Heal Me (Akito Sohma Love Story)

More Than You Know

Akito's room was much too close to where you were now. It took so few steps to get there, you didn't have the time to think of what to say when you finally arrived. O-Ren avoided your eyes as she slid the paper door open, hands trembling. Your gaze floated up from the floor to see him; Akito, standing before you. He was covered almost completely by a long silky black robe, his hands clenched to fists at his sides. When you got to his face you saw the same scowl he'd held in his file picture, and for a moment you caught a flash of the smile he'd given you so many years ago.

"Well." He said coldly, and as soon as he spoke you remembered what it was like to breathe again. 
"Get out!" He shouted and O-Ren left in the same second.

The frail man broke into a snicker. "The terror, the obedience.. does it strike fear in you as well?" All sign of laughter was void in the room now, and he took a step closer to you. "You know who I am, no doubt. So..."

He began a slow circle around you, closing you in like a predator. You knew you were no prey, so you stood steady.
"Tell me.. Who do you think you are?"

"My name is (Y/n) (L/n). I was called here f-"

His hand grabbed the back of your hair in a tight grip, but he did not pull. Instead he shouted into your ear: "Who do you think you are not to bow to me?!"

You were shocked and could say nothing, which only frustrated him further. He pushed you by your head to the floor, but his thin frame betrayed him and you did not collapse. Instead you rose again and walked back a few steps, back to that thin paper door separating the two of you from everything else. Akito looked at you as though you'd spit on his grave, and you thought it such a horrible look for the boy to have. You truly didn't know what to say, so you spoke of the only thing in your head at the time. 

"We've been here before, you know." His eyes narrowed further at you.  "You and I standing together... I kneel before people who have earned my respect. You earned it that day because I saw the innocence in your eyes. The kindness after your confusion." He respected you enough to look back at you that night. You thought back to what Hatsuharu had told you the night before; how Akito had damaged Hatori's eye irreparably in a fit of rage. You thought to what Momiji told you about the fear the Sohmas had learned for outsiders.

"Now all I see is pain and I am so sorry, Akito.. for the pain you must have suffered. But for the pain you caused I cannot bow."

Akito's face hardened impossibly. Then he looked you up and down, and his grimace turned to a smirk.

"The pain I've caused?.. I wonder what your sister would have to say about that..." Your lips parted in shock and you leaned back against the door for support.
"Yes that's right Ms. (L/n). No one gets past these walls without me knowing every dirty thing about them. To protect this family.. and to amuse myself.." He folded his arms over his chest and smiled smugly. "And I must say yours was quite an amusing file. A disowned runaway." His words were like venom and he knew it.

"One could argue, the reason for your parents deaths. The reason your sister had to walk down the isle alone, no doubt. You couldn't even make it to her wedding. Tell me, (Y/n), was it the guilt? Or do you only live to torture her?"

You bit your lip to keep it from quivering but there could be no stopping the tears.

"She's the one he called, you know. Hatori. Your presence here is the pitiful after thought of a man with too much guilt."

You cried silently. You watched him steadily as the warm tears slipped quickly down your cheeks. His smirk was confident, rehearsed, as if he'd gotten exactly the result he'd wanted. You expected he'd made many people cry before, but how did he know exactly what to say to get to you?