There was a loud crash in the other room, like someone dropped a glass on the floor. Anzu was in the living room, watching a movie and drawing pictures with crayons. It was another picture of herself, her mother, and her father. Upon hearing the crash, she turned her head towards the doorway where her mother was standing.
"Miss Sango, are you okay?" The head housekeeper ran into the room. The actress brushed her off and immediately staggered over to her daughter, swaying slightly with her movements.
"What are you drawing, my precious daughter?"
"It's you, me, and Daddy." Anzu smiled, showing off her creation. "We're having a pick-a-nick together!"
"A picnic... how fun..." A tear escaped her mother's eye as she stared at the paper. Suddenly, Sango enveloped her daughter in a hug as she cried. "I'm so sorry, Anzu. I promise we'll go see your father one day."
Anzu could smell the slight stench of wine coming from her mother. She knew what her mother meant; they would go see his real grave together. She said this every year around this time, so she figured it was the day her father passed away.
"When can we see him, Mommy?"
"In due time, Anzu."
° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆ °
"Anzu, wake up. It's time to go."
The crimsonette tiredly rubbed her eyes as she slowly woke up. Alas, the 2nd year excursion was over and it was time to go home. Thanking Machi, Anzu exited the bus and went to collect her things. Momiji handed her bag to her and the female smiled sweetly. She wanted to say something, feeling bad for running off on him earlier, but a car horn in the distance distracted her.
Standing on the side of an expensive car was a very familiar face sporting an innocent smile. Momiji's heart nearly dropped as he watched Anzu's face become solemn and she immediately started heading towards Akito. Unknowing students whispered amongst themselves, putting together stories and theories that this must be Anzu's boyfriend and the princess is finally returning to her castle.
As Anzu got into the car, Akito followed suit, but not before eyeing his Rabbit. The moment Hatsuharu joined him, Akito disappeared behind the car window and sped off. Yuki, seeing the whole ordeal, frowned and walked over to the two. He'd been conducting his student council duties and welcoming the students back, but the look Akito gave Momiji concerned him.
"What was that all about?"
"Akito's declaring war." Momiji continued to look at the spot where Anzu once was. It didn't matter to him; he'd already steeled his resolve. He wasn't going to let Anzu suffer when he could do something about it.
Back in the car, Anzu sat against the window and held her backpack to her chest. She didn't know what kind of mood Akito was in, so she didn't want to say anything to alter it. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she felt Akito's head against her shoulder.
"Did you have fun, my dear Anzu? I missed you."
"I missed you too." Her response was immediate and partially involuntary, like her spirit responded before she could.
"I didn't sleep well while you were gone." Akito murmured. "We should spend more time together. I already have your room prepared."
Anzu frowned at this proposition. "What about-"
"If you truly cared about Momiji, you wouldn't question me."
The younger female immediately went silent, her eyes widening in shock. Her grip on her backpack unconsciously grew harder as her mind started to race. How long had Akito known? What did Akito know? What was going to happen to Momiji?
"Did you really think I wouldn't notice?" Akito smirked, gaining satisfaction from the obvious fear radiating from the teen beside them. Touching her arm, they gently stroked the back of the crimsonette's hand with their thumb. "Did you really think our bond was that minuscule?"
"...No." Anzu's voice came out as barely a whisper. She didn't know what to think at this point.
"You know... it really hurt me when you didn't cry the first time you saw me. Everyone cried. Every last one of them. You must think so little of me that I'm not worth your emotion." Akito leaned up, humming into her ear.
"T-That's not-"
"Don't interrupt me." Akito's grip tightened around the girl's wrist. "We'll just need to strengthen our bond."
° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆ °
"Soma-san, have you been in contact with Anzu?" Machi approached Yuki at the commencement of their council meeting. "It's been over a month since she's last come to school."
Yuki stopped organizing papers and turned to answer Machi. "Well-"
"Aw, Machi's worried about her little friend. How cute." Kakeru teased. "What news do you have to give her, Yun-yun?"
"I said to stop calling me that." Yuki rolled his eyes.
Machi frowned and turned away from the two, gathering her things to head home. "I wasn't worried about her; I'm just stating facts. Exams are coming up before summer break."
"She's finishing up the year at home, but she'll be back. I'll let her know you were asking about her." Yuki stood up. To be quite honest, he hadn't seen Anzu since she got in Akito's car. Something about it didn't seem right, but he knew outsiders shouldn't be involved in family affairs.
As the three were leaving, Yuki ran into Hatsuharu and the two decided to walk to Shigure's together. They were quiet as the summer heat radiated around them. This was the best weather for popsicles and they knew if Momiji was with them, that would've been their activity of the day.
"You look upset, Yuki." Hatsuharu broke the silence. "What are you thinking about?"
The male sighed. "How is Momiji doing?"
"He hides his sadness well. Akito is hiding Anzu in the main house and won't let anyone see her. Not even Hatori."
Images of his time in the main house with Akito flashed across Yuki's mind. He hoped that wasn't what she was dealing with right now. Immediately, he felt sorry that she was trapped in this curse with them. He didn't want Momiji to fight all by himself, so they needed to find a way to get her out quickly.
"Welcome home!" Tohru greeted as she watched Yuki and Hatsuharu walk into the living room of the house.
Yuki smiled fondly. "Thank you, Honda-san. You didn't have to work today?"
"I forgot they gave me the day off today..." She responded lightly. "Apparently I'd been working too much."
"Ah, right on time as always." Shigure grinned as he stepped outside of his office. "We've been invited to the estate for Akito's birthday party in the coming weeks. You all should be finished up with exams by then."
"I assume that doesn't mean me too, right?" Kyo crossed his arms as he stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen.
"Quite the contrary. You're invited as well."
Kyo stared back at the male, bewildered. "Are you kidding me?"
"Oh, believe me, I was quite shocked." Shigure chuckled behind his sleeve. "But my dearest Hatori wouldn't lie to me."
"Don't cause us any more trouble than you already have." Yuki murmured.
"Shut up you stupid rat!"
° ∆ -------- ••• ------- ∆ °
She was in the wrong. She had to have been to deserve this fate. Did she do something in her past life and now she had to face the consequences?
Anzu sat, huddled up in a corner with her knees to her chest inside a large dog cage. She didn't know how long she'd been in this room because there were no windows; everything was just black. The only light that came in was when Akito would faithfully open the door to visit her.
She wasn't physically harmed, aside from getting her hair pulled constantly. Akito was adamant about her knowing that her long red hair was ugly. One time, Akito showed up with a pair of scissors and Anzu had to beg and plead that her hair wasn't cut. In exchange, she was consistently berated and verbally and emotionally torn apart.
Ah, Akito's back again.
"My dear Anzu. Aren't you happy to see me? I'm always excited to see you." Akito smiled and walked into the room. The light from the hallway shined brightly, illuminating Akito's skin and making it seem like they were even more of a god or some savior. It was sickening to say the least.
She just wanted to go home. The home where her mother and father were. She kept thinking to herself, she could make it through if it meant Momiji wouldn't be harmed. Now, however, it didn't seem like that was enough.
"You're being silent today?" Akito raised an eyebrow. "That's too bad. And here I had a surprise for you, but if you-"
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what to say." Anzu spoke up quietly. It was true, she didn't. She was constantly walking on eggshells because she was afraid one wrong word would put everything in jeopardy.
"That's okay, I forgive you." The Sohma head sat down next to the cage and reached their hand through the bars, stroking her head fondly. "That's what masters do for their pets. Anyways, today is a reward for you taking your punishment so nicely. I've decided you can officially meet the other members of the Zodiac."
Anzu slowly looked in Akito's direction as they stood up. While she was excited to finally be introduced, she felt there was something off about the ordeal.
"It'll be a shift since they're all so used to Kureno." Akito continued. "But I trust you'll be a good girl. You will not leave my side and you will not say a word to any of them unless I allow it. If you mess up at all today, I'll see to it that you'll be in a place far worse than this."
With that, Akito was gone and Anzu was alone once again in her dark abode.
Sometime later, the elderly maids came in and helped Anzu clean up and get ready for a party. She was given a plain dress since Akito hated dressing up and a little blush was dusted on her cheeks to give some life to her pale face.
Standing behind closed doors, she could hear some commotion in the main gathering room as well as some familiar voices. This was supposed to be a good moment, but she was dreading every second of it. Akito stood next to her and took her hand before the doors were opened. Immediately the room was quiet and Anzu locked eyes with an unexpectant blond across the room.
"Welcome, everyone, to my birthday celebration. I'm glad you could all make it." Akito smiled. "I'm especially happy to introduce to you someone very important. This is Anzu Fukushima, the Rooster of our Zodiac... and my betrothed."