Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket. The proof is here. Please don't sue me.
"Nnnn..." Sakaki moaned as she hit the ground. There were scrapes and bruises on her arms. She felt a sting on her knee as she felt something drip from it. She knew that she was bleeding. The gang who had attacked her had kicked her in the stomach, bringing her to her knees.
"You stupid little wench!" The main gang member screamed, advancing once again to her on her fallen knees. "What makes you think you have the right to do that, huh?!"
"I... I don't know what... you are talking about..." She moaned, still clutching her stomach. This comment made the man very angry. One of his cronies grabbed the collar of her uniform shirt and pulled her up. The collar slightly choked her.
"You stupid girl. I know you know what I am talking about." Tears streamed down from her eyes.
"I don't!" She pleaded with them. "Honest, I really don't know!"
"Shut up!" The man screamed. He backhanded her across the face. The blow was so hard that the shirt ripped where his henchman was holding on and she crumpled to the ground. Her jaw ached with excruciating pain and she dared not open her eyes. But the men were not satisfied just by that. The thug picked her up again and, just to torture her in her pain, he ripped more of her shirt so it exposed her chest. He gropped her. She screamed and pleaded for him to stop; but he only laughed in an angered vengance and he groped her breasts harder. She begged for him to stop. "Oh, NOW you don't want any action?" He demanded angrily. "You know what you did to my best friend!" He tossed her down on the ground. The dust from the dirt travelled up from the ground as she landed several inches away from him and his gang. He advanced on her. Sakaki could see the hatred in his eyes; burning red like a dangerous fire engulfing a forest of trees and wildlife. She was scared; but above all, she was hurt. She did not understand why he was hurting her. What had she done? She had just been walking home from school to see her cat Tachi and do her homework. She had never done anything. And she certainly had never seen these people before. Why were they harassing her?
"I... I don't know..." The man got very angry.
"YOU DO KNOW, YOU SLUT!" He screamed. "You know that you were that whore who hurt my best friend, Kida. You slept with him and teased him, and then left him all alone after you stole 50,000 yen from him!"
"I did not!" She screamed, astonished at the accusations. "I did not hurt anyone! I have never stolen anything!"
"LIAR!" The man screamed. He kicked her once again with a force greater than before. She gasped for air and everything went black momentarily.
Meanwhile.....
Haru was walking alone after school. He had stayed later because it was his turn to do the cleaning duties. Momiji had gone home with Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru because he wanted to be with Tohru. While Haru was walking home, he heard shouts from above, on the hill. The shouts and what was being said alerted him; but neither as much as the cries for help and innocence that came from that area as well. Hurriedly, he rushed up the hill to see what was going on. When he got there, he saw the scene of the gang beating up a girl. The girl ((Sakaki)) looked about his age. She had long raven hair and was wearing the uniform that was required at his own school. The shirt was ripped and there was one man ((Haru guessed was the leader)) who was constantly beating on the girl. He was fired with rage; fueled with it. Some of the other cronies were as angry as their leader; but one or two of them stood in the back and watched with reluctant hesitation. They believed the cries of innocence; but they were too terrified to stop the leader. The more of this scene Haru witnessed, the closer he drew to the Black Haru. When he saw the leader pick up her body and grope her chest while she screamed for him to stop, that was the "straw that broke the camel's back". Black Haru had arrived.
"BASTARDS!" He screamed. His outburst surprised all of them. They did notice that he had been standing there and watching. The leader glared over at Haru and his eyes narrowed.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked.
"PUT THE GIRL DOWN!"
"Who are you?" The man asked again.
"IT DOES NOT MATTER! PUT THE GIRL DOWN!" Noticing Haru's weakness for the girl, the man smirked maliciously. He picked her up even higher, holding her by the collar, and he dropped her body. She fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. As she landed, she did not even cry out in pain, although it must have hurt a lot. Haru knew then that the girl was unconcious. That made Black Haru even angrier. "You dare hurt this girl," He demanded, his fists clenched and his body shaking slightly from anger. "Even though she has done nothing wrong?!" That made the gang leader mad.
"Do not pretend that you know what has gone on here." He snarled at Haru. "You do not know the circumstances. This girl stole 50,000 yen from my best friend and slept with him then ran away!"
"YOU WERE ATTACKING AN INNOCENT GIRL FOR REVENGE!" Haru screamed, getting even angrier. The fire of anger seemed to be burning in him as well. "Now that you have harmed this innocent girl, I have no choice but to harm you for her sake."
"Are you her damn boyfriend, or something?!"
Haru smirked. "Not at all."
"Than what the hell do you care?!"
"I don't like seeing innocent people getting hurt by bastards like you and your lowly friends."
"That's it!" One of the men screamed. He ripped off his jacket and threw it to the ground to show he was angry. "You asshole! You are going down!"
"Heh," Haru smirked. "The more, the better." He set himself in attack position for martial arts and he waited for the first strike. The idiot leader stuck first. Haru avaded his attack easily and hit him on the pressure point, on the back of the neck. He was down within seconds. Some of the hesitating members from before were filled with a fearful impression. They admired Haru's ability; but they were scared to death of him.
"You will pay for doing that to Hajime!" The over heated second-man exclaimed, lunging at Haru. Haru was much too fast for the man. Before his eyes, he seemed to disappear and he reappeared beside him. He struck him with another solitary blow and, just like his leader friend, he went down to the ground.
Haru fought two more men who were cocky and arrogant, thinking that they could take down the Black Haru better than their leader. They fell even more easily. After the fourth man was defeated, the few three who remained were the hesitant types from before. They were terrified of Haru and were shaking at the very thought that he come after them. In terror, they ran away.
"Heh," Smirked the Black Haru. He raised his hand to his face and licked off the little blood that was present from his last victim. "I suppose that is why they have a ladder of strength; each one was weaker than the one before." He looked over at the four men laying on the ground. They were bloody and bruised. But they were not dead. "Serves them right." He said.
Just then, the blackness faded away into light; but that also meant that the pain had returned. It had seemed to gain strength after Sakaki had blacked out, for now she could barely move without feeling it in her very cells. Every part of her was crying out for treatment of her wounds. She still could barely breathe and her chest felt battered and damaged. She tried to move the fingers in her right hand. The pain that emmited was one so strong that she cried out. The cry brought Haru to attention and his Black side faded away, to be replaced by his white one. He rushed over to the girl's side. "Are you alright?" He asked, deeply concerned.
"My... my arm..." She spoke quietly. "I can't move my arm." Haru looked and saw easily that it was broken. It was bruised and was beginning to swell.
"I... I have to get you to a doctor." He said. "Come with me. I'll bring you to Hatori." Just then, the girl's head fell back. Haru knew that she had blacked out again. He was very worried for her and knew that he had to get her to Hatori quickly. Knowing he could not carry her properly in his human form, he moved up to her and gently kissed her forehead. He then placed her arms around his neck, and closed his eyes. He transformed into a cow and brought her towards home. As he walked, he wondered why he had kissed her. What had caused him to do such a thing?
When they had almost reached the home of Shigure Sohma, Sakaki came back. Through her blurry eyes, she looked at what she was being carried on. She vaguley recognised that she was being carried on a cow. She then blacked out again.
When they reached Shigure's home, Haru made a rukus to get noticed. Inside, he insisted that he see Hatori. "I have to see him! She's hurt! Really bad!" Shigure was concerned.
"He's... in the other room. I'll go get him." He took the girl off of Haru and Haru waited to change back. She lay against the wall. Momiji came in.
"HARU!!" He said happily. He ran up to him and glomped his arms around him. "Haru! What happened? Where have you been?" He then noticed Sakaki laying there. He gasped. "Haru! Who is she?"
Just then, Haru changed back. "She's a girl. She was being beat up by this gang."
"You saved her?"
"Yeah." Just then, Hatori came in. Shigure tossed Haru some spare clothes and told him to put them on. Hatori walked over to Sakaki and knelt down beside her. He treated her wounds as Haru changed. All along, Haru never took his eyes off Sakaki. And later, when she was staying in Tohru's room ((courtesy of Tohru herself)), Haru never left her side.
"Looks like he is the puppy instead of you, Shigure." Ayame joked. Shigure glared at him and then barked, scaring Ayame enough to become a snake. Shigure snickered.
