Yu entered the room around 4 am, rubbing his eyes and carrying his teddy bear under his arm.
"What's the matter, Yu?" I asked, turning to him from my spot at the desk.
"Nightmare…" Yu said before climbing in next to Tsubasa. I softly chuckled before getting back to work. I had been working until the early hours of the morning when I got a call from Madoka and Hikaru.
"Good morning Madoka, Hikaru," I answered the call, "how may I help you guys?" I asked, without looking up from the pile of paperwork in front of me.
"Aki, where are you? We had a meeting today and you never showed up," Madoka said, clearly upset at me. I looked at my watch, which was lying off to my left, to see that she was correct.
"Frankfurt, Germany. I received a report from the German branch of the WBBA stating that they found 42 bladers including Wales and Sophie from Team Excalibur. Did the Tategami Company give the WBBA grief that I wasn't at the meeting again?" I asked as I lifted my glasses to the top of my head.
"Yeah, but that's not all. Did you know that the next head of the Tategami company is Kyoya, and they were talking about marriage with the Phoenix Corps?" Madoka said as she jostled her laptop around in the elevator. I threw my head back and started mentally cursing my father.
"Father…" I hissed before letting my head fall forward as Hikaru finally spoke up.
"Aki, how long do you plan to stay in Germany?" Hikaru asked as he came to stand behind Madoka.
"I don't know but I did file my assessment of Wales and Sophie about three hours ago. I am so glad that the head doctor over the trauma unit here in Frankfurt is a good friend of mine, and was also having a sleepless night. Most of the missing bladers including Sophie will be released either today or tomorrow Wales has to stay about a week maybe a week and a half…You can come in Dashan, Julian." I said before hearing a knock on the door, it was a little after seven in the morning and Tsubasa had just headed for a shower clearly trying to wake up without the need of coffee.
"Did Aki miss another meeting between the WBBA, Phoenix Corp., and the Tategami Company?" Dashan asked, laying a box in my lap. I looked over my right shoulder, raising one eyebrow as if asking how many times I had forgotten about these meetings.
"How many times has Aki forgotten this meeting?" Tsubasa asked as he opened the bathroom door, still in his pajamas. Dashan held up four fingers while Hikaru held up five.
"Six times, in three months, now go get a shower. How can I help you, Julian?" I said throwing Tsubasa his hairbrush before turning to the quiet man, just as Yu sat up in the bed rubbing his eyes.
"Good morning, Ki-Ki… happy birthday," Yu said as he climbed out of the bed and then climbed into my lap. Immediately, both Madoka and Hikaru began cooing at Yu who was quietly curled up in my lap, still sleeping with his teddy bear.
"Awe he is so cute…this is a whole different side of Yu that I have never seen." Madoka said as the two entered my father's office. Where my father was pacing trying to figure out where I could possibly be.
"Madoka, it's seven in the morning here so Yu is half asleep. I would have also been half asleep had I been able to sleep last night. Now turn the screen to my father and get out because it's about to get loud and I don't want you guys to hear this. Dashan, do you mind taking Yu and going to wake up Chi-Yun?" I asked pushing the chair away from the desk so that Dashan could take my sleeping 12-year-old. Dashan shrugged his shoulders before picking up the boy and leaving the room. Madoka had left her laptop on my father's desk before the two other girls left the office.
"Aki, where are you?" my father asked as he came closer to the screen.
"Frankfurt Germany, 42 bladers found. Dad, what did I tell you about setting up a marriage between Phoenix Corp. and the Tategami company? The current head of the Tategami company only has two sons: Kyoya and his younger brother. Plus, you know that my heart belongs to another person, and I plan to one day marry Tsubasa." I said touching my chest with my right hand showing off the promise ring. I was about to say more when my father slammed his hand on the desk.
"I will never accept that Aki Hagane. You have a duty as a member of our family. You will marry who will benefit us…" My father said clearly not understand that he was now sound just like my grandfather who was a stickler about following old traditions and customs.
"Father, you sound just like Grandfather... And didn't you say that when the time came for me to choose the person whom I would marry, you would accept whomever I chose? I don't want to marry Kyoya or his younger brother; I want to be with Tsubasa because he reminds me of how you and Mom used to be..." I said, wiping away the tears running down my cheeks. My father looked at me before softly smiling at me, nodding his head.
"I understand Aki, my daughter, if that is what you want then who am I to stop you." My father said before turning to Tsubasa who had come out of the bathroom brushing his teeth, his toothbrush hanging limply in his mouth, looking dumbfounded at everything I had just said.
"Tsubasa, I am trusting you to protect my daughter, treat her with the respect and dignity that she deserves. And if I ever hear that you have hurt my little Autumn, then you will have me to deal with, do I make myself clear?" My father said even going as far as to use the nickname my mother used to call me by.
"Understood, sir," Tsubasa said, pulling his toothbrush from his mouth. Finally remembering that Julian was in the room, watching everything, he ended the call. Julian looked between the two of them as if he expected Tsubasa to pop the question right then and there.
"I'm sorry that you had to hear that, Julian. My father can be a little extreme at times, and while he means well, he just shows it in very weird ways. It was better when my mom was still alive and could rein him in…" I said turning the promise ring around on my right ring finger, so that I could look at the mountains carved on the bottom edge.
"A Ki of the mountains. The strongest blader in all of Japan, so strong that not even when you fought against Ryuuga or Gingka did you use your full power." Tsubasa said around his toothbrush before wrapping his arms around my shoulders and laying his chin on top of my head.
"You know the only reason I was known as A Ki of the mountains is because DJ blader couldn't read my sloppy hand writing. Literally the forms that we had to fill out for tournaments had a question of where we were from above our names. So, on my first one I had put area around Mountain Hagane, then my name which looked like it was three words instead of two…" I explained to Julian who was watching us confuse or that was until Yu opened the door to our room and rushed over to me and Tsubasa, Dashan and Chi-Yun right behind him.
"Good morning, Aki," Chi-Yun said, bowing his head, as Yu climbed once more into my lap while Tsubasa went to finish getting ready for the day. It was then that Yu pulled the box that Dashan had given me off of the desk. I loosely wrapped my arms around him before pulling at the edges of the box to open it. Inside was a beautiful dark blue dress that was simple but elegant.
"Thank you, Dashan it's beautiful. I will have to wear it today." I said pulling the item out of the box, before pushing Yu off of my lap so that I could get up. The dress was a long-sleeved sheath dress that fell to my knees and there were elbow patches, I finished the dress off with a white cover up and a black ribbon belt. I had just tied off my belt and was looking for my locket when someone entered the room, thinking it was either Tsubasa or one of our friends I didn't look up, what a mistake that was for it was the maid from the day before. The only downside to her plan was the fact that I still had my bey. Her bey got a few hits in before I could even launch my Cygnus.
"Cygnus, dance of the white swan: Odette," I called out as I backpedaled a few steps. My Cygnus gracefully glided across the floor, dancing once more. The commotion brought the attention of my friends, who quickly entered the room to see what was happening.
"That's why you never attack Ki-Ki." Yu said scoffing at the woman laying on the floor, I was about to warn Yu to not let his guard down when the woman grabbed his arm and held him at knife point. Cygnus was circling the room, but now that she had Yu, it was too dangerous for me to attack. I noticed Tsubasa's Earth Eagle circling right next to my Cygnus, waiting for a chance to attack the woman. I looked over at him, seeing that he was also waiting for a chance to attack the woman. I than remembered the joint special move we had been working on before Tsubasa had gone missing, but the move wasn't finished yet. But that move might be the only way for us to save Yu, it was than that I noticed that Yu was smiling as if nothing was wrong.
"You lady are crazy if you think you can beat Aki and Tsubasa…after all they have a special move, that not even Libra can break through." Yu said calm and collected, as if his life wasn't in danger. Yu was in for a scolding after this was all over, he knew how I felt about him putting himself in harm's way.
"That's impossible if they really had such a move then we at Galaxy Nexus would know about it…" the woman said letting her guard down long enough for one of us to attack. I shared a look with Tsubasa, he was clearly telling me to take it, especially after giving Cygnus a boost in energy by hitting it forward.
"Cygnus counter-stance." I said using Tsubasa's technique.
Tsubasa raised an eyebrow at me and asked, "Did you have to use Eagle's move?"
"Yes, I did; but don't worry that's the only one I am going to use. Or did you forget the crater I made the last time that I used smashing claw?" I said laughing weakly. Yu's head dropped forward, while Tsubasa face-palmed the whole time mumbling about how I was just like my brother.
"She's strong enough to use someone else's technique," Julian said, watching on in disbelief.
"That wasn't even Aki's full power; that was only about 5% of your full power Aki," Tsubasa said shaking his head before wrapping his arms around my shoulders, I leaned my head back on his shoulder before laying my hands on his arms.
"That was actually 15%. After all, she went after Yu. So, she doesn't deserve any mercy from me." I thought about it for a few minutes. Our friends' jaws dropped in shock.
"And you're a balance type…and that was only 15% of your power. How is that possible?" Dashan said completely shocked at what I had said. Right before Chao-Xin had gotten out of the hospital, I had spent a couple hours every night practicing at Beylin Temple trying to get even a little bit stronger. Dashan had been watching the whole time from the shadows, thinking that I wouldn't notice him.
"I'm the older sister of Gingka Hagane, one of the strongest bladers in the world," I said, turning towards my friends, reminding them that I was Gingka's older sister, and had never shown anyone my full strength.
"Ki-Ki doesn't even use her full strength against Gingky. I think the only person Ki-Ki has to use her full strength on is Ryuuga, she had to use her special move Tears of Sorrow." Yu said coming to stand next to me and Tsubasa.
"Yu, Tears of Sorrow isn't even half of Aki's full power. Her special move is called Final Migration. That reminds me, it's been seven years since your last tournament, so let's battle Aki Hagane," Tsubasa said as he pulled away from me and held up his Earth Eagle. I smiled softly before holding up my Earth Cygnus.
"You're so on, Tsubasa Otori," I said, putting most of my weight on my left leg. I was pumped to get back into battle with Tsubasa. Almost forgetting about breakfast, I was snapped out of the trance when Julian cleared his throat.
"Your Bey Battle can wait until after breakfast," Julian said once me and Tsubasa had looked over at him. It was then that my stomach had made itself known.
"Yes, you're right Julian," I said, putting my hand on my stomach as everyone started laughing at me. It was then that I remembered that I still had to scold Yu for being so reckless.
"Why don't you guys head down, I need to have a word with Yu alone," I said putting my hand on Yu's shoulder and giving it a tight squeeze. Right away Tsubasa knew what was about to happen from the look I gave him. I waited until everyone had left the room before turning to Yu who was standing next to me playing with his fingers.
"Yu, what have me and Tsubasa told you about being reckless?" I asked as I moved to sit in the desk chair, so that I could look Yu in the eye.
"I know I shouldn't have done that, Aki, but I wanted to show everyone just how cool you really are. You have so much power, but you never use it…" Yu said before I stopped him.
"I can't use my full power Yu because I could hurt someone really badly. Even using just 15% of my power is going to make it so that woman never battles again, the fear she felt from facing me just now is going to scar her for the rest of her life. It's similar to what happened to Hikaru after she faced off with Ryuuga. The same thing almost happened to you after you battled Reiji; Kenta almost quit Beyblading because of that, he had to see a therapist to work through everything." I said cutting him off as he had to understand that I couldn't use my full strength for fear that I would hurt someone. I wasn't even going to tell Yu what I had been made to do by Galaxy Nexus, for I didn't want to destroy his innocence.
"I know Ki-Ki, but you don't use your power to hurt others like they did but to show others that no matter what a Bey battle should be something to protect others. And I know what they made you do was bad but you don't let that hold you back you try so hard to protect your friends and family by using your bey." Yu said crying, I should have known that Yu would have overheard what I had told Tsubasa and our friends, but it surprised me that he doesn't look at me any differently. I wrapped my arms around the crying child before pulling him into my lap and giving him a hug.
"You are right Yu; I only use my Beyblade to protect my friends and family. But I can't do it alone, that's why me and Tsubasa are always telling you that you can't be reckless. You also have to be careful because the minute you or Tsubasa get hurt, I will lose my mind to anger and worry. I would have killed that woman just now if you hadn't remained calm, and reminded me that I can't lose my mind because of my emotions." I said holding him tightly in my arms.
"So, what is my punishment for pulling that stunt?" Yu asked, playing with my hair before pulling away so that he could look up at me with those puppy dog eyes. I pretended to think about his punishment, before holding out my hand, already sure of what his punishment was going to be.
"Hand in your Beyblade; you'll get it back in two weeks. By that time, we should be back in Japan," I said looking down at the young boy. He gave me his usual pout before placing his Flame Libra T125ES in my hand. He then got off of my lap and watched as I stood up, and started my search for my locket again.
"Um…Ki-Ki, what are you looking for?" Yu asked from his spot by the door.
"My locket," I said, looking under the bed. "The one I usually wear... Found it!" I pulled out the silver pendant and chain. I had sat up and was about to fasten the chain around my neck when Yu took the ends into his hands and clasped the chain at the fourth loop from the bottom of the extension portion. I quickly pulled my hair out from under it and stood up. Holding out my hand for Yu to take, he happily grasped onto me, and we headed down to the dining room where everyone was waiting for us.
"For some reason, the last few mornings have been very crazy," I said as I took my seat next to Tsubasa and Julian, before a maid placed a plate of food in front of me. The plate consisted of eggs, toast with cream cheese, and fruit with yogurt.
"The nanny has instructed the chef to prepare vegetarian-friendly, yet high-protein meals for you, Ms. Hagane," the butler behind Julian said.
Ah, yes, she did say that she would talk with the chef. And please let the chef and kitchen staff know that I appreciate the effort that they put into making this. I said bowing my head, smiling at the man and Julian. It was then that Chao-Xin and Mei-Mei entered the room, right away Mei-Mei gave me a hug while putting a box in my lap. While Chao-Xin put a small box on the table next to my plate.
"Happy Birthday Aki," Mei-Mei said before taking the seat next to Tsubasa, while Chao-Xin sat across the table from her. I was about to open the presents when the butler took them away from me, clearly following the orders of Julian and the nanny. I looked over at Julian before lifting up the fork with my left hand before moving it into my right hand before digging into the breakfast that the kitchen staff had put so much effort into making. I wasn't able to eat everything, and it was clear that the butler was watching and taking note on how much I did eat.
"Wow, that's more than Aki ever eats," Yu said as he placed his orange juice glass down on the table and moved to sit on his knees. I was about to say something when the nanny beat me to it.
"Yu, keep your voice down, it's rude to raise your voice at the table. Ms. Hagane, I hear that today is your 19th birthday, congratulations." The nanny said, putting a hand on Yu's shoulder and forcing him to sit properly in his chair.
"Thank you, Nanny, but I rarely celebrate it anymore," I said before Tsubasa cut me off. My family and most of my friends knew that I didn't like celebrating my birthday because of what had happened when I was twelve years old.
"Seven years ago, today was the day I lost Aki for four years, six months, four weeks and a single day. It was the first day of June, right before Kyoya disbanded the Face Hunters, when they found her," Tsubasa said while sipping at his coffee. I wanted to scold Tsubasa but I couldn't in front of our friends. I slowly reached forward to pick up the cup of black tea in front of me as the butler moved to put a small pile of presents where my plate had been just minutes before. I slowly set the cup down before turning to the pile, eyebrow raised slightly in confusion.
"Some of the staff also got you something as well since you helped make their work easier. By helping to remove the spy from Galaxy Nexus. In the process we have also removed six other spies from the different Konzern family estates. My mother is actually on her way here to meet with you in person and thank you for saving the good name of the Konzern family. She might also try to convince you to marry into our family, even though I told her that you are dating and promised to another." Julian said before taking a sip of his coffee.
"I look forward to speaking to your mother…excuse me Mr. Butler, can I please get a list of the employees that gave me a gift? I would like to write them a thank you note," I said turning to the man who was still standing behind Julian. He pulled out a piece of paper from his suit jacket and handed it to me.
"Here you go, Ms. Hagane," the butler said, smiling at me. It was then that I noticed how they had organized the list of employees along with their titles and the positions that they held. The first name on the list was the head butler, followed by several different maids and some of the kitchen staff, and even the nanny had gotten me something.
"Thank you, now on to business, I spoke with Ada earlier this morning Sophie and most of the other bladers found will be released either today or tomorrow; Wales at the latest a week to a week and a half. He is going to have a long road ahead of him, taking into account that he has a small tear in his right lung worries me; he will need physical therapy, he seems to be terrified of every movement and sudden sounds, from what I read of Ada's report yesterday when a differently doctor came into the hospital room, he started to freak out to the point that they had to sedate him again. Sophie is a different matter all together because she seems to be in a state of protect herself from others, by that I mean she is locking her emotions behind a mask of indifference trying to make it seem like she is perfectly fine." I said touching my locket, or that was until Tsubasa took my hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Which option do you think is better?" Klaus asked from his seat on the other side of the table.
"Both are very bad. A normal person would normally be able to tell the difference between what's real or fake; they can also tell the difference between their emotions. However, when someone suffers from trauma those lines become blurred and sometimes a person can suffer from flashbacks which makes it even harder to decipher what is real and what is fake…" I said just as Tsubasa's cell phone rang.
"Excuse me for a minute while I take this call. But I have a feeling that it has something to do with it being Aki's birthday," Tsubasa said as he got up from his chair and left the room. I turned to the pile of presents next to me, not really looking forward to opening any of them. I was fighting with myself about celebrating my birthday when Yu came over to me, holding out a gift bag.
"Happy birthday mama," Yu said out loud so everyone could clearly hear him. I took the bag from him before pulling him into a side hug and opening the gift bag. Inside was a framed picture of one of Yu's drawings of me carrying a couple of ice creams while Tsubasa pushed my wheelchair. It was one of the few outings that Tsubasa had convinced Mrs. Sato to allow me to take. But that wasn't the only thing in the bag; Yu had gotten me a new pencil case full of a new set of colored pencils, and a red velvet box that I was told to open when Tsubasa got back from his phone call.
"That's a present from Tsubasa, and he wants to be here when you open it. The picture was one of the first few that I did after you came into my life." Yu said as I held up the drawing so that everyone could see it. I was about to move on to the next present when Tsubasa came back into the room, carrying my tablet which had my brother and some of our other friends joined us in a video call, also joining the call were Anja and Ada with Wales and Sophie at the hospital.
"Okay so before we go any farther, all of our friends want to say something to the birthday girl. They also wanted to see her open presents for the first time since she was 12, because for the last two years Aki has literally refused to accept anything that was related to any form of celebrating her birthday." Tsubasa said handing the tablet to Yu, before picking up the red velvet box and pulling me out of my seat; before opening it up to show me the beautiful silver swan necklace.
"Happy birthday my lovely Swan," Tsubasa said before kissing my cheek. I was about to say something when my father took this moment to cut in and start yelling at Tsubasa.
"This is not how I meant for you to treat my daughter with the dignity and respect that she is due," my father said before Hikaru pushed him out of the view of the camera.
"Mr. Director, you are ruining a perfectly good moment that Tsubasa has been planning for a while. Happy Birthday… and good luck Tsubasa," Hikaru said before leaving the room while pulling my father out by his arm. I was confused about her final statement, but she was gone before I could ask her about it. And Tsubasa wouldn't meet my eyes; I could tell that he was hiding something. I reached behind to unlatch the locket I was currently wearing when Tsubasa took my hands in his while shaking his head before putting the long chain of the new necklace over my head.
"Perfect, this should help with you keeping up with important meetings…lift it up and look at the back," Tsubasa said, the last part he whispered in my ear. I lifted the pendant only to see that the back of the swan was a watch. I reached to touch my left wrist only to realize that I wasn't wearing my watch again.
"You are correct this will help with me remembering to keep up with the meetings I have to do as the next head of the Phoenix Corp." I whispered while hugging Tsubasa around the shoulders, before kissing him on the cheek. I pulled away from him.
"Okay enough of the PDA; Aki don't you have more presents to open?" Julian said after clearing his throat while everyone else was laughing at the fact that Tsubasa was blushing like a mad man. I was about to move back to my seat when a red headed ball of energy plowed into me full force. Causing me to land hard on the ground, with my head bouncing off. Everything hurt to the point that my head felt like it was going to burst. And it didn't help that Sakyo was pretty much yelling, as Tsubasa pulled him off of me. Chao-Xin and Mei-Mei rushed to my side to check me over, trying to see why I hadn't sat up yet.
"Aki, are you alright?" Chao-Xin asked as he helped me to sit up, running his hand over the back of my head. The whole time I couldn't make out anything that was being said around me, or that was until I felt the burning hot pain that shot through my head when Chao-Xin's fingers came in contact with the bump that was forming on the crown of my head.
"Ouch, that hurts," I said, rubbing my head. "Now I can see why everyone says I have CPI. I didn't feel anything until just now." I said, putting my hand over the swan pendant. I was about to push Chao-Xin away when Yu and Tsubasa rushed to my side to check me over. The whole time, the nanny was scolding Sakyo for his bad behavior and for knocking me over.
"Aki are you alright?" Tsubasa asked brushing a hand over my cheek trying to figure out if he needed to take me to the hospital for a concussion. I let him go through the process of figuring out that I had a concussion or if I was fine. Tsubasa however had forgotten that I knew how to fake not having a concussion. So I was sitting in my seat faking a mild headache and non-blurry vision when Sakyo walked over to me and held out a bouquet of white daisies.
"Happy Birthday Auntie Odette. And I'm sorry for knocking you to the floor," Sakyo said, his head bowed in shame at his actions.
"Thank you, Sakyo, but next time be more careful," I said smiling at him before reaching out and running my fingers through his hair. Unknowingly giving away that I barely could see even with my contacts in.
"Aki, what have I told you about hiding a concussion?" Tsubasa asked as we all settled back into our seats.
"Tsubasa, I'm fine; there is nothing to worry about," I said, trying my best to calm him down. Which I knew wouldn't do much with how much his anxiety and fear were affecting him.
"But…" Tsubasa tried to counter, but I cut him off.
"I'm fine, Basa," I said while touching his cheek. "If it gets worse, I'll let you know right away."
"Fine," Tsubasa said, turning to look at our friends. Only to find that Dashan and the members of Team Wang Hu Zhong were all shaking their heads, and I could only guess that the two members of Team Excalibur were doing the same thing.
"And this is why Aki can't be trusted to take care of herself," Dashan said, his voice sounding like it was coming from all directions at once.
"I can see that. Now enough talking, Aki, why don't you open some more of your presents? Starting with this one," Julian said as he held out a thin box.
"Julian, I can barely see anything. I'll open the rest of the presents later tonight," I said, fumbling to find my cup of tea.
"The last concussion Ki-Ki had she couldn't see straight for a few days," Yu said as he led me to my tea cup.
"Yu, they don't need to know that," I said, turning towards his voice which was to my right.
"Yes they do Ki-Ki; because you never take care of yourself. Everyone needs to know so they can help when you forget again," Yu said as I shakily brought the tea cup to my lips, by now my tea was cold but it still tasted good.
"Aki, Yu is right to say something, because you have only been out of the hospital for three days after being in a coma-like state for three and a half weeks. You rather take care of others than yourself," Tsubasa said reminding me of what had happened just three days ago. I sighed knowing that Yu and Tsubasa were right.
Julian asked, "Aki was in a coma-like state for three and a half weeks? That's surprising."
"Yeah, I was until three days ago," I said, turning towards his voice as my vision got worse by the minute.
Klaus stood up quickly, knocking his chair over in the process, and his tone conveyed complete shock at the information I had just shared with him. "How are you already on your feet?" he asked incredulously.
"Aki has this habit of pushing her body past the breaking point and somehow she is still able to function," Tsubasa said as he sipped his coffee next to me. I could hear everything that was going on around me, but at the moment I focused on what Tsubasa was doing, even when he asked a maid to bring me a fresh cup of tea with a spoonful of peach jam to make it sweeter.
"It's actually a side effect of my time at the Galaxy Nexus training camps. You can expect the same thing to happen to Wales and Sophie or anyone else who has undergone the camps," I explained as the maid brought me a new cup of tea. She set the cup so that my fingers touched the edge of the saucer; I mumbled a little "thank you" before picking up the cup and taking a sip. I let myself get carried away with the sweet fruity taste of peach jam mixing with the rich undertone of the strong black tea.
"But Chao-Xin and Tsubasa haven't shown any signs yet," Dashan said clearly sounding confused. I set the thin bone porcelain cup back down on the matching saucer.
"It will take time for you and the others to see the signs. Dashan, you might not know this but most nights Chao-Xin doesn't sleep at all. Tsubasa is always looking over his shoulder, or on the verge of having a melt down. Me, I don't let people in even when I am hurt." I said turning my head in the direction of his voice. I could hear Dashan take a sharp breath but I cut him off before he could even say anything.
"Dashan: One of the first steps in the process of recovery from any kind of trauma or anything is to admit to oneself that yes there is a problem and that the person needs help. I remember that after waking up in the hospital after everything happened with Galaxy Nexus two years ago; I was so scared that I shut down and wouldn't say anything to anyone. And if Tsubasa hadn't come to visit me than I would be in assisted living home. And it wasn't the locket that remind me of what I was once like it was the way Tsubasa spoke to me that gave me the courage to say to myself that yes something was wrong and I wasn't going to get better if I just kept quiet. It was after that, that I started my process of recovery. And until the person has that moment of thought that there is a problem, we can't push them. We can try to help them along the path but that is all." I explained before placing my hand over my forehead as the pain got to much for me to handle. I reached out to pick up my tea cup hoping that it might help with the pain when Tsubasa grabbed my hand and gave it a tight squeeze.
"Aki please stop you have another nose bleed." Tsubasa said clearly worried; I was about to wipe my nose on the back of my hand, when someone placed a cloth over my hand.
The butler said to me from my left, "Please use this, Ms. Hagane."
"Thank you, Mr. Butler, but please don't worry. Tsubasa called either Ada or Anja to come and make a house call. And they know better than anyone what I am like when I am hurt in any way," I said, taking the cloth and holding it to my nose.
"You are correct Aki. Sakyo, what have me and your mother told you about knocking people over?" Ada asked as she came into the room with who I assumed was Anja and Sophie behind her. I could feel Ada's eyes looking me over.
"Tsubasa, can you lead Aki upstairs and get her to lie down? Anja, you go with them," Ada said as she came to stand behind my chair. Tsubasa helped me to my feet, and led me up the stairs to the room we were using. Anja and Sophie weren't far behind us.