--

Disclaimer: yui doesn't own Fruits Baskets, but the poem below is hers.

This was a game they played. A game in which the players didn't know they were playing, and yet they noticed that it was a consistent pattern. A violent pattern splattered with amethyst, emerald, and dark blood. Colors etched and meshed together as if they belonged together from a single kimono. The fabric sewn well and sturdy, yet soft to the touch. A pattern filled with life, when it was actually used for death, without the black.
The boy thought he could paint the sky with the colors and manipulate them with his will for he owned the lives of twelve beings. The green-eyed man was the one who told him he couldn't, but the boy insisted that he could have changed the faraway stars like a drunk. Maybe he was, after all the drugs handsome doctor had given him.

But maybe there was an invisible drug. It held a taste of something both of them could never live without now… It's the poison that others find beauty in.

It's called love.

And if the boy chose to do as he pleased, The green-eyed doctor would do anything to fulfill that promise.

Anything.

In My Hands

It had been three years since that girl Tohru had come into the household as an outsider insider: the link of the Sohma family to the outside world. All of them (Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki) had gone to college and so it was kind of dull without knowing the mishaps as they happened. The rest of the family did as they wanted as long as they subjected themselves to Akito, but never came to his side of the property for quite some time.
Momiji, who had grown to be quite beautiful despite the fact that he was a boy, was the only one brave enough to come visit Hatori. Haru no longer lived in the complex because he had defied Akito, even though it was not let out, and went to live with Yuki. At the present, he was living in an apartment with Yuki while finishing high school.

Hatori had just made his rounds in the household and was able to rest for a bit as he looked up at the unblemished blue sky while he sat in his study, which was now next to Akito's bedroom. The doors were wide open with some kind of light coming in, but he took out a cigarette to smoke.

There was a dark peacefulness around the lot. Slowly, but surely, Hatori had quietly dismissed the maids to never come into Akito's house. They were ordered to go to the others homes and help the others with whatever they needed instead.

He had come to the point that he couldn't stand anyone near Akito.

Gradually, Hatori, as tired as he was, had taken care of everything personally for about a year now, and the thought of staying away from Akito was unheard of after the Yuki/Haru incident. It was Hatori's excuse to others to let Akito be taken care by him.
Inside, he was satisfied that he could because it was the best opportunity.

After that incident, Akito would have frequent anxiety attacks as if he couldn't breathe. Without discretion, he'd call Hatori's name.

That inhuman cry of, "Hatori! Koko ni oide yo!"

The first time, which was the night of Haru leaving with Yuki, was for painkillers. But gradually, it came to the point that pills weren't enough. Hatori _became_ the painkiller…

He would soothe his wounds by holding him in his arms.
Akito would close his eyes while shaking violently while murmuring in anger at the world. Hatori would nod his head quietly while trying to stop his nerves from making him crack.
Hatori patted his hair and pushed his bangs out of his way while Akito looked at him in surprise while he was being kissed on the forehead. At that point, Hatori looked from side to side in confusion, but he was going to become the pain killer…

He began to cuddle Akito more into his arms while he kissed his neck. Akito took a deep breath as he tried to push Hatori away, but Hatori shook his head while whispering into his ear, "Trust me."
Akito felt Hatori kiss him again as his hand was pushing the collar of his kimono and pulling off the string holding it all together…

A year ago, the maids had to turn their ears away when Akito would scream Hatori's name so loudly from his bedroom. They couldn't figure out if they should have come in to help him out or just let the doctor take care of his pain, as the doctor had requested. It was fine when they came in by just knocking on the door, but once Hatori threw a pillow at the doorway while blocking the sight of Akito on his futon, they never came in again. Hatori looked down at Akito while wiping away the sweat on his forehead. That same morning, Hatori, who was dressed in a robe, opened the screen door quietly and shook his head while saying that he was `taking care of the young master'.

Hatori `took care of him' all right. As he left his office, he closed the door and knocked on Akito's. "Come in," Akito said as he limply hung on the window looking out at nothing in particular.
Hatori opened the door and shut it behind him as he walked up behind Akito, who wore a dark red kimono that Hatori had given him recently. He modeled it off to please him, but wondered why Hatori would spend so extravagantly on a kimono. It was just like him though, for he had always bought him little things on a whim.
Once, it had been a paper bird. Akito had broken it while he had lost his temper over Yuki being too kind to someone other than himself.

"It fits well," Hatori commented while Akito kept silent, still thinking of the broken paper bird made of blue hue.
"You shouldn't buy me things. I always break them,"
Akito sternly said as he continued to look out the window while avoiding looking at Hatori. "But you're so stubborn, Hatori."

"I know," Hatori wanted to tell him to answer all the things he just said to him, but he kept quiet while he stared at the kimono thinking how it made Akito look so healthy, despite his pale skin.

"I'll be going to visit Shigure-san now. Is there anything you need before I go?" Hatori asked as he still stared into Akito's back. Akito, who felt the stare, turned his head slightly to Hatori and said, "Do what you want."
"All right," Hatori said as he was about to turn around, but Akito pulled on his lab coat while whispering, "I never said that you could go."
Pulling on Hatori's tie, he smiled seductively as he said, "Tell me when I'm going to die, Hatori. That's why you're being so nice to me, right?"
Hatori stood in his place with his eye look at the ground while Akito's hands wrapped themselves around his waist. "Mmm…tell me, Hatori."

"You're not dying anytime soon," he simply answered while sighing at the same question Akito asked recently.

"Liar!" Akito shouted as he turned Hatori and pushed him onto his futon. While kneeling on the ground with his knees touching Hatori's ribs, he pulled on Hatori's tie. Looking at him desparately while trying not to lose his prideful look, he asked again, "Pity me, Hatori, and I'll kill you with my hand through your heart."

"It's all right," Hatori answered nonchalantly while looking up at Akito without a change in expression.

"It's the same thing anyway," he thought to himself while Akito gave him a sigh and a pout.

"Tell me when I'm going to die," Akito said as he pounded on Hatori's chest lightly while closing his eyes trying not to betray any tears. "How many times do I have to tell you…" Hatori reached out for Akito's face and leaned his head up while trying to kiss him on the lips. "…I'm not tricking you."

"Believe me," he whispered to Akito's ear while pulling Akito to the ground with him, but Akito wasn't listening as Akito opened his eyes.

Dyeing Hatori's coat with an invisible liquid as Hatori hugged him warmly, Akito feared the future while trying to arrogantly push it away with his words and actions. But Hatori could see through it, couldn't he?

As always, couldn't he see through him?

Hatori closed his eyes while pulling Akito closer to make him believe him. Until now, Akito pushed himself far away from him no matter what he did. He remembered a song that a famous singer had sung on the radio:

Beautiful, beautiful geisha.
Smiling while hurting inside.
Killing her feelings with her koto and kimono, While dying so wonderfully
In my hands.

Tsuzuku… -- author's note: I've learned to like their pairing. Very different from my usual gentle or cute pairings. This is violent and yet they still call it `love'. Obsessive. Yes, I understand that this is not as warm or romantic as I usually do, but I'm trying to capture the feel that I've seen through them, whether or not it may exist in the anime or manga. This is the interpretation (and freely done) I've taken of them.
I was thinking of doing this from only Hatori's perspective, but then I thought that it would be complicated doing both of them at the same time. Since I needed a challenge to get further in writing, I thought I would do both Hatori and Akito.
I don't know how long this will be or where this is going, but I just wanted to do it about one of my favorite pairings. I didn't know it was until I wrote `more than anyone else'.

Koko ni oide yo – come over here!

if you'd like to leave feedback, please do so here: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1492627

thanks!

Yui Miyamoto Author Pairing Rating Subject