The Equation of Hearts

√𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝟹ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـﮩ٨ـﮩ

Kato stood in the middle of the openness with Elena, there was nobody around anymore and Kato was wondering more on what Tenshi wanted. He also worried if this world would affect his overall treatment towards his own mother. Then he decided that if he had that thought, then probably not. Elena looked up at him and he stared down, he wondered how he ever saw his mother in such a different woman. He shaped her eyes differently, she looked more stressed and she nearly always wore sunglasses. Her freckles were more hidden and even the way she did her makeup changed her face and nose structure rather well.

"Honey,"

"Kato." He corrected her. She pursed her lips.

"Kato..." she looked around, "where is your father?" She narrowed her eyes, "I appreciate that you found a new carer and you might not see a mother in me, I really don't want to get into that yet, but how is the original goal? I pray you didn't lose sight of it being with us." She mumbled and he stared at her.

"In good time, Elena, I will be gone," he opened his arms slowly, "and I," he crouched down to face her, "will not miss you, or your family, at all." He whispered. Elena frowned at the attitude, "sorry," he straightened up,

"I don't understand how you can say that to your own mother," she muttered, "you used to call me mum and smother me, what happened?" She mumbled.

"I realised that you aren't my mother," he opined, he had that air of suffocating authority she could never compete with, "my mother wouldn't have done the things you did or have done. And I was living in a dream where maybe you could have been my mother. But you're both too different." He looked away, "you're as charitable and caring as my mother, but my mother will never... ever... be so selfish." He whispered and straightened up.

"How am I selfish!?" She gasped,

"You threw everything away and more for this life and Adonis. But you remember nothing of your past."

"I wasn't happy in my past! I'm happy now!" She defended herself.

"I'm not saying you aren't." He calmly rested his hands on her shoulder, "you can be as selfish as you want, you're allowed to be as happy as this place makes you. I've truly come to terms with that now," he moved his hands to her cheeks and rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs endearingly, "I can't speak of sacrifice. I had my choices and I made them. So I can't say... with pure empathy that I know what you gave away for this family. They are wonderful. And I'd rather you hate me beyond belief than like me at all, it would ease me to know that on top of not being able to love my father, you couldn't love the thought of replacing anyone in your family or changing this path you took. Despite the fact I have interjections. It truly isn't my place to say." He quietly comforted her with a content hum, "I've come to terms that there isn't much to save about you in this world. And I simply didn't have the time to even begin. But, as much as I enjoyed having you in my life again after so long, I will not miss you at all." He swore. What a bittersweet way for him to make it seem like he was leaving, "it isn't your fault. It was my fault for thinking someone could just replace my own mother." He added on before she could twist his words into something cynical, "so I suppose I was the problem this whole time, I'm sorry for the trouble I caused. I promise to leave silently," he fixed her hair as he did when they first met and Elena felt her bottom lip quiver,

"I hate how difficult it is to argue with you," she inhaled and shook her head at him, "why are you making it sound like you're leaving tomorrow?" She whined and held onto his arms, "you can't leave yet! You still have to find your dad!" She reminded him, "I still have to help you!" She complained and reached up for his face.

"You've helped me more than you could know. You taught me things I lost sight of, you reminded me what I was raised to do and how I was supposed to be. You'll never be like my own mother," he pulled away slightly, "you taught me to stay a but a mere doll, you reminded me of the benefits behind that," he never smiled, and it made Elena feel sick. Why couldn't he just give her the bittersweet smile the words made her feel? She wondered if he knew about that, but as she let what he said settle, she realised he knew exactly what he was doing, "my mother made me feel like a human, something worth loving through all the imperfections I hated about myself." He made sure her hands didn't touch his face, he learnt from last time, "but it's fine that you can't do that. You're not the Elena who married Tenshi, or mothered my siblings and myself. You're an entirely different woman to her. And that love my mother would have given me is reserved for the children you carried for 9 months. I expected the same affection as your children, as a child you didn't go through the effort of carrying." He berated himself slightly and she shook her head,