Author's Note: Please realize that my story development is moving slowly. There is no romance yet...I am working up to it. Lemons don't happen in a vacuum...you need to work up to it! Otherwise it's nothing more than a literary porno (which is okay if that's all you want...I personally want more out of a story!) Review if you like it and want to read more.

Chapter 2

Akito spent that first night after Akira's death in the home of Kurosawa Sohma. However, the following day, arrangements were made to have Akito cared for by servants in the main house. Kurosawa disapproved, but did not raise any objections. Speaking privately to his family, he said, "…Akito should be raised in a more normal, supportive environment. She has just lost a parent; she doesn't need servants, she needs reassurance that she is loved and that Akira's death was not her fault."

Instead, Akito spent her days with her silently obeisant servants. Her food and comfort were well cared for; but Akito was lonely. The servants were attentive to her physical needs, but did little to make her feel cherished and loved. They did not play games or read her stories. They agreed with all she said. She missed her father's humor and teasing painfully. Her loneliness was only alleviated when the juuneshi would come to visit her. With them, she could feel the blood bond, the vibrant, pulsing, electrical connection between their souls and hers.

She especially looked forward to seeing Shigure. Although he was roughly eight years older than her, she found herself more drawn to him than any of her other cousins. Shigure was playful and witty without the vapid egoism of Ayame. He was also terribly clever with a dry sense of humor without being so introverted and withdrawn like Hatori. And unlike the gentle acceptance of Kureno, Shigure would tease her and torment her until she would fly into a rage and attack him; but she loved him for the attention. Shigure seemed alive, and he brought her to life when she was with him.

Those first few months, it was Shigure's efforts to both provoke and comfort her that kept Akito whole. The benign negligence of the servants and the outright hostility of her mother were painful and damaging to her emerging idea of selfhood. Deep inside, Akito questioned herself and wondered what she had done to kill her father and earn her mother's hatred. Like all children, "God" or not, she was unable to separate her self identity from the negative judgments of her mother. She believed herself to be a wicked, terrible person who killed her father. She must be horrible if her mother did not love her, right?

Sometimes when Shigure would come to visit her and they were tired from wrestling and playing, she would whisper to Shigure that she was a bad person. She would tell him how her mother told her that she had killed her father. Being just a child himself and not knowing what to say, Shigure would hold her close and tell her that it was alright, he loved her no matter what. And during those times, that was enough. She could bear anything, just so long as someone loved her.

Even when Ren decided that Akito must be raised as a boy in order to disguise the shame of a female head of the Sohma family, Akito still was able to keep her spirits up because of Shigure. He comforted her after a hateful and laughing Ren cut off Akito's long, black hair to facilitate Akito's transformation into a boy. With Shigure's affections, Akito was convinced she could bear anything.
In her emotional dependency on Shigure, she began to nurture a childish crush on him. She assigned romantic meaning to his pledges of affection and she imagined a time when they were adults and could be married. Ayame and Hatori teased Shigure about his pre-school girl-friend, but Shigure shrugged it off good-naturedly. He did have a genuine affection for the young girl, and he could see a measure of his own feelings of loss and abandonment in her suffering.

For several months, Shigure would come over and accompany Akito in exile in her secluded suite in the main house. Toward the end of the summer, Shigure shared with Akito that the advent of the school year was rapidly approaching.

"A week from tomorrow, I won't be able to come and visit you all day anymore, Akito-kun," Shigure said lightly. Akito looked up at him with stricken eyes.

"It's because I'm bad isn't it?" she whispered, her eyes pooling with tears. "You don't love me anymore because I killed Daddy, do you? Don't leave me Shigure-san!" She began to cry with the ferocity and abandon that only the very young can manage. Shigure wrapped his arms around her and he began to stroke her hair.

"Silly Akito-chan! You are not a wicked person and I certainly don't think you killed your father. Even Ha'ari's father says you couldn't have killed Akira-san. Akira-san was often ill, even from the time he was very young" He pressed his lips against her forehead and continued to hold the sobbing child. "I have to go to school Akito. I am starting the seventh grade along with Aya and Ha'ari. It is not my choice to leave, it is just something I have to do." Akito raised her head and looked at him through her tears.

"Will you come see me when you come home?" she said. "You won't forget about me will you, Shigure?" Shigure laughed and hugged her tight. Of course I will come see you. I told you I would always be there for you!" Akito smiled a small, wan smile and tried to resign herself to the idea of long lonely days without Shigure or the other juuneshi to play with.