Author's Notes:

sorry it took so long to post this, life got very hectic. school started, lots of doctors visits, epic failure, etc.

thank you all for reading and write a review. flamers will be flamed. with a torch. no sex yet, but it'll be soon. i just about died of angst, so here's some fluff n' stuff. :)

Baku: Wise man say 'Don't eat the yellow snow, but the brown snow is worse.'

Disclaimer:

oh hey. i still don't own Fruit's Basket. or any Edgar Allan Poe poems.

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Silence.

It was something that Hatori had come very accustomed to in his life. It was something he usually enjoyed. Right now, though, this silence was unnerving. Akito had fallen silent once again and because of that, the words he last said rang through his head.

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

They played over and over like the lyrics of a song caught in his head. It hurt every time he thought of them, which was nothing short of constantly. It hurt to see so much painand sadness in the boy's eyes. Could Akito ever be happy again? Hatori was starting to believe he couldn't.

Unless...

Hatori knew exactly what he needed to tell him to make everything better, but Hatori wasn't sure how to. He had to be positive, absolutely positive, before he told Akito such things. His feelings grew more and more with every passing moment, but Hatori coudln't rush into this.

He wished he could have. He wished he could just whisk the boy off of his feet and confess undying love to him and they could be happy forever. But fairy tales weren't real. Hatori knew things would never be perfect...

...but was happiness too much to wish for?

Akito got more and more ill as the days went on. Hatori was not worried that the boy would commit suicide. He knew Akito wasn't the suicide type and knew that Akito was just going to wait out his misery until he was finally dead and out of the world forever. The head of the family began to look more and more defeated as each day went on. His depression had become so obvious, yet no one would say a word. No one except Rin, of course, but Hatori practically fought her off to keep her away from Akito. He did not need that sort of torment right now along with everything else.

"It's about time he finally gets the pain he deserves," Rin told Hatori at one point, "That child never even deserved to live."

Hatori had to suppress an urge he had never felt before. It was something violent and repulsive to him. He made sure Rin was forbidden to come near Akito until he broke the curse or died.

It was storming that day. Storming something vicious. Akito kept his doors closed, leaning back against the wall, eyes closed, listening to the pouring rain. His bird was inside, he made sure it flew in before he closed his doors, perched somewhere in the room.

All there was in the room was silence. Nothing but that cruel, tormenting silence that was driving Hatori mad with each and every moment, the hideous reminder of Akito's depression. The only time Akito made noise was to cough, another thing that was only getting worse as time passed.

Hatori tried to read, tried desperately to focus his attentions on other things. He tried thinking about other things. Hell, he even tried going over his patient files, trying to see if there was one miniscule detail he had missed. Nothing worked. Not one thing worked.

The doctor had gone mad. He might as well do something with this madness, he figured. He might as well be mad enough to talk to Akito, even though the boy wouldn't answer or even look at him. What the hell did it matter anymore?

"Akito-san, would you like me to read to you?"

No answer.

"I'm reading poetry. Poe, to be exact. Would you like to hear some? You might like it."

Akito didn't speak, didn't look at him. After a long, long moment, he nodded.

"Perhaps you will like this. It's a classic. Annabel Lee."

No response, but that was to be expected.

"It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden lived there whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me."

...he had to pick this poem, didn't he? He had to pick Poe...had to pick something that Akito knew might break him. This was cruel.

"She was a child and I was a child,

In his kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love

I and my Annabel Lee

With a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven

Coveted her and me."

Akito hugged his knees to his chest. He knew the poem. He knew it by heart. Poe was probably his favorite poet. He too knew what it was like to be so unlucky at love.

"And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud by night

Chilling my Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea."

So Hatori wanted to make him suffer more, was it? Hatori must have wanted Akito to dwell upon what he did before he died. He wanted him to die more miserable than he already was. That had to be it.

"The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

Went envying her and me:

Yes! That,was the reason as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea

That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling

And killing my Annabel Lee."

Akito trembled. He was so hurt by now, so broken, so torn down. Any shred of hope he may have possessed was about to break. He fought back tears, lips mouthing the words along with Hatori.

"But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we

Of many far wiser than we

And neither the angels in Heaven above

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee."

/'I don't love you,'/ was what this meant, /'I will always love Kana, no matter what you have done to her.'/ Yes, that was how Akito took this. It was what he positive it meant. By now, not that he had noticed, he weakly whispered the words of the last stanza along with Hatori.

"Forthe moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre by the sea

In her tomb by the side of the sea..."

There was a long, long, long silence after this finished.

"You spoke," Hatori said, closing the book, staring at Akito with wide eyes.

"I heed not that my earthly lot

Hath--little of Earth in it--

That years of love have been forgot

In the hatred of a minute:

I mourn not that the desolate

Are happier, sweet, than I,

But that you sorrow for my fate

Who am a passer by."

Another poem by Poe. It was how Akito responded. It was another one he knew by heart, for its words were precisely what he had always wanted to say to Hatori. /'I'm sorry. I made you miserable. I made you unhappy, and that makes me unhappy. I only wish you could have the happiness I never will.'/

But now Akito knew the truth. He knew that Kana would always be Hatori's love. His 'Annabel Lee.' And even though Akito wanted to be Hatori's, there was nothing he could do. Everything was so, so, so utterly worthless at this point. What did it matter anymore?

Akito went mad as well.

He stood, flinging the doors open and running outside, into the pouring rain. Rain was supposed to cleanse. Maybe it could wipe all of his sadness and pain and depression away. Maybe it could just wipe him away. Or maybe all it could to was hide his tears, for now sobs racked his body.

Sobs that could not be stopped, not that Akito tried to stop them. Nothing mattered anymore. He ran until he could run no more, until he fell to his knees, face buried in his hands, the pent up tears of so many years finally unleashing. He wept. Wept for what he had done to his love and wept for the fact that no one could ever love someone such as himself. Wept because he was happy that he was dying, because living day by day hurt so much. Wept because he did not know what else to do.

What he also did not know was that Hatori had followed him. The doctor followed him out into the rain, calling out his name. He was oblivious until Hatori fell to the ground beside of him, pulling him into his arms. Akito didn't even try to fight him was too hurt, too broken, too destroyed to try anymore.

"Akito," Hatori whispered into his ear, holding him in a crushing embrace. He knew what he had to say. No, not what he had to say. What he needed to say. Three words that he now knew he meant.

"I love you, Akito. I want to be with you, forever and always."

Akito froze. He felt his hear skip a beat; a breath got caught in his throat. He had to be dreaming, had to be hallucinating, something. None of this made sense. Hatori...Hatori couldn't love him. Not after what he did to him. This...this couldn't be real.

"I'm in love with you...please...please believe me..."

The younger boy looked up at Hatori, tears still in his shock filled eyes, mouth open, yet no words came out. He didn't speak and merely blushed as Hatori wiped away his tears, chewing at his bottom lip, finally speaking after a long moment of silence.

"You...you mean that?"

"I would never lie to you."

"I love you..."

Hatori didn't reply with words. He tilted Akito's chin up, slowly and softly pressing his lips to the younger boy's. Akito gasped, closing his eyes, wrapping his arms around Hatori's neck. Neither of them knew how long that kiss lasted, but for both of them it was a blissful eternity they got lost in.

The rain had stopped. The dark clouds in the sky had passed as the sun started to break through.

"I love you," Hatori whispered.

"I love you too."

The doctor picked his lover up, carrying him back into his room, both of them the happiest thet may have ever been in their entire lives.

"Lives can change with just three words," Akito told him, "And you have just changed mine for the better."

And though Hatori did not reply with anything but a smile, he knew that the same was true for himself.

-fin-