And If By Chance ... By: Samu-chan Rating: R Warnings: Slavery (Not beating and field working until you die slavery mind you. ^^; ) A/N: I decided not to do the prelude. It wasn't going to make much sense, so basically, the story is at the same time, only in an alternate like reality. Besides ... I wanted to focus on this upcoming chapter, before I lost all details and thought. From now on as well ... the rating I put at the beginning of each chapter is the specific rating just for it. Sometimes it will go back to PG-13, and others remain at R.

And If By Chance ... Home Will Always Be There

Tohru was happy. She had finally learned to take everyone as they were. Sohma-kun was very much like a prince, yet held a withdrawing attitude at times. Shigure-san had his own little ways of showing her cared for her. One way, was calling her his or their 'little flower'. It often caused her to blush too.

As for Kyou-kun. She seemed to understand him the most. He really only had a hard time showing what he felt. Unlike Sohma-kun with his words, and Shigure-san with his writings ... Kyou-kun wasn't sure how to show what he felt. Maybe he was just afraid of rejection. Or maybe he was trying to hide something. Or even a little of both perhaps?

Either way ... she loved living in this house. There was the facts of her missing her family. But she did have a new one now. She would always love both her families. Ever since she had arrived, the fighting between Sohma- kun and Kyou-kun had calmed slightly ... Shigure-san had a bit more fire for his writings. Whether or not that had to do with her, she didn't care. She loved seeing them all getting along better.

Tohru stared at the sky, as the played the thoughts through her mind. Her usual bright smile plastered to her face. At that moment, nothing could ruin her thoughts. They were perfect. Her parents would be thrilled to know she was well-treated and happy. She just hoped the same for them.

She had heard lately of a few slavery brawls. People were starting to become unhappy working for others. Many had run away from their homes, helping others escape and then violently attacking the farms and others homes. She certainly hoped that her family wasn't caught in this kind of a roughing.

The sounds of yelling caught her attention quickly. Tohru glanced around until a fire caught her attention. 'Oh no! It must be one of those fights!' Tohru panicked for a moment, before running towards the fire. 'Someone may need my help!'

"You'll never change will you?" Tohru came to a sharp stop. Her eyes stared at the fire, but her attention was focused behind her.

"Oh Tohru ..."

*~*

"It's been way to long. We have to go look for her!" Kyou snapped sharply. Yuki just growled back at the cat.

"If you're so worried about her, then why didn't you go with her!?" Kyou couldn't hold back the hiss that emerged from the cat's spirit. 'Kuso nezumi ... you wouldn't have let me anyway...' Kyou continued to stare at Yuki, his cat ears and tail completely straight. Between the two boys, sat Shigure.

"I too, am worried for our poor little flower. What if some pervert snatched her up and-"

"Shut Up!" Shigure whined and bustled off to towards the kitchen for some ice to apply to his newly earned bruises, leaving a fuming Kyou and a rather calm Yuki ... who were still arguing.

*~*

"They'll be gone."

"Gone?" Tohru echoed quietly. The one before her nodded. Tohru nibbled on her bottom lip. She gathered her clothing up next to her. Every bone in her body hurt. Her arms and legs were covered with bruises. She could hardly believe she was still bleeding too. Her eyes tightly shut, trying to block out the screaming of pain and moaning of pleasure from around her.

"So if you even try to go back there ... we'll do it again. And this time ... we won't just hurt you." Tohru's hands flew to her forehead, trying to block out the horrors of her memory.

*Tohru backed up against the wall ... staring at the three boys before her. She had worked with them at one time. They had never liked her family. Maybe that was why they were doing this to her? But had she done? She tried to hold up what was left of her shirt to her chest. The boys smirked at her, and continued to approach her. *

'I can't leave. I ... I can never see Sohma-kun, Shigure-san ... Kyou-kun again?' Through her shut eyes, tears began to leak around. From behind her ... a younger blonde boy watched Tohru for a moment, before running off into the woods.

*~*

"I'm Ba~ck!" Kyou gritted his teeth together. 'Good lord no.' The bunny's head popped around the corner, to spot his three older cousins sitting around the table ... looking rather worried. Before the little rabbit could say anything, Kyou charged up the stairs to get away. It was bad enough Tohru was missing, now Momiji had decided to drop by for one of his famous surprise visits.

Unluckily for him, the bunny decided to follow him. At least ... until he noticed that the guest room was no longer locked up. The boy's curiosity caught the best of him, and he went about following that curiosity. He wandered into the guest room, which seemed to have become a room for ... a girl!?

"What in the hell are you doing!?" Momiji grinned and looked back at the cat, who looked like he could knock the house down with one hit.

"Being nosy. Why~?" Kyou gritted his teeth again. 'Damn that voice ...' Kyou didn't get to open his mouth again. Momiji's eyes seemed locked on a picture Tohru always had on her dresser of her mother, father, and her.

"That's her."

"What?" Momiji pointed to the picture slowly. His eyes wavered as he looked at Kyou, who stared back at him rather confused.

"She's the one. I saw these three guys ... hurting her." Momiji picked his words carefully as he saw Kyou's anger building again.

"What!?"

*~*

*Pain over mounted her senses. No matter how hard she wanted to fight the three of them off, she wasn't strong enough. She felt ... sandwiched. One on top, another on the bottom. While the third held her down, the other two slammed into her at different rates. She felt like she was going to be pulled apart.*

Tohru sat up with a start, panting. Besides her bruises, the only thing that hurt now was her insides. She whimpered softly, sitting up completely, but kept herself in a ball shape. Her eyes snapped open suddenly when she heard huffed breathing behind her. As a hand came down on her shoulder, she let her hand fly instinctively into the side of someone's head, her eyes closed once again.

"Ow!" Tohru blinked a few times, before slowly looking behind her. His hand was still on her shoulder, while the other rubbed the side of his head where he was hit. Her eyes wavered slightly as they filled with tears. Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck, catching him off guard.

"Kyou-kun!"

"Tohru! No do-" Poof. Tohru found an orange cat now in her arms, pulled to her bare chest. She had completely forgotten she had been naked in the first place. Kyou did his best to stare up at her face, but he couldn't help the purr that found it's way through him. His relief to still see she was alive.

Tohru seemed to notice his purring, so she hugged him gently. Kyou wait while she cried, mumbling what had happened to her, unaware of his rising temper. As Tohru finally regained her senses, she placed Kyou on the ground. At that moment, the familiar poof returned, and Tohru closed her eyes quickly while mumbling how sorry she was.

Kyou however, only got to putting his pants back on. He studied her closely. She looked so lost. When she opened her eyes and caught Kyou staring at her with such soft eyes, she let out a small gasp. That got him back on track. He reached past his shirt and handed her a bundle of her own clothing.

"After what Momiji just told me, I figured you could use some new clothing." Tohru blushed, muttering a shy thank you. As both of them finished putting on their clothing, Yuki stepped into the clearing, rubbing his arm softly where a small cut now lay.

"Miss Honda..." Tohru smiled and hopped up to hug him. Yuki was lucky enough to put his arm in front of him as Tohru grabbed it. She blushed, but hugged his arm instead.

"Let's go home."

********************

I made this a bit of a short chapter. I had actually finished it a few weeks ago, but totally forgot about it. Sorry ^^;. Anyway, I'm going to kind of change the way I post the PoV's, and the next chapter will be from Kyou's PoV.