Mini-glossary of Japanese words/phrases used in this chapter and roughly
translated English equivalent:
ne - hey / right
maa - 'well' or placating when strung together several times like saying 'now, now, now'
iie - no
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CHAPTER 3: The Call for Waiting
Stillness settled around them once again with the doctor's departure and Akito turned towards Tohru, his features composed in cold impassive lines and he looked down upon her from his position that towered above the crouched form. Head bent forward as it was, she was unable to see the tilting of lips that graced his expression as the ominous rustling of cloth swished through the quiet room with each step he took closer to her, narrowing the distance between them until he stood, legs pressed against her with light pressure.
"Such a relief," he murmured lowly, voice snaking through the quiet of the room. "Alone again, just the two of us."
He knelt down beside her, observing in satisfaction at the slight flinching of her body, such a tiny movement that might have gone unnoticed had he not been watching out for it. Taking joy in it, he resumed his earlier position, twining his arms about her languidly, an almost romantic gesture as he bent his head closer to whisper silkily into her ear, breath ruffling the rich brown strands of hair as he spoke in darkly hushed tone.
"It might be a while until he comes back," he told her huskily. "Such a long wait might get boring, ne?"
He threaded his fingers through her hair as he tilted her face up to look at him, taking pleasure in the distress he saw there. At it, his smile widened in a wicked smirk, causing her features to tense even more at the glint in his gaze, sinister in its intent, as he addressed her in that dangerously gentle manner of his that was full of foreboding.
"What should we do to pass the time?"
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Despite the warmth of the summer night, Hatori felt a shill shiver through him as he stood outside Shigure's, hesitating to announce his presence to those within as his roiling thoughts pressed down upon him, giving him no sense of ease.
What would he say to them? What could he say to them?
He tried to formulate the explanation he'd give to everyone but his mind, often praised for being so intelligent and capable, came up blank, a rare experience for him and an unwelcome one at this point. An explanation may be lost to him but he knew well that the events about to unfold would put an end to the brief stretch of happiness that those within had been given these past months. After all, the one who had given it was currently at the hands of the one who always seemed to destroy it, shredding it into pieces that were incapable of being put back together.
He stared out into the dark woods surrounding Shigure's residence, the sheltering trees reflecting the state of his mind as they began to take on the semblance of never ending bars of a desolate prison, one from which there seemed to be no escape. Even this far away from the Honke, out of sight of the man who headed their clan, he could still feel the long reach of Akito's insidious presence stretching across the distance to bind to him any who would dare to even attempt escape.
"Hatori!"
The banging of the entrance door and simultaneous shouts from Kyou and Yuki shattered the morose mood that had swallowed him and had him turning back to the house to see them and Shigure standing before him, dark figures to his eyes silhouetted by the light from within. And with their presence, Hatori's stalling came to an end as the time for explaining came to a head, something that could bring no good in its wake.
Few things associated with Akito ever did.
They must have been watching and waiting, pacing about like anxious hens, to see when Tohru would return to burst out of the house as suddenly as they had, Hatori thought. He could see the worry written all over their faces as their eyes flicked about, taking in the knowledge that he'd returned without the feminine bundle that he'd left with, a terrible realization it was. And it was those expressions of theirs, the dawning of a new kind of horrified fear, that made Hatori regret even more that nothing he had to say would ease that anxiety. On the contrary, the revelation of the recent turn of events would only increase their agitation although they seemed agitated enough with their exclamations, tight with tension.
"Where's Honda-san?!"
"Why isn't she with you?!"
"Maa, maa, you two," came Shigure's placating voice. "Why don't we let Ha- san come in first?"
"But-!" Kyou and Yuki both protested.
"What would Tohru-kun say if you were to be so impolite as to make Ha-san stand outside like an unwanted guest? Hmmm?" Shigure wagged his finger in a chiding manner at the agitated teens.
Kyou and Yuki paused, turned to look at Hatori and then at each other before moving out of the entrance they'd been blocking. They wanted answers fast but the quickest way to get them seemed to call for following Shigure's suggestion, at least temporarily.
Kyou and Yuki waited impatiently, both thinking that the time it took for Hatori to take off his shoes once inside the house and to settle himself down at the living room table moved on much too slowly. Every moment of waiting caused the fear in their minds to intensify as they wondered about the whereabouts of the girl who had come to mean so much to them, worried because they had a terrible feeling that their worst apprehensions concerning her location were about to be confirmed. They dreaded it even as they still needed to know.
"So," Yuki began sharply once they were seated. His determined features bored into Hatori, no longer willing to be denied answers. "Where is she?"
Taking in the tense expressions of the teenagers glaring blackly at him, demanding immediate response, Hatori sighed inwardly as he prepared himself. There was no easy way to break the news to them, no method that could cushion the impact of his words, especially since his intuition said that they already had a suspicion as to his answer.
"She's with Akito," he stated straightforwardly.
"And you just left her there?!" Kyou burst out immediately, horrified that she'd been left alone with the violent head of the family, even though he'd been partially expecting such a revelation.
"Well," Yuki demanded coldly as he speared the doctor with a glance, "did you?"
The guilt he'd been feeling over that very action made the normally even- tempered doctor more easily provoked, especially when the accusations leveled against him came from two who he knew were the most worried of them all. Still, the words grated on his nerves that were already rubbed raw from his drive over as he imagined dealing with such a confrontation, causing Hatori to return the dagger-like gazes aimed at him with an angry glance of his own.
"And what would you have had me do?" he bit out roughly. "Try to take her away, against Akito's wishes, and push him into one of his rages? Well?" he demanded when they remained silent. "What would you have had me do?"
"I don't know!" Yuki shouted back.
Yuki's usual calm and steady composure was wiped away in his increasing agitation, at the memories of just how bad things could turn at Akito's hands, and there were many of such events that he had to draw on, fueling the negative emotions that lay within him. Those shadowy dark images of the past, of terror and darkness mixed with pain, threatened to overwhelm him given the dire situation but he forced them back, knowing he couldn't allow himself to be swallowed by them now. He shook his head, the strain of his efforts reflected in his eyes.
"I don't know what you should have done," he said with pained voice. "But you shouldn't have just left her. Not with him!"
"She agreed to stay!" he shot back in a sudden need to defend his actions to them, to himself, the announcement leaving a shocked silence falling upon the other occupants of the room. A little more calmly, he related more of the details. "I asked her before I left if she wanted to stay and she agreed."
Thinking rapidly despite the stunning effect of Hatori's imparted words, Yuki asked, "For how long? Another day?" If it was just another day then it would probably still be alright, he thought tensely.
Hatori went still, not wanting to answer though he knew he must, as he replied, "Iie. Akito wanted her indefinitely."
"What?!" Kyou and Yuki shouted in disbelief.
Yuki shook his head. "I don't believe it. Honda-san wouldn't agree to that."
"She did," Hatori stressed, looking him directly in the eyes. "I heard the words from her own mouth."
"It couldn't have been willingly!" Kyou glared at the doctor. "She must have been forced to say that!"
"Only three of us were in that room. Akito wasn't laying a hand on her when she consented. And I didn't see a mark on her," Hatori said, telling a half-truth.
Was it good or bad hiding the fact that he couldn't see enough of her the way she'd been huddled to tell the extent of damage that Akito may have inflicted upon her? But to tell them would to be to send them rushing headlong into an explosive situation that could bring about a tragedy he was certain no one wanted to occur. Despite his own doubts as to the merits of his actions, Hatori kept silent.
"Coercion doesn't have to be physical." Yuki's low whispering voice, obviously reliving his own torments, caught their attention. He turned his haunted gaze, tortured memories lying within it, to Hatori. "Just because she agreed, even though you didn't see anything wrong, that doesn't mean you should have left her there. Especially when you know how he can be."
Those sentiments echoed too closely to his own and he experienced a new wave of guilt for not lending more help. He closed his eyes in regret, fighting back the feeling of helplessness at not being able to do more, only to have them snap open again at Shigure's cry.
"Kyou-kun! What are you doing?"
"What the hell does it look like?" The angry orange-haired boy paused by the entrance to the hallway to glare back at those still seated at the table, obviously upset and at the end of his tether. "I'm going after her and bringing her back!"
"And how will you do that?" Shigure said, shaking his head. "Do you honestly think that the others living in the Honke will let you take her without a fight if Akito orders it? Especially you, the cat who remains outside of the Jyunnishi."
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Kyou practically screamed, unable to hold his emotions in check for the fear roiling inside of him, not for himself, but for someone whom he was afraid would easily break under the harsh hands of Akito.
"For a start," Shigure told him, "try calming down a little. If you rush off into the middle of this without thinking, you'll end up making the situation even uglier. If that happens, then no one will be able to predict what the outcome will be." He gave the anxious teens a serious look. "Or who will get hurt."
It was that last statement that got to them, the idea that Tohru's situation would only be worsened by being rash, doing something reckless that she would most likely have to bear the consequences of. That thought was almost as painful to the both of them as the idea of leaving her in Akito's malicious hands was. Although Kyou's body trembled with the strong urge to rush out of the house anyway, ignoring the Shigure's warnings, he forced himself to sit back down, to try and tamp down his volatile emotions that were yelling at him to go after her and confront Akito. Only the knowledge that someone else's emotions, hers, were on the line, not just his, gave him the strength to keep still and hear out what the others had to say.
Yuki, restraining himself as well, looked at Shigure. "Well? Do you have any ideas about what to do?"
"I do but," he blew out a breath, gaze flickering back and forth between Yuki and Kyou, "neither of you are going to like it."
"Damn it! Spit it out already!" Kyou hated the suspense.
Shigure braced himself for their reactions as he told them, "We should leave her there."
"We can't do that!" cried Yuki.
"You bastard!" yelled Kyou. "How can you even think that?!"
"Is this what you were planning?" Yuki glared and Kyou joined him in the action.
"How can you say that?" Shigure looked shocked. "How could I know he'd ask her to stay? I haven't spoken to him for quite a while, after all."
"Still-" Yuki began only to be cut off by Kyou.
"Gah!" Kyou cried, frustrated with everything as he shot to his feet again. "Enough talking! It's getting us nowhere!"
"And what were you thinking of doing?" Shigure asked, expression bordering on disapproving. "Go off to rescue the damsel in distress from the evil villain and live happily ever after?" He shook his head. "This isn't some story that will turn out well in the end just because you want it to. It's real life. Our lives in the Jyunnishi circle, in the Souma clan." At their protests, he gave them a hard look. "Did you forget how our world works? Forget that the curse prevents the ones bearing it from directly harming the person who holds the lines to all of ours? And the consequences of even trying? Force is the one thing you won't be able to use against him, just as it's the only thing that could make him change his mind. Unless Tohru-kun walks out of there under her own power, or he decides to let her go, there's nothing anyone can do. And to try will only make things worse for her. You can be sure that he'll see to that."
They all fell silent at that bit of reality, that there wasn't much they could do outside of whatever boundaries that Akito set before them. To the imperialistically structured Souma clan, he was their emperor and his word was law. To those bearing the Jyunnishi curse, he was all that and more, their God who had the power to do with them as he willed, even unto death.
"Even so," Yuki's voice broke the silence, "how can we just sit back, not knowing what he's doing to her? How can we just leave her with him?"
"I doubt he'll do much in the way of harming her," Shigure tried to reassure. "Things shouldn't get too bad as long as he's satisfied with what he wants." He shot a warning glance at Yuki and Kyou. "But he gets much more volatile and unpredictable when people interfere. That's why we should just wait for a while and see what happens, keeping our distance so we don't set him off. Perhaps, after he's satisfied some of his curiosity about her, he'll get bored and let her come back. Besides," he added, "Tohru-kun agreed herself to stay, didn't she? Do you really think you'll make her happy by trying to rescue her and bringing down Akito-san's punishment on you all?"
Although Yuki and Kyou didn't like it, resisted it with every fiber of their beings, they also acknowledged the truth. With the double strictures of the curse and the traditions of the Souma family weighing down on them, there was a very limited amount that those under the burden of the Jyunnishi curse could do. As a gloomy air took them, Hatori frowned, wishing that he could change the situation, to make it better. But he couldn't. And the reason he'd come wouldn't improve the situation.
"I need to collect Tohru-san's belongings. At Akito's request," he added quietly as all eyes zeroed in on him. He returned their gazes with a serious look of his own. "I should return with the effects she'll need most tonight and come back tomorrow for the rest." When Yuki and Kyou were about to protest, Hatori halted them, reflecting the weight of the situation by saying, "I've been here for quite a while already and it's not a good idea to keep him waiting too long, we all know that."
Yuki nodded reluctantly as he stood up. "I'll get them. If it's the only thing I can do for her right now.." He shook his head as his voice trailed off.
"Me, too." Kyou shot a belligerent glance at Yuki, daring him to refuse.
For a moment, Hatori was afraid they were on the verge of another fight, the last thing they needed, now of all times. But to his relief, after exchanging a speaking glance between them, the two left without saying another word in a rare moment of simultaneous thought. Sounds of movement had him glancing over to see Shigure shifting, moving closer to the open sliding door that let the slight breeze of the summer night into the confines of the living area. Observing the calm expression on Shigure's face as he sat with folded arms while gazing off into the surrounding darkness of the woods beyond, Hatori frowned as Yuki's previous accusations crossed his mind.
"Shigure." He waited until he was sure he had the dog's attention. "You really don't seem very surprised at this turn of events."
A slow blink, an innocent gesture.
"Don't try pulling that act on me," he bit out almost harshly. "Is this really part of your plan?"
The slight smirk was his answer.
Staring at his friend, Hatori couldn't help but say, "There are some times, Shigure, that you disgust me."
Shigure laughed, a low amused sound. "You, too?" His head tilted up as he stared at the twinkling stars overhead, a picture of peace and harmony completely at odds with the topic of conversation. "Well, it's nothing I haven't thought of myself now and then. But I told you before, didn't I? To attain my goal, there's very little I won't sacrifice, no matter what happens as a result or who gets hurt in the process." He slid a sly glance in the doctor's direction, a cunning expression. "Ha-san must have thought so too. I've known you too long for you to hide anything from me. You didn't tell the whole truth about what went on back at the Honke because you knew that they'd immediately try and go after her. Am I wrong?"
Hatori glared. "It was for everyone's best interests."
"Really? Is that what Ha-san believes?" He tilted his head slyly. "Did Ha-san truly try as hard as he could have to get our little flower away from the devil? Or did he leave her there, hoping for a change, too?"
Hatori let out an angry hissing breath, a quiet sound that sliced through the quiet that lay between them, but he held his silence because he feared that there was some harsh truth in Shigure's words. The guilt he'd been holding for not being more assertive in getting the girl out from under Akito hands, hands he knew full well the danger of, wouldn't let him free of the self-disgust directed at himself. Struggling to get his emotions under control, he tore his gaze away from his friend's smug figure and turned to the darkness of the night that enveloped the house. Once he had himself in check, he voiced the thought uppermost in his mind aloud.
"Do you really think this will work?"
"It's hard to say." Shigure continued staring out into the dark. "But it's a beginning and there's no turning back. For better or worse, things will change for us all. Only time can reveal whether or not that change will be a good one."
The sound of footsteps had them turning to the hallway where Yuki and Kyou, each laden with several small bags, were coming towards them. The two teens stopped before the older men, their bodies radiating a mix of bitter acceptance and dark resolve. It was patently obvious that, although they were going along with the flow of the current situation they found themselves in, neither of them held any liking for the turn of events. Even so, they offered the bags to Hatori.
"Take them," Kyou growled, practically shoving them at the doctor.
"Hatori," Yuki said once the bags had been taken from him as well, "you'll probably have the most contact with them so we're expecting you to keep us informed." He stared at the two adults, something about them causing his earlier suspicions to return. "You will tell us if anything happens to Honda-san, won't you?"
Hatori's glance flickered briefly between Yuki's demanding countenance and Shigure's interested expression as they awaited his reply. It was clear from Yuki's features that he suspected that there was something else going on even though he didn't have enough evidence other than a gut feeling to press the point further; but then Yuki always did have an uncanny knack for picking up on things, a credit to his elevated status as the mouse of the Jyunnishi. However, at the moment, it only served to burden him more as, between Yuki's suspicions and Shigure's manipulations, Hatori was place in an uneviable position that he detested even though he realized that it wasn't something that could be helped. And so, with that awareness in mind, he replied in the only way he saw fit.
"Of course."
ne - hey / right
maa - 'well' or placating when strung together several times like saying 'now, now, now'
iie - no
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CHAPTER 3: The Call for Waiting
Stillness settled around them once again with the doctor's departure and Akito turned towards Tohru, his features composed in cold impassive lines and he looked down upon her from his position that towered above the crouched form. Head bent forward as it was, she was unable to see the tilting of lips that graced his expression as the ominous rustling of cloth swished through the quiet room with each step he took closer to her, narrowing the distance between them until he stood, legs pressed against her with light pressure.
"Such a relief," he murmured lowly, voice snaking through the quiet of the room. "Alone again, just the two of us."
He knelt down beside her, observing in satisfaction at the slight flinching of her body, such a tiny movement that might have gone unnoticed had he not been watching out for it. Taking joy in it, he resumed his earlier position, twining his arms about her languidly, an almost romantic gesture as he bent his head closer to whisper silkily into her ear, breath ruffling the rich brown strands of hair as he spoke in darkly hushed tone.
"It might be a while until he comes back," he told her huskily. "Such a long wait might get boring, ne?"
He threaded his fingers through her hair as he tilted her face up to look at him, taking pleasure in the distress he saw there. At it, his smile widened in a wicked smirk, causing her features to tense even more at the glint in his gaze, sinister in its intent, as he addressed her in that dangerously gentle manner of his that was full of foreboding.
"What should we do to pass the time?"
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Despite the warmth of the summer night, Hatori felt a shill shiver through him as he stood outside Shigure's, hesitating to announce his presence to those within as his roiling thoughts pressed down upon him, giving him no sense of ease.
What would he say to them? What could he say to them?
He tried to formulate the explanation he'd give to everyone but his mind, often praised for being so intelligent and capable, came up blank, a rare experience for him and an unwelcome one at this point. An explanation may be lost to him but he knew well that the events about to unfold would put an end to the brief stretch of happiness that those within had been given these past months. After all, the one who had given it was currently at the hands of the one who always seemed to destroy it, shredding it into pieces that were incapable of being put back together.
He stared out into the dark woods surrounding Shigure's residence, the sheltering trees reflecting the state of his mind as they began to take on the semblance of never ending bars of a desolate prison, one from which there seemed to be no escape. Even this far away from the Honke, out of sight of the man who headed their clan, he could still feel the long reach of Akito's insidious presence stretching across the distance to bind to him any who would dare to even attempt escape.
"Hatori!"
The banging of the entrance door and simultaneous shouts from Kyou and Yuki shattered the morose mood that had swallowed him and had him turning back to the house to see them and Shigure standing before him, dark figures to his eyes silhouetted by the light from within. And with their presence, Hatori's stalling came to an end as the time for explaining came to a head, something that could bring no good in its wake.
Few things associated with Akito ever did.
They must have been watching and waiting, pacing about like anxious hens, to see when Tohru would return to burst out of the house as suddenly as they had, Hatori thought. He could see the worry written all over their faces as their eyes flicked about, taking in the knowledge that he'd returned without the feminine bundle that he'd left with, a terrible realization it was. And it was those expressions of theirs, the dawning of a new kind of horrified fear, that made Hatori regret even more that nothing he had to say would ease that anxiety. On the contrary, the revelation of the recent turn of events would only increase their agitation although they seemed agitated enough with their exclamations, tight with tension.
"Where's Honda-san?!"
"Why isn't she with you?!"
"Maa, maa, you two," came Shigure's placating voice. "Why don't we let Ha- san come in first?"
"But-!" Kyou and Yuki both protested.
"What would Tohru-kun say if you were to be so impolite as to make Ha-san stand outside like an unwanted guest? Hmmm?" Shigure wagged his finger in a chiding manner at the agitated teens.
Kyou and Yuki paused, turned to look at Hatori and then at each other before moving out of the entrance they'd been blocking. They wanted answers fast but the quickest way to get them seemed to call for following Shigure's suggestion, at least temporarily.
Kyou and Yuki waited impatiently, both thinking that the time it took for Hatori to take off his shoes once inside the house and to settle himself down at the living room table moved on much too slowly. Every moment of waiting caused the fear in their minds to intensify as they wondered about the whereabouts of the girl who had come to mean so much to them, worried because they had a terrible feeling that their worst apprehensions concerning her location were about to be confirmed. They dreaded it even as they still needed to know.
"So," Yuki began sharply once they were seated. His determined features bored into Hatori, no longer willing to be denied answers. "Where is she?"
Taking in the tense expressions of the teenagers glaring blackly at him, demanding immediate response, Hatori sighed inwardly as he prepared himself. There was no easy way to break the news to them, no method that could cushion the impact of his words, especially since his intuition said that they already had a suspicion as to his answer.
"She's with Akito," he stated straightforwardly.
"And you just left her there?!" Kyou burst out immediately, horrified that she'd been left alone with the violent head of the family, even though he'd been partially expecting such a revelation.
"Well," Yuki demanded coldly as he speared the doctor with a glance, "did you?"
The guilt he'd been feeling over that very action made the normally even- tempered doctor more easily provoked, especially when the accusations leveled against him came from two who he knew were the most worried of them all. Still, the words grated on his nerves that were already rubbed raw from his drive over as he imagined dealing with such a confrontation, causing Hatori to return the dagger-like gazes aimed at him with an angry glance of his own.
"And what would you have had me do?" he bit out roughly. "Try to take her away, against Akito's wishes, and push him into one of his rages? Well?" he demanded when they remained silent. "What would you have had me do?"
"I don't know!" Yuki shouted back.
Yuki's usual calm and steady composure was wiped away in his increasing agitation, at the memories of just how bad things could turn at Akito's hands, and there were many of such events that he had to draw on, fueling the negative emotions that lay within him. Those shadowy dark images of the past, of terror and darkness mixed with pain, threatened to overwhelm him given the dire situation but he forced them back, knowing he couldn't allow himself to be swallowed by them now. He shook his head, the strain of his efforts reflected in his eyes.
"I don't know what you should have done," he said with pained voice. "But you shouldn't have just left her. Not with him!"
"She agreed to stay!" he shot back in a sudden need to defend his actions to them, to himself, the announcement leaving a shocked silence falling upon the other occupants of the room. A little more calmly, he related more of the details. "I asked her before I left if she wanted to stay and she agreed."
Thinking rapidly despite the stunning effect of Hatori's imparted words, Yuki asked, "For how long? Another day?" If it was just another day then it would probably still be alright, he thought tensely.
Hatori went still, not wanting to answer though he knew he must, as he replied, "Iie. Akito wanted her indefinitely."
"What?!" Kyou and Yuki shouted in disbelief.
Yuki shook his head. "I don't believe it. Honda-san wouldn't agree to that."
"She did," Hatori stressed, looking him directly in the eyes. "I heard the words from her own mouth."
"It couldn't have been willingly!" Kyou glared at the doctor. "She must have been forced to say that!"
"Only three of us were in that room. Akito wasn't laying a hand on her when she consented. And I didn't see a mark on her," Hatori said, telling a half-truth.
Was it good or bad hiding the fact that he couldn't see enough of her the way she'd been huddled to tell the extent of damage that Akito may have inflicted upon her? But to tell them would to be to send them rushing headlong into an explosive situation that could bring about a tragedy he was certain no one wanted to occur. Despite his own doubts as to the merits of his actions, Hatori kept silent.
"Coercion doesn't have to be physical." Yuki's low whispering voice, obviously reliving his own torments, caught their attention. He turned his haunted gaze, tortured memories lying within it, to Hatori. "Just because she agreed, even though you didn't see anything wrong, that doesn't mean you should have left her there. Especially when you know how he can be."
Those sentiments echoed too closely to his own and he experienced a new wave of guilt for not lending more help. He closed his eyes in regret, fighting back the feeling of helplessness at not being able to do more, only to have them snap open again at Shigure's cry.
"Kyou-kun! What are you doing?"
"What the hell does it look like?" The angry orange-haired boy paused by the entrance to the hallway to glare back at those still seated at the table, obviously upset and at the end of his tether. "I'm going after her and bringing her back!"
"And how will you do that?" Shigure said, shaking his head. "Do you honestly think that the others living in the Honke will let you take her without a fight if Akito orders it? Especially you, the cat who remains outside of the Jyunnishi."
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Kyou practically screamed, unable to hold his emotions in check for the fear roiling inside of him, not for himself, but for someone whom he was afraid would easily break under the harsh hands of Akito.
"For a start," Shigure told him, "try calming down a little. If you rush off into the middle of this without thinking, you'll end up making the situation even uglier. If that happens, then no one will be able to predict what the outcome will be." He gave the anxious teens a serious look. "Or who will get hurt."
It was that last statement that got to them, the idea that Tohru's situation would only be worsened by being rash, doing something reckless that she would most likely have to bear the consequences of. That thought was almost as painful to the both of them as the idea of leaving her in Akito's malicious hands was. Although Kyou's body trembled with the strong urge to rush out of the house anyway, ignoring the Shigure's warnings, he forced himself to sit back down, to try and tamp down his volatile emotions that were yelling at him to go after her and confront Akito. Only the knowledge that someone else's emotions, hers, were on the line, not just his, gave him the strength to keep still and hear out what the others had to say.
Yuki, restraining himself as well, looked at Shigure. "Well? Do you have any ideas about what to do?"
"I do but," he blew out a breath, gaze flickering back and forth between Yuki and Kyou, "neither of you are going to like it."
"Damn it! Spit it out already!" Kyou hated the suspense.
Shigure braced himself for their reactions as he told them, "We should leave her there."
"We can't do that!" cried Yuki.
"You bastard!" yelled Kyou. "How can you even think that?!"
"Is this what you were planning?" Yuki glared and Kyou joined him in the action.
"How can you say that?" Shigure looked shocked. "How could I know he'd ask her to stay? I haven't spoken to him for quite a while, after all."
"Still-" Yuki began only to be cut off by Kyou.
"Gah!" Kyou cried, frustrated with everything as he shot to his feet again. "Enough talking! It's getting us nowhere!"
"And what were you thinking of doing?" Shigure asked, expression bordering on disapproving. "Go off to rescue the damsel in distress from the evil villain and live happily ever after?" He shook his head. "This isn't some story that will turn out well in the end just because you want it to. It's real life. Our lives in the Jyunnishi circle, in the Souma clan." At their protests, he gave them a hard look. "Did you forget how our world works? Forget that the curse prevents the ones bearing it from directly harming the person who holds the lines to all of ours? And the consequences of even trying? Force is the one thing you won't be able to use against him, just as it's the only thing that could make him change his mind. Unless Tohru-kun walks out of there under her own power, or he decides to let her go, there's nothing anyone can do. And to try will only make things worse for her. You can be sure that he'll see to that."
They all fell silent at that bit of reality, that there wasn't much they could do outside of whatever boundaries that Akito set before them. To the imperialistically structured Souma clan, he was their emperor and his word was law. To those bearing the Jyunnishi curse, he was all that and more, their God who had the power to do with them as he willed, even unto death.
"Even so," Yuki's voice broke the silence, "how can we just sit back, not knowing what he's doing to her? How can we just leave her with him?"
"I doubt he'll do much in the way of harming her," Shigure tried to reassure. "Things shouldn't get too bad as long as he's satisfied with what he wants." He shot a warning glance at Yuki and Kyou. "But he gets much more volatile and unpredictable when people interfere. That's why we should just wait for a while and see what happens, keeping our distance so we don't set him off. Perhaps, after he's satisfied some of his curiosity about her, he'll get bored and let her come back. Besides," he added, "Tohru-kun agreed herself to stay, didn't she? Do you really think you'll make her happy by trying to rescue her and bringing down Akito-san's punishment on you all?"
Although Yuki and Kyou didn't like it, resisted it with every fiber of their beings, they also acknowledged the truth. With the double strictures of the curse and the traditions of the Souma family weighing down on them, there was a very limited amount that those under the burden of the Jyunnishi curse could do. As a gloomy air took them, Hatori frowned, wishing that he could change the situation, to make it better. But he couldn't. And the reason he'd come wouldn't improve the situation.
"I need to collect Tohru-san's belongings. At Akito's request," he added quietly as all eyes zeroed in on him. He returned their gazes with a serious look of his own. "I should return with the effects she'll need most tonight and come back tomorrow for the rest." When Yuki and Kyou were about to protest, Hatori halted them, reflecting the weight of the situation by saying, "I've been here for quite a while already and it's not a good idea to keep him waiting too long, we all know that."
Yuki nodded reluctantly as he stood up. "I'll get them. If it's the only thing I can do for her right now.." He shook his head as his voice trailed off.
"Me, too." Kyou shot a belligerent glance at Yuki, daring him to refuse.
For a moment, Hatori was afraid they were on the verge of another fight, the last thing they needed, now of all times. But to his relief, after exchanging a speaking glance between them, the two left without saying another word in a rare moment of simultaneous thought. Sounds of movement had him glancing over to see Shigure shifting, moving closer to the open sliding door that let the slight breeze of the summer night into the confines of the living area. Observing the calm expression on Shigure's face as he sat with folded arms while gazing off into the surrounding darkness of the woods beyond, Hatori frowned as Yuki's previous accusations crossed his mind.
"Shigure." He waited until he was sure he had the dog's attention. "You really don't seem very surprised at this turn of events."
A slow blink, an innocent gesture.
"Don't try pulling that act on me," he bit out almost harshly. "Is this really part of your plan?"
The slight smirk was his answer.
Staring at his friend, Hatori couldn't help but say, "There are some times, Shigure, that you disgust me."
Shigure laughed, a low amused sound. "You, too?" His head tilted up as he stared at the twinkling stars overhead, a picture of peace and harmony completely at odds with the topic of conversation. "Well, it's nothing I haven't thought of myself now and then. But I told you before, didn't I? To attain my goal, there's very little I won't sacrifice, no matter what happens as a result or who gets hurt in the process." He slid a sly glance in the doctor's direction, a cunning expression. "Ha-san must have thought so too. I've known you too long for you to hide anything from me. You didn't tell the whole truth about what went on back at the Honke because you knew that they'd immediately try and go after her. Am I wrong?"
Hatori glared. "It was for everyone's best interests."
"Really? Is that what Ha-san believes?" He tilted his head slyly. "Did Ha-san truly try as hard as he could have to get our little flower away from the devil? Or did he leave her there, hoping for a change, too?"
Hatori let out an angry hissing breath, a quiet sound that sliced through the quiet that lay between them, but he held his silence because he feared that there was some harsh truth in Shigure's words. The guilt he'd been holding for not being more assertive in getting the girl out from under Akito hands, hands he knew full well the danger of, wouldn't let him free of the self-disgust directed at himself. Struggling to get his emotions under control, he tore his gaze away from his friend's smug figure and turned to the darkness of the night that enveloped the house. Once he had himself in check, he voiced the thought uppermost in his mind aloud.
"Do you really think this will work?"
"It's hard to say." Shigure continued staring out into the dark. "But it's a beginning and there's no turning back. For better or worse, things will change for us all. Only time can reveal whether or not that change will be a good one."
The sound of footsteps had them turning to the hallway where Yuki and Kyou, each laden with several small bags, were coming towards them. The two teens stopped before the older men, their bodies radiating a mix of bitter acceptance and dark resolve. It was patently obvious that, although they were going along with the flow of the current situation they found themselves in, neither of them held any liking for the turn of events. Even so, they offered the bags to Hatori.
"Take them," Kyou growled, practically shoving them at the doctor.
"Hatori," Yuki said once the bags had been taken from him as well, "you'll probably have the most contact with them so we're expecting you to keep us informed." He stared at the two adults, something about them causing his earlier suspicions to return. "You will tell us if anything happens to Honda-san, won't you?"
Hatori's glance flickered briefly between Yuki's demanding countenance and Shigure's interested expression as they awaited his reply. It was clear from Yuki's features that he suspected that there was something else going on even though he didn't have enough evidence other than a gut feeling to press the point further; but then Yuki always did have an uncanny knack for picking up on things, a credit to his elevated status as the mouse of the Jyunnishi. However, at the moment, it only served to burden him more as, between Yuki's suspicions and Shigure's manipulations, Hatori was place in an uneviable position that he detested even though he realized that it wasn't something that could be helped. And so, with that awareness in mind, he replied in the only way he saw fit.
"Of course."