I've revised the entire first chapter again because I kept having this feeling it needed something. Every time I added a little more, I became more satisfied. The second chapter is coming along; I'm sorry for not updating! :(
Therefore I declare (finally) chapter 1 to be done.
Already Missing You: By Resuri
"Geez. This is such a pain in the ass. Just let them find out already and all we'd have to do is erase their memories and we'll be fine, right?" muttered Kyo as he, Shigure and Yuki all migrated into the laundry room, as to not draw attention to their animal forms. Tohru's two best friends, Arisa and Saki, had come over in order to inspect the house where their dear friend was staying. Though both of them had been there numerous times since Tohru had moved in with them a few months ago, they insisted that routine 'inspections' were necessary, and they wanted to be sure that Tohru was in fact well taken care of there. This annoyed Kyo to no extent, but he forced himself to deal with it, since he knew they'd come over anyway even if he told them he didn't want them there. Everything was going smoothly until Arisa had picked a fight with Kyo over a game of cards (as she always seemed to do) and accidentally ran into him during their argument. From there, it all went downhill. Every single time the girls came over, the boys would end up transforming at least twice right in front of Arisa and Saki. Luckily for the cat, rat, and dog, both girls seemed to be oblivious to the fact that their human hosts turned into popular pet animals. Tohru would always find ways to somewhat cover up for them even though her desperate explanations were indeed a bit premature, and often a little on the goofy side. But Tohru was Tohru, and no one thought anything of it.
"Sure we could do that," said Shigure. "But, as I've said on countless occasions, we would also have to erase Tohru's memories as well. Or, Tohru could get lucky and only her friends' memories would be erased. But would she really want that to happen?" he casted a sideways glace over at Kyo, whose mouth had opened furiously in response.
"That damn psychic would probably intervene if Hatori even tried to suppress their memories, even if it was only of the curse." Kyo rolled his cat eyes at the thought. "She'd probably give him and Akito utter hell for even mentioning suppression."
"Miss Uotani would also put her two cents in if Akito ordered Hatori to erase their memories" Yuki added. "Although, it would be a little interesting to see a verbal match between Miss Uotani and Akito…" he said thoughtfully, a sweat drop forming alongside his head as he imagined the colorful language, and rude gestures that would be used. He predicted that Arisa would most likely beat the living daylights out of his God and he doubted he'd try to stop her, as horrible as it sounded. It would be sweet revenge on his part.
Shigure eyed them curiously. "To an average person, the subject of Memory Suppression seems so farfetched, and there have been false accounts of such cases occurring. Think about this for a minute, you two. Would Miss Saki and Uotani really respond in such a way if they were brought to Akito? Would they really think that it was a possible procedure at first? Or would they not believe it until it was too late? I am sure they would get upset for being told that their memories were to be erased, however, I doubt they would take it seriously until the moment Hatori lays his hand on them and they black out, never again to remember their dear friend." The dog stared at the boys knowingly.
Both boys were silent for a couple of minutes as they thought over Shigure's words, which for the first time seemed to make sense; which was not a good thing.
"We have other things to worry about right now. We're gonna have to go find some clothes somehow, cause I really don't want to spend my life in this damn room with you two, and if we're missing any longer, Tohru's insane friends are gonna suspect something's up, and probably come try and find us." grumbled Kyo. "Remember the last time? Uotani saw Yuki in his damned rat form, and tried to beat him with a fricken' broom. Not that I care or anything, but still. Tohru nearly had a nervous breakdown."
Yuki glared up at Kyo, whose cat eyes were half closed with a twisted smile on his face as he recalled the incident.
Unfortunately for Kyo, Shigure had selective hearing, and did not hear the part about Arisa trying to club Yuki. All he heard was the part about Tohru's friends thinking something was up, and he broke down in a fit of laughter.
"Ooooooooh! Kyon-Kyon! What on earth are you insinuating? Of course they'll think something is up" teased Shigure. "You're almost as bad as dear Aya! Have you been getting lessons from him?
"SHUT UP, YOU DAMN PERVERT!" yelled Kyo, aiming a swat at Shigure's muzzle, and ended up missing him completely and falling off the dryer much to Yuki's amusement.
Unbeknownst to them, Saki was the one who already suspected something strange was amiss in the Sohma household. She had been reading strange electric waves from Yuki and Kyo for some time now, and since she had first entered their home, she had sensed that Shigure, the hyper little boy they saw at school occasionally called Momiji, and a quiet little girl they had met only a few days ago named Kisa had the same exact signals. She didn't particularly mind Momiji and Kisa; both seemed to have an undying adoration for Tohru (which she approved of immensely), and indeed Arisa thought it quite cute that Kisa referred to Tohru as her 'Sissy'.
Strange things also seemed to happen around them whenever they would come over to visit too. Such as the loud 'poof' noise that would be heard, accompanied by a thick layer of white smoke whenever the boys would accidentally ran into them, or that Kyo, Yuki, and finally that perverted writer would all go missing at the most inconvenient times, and stranger still, their clothes would all be scattered around the living room floor. Saki also noticed that whenever these events would occur, Tohru would get even more nervous, and high-strung than usual and would go into one of her famous fast-talking episodes if they asked her where the guys went off too.
To keep themselves occupied as they waited for the boys to return, Arisa and Saki decided to help Tohru make that night's dinner. While Tohru busied herself with the rice, Arisa focused on chopping the vegetables, cursing the onions for making her watery-eyed. "Die you stupid onion, die!" she yelled, waving the knife furiously around in the air, tears streaming down her face."Uo! Why are you crying? Is something wrong? I'm sure the onions don't mind you chopping them up!" Tohru said, with a small hand on Arisa's shoulder, looking up at her friend with worry. Arisa laughed, setting the knife down, and began wiping her eyes with a dishrag Tohru had handed her."Heh. That's a good one, Tohru. But it's just the stuff in onions that makes my eyes go nuts. Don't worry about it too much, all right?" The ex-Yankee gave Tohru a bone-crushing hug, before turning back to her chopping. Saki, meanwhile, had volunteered to cut up the chicken for the Chicken Teriyaki, but her mind wasn't completely focused on the task at hand. She could sense Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure's waves coming from the second floor.
Curious as to where their hosts had gone off too, the goth decided to explore the vicinities, giving Tohru and Arisa the excuse that she was going to the restroom, but promising that unlike the boys, she would not take long. She headed upstairs, and stopped in front of what she assumed to be the laundry room, as she could smell the fresh scent of laundry detergent and dryer sheets. But, she also heard her missing hosts talking within. She was puzzled as to why they were gathered in the laundry room of all places in a house. As she mingled around, she caught the end of what was presumed to be a heated discussion, and though she did not wish to eavesdrop, she couldn't help herself. In her mind's eye, it was something that needed to be done in order to ensure her friend's safety, and it would be over her dead body that something should happen to her. With this thought in mind, it sealed her decision, and pressed her ear against the door. Her eyes narrowed at what she heard thereafter.
"…could get lucky and only her friends' memories would be erased. But would she really want that to happen?" came the voice of Shigure.
"But that damn gothic girl already suspects something odd about us. She's always saying we have weird waves or something like that. It's not like she would be surprised. And besides, what Akito doesn't know won't kill him and even if it did, we'd be better off without the bastard anyway" growled Kyo, earning himself a sharp glare from the dog, which he ignored.
"Miss Honda would be heartbroken if her friends' memories had to be erased…I expect that she'd blame it on herself, and truthfully, I don't think any of us would wish that upon her." Yuki's quiet voice emerged.
The conversation droned on, and after five minutes, Saki decided that that was enough eavesdropping for the day. She walked though the conversation in her mind, and to her, none of it made sense.
'Erasing of memories?' Saki thought, as she stood back up to go back downstairs. 'What a strange topic to be discussing…I wonder what they meant by that…oh god…!' Saki gasped loudly as she put her hands to her head and squeezed her eyes shut in pain. Her legs gave in to the sudden spell of dizziness that overcame her and collapsed on the floor in a heap; waves that she was not expecting to read had suddenly flown through her mind before she had time to block them. The pain was so intense that she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming in utter agony. Never, in all her years of having the ability to read people's electric signals, had she ever felt such a frightening cocktail of emotions. She caught a very high, almost terrifying frequency of vengeance and hatred within them, along with…was that jealousy? She didn't know who they belonged to, only that they seemed horribly familiar to the Sohma's, perhaps a close relative of theirs. They certainly did not belong to Kyo, Yuki or Shigure; if they had, she would have made certain that the matter was taken care of immediately. She grimaced; anyone who hated her Tohru, the one who had given her so much and expected so little, would not be treated lightly. And she would have known anyway if the three of them had any sort of disturbing electric signals; if they had, she would have insisted that Tohru stay with either her or Arisa while they dealt with the matter personally. She guaranteed that if they did have evil waves, they would cease to exist after they were through with them.
The one thing that concerned her the most, was though the waves were overwhelmingly strong, Saki could tell that they were coming from a far distance; a couple miles at least. Another object of concern…if someone's hatred for another person was truly that strong, and she could literally feel it even from that distance…. No. Wait. She bore the pain as she struggled to read the waves more thoroughly. They belonged to a female. Saki could almost paint a picture of what she looked like in her mind; Ice cold eyes that seemed to bore into your very soul, black hair that reminded you of a raven, a thin, transparent smile; one that hardly ever appeared, pale skin, and fragile-looking….
She opened her eyes after some time, as it took an extreme amount of concentration to close her mind again, and discovered that she was curled up in a tight ball on the floor, hands still clutching at her head. She touched a shaking hand up to her lips, feeling something warm on them and discovered upon removing it that it was covered in blood. She had bit down so hard that she had punctured it, and was now bleeding profusely. She stood up shakily, after checking to make sure the floor didn't have any blood on it, wobbled into the bathroom and rinsed off her hand, and cleaned up the bloody mess that was her lip. Looking at herself in the mirror, and upon becoming satisfied with her appearance, she made her way over to the laundry room and, confirming that the guys were still in there, headed downstairs holding on to the walls for support, hoping that she could make it back before the Sohmas came out of their meeting place.
'Whomever they belonged to,' she thought, regaining her composure as she made her way back to the kitchen where Tohru and Arisa were anxiously awaiting her, 'I will never allow them to come near my Tohru. Never. I will never allow such a person to be even five paces near her. She's a danger to Tohru, and I'll be damned if Tohru gets hurt because of it."
OoOoOoOoOo
It had been three days since their last sleepover at the Sohma house. Three days since Saki had overheard the strange conversation between the Sohma males and felt the ominous waves, and she still could not get over how someone could feel that much hatred. She had a bad feeling about them, but as she did not want to get Arisa worked up about it, she had only disclosed the information to her brother, Megumi, and he was the only one she planned to discuss it with. He too expressed concern over the mere fact that the waves that she had felt had caused her that much pain, and told her that she should keep her guard up in case she felt the waves again. He also told her to inform him whether or not this Sohma ever let her face or name be known, so that he might get revenge on her for hurting his sister and threatening their friend. When Monday rolled around, she was inwardly relieved that she hadn't; however, it must have showed that she was worried about something. Tohru had been asking her if she felt alright most of the morning; saying that she looked paler and was quieter than usual. It took Saki a while to convince her that she was alright, as Tohru was on the verge of going insane with worry by mid-afternoon. Tohru had rather hesitantly bought her excuses later on, as Arisa had talked to her after the bell rang, signaling the end of class. She explained to her that Saki had had a rough night because of a headache, but she was ok; just tired. Tohru, the naïve one, had smiled and nodded before going over to hug her friend tightly, and apologized just in case she had annoyed her during the day with her asking. Saki laughed; a rarity in itself, and assured Tohru that she hadn't, and that she was grateful that she had been worried about her. Arisa, however, had seen right through her act from the beginning, and pulled her aside after they had said their goodbyes after school. She waited until Tohru could no longer be seen walking away, waving anxiously at them as she did so.
"Ok, Hana. What the hell is going on? I covered for you earlier 'cause Tohru's been freaking out all day because she thinks you're sick, and I was afraid she was going to either go crazy or have a panic attack. You've been acting stranger than usual today, and I've caught you spacing out in class more than you do normally, which is saying something. I'm getting a little worried myself, so you better spill it before I have to shake it out of you." Arisa's voice was rough, but Saki saw the concern in her eyes and heard the anxiety in her voice. She felt horrible that she had caused this much worry on her friends unintentionally. She sighed, inwardly berating herself for not hiding this better.
"Well…something happened during our recent little visit to the Prince's house, and…to tell you the truth….I'm worried. Please don't question my sanity when I tell you this, alright? I know that sometimes my stories can be a little out there at times…"
Arisa crossed her arms and sat down, leaning up against the building and motioned for Saki to do the same. "You know that I won't, Hana. Just start talking, and let it all out. I don't care how crazy, or how embarrassing this might be, I want to know everything." She looked Saki right in the eyes. "I promise I won't think you're nuts, ok?" She smiled gently at her friend.
With Arisa's vow in mind, Saki proceeded to tell Arisa the story of the strange conversation held between Shigure, Kyo and Yuki; how the strange electric signals she felt while eavesdropping were alarmingly malignant, and how she was getting a sickening feeling that it was somehow connected to their best friend. She thought of omitting a few details here and there, partially because she didn't want Arisa to think she was being overdramatic, and partially because she didn't want to go into too much detail, but she did exactly what Arisa told her to do, and told her everything. Every detail, every word, and everything she could remember about the waves and the pain, she let loose. Her voice rose a few notches and she started to shake when she spoke of the terrifying feeling of dread the waves had casted on her, but Arisa pulled her into a hug, whispering "Shh…Hana….it's ok…you can stop now…" She stroked the psychic's hair and held her until the girl had stopped shaking and even then, Hana still looked distressed. Arisa's first thought after Saki had stopped shaking was 'thank god Tohru isn't here; she'd be in hysterics right now' She looked over at Saki, who had let go of Arisa and had hid her head in her knees, seemingly embarrassed for losing control like that. But Arisa didn't blame her in the slightest. Hell, if she were Saki in this situation, she'd be in a mental institution right now. She was one hell of a strong person.
Arisa ran her fingers through her hair and stared up at the darkening sky. She glanced back at Saki, who had assumed the lotus position and was humming softly to herself.
"Who in the hell could be that psychotic enough to hate our Tohru? I'm pretty sure she's never meant harm on anyone in that goofy family the Prince and Orange-Top belong to, so there isn't any excuse for someone to be a complete bitch to her, you know?"
Saki opened one darkened eye. "Truthfully…I do not know…All that I do know is the waves were definitely a Sohma's; very similar, almost identical to those of Yuki, Kyo and Shigure. I figured that they belonged to a woman, because there was only a slight difference. Like I told you, I just felt…hostility and jealousy within them…The amount that I felt could be described as…poisonous, to put it lightly. However, Tohru seems to be getting along fine with the Sohmas that we've met so far, but still…it troubles me…" her voice trailed off, and she once again sank deep into thought.
Arisa watched her psychic friend, a frown darkening her face. She had known Saki for nearly 4 years, and could not remember a time where she got worked up in this magnitude over something like this. The only thing she could remember that could possibly be similar was back when Saki had yet to learn how to control her powers, and ended up running out of their middle school classroom in terror after being asked whether she had attacked someone at her previous school and accidentally shocked the girl with her powers. She had looked like she was about to have a breakdown of sorts as she begged them not to associate with her, for fear she would hurt them. But Tohru had come to the rescue with her kind words, and Arisa herself had added that it was her choice whether she left or stayed. She was happy she had stayed; she hated to think of what would happen to her if she hadn't.
"Look, all we've gotta do is ask those guys about their family and if there is any psychopaths residing with them, or if they're living close by. You know that I'll do anything and everything in my power to keep Tohru safe. I trust those boys, crazy as it sounds, to also keep her out of harm's way too. If there is someone in their family like that, then we'll find out who it is and kick their ass into oblivion."
"Easier said than done, Arisa…" Saki said quietly, a slight chuckle escaping her lips at Arisa's choice language.
Arisa raised an eyebrow. "Your point is…?"
"You do realize that even if there were a psychopath residing in the Sohma family, they probably would not tell us. Heaven knows what we would do to them if such a thing was true."
"Damn right," said Arisa. "But that's beside the point. Look. Can you remember anything else that may help us to solve this damn mystery? Was there anything or anyone else that they mentioned that you forgot to add?"
Saki sighed wearily. "I do know of someone else that Kyo mentioned in that conversation….he spoke of him as though he did not care about him, more along the lines of annoyance than anything…but I felt a slight twinge of fear in his and Yuki's waves at the mention of his name…and I do not know if it meant anything…but the moment Kyo mentioned the name 'Akito'….that's when those disturbing electric signals came about…Coincidence or not, it has been bothering me ever since. I'm now wondering whether or not if this Akito is the one we should be worrying about."
"We'll go with what we have now," said Arisa slinging an arm over her friend's shoulder. "If you ever feel those damn waves again, we're gonna do some hardcore interrogating of those two idiots, and maybe threaten that perverted writer guy too to get some more information. Got it?"
Saki gave her a small smile. "Of course I do. And I'm sure Megumi would be interested in assisting us with that…"
Arisa burst out laughing. "Sometimes, I don't know about that kid. C'mon. Let's go. I don't have to work tonight, so let's go pick Tohru up after her shift is done. I think the Prince has a couple meetings to go to, and I overheard Kyo talkin' to that white haired kid about martial arts practice tonight. What time did she say she'd be done again?"
"I believe she said around 11:00 tonight," said Saki, looking up thoughtfully. "I feel as if she has been overworked more than usual lately…she never had to work past 10 before…"
Arisa shook her head sadly. "That poor kid. No way in hell is she going walkin' home alone at that time of night, what with all the crazies around. Not on my watch. Tell ya what. Let's go back to my place for the time being. Maybe we can actually do our homework for once without getting distracted."
"Yes. That sounds fine. I'm sure Tohru will be excited to see us," smiled Saki. "Besides, I was planning on picking her up after work anyway. I was planning on visiting her at work, but due to circumstances…"
Arisa laughed. "I figured you might do that. Anyway, we're not getting anything done just standing here like idiots. Let's get moving."
As the two friends began their walk down the road, Saki kept looking back every so often. She could have sworn that while she and Arisa were talking, they were being watched, and she swore that she caught a slight hint of someone's waves within the group of bushes near where Arisa had been standing. And they hadn't felt benign either. On the contrary, they felt familiar to those that she had felt just days ago, except they were less overpowering. Sighing to herself, she pushed those feelings of dread aside, and forced herself to keep her mind focused on other important things, such as that damned math assignment that had been given that afternoon, and also a small book report that was due in two days.
Saki wasn't dumb as most people thought, she was just lazy, and a major procrastinator. She had recently made the revelation that she did better with her school work if she was working on it in with Tohru and Arisa. Her friends, upon realizing this, made it a point to invite her over to their houses after school more often so they could work
together. Since Tohru's work schedule was becoming quite ridiculous, Saki had been going over to Arisa's more often, and as a result her grades were becoming much better, with the exception of math; oh, how she despised that subject!
She was also, according to Tohru, a wonderful tutor. The poor girl had been staying after school more and more frequently, often missing lunch just so she could ask the teacher for assistance. Saki arose to the occasion at once, when Tohru finally admitted to her that she was likely to fail if she didn't do so. From then on, whenever Tohru didn't have work in the evenings, she, along with Arisa would sit down with her, helping her out with assignments and attempt to answer any questions she may have had. Even Arisa was surprised that Saki knew the materials better than she let on to in class. The three also continued doing their school projects together as well, even when the groups were only supposed to have two people working together. It all worked out in the end.
Still, she couldn't help but worry. Her waves had never failed her before, so why should they start now?
And her intuition had been right, and she could feel it, but chose to ignore it; she and Arisa both had had enough drama for one night. But, they had in fact been heard, and perhaps it would have been better if they did act on Saki's feeling and go check behind the bushes near where they had been sitting moments ago. The shadow in the bushes watched the trio fade off into the distance, the sounds of their cheerful chatter disappearing along with them.
"I'll give the order to Hatori this evening." Akito murmured to herself as she made her way back to the Sohma estate. "By sundown on Wednesday, your friends will no longer remember who you are, Tohru Honda. I'll make sure of this."
The Zodiac god got up from her hiding place in the bushes, and brushed off stray leaves and dirt that had accumulated on her knees. A small cloud of dust swirled around her as she began her walk back to the estate.
'That girl definitely does have some interesting friends.' She thought to herself as she walked. 'Tohru probably just felt sorry for them or something. No one in their right mind would want to be friends with such violent and creepy people. Ugh. Friendship is so damn fake nowadays.'
She took a different route back home, as she hadn't been out in a while, and wanted to enjoy the scenery. The trees were starting to change into pretty shades of gold, red, and orange, and the few stray leaves that had fallen crunched underneath her feet. Akito would never admit it to anyone, but she loved the sound of the leaves under her feet. She wished that she could make a big pile out of them, and just let herself go, diving into the pile and make leaf angels. But she knew that her allergies would kick in, which would lead to a cold, and then a sinus infection, and Hatori would refuse to let her out of the house for a while afterwards. Damn doctor.
As she neared the Sohma estate, she spotted someone standing on the porch, as though waiting for someone. The person turned and looked in her direction, and then commenced to head over towards her. 'Speak of the dragon…there he is now.' She thought to herself as she made her way over.
"Akito, what are you doing out here without a jacket on? Haven't I told you time and time again that you'll catch cold?" The doctor said sternly, as he handed her the said missing jacket. Not wanting to argue, she put it on with no complaints.
"It must have slipped my mind, Hatori. I only wanted to go outside for a while. I didn't think that I'd be gone this long." Akito replied as they walked up the stairs, and into the large white house.
"Well, don't let it happen again." Hatori told her as he led her back into her room.
Akito sighed. "I'll try not to."
As the doctor turned to leave, Akito called him back. "I have recently decided on something."
"And what may that be?" asked Hatori, feeling a sudden sense of foreboding creep over him.
"Wednesday afternoon, please invite Tohru's two friends over here. I want to meet them…and have their memories erased as well." Akito repressed a smirk.
Hatori stared at her, thinking he had misheard her. "With all due respect Akito, Tohru's friends do not know about the curse. Shigure, Kyo and Yuki are all very careful whenever they come to visit Tohru on the weekends, and not one incident has occurred. Why on earth do I need to erase their memories of something they don't even know about?"
"I'm not talking about those three idiots or the curse you stupid fool! I want their memories of that damn girl erased!" Akito spit out angrily. "I'm sick and tired of that girl walking around as if she's the best thing known to exist, walking around as if she owns the world. She needs to be taught a lesson, even if that lesson means losing her two best friends!"
"Akito, please reconsider! Tohru has done well in keeping our secret safe from anyone outside the family, and you said so yourself that she's been a good influence on Yuki and Kyo. Also, I don't think that walking around with a goofy smile on her face gives any indication that she thinks that way about herself. In fact, she cares more about the needs of others more than she does herself, and I've often heard her asking about you, and wondering how you are doing. You've let her stay in the house for several months now! Why the sudden change in attitude? You aren't….jealous, are you?" asked the dragon.
Akito's voice lowered dangerously. "Are you accusing me of something, Hatori?"
Hatori stood there silently, unable to respond.
"But, you are right in a sense. I don't approve of her friends." Akito continued. "I believe they would be better off without her, and she them. Besides, I don't feel comfortable with the fact that those two have the impression that they can go to Shigure's house all they want without my permission. You will inform Tohru of my decision tomorrow, and the next day, pick her and her friends up after school. I would tell you to do this tomorrow, but I don't feel like dealing with anyone right now, and I'll most likely be the same way tomorrow."
"Yes, Akito…I'll tell Tohru tomorrow morning." Hatori murmured, giving his god a slight bow before exiting her room, and heading toward his office. As he entered his office, he caught a glimpse of the photo of him and Kana on the bookshelf, and made a move to turn it around, but his hand lingered near Kana's face. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He lowered his hand and brushed off some dust that had accumulated on the frame before heading over to his desk. As he sat down in his easy chair by his desk, he put his head in his hands and swore silently.
'Of all the people you could have chosen, you just had to choose them. What on earth were you thinking, you arrogant piece of shit!' Hatori thought to himself, thanking every other god that might have existed that Akito couldn't read his mind.
"Damn you…." he muttered aloud to the silence that permeated his office. "But then…I wouldn't expect anything less of you, ruining peoples' lives as you so seem to enjoy. How, may I ask do you expect me to break this news to her?"
Hatori could tell that he wouldn't be getting much sleep in the next few days.
OoOoOoOoOoO
First chappie is officially done! I hope you like it. Even if you don't, or if no one reads it, I'll still be writing it and changing it too. Woohoo! Please, if you could, review! It would make my day!
-Resuri