:: notes

I realized how corny the title sounds :sweatdrop: I was going to translate it into Japanese but then… I was lazy and I didn't. Hehheh. I didn't want to get the grammar wrong either. Butok anyway it's not just some corny soft porn novel, it actually has to do with the end.

Yay, the end, I thought of it. I'm weird, huh? Okok, chap3…!

And remember folks, Hatori's not an adult yet. He's still a kid, so he doesn't know everything in the world!

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Chapter 3 : Pleasing Akito-san

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"Hatori-kun?" Kazuma poked his head through the doorway. "Are you ready?"

"No," muttered Hatori.

Kazuma smiled patiently. "All right. Let's go, then."

-

Their little blue car easily drove through the gates and stopped in front of the largest house in the compound. Hatori noticed some women already hurrying out to meet them. They were always tiresome, he thought. Akito may have only been seven, but the boy already knew just how much the helpless and fawning bothered the rest of the world.

He brushed away the attendants as they tried to take his coat. He only felt sorry for the weak-minded people in the world.

"Hatori-kun."

Hatori looked up. There was only one person in the world with that thin, dangerous voice. "Akito-san." He knelt. "You shouldn't be up, Akito-san," he said, carefully studying the ground.

Akito laughed. "What are you, my doctor? Don't tell me what and what not I should be doing."

"Yes, Akito-san." It was more important, Hatori told himself, to please the family head now. To please him until he took his damned eye off of him.

"Well? Come in!"

Hatori followed the boy through long, mute corridors. When they reached Akito's room, Akito flung himself down on his bed, hard. He looked at Hatori with a smirk, daring him to comment. Hatori declined the unspoken challenge.

He mentally dozed as Akito started to talk with Kazuma. It wasn't his place to listen to the conversations of adults.

"Hatori-kun."

Hatori blinked and straightened. "Yes, Akito-san."

"You want to leave me."

"Akito-san?" Hatori carefully kept his eyes low. He could feel the boy's glare shoot through him, and his heart felt cold with fear.

"Don't act innocent, Hatori-kun. You think that just because you'll soon be an adult, that means that you can act like an adult and live like an adult." Akito leaned towards Hatori and grasped his chin with his thin fingers, forcing him to look up. "You want to go to university, and then you'll think you're better than me."

"No, Akito-san…"

"Why can't you be a good man like your cousins are? I guess it's in the nature of dogs to listen to their masters, and snakes will slither low-belly towards whoever takes care of them, but even little bastard dragons want to be big men and take care of themselves."

"I would never leave you, Akito-san."

"Damn you! Damn your lying, bastard ways! You won't ever leave me, Hatori! You will never leave me."

Hatori internally sighed. There was nothing to do. "Yes, Akito-san."

-

Kazuma opened the paper door for Hatori, and slid it closed behind them when they exited the doorway. "Someone provoked Akito-san," he said conversationally.

"Shigure," Hatori muttered.

Kazuma looked sideways at him. "Really."

"That damn dog," whispered Hatori. "That- shit, even out here I'm not allowed to say it, am I? We're still in Akito's house, and he'll hear it somehow. He knows everything that goes on in the Sohma house, Kazuma-san. And I live here- I can't ever escape it."

"I know," said Kazuma. "Let's go outside."

He waited until they were out of the large stone gates before continuing. "I'm sorry you had to be born in the jyuunishi," he said. "You're very talented, Hatori-kun."

Hatori snorted.

"Really," Kazuma said with a smile. "Maybe you haven't noticed it, but you're a natural at everything you try to do. And- " –he caught Hatori's protest- "the only reason you feel so frustrated at your studies is because you are, most likely, lacking in much of the background knowledge you need."

"How do you know anything about school?" Hatori asked hollowly.

Kazuma inclined one shoulder. "Your friends worry about you."

"My friends?" Hatori rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

-

That night, Shigure and Ayame stayed up late when Hatori didn't come home at his usual time. When he finally returned, they pretended to be busy fighting each other's spaceships on their old Atari set.

"Have fun at Kazuma-san's?" Shigure asked with a grin, as he blasted one of Ayame's planets. "You've never stayed over for more than a weekend before."

"It was the usual," replied Hatori. His stomach growled, and he looked towards the bare kitchen. "I don't suppose you two made anything for dinner?"

"We ate at school," said Ayame.

Hatori scowled. "Fine." He stalked towards the kitchen and banged around the cabinets. "I know there's nothing in the refrigerator, but the two of you could have at least picked up some dry food."

"Hey, Tori-kun, relax," Shigure called.

Hatori pulled his head out of the cupboard. "I'm hungry," he replied.

"Yeah. We ordered some takeout for you, right, Aya-kun? It's in the fridge. You can heat it up."

"Oh." Hatori opened the refrigerator. "Um… thanks."

Shigure nodded. "Did you really think we would let you starve, Hatori-kun? As your older cousins we have a solemn and sworn duty to protect you!"

Hatori sighed. "Well… you've never done it before."

But by then, Shigure and Ayame were no longer paying attention.

-

A/N: Short chapter! Gomen…