Warning: This part is so sad that it may cause a flood from your eyes and break the computer or keyboard. Please refrain from doing so, or keep a bowl handy. Kleenex too.

Disclaimer: sniffs I don't own Hot Gimmick, sniffs although I do own a few things here and there, like my plot. sniffs Sorry, I think I caught death sentence's cold! (Actually, yeah I did, so I'd like to kill ya D.S.! You mad achoo! made me sick!)

Special thanks to D.S. for actually taking the time to check this!

KAY, I apologize for taking a LONG time to do this, but blame D.S.! pokes finger towards D.S. She took FOREVA to edit it! (Kay, I'm sorry D.S. too...)

Chapter Eight: A Terrible Burden

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After the Fukahara Shrine incident, Akane made it clear that she didn't want to go out, with her friends or with boys. She refrained from going out, only when necessary to do so, and she tried to be home as much as possible. No one could really figure out what was going on, but as long she helped around with the chores and baby-sat Hikaru, everyone thought it was fine.

Hatsumi and Subaru, however was concerned, but decided to leave her alone. At least for the time being anyways.

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"Morning Akane! Beautiful day out isn't it? Perhaps a great day for shopping?" Hatsumi asked her sister, who was eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen.

"Shopping? Oh please?" Akane asked. She seemed like her usual old self, but she was a little different.

"Sure! Mom's been trying to get you out of the house for a while now. When I offered to take you shopping, she agreed." Hatsumi replied with a beaming smile.

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At Bluenotes… (A store)

"Oh, that long sleeved fashion sweater looks so cute! Let me go get one in black and white!" Akane exclaimed running towards a table full of them.

"Akane? How many items do you have to try on?" Hatsumi asked her shopping crazy sister.

"Six!" Akane answered, counting the fashion sweaters she took. She went to the back, to the dressing rooms and told Hatsumi to wait outside. After all she didn't want Hatsumi to see the bruise that Kazama gave her on her chest, from pinning her down. She recalled that night, shuddering.

FLASHBACK

"Kazama what are you doing?" Akane asked, now a little afraid. Kazama gave no response. "Kazama?" Akane asked again. Kazama turned around and walked up to Akane in the small hut with an evil look in his eyes.

"Mine now…" Kazama mumbled to himself.

"Kazama?" Akane asked again, with a little hesitation to her voice, backing away from Kazama, only to bump into the wall behind her. Trapped, Kazama took her shoulders and pulled her towards him, for a painful kiss. "Mmmm." Akane moaned. Since Akane opened her mouth to moan, Kazama took this opportunity to shove his tongue into her mouth. He then slammed her down onto the floor, and without breaking the kiss, put his hands on her little skirt and began unzipping it.

"Kazama what are you doing?" Akane cried out.

"What the hell do you think I'm gonna do?" Kazama replied. He finally got the annoying zipper down and pulled the skirt off her legs. What only remained was a very sexy red thong.

"Kazama, no, please!" Akane cried.

END FLASHBACK

'That night was the worse night of my life. I'm thankful I escaped in time before things went too much farther….' Akane thought to herself.

"Well what do you think?" Akane asked her sister, after opening the changing room door and walking towards Hatsumi.

"That looks great on you! But what's that purple mark on your stomach Akane? It looks like… a bruise or something. What happened?" Hatsumi asked.

Akane looked down in horror. "Oh! Nothing, just banged into someone a while earlier with a shopping cart." Akane replied, trying to make it sound believable.

"Ok… well let's go pay for all this." Hatsumi replied, giving Akane a concerned look. Akane shrugged it off.

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"Subaru! Whatever you're doing in your room, stop it and come out and help me with the groceries!" Mrs. Yagi ordered.

"Yes Mom, coming!" Subaru replied. He got up from his bed, opened the door, and went to the kitchen to help his mom unpack the groceries. Finally when he finished, he picked up the black cordless phone sitting on the kitchen island and went to his room and shut the door.

'Gotta make a call, get everything straight.' Subaru thought to himself. Then he dialed his older sister, Asahi's cell phone number.

"Hello, Asahi here." A female voice burst through the black cordless phone.

"Hey Asahi its Subaru here, you busy? I need to talk to ya for a minute." Subaru asked into the phone.

"Ok, sure I'm free for five minutes, that's it. What's happening?" Asahi asked.

"Nothing much, just a little confused. Asahi, if you like someone and you think they like you too, do they tend… to get moody or upset at you for no reason at all?" Subaru asked his sister.

"Well, usually that would mean she's got something to hide. She's probably like bottling it all up inside, and well, sometimes a little bubble can get out. Plus she could take it out on you or other people, so yeah; she's dealing with something big." Asahi answered.

"Oh! Now I understand; thanks! How are you doing at your new job?" Subaru asked his sister once again.

"Great! We made six figures today! Our stock is rising through the roof and has been for a week! Oh shoot, I got to go, but it was great talking to ya. Good luck with that girl problem, love ya, bye!" Asahi answered, before hanging up.

"Bye." Subaru said, hanging up his phone as well. He opened his bedroom door and put the phone back on the cradle in the kitchen on the island.

'Well, that did clear some things, but I still don't know what's bugging Akane…'

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"We're home!" Hatsumi announced with her sister, arriving in the hallway and shutting the door.

"How was shopping girls?" Mr. Narita asked, looking up from his newspaper.

"Good. We both got some pretty great stuff" Akane replied in a low voice.

"Excuse us, we want to go for a walk around the complex for a while" Hatsumi sternly said, grabbing Akane by the wrist and leaving all the shopping bags there and walking out, opening and shutting the door.

"What's going on Hatsumi?" Akane asked her sister, with a worried look that was forming on her face.

"You. Me. Talk, on the roof." Hatsumi replied, taking Akane up the flights of stairs, leading to the roof.

Shortly after they arrived, Hatsumi took a quick look around and turned back to Akane.

"Akane…" Hatsumi spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah?" Akane looked at her. She rubbed her arms; after all they were on the roof, and wearing thin sweaters, not exactly dressed appropriately for the cooling down of winter.

"What. Is. Going. On!" Hatsumi shouted. She was even surprised that she was acting totally out of character.

"N-n-no-nothing… What do you mean?" Akane asked Hatsumi again.

"I mean for the fact that ever since New Year's you've been acting totally strange and I'm just trying to figure out what the heck is going on with you Akane!" Hatsumi replied.

"It's… just something… give me a while to think and figure it out, please Hatsumi. I promise you, when the time is right I will tell you… everything." Akane sadly spoke.

Hatsumi sighed, "Ok."

"Thanks, you don't know how much that means to me." Akane chimed in.

Little did Akane know, someone had put their curious ear to the roof door and was listening to the whole conversation.

"So, something is going on… but I still haven't figured out what! Dammit!" A geeky voice whispered to himself.

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A/N: Well, well, well! Thanks for the reviews guys!

Purplelizard: Thanks again for your review, read your Inuyasha fic, love it!

Dawbygirl: I kinda thought that too, I mean Akane, she's just a whining little baby, but I wanted to show people that sometimes in extreme situations, you tend to blank and do the next best thing… anyways thanks 

Lulugirl 12: Um… yeah thanks. I still don't like your pinky… lol.

Saltoftheearth: Well, I didn't imply that YOU would get mad, just that sometimes, PEOPLE can get mad… ok… and I get poked a lot by D.S. so one jab or poke won't hurt me! Na-na-na, can't hurt me! (Joking too..)