Authors Notes: Arigatou for the reviews Minna. Sorry that it took me such a long time to get chapter 2 out...but um, it just came to me that I did not, in fact, have a plot...and I still don't think I do. *sweatdrop* So bear with me through this dramatic drivel, and maybe, just maybe, we'll find a point somewhere. ^^; Oh, as for pairing. I don't know what the pairing is either. The only thing I know is that it's a Haru fic. Rest assured though, there will be more of koneko-chan, one way or another. :) Kii...and oh, this chapter's a bit limey I suppose, and a bit dark.

Chapter 2

I've always wanted to protect her.

All of us Sohmas had our share of multiple facades, insecurities, and maniac tendencies, but in our own false ways, each of us managed to paint an image of normality. It was what we wished for, after all, to be just another face in the crowd.

She was different though. Kisa...Kisa didn't put up a mask like the rest of us. She let the words devour her, rip her apart until she was crippled. I remember her frail body in my arms, her tears bled onto me, droplet by droplet piercing my mind apart. I wondered in anger and despair then, how any being could be cruel this child. I wanted to collect her pain in my embrace. I wanted to tell her...tell her, 'Kisa, onii-chan will always be here for you,' but I didn't, and she ran away the next day. I knew I failed then. I failed to protect her. But I promised myself, Kisa, I promised I wouldn't fail you again. Did you understand Kisa? When those bullies tried to hurt you today. I had to go after them. I had to protect you, Kisa. I had to protect you. Yuki and Kyou were pulling me back, screaming at me because they thought had I lost it. But they didn't understand. You did, didn't you, Kisa? Didn't you?

...All I could remember was her face. Crying. She was crying, but she didn't cry to me this time. She cried to Tohru while they restrained me...even they knew who she wanted, I guess I just didn't want to believe it, didn't want to believe how easily I could be replaced.


***

"I've said it before. You need to get a hold of yourself."

Hatori had his back to me, examining his books while speaking in his monophonic voice. I was quite familiar with how this conversation would go, having gone through many of them.

"Gomen."

"You worry me lately," he sighed suddenly, turning to face me with a curiously desperate expression. I hid my surprise with unblinking eyes.

Unnerved, I waited for him to continue. There was something in Hatori's voice that tore me away from apathy, something foreboding dangling from his usually calm persona, and suddenly I felt afraid.

"Haru."

"..."

"Akito wants to see you."

"...What?"

"Akito."

Seeing my horrific face softened his expression, Hatori laid a hand on my shoulder. It was a gesture of comfort, I knew, but still it felt as if every fiber in my body decided to bind together, and I could barely move.

Was I scared? I didn't know. Strange, it was, I suppose, more than fright. No secret was it that Akito had his favorites in the family. Though he cared for all that belonged to him in a rash, possessive way, what Akito ever really wanted was...Yuki. All of us knew Akito loved Yuki, but no one spoke of it. When I was little, I spent most of my time playing and fighting with Kyou. We both hated Yuki, and I suppose our friendship was build sordidly on the fact. But then, Yuki was easily hated. He reminded me of Akito then, always reclining by a windowsill, gazing blankly at the world through those dulled violet eyes. He was haughty, I had thought, the stupid mouse that had robbed me of my pride with those violet eyes. It wasn't until that day, when I talked to him that day, did I understand Yuki, did I love Yuki. He had given me much that day. He had given me acceptance when rejection surrounded me. His words meant so much to me, because, strangely enough, he was Yuki. He was like that, beautiful enough to hate and love at the same time, but Yuki was also drowning then, enclosed in his own solemn grave, where Akito controlled his every move. I felt sad for him, and pathetic that I couldn't do anything, but then, Akito...Akito was Akito.

I never understood Akito. I was too afraid to.

The smell of incense ashes, dank and tantalizing permeated his room, Akito sprawled languidly on the floor, staring at the chink of light that stole its way in from the window. I stood there for a moment, just watching him until he rose and closed the window shades. He made his way toward me then, his kimono sifting between his light steps. Akito... reminded me a phoenix sometimes, a broken phoenix.

"Hatsu...Haru," his voice was silky but sickly, like sugar coated pills Hatori gave me when I was little.

I held my stance.

"I haven't seen you in a while...Haru, not since...the year you danced, I don't think," Akito smiled, a half-drunk, half-sad smile that reminded me of a ghost. "You were beautiful then...and still are," he trailed a finger down my cheek and let it fall.

Often I wondered how someone so brilliant and confident like Yuki could break so easily against Akito, so easily he resorted to running away. I knew now. I think. It was in his eyes, tired yet vigilant, in his voice, feeble yet corrosive, and in his pale white hand as they trailed dangerously across my body.

"It's Tohru... It's Tohru isn't it? I can feel it. You're the only one..." I felt his cold digits invading beneath my shirt, and with a sudden jerk he was on top of me, raking his nails past my chest. "She's a bitch, isn't she?" he snickered.

I bristled, but whether out of cowardice or his words I didn't know.

"She's evil, Haru. She's EVIL. She thinks she can mend this cursed family with all her pretty sunshineness! I let her go on...but she'll bleed soon. She'll see that this isn't a game. She'll go away soon, and we'll claim what's ours... we'll get them back... we'll get them back..." suddenly, Akito coiled against me like a small child, his body slack. The moment passed quickly, however, and his hand traveled downwards while falcon-like eyes choked my attention away. Reaching down my pelvis with the white hands, he gripped a handful of my pubic hair. I gasped and reacted to push him away, but Akito was laughing, his teeth digging my chest in convulsive teeters. "You and I. Haru. We can get rid of the bitch. You'd like that, wouldn't you? You can take what's yours...and I can take what's mine, and we'll all be one big happy family. Right Haru? Right?"

He was mad. Absolutely mad...

Akito cupped my cheek one more time before leaving. I lied there stricken. What did he say? What did he want? What's he going to do to Tohru? Oh gods what just happened?

I never understood Akito. I was too afraid to.