3rd Person's POV (At Sohma Main House)
At the Sohma main house, Akito was getting ready to head out to Hatori's place to pay a visit to the Honda sisters. She wasn't able to see them after Natsu regained her consciousness and lost her memories. As she stood in front of a mirror and finished buttoning up her shirt, a familiar voice called out from behind her.
"Where are you going?"
Akito let out a small gasp and quickly turned around. It was Kureno who leaning against the doorway with crossed arms across his chest.
"K-Kureno..." she mumbled out in a soft voice. "What are you doing here?"
After that small incident between Akito and Kureno, she told him not to come back to her again, saying that she set him free for good. She was quite surprised that he actually dropped by to visit her. But then again, this was Kureno we were talking about. Even after what happened, he still cared for Akito. He was just too kind.
"Just dropped by to visit you..." he replied. "Looks like Natsu is finally able to recall you. Are you going to visit her now?"
Akito simply nodded her head in response as her face started to heat up.
"I-I want to apologize to her... Tohru as well... I want to talk to them about my problems... I want to know what I should do." Akito stated.
Kureno quietly listened to her before flashing out a warm smile.
"If that's the case, then you should go... You'll feel much better after talking to the Honda sisters." He noted out.
This made Akito smile back at him in response.
Natsu's POV (At Hatori's place)
I simply stared at the woman in front of me in shock.
Kana Sohma?
Why is she here?
What does she want?
And most importantly, how come she remembers Hatori?
As far as I recalled, Hatori locked away her memories of him and their past relationship. There was no way she could remember him.
I looked back and forth between Hatori and Kana in confusion as the Sohma doctor finally succeeded to push his ex-girlfriend away from him. Hatori let out a huff and furrowed his eyebrows a bit.
"What are you doing here, Kana?" he asked in annoyance.
"I came to see you, silly." She giggled before her gaze trailed over to me and Tohru. "Who are they, Hatori?"
Hatori looked back at us and his purple eyes met my brownish amber ones. I looked at Hatori with anticipation, wanting to know what he was going to say. I recalled him calling me his 'lover' and kissing me. I could even recall him talking about marrying me or something like that. I wanted to confirm if it was true if I was really his lover or not.
What are you gonna say, Hatori?
Am I really your lover?
Hatori's POV
There's no way I can introduce Natsu as my lover even if I want to...
Natsu doesn't even recall us dating...
For now, she could only recall the day we first met, that's all...
If I introduce her as my lover, she'll get even more confused and probably might feel uncomfortable...
Natsu's POV
"They're Yuki's classmates and my patients. A few days ago, they got into this accident and now they're living here under my supervision." Hatori replied in his usual monotone voice.
Ouch.
His patient...?
My eyes widened in shock when he said that.
So does this mean I'm not his lover?
Was all that a lie whatever I just recalled?
Did I just make those up?
Am I really not anything special to him?
Tohru was glancing at me worriedly, but I didn't notice that. I was too focused on Hatori to notice anything at this moment.
"Oh, is that so? Hello, I'm Kana Sohma." Kana smiled.
"A-Ah, yes! I'm Tohru Honda and this is my older twin sister, Natsu Honda. I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Kana-san!" Tohru squeaked out nervously and bowed her head.
At that moment, Kana's eyes widened a bit and she looked at me with curiosity.
"Natsu Honda, huh?" she mumbled to herself, narrowing her eyes.
I didn't give any attention to the woman in front of me as I simply stared at Hatori in shock. Him introducing me as his 'patient' not as his 'lover' simply shattered my heart in millions of pieces. I was so confused at that moment that I didn't know what to do anymore. My memories and his words didn't match up and I didn't know what to believe in anymore.
Should I believe his words or my recalled memories?
But he acted like I was special to him...
Was that all a lie?
Are all my memories just big fat lies?
Suddenly, my vision started to get all blurry. My heart was pounding hard against my chest while a throbbing pain started to spread across my head. My whole body was trembling. I started to feel all sick and dizzy. This nausea feeling, this anxiety, this heartache was causing me even more pain. It was literally killing me.
I let out a shaky breath and tried to keep my composure in front of everyone, but failed miserably.
"I-I-I'm going back to my room now..." I stuttered out with a shaky smile on my face. "I-I need to finish my study."
With that, I dashed away from there.
"Natsu, wait!" Hatori called out.
"Natsu-Nee!" Tohru shouted out.
But I didn't listen. I didn't stop. I kept on running away from him. When I reached my room, I went in and slammed the door shut behind me. I slowly walked up to the bed and flopped down. My breathing pattern was unstable. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. The throbbing pain in my head and in my heart was overwhelming me. Seeing Hatori and Kana together didn't feel right to me. I felt jealous. I felt anxious. I felt betrayed.
I lay down on the bed and buried my face into the soft pillow.
"S-Shit!" I cursed out and closed my eyes as tears still uncontrollably rolled down from my eyes. "I hate this... I hate these feelings..."
3rd person's POV
As soon as Natsu dashed away from there, Tohru immediately followed her sister and ran down the hallway. Hatori was about to follow her as well, but Kana immediately grabbed his wrist.
"Was that your girlfriend?" Kana asked.
Hatori looked back at the woman and frowned at her.
"What are you doing here, Kana?" he asked, pulling his arm away from her grasp.
"I came to see you, Hatori." she replied with a sweet smile.
If it was four years ago, probably he would have swooned over that sweet smile, but right now it was irritating him to no end. Hatori let out a sigh and ran a hand through his raven locks.
"Kana, listen, I can't talk to you right now..." Hatori muttered out. "I'm busy with-"
"I wouldn't take too long, Hatori. Please, I really need to talk to you." she said in a pleading tone.
Hatori let out another sigh and slightly nodded his head in response. Might as well listen to what she had to say and then kick her out as quickly as possible. He then led her to his office room and offered her a seat on a couch.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Hatori asked, taking a seat on another couch in her opposite direction.
"How are you?" she asked with a smile.
"Fine, I guess." he sighed. "Looks like you doing okay as well. You changed a lot within these four years."
"Yeah..." she chuckled with a sheepish smile. "I believe you probably heard about my current situation from Shigure and Ayame, huh?"
This made Hatori let out another sigh.
"Kana, listen, we can't be together anymore. You're married and I have a girlfriend whom I'm madly in love with. We'll never work out ever again as we did four years ago... And I heard you left your husband because of me. I never expected such childish behavior from you, Kana. You should have thought about the situation like an actual mature adult you are. Heck, even my current girlfriend is way more mature and realistic than you and she's only 17 years old." Hatori noted out.
"By girlfriend, you mean by that black-haired girl, Natsu Honda? Hatori, do you really think you guys are gonna work out? You're ten years apart from each other and even if she won't be minor forever, that age gap would always remain there for the rest of your life. Depending on what phase of your life you currently find yourself in, it can be hard to get to a deeper level with someone who's just not in the same place. When your girlfriend will still be frequenting the local campus pub every weekend and you'll be around 30 and thinking about marriage, chances are the relationship will be doomed, unless one of you is willing to make serious sacrifices. Besides, an age gap can have disastrous consequences when it comes to having things in common. You might not get her pop culture references and might be well past your days of going out to loud bars and having a drink with her." she scoffed.
Hatori simply remained quiet during this whole time and continued to listen to Kana's blabbering. When she finally stopped talking, Hatori straightened his sitting position.
"Kana... I'll say one thing, so listen very carefully... I love Natsu Honda and I've no plan on leaving her for you or any other woman..." Hatori stated.
Kana's eyes widened in shock when he said those words. The seriousness in the tone of his voice literally threw her off guard. Hatori's eyes softened a bit when he started to recall his moments and his relationship with Natsu.
"Did you think I never thought about the pros and cons of this age-gap relationship? I did. I did think about it, time after time, days after days, weeks after weeks, months after months... I thought about it so much that it literally drove me insane. But then again, my heart never stopped beating whenever I think of Natsu... She barged into my life without any announcement or permission. She changed me into a better human being. Because of her, I view the world from a different angle now. The world to me always seemed all black and white, but later Natsu came into my life and made it all colorful and vibrant. You and I fell in love based on proximity and circumstances. But unfortunately, everything went south and you ended up getting your memory erased. Later you were happily married and while I was fixated on my past failures, still blamed myself for what I did in my life up until then. Natsu was the one who came in clutch and saved me from my old dark self..." Hatori stated.
"Hey, Hatori?" Natsu called.
"Hmm?" he raised an eyebrow at her.
"Do you still love Kana?" she asked.
Hatori froze and looked at her in surprise.
"Why do you ask?" he asked.
"You still have her photo." She replied.
Hatori looked away from her.
"Why aren't you moving on from her?" she asked.
"I've moved on from her." He replied.
"Then why do you still have her photo?" she asked further.
He was about to answer but Natsu cut him off.
"Her photo is a reminder of your horrible bitter past and you kept it just to remind yourself every day that you don't deserve happiness. You're still hesitant whether you should find happiness or not, aren't you?" she asked.
Hatori kept quiet. Natsu took both his hands in her, intertwined their fingers, and gave a light squeeze to his hands. She then spoke up.
"Okay, let's have an adult conversation, even though I'm not an adult, but whatever though... Listen, Hatori. You're a healer, but also involuntarily harm in the same action. You're a protector for the Sohmas, but also for protecting others from the Sohmas. This zodiac curse, the bond with God, your mind wiping ability, all of these are just stress for you. I understand that. All the cursed Sohmas have their own issues which include you as well. I'm not dumb. I can see that. Those issues bleed into your life because of Akito."
Hatori stared at her in awe and she continued to talk.
"You and Kana fell in love based on proximity and circumstances. But unfortunately, everything went south and Kana ended up getting her memory erased. Now she is happily married and all. And here you are, fixated on your past failures, still blaming yourself, even though it wasn't your fault. I know it was easy for Kana to move on because she doesn't have any memory of you, whereas you still have all those memories which ultimately made you feel guilty and worthless. Not only Kana but also several other people's memories were erased by you. Like for example, Yuki's friends from his elementary school days. And all these just made you feel sad, empty, and hopeless inside."
Natsu took a deep breath and again continued.
"But you know what? By wiping their memories, you actually saved them from Akito's wrath and gave them a new life. Like Kana got a new life and now is very happy. So, you're not a bad person, Hatori. You also deserve happiness. I don't understand psychology for crap, but I do know that within the age range of 21-39 years, a human's psychosocial crisis or task is intimacy vs isolation and the virtue that develops is love. You and Kana both tried to get intimate with each other in order to develop love. But you both failed, unfortunately. Kana somehow got her happiness for all her memories were wiped off, but you didn't, which led you to isolation, depressive feelings, and loneliness. And now that you've entered into isolation, you're now avoiding intimacy by fearing commitment and relationships in general. You're afraid to make bonds with other people because you think you might hurt them again because of Akito. That's why you tried to scare me and Tohru away when we first met you. I noticed that you're easily influenced by others and it's because you do everything that Akito says which moved into your regular everyday life and if you ask me, is really sad. It saddens me a lot, Hatori. You're also human just like everyone else. I know you never actually got the chance to experience your full range of emotions whether it's happiness, sadness, anger, etc. And if you keep bottling everything up like this, it'll just eat you alive one day."
She sighed and looked deeply into his beautiful purple eyes. She again gave a gentle squeeze to his hands.
"And you know what? You don't deserve loneliness, you don't deserve isolation, you don't deserve depressive feelings. You only deserve happiness. Do you know why? Cause you're a good man and have a heart of gold. So let me help you, Hatori. I know I'm just a 16 years old bratty teenager and I don't understand much of adults' problems and shit, but I still want to help you. I want to help you find happiness for yourself. You've always looked out for others and have always sacrificed yourself. Now this time, be selfish for once and find your own happiness. And I would love to be on the same boat with you in this new journey of yours."
She noticed Hatori staring at her with slightly widened eyes, probably speechless at her words.
"Aren't you tired of all these? Don't you wanna break free? Runaway from all these shits?" Natsu asked.
Hatori sighed and slowly nodded his head, closing his eyes.
"I do." He whispered. "I want to run away, break free from this. For years, I've been holding burdens on my shoulders. Now, I'm so tired of it. All of it."
Natsu smiled at him. She let go of his hands and moved her hands towards his face. She gently cupped his cheeks with her hands and gently brushed his cheeks with her thumbs.
"So starting today, let's try to break out of this shell by taking baby steps, okay?" she asked.
Hatori smiled and put his hands on top of hers.
"Okay, Natsu..."
"If you were my spring, Natsu is my summer. You melted away the muddy icy snow within me, whereas Natsu, not only melted away the ice but also burned all my problems and my traumas into ashes. She stayed by my side and listened to me. She was there when I needed a companion. She even gave me solutions to move on from my traumas and dark past. She acted as my pillar, my strength, my support. Time after time she kept saying that I deserved happiness. I was a hopeless one and Natsu gave me hope. I isolated and locked myself away in a dark cold cage and Natsu was the one who literally dragged me out from there. I avoided intimacy by fearing commitment and relationships in general, but Natsu saw right through me and reached out her hands. Just like her name, she's warm like the summer and shines brightly like the summer sun. Back then, I was naïve and fell in love with you without thinking any logic behind falling in love. But, I fell in love with Natsu after knowing what it means to be with someone who understands you and knows you well. My relationship with you was built on the basis of mere attraction towards one another, but my relationship with Natsu was built on the basis of understanding, desires, passion, and promises." Hatori stated.
The Sohma doctor paused for a moment before continuing again.
"Even if I never say my problems out loud, Natsu always figures out my issues. Natsu and I can talk openly about our problems and listen to one another. We value each other's opinions, feelings, and needs and give each other the freedom to be ourselves and be loved for who we are. Like you, Natsu also accepted me for who I am, but she went further than that. She was fearless and fought for me. She fought for our love. She knew the risk of dating me, but she took it as a challenge and that side of hers always intrigues me. Natsu's completely different from you. Unlike you, Natsu's stubborn, violent, aggressive, and demanding; someone who's the total opposite of me. But then again, she's also calm, collected, smart, and logical. She has superior intelligence and could easily read any situation by glancing at it for once. She was strong; physically, mentally, and emotionally and never let other people get to her. Natsu's a very perceptive person and her insight into motivations behind other people's actions and behaviors is very keen where she can tell how they're feeling just by simply observing them. She's good at saying things to people what they need to hear at that moment. Her qualities shine out like brilliant rays of sunshine; qualities that inspire others and lift everyone else up. She is her own fighter. She fights for herself and she wins. She takes responsibility for her life and leans on herself. She knows what she wants; she said she wanted me and no one else. And in the end, she was successful in pursuing me. Because of her fierce personality, I was easily drawn to her. And I need... no... I want someone like her... I want her... I want Natsu and no one else... So this age-gap doesn't bother me at all..." Hatori added.
And with that Hatori finished his whole speech. Kana went completely quiet after what Hatori just said. She never expected him to find someone way better than her and not to mention more beautiful and younger than her.
"Is that so, huh?" Kana muttered out, looking down on her lap.
Hatori sighed and stood up from his seat.
"I don't want to be rude, but you need to go now." he stated. "I need to check up on Natsu at this moment."
"But, Hatori-"
"Please, Kana... Just leave... Go back to your husband in America... You and your husband were together for four years now and you're saying that you just left him for me like it's nothing. Didn't your relationship with him mean anything to you? Maybe not to you, but probably to him, you mean the whole world. Try to appreciate the bond you share with him." Hatori stated.
And with that he walked out of the room, leaving Kana all by herself.