Faded Memories

I stare out the window of the limo as we drive to see Akito. When we arrive Kyo and I walk in to see Akito.
“Kyo, I don’t want to see you right now; I only want to see Ruki.” Kyo turns and leaves the room. I stare at Akito. “Bow Ruki.”
I bow in front of Akito and know what’s coming. Akito grabs my head and slams it against the floor. I twist my head at the last second and avoid getting my nose broken. Akito grabs a handful of my hair and rips my head back. I feel blood drip down and run across my face from my forehead. I ignore the pain and bite my lip which causes it to bleed as well.
“Tell me why you ran away to the mountains!”
I don’t want to tell him why because I haven’t thought about it since it happened. I can’t even remember why I locked the memory away.
“Tell me!”
I search for the memory and find it.

I was eleven and Kyo was there. Kyo was holding on to my arm. “Why are you leaving?”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore. I am leaving to learn to control my emotions. I don’t want to explode and hurt you again. If I explode out in the mountains then I won’t put anyone in danger.”
“You’ll hurt me more if you leave.” Kyo leans down and kisses me. I stand in shock for a moment but then I close my eyes and fall deeper into the kiss.
When I pull away I begin shaking my head frantically. “No. I don’t want to fall in love. I don’t want to hurt you.” I turn and run away from Kyo.

“I ran away because I fell in love with Kyo…”
Akito pulls my hair again so I look at him. “You are a whore! You’re a bitch!”
I feel the fire inside me grow but I smother it. I know Akito just wants to see me explode. I wipe my face of emotion and block out his voice.
He begins yelling at me, but I don’t listen. “Are you listening to me?!?!”
I reply calmly. “No.”
“Well then listen! You are so stupid!”
I hear the speech I gave Kisa replay in my head: We all go through that. But you shouldn’t run away. You shouldn’t listen to the comments of your classmates. They don’t know you like me and Haru do.
I look in Akito’s eyes. “You don’t know me Akito. You don’t know anything about me. All you know is how to push me the right way to make me your puppet. I won’t let you do that anymore.”
“What do you mean? You are still my puppet. You are here aren’t you?”
“I chose to come here Akito.”
Akito reaches behind him and picks up a flower vase. I act quickly. I stand up and kick Akito in the center of his forehead and watch his eyes turn white. He falls back down on the ground, dead.
I begin to turn and leave but a small bookshelf catches my eye. I walk over to it and look through the books. I stop when I see a book titled The Blessed Cat and the Cursed Cat. I slide the book inside my undershirt and tuck it in so the book doesn’t fall. Then I walk towards the door and step out in front of Kyo, Yuki, Shigure, and Hatori.
“Ruki,” Kyo whispers in between kissing me.
Hatori pulls me away from Kyo and examines my forehead. “What happened?”
I look in his eyes. “I’m better off than Akito; he’s dead. I killed him.”
Hatori runs away, but he returns in a few moments and starts bandaging my head. “I’ll take care of Akito later. You are losing too much blood.”