-Chapter 10-
-Five Years Later-
"Shishi-chan, Shishi-chan, I need your help," Enjeru called from the small living area in Hatori's home, which was now Enjeru's, on the main Sohma property.
A small five-year-old boy with dark brown hair and brilliant, intelligent green eyes came into the room wearing his fighting gi outfit. Today being Sunday, and two days after his fifth birthday, Hiroshi was a proud student of the same man who taught Kyou, Yuki, Haru and Kagura how to fight. He adored the lessons and pledged to help people with what he learned, having his lessons on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday.
"What's wrong mommy?" He asked innocently.
"We're going to go to your Uncle 'Gure's house to meet with your Uncle Ayame, Uncle Yuki and Aunt Tohru," Enjeru said with a smile.
"We're visiting Daddy today, aren't we?" Hiroshi asked his voice saddening as he felt the wave of mental pain in his mother.
"Yeah, we are," Enjeru, said softly, looking down.
"Mommy ... don't cry."
Enjeru sniffled a little, glancing at the picture of Hatori on a shelf just a few feet away, "I'll be alright, now go get ready, we're going to leave soon."
Hiroshi looked at his mother shortly before leaving the room to go do as his mother said. Despite how protective little Hiroshi was, he was also very sneaky. He had noticed that his mother was becoming mentally weaker every year that passed, and wondered if it was due to her sickness before. Though the years never showed in her face, it showed when she thought. Hiroshi could hear them. How distraught she was every time he mentioned his father. And despite her efforts to keep the images of Hatori dying in the car that day, away from him, he still saw them, and understood a little why she was so upset. He knew that his parents were not married, though engaged and three days after he proposed to her, he died.
With these thoughts in mind, Hiroshi dressed quickly in a black turtleneck, black dress pants and shoes. He combed his brown hair almost like his father had, before going out to meet with his mother. She smiled kindly at him, and Hiroshi dismissed it before, but noticed that she was wearing a long black dress, one that looked similar to one that his Aunt Hana had worn. She hugged him tightly and rolled herself outside with Hiroshi walking with her step by step to match the pace of his mother's wheelchair.
Enjeru had called a cab, though once they got to the main gate the taxi had driven away. Enjeru sighed, upset at this turn of events, but heard someone clear their throat to her right, and she turned to see Hatsuharu standing there next to a nice black sports car. He smiled a little and asked her if she needed a ride. She answered with an affirmative. Hiroshi was delighted to see "Uncle" Haru and even more delighted that he had be able to ride in Haru's car. Hatsuharu helped Enjeru into the passenger's side and Hiroshi climbed into the backseat. Haru got into the driver's side and started his way to Shigure's home.
Haru admitted to shooing off the taxi driver, as well as knowing that nearly everyone was going to be there. Enjeru tensed up a little after hearing this, but sighed and watched houses go by. Haru sighed, seeing the woman he had respected for having more guts than he had when it came to Akitou, so down and still dwelling on the past, acting as if Hatori's death had happened just last week.
"Enjeru-san, it's going to be alright, you know?" Haru said which pulled Enjeru out of her own world.
"What?" Enjeru asked him, Hiroshi leaning in a little to hear the conversation too.
"It's going to be alright. I'm sure that if Hatori-san had wanted to go out any other way, it'd be with you and Hiroshi-chan in his sight, tellin' you he loved you before he died. And he did that, right?"
Enjeru paused for a while, the memory resurfacing, Hiroshi seeing it, "yeah... he did."
"He died lovin' you; don't beat yourself up too much about it. I know you're sad, but he's no longer in pain, no longer in danger. And with you and Hiroshi as his last memories, I'm sure he's happy now."
"Haru..." Enjeru said softly.
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Haru did not say another word and just kept driving to Shigure's house.
Haru, Hiroshi and Enjeru were the last ones to arrive at Shigure's home, where everyone was meeting. It was a nice spring day, and things looked almost too joyous to really be a part of this anniversary of Hatori's death. Though everyone made their way to the plot where Hatori was buried, near a lake and beneath an apple tree on the grounds of a very lovely shrine where a good portion of the Sohma's were buried, including every Angel that ever belonged to the Sohma family.
Upon Hatori's gravestone was a picture of a dragon, the stone reading his name, his birth date and the day he died. On top of the grave was a picture of Hatori, the gravesite already had flowers before it and it was cleaned. Enjeru sat in front of the grave, Hiroshi stood next to her while many talked amongst themselves. She gently touched the stone, which marked Hatori's resting place, her eyes softening, memories coming up from him. Suddenly everything hushed, and Hiroshi stood in front of his mother. Enjeru looked up at him confused, but soon she understood why her son had stepped before her.
Akitou came into view at that moment. Enjeru told Hiroshi to step away, he did not like his mother gentle command, but he complied anyway. He stood next to her again, and the intensity rose in the air.
Akitou walked up to the grave, his voice was cold, yet somehow seemingly gentle, "hello Enjeru."
"Hello Akitou, are you feeling much better?" Enjeru asked, trying to act as if the meeting was normal.
"Much."
There was a stiff silence, but was soon broken by Enjeru.
"Why are you here?" She asked.
"I came to see Hatori," he said as he picked up the picture of Hatori, "I want to see you tomorrow, we need to have a little talk Enjeru. We haven't spoken in a long time."
Enjeru nodded a little, "I'll be there."
"Good," Akitou replied with a small smile that turned into a slight grin as he placed Hatori's picture back onto the stone grave, "I'll see you then. Come around lunch time, we can have lunch together like old times."
"Alright."
When Akitou turned and left, Hatori's picture rocked and fell from the stone. Enjeru caught it before it hit the ground and sighed in relief as she gently placed it back on the stone. Hiroshi tensed up and when Akitou was completely gone he yelled at his mother, telling her that the reasons his father did certain things was to protect her, and now she was going to go and just hand herself over to Akitou. She told him calmly that he should not over react, and that she was not handing herself over to Akitou. She agreed with Akitou that it was high time that they talked. She knew how to defend herself, and she reminded Hiroshi of this.
Despite the reasons that she gave her son, Hiroshi still angrily ran off. Enjeru sighed and reached for her wheelchair, but Hatsuharu as well as Momiji had told her not to.
"We'll take care of it Enjeru-san," Hatsuharu said before both Momiji and him ran off after Hiroshi.
Enjeru sighed, "Shishi-chan isn't normally like this... He almost never gets angry..."
"Enjeru-kun, he may feel responsible, at least a little. You know how he is a little more than we do, he's heard everyone's thoughts on the subject," Shigure said calmly.
"Why would he feel responsible for Hari-chan's death?"
"Because if you didn't have Hiroshi, then Hatori wouldn't have died in that damn car crash," Kyou answered in his normal "don't be stupid" tone.
Enjeru's eyes filled with tears, her hands clenching into fists.
"See what you've done, you stupid cat. It's still a sensitive subject you idiot," Yuki said harshly to Kyou.
"It's been five damn years since Hatori died, she should get over it!"
"He asked her to marry him three days before he died, they loved each other, and you think that only five years is enough time to get over his death? How pathetic."
Tohru tried to calm her husband, Yuki, happily married for two years now, and Kyou as best as she could, but her efforts didn't help at all. Kisa and Kagura tried to help, but their efforts didn't do much more than Tohru's did. Ayame just hugged his younger sister, and Hiro had decided not to get involved.
"SHUT IT!" Enjeru yelled, tears streaming down her face as she looked up to them, silence coming over everyone, "just shut it."
"Onee-chan..?" Yuki asked her, looking extremely surprised.
"I've dealt enough with the pity for five years... it's time I moved on. I can't live forever with pity surrounding me, and Hari-chan's death as a protective reminder that nothing lasts forever... That's why I'll meet with Akitou tomorrow. Just... stop arguing over something so pointless. Hari-chan is dead, there's nothing I can do about that. But all of you bringing it up all of the time doesn't help me in trying to move on. I'll never forget how Hari-chan and I lived together, I'll never forget how he took care of me, but I have to move on."
"Imotto... We miss him too, don't forget that," Ayame said to her kindly.
"I know... now... can I go talk to my son...?"
Everyone around her nodded, and Ayame helped her into her wheelchair. She almost angrily wiped the tears from her face as she wheeled herself towards where Hiroshi had run off to. Hatsuharu and Momiji had calmed Hiroshi down, to the point of hopeless crying and a position of helplessness. Hiroshi cried into Haru's lap, Momiji trying to comfort him. Once Enjeru was close enough, she said her son's name softly. The boy looked up with swollen eyes, tears streaming down his flushed face. His bright green eyes, drowning in tears.
"M-m-momm-m-ma... I-I'm s-s-sorry..." he stuttered in response, repeating a stuttered "I'm sorry" repeatedly as he hugged his mother tightly around her waist, kneeling in front of her.
She leaned over a little, one of her hands threaded into his hair, the other on his back, rubbing it gently, "it's alright... don't worry about it."
"I-I d-d-didn't... d-did-n't m-me-ean t-to y-yell at-t y-y-you..."
She cooed, "sh," over and over to him, telling him softly that it would be alright.
The boy denied it, but his mother kept reassuring him, even when they left late that night from Shigure's, she kept on giving him reassuring looks.
--
Hiroshi was reluctant to leave his mother the next morning yet did so before he'd be late for school. He tried not to show too much that he was worried about her visit with Akitou later that day, but he could not help but let a little bit slide. He slowly left the house that morning before running to school, wearing his school uniform, a pair of tan shorts, and a tan shirt that buttoned up to his neck. Around his neck was a necklace that had a symbol of a dragon dangling from the chain, in remembrance of his father.
Enjeru watched him run off, knowing how worried he was, and watching him run off, it reminded her of Hatori, so much that she had to turn away and remind herself that Hatori was dead. However, that did not even work this time. She was reminded of times when Ayame, Shigure and Hatori did not care about much of what happened around them. They had no worries, no real cares. Of course, Enjeru was just four years old when this was, Ayame, Hatori and Shigure being five. She remembered watching them play around, how joyous they were. Shigure and Ayame goofing off like normal, Hatori telling them things like, maybe they shouldn't play in a certain area. Of course, Hatori would be right, and the boys were scolded later for their ignorance.
Enjeru broke down in tears for a few minutes. That was one time when Enjeru was very weak, when she was four years old. Enjeru had appeared to be just like a lump on a log. No one was sure she was going to live very long then. She was sick all of the time, and was not allowed out a lot. She could not walk, so she would not bother trying and found herself staring out the window watching anything she could, draw, or read.
Enjeru shook her head, clearing her mind of the memories. She looked to the clock and found that she only had an hour before she was supposed to head over to the main section of the building. She sighed and was about to go and do something when there was a knock. Enjeru turned and opened the door only to see Tohru and Yuki. Her brother looked worried, while Tohru had a big smile on her face.
"Enjeru-san!" Tohru said excitedly as she left her shoes and hugged Enjeru tightly.
"Good morning Tohru-kun. What brings you two here?" Enjeru asked, hugging Tohru back.
"We wanted to make sure nothing bad happened with you and Akitou-sama," Yuki said.
"Oh Yuki... nothing bad will happen. We're just going to have lunch. Akitou-san has never hurt me during any meeting like the one we'll be having. Besides, I can take care of myself. Goodness, you're just like Hiroshi-chan."
Tohru stood, "well, while I'm here, I can do some things for you like cleaning. It seems that it would be hard to clean if you have to sit in a wheelchair all of the time."
"Tohru-kun, you don't have to-"
"But I want to! I wanted to do something for you and this is just something I can do. Well... that is, if you don't mind. I can do it while you're with Akitou-sama."
Enjeru sighed, beaten, "alright... if you really want to."
Tohru nodded with a smile.
"Hiroshi-chan's at school then?" Yuki inquired.
"Yes, he was reluctant to go, but he did, once he reached the gates he ran there. I hope he's alright," Enjeru said, glancing towards the door.
"I think Hiroshi-chan will be fine. Him not wanting to leave just shows that he really cares. And I think he's scared that he'll come back and you'll be hurt, or something will happen and he'll come back and not find you. He thinks he's responsible for Hatori-san's death, and if anything happened to you, I think he'd feel responsible for that. He just wants to protect you," Tohru said with a smile.
Enjeru gave a soft smile back, "yeah... you're right."
Not too long later, Enjeru left the small house and went to Akitou's. There a maid helped her into Akitou's room, leaving her wheelchair behind in the hallway. Akitou waited for her with a soft, yet cold look about his features. He smiled at her and she politely smiled back. Food was brought out to them and it was ignored as Akitou assessed her, and she assessed him. She found that he seemed calm today. He was calmer since Hiroshi was born and healthier as well.
"Good afternoon Enjeru-san. How have you been?" Akitou asked with that gentle yet harsh tone.
"I've been alright, and how have you been? I see that you seem to be doing much better than before," Enjeru replied.
"I've been doing much better."
There was a long silence was held before Akitou spoke up again.
"You were upset when Hatori died, I was too. And if it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have died," Akitou said, anger growing in his voice.
"Hatori-chan was happy that Hiroshi-chan was born, he loved Hiroshi-chan. Hari-chan would have not wanted anything less than his son being born and loved. You may believe that it is Hiroshi-chan's and my own fault for Hatori-chan's death, but I would not have wanted anything to happen to him," Enjeru said calmly, placing down the cup of tea she had been drinking from, onto the table.
Akitou stood angrily, rounding the table, "you killed him Enjeru!"
Enjeru looked at him calmly, "it was a drunk driver who lost control of his car that killed Hari-chan."
Akitou slapped her across the face, shoving her into the table. She let out a yelp. The table shifted, tilting and crashed onto the floor. Plates, cups, whatever was on the table shattered, scattered over the wood around Enjeru and Akitou. Enjeru picked herself up from the floor. She let out a small cry when she had put her hand down on the floor, immediately pulling it back up to see glass in her hand, blood beginning to gather and roll out in dark red beads, leaving it's trail behind.
"You KILLED Hatori, Enjeru! You killed him; it's all your fault!" Akitou shouted.
"It wasn't me, Akitou, it wasn't me!" Enjeru pleaded, her focus snapping from her hand to Akitou.
He hit her again, shoving her back against the glass of broken dishes and cups on the floor. Enjeru let out a shrill yelp. She tried to force herself to transform, but she could not. She could not reach it. Moreover, she was in too much of a panic and in too much pain to even think. Enjeru cried in pain, making soft yet high-pitched squeaks. Enjeru's head was pounding, white-hot pain seeming to vibrate within her skull.
She could not hear the rushing feet and the door bursting open. Nevertheless, she saw her son standing there, breathing heavily, dark brown hair thrown back from running, his cheeks flushed with red colour of the slight strain. Akitou stood there, a scowl on his face; the want to hurt was high in his eyes and in his features. However, Hiroshi did not back down, his green eyes determined to protect his mother.
"Hiroshi, get out of here!" Enjeru yelled at her sun, struggling to get up, parts of her hair were dark red, near black, with blood, it dripping to the floor.
"No momma! Akitou-sama shouldn't treat you like this! If he wants to blame anyone, he should blame-"Hiroshi shouted, and then was cut off by Akitou.
"IT WAS YOU!" Akitou yelled as he nearly threw Hiroshi into a wall.
Hiroshi hit the wall with such force that it knocked him out and the small boy slumped to the floor. Enjeru screamed and tried to get to her son, but was held back by Akitou. He twisted her arm back, hurting her to keep her from pulling away too soon.
"Did you forget our deal? You were supposed to kill Tohru Honda! But did you? Did you? No! Instead, you got pregnant you whore! And with that kid you killed Hatori! You killed him you filthy, disgusting, bitching whore!" Akitou yelled at her, throwing her away from himself.
Once Enjeru stopped skidding, her head nearly hitting the wall, she spoke, "I did not kill Hatori, and our son was created through my love for Hatori, and his love for me. That boy will continue to live with my love. You will not take him away from me. And Yuki is happy with Tohru, and I will not hurt that."
Akitou grabbed her by the roots of her hair, glaring at her face, "why do you defy me! WHY?"
"Because, I was born to teach you, that compassion and care can win over the harshness and the cruelty that you express. Hiroshi was born with that message."
"Are you trying to preach to me!"
"Akitou, you have a bit talk about being the head of this family, but you are a child in maturity and mental capacity to comprehend other people. A leader is not a good leader without some compassion for the people he rules over."
"Shut up! How could you know? Why do you think you are higher than I?"
"Because I don't act like low life scum like you do," Enjeru said smoothly and calmly.
"You WHORE!" Akitou yelled, throwing the back of her head into the wall behind her.
As she sunk to the floor, everything fading from her view, she heard Akitou yell that he hoped that she never woke up again as he left the room. After he left, she entered the unconscious bliss as she passed out, the pain fading from her body, the smell of blood and the feel of tension and hostility in the air dissipated.
Hiroshi came to, and once he realized what was going on around him, ran to his mother, panic in his features. He saw she was breathing, and even though he hated to leave her, he did to get his uncle. Once Yuki and Tohru heard the news, Tohru called for an ambulance, while Yuki helped with his sister.