A/N: Heeeeeeyy! WARNING: In this chapter, there's quite a lot of violence and some mention of blood/losing blood. The violence and blood isn't much, but I hope that anyone who doesn't like violence and reads this... SUCKS IT UP! JK! ^-^ Anyway, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!!! XD

R&R please!

Chapter 2

Minor things in my life have changed. The Sohma family is still cursed and I still try to live up to the expectations I feel everyone has for me. The "Yuki Fan Club" is still in tact, but now there's a Kyo, Hatsuharu, and Momiji fan club and they're even worse than the "Yuki" girls- especially the "Momiji" girls. I wonder what's going to happen to the Yuki and Kyo fan clubs when we leave, though.

It's the next day and Shigure is getting on Kyo's nerves once again. Haru and Momiji have been hanging around the house a lot more often since they started going to our school a year ago and Kisa, along with Hiro, come over as well. Tohru is at work at the moment, but will be back in an hour- too bad it won't be a short hour.

"Ami! Where could our little flower, Tohru, be? Things are so much quieter when she is around," Shigure whined.

"Shigure, you damn well better shut that stupid mouth of yours before I shut it for you! You know she's at work! And don't call her 'our flower'!" Kyo yelled.

"Oh, Kyo. Dear, sweet, poor, ridiculous Kyo. I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Honestly…" As Shigure babbled on, Kyo's temper sky-rocketed and his whole body turned red in raged anger.

"You really do like hearing yourself talk, don't you?" He asked darkly.

"Oh, Kyo! You get so angry at the tiniest things! It's no wonder you don't have a girlfriend!" Momiji taunted in his chipper tone, which had gotten a little deeper.

"You know what, you little brat?! I've had enough of you!" Kyo shouted as he used his fists to pinch Momiji's head.

"Waaaahh! Somebody! Kyo's hurting me! Waaaaaahh!" Momiji cried as he squirmed in Kyo's hold.

"Shut up, you little twerp! You're too old to be acting like this!"

"Kyo, stop being mean to him. And Momiji, stop bothering Kyo," I said calmly.

"You handled that very well, Yuki," Haru praised in his mellow voice.

"Thanks. Now get your hands off of me," I said irritably, shaking my arm loose.

Only ten minutes have passed since I last looked at the clock. Fifty more minutes until Tohru came home. That's when I decided that I'd go pick her up. I quietly walked out of the room without being noticed and was out of the house, on my way.

I was halfway to Tohru's work when I saw a couple of suspicious-looking men following a shadowed figure. From what I could tell, it was a girl. I picked up my pace, being sure to keep my steps quiet so as not to be seen or heard and saw that the girl looked to be in the same year as me and she was wearing a uniform from my school! I had to save her, whether I knew her or not.

The girl whipped her head back and forward in one swift motion that I didn't get a chance to see her face clearly. In a way, though, she reminded me of Tohru. She started running and the two pervs chased after. I ran through a short-cut and appeared two feet before the girl and saw that it was Tohru! I threw my hands out to catch her by the shoulders, so that I wouldn't transform if her body slammed into me. The two guys stopped and chuckled in a creepy tune that sent chills up my spine.

"Y-yuki! Thank goodness you're here! Help me, please!" Tohru panicked. There were tears pouring down her face and she looked tired from working hard, and then from running.

"Of course, Tohru. Don't worry about a thing. I'll make them pay for trying to hurt you," I assured.

"Thank you, Yuki," she sobbed.

I pushed her behind me with care and looked at the guys in rage and disgust. I snarled my nose at them, baring my teeth. I must've looked fierce because they looked scared.

"Wh-what does this pretty-boy think he's doing?" One of them asked nervously, teeth chattering.

The other one, who was sweating profusely and shaking all over, pretended to sound tough and said, "He's just being a punk who thinks he can stand up to two big guys like us."

Tch! Wimps! I thought.

"Oh trust me," I started darkly, "you don't want to know what I can do to both of you in one quick move."

"Y-yeah, right! No one can do anything like-" Before the first guy could finish, I'd punched him- throwing him onto the other one and knocking them both out. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

"Lowlifes!" I spat in disgust.

"Thank you, Yuki," Tohru sobbed. She made a movement to lean on me for support then stopped short. I guess she remembered that I would transform if she did anything that would be considered hugging me. I wanted to put my arm around her in protection.

Stupid curse.

"I'm sorry, Tohru, for being cursed with the Chinese Zodiac. I'd carry you home if I could," I said solemnly, my head hanging down in shame.

"It's not your fault," she assured while drying her eyes. "That's kind of you to say that you would carry me home! I'm so happy!" She said cheerfully.

"Come on. Let's g-" Before I could finish my sentence as I was turning around, three huge men were standing behind us with their very intimidating, muscular arms tightly folded. They looked like angry monsters.

"Hey!" One of them shouted. He pointed a finger at me. "You hurt our friends!"

"You're gonna pay for that!" The one on his right said.

"Then we'll take the girl and have some fun," the one on the left bragged.

This got me raged! "You don't want to provoke me. I'll do to you three what I did to your two lackeys over there," I said more darkly than before.

"Oh, we're so scared!" The first guy said in fake fright. I suspected he was the ring leader of the pack of sick dogs. Perverted dogs.

"You should be," I growled slowly.

"Oh, really? What're ya gonna do about it, kid?" The leader taunted, getting in my face and poking me once in the shoulder.

"Just watch." In two seconds, I'd slipped away from the monstrous ogre and punched the one on the left in the nose, making him fly into nearby dumpsters. "Who's next?" I asked looking at the other two. They were a little scared now, but much angrier.

"You'll pay for that. How'd you send him flying like that?! He's much bigger than the scrawny, little rat that you are! Why are you stronger?!" He demanded.

"Oh, believe me. You don't want to know." My face was shadowed.

"Huh?" I could tell he was very confused, but I guess if I had a brain that small, I'd be confused too. "Alright! Shen! Let's get 'im together. Like we done all the other punks who thought they could beat us."

The next thing I knew, he and "Shen" were stomping towards me, stamping their palms with their boulder-like fists. Worse, the two from before who started all this were walking up behind them. It was almost as if they'd never been hurt!

I waited patiently for them to charge. At the last minute, I would duck under them and attack from behind. It didn't take long for them to reach me and I put my plan into action. They had no idea what happened. I knocked the back two guys' heads together. They slumped to the ground and the other two turned around a little off-guard and shaken.

"Hey! Where'd you go you little punk? How'd you get over there?!" The leader commanded angrily.

"I'm quicker than you, that's how," I responded simply, my face still shadowed.

"Hey, boss, this kid's starting to creep me out. M-maybe we should just go," the one on the right cowered.

"You better listen to him, boss," I taunted. "I'm not going easy; no mercy."

The "boss" winced, but regained his tough composure. "Let's get 'im, Shen!"

"R-right!"

They ran at me, but I still had one more trick up my sleeve. I only had one more, so it would have to work on the first try. Besides, Tohru's innocence- and life- was at stake. I had to protect her if it was the last thing I did.

I ducked under them as I'd done a minute before, but my plan went downhill. One of the low-lively brutes had caught my right ankle- gripping it tightly, almost crushing my bones- and was pulling me out from underneath them. I'd gotten far under them, so when they dragged me out, the rough asphalt of the alleyway street was dirtying and ripping my clothes, and scraping and tearing my skin, causing it to speckle with blood.

I knew then that I was dead. I didn't know how to get out of this one. It felt like I was literally in an iron grasp. It's very hard to fight someone off when you're on the ground and someone's got a hold on your leg.

They pulled me up to meet their eyes; their eyes which were bloodshot, milky, filmy, and dilated. Their noses were scrunched up hard and their eyebrows were pulled so close together that it looked like they had unibrows. It was a pretty frightening sight to see.

I turned my head frantically to find Tohru huddled by some stacked boxes. She was crying and holding both sides of her head in fear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the big ugly brutes clomping up to Tohru.

"Hey sweetheart! You wanna get freaky tonight?" The monster sniggered. It was the way he said it; sending shivers through my body and it angered me to the point that not even Kyo has seen.

"Don't you dare touch her, you damn bastard!!!" I yelled to the top of my lungs.

I hit the leader's hand so that he would let go of me and I could save her. Luckily, he'd loosened his grip a long time ago and now I was jumping around to get away from "Shen", who was staggering around to catch me. By this time, however, the others that I'd sent flying earlier were up and heading my way with angered expressions.

I was in trouble.

I jumped away again and landed on the leg that the leader was holding a minute before. I cringed in pain. He'd held my ankle so tight that my bones were almost crushed. Then, I remembered Tohru and looked behind me and saw the monster crouching over her. He was about ready to rip her shirt off! She let out a little squeal and covered her face.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME, YOU JACKASS?! I said, 'DON'T TOUCH HER'! Are you deaf?!" I ran- enduring the pain that followed with every stride- towards the scoundrel and decked him in the side of his cheek. His face smacked against the wall and his head started bleeding.

"Yuki!" Tohru exclaimed.

"Tohru, did he hurt you? Did he touch you at all?" I asked desperately.

"N-no, he only tugged my sleeve," she sobbed in a whisper.

"Don't worry, Tohru. I'll make sure that's all they do," I assured. "It was a mistake to let him do it at all."

"It's okay, Yuki. Your hands were full with the other guys." She smiled weakly. "Thank you, though. I can only imagine what he would've done if you'd gotten to me much later."

"Let's just be glad he didn't get a chance to," I stated seriously. "Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe before- Aggh!" I was hit.

One of them had thrown me to the ground- my head hitting the ground hard- and now I could barely see. My vision was blurry and I could only make out colors. I could still hear, thank God for that. Now, I saw a big dark blob going towards where I could've sworn Tohru was. I tried to move, but nothing happened. I tried to yell at the ogre, but the same result occurred.

I was at a loss. There was nothing I could do. Tohru was going to be hurt because of me. Because of me, I was probably never going to see her again. It was my fault that we were going to die.

There was nothing I could do.

End of Chapter 2

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