NOTES:

Uhh...sure, Agent Donut...that's definitely coming from your quote...kind of...I should have made him shout BACON instead...xDDD

Chapter Five: WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

BANG

Arana knelt next to where Yuki and Tohru had been sitting, in utter shock. Tohru was there, but Yuki had disappeared, although his clothes were still laying on the floor underneath Tohru.

Tohru opened her eyes in stunned silence. As she looked across the table, Kyo was on his feet, ready to strike, but Shigure was just staring.

"Wha—what just happened?" Arana asked to no one in particular. All three of them were too stunned to say anything in reply. Yuki was slowly inching his way out of the sleeve of his clothes.

"What—what—" Arana stuttered. Yuki had finally made it out of his sleeve and he stood up. "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! DID I DO SOMETHING? WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHY IS THERE A RAT WHERE YUKI SHOULD BE? WHAT'S—"But Arana fainted in astonishment, thinking What happened to Yuki? Why did a rat just climb out of his sleeve?

"This is not good." Rat Yuki said, climbing up Tohru's arm to hop onto the table.

"And knowing Hatori, he will have told Akito about Arana-san already, so a call should be coming soon," Kyo said thoughtfully.

"Oh no," Tohru said, her head falling in disbelief and sorrow. "I don't need her memories erased too. Knowing her, she'll just try to track me down again..."

"...Which definitely wouldn't be good." Yuki said, sitting on the table where his glass of milk was. "All of this will only enrage Akito...and Akito can be furious at some times..." he shuddered at the memory that still plagued his mind.

Shigure slowly edged his way out of the room and into his office for safety. He'd rather not be around when Arana aroused. He was blamed for so many things already, he didn't want Akito to be mad at him for any more things, especially telling another Honda about the Curse.

Tohru looked down at her sister, who was still unconscious. "...Is she alright?" Kyo asked.

"Oh, yes!" Tohru said. "If she suffers great surprise, she could be out for a while. It's normal...it started when she fell down the stairs when she was really little and had a really bad concussion...any time she'd get a surprise, she'd faint and be out for a while. We could never throw her a surprise party or give her anything that would surprise her...I remember Mom wasn't happy about it, but she was glad that Arana-san had survived the fall at least."

"How old was she?" Yuki asked, glancing down at Arana.

"I think almost four...so I was almost three...And she remembered my dad a little more than I do, since she's older...but we were both still little, and falling down the steps erased most of her memories of Dad..."

As soon as she said this, the phone rang. She shuddered at the thought of what it may be about.

"I'll get it," Kyo said. He walked over quickly and picked up the phone. "What's your beef?" he said into the receiver angrily. Silence, then: "Are you really that fucking heartless, Hatori, or do you just hate all of us?!" Silence again, then: "...Fine." Kyo spat at the receiver, throwing it down to hang it up. It smashed into the wall and broke off the receiver.

"Damn that Hatori!!" Kyo said angrily, sitting back down.

"Wasn't it Shigure's fault that he was here in the first place?" Yuki said to Kyo. Both were still pissed at Shigure and now they were pissed even more.

"DAMN BOTH OF THEM!" Kyo said, slamming down his fist on the table. Tohru heard a slight crack.

"What did he say, Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked Kyo.

"He said that he told Akito and Akito wants to see Arana as soon as possible."

"This is not good." Yuki said, glancing in the kitchen for any signs of Shigure. Tohru heard a loud BANG and she covered her eyes. Yuki had changed back and quickly put on his clothes. When she opened her eyes again, Yuki was smiling at her.

"Don't worry," he said, tilting his head a bit. "If Honda-san's memories are erased, wouldn't that mean that yours would be too? You can't have only one Honda know and the other wander around, thinking their whole family is dead...it's not right...I know Akito isn't that cold-blooded to do such a thing. Trust me."

Tohru smiled at Yuki. His words were quite reassuring at that point in time when her world was slowly crumbling before her eyes.

"That's all fine and dandy, but we have a traitor to deal with, Yuki," Kyo said, grinning evilly. Yuki smiled in response.

"Let's go." He said, standing up.

"Uh—but what if—Arana wakes up!!" Tohru spat out quickly. They both turned around.

"Right..." They said together.

"Then we'll deal with him later." Yuki said.

"Just to be safe, I'm going to go barricade his door," Kyo said, beginning to walk away.

"No! You can't!" Tohru said. Tears were beginning to stream down her face quite freely now. She had taken enough stress in the past few days that it was all coming out now. She just couldn't handle it anymore.

"Tohru..." Kyo said slowly, thinking. What did he want to do? Wait for Arana to wake up, or go kill Shigure now? Instead, he went and knelt down next to Arana, feeling for a pulse, making sure she was still alive.

Yuki slowly put a comforting hand on Tohru's shoulder. She sniffed loudly in response, leaning her head comfortingly on Yuki's hand. He reached over and grabbed a napkin, handing it to her to wipe her eyes. She reached out for it and collapsed. She couldn't stop sobbing.

Tohru would have done anything to lean into Yuki's warm embrace, but she knew better. Almost two years of living with the Sohma's and she knew better. She would have given anything just to have Kyoko-san hold her one last time. Never before had she seemed so desperate for any human contact, but right then, when her world was crashing down upon her, when her last resource for caring family was on the brink of being lost, she needed support.

A momentary lapse in reason brought her into a reflective daze. Out loud, she began to recite a song she hadn't said since she was three.

"Tsumetai kaze o abinagara

kurikaesu yoru ni omoi o egaiteta

sotto kuchizusamu merodi wa

jikan ni kizamarete kieru

nido to modorenai kanashimi wa wasurerarenakute

ima mo yureru omoi ni somaru koto dekinai karada ga

kowaresoude..."

Kyo and Yuki stared at her, speechless. They found that Tohru was unresponsive to whatever they did or said. Her eyes had turned hazy and she stared straight at Arana...

"...hitokiri no kanashimi wa doko ni yukeba kieru

"wa ta si ni a su wa a ru no..."" A three year old Tohru sang, sitting on the floor in her room, a children's book about the Year of the Cat was propped up in front of her. Kyoko-san had left her for a moment to check on the soup that was cooking in the kitchen.

A sudden thump thump thump stopped her singing as she ran out to see what it was.

"Arana?" Tohru called quietly. A sudden stifled scream came from the bottom of the steps. Abandoning her Year of the Cat book, she ran to the top of the steps to see what had happened.

Arana was sprawled on the ground at the bottom of the steps. Kyoko-san was stooped over Arana, her hands were clasped over her mouth in shock.

"Mama?" Tohru called down the steps to her horror-stricken mom. She didn't respond. Tohru, grasping the wall, slowly made her way down the stairs toward Kyoko-san.

"Mama?" she repeated in Kyoko's ear. "Is Sis...dead?"

"No," Kyoko-san whispered. "She's just unconscious. Get me the phone and call the hospital..." As Tohru walked to get the phone, she heard Kyoko-san mutter, "if only your father was still alive...he'd know what to do..."

The memory began to wobble as her eyes began to see clearer.

"Hey, Tohru." Kyo was saying gently, grasping her by the shoulders and shaking her. "Snap out of it!"

She shook her head and broke her stare at Arana. She realized that she was somehow in the same position as she had been that many years ago.

"Are you alright?" Yuki asked gently.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just...reliving a memory..." Tohru said, putting her hand to her forehead. Arana began to stir.

"Mmhmmuyymm." Was what she was saying. Arana's eyes shot open as she remembered what had just happened. "Oh, so Yuki's back now?" she shot. "What happened?! Tell me now!"

Tohru glanced at Yuki and Kyo. They both slowly nodded.

"It may be shocking, so just relax for a minute." Yuki said softly. "It all begins with the Chinese Zodiac..."

TRANSLATIONS:

Tsumetai kaze o abinagara

kurikaesu yoru ni omoi o egaiteta

sotto kuchizusamu merodi wa

jikan ni kizamarete kieru

nido to modorenai kanashimi wa wasurerarenakute

ima mo yureru omoi ni somaru koto dekinai karada ga

kowaresoude...

While blasted by the cold wind

I relived my memories in the returning night

The melody I softly sing to myself

Is carved away by time until it vanishes

I can't forget the sadness that I cannot return to

Even now, my body that cannot taint the flickering emotions

Seems to break down

"...hitokiri no kanashimi wa doko ni yukeba kieru

"wa ta si ni a su wa a ru no...""

Where can I go to make my loneliness vanish

"I al ways have to mor row..."

This is Mizerable by Gackt. One of his best songs, in my opinion.

And I got the 'What's your beef?' from my brother, who answered the phone (it was my dad) and said, "Burger King. Home of the Whopper. What's your beef?" xDD

More to come soon. I await your reviews, people. I should be including Ayame and others soon. For now, off to await the Homecoming game, and then the Dance!!