The Return Of Tenshi
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or Sailor Moon.
Important: I wish to thank anyone who had reviewed for my story, Hosts and Hostess, it really made my day. In twenty-four hours I have received ten reviews, which is a big improvement from the usual three to five reviews in one day, and then two weeks later, I get another one. Not complaining since I really appreciate every review I get and I just love this happy feeling whenever I read that somebody loves my story enough to encourage me.
So I just wish to thank the seven people who reviewed for the previous chapter of The Return of Tenshi for constantly telling me that this story is good and that I should continue.
Ch24
Akito kept his eyes on the sick girl, who just seemed to be getting worse and worse with each passing day. His dark grey eyes studied the pale skin and the new black wings protruding from her back. "My beautiful Tenshi," he whispered. He gently combed through her hair. "What's happening to you?" he asked.
He heard a commotion in the hallway, footsteps rushing in an angry strike heading his way with furious voices telling the intruders to leave. What is wrong with these people? Don't they realize that his precious angel is sick? Akito made a movement to stand up when the door slid open in a fast motion with three concern men standing there, staring at Usagi with worry. The one with black hair scurried across the room and pushed Akito to the side, kneeling beside Usagi. Akito watched in anger and envy as the raven haired boy gently brushed Usagi's hair, the same way he had done moments before. He felt an urge to tear him apart when he watched him lean close and whisper in her ear.
Ignoring the green-eyed beast, Seiya leaned close to Usagi and whispered softly, "Odango, wake up. You can't let something as stupid as this keep you down." He watched her face, hoping in vain that she would respond. "You're the greatest warrior in the universe. You defended this galaxy since you were fourteen years old. You defeated the greatest evil that destroyed countless galaxies. You can't be beaten by something as simple as this."
Akito snapped. Grabbing Seiya by the shoulder, he attempted to throw him back when he was grabbed by Shigure and Hatori, who had entered in during Seiya's coaxing. "Shigure? Hatori? What are you doing? Unhand me this instant!" he demanded, trying to fight the hold of the two twenty-seven year olds.
"Akito, stop it," Shigure shouted, "With the rate it's going, it's only going be a matter of minutes before Usa-chan dies!"
"What are you talking about?" Akito yelled back, "I'm only doing the right thing by keeping her here, safe from all of you!"
"That's not all you did, Akito," Hatori said, struggling to keep the young head of the family still. "Don't forget, you had me erase all of her memories of every friend she had ever made and her family."
"So what if I did," he demanded to know, "I was just trying to protect her from all of you."
"No," an unfamiliar voice said. Akito turned his head to see Luna standing in the doorway behind Shingo and ChibiChibi with Artemis by her side. "By erasing her memories, you're not protecting her, but rather destroying her soul."
"What do you mean?" Akito asked. Destroying his precious angel's soul? That's the last thing he had wanted to do. No, they're obviously lying, trying to deceive him so he would give them back his angel.
A movement on the bed brought everyone's attention. They watched with hopeful eyes as Usagi slowly opened her eyes and stared at Seiya with a blank look on her face. Relieved that she at least had the strength to open her eyes, Seiya exclaimed, "Odango!"
Usagi didn't answer; all she could do was study the teen, trying to piece the puzzle together. "Who…are you?" she asked.
The three singers felt their hearts break when they were the sickly frail voice, so different from that vibrant and lively girl, they once knew. Yaten kept his distance and refused to look at Usagi with a forced uncaring look on his face. Taiki walked over to the bed and smiled gently. "Usagi-san, how are you feeling?" he asked.
Taking a deep breath, Usagi replied, "Tired."
Sitting on the futon, Taiki continued to ask, "Does any part of your body hurt?" Usagi nodded her head slowly. "Can you tell me where?" In a slow motion, Usagi lifted her hand and placed it over her heart. "Do you know why it hurts?" he asked. Slowly in a tired movement, Usagi shook her head.
Getting tired of waiting and not knowing, Akito broke free of the two older males and threw himself between the signers and Usagi. "That's enough," he ordered them, "Get out of here!" He threw his arm out to the door. When he saw that nobody was budging from their spots, it was like that ugly outsider living in Shigure's house all over again; nobody listening to him and disregarding his, the God's, orders. "I said to get out!" he shouted.
"Akito, you have to stop this tantrum," Hatori said, "If we don't do something soon, Usagi could die!" He glanced over to Usagi to see her fall back asleep. For once in his life, he was frantic; he never felt like this before, not even when he erased Kanna's memories of him. "Tell me, do you want her to die," he said, grabbing Akito's shoulders.
Tired of everyone telling him what he is doing is wrong, Akito slapped Hatori hard enough to fall to the ground. "Shut up!" he yelled, "I'm not doing anything wrong!" He pointed to the Junnishi, who were starting to crowd around the doorway, and the strangers, who were glaring at him. "You're the ones who are wrong!" he roared, "You're the ones who are trying to take my tenshi away from me."
"No, Akito, it's your actions and your anger that's doing that," Artemis said, speaking up. He took a step towards the seething young man. "It was your anger and possessive behavior that scared Usagi-chan away from you. And it's your actions that's causing her pain and suffering."
"All I wanted was for her to remain at my side! I wanted her attention on me and me alone!" Akito shouted, "Nobody else is supposed to be more important to her but me!" How dare they accuse him of harming his tenshi. He is the god and she is the angel, god's most bellowed servant before the rat.
"What makes her, Usagi-chan?" Artemis asked. He turned to the audience and asked them, "Tell me, what makes Usagi-chan her own self?" When nobody answered, Artemis glared at Akito and spit out, "Bonds…the bonds she forged with people she meets makes up her personality, her life. You get rid of that and what you're doing is destroying her life force."
It was then that Hatori remembered the words that he heard when he went inside Usagi's mind. "Her memories are what make her who she is...""…if you carry out this order, then you'll be making the biggest mistake of your life…"He remembered those words exactly because he's been hearing them in his dreams ever since he had been forced to erase Usagi's memory of everything she had held close to her heart and lost within a short period of time. Taking his hand and covering his eyes, Hatori leaned slightly on Shigure as it repeated in his mind, "Oh my god! Akito's not the one who's wrong. I did this."
Ayame watched worriedly as Hatori had this guilty and horrified look on his face. He glanced over to his other cousin and best friend, who also saw that look. Together, they took the distraught doctor to a seat. In soft voices, they tried to cheer up the distressed dragon.
/-/
"Who is it talking?" Wanting so hard to open her eyes, just to see who was talking, but she didn't have the strength to. "Who is it? Why? Why do they sound so familiar?"
"Usagi-mama, you need to open your eyes." Suddenly, somewhere in the darkness surrounding her, a dim light flickered when that person pleaded.
"Who…"
A cool breeze enveloped the area as a soft voice asked, "Can't you at least give us a sign that you haven't given up?"
"How do you know me?"
Heat began to surround her when she heard another voice say, "Come on, odango, you can't let this silly little thing beat you like that."
"Why do you care?"
Scents of a sweet that she distinctively remembered that she loved to eat seemed to encase the surrounding. "You can beat this, Usa-chan," another voice encouraged.
"Why do you care if I'm weak?"
A gentle melody of a violin and piano echoed throughout the area. "We care that you survive from this because we care about you," a calm voice said with a more masculine tone adding, "Because you're precious to us, koneko-chan."
"But we don't know each other?"
A scent of a type of perfume reached her nose. "Don't know each other? Girl, what is your problem?"
"But it's true…"
A gentle hand slowly touches Usagi's cheek, almost lovingly. "Usako, just listen to your heart, not your head," a male voice said.
Arms wrapped themselves around her waist, judging by the height of the body pressed against her, it was about the height of a child. "Okaa-san, please listen to otou-san," she pleaded, "I don't want you to lose."
"Okaa-san? Otou-san? Who's 'otou-san'?"
"You know who," a voice with a hint of mystery said, "He's the prince who's always been protecting you, protecting you with a symbol of the love you two had for each other."
Finally, getting the strength, Usagi slowly opened her eyes and saw a group of teenagers, all but one are female. Again…faces that are supposed to be familiar to her have blanks for names. It's strange that she could recognize these faces when she clearly never saw them before. According to Akito, she had remained in the main house since the day she was born; her parents giving her up because they could not deal with a child who is more superior to normal beings. So why is it when her head is saying there's no way I know them, her heart is searching for clues or hints that can help her.
Usagi stared at the raven-haired man. He is similar to Akito in the tall confident manner they hold their bodies. Both have black hair, but Akito has black eyes while this man has blue. With this man, she felt safe and comforted; with Akito, she also feels safe, but in a more suffocating way.
Wanting to reach out and see if he was real or just an apparition, Usagi felt an antagonizing pain erupt. She clutched her head with both her hands as the ache prevented her brain from forcing herself to think back into the past. She could hear her name escape these strangers' mouths, more muffled than anything. She arched her body inward with her breathing becoming more and more labored and the pain then moving down to her heart once again. She could feel her soul fall deeper into an abyss of loneliness and anguish. Tired of these feelings, she opened her mouth and started to scream.
/-/
Akito looked like he was about to murder the Junnishi and everyone else when a tormented scream caught everyone's attention. Akito rushed to Usagi, who began thrashing in the futons with tears rolling down her face. "Usagi, calm down," Akito pleaded, he wrapped his arms around her.
For once, Akito was at a lost. Why? Why was everything going so wrong for him? Didn't his father tell him that he was a special child? The child everybody was waiting for? If they were all waiting for him, then why do they turn their heads away from him? Why do they insist on leaving him behind? Usagi…his sacred tenshi…his precious servant…the one and only he trusts with his life…in the end, even she left when her traitorous parents took her away.
No…that wasn't what happened. Thinking back, he was the reason why her parents took her and left the Sohma compound. He hurt her…made her cry…practically tormented her cousin in front of her. It's just as that outsider said; he frightened Usagi away. Now that she returned, he's doing the same things again, isolating her and keeping her on a leash.
He watched as the girl in his arms resembled so much more like a porcelain doll, so fragile and easily damaged. That wasn't what he had wanted! Yes, he wanted her memories and attention to be solely based around him, but he didn't want her to be broken. It was her spirit that he loves, her joy, her laughter, everything about her he cherished. He heard it all the time, how he was cruel and selfish around the Junnishi and that one day his selfishness will destroy all those he holds dear. Staring that the child who slowly calmed down into another long fitful slumber, he couldn't help but wish he paid heed to that warning.
AN: Don't you just start to feel sorry for Akito? Do you think I should've went more harder on him? Those are questions I would love to read your answers to since Akito's character is so complex. Also, who believes that I should have Usagi's memories returned in the next chapter?