writing is hard when you go back to a story you abandoned. that being said, expect chapters to come up a lot less frequently.

not like its really going to be worth the wait anyway.

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Chapter 7: Ayame, Shigure, and Kureno

"So, umm...who are y'all?" Uo said, pointing at the three new additions to their party.

After it had been declared that they all were the "Fellowship", they were allowed to meet and greet in a separate room before they headed off on their journey. There had been an awkward silence between the ten of them before Uo had finally broken the silence with her pointed question.

Finally receiving an excuse to speak, the white-haired man opened with, "I am Ayame Sohma."

He bowed low and took Tohru's hand. "It will be an honor to serve you."

"'It will be an honor to serve you?'" Kyo scoffed in Ayame's direction. "When did you suddenly become so noble?"

Kyo's remark was quickly followed by a sharp smack to the back of his head by a certain rat standing behind him.

"Ow!" Kyo said, rubbing his head and glaring at Yuki.

"I know you were hitting me for being rude the other three times, but you don't even like him. Why the hell would you hit me for being rude to someone you don't like?" Kyo stared at Yuki, waiting for a response.

"It's true, I don't like him. I loathe him in fact. But I do like hitting you. I thought that was an opportune moment." Yuki stated simply.

Kyo rolled his eyes and continued to rub his head.

"Why don't you like me?" Ayame asked, a fake sadness etched into his voice. "After all, I am your br-"

Ayame was suddenly lifted off of the ground. Yuki had grabbed the collar of his flowing white shirt and was holding him above the floor.

"You say another word and I will disown you forever." Yuki growled, staring at Ayame with a menacing expression.

Yuki then let go of Ayame, letting his body fall to the ground like a limp noodle. Ayame gathered himself up and looked at Tohru. "Never mind dear Yuki. He's just a little sour. If I can't tell you, then maybe you can figure it out on your own. Do I remind you of anyone Tohru Honda?"

Tohru looked like she was about to have an aneurysm, she was thinking so hard. Baffled by the fact that she didn't have some sort of clue, Ayame gave her a few hints. He batted his eyes then smacked Kyo on the back of the head.

With Kyo's second yelp of pain and annoyance, a little light bulb went off in Tohru's head. "Oh my gosh! You look like Yuki!"

As Tohru finished her sentence, Yuki's eyes widened in pure terror.

"Wait, you aren't like his brother are you?" Uo said, looking at Ayame.

"Bingo!" Ayame clapped. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Yuki look positively mortified. "No, it's a nightmare! You're the most idiotic, psychotic, moronic retard that has ever plagued the planet with their stupidity. I am astounded that we have the same DNA."

"You know what, I want some dumplings!" Ayame said, losing interest in Yuki. He walked away, leaving everyone in a flabbergasted state of awe.

Tohru, Uo, and Hana all stared at Yuki in disbelief.

"WE WILL DISCUSS THIS NEVER." Yuki said through clenched teeth.

After everyone quieted down over Ayame's sudden departure and Yuki's sudden migrane, Tohru introduced herself to the man with the charming smile and jet black shoulder-length hair.

"I am Shigure Sohma." The man said.

"Another Sohma? What exactly is the deal with you guys and always ending up in the same place?" Uo said, staring at yet another Sohma that had graced them with his presence.

Kyo groaned. "Ayame was bad enough, but Shigure is coming with us too?"

Yet again, Kyo's remark was followed by a smack on the back of the head administered by Yuki.

"What the hell? You don't like him either!" Kyo snapped, pointing at Shigure.

"I never said that I didn't like him. You were actually being rude this time." Yuki responded in disgust.

"Whatever." Kyo said, waving him off.

"Anyway," Shigure said. "I can't wait to start the journey with you and everyone else. What is better than spending time with three young high school girls?"

"Actually, you were right idiot," Yuki said, directing his remark towards Kyo. "I don't really like Shigure either. Now I remember why. But he is not as bad as that pathetic excuse for a higher intelligence being known as my brother. He is by far worse than anything."

"Now, now, my dear sweet Yuki, Ayaa isn't all that bad. He's just playful, that's all. If you get to know the man, then I'm sure you'd grow to like his gravitating personality." Shigure said sweetly.

"That's highly doubtful." Yuki scoffed.

"So, are you an animal too?" Hana said suddenly.

Shigure nodded his head. He walked over to Tohru and threw his arms around her, a rather happy expression on his face. A loud pop followed the hug as well as the sudden appearance of a small black dog.

"How cute!" Tohru squealed, picking up the little pooch. It barked happily and licked Tohru's face affectionately.

"Shigure!" Yuki and Kyo yelled at the same time.

They both leapt at the small dog in Tohru's arms. The dog jumped from Tohru's grasp and ran out of the room yelling, "Ahhh! High school girl-alicious!"

"Remind me to poison his food later." Kyo said, fuming after the dog that had bounded out of the room.

The third man, who was identified as Kureno in the meeting, stepped forward and formally introduced himself to Tohru.

"I'm sure the journey will be an interesting one." Kureno said.

"Great, another family member to add to the never-ending family reunion." Kyo said, unbeknownst to the fact that Yuki was standing right behind him, his raised fist ready and willing.

And sure enough, Kyo soon cried out in pain as another bump formed on his already swollen head.

"What the fu—"

"Can you please refrain from making rude comments to our relatives?"

"Quit hitting me and maybe I'll stop!" Kyo growled.

"You're an animal. I'm trying to teach you that something is bad by administering a negative action. Sort of like Pavlov's salivating dogs."

"Who cares if some guy has slobbering dogs? What the hell does that have to do with me?" Kyo looked like he was about to scratch Yuki's eyes out.

"You truly are an idiot."

Just as Kyo was about to retort with another not-so-intelligent remark, Tohru intervened. "M-maybe we should let Kureno tell us about him. I want to know what he's like."

"Fine." Yuki answered.

"Whatever." Kyo grimaced.

Suddenly, from the corner of the room, Kureno began laughing. "What's this Kyo? You're allowing a woman to tell you what to do? I've never heard of a cat on a short leash, but this could certainly qualify."

Kyo's face flushed instantly. From anger and from embarrassment. He took a menacing step towards Kureno, but stopped when he heard someone start laughing. Whipping around to ascertain the culprit of the hearty laughter, he found himself face to face with none other than Uo.

It was hard to tell who was more surprised, Kyo or Kureno. The feline was absolutely in awe that the woman had the ability to laugh while Kureno was absolutely in awe that a woman laughed at his joke.

"You're a funny guy, Kureno," Uo said slyly, scooting nonchalantly in his direction. "I see you're not a fan of the cat either."

"N-no I…just…well he's easy to make fun of." Kureno stammered uneasily as his face turned a light shade of pink.

Uo giggled uncharacteristically and held out her hand. "Hello, I'm Uo."

Kureno looked at her hand like it was going to bite him, but grasped it anyway. "I'm Kureno Sohma."

"She knew that already, dumbass." Kyo said, a bemused grin spreading placidly across his face.

"Shut up!" Kureno practically yelled directly into Uo's face. After his sudden outcry, he immediately let go of Uo's hand and stormed out of the room in flustered mess.

"He's an odd person." Hana mused, plopping down on a wicker chair.

"Stop that, Hana." Uo scolded unexpectedly.

Her eyes softened appreciably as she looked at the door where Kureno's retreating figure had been only moments ago. And just as Hana was about to inquire as to Uo's reasons of shutting her up, Uo walked lightly through the same door frame that Kureno had walked through.

Hana's dark eyes glistened. "Hmmm. Isn't this an interesting new development?"

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"Hey! Maybe we can trade insults about the cat!" Uo yelled coyly after Kureno. She watched with a frown as he swaggered on, seemingly pretending that he hadn't heard her.

"Hey Sohma, I'm talking to you!" She called again. Kureno's legs halted when she called him by last name.

"Miss Uo, you do not have to address me so formally." He turned around curtly as she continued to traipse towards him.

"Miss Uo? You're starting to sound like the Prince and Tohru." Uo said smugly.

Kureno actually chuckled. "I take it you're referring to Yuki."

"Yup, he never calls Tohru by her name. He always calls her 'Miss Honda'." Uo's voice dropped a little at the end of the sentence to emphasize Yuki's voice.

"I'm sorry if my own formality offended you in any way." Kureno uttered, running his right hand through his short hair.

Uo teetered back and forth on the heels of her feet. "Didn't offend me, it's just no one has ever called me 'Miss' before."

"Ah, I apologize, er…Uo."

"Good job, A plus." Uo laughed.

They stood in awkward silence for a good 30 seconds before Kureno broke the dead air. "Well, I really must be going, Uo. I need to speak to my superiors."

Uo smiled, a small hint of mischief playing in her deep brown eyes. "Okay, but before you go…"

She took a small step towards him, her eyes boring deeply into his.

Whoa now, what is she doing?

"Ah, Uo—"

He was cut off as she threw her arms around him suddenly, crushing his tall, lanky form against her soft and supple one. His body went rigid as Uo simultaneously tightened and loosened her grip around his neck. But before he could say anything, she quickly let go, leaving him in shock and confusion as he stood stupidly in the middle of the room.

"Alright, you can go now."

Kureno continued to gape at her. "W-what…w-why…y-you…then I…huh?"

Uo laughed. What did she know that he didn't?

"Look, I don't want you to get the wrong idea or anything, I was just checking." She giggled, walking backwards towards the door she had come from.

"Checking? Checking what?"

"To see if you were an animal."

Uo grinned at him one more time before walking through door she had come through, waving goodbye to him casually as she disappeared from view.

Kureno was surprised. Aghast was more like it. He hadn't been hugged by a woman since…well, in a very long time. He smiled despite himself. It had been kind of nice. It had felt…

No.

He stopped himself. He didn't have time for this. He didn't have time to think about some woman. He had more important things to take care of. Who cared if she had mesmerizing brown eyes? Who cared if she had smooth, ivory skin, sun-kissed golden hair, and a slender, athletically toned body? Yeah. He had more important things to do, like…like…uh…

Without realizing it, he had forgotten what those "important things" were.

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"What was that about?" Hana asked as Uo walked, or rather glided, back into the room.

"Oh, nothing." She answered, a dreamy sort of expression on her face. One of which that made a certain feline in a proximate chair gag a little into his hands.

"Don't tell me you actually like that guy?"

Uo turn on him in an instant.

When Shigure walked into the room several minutes later to inform the youngsters that Ritsu wanted all of them to get going, he was met with the sight of a pile of what looked law raw meat lying in the middle of the floor, as well as Yuki leaning up against a wall for support as he clutched his side laughing. The "meat" was soon identified as Kyo, as Tohru ran through the room with several icepacks squealing, "Did you really have to hit Kyo in that place too, Uo?"

"Yes, Tohru, I really had to." She answered, pretending to be mildly interested in a painting on the wall.

"Mmggeechhhoooo." Groaned the pile at Tohru's feet.

"Kyo!"

Some while later, after Tohru had nursed Kyo back to health and Yuki had been calmed down after erupting into fits of laughter from seeing the cat broken and bruised on the floor, the teenagers and Shigure proceeded outside where they were greeted again by Ritsu, Ayame, Kureno, Haru, and, of course, Hatori. Ritsu looked positively downtrodden as they approached.

"What have I DOOONNNNNEEE? HOW COULD I DO THIS TO YOOOUUUU? HOW COULD I MAKE YOU DO THIIIISSSSS? I'M A TRAVESSSSTTTTYYYY!"

"Be quiet, no one cares." Shigure said.

"Indeed." Ayame continued.

"OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" Ritsu yelled, sprinting through a walkway and out of sight.

"He'll be okay," Haru said. "Just as long as Kana keeps him away from all ropes, blunt and pointy objects, cliffs, flammable liquids, and toxic chemicals. She should probably take his shoelaces too. Was Ritsu wearing tennis shoes?"

"Dunno. Do any of us wear tennis shoes?" Ayame asked, scanning everyone's feet.

"No, none of us wear tennis shoes," Shigure answered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But for some reason, I can't remember what shoes he was wearing."

Haru frowned. "A mystery…"

"What the hell is wrong with all of you?" Kureno said.

"I think they all have Down Syndrome." Hatori chimed in.

"Or maybe their just all dumbasses." Kyo scoffed.

After the loving relatives ended their battle of insults, the newfound band of travelers decided it was time to get the show on the road. They all said their final goodbyes to the people of Rivendale, excluding the King of the Elves whose whereabouts had been unknown since he ran away in hysterics, then turned to the winding road that led out of the extravagant kingdom.

"So this is it?" Tohru said, looking up at Yuki and Kyo.

They both nodded as Yuki smiled and said, "Yes, Miss Honda, this is it."

Tohru held her chin up high and took a step forward; the first of many that they would be taking on their journey to save the Sohmas from the evil shadows of the ring that she wore around her neck.

It would have been very meaningful, had Tohru not tripped over herself in the process.

"This is going to be a long journey." Hatori sighed.

"You said it." Kureno finished.

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yay. ayame and shigure. i can make some brokeback jokes. next chap should be somewhat fun considering it will be mainly all of them talking to one another.

hilarity will ensue.

i was debating with myself (which was probably quite entertaining)on whether or not to add the scene with uo and kureno. in the end my "go for it!" side won out and i just put it in. sorry if its stupid. again, i'm also sorry for making kureno seem like a jerk-ass at times. it just fits.

p.s. sorry to say sorry again, butsorry if their was a lot of typos in this chap or others. my bad.