So tired. I have a cold and I'm up much earlier than I normally am on a weekend. It sucks too. (sighs) I guess I'll just continue to write stuff...

Chapter Two: Please Please Me

"Hello? Hello? Tohru?" Arana was calling from the phone that was hanging from the table. Tohru was on her knees next to the phone. She was stunned. How could her sister not have been at Kyoko's funeral? Why had she just left? Tohru began to silently sob. It was too much.

"Sister?" Momiji said out loud.

"She never mentioned having a sister..." Kyo said, glancing over at the sobbing Tohru. Yuki stood up and walked over to Tohru. He kneeled down next to her and waited. He could hear Arana still saying, "Hello? Tohru? I still hear talking, please say something!"

Yuki put his hand on Tohru's shoulder. She looked up. He smiled and reached out for the phone.

"Hello." He said to Arana. "I assume that this is Honda-san's sister?"

"Y-yes." Arana said, stunned. Living with a guy?! Or is that Kyoko-san's new husband? He sounds so young! But why would he be calling Tohru Honda-san? Her meek voice was back. He sounded so nice, it made her nervous.

"I would advise you to call back in just a little bit," Yuki said to Arana. "Honda-san has taken on a lot of surprises in the past few days, and I assure you that you don't want her to continually be getting sick."

"Oh..." she hadn't understood a word of what he had said, but it didn't sound good. "Okay...I'll call back in a little bit..." she responded.

"Thank you," Yuki said. "Goodbye." He hung up the phone and turned back to Tohru, who was looking at him.

"You—You hung up..." she said to him, stunned.

"Yes I did," Yuki said. "For your own good. You just got over a cold. We don't need you being sick every other day."

"But—but...my sister!" Tohru said, grabbing for the phone.

"Tohru-kun!" Yuki said sternly. She looked at him. Never before had he called her Tohru-kun. "She will be calling back in a little while."

"Yeah, but right now, you have some explaining to do!" Kyo said angrily. Tohru glanced his way, tears in her eyes. "I mean—you really need to tell us a lot of stuff about you." He couldn't stay mad at her. She looked so pitiful.

Yuki stood up and went back to the table. Tohru remained by the phone. After a few moments, she slowly stood up and walked back over to the table. She sat down where she had been sitting before.

"Now, tell us about your sister," Yuki said. Tohru's head jerked up as it all flooded back to her.

"Arana...Arana! Where's Arana?"

"She's gone."

"Where'd she go?"

"I don't know, mom! She didn't say. She just left."

"W—Why?"

"I don't know!!"

"Why would she leave, Tohru-kun? WHY?!" She slammed her fists on the table. "My daughter is missing and I don't know where she's gone to!! Oh Tohru, what will we do?"

Tohru said nothing. "I don't know..." repeated through her mind. "I don't know...I don't......I......I DON'T KNOW!!"

"Tohru...TOHRU!" Tohru jerked herself out of her daze.

"She just left one day." Tohru began. "My sister, Arana. Two years before mom died, she left. I was eating breakfast and mom had left to get groceries. I was fourteen. Arana came out of her room with a backpack. She took some food and told me she was leaving. She didn't say where she was going. Arana just left." Tohru began to sob. "After—after mom came back, she was angry...but she knew that Arana could take care of herself. She knew Arana would be fine. She didn't worry, she just continued with life. I went through the months in a daze. I couldn't believe...I couldn't believe that she just walked out the door. She was only fifteen and she left. We never heard from her again. She didn't even show—at mom's—funeral. I looked for her everywhere. I doubt if she knows that—that—mom's not around anymore." She stopped for a moment and let the tears flow. "After mom—died, I—forgot all about anything before that day at school...Until today..." Tohru dropped her head onto the table and stared at the table, tears streaming down her face.

Momiji and Kisa were both crying, hugging each other for moral support. Kyo and Yuki were looking at Tohru, wondering many different things. Shigure was staring at the ceiling. Mia was silently crying, but for which reason, no one knew. Hatsuharu was watching the others.

"Honda-san," Yuki said. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

"I don't know." Tohru said, still silently crying. "It just slipped my mind when I came upon this house and I discovered you and Kyo and Shigure. I felt happier and I knew I could go on with my life. I just forgot about her."

"Mia, if you'll go up to my office and look in the bag hanging on the door, you'll find what you need and you can leave."

"You—you—Sensei. I hate you!!" Mia said, still crying. She quickly grabbed the papers and left. As soon as Mia had gone, both Yuki and Kyo leaned forward and hugged Tohru, quickly turning into a rat and a cat.

The phone began to ring. "I'll get it!" Shigure said, walking over to the phone. "Hello? Shigure Sohma speaking." He paused and then said, "Tohru!" He carried the phone over to her, making sure not to step on Kyo or Yuki.

"Arana?" Tohru said in a watery voice.

"Tohru, are you alright?" Arana suddenly said. "The guy I was talking to before said that you have been sick lately? ARE YOU? ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"I'm fine," Tohru said. "

"Well, could I come and visit you and Mom? Are you still living in the same place? I doubt if you are, I heard male voices...did mom remarry? I never thought she would...Is your last name different? I know yours isn't because you said your last name is Honda and the one guy was calling you Honda-san...Is mom's last name now Sohmo or whatever?" Arana asked.

"No, but Mom—Mom..." Tohru couldn't tell her over the phone. She couldn't lose her sister again. "Hold on."

"Shi—Shigure-san," Tohru asked. As soon as she said this, there was a small explosion of colored smoke and Kyo and Yuki changed back.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Arana yelled into the phone. "ARE YOU HURT?!"

"Nothing, hold on!" Tohru said. "Can my sister come and visit?"

"Sure," Shigure said. "As long as she's cute!" Tohru smiled.

"You can come and visit!" she told Arana. She told her the location and hung up.

"She'll be here by tonight!" Tohru said excitedly, although she felt horrible about not being able to tell her that Mom was dead......

THAT NIGHT, 11:00 PM

Is this really the place? Why would Mom want to live way out here? Am I at the right house? Arana thought. I hope I am! I don't want to wander through those woods again at night!

Well, at least there's lights on in the house...

Slowly, Arana walked down the hill towards the door of the house......

......Inside the lit room, Kyo, Yuki, and Shigure waited for the sound of footsteps outside. Tohru was upstairs setting up a bed for Arana. They all jumped when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Well, if it isn't Tohru!" Shigure said happily. "We thought you might be a burglar! Ah hahahahahaha!"

"It's not funny," Kyo and Yuki said together in disgust.

"Eh? Fine." Shigure said.

"I want to warn you three," Tohru said, sitting down. "I haven't told her that mom's not around anymore, so she thinks that mom's remarried. She may try to hug you...or she might think that you're my brothers...heeheehee." She laughed.

"Now why don't you yell at her for laughing?" Shigure asked unhappily.

"Because she's trying to enlighten the mood," Yuki said.

"And you're just being plain stupid!" Kyo finished.

"No, uh, it's quite alright if—" There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" Tohru said. She leaped lightly to her feet and walked over to the door. As she opened it, a girl threw herself on top of Tohru, knocking her to the ground. Kyo and Yuki both jumped up, ready to pounce, but Shigure stopped them.

"I do believe that's her sister," he said. Yuki and Kyo still walked over to pick up the bags that the girl had abandoned.

"TOHRU!!" the girl cried. "It's been so long!!"

Tohru only coughed. "Mffmfm fmmffmff!" she said, muffled through Arana's clothes.

"Oops! Sorry!" Arana said, getting off of Tohru. She pulled Tohru to her feet. "YOU'VE GROWN!!" Arana said.

"You have too!" Tohru said, still dizzy from the fall. She took a good look at Arana. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and clipped with a large clip. Her hair had become a deeper red than before. She was two inches taller than Tohru, and had grown at least ten inches since Tohru had seen her last. She was wearing a dark green robe and had only two bags.

"All of my other clothes are in there," Arana said, pointing to her bags. She then noticed Yuki and Kyo standing next to her bags. "Eh? Who are they?" her eyes widened. "ARE THEY OUR BROTHERS?!"

"NO!" Tohru said quickly. "Can you take her bags to my room, please?"

"Sure," they both said, quickly taking a bag and running up the stairs, silently yelling at each other.

"Come in! Come in, Arana," Tohru said, pulling her along. "I'll introduce you to everyone!!"

As Arana sat down at the table, Tohru went to get some leftover onigiri and Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo all appeared. "Hey, where's Kyoko?" Arana asked them.

"Uhh...well..." Shigure began. Tohru came out of the kitchen, holding a plate of onigiri, smiling. She sat down across form Arana and set the food down in the middle of the table.

"So, how did you get this address exactly?" Tohru asked her.

"Well, I called grandpa's," Arana explained. "And he said that you were living here. I asked him if Kyoko was living with you, and he never answered me...strange...it's like he didn't want to answer me."

"Oh," Tohru said, feeling guilty again.

"So where is Kyoko-san?" Arana asked, looking around. "This place sure doesn't look like a place that she would decorate."

"Uh, well," Tohru said. "I—uh—well." She started to sound suspicious.

"Tohru," Arana began. "Is mom not here?"

"Uh—no, she isn't." Tohru said simply.

"Where is she?" Arana demanded.

"Arana..." Tohru began. "She's—she's—that is...uh...Arana-kun...Kyoko's...Kyoko's—dead."

"NO!" Arana said, pounding her fists on the table. "IT'S NOT TRUE!!" Arana shouted. She pounded her fists on the table again, making a crack.

"Reminds me of someone I know," Shigure whispered.

"Shut the hell up." Kyo shot at him, still staring at the frustrated Arana.

"SHE ISN'T! SHE CAN'T BE!!" Arana screamed.

"Arana-san," Yuki said calmly. She immediately stopped and looked at him. He was so calm. And yet she was destroying his table. He was so young...this was the man that she had talked to over the phone? "Calm yourself."

Arana went limp. For some reason, those words struck her hard. "Tohru...is it true?" She turned her green eyes towards Tohru, who began to shed tears.

Tohru nodded her head. "It is. It was two years after you had left. Two years to the day. I always told Mom to come home safely, but the night before, I had been up all night studying and overslept and I missed her leave. I didn't tell her to come home safe. I went to school with no worries. In homeroom, the principal came in and wanted to see me. As I walked out into the hall, he told me and I didn't believe him. I stood there in the hall, cemented to the ground. He pulled me away from the doorway as I began to sob. Uo-chan and Hana-chan ran out after me, but they were forced to go back to homeroom." Tohru paused. All of the memories were flooding back so fast, she could barely talk. As Yuki was about to say something, she continued.

"I remember being driven to the hospital by the principal. I remember him leading me to mom's room...464 was the number. I'll never forget that number. He opened the door and let me inside. No one else was in there but me, and he had closed the door, leaving me alone." Tohru wiped her tears away on her red robe. "I slowly looked at the bed, and she was there. I crawled over to the side of the bed and cried...I cried so hard...they wouldn't let anyone in the room to comfort me...I had to work it all out. I had to carry it all for the entire day with no one supporting me.

"I finally looked at Mom. She looked peaceful. The covers were drawn up to her ribs. Her arms were neatly folded over her chest. There were bandages over her arms, neck, and one of her eyes. She—she didn't look good at all, the bandages were all bloody...but yet, she looked so peaceful just laying there. It was sadder than it should have been. And I knew that I had lost dad, you, and then I had lost mom." Tohru had to stop. She looked at Arana, but she was just sitting there, waiting.

"They—they finally came and got me around eight that night. Grandpa and the other were there, wondering where I should go now. Uo-chan and Hana-chan were there too. They helped me through the arguing of the family. They didn't even care that Kyoko was dead. They didn't care about me at all. And the worst part was, I didn't want to stay with any of them. I really didn't.

"I went to the funeral. No one was crying buy Uo-chan and me. No one really cared. I looked for you, but you never showed up. I figured that you wouldn't. I ended up staying with Grandpa. Then he was remodeling the house, and he asked if I had anyplace to stay. I told him I did. I decided to do it on my own. I set up a tent and worked every night.

"But there was one night where I was so tired, I didn't know where I was. I went into my tent and collapsed. A head poked through. It was Shigure. Yuki was there too. They took me to there house and this is where I've been staying. They saved me from a landslide. If they wouldn't have found me, I would've died in the landslide. I thank them every day." Tohru stopped. She looked at Arana. No tears were shed.

"Arana?" Tohru said slowly. She jerked her head a bit. Slowly, Arana stood up. She looked around. She paused her vision at the door. As fast as a rabbit, she ran out the door and into the woods.

"ARANA!"

"HONDA-SAN!!"

"CHEESE!!" Shigure cried. They all glared at him. "What?" he said lightly.

"Shut the fuck up." Kyo said, raising his fist. "Or I'll make you shut up."

Tohru ran out the door after Arana. "ARANA DON'T! IT'S NOT SAFE!!"

"HONDA-SAN, NO!!" Yuki cried.

"HEY STUPID! DON'T GO RUNNING IN THE WOODS AT MIDNIGHT!!" Kyo yelled.

Both Yuki and Kyo raced out the door after Tohru.

Shigure simply walked out onto the porch and leaned against a pole. "Hmm...what shall I do?" It began to rain lightly. He walked back into the house.

"Hello? Hatori-san? You may want to get over here sometime tonight."

"Why tonight?" Hatori replied over the phone. He yawned. "I was just sleeping. Can't it wait until morning?"

"Well, Tohru's sister came out here and—"

"Tohru has a sister?" Hatori said quickly.

"Yes, and she just told her that their mom is dead, and she bolted out of the house and into the woods! Tohru went after her, and Yuki and Kyo are following. And it's raining. A ha ha ha ha!"

"That's not funny." Hatori said sternly. "But I'm on my way..." Shigure hung up the phone and went back out onto the porch.

"Hmm...will the rat and cat get their prey before they're hurt? Should I do something?" He paused. "Nah. Better let the kids handle it!!" Shigure went inside and waited for Hatori to arrive.

7 pages in one day...I am proud. Thank you, thank you!! More probably won't be coming since I have a religion project to work on...