As soon as she entered the house, to her great surprise, a pair of arms engulfed her in a tight hug. She stared into the familiar crown of silver hair, and gently smiled.

"Ame-chan!"

"My name is Usagi now, hasn't Gure-chan told you? Ayame-san, how are you?" Usagi pulled from her older brother's hug, leading him towards the kitchen where she could smell something cooking. The frown on Ayame's lips didn't get past her.

"Ayame-san, still? Well, Usa-chan, I'm perfectly fine. It's you I'm worried about! All this missing extravaganza and then you show up, sick with misery and a bad cold as Hatori told me." Usagi took a seat next to Shigure at the dining table, quickly accompanied by Ayame, a small frown on her lips.

"I hardly think extravaganza is the word, Aya, but I'm feeling much better." She replied, and the snake looked pleased with the nickname. Before he could retort, the petite brunette girl Usagi had yet to formally meet appeared next her, holding a tray of food that she set out at the table.

"Breakfast is served," she bowed, smiling brightly. Hatsuharu walked in after this statement, and sat across from Usagi, rubbing his eyes tiredly. The silver haired girl smiled affectionately at Tohru, helping herself to a plate.

"Your name is Tohru Honda-san, right?" Tohru nodded, returning the smile wholeheartedly, "I'm Usagi Sohma, Ayame and Yuki's younger sister, which I guess makes you older than me as well?"

"Um...Yes, one year older," she responded. Usagi opened her mouth to say something further, but was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door. The brunette girl let out a small 'eep' of surprise and left to answer. Picking at her food with disinterest, Usagi listened to the door opening and the muffled voices that followed. After a brief moment, Tohru returned to the table.

"It's someone for you, Usagi-san." Trying not to look completely surprised, Usagi rose from her seat and followed Tohru to the front door. The older girl excused herself as soon as they reached the entrance hall, and turned to go back to the kitchen. Blue eyes full of confusion she peeked around the corner and saw a familiar mane of dark green hair.

"Setsuna-chan! What are you doing here?" The woman in question turned, her garnet eyes crinkling with a small smile. As she returned Usagi's enthusiastic hug, her smile slowly faded away, however, and the shorter girl didn't miss it as she broke the hug. "Is something wrong?"

"Well, Usagi, I know the past week has been hard on you, but I'm afraid I have some bad news." Setsuna noticed as she said this, the girl in front of her went a few shades paler, but she smiled a strained smile and pulled her just outside the door, closing it behind her. They stood on the doorstep in silence for a few moments, looking out into the woods that surrounded Shigure's house, before Usagi finally spoke.

"Ne, Setsuna, you can tell me. It's okay." The dark haired woman bowed her head slightly, almost entertaining the urge to chuckle at how well Usagi could read someone. Relaxing her nerves, she took a deep breath and chose her words very carefully.

"After the newscast came that you were missing, Akito ordered the memories of your family and friends to be erased of you completely. Not only have the Tsukinos forgotten you, but all the inner guardians have as well. You won't be able to return home now. You'll have to live at the Sohma house or here at Shigure's if Akito will allow it." The whole time she spoke, Setsuna kept her eyes turned away from Usagi, off in the other direction.

The silver haired girl didn't speak; her first inclination was to ask how Setsuna even knew Akito, but that was quickly set aside. Every muscle in her body tensed with anger, as she said, "That's not right. I'm supposed to talk with Akito this weekend. He agreed to speak with me this weekend about my parents!"

"I'm sorry, Usagi-hime." Setsuna bowed her head, as Usagi shook hers.

"It isn't your fault, don't apologize. You'll understand I'd like to be alone." Garnet eyes flickered up towards the young girl's face, but she'd already turned her head away. The soldier of Pluto nodded to her Princess' request and left to the Time Gates. Usagi paused a few moments, before directing her gaze to the side of the house, "You can come out, I know you're there."

Kyou appeared from around the corner, looking somewhat embarrassed, as Usagi went on, "It's nothing against you, but don't ask questions. Forget what you heard and stay out of it, please." Her silver hair spun with her as she turned, and went back inside the house.

She didn't expect Hatsuharu to be waiting just inside, and he pulled her into a quick hug. "I have to go to school. I'll come by tonight."

"Okay, bye Haru-chan." Avoiding his eyes, she pulled away and stepped around him, heading towards the stairs as opposed to the dining room to finish her breakfast. By now familiar with the rooms, she quickly located her new room, maybe permanently, and closed the door behind her.

Sinking to the floor, she let her tears go until her whole body felt drained of emotion.

xXx

For the rest of the week, Usagi withdrew herself in her room, sending several of the Sohmas into another round of worrying. Yuki was rarely seen as well, and even skipped out on his after school activities. No one could answer for his whereabouts. Only Hatsuharu and Momiji were spotted going into Usagi's room, and they didn't say anything about it.

So everyone was wondering why Usagi and Yuki hadn't even properly seen each other yet. They didn't get there answer, but on Saturday Usagi was finally seen entering the main house with Shigure. The two of them stopped outside of Akito's room, and Shigure sent the silver haired girl a concerned look before he entered. Usagi kept her eyes glued to the floor, looking distant and dazed.

Inside, Shigure bowed to Akito, who was sitting against the wall and looking out into the garden, completely disinterested. "Akito-sama, Ame is here to see you."

"So, she still came?" The dark haired man smirked as his eyes flickered over Shigure, whose head was still bowed. "Very well, send her in. Alone."

"Yes, Akito-sama, but there's something you should hear first." Akito looked up, his confusion just barely showing in his expression as the dog pulled out two thin notebooks and flipped the first one open. "Ame wrote these when she was a child, before her memory was erased.

Dear Book-chan,

I hear some people talking about Akito, and a lot of them say mean things. I've only met Akito once, and he wasn't very nice to me, but...I can see he is in a lot of pain. Gure-chan told me that Akito has to deal with a different curse than the zodiac, but he wouldn't tell me about it. It must be very hard, because I know he's sick a lot, even more than Oniisan. I don't think he's the bad person that the others say he is.

I seen him in the garden the other day, and he was talking to the birds. I think Akito is a very nice person, but I was too shy to talk to him. In a way, he reminds me of Oniisan. I wish Gure-chan would let me talk to him, I think we could be great friends."

Shigure paused, looking up at Akito, but he was turned away, looking out into the garden again.

"Dear Book-chan,

Akito is really upset with me and I don't know why. I've been trying so hard to be good lately, so that Oniisan will be happy again and Hari won't be mad at me. I asked Gure-chan, and he told me that Akito is jealous of me and Oniisan. I am so confused lately that I think I may be just plain stupid. Why would Akito be jealous of me and Oniisan?

I think, because I've never been to play with Akito, he thinks that I don't like him. That's not true at all! I love Oniisan very much, but I love Akito as well. They're both my family, in different ways. I wish I could tell Akito this, but I'm kind of scared. Akito is sick, and I'm afraid that if I'm around him, he'll just get sicker like Oniisan. I don't want to make Akito sicker, or Oniisan, but I don't want to hurt their feelings either. What should I do, Book-chan?"

Without saying anything, Shigure rose to his feet and stepped out. In mere seconds, Usagi stepped in, and took Shigure spot on her knees to bow to Akito. When she looked up at him, all the anger she felt, everything she wanted to say melted. Because of who she is, she could see past the anger, the bitterness, and the desire to make those around him suffer. She could see the lonely little boy she watched in the gardens as a kid, talking to the birds.

All the evil melted away, and all she could see in his seemingly indifferent eyes was the hurt and pain of a very lonely little boy, with only birds for friends. The speech she'd went over in her head the past week, since Setsuna told her about her loved one's memories being erased, every word fluttered out of her like a bird from a window sill.

"So, little Rabbit-chan," the nickname held no affection as it spill from Akito's lips, but the anger or resentment she should of felt wasn't there. She felt only pity for the head of the Sohma clan, as he watched her from the other side of the room. "Come closer, this is the first meeting we've had together, alone. You must be scared without the Dog here to hold your hand."

"I do fear you, Akito." Usagi said softly, as she walked across the room and kneeled right in front of the dark haired man. "Is that what you need to hear, Akito-kun?"

The hand striking her cheek didn't even seem like reality, and she didn't even feel it until a full minute later, when her cheek started to burn. "Don't smart mouth me, you little twit. You don't even belong in this family. You don't even deserve to be here."

Akito's tone rose with every syllable, and the words cut her, but not so deeply as they did when she was a child. Right now, it didn't matter, because she needed to focus on getting Akito to understand that he was loved. "I don't want to smart mouth you, Akito-kun. I know why you treat people the way you do. I understand."

"Shut up!" Usagi had placed a hand on Akito's arm, but he shoved her backwards and sent her tumbling over. "You don't understand me! You could never understand!"

"You make people fear you because you think that's the only way they will stay with you, and obey you. No one wants to be lonely, Akito. But love is stronger than fear, and fear doesn't equal respect," again the hand descended on her, hitting her already swelling cheek, and she whined in pain as Akito's hands found her neck.

"You're such a fool! Did you honestly think you'd come in here and give some heartfelt speech, and then everything would be sunshine and daisies? You're worse than that idiot Tohru Honda. The world's not a fairy tale; things don't just work out the way you want them to!"

Usagi struggled against his grip, the urgency for air starting to kick in. She pulled at his hands, but even in his weaker disposition he was stronger than her. For a moment, she thought she was going to die.

Then suddenly, Shigure was pulling her away, towards the exit of the room. She lifted her head up, barely able to breathe, and said, "I love you, Akito."

Everything stopped for a second or two. Shigure looked shocked beyond words, but Usagi kept her eyes locked with Akito's, where the unmasked confusion and surprise were looking back at her in every feature of his face. Blood was trailing from her lip, where Akito had gotten one last hit before Shigure could get her out of range, but she smiled sincerely at him.

"I love you so much, no matter if you beat me to death or take away everyone I know, because you're my family. I'm so sorry I never told you before, but I love you with all my heart. We can be friends. You can be happy." Shigure dragged her out of the room before she could say anything more, and before she knew it, she was in Hatori's office, being tended to by the stoic doctor.

"You're really crazy, Usa-chan." The dog had adopted a new nickname for her, since she refused to be called Ame. The nickname reminded her of her friends, and her eyes glazed over.

"I meant it, Shigure. I can see how bad he hurts, and it hurts me. I want Akito to be happy." The silver haired girl looked straight at him, with all the sincerity in the world, until Shigure smiled and patted her head.

"I think you should concentrate on yourself first. Plus, you've yet to see Yuki. It's about time, don't you think?"

xXx

Dark, crystal blue eyes jumped nervously from the carpet to the wooden door in front of them. Pausing, Usagi finally raised her closed fist and rapped lightly on the entrance to her brother's room. "Oniisan?"

To her surprise, the door sprung open in an instant, as if he'd expected her to be there. She met gazes with him, and instantly regretted not coming to see him sooner. Throwing her arms around his neck, she cried, "I'm so sorry, Oniisan! I'm an idiot for not coming sooner."

They pulled apart, Yuki a little too overwhelmed to say anything just yet. Instead, he stepped to the side, a silent gesture for her to enter the room. He closed the door as she walked across the room, taking inall thefeatures. She couldn't help but note that for a bedroom, it didn't feel much lived in. Turning to face him, she offered a warm smile.

"It's kind of silly, we being forced apart and when we can finally see each other, we don't bother walking down the hall to say hello," she giggled, and to her satisfaction, Yuki did smile a bit. Just a bit. "So, how have you been? I'm glad you finally got away from the main house. You were never happy there."

Nervously, the silver haired girl shifted her weight from one foot to the other, waiting to see if Yuki was going to say something. He offered a small nod, but the strained expression he wore told her he didn't know what to say. But the strain suggested he did want to talk, and that's something, right?

"Do you still get sick a lot?" Usagi pressed, trying to keep her voice steady. If she went into timid mode, they'd both end up standing there like statues.

"Um...not as much as I used to, no," Yuki replied, glancing up at his younger sister. What exactly were they doing? They used to be so close, but, had the time wore on their relationship? Had it been too long?

"Oh dear! You two are up here having a brother sister moment and leave me out of it? Typical, typical," Ayame popped up from behind Yuki, where he'd obviously forced himself in the door, and threw an arm carelessly around Yuki's shoulders. "I am a sibling too you know. You wound me deeply."

"Knock it off, you idiot," Yuki snapped, shrugging off his brother's arm, which Ayame replaced seconds later. The younger sibling couldn't break free of the vice-like grip, so he surrendered, grumbling. The small sniffles from the other side of the room caught their attention, and Ayame had both of them over there in an instant, literally dragging Yuki alongside him.

He gave up being irritated with the overzealous snake and looked down at the shorter girl, "imouto-chan?"

When she looked up, she was smiling despite herself. "Sorry, it's just...when we were little you guys never even spoke. It makes me so happy, seeing the both of you together like this."

"Chibi-chan!" Usagi rolled her eyes at the new nickname. Apparently he'd been dissatisfied with the 'Usa-chan', "Chibi-chan, not both of us, all of us!" And he pulled her to his other side with his free arm, bringing them into a forced sort of group hug. A flash went off, and they blinked around dazed for a moment. It didn't take long to locate Shigure, waving around a one-time-use camera.

"Blackmail," he said in a singsong voice, before dashing from the room. Yuki finally broke free of Ayame, and shouted at the Dog to come back as he ran after him. The snake burst into hearty laughter, sprinting after the two as well.

Usagi shook her head, and for the first time that week, allowed herself a real laugh.

xXx

So, so sorry for the temporary hiatus everyone! I was in Miami for a month, and the past week I've been doctor visiting and getting blood tests. I may have to have surgery, but I'm hoping it's not what the doctors think. shudders

I'm studying like mad, even while I write this, so I don't have much time to say anything. Hope the first meet with Akito was to your liking. -readers stare, confused- Yes, there will be more meetings with Akito! Silly gooses! Next chapter...school, perhaps? Throw some senshi in the mix and make some real fireworks. I dunno, you'll have to wait and see!

♥SachiNyoko♥