Chapter Twenty-One: Getting Lost Looking For The Lost One

Taka and I had been looking for what seemed to be forever for our lost friend. I began to think we were going to not find him and lose him to the evils of that Rin Sohma girl. I was not going to let someone who was like a younger brother to me get hurt by someone who was an evil whory type person. No one I love gets hurt on my watch! I looked at my watch and realized we had only been looking for thirty-three since we began to look, which shocked me. I shrugged my shoulders as I realized time does not stop for evil. We had to get him back and we had to get him back as soon as possible. I looked up at Taka who was walking next to me, calling out Haru's name. He looked over at me and gave me a reassuring smiled. He then said, "We'll find him. Don't worry." I smiled back and nodded. As we walked for a few more moments, the wind began to pick up. It was only October twenty fifth, but it felt like it was January thirteen. The way the temperature was eerily colder than usual made me want to find Hatsuharu even faster. I wish we could have just snapped our fingers and found him and saved him from whatever evil was bothering him, but things like that never happened. At least, I do not think they did…that would be cool if they did. Well, they could, I mean, with all that happened the other day with Yuko, Watanuki and Domeki, I guess anything could happen.

I shudder as another gust of wind hit Taka and I head on. I shuddered. Why didn't I bring something warmer to wear? And why did girls have to wear short-skirted uniforms to school? I swear, the schools are run by perverted guys who like to watch girls freeze their asses off in the cold. I folded my arms around my stomach to save whatever heat my body had left. I heard Taka move around in his jacket, but just thought he was turning to look down another alley or something. But I was surprised when he wrapped his jacket around me. "You look cold, so you can use this if you want too," he said. I looked up at him and he looked way, blushing as he did so.

"T-thank you, Taka-kun. But won't you get cold if I have your jacket?" I said, stopping to look at him.

"No. I am pretty use to the cold, so I'm not that cold today," he said. He was still blushing. He was so cute. "And you looked more colder than me, so I decided to let you wear it. I could tell you were cold since your legs are starting to get paler than usual. Not that I was staring at your legs or anything! I do not do things like that as a hobby. I just noticed the color and the way you were walking, they were walking closer than usual. Ah! But that does not mean that I watch you and stalk you and stare at the way you walk. I am not saying I ever did that. I'm just saying that I noticed that and…"

I giggled and smiled. "You're cute Taka-kun. Thank you. I'm pretty use to the cold too from being down in my basement so much. But even this is really cold to me. How are you immune to such coldness?"

"Your welcome." He gave me a small smile back and scratched the back of his neck. "I guess I'm like this because sometimes when I was living with my mom, I didn't have enough time to grab my coat before I ran off to the abandoned house where I was safe from my mom and her boyfriend. So after awhile you get use to it."

"T-Taka-kun! I'm so sorry! That is so sad! I'm sorry to say this, and I know she is your mother, but I hate her! How could she make you live like that?!" Tears began to form in my eyes from thinking of how Taka had to grow up with that devil woman.

"H-hey! Don't cry! I don't like when you cry over me. Please don't cry," he said, rushing to my side and wiping my tears away.

"I'll try not too…" I said as I smiled at him as he his hand grazed my cheek. Over his shoulder I thought I saw someone with black and white hair. "Taka! I think I saw Haru over your shoulder!"

We both looked over where I thought I saw Haru only to find it wasn't him. Apparently we somehow found our way to the park and the black and white thing I found was only a black and white moo-moo toy cow that someone left in the grass way over by the swings. I looked around to see if Yuki was anywhere to be seen. Then I looked at Taka and said, "How the hell did we wind up at the park? Didn't we take the opposite direction of the park?"

He nodded. "Yea. This is crazy… how did we get here?"

"Maybe this is another park on the opposite side of town…?" I wondered out loud.

"I don't think it is…this is the only park that has a trampoline in town." he said.

"Oh, yea…" I said, how could I have forgotten something like that? "Ah, perhaps we stepped in some alternate town…or something? Anywho lets continue to look for our dear friend Haru-kun."

Taka nodded.

"Hatsuharu! If you can hear me, we are looking for you so if you could indicate that you heard us that would be wonderful! Hatsuharu! Haru?!" I yelled hoping that he would hear us.

There was only silence.

"How about we look down that street, I do not think we have been down there." Taka said, looking around.

"Ok. Let us go down there!" I said happily as I led the way down that street.

We walked for a few more minutes shouting out Haru's name. A few others were walking down the street and they all gave us mean looks like we were insane. Or they could have looked at us like that since we were disturbing the peace. Or maybe they just liked to give teenagers mean looks, who knows and how cares? As we were walking and calling out to him, I realized I had to do something. "Taka, we should call my mom to let her know that we are looking for Taka. She would be worried if we were really late."

"Yea, I agree." Taka nodded.

I began to search in all my pockets for my cell phone…only to remember that I let Haru use it a few days before and I forgot to get it back, so it was still at home somewhere, or if I was lucky, still on Haru. "Taka-kun, I don't have my cell phone. I think that it is either at home, or Haru still has it. So if we call my cell phone, perhaps we can get a hold of Haru and find out where he is."

"Good idea…should we use a payphone then?" Taka asked, glancing up and down the street for a sign of a pay phone.

"Yep. Good idea. I think there is one right up here. Follow me and my dearest friend." I said happily as our luck began to seem to look up. We got to the end of the street and I looked around for the payphone that was usually right at the corner. I then began to panic and realized that our luck was gone once again. "Taka…the phone…it's not here!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's suppose to be right here, but it is not." I whined. I looked around and realized nothing looked familiar. "And nothing is familiar. I don't know where we are!"

"So now…we are lost too?" Taka said slowly, the reality of our situation sinking into both of our minds. "What should we do?"

"Maybe…we can…ask one of those mean looking people if we can use their…phone." I said, swallowing quickly. I didn't want to go into their homes, perhaps they were teenagers killers and liked to eat our tenderize brains. My paranoia was taking hold of me. And lack of sleep that could be it as well. I grabbed Taka's arm. "Taka…"

He seemed to sense my fear and said bravely, "I'll talk to them. Just stay close to me."

I nodded. We slowly made our way to the nearest house. We walked up the steps and Taka knocked on the front door. There was a pause and the door slowly opened. Standing before us was a middle age woman who glared at us. But they way she looked; it felt like we had interrupted her in the middle of her most favorite television show. "Hello, what do you want?" she seemed to growl at us.

"My friend and me somehow got ourselves lost and we were wondering if we could use your phone to call her mother so we could get ourselves un-lost." Taka said. I knew Taka must be a little nervous, but he didn't seem like it at all. He looked so cute at that moment. If we were doing this under other circumstances, I would have glomped him at that moment, but I was so scared, that the urge quickly replaced with more fear.

"I'm sorry, deary. I'm Amish. This whole part of town is Amish, to tell you the truth, so you won't be able to find a phone or anything. Didn't you notice that there are no electric or phone wires?" she said.

I looked up and realized she was right. There were none. Then it hit me. We were doomed. "So you don't have any phones?"

"Weren't you paying attention?" she snapped.

"No electricity…isn't you life boring without that most wonderful invention?" I blurted out without even meaning to do so.

She glared at me then. "If you were my child I would have slapped your face for being so blunt."

"I…I'm sorry." I bowed quickly. "Taka…I want to go now. I want to go home!"

"Sorry for bothering you." Taka bowed and we turned around to leave. The woman slammed her door, which caused me to jump.

"What are we going to do, Taka? We're in the Amish part of town! I never have been here before! It's against my technological religion! I have my camcorder in my backpack. Do you think that will save us? Maybe we can make it explode to send out a signal to let search parties know we are here. We've been gone for so long. My mother probably thinks we are dead. Yuki is probably said because he asked us to help him. Haru is lost forever in the clutches of Rin. We failed him!" I began to go on and on. I don't know what was happening to me, but for some reason, everything seemed worse than what it really was. If Taka wasn't there, I think I would have died alone, lost in the Amish part of our city.

Taka put a hand on both of my shoulders; he shook me gently and lifted my head so I looked him right in the eyes. "Everything is going to be ok. Don't worry. We'll find our way out of here, and we'll find Haru and we will get home safely. You have Taka here, so everything will be all right." he smiled at me. "Trust me, ok?"

I nodded. "Ok…I'm sorry, Taka-kun. I'm just freaking out and it got control of me…" I told him.

"It's ok. It happens to everyone every now and then. Now, how about we just keep walking for a little bit until something comes up that looks familiar, okie dokie?" he said.

I nodded.

We walked for a few more minutes. Nothing was starting to look familiar and I was starting to get hungry and tired. "Ta…ka…kun…can…I…take…a break?"

"Oh, sure. There is a bench over there. I'm getting tired too. We should rest," he said as he led the way over there. We both sat down and got comfortable.

X X X

Standing off in the shadows are two figures watching Taka and Kyoki. One of them is shorter than the other and they are the first to speak. "Those two…they are getting close…too close…"

"They have been friends since kindergarden, so of course they are going to be jealous." the other says. He then grins and says the next in a teasing voice, "You're jealous of him, aren't you?"

The first glares at him. "Are you insane? Me, jealous of him? That is ridicules. Why could I be jealous of that goat?" they crossed their arms over their chest.

"C'mon, Yume, just admit it." he teased.

"No, Kyou. I will not admit it because it is not true!" she yelled.

"Fine, fine. Just keep it down or they will hear us." Kyou said back.

"Let's go. I think I have seen all that I need to see." Yume said as she began to walk away.

Kyou was going to ask if they should help them, but decided against it. He really did not want Yume mad at him since she could get really scary when she was mad. He looked over his shoulder at Kyoki and Taka before he ran after Yume.

X X X

Meanwhile, Yuki made his way back to the school to see if Haru somehow made his way there for whatever reason. He decided to check out Haru's locker and classroom to see if he was there. As he headed toward those places, he hears someone call his name from behind. He turned around to see a young girl who looked like she was in a grade below him. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"You're Sohma Yuki, right?" she asked.

"Yes." he said.

"Good. I was looking all over the school for you. We got a call from a Sohma Shigure twenty minutes ago. He said to tell you that Hatsuharu made it to his house and that you should not worry about him anymore. And I think that was all." she smiled at him. "Well, I have told you, now I must hurry off. Have a nice weekend, Sohma-san." she bowed and ran down the hall to do whatever she had to do.

Yuki smiled, relieved that Haru was safe at Shigure's. Though, perhaps he should still be worried since Shigure's manger, Mit-chan, was coming over to get the manuscript and Shigure always seemed to cause the poor woman more stress than what was necessary. That was probably why Shigure had planned for 'family get together' to be that day, just to cause her panic and trauma. Yuki was surprised that he did not realize Shigure's intent earlier on, but Yuki had been busy the last few days since he was the Student Council president and there was a Halloween party coming up, so he had his mind on that.

Kyoki and Taka are still out there looking for him! I have to go find them and tell them he is at Shigure's! Yuki thought. He rushed out of the school and began to run in the direction that the two left to go look.

X X X

Haru walked around Shigure's house, rather bored. He walked into the living room where Shigure currently was. "Sensei, shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"Oh, yes. I'll get there when I get there. Que sera, sera, remember?" he laughed.

"Where's Yuki?" he asked, as he sat down.

"He is out looking for you. But I called his school, so he should know that you are here soon enough." Shigure told the teenager.

Haru became worried about causing Yuki to go out and look for him. "I'm going to go look for him." he stood up.

"Oh, no you won't. He'll come here. Besides, if you leave and he comes back, he will just have to go out and look for you again. Do you want to further cause him trouble?"

Haru shook his head. "No…" he sat back down and felt something in his pocket. He reached into this pocket and pulled out a cell phone that was decorated with bishonen from various anime series. Haru looked at it, mystified. He began to wonder why he forgot to give it back to Kyoki and how it ended up in his pocket.

Shigure eyed the phone and grinned. "I never knew you were so into anime guys."

"I'm not…this is Kyoki's phone. She let me use it the other day and I forgot to give it back." Haru explained. He was about to put it back into his pocket, but Shigure snapped it out of his hands.

"This is Kyoki's cell phone? Are you sure?" Shigure said, holding the phone like it was a sacred treasure.

"Uh…yea…" Haru said.

"Hehe…I'll hold onto it for you until you leave." Shigure laughed and flew out of the room with the phone hugged to his chest.

Haru rolled his eyes and closed his eyes to rest for a few moments.

X X X

"Does that look familiar to you?" I asked as we made our way down an alley that I had never seen before. At least, I do not think I had ever seen it before. I could not tell since everything began to look the same to me.

"I don't know. I do not think it does…" Taka said. His stomach began to growl then right after mine began to go off as well. "I think I'm hungry…"

"Me too." I told him. "Maybe I have some food in my backpack." I stopped, dropped my backpack and began to dig around in it. I saw something shine in the sunlight. "Oh! What is this?" I pulled out a small machine. I think it was my camcorder, but I couldn't tell since I was so hungry, it looked like a glorious piece of metal cake. "Do you think we can eat this?"

Taka took it from me and brought it up to his face where he began to closely examine it. "Hmm…it looks like it is undercooked. We might get sick, but we can try, at least."

"A little undercooked meat never killed anyone, right?" I smiled at him at the thought of some food finally getting into our stomachs after which seemed like forever since our last meal.

Taka brought the camcorder, or the glorious piece of meat that I liked to call it now, to his mouth and tried to take a bite out of it. He yelped in pain when it was too hard to eat. "Ouch! That thing is not good to eat. It's too hard." he gently tossed it back into my backpack. "Got anything else that is better?"

I began to drink around some more. "I got this paper-ish stuff in here. I'll try it to see if we can eat it." I open the notebook open and rip out a page. I shoved it into my mouth and began to chew. "Hmm…not to bad. Want some?" I held the notebook out for him to have some. He quickly nodded and took a page. He ate it as well.

"This stuff doesn't taste that bad." he smiled.

"I know. It's pretty good. I wish we had something to wash it down with, but we'll just have to live with what we got, right?" I smiled back as he nodded. "Taka, there is something I want to tell you. You know, incase we don't make it out of this together alive. In that case, I really want you to know something. I-"

"Don't talk like that. We're going to make it out of her alive. Together. You can tell me what when we get home. Ok?" he said. He looked so determined.

"Ok, Taka. When we get home, I will tell you." I smiled at him.

At that moment, we both heard a noise at the opening of the alley. We froze, not sure who could be there…

X X X

As Yuki was walking pas at alley, he heard a noise and some talking. He looked down it and saw Kyoki and Taka. He was looking at me like they had never seen me before. "Taka? Kyoki? Are you two ok? We found out where-" he began but was cut off.

"Yuki? Is that you? It's been so long? I missed you Yuki, I'm so glad that we could met again before our untimely demise." Kyoki said sadly.

"What are you talking about…?" Yuki asked, confused by her words.

"Yuki ni sakigakete boku to kojirete!" Taka sang happily. "Silent night, holy night nandemo ii kimi o dakitai."

"What is going on?" Yuki asked. He wasn't sure if this was how they normally acted around each other, or if there was something seriously wrong with them.

"Oh, nothing. He is just singing some lyrics from T.M. Revolutions Burnin' Christmas. I didn't know if he ever heard that song before. He must have learned some of the lyrics from the notebook page he ate a few minutes ago. I wrote it on that paper…" Kyoki said, looking at Taka, in wonder that he learned that from eating that paper.

"Notebook page? Ate?" Yuki said in a rather dumbfounded voice. "He ate a notebook paper?"

"Yep, me too. We couldn't find anything else to eat. We still have some more. So I guess we can survive a few more says on paper. But after that, who knows. Are you lost too? We could share our food with you." she smiled politely.

Yuki shook his head. "I'm not lost. I came to find you to let you know that we found Haru. He's at Shigure's. I'm rather worried about you two. I should walk you two home…"

"Home?" I haven't been home for days… I would like to go home. Would you like to go home, Taka-kun?" Kyoki said.

Taka nodded.

"Me too. I'm sure my mother would be very glad to know that we are not lost and dead." Kyoki smiled. Taka nodded again. Kyoki grabbed her backpack and ran over to Yuki. Kyoki gently grabbed Yuki's hand and looked him in the eyes. "Thank you so much for saving us, Yuki-kun! I don't now what we would have done without your bravery in going out in this dreadful weather to find us."

"Kyoki. Taka. It's only been an hour since you went out to look for Haru…" Yuki told them.

"Oh…really?" Kyoki shrugged her shoulders. "Time seems to go by faster when you are scared and lost. C'mon, Taka. Let's have Yuki takes us home. Can we get home really fast? I miss my mommy."

"Sure…" Yuki said as he led the way home. Kyoki held tightly onto Yuki and Taka's hands. So tight that it seemed like she was afraid that something horrible would happen to rip them out of her sight and leave her alone to be lost and scared. When they got to Kyoki's home, Yuki walked them in. "I gotta go. The others should be at Shigure's by now. If you need any help or anything, just let me know." He thought about just calling Shigure and telling him he was going to stay with Taka and Kyoki since they seemed to be going through a weird phase. But knew that would make things only worse because then Shigure would rush over to be with Kyoki. So instead, he politely said good-bye and left the house quietly.

Kyoki and Taka walked into the kitchen. "Mom? We are home. Sorry we are so late. We got lost. Mom?" Kyoki noticed a piece of paper on the refrigerator that was not there that morning. Kyoki walked over to it and read it out loud. "'Taka and Kyoki, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you this morning, but I have to work late today. Haru is going over to Shigure's for a family dinner. So you two will be alone tonight. But! Do not worry! Your mother has made plans for you two to go out and eat tonight! I made reservations at that new restaurant that was built a few months ago, so you'll have to wear nice clothes! I got it for six tonight. Kyoki, I put that pretty black dress of yours that you wore to that one party on your bed. And Taka, I got you a new suit and I put that on your bed. Don't be late and have a nice time. I will see you later when I get home from work. Don't do anything too crazy! I love you both very much. Have a nice time!' That is what my mom wrote on this note. Why do we have to get dressed nicely just to go to a restaurant? Oh well, who cares. There'll be food." Kyoki smiled. "Let's hurry up and get dressed so we can get there on time to get the food."

"Yea." Taka nodded.

Then the two of them rushed to their rooms so they could get dressed and ready to go to the restaurant.

X X