Yay Chapter Three is here!! Huzzah!

Chapter Three: The Hunt Begins and Ends With...

"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!!"

All Tohru could see was the darkness in front of her. She quickly swatted away at the oncoming branches. There was darkness behind her and darkness ahead of her. She couldn't see Arana anywhere and she didn't know if anyone was watching her or following her. Had Yuki and Kyo followed her out here? She began to get so distracted that a branch hit her square in the face.

Tohru dropped dead. She reached up to feel her face, which was scarred, but not bleeding. She began to whimper. She had just lost her sister and had just killed her face. What more could she do?

"Tohru," Kyo said from behind her. Yuki was bringing up the rear. Tohru twirled around, tears in her eyes. "Arana's not with her..."

"I noticed that." Yuki said. "But where would she go to at such a late hour?" Tohru's eyes grew wide. She stood up and began to run.

"I know where," she whispered to herself, leaving Yuki and Kyo stunned.

"Follow her!!" Kyo yelled, pointing.

"I know, stupid!" Yuki replied. Quickly, but slower than their normal pace, they ran to catch up with Tohru.

"Hey!" Kyo said from Tohru's right. She hadn't noticed him at all. Her eyes were focused directly ahead and she was muttering under her breath.

"Honda-san," Yuki said in his entrancing voice. Tohru didn't even stop to look at him. Quickly, Yuki and Kyo exchanged a glance that meant something was wrong...or Tohru's mind was fully on one thing and paid no attention to anything else. Kyo and Yuki slowed down a bit so that they were a few feet behind Tohru, who was still running at a constant speed.

"Do have any idea where we may be headed?" Kyo asked Yuki.

"No." Yuki replied. "It's not likely that she would be going to a bar...a store would be closed..."

"You damn rat," Kyo snapped. "She's shocked. Why would she be going to a store?!"

"Are you a woman, Kyo?" Yuki asked, smirking. "Who knows? Maybe when women are shocked, they go shopping."

"Shut the hell up, you stupid rat!" Kyo growled. "Unless you're secretly—"But Yuki clasped a hand over Kyo's mouth.

"Listen," Yuki said, speeding up to catch up with Tohru.

"...When...Gak...why...how...time..." Was all Tohru was saying. She was so out of breath that she couldn't utter anything else...

"I've decided, girls," Kyoko said one morning to Tohru and Arana, ages 11 and 10. "When I die, I want you to bury me at Gakuto Vanilla Gardens!"

"Why would you say such a thing?" Arana said, dropping her spoon on the floor.

"How can you say such a thing at a time like this!" Tohru cried, spilling miso all over the floor.

"It feels so home-like there, it seems nice...I just wanted it to be a precaution, that's all!" Kyoko said, picking up Arana's spoon, setting it on the counter, and bending over to clean up the spilt miso...

"Gak?" Kyo said. "What the hell does she mean by that?!"

"Hmm..." Yuki thought. "The only place...No! How could Honda-san's sister know?"

"Know wha—"

"Gakuto Vanilla Gardens!" Yuki replied.

"Oh..." Kyo said. Both of them slowed down and let Tohru lead them as they came out of the woods.

"Huh. I never knew they led out to in front of the cemetery." Kyo said, watching Tohru. They heard a far-off sniff and Tohru snapped out of her daze.

"Honda-san..." Yuki said, stepping forward. Tohru whirled her head around, her wet hair sticking to her face. She smiled a childish smile.

"I'm wet." Tohru said. "And so are you two!" She began to laugh. It wasn't her happy laughter. It was false, forced laughter, like an adult trying to mimic a baby laughing.

"Honda-san, it's not funny," Yuki began, but Kyo was quicker. He walked forward briskly and grabbed her shoulders, shrinking down to look her in the eyes.

"Tohru!" Kyo said sternly. She stopped her laugher and stared at him. He shook her lightly, then a bit forcefully. "Get out of your daze!!"

"Huh...Kyo?" Tohru said. She began to cry. "Oh, Kyo!!" She pushed herself forward, into Kyo's embrace, but Yuki grabbed her from behind.

"We don't need him changing into a cat when he's wet." Yuki said, brushing Tohru's hair out of her face.

"Sorry," Tohru replied. "I just—" she stopped. All three of them heard a sniff from faraway. "Arana..." Tohru said, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

"THAT WAY!" Kyo and Yuki both said, pointing forward. Their animal instincts had kicked in as they began to run towards the sound of Arana sniffing. All three of them rounded a corner when they stopped abruptly. Arana was in the middle of the row, nearly laying down in front of a tombstone.

Tohru slowly walked towards her, Kyo and Yuki slowly following behind. As she reached Arana. As she kneeled down next to her, Arana looked up.

"It's......true, then," Arana said, pointing to the tombstone.

"Yes," Tohru said, trying not to cry. "Six months ago."

"S—six months?"

"Yes. But Arana..." Tohru said, pulling Arana into a hug. "Mom never left us. She's here right now. Watching us. She always is and she always will be. That's why I'm not letting anything put me down. I know that Mom would want us to be happy...I know she would, because that's what The Red Butterfly would want. She wanted us to finish High School and love each other and have kids and live a happy life...but she wanted us to still remember her, to keep her in out hearts forever and know that she's always there. Mom's watching us right now. She's crying because she sees that you're sad. She feels like she's let you down, but it's not her fault, although she blames it on herself."

"I wish she would have stayed home, I wish none of this had happened," Arana said, sobbing, hugging Tohru back.

"So do I," Tohru said, biting her lip so she wouldn't cry. "But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us. There are other forces in the world, Arana, besides sadness and evil. Maybe Mom was meant to be taken away...in which case, you were also meant to come back and find out."

"And that is an encouraging thought." Yuki said, smiling down at the two. Slowly, an umbrella was placed over the two of them.

"Smart, eh?" Kyo said. "Come on, it's too wet out here. You'll catch colds!"

Tohru smiled, and, pulling Arana along with her, stood up. Yuki slid his arm around Tohru's, while Kyo gently grabbed a hold of Arana's arm. Together, Kyo and Yuki slowly made their way home...slowly, of course, since they were supporting Arana and Tohru.

I snuck some LOTR in there too. Heh. Go me.

I made up a new word: Smirkling. I was trying to type smirking, but Smirkling came out...xD Don't mind my randomness...

Heh. I snuck Gakuto in there. Clever, eh Kristal? xD and Vanilla too! (giggles) And don't yell at me if that's not where Kyoko-san's buried...It's my fic and I'll have her buried where I want her to be buried...I don't know if the manga said where she was buried or not.

More to come soon.

Signed,

The Mad Aristocrat