Disclaimer: I do not own the Higurashi franchise… damnit

A/N: I would like to thank all of you who are still reading this fan fiction and I would especially like to thank those of you who were courteous enough to leave comments telling me how much you liked the story thus far. Thanks guys! Your comments really keep me going and get me to work hard in updating as much as possible. Thanks again!

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Chapter 5: Scars

"I'm Satoko Hojo!" piped the small blonde girl, standing amidst the large crowd of students that had accumulated around Ryuu's desk shortly after Miss Chie left to inform the principle of his return. She was rather flustered when she left.

"We thought you were dead," she had said.

"What did she mean by that?" Ryuu pondered to himself.

He quickly separated himself from his train of thought when he heard Satoko introducing herself. "Hojo? Are you Satoshi's younger sister?" he inquired. The mass amount of chatter surrounding Ryuu gradually began to hush when Satoshi's name was mentioned. Satoko looked hurt all the sudden, as if Satoshi's name caused her some kind of physical pain. Ryuu gave Keiichi an inquiring look.

Suddenly Ryuu felt a tiny hand tugging on his sleeve. He turned his head and saw a small blue haired girl standing next to him, wearing a cute little smile. Behind her was a shy looking purple haired girl with… horns? Are those real horns? Does no one find that odd?

"Nipah~!" cooed the little blue haired girl. "Please don't talk about Satoshi in front of Satoko or Shion-chan," she said, not unkindly but at the same time she sounded stern, "It upsets them. My name is Rika by the way."

"Why? What happened to Satoshi? He was my friend when I was still here," said Ryuu.

"Satoshi got sick," she said, her voice still maintaining its childish and kind disposition.

"Sick?" Ryuu looked at her inquisitively, "What does that mean?"

The horned girl tugged shyly on Rika's shirt, keeping her bashful eyes on Ryuu. The horned girl whispered something in Rika's ear, something that replaced her childish face with a very solemn, very grave look. She looked at Ryuu darkly; he could see worry behind her suddenly hard looking eyes.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked when her grim stare did not break.

"No…" she said, her voice sounding much deeper.

Ryuu again shot Keiichi questioning look but he was too busy checking his watch to notice him.

Ryuu turned back in the girl's direction and nearly collided with her head which was only half an inch away from his.

"You are very sick too," she said darkly, "Worse that Satoshi-kun ever was. Worse than any of the sick people I've seen."

"Rika-chan!" called Satoko who was standing next to Shion, holding her hand, "You're not scaring Ryuu-kun already, are you?"

Rika's facial expression did another turn around, suddenly becoming bright and cheerful as she faced her blonde friend. "No! We were just playing," she said innocently.

Ryuu wouldn't have called that playing. "What is with this kid?" he asked himself mentally, "What does she mean I'm sick? And what was with that face?"

Rika skipped away over to Satoko, as if nothing had happened, the horned girl following her.

Ryuu gave everyone in the class inquiring looks, hoping that someone would be able to provide an explanation for such odd behavior. Most people merely shook their heads and shrugged. When his gaze fell upon Keiichi he noticed that he was again checking his watch.

"A watched pot never boils Keiich-kun," he said sagely.

Keiichi looked up from his watch, startled by the disturbance. "Just wondering what's taking Mion-chan so long to get here," he said, now looking at the clock hanging above the black board for the time.

"You're quite smitten with that girl aren't you Keiichi?" said Ryuu with a grin.

Keiichi's face heated up like a forest fire, glowing a brilliant crimson red. "No!" he snapped, his face still shining like a Christmas tree, "I'm just worried that… maybe something happened. Weird stuff happens around here all the time."

"Hauu~!" cooed Rena, appearing out of nowhere, "Kei-chan is soo cute when his face changes color like that!"

"S-shut up," he said, checking his watch again.

The door of the class room opened up and in came a young woman with a cocky grin, lively turquoise eyes, and a long green ponytail. She announced her arrival with, "Hey gang!"

Thump, Thump, went Ryuu's heart, painfully slamming against his ribs. This girl… he knew this girl…

A loud ringing flooded his ears and pain coursed through his skull. His legs itched to run. Panic was causing his muscles to twitch. His pupils were reduced to two tiny dots. He saw the mouths of his new classmates move but he could not hear anything over the high pitched whining that was threatening to burst his brain.

His body became rigid. He wanted nothing more in the world than to escape this place but fear kept him planted.

"Kill her…" hissed a voice in his head that was not his own.

"She told them about you… she is why you were locked up… KILL HER !!"

His fingers were twitching involuntarily as if they were trying to crawl over to this girl and strangle her themselves.

The voice of Jack Lanyon echoed in his mind, "…you slaughtered twenty five people and traumatized one little girl."

He heard her voice squeal in his head.

"Stop it!"

"You're hurting her!"

"You're hurting me!"

He heard her blood splash across the floor and splatter across the walls.

"Oni-baba! Oni-baba!" she had cried. He remembered her tears, her blood soaked face and her crippled little body. Half of him was filled with guilt at the memory, the other half wanted to laugh.

"Ryuu!" cried a voice.

"Ru-kun! Wake up! Wake up!"

There was a flash of light and he suddenly found himself lying on his back, looking up at the three concerned faces of Keiichi, Rena, and Mion Sonozaki.

His face was drenched in cold sweat and his fingers hurt terribly for some reason. He looked down at his hands and saw that the tips of his fingers were torn up! Blood was trickling down from the fresh wounds. He sat up and saw Rika and the horned girl looking at him. The horned girl looked absolutely horrified, along with everyone else. Rika however looked sad, as if she had just lost at some game.

When she saw him looking at her she mouthed the words, "Very sick."

Ryuu stood up and nearly collapsed as his knees wobbled under his weight. He rested his hands on his desk for support. It was then he saw the many, many gashes in his desk. The blood stained scratches that ran across the wood surface of his desk in all directions.

"D-did I…" he couldn't finish his sentence, he just then realized how out of breath he was.

"I think you need to go see coach," suggested Mion. Her voice sent his mind into a brief panic attack.

Ryuu's mind once again fell deft to all noise but his own thoughts. He was staring at the scratches he had etched into the desktop and then at his own fingernails which were now full of tiny wooden splinters.

"What happened?" he asked, his eyes still glued to the desk.

"You tell us," said Keiichi, "You just started convulsing and scratching up the desk and collapsed on the floor. What came over you?"

Ryuu's eyes flickered over in Mion's direction but his mouth remained sealed. "Nothing," he said finally.

"Nothing? Tearing up a desk isn't what I'd call 'nothing' pal," Mion said incredulously.

"I don't know!" he snapped, "I just… just blacked out and woke up on the floor okay!! I don't know why!"

He turned and faced the terrified student body, all of which had retreated to the opposite end of the room from where Ryuu was standing, the smallest hiding behind their elders in fear. Ryuu felt a pain in his chest when he saw their terrified faces.

He felt even worse when he saw Rena hiding behind Keiichi, staring at him like he was some kind of monster.

Mion stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. A bright light flashed in his head as he stifled the urge to break her arm. His heart was beating unnaturally fast as she pulled up his sleeve. She examined both of his bare wrists and ran her fingers across his skin like she was feeling for something.

When she didn't stop Keiichi coughed loudly.

"I'm just checking him!" she said.

"For what!?" cried Ryuu, his voice trembling with panic.

"Scars," she stated plainly.

"I'm not like that now you can let… let GO OF ME!!" he tore his wrist away from her, pulling down his sleeves.

"What about your neck?" she asked.

"What the hell are you talking about!? I'm not a cutter!" he insisted.

Mion said nothing but Ryuu could feel her eyes examine his throat carefully. "Well… I don't see any scars," she said. This seemed to surprise Rika.

"Why would I have scars on my neck? What is this all about?" he demanded.

Everyone else in the room seemed just as lost as Ryuu. All except Rika, Mion, Shion, Keiichi, Satoko, Rena and the strange horned girl.

"Mii-chan… you don't think Ru-kun is cursed do you? Do you?" she asked timidly, hiding behind Keiichi's figure.

"Cursed? What?! You guys believe in Oyashiro-sama's curse? That's the mos—"

Rika suddenly appeared by his side, her cute face being worn once again. "Time to go see coach!" she said, pointing to the door with her tiny little hand, "Let's go!"

"Who's coach?" Ryuu asked, his voice still sounding manic.

"He's a doctor. He's gonna fix Ryuu-kun! Nipah~!" she said sweetly, guiding him toward the door.

Ryuu looked at Keiichi, silently asking if he should go. Keiichi just nodded. Ryuu decided to play along and the further away he was from Mion the slower his heart rate became. Just as they were about to exit through the door Miss Chie came walking in with a big, muscular bald man in a suit who Ryuu recognized as the principle.

"Maebarra Ryuu-kun," he greeted fondly, "Good to see you back again!" Ryuu was surprised to see how anyone could be this calm after what just happened. It was an odd but refreshing change in mood.

He extended a large hand for Ryuu to shake. At first he felt unsure. His mind was still feeling very alert and it was telling him that placing his hand in someone else's grip could hurt him. And he did not like to be hurt.

However his hand moved, reluctantly, into his grip and he shook it firmly. "You still have that timid handshake, just like the old days," said the principle with a hearty laugh. However, it didn't take the principle long to feel warm blood oozing out of Ryuu's fingers. He grabbed his wrist and examined his fingers. "Who did this to you?" he asked sternly, examining the classroom for the culprit when his eyes fell upon the butchered desk in the corner of the room.

The principle examined his hand even closer and saw the tiny wooden splinters protruding in his fingers. "Rika-chan," he said, "Mion-chan, please escort Ryuu-kun to Dr. Irie's clinic. The rest of you please take your seats."

Ryuu's heart did a drum roll when he heard Mion give an affirmative, "Yes."

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Ryuu was escorted by the two girls to Dr. Irie's clinic. He said nothing as he walked silently behind the two girls as they chattered amongst themselves, no doubt discussing Ryuu.

But he had tuned out their conversation. His eyes followed Mion's back as they walked. It was like he was trying to see through her clothing to get a better view of what was on her back. He needed to know if she was the same girl from four years ago or not. He had to know if she was the same girl he had hurt all those years ago. The answer to that question would be etched in her back in the form of a scar.

"What are you staring at?" she said suddenly in a tom-boyish voice.

Ryuu tore himself away from his thoughts and saw Mion grinning at him, as if she caught him with some dirty magazine, and Rika too was staring up at him with a smile.

"Uh oh! Ryuu-kun is having dirty thoughts! Bad! Bad!" scolded little Rika playfully.

Ryuu chuckled, hoping that if he just played along they'd turn around and leave him alone.

"Hey Ryuu-san," said Mion as they continued their walk, "I'm sorry if I freaked you out earlier by checking your wrists and all. I didn't think you were a cutter or anything! It's kind of complicated. No hard feelings right?"

"No, it's fine," he assured, "I guess you guys were just worried about my little battle with my desk. Sorry if I freaked you out."

"We were more worried than freaked out," smiled Mion, "We've seen much worse."

Ryuu stared at her curiously. "Really?" he found that hard to believe.

"Nipah~!" cooed Rika, "We're here."

She pointed at a massive building looming in front of them with a sign in the front reading, "Irie Clinic."

Ryuu felt uneasy as he walked through the double doors of the clinic. It reminded him an awful lot of the asylum. Just thinking about it made him want to turn around. They walked down a long tile-floor corridor and came to a large waiting room where two young men stood behind a counter.

"Hm, those guys are new," pointed out Mion with a jerk to the two men behind the counter. One of them was a huge man who looked about twenty and was sitting in a cushioned chair with small wheels on each of the legs. He was big, burly, very wide built, and simply too intimidating to be working at a hospital. His white lab coat was much too small for him, making it hard for him to move his arms as he typed on the computer in front of him. Standing next to him was another man wearing a pair of glasses. He was very tall but incredibly skinny. Ryuu was reminded of a twig when he saw his arms.

"They're probably Takano's replacements. Irie-sensei can't run this place alone," suggested Rika.

"Oh yeah."

Mion led the two of them up to the counter and she waited to be noticed by the skinny man who had a pair of ear-buds plugged into his ears while listening to some very loud music. His fingers were drumming on the countertop to the drum beat and he was humming the lyrics to himself. Mion rapped her knuckles on the counter but got no response of any kind from the skinny man.

Mion had now resorted to clapping her hands in front of his face loudly but this guy didn't even blink.

The larger man sighed and wheeled over in his chair, knocking his colleague out of the way in the process. Even when sitting down this guy came up to Mion's head. "You'll have to excuse my friend," he said pleasantly, "He's easily distracted."

His friend was just now getting up from the ground after being knocked down by the large man, his head phones dangling from his walkman. "What the hell Hitoshi?!" he snapped in a squeaky voice, "I missed the drum solo!"

"You also missed a patient Ken," said Hitoshi, the bigger man, calmly.

Ken just noticed Mion, Ryuu, and Rika standing behind the counter and his face flushed. "Sorry," he said quickly with an apologetic bow as he pocketed his ear-phones. Hitoshi wheeled out of the way and continued typing so Ken could properly speak to the three of them.

"All righty," he said as he removed a pen from his lab-coat pocket and held it ready over a piece of paper, "What brings you here young lady?"

"Actually it's about my friend," she said, "We need to see Dr. Irie."

He wrote something down on the form.

"Sure thing," he said while adjusting his glasses, "Mind telling me what the trouble is though?"

Ryuu held up his bleeding fingers for him to see. Ken's eyes widened in shock. "Good God!" he exclaimed, "What happened?"

"Stop patronizing the children," said Hitoshi irritably, "Just call Irie and have him take a look at it!"

Ken cast his friend an angry look before stepping out from behind the counter to fetch Irie. Both the doctor and Ken returned moments later.

"Ahh! Mion-chan! Rika-chan! Good to see the both of you!"

He didn't even seem to notice Ryuu, who was standing in front of both the girls. Ryuu saw Irie holding something behind his back. "Riikaa-chan!" he sung whimsically, "I have a surprise for you!"

"What is it doctor?" she asked, Ryuu could detect the dread hidden behind her pleasant voice.

Irie whipped out a tiny little nurse outfit and began waving it in the air proudly like it was his nation's flag. "Ta-dah!!" he said happily, "I got a new outfit for you! See! It's a nurse outfit! Now you can be my little assistant!"

Ryuu's face flushed as he pictured young, innocent little Rika in such a revealing nurse outfit.

"Ryuu-kun is having bad thoughts again," snickered Mion knowingly.

"I can't help it!" he retorted.

"So how about it Rika-chan! Will you put this on for me? Pleeaaase!"

The pedophile-alarm just went off in Ryuu's brain. He looked at both Hitoshi and Ken, expecting them to intervene. Hitoshi was reading a magazine while reclining lazily in his seat while Ken had just begun playing the air-guitar while making various sound effects and rocking his head.

Mion too just stood there, rubbing her temples like she was trying to expel a particularly bad headache.

"Sorry Irie-sensei," she said sweetly, "Oishi said if you keep this up then he'll have to taze you! Bzzt! Bzzt!"

Irie lowered the nurse outfit, looking defeated and dejected. "Fine," he pouted.

"I have a sick friend today Irie-sensei!" said Rika.

Irie looked at Rika and then Ryuu as if he just appeared out of nowhere. He saw his bleeding hands and quickly grabbed his wrists, examining them just like Mion had.

"I already checked him doctor," Mion assured, "His neck is fine too."

"Why does everyone think I cut my wrists? Do I look that emo?"

Irie didn't look convinced. "So he's sick, huh Rika?"

She nodded, "Yes. Very, very, very, very, very, very sick."

Irie met Rika's gaze, looking very worried as if Rika's sentence had some dark hidden meaning.

"I'm not sick," said Ryuu, "I just got my fingers cut in an accident."

"He scratched his desk up," Rika said quickly.

Mion and Ryuu cast Rika a surprised glance. "Why the hell would you tell him that!? He's gonna think I'm a psycho now!"

"Is this true?" he asked Ryuu, the grip on his wrist becoming tighter.

Ryuu looked at Rika angrily; upset she had told him about his "episode".

"Yes…" he said shamefully.

Irie didn't release his grip. His eyes remained focused on Ryuu for a long time from behind his glasses.

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A/N: Fun, fun, fun. Fun stuff is going to happen next chapter! That's right! The fluff begins next chapter! Hail fluff! Hail! Leave a comment and tell me what you thought okay!?