"I want to meet you… now." Hatori demanded.
"Ok," Akito agreed, "I wouldn't mind meeting my former subordinate."
Hatori sighed as he held the phone loosely against his ear. "Where do you want to meet?"
"…hmm, I would like that place…" Akito wondered. "…where the two worlds meet."
"…the church?"
"Excellent!"
--------------------------------
"Where are you going?" Shigure asked as he peeked from his office. Akito was wearing a doctor's suit with a black cloak on top.
"Meeting with somebody."
"Ooh…" Shigure cooed happily. "Is this a girl?"
Hatori laughed. "Shigure, there's no other girl in my life except Kana, ok?" He raised his hand for Shigure to see. "See? My wedding ring is still here."
"Cool!" Shigure smiled. "Say, were you ok after what that guy told us? You know, about Kana?"
Hatori stared at his cousin, and at the same time recalling the conversation with the guy earlier. "It sounded so real… but…"
"But?"
"…I would like to know more of this suicide thing." He said. "Perhaps I should investigate this myself."
------------------------------
"Are you sure we can meet him here?" Yuki asked Kyou.
"Of course." He grinned at his cousin. "The forest is my home as well as sensei's"
"I thought that sensei lived on the mountains?" The nezumi asked. Kyou didn't reply.
After a few moments, Kazuma came. "Have you been waiting long?"
"I need to talk---"
"To both of you…" Kazuma pointed. He gave them two cloths. "Blindfold yourselves. You shouldn't know where are we going?"
"Is this some kind of a joke?" Yuki asked.
"Hey, you already know that I'm a spy, right?" he asked. Both of them nodded. "Then you have to follow everything exactly as I say. Akito has his ways of knowing things and soon, he would know that I'm a spy. He has already tightened the security."
"What are you planning to do?" Kyou asked.
"Where are you taking us?!" Yuki demanded.
"To Tohru." Kazuma hastily replied. "You shouldn't know where are we going because…well, it's a secret, at least to me and Kana---"
"Kana?"
"Never mind." The sensei whispered. "Please, we should do this while Akito is at the village."
Both of them looked at each other. Without any other options, they blindfolded themselves and followed Kazuma's wishes.
----------------------------------
Hatori entered the crowded church and quickly founded Akito kneeling on the front pew. He went towards him and knelt beside him.
"Pitiful, aren't they?" Akito whispered in his prayer.
Hatori glanced at the clan head beside him. "They are very faithful."
"It was God's will to wipe them out of this land." He whispered back. "Somehow, I'm just following God's wishes."
"… are you planning to wipe out Yuki from the Sohma clan also?" Hatori asked.
"My dear subordinate, I never liked Yuki in the first place. He is as rebellious as his mother but both of them are powerless against me. He was just a boy when he started to like me… though your help, Hatori." Akito explained. "And now, I shall return him to his people… and he would die with them soon."
"You can't kill Yuki." The doctor whispered back. "He's your subor---"
"He will never be the next Sohma clan head because at the first place he is not a Sohma."
"But---"
"Hatori, I always thought that you would be on my side for once… and you were almost on my side back then when that… Kana…"
"Kana died… and you KILLED her." Hatori said.
Akito couldn't help but grin at Hatori. "You totally have forgotten all about it, didn't you?"
"About what?"
"In that case, my drug worked perfectly then." Akito stood up and walked away.
-------------------------------
"Where are we…"
"Both of you keep quiet." Kazuma hissed. "We're almost there."
"Hey, I think I stepped on something…" Yuki whispered. "What do you think, Kyou…"
There was silence.
"Where is Kyou?" Kazuma asked.
"I don't know!" Yuki almost yelled. He felt that someone was behind him. He turned around but found no one. "Sensei, I think we're being tracked…"
Yuki stopped for a moment and took off the blindfold he was forced to wear. "Sensei, I think I need my eyes now…" He stopped and stared at the building in front of him.
"No Yuki!" Kazuma waved his hands in front of Yuki. "You can't see."
But it was too late. Yuki was already observing the familiar monument in front of him.
It was an ordinary two-floor abandoned house at the middle of the forest. Somehow, Yuki has seen this house somewhere at the back of his mind but he realized after those times that Hatori brainwashed him, he didn't realize what the importance of this house was.
"How come… I think I can remember…" he tried to recall but Kazuma shook him over and over again like the boy was in a deep trance.
"You shouldn't remember… if you do, everything will change. If you want to rescue Tohru, we must go now."
Yuki slowly nodded. His mind said yes, but his body remained in place.
Why am I feeling like this? It seems like my body recalls a horrifying experience…
Have I been here before?
--------------------------------
"What do you mean drug?" Hatori was able to catch up Akito before he went inside his carriage.
"See, you don't remember." Akito chuckled lightly. "Honestly, you may be smart but your ingenious mind is frail. You don't actually remember the night when Kana died? The night when I banished Kazuma? The night when Yuki ran away?"
Hatori never thought of that. "All of them are on the same date? But… why?"
"You don't have to know… because you have to find out." The clan head grinned. "Like Yuki found out where I placed his beloved friend."
"Are you trying to repeat everything all over again?! First Kana, now Tohru. What are you trying to do?!"
"Can't you see?! I'm trying to prove that I am powerful!" Akito shoved Hatori aside and entered his ride. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that she gets it painlessly!" The carriage drove off and Akito laughed evily.
-------------------------------
"We have to get out of here. You have seen a lot, Yuki." Kazuma tried to pull him up. "You should see this."
Yuki was already searching in his mind what this place was…
"Mama, where are we going?" he looked up to his mother.
The woman beside him looked down. The afternoon sun was bright enough to cover her mother's face from her unruly hair.
"To your father…"
"But… he's not my father." Yuki pouted. "He never like me."
"He will… because he has great plans for you."
Both of them waited outside the gate of an old and abandoned two-floor apartment in the middle of the forest.
"Mama? Why is 'papa' living in the middle of the forest?" His mother didn't reply.
A car drove in and out went Akito, a once proud and well dressed man. He went towards Yuki's mother and kissed her slightly on the lips. "Is this my little Yuki?"
"Yes…"
"Very well, as I promised, I will send you to your fathers in mountains."
"Mama…" Yuki tried to grab hold of his mother. "Mama, I want to come with---"
He was slapped hard on the cheek by Akito. "From now on, I own you…"
"This is my first house…" Yuki realized.
"No…."
"Sensei… what do I need to know? Is this where I used to
live? Is this where Akito tortured me until I beg for his mercy? Is this the
place where I was imprisoned until I obey him?!"
Kazuma didn't answer. "I don't want you to know… but I'm happy… that the drug
is wearing off quickly."
"Drug?"
Kazuma stared at him seriously. "Yuki, if you want to know what your past was, we need to get inside, ok? But… I promise you…and I assure you… your memories inside this house won't be as pleasing as your life back in the mansion." Yuki nodded in reply.
Just before they would get into action, somebody attacked them from behind and knocked them out unconscious.
