Thank you all, firstly for your patience, since I haven't been able to get the chapters up as quickly as I had been. Thank you for reading and reviewing, too!

Next up is Ritsu...enjoy!

Patient – Sohma Ritsu; Session #109

"I am not sorry," Ritsu stated in a quivering voice. He swallowed hard and repeated, "I am not sorry. I am n-not sorry." After the third time, he exhaled deeply, seemingly relieved and glanced over at me with a weak smile. "Was that okay?"

"That was good, Ritsu, very good," I assured my cousin and grinned. I was feeling much better after my meeting with Ayame earlier that morning, and with my newfound hope in my family, I had jumped head first into my session with Ritsu; I was truly determined to make a difference and was most certain that I could in fact do so. I suppose, some of it must have been spite, since I was resolved to prove Akito wrong. I wanted to show her that no one – not even herself – was hopeless and that every individual was in fact in control of their own lives, regardless of any supposed "curse" that had been placed upon them or their family. Admittedly, for a brief time, I had slowly slipped away from reason and had doubted my previous convictions that the application of psychiatric principles could indeed help my family overcome so much of their suffering. After Ayame left, I spent some time reviewing my old notes, as well as texts and academic journals, and gleefully identified all the possible psychological reasons behind my patients' behavior and misery. Sure, perhaps I hadn't progressed very much in my two years, but at least by recognizing the potential problem or problems I was accomplishing an important step in the psychiatric process.

I suppose, looking back, I embraced this new, positive, and rather embellished outlook as a way to compensate for how lousy I had felt after being torn apart by Akito. In a way, it was denial, but it was comforting to be focused once more instead of confused and filled with conflicting emotions. So, as one typically in denial does, I ignored that fact that I was in denial and enthusiastically said to Ritsu, "Now, Ritsu, I want you to, every time you feel the urge to apologize, to take just a few moments to really analyze the situation and determine if you are in any way at fault. If you haven't done anything wrong, it's important that you tell yourself that, out loud if that helps, just as we were practicing."

"Okay…" Ritsu answered reluctantly, "I'll try it, Kazuki."

"That's great, Ritsu! I'm sure you'll do fantastically."

Ritsu blinked with perplexity; I assume he wasn't use to me being so genuinely upbeat in quite a while. What's more, I had given him a sincere compliment that wasn't just for his sake, but one that I had actually meant (or perhaps convinced myself that I had meant it). "Really? Do you actually mean it?"

"Why, of course. We've been doing quite well in our sessions, after all. Yes, I think we've progressed very far from when we started two years ago. You are much more composed now, and you apologize less frequently than you did in the past. You're self esteem has increased tremendously too, and we've really tackled and worked through many of your inferiority issues from your childhood. You don't even dress like a woman all that much anymore – well, except for today, but that's not a big deal, really. All in all, we're doing quite swimmingly, don't you think?" I had said it all very fast, as if I had to get it out, say it aloud, make it real.

Ritsu was quiet for a moment, bewildered. "Kazuki, are you okay?"

"Certainly, Ritsu. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Nothing! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to – it's just that you were acting so - how insensitive of me, to just pry into your life just like I did. I am such an inconsiderate, ignorant person to do something so incredibly rude! I'm so sorry, Kazuki! I'm sorry! Please, please forgive me for even asking something so obviously absurd as I just did! I'm such a terrible person, I don't even deserve to live!" Ritsu fell to his knees and bowed his head before me to beg for forgiveness.

With the completion of Ritsu's last word, my right eye gave a tiny twitch. That was all it took for the happy ideas I had forced myself to believe to shatter into a hundred little pieces. The hope, as foolish as it might have been, that had been returned to me during Ayame's session was still there (I'm sure to Akito's delight), but the additional exaggerations had successfully slipped away. I managed a half smile and said quietly, "Ritsu, there's no need to apologize – it's okay."

"It is?" Ritsu poked his head up and looked at me with grateful eyes.

"As okay as it's going to be, anyway…" I muttered.

"Oh, Kazuki, you really are much too kind. Thank you, thank you." Constantly bowing his head to me in gratitude, he rose to his feet and sat back down on the couch.

"You're welcome, Ritsu." Sighing, I thumbed through a couple pages of his file. At first, I thought I should have reminded him that he forgot to follow my instructions, hence resulting in his outburst, but I quickly decided that this would just result in another apologetic tirade. So, desperately, I looked for something else we could discuss. Finding a topic, I began, "Let's direct our discussion now to your relationship with your mother…"

In the end, I suppose going through the motions is better than not going anywhere at all.