To Be Freed [Akigure] (Fruits Basket)

Chapter 2: Broken

Music for writing : Erik Satie Gnossiene No. 1 Ethereal Remix - A.Krishna
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To understand this story, you need to have read Chapter 105 or seen the episode in the anime.

Spoilers: Hiro confessed to Haru that Akito pushed Rin out of the window... So Haru literally wanted to smash Akito's face. He ultimately punched the wall beside her head and told her that if she spoke to him again, he would kill her and then kill himself. Then he left, and Akito broke down, deeply hurt. Especially since Kureno betrayed her trust by freeing Rin, who was locked in the "cat's room."

There you go! Now you can understand my story!

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She no longer moved. She had stopped crying and lay on the bed, motionless and sad. A poor little white pearl in an empty and cold room.

It had been two weeks now since she'd wanted to see anyone and barely spoke anymore.

The most dramatic part was that she kept losing weight.

The incident with Haru had deeply wounded her. The violence he'd shown her and the threats he'd made against her God, without fear and with so much hatred, had weakened Akito.

But perhaps it was Kureno's actions that had hurt her the most. Her Kureno had betrayed her.

43 kg... Hatori stared at the number on her medical report, the pen still pressed down on the page where he'd finished recording the final digit. She's so thin. One more drop in weight, and he'd have to monitor her heart rate to prevent a potential heart attack. No, this couldn't go on.

Hatori stood up from his desk and walked toward the garden. Leaning against the door frame, just barely supported by the thin wooden panel, he lit a cigarette, watching the rain beat against the stone and shrubs. He took a deep breath, comforted by the first traces of petrichor, so familiar. The smell of earth after rain had the power to evoke nostalgia, to awaken hidden memories.

He saw himself as a child, playing in the bushes, hiding. Akito ran after him, clinging to his arm, happy to have caught him.

"Hatori, Hatori, please, give me a hug!"

Yes, she was happy in those moments, wasn't she? Back then, a hug from one of them was all she needed.

And he had held her in his arms. He had hugged her, this little girl who cried, this little girl rejected by her mother, shattered by her father's death.

Hatori clenched his fist, fear twisting his stomach—the Ice Man, who seemed to fear nothing. He didn't know what to do, but one thing was certain: He would not let her die!

He crushed his cigarette in the ashtray on his desk and left.

He walked through the corridors leading to Akito's room, his step no longer languid. He stopped dead when he ran into Kureno coming out of the room.

"I wouldn't go in," he said, his face sad and tired.

Hatori sighed.

"She still doesn't want to see anyone?" he asked.

Kureno moved away from the sliding door of the room, approached Hatori, and murmured with a voice broken by sadness,

"She wouldn't even realize you were in the room."

He looked defeated, powerless before Akito's pain, consumed by guilt.

Just like me, Hatori thought.

"You feel guilty about her condition, don't you?"

Kureno's face was darkened, frozen in pain, his eyes red.

"I know I did the right thing," he said, gazing into the distance, fists clenched. "But it shouldn't be this way. Every time someone tries to act for the best, it turns disastrous for Akito. Whether it's me, you, anyone... our acts of kindness only worsen things. Even Tohru. You can't accuse that girl of doing harm. Yet, the more she stays with the 'twelve,' the more unhappy Akito is. I wonder if we can be happy without completely losing her. And that... that's unbearable to me!"

They stood in silence for a while. Both felt they had to act, somehow.

"What do you suggest?" Hatori finally asked.

"I don't know... Has Shigure come to see her?"

Hatori smiled, a bitter smile, before pulling a cigarette from his doctor's coat and lighting it.

"Yes, of course," he said, taking a puff. "Several times, but 'the old one' sent him away, saying that Akito didn't want to see anyone."

Kureno chuckled softly at the nickname. He didn't think Hatori would say such a thing.

"She doesn't inspire me with confidence," he said. "You know, when Haru left, Akito broke down, saying she was born to be loved by everyone; that's what they had told her. I remember her father saying the same thing. But when I was reprimanded by that old servant, it felt like I was hearing Akito's words in her mouth, only proclaimed with more conviction than when Akito says them.

"What did she say?" Hatori asked, troubled.

"She told me that I was born to live and die with Akito. That without her, we were no different from the cat, all 'monsters.' She also insulted Rin with the same words Akito uses.

"You mean that Akito is repeating what the servant says?"

Kureno seemed to hesitate, then finally shook his head.

"I don't know, but I don't like the influence she has over her. That woman is unhealthy. You know there's been an old rivalry that started when Ren married Akira. The Manor split in two. Those who opposed the union took Akito as the leader of their cause and have been poisoning her mind ever since. I think the conflict tearing apart the Soma estate is destroying Akito. Growing up, she might have understood and rebelled. But the fear of losing us and the curse that..."

Kureno stopped... he had said too much.

The curse that is disappearing...

"I think it wouldn't hurt Akito to be a little removed from the Manor's influence..."

Hatori could only nod in agreement.

End of Chapter 2