Hi again! Sorry for the delay, I meant to update a couple weeks ago.. but working full time, and having a huge fight with my dad (we're talking he was Akito, I was Yuki) I really wasn't in the mood. It took days just to calm down.

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Chapter 18, A Black Picture

Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family, smirked cruelly as he approached the building. Tohru Honda could hide from him, but she had to come to school. He could corner her there. Opening the door, he fixed his most polite smile on his face and allowed Hatori and Kureno to lead him to the office. Once they arrived, Akito introduced himself and requested to speak with Tohru Sohma privately about an urgent matter. With a blush, the secretary immediately called for the girl, and led him to a conference room for them to meet in. Akito sat down, Kureno and Hatori standing directly behind him, and waited.

Moments later, the door opened to reveal the person he had requested, flanked by Hatsuharu, Momiji, Yuki, and Kyo. He could see two girls standing in the hall, no doubt trying to come in. Realizing that if he had to erase Tohru's memories, he might as well erase her friends', he bade them enter, though he was inwardly seething at the small army the girl had brought. Not to mention one of the girls was staring at Kureno, who had seemed to freeze behind him.

"I requested for just Honda-san. The two girls may stay, but the rest of you may leave. I'll speak to you later." He waited for them to obey, only to frown when they remained still. "I said go away!" They still stayed. Akito finally stood. "This is all your fault." He sneered at the girl, who seemed to want to run at his glare. "Why can't you just stay out of our family's business? We were happy before you came along. I warned you to stop trying to ruin that, but you simply can't listen, can you!" He noticed the two girls were watching him, the blonde looking ready to fight and the brunette watching him with empty, blank eyes.

"I wasn't trying to ruin it, I just want to be friends with all of the Sohmas... Even you, Akito-san. I want to be your friend, but everything I do angers you. I don't mean to, really. I'm sorry. But I'm not sorry I made friends with everyone. And I still want to be your friend." Akito's eyes narrowed. Oh, he'd heard this before. They wanted to 'be friends' and then they'd use their power of being Akito's friend to do whatever they want. He wasn't about to allow that. Furious, his hand snapped out and he slapped her hard, causing her head to turn to the side. Her friends were immediately standing in front of her.

"Okay, I don't know who the hell you think you are, but no one hurts our little Tohru!" The blonde girl stated angrily, glaring back at the head of the Sohma house. The other girl was holding the evil girl and rubbing her back, speaking quietly to her. Akito began to laugh.

"I think that I am the Jade Emperor. And I can do whatever I want. But you won't need to remember it. Hatori!" He turned to the doctor, who was making sure not to look directly at Tohru. "Erase these girls' memories. Let them remember nothing of the Sohma family." He smirked coldly, going back to Kureno and leaning against him, only to stiffen when he heard a familiar voice.

"Why? Because Tohru-kun wants to be your friend?" They all turned to look at Haru, who was watching Akito with calm gray eyes.

"I'll tell you why, my stupid ox, though I'm sure you won't understand. It's because no one wants to be my friend, and I detest liars and troublemakers like her. So she will be sent away." At this, Hana stepped forward.

"I may not know you, but I know Tohru. She truly does wish to be your friend. And your waves... they are not so much angry, as they are afraid. Why are you afraid of Tohru?" Akito's eyes widened before he snarled viciously and reached out, grabbing the Honda girl and throwing her at Hatori's feet, forcing the doctor to look at the girl.

"Hatori! I order you! Erase her memories, now!" Suddenly, he was shoved from behind, causing him to fall forward and have to be caught by Kureno. Livid, he turned to see who had dared, only to meet with a pair of angry black eyes.

"Touch her again, and I'll kick your ass myself." Those who knew what had happened immediately began to pull the others away. Akito was famous for his temper tantrums, but Haru could be pretty damn scary, too. "You call me stupid," he continued, "and yet after all your wanting us to stay close to you, when someone comes along who actually wants to be your friend, you try to erase her memories? I may be stupid, but you're a freaking idiot."

The two stared at each other angrily, until Akito began to laugh.

"The fool ox wants to lecture me? As much as you threaten me, you wouldn't dare -" He was cut off when Kureno pulled him back, just barely missing a swing by the Black Ox.

Hurriedly, Tohru moved between them, looking pleadingly at Haru before turning to Akito.

"Please, I really do want to be your friend. You seem like you'd be a nice person, if I wasn't always making you angry, I'm sorry... Please, let me be your friend?" She looked up at him with teary eyes, hands clasped together. "My mom always told me that there would be people I simply wouldn't be able to be friends with, no matter how hard I tried, but that I shouldn't mistake them for the people whom I need to work hard to be friends with. It may sound rude, but I'm going to continue wanting to be Akito-san's friend. Even if I lose my memories, I could never regret meeting you."

Akito simply watched her during the speech, then finally turned away from her, walking over to Kureno and resting a hand on his shoulder and looking over at Hatori.

"Hatori." The doctor looked at the head of the household, obviously anxious about the next words to spill from his mouth. "We're leaving. I'm tired of this. We shall speak with Honda-san and her friends some other day." Relieved, Hatori nodded to the teens slightly before following the man out the door. Everyone visibly relaxed, and Black Haru made his way to the person who interfered in his fight once again.

"Why'd you do that? That bastard hit you." He frowned in annoyance, but obviously wasn't as angry as he had been. Tohru smiled up at him.

"Because Akito-san is a person, too. And I really would like to be his friend. Especially if it helps make everyone else happy, too. I just want the Sohmas to be happy." Black Haru grinned.

"Know what would make me really happy?" He moved closer to her, only to end up being hit in the head by two familiar fists.

"Shut the hell up, you damn pervert!" Kyo growled, throwing the door open and storming off to class, while Yuki checked up on Tohru before leading Momiji back to class. And while Uo and Hana watched, Haru turned his face to smile slightly at Tohru, obviously happy she was safe from Akito again.

"Haru-kun, you'd better get back to class, I don't want you getting in trouble." The Ox stood up and walked over to her, hands in his pocktets.

"Yeah. Let's make sure you get to class, first." Recognizing the ploy for what it was, Uo grinned and nudged her other best friend before waving to Tohru and Haru with a quick 'see ya later!' followed by Hana's warning of 'don't be too long, Tohru.' They both left the room, and Tohru blushed and looked at her companion, who was looking at the door, only the slightest of confusion on his face before he turned to her and led her to the door as well, intent on walking her to class.

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Ano... Would people be mad if I said I thought that was a good place to cut off, and finish up with an epilogue? I think it's a nice place, plus I can't think of much more to do without getting horribly ooc. I know they're already a little ooc, but I blame it on stress, dammit! Besides, I got a nice idea for the epilogue.. ;-; Please?