ღLast time on Picking up the Piecesღ
"He could use so much against you guys-"
"Hm?" he questioned, staring at me in confusion. Trying to figure out what I meant by that.
"If he is able to convince the others that while your parent's care I was beaten up, not getting proper help for my mental illness, and for most of it not going to school, they could rule in Rai's favour," I explained, tensing as the thunder rumbled outside. Takashi frowned and brushed my hair from my eyes.
"There were reasons for all of those," he explained gently, "You were beaten up because of him, and you didn't get the care you needed because no therapist believed you. You were homeschooled once my mother fostered you, and you advanced pretty fast. There is nothing he can say-"
"He can say so much, and Sakura and Akira have nothing," I replied staring at him with slight fear. "What if he wins?"
"He won't," Takashi whispered, leaning his forehead against mine. I shook my head.
"What if he does, though?" I asked, frowning at him. He caressed my cheek.
"Then my parents won't stop fighting to get you away from him," Takashi replied, "You belong here. You belong with us, with Tamaki, the twins, Mitsukuni, Kyouya and me."
I closed my eyes and smiled. "Thank you."
ღNowღ
I was called downstairs an hour later and I saw Rai looking non too friendly towards my foster parents. A grim look on their faces. Rai smiled wickedly, "Ah, Haruhi, I'll be coming to collect you soon have no doubt about that."
"What do you mean?" I asked tersely, crossing my arms with frown on my face. He laughed and waved towards the Morinozuka's.
"They are your foster parents, they didn't adopt you officially. Children in foster care need to be reunited with their family members," Rai explained, his tone almost mockingly sad. He placed a hand on his chest, "I would've come sooner, but it wasn't easy trying to find you."
I wanted to call bullshit, he just didn't have any use for me before now. I didn't fully understand why he wanted to take me with him, I was a burden to him in his eyes. I felt my jaw clench together, and my fingernails dug into the flesh of my arm. Sakura looked at him cooly, "You still have to go through-"
"I'll talk to you later," Rai said with a smirk, interrupting Sakura, not even paying attention to her and turned to leave. Akira frowned deeply, and stepped forwards.
"Fujioka, you still have to talk to her social worker, and her social worker must talk to her, before you can assume you'll be taking removing her from foster care," Akira continued what his wife was saying. He opened the door, "Now please, escort yourself from my property and do not come back unless you are with the social worker," Akira threatened, a dark look appearing on his face for half a second. Rai smirked.
"Oh, believe me, Morinozuka, I plan to," he waved a hand and walked down the steps and headed towards the car. The door shut and I shook my head, biting my lip.
"This is bullshit," I whispered, looking away. Akira walked over and placed his hand on my head, smiling warmly.
"The social worker will be able to help you better than we can at this time," Akira spoke, and guided me to the tea room. He sat me down and poured me a cup of tea. Sakura joined us, telling Takashi and the others not to bother us for a while. We sat in silence before Sakura reached over and squeezed my arm.
"Haruhi, what did you mean earlier about an act?" she asked, not removing her hand. My fingers tightened on the cup and I looked at it.
"He's part of a gang and has never taken an interest in me before," I answered honestly. The hand shifted in surprise. My eyes flicked up to see Akira's reaction, but I was met with a cool look that said while he was interested he wasn't surprised in the least.
"Then we have nothing to worry about," Sakura said with a comforting smile as she rubbed my arm. "I doubt that any social worker would allow a teenager to go and live with a gang member."
"She can still be taken by another family member if they come," Akira spoke with a sigh, shaking his head, "We've grown too attached. We should file for adoption."
"I don't want to be a burden," I quickly interjected, "Adopting me would be too bothersome-"
"You're already like a daughter to us, why not make it official?" she questioned, rubbing my back comfortingly. "Of course, we'd have to wait until the social worker comes to check you out, we'll talk to her about adopting you then."
I smiled warmly at them, I felt accepted by them. Of course, I still didn't want to stay there. I was lying to them. My father had been murdered by me, and they shouldn't have to house a murderer. That was unfair. I was waiting until my eighteenth birthday so I could leave and continue living my guilty existences elsewhere.
My social worker had been changed. We received the message in the mail a couple of days ago, saying the woman had been replaced with someone else, as she had quit. A Kurosawa Kotoko was now in charge of me. She came to visit me, she was rather pretty as well. Very young, it was her first assignment. She had long dark hair and was an obvious foreigner who moved within the last couple of years. Although she had very good Japanese she still had an accent.
She sat down with me and we went through all the things that my last social worker had for me. It took the entire day for her to fully understand my side of things, at least that is what she said. I was still uncomfortable with the idea that my last social worker was replaced. Especially at this time.
Kotoko wanted to talk to all the family members, but Akira explained the Takashi and Satoshi were out for the day, each with their respective friends. The two adults spoke with her for a few hours before she left. Sakura came to the library, where I was curled up with a book. "She seems very friendly," Sakura said with a smile, "I'm sure she wouldn't make you go with Fujioka, yes...I am sure of it," the woman smoothed my hair with a smile.
"I'm uncomfortable with her," I replied quietly, staring at the pages instead of acknowledging her further. Sakura just sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. As if saying 'I know' before leaving. I turned and watched as the door shut before standing up and putting the book away.
I sat down and played chess by myself, calculating and thinking deeply. I closed my eyes and rested them as I debated on why I was sitting here when I heard the familiar click of a piece being moved. I cracked my eyes open and saw Takashi sitting across from me, looking at me expectantly. I examined his move for a while before moving my piece. He quarked an eyebrow at me as he moved a piece. How'd the meeting go?
I let out a sigh and shook my head. I don't like her. He paused hesitantly after I made my move.
Why not? He questioned with a wave of his hand and quickly took out one of my rooks.
"I'm uncomfortable with new people," I sighed, resting my cheek in my hand as I lazily made another move. Not caring where I placed the piece. He moved and took out my queen, causing a light curse to come from my mouth.
"She's here to help you," he replied quietly, "You shouldn't be uncomfortable with her."
I gave him a look, "I liked my last one, familiar to me..."
"Don't worry," Takashi reached across the table and squeezed my arm, "She's not a frequent person in your life."
"I know," I moved a piece with more thought. Takashi somehow knew that I wouldn't grasp that concept, he ighed and waved towards the chess pieces.
"She's just a pawn in your life, she'll be taken out quickly," he explained quietly. I looked at him before moving one of my pawn forwards to the edge of the board and took my queen back.
"Pawns can become something more important," I explained, and lifted up the extra knight I had gotten before he had joined me. "You were just a pawn in my life for the longest time. Just someone that was housing me until I could leave, now you're my friend."
"I was hoping I was more than that," Takashi hinted, leaning on his hand and staring at me. I blinked a few times before looking back at the board, lowering the knight down. "Sorry, that was too forwar-"
"I don't want to overstep my boundaries," I spoke, looking at him, "I'm here as your parents foster child. We shouldn't have these feelings for each other-"
Takashi stood up, interrupting me and walking around the table. He cupped my face and lowered his mouth to mine. Greedily kissing it. I was surprised, but placed my hand on his chest and shifted my head to kiss him back. He pulled away after a moment, looking at me, "You're not overstepping your boundaries," he whispered, kissing my forehead, "If you wish for this to continue, say so. If you do not, then I will stop making advances," he brushed his lips over my cheek.
I was silent for the longest time. My fingers curling around his shirt and then closed my eyes and smiled. "Alright," I whispered, "We can try. If Rai wins however, we have to end it there. I don't want you to get hurt."
He kissed me gently before sitting back down across from me and continuing our game. I smiled at him warmly whenever our eyes met. I was happy, truthfully. In those quiet moments before the storm broke, I was content. Just the two of us.