One Step Closer [Fruits Basket]

Chapter 7: Snow & Spring

"They are getting ready for New Year's!" Momiji beamed. "It's a big event, so outside people helped you not just inside ones."

"Outside and inside?" I asked.

"See, we call the main family inside. Remember that tree-lined road you two walked down to get here? We call the people who live there outside. I think there are about 100 of them and about 50 on the inside. All 150 of us are Sohmas." Momiji explained.

"That's amazing!" Tohru awed.

"The only people who can live inside are zodiac members like us or people who know our secret. Shii-chan and Yuki you still live inside too. Kyon was outside though." Momiji added.

"To put that another way; even among the family, only a small number of people know the zodiac secret." Hatori stated. "It's outrageous for complete strangers like you two to know it. Ordinarily, I would wipe your memories right away, but Akito didn't order me to and even permitted you two to live among us. Do you have a fun life at Shigure's place?"

"Yes, very much!" Tohru beamed.

"Then I recommend that you two move out." Hatori stated sternly, almost glaring at us. "Stay away from the Sohmas from now on. Our possessed family isn't fun and games like you think it is. We are monstrous, loathsome, cursed. Leave before you regret ever associated with the Sohmas. Akito is trying to use you two."

"Hatori..." I spoke up as I looked deep into his beautiful purple eyes. "Shigure, Yuki, Kyo... They've become family to me and Tohru. After living under the same roof with them for the last few weeks, I began to love them. I consider them as my own family now. They are the best things that ever happened to us. We won't regret anything, Hatori. We'd only regret it if we leave and stay away from them. And I'm also well aware of everything you just said right now, Hatori. But the truth is I just simply don't care. In my eyes, none of the Sohmas I met so far are monstrous, loathsome, and cursed. To me, all of them are normal people like anyone else; each and every one of them is a nice and lovely person. And also, I noticed that almost every zodiac member has their own fair share of problems that they're dealing with; their own inner demons which dwell deep inside their hearts. Like how Shigure hides his pain and suffering behind a cherry pervy personality, like how Yuki always shuts himself away from everyone and doesn't let anyone get close to him due to fear of rejection, or like how Kyo believes that he's not good enough and thinks himself inferior to Yuki. I want to know why they are like this. I want to know what happened in their lives that they've become the people they're now. I know you're a good person, Hatori and you don't have any ill-intentions in your heart. You're just afraid that Tohru and I might get hurt and that's why you want to save us from that pain. The reason you're even talking to us in that scary stern look and voice isn't that you're trying to scare us away or you're a bad person. It's because you're just trying to protect us from Akito. You're trying to protect both us the Honda sisters and your Sohma family all at the same time and I understand that. But you don't need to be afraid when it comes to us. We don't give up on people that easily, especially me, cause I'm too stubborn to let go of anything I grasp upon. Thank you for your concern, Hatori, but we'll be fine. Trust me."

Hatori looked at me with wide eyes, quite shocked at my words.

"Is something the matter, Hatori?" I asked.

Hatori snapped out of his daze and looked away, slightly blushing. He cleared his throat and stood up from his chair.

"Excuse me." he said as he walked out of the room. "Wait here for a moment."

As Hatori walked out of the room, I looked back at the picture on his table. Momiji then began explaining why it was so quiet, but I was more focused on Hatori. Then Momiji began talking Hatori which caught my attention. I learned a lot about Hatori from Momiji at that moment. Hatori couldn't see well out of his left eye, because of Akito. The girl in the picture was Kana Sohma, Hatori's ex-girlfriend. Kana didn't mind the curse and eventually, Hatori proposed to her for marriage. When they told that to Akito, he got mad and ruined Hatori's eye. Hatori was also forced to erase Kana's memories since she kept blaming herself because of his injury. So he erased her memories in order to ease her pain. He made her forget they were ever in love. He sacrificed his happiness for Kana because she was destroying herself, which in return destroyed Hatori.