Out right panic was settled in her head as everything around her spun, her fear rising faster with each breath, but the hand on her shoulder was just the snap that set everything off within her mind.

"No! Don't touch me!" she shouted and pushed the unknown body, "Stay away!"

"Harper, it's me!" she heard them say.

That voice. She knew that voice as a slow comfort came to her. She opened her eyes attempting to take in what was around her as her tears fell. It was then she noticed she was curled up on the ground, her knees pressed so hard into her chest she swore she should've heard ribs crack. The bark of the tree pressed painfully into her back as she pushed herself against it as her eyes tried to find him.

"Harper?"

Finally she locked eyes on him, those dark browns looking into hers as he tried to figure out what was wrong. She could see him struggling to do anything to help her, yet he sat there reserved, just waiting on her. She felt like an ass for just up and running like she did, yet it was all she could do at that moment without losing her mind completely. Faint whispers filled her ears as Tomoe and Tokuko spoke gently to her, letting her know that everything was all right.

"I'm sorry Kiku." she apologized.

"For what Harper?" he asked, "You did nothing wrong."

"For being so weak compared to you. Compared to them." she confessed. "I'm not strong enough to be a capital."

"That's not true Harper, you are strong-"

"Bullshit I am!" she shouted, "All of those women in there are ten times the girl I am. They have been through things that would cripple some people to nothing and yet here I sit like a child, confused and hurt with no voice or chance to stand on my own."

She felt a tremor shake her body as her memories sat at the surface, "All because of that bastard."

"Harper, would you like to know what I see?"

Harper looked at Kiku, his face stoic and unchanged yet something was hidden behind those eyes of his. She could see his hands itching to touch hers, but they stayed upon his lap in wait.

A small smile donned upon his face as he relaxed before her, "I see a woman that has overcome so much. Yes she hides, but that is because she knows what's out there. What other people are unaware of. The dark side of the world. Yet you never let that stop you. You stood up and made your name. You even came to Japan and lived within the nation by yourself, a trek most would want someone to travel with. You have persevered over so much and yet have even more before you. You really are a strong woman Harper."

She was awestruck with him. His words hit deeper than she could have thought. No amount of therapy or sessions could have made her feel like she did now. It was as if he went and pulled the ugliness out of her, proving to her that she was more than what she thought.

"Thank you Kiku."

"It is true Harper. You are more than what you see yourself as." he sighed, "I just wish you could see what I see."

She watched as his features dropped, back into his cool self. Her mind wandered as she pulled the courage forth, maybe speaking to the man she had dreamed about for so long would help her out more than believed. Maybe, just maybe.

"I was the only girl born in my family." she began, "And I was treasured for it."

She saw his features change; from the calm and reserved to curious and hopeful. She just prayed that speaking about this wouldn't change his mind.

"I wanted for nothing. Spoiled really. I always got my way for everything. Finally, when my parents decided to set rules, I became a bit of a brat. Made stories up and got my brother and cousins in trouble a lot just to get my way. But they caught on not long after. Parents thought a pet would calm me, and did it ever. Hops was his name. Sweetest Netherlands dwarf bunny you'd ever lay eyes on. He and I went everywhere together, kinda like Usagi and I today. Yet it didn't last.

"One day a man came to our home I had never seen before. Family was overjoyed he was there. Came to learn he was an uncle of mine who had been traveling all around the outback and more. Doing research he said to them. I didn't understand nor really care. He was fun to be around at first, always playing games and pretend. It wasn't until my family went out one night that it changed. Just a simple outing for my parents as my brother was at his friends. He volunteered to watch me. I didn't argue at first, was happy really. Then he introduced a new game to play, he told me it was a simple game, one that was fun and easy. As long as I never told mom or dad. It was our secret."

Harper swallowed over the lump within her throat as she remembered those nights, "It felt like forever. Laying in my bed, staring at my ceiling as he touched me. I remember crying as his hands touched my body. He placed the pillow over my face, telling me I was too pretty to be seen crying. It happened so many times that I lost count. I tried telling them that he was touching me. That he was doing terrible things, but it was pushed away. 'You were just playing cops and robbers with him. There's nothing going on. Quit trying to make trouble.' That was what I was always given. At one point I was told to stop watching TV as well. Around that time there was a rapist running around the town, hitting homes of women and teens, doing things to them as my uncle did me. His words always haunted me. 'Can't break you, not yet. Not ripe enough.' It sent chills down my spine. I finally had enough one day.

"I approached my parents again and told them everything that was going on. That I no longer wanted my uncle watching me. They nodded to me and continued with life. I thought that maybe things would get better. He came again. I still feel his hand on my throat as he pushed me against the wall, threatening to hurt me if I talked again. Silly me thought that if he marked me, my mother and father would finally realize the truth. So, I spoke again, and it was the last time I would. That night my brother went with friends and my parents out once more. I figured it be our neighbor that would watch me that night, yet as I went into my room I saw him sitting on my bed, petting Hops as he waited for me. The smile upon his face was enough to make me sick, yet I stood my ground. 'I told you not to tell.' I smiled at him, 'You won't hurt me. For if you do, mommy and daddy will hurt you.'

"The bloody bastard laughed. 'No little Harper, I won't physically hurt you. Just mentally. So, you'll always be quiet like the other girls.' It was then he pulled out a blade and..."

Harper paused, she felt her body shake as the memory plagued her as her tears fell down her cheeks, "He took it across Hops's throat. I can still hear his screams in my head. I just stood there like a damn fool, too scared and shocked to move as he stabbed my pet repeatedly. He threw his body to the floor and placed the blade into my hands, rubbing all his blood onto my hands. 'Now they'll know it was you.' I couldn't move. I couldn't cry out. I couldn't even fight as he molested me again. I was just sheer lucky that my brother came home early and caught him."

"In the hospital, I felt like everything was ripped from me. That there was nothing left of me. What made it worse wasn't the doctors constant questions. It was my family. They looked at me and asked why I never said anything. Why I never told them. It was then I realized I had no voice for myself. That there was no way I could ever speak again about that. Later, we learned that the rapist was in fact my uncle and that his numbers of women and girls was astronomical. It didn't matter how innocent I was when it happened. I was the target at school. Constantly shoved, punched or kicked around all because I was related to him. I was the rapist favorite, they mocked. I just wanted to escape yet had no idea how to. It took me ten years to touch a rabbit again, even looking at one set me off in a fit. Another five to even get Usagi. He was my saving grace though, it was him that pulled me from the dark hole I was in, then moving to Japan added the last tether of hell to snap.

"The only thing that I haven't been able to break was the fear of men and touch. Today even, it bothers me that I can't have either without me nearly melting down into nothing but an emotional wreck." she said, "So really Kiku, how can I be a capital?"

"Are you standing here in Germany with me, understanding Tomoe and Tokuko?" he asked.

She looked at him and nodded, "Then you are stronger than you have given yourself credit for."

His eyes looked into her own as if he was trying to pull the little girl from her hiding place, which was slowly working. He held out his hand as he stood up. The smile that pressed his cheeks were the line she trusted as she took his hand with trembling fingers as he helped her up. He gestured his hand to the garden to walk as her mind calmed down. He quietly spoke around things around them, words she could barely hear as her heart thrummed loudly in her ears.

Could she really trust again, to never be hurt or taken advantage of like before? Could she not only trust him but... there was that word that her heart and mind both dwelled over, love. There was a part of her, that for her dreams of the two women, she saw him and grew to have affection for him. Yet as he was before her, she wondered if she could fully feel for him. She remembered Brie as she spoke of her experience to getting Francis and how things came to be, her mind wondering if something would work.

"Kiku?" she paused in the yard.

"Hai?"

"Please," she whispered out, "don't move."

"Harper?"

"Kiku, just... don't move please."

She watched as he took her words in, standing there, waiting for her and what she was doing. It was mad really, in her mind at least. Yet she knew if she could pass this, she would be just fine with Kiku. Slowly she raised her hands up to her chest, reaching them out to him as her feet barely moved towards him. She saw his eyes fill with curiosity as the truth finally came to him, and with it, he waited. She could feel hear fear and worry screaming at her to stop what she was doing, that it was wrong and he would hurt her, yet her heart begged her to keep moving.

She slowly made her way to him, her hands out in front of her as tears slipped past her lids and down her cheeks. She could feel the heat emit from his body as he stood there, his own eyes full of hope and adoration of her as she came closer. She paused just an inch away from him as her mind tried to make sense of what she was doing. Finally, with one step, her fingers graced the soft fabric of his dress shirt, his warmth rising up her arms as he gave a gentle nod. With each passing breath, she became closer to him. From her fingers to her palms, her arms lightly resting on his chest as her body shook with unease and fear. His breath lingered along her hair as her arms folded against him, her body finally against his own.

Harper laid her head upon his chest, hearing the gentle thumb of his heart as she heard a low hum from deep within him. She couldn't believe it. She was touching him, a man no less and she wasn't getting hurt or being touched, he stood there just like she asked. It was then her tears became too much as they spilled over, her shuddering breath quaked her body as she cried.

"It's alright Harper, it's ok." he comforted her. "Harper?"

She gripped his shirt to her as she shook her head, "Would it bother you if I held you?"

Harper wasn't sure what to think yet she knew she made it this far, what was one more step. She pulled him closer as a reply. Then a slow, comforting warmth enveloped her as his arms wrapped around her body. It was comfort. It was safety. It was love. And it was the most amazing thing she had ever felt in her life.

From Usagi, to moving to Japan, to holding Kiku, she knew she was ok and strong enough to make it in this world. She knew she could be a capital now.