Disclaimer I don't own anything. Got it? ok, I know that this thing shares a common title with a Sue Thomas episode, and it might be a tiny bit similar, but I am changing it, so don't sue! The riddles were written by me, see if you can fugure them out! If you do, I will give you a ...umm... cyber cookie!
another note, Fruits Basket should be put on the narchotics list, it is soooo addictive.
Tohru Honda looked around. She had a basket full of strawberries in her hands and she was walking towards Shig'ure's house. She smiled, feeling the slight breeze against her eyelashes. This what was she lived for. She adored the small moments that she had all the time. Most people didn't, but she liked to, since she didn't know when she would get to have them, or if she would ever.
Her brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and she wished once more that Yuki could have been there to help her with the Strawberries, but he had a student council meeting, and he said she could go to the secret base at any time. She decided she would make fruit rolls.
She hummed, then for the sheer exuberance of it, she started skipping.
"What a lovely, beautiful, wonderful, fun day for a little stroll." She said to herself. She sneaked a strawberry into her mouth, savoring the taste of the sweet, juicy fruit. she remembered with fondness the day she and Yuki had planted them.
But her joy was short-lived, for around the next tree, a menacing figure awaited her, a bludgeon in their hands.
No one heard her last scream
Yuki walked home, not really looking at the rode. It was plain and dusty, so why look at it? He had seen it a million times before. Besides, he had better things to do.
He was thinking of the choices he was supposed to make as the student council president. He sighed, thinking wearily of all the girls that had shown up. None of them really knew him, but he was kind to all of them, for Tohru.
That was why they called him the prince. He didn't mind, but he thought that if they knew the real him, he would be shunned. The very thought of being ignored and of being shunned like he had some disease made a shiver roll down him spine.
He began to feel a little anxious, what if they did find out, whom would he be a friend with then? He would have to erase all of their memories.
"Once my memories are gone, promise me you will still be my friend." Thoru had said once to him, almost a couple of days after she had seen him transform. That was the first time he was actually glad to open up, ever so slightly, to anyone. He began to wonder about wether she regretted him, knowing him, being his friend.
He took a calming breath. Miss Honda didn't mind his curse. Thoru Honda understood him, and he was glad he had met her.
He froze, not sure if he heard somthing or not. He looked left and right, searching the surrounding woods, eyes open and alert, listening for the scuffle of something. He heard a whimper. He stopped, listeining. Another whimper. His eyes searched the nearby woods, hoping to locate the sound. He heard it again. His eyes traced the curve of the road, then stopped
He saw a big lump in the road. It seemed to be some kind of animal in a canvas sack. It was human sized. He heard it whimper, and it sounded like Thoru.
He ran over to it, and it jerked.
"Please, don't hurt me!" a voice whispered frantically, and Yuki could hear sobs.
"Miss Honda?" he asked her, fiddling with the knot at the top of the sack, his trembling fngers slipping on the tighly knotted rope.
"Yuki?" she nearly choked. Her voice was raspy, like she had been screaming or crying for a while.
He took his pocket knife out and then worked on the knot, trying to keep her talking
"What happened, Miss Honda?" he asked her, slicing through the first loop of the knot.
" I was walking through the woods with a basket of strawberries and I was skipping, then something hit me on the back of the head, and I blacked out." She sobbed.
The knot was finally cut, and he pulled it down around her. She was blindfolded and there were bruises around her neak. Her hair had pieces of strawberry in it, and when he first saw her shirt, he nearly fainted
Huge red smears covered her front. But he soon realized that they were what was left of the strawberries.
She sobbed again, and he cut the blindfold away, and unbound her hands. She was about to throw herself into his arms, then stopped, and the tears flowed again. Her wrists were raw and red, and her neck had a thin cord around it. He cut that too, and a small envelope came off of it.
Yuki helped her to her feet after putting everything in the bag, as evidence. She couldn't walk very well.
"Miss Honda, I can't carry you, and you can't lean on me." He said, stating the problem.
"I'm sorry, I know I'm a burden, I can walk!" she exclaimed, wincing as she tried to stand. The world swirled around her, and the long shadows that the setting sun was making seemed to grow.
She fell down into the dirt, and Yuki held a hend to her forehead.
"You have a fever, you are bruised, you look like that cord was meant to kill you, you are covered with strawberry and you can hardly walk." He said. He turned down the other side of the path, hearing someone coming
"Tohru?" he heard Kyo call.
"She's over here, Kyo, and in bad shape!" he said, allowing a small hint of fear into his voice.
He came running to her, and then was by her side in an instant.
"What happened to you?" he demended. She mumbled something, and he put his hand against her head.
"You always get fevers! I told you that you need to chill out!" he exclaimed, voice raised in fear.
"We can make a stretcher, Kyo." Yuki said, stretching the canvas sack out. Kyo grunted something, too scared for Tohru's safty to argue with him.
They rolled her onto it, then lifted her. She had elapsed into uncounsioensness, and her bruises were like dark smears on her pale complextion. More bruises could be seen appearing on her arms and her feet. A black eye was starting to form over her right eye.
When they got her home, Shig'ure was out with his publicists, helping him with his story.
They put her on the couch, and Yuki went to get a book on the common illnesses and how to cure them. He came out and put a blanket over her still form.
"Hey, what's this for?" Kyo asked, pulling the tiny envelope out of a fold in Tohru's blanket. it had fallen out of the canvas sack when Kyo had shaken it.
"Open it, and see what it says." Yuki advised, paging through a book, looking at Tohru's face and feeling her pulse.
Kyo complied, and read it out loud,
My name is Simon; you know my game
Do what I say, exact and the same.
The treasure is great; the stakes are high
Tohru is poisoned, play my game or she dies.
"That-!" Kyo interrupted, then continued reading
Solve this next riddle she's got a while to go
This game starts now, and it's my game you know
This first clue is simple, and I mean it is so
The second letter in that and the beginning of end
Not the last in this sentence, the very first, my friend
The beginning of buts and of aim and of name
Then finish this off with a spin and some flare
The very last clue is at the end of there.
That is the riddle, take care and give heed
This game will get harder, your wits you will need
My name is Simon; I make the rules
I decide where you go, and when and what tools
Play my game, and I'll give you a clue
To what she is poisoned with and how it, to undo.
There was dead silence for a while, broken by Tohru herself,
"Yuki, don't! I'm a burden." She rasped. Her own pale clammy hands trembled above the blanket, and both Kyo and Yuki looked rather pale. Her forehead had tiny beads of sweat clinging to it, like dew on the grass, and her breathing was irregular and sounded harsh. Sweat had run into her bangs, making them plaster to her skin.
"No, just try to get better, Miss Honda." He tried to consol her
" Yuki, you don't need to show me where your secret base is, you've done so much for me already." She said, smiling, her feverish face sweating.
"She's gone delirious!" Kyo said. "What do we do?" he seemed to calm himself down. "When I find that guy, or girl, or dancing bear, I am going to rip him limb from limb and-!" he said, and then stopped, as the place flooded with cats and kittens.
"As much as I hate to say this, we have to play this game," Yuki said, anger pooling into his visage, fists trembling in anger. She had been his first friend to stay with him, through thick and thin. Now some serial killer was trying to toy with that friend ship! Rats started appearing from everywhere.
"Can you guys possibly find out from the smell what the heck is causing my friend pain?" Yuki asked, and Kyo asked the same. The animals all got to work, sniffing her fluttering breath and going off to search the forest for it.
"Ok, let's get the riddle pieced out." Kyo said, taking a spare piece of rice paper and a pencil and starting to rewrite it.
"I guess so." Yuki said, and he too, began to write.
Ok, I love my reviewers for all my stories. I know this isn't very much like the books, but hey, did I capture it?
Yuki; yes, Angie, I think you did; now maybe you should let it go.
Angietheunicorn glares at him, he just laughs.
Kyo; this is stupid, why can't you just give us the answer?
Angietheunicorn; what fun would that be, besides, I want to see how many people actually get it. It's not scrambled, so once you get the letters, you got the answer. Hint hint; ask your friends who have read the Redwall books for hints on the riddle, since this type of riddle is a common format in some of them. Thanks for reading! Next chappie being written.