Disclaimer. I own nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Ok? Thank you to my lovely beta.

Tohru and Kyo dipped cloths into mineral oil, and then rubbed it over their burning skin, feeling the sting fade away.

"This isn't good." Yuki said, tapping his finger on the polished table.

"We know that, stupid rat!" Kyo said, his non-existing patience wearing thin.

"Guys, guys, please, arguing isn't going to help." Tohru squealed.

"Your right." Kyo said, still glaring

"So what isn't good?" she asked

"He covered the chains with acid."

"Really?" Kyo interjected, sarcasm dripping from his tongue.

"Yes, that means that he was expecting you use the chain to stop the saw."

"But- he said I was going to die!" Tohru said, positively perplexed.

"Yes, well, he poisoned you too." Yuki said, reminding her of the few days before, " I'm sure he expected you to die then too."

"But why me?" she asked, feeling bad for the trouble she was causing. "But I still can't imagine someone, not caring for anyone, only seeing death as a game. I feel sorry for him almost. Can you imagine what that must be like?" she asked.

"You are the only way he can. He knows we will save you." Kyo said, staring at his hands, dabbing at them with a damp cloth. " And feel sorry for him? I feel sorry for you! He is trying to kill you after all!" he said.

"I am causing so much trouble, I should leave." She said, getting up and picking up the bowl.

"No, don't leave!" both Kyo and Yuki said.

"But, I have been such a burden. This guy, he doesn't sound like the guy to give up. Already you guys have done so much for me, I'm only a bothersome pawn, a danger to you guys." She said, tears in her eyes. She cared about them so much, but she knew she was a danger.

"Do you think that we would have went after you and gone to the trouble we have if we didn't want to?" Kyo asked her. Her eyes went wide.

" For once in my life, I think I have to agree with Kyo." Yuki said, and then turned to him. " Don't let it go to your head."

"But he will just use me again! You guys can't protect me forever!" she cried.

"But, Tohru, think about it, we want you to be safe." Yuki said.

"But I can't put you guys in danger!" she exclaimed

"Where are you going to go? Where is safer?" Kyo demanded.

She thought about it. If she got another tent, she would be easier pray.

"I don't have anywhere to go." She stated, and then fell to her knees again. She scratched her head, and then started to cough as tiny white specks fell from her hair and went into her throat.

"Tohru, are you ok?" Yuki asked, and Kyo went over to look at her.

"I am, its just- cough- something- cough- is irritating my throat- cough-." She said, coughing.

Kyo ran his fingers through her hair, and then studied them.

"The dust, in your hair, I thought it was sawdust." He stated, and then continued. " It's plaster dust?" he asked, and Yuki came over.

"Yeah, it is defiantly plaster dust." Yuki said. Suddenly, there was a huge thump.

"Who's there?" Kyo demanded, and a dark shadow came closer. They heard the door close gently, and saw someone taker their shoes off.

Yuki went beside the door, and the small figure seemed to take off a scarf.

The person walked into the hall, and Yuki grabbed them, and lifted them.

"Put me down, Yuki put me down!" Momiji Sohma exclaimed, wriggling in his hands. He put him down.

"Momiji!" Tohru said, and he came over and gave her an over enthusiastic hug

"Tohru!!" he cried, squeezing her. She squeaked.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, coughing. Her face was rather pale.

"Tohru, what's wrong?" he asked her. He looked at her raw red wrists, from being tied various time, and the long scratches that had come from the log, not to mention her bloody face.

"Huh? Oh!" She said, and then Momiji went and got a wet towel. Yuki took it from him, and gently wiped her face of blood.

"Someone, tell my whats wrong, why is Tohru bloody!!" he cried, and another figure ran in.

"Momiji! You know better to run off-!" Hatori Sohma said. He looked at Tohru's face, the bloody cloth, the long scratches, the mineral oil, the red burns on her upper arms, and then asked

"Miss Honda, what happened to you?" he asked her, coming over and putting a hand to her forehead. He took the cloth from Yuki, and then took a bottle out of his pocket.

" Hatori, what are you doing?" Yuki asked him, a little suspicious still.

"It's an anesthetic, I carry some around, for Momiji." He said, then dabbed her cheek gently. She winced; it stung, but sat still. Momiji was looking over Hatori's shoulder, watching him with awe.

"So, I'm waiting to hear the story behind all this." Hatori said calmly, and Yuki started explaining, Kyo seethed quietly in the corner.

"Some sick, twisted, insane, madman is playing a game with us. He tried to kill Tohru at least three different times, or threatened to kill her that many and a few." Yuki said, and then stood to get the letters, for proof. There was a small knock on the door, and Yuki went to get it. The night was falling and when he shut the door, he had an angry look on his face.

"Yuki, what is it?" Kyo asked, and Yuki held up another letter.

"What do you mean?" Tohru asked, standing up too quickly, falling to her feet.

"Miss Honda?" Yuki asked, turning to look at Hatori.

"Blood loss, plus fever, she needs rest." He said, and Momiji got a bed for her, a concerned look in his eyes.

When she was set and sleeping in the make shift bed, the others gathered around the table.

"Now, open the letter." Hatori commanded, and Yuki obeyed,

My wonderful friends, how clever are you!

And Kyo, your knowledge and wits have grown too.

But here is the next clue, head the warning with care

And the warning is this, obey me or get a death share

Here is the clue, and I can't wait to see

How our little game ends, deathly or happily

Mine is not easy, really, Albright?

Like only in living may interestingly

Necessities even altogether live

Only in living.

"And that is the sonnet from our wonderful friend." Yuki said, and Hatori began to laugh.

"Whats so funny?" Kyo asked, " it's as clear as mud!"

"Take the first letter of each word." Hatori commanded.

Mine is not easy, really, Albright?

Like only in living may interestingly

Necessities even altogether live

Only in living.

"Mineral oil?" Yuki said, then his eyes went wide.

"So, we already knew that." Kyo pointed out.

"That's the point!" Yuki said.

"What do you mean?" Kyo asked him, and then quieted his voice, hearing Tohru moan in her sleep.

"It means, silly, that you guys got a head start on him!" Momiji exclaimed, laughing as enlightenment hit Kyo like a ton of bricks.

"He won't be watching our house for a few hours!" Kyo said.

"Yup, that means we can set a trap." Yuki said, and Hatori looked rather puzzled.

"Whats wrong, Hatori?" Yuki asked him

"Well, these riddles remind me of a friend I had when I was first teaching doctoring. We went back a while, and although we were good friends, he never found out about the curse. He always tried to find it out though. Anyways, he wrote many riddles like this."

"Really?" Kyo asked, and Momiji nodded, having heard Hatori talk about him and tell him stories about his childhood, excluding his only love.

"The funny thing is was that his name was Simon." He casually added, and Yuki and Kyo jumped, like they both had been struck by lightning.

"Simon!" they both exclaimed, and then Tohru sat straight up.

"What's Simon?" she asked, her eyes holding desperation.

"He's the guy who is doing all these things to you. " Momiji said, coming over to feel her forehead.

"Simon? Simon." She gasped, and the others looked at her. Hatori came over to her and felt for a fever, just like Momiji had done, only this time he pulled his hand back, frowning.

"Simon, Simon says." She recalled, and then her eyes went wide.

"Yes, Simon, you know him?" Hatori said, and she looked off into the distance, looking like she knew this, but it wasn't coming to her. It also didn't help that she was tired. Drop dead tired, to be precise. Her sentences were hardly coherent. They were more like a string of thoughts, all connected by a single seemingly irrelevant connection. A lot like algebra two.

"Letter. He talked about a letter, way high up. He didn't mean for me to hear. Talking to himself." She said, watching as Hatori felt her pulse. She continued, " The letter he read it to someone, or to himself. Something about. Something about." She gasped, yawning. Kyo was handed a brush by Hatori, and was motioned Kyo brush her hair out, to make it easier to see the extent of the damages around her neck. He ran the brush through her hair, still finding dried pieces of what looked like Yuki's 'secret base'.

He his the small smile that crept into his eyes as the feeling of her hair in between his fingers.

"Something about what?" Yuki asked her

"Something about a wig." She finally concluded, then fainted.

"Miss Honda!" Yuki cried, and in a moment, he was by her side, along with Kyo and Momiji.

In the distance, they heard the yowl of a large cat, and the grunt of a man. Kyo perked up.

"What is it, what happened?" Yuki asked him

"I can't really understand, it is a tiger, protecting young one. Against mean man; little tiger, not really a tiger-tiger." He said, and then his eyes went wide

"Kisa!" he cried, and then he and Yuki both left, leaving the sliding door open, jumping over the logs and through the night.

The clouds had started to boil in, and they could feel the tension in the air that meant they were in for a thunderstorm. They jumped over a log, and then skidded into a clearing, seeing a heaving white tiger. Behind her, in the crook made by two huge tree roots, a tiny tiger cub rested. Kyo looked around, not seeing anyone.

"Kisa!" Yuki said, while Kyo tried to see what was wrong with the huge tiger.

The cub shivered, and then let Yuki pick her up. Yuki turned just as Kyo came over, shaking his head. The large tiger had died, a cut to the throat.

It started raining, and Yuki turned to Kyo, " what was she doing out here, alone?" he asked Kyo

"Maybe for the same stupid reason we are!" Kyo yelled, making Kisa cringe. He looked bad, then said, softer,

"I'm not mad at you, Kisa." He said, taking his coat off, for when she changed back.

"I'm mad because someone keeps hurting Tohru." In a bloom of color, Kisa stood there.

"Sissy? Hurt?" she asked, her blonde hair instantly becoming wet. Yuki covered her up as she started to shiver, maybe from the fight, or maybe because of the idea that Tohru was hurt, but either way, Yuki covered her as they headed back.

When they came in, Hatori was speaking softly to Momiji

"I don't like her color. Akito won't be happy with me if I stay, so I can't, but I can't leave her here, she is too unstable as it stands." He said, and then turned around, hearing the door shut. Kisa ran over to Tohru, whose cheeks had gone rather pale, and tiny beads of sweat on her face.

"Why did she get worse?" Kyo asked

"I'm not a doctor, you stupid cat, but maybe it might be because she was poisoned a couple of days ago, kidnapped and left in the middle of the road in a canvas sack, dragged all over the place bound and gagged, scared to death, probably hungry, not to mention tied to a log that was being cut in two, and on top of that, she was inhaling plaster dust." Yuki said, annoyed at both him and whomever this Simon person was.

"O." Kyo said, backing down, a first for him. He wasn't used to the Yuki he was seeing now. The others all looked up at him.

"So? I'm annoyed! Anyways, Hatori, start speaking, you have a lot to say. Talk about Simon, talk about Tohru's condition, just talk!" he finished, sitting down

"Simon was a friend of mine, or he was until he left to go train for some ninja master." He looked at Kyo. "The same master you had, or have, what ever one you are doing right now. He learned a lot, and he came back, expecting me to be the same, as I have never changed when he was around. But that was after I had to-." He died off, gulped, then said, " erase my, assistant's memory." He finished, and they all thought about the girl he had loved. And about how Akito had been so mean when he blamed the wrong person for his own actions.

"So, he came back, and he noticed you were different." Yuki prodded gently.

" Yes, and he had never been able to figure out what was wrong with me, even though he was planning to be a doctor too. Anyways, he was angry with me for changing when I was gone, because he never could. He tried, letting me tell you, he threw girls at me left and right, but they never fazed me. He thought I was going to be like that forever, so he gave up, and went to do training. When he came back, I was changed, and he knew that is was because of a girl. Something he never could do." He said, softly. Kisa looked up, her tiny tiger ears detecting movement. Then there was a knock on the door. A flash of lighting provided ominous insight for the feeling that pervaded the room. Hair rose on the back of Kyo's neck, and Yuki felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

A/N lol, I am having so much fun writing this story. I have up to chapter six written.

Here is your teaser for the rest of the story.

Isn't it funny how in fan fiction, the main characters are hardly ever touched? No one kills off the main ones. Well, that kind of ruins the story…. But I warn you; 'no one' is not I.