The tram was quite packed, four seats to on each side. This was a complete possible danger zone for the three zodiac Sohma's. Someone could easily trip and fall onto one of them. So they found four seats in the way back.
They sat in the most logical order: Yuki by the window, then Kyo, then Kagura because she refused not to sit next to anyone but Kyo, and then Tohru because if someone fell on her she wouldn't change into anything and she couldn't make Kagura change at all, so it was a perfect arrangement.
"Kyo I made some of your favorite dishes for lunch!" Kagura said with stars and hearts in her eyes while holding out a little box of assorted foods. Which were either burnt or discolored.
Kyo winced with disgust and tried to reject her food, which only made Kagura jam it all down his throat, every last crumb. Kyo turned a little green and kept his head between his knees for a long time. Kagura claimed it was the bumpy train that was making him ill, but everyone knew it was her acidic meal.
Yuki stared blankly out the window, watching the blurry images whiz by. Tohru observed him for only a few moments before changing her direction to the other passengers on the tram.
She saw a mother scolding her young son for kicking the chair in front of him; A man in an oversized overcoat clutching his brown briefcase as if someone was going to snatch it up; A rather large man and woman yelling at each other about how late they were for a wedding rehearsal; and then a wise-looking old man who seemed to be mumbling to himself. Tohru wondered if she and her companions looked as foolish as these people, she had no doubt that they did.
"Next stop, Canyon River Trail! Next stop Canyon River Trail!" said the nonchalant voice over the tram's speaker.
"That's where we get off," Yuki stated. Probably the only thing he said the whole time they boarded.
Kyo had finally begun to feel better and was able to gather his things, as did mostly everyone else.
The tram's speed declined and halted to a rather rough stop. Tohru silently said goodbye to the interesting passengers on the tram in her head. She hoped maybe she could see them once again.
The four gathered into a little group at the tram station.
"Ok, where to now you damn rat?" Kyo asked. He really wasn't in a good mood and Kagura's clinginess was not helping one bit.
"Well now we have to go to Mount Quincy Hue and find a hidden trail that leads to the house," Yuki talked like it was an easy amount.
"There? Of all places there? Quincy Hue is always in the news about lost travelers found savagely eaten by wild animals!" Kyo exclaimed imagining being ripped apart by lions and bears.
"There's nothing to fear. We are the animals, remember? Besides that only happens when the travelers get lost and find themselves in the Massacre Forest. We'll be on the opposite side of the mountain, so stop being a crybaby," Yuki said rolling his eyes at Kyo.
Kyo growled and they barked on about who exactly was the crybaby. Tohru and Kagura just laughed at them and begged that they should start making their way to Kaori's. Agreed they left.
No one, not even Yuki realized how long a walk it would be till the reached the beginning of Quincy Hue. Tohru, being the weakest of the bunch was lagging the most. They all had to slow to her pace, which she didn't notice at all.
"Yuki how is it you know if we're going the right way?" Tohru asked pushing back all her back pain from walking.
"I memorized the map of this area. There's no way we could get lost," Yuki proudly stated. Kyo glared at Yuki and continued to walk, with Kagura now as an arm accessory.
Finally they reached the opening of the mountain. There were some people dressed as hiker's walking around chatting about good spots to climb. The four kids didn't go unnoticed, several people asked if they were lost or needed a tour guide.
The four slipped away from the naked eye and began their way through the mazes of the mountainsides.
"Kyo you're so cute when you get all sweaty!" squealed Kagura. Tohru and Yuki laughed at Kyo's expense.
"The hidden trail is somewhere around here. I found a map and directions to this place in one of the ancient Sohma texts. Akito never realized the location was in one of the books, I don't think he's ever touched a book in his life," Yuki said glad that he was finally away from Akito once again.
"Exactly what are we looking for?" Tohru asked looking at her surroundings.
"Well the directions were all riddles, I don't know why. But the riddle for here said 'Along the path a warrior tree slices through its enemy's rock and marks it with the unbreakable seal of Sohma. Next to the war zone is the mountainside crying out for protection. Vines of hope covered its cries and created a river of green to the blue path.' So I think we're looking for a rock with a tree growing with through it," Yuki said, he was glad he had memorization skills.
"That could be anywhere. The possibility of a tree growing through a rock could be great in numbers," Kyo remarked. Kagura agreed, of course.
For what seemed like hours the bunch traveled the mountain side, not seeing any spliced rock and tree. Finally though, they came upon a tilted tree that looked lick it was sitting on the rock. Quickly they looked at the mountainside and saw clumps of vines twisted along it. They followed the vines and saw they lead down the mountainside onto the path and down into the forest.
"All right we found the spot but the vines lead into a pretty steep part. How can we get down there without getting hurt?" Tohru asked.
"Easy, you just hold onto the vines. The ground is angled enough so that we won't pull the roots out," Yuki once again was the knowledgeable one.
One by one they climbed down carefully until the ground leveled. They followed the vines that stopped at a river bank.
"Ok so this must be the blue pass," Kyo said looking at Yuki for further riddle directions.
Yuki searched in his mind for the next riddle, "Bunnies hop as you must do if you don't wish to be at the bottom of the blue. Once you've escaped the wrath of the blue path you'll find yourself on moldable ground."
"So we have to get over the river I assume," Kyo said. He stepped a few steps backward intended to leap over the river.
"Wait Kyo, you can't just do that. We all have to figure it out because some of us don't have amazing cat-like ability," Yuki protested stepping in Kyo's path.
They sat there for a few moments not really coming up with anything helpful.
"I have an idea," Kyo said and walked to a tree, gave a few hard heaves and uprooted it. He carried it over to the river and laid it perfectly like a bridge.
Everyone complimented his strength and thinking and quickly crossed the river.
"Now what exactly does moldable ground mean. Like fungus?" Kyo asked making sure he wasn't stepping on anything nasty.
Tohru bent down and picked up some of the earthly ground. "I think it means clay. This is all clay that we're standing on."
They all saw that she was right and awarded her some congratulatory genius remarks.
"Follow the path of the setting light that will lead you to its companion the moon. If you dance with her friend the north star you will be led to the destination," recited Yuki.
This was a confusing one because it could mean a few things.
"What if it says we should go west," Kagura said. They all agreed that was the logical thing to do. So they began to go west.
They walked a while and the sun was amusingly falling leaving little time for light.
Kagura spotted this rather large growth of flowers. "Oh Kyo pick me some of those! They are so gorgeous!"
Tohru's eyes widen, "That's it! Do you guys know what those are?" The looked at her dumbfounded. She knelt down and picked one of the flowers. "This is a moonflower. That's what the riddle must mean. So now we follow the North Star? This means going north."
Amazed by Tohru's sudden burst of intellect, they all began to head north. Not too long did they see the beginning of a path. They followed the path which led them to a little cottage.
"That's it!" Yuki exclaimed. Finally they didn't have to walk any longer.
They knocked on the door and heard a wicked voice casting them away.
"Kaori Sohma? Sorry to bother, but we are in need of your help," Yuki called out.
The door opened a crack, a woman's eye was shown, "Help? No one has bothered me for years and all of a sudden four little brats, three of them zodiac, wish for my help!"
"Wow! How did you know they were zodiac Sohma's!" squealed Tohru, she felt like she was at a magic show.
The woman ignored Tohru and went on, "So rat, what you need me for?"
"We are hiding from a certain Sohma, I'm sure you remember him, Akito," Yuki explained.
The woman stomped her foot behind the door, "How could I forget that evil little boy, sure he's grown up by now. That devil exiled me long ago, if you four are running from him, you're welcome here." She opened the door fully allowing her to be seen.
All of their mouths dropped, they expected to see an old woman with straggly gray hair; she was nothing of the sort. She was as tall as the boys, had long shiny pink hair with matching pink eyes. Her presence stunned you.
"Well, come in!" she said. They entered and the shut the door.
"You look the same as you did before you came here," Yuki said, both boys drooled over the eye candy.
"Don't you know I never age? When I was 22 I made this anti-aging potion for the former Sohma chief in command. God she was the most annoying thing, a few years older than I was I believe. Anyways one day she comes to me and says 'Make me this potion or I will have your head' so I obeyed. I went to give it to her two days later. She didn't like the color or the smell of it so she ordered that because I didn't meet her satisfactory levels that I should consume the potion myself. I refused, so she had two of her guards force feed it to me. I never grew old after that. There was a side effect as well with it; no death. It's been a while since that day, over a hundred years I think," her story made them feel guilty and sad for her.
"That's awful!" Tohru cried out, "So are you suppose to live here forever!"
Kaori chuckled, "Of course not. I can leave as soon as that bastard Akito dies. I assume that won't be long, considering his place in the Sohma family. Anyways, where are my manors?" You guys probably went through hell to find this place. Want anything to eat or drink?"
Now that she mentioned it, they were all pretty hungry. She went to her kitchen to start some tea and dinner.
"Where would we be sleeping?" Yuki asked Kaori.
"I have two extra bedrooms. You're going to have to split into two groups. Also there's only one bed in each room, so make do with what you can," Kaori again left to the kitchen.
"I call Kyo as a roommate!" Kagura said suddenly.
"Don't you think it's kind of inappropriate for a boy and girl to share a bed?" Kyo said.
"Only if they're not in love, which we are, so no arguments!" Kagura snapped at him.
"Tohru are you fine sharing a bed with me then?" Yuki asked. He was filled with excitement at the possibility of sharing a room and bed with Tohru.
Tohru waited a few seconds to long to respond, so it was an awkward reply, "Sure. No problem at all."
"Since that's settled we should find out where the rooms are and unpack," Yuki smiled. He was so happy that he could watch over Tohru, keeping her safe from danger.
"WHERE ARE THEY!" shouted Akito as he through his glass against the wall.
"We don't know, they didn't come home with us," Momiji said as he coward in fear of Akito. Haru stood next to the rabbit adding little comfort.
"GET OUT OF MY SITE YOU TWO! SOMEONE CALL THE SEARCH TEAM!" Akito yelled and then went to reside in his room so his heart could decline.
"I'm going to find you all and punish you like no one has ever been punished. Especially you Tohru…" he sinisterly said out loud.
When the three didn't come home from school and all their stuff was gone Akito knew that they had run away. He didn't know yet that Kagura was accompanying them. His fury was heard all over the Sohma homes and everyone was scurrying about with the news of scandal.
Akito planned a search of Shigure's, Tohru's friends, and everywhere they had ever visited with the Sohma name.
A/N:
Sorry it took so long, I have so much homework on my back! Agh! Well hope you had some fun with this chapter, not much of the love vibe in it this time. Thanks again everyone for the reviews! I'll try to update sooner next time!
