hmmmm. this chapter is kind of short. just more evidence that i'm lame.

but even though i think i'm lame, some of your reviews seem to suggest otherwise. and that's kind of nice. it's a step up from my self-loathing mindset, and it makes me feel, dare i say it, happy. so keep reviewing, cuz me likes.

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Chapter 3: Hatori and the Wraiths

"What are you doing here?" Yuki asked the man.

"What am I doing here? I believe the better question is what are you doing here? And with three young women no less. Isn't that rather dangerous?"

"They know Hatori." Kyo muttered.

"They know? Well then I guess I shouldn't be worried."

"Excuse me," Tohru squeaked at the man. "I'm so sorry but…who are you?"

The man smiled and held out his hand to her. "I'm Hatori Sohma. Pleased to meet you…?"

"Tohru!" she said shaking his hand. "My name is Tohru Honda."

"Ah, Tohru. What brings you and my dear cousins to The Prancing Pony?"

"None of your damn business Hatori." Kyo fired at him. Yuki then smacked him on the back of the head.

"Don't be rude Kyo. Hatori was just trying to be nice to Miss Honda. But I would like to know why he is here."

Hatori smirked. "I have come to help you. Or rather, the ring bearer." He said turning back to Tohru. Suddenly, Uo and Hana popped out of the crowd.

"Hi," Hana panted. "Did we miss anything?"

Tohru giggled. "We found another Sohma! This is Hatori Sohma!"

"I'm Uo. And my dark little friend here is Hana."

"Howdy." Said Hana.

"A pleasure." Hatori said. "But I need to discuss something with the five of you. Please come with me." He gestured towards the door.

Everyone walked out the door with him where he led them to the one of the inn's room buildings. "Oh! Our room is 203." Hana said.

When they walked in, Hatori went to the innkeeper and said, "If anybody comes asking, the occupants of room 203 are here." Hatori then laid a hefty stack of gold coins in front of the man. The man nodded and Hatori asked for the others to come with him.

They walked out of the building and across the courtyard to another inn building. They entered and climbed the stairs to the top floor where Hatori brought them into a large room with three beds and some cots set up in the room.

"You will all stay in this room tonight. Do not leave this room. If you want food, I will get it for you."

"Does this mean I just wasted my money to get us a room?" Uo asked.

"Yeah. It sort of does." Hatori said.

"Well at least now we get free room service." Hana said, flopping onto one of the beds.

"You!" said Hana, pointing at Hatori. "Fetch me a Coke and bag of Doritos!"

"Not that kind of room service." Hatori said.

"Please, let me tell you why I'm here." As everybody sat down on a bed or cot, Hatori began his tale.

"As I'm sure you all are aware of, this ring that Tohru is holding is the reason we Sohma's bear the Zodiac curse. I'm sure you also know that there are evil powers looking for that ring as we speak." Uo and Hana glanced at Tohru and gave her a knowing look.

"I have been told by my superiors to protect you. Haru has been delayed somewhere so I will accompany you to Rivendale, home to the elves and their King, Ritsu Sohma."

"You're kidding me right? Who the hell would make him a King?" Kyo asked.

"Apparently elves." Yuki said.

"Anyways, your fates will be decided by Ritsu and the High Counsel as to whom will take the ring to Mt. Doom. That creature who attacked you was a called a wraith. It serves under the evil force that threatens to wipe out the Sohmas. There are eight others like it who will stop at nothing to get that ring. Which is why you must not put it on Tohru. It will lead them right to us."

Tohru looked at the gold ring in her hand and wondered how so small a thing could cause so much worry. "After you eat, you all need to go to bed. We leave at dawn towards Rivendale." Hatori stated.

Hatori went back into the hallway and pulled a cart in the room stacked high with every kind of food from the menu. Hana and Uo didn't waste time and began to carry off trays of 4 or more plates of food for themselves.

Tohru grabbed a plate of spaghetti and sat down on one of the beds. Yuki, for some odd odd reason, gave Kyo a plate of what looked much like tuna casserole.

"Uh, okay..." Kyo said taking the plate and sitting down next to Tohru.

Yuki sat down on the other side of Tohru holding a plate of three cheese ravioli. As the hungry teenagers dug into their food, Hatori looked out of the window in silence. Kyo suddenly jumped up from his position next to Tohru, knocking his food all over the floor. "LEEKS! LEEKS DAMNIT! No wonder you gave me that!"

"Took you long enough," Yuki chuckled.

"I'll kill you!" Kyo leapt at Yuki in a blur of orange and black. Missing his target, he launched himself back at Yuki hoping to catch him off his guard. Tohru, sensing that things were about to get out of control, stepped in front of Kyo. When the two collided, Tohru went reeling backward into the wall and was knocked unconscious while a distraught cat leapt onto the nearby curtains.

"What the hell?" that cat hissed.

"Oh my God! Tohru!" Yuki gasped as he ran over to the clump on the floor that was Tohru. He put his hand behind her head and slowly picked her up and laid her gently on the bed. Suddenly, a blood red aura started emanating from Yuki. He turned to Kyo, still clinging to the curtains in shock, and began walking toward him. Without even the slightest hesitation, Yuki yanked the cat off of the curtains, opened up the glass windows and dropped him from the third floor.

"You damn rrraaaaaaaaatttttttt…" could be heard as the bewildered feline dropped to the ground below.

Hana and Uo ran to the window, looking for smushed cat on the road below while Hatori continued eating his calamari, completely unfazed.

"He's coming back up." Uo smirked.

Not but thirty seconds later, Kyo blasted through the door and hissed menacingly at Yuki. His teeth clenched together as growled, "I…am going…to kick…your…ass."

He barreled at Yuki with all his force and leapt as his head. Yuki easily stepped out of the way of the raging ball of fur hurled itself at his cranium. Which wouldn't have been so bad for Kyo, had Yuki not been standing in front of the window, leaving Kyo, once again, falling towards the ground. Yuki then walked calmly to the door and locked it.

"I wonder how many lives he has left." Hana pondered out loud.

Yuki ran to Tohru's side and clasped her hand in his own. "Tohru…"

Tohru's eyes fluttered open from the feeling of warmth that engulfed her hand. She rolled over to find herself staring into the eyes of a very worried looking Yuki.

"Miss Honda!" he exclaimed, a relieved smile plastered onto his face.

"Thank the Gods you're all right!" It took all his self-restraint not to hug her right there, but his relief turned into annoyance as a loud knock accompanied with an, "Open up damnit!" sounded from the front door.

"Shall I let him in?" Hana asked Yuki.

"Hell no. Let him rot out there for all I care. He is not welcome after doing that to Miss Honda."

"Ummm…what did he do exactly?" Tohru asked rubbing the back of her head.

Uo laughed and replied, "He put the moves on you. Why else would the Prince here be so worried?" In an instant, Yuki's head whipped around and glared at her.

"The moves?" Tohru said in mild confusion. Hatori suddenly shot up from his position at the window and cursed.

"What? Is there something wrong Hatori?" Yuki asked, a worried expression plaguing his features. Hatori looked about ready to punch something as he continued to stare out of the window. Hana scampered over to Hatori's position near the window and gazed out as well.

"HOLY FREAKIN' CRAP!" she yelled as she looked out through the glass. "Those things are outside right no-"

She was cut off by Hatori's hand cupping over her mouth and pulling her underneath the windowsill. "Everyone down!" Hatori hissed.

Suddenly, an piercing scream filled the entire room, forcing everyone to cover their ears in pain. "Gah! What the hell is that?" Uo asked.

"What?" everyone asked. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as the heinous sound continued to resonate in their ears. Then, just as soon as it had started, the scream ceased and everyone slowly dropped their hands from their abused ears.

Hatori peeked hesitantly over the windowsill and sighed. Outside, the creatures were nowhere to be seen having gone into the building where they had previously been. Hatori rubbed his forehead for a moment then strode to the door and let Kyo back in.

"What was that?" Kyo asked, all but forgetting why he had been outside of the room in the first place.

"It's them. The wraiths. Soon they will find out that you all are not where you are supposed to be. For now, you need to go to bed. We will have a long trip ahead of us and we need to get an early start to assure our safety."

Everyone nodded in agreement and separated themselves onto different beds and cots to sleep for the night. As all of the teenagers finally succumbed to sleep, Hatori stared out of the window in thought. He was worried for all of them, but especially Tohru. Her fate would be decided by what path she took on the long journey ahead, and he knew that Kyo and Yuki would also be deeply involved with the same fate.

He shook his head and blew out the small candle on the nearby table. Whatever the outcome, he thought, this is certainly the beginning of something much greater than any of them could possibly know.

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wow. cliché.

like i said, i wrote this awhile ago. since then i've gotten into a lot of punk rock music and it kinda of makes me cynical to the rest of the world.

chapter 4 will be up in like five minutes. if my calculations are correct, i stopped writing after chapter 7 or 8, but now thati havefinally posted the damn thing, i suppose that i have to keep writing. so chapter 7 should be a helluva a lot better than the other ones,you can bet your bottom dollar.