Title: Unbreakable Strength

Chapter 38: Hide and Seek

Authors Note: Hey everyone thanks so much for the reviews. I'm super excited to be diving into this part of the story now. I didn't want to paint Akito as a complete monster – when it comes to the curse I believe he's a victim just as much as the other zodiacs, which you'll begin to see as I nick pick at the curse.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of the characters. However, my dear little Mira Liore Nolan is mine and mine alone along with the lovely Liv Cyrene Nolan.

Side of a Bullet by Nickelback & If You're Going Through Hell by Rodney Atkins


"Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage"

-George Patton

Fear clogs our senses; it creates a frenzy, so all I could hear was my furious heart beating louder and louder. My muscles burned, but I still found the energy to continue forward. To stop, was to accept my lonely fate, something I could not condemn. The frenzy built inside my chest, threatening to explode. Nothing passed through my brain, I just ran.

"Morning miss," the gardener tipped his hat to the young lady as he always did. She was a pretty thing, though wore a bit too much make up if anyone wanted his opinion.

"Morning," Mira repeated back at him as she left the apartments, there was a skip to her step as she walked down the lane to meet up with the same boy that came to walk along with her since the last week.

He came the same direction of where Careen Gaines headed, it made the gardener happy to see she had a good man looking after her. Not every woman had that in this day and age.

"Morning Yuki," she sung happily, instantly reaching for his hand. The simple soft comfort of another human always brought her into a better mood.

"Good morning, you're looking well," he remarked, there was more color in her cheeks; she smiled easier, a lighter look in her eyes. It all settled his worry that kept him up at night.

Although Yuki had sworn the apartments were barely out of his way, Mira knew better. She was the opposite way of the school, yet she was selfish enough not to call him out on the little white lie. She had been thrilled the morning she had left the apartment and seen him waiting by the block, it had been a long time since she had smiled so quickly.

"Mira…" his voice interrupted her thoughts, it was a worried voice.

"Hmm?"

"That man, is he around your apartment a lot?" his eyes glanced over at a shaded man who seemed intent on following them, ten to twelve feet behind.

"I've seen him once or twice, I suppose," Mira shrugged, "Another tenant, I'm sure. Why do you look so concerned?"

"He's been watching you, every morning that I've come to pick you up," he glanced back at the man who hesitated a step and folded up against the fence line, he stopped the stalking there, as Yuki noted he did every morning.

Mira only laughed, "I'm not concerned, the only time he has to attack me is when I'm with you. It's one thing to beat up Kyo, he bounces back quickly. I don't know if this guy would be so lucky."

"Just promise to be more careful, okay?" he frowned intently on her, until Mira finally gave in and nodded – just to appease him.

She drew the line when he asked her to invest in some pepper spray though. There was a much more formidable weapon that she knew about.

The same man was waiting at the gate when Yuki walked her back, a deep frown appeared on his face, and "I have a student council meeting…" he began hesitantly.

"Don't worry so much about me," she wasn't as fragile as he made her out to be. "Just do your student president thing, okay?" she smiled and gave him a sharp jab into the side with her elbow, "See? I'm in no danger."

He shook his head, and didn't comment much. "Just promise to remain around people, and call me later," he added.

Because she could read the unspoken words in his eyes. I won't lose you again. Mira nodded, "Yeah, I'll call you, kiss?" she smiled when he leaned down briefly to smoothly glide his lips against hers and then straighten up again.

She hated the part where they went their separate ways, but at least she always had the slow and sweet kiss to look forward to before he left. Sighing lightly, Mira gave him one last desirable look before she headed into her apartment. When she looked back, Yuki was gone.

"Miss," the gardener acknowledged her as Mira stepped up to her apartment and slid the key through. The door clicked and unlocked. Sharp pain radiated from her shoulder as someone jerked her inside and threw her against the door. Everything went black.

Ready to open her eyes and see blank walls, Mira was surprised to still be in her apartment. She took control of her breathing and slowly let the fear melt away – it wasn't easy. The shadow of a large man stood by the door way. Every now and then he flickered his eyes over to her, until he finally noticed she was awake.

"Akito, demanded me to take you to him," was the first thing he said.

He had a very deep voice, it almost growled, like a bull dog. At that moment, Mira knew she should be terrified, but nothing was worst than Akito. "Then why am I here?" she asked, figuring she might as well amuse his questions.

"Change of heart, but this is how it's going to go down. You want to live your free life; you're going to have to listen. I'm not the only one he has looking for you…"

It was apparent then, that this wasn't the man who had been following her for the past week. So how many people did Akito have searching, hunting for her?

"You had a change of heart?" she should have been more thankful, but instead she continued to stare up at him in disbelief.

"If you had any idea what that monster had planned for you…some little girl who's got her high school sweetheart walking her to and from school," for a moment, he seemed to be choking on something, "Made me sick inside. I thought you were some floozy bitch who ran out on him with money or something. I'm a bounty hunter; I used to be an ex-cop for crying out loud."

It was pretty bad when a bounty hunter thought Akito was a monster, "So, if this is your job, how can you just let me go? Maybe I did steal something from Akito. Besides, how does a cop go to being a bounty hunter?"

He hadn't been expecting that answer and the question, "I got tired of the rules, restricting the justice. I'm not dragging some unconscious girl to him; I'm not going to feed into human trafficking or whatever this is – so listen carefully. I'm going to untie you," her wrists would be bloody and sore, he was sorry for that. "You have to run out of the back door. Remember how I'm not the only one looking for you? Well others are here, so when I say run – I mean it. I'll chase after, do my best to keep them off you. If you hear gun shots, keep going."

Oh, this was perfect – this was just fucking perfect. "I sincerely hope you're kidding," Mira spat.

"Afraid not, it's your only chance though," he cut the binds on her hands and feet, which Mira winced at, and helped her stand up, "Book it kid," he suggested harshly.

Mira didn't need another push, she followed his orders (because it was her only option) and she ran, out the back door and kept going. Her legs pushed to the ground and she felt the adrenaline kick up in her system.

At first she felt rather stupid; the man was obviously getting a good laugh back in her apartment. There was no body following her. When Mira looked over her shoulder, she was surprised to see quite a few figures.

"Oh….SHIT." and then she put on the speed, winding trails to hopefully get to civilization, and in extension, people and witnesses.

And then she heard the pop of a silencer, and really picked up the speed to run.

This would ONLY happen to me, everybody else lives their merry little lives without a problem. Oh, but I get the bounty hunters on my ass. As god as my witness, Akito is going to pay for this one.

The muscle tore and burned in her legs as she continued to run, gravel sprayed under her feet. Her skirt hem ripped against the lengthy branches that scratched at her thighs and twisted into her brown hair. The blonde wig had long been tossed off. Her wrists and arms were sliced up as she protected her face from the harmful foliage.

Most importantly, she kept running, the fear was overcome with courage and the will to live, until finally, she broke out into a small, but public part surrounded by people. When she looked back, there was nobody.

Panting, Mira practically fainted onto a wooden bench where she began to catch her breath. "Unbelievable…" she managed to choke out between strong intakes of sweet air. Her stomach began to burn from the lack of oxygen in the muscle. For the most part, she wasn't bleeding heavily anywhere. Her wrists looked more painful than they were.

She ended up laying down flat on the bench, concentrating on her breathing and letting everything else fall in the back of her mind, where she didn't have to think.

"M…Mira?" a gasped voice interrupted the cleansing of her mental health.

"Hey Tohru," Mira said, lacking any sense of emotion. She sighed and flipped up to a sitting position, "I'm okay – before you over react. Please don't tell Yuki." She frowned at the look of indented cuts that ran all around her wrists.

"Oh no, Mira it's okay! I promise, I'll stay by you on every step of your recovery! Not once will I abandon a true friend in need! Together we'll help you, I won't let you down."

It took a moment for Mira to realize what Tohru meant, "Oh dear go- Tohru, I didn't cut myself….I, it's a long story." She didn't want to talk about the incident right now, so she changed the subject quickly, "Why are you here?"

"Oh. I'm with Kisa and Hiro…you should meet them, because they're family. Kisa's the tiger and Hiro's the lamb," Tohru explained as Mira trudged behind her.

"Why the hell did you pick up some homeless person?" was the first thing Hiro said to her, frowning as he gave her a once over. "Come on Kisa, we don't need such a bad influence by us. Really," he glared at Tohru, "you should know better. And you call yourself an adult."

"Wha…No," Tohru sadly tried to explain herself.

"I'm your cousin," Mira finally snapped, "Mira Liore Sohma, nice to meet you Little Bo Peep." That shut Hiro right up, but did that boy have a glare that could kill.

"So…Mira, where are you going to stay tonight? I still have my tent…" Tohru began to offer, "I could stay with you, and it'd be fun, like a camp out…" she hesitated and watched Mira carefully after Mira had spilled the terrifying yet slightly exciting bounty hunter story to her.

"Thanks Tohru, but I think I need to keep a low profile for now," if the bad boys were out to play, Mira would just have to step up to the plate and play her cards right. The game was hide and seek, they could look all they wanted, but they wouldn't' find her.

"You have somewhere to stay then?" Tohru asked, prodding for more details.

"Yeah, I just hope he's not a bed hog or sheet stealer," Mira replied with a quick flip of a smile. Tohru gave her a typical ditzy 'I'm going to smile even though I have no idea what you mean' smile and walked back to Shigures.

Hours later, Mira ended up back there as well.

She flipped through the books on Yuki's bed stand and flopped back against the cement. From downstairs she finally heard Yuki say he was going up to his room to study.

"This should be interesting," Mira mumbled, with a slow easy smile of amusement at the shock she was sure would be displayed on his face. One look at her wrists, and she knew Yuki wouldn't mind. She only hoped he didn't yell out in surprise or give any signals of somebody in his room that Shigure could hear.

That could be a problem.

"Moment of truth," Mira waited silently as the door slid open and Yuki shut it without ever looking at his bed. To her astounding amazement, he sat at his desk, flipped his book open and began to read.

She had sworn she was a loud breather, but apparently her stealth was better than she gave credit for.

"Aren't rats supposed to have good hearing? I mean, they hear ultrasound and everything," Mira remarked calmly on his bed. It wasn't often that she saw Yuki jump, but it was quite comical when he did, along with the flash of surprise and a tint of anger in his eyes that he had been snuck up on, that someone had seen him in a vulnerable state.

"Are you angry?" she finally asked, because otherwise she was afraid he would only sit and stare at her for the rest of the time, "I didn't have anywhere else to go…you were right, I should have been more careful." She moved ever so slightly on his bed, but it was enough for him to catch the scratches and marks from the binds.

She wasn't sure, but Yuki might have actually of sworn when he saw it.

"Didn't I tell you to be careful?" he asked as he moved to the side of the bed and took her hands carefully in his own. "I'll find a first aid kit."

"You don't have to bother…" Mira began, but the look she got back from him was that the topic wasn't up to discussion.

He came back minutes later with the first aid kit, and it was quickly apparent that he had never wrapped something in his life. From being around horses – highly accident prone animals, Mira was slightly a pro at it.

"…Thanks, Yuki… it's perfect…really," she insisted at his doubtful look at the loose wraps, "You can pull them tighter, don't worry."

Ouch…not that tight!

"Perfect," she smiled through the pain, because that was true dedication of love, "So…I can stay here tonight?" and…possibly every other night.

"Of course, you're always welcomed here," Yuki replied, as if it was completely obvious and the stupidest question that Mira could have asked – because really, it was a stupid question.

"Well, it would have been rude to assume," Mira insisted when she saw how he looked at her when she asked the question, as if she really was a moron who had no clue of his feelings for her.

He smiled softly down at her and kissed her forehead affectionately, "Why don't you get some sleep, I'll find a cot and blankets for the floor."

"Beds big enough for two people Yuki," Mira pointed out, "Think of it as a trial for co-habituation, which is very high in America."

"It's not very proper…"

"It'll look stranger if you grab sheets out of the closet, Shigure will blab to Ayame if he finds out I'm alive and here and you can't trust Ayame with anything…" that sold it. Mira was surprised she had won that battle so quickly.

For one blissful night at least, in his arms, Mira knew she wouldn't have any nightmares.