Chapter 12

"…Betrothed?" A girl with short brown hair and a cat backpack repeated, as she and everyone else in the room were processing the new information. They all sat around a long dinner table that was lavishly set up, however this revelation trumped any idea of celebration.

Akito smiled, slightly lifting the hand linked with Anzu's. Akito's hand felt a lot warmer than usual. "Yes, betrothed, Kagura. Aren't you happy for us?"

"Where's Kureno?" A white haired male spoke up. There were a couple other murmurs in the room, all of which were not welcomed graciously.

"Why do you care? He's not part of our bond anymore." Akito snarled and tightened their grip. "He left us behind. You should despise him!"

The tension in the air was thick as no one dared to say a word. There were fourteen people all together in this room, yet Anzu only recognized half. She wanted to speak up and say something, but the firm squeeze on her hand convinced her otherwise.

"I don't believe it. How can someone who isn't a Soma be affected by the curse?" A young boy spoke up. Kisa was sitting awfully close to him so Anzu assumed they were friends.

"Why don't we congratulate the couple first, Hiro?" Shigure smiled, stuffing his hands in his sleeves. "We're all very happy for you, Akito."

He sounded sincere, but Anzu felt in the back of her mind that this wasn't a genuine moment. Akito must have caught on too because their nails dug into her skin and the female winced in reaction. Seeing this, Momiji immediately stood up.

"You're hurting her."

"I am not." Akito narrowed their eyes. Turning to Anzu, he repeated the accusation. "Am I hurting you, Anzu?"

Refusing to look in Momiji's direction, the crimsonette kept eye contact with Akito and shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to end up back in the cage when all this was over. Plus, she still felt like something was wrong since not only were Akito's hands warm, their ears looked red from what she could see through their hair. Liking her obedience, the Soma head loosened his grip slightly and smugly turned back to Momiji.

"Perhaps Hatori should check your eyes, Momiji."

"I know what I saw."

"Are you talking back to me?" Akito dropped Anzu's hand and walked towards the blond. "I don't appreciate you accusing me and disrespecting me in front of a guest. You of all people should know better."

It was like everyone else was frozen in their seats. Anzu watched with fearful eyes as Akito stepped away from her. Please, don't do anything to Momiji, she willed silently as her heartbeat felt like the loudest sound in the room. She pushed herself to move, but she felt herself being held back by the bond. It was almost like slow motion when Akito raised his hand, only for Kureno to grab the Sohma head's wrist.

"Kureno-san…" Momiji frowned. "Is it true? Is your curse really broken?"

"It is."

The room grew silent once again as realization settled in. Someone had finally gained freedom from the shackles they were all chained to. It was a harsh reality. Why Kureno? How long had it been? What did he do?

"This still doesn't make any sense." A woman with peach-colored hair spoke up softly. "Weren't we all cursed at birth? Now someone is free and another person's life has been claimed…"

"She isn't even a Sohma." A female with long black hair crossed her arms.

Kureno frowned and released Akito's hand. "Anzu is my niece and she has Sohma blood, Rin."

Anzu could see that while there were a lot of confused looks, there were some somber expressions as well. She wasn't sure whether all big meetings were like this or not, but from what she understood, this wasn't supposed to be how any of this went down.

"No one answered Ritsu's question." Yuki spoke up. "If we're going by history, the curse would've been broken for over ten years now."

"…It has."

"So why keep it a secret? Who all knew?" Kyo finally spoke.

"I don't want to bring any more discord than what's already been mentioned."

"Well, it's too late for that." Hiro crossed his arms. Kisa immediately beckoned for him to stop, but she too couldn't help but be curious for more information.

Akito decided upon himself to answer the question. "Shigure, Ayame, and Hatori knew. To answer your other question since I'm feeling so generous… I freed him. I had no need for him any more so I decided to let him go, but I guess stupid is as stupid does since he continued to stick around. Never fear though, I have no interest in releasing any of you."

Kureno turned to their family head. "Akito."

"Maybe you should've flown the coop when you had the chance." Akito continued. Swiftly moving, he picked up the cake in the middle of the table and returned, smashing the baked good, burning candles and all, into Kureno's face. "But you can't be a clown without makeup, so I decided to help you out."

Anzu was mortified and immediately rushed to her uncle's side to try and clean him up. Luckily he wasn't burned on his face from the sudden attack, but his hands did have some scorch marks from reflexively shielding his face. As she moved to get him a napkin, Akito grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

"You're supposed to be by my side."

"But I-"

"Kureno, you're banished from the estate."

Anzu's eyes grew wide once the words escaped from Akito's lips. Even Kureno couldn't believe what he had heard as he reluctantly stood up.

"The rest of you can leave. I'm tired now." Akito kept talking. "I expect an apology from all of you for ruining my birthday celebration."

"I'm not leaving without Anzu."

"Excuse me?"

Momiji stood his ground as Akito reapproached him with building rage. Grabbing the closest thing in their peripheral view - a porcelain pot of tea, they dumped the contents over the teen's head. Hatori and Hatsuharu jumped up, but ultimately Anzu got to the Sohma head first and pulled at his arm.

"Please stop…" The crimsonette pleaded.

"Keine sorge, Lola." Momiji reassured her not to worry before turning to Akito. Because of all the conversation, the tea had become lukewarm so the most damage that had been done was some mild staining of his clothes. "I'm not scared of you. You're just upset because maybe the bond isn't as strong as you thought it was."

With his free hand, Akito smacked the younger Sohma so hard that the blond fell into the table. Shoving Anzu to the side, their hands enclosed around Momiji's throat. "You insolent halfbreed! You're nothing without me! How dare you disrespect me!"

Hatori and Ayame immediately pulled Akito off of Momiji as Hatsuharu and Yuki made sure he was okay. Anzu would have been by his side, but it felt like she had twisted her ankle when she hit the ground. Akito struggled against their restraints before breaking into a coughing fit. Hatori felt their head and frowned.

"How long have you had this fever?"

"Don't touch me!" Akito pulled away from them. "I will never forgive any of you for this. Anzu, we're leaving." When the crimsonette didn't move, Akito headed towards her and grabbed her hand only to feel their legs give way and their body meet the floor. Clutching the collar of their shirt, Akito let out strangled breaths as their sickness was catching up to them.

"Don't leave me." The Sohma head choked out to Anzu before Hatori picked them up to take them back to their room. Anzu, on the other hand, was stunned at how sincere those three words sounded. Why did she still want to help after all that had been done to her? After all this time, she still didn't understand the curse she was bound to. The two kept eye contact until Akito disappeared behind the paper doors.

Momiji approached Anzu and dropped down to her level, immediately engulfing her in a hug. "Are you okay, Lola?" He whispered softly to her before pulling back to make sure she wasn't hurt. His eyes immediately traveled to the nasty bruise that was forming on the outside of her ankle.

"It really hurts…" Anzu admitted quietly. "But I'll be okay. Nothing some bandages can't fix, right?"

The blond frowned at her words, upset that she'd gotten used to such treatment already. He never wanted her to be in so deep like the rest of them. He was going to say something about it, but another round of commotion drowned him out.

"Why don't we all go ahead and retire for the rest of the night?" Shigure garnered everyone's attention.

Hiro scoffed. "Why would we do that?"

"Hiro, don't be like that.." Kisa tried to rectify the situation.

"He's right." Rin stood up. "Let's address the elephant in the room. You, Ayame, and Hatori have been lying to the rest of us since we've been born. It's fair that we don't trust you. What else have you been hiding from us?"

"We did what we thought was right at that time." Ayame spoke up. "I never wanted to lie to any of you, especially my dear Yuki, but we had to."

"You knew there was a way to break the curse, yet you chose to ignore it." Rin's steely gaze drifted from Ayame to Shigure.

"I think there's more to the story than that, Rin." Hatsuharu took her hand. "At the end of the day, we all have the same goal."

Rin rolled her eyes and shoved his hand away. "Of course you'd be on his side. You always are."

Kagura stood up with a frown. "The fact at the end of the day is that they did it."

"Don't fight each other." Anzu interrupted as she stood up with the help of Momiji. "I know I'm the newest to all of this, but we can-"

"You have no acknowledgement in this family, so you shouldn't even be talking." Rin walked out of the room, followed by Kagura, Ritsu, Hiro, and Risa. Hatsuharu went after her and Kyo decided he'd take this opportunity to leave as well.

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"Now, this is one of our family style apartments. There's two bedrooms and plenty of space for you and your daughter to have." The realtor introduced. Eyeing Anzu's crutches, he continued. "The elevator is easy access for all residents with a key and all doors have security locks so there are no unwanted visitors."

"We already looked at this online and everything looks good, so we'll take it." Anzu smiled.

While she put together all the money, Kureno signed all the paperwork. Once all the dealings were done, the two were finally left alone with their new living arrangements. It had been a week since the two left the estate and it was only by coincidence that she received the money left behind in her mother's will. Deciding that she'd send money to the estate for covering her living expenses until then, Anzu would use the remainder to cover her until she graduated and received the rest of the trust.

"Are you sure about this, Anzu? You didn't need to leave the main estate." Kureno frowned. The crimsonette waved him off and hobbled over towards the couch to sit down.

"My mother's wishes have finally been fulfilled and I can spend this money however I'd like. The rest of it will come once I'm eighteen." She explained before turning to him. "But most importantly, I came here to be with you, not sit around the estate. I'm really sorry about losing your home, but I was hoping maybe we could make a new one?"

Kureno's gaze softened and he sat down on the couch next to her. "You truly have your father's spirit inside of you. He'd be very proud of the young lady you've grown up to be."

Closing her eyes, Anzu laid her head against Kureno's shoulder. "I'm sorry for yelling at you that one time. I think I understand everything now. You're the only real family I have left and I don't want to ruin anything else."

"You haven't ruined anything, Anzu. I'm glad you came to find me. The only thing I ask is that you don't call me Dad… It's kind of uncomfortable."

"That man really thought you were though." Anzu laughed. "I thought if I corrected him, he would've questioned letting us live here."

"Why would he do that?"

"Well in the movies I've seen… Actually, nevermind…"