Hello again. This is probably the angstiest and most serious chapter. I don't like the way it turned out, i just couldn't get a good feel for the characters here, so...yeah. I don't really like this chapter, but, enjoy.

CHAPTER 7

The next day after school, Akiko was sitting on the swivel chair in Hatori's office. She was twirling around and playing with about a hundred butterfly hair clips, in all colors, evidently obtained from Kagura. Hatori was sitting at the other desk in his office, trying to work.

Suddenly, Akiko stood up and walked over to Hatori. "You should really stop letting your hair cover your eyes, you know." She clipped his bangs back with a sparkly pink butterfly clip.

"What's the point?" He said bitterly. "It's not like I can see out of it anyway." They both heard the unspoken words. Akiko stood, shocked. She couldn't believe that Hatori would say something like that to her. Then, suddenly, she was screaming, screaming as loudly as she could at Hatori.

"HOW DARE YOU? THIS MESS IS ALL YOUR FAULT ANYWAY! I DON'T SEE HOW WHAT I ACCIDENTLY DID TO YOU CAN COMPARE TO THIS?"

"I DIDN'T TURN YOU INTO A FREAKY BITCH ON PURPOSE!"

"I AM STILL THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY- DON'T YOU EVER FORGET IT HATORI! YOU HAVE TO OBEY ME! HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN TRYING TO FIND A CURE FOR THIS STUPID CONDITION?" She yanked her blouse open angrily, revealing her female figure.

"LIKE I WANT TO HAVE TO PUT UP WITH A SLUT LIKE YOU FOREVER!"

"I AM NOT A BITCH, OR A SLUT, YOU LOWLIFE! I AM YOUR SUPERIOR! YOU HAVE TO BE RESPECTFUL!"

"OH, AND LIKE THAT DID ME ANY GOOD WHEN I WANTED TO MARRY KANA?"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT WHORE!"

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT KANA THAT WAY!"

"I AM THE HEAD OF HER FAMILY AS WELL, AND I'LL TALK ABOUT THAT WHORE ANY WAY I WANT TOO!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, IF YOU TALK LIKE THAT ABOUT KANA, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Akiko's voice grew quiet, as though he was baiting Hatori. "Oh, have we hit a nerve?"

Hatori stiffened. "Kana was and is completely faithful to those that she loves." He whispered back clearly, murder in his eyes.

"She wasn't faithful to you.."

"She was!"

"Then why did she marry that other man? If she had truly loved you-"

"SHE WAS COMPLETELY FAITHFUL!"

"THEn WHY THE HELL DID SHE LEAVE YOU, HATORI? WHY ISN'T SHE STILL BY YOUR SIDE?"

"BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"IF YOU HAD JUST ALLOWED US TO GET MARRIED INSTEAD OF TRYING TO MAKE ME UNHAPPY-"

"I WAS NOT JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOU UNHAPPY!"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME MARRY KANA? I LOVED HER!"

"BECAUSE SHE WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!"

Hatori, taken aback, had fallen silent. Akiko had finally stopped screaming to breathe. She'd collapsed to her knees at some point, and now she got to her feet again, glaring. For the first time in her memory, Hatori glared back. Suddenly, she grabbed a handful of hair clips and hurled them at him, screaming wordlessly at the top of her lungs. Shaking the sparkling multicolored butterflies out of his hair and clothes, Hatori grabbed Akiko by the shoulder and slapped her ringingly across the face. Then, shocked at what he had done, he let his arm drop to his side and let go of her. Akiko fell back, one hand touching her cheek, glaring hatefully at Hatori. She was more surprised that hurt. As the reality of what he had done sunk in, Akiko lunged forward in sudden fury. She screamed wordlessly in a blind rage, raking her fingernails across Hatori's face along his blind eye. As the drops of red blood trickled down his face, Akiko realized what she'd done. Hatori gasped out loud from the pain, crimson blood dripping between his fingers as Akiko fled the room.

Ayame and Shigure were watching from outside the window. "I've never seen Hatori yell like that before." Shigure remarked.

"And probably won't ever again," Ayame replied. "Didn't you bring the video camera?"

"No."

"Aw, darn."

Sitting in the bedroom after the fight, Akiko changed into a nightgown and sat on the futon, struggling not to cry. Why had she hurt Hatori like that? She couldn't face him now. Not after almost hurting his eye again, and everything she'd said. She bit her lip to keep the tears back and dug her nails forcefully into her forearm, but the deep scratches that dribbled blood did nothing to ease her misery. Slowly, though, as she sat there, she felt the misery ebb away to be replaced by rage. Glaring at the marks on her forearm, she picked up the portable phone and dialed Rin.

He'd cleaned up his eye and bandaged it, but it still throbbed with a dull pain. He shook his head, unable to forgive himself for raising a hand to Akiko, but some part of him thinking that it was about time she got what she deserved.

A few hours later, Hatori had wandered into the kitchen. He stared at the note left on the dining table. All it said was 'AT RINS'. It was underlined so hard that the paper was ripped. He lifted the note and looked under it. There was a deep scratch in the table where the line had been. He shook his head in disbelief, running a hand through his hair. His fingers caught on something and he pulled it away from his head.

It was the pink butterfly clip.

Authors Note:

I probably shouldn't point out the mistakes and, well...sheer stupidity of this chapter. er, yeah R&R, please!