Seduced

Rolling over, Hatori bit into a pillow and groaned.
He just had the best sex in his life and he couldn't believe he had let the vixen walk out of his bedroom without a word.

'You shouldn't have compared her to Kana!' His mind snapped at him.
'She's nothing like Kana--she never will be. . .' He silently answered; pausing, he took in the scent of his lover. Her perfume lingered on the pillow. His body reacted. 'She's something more; there is no comparison.'
'Why didn't you tell her that? You should have told her she means more to you than Kana.'
'I know. I screwed things up. . .like always.'

Groaning again, Hatori threw the pillow across the room, she had made him go crazy with wanting. Even now, she had left him insane with the aching need to have her again, that he was now talking to himself!
Burying himself in his bedcovers, Hatori tried to push Tohru out of his mind. It was hopeless, she was now venom in his blood, poisoned by her passion.
"No woman should be as tempting as her."

"Don't waste your thoughts on a girl trying to be a woman."

The sound of a voice made Hatori snap to attention.
"Akito!"
He was more angry than surprised by the intrusion.

How did he know Tohru had been with him?
Akito had often came to visit unannounced, but if he had been watching. . .
Tohru's trust in him was already ready too thin, if she knew Akito had seen. . .the thought was too painful to bare.

Sliding down the door frame, Akito let his silken red kimono drape around his thin frame.
"She may know how to undermine me from time to time, but she'll give you nothing but trouble. Her charm won't last long."
He glanced at Hatori. "Hmph, it's amusing isn't it? When you're granted one chance of happiness, you have to give it up. . .it's always been that way, hasn't it Hatori?"

Standing up, Akito saunted over to Hatori.
Leaning over the bed, he pushed Hatori's long fringe out of his eyes and traced the barely visable scar under his left eye.
"She's like Kana, in the end she'll give you nothing but heartache. You forget you're meant to be as cold as snow, your duty is to me--not her."

Looking away, Hatori took a deep breath and held it for a single moment. For the first time in a long time, he felt tears slip from his eyes.
"Don't you dare do anything to her!" His voice was a soft harshness.
Turning to glare back at Akito, he narrowed his dragon eyes. They flashed an unmistakable anger. "I WILL NOT wipe her memories! You won't get to her like you did with Kana. . .not THIS time!"

"No Hatori. I'm not going to do anything to her, I don't know why, but I approve of her; YOU though have already made sure she's hurting like Kana did." Akito straightened with a look of satisfaction. "She'll forget you without your help."

Shock swept through Hatori. 'So Akito HAD been watching--he knew WHY Tohru fled.'
He wanted to strangle the fagile Diety. 'Diety or not, I'm going to kill him!'

Laughing, Akito headed toward the door, as if he knew what Hatori had been thinking. "It wasn't me spying on your act of intimiacy. . ."
Slipping through the gap, he glanced at Hatori one last time. "She looked as jealous as a horse."

Flopping against the pillows, Hatori stared up at the ceiling.
He growled and swept one arm across his bedside table, smashing his bonzai to the floor.
'Rin. . .!' He grimaced at the thought of her watching. 'Why can't she leave me the hell alone?'

* * * *

Being as quiet as she could, Tohru crept into Shigure's house. She didn't want anyone in the house to want answers she didn't have. . .or want to give.
She had already been humiliated, she didn't want to be reminded of it.
Even the long walk home hadn't helped her forget the events from that night. No matter how much she had begged the cold night winds to take her memories, it refused to answer her pleas.

The sound of a step creaking below her foot made Tohru stop and gasp as she looked up.
Just the rememberance of the last time she had gasped made her blush as the images from hours earlier flashed in her mind.
'Ha'ri. . .why don't you care for me as you did with Kana?'
She bent her head and furiously wiped away her tears. There was no use crying, what was done was done--she couldn't change it, she had wanted it--she had to live with it, no matter how used she felt.

"How did things go tonight?"

Startled, Tohru whirled around, almost falling down the stairs.
Rin stood behind her.
'Strange,idn'idn't see her when Ie ine in. . .but then again, it's hard to see with just moonlight.'
Tightly holding onto her belongings Tohru tried to find her voice. "F. . .f. . .fine--I guess."

"Fine?" Rin questioned Tohru as she moved closer. 'When it comes to Hatori, nothing was JUST fine!' She plastered a smile on her lips. "Either things went well or they didn't."

"Well. . ." She couldn't stop the silent tears splashing on her hands. "I followed your advice and. . .and. . ." Slumping against the wall, Tohru closed her eyes. "Everything was incredible, until. . ."

"Until?"
Rin stood on the step below Tohru. She felt guilty for wanting to know WHY Tohru had wanted a small course in how to seduce someone; Tohru hadn't mentioned who she wanted to seduce--so, out of curiousity, she had followed her.
She simply thought it'd be Kyo or Yuki, but then again, Tohru would have mentioned SOMETHING. In the end, she had bribed Ayame to tell her, since he was usually the first to find out the gossip in Shigure's house.

When Ayame told her Tohru had secretly been seeing Hatori; she felt shocked, hurt, betrayed, angry and jealous.
She couldn't understand why he was seeing an outsider; Tohru wasn't of the Zodiac, he couldn't hold her and she couldn't even begin to understand the Sohma curse.
Rin gave a sly smile to herself. . .she had the advantage over Tohru; she was cursed by the spirit of the horse.

Swallowing a ball of tears rising in her throat, Tohruked ked at Rin.
"Until he compared me with Kana!"
Slowly turning around, Tohru dragged herself up the stairs. "All I want to do now is have a bath and crawl into bed."

Smirking, Rin watched Tohru drag herself up the stairs.
'So things didn't go as she had hoped!'

Peeking out his door, Shigure frowned at Rin undermining Tohru in her own secretive way; with his dog-like ears, he had heard every word exchanged between the two.
'Damn you Rin. . .'