A/N: To paraphrase Britney Spears; "Oops, I did it again." Almost another full year without posting. I need to have a word with the Muse about her lax attitude. Having said that, I really have no excuse for my reticence in writing another chapter. It's not like my laptop isn't on top of my desk literally staring at me daily. (No, really, a toddler who shall remained unnamed pasted a set of eyes on it. It's kinda creepy...)

Anyways, here is the next exciting chapter in our story. It is a short one this time. As always, I own nothing. The cats have everything in their name. Enjoy!

"End Game"

Chapter 6 : Breaking Down

Four days later at the Ogasawara residence.

Tooru was tired. He had had no sleep. Because of that he could not focus on his work. To make matters worse, Sachiko's condition hadn't seem to improve. Neither had Sayako's disposition towards him. She had yet to come home from the hospital.

Standing, Tooru moved from behind his desk and proceeded to the kitchen for a drink of water. He could have had the staff bring it, but he needed to focus on something besides his daughter's state of existence and his declining marriage.

On the way back, he passed Sachiko's room. He stopped in front of the door and looked at it as he sighed heavily. He had been avoiding the area since his return home. Knowing that he had to face the evidence of what had happened on the other side of the door eventually, he took a deep breath and opened it…

… and stepped into chaos. 'What is this?' he thought as he gazed around his daughter's room. 'It looks like an tsunami came through here.' He turned around several times taking in the damage.

"I knew Sa-chan had a temper..." He said out loud to no one. "But this...this..." He paused for a moment taking it all in. Her last letter to him came to mind. "This is rage. Pure, unrestrained, rage." The thought that he had driven her to this point saddened him. 'All because I wanted a safe secure future for her. She became this angry at me.' He thought.

He continued to look around the room for several moments before his eyes settled on the large, dark, rust-colored stain on the carpet near her piano. Walking over to it, he got down on his knees and gently caressed the now dry spot as he continued to reflect on her words.

'No,' He thought. 'This isn't anger towards me only. I was just the catalyst. This is anger at father. Unrestrained and misdirected at whatever she could lay her hands on. If I had been the sole source, she would have let out on me. If I had been home…' He choked and teared up at that thought. 'If only I had been home. Maybe she wouldn't have done this.'

His tears began to fall freely. 'This is all because I chose to follow father's ways. Because I thought it to be in her best interests, I didn't listen to her. By making decisions for her, instead of with her, I failed. Because I didn't take her needs and desires into consideration... This...this is my fault. My family is coming apart because I failed to understand them.'

Tooru began to weep openly. Something he had not done since he was a child. Another thing his father had insisted on. His vision blurred as he bent forward in pain and balled his right hand into a fist. The thought that he would lose his only child because of a selfish desire to secure the future his father had demanded and misappropriated was too much. 'She was right.' He told himself as he punched the floor in front of him. 'I deserve no forgiveness…' His vision closed in around him as his thoughts and emotions gave way to despair. His blows to the floor becoming harder and harder.

-0-0-

Sayako was tired. Bone tired. The last 96 hours had been grueling. She had finally decided to come home to rest and recover. But only after Dr. Tanaka reassured her that Sachiko's condition had been upgraded and she was out of immediate danger. She would live, he said, but her road to recovery was going to be a long one.

Sayako trudged upstairs towards her bedroom. As she passed by Sachiko's room she noticed that the door was ajar. After hearing a barely audible noise coming from within, she moved closer to look inside.

She quietly opened and peered around the door. Tooru was kneeling near the spot where she had first found Sachiko. Sayako quickly pushed the thought aside as she fought a brief wave of nausea at the recollection. Watching her husband, she could hear him crying softly. It was something she had never known him to do. She could see him beating his fist into the floor in front of him.

Concerned, she quietly entered the room and came up beside of her husband. She gasped as she saw a fresh spot of blood along side that of Sachiko's where his blows were meeting the floor. In between Tooru's sobs, she could hear him muttering the word "no" over and over in rhythm as he pounded the floor.

Sayako wondered how long he had been there on the floor like that. Sayako figured that he likely didn't know how long he had been there either, judging by his current state and apparent inability to recognise the fact that he had injured himself to the point of bleeding. She doubted that he even knew she was there. Whatever was eating away at him had pushed him close to the edge of his sanity. She noticed that his tempo and chant suddenly changed and became louder.

"No, no, no, no!" He cried. "Not our daughter, not our precious, beautiful daughter. Please not her!"

Seeing that he was only going to injure himself further, Sayako decided to intervene. Grabbing at his arm in an attempt to stop him, she began yellinghis name. "Tooru! Tooru! Stop. Stop it Tooru! Please stop!"

Her husband continued trying to thrust his arm several more times before he recognized that she was beside him. Without looking up to her, he said. "Not our child, not our child, please Sayako, not our child. Not our beautiful little girl." The child-like pleading in his voice brought tears to her eyes, Fighting them back, Sayako pulled him into a tight embrace and began rocking him as he continued to sob uncontrollably for several more minutes.

Finally, Tooru seemed to come back from wherever his mind had taken him. "Gomenasai Sayako, gomenasai. I have tried to be a good husband to you and father to her. That's all I ever wanted to be. I never inten..." He choked on another sob. "I never intended for this...this... thing to happen. I didn't realize that she had become that serious about Yumi-chan. I thought she was just being stubborn and avoiding her responsibilities. This is my dishonor. I'm sorry. I was wrong, I was so very wrong."

Sayako continued to slowly rock him as he spoke. "I'm not the monster she says I am. I never intended to hurt her. I just... I'm not...evil like that. I don't want to lose her Sayako. She is the only thing that matters. I forgot to pay attention to that. This is my fault and my failure. God, what are we going to do without her?"

Sayako briefly squeezed her husband tighter. "Listen to me Tooru." She told him. "Listen to me. No, you are not a monster. You have been a good father to our child. She knows this. But she is also very angry with you and your father right now, as I am. She may forgive you in time. Right now however, she is still very emotional about it."

Tooru nodded his head. "I know. We don't have that kind of time anymore. We're going to lose her..."

Sayako shushed him. "No. Listen. No, we are not going to lose her Tooru. She is not going to die. Doctor Tanaka told me that she is out of danger now. Do you hear me? Do you understand my husband? Sachiko will live." She felt her husband slump into her as though a 100 years of tension had suddenly left his body. She heard a quiet "Thank the gods." escape his lips.

Firmly, she told him. "However my husband, now the hard part begins. We, and I mean all of us, including Yumi and Sachiko. We need to win the battle for her mind. She is going to take a long time to heal. As I said, because of he way things were handled, she is very angry with you and your father. You are going to have to work hard to regain her trust and forgiveness. You should be prepared to hear a lot of hurtful things from her until she does." She took a deep breath. "However, before that, you will need to change, not only in how you think of her, but how you approach her. She isn't just some manager at the company or an employee Tooru. She is our daughter. Our gift. Your child has her own mind and her own way of doing things. Do you understand?" She felt him nod. "There are no absolutes when dealing with family Tooru, especially when it applies to Sa-chan and her relationship with Yumi-chan. You have to become more flexible. As I said, she has her own mind and her own way of doing things. It's time you acknowledged that that." She felt him nod again.

Pulling back from him, she looked into his eyes. "And you are going to have to do one final thing to change her future." She said before pausing. "Cancel that stupid arranged marriage contract Tooru. If you accomplish that, you will next have to do something that will be even harder and more un-natural for you..."

He gave her a puzzled look. "And that is?"

She smiled at him. "Stay out of her personal life." She said. "That means leaving her future to her. She doesn't need to be told what to do. She is an Ogasawara after all. She knows what she wants and needs, and how to get it. As hard as that will be, it's what we have to do from now on. She isn't a little girl that needs protection anymore. From now on, we are observers to the life that she will create. It is her horse to ride."

Tooru looked at her thoughtfully for several seconds. "And if she falls?"

Sayako smiled again. "We'll be here to silence her cries, dry her tears, and shove her back onto the horse if need be."

Tooru nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes. Yes we will."

Sayako took his now swollen and bloodied hand. "Come, lets go see to this. And then perhaps get some dinner, yes?"

Tooru gave her a small smile. "Yes love. We should go to bed early afterward as well."

Sayako looked at him skeptically for a few moments. "You couldn't possibly mean for 'that' reason do you? Now? At such a time?"

Tooru chuckled at her response then shook his head. "No love, that is not what I meant. I just... I want to be held by my wife some more. I believ that we both just need some quiet time together after these last few days."

Sayako gave him a grim smile. "Yes. That we do. However, you should know that you are still not out of trouble with me."

Tooru agreed. "Hai. Hai. I do. Twenty-four years togther and I'm still in trouble..."

Sayako gave a gasp in shock and play slapped his arm as he helped her up. "Men..." she said in exasperation.

-0-0-