Tohru sat down on the floor obediently and silently, waiting for Akito to say something as he turned away from her. Tohru knew he would go soft at first, and, when you least expected it; he would flare up and yell at the top of his voice, going hysterical. She had been there, done that. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing properly. In… out… that's right…
"I suppose you have seen Kyou?" Akito said, looking around the room. It had a balcony and the room was painted white all over. Bookshelves covered every corner and sides of the room, just like a mini library. There was a desk on at the right corner of the room and a cushion to sit on. Piles of paper were stacked on the desk and a stone rest on the top of the pile. The room was, from Tohru's observations, Shigure's work place.
"…yes," Tohru said meekly, as if if she said any louder, it would set off a short fuse in Akito, causing him to rant and rave at her. Akito picked a random book from the shelf and flipped through a few pages, before throwing it on the floor. He picked another book randomly, flipping a few pages, before throwing it on the floor again. He repeats this as if it were a cycle, until he's found a book that he's interested in.
Tohru looked around, letting her guard down for a while. The tension in the room was high. "Have you forgotten that you were the one who left this Souma house, 3 years ago?" Tohru did not say a word at first, but thinking that that would be a bad idea, she nodded, "Hai,"
"Why, then, have you returned? To torment my poor, poor animals again? To come back for only a while, give them a brief taste of happiness before leaving them again?" Akito said nonchalantly, his eyes fixated on the book. Tohru did not answer. She has none.
"Have you noticed, that I have been trying to be very, extremely patient with you right now, right here?!" Yes, there it goes again…going hysterically insane. He turned and threw the book at her. The hard edges of the book hitting; jutting into her skin. She hit in recoil. He came swiftly in front of her and kneeled in front of her, leaning his weight on the tip of his toes as he cupped her chin and forced her head up to look at him.
Tohru did not say a word, but she stared deeply into Akito's eyes, hoping she could reach him. "You shameful…shameful bitch," Akito snarled, his fingers digging into her skin, "I told you to stay away from the Souma, I told you to forget the Souma… I had given you a chance to leave and –"
"Akito is still hoping too, isn't he?" Tohru interrupted abruptly, without letting Akito say anything, she continued, "Akito-san could have asked Hatori-san to erase my memories… but you wanted to believe…"
"What have I got to believe!?" Akito said, pushing Tohru away while he let go of his grip on her chin, "What?!" Akito said angrily, raising both his hands in exasperation while standing up. He walked over to the balcony and gripped onto the railings tightly.
Tohru did not say anything. "How much have I slaved and sacrificed for this family… how much..." Akito muttered under his breath, banging both his hands on the railing in fury, not knowing that Tohru had heard it. "And YOU," Akito turned around and pointed his index at her. He walked nearer to her, still pointing at her. His fingers were trembling, "You wretched girl, YOU. You came here, with your ladida ways and practically had everyone charmed, as if you were the god, You made them forget where they stood in the Souma, worst of all, you made them forget where I stood in the family… and that is completely unacceptable…"
He came behind her and gripped hard on a good amount of hair. He pulled back, hearing Tohru made grunting noises as she struggled to control the throbbing pain in her head. "You want to know where you did wrong? Honda-san?" Akito said, pulling her back even more. "Your mistake was to come back here again and practically visited that monster boldly even though it was restricted area… and as long as you're in any house owned by the Souma, you are under my rules…"
"You claim to say that Kyou-kun is a monster," Tohru started as something deep down her gut started to boil with rage, "but what kind of person would have a human caged up for the rest of his life?!" Tohru said. Akito let go of her hair in astonishment; surprised to have someone ever so boldly questioned what sort of person he is. It was the very first he heard anybody said that about him.
"You claim that this is some sort of tradition in the Souma family, you claim that the Cat must be caged up… and so many other useless and irrevelant things…" Tohru continued, "3 years ago, I was ignorant and naïve to have listened to you. You said to leave and never come back here… you said to forget all of the Souma… do you know how much it pains to me to leave the Souma?!" This time, Tohru was hysterical. Unable to control her emotions, she burst into tears. "Do you know that you are taking away everything… everything I've ever known when you told me to leave?!"
"If you had intended to hurt me, you did. Is that what you want?! To make everyone feel as low as you are feeling now?!" Tohru cried. Akito was stunned.
She had hit the spot.
She was right.