The Undeniable Truth

~3 Years later~

Mai had sat on the cliff ledge once she had gotten back into town. She had left 3 years ago after yelling at Ruri, who she thought was her best friend. She sighed and closed her eyes as the breeze danced around her, gently blowing her hair every which way. She had missed everyone but she needed to stay away.

"I knew you'd be back. Wasnt sure when but I knew" Shigure's voice filled the air around her. Mai opened her eyes and looked back at him with a slight smile.

"You look different" he examined. Mai stood up and turned to face him. Shigure noticed that her hair was mid length with angled side. Her eyes seemed more of a Sea green then Emerald. Her figure seemed more fragile and he skin a little tanner.

"Where have you been?"

"Nowhere" she whispered. Shigure seemed surprised. Her voice was more gentle

"But you werent here"

"I couldnt be here"

"You hurt him"

"I had to...it was the only way"

"Why did you have to hurt him"

"I had to make him hate me so that he wouldnt chase me. I needed to get away so that nothing bad happened. Trust me. It wasnt easy leaving him....I didnt want to"

"I could tell. Everything has changed since you left"

"I dont doubt it"

"Where did you go?" He tried asking again. Mai sighed as she looked away from him

"The mountains. I had to be somewhere that no one would look for me. I needed to gain back my control" She explained. Shigure nodded and then walked closer to her. When he was in arms reach, he grabbed her arms and pulled her into him and hugged her close to him

"I missed you so much" he whispered in her hair. She smiled as she hugged him back

"Lets go home" he told her as she pulled back and looked at her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the car.

~At the house~

Yuki had opened the door and greeted Hatori

"Hey, Shirgures not here"

"Again? where could he have gone off to?"

"He said something about going to look for someone" Yuki said as he allowed Hatori to come in. Before Yuki could shut the door. Shigure pulled up in the car and shut off the car. Hatori and Yuki stood on the porch looking at them

"Who does he have with him?" Yuki asked in a bored tone. Hatori focused on the girl in the passenger seat. She seemed to be staring right at him and then looked at Shigure with fear in her eyes. Shigure just smiled as he got out of the car but the girl stayed put.

Shigure walked over to them smiling brightly

"Who did you just bring here?" Yuki asked confused

"Lets just say, shes an old friend" he said before he turned to look back at the car. The girl sighed as she unbuckled and opened the door slowly. Once she got out of the car and shut the door. The night air seemed to become tense. Everyone could feel it. Mai brought her eyes up and met Hatoris green ones. She could see the hatred fuming off of him

"Why did you come back?" Hatori asked venom dripping from every word. Mai flinched and looked at the ground but refused to say anything to him

"I told you coming back here was a bad idea" she whispered. Hatori and Yuki looked at her surprised because of her voice

"How about we go inside and talk things over?" Shigure suggested. Mai looked up and shook her head.

"No Shigure. I told you not to bring me back here and I told you he hated me. I need to go"

"So thats it huh? Youre just gunna stop by, say hi and then leave us again? How long this time Mai? another 3 years? more?"

"Its not like that Hatori"

"Then whats it like?!" he asked gettting ticked. He walked over to her and stood right in front of her. That was when he realized that she wasnt the same girl that left here 3 years ago. Her hair was definately shorter, her eyes a duller green. Her body thinner and seemed more fragile. He watched as Mai flinched away from him when he yelled.

"I had to make you hate me so you wouldnt follow me like i knew you would. I needed to be able to go somewhere that no one would find me so that i can gain back control after that ordeal with Tohru" she whispered.

"You left me! You left me sitting there thinking that you didnt love me like I loved you! You left without glancing back!" he yelled again. Anger boiling in his blood as he thought about the day she left.

~Flashback~

"I didnt want to hurt her, Thats why i tried as hard as i did to make sure i wasnt near her. If i honestly didnt care and did want to hurt her, I would have gone to school and transformed right there in front of everyone and then tried to kill her"

"Why didnt you?" Ruri kept a stone cold glare

"Because what you and her fail to realize is that if i had done that, the whole family would suffer. It would piss off Akito, The family secret would be out and they would lose everything. I dont want the people i care about the most to suffer because i wanted to be stupid. Then Hatori would have to come to the school and wherever else i had decided to chase Tohru and erase everyones memory. Why cant you two grasp that concept?" Mai yelled even louder. She was starting to get stressed out and started to feel lightheaded. But she shook her head and turned away from Ruri for a moment.

Outside the doorway, Tohru was listening along with most of the members of the family. Akito was in his room next to hers, sitting against the wall listening to the whole thing with a smile on his face.

Mai turned back towards Ruri and huffed as her once friendly emerld eyes turned as cold as ice. Ruri knew it was a mistake to confront Mai when she wasnt up to her full par, health wise.

"My family means more to me then any outsider who doesnt understand our curse. So why dont you and Tohru do all of us a favor and leave us alone. It was stupid of Akito and I to allow outsiders into our family"

"What do you mean Mai?" Ruri asked, her expression softening with fear. Mai looked away from her

"What i mean is that you two will never understand what its like to be us. You think you understand and you try to help us become free but the truth is that only Akito can free us when he is ready to let us go. So leave and never talk to us again" Mai said as she turned away from Ruri completely. She hated how she had just hurt her best friend but she knew that the words she spoke were true. Outsiders would never fully understand them or fully love them like there were normal. So why get their hopes high and think that outsiders would.

Mai heard Ruri run out of the room and stop aburtly, crying as she told Tohru to come with her. She didnt hear Tohru object to what Ruri said and ran off with her. Mai sighed as she heard people walk in the room but no one spoke

"You know i was right. Why let them get our hopes high and thinking we could ever be normal like them?" Mai asked as she placed a hand on her head and closed her eyes

"Why did you tell them to leave, we love having them around! they made us feel normal" Kyo yelled as he spun her around to look at them.

It was then that they all realized that she was infact crying. Mai pushed him away roughly

"I was trying to help our family. Of course i didnt want to make them leave but its time we all grow up and stop hoping for things that will never be. We will never be normal like them. If we were meant for that life, we would have been born into it but we werent. We were meant to be cursed" Mai yelled at him. He could see the pain in her eyes as she listened to her own words leave her mouth.

They all knew that she didnt want to say what she had said but they also knew that she needed to say it. She was trying to protect ALL of them from being hurt by things that might never become true. Mai started to stumble a bit causing Hatori to rush to her side but she soon pushed him away too.

They all stood there in complete shock as she fell to the ground. She slowly held herself up but kept her eyes away from everyone. They noticed that Mai was slowly pushing everyone away from her. She didnt want to get hurt anymore by hopes and dreams. She didnt want to love anymore. But most of all, she didnt want to hurt anyone she cared about. The ones that stood before her, the whole Sohma family, were just those people.

Mai stood up carefully, feeling more dizzy then she had to begin with. She kept her eyes on the floor, her hair slightly covering her face

"Now all of you leave so that i can get dressed" she demanded in a soft voice.

As everyone began to leave the room, Hatori stayed where he was and just stared at her. How could she have pushed him away after telling him only moment ago that she had loved him. Shigure had walked over to him and gently pulled him out of the room. His eyes never leaving her until Shigure shut her door. It was then that reality had hit Hatori and hard. He fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground. How could he have let anyone else in.

After a short period of time, The door had opened and Mai stood in front of him, fully dressed with her bag in hand. She tried to blck the feeling she had for him and Hatori could sense that she was battling with herself but she soon just walked passed him, using the wall for support so she wouldnt fall.

~Now~

Hatori clenched his fists as his eyes filled with anger

"You just left. Like it was nothing"

"I didnt want to leave you!" Mai finally yelled. But still her voice was weak.

"But you did"

"I had to" she tried to calm down. Just then Ruri had ran outside and hugged Hatori

"I thought I heard you out here" she smiled before she kissed his lips. Mais world came crashing down around her.

"Yeah, time has definately flown by just like our love" Mai said before walking away.