(A/N) I was gonna wait, but i have no freaking discipline. chapter is a direct chronological follow-up to the last, as I am sure many of you are glad for.
And the main four show up in the chapter! Hooray!

I hope you enjoy!

I still don't know why I went to Shigure's house of all places. It seemed to be just the place to go. It seemed to be the half-way house for Sohma children at this point. I couldn't go back to Sohma House now, and at least I could call Misaki from there to let her know where I was. So far, it was an evening full of clichés. I showed at Shigure's front door, soaking wet and covered in several small wounds.

The door swung open revealing Shigure with an amused expression on his face.

"What do we have here? If it isn't miss-"

"Just let me in the house, asshole." I growled, my voice like gravel.

"Ah! She's angry! Yuki! Protect me!" He said dragging Yuki by the arm into the doorway. I'm pretty sure we both groaned in unison.

Yuki actually led me in, offering me a dry towel from the wash. I wrapped it around myself gratefully.

"I would like to know what on earth happened to you, but I'll let you get dried off first."

"Yeah, I don't want to add catching a cold to my list of shit things today," I said a little too loudly for my damaged windpipe. Yuki's eyes darted to my neck, seeming to notice the forming bruises there.

He nodded, turning to call to a different part of the house. "Honda-san? Could you come help me?"

Tohru came walking calmly into the room, until she saw me, then she went into full panic mode.

"K-k-k-k-Kanae-san! Wh-what happened to you!?" She began waving her arms frantically, while Yuki attempted to calm her down.

"Honda-san, how about we let Kanae-san get dried off before we interrogate her?"

"Oh! Of course!" She smiled, very brightly, I almost felt the need to squint. She led me upstairs to the guest restroom, allowing me to take a hot bath. I tended to my injuries as best I could with the first aid supplies. When I dried off, Tohru found some clothes for me to borrow. I wore one of Tohru's dresses like a shirt and had to borrow a pair of Yuki's pants, which I didn't really mind.

When I was tended to, it was late evening, and Tohru insisted on serving me tea for my throat. She still didn't seem to have put two and two together yet.

"Well then," Shigure said, fanning himself with a newspaper. "I must say this is a surprise, Kanae-chan." I glared at him over my teacup. Not willing to strain my vocal chords over him.

"Shigure, please refrain from troubling her." Yuki said stiffly.

I had also borrowed a scarf to hide the evidence, and to keep me warm. I unconsciously snuggled a bit closer to Yuki who was sitting next to me at the Kotatsu. He didn't recoil, for which I was thankful. I still noticed that he seemed just a little bit uncomfortable. Probably he just wasn't expecting me to be affectionate at all. It just so happened that I was at one of those vulnerable points. Kyou was seated on my other side. He had definitely at least surmised what had happened to me. His fist was clenched, he just didn't want to burst out in front of Tohru I think. I couldn't tell them now, if Kyou found out who did this, he'd probably just bolt and track down Haru down to kill him.

But even so, I still didn't blame him. I never seemed to be able to.

After a short while, Yuki spoke up. "Honda-san? Why don't you go set up the guest room for Kanae-san?"

"Okay!" She complied, quickly cleaning the kitchen a bit before she whizzed off. The others were notably still while they waited for her to leave. I was busy doing my best to shut out their Aura's so that I didn't go freaking insane.

When she was gone, Shigure, oddly enough, was the one who spoke up. "So, I'm pretty sure we're all thinking the same thing. We need to know exactly what happened to you, it's only polite don't you think?" He still had that annoying smile on his face.

Kyou slammed a fist on the table. "Yeah what the hell Kanae? Did someone try to strangle you? You shouldn't be so damn calm about it!" I didn't meet his eyes.

Yuki calmly placed his tea cup down, suppressing his irritation at Kyou. "I think what Kyou was trying to say is that he's worried about you."

"Awww how sweet." Shigure crooned. "Got a little crush have we?"

"I'm just going to ignore you." Kyou replied, a vein throbbing in his forehead.

I would have giggled if my throat weren't sandpaper made out of metal shards. Instead it just came out as a light cough.

I sighed. "I'll try to be succinct, so forgive me if I don't display the proper emotional facilities about this event." I coughed again. I think I felt Yuki jerk in my direction, but I couldn't quite tell out of the corner of my eye. "It was…Haru. Well, not actually, it was his Spirit, more accurately."

"What the hell, are you making excuses for that bastard? He could have killed you." Kyou said in disbelief.

I remained silent.

"So what would happen if he did kill you? Would you blame him then!?" I had told Kyou about what happened at the shrine a year ago, that seemed to just make it worse.

"Kyou, that's enough." Yuki said with surprising authority. "What matters is that Kanae is safe."

He sighed and shrugged. "Fine, whatever. It's just, this has happened before, and it looks like I'm the only one she told."

"Kyou..." I whispered.
He glanced at me, before walking off. "I'm gonna...go check up on Tohru." He muttered.

Yuki gently placed a hand on my shoulder. "You should rest, Kanae-san. You can stay here and then return home when you feel better."

I nodded. Following Yuki as he stood up.
"Uhm, I believe I'm the owner of this house..." Shigure said with an annoyed lilt in his voice. "Shouldn't you at least ask me about this?"
Yuki responded with a bit of venom in his voice. "Are you saying that you'd let her freeze to death in the rain?"
"Oh no…but,"
"Then there's no problem." He urged me away, upstairs to where Kyou and Tohru were. I could hear their voices through the hallway as we neared.

Tohru's head peaked out just Kyou emerged. "Oh Kanae-san! Your room is ready, I hope you recover soon!" I nodded in thanks. Yuki kept guiding me as they passed, he even came into the room with me. He seemed like he had something that he wanted to say.
"Kanae…" I looked at him with light surprise. "I really did mean, it, I'm glad you're safe but." He looked at me seriously. "I don't think that you should forgive Haru so easily." I cast my eyes down.

I opened my mouth to speak, but through the better of it. Yuki let go of me finally, resting a hand on the door frame as he left. "Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything else." Then he left without another word. He was smiling though, a sad smile, I think.

With that comfort in my mind, I drifted into a dream-infested sleep.

I was standing in the surf. The cold waft of the ocean blanketing my senses. I could smell the brine, taste it on my tongue. The waves crashing all around me were like a lullaby. The axis of the earth was tilted, and I found myself walking through the sea-foam. Ghosting along the surface in the waxing moonlight.

I was walking towards a storm, mesmerised by its massive beauty. The clouds were black and towering, stark-white lightening arcing above me. I reached out to touch the figure there, a boiling mass of white, but the flames burnt my hands, burned my heart and set my whole awareness ablaze.

I turned to ashes and floated away on the wind, coasting back over the shore and dispersing into the woods. It hurt. I was broken apart and scattered, yet I still felt the pain.

It was a long stretch, where I was nothing but the dust. Screaming soundlessly and aching in the cold. I felt this in my core. The whole of my detached mind, mourning for lost love, mourning for wasted time.

Until, on the wind that carried me, I smelled the sea-breeze again.

That fresh cool scent that coated my being with a cool comfort. I thought of a name, a face, but nothing came to me. I only felt the life of me return as I stood up from the dust, rolling aches returning in waves, as I suddenly had a body to feel injury.

Eventually I found myself conscious again.

There was not light coming in, it was still late in the night, and all I could do was return to sleep with panging dread.

Dread that I would find that storm again, dread that the sea-breeze wouldn't be enough to heal me again.

(A/N) Thanks once again for reading, and expect chapter 14 soon! It's gonna be a long one...