unrevised.
/ chapter 51 /
[Authors Note: This chapter's events took place before Chapter 49. This is a continuation of the previous chapter.]
"Of course, your parents, Ichika's parents, as well as the Elders all had an involvement in this, so it wasn't done by your own choice."
Hatori tried to register Akito's words and in doing so, he was left wordless. A dull ache formed in his temples. What kind of mess was this? He could've never guessed his own parents were involved in this too. How many secrets were everyone hiding and for how long had they been hiding it?
He was growing sick of it.
"It was simple. You, Ichika, Shigure and Ayame were all friends for a period of time in your past. When Ichika's parents as well as the Sohma Elders came to learn of this, they frowned upon and opposed it, for a defective product such as Ichika's existence in itself should not be around any of the Zodiac members. They knew something needed to be done. There should not be two Dragon members. There should only be perfection. Ichika's parents were already ashamed of her to begin with, therefore they would go to great lengths to hide her."
Akito paused for a moment, her eyes shifting towards the older man whose hand was clutched tightly in his lap.
"Your parents had agreed with them. Their reasons were obvious. You were a striving student in all of your academics. Despite the flaw of inheriting the curse, you were the epitome of perfection. They wanted you to so badly succeed in becoming a Doctor, they wanted you to live their dreams for them. Your friendship band of four was too much of a distraction for you, but the biggest hindrance was Ichika. You were too close to her for their liking."
"With that being said, they forced you, Hatori, to partially remove some memories of your precious friends." Akito concluded nonchalantly.
Hatori touched the left side of his face as his face contorted into one of pain. He was not physically hurt, but instead it was his heart that was the source of his pain.
Akito's words seemed to click within him. He didn't need to believe Akito's words and he could've carried on his life being completely oblivious, but he didn't want to do that anymore. The truth was indeed painful, just as she said, and there was also no reason for her to lie as she had nothing to gain.
Who should he direct his anger to? The Elders? Ichika's parents? His own parents? Or...
Himself?
Hatori hesitated. "And what of my own memories?"
With a sigh, Akito answered. "You removed your own. Your parents found you collapsed in front of a mirror, assuming you couldn't withstand the sadness and guilt you directed your powers at your reflection."
"I, being the next Head of the Sohma Clan, knew what was happening but although my involvement was little to none in the early stages of this situation, without a doubt I still colluded with her parents to hide her later on." Akito smiled bitterly, shutting her eyes.
"The Elders are long gone. As soon as you officially became the Head of the Clan, their power over you and the Clan have weakened, yet you continued on with what they started. Why? What did you gain by hiding her? Why did you..." Hatori found himself gritting his teeth, unable to finish his sentence.
The God's eyes flung open abruptly and she cried, "Because she's mine!"
Hatori could only watch astoundingly.
"There was a time the young and little me was envious of the four of you. Shigure, Ayame, you, Ichika... every time I heard the Elders talk about you all, I thought to myself, 'they're having so much fun.' While I was off attending stupid private classes at the mere age of eleven on how to lead and manage the Clan, you all got to run around and have fun! Ichika stole my spot! I was the God, not her! Gods were supposed to be the closest to their Zodiac, so why was she so much more closer to you all than I ever was?! " She exclaimed as her eyes gradually stung with tears and then her voice broke.
"I was secretly so happy when I learnt that the Elders decided to seperate you, I secretly found joy watching the tears run down Ichika's face when she was being pulled away by her parents knowing it was going to be the last time you'd all be together."
"Akito..." Hatori whispered lowly.
"After the memories were erased, I often went to visit Ichika. At first, I wanted to see why you three liked her so much. What was so special about her? I never understood, so I made it a mission to see what you saw in her." Akito denoted as she looked off into the far distance.
"The more time I spent with her, the more I realised I liked being near her. I'd lash out on her at times where I couldn't control my own emotions, yet she'd obediently let me do whatever I wanted. When I was feeling lonely and needed company, I'd go to her and she'd do such things like let me rest my head on her lap or let me play with her hair. When I asked her to do something with me, like read me her novels or eat with me, she'd comply. In fact, she liked listening to anything and everything I asked."
"Her presence was like a warm bundle in my arms, I liked having her close and I hated sharing, so I did what I could and made sure nobody else had her but me."
"Akito, I think you've mistaken something." At the sound of her name, the God lifted her eyes to meet the Dragon's. "She didn't do all of that because she wanted to."
Akito balled her fists and her eyes enlarged. "That's not true! Of course she did!"
Hatori sighed, shaking his head at the thought of a timid girl like Ichika having to face Akito's personality for years made his heart ache.
"So you're saying there weren't any days where you hurt her? Bruised her? Made her bleed?" Hatori criticised.
"Wha— I—"
"There weren't any days where you tormented her with your words and left her crying?"
The God's spine began to shiver from Hatori's words as she shook her head as if to deny it. Under his scrutinising gaze, she stumbled back.
Hatori continued on. "When a person endures so much trauma, they shut off. In this case, beyond shutting off, Ichika became a doll. You still think she did all those things with you because she wanted to? No, she did it because she was scared of you."
"S-She told you all of this, didn't she!?" She seethed.
"No. She hasn't told me anything yet, but one could already guess what she went through. The mere mention of your name to her sends her body into tremors."
The God felt something trickle down the left side of her face. She reached up to see what it was and moved her hand back to observe it. A clear liquid substance rested on her fingers.
Just as she did so, Hatori stood up from his position. His knuckles were white from how tightly he balled his fists but he made sure they were secured to his sides as if to control the anger and sadness he was feeling.
"She's not an object. She's a human being and she has her own emotions. She's not something you own, or keep, or have. Her parents and mine are to blame, and you can blame Ayame, Shigure and I with all you want to your hearts content. We'll forever be sorry for not being able to properly be there for you when you needed to someone, and we left you alone. Blame us all you want, be angry with us all that you want, but Ichika had done nothing wrong to you. What you did to her was selfish of you."
"Have you ever once considered to ask what she wanted or what she thought?"
"Ne, ne, lovely Ichika-chan. What's this book you have here?" Akito questioned with wonder, pointing to a dark blue book next to the others on the shelf. If one didn't look properly, they wouldn't have noticed it was there.
"O-Oh that's one of my favourite books. It's the story of Rapunzel." Ichika replied, fiddling with her fingers nervously behind her back.
"The one where she gets saved by a Prince?"
Ichika nodded.
"Then I'm taking it." Akito declared, snatching the book off of the shelf.
"But.. but that's mine. It's my favourite..." Ichika whispered hesitantly as she glanced down at her feet, too nervous to meet the eyes of the person in front of her.
"What's yours is mine, isn't it? So you should give it to me."
"But—"
"Haaah?" Akito sounded as she found herself growing annoyed at the subtle defiance.
Ichika dropped her head and her shoulders in defear. "N-Nothing... nevermind then, you can keep it."
"Have you ever once seen her genuinely smile?"
"You look horrible. I'm sick of seeing that gloomy face of yours, why do you always cry?"
"Ichika smiles more now, sometimes I don't think she realises it. While she's still healing, I'll continue to create a safe space for her and show her the beauty of living. I'll make sure she gets to experience happiness and I will never restrict her from anything. I won't let anyone hurt her anymore." Hatori found himself smiling at the mere thought of her before bringing himself back to the present. "I understand you still have your own untreated trauma. You're hurt from the inside and out, however that should never give you a reason to do what you did or harm anyone else."
"So please, Akito, just leave her alone now. Stop chasing after her and allow yourself that you tend to neglect, to heal." Hatori pleaded before turning on his heel and giving the broken God one last glance.
"And stop pushing Shigure away. He's hurting much more on the inside from just being emotionally apart from you. He wants to be with you again, he always has."
More tears trailed down Akito's face as she stared speechlessly at the floor. Her body crumbled to the floor and she begun to sob into her hands, her wails muffled by them. That was the last view Hatori saw before he left the room.
***
Looks like Hatori came to the Main House with many questions and left with many answers to them. He also left Akito a word of advice, which seems to be a little wake up call for her.
In this chapter, I got to show that my characters are not always black and white. Hatori isn't always as good as his character is written out to be. He may be a wholesome, precious man, but he's flawed and made mistakes, which in this case is that he turned a blind eye to Akito's harsh upbringing. Akito's background and her yearning to be closer to the others had left her to grow up into this bitter person. People aren't born villains, they were made.
As you may have noticed, I changed Akito's pronouns throughout the story depending on which perspective the story was being told. If you read the manga or watched the anime, you'll understand why I did this. I hope it wasn't too confusing for yall! :)
These last few chapters were more focused on Hatori but now that we've all learnt what we needed, it's time for more Hatori x Ichika!
See yall soon!
Peace out - Eoraiv