So, here I am, back again with the 4th chapter!!

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket is not my own creation; I do not own it--Natsuki Takaya does. However, I do own my own characters.

My thanks to LightningStar for the review. ^_^ Much appreciated, my friend. (Even though it was only 2 words long...hehe. :P) Anyway, I tried to upload it fast this time around to compensate for my previous laziness! I hope you can forgive me for that, especially you, MagisterAkane. *humbly bows* Without further ado--the 4th chapter of the Elemental Guardians!! :D

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****When they finally escaped the horrifying intensity of the office, they took off at a run, not caring who saw them. They ran to their individual lockers, grabbed their stuff, and raced home as quickly as possible. The rest of the day, for them, had just been ruined.****

Every day was now an inescapable torture chamber that dragged along, bringing Julie, Marie, Faith, Yuki, and Kyo along with it; Akito and Isamu insisted on seeing them daily. It reminded the Wilsons of the terrible Cultural Revolution they'd heard of that'd happened in China during the 1960s, what with the struggle meetings, Family Head Enlightenment groups, on and on and on....

And if our 5 heroes showed any signs of anger, impatience, or rebellion against Akito and Isamu, they were harshly punished. Not physically--emotionally.

Once these struggle meetings had been going on for several months, the 2 family heads started targeting a different student every day. One day it would be Yuki; the next it would be Kyo. It got to the point where our dear heroes lost the will to lift up their head, walk proudly, and even talk. Tohru watched helplessly everyone had less and less fun every day while their trauma only grew worse and worse. After all, how could she go against the two family heads?

But one day, when Tohru was going to visit the Wilsons, she saw, through the window, Faith practically bawling her head off and Julie and Marie trying to comfort her (to no avail). It was then that Tohru made up her mind: She was going to help Yuki, Kyo, and the Wilson teens through their misery. There was no reason why they had to suffer so much. Akito- and Isamu-san's (Was it them?) behavior was unacceptable against these kind young people who had helped her so much after her mom had died.

So starting from the next day onward, Tohru set to action. She asked how her friends were doing every day. She slipped anonymous notes of encouragement into their lockers at lunch. And she also offered help to them in any way possible.

Always, our 5 heroes' responses were: "Thank you so much for offering to help. But you've already done so much for us; we can't let you do any more." Tohru was touched by their sincerity and kindness towards her, and never ceased to try to spur them onward.

A week later, after Tohru had gotten back from work and from her heartwarming talk on memories with Momiji on memories, she stopped by the Wilsons' house to see how they were doing. The 3 teens were laughing and happily playing a family board game with each other. Tohru smiled and walked to the Sohma household.

She happily told everyone, "The Wilsons are doing great. I just went by and saw them laughing and playing!"

Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure looked up at her from the dinner table.

"That's excellent!" Yuki exclaimed with a bit too much gusto.

Kyo remained silent while Shigure awkwardly cleared his throat. Finally, he asked, "Tohru-kun?"

"Yes? What's wrong, Shigure-san?"

"Eh...well...Akito asked you to come over to the Main House tomorrow. He said there were certain matters he wished to...discuss with you. Is that OK with you?"

"Oh..." Tohru now understood why no one in the Sohma household was happy or joyous. "I believe so...what time would it be tomorrow?"

"Right after school." Shigure's voice was firm. "I know you have work, but don't skip out on this. It won't do anyone any good."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Shigure went to open it and ushered in a trembling girl they recognized as Édith.

"Hi, Édith! It's nice to see--my gosh! What's wrong?!" Tohru asked as Édith bursted into tears.

"J-J-Julie and M-Marie a-a-and F-F-Faith are gone!! No one's s-seen them f-f-f-for 5 days now!" she cried through sobs, hugging Tohru tightly.

"What?! Then who were those people I saw through the window?!" Tohru exclaimed.

Édith stopped crying and her face darkened. "Isamu...Isamu and Akito-san and someone else must have been pretending to be them so that they would trick you! Come on, Miss Honda, come on!! Julie, Marie, and Faith's very lives may depend on us finding them in time!!"

Meanwhile, Julie, Marie, and Faith sat quietly in isolated rooms of Isamu's enormous mansion, chained in their places.

"Marie! Faith!!" Julie yelled through the bars of her cell. She heard her own words taunting her as they echoed in the gloomy silence.

Marie sat up, ears perked. I could have sworn that I just heard something, she thought. She coughed, then shouted, "Julie! Faith! Can you hear me?!"

Faith stirred, awakened by Marie's shout. Faith's eyes widened, and she panicked for a moment until she remembered that there was no chance of escape. None. She slumped down again, then hoarsely replied to Marie: "Marie! I'm here! It's all right!!" But there was no response to her shouts. She sighed and went back to sleep.

"HEY!" Kyo roared, pounding on the front door of Isamu's mansion. "Let us in!!"

Yuki tried to find a doorbell but couldn't see one anywhere; Tohru had no idea what to do and gentle Édith was about ready to explode.

Finally, she managed to hold in all her anger and calmly said, "Well, it's come down to one indisputable fact."

"What's that?" everyone else with her asked.

"We need to break in," she replied confidently and firmly.

"Hello, my dear Faith," Isamu purred with a poisoned, honey-like voice. "Are you doing all right, I wonder?"

"Go away. You don't care for anyone except yourself." Faith did not even look up at Isamu; her voice was hard and cold, her eyes a steely gray.

"Why, Faith! How can you say that to your master?" Isamu's eyes gleamed now, and his voice held a menacing tone.

"Because everyone--including you, Isamu--knows it's the truth," said 2 very familiar voices in unison.

Isamu was shocked as he turned around and saw--who could it be but--Julie and Marie! Their hair was a mess, their clothes tattered, and their bodies marked from the chains--but they were none the worse for wear.

At the same time, Édith and her search party came running down the end of the corridor from the opposite direction. They skidded to a stop before Isamu.

"What the--?" Isamu was nonplussed at first--but then his voice grew louder in anger. "How the heck did you idiots get in?!"

Julie and Marie seized their opportunity and freed Faith. After making sure Isamu was still distracted, they quietly stole down the rest of the hallway. Once out of sight and out of earshot of their awful family head, they took off at a run through the rest of the maze-like mansion down to the ground level floor and saw an open window next to the impassable 'front door' (which was really a huge block of wood made to intentionally fool anyone foolish enough to try to run away from Isamu in his own mansion). They realized that Édith and her search party had come in through that window; so the 3 Wilsons made their way out the same way, carefully inserting a sturdy, supple stick in between the latch and the window to hold it open for their rescuers. Then they made their way home.

Once the search party saw that Julie, Marie, and Faith were safely out of Isamu's reach, they turned tail and also ran away from Isamu, making their way down the 10 lower floors of Isamu's mansion to the window they'd gotten in by, propped up by the stick. After hurriedly making their way out, they removed the stick and shut the window, and everyone walked to the Wilsons' home.

"I'm glad that the Wilsons were all right, though." Yuki shivered. "If we hadn't managed to get in there on time..."

"Julie, Marie, and Faith would never have gotten free," Tohru finished for him.

"What's wrong with that Isamu guy, do you think?" Kyo asked as everyone fell silent. "Is he...mad? As in crazy? Or is it something else?"

Everyone thought about this for a minute.

"Well, it's true that Isamu has anger management problems," Édith said slowly, contemplatively, trying to figure out the best way to tell the others what Isamu's real problem was.

"My, my, my. If it isn't Édith Wilson and Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru-san!" Akito lightly remarked, coming out from behind a tree.

"Akito...?" Yuki and Kyo were puzzled. There was something wrong--Akito's voice was too excited, his eyes too bright for him to actually be happy.

"Yes? What is it, head of the Sohma family?" Édith asked coolly. (She's tough for a primary school student!)

Akito's smile widened. "I just came to remind Tohru-san of her appointment with me tomorrow. She musn't forget about it; everyone's been expecting her for weeks."

"No," someone growled from behind Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru. "I won't allow it." Everyone turned to see--Faith!!

"Oh?" Akito turned his head to one side, smiling all the more. "You dare to defy me?"

"Yes, she does," someone else said from behind Akito. "And I also dare to defy you, you arrogant piece of dirt."

Suddenly, a foggy mist appeared, sheltering everyone except Akito in it. The sky darkened and storm clouds gathered over everyone until they were shrouded in darkness from the sheer vastness of the clouds.

"Oh no. Everyone, cover your eyes. Do it. Now!" Faith ordered firmly but not unkindly.

They did as they were told. Once she was sure no one was peeking, Faith flew up to the teen causing the storm.

"Youta...what are you doing here? I thought you'd gone forever."

"Eh, something drew me here." The teen glanced sideways at Faith for a moment before continuing, "I...I'd heard about you and your best friends moving here in Japan, so I went to check and make sure. Never thought you'd leave America, but I guess it was all for the greater good in the end...." He trailed off.

After a few moments of silence, Faith smiled and asked, "So I see you don't take very kindly to Akito-san?"

"Who's he? Oh...that person who thought he was so high and mighty," Youta scorned in disgust. "Can't believe he actually said those things to you. You, who have never done anything wrong in your--" He broke off suddenly and turned from Faith, blushing a crimson red.

Faith laid a hand on Youta's shoulder. "I think you can stop the storm now," she gently reminded him.

He blushed again. "Oh. Right." He draw his hands back above his head; the clouds retreated, and the sky brightened.

They flew back down to ground level just as the others were rubbing their eyes, wondering what'd suddenly happened to make the storm disappear.

"So, d'you still insist that this...eh, Tohru-san go visit you tomorrow? From what Faith here tells me, she never agreed to go to your little fortress," Youta coldly stated.

"N-no!! It's quite all right! She doesn't have to come anytime soon!" Akito laughed nervously. Then he darted off into the shadows. Everyone heard the undergrowth crackling as he hurried away as quickly as he could; then there was an uncomfortable silence.

"Anyway...thank you for protecting Honda-san," Yuki said quietly.

"Yeah," Kyo agreed (For once!). "We can't tell you how grateful we are for saving her from that awful guy."

"Who, this Akito-san person?" Youta asked, spitting the name out contemptuously.

"Who else?" Yuki replied. He and Kyo turned, bringing Tohru along with them. They stopped mid-step. Yuki turned around and asked, "What's your name, anyway?"

Youta smiled kindly. "It's Kouki Wilson. Everyone calls me Youta, though."

"Why?" Kyo whispered. He felt like if he said it any louder the world would explode, for some reason.

"It describes me better," Youta said shortly, his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw set. There was another awkward silence.

"Anyway, we should all be getting home now," Faith remarked, hoping the others would take the hint.

"Yeah." Yuki and Kyo brought Tohru home with them while Faith and Youta walked to her house, talking.

"How are things going?" Faith asked shyly. "I mean with Mom and Dad."

Youta pondered the question for several seconds. "Eh, they're so-so. Not great, but not horrible either. In between."

Faith's voice got so quiet that Youta, standing a few centimeters away from her, had to strain his in-perfect-hearing-condition ears to hear her: "Do they still hate me?"

"Huh? Why would you ask that? They never hated you. All it was was that they just couldn't handle our two conflicting personalities. So when you ended up going, things got a lot quieter at home. Though we're still not used to one member of the family being gone. It's just not the same, Faith. We--ah. Is this the place?"

Faith had stopped in front of her house. "This is the place," she said softly.

"Well, I guess I'll be going now. Mom and Dad told me not to stay past nightfall anyway, so see ya, Faith!" As he flew off, he waved down at Faith and shouted, "Tell Julie, Marie, and Joe I said hi!!"

"OK!!" Faith happily shouted back. Once he was out of sight, she entered the house. There was no sign of anyone else being there--the lights were all off and the shutters closed tightly. Her skin prickling, Faith called, "Julie! Marie! Joe!! Where are you?!"

Silence.

"Stop playing games with me! I know you're there!" she shouted, starting to panic.

More silence.

Suddenly the door to the guest bedroom creaked open, on its own! Startled, Faith peeked into the room. There were Julie, Marie, and Joe!! But they didn't look alive at all. In fact, as Faith saw them floating around in a huge, luminescent green tank, seeing their wide-open mouths, their eyes shut as if sleeping, and their nonresponsive bodies whenever they lightly thumped against the tank walls, she thought, Is it just me...or are they dead?

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Yeah, this chapter was shorter to compensate for the honkin' long 3rd chapter. ^_^; Anyway, thank you for reading thus far! May I ask you to review, please? I desperately need some on this piece. :(

So, I'll try to make Chapter 5 average length! :D

Youta: Hehe, you guys have any idea what Elemental I am yet? Technically you should be able to tell from the various clues the author gave you. 1) During our walk to her home, Faith and I talk about how--

Me: Be quiet. You don't want to give away the surprise, do you?

Faith: Well...

Me: Anyway, the Elementals do have powers according to their elements. And Youta and Faith understand each other so well, they can read each other's minds. Also--

Faith and Youta: Shh!! Don't spoil the surprise!