Author's Notes!

wooo for chapter three.

more sadness.

mhmhm.

i'll brighten this up soon.

thanks for reviews, favorites, and alerts on all fics. c:

Baku: Wise man say, 'Shotgun wedding is a case of wife or death.'

Disclaimer!

still don't own Furuba.

still no sex, but it'll happen. kyahaha.

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This was bad. This was very, very bad. Akito wouldn't listen. Akito was dying.

This was very, very, very bad.

Akito wouldn't eat. Wouldn't take his medicine. Wouldn't speak a word to anyone. He wouldn't even make eye contact with Hatori. He avoided his gaze like the plague and would have avoided the man altogether if it weren't for the fact that Hatori wouldn't leave. Only once did he speak to him and it was to utter words that cut Hatori like a knife.

"Just stop trying, Hatori-san. This is all in vain. I'm going to die no matter what you do."

Why couldn't Akito realize that Hatori didn't want him to die?

Hatori was getting to the point where he wasn't even sure if speaking to him was worth it. He was starting to wonder why he didn't leave just leave like Akito said. Hatori had a deep, deep feeling that this wasn't going to end well. That Akito would distance himself from the world until he died. He had to remind himself why he stayed here, why he was trying to make this boy happy, to make him better, to keep him from dying when he knew that was probably impossible.

He was reminded everytime he saw Akito's eyes. Those tragically beautiful eyes. Those eyes that hid all of Akito's pain and hurt and sadness when he wouldn't let any of it slip.

Akito was getting much, much more ill. He was always shivering from fever, his already pale skin had become paler, his cough had escalated to something violent. The entire time he wouldn't speak a word. He did everything silently. He would knock the trays of food offered to him to the floor, shove Hatori away when he offered him medicine, all without letting a word slip from his lips and letting his eyes leave the floor. It was getting to the point where Akito would barely let Hatori touch him. Hatori would rather have Akito hurt him than refused to be touched at all.

This was terrible.

Now, our dear doctor knew that he had some kind of growing feelings for Akito, but he didn't want to label them just yet. He felt something strong for him and it sure as hell felt like love, but he wasn't anywhere close to telling Akito. He didn't want to mistake something that could easily be pity for love and break the boy's heart just yet. If he was heartless, he would lie to Akito. Tell him that he loved him and convince him to break the curse to benefit himself and the other zodiac members, but Hatori didn't have that power within him. Hatori cared for Akito, actually cared, and that meant a lot. Hatori was a logical man and he knew better than to jump into something he was not one hundred percent positive about.

There had to be another way to save him.

It was early in the morning. Hatori had only been awake for an hour or two and his patient was still sleeping, not only for the fact that he usually slept later than Hatori anyways, but with ilness did come the need for rest. Hatori was sitting outside of Akito's room, leaving the door open so he could still watch, having a much-needed smoke. He was more accustomed to smoking indoors, but because of Akito's health, it currently was not an option.

"Ha'ri-san!"

He looked over to the bridge as he saw Shigure, who had called out his name, and Ayame, who was waving his arms like a madman to beckon him over. With a sigh he stood, walking over to the two, cigarette still hanging between his lips.

"Hatori, you poor dear, you look like death!"

"Ah...maybe you should be a bit nicer, Aya. Ha'ri has been having a rough time."

"But he doooooes!"

Hatori sighed, shaking his head. It was too early for this. There should be laws put in place to make early morning annoyance illegal.

"Why are you two here?" The doctor said to the other two zodiac members, taking a long drag from his cigarette, covering his ears as Ayame started talking much louder than he should.

"YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO TAKE A BREAK, HA'RI! YOU'RE GOING TO WORK YOURSELF TO THE GRAVE! YOU LOOK LIKE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN SLEEPING OR EATING OR ANYTHING! HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN BATHING?! HAS AKITO HURT YOU ANYMORE?! WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO AND LET THE SERVANTS STAY WITH HIM?!"

"Shut up, Ayame."

"Yes sir!"

Hatori leaned back against the railing of the bridge, watching Akito's room. He knew that Akito liked to lie outside in the early morning, or when Ha'ri wasn't around, go outside and take walks. He wanted to watch him from a distance, see what Akito was like when he was alone, see if he could say anything more to the boy that he kept hidden to everyone else.

"Hatoooooriiii! Pay attention!"

He looked back over, tossing his cigarette out, watching Shigure and Ayame silently.

"Hatori," Shigure said, sighing softly, "you need to give up."

"You really are stupid, aren't you?"

"Listen... it isn't worth it. You're working yourself to death when he's going to die, no matter what you do. He won't break the curse. He isn't worth it."

"He is worth every moment of my time and more."

"He hurt you! How can you be so kind to him? Just give up."

"None of that means anything!" Hatori was starting to get angry, which was strange, but he was actually showing his anger, which was even stranger, "Maybe he is the way he is because no one ever cared about him!"

Hatori left the bridge quickly, realizing the shocking truth in his words. Now that he thought about it, now that he really thought about it, no one did care about Akito. His mother hated him and because of his position of power and common illness, he was isolated from most of the family. It made sense for him to fall in love with Hatori, his doctor, the person he saw most. The person who cared for him. How was Akito supposed to show others love and kindness when no one had ever shown it to him? He only knew how to treat people the way his mother treated him. This was the sad, sad truth of the matter. The truth that made him realize once more how vulnerable the nineteen year old really was.

He walked back to Akito's room silently, staying quiet as he stood in the doorway, watching the boy, who was walking off his porch and out into the garden. He watched Akito as the boy put his hand over his head to keep the sun out of his eyes, as he watched the clouds, as his free hand extended and his little white finch landed on it. Hatori noticed many things in this moment, about how he worried about Akito's pale skin in the summer sun, how his robes fell down on his shoulders, showing how thin he really was. He noticed that when Akito's eyes closed, his long, dark lashes ghosted over his cheeks, that his lips would part ever so slightly to coo at the bird softly, lips that Hatori felt a yearning to kiss.

Maybe it was for this reason that when Akito hunched over in a violent cough, he noticed the tiny trickle of red running down from the corner of those plush lips.

The doctor rushed over, grabbing Akito's wrist and turning him around. Just as he suspected, the blood had been wiped away. Akito had keeping this symptom, a very serious symptom, a secret from him.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Akito didn't even try to lie, didn't even speak. He stared to the ground, trembling in fear from the sudden harsh demeanor of the man, chewing at his bottom lip. He stayed silent, though his lips parted once, just once, as if to speak, though no words came out.

"Why?!"

Hatori glanced up at Akito's wrist, now noticing the blood stained on the sleeve of the kimono. He always coughed into his sleeve. He hid the blood from Hatori.

"Tell me!"

And then Akito whispered the first words he had said in days, words that only made the situation worse.

"I don't want to live anymore, Hatori..."

++fin-