The Undeniable Truth

*Hatori's POV*

You had remembered earlier today that Yuki had told you a girl had bumped into him and yet he didnt transform. It puzzled you. He had told you the girls name and yet, here she was asleep in your study. What made you even more puzzled was the fact that you had picked her up and yet you didnt transform. What was it about this girl that made you not turn into the Sea Horse? but then you heard a familiar pop of transformation and you turned your attention back to Mai. But it wasnt her human form laying there sleeping, it was a small black fox with a white diamond shape on her forehead, white paws and when you moved the blanket, you saw she had a white tip on her tail.

You had smiled to yourself as you looked at the young fox. You then realized that this might have been the reason for her beatings from her parents but it didnt make sense at the same time. She was a fox and yet she didnt seem cunning in any sort of way. You had placed the blanket over her and walked out of your study to Akito's room. You had knocked and had waited for her to respond. She had opened the door and looked at you

"how is she?" Akito asked with a small amount of worry in her voice

"She'll be fine, she just needs her rest."

"is she awake?"

"she just fell back to sleep. She wanted to thank you" You told her as you walked into her room. She had closed the door behind you and then turned to you

"why?"

"you saved her life, Akito" You told her. Akito looked away from you and took interest in the wooden floor. She wasnt used to people thanking her and she knew that once the girl woke up then she would want to thank her face to face. It was nice to be thanked of course. It felt good but for some reason she didnt know why she saved the girl. Akito didnt even know her.

"hope"

"what about it?"

"She said that the reason she stared at the Estate so much was because it gave her hope if feeling safe. Hope that one day she would feel like she had a home, somewhere she belonged" You explained to her and she looked at you with a small smile on her face.

"thats good. did you find out why you were able to touch her without transforming?"

"why dont you come look for yourself" You said as you grabbed her by the hand and lead her to your study. Once you both entered the room, Akitos eyes widened. There in the bed where the girl with emerald eyes and raven black hair, was a small black and white fox. Akito looked at you with shock

"She is cursed as well, it may be the reason that her parents hurt her so much" you explained. Akito walked over to the girl and placed a hand on her head and began to pet her as she slept. It was then that realization hit Akito. You watched as Akito gently picked up the fox and held her close to her

"Akito, it would be best if you put her back down. She is still badly hurt"

"i know but i remembered why i saved her life"

"and whys that?"

"she was a childhood friend of mine. She had lived in that house for as long as i can remember. She was such a sweet girl. Her name is Mai, correct?" Akito looked at you waiting for you to answer. You nodded your head with a smile and let her explain further.

"I remember when i was young, she would run away from her parents and bumped into my father. He had smiled down at the crying girl and picked her up. He knew exactly what she was and brought her inside to play with me. At first she was afraid that someone was going to hurt her but i walked over to her and handed her a toy to play with. She smiled at me and we began to play all the time. But after my father died, she stopped coming over and i never saw her again." Akito explained. One of the oldest maids had walked in with a smile but it soon faded once she looked at the small fox

"poor Ms. Valentine" she whispered. You looked at her with shock

"you know her?"

"of course, she used to play with Akito when she was young. But after Akira died, the poor girl ended up in the hospital. when she woke up, she couldnt remember anything. Ms. Valentine didnt even know who she was or where she belonged. I had tried to take her home with me but then her parents came in and won her over." the maid explained.

You looked back at the young fox and nodded. It made sense. She knew this place held hope for her but you could tell that she was unsure how it held it for her. She had lost her memory of all this when she was young and now, you hoped that it all would come back to her.

*Your POV*

It had been a week since you talked to Hatori and had fallen asleep. It was early in the morning when you finally woke up. You slowly sat up to find that it hurt a lot less then it did yesterday. You sighed with relief and then looked over in the chair to see Hatori sleeping. You figured that he wanted to make sure that you were going to be alright when you woke up. You placed a hand on his and gently shook it. It took a while but he soon lifted his head up and blinked a few times. You giggled to how cute he looked making him smile and stand up to stretch

"good morning, Ms. Valentine"

"good morning, Hatori" you smiled. For some reason you couldnt stop smiling at him. Whenever he was around you, you felt so safe. You looked around the room to see another person in the room, causing Hatori to look in the same direction and smile once again. He looked back to see worry in your eyes and placed his hand on yours

"its alright Mai, thats Akito. The head of House"

"how are you feeling, Mai" Akito asked as she walked over to you. You took a deep breath and let it out gently to calm your heart.

"Better then yesterday. I wanted to thank you Akito"

"Theres no need to thank me"

"you saved my life" you said quietly as you put your head down. You figured that she didnt understand how grateful you were for that. You looked up at her and realized that she seemed very familiar to you.

"how do i know you?" you thought outloud making Akito laugh gently

"you always seem to think outloud dont you?"

"im sorry"

"dont be, you see you lost your memery when you were young but you used to come over here and play with me all the time. You were running away from your house and bumped into my father. He smiled down at you and brought you inside so that you felt safe since you were crying. At first you wouldnt play with anyone in fear that someone would hurt you but once i offered to play with you, you became more open"

"but how did i lose my memory?"

"you parents, after the day my father died I never saw you again. I thought you hated me and then one of the maids explained to me that you didnt remember any of us because your parents hurt you so bad. But at that time i was too young to do anything about it." Akito explained.

It all made sense to you. It would explain the reason the old woman came to the hospital and tried to take you home. Why you felt like there was hope and safety here in the Sohma Estate and why the two of them seemed to familiar to you. You couldnt help look at Akito and then hug her. She seemed surprised at first but then hugged you back as you both began to cry at your long lost friend. Hatori had smiled at this and remember when they were younger how young Mai came up to his room and stay with him all night. He had remembered her having a crush on him and kissed him on the cheek after admitting it to him and giving him a bracelet she made him. What no one except Ayame, Shigure, and Akito knew was that he still wore the bracelet.

You pulled away from Akito and couldnt stop smiling. You looked at Hatori and images passed in front of your eyes of a young girl with long raven black hair and emerald eyes would stay with a boy with shaggy black hair and golden eyes all night. She had made him a bracelet and gave it to him the day she admitted she had a crush on him. You opened your eyes wide as you gently grabbed his left hand, unbuttoned the cuffs and slowly pushed his sleeve up. And there on his wrist was the green, gold and black bracelet you had once made for him. You looked at it for the longest time

"why do you still wear it?"

"because the young girl that gave it to me. Well her and I were really close"

"I was so young when i gave it to you. I admitted to you that i liked you and had a crush on you. I remember kissing your cheek and running out of your room. I was so nervous back then" You laughed as you looked up into his eyes. He was only nine years older than you, You were now seventeen and soon to be eighteen and yet when you stared into his golden eyes, you felt the same way you did all those years ago.

Akito had given you your uniform that was now clean and blood free. You had thanked her and walked into the bathroom to get ready. You had taken a quick shower and then got out and got dressed. Once you had finished getting ready, you walked out of the bathroom and looked over to Hatori. He seemed to know what you were asking and motioned for you to go closer to him. He had then gently began to wrap your arm that your father sliced up. You watched as he did so and sighed inwardly. You were falling for a man that you had a crush on in your childhood. You didnt know if he had moved on and gotten married. You looked away from him and silently thanked him when he was done. He had informed you that you had been asleep for a week and told you that he had informed the school that you had gotten hurt and would be back as soon as you could. You looked at him in shock. There was no way that you had been asleep for a week, It felt like only a night.

What were you going to tell Ruri? You had promised her that you would go there if you could but you were too hurt to even move. Would she be mad at you? all these questions played in your head as Hatori drove you to school.