Sukochi's POV

"Summer vacation, summer vacation, no more school until next semester," Shigure chanted, unceremoniously dumping a stack of books into his unzipped backpack. "Summer vacation, summer vacation, girls in two piece-"

"If you're trying to catch me in a good mood so you can force me to go swimsuit-shopping with you, well...fat chance," I countered.

"Ah, you read my mind!" he cried out, draping himself theatrically over his desk. "Come on, Fujikawa-chan. At least allow me the luxury of fantasizing of such things- it'll help me get the creative juices flowing for when I write my best-selling novel!"

"Sometimes, I wonder how you're so damn confident," I grumbled, barely murmuring a farewell to our preoccupied teacher, who was sitting at her desk and looked as if she wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow her whole.

"I guess you could say it runs in the family." He bobbed his head up and down, swerving to avoid a squealing first-year. "You could write one too, you know. I'm fully willing to be your editor, and hey, I'll even give you a ten percent discount!"

"I don't know- realistic fiction isn't really my thing," I said absentmindedly, joining the fervent rush of students pouring out of the building.

And then, just like that, we were outside, basking in the searing heat of the late afternoon sun and the glow of sheer freedom.

We were stuck in the depths of the hazily hot July, the relentless heat only worsened by our school administration's stubborn refusal to install a suitable air conditioning system. Despite many protesters, myself included, we were forced to resign ourselves to our fate, carrying around jugs of water and paper fans to keep from collapsing of heat stroke. It seemed hotter than ever this year, and I was very much looking forward to a summer of doing absolutely nothing.

Hatori and Ayame were already waiting for us there, leaning against the entrance gate and beckoning us over. I waved back, breaking into a sprint and pushing aside the rest of the crowd with unnatural gusto in my rush to join them. Shigure laughed, quickening his pace to keep up with me. "You're in an unusually good mood today."

"Whatever do you mean? I'm always in a good mood," I said airily, just stopping in front of Hatori and Ayame, grinning broadly as I brushed my bangs away from my sweaty forehead. "Hey, losers. You know what time it is?"

"Summertime!" Shigure and Ayame chorused, bursting into a fit of giggles.

"I hope that this isn't an excuse not to do your summer homework," Hatori said in his usual clipped voice, clearly suppressing a smile.

"Oh, come on, Ha'ri!" Shigure whined, pawing at his shoulder. "You're even less fun than Fujikawa-chan is!"

"What was that?" I lifted my fist.

"Just kidding!" he laughed, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey...just to celebrate the end of the semester...why don't we go out and have some fun?"

"If this plan includes buying me a ramune, I'm in!" I impatiently tugged at Shigure's hand and yanked him forwards. When they didn't follow us, I turned around, frowning at them. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing." Ayame held back a snicker, glancing knowingly at Hatori, who rolled his eyes. "Onward, my fellow adventurers! To infinity and beyond!"

"That's the spirit!" I chirped, still clinging to Shigure as I tugged him down the street, almost oblivious to the odd looks I received from passerby.

Nothing was going to ruin my perfectest of perfect summers.

Or so I'd thought.

Shigure came bursting into the living room, naked save for a towel wrapped loosely around his waist, his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. He spat it out, a crooked grin lighting up his face. "So for our summer, I was debating between getting us part-time jobs to enlighten our minds and halt our progression in becoming the dregs of society, or-

"Nothing you can do about that," I piped up from my spot on the floor, poring through a celebrity gossip magazine.

"-going hiking in the deep, dark forests of the Sohma family summer home!"

"Sohma family summer home?" I echoed. "You have a summer home?"

"The perks of belonging to an ancient lineage, I'll say!" Shigure chirped, lifting a finger into the air as he launched into explanation, the smug look back on his face. "Two hundred years earlier, the Sohma family, out of dire need for entertainment, hired-"

"Okay, okay, I believe you," I interjected- the last thing I wanted was a history lecture on the first day of summer. "So, what were you saying?"

Hatori looked up from his magazine, his lips pursed into a frown. "It hasn't been used in about a decade, so staying there might be a bit problematic...not to mention we have all of that homework to finish."

"Oh, stop being such a downer, Ha'ri," Shigure said dismissively. "Everyone leaves it till the last minute anyways."

"Speak for yourself," he muttered under his breath.

Shigure hastily cleared his throat. "Anyways, yes, as I was saying- the Sohma summer house has a beach, a nice forest, and a quaint little roof for us to sleep under. It's perfect for a summer vacation!" He hesitated, deliberately letting a slow, searing silence to settle between us. "Well, except for one thing."

A chill ran up and down my spine. My curiosity piqued, I leaned over to swat him on the knee. "Well? Don't leave us hanging."

"Jason," came his sly response.

"Jason? What are you even talking about?" I demanded, eyeing him warily. That smug look still hadn't left his face. "Earth to Shigure?"

"Apologies." He let out an agonizing sigh, a pained expression crossing his face. "I was awash in horror at the very utterance of his name, which strikes fear in the hearts of the manliest of men, sends a pool of darkness consuming their souls."

"So exciting!" Ayame squealed, looking up from his knitting. "Tell us more, 'Gure!"

"I've never heard anything about a Jason." Hatori arched a delicate eyebrow at him. "Please tell us more."

"Hmph, so hasty!" Shigure clucked, crouching down and wiggling his fingers at me. "Jason is a monstrous demonic bear that lurks deep in the woods of the Sohma family home, preying on rare morsels of tender, preferably female, flesh."

A shiver of fear tingled up and down my body. Shuddering involuntarily, I was uncomfortably aware of the beads of sweat inching down my neck. "Cut the crap, Sohma- what did you say? 'Monstrous demonic bear'? Kind of redundant, if you ask me."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared," he taunted, the smirk creeping back onto his face. "Aw, wittle Fujikawa-chan, scared of a teeny-tiny bear?"

I nearly choked on my own spit, managing, "Me, terrified of some stupid legend? In your dreams, troglodyte."

"Prove it, then." A Chesire cat grin spread across his face. God, he looked more punchable than ever.

"You wanna go, Sohma?" I snarled, brandishing my rolled-up magazine like a deadly weapon. Hatori sighed ruefully behind me, watching our little scene with resignation.

"My, my, Fujikawa-chan," Shigure purred, batting his eyelashes at me. "I would never in my wildest dreams believe that you, of all people, would relegate yourself to such crude measures. Honestly, I thought better of you. Why don't we settle this the civilized way- like two real men would?"

I clenched my jaw. "And how would we go about doing that?"

"I'm so glad that you asked," he said smugly. "We'll settle this through a good old-fashioned dare. If you agree to go to the summer home with me and camp out in the woods for a week, you win, and I will forever respect you as my superior." He kneeled down before me, hands pressed to his chest. "How do you like the title 'Fujikawa-sama'?"

"Sounds like my type of thing." I grinned, gripping his hand and shaking it vigorously. "It's a deal. We will swear upon our pride as two manly men to uphold our honor, Jason be damned. Ha, nothing good old Fujikawa can't handle. A week in the woods, baby! I'll go pack right away!" I scrambled to my feet, fully prepared to sprint up the stairs and into my room.

"I assume this means we're all going?" Hatori interrupted my mad dash, sounding weary.

I glowered at him, placing my hands at my hips. "Do you even have to ask?"

He sighed, shaking his head from side to side. "And I thought one Shigure was enough."

The chauffeured car screeched to a halt in front of a quaint lakeside house, the engine sputtering out. Leaping out of the confines of the stuffy vehicle, I let out a whoop, stretching my arms above my head. Pressing my hand against my forehead to block the glaring sun, I gazed fondly up at the clear blue sky. "Am I in heaven?"

"Well, that might be going a little too far," Shigure laughed, following me out of the car. "We really should come here more often- maybe we could buddy up with Jason and throw a party with him and his furry little friends." He looked pointedly at me, his lips upturning in a smirk.

I laced my fingers together and bent over backwards, feeling my muscles contract and snap back into place. "Sounds like a blast. I don't know if you've realized it by now, but I'm a fucking party animal."

"It resonates through every fiber of your being," Shigure assured me. "My badass sensors are telling me that I got a real wild-child right here."

"Don't go having fun without me!" Ayame grunted, his arms filled with backpacks from the open trunk. "Come on, 'Gure- lend a hand!"

"Don't despair, Aya, I'm on my way!" he said in a sing-song voice, racing off to help his friend with the bags. Arms linked together, they skipped up the steps of the house and away from the car, hefting duffle bags and breaking into an off-key chorus of some sort.

Hatori thanked the driver wearily, stepping out and watching it drive away in a cloud of dust. Lifting his hand in farewell, he turned to me, heaving a sigh. "We'll head to the house and clean up a bit, and then we can get ready for the hike."

"Ugh, cleaning." I wrinkled my nose. "Why hasn't anyone come here for all of these years? It seems like a perfectly nice place."

He smiled grimly. "Jason, remember?"

"Ugh, you too?" I huffed, scowling. "For the last time, I'm not scared of some dumb bear!"

Dressed in a pair of khakis and a light blue t-shirt, I stepped out of the bathroom, gently towel-drying my still-moist hair. "I am so pumped for this!"

"Jason likes girls," Ayame reminded me, cap tipped over his eyes. "No really, he really likes girls." Shigure leaned over to whisper something into his ear, and they sniggered, exchanging a high-five.

"Yes, I think we've established that," I said primly, tossing the damp towel into a nearby hamper and slinging my knapsack over my shoulders. "Let's just get this shit over with."

"Wow, getting a little bossy there," Shigure remarked, grinning crookedly at me.

Still grumbling about insolent pigs, I trudged out of the house, the sun still high in the sky as we gradually made our way to the forest trails. The ground was rugged and unpaved, smothered in gravel, clumped soil, and thorny roots, sending stabbing pains through my feet at regular intervals.

All too soon, we were standing in front of the looming, dark forest, a creaky wood gate attached to a bulging tree trunk swinging precariously back and forth.

I resisted the urge to panic, taking a deep breath. Why had I agreed to this, again?

Right. Manliness, Sukochi. Manliness.

Clearing my throat, I laughed heartily. "Ha! This is nothing."

Shigure leaned against a nearby boulder, half-smiling to myself. "Is it really? My, my, you're quite the brave one, Fujikawa-chan."

"Anyways," Hatori added, obviously disgruntled, "please refrain from doing anything stupid. We've had accounts of people getting lost in these forests and the police having to retrieve them, so it would be helpful if you followed us and stayed out of trouble. Is that clear?"

"So stuffy, Ha'ri," Ayame huffed, elbowing him in the ribs. "Anyways, there's nothing to worry about! Fujikawa-chan's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

I swallowed back a gulp when he zeroed in on me, giving a jerky nod.

"Good!" Shigure piped up. "Now that all that boring stuff's been settled, let's get going! Adventure, here we come!"

Two hours later, we had already climbed into the thick of the forest, backpacks slung over our shoulders as we snagged onto tree roots and hopped over fallen logs. Feigning vigor and ignoring my loudly growling stomach, I nibbled at granola bars and sang campfire songs to the echo-y darkness.

"We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!" Ayame and Shigure chorused, arms linked, Hatori hanging a few feet behind them, tasked with the job of map-reader.

"There's a scenic view at the top of this trail," he said as we came to a fork in the road, the oak trees next to the path marked with a single blue dot. "I asked Kazuma-san about it a few days ago; he says you can see the entire lake from up there."

"Okay, sounds good." I shrugged, pushing past them to walk across the path he had pointed to, a breeze tickling at neck. Hopping over a wooden plank, I held a thorny branch away from my face and wordlessly handed it to Shigure, crawling through the overgrown thicket. Our feet crushed the twigs beneath us, gently pattering against the soil as we stepped onto a granite surface, and-

"Wow," I breathed, shielding my eyes from the glaring late afternoon sun. "It's...it's-"

"Beautiful?" Shigure and Ayame suggested, leaning over a small shrub to grin at me.

Ayame let out a piercing whistle between his teeth. "Kazuma wasn't kidding."

"Yeah, you can say that again," I breathed, still in awe.

The lake, pristine and glimmering, lay in all its glory before us, lapping at the sandy bank where our house, now a tiny matchbox in a sea of lush blues and greens, sat. Leafy green trees dotted the landscape,and rolling hills rippled and rippled as far as the eye could see, a thin layer of clouds floating lazily across the pinkish-orange sky.

Suddenly, a thundering crack sounded in the the clump of foliage behind us. The bushes rustled, and a low growl could be heard through the still trembling leaves. The seconds ticking by agonizingly slowly, the husky sounds rose in volume, drawing nearer and nearer.

Paralyzed by fear, I glanced at my companions, all of which were standing stock still, at a loss for what to do.

"Jason," Shigure mumbled, his eyes widened in shock.

From my peripheral, I swore I saw a matted brown paw plant itself just outside of the shade of the thicket, claws long and glistening with wet and no doubt very sharp, the sort you didn't quite want impaling you in the chest.

"Run!" Ayame shrieked, shattering the eerie calm. Hurrying to comply, I came crashing down through slopingly steep path that cut through a row of trees. Without so much as a glance back, I stumbled through the woods, the wind gusting past my face as the shouting subsided from behind me, strangely muted against the thump-thump of my heart.

Run, bitch, run. The blanket of brown-yellow leaves crunched beneath my feet, the edge of my windbreaker hood tickling my face as I ran, ran, and ran, too panicked to stop and realize that I had no idea where I was going, that I was going completely against what Hatori had said, moving farther and farther from safety, fueled by adrenaline and fear and fuck, get out of there.

I tripped over a tree root and toppled over, my ankle cushioning the fall. Before I could register what had just happened, blinding pain coursed through my lower leg, stinging and nipping at my skin. Panting and pushing my hair away from my face, I placed both palms onto the moist ground, attempting to push myself to my feet. The pain flaring up again at the small motion, I fell back down, a dry-heaving, hyperventilating mess trapped in the middle of nowhere.

And did I mention totally lost?

Oh, fuck.

I ordered myself to breathe, look around, assess the situation. The trees were unmarked in this area, and we certainly hadn't been here before- the path I'd followed must have been off the trail. Wherever I was, it didn't matter; lost was lost, regardless of where you were.

"They're gonna find you, they're gonna find you," I chanted, the breathy mantra somewhat calming me down. "You still have your pack, Sukochi- you'll be fine for another day or so."

But what if you aren't?

Shut up, brain. You aren't helping.

Winding my arms around my back, I slipped the pack off my shoulders, bringing it to rest in front of me. Inside (thanks to Hatori's meticulous planning), was several pairs of thick woolen socks, a tiny first-aid kit, two packs of dried fruit and cup ramen, three granola bars, a whistle, tissues and baby wipes, a blue bag filled with toiletries, and four plastic garbage bags.

Flicking open the lock to the first aid, I perused its contents- small patches of gauze, band-aids, a mini-bottle of saline, adhesive tape, a needle and thread for stitches, tweezers, none of would be of any real use to me in my predicament.

Exhaling through gritted teeth, I pushed myself into a more comfortable position, angling myself so that my injured ankle was stretched in front of me. Shaking out the wrinkled socks and pulling them apart, I leaned forward to wrap them around my ankle, wincing as I tied the final knot.

Curse my limited knowledge of medical procedures.

Confident that I was okay to move just a little, I scooted backwards and leaned against a nearby tree trunk, warm under the few rogue rays of sunshine peeking through the forest canopy.

And finally, it came to me.

I'd never contemplated the idea of death before.

Suicide had always seemed stupid to me- as if killing yourself would solve anything. But what if this really was the end? Everything I had ever lived or cried or loved or felt hurt over...was it really all for nothing?

I wonder if people had time to think about it before they went. If death slowed down that painful, blinding instant, if life flashed right before their eyes. Regrets, things they'd never be able to see or do, people they wanted to say goodbye to, apologies left unsaid.

Was that how Daichi felt?

My breath hitched in my throat.

What would my parents think if I...well, died? Would they be sad? Would they go on, believing that I hated them?

And the Sohmas…who was gonna help them if I wasn't there? I was their friend, wasn't I?

A painfully replaceable one at that, if anything at all. What if they didn't need me? If I disappeared, would they find another girl to befriend and move on? Would I just be another tool to them in the end, yet another victim of the Sohma family curse?

The back of my head resting against the rough bark, I drifted into a cold, dreamless sleep.

"Fujikawa-chan!" someone hissed, shaking my shoulder. "Wake up."

Prying my heavy eyelids open, the world seemed to spin, trees swaying as the blanket of leaves fluttered in the breeze. Immediately casting my gaze towards my ankle, I saw that it was freshly bandaged with a thick layer of linen. Groaning, I stretched my sore neck from side to side, pressing a hand against my forehead. "Oh God, it's just you guys."

Shigure knelt down besides me, glancing at his watch. "Mornin', sunshine. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," I moaned. "What happened?"

"Well," he s said uneasily, wringing his hands out, "a wild animal appeared where we were standing, and we freaked out, so without thinking, we all ran in opposite directions. The three of us managed to rendezvous a couple of kilometers away from here, but we had no idea where you'd gone. Anyways, we're really sorry- it's our fault you got hurt. It was selfish of us, and-"

"Oh, don't be so stupid," I interrupted, rolling my eyes. "I'm the oneto blame. And, you know, it was mostly my fault- I ran, I got my ankle twisted, yada yada yada. I would hate myself if I spent my entire life relying on you guys when it's me who's in your debt."

"That would have been a lot more inspirational if you took out that 'mostly'," Ayame quipped.

"Hush, you. Don't ruin the moment," I shushed, sticking my tongue out at them. "Let's just keep on going." Just as I was about to clamber to my feet, Hatori leaned forward to grasp my shoulders, pushing me back to my sitting position.

"No walking for you," he said sternly. "Your ankle's injured enough as it is."

"But, the bet-" I protested, but to no avail.

"Is your well-being less important to you than some silly bet?"

Well, when he put it that way. I readily shut my mouth.

Shigure poked me playfully on the nose, grinning from ear to ear. "Besides, I think you've proved your manliness enough. You fought hard, trooper- Ayame'd be a crying mess if he were you right now."

"Would not!"

"Would too!"

While I was distracted by their bickering, Hatori crouched down next to me, tucking a hand under my knees and planting the other firmly on my back. And despite my strangled noises of protest, he rose slowly to his feet, holding me to him.

I flailed my arms wildly, uncomfortably aware of his very, very warm chest pressed up against my shoulders. "W-What the hell are you doing?"

"Stay still," he commanded, ducking to avoid a messy punch aimed at his head. "Don't make this harder than it already is. Besides, do you really think you're going anywhere with that ankle of yours? You'll only slow us down."

"Argh." I pouted, sending a cold look to a sniggering Shigure. "Oh, shut it, you."

"Whatever you say, Princess."