Heal Me (Akito Sohma Love Story)

Family

You smiled yourself and approached the men all sitting around the dining table. "Not sure about any of that, but I'm glad you're here."

Shigure opened one eye, that stupid grin still plastered across his handsome face. "I'm glad I'm here too! I'm glad I get to see you in Akito's robe!"

Akito stood up and your jaw dropped open in pleasant surprise at his boldness.

"You will let me know if you'd like to borrow any of my literature.." he gasped, pulling away from his teacup. "In fact, you've just given me the perfect inspiration for my next chapt-" Hatori slapped the back of his head.

The older man chuckled nervously and Akito grinded his teeth, but you laughed as well and set a hand on his shoulder. "It's just Shigure. Ya gotta love him." You said, and Akito looked at you like you were crazy.

"Do I? Do I have to love him?"

Shigure pouted and crossed his arms. "Akito! I'm family!" He whined. Family.

Just then O-Ren entered the room, hands folded in her reserved manner as always. "Ms. (L/n), there's a call for you.."

You furrowed your brows but followed her anyways. Who could be calling for me? Everyone I know is here. It was late, or early; past midnight anyways, and that only added to your confusion. You lifted the house phone up to your ear and answered.

"(Y/n).." it was your sister's voice. "You're okay?" She asked. You held the phone closer to you, as if talking to your sister was forbidden, a secret. Okay..?

"I'm.. I'm okay. Sis, what are you doing, it's really late."

"Not over here." She sighed and you waited for her to explain. "Ayame called.. Ayame Sohma... (Y/n) why are you there?!" You heard a break in her voice and your tongue felt dry in your mouth. "I get a call from a man I haven't spoken to in years asking if I broke some sort of curse. If I'm alright!.. (Y/n) how could you go back there?! How could you remember?" She sobbed once.

You looked to O-Ren with reddened eyes and she exited the room.

"I..I didn't remember- I mean I did. Not all of it.. Hana why did you get to keep your memories?"

"Because I wasn't the one who messed things up!" She cut herself off and you heard her husband's voice in the background. "I'm sorry.." a deep breath. "I'm sorry, (Y/n), that wasn't me... It's just.. We left there because of you.. We were all so happy there and then. You wouldn't bow even after they took your memories away... You could never do things like everyone else.

"We had to leave there for your safety.  I had to leave Ayame." She whispered into the phone now. "We left but I didn't get to forget! I didn't get that luxury, alright. Instead I had to remember everything and pretend like I didn't know. Like I didn't know that the reason every time you ran away was because you were searching for Akito."

Your hand covered your trembling mouth to muffle the whines of your own sadness as you continued to listen.

"So did you break it? Huh, did you finally break it?" She sounded exhausted now but at least she wasn't crying. You shook your head and swallowed your tears.

"I don't know.. I don't.. I don't think so."

"Of course not, (Y/n)... You're not a part of this curse, okay... It's bigger than us. Akito's the only one who can truly break it and that will never happen... Because he can't let go, (Y/n). He never could. He can't let go of the curse, he can't let go of his hatred, his insecurity because that's what he is."

You shook your head again, as if she could see you.

"Blame his parents, blame the village, blame the curse, but all he is is a sad, scared little boy who doesn't like to share his toys... You went back to that curse but you never came back to mom and dad.. not really.. You couldn't come to my wedding, (Y/n), I waited for you!" Her voice was weak again. "It doesn't take a doctor to see that the Sohma family is sick.. It's contagious, (Y/n), come home... Benji can get you on a flight tomorrow..."

Still, you said nothing.

"Sis, we have to make our own family, not try to squeeze in to someone else's.."

"Akito is my family... I'm already home." You slammed the phone back down on the receiver. Slammed it back down two more times and closed your eyes in frustration. You couldn't be here, like this. But where could you go? It dawned on you when you smelled Hatori's cigarette smoke drift in from the other room.

You raced out of the back door and ran through the village for what felt like the hundredth time that night. You were going to the cemetery where your parent's headstones were. You needed to say goodbye to them. You reached their graves, exhausted and dizzy from the flurry of emotions you'd experienced that night, and collapsed atop them.

"Mom.. Dad.. I'm sorry I never trusted you... You were just trying to do what was best for our family.. for me. I didn't see it, I only saw how different we were... How separate I felt from all of you. I forgive you for taking away my memories. I forgive you for taking Akito away from me because you thought you were doing the right thing... Maybe it was the right thing." You leaned back against their shared headstone. You hadn't attended the funeral, but you'd left a flower on the fresh dirt after the ceremony. That was all you gave them back then.

"I'm sorry that I ran away.. And for all the pain I ever caused you. But I was running towards something all those years, dad. I was running towards someone I just didn't know it..." You smiled at the thought. "He looks at me the way dad looked at you, mom, when you thought Hana and I weren't paying attention... I love you, and Hana, and I love the Sohma's too. This is the right thing to do now. To be there. This is the way I do things."

You sat with your parents for a few moments longer, until any sadness or anger subsided, and you kissed the icy stone. You walked slowly back to the village and the sun had come up by the time you passed through the gates. The morning was still quiet, but in a gentle, welcoming sort of way. Instead of heading for your small home, you went to Akito's. You searched the hall with your eyes for any sign of O-Ren or the other elder Sohma boys, but found nothing. You heard a sharp sob through the paper door that blocked off Akito's bedroom and didn't think twice.

You flung the door open in concern and saw him there. Akito, looking disheveled and surprised, trying and failing to keep the blanket from sliding off of his overturned table. He was trying to build a blanket fort. He looked at you and didn't hold back his tears. He threw the blanket off and growled.

"You said it was hard to be sad in a blanket fort..."

You rushed over to him and enveloped him in your open arms, him immediately collapsing into them. "You left, (Y/n)! You left again and I didn't know why! I didn't know if you were ever going to come back because why would you?! You don't have to be with me!" He cried and the weight of the situation was so heavy that your knees gave way and you held each other on the floor.

"I'm so sorry, Akito... I had to leave.." you pulled away from him and held his delicate, puffy face in your hands. "I am always going to come back to you... It's not a curse that's going to keep us together, it's destiny. It's love. Akito, I love you."

He kissed you and time waited for you to be finished. The kiss was salty, and honest, and was about 15 years overdue. When you kissed him, the sunrise in your eyes, you finally knew you'd found your home.