The last week and a half went by in a blur for Hikari. Three out of four parents approved her sudden matehood to Takashi, even if Mother seemed annoyed by the two of them doing it without telling anyone. Mother did remind them that she almost died when Father claimed her. Hikari ignored that as much as her conscience allowed her to. Takashi was not as reckless as Father used to be.
Father was livid when he found out, but if he was going to have an attitude like that, then she told herself not to care.
She was dwelling over her parents responses while she was she packing her things. She was moving to the Hayate territory with Takashi tomorrow morning. She did not want to leave, but needed to be by Takashi's side as was appropriate. And needed to move there and get settled in before she went off to school. She wondered if Takashi would have to come with her everyday to the Human World to help ease the separation that would occur between the two of them.
She turned around to put clothing in one of her three suitcases on her bed. She half jumped and dropped the clothes she had in hand when she saw Father standing next to her bed. Her heart stopped for just a second at the sight of him. She scowled at him, toughening herself up with her anger at him. She avoided eye contact with him while she picked up her dropped clothing. She scooped them up in her arms and put them into the suitcase. She knew Mother would tell her to fold them nicely lest they get wrinkled, but she was too moody to care. Besides, she would eventually have to wash them again anyway, so wrinkles were not that big of a deal in the long term.
"A princess would fold them better," Father snarked.
She stared hard at her clothes, willing herself not to look or speak to him. She would talk to him when he accepted Takashi's claim on her, and not before.
Father snapped the suitcase shut with a harsh click, making her pull her hands back and jump away. She steeled herself, refusing to look at him. She wanted to open her suitcase back up, but his hand stayed firmly pressed down on it.
She turned back to her closet pulling a few more clothes she wanted out of it and dumped the pile on the bed. She folded them a little neater for when she put them in her suitcase. She looked at Father's ever present hand, temper raising.
"Get out," she seethed. He did not move. "Get out of my room," she growled. She felt her face flush as her temper spiked.
He still did not move. She turned away from him to leave the room. "Stop," he called over to her softly.
Something in his tone of voice made her turn back to him. "What?" she asked as harshly as she could manage to make herself.
"If he hurts you, I'll kill him," Father said as he looked down at her suitcase.
She gasped, not expecting those words nor that sudden and begrudging acceptance. Her feet seemed to move as if they had a mind of their own. She ran over to him, mindlessly throwing herself into his waiting arms.
Father spoke up, "you could have done better."
Hikari responded in equal tone, "I didn't want to."