Well, here's the next chappie! R&R people, please! LOL. :) What happened to all of my wonderful regular reviewers from "Dancing"? LOL.

Chapter 5

"Oh, good, Megumi, you found her, oh, and Arisa," Hana's mother exclaimed, turning her head from the table to see the three tired young people trudging through the door.

"Mother, we've got something to tell you about Saki," Megumi said urgently. Her father looked up from his paper and Obaba from her food. Hana reached out her hand and put it on Megumi's shoulder. He looked back to see her shaking her head.

We've got to tell them, Saki.

No, they'll worry.

We've got to.

"Hana!" Uo cried. "You've got to tell them!"

"What is it?" her mother demanded, worry evident in her eyes.

"Mother, Saki's having problems with her power again," Megumi said.

"What?" she cried. "What's wrong, Saki?"

"I-I'm hearing voices and getting awful headaches, splitting ones that cause me to loose all concentration. It's almost impossible to talk. I get dizzy and tonight I fainted," she explained, knowing she couldn't avoid the subject anymore.

"When is this happening?" her father asked.

"Well, it's only happened twice and it has always been when a certain man enters the bookstore. After he leaves or I leave everything goes away almost instantly," Hana explained.

"Who is this man?" Obaba asked.

"I don't know, I've never seen him before today," she replied.

"That is strange," Obaba said. Hana nodded.

"What did he look like?" her mother asked curiously.

"My vision was blurred but I do remember that he had uneven black hair. He had his hair grown longer on his left side so as to cover his eye," she explained. Her mother gasped and glanced at her father. He nodded. Obaba just sat there, frozen. "I sense uneasiness; is something wrong?" Hana stared at them, making eye contact with each one.

"We're just worried about you, dear," her mother said, refusing to look at her daughter.

"Should we take her to a doctor, Miroku?" Hana's mother asked as she and her husband sat in bed later that night.

"Who, like Hatori?" he asked sarcastically, an element of cruelty in his voice.

"You know I don't mean that," she replied.

"Satsuki, what are we going to do? I'm positive this has something to do with the fact that the man is Hatori," he said.

"As am I," she agreed. "I don't know what we're going to do, though, or why this is happening to Saki."

"It's because of her power, Satsuki. Her ability to sense people's feeling is just as strong as Hatori's ability to erase people's memories, so when they're around each other it clashes. I suppose the reason it's affecting Saki is because of the ability she has and the fact that he's used his on her. They're also closer in age than Megumi is," Miroku explained.

"How do you know all this?" Satsuki asked, looking with wonder upon her husband.

"Hatori told me right after Megumi's memory was erased," he replied.

"We never thought they would ever come in contact with each other," Satsuki mumbled as Miroku nodded. "What do we do, Miroku? This is obviously causing Saki pain and I don't want her in pain."

"Neither do I, Satsuki, but we can't tell her," he said.

"I know, Miroku," he whispered, leaning her head against his firm, shirtless chest. "I know."

"You're certainly ordering a lot of books lately," Mayu said to Hatori as she handed him the latest book he had ordered.

"There are many new books in the medical field, books I should have," Hatori replied stiffly. "It's getting late, when do you close up?"

"In a few minutes," she said. "Oh, I have so many papers to grade; I can't wait for Dad to get back from that conference." She sighed, resting her elbows on the counter and cupping her chin in her hands.

"Do you not like working here?" he asked.

"I just don't have the time for this. Mom and Dad just don't understand that I have a real job now and it requires so much of my time. The bookstore was a great high school job but I've moved on, I have my own life now," Mayu explained. Hatori nodded.

"The spring is here, Hatori. Why won't you allow it to enter your heart?" he heard Kana saying. His eyes grew wide and he shook his head slightly. He had the slightest idea that Mayu was the spring Kana was talking about.

"Would you like to go out for some dessert with me after you close?" he asked. For a moment she just stared at him. Was she dreaming? Had Hatori Sohma just asked her to spend time with him? This was too good of an opportunity for her to pass up, but she couldn't let him know she was so excited.

"Well, I have a lot of papers to grade-" she started.

"I understand," he interrupted.

"No, Hatori, I was about to say that I supposed I could spare about half an hour," she said quickly. He smiled upon her gently and nodded.

"I'll meet you at the restaurant across the street," he said as he walked out the door, the small bell tinkling as the door opened and closed slowly. As soon as she door was completely shut Mayu gave out a small squeal, her face beaming with joy.

As Hatori walked across the street he raked his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit he had developed that showed he was either confused or upset. In this case he was confused. What was this feeling? Why had he suddenly been compelled to ask Mayu to have dessert with him? He hadn't eaten a dessert in months. The truth was he knew the answer to all of these questions. It all had something to do with that feeling he had had with Kana when they were together. What was it called, love? It couldn't be love, not yet. It shouldn't be love either, the price was too great. He didn't deserve love, especially not after what he had done to Kana. It was horrible. He suddenly desired to be with Mayuko Shiraki, but he couldn't. He could end up hurting her, just like Kana. But then again, who ever said she was interested in him? Just because she had agreed to go with him for dessert didn't mean anything.
"So, how has your work been going?" Mayu asked Hatori, a cup of tea in front of her, steam evaporating into the air.

"As well as can be expected I suppose," he replied. She sighed; he was always so vague. "How about you?"

"The same," she said shortly, taking a sip of her tea after blowing some of the steam away. He lifted his cup to his lips as well. "So, how are you, Hatori?"

"Uh, fine," he mumbled, not knowing how to respond. The last time she had asked him that he had told her about his health and that wasn't the response she had been looking for. He assumed this was the same situation. "You?"

"Fine," she nodded. "Busy managing the store and my job." He nodded.

"Mayu!" came an excited cry that pierced the silence.

Oh, no!

Both saw the woman before she reached the table. Her short, light brown hair bounced upon her shoulders and her matching eyes shone with excitement. Her cheeks were rosy and filled with life and went perfectly with the smile upon her lips. It was Kana. It make matters worse, her husband was with her, the man Hatori had only heard of. He was extremely handsome with chestnut brown hair and a wide grin that complimented his wife's very nicely. They looked completely satisfied together.

"Mayu!" she shouted again, right beside the table not.

"Kana," Mayu said, putting on a very fake smile.

"It's so good to see you, it's been a while," Kana said. "You remember Tatsuya, don't you?"

"He's only the man you got married to," Mayu chuckled. "It's nice to see you again, Tatsuya." The two shook hands across the table.

"You as well, Mayu," he said with a smile.

"Oh, Hatori!" Kana exclaimed, turning to the doctor sitting across from her best friend. "It's good to see you too!" He smiled. "Oh, silly of me, Hatori, this is Tatsuya Wakamiya, my husband." She was beaming. He nodded.

"Nice to meet you," Hatori said solemnly, holding his hand out. "Hatori Sohma."

"Likewise," Tatsuya said as they shook hands.

"Darling, Hatori was my doctor when I was going through that depression I told you about," Kana explained as Tatsuya nodded in understanding. "Oh, are you two seeing each other? I told you Hatori was perfect for you." She squealed with delight.

"Sorry, Kana, but we're not dating, just having a cup of tea together," Mayu said softly.

"Oh, how embarrassing!" Kana laughed good-naturedly. "Well, I just had to stop by when I saw you, Mayu. We have to go but we really should get together more, I'll call you." Kana smiled, threw a wink over her shoulder at Mayu, and waltzed out the door with Tatsuya, hand in hand.

Mayu couldn't take it. She burst into tears, throwing her arms onto the table and burying her face in them. It wasn't very loud, just a soft moaning sound followed by a series of violent shakes from her body. Hatori just sat there, not knowing what to do or say. Had she been Kana he would have known exactly what to do, but she wasn't. Kana had just walked out the door hand in hand with her husband.

"Hatori, I'm so sorry!" she wept, not daring to life her face to look at him.

"About what?" he questioned.

"Everything!" she cried. "I don't know exactly what happened between you and Kana so that you had to erase her memory, but, but-"

"Don't worry about it," he told her.

"But I do!" she cried. He smiled tenderly upon the shaking woman, crying for him, and reached out his hand to touch hers. She started, tears stopping abruptly. She lifted her head to see him looking upon her so sweetly. She could have melted right there.

"Thank you," he whispered as she sniffed and rubbed one eye with her free hand, her other still in the possession of Hatori, and although her mind was right there in the moment his was far away. What was it Kana had said?

"I told you Hatori was perfect for you."