A two day rainstorm cleared up temporarily. The clouds were grey and you could feel the low pressure in the air. It was only halfway over. Yuki wasn't getting any better. He stopped taking painkillers on his own, and I hand to help him swallow them. I'd place the small white pills in his mouth, sit him up and feed him a small mouthfull of water then gently stroke his throat. His face was flushed more often than not, but I had a feeling it was only red from the coughing. The rest of him was dangerously pale, his lips maktched his skin tone.

I feared the worst of everything.. Yuki was on his death bed. I'd hold him close to me when his soft voice cried about the cold. It was only the third day since we had ran away.

In the morning, when I made my walk downstairs for more ice, I saw a familiar black limo pull up fast into the parking lot. I knew who it was all too well. Akito. I wondered how he found out we were here, and thought back to the night before. The nurse. I had sent her to the Sohma palace to get her memory erased. I watched from behind a railing as the very same nurse was pushed out of the limo forcefully by the angry Lord.

"WHICH ROOM!?"

She looked just about as scared as I was at that moment. She fell on the pavement, crying. Still Akito yelled out, 'which room, which room!' I only had seconds to react. I sprinted so fast I didn't see her point. Akito would smile in a devious way that had said, 'I won,' but he was far from winning yet. With him was a man that I believed to be emotionally weaker than Yuki. Kureno Sohma, the bird, stepped from the limo. Akito pointed in the direction the nurse had, and Kureno set off. Akito didn't follow, for he had some unfinished business..

The nurse.

I didn't know it back then, but everyone we talked to were pulled into our crime. So they'd pay the price of a criminal. Akito pulled out a gun from the inside of his business suit jacket, aimed, and fired. The nurse never had her chance.

Meanwhile, I ran into the hotel room. I grabbed our bags, and tenderly picked Yuki up. A maid was in the room, cleaning. I acted fast, pressing Yuki up against her. Instantly he changed, making him pocket sized and easier to carry and conceal. She was in shock, but I could care less. I carefully held Yuki in my arms, running out the back as fast as I could just as I heard a gunshot.

Kureno opened the door to find no one occupying it but a maid who looked as though she's seen a ghost. I sort of wish she had. Kureno was kind, weak, and he barely had an opinion of his own in that head of his. I would have expected him to walk up to the maid, and calm her down. But instead, he just watched her with a sad expression, as though he felt pity for her. Akito came storming into the empty room, demanding to know where Yuki was. Kureno didn't say anything, and I wouldn't have expected him too. Akito saw the frightened maid, who was desparatly trying to escape. The hot weapon the demon lord held in his hands pointed to the maid,

"Where are they!"

"They left through the back!"

BANG!

I ran faster hearing a second gunshot. If I didn't think it was just my imagination the first time, telling me to run faster, than I wouldn't have needed a second gun fire to reassure me it was a bullet breaking the sound barrier. I stood in the middle of the street, just as an on-coming car was bolting down. He stopped on a whim, and I climbed in. It was a man and his wife, or perhaps they were dating. Either way, I begged the man kindly if he would take me as far as he could to the next town. He agreed, asking what was wrong. I couldn't tell him.. I simply said I wasn't safe.

I looked to Yuki in my arms. Changing back soon was a possibility.. I couldn't have that here. I asked his wife if she would hold Yuki for me, claiming it was my pet mouse. I was lucky to be riding in a car with the one woman on earth who wasn't afraid of rodents. Although I didn't trust anyone else to take care of Yuki while he was sick, I couldn't risk him changing.

"Is he sick?"

"Very sick.."

"Do you want us to bring you to a pet hospital?"

"No, he'll get better.. He's just asthmatic."

I wasn't thinking when I talked to them. Well, I was thinking, and worrying, but I wasn't thinking about what I was saying. I should have been thinking, I should have always been thinking.

We came up to the start of a mountain that lead up to Sensei Kazuma's dojo. I asked for the car to stop, in which the couple did. She handed Yuki back to me, and wished me luck before they drove off. I ran up to Master's dojo, calling out his name. I needed his help, he'd be the only one I could trust.

But the only one to answer my cries was a very irritated cat.

He came out from the kitchen, sipping milk from a carton with a towel around his neck. It should have been obvious that Kyo wasn't looking for Yuki..

"What are you doing here?" His ears perked up. "Is that... Dammit! Why'd you have to bring him here!? Oh hey wait..." Kyo tilted his head in thought, walking up to us. "Isn't he.. missing?"

A cloud of lavender exploded and the rat became a prince. A pale, sickly prince who fell on the floor, unable to find the strength to stand. Quickly I threw my sweater over his naked body, looking to Kyo despratly.

"Please, Kyo, he needs help.."

I was begging. Pleading even. I've never been that scared in my entire life. I was always a bit stronger emotionally than other zodiac memebers provided my black side was concealed. But at that point I was convinced Yuki was going to die.

If Yuki was just a little sick, he'd be able to tend to himself. He would just take a painkiller, his inhaler, and he'd walk around and attend some small flower.. But Yuki couldn't even find the strength to open his eyes. If he wasn't breathing so heavey I would have thought he was dead.

Kyo looked down at the dying rat, gave an unsure look, and finally nodded.

"Fine. But I'm not doing this because I like him or anything. Don't get the wrong idea!"

He wouldn't help me carry Yuki, but he lead me to an upstairs guest room where Yuki could rest. I placed him down on the bed, and knealt down by his side. Kyo watched from the doorway, having got a wet washcloth for me to place on Yuki's forehead to bring the fever down.

I thought back to the other night, when Yuki had asked me why I brought him there. If I could go back, I would have kept my cool. I wouldn't have gotten so offended, I wouldn't have felt so unappreciated. I would have told him because he was my only friend in the world and I was terrified that Akito would someday kill him.. I would have told him the dream I had of the white knight and the prince. I wouldn't have continuously interupted him, and I would have listened to him tell me this was a bad idea. I would have listened to Yuki's small but firm voice tell me, 'Haru, go back. Turn around while you still can. While we're still alive.'

I held his hand, pressing it to my forehead, pleading that he'd get better. I wanted him to wake up, I wanted him to be okay. Kyo cleared his throat and looked out the door.

"The entire family is looking for Yuki.. They don't know it's you who took him, but if Akito does find you.. He will kill you. He's instructed everyone to kill a kidnapper on sight."

My eyes widened, and I stood up. Kyo looked at me and nodded, folding his arms.

"... I can't be held responsible for what you did."

"Please, Kyo.. Yuki's sick."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know, and you two can stay until he gets better. But if Akito finds you here, I'm not risking my neck to save you two." Kyo glared, suddenly looking a bit more older than he actually was. "I'm not the one who wanted to save the rat."

Kyo's decision was respectable. He'd give a place to stay, even if it was only Master's dojo, but he wouldn't take the credit. We looked back to the sick one with two very differen expressions that both held some sort of pity for him.

Akito was a freight train, running over the entire hotel. Eventually the beast within paused his monumentus destruction when a phone call came from the novelistic Sohma.

"Hatsuharu is missing."

[A/n] I didn't really want to put Kyo in the story, but he was continuously requested. So here is his grand appearence! My personal feelings on Kyo are that he'd help, but he wouldn't risk his life for Yuki. He's a bit kinder to Yuki when he's sick, but in the end Kyo still has some firey anger for the poor rat.

I know all they've been doing so far is running away, but I don't want this story to be a five chapter thing. This might drag out to ten chapters, I'm hoping for more though. That means the story progression will be a bit slow.

I still need suggestions for further plot! I have a vague plan of what will happen, but it's you the reviewers who really help piece this fiction together.

Thanks again to mousecat, Koshi Sekisen, and Forbiddensoul562 for their suggestions and reviews! They're the main reason this story is alive. Without active readers, why bother writting?