worry. I won't mind having a pretty princess here in my home… as long as she follows my rules…"
She gulped and slid backwards. "Rules?"
"Everything that I have here is in my possession. It can be things… or people." He stared at her. "As long as you are in this house, you are under my control. Never do anything that may displease me, understood?"
She slowly nodded. "Next," he moved closer, "Never mention people's names… especially Sohmas, here in my house. I don't want to hear anything about them." He smiled. "By the way, your silence tells me that you're scared."
"Meiko-san… I don't understand…" she slowly replied. "Why do you need to keep me here and you don't want me talk about Yu---"
"Ah!" He raised his finger to silence her. "A punishment awaits when you violate one of my rules." He said firmly. "You don't have to be scared, Tohru-san. Actually, you're the first woman that entered my house. Have you ever wondered why?"
"Why?"
"Because you're special, which means you are also the master of this house. You could get anything you want because you are indeed my princess…" He smiled, this time, sincerely and a very heart-warming smiled. "I would never do anything to hurt you. That's why I saved you… days ago, right?"
She stared at him, filled with confusion, pity and all other emotions that she couldn't tell. Perhaps he needed a friend. I guess he really does.
"Hai," she replied, "Thank you very much. Meiko-san. I wouldn't forget your kindness."
He then smiled again in a dark manner. "That's better."
----------------------------
"No sign of her." Momiji hung up the phone and turned to Hatori. "An hour has passed. Maybe the car already reached its destination."
"They said there was no car at the pier, the train or even at the airport." Kagura enumerated. "But it could be half-way across the country!"
"We will not stop until we find her." Hatori said firmly and all went back to work. The doctor glanced at Yuki, who was staring at the house phone on the side table.
"What are you doing?"
"Remember when Kana was kidnapped?" Yuki asked. "I was the one who answered the phone call an hour later and it was Akito. He talked to you and you talked to him, negotiating about the order and stuff---"
"Yuki," Hatori sat beside him. "Do you really know what the order was?"
"No." he sighed. "But my brother knows… and so does Shigure. I heard it was wiping out or something. But that's all I know."
"Yeah, but how come you just stomped into my office one day, and told me that you are against the order?"
Yuki stared at the older Sohma. "I guess… I didn't like Akito that time. Whenever he implements a rule, it was so sophisticated and… well, life-taking." He explained. "I don't want that to happen… like what happened to mother---"
"Yuki."
"Right, the past is the past."
Hatori nodded for him. "You're stronger now, Yuki. You can face this."
"Thanks." Yuki replied.
----------------------------
After that, the phone rang.
There was a stunned silence and Yuki slowly picked it up while Hatori stood beside him.
"Momiji's residence."
"Ah, my sole heir to my little kingdom, how are you?" a dark voice came to the other end.
"What have you done to her?" Yuki quickly said, knowing that he was talking to his stepfather.
"My dearest Yuki, why are you against me? She's just a pitiful orphan who---"
"SHE'S NOT PITIFUL AND SHE'S NOT AN ORPHAN!" Yuki yelled. "She already has a family who is willing to take care of her! If you're planning to---"
"Easy…" Hatori grabbed his arm to calm him down. "Anger won't be the answer to our problem."
"Ah." Akito began. "Is Hatori there too? Well now, I guess this happens all over again, like history, they say, repeats itself."
"What are you talking about?" Yuki asked. "You're planning to kill her, aren't you?!"
"Kill her?!" Akito laughed briefly. "Where did you even get that idea? Was that from your cousins who gossiped about Kana's death?"
"You killed her." The nezumi said firmly. "Are you telling me that you're denying it?"
"I'm not denying. I'm just making sure that Kana and I was alone back then before I shared to her about… my plans about the Sohma clan."
"What do you want, Akito? Just let her go." Yuki pleaded. "She's not a part of this---"
"Oh no, my dear Yuki, she plays the biggest role of all."
"Yuki, what is he saying?" Hatori whispered beside him.
"Perhaps you should learn a bit more about this thing in a different way." Akito said darkly as the line went dead.
------------------------------
"He hung up?"
Yuki placed the handset back to its place. "Why did he do that?"
"What did he say?" Hatori asked.
"He mentioned something about learning things in different way or something---" Then his cellphone rang.
"Now who calls this time?" Momiji asked.
Yuki slowly picked it up. "Hello, Yuki Sohma speaking."
"Yuki-kun---"
"TOHRU." Yuki jumped at his place. The rest suddenly crowded to towards him. "Are you ok? Are you hurt? Is everything alright?"
"Yuki-kun, I only got 2 minutes to talk to you."
"Two minutes but---"
"Please listen." She asked.
Yuki refrained himself from asking her anything. Hatori got a stopwatch and run the time of 2 minutes. "Ok."
"Akito told me to tell you what really happened years
ago." She began. "The Sohma clan owned the whole country and one Sohma leader
implemented a rule that lead the peasants here in your country."
Yes, the rule of the forefathers. Yuki wondered. "But why are you---"
"Then there was the father of Akito, who noticed that there was an overgrown population of peasants, implemented a rule that restarts everything back to order."
Yuki could hear Tohru sobbing. "Are you ok? You're crying---"
"Yuki, that rule of Akito's father was never approved." Tohru cried out. "And now, he wants to do it again. That was the order that he was talking about years ago. It will be the persecution of the peasants and lowly."
Wiping out the country clean. Yuki concluded. Starting all over.
"He said that… that…" Tohru was indeed crying and she tried to stammer out the words. "… Hatori failed to give out the order and…"
"Tohru, where is this going?!"
"He wants you to implement the rule, or else you will lose me." Tohru blurted out.
Yuki almost let go of his phone. He gave me a choice… and a hard decision to make---
"Yuki-kun, listen to me." She said slowly. "I've spent almost my whole life in the village and I had friends like Uo-san and Hana-san. I don't want them to get hurt because of me."
"Tohru… I can't lose you like this…"
"I know… but you won't lose me like… like Kana." Tohru said.
"Yuki, ten seconds." Hatori whispered.
"Please don't implement the rule because I will not die." She said quickly. "Instead, Meiko-san---"
"Akito" Yuki corrected.
Akito? The ruthless leader? She stopped for a moment. "A-Akito is planning to marry----"
The line went dead unexpectedly. After that, Yuki yelled to release his worries.
"TOHRU, What happened?!"
"Two minutes is up." Hatori said. "Sorry."
Yuki sat down and tried to calm down for a while. His mind kept on dictating the last words Tohru said to him. Akito is planning to marry…
…her. He finished the sentence. If I won't implement the rule, I… would lose the opportunity to be with her…
He knew my weakness.
And now, he knew what would I do.
----------------------------------
"SO, Honda Tohru-san." Akito sat beside the shaking girl. "You know the story and I think you also know that Yuki… is peasant by blood."
"Yes… Akito-san." She replied.
"Now, what do you think should be the decision? Should I take your pitiful peasant friends lives? Or maybe, should I dominate yours?" he asked as he played her hand on his lap.
Tohru bit her lip, knowing that even if it's against her will, she doesn't want Yuki to end his life like that.
"Ok, Akito." She nodded forcibly. "I… agree to be your wife."
