Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FB characters.

Note: Thanks so much for all the reviews so far! ^_^ The review count has topped Some Time in My Shoes already. That makes me very happy. Please keep up the reviews and I'll try to keep up the updates whenever I get the time. (By the way, no one is checking behind my grammar, so forgive me if I've made any really bad errors. If I've screwed up something really major, I'll upload a corrected version.)

Chapter 7: Once Human, Always an Outcast

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Shigure's house was in sight as the sun began to rise. Kyo set the bags of food he had bought on the kitchen floor and began to put the items in their proper places.

'This should last a week or two with only one person eating it.'

With a sigh he headed up the stairs to take a shower.

Tohru slowly opened her eyes…

"How did I get in my bed?"

She thought as she got up to go to the bathroom. Her door was locked but she had wedged a piece of cloth in it while they were gone so she was able to open it. She found the right door only to shriek and slam it back as her face went a deep shade of red. She had walked in on the red headed boy as he was coming out of the shower. A few minutes later he came out dressed, a slight shade of pink across his cheeks, and he snapped,

"You really don't know how to knock, do you!?"

"I'm sorry!" she said as she bowed several times.

"Yeah, yeah…I thought your door was locked…how'd you get out?"

"I…um…I…er…I wedged some cloth in the lock incase I'd have to go to the bathroom before someone would let me out…I'm sorry, please don't be mad!" she said as she bowed again.

"Whatever. I don't mind just don't run into Yuki or Shigure when you're supposed to be locked up in your room."

"Thank you!" she bowed once more before rushing past him into the bathroom and shutting the door.

Kyo turned and went into his room he was surprised to find his room a lot cleaner than the last time he'd been in it. The girl had done a good job in making a bad room look halfway decent. He groaned slightly as he felt all the tension spreading out through his body when he laid down. It had been a hard day…especially when he had to go out hunting with Yuki…He'd have several bad bruises by nightfall. As he fell into a restless sleep, a familiar nightmare that has haunted him ever since he became a Sohma, flooded into every corner of his mind.

"Hurry up! We can't let him get away!"

Sweat dripped down his face as he continued to run. He could hear their light, quick footsteps as they began to close in…and they hadn't even broken a sweat by the sound of their voices.

'Will they ever give up, damn it!'

A tree root had caused him to eat dirt and he scrambled back up to his feet, his fear growing as the voices got louder. They had just been toying with him all along.

"Hey Yuki, you go that way, I'll take this path. Shigure, you stay in the rear."

It felt like his heart would burst if he kept on running, but he had no choice if he didn't want to burn alive like that guy…or end up like that girl…

"Gotcha!"

He let out a yell as one of the creatures jumped on to his back, causing him to eat more dirt.

"Let me go you bastard!"

The creature squeezed his wrist until it heard a loud crack. He let out a yell of pain and he was suddenly flipped over to see the creature's face. It had blonde hair and looked like a young child…Then another one of them came into view. Then three more. One with black hair (and a more arrogant air) spoke to the others,

"Let's keep this one. He could be of some use to us…Yuki."

He saw a purple eyed creature come towards him and bend down towards his neck. He felt a prick of pain and his consciousness immediately began to fade. The last thing he heard before passing out was,

"Akito…"

Kyo shot up with sweat dripping down his face. He jumped when he heard a voice say,

"Are you ok?"

He turned to see the girl kneeling by his side with a look of concern on her face.

"Why are you in my room?"

"I heard screaming and I--"

"Get used to it! People have been tortured in this house before so…you'll…Ack! Are you crying!?"

He felt a surge of guilt and panic run through him as tears started to well up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry…I just was afraid you might be hurt…*sniff*…I…I didn't know…"

"Quit crying! Look, I'm sorry, ok!? Just quit crying!"

"*Sniff*…ok…but…will you tell me why you were yelling?"

"It was just a nightmare…" he paused when he heard her stomach growl, "Haven't you eaten yet?"

"No…There's nothing in the house that I can--"

"Geez, I bought some food and put in the fridge and pantry! Go down stairs and fix yourself something."

"Thank you so much!" she said as she got up and ran out of his room.

He tried to go back to sleep but old familiar, delicious, smells came wafting up to his nose and he had to at least see what exactly she had cooked. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, what little human that was left in him longed for that kind of food again. She had managed to cook one of his favorite dishes…or at least it had been…

"Oh! I'm sorry, did I wake you up again?" she said when she realized he was in the room.

He shook his head as he sat down at the table,

"No. That food of yours is what woke me up."

"Eh? But I thought you only could drink blood…"

"Yeah but I was once a human…"

"What!?"

"That's why I'm such an outcast. It's because I was once a human. One of the Sohmas bit me and turned me into one of them instead of killing me…"

"*gasp* You're hurt!"

He looked for what horrible wound she could be talking about but he saw nothing more than some bruises.

"How did you get those?"

"I got 'em when we went out. That's all you need to know. I'm going back to bed."

She watched him go with sad eyes as she begun to see more bruises every time she took a closer look at him. What could have happened to him? She continued to think about it as she finished her meal before cleaning up the mess she had made while cooking.

Yuki lie awake in his bed. Kyo had woken him up once again with his stupid screaming. Giving up the fight to fall back asleep, he gave in to the curiosity of what could that idiot have done to make such interesting smells waft up into his room. He walked down the stairs, turned into the kitchen, and

POOF!

"Ah! I'm so sorry!"

A little gray mouse glared up at the girl.

"What are you doing out of your room, human!?"

"I…um…" she stuttered, 'Should I tell him that that orange haired boy let me out so I could fix myself something to eat? No. Not only is that a lie but if I tell him that, he may end up with even more bruises…' "I jammed the lock so I would be able to get out if I absolutely needed to do something…"

The little mouse looked furious and was about to say something when

POOF!

"AAAHHH!" Tohru yelled as she spun around while covering her eyes so that she couldn't see the vampire getting redressed. She felt a hand on her shoulder that spun her around to face an unhappy vampire. (Dressed of course.)

"You--"

"I'msorryI'vealreadybeentoldnottotellanyoneIdidn'tseeanythingIpromiseIjustcamedowntogetsomethingtoeataftergoingtothebathroomIwon't--"

"Silence!"

Tohru sucked in her breath as she clamped her mouth shut and looked at him with fearful eyes.

Yuki opened his mouth to yell but thought better of it when he realized that she would burst out in tears if anything harsh was said to her at the moment. A woman's tears being one thing he couldn't stand, he shoved his vampire pride aside for a moment to say,

"Look, you're not in trouble and just slow down if you want to explain yourself. You won't be punished for wandering around so long as you aren't caught doing something or being somewhere that you shouldn't be. I'm going back to bed, you should probably get some rest too. Even thought you aren't a vampire, it wouldn't hurt for you to get some extra sleep during the day when we're not as active."

He turned and headed back up to his room after getting a quick drink from the fridge.

Tohru shuddered when he made brief eye contact with her as he walked past her. She filled a glass of water up before heading to bed herself. Now that her stomach was full, all she needed was a little rest.

Shigure walked out of the kitchen and back up to his room after Tohru shut her door.

'Looks like we've found a human that might soften us all up a bit…Maybe I should call Hatori after all.'

((AN: Good? Bad? Has anyone noticed that Tohru didn't remember Kyo's name from when they met at the theater? Anyway…She'll find out his name again soon 'cause it's getting annoying to write 'red headed boy' instead of 'Kyo'… What do you think Shigure's calling Hatori for? Could it be about someone's memory? Or could it be something else? Let me know what you're expecting if ya will.))