~*Chapter 4: Something's Amiss*~
"I'm home!" Panther yelled from the front of the house. It was 12 o'clock and she was already back home from school. She went upstairs and put her things down, changing into some loose comfortable clothing. When she was done, she went downstairs looking for Shigure. She found him in the dinning room with two other men that looked familiar to her.
"Oh hello, I'm sorry I didn't know you were having company Shigure. I'll leave-
"Wait! You mean to tell me," Shigure glanced at the other two men, "you don't recognize these two wonderful men?" Panther looked between Hatori and Ayame a couple of times and compared them to everyone she once knew in her past, that also knew Shigure. Her face turned livid and then back to its original color. She smiled and walked over to Hatori giving him a long hug.
She let him go and did the same with Ayame, except those two stared each at other dramatically for a few seconds first.
"Little Panther," Ayame sounded like he was about to cry.
"Yes Ayame?" Panther's throat ached from trying to hold back tears of joy.
"Where were you all this time?" Ayame let go of her and the two started putting on a show for Hatori and Shigure. Shigure held a popcorn bag, pooping popcorn in his mouth and offering some to Hatori.
"Oh Ayame, I'm so sorry I left you all without saying good bye. I-I..." Clear liquid escaped her eyes as she spoke, "I'm so sorry!" She lunged herself into Ayame's awaiting arms resting the side of her head on his chest.
"Don't worry little Panther, I've already lost someone before, but I got to see him again and now that I see you, too, I can be even happier. Yuki, I don't think, likes me at all, but at least you do." He cried and the two continued. The door to the dinning room slid open as Yuki walked in turning pale the very second he saw Ayame.
"What is he doing here?" Yuki stared at the ignoring others, who were watching Panther's and Ayame's 'Play'.
"Oh my sweet little Panther,"
"Ayame," the two looked at each other before giving the other a bear hug letting the tears leave its source.
"Hey," Panther's head perked up, "thanks Ayame. You just gave me an idea for a play I have to write for one of Yuki's drama things. He asked me to make one for him since he had all this other stuff to do, being school president and all." Yuki looked stoned when he heard those words.
'That's what she's going to put in the play? Yes, I asked her to come up with ideas, or make it, but this? THIS!' He sighed, 'Well as long as I'm not in it.'
"Um, Ms. Panther, are you really going to use that for the play?" Yuki couldn't help asking whether he knew he'd be in it or not.
"Maybe, if I can't think of anything else. That ok with you?" Yuki sighed with a nod. Shigure put the popcorn away and looked at Yuki and Panther.
"Yuki, Panther, what are you two doing home so early anyway?"
"I'm not feeling very good so I'm just going to go to bed now. I already let the school know, though." Yuki replied.
"Oh no! My little brother is sick, I know! I'll get you some washcloths to put over your head and help calm the fever!" Ayame started running into the kitchen and came back out with some washcloths. He dragged Yuki upstairs and threw him, literally, into his bed. After that, Ayame took the washcloths and just remembered something.
"I forgot the bowl of water. I'll be right back with it, dear brother." Ayame rushed out the door and into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and filling it with water. When he got back upstairs with the bowl, there was hardly any water left due to all his rushing.
"OH NO! Looks like I'll have to go and get more water stay right here Yuki-
"WILL YOU STOP IT ALREADY!" Yuki yelled and simply fell back into his bed breathing heavily.
"Oh you poor thing, now look what you've done. You're sick and yelling. You're not supposed to do tha-
"Ayame." Hatori was in the doorway. He walked over to Yuki's bedside carrying his medical bag. Ayame stood knowingly and watched as Hatori listened for Yuki's heart. After a few seconds, Ayame took the bowl and walked down stairs with it, the washcloths too, and put them up. He grabbed the mop and cleaned all the water he spilled.
Meanwhile, Shigure and Panther were left alone out on the porch of the dinning room. Shigure was going to ask her a few questions and all that stuff. She already told him, though, that she was home early because she was skipping the rest of the day; she said that she was getting too bored.
"Panther, does Akito know about you being here?" Gasping, she turned her head to look at Shigure. Exhaling, she turned her head back to look outside. She didn't answer. Shigure sighed while closing his eyes.
"You know, Hatori and Ayame came and told me that he did know. They said that he told them you were here, and he just let them go. He told them that you were here and didn't even bother to stop them..." As Shigure opened his eyes in a calming way, Panther shut hers trying to hide her tears.
"I'm the dog zodiac, Panther, I can smell those tears welling up. What seems to trouble you?" Shigure looked at her and she just ran away. He stood reaching his hand out to grab her, but he was too late. She was out of arm's reach. He yelled in the house, notifying that he'd be back, before going after Panther.
'Akito, what are you planning and why do you wish to do these things to me? And worse, to your own family too? Why Akito?' Her heart ached as she ran to a destination she did not plan. She stopped when she got to the front of the Sohma mansion. She looked behind her seeing no sign of anyone following her, not even Shigure whom she knew would go after her. She stepped up to the doors of the mansion, putting both her hands on the doors.
'Do I really want to see him again? He killed my whole family.' She thought to herself.
'But uncle and father were the ones who were trying to kill him first, so he was really just defending himself.' Her subconscious mind argued.
'He still killed them; he even threatened to kill me! He even went after the rest of my family not even a month ago and they didn't even know about the curse!'
'Did he know they didn't know?'
'I don't know, but he could've used Hatori to erase their memories instead.'
'True, but isn't it your father and uncle's faults for this happening? I mean, they did after all keep experimenting stupid stuff on him...'
'So?'
'So it probably made him crazy. Or maybe it was something else.'
'I don't know, I'm not ready to talk to him right now.' Panther turned on her heel and walked away silently. She couldn't stop thinking about Akito and everything he's done to her. Her family; dead, her memories; forever tormenting, and her heart, it is now aching. She was close to a school when she heard its last bell ring for the day. Tears of gray clouds made its way to the grounds. She stopped in the gateway of the school and waited for all the students to come, hoping they'd just stampede all over her.
'Akito,' she thought as students came out of the building in groups, 'Shigure says you let them come see me,' a worried Shigure and Tohru now came out of the building along with Kyo, Uo, and Hana.
'What are you planning? I've known you long enough. If you don't want someone around, then you definitely won't let your family go anywhere near that someone. Neither would you even bother letting your family KNOW about that someone being there.' Shigure, Kyo, Tohru, Hana, and Uo searched around the school before they were going to look some place else. Panther moved from her spot in the crowd and walked to a park; her eyes were cold and questioning at the same time.
'What's going on Akito? Are you planning to do something to me? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN YOUR DAMN HEAD!' Growling in frustration, she was startled when she got to the park; Momiji came up to surprise her.
"Hi Panther!" Momiji giggled while holding his umbrella making Panther smile a bit.
"Hey Momiji," she patted his head. Tilting his head, Momiji asked, "What's the matter Panther? You don't look very happy." Sighing, she took a deep breath.
"Akito," Momiji sat down on the grass, her doing the same, and listened.
"He let Hatori and Ayame come see me,"
"Hey, that's good! Guess he doesn't wanna hurt you anymore, but why are you so uptight about it?"
"That's the thing, I've known Akito long enough to know that he wouldn't just let them come see me. My family's done an awful lot of stuff to him and because I'm apart of the family, he wouldn't let anyone in his family just come to me! He cares for you guys way too much to let anything bad happen." Momiji smiled.
"I knew he loved us, and there really was something that made Akito the way he is now, right? Right? Am I right? Well? Hey, what did your family do to him, though?" She didn't answer the last question, but for the rest of his questions, she slowly nodded her head in response. Even though her mind was still stuck trying to figure out Akito's plans.
"Well, then what are you going to do, now that he let Hatori and Ayame see you I mean?"
"I don't know. I need to figure what's going on with him first, though. That's my first step if I'm gonna prevent him from doing anything harmful to anyone else." Panther stood from her spot with a determined look.
"Hey hear that?" Momiji could hear Panther's name being called.
"Panther? Panther, where are you?"
"Panther? Panther!" Panther stood in confusion until she remembered running off earlier. Smiling, she walked out of the park to where Shigure and the others could see her, Momiji following close behind.
"THERE YOU ARE, I FOUND HER!" Uo ran up to Panther and started asking questions, "Where were you? We've been looking for you all over you know. Why did you run away from Shigure? What did he say to you? What'd he do? You want me beat him up or something? Cause you know I will." Shaking her head no, Panther could see the other seekers running up to them.
"Panther, why did you run? What did I say?" Shigure looked at the now soaked Panther.
"Don't worry about it," she replied to him, but looked at Kyo, "Can we go home?" Her mind switched from Akito's plot to the things Akito said and did to her. She couldn't take all this anymore, back then she didn't really have anyone to comfort her. And now she did. Crying and sniffling, she threw herself onto Shigure.
"Gure, take me home! Please take me home. I'm scared and tired. I wanna go home now, please take me home." Her voice trembled and sounded like a child's. The group stared at her.
"Scared?" Everyone looked at Shigure.
"I don't know. I'll ask her about it tomorrow..." Shigure said.
"I think...I think I might know, but," Kyo stopped what he was going to say as he remembered his promise.
"What is it Kyo?" Tohru asked while at her now asleep sister.
"Yes, I sense something strange is going on, Kyo knows something about Panther that we don't know. However, my electric signals are telling me that it isn't for us to get involved with her situation. We should leave her to deal with this alone...and then when she's better, we'll see." Saki Hanajima spoke calmly and somewhat softly, but loud enough for the others to hear.
"Alright then. If that is so, then we shall wait and see. In the mean time, I think it'd be best if we all went home before we catch a cold, don't you think so?" Shigure picked up the sleeping girl bridal style. They all said their good-byes and left for home.
~*End Of Chapter*~
Okay, well with the next couple chapters, I think I'm nearing the end. That would be a fast story wouldn't it? Well if you like I can try and either make it longer or make another one, LIKE A SEQUEL! :)
BY THE WAY: THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY VERY * WHATEVER THE TOP NUMBER IS SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! What can I say, I like it when my readers review. Later!
"I'm home!" Panther yelled from the front of the house. It was 12 o'clock and she was already back home from school. She went upstairs and put her things down, changing into some loose comfortable clothing. When she was done, she went downstairs looking for Shigure. She found him in the dinning room with two other men that looked familiar to her.
"Oh hello, I'm sorry I didn't know you were having company Shigure. I'll leave-
"Wait! You mean to tell me," Shigure glanced at the other two men, "you don't recognize these two wonderful men?" Panther looked between Hatori and Ayame a couple of times and compared them to everyone she once knew in her past, that also knew Shigure. Her face turned livid and then back to its original color. She smiled and walked over to Hatori giving him a long hug.
She let him go and did the same with Ayame, except those two stared each at other dramatically for a few seconds first.
"Little Panther," Ayame sounded like he was about to cry.
"Yes Ayame?" Panther's throat ached from trying to hold back tears of joy.
"Where were you all this time?" Ayame let go of her and the two started putting on a show for Hatori and Shigure. Shigure held a popcorn bag, pooping popcorn in his mouth and offering some to Hatori.
"Oh Ayame, I'm so sorry I left you all without saying good bye. I-I..." Clear liquid escaped her eyes as she spoke, "I'm so sorry!" She lunged herself into Ayame's awaiting arms resting the side of her head on his chest.
"Don't worry little Panther, I've already lost someone before, but I got to see him again and now that I see you, too, I can be even happier. Yuki, I don't think, likes me at all, but at least you do." He cried and the two continued. The door to the dinning room slid open as Yuki walked in turning pale the very second he saw Ayame.
"What is he doing here?" Yuki stared at the ignoring others, who were watching Panther's and Ayame's 'Play'.
"Oh my sweet little Panther,"
"Ayame," the two looked at each other before giving the other a bear hug letting the tears leave its source.
"Hey," Panther's head perked up, "thanks Ayame. You just gave me an idea for a play I have to write for one of Yuki's drama things. He asked me to make one for him since he had all this other stuff to do, being school president and all." Yuki looked stoned when he heard those words.
'That's what she's going to put in the play? Yes, I asked her to come up with ideas, or make it, but this? THIS!' He sighed, 'Well as long as I'm not in it.'
"Um, Ms. Panther, are you really going to use that for the play?" Yuki couldn't help asking whether he knew he'd be in it or not.
"Maybe, if I can't think of anything else. That ok with you?" Yuki sighed with a nod. Shigure put the popcorn away and looked at Yuki and Panther.
"Yuki, Panther, what are you two doing home so early anyway?"
"I'm not feeling very good so I'm just going to go to bed now. I already let the school know, though." Yuki replied.
"Oh no! My little brother is sick, I know! I'll get you some washcloths to put over your head and help calm the fever!" Ayame started running into the kitchen and came back out with some washcloths. He dragged Yuki upstairs and threw him, literally, into his bed. After that, Ayame took the washcloths and just remembered something.
"I forgot the bowl of water. I'll be right back with it, dear brother." Ayame rushed out the door and into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and filling it with water. When he got back upstairs with the bowl, there was hardly any water left due to all his rushing.
"OH NO! Looks like I'll have to go and get more water stay right here Yuki-
"WILL YOU STOP IT ALREADY!" Yuki yelled and simply fell back into his bed breathing heavily.
"Oh you poor thing, now look what you've done. You're sick and yelling. You're not supposed to do tha-
"Ayame." Hatori was in the doorway. He walked over to Yuki's bedside carrying his medical bag. Ayame stood knowingly and watched as Hatori listened for Yuki's heart. After a few seconds, Ayame took the bowl and walked down stairs with it, the washcloths too, and put them up. He grabbed the mop and cleaned all the water he spilled.
Meanwhile, Shigure and Panther were left alone out on the porch of the dinning room. Shigure was going to ask her a few questions and all that stuff. She already told him, though, that she was home early because she was skipping the rest of the day; she said that she was getting too bored.
"Panther, does Akito know about you being here?" Gasping, she turned her head to look at Shigure. Exhaling, she turned her head back to look outside. She didn't answer. Shigure sighed while closing his eyes.
"You know, Hatori and Ayame came and told me that he did know. They said that he told them you were here, and he just let them go. He told them that you were here and didn't even bother to stop them..." As Shigure opened his eyes in a calming way, Panther shut hers trying to hide her tears.
"I'm the dog zodiac, Panther, I can smell those tears welling up. What seems to trouble you?" Shigure looked at her and she just ran away. He stood reaching his hand out to grab her, but he was too late. She was out of arm's reach. He yelled in the house, notifying that he'd be back, before going after Panther.
'Akito, what are you planning and why do you wish to do these things to me? And worse, to your own family too? Why Akito?' Her heart ached as she ran to a destination she did not plan. She stopped when she got to the front of the Sohma mansion. She looked behind her seeing no sign of anyone following her, not even Shigure whom she knew would go after her. She stepped up to the doors of the mansion, putting both her hands on the doors.
'Do I really want to see him again? He killed my whole family.' She thought to herself.
'But uncle and father were the ones who were trying to kill him first, so he was really just defending himself.' Her subconscious mind argued.
'He still killed them; he even threatened to kill me! He even went after the rest of my family not even a month ago and they didn't even know about the curse!'
'Did he know they didn't know?'
'I don't know, but he could've used Hatori to erase their memories instead.'
'True, but isn't it your father and uncle's faults for this happening? I mean, they did after all keep experimenting stupid stuff on him...'
'So?'
'So it probably made him crazy. Or maybe it was something else.'
'I don't know, I'm not ready to talk to him right now.' Panther turned on her heel and walked away silently. She couldn't stop thinking about Akito and everything he's done to her. Her family; dead, her memories; forever tormenting, and her heart, it is now aching. She was close to a school when she heard its last bell ring for the day. Tears of gray clouds made its way to the grounds. She stopped in the gateway of the school and waited for all the students to come, hoping they'd just stampede all over her.
'Akito,' she thought as students came out of the building in groups, 'Shigure says you let them come see me,' a worried Shigure and Tohru now came out of the building along with Kyo, Uo, and Hana.
'What are you planning? I've known you long enough. If you don't want someone around, then you definitely won't let your family go anywhere near that someone. Neither would you even bother letting your family KNOW about that someone being there.' Shigure, Kyo, Tohru, Hana, and Uo searched around the school before they were going to look some place else. Panther moved from her spot in the crowd and walked to a park; her eyes were cold and questioning at the same time.
'What's going on Akito? Are you planning to do something to me? WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN YOUR DAMN HEAD!' Growling in frustration, she was startled when she got to the park; Momiji came up to surprise her.
"Hi Panther!" Momiji giggled while holding his umbrella making Panther smile a bit.
"Hey Momiji," she patted his head. Tilting his head, Momiji asked, "What's the matter Panther? You don't look very happy." Sighing, she took a deep breath.
"Akito," Momiji sat down on the grass, her doing the same, and listened.
"He let Hatori and Ayame come see me,"
"Hey, that's good! Guess he doesn't wanna hurt you anymore, but why are you so uptight about it?"
"That's the thing, I've known Akito long enough to know that he wouldn't just let them come see me. My family's done an awful lot of stuff to him and because I'm apart of the family, he wouldn't let anyone in his family just come to me! He cares for you guys way too much to let anything bad happen." Momiji smiled.
"I knew he loved us, and there really was something that made Akito the way he is now, right? Right? Am I right? Well? Hey, what did your family do to him, though?" She didn't answer the last question, but for the rest of his questions, she slowly nodded her head in response. Even though her mind was still stuck trying to figure out Akito's plans.
"Well, then what are you going to do, now that he let Hatori and Ayame see you I mean?"
"I don't know. I need to figure what's going on with him first, though. That's my first step if I'm gonna prevent him from doing anything harmful to anyone else." Panther stood from her spot with a determined look.
"Hey hear that?" Momiji could hear Panther's name being called.
"Panther? Panther, where are you?"
"Panther? Panther!" Panther stood in confusion until she remembered running off earlier. Smiling, she walked out of the park to where Shigure and the others could see her, Momiji following close behind.
"THERE YOU ARE, I FOUND HER!" Uo ran up to Panther and started asking questions, "Where were you? We've been looking for you all over you know. Why did you run away from Shigure? What did he say to you? What'd he do? You want me beat him up or something? Cause you know I will." Shaking her head no, Panther could see the other seekers running up to them.
"Panther, why did you run? What did I say?" Shigure looked at the now soaked Panther.
"Don't worry about it," she replied to him, but looked at Kyo, "Can we go home?" Her mind switched from Akito's plot to the things Akito said and did to her. She couldn't take all this anymore, back then she didn't really have anyone to comfort her. And now she did. Crying and sniffling, she threw herself onto Shigure.
"Gure, take me home! Please take me home. I'm scared and tired. I wanna go home now, please take me home." Her voice trembled and sounded like a child's. The group stared at her.
"Scared?" Everyone looked at Shigure.
"I don't know. I'll ask her about it tomorrow..." Shigure said.
"I think...I think I might know, but," Kyo stopped what he was going to say as he remembered his promise.
"What is it Kyo?" Tohru asked while at her now asleep sister.
"Yes, I sense something strange is going on, Kyo knows something about Panther that we don't know. However, my electric signals are telling me that it isn't for us to get involved with her situation. We should leave her to deal with this alone...and then when she's better, we'll see." Saki Hanajima spoke calmly and somewhat softly, but loud enough for the others to hear.
"Alright then. If that is so, then we shall wait and see. In the mean time, I think it'd be best if we all went home before we catch a cold, don't you think so?" Shigure picked up the sleeping girl bridal style. They all said their good-byes and left for home.
~*End Of Chapter*~
Okay, well with the next couple chapters, I think I'm nearing the end. That would be a fast story wouldn't it? Well if you like I can try and either make it longer or make another one, LIKE A SEQUEL! :)
BY THE WAY: THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY VERY * WHATEVER THE TOP NUMBER IS SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! What can I say, I like it when my readers review. Later!