Pain-in-the-ass: Thank you everyone for your reviews! I hope you like this chapter. I've been thinking about making Hatori make Kyou forget and then shortly after Tohru joins them he begins to remember his family again. Please let me know what you think about that.
It had been a long day. No, scratch that, it had been a long week. Hatsuharu and Momiji had been coming around everyday after school. Haru had followed either him or Yuki everywhere and Momiji had been hugging Tohru non-stop and transforming non-stop. Black Haru had made a frequent appearance and mass damage had been done to Shigures house. The dog had whined and moaned and cried big exaggerated tears until two of the three older boys hit him. Yuki had defeated him twice and now it was raining.
Kyou sighed, for what must have been the one-millionth time that day. And it was raining again. Kyou sighed again and shifted in his bed. He was alone. Tohru was cooking down stairs and he couldn't muster up enough energy to go down and help, like he had with Yuzu. Kyou frowned. Whenever it rained he remembered Mom. And remembering Mom always made him sad and unbelievably angry. He sighed again. His head hurt, Black Haru had slammed it down on a rock. Hard. He'd seen stars for a while and then proceeded to beat Black into White.
I miss Ichi-nii and Hichi-nii and Kon and Karin and Yuzu and even Goat Face. I want to go home.
I know you do kitling. But fear not I sense a change in the winds.
If Akito ever finds out that I can talk to you I'll be fucked three ways 'til Sunday.
Then it's a good thing that the others are not as in tune with their animals as you are my little one.
Kyou's door flew open and Tohru poked her head through.
"Kyou-kun dinner is ready. Are you going to be able to join us or are you too tired because I can bring some up if you are!" She said in an apologetic rush. Kyou sighed and lifted himself off the bed. He slowly followed Tohru down the stairs to the dining room. He blinked upon entering the room it was always weird and a bit of a shock to see the over soul forms of the Zodiac floating around their hosts.
When he had been younger Kyou had once pointed out the over souls and asked about them. Akito had laughed and called him crazy, threatened to lock him in the cage if he ever mentioned it again. Wisely he refrained from ever mentioning it again. Some of the regular souls that usually followed around the Zodiac were there as well as Tohru's mom. His life was just too weird.
Yuki's eyes narrowed at the sight of Kyou. "Lazy cat making Tohru come up and get you."
"Ne ne maybe Kyonkyon really wanted our lovely flower to-" Shigures ramblings were cut off with one of Kyou's shoes in his face.
"I'm too tired to actually beat your face in so I'll do it later; Damn rat shut your face." Kyou slid down beside Hatsuharu and ate quietly. He even ate the leeks with out any complaint. Tohru, Haru, Momiji, and Yuki stared.
"Maybe he's sick." Momiji said glancing at Yuki, who nodded. Hatsuharu leaned over and put his hand on Kyou's head.
"He doesn't feel feverish." Haru informed them solemnly.
"Cut that out!" Kyou groused, pushing Haru's hand away. Dinner continued and as the rain got worse so did Kyou. Eventually his neko ears and tail popped into existence and he became drowse. Shakily he stood and wondered towards the stairs, muttering about going to bed. He didn't make it to the stairs. The storm had gotten worse and worse all through out the day and now it was at its fiercest. Kyou collapsed as he reached the stairs, his legs no longer able to support his weight and unconsciousness welcomed him with open arms. Tohru rushed to see if he was all right, the others followed. After declaring that it was just a bump on the head Shigure convinced Haru to carry him upstairs to his room.
"You might as well," Shigure said with a laugh "You and Momiji will be staying here tonight. Momiji is sleeping in Yuki's room and we can't have you staying with our wonderful flower now can we?" He kept laughing until Yuki hit him.
The next morning
The storm was finally over! Kyou got out of bed and stumbled a little when his foot hit something on the floor. Looking down he groaned Haru had slept in his room last night. Which made things a bit more complicated but also a bit easier. Quietly as possible Kyou stuffed a few days worth of clothes a duffel bag and scribbled out a quick note. This was the first day of a three week long break and he wasn't going to waste a moment! The clock blinked a red 4:00 AM at him from across the room.
I'll be home soon everyone just wait for me! Kyou thought with determination. With his note pinned to Hatsuharu and another on the fridge (just in case the dumb ox managed to lose the first one!) Kyou was off into the darkness of the very early morning. Kyou ran all the way to the train station on the other side of town, there was one closer to the dog's house but that would chance some random Sohma seeing him! Even at 4:00 in the morning being spotted by one of the clansmen was a possibility.
One overly curious ticket seller, three loud arguments, one very annoyed manager, and two hours and thirty minutes later Kyou was half way to Karakura Town and Tohru was just discovering his note on the fridge as she got ready to make breakfast.
Tohru, dog, useless rat
Gone to the mountains to train during break, be back before classes start up again. Tohru don't worry going to stay with friends of Shishous's, will be safe, see you later. Kyou
Kyou-kun is so dedicated to being strong! I must work very hard these next three weeks and be strong too, just like Kyou-kun! Tohru thought, strengthening her resolve to study hard to be prepared for the exams after break was over. I will do well! Kyou-kun has inspired me! With those resolute thoughts done Tohru made breakfast and began to plan her study schedule.
-Back with Kyou-
It was 9 in the morning when Kyou finally reached Karakura Town. He had walked around for two more hours before calling all the cats in the area. Apparently Karakura had a large population of cats because not three minutes later at least 75 cats had answered his call and more were on the way.
"I'm looking for some people who smell like me and two who have my hair. If you know where they are tell me now."
The cats regarded him for some few seconds before a large black tom came forward.
I've seen one with such coloring, it was with another with strange coloring around the place that smells of fish but never has fish.
That was how Kyou found himself standing outside a warehouse surrounded by other warehouses feeling like he was in scene in a bad horror flick.
Yup, any minute now some deranged psycho is gonna come flying out of one of these alleys and drag me to my painful demise. Okay no more scary movie nights with the witch and the yankee.
Slowly Kyou made his way into the warehouse there was nothing inside but a stairwell that led down into what must have been a basement. Only it didn't lead to a basement. The stairwell led down into what looked like a desert area. There were large rock formations and dirt and dust and even a sky!
Okay now I've seen everything. Kyou spotted a group of people not too far away from the stairs; two of those people were heartbreakingly familiar. Ten people stood arguing with each other, none seemed to have noticed him. Hichigo and Ichigo stood next to each other yelling at a boy their age with blonde bobbed hair, the two oldest Kurosaki boys wore strange black kendo uniform.
"Ichi-nii? Hichi-nii? Whats going on?" Every head whipped around so fast Kyou was sure that they had whiplash.
"Kon? What are you doing here? Your supposed..to..be.." Hichigo trailed off as he stared at the red eyed boy. "Kyou." He whispered.
Hiyori was annoyed, first the two idiots come demanding training and then when they finally get to the training some one (Shinji) starts an argument about something stupid and then out of nowhere Kon comes in and SHE DIDN'T EVEN SENSE HIM!! Grabbing her sandal Hiyori was about to clobber the hell out of Kon when two black, white, and orange blurs tore past her. They ran past her so quickly she almost missed the whispered name Kyou. Huh? Wasn't this kids name Kon?
Ichigo and Hichigo reached their brother in record time, two seconds, and Kyou was immediately pulled into a bone-crushing hug between the two older twins. As they pulled back questions were fired one after another as they got a good look at their youngest brother.
"Are you alright?"
"Did they hurt you?"
"Your so skinny, have you been eating have they been feeding you?"
"Didn't they make you forget?"
"How did you get here?"
"What happened to you?"
"What-" Hiyori couldn't take it any more.
"SHUT UP ALREADY AND TELL US WHATS GOING ON!" She shouted surprising the three boys, who had forgotten the others were even there. "WHO IS THAT BRAT AND WHATS WITH THE WEIRD CREATURES FOLLOWING HIM!"
"It ain't any o' your business girly! Now shut up so our brother can talk." Hichigo sneered at her. But Kensei was already behind Kyou; he grabbed him and pulled him away from the twins. Kyou was thrown into the barrier prison that Hachi had set up for training.
"Hichi-nii! Ichi-nii!" He shouted in a panic. Whatever these people were, they definitely weren't human.
"Kyou its okay, everything is going to be alright! I promise just calm down and we'll explain everything." Ichigo said standing next to the barrier his hand covering the spot where Kyou's smaller hand rested against the strange orange light. The Vizard exchanged looks.
"Look you two, what the hell is going on here? Who is that kid and what are those things? How do you know him and why does he look like your brother?" Shinji asked after everyone had calmed down. Kensei was starring at the small orange haired boy, getting a bad vibe about the situation but not the kid. The twins just sighed.
"Get Urahara and everyone else Hichigo we might as well explain it. Maybe they'll know a way to get rid of the curse or something." The two brothers shared a nod and with that Hichigo was gone.
Thirty minutes later the Vizard, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Rukia, Renji, Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, and Toushiro's group all stood around the barrier eyeing Kyou. Urahara was starring at Kyou from behind his fan, his mind going 1000 miles a minute as the orange haired neko twitched. Ichigo starred at them with a critical eye before sighing.
"Alright I guess we can start," the two oldest Kurosaki's shared a look "What do you know about the Zodiac?"
Everyone stared.
PITA: okay so I'm gonna be mean and leave you guys hanging 'cause I'm feeling lazy.