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═══ THE SANO SPIRIT ═══

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

EVERYONE HAD COLLECTIVELY AGREED that it would be best for Akiko to stay home for some days. Whereas the girl herself wanted to dive head first into her studies to distract herself, everybody else found it best to give her time to rest. For one, she was injured. For another, the past week must have taken a toll on her mental health.

Just because she was outnumbered, Akiko had agreed. Through the kitchen window in the Sano house she had watched as Mikey and his half sister Emma were off to school - though Akiko had a feeling Mikey would skip classes for gang business every now and then.

After breakfast, Shinichiro had taken her to see a doctor and get her wound examined. He took charge of explaining the situation and gave answer to all the doctor's questions — obviously making up a lie to mask the true events. In the end, Akiko had needed a couple of stitches and some painkillers.

Their trip into the city didn't end there.

Shinichiro insisted on buying her some new clothes to wear, making it very clear that he didn't want Akiko anywhere near her father's house. At first, Akiko had tried to argue that she could just borrow some clothes from Emma and refused to let him waste his money on her. But Akiko soon realized that all Sanos were stubborn and strong-willed, and there was no way she could convince Shinichiro.

Especially not after he said his reason.

He wanted to treat her like a princess and allow her to be a teenager for once. He wanted to make up for lost time. He even admitted that it was a way for him to ease his guilty conscience. Almost, Akiko had shed a tear again.

With their parents not around anymore and their grandfather - Akiko found the thought of finally having a grandparent to be nice - being their legal guardian, Shinichiro had been looking out for his siblings this whole time. He was ten years older than Mikey, eleven years older than Emma and Akiko.

When Shinichiro offered to let her stay at the bike shop while he worked, Akiko declined his offer, claiming that she was tired and wanted to lie down for a little while. So, he dropped her off at the Sano house, then drove on toward the shop. Sighing, she watched him roll down the street and out of sight.

Akiko nearly jumped out of her skin when she found grandfather Sano standing in the doorway. He was eyeing the two shopping bags in her hands. Immediately, Akiko's mind came up with the worst scenarios - he could accuse her of taking advantage of his grandsons and kick her out, or other scenarios that all ended with her being thrown out of the Sano house.

Against all expectations, grandfather Sano smiled. "I see Shinichiro has a soft spot for you."

Eyebrows furrowed, Akiko opened and closed her mouth, dumbfounded. Silently, she watched as grandfather Sano descended down the steps, took the shopping bags out of her hands and patted her head.

"Your hurt. You shouldn't be carrying those."

The care and kindness Akiko had experienced in these past few days, from Chifuyu and his mother, from Shinichiro, even from Baji who was trying to pull her out of her shell, it made her heart swell immensely in her chest. Her cheeks a faint shade of pink, Akiko entered the house after grandfather Sano.

"I will ask Emma to make some space in her closet. You'll be sharing a room with her for a while so you might as well start feeling at home," he stated.

Shortly after storing the bags in Emma's room, the elderly man took Akiko by the shoulder and lead her down the hall toward a door on the far left. Confused, Akiko opened her mouth to question where he was taking her but he only smiled.

Behind the door there was an office. Thin layers of dust coated the furniture, apparently it wasn't used very frequently.

"Please, excuse this mess. We barely use this office. Frankly, I don't even know why we have it," chuckled the old man.

He headed straight for a shelf behind the desk and took down a framed picture. A gentle smile sat on his face as he took a moment to gaze down at it, wiping the dust away with his sleeve.

"She was only seventeen when we took this picture," he said.

Akiko witnessed as his eyes glazed over with tears but none trickled down his cheeks and when he looked up, she thought she must have imagined it.

"Mayu used to hate cameras. She hated the spotlight. She was always such a kind and gentle soul. It's a shame her life took a turn like this."

Akiko's eyes widened. "Mayu? As in my mother?"

"See for yourself."

Very hesitant, Akiko took the frame into her own hands and let her eyes roam the picture. There was unmistakably the Sano house standing in the background, and sitting on the steps in front was her mother, or at least a younger version of her. Her chestnut brown hair swayed in the wind, there was a twinkle in her amber eyes that Akiko had never seen in them before, and a smile stretched across her youthful face.

Akiko smiled. Her thumb caressed Sano Mayu's face over the glass of the frame. She sniffled a couple of times, not sure if it was due to the dust or if she was becoming emotional.

"She was beautiful," she said. "Now, she looks so sad all the time."

"Has anyone ever told you that you look just like your mother?" asked grandfather Sano.

Akiko shook her head. "My mother rarely leaves the house. Not many people have seen her or even know her name. And I'm starting to understand why."

'You never purposely let me suffer, did you? That's not the kind of person grandfather described you as. It's all his fault.'

Next time Akiko spoke up, her voice was unwavering, full of determination.

"Teach me how to fight," she asked of grandfather Sano. "This is my battle. I don't intend on other people fighting it for me."

Granfather Sano chuckled, patting the girl's shoulder. "Your health is our first priority, Akiko. Come to me when you're healed. Then we can have that talk."

He turned and headed out of the office, but before he disappeared he said one more line.

"I knew you were a true Sano the very moment I laid eyes on you fourteen years ago."

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──── ˚✩ ༘*ೄ˚ ────

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TIME SEEMED TO FLY and two days had passed. Every day, Akiko watched as Emma and Mikey left the house as the sun painted Tokyo in a soft golden hue. Shinichiro would ask her to accompany him to the shop and she would decline. Then, she would watch as grandfather Sano taught lessons in the dojo adjacent to their house.

Sitting on the sidelines, Akiko followed each movement with intense eyes, face scrunched up in confusion. Granfather Sano might have said that she couldn't physically participate in practice, but that didn't mean she couldn't learn something from observation. After all, a fighter could only become as strong as his will. The strength of one's will could be limitless, as long as they learn to let go of their physical barriers.

In all those years, her will to make it out of that house had been the only thing that kept her going. And Akiko was determined to take her mother with her. Whatever the cost.

Shooting glances at the girl from the corner of his eye, grandfather Sano smiled. She definitely had the Sano spirit. Then, his eyes drifted toward the dojo entrance and found a blonde boy standing there, his green orbs glued to Akiko as she imitated hand movements, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth in concentration.

"Akiko," he called out, making both girl and boy shift their gaze toward him. "You have a visitor."

Quickly, Akiko turned her head. A smile broke out on her face, heart fluttering with joy, but then the memories of two nights ago came back to her and she lowered her head shamefully. She pushed off the floor and followed Chifuyu outside.

They settle down on the stone steps, basking in the light of the afternoon sun. Birds were chirping, a soft breeze moved the trees and flowers in a small dance, and Akiko closed her eyes, taking in the sun's warmth.

"How have you been?"

There was a noticeable awkward tension between the two teens. Neither made eye contact. Both were tense, for various reasons.

"Honestly? I don't really know how to feel," Akiko told him truthfully.

"How so?" Finally, he allowed himself to take in her features, her pale complexion, her tired amber eyes and the dark circles under them, her chestnut brown hair that was tied up in a messy ponytail. Nevertheless, she looked beautiful to him. Chifuyu looked away with rosy cheeks.

"It's kind of hard to put it into words. All these secrets and lies made me question everything. It feels like the ground beneath my feet is shifting constantly and I'm caught up in a state of perpetual disorientation."

Chifuyu hadn't expected an answer with such deep emotions embedded into it. Then again, he understood how she must be feeling lost. He only wished to know a way of helping her, a way to ease the pain and erase all those worries from her life.

"Isn't it better to know the truth?" he questioned. "Or would you have preferred to keep on living a lie?"

Akiko shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. There is still so much I don't know."

"What are you going to do now?"

"There's no telling what will happen next," sighed Akiko. "But I know one thing for sure."

By standing up and raising a fist in the air, determination hardening the look in her eyes, Akiko put emphasis on her next words as she called them out to the sky.

"I am going to become a warrior and I will fight!"

Chifuyu nearly fell over as he hurriedly stood up. Shock was visible on his face. He seized Akiko by the shoulders and shook her lightly.

"Are you insane? You can't go up against a group like Pandemonium! They'll rip you to shreds!"

"What choice do I have, Chifuyu? If I don't step in and do something, my father and his men will keep on coming for the people I care about. It's bad enough that your mother became involved in this. I won't put anyone else at risk."

"Akiko"

She turned her back on him. "I'm sorry."

But Chifuyu wasn't having any of it. He stepped around Akiko, cupped her cheeks ever so gently and forced her to look him in the eye.

"None of this is your fault. There is only one person to blame. And if you're worried that mum is mad at you, she's not. She actually sympathizes with you. Just last night she said how terrible it must be living under the same roof as that man and that you didn't deserve this life. My mum loves you, Akiko. She isn't the kind of person to turn her back on someone in need and neither am I."

Moved by Chifuyu's small rant, Akiko failed to keep the tears at bay and a few of them trickled down her cheeks. Chifuyu didn't hesitate to pull her into a hug and tightly wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't worry," Chifuyu said, suddenly enthusiastic. "I will continue to be your knight in shining armor! And this time, I actually intend on being the one who does the saving."

When Akiko took a step back, she saw the pink hue on his cheeks, along with the way he was scratching the back of his head with an awkward laugh.

"By the way, how's your shoulder?"

"Oh. That." She glanced down at it for a moment. "It's healing. Still hurts but nothing I can't handle."

"When you're all healed and this mess has been dealt with, I'll take you out!" Chifuyu proclaimed, then added hastily, "But only if you want to!"

Akiko laughed.

"Too soon?"

"A little."