Standard Disclaimer applies.

a/n: I NEVER PUT UP THE ALTERNATE ENDING. ARGH.

Hope you enjoy. It is in 2 parts.

If you read this and don't like it, pretend you never did. It's just me dabbling in some heavy angst. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Hatori's Remedy presents (a very dark alternate ending):

Chapter 58: A Knock at the Door Part 1

Tohru opened the door to a delicate-featured woman. She would have been beautiful except for the hollowness of her eyes and the way her thin lips and eyebrows both curled into a frown of disapproval. Her hair, black and angular, making her seem older. The creases on her face were like deep ocean trenches. They must have been created over a long period of time. She did not look pleased.

Tohru had seen this face before, but where? Was she Kasumi's or Natsuo's teacher?

"I am the wound on your arm that never goes away, a cigarette burn digging deep into your skin. Some nights, the memories just come back, like sharp daggers penetrating your every sense. You wake up sweating, heart pounding, unbalanced. It keeps you up for weeks."

Tohru shivered, white faced. Akito had expected instant recognition to register in the simple-minded girl's eyes. I am your keeper. But she looked like a fucking, idiot deer, standing before the hunter. All the better for you to fall from your heavenly pedestal that everyone puts you on.

"Do you know who I am?" Akito hissed, growing impatient by the second. Her neck poked forward, like a ferious dog tied to a fence. One of those that has a sign nearby that says, 'Beware of Dog.'

Tohru shook her head miserably. She felt like she had in pre-school. Her teacher was dubbed "The Wicked Witch" by all her students because she spoke in a disturbingly low, level tone, when a student did not perform to her expectations. She never took into consideration that the kids were between the ages of three and five - impressionable, innocent, and made mistakes, generously. Her words were like ice - cold, merciless, stinging. They had come upon her like a pelt of glass shards after Tohru accidently knocked over her plastic cup. Honestly, it was just water! The woman, or rather, witch grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to the head of the table. She used Tohru as an example of a "bad child." Children are robots that need to be programmed. You all will not have a glitch like this, or else you will have no snacks for the whole week.

However, Tohru had only been there for a month before her mom took her out. The memory flooded back with the force of a turbulent river.

"Akito! You ingrate, abusing my kindness, running off with a Sohma, even having the fucking nerve to get married! You think I wouldn't find out! You think that you can implant your dirty seed among us? All the Sohmas have been punished for this secrecy. All your little vacations, parties, gatherings - how pathetic. I'll admit, it was hard, but I found you through leaking bits of information here and there. It took 16 years to get to this point. I haven't forgotten. The longer the hunt, the more enjoyable the rewards."

How could one person contain so much contempt? Tohru thought. She had forgotten the part about Akito's identity being female - a new revelation, too lost, too contemplative of other things, too fearful. It had been a decade and a half of utter ecstasy. Couldn't Akito just accept it? Hatori was happy. His freedom had allowed him to soar. What more do you want?

"I want Hatori back. It's that simple. You can keep your spawns. I'll allow that."

"No." Tohru said simply, in a ruthless tone that had never come out of her mouth until now. He is my husband. We belong together. We fit together like a puzzle, never to be broken.

"You want trouble. Innately, you are a selfish, superficial shadow of a girl. You just want. Have you thought about the consequences of your needs? Hatori has left his family. His kin. Everyone has been punished for your sin! You made me do it. I didn't want to. It's all your fault." There was urgency and unleashed frustration in her voice.

Tohru's heart throbbed. What had she done? What happened to her friends? She needed to call them, to make sure they were fine. She wouldn't settle until she knew the truth. Her stomach was already cramping. Her breathing was slow and deliberate.

Akito put her hand around Tohru's arm, her finger pinching, and pushed her to the side of the doorway, fortunately onto the loveseat. Akito came into the house and closed the door. Lock. Furtively, Tohru eyed the clock on the side table. It was 11 in the morning. There was no one to help her. Could she get to the kitchen phone quick enough? No.

"Please sit down, Akito-san." Tohru said, as calmly as she could. A conversation could hopefully resolve all the issues. 20 years of built-up hate...

"I won't submit to your shit. You are an orphan, a leech. You have no family, no money, no beauty, no brains - worthless. What did he see in you? I will never be able to wrap my head around it. Must be something about you needing to be saved. He was always into the weak, hopeless type. He left the estate, the million-dollar inheritance for this? A shack with you? Away from civilization? Normalcy? Only a fool would do such a asinine thing. He must be, the broken, useless doctor. His mind so twisted after all his years of muling over his mother's death. It must have had some effect on him. Maybe you're the maternal type." She made the last sentence sound dirty. Like she was an old maid, out for new blood.

You can shun me with words, but you will never tear open my heart. I won't let you. My love resides in a unbreakable glass box, sealed with love. Away from you.

"He is not useless!"

"Oh he isn't?

I assume he's not a doctor currently. Probably working in the fields or butchering cattle. Something menial. But I'm sure he tells you that it's fine. He likes it. It is satisfying, fresh, invigorating. Fresh air to flush out the stagnancy. Blah-blah."

"He doesn't. He is just using you to get away from the life he had. He was bored. You were a conquest. A distraction."

Tohru didn't believe a single word. But her objections seemed futile. What was there to do? Keep up the talking? Run? Scream? The neighbors weren't home.

"Spare me of these empty words. They fall upon deaf ears." Akito added.

"Just because you have not experienced it does not mean it doesn't exist! Let me help you!"

Akito snorted. She made a tsking sound as she shook her head. "Let's stop beating around the bush, shall we?" She rose from the seat across the cocktail table and came toward Tohru, acting fast. Before even the stupid girl realized what was going to happen. Akito's hand snaked into one of the many folds of her black yukata to get a bag of powder. She straddled Tohru's lap and shoved the vile white substance into her mouth, down her throat with her hands. One hand held upon the orifice, jaw-breakingly - the other literally shoved the bag as far as possible, emptying it out with a shake. Down, down, down, it went. Tohru choked, spat, but there was too much. Overwhelming. It was already mixing with her saliva. Down, down. Nooooo. The last things Tohru remembered was the black cloth sweeping across the hard wood floors and her two angelic babies, who would be waiting in front of the school courtyard.

I love you.

All went black.

"Let this be a lesson. I will make your relationship falter, dissolve. You can't be happy... if I can't."

tbc...

The more the reviews, the earlier i will post part 2.