Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Light in My Life ❯ Weaknesses ( Chapter 10 )

10: Weaknesses

I woke to the sound of my bedroom door opening, then quietly sliding closed. Someone stepped across the room towards me, but I found that I completely and utterly lacked the strength to move. My eyes were too weak to open, and my mouth could only remain with my lips slightly parted. I could not even move my body to face whoever had come inside.

"Are you hungry?" asked Hatori. Am I hungry? I haven't eaten in two days. The last time I got anything in my stomach was when I somehow managed a drink of water out of Hatori, when he had been sitting by my bed and humming. He was probably sick, too. I wondered if it was contagious.

I felt a spoon lightly touch my lips, and the only thing I could do was weakly flex my tongue. It was some sort of shake or smoothie that had not been diluted with ice, so it wasn't freezing in my mouth. Although it took some recuperating of my energy, I managed to swallow the rather gross-tasting substance.

This sort of feeding continued for some time, and it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I was being fed, like a baby, by Hatori. Ugh. I tried not to focus on it, letting my mind wander to other things.

When Hatori left me, I immediately went to sleep. By this time, I was having violent, terrible dreams, but I was too weak to move or cry out while I rested. So I took them one at a time, hoping that my death would come quickly. I should have refused that food, I thought in hindsight. I made a note to do that next time.

I woke up again when I felt the vibrations of the door opening once more. I sighed inwardly, and wished I had the energy to tell Hatori to leave me alone. If I was going to die, I wanted to do it in peace, by myself in my own bedroom.

"Good morning, Akito-san," I heard. That, most definitely, was not Hatori. It was a woman's voice, and it sounded familiar. I tried to place it.

I heard her walk across the room, and sit down only a foot or two away from my bed. She seemed comfortable almost immediately, as if it was routine.

"I hope you are doing well," she said. "I'm sorry I was late this morning. I went to my part-time job last night."

It was hurting my head. I couldn't figure out exactly who she was; no woman that I knew of in the Sohma family worked a part-time job. She wasn't a maid or a servant, and there was no one else who would take any time out of their day to come see me.

That made me bitter. I had gotten no visitors, and no one except Hatori ever came into my room. I was completely alone, and it should have made me sad that the family I tried to protect wouldn't even come see me on my death bed!

As I felt the anger rising, a sudden sound interrupted my dangerous train of thought. It was that infernal humming again! Then it wasn't Hatori, yesterday? My thoughts centered on this one point now; it was true. I didn't remember actually hearing Hatori's voice. I only heard a soft, almost comforting hum, and felt a strange, feminine touch.

Yes, whoever this person was had been here yesterday. And I had shown so much unforgivable weakness. I wanted to attack. I wanted to hit her. How could she have done that?! How could she have come in and been there and hand-fed me water, and I didn't know?

And suddenly, a light went on. That voice. That hum. The only one in the family who came to visit me wasn't even in the family.

It was that girl. That irritating, aggravating, do-gooder girl. Honda Tohru. And there was nothing I could do about it.

***

Tohru kneeled beside the bed, continuing her knitting on the sweater. She smiled brightly, holding up the almost finished product. "I hope Ayame likes it," she thought out loud. She sighed. Since the day she had discovered the transformed Ayame in her shirt, she had decided to give him something to warm himself up when he was in his snake form. Shigure had broadly mentioned that the dress store owner's birthday was approaching, and Tohru had wanted to make him something special. On the side, she was also making some rather colorful socks for Mine, regarding a conversation she had overheard between the bouncy girl and Ayame regarding socks.

Tohru stopped for a moment to watch Akito's drawn, difficult breathing. He seemed to be struggling for the very strength to keep himself alive, and Tohru felt her heart constrict. Unconsciously, she felt herself lean forward, until she realized she was about to fall over. She put her hand down, avoiding touching Akito, but succeeded in applying pressure to his blankets.

"Akito-san! I'm so sorry! I was just concerned... are you hungry? Do you need water? I didn't mean to wake you up!" she immediately jumped into apologetic hysterics.

Tohru paused, forcing herself to calm down. Many times she had been reprimanded by Kyou for her overreactions, and her current situation was one time which she wanted to keep herself under control. "Pardon me, Akito-san," she said in a quieter, less alarming manner. "Is there anything you'd like?"

Akito was frustrated. He could hear her plenty well, but he had no way of indicating anything to her. Oh, how he wanted her obnoxious voice to go away, her irritating presence to evaporate, and her infernal humming and pleasant comments to herself to cause her to choke herself. As he thought the rather violent latter, he felt his anger slightly draining away. Violence was the solution to everything. People were afraid of violence, and they were even more afraid when they were unable to stop it. It was his ultimate weapon over the Sohmas, it was his only way to control them. He told himself that otherwise, they would never obey him, never listen to him.

He only wanted their own happiness, he only wanted to do what was good for them, even if it required violence. Why couldn't they understand that? Akito wanted so much to move. So much to tell the girl off, so much to order her memory erased.

But there was absolutely nothing he could do. Many, many people would be punished for this later. If he survived, that is.

Tohru had finally put the finishing touches on the small sweater when there came a light patter at the door. Hatori opened it, carrying a large tray.

"Hatori-san, shouldn't you be at work?" Tohru asked.

"And leave Akito alone? No. I'm taking a leave of absence for a while," he replied rather stoically. Akito snickered inwardly. So, Hatori was concerned about him? Or was he concerned for the girl? He made a mental note to torture the dragon about the issue later. Hatori never took Akito's roughness and violence personally, and it made him all the more fun to injure, both physically and mentally.

Akito listened as Tohru thanked Hatori numerous times for the food. Or maybe, he would hurt the girl. Punishing her in the most horrible of ways... yes. That would make the Jyuunishi cower before him. They would beg him not to harm her. Yes, Honda Tohru was their weak spot.

But he was in no shape to exploit it.

"Akito-san? Are you hungry?" Tohru asked, her voice kind and concerned. She lightly placed a bowl of warm miso soup in front of him. "I cooled it down, because soup that's too hot isn't good for you when you're sick," she said.

The soup smelled incredible. With no inkling as to why, Akito felt his nostrils flare slightly; the very flex of the muscles made him feel nauseous, and a small sound was released from his throat.

"I... uh... Hatori?" Tohru glanced around. She didn't want to leave Akito alone, especially with the soup in front of him, but Hatori had already left. "Oh... how does he do this?" Tohru stood up, walking as quietly as possible to the other side of Akito's futon, where she kneeled down beside him. She put a pair of chopsticks into the soup, stirring it nervously.

"I don't know how to do this," she said quietly. "I know you haven't eaten in a little while... so you won't mind a little soup?" Tohru fumbled around nervously, lightly drawing back the blankets from the ill man. She had long since figured out that he was awake, just unable to move in any way.

Akito was getting a sick pleasure out of her discomfort. He could make it even worse by refusing the food, he thought with an inner sneer. Yes. That sounded very good. Akito's confidence turned to confusion when he heard Tohru scooting away from him.

"I'm sorry, Akito-san. I don't have the right to do this. I'll find Hatori-san immediately, please forgive me," she said, her voice sounding tearful. Goodness, the creature could be so easily upset... but managed to hold her ground so well under his incredible pressure.

It was a powerful weapon. It was the little things that could injure her, the small refusals and insults that could make her really hurt. Forcing her, using his violence against her, would do nothing. He would have to use a better attack; his mind and his words.

But for now, he could do no more than lie like a rag, unable to move, speak, or see.

And the time being, dying would be so much easier.