Chapter 18

Anzu took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wanted to come on her own to prove to herself that she could do this. She'd prepared for this after all. She had Kureno take her out to find a kimono, which felt heavier than she thought but kept her quite warm in the cold temperature. The silky fabric was pink with cherry blossoms all over. She thought it was fitting because sakura blossoms symbolize new beginnings. There wouldn't be any new beginnings if she couldn't get through the front gate though.

"Just move your feet, Anzu. You can do this."

The female gripped the small satchel in her hands as she looked into the Sohma estate. It was like her feet were glued to the pavement. Everytime she thought she was okay to walk forward, all she could see was Akito inviting her into the room with the cage. What if she had to go back there? What if there was some place worse?

Suddenly, her phone started to ring and she nearly jumped out of her shoes. Opening her purse, she pulled out her cell and answered it, watching the white smoke come out of her mouth.

"Lola! Are you here yet?" She could hear Momiji's voice through the phone's speaker.

"I'm… outside the gate." She sighed. "I've been standing here for almost an hour now."

"That's weird. The gate's usually open."

"It is. I'm just scared. I thought I wouldn't be, but I am."

"I can come get-

"No, don't!"

She didn't mean to yell at him, but this was something she had to do on her own. If she couldn't manage walking through the gates by herself, how was she going to approach Akito? Murmuring an apology, she let out a sigh of frustration with herself.

"What can I do to help you, Lola?" Momiji's voice was calming. She couldn't think of an instance where he ever got mad at her. It wasn't the same on her side and, frankly, that bothered her. All of the problems were something she started.

"...Can you stay on the phone with me until I get there? Talking to you would really help."

He was good at talking and distracting her. She didn't know exactly what he was saying and it felt like background noise behind her thoughts, but it was all she needed. Finally, she stepped across the threshold into the estate. Not knowing what would happen if she stopped now, she kept moving and following a familiar path until she made it to Momiji's house.

Momiji opened the front door with a grin and practically bounced through the doorway. "Lola, you made it! You look absolutely amazing!"

"Are you sure I don't look overdressed? You're in regular clothes…"

"Um… well, maybe a little, but it's okay. You'll be like Ritsu-chan!"

Anzu tilted her head in confusion as she thought of who Ritsu was. Momiji wasted no time in linking his arm with hers and escorting her to the main hall where the banquet was. Everyone else was already inside, aside from Akito, and he wanted her to be as comfortable as possible.

"Just let me know when and I'll open the door." He glanced over at her. Gently, he smoothed down any flyaways in her hair and fixed her hairpiece for her. Studying her face, he noticed she'd put a little makeup on - just some simple mascara and tinted lip balm, but it made her look like a doll.

"Okay, I'm ready."

The two entered the room, but there was no conversation. In fact, the room looked pretty divided. Shigure, Hatori, and a male with long white hair sat on one side of a circle of low dining trays. Along the other side of the circle was Yuki, Haru, Kisa, and Hiro. Beside them, although there were two empty trays to showcase the divide, was a female with shoulder-length brown hair and a female with long, peach-colored hair.

"I'd expect this from Rin, but not from you, Kagura." Shigure smiled as he shoved his hands into his sleeves.

"You think I'm going to believe that too? Why should I believe anything you say?" Anzu noticed the brunette started talking. "Honestly, I never thought Ayame could be one to keep such a secret anyway."

"Hey!" The white-haired male fumed, obviously disheartened by her lack of reliance in his abilities.

"U-Um, Kagura…" The peach-colored hair girl beckoned beside her. "…I think we should t-try to focus on the real problem at hand. I know they d-didn't mean it…"

"What do you know, Ritsu?"

"I-I'm sorry! I should've never spoken! I should've just stayed quiet and minded my business!"

Kisa turned her head towards the doorway and immediately stood up, making her way over to Anzu with a smile. Leading her towards the circle, she quietly sat down and motioned for her to sit next to her. To be honest, Anzu felt immensely overdressed as everyone else had on more conventional clothing, but Momiji was right. Ritsu did help her not stand out too much. Speaking of Ritsu, Anzu glanced past Momiji with a smile.

"I like your kimono, Ritsu-san. It's very pretty." She started off, hoping that she could mend the bad impressions from the last time.

Kagura side-eyed the crimsonette and immediately crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't talk to him. We haven't forgiven you yet either."

"...Him?" Anzu blinked in surprise. Was she referring to Ritsu?

Haru let out a small sigh. "Kagura, you're being pretty childish right now. Anzu is just as much of a victim as the rest of us."

"I know, but I…" The female groaned in frustration. "I have too much extra energy right now and it's everyone's fault! None of this would be happening if everything just went back to normal. Rin won't even talk to me anymore!"

"You don't need to worry about Rin."

Silence overcame the room as the back doors opened and Akito walked inside. Everyone stood up and waited for Akito to get to their seat and sit before they retreated back down to the floor. Dinner was quiet aside from some small talk amongst everyone. It felt like everyone was playing house and it was a bit uncomfortable. The only thing that distracted Anzu from the awkward environment was her thoughts of what may happen when she speaks to Akito later.

"I think we could all benefit from a little story time." Ayame jumped up from his seat with a proud grin and stretched his arms wide. "Perhaps my lovely little brother, Yuki, can accompany me to-"

"Absolutely not."

Ayame's arms dropped to his side and he immediately started sulking. He would've beckoned for Yuki to join him again, however Anzu caught his attention and asked to still hear the story. As everyone gathered around to see what kind of extravagant imagination Ayame could muster up now, Yuki stayed by Akito's side to talk. Apparently Ayame had a lot to say, but Anzu found herself relaxing in how comfortable the atmosphere felt now.

All of a sudden, the friendly energy in the room was no more as everyone heard the sound of something ceramic breaking, followed by a thud and Akito screaming. Anzu turned her head and witnessed Yuki covering his eye while he was bleeding. Ayame immediately rushed to his side with Hatori while Haru and Shigure moved to stop Akito's rampage.

"Anzu… I need you to take a deep breath for me."

The crimsonette could hear Momiji's voice beside her, but the sound of her heartbeat was too loud in her ears. Her breathing was trying to match up with her heartbeat, as if they were in a race. All she could see was dinner that one night with Akito and Kureno and she had a rice bowl thrown at her. There was a lot of blood on the table and floor and she had to keep looking at her arm to make sure it wasn't from her. As she kept glancing at her arm, a hand grabbed hers. Her eyes traveled from the hand, up the arm, and eventually landed on Momiji's face.

"...What's going on?" Anzu asked after she realized that the commotion had settled down. Akito, Shigure, Hatsuharu, Yuki, Ayame, and Hatori were now gone and the room had become silent again.

"You were having a panic attack." Ritsu commented, covering his mouth with his sleeve. "I'm sorry I didn't think of what may have happened to you when all the news came out at the last meeting."

Kagura frowned deeply. "Everything would've been better if we'd just stayed oblivious."

"And keep living in a dollhouse?" Hiro rolled his eyes. "You couldn't possibly mean that. If seeing that crap wasn't enough to tell you we need to get out, then what will?"

"I understand what Kagura-nee-san means, Hiro." Kisa spoke up. "But I also know we can't ignore this anymore. I would like to find a way to break the curse too."

Momiji was half listening to everyone because his attention was mostly on Anzu, who seemed to have slowed her breathing down to normal. The New Year's Banquet was technically over now since he doubted Akito would come back. All he really wanted to do was go back home with Anzu and that was probably something she needed too. Just as he was about to get up, Anzu let go of his hand and stood up on her own.

"I need to go see Akito." The crimsonette told him before leaving the room. She'd stayed here long enough to know where Akito's quarters were. Once she reached the head Sohma's room, Anzu knocked on the wooden frame by the door and waited to be let in.

Akito was sitting in the windowsill, looking out in the courtyard. Anzu could see their solemn expression, but she knew it was either now or never. Before she could even speak, Akito shot her a sinister glare out of the corner of their eye.

"You're here to gloat? I never imagined you would have the guts to come back after running away from home. Don't you despise me?"

"Yes, I hate you."

"Then why are you here?"

Anzu let out a shaky breath and stood as tall as she could. "I wanted to formally decline your marriage proposal because I'm in love with someone else."

"Going back to that retired ploy?" Akito stood up. It took everything in the crimsonette not to step back and cower as the Sohma head approached her. "I never intended to actually marry you, but what makes you think you can reject me? What would you do if I said no?"

Anzu gritted her teeth as she felt her stomach drop. This entire situation made her feel nauseous and she was scared. Lowering herself down to the floor, she sat on her knees and bowed her head. It was starting to get dark as the sun had finally disappeared behind the rooftops of the other buildings.

"I just-"

"Get out." Akito growled lowly. Anzu raised her head in shock. Of all the possible reactions she'd envisioned, she never thought she'd leave this room unscathed. Surely, the moment she turned around, Akito would probably hit her over the head or do something even worse to her.

"Is that any way to try and regain a lost love?"

Anzu had never heard this voice before. She was going to turn around, but the sight of Akito's face made her do a double-take. Never in her life had she seen such fear in the eyes of the Sohma head. It was only there for a brief moment as that emotion quickly melted into undeniable rage. Slowly turning her head, Anzu was met with the presence of an older woman with long, dark hair and gray eyes.

"Who let you leave your room?"

"You can't even speak to your own mother properly either, I see."

Anzu's eyes widened as she looked up at Akito's mother. She was a rather beautiful woman, but the glint in her eyes was so cruel. Even if she tried to say anything, she doubted that she could.

"You must be the new casualty the staff has been talking about. My name is Ren Sohma." Ren leaned down and placed her fingers underneath the crimsonette's chin so she could take a better look at her face. "You're much too pretty to be bothered by that ugly wrench. Why did you even come to a place like this? Doesn't being in her presence make you waste away?"

"H-Her?" Anzu croaked out.

"Oops. I let the cat out of the bag, didn't I?" Ren smirked. "Let's keep that our little secret, shall we?"

Before Anzu could even say anything, she was roughly pushed aside by Akito.

"Don't you dare touch anything that's mine!"

"Oh? How does it feel to steal from someone else?" Ren sneered. "Like how you stole my husband from me. Not great right? Because you're such a greedy little bitch, everything will come back on you tenfold. In the end, you'll have nothing! Just like you were destined from the beginning!"

"Get out."

"So this is the thanks I get for birthing a weak, pathetic so-called god?

"I'll kill you!"

Anzu watched in horror as Akito lunged forward to attack her mother. Ren scratched along Akito's arm with her long nails and the two fell to the floor, wrestling with each other before the servants finally ran in to break them up. The crimsonette used the commotion to sneak out of the room and run away, but not before taking one last look at Akito's face. The loneliness that she saw in her eyes almost made her think about staying, but almost wasn't enough.

"Slow down, Lola." Momiji grabbed a hold of the girl as she ran out of the front doors of the main house. He'd waited out front for her and, honestly, he'd been two seconds from going in there himself. Looking her over, he didn't notice any major mishaps aside from a small bruise forming on the outside of one of her arms.

"What hap-

"Akito didn't do it." Anzu pulled her arm out of the male's grasp as she tried to catch her breath. "It was my own carelessness."

Momiji frowned as he saw that she couldn't even look him in the eye as she spoke. Did Akito reject her again? Or did Akito tell her something weird? Her expression and demeanor made him anxious and he wanted to know everything, but he also didn't want to push her because the fact was he didn't know what happened.

"...I need to talk to Kureno, so I'm going to go home." Anzu spoke up. There were so many questions circling around her head. One thing for sure, Ren's appearance had flustered her and now she didn't know what to think any more.

"Well you can't go home without this." Momiji handed her satchel to her. Once she grabbed it, he pulled her into his embrace for a tight hug. Whatever was going through her mind, he didn't want her to leave without knowing if she was okay or not. "I'll stay on the phone with you until you get there, Lola."

Anzu closed her eyes and relished in the feeling of being so close to him. The fear and loneliness she felt while being in that room started to melt away and, in return, a few tears slid down her cheeks. "I should've taken you in there with me, Bugs. It got to the point where I didn't know what to do."

"I'm proud of you, Anzu." Momiji stroked the top of her head affectionately. "You were really brave today."