The Missing Zodiac [A Fruits Basket FanFiction]

Chapter 12

I wiped my tears from my eyes, stood up and shuffled my feet over to the wooden door with an intense fear growing and growing in the pit of my stomach.

Gulping down, I reached towards the handle of my door and opened it slowly, only to have my worst fear come to life. It was Akito, standing there with an impatient look on his face and his arms crossed across his chest.

"You'll have some explaining to do, Morumotto." He spoke coldly.

I widened my eyes, tensing up and backing up from him to put some distance between us. "Oh! A-Akito! How did you know I was home?"

His nose scrunched slightly in disgust "It's hard not to smell a filthy rodent," he then went to add on "a lying and betraying one at that."

I winced internally at his comment, looking down at the wooden floor beneath my feet and mustering the courage to whimper out "I-It's not what you thi-" I was cut off by the sudden and rough grabbing of my wrist, causing my to flinch.

"Not what I think? I'd beg do differ. Your suitcase was gone when I had gotten to your room as well as a good amount of your clothes and belongings. I'm thinking, Morumotto, you were trying to run away from here. So, tell me again, is it really not what I was thinking?" He spit out, his grip on my wrist only tightening.

I didn't have the courage to speak. My lips remained tightly shut as I trembled in fear in his grip, my eyes welling up with tears.

Akito scoffed and used his strength to throw me to the floor and off to the side slightly via my wrist. I whimpered as my hands hit the floor, looking up at Akito. He then kneeled down in front of my, using one of his hands to grab my chin roughly and the other to stroke and play with my hair in an affectionate way. Fake affection.

"It's okay, I'll make sure you'll never run off again, okay? You won't go to that school anymore, only spend time with anyone other than myself, you won't even need to go outside the house anymore!" His grip on my chin tightened "You'll even have a hard time seeing the light of day again, little sister."

I was forced to look directly into his eyes, my big and wet eyes looking at his piercing gaze. As I looked into his eyes, I noticed something...off, different, something...was he getting emotional? Was that a hint of hurt in his eyes? Sadness?

Was this the first time his eyes held something like this?

My thoughts were interrupted when Akito roughly let go of my chin, practically tossing me off to the side as his eyes were filled with nothing but coldness once again.

He stood up and started to turn towards my door, beginning to saunter his way out of my room and leave me on my floor. I bit my lip, my thoughts running a mile a minute while I tried to think of something, anything, to say.

"B-Big brother!" I shouted. He stopped in his tracks, but refused to look back at me. "I...I'm sorry I ran away...If you really want me to stay here, then I'll stay. I-I was being selfish, only thinking of myself...I never really wanted to leave you..!"

He stood at the door, seeming to be frozen for a second. But then, he quickly walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. I don't know what effect my words had on him, but I could only hope it had eased my situation slightly...

I sat on the floor, frozen for a split second before coming back to my senses. I looked at my wrist, and saw the slight bruise that had started to form there. It wasn't going to be a very bad bruise, but it definitely was going to leave some form of bruise.

I slowly stood up off the floor, brushing myself off seconds before there was another quick knock on my door. This time, the person on the other side didn't bother to wait for me to come to the door.

Hatori opened the door quickly, looking slightly frazzled. When he saw me, he sighed softly in relief before quickly making his way over to me. He grabbed my hands, starting to lift my arms and inspect my face to make sure I was okay.

I shook my head "Hatori, I-I'm fine, it's just my wrist this time,"

He quickly looked at my wrist, looking it over and seeming to deem it okay by looking at it himself. He let out a deep breath before looking up at me "Why did you decide to come back?"

I widened my eyes softly at his question before looking guiltily off to the side "Well...they know everything now. About how I'm part of the family...and that I'm a zodiac..." I took a shaky breath "They were so kind to me, Hatori...I didn't want them to get hurt or worse just because they were taking me in... I-I'm sorry..."

Hatori listened to every word I had to say, nodding at the end of my sentence and putting his hands on my shoulders. "It's okay, Morumotto. It's your choice on the matter and you've made your choice. Be confident."

I widened my eyes and nodded, tears welling up again as my body started to shake under Hatori's hands. "H-Hatori..." I spoke softly, looking up at him.

He gave me a small smile, keeping his hands on my shoulders before seeming to be deep in thought. I looked up at him nervously, calling out his name again "H-Hato-"

I didn't get the chance to finish speaking, being suddenly startled by being pulled into a hug by Hatori. I widened my eyes for a second, taking a moment to feel the warmth and comfort from Hatori's arms calming me down.

In the second after that, I fully realized that Hatori was actually hugging me. I realized that I was still human.

He was hugging me and I remained human.