*Sigh*

reviewer 00- I get really tired of repeating myself when it comes to my work. First off, no, I won't stop the story and redo it to fit your specifications just because your panties got in a bunch.

Again- this is fiction. As in it isn't real.

And aside from that- the world isn't all rainbows and butterflies. There's no point in her hiding what happened to her since she and her family have lived in the public eye for so long.

Do you really think she'd be able to hide somewhere where there aren't any damned reporters or gossips? People who wouldn't force her to confront her fears regardless of the damage they would be inflicting?

Besides- I never said that she was completely over all of it. Merely that she put the drugs, her miscarriage, and the cutting behind her. I never at any point in the story or any other place mentioned say/nor mean to imply that those things are okay. And she is freaking out about being forced into an arranged marriage for some of the reasons mentioned in chapter 3.

Also, and last but not least of all, if you had bothered to really pay attention to what I wrote in chapter 3- you would have noticed that while I did mention those things... I also mentioned how it takes time. How she'd hurt her family more than she should have in one life time. And how she had had to realize for herself when she almost died- that she wasn't so weak that she needed to continue cutting.

So...dark past or not. The story stays as is.

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The night air was starting to become cooler and cooler now that summer was ending. Akisame mused as he stepped out of the kitchen after just eating for the first time in three days or so, and was about to go for a walk around the dojo when he heard the sound of Miu's voice and curious to see who she was speaking too- decided to go find her and see.

He made it to the far corner of the house where Miu's voice was the strongest and peered around the edge of the house and froze as he saw Miu sitting with another person- a young lady, he assumed from the size, and slenderness of the person's silhouette in the half darkness of the porch and the living room light spilling outside through a hole in the wall.

"Sorry for the wait but Kenichi was having trouble moving without passing out," Miu apologized as she poured some milk tea into one of the cups she had hidden between herself and the other person and handed it to them before asking, "So have you calmed down enough to talk?"

"I'm not sure..." Came the voice of the other person as Miu poured herself a cup of tea and added three sugar cubes to it before offering some to the other person who looked down at them and also took three and dropped them into her tea. "I still feel like my heart is about to jump out of my chest."

"Well that's to be expected, isn't it? After all you're parents are pushing for you to get married and have even gone so far as to try and arrange a marriage for you with a total stranger. If it were me, I'd have disowned them or run away by now." Miu said as she took a small sip of her tea then put her cup back down.

"There's no point in running away or trying to disown them. They'd only send one or both of my brothers and an entire army after me."

"That's...a bit much." Miu said as she regarded her schoolmate wide eyed. She didn't know much about Hanna's parents or her brothers for that matter but she was fairly certain that they wouldn't send an army out to drag her home if she didn't comply with her parent's demands. Besides from where she was sitting Hanna's parents were being sort of unreasonable. Or not. She wasn't entirely sure, really.

All she knew was that Hanna was scared and worried, and she probably had every right to be. After all if her grandpa tried marrying her off against her will to a total stranger that she had never met before- there would be more than a few fireworks. In fact the two of them would be butting heads like rams!

'You'll do what I say!'

'No! I won't marry someone I don't care about!'

'But it's in you're best interest!'

It had better never happen- She'd kill the old geezer if he ever pulled such a stunt and then tried to con her into thinking it was for her best interest. Hell by the time she was done with him, he'd be homeless! And if any of the other masters tried to take pity on him and let him re-enter the grounds of Ryozanpaku- they'd quickly find themselves homeless as well.

After all, she had set standards for herself romantically. And just like any other girl, she wanted to find 'the one' on her own terms. Without being pushed or shoved or guided by outside sources. However she knew that not everyone had such a luxury, and apparently Hanna was one of them.

"Tell me, why exactly are you're parents pushing for you to marry so soon? Surely you have more than enough time to-"

"It's complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"I-It's got to do with-" The other started to say when she paused and then simply stated, " You know what, I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Then how am I supposed to help you?" Miu asked as she tilted her head slightly while shifting her body so that she could bring her knees up against her chest as she continued to stare at her friend.

"I dunno. I just don't know what to do. I can't get myself disowned or simply walk away from the family. They would wonder what they had done wrong this time- and I just can't be that cruel. And on top of that they would look for me. They would use every resource they have just to find me and get some answers. Whether I wanna give them or not. So running has never been an option. But I'm not all that sure I can go through with an arranged marriage either..."

"Why not? You're parents are just trying to help, right?"

"In their own twisted way, sure. But all their managing to do at the moment is remind me of-" The other stopped speaking and Akisame found himself flattening his back against the side of the house and straining his ears to hear what the other young lady had to say when he heard her almost whisper pitifully, "Of how defective I am."

Interesting, Akisame thought to himself as Miu said, "Huh? Defective. What do you mean defective?"

To which the other girl replied softly, "Ah, I sometimes forget that I'm in japan and you know nothing of what's happened to me in the past six years."

"Well then why don't you tell me what happened?" Miu prodded a bit as Niijima came walking up and interrupted them.

"Hi, Miu," He said startling the blond a bit as she smiled and nodded her head in greeting as he reached down and helped the other girl to her feet and said, "I talked to Akisame-san. I'm not sure if he's interested or not but he'll let you know after a few days."

"Oh. Oh, I see. Then I guess we should leave."

"Wait! You guys don't have to-" Miu started to object when Niijima waved her off and glanced pointedly at Hanna. Indicating that she shouldn't be there any longer. She was probably feeling more than a little drained from the whole fiasco anyways so getting her home where she could curl up and have a nice cry and maybe grab a few hours of sleep would be for the best.

"Sorry to cut out on you like this Miu, but we do have school tomorrow. And Hanna looks like she could sleep for about a month." Niijima said in a half teasing tone hoping to get a rise out of the exhausted girl, and felt more than a little disappointed when she said nothing except,

"Thank you for the tea, Miu." Before the two of them gave little waves and walked off.