One Year Later...

Rika shoved her books away from her, leaning back into her chair to stare at the ceiling. She felt like she'd been studying for days and getting nowhere, her little apartment scattered with neon sticky notes and discarded mugs in preparation for exams. Having matriculated in Autumn had done little to lift the workload, but neither did spending all her free time travelling back and forth to see Kyo and the others either. Not that Rika was going to complain. She'd worked too hard to get here.

Standing upright, the woman stretched out. Felt her spine realign itself with a click and the tension seep from her shoulders.

"Tea." She murmured to herself. "I'll make tea."

The little apartment was hardly more than a living space with a bed, bathroom and adjoining kitchen. Her inheritance from both her parent's life insurance had come through the previous summer and then she'd also discovered the stipend. Paid monthly. Directly from the Sohma funds. Akira had set it up for her mother and it had passed to Rika. Like it or not, she was wealthy. More than she reasonably knew what to do with it all.

Buying the flat had been her first indulgence. A place of her own while she studied.

A new cell phone sat on the little island that divided living space and kitchen, flashing bright to tell her she had a text from Uotani. Ignoring it for now, Rika padded to the sink and filled up her kettle. Placed it on the stove to heat. She'd found her own routines little by little. Learning to live with herself. To trust her own gut. Her heart. Standing holding her empty mug, the woman jumped at the bell on her door. Eyes flickered to the calendar on the wall. No one was due to visit her today.

Figuring it could be one of the neighbours complaining about the folks on the floor above again, Rika left her mug down on the island. Undid the bolts.

The woman on the other side of the doorway was so unexpected that Rika took an instinctive step back.

"Wait, don't close me out!" Akito's hands were flung upright, hesitant. "Please."

"Why are you here." She didn't ask how the other woman had found her. A darting look to the car lot beside her building revealed that quick enough, the familiar vehicle sitting idle in her personal spot.

"Hatori drove me. I asked him not to tell you. To give me a chance to speak to you alone and I - I was afraid if he warned you and you said no -,"

"That he'd listen?"

Akito nodded. Rika felt a flare of pride for the doctor. Finally, finally, he'd grown enough of a noticeable backbone that Akito hadn't known where his loyalties would lie. It was petty to dwell on such a detail but she was feeling vulnerable. Off guard.

"You can call him up - if you wish him to be here while I talk. If you'd feel safer." Rika stood back, pulling the door wider.

"I can handle you." Akito didn't dare argue, stepping in after her. Rika's heart was heavy in her chest. Conflicted. Closing the door behind Akito took more strength than she'd have thought, the very idea of locking the two of them together almost enough to turn her blood cold. Instead of letting that old fear prevail, Rika exhaled.

"Tea?"

"Yes, please."

"You can sit down wherever. I'll be a minute." Putting space between them allowed Rika to return to the kitchen. To type out a hasty message to Hatori that consisted of -

'You're going to explain what the hell you were thinking."

She flinched when the water hit boiling, the kettle singing until she removed it from the heat. Poured out two cups for them both. Found a plate and some desserts that Momiji had dropped by over the weekend for her. She found Akito still standing, studying the door of Rika's closet. The sliding panel was filled with photographs from top to bottom, an endless marking of history. Shigure had returned the effects of her mother when Rika was moving out, but it wasn't just her childhood there. Beach House visits. The New Year's celebration they'd gone out to dinner for.

"They always loved you so easily." Akito's voice made her jump, tea sloshing over the edge of the mug and drawing a coarse swear from Rika's lips.

"I never asked them to."

"I know. I think that's why they did it." Akito turned and took the tea Rika offered her. Indicated one photograph in particular. "That was your leaving night wasn't it? I remember Saki telling me about it."

The image wasn't the prettiest, Rika's expression caught in the midst of tears. Tohru, Hana and Uo were all wrapped around her but that wasn't her favourite part. It was that Shigure, in snapping the image, had also caught Kyo in the background. Expression soft. Sad. Hopeful. It was after the last banquet. After Akito embraced being a woman. A leader. Alone.

Rika hated that she was still so torn about this woman. Her cousin. Her almost sister. There were photos of them both tucked away at the back of her desk. Memories from a time long before Akito had been poisoned from within. Before Rika could only associate the other woman with fear and regret. With university had been counselling services and a lot of billable hours. Weekly catch up calls with Rin had done wonders too. An outlet to feel angry. Betrayed. To sift through years of abuses and pain. Acknowledge that even if she didn't have the capacity to outright forgive the past, she could slowly move on from it.

"It was." She finally answered, realising Akito was waiting for an answer of some kind. Was she looking for some kind of apology for not inviting her? Or was it simply a passing comment. Rika's mind ticked back a moment as she realised that it had been Hana that had shared that story. Kyo had told her of the burgeoning relationship between the two but somehow Rika had missed it. Or maybe she'd been too stubborn to accept others being willing to just forgive Akito after everything that had happened. Uo and Hana had put Kyo through his paces when he'd started dating Tohru but welcomed Akito with open arms. Hugged her. Comforted her.

It shouldn't have bothered her.

It shouldn't.

It did.

"Rika." Akito looked smaller than she had when they were kids. Now, Rika looked down at her. Now, Rika wasn't afraid. Her eyes flickered away, the visual too difficult to reconcile. "I wanted to come here today because -

"Before Tohru's accident," Rika stiffened at the memory, looking back at the dark-haired woman. She found her head downcast. A bow, "She offered me friendship. Generosity. She gave me an opportunity to become better and cherish all of the Zodiac. To learn how to be more than a God."

Rika could see the strain in Akito's body. The trembling hands. Tension. Her own eyes were burning with something unnamed, hands only stopped from hanging useless at her sides by the mug she was still holding.

"She forgave me. For everyone. It wasn't her right, but it was something I needed to hear to learn how to try." Akito's voice trembled. "You tried to give me that too. In your own way. I just wasn't ready for it." Akito stood upright so suddenly that Rika flinched away from it but all that was there was an outstretched hand. "If you'll allow it - I would like to introduce myself to you.

As Akito Sohma. Head of the Sohma family and sister to Rika Sohma. I don't expect you to forgive me or forget, but maybe someday it could be true. Sisters don't have to tolerate one another. Don't have to obey one another. It's as good a place to start as any and then someday, we could be friends again too?"

Rika blinked.

Set down her mug.

Instinct was to tell this woman to get the hell out of her house. To never darken her doorstep again. Rika had spent a year sneaking in and out of the Sohma estate without crossing her path, what was a lifetime of it? Especially with everyone she loved stepping away from the place. The only ones she wanted to see who couldn't come to her at a whim yet were Kisa and Momiji but that was fast coming to an end too. It would be easy. To cut Akito from her life. Excise the tumour. Her blood hummed with the potential of it.

As loud as the song was, another began to rise.

Akito's words had finally struck her. As a sister. A publicly claimed sister. A legitimate part of the family. Something her mother had always wanted. Craved. How was she to deny that? Would choosing the easy path be right when her own mother decided to haunt her for throwing away this opportunity. Rika had always come back to the knowledge that she wanted to be a Sohma. What was being offered was more power than she would know what to do with. Power to actually change the system. The need for it to be true, to be real, was almost too much to bear. It grew and expanded through her stomach, her ribs, her toes. Filled up every trace of available space it found.

"What -," Her voice failed. She started again. "What duties would I have to fulfil?"

It was Akito's turn to look shocked. Rika revelled in the knowledge that she wasn't the only out of her depth here. The only one filled with discomfort.

"The occasional board meeting, of which you will have just as much say as I do in decisions, once you've been brought to speed on how things are run. Attendance at dinners. Celebrations. Those will be optional until you are ready but a place will always be there for you beside mine. Documentation is already being changed to reflect you as the other legitimate heir to the family in the event of illness or my stepping down."

There was a lack of oxygen in the room. Rika turned away to put down her mug before she dropped it mid faint, breathing uneven. Her forefinger and thumb pinched against the skin inside her wrist. Pain shot along her palm. She hadn't imagined it. This was real. This was real.

"Rika I cannot change the past. I can't take back how I blinded Hatori. The things I said and did to the other Zodiac's. To you." Akito's voice was clogged with moisture but Rika was too stunned to do anything but stare at her. "I can't prostrate myself before you and claim abuse, innocence or ignorance.

"What I can do is make a change. A small bit at a time. If you would like to be part of that change, then I would be honoured to call you my sister."

It didn't matter that they weren't sisters by blood. They were first cousins. It had been their parents who were siblings, though that had never been public knowledge. For Akito to risk the Sohma name to claim her as a sister was astronomically huge. That didn't stop Rika wanting it. To have a place to orientate herself with. A means to bring her mother's memory peace. To set her father to rest with the knowledge that all the things he had feared for her wouldn't come to pass. She wouldn't spend her days alone. Broken.

Minutes passed. Akito stood rooted, unmoving. Finally, Rika lifted a hand.

"Hello," She managed to get the words out somehow, even tacking a careful smile onto them, "My name is Rika. Sohma. Rika Sohma. It's nice to meet you."

It felt silly but the look on Akito's face was worth it. The hand was claimed. Smile returned.

"Rika, it's a pleasure. I hope, someday, we will have many years of friendship together."

Akito had been gone ten minutes when another knock sounded on her door. Rika had been staring into space, unable to focus on anything but the blood rushing through her ears. Stumbling to the door she passed the two cups of now icy tea. Neither woman had been able to drink it. Some things were too much for a first reintroduction. In time, perhaps they would be able to share tea together. To talk without stilted hesitation and old history controlling the direction of the conversation.

Pulling the door back revealed a sheepish looking Hatori.

"I called a driver for Akito. She agreed that maybe you could use company this evening." He lifted a carrier bag that made a suspicious clink as it moved. "And maybe a means to unwind."

Rika stared the man down. Looked from his face to the bag and back again.

"And what makes you think I wanted to see you."

A vindictive part of her wanted him to suffer for not giving her forewarning for today's visit. To put him through his paces. Hatori rolled his eyes and stepped into the narrow space she'd left in the doorway. Bowed his head so that his mouth ghosted over hers. He'd had too much time to know when she was talking crap.

"A partners intuition?"

Rika scowled but leaned up to close the small gap between them. Slid a hand around his shoulders to pull him after her into the room. Kicked at the door with the ball of her foot. Hatori moved willingly, blindly switching his carrier bag from right hand to left hand around her back and depositing it to the island. He pulled her so deeply into his embrace that her feet almost left the floor, her head curling to the crook of his neck. It hadn't been an easy path to here. To intimacy and the familiarity of him. Skin chilled from the evening air. His heart beating in tandem with hers.

Sorting through files at Hatori's desk, Rika attempted to pick out the apartment that was most suitable for her needs. Some were too big. Some too small. Too far from the university. Too far from home. The man himself was gone to the main house to check on one of the maids who'd happened to slice her hand open with a kitchen knife a few days previous.

The closer it got to her departure; the more tense Rika got. Nerves were alight in her stomach. For leaving. For the impending separation from all the people she knew and held dear to her. She and Hatori had remained close, his assistance invaluable with her admissions procedures. With where to look for accommodation. With getting her installed as a trainee at a local clinic so she could build skills before she even got to her degree. Loneliness was a painful emotion to contend with and even being just over two hours commute from the estate heightened the ravenous terror.

She wasn't alone anymore. Not really.

It didn't make leaving any easier.

Kyo would come to terms with her leaving once he and Tohru had struck up their relationship. Kisa and Hiro had cleared the air. Rin and Haru. Meanwhile, Rika had...complications. Her gaze darted to the clock nearby. Tohru would be released from the hospital soon. This evening, they would all be back home in Shigure's, causing havoc and filling Rika's heart with an aching sense of impending doom.

A key clicked in the door and she heard Hatori call her name.

"In here!" Picking up her glass of water, she heard the slide of the door onto the porch and started to meet him there. Only to stagger. There was a shatter against the floor but all Rika could hear was feel was a sharp twang of a snapping band from deep within her. It started deep and reverberated through every muscle. Bone. Cell.

An inhale brought pain.

Her exhale released it.

Hand braced against the door; Rika gave a shaky sob. The bond. The bond was gone. A spectre floated in her vision for a moment. Twelve animals. A god. What it left was a heavy absence. Angling herself to the porch by stepping over the broken glass, Rika saw Hatori. She felt off kilter. Shaken. Kyo was gone. Kisa. Yuki. Akito. Akito was gone.

Hatori.

He was stock still on the porch, a hand lifted to his face. She didn't need to see his face to see the tears. They were mirrored on her own.

"Hari…"

The man looked up. The look he directed at her was an arrow loosed from its bow, burying itself right through her heart.

"You're still here." He didn't mean in his house. His hand pressed itself to his chest, fingers spasming against the fabric of his shirt. "You're still here."

She dove into his embrace, pressing her mouth to his without even stopping to think it through. Between breaths she whispered to him.

"I love you. Oh hell, I love youIloveyouIloveyou." He echoed it and the pair crumbled down to their knees, Rika torn between weeping and laughter.

Leaning against the countertop, Rika handed Hatori a fresh bowl of rice and laid the remainder of their dinner on the island.

"Did she tell you why she was coming over?"

Hatori shook his head as shoved a glass of whiskey in her direction while Rika moved to her stool beside the island, knees bumping his.

"She wants to officially name me as a Sohma. Give me a place on the family board." He nearly dropped his chopsticks, turning to her with wide eyes. "She's going to send the papers with you next weekend for me to sign."

"Rika - this - this is huge!" He dropped a hand on her knee. Bent his head to meet her eyes. "How do you feel about it?"

She laughed faintly, tugging the whiskey towards her and feeling the bevel of the glass beneath her fingertips. Lifting the drink, the woman knocked it back quickly. By far the most inappropriate way to drink it but she needed something to steady her nerves.

"I feel overwhelmed. This is something new Hatori. A change." She and Akito had spoken after they had shaken hands. Not anywhere like how they used to do, heads bowed on the same pillows and fingers intertwined. A friendship, a sisterhood like that, could never be recovered. But from its embers, a new fire could be lit. Perhaps smaller. Maybe a little less bright. A fire all the same.

They'd planned a meeting. A further conversation.

Rika would never forget the abuse. The fighting. The six years she had spent far from the people she loved because of someone else's spite and an invisible duty to an unforgiving god. Tohru had offered forgiveness in her place a year ago. Rika had taken the time to evaluate where her place was within the Sohma household. What she wanted from it. What she might be willing to give to gain it.

Most parts were difficult.

How to forgive Akito. How to be a Sohma and not sacrifice the parts of her that were her father. How to keep in contact with Kyo and Tohru when they would leave so that she'd never have to lose her best friend again. To gain Hiro's still elusive forgiveness. To keep fostering her growing friendship with Rin. Balancing the classes she taught at the dojo while visiting Kazuma.

And then...

Some parts were simple.

Hatori. She wanted him. Loved him. He was as essential to her as breathing. As the electricity that made her heart beat. The ocean as it washed over her feet on the shore and the smell of saltwater in the air. The way his smiles left her reeling. His kisses made her head spin. The bond may have started their connection once upon a time, but it hadn't been the bricks and mortar of who they had become. Time. Energy. Devotion. Those had made them. Would continue to make them.

Hatori dished out two more measures of whiskey and tipped his to hers.

"To something new." She smiled. Leaned forward to press her lips to his gently and then downed her second drink in one. Later, she'd make a quip about him getting her drunk again. Later, there would be room for laughter and relief. Right now, she couldn't take her eyes off of him as she repeated his toast.

"To something new."