The autumn day was crisp and clean, the sky a bright blue. A cold wind blew just enough for a light jacket, which was on any female in a skirt walking to school. The leaves were falling faster now, dancing on their decent to earth and finding death as they hit the ground. The tree's seemed lonely now that they were undressed, the crisp sky showing through them.

The morning's were colder now, a slight frost covering the fallen leaves and small clouds of air created from your breath. Mid day was warmer as the sun came out and jackets weren't needed, but were a comfort. Night was chilled now, and it seemed even colder in a certain house. And into certain peoples hearts...

Quite a few young people were walking along the sidewalk in the brisk morning, most in similar school outfits. They were dressed in white shirts trimmed in black, and a pair of black pants for boys while the girls had blue skirts. Everything seemed reasonably normal and regular, like nothing was happing and nothing was going to happen. Everything seemed like a bright start to a normal day.

A normal looking girl with normal brown hair and normal green eyes walked along this path, in a simple normal school uniform. She walked with a slight pep in her step, hands grasping a normal black school bag and walking in normal girls shoes. She smiled normally -teeth sparkling white- to her companion and sole protector.

And as you know, nothing about him was normal. He smiled kindly back, gray-blue hair messed slighted from the wind. His violet eyes shined along with his smile, and a look of happiness on his face was pure and noted. He -unlike all the others- didn't seem to fit into the regular school uniform anymore. It didn't make him look awkward, but to all who knew him it made him look different. 'It brings out more of his brother in him...', someone had said with a grin. They were right...

That, again, would have been a sight for him to see...

Strange Happening's

By SAL-Chan

*Part Two: Missing you...

"A million words wont bring you back, I know because I've tried. Neither would a million tears..."~

~*~

Well it's just the beginning of the new school year.

Things are going smoothly and classes seem to be easier this year. Though there were many new faces again, I wasn't scared of anything or anyone new... or I don't think I was...

I smiled and looked around my very familiar school. The halls were clean and full of students new and old. I was taller than most of them now, but I was a Senior and I guess that would be expected. It was hard to believe that this was my last year of schooling...and...

I bit my lip and smiled as another pair of Sophomores passed me, looking worried and scared. I waved sightly and smiled wider as they shuffled off in the other direction, looking a little more confident. At least I made their day a little better...

Today was a light autumn day, and a lovely Tuesday it was. The days still held a light warmth, and the nights cold. Though it was getting colder, I still loved being outside at night to watch the sunset along with Shigure. That had become a tradition for almost all of us.

"Hay! Tohru!!"

I spun, startled at the voice. My ankle twisted a bit to much and I wobbled, only to be caught by a pair of strong arms. Startled for a moment, I let out a yell and staggered backwards. Long blond hair caught my eye first and made me smile and stop immediately. Her blue eyes sparkled and a smug smile sat on her lips, thin eyebrows arched in question. She was taller then me now, and her skirts grew longer and longer to touch the floor. My smile widened.

"Good morning Uo! You're here early..." I said cheerfully as she stepped toward me, crossing the path of more Sophomore and scaring them half to death. She grinned at them and moved aside -the smaller students running past- and settled on the wall beside me.

"Morning Tohru." Her rougher and deeper voice said back from above me. Uo was always the same old Uo, rough and friendly. She hadn't changed all that much over the years, and a good thing is that her grin had come back. It was lost last year for a long time...

"Where's the Prince?" The question was normal and it was something that was said every day. She had adjusted to seeing me standing outside the classroom now, and would ask the same thing.

"He told me that he had Student Council things to do. They already started getting ready for this years prom..." I sighed and watched as the masses of the school moved throughout the hallways.

"Hard to believe, right? This is our last year in the school..." She sighed. So many things have happened these past 2 years. " I can't wait to leave..."

"Who do you think you'll be taking to the prom?" I asked, quickly fearing that the question might be a little too personal. I blushed slightly and fidgeted, worried that I was being too personal. There was a few moments of silence until I looked up and was surprised at the look on Uo's face.

A slight expression of pain was etched around her tan face, something that few had ever seen. Her eyes were hard but here eyebrows were raised, giving her a look of sadness too. It seamed that I had asked the wrong question. I opened my mouth to say 'never mind', but she spoke before I could.

"Well..." She started, voice heavy with an emotion not often seen in her. "...I think I'm going alone."

"You're going with me." The voice came from my immediate left and scared me once again. I spun around quickly -ankle twisting again- only to be caught by the same pair of strong arms, facing the speaker this time.

Raven colored hair flowed over her shoulder tied in a loose, long braid. Her bangs barley covered her dark violet eyes that shined like water. Her skin was light against the dark blue uniform, but the smile drawn on her face was one of small happiness. I let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Good morning Hana!" I said in my most cheerful voice. My slight fear from before disappeared when I realized that I had my two best friends on either side of me. I was protected again...

"I thought that you weren't going?" Uo said from above me as I balanced myself on my two unsteady feet again. "You said so before highschool even started."

Hana blinked at her and leveled her eyes, her smile disappearing from her face. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared up above me, to Uo.

"I felt that you were going to find someone to go with. I was wrong." She said simply, shrugging slightly. She cast a glance out the window to the empty courtyard, fixating on something. I blinked and slowly followed her gaze.

There was a moment when all three of us were looking out the window together, unaware of the hustle to get to home room behind us. The wind swept another cold gust of air across it, blowing the tricolor leaves across the empty lawn. Morning dew still sat on untouched grass, giving it the morning shine. The sun sat higher in the sky and cast a morning glow on everything, warming the earth from it's slumber.

Then something quite unexpected happened.

I heard Hana suck in her breath quickly and watched as she leaned toward the window, hands barley touching the glass. Here eyes were wide and awestruck as she gazed down toward the tree that was letting leaves fly from it.

"Hana?" Uo's voice sounded worried as she stepped around me and to Hana's side. Hana still didn't move, didn't even breathe. The sudden change had left me speechless for a moment.

"Hana!" Uo reached a hand out and grasped Hana's shoulder, as did I. We both reached her at the same time and she spun around, looking surprised. Quite a few emotions were written across her face, some neither of us had seen on it before. She looked like we had walked in on her doing something and scared her half to death. It seemed we had surprised Hana.

"You ok?" Uo asked, hand still uneasily lingering in the air. Hana let her gasped breath go and blinked a few times, breathing sightly faster then before. The emotions passed quickly over her face and were replaced by her normal, passive one. He breath was calmed shortly after.

"Fine." She answered shortly, eyes moving back to the tree. "I just though I saw something..."

I blinked again. Hana never did anything like that before, looking like she's seen a ghost of something. She had looked so surprised, so shocked. I opened my mouth to ask but -

"TO~RU!!!"

Again I turned quickly -not almost falling this time knowing the voice- and was greated with a pair of familiar light honey eyes. His light blond hair bounced into view and a large smile was spread across his face. Nothing has seemed to change on him over the years, though there were some additions though. From the bottom of his right earlobe to the corner of his lip was a long scar that was visible from far away. It was scary to think that the only visible change in Sohma Momiji's face at the age of 16 was that scar.

I smiled immediately.

"Momiji!!" I called back to him, smiling as he bounced along the hallway to meet me. Now that his body has grown a little, he filled the boy's uniform better than the girls. He looked good in it too. "How are you?"

The rabbit stopped a step or two away from me, eye's smiling. He was almost as tall as me now, but still shorter in a way.

"I'm fine To-ru! You looking very well yourself." Even his voice sounded the same as it had. Though there were times when it wavered and sounded older, but those were few and not so often. I smiled back.

"I am quite well." I answered, my smile growing wider as I tried to stop my past tense reminders. 'Keep steady' I told myself.

"You are looking good kid." Uo said behind me as his smile was diverted behind me to Uo and Hana.

"Thank you Uo! And Hana..." His smile diminished slightly but was still present, his eyes growing tired and ceasing their sparkle. That happened often now, Momiji's eyes never sparkled for too long anymore. He then trained his eyes on me again, and his smile widened once more. Remembering that he had addressed my company, I remembered Momiji's constant companion.

I lifted my eyes from him and looked further down the hall way to find the boy in question. His right hand was placed on the window pane and his black eyes gazed down at the courtyard. He was taller than me and most of the others that walked down the hallway. Snow white hair dusted the top of his head and stopped to hang long around his ears. The back of his head was covered in a mass of black hair that was pulled into a small ponytail, reaching his hip. The ear that was facing me was pierced all the way around now, but over all Sohma Hatsuharu's looks had changed more than the others.

Haru's face was one of concentration and he seemed focused on something far away. He looked like he seemed to be figuring something out, something that had been on his mind or hard to figure out. All this was starting to worry me...

"You see it too?" Hana's voice carried through the whole hallway, making all the students -including Haru- to look at her. He seemed puzzled for a second, but quickly nodded his head and turned to walk towards us. Both his ears were pierced, along with a single ring that looped its way through his left eyebrow.

"See what?" Momiji asked around me to Hana, and I turned to her also. Hana kept her eyes locked to Haru who walked past the others in the hall like they weren't there. He kept his eyes trained on a certain point in the court yard, never wavering.

"Haru?" The rabbit questioned the cow next, but he seemed to be ignored by him too. I bit my lip and turned my head to were he was looking and found nothing. No sign of life was outside at all. Something inside me felt so wrong...

"Haru?" I said softly, smiling at him as his eyes finally turned to lock onto mine. They weren't half closed and held no sing of ignorance in them at all. He looked like he knew exactly where he was going, which is something you don't see in him often. "How are you?"

There was a quiet and tense moment while he turned his eyes to Hana, then on me again slowly, a smile formed on his face also. He relaxed slightly and crossed his arms, cocking his head with his black tail swinging.

"Tohru." His voice was heavier and deeper, mellow even then it had seemed for a while now. It seemed like Haru had never even had a black personality now, like he never lost his temper any more. And if he ever did, someone had touched his bike without him knowing. "I'm as well as I can be. Kisa told me to say hello to you for her."

I nodded and smiled. "Tell her I say hello back."

It was uneasy now. The two Sohma never had direct contact with Uo and Hana, so I keep telling myself that the reason they don't talk is that they don't really know each other. But slowly I started to realize that it might have been the case, but not since last year. Not since-

I sighed outwardly as the bell rang overhead and the students ran every which way.

"We gotta go To-ru. We'll see you around, ok?" Momiji smiled up at me, breaking the small silence. I smiled back as whole heartily as I could muster, disappointed that they did have to leave.

"Ok. Maybe you guy's could come over for dinner tonight..."

The statement seemed to be the wrong thing to say. Momiji's smile wavered slightly and Haru turned his head to look at the courtyard quicker then he should have. I blushed slightly and shuffled my feet, suddenly knowing full well that they weren't planning to come over to Shigure's any time soon.

No one would...

"That's ok To-ru. Thank you anyway but we can't tonight. We have to get ready..." He said a little to forcefully not to be noticed, eyes dropping at the end of his sentence. I nodded knowing that was going to be the answer. It had been quite a few times before when I asked the same question, and I predicted it would be the same for a while now. Asking had slowly become a lost cause. We said our short goodbye's and I turned to walk to my class.

"Tohru." Haru's deep voice made me stop in my tracks and spin to face him, a smile immediately placed on my face. He's eyes had glazed over and were half lidded again, but a small smile was placed on his face

"Yes?" I asked.

"Tell Yuki I said hello, and I'll tell Kisa you said hello." He said softly and turned, walking away with a wave of his hand - showing off another one of his new hobbies. Haru had a tattoo now, one he had been working on for some time. No one really knew what it was of since he didn't show anyone who asked, but some of us had a idea. The only understandable thing on his hand now was two big letters - His initials, along with the numbers 13 and 10.

I nodded anyway, watching the duo's retreating back disappear into the crowd of other students. I sighed to myself, and turned into my class as the bell for first period sounded.

~*~

I'm not sure if I had just realized it, or that it had just truly surfaced but everything has been different. The biggest change was that nothing really had changed and... everyone tried to keep it the same as it had always been. No one wanted anything to change, and no one accepted it. We all wanted to go back...

To before the 13th of October, last year. Before 11: 46 pm...

I remember that day quite well, almost like it was yesterday. Then some days I don't remember that anything was different and that nothing so important was missing. Even after the long walk to school, in the middle of class I still cast a look behind me and search for my two princes. I would only find one knight though, alone and smiling slightly to himself as he did his work.

I would always find my eyes wet as I turned around then. I was so hard to keep going after everything, but I needed to do it. For the Sohma's, for myself, and for him.

I always remember small thing that he said to me at times I need to hear them. Like 'Complain a little' or a simple murmur of 'You suck' before a slight lesson on top of a roof. I can remember little things like a small smile or a simple gesture, or I'll hear something he would say and turn to see him...only to be fooled by my imaginations once more. Things have changed all around me, in my life and in others but it seamed like I was the only one to admit it.

I jumped as the bell sounded and turned to look at the clock. School was over already...

I blinked as the class got up around me and started to file out, surprised at myself for being lost in my thoughts all day. I sighed and started to gather my books, going for the one on my desk first. I stopped quickly though and looked at my jumbled notes. Among them was a droplet or two of moist paper that smudged some words. I lifted my hand up to my face and found the path the droplet had followed down my cheek, surprised at myself.

"Tohru?"

I quickly shut the notebook and started to gather my things, whipping the tear trails off my cheeks and the water out of my eyes. Uo came up next to me and watched me hustle to gather my things as quickly as I could.

"Yes?" I asked, thankful that my voice hadn't wavered. I stopped as a few pieces of paper were put on my desk in her and Hana's handwriting. I looked up and met her eyes, and she smiled slightly.

"The notes from today." She said softly as she leaned over and shuffled a hand through my hair. "Hana highlighted the important math parts, and I took your science notes."

"Uo?" Her name came from my mouth without me thinking, my whole train of though had stopped. She smiled and tilted her head, getting up.

"I'm not coming tomorrow, neither is Hana." She said softly, her smile fading somewhat. She glanced out the window over my head.

"I'm not sure why you even came today, but as I've known you as not one to show when your hurt. The whole class realized it, and I'm sure they were all surprised that you were here too." Her voice was melancholy, as were her eyes. I felt myself shake as she moved closer to me, my eyes watering. I wanted to bury my head in her shirt and cry just to let it go, but I held strong. She bent down and kissed the top of my head and stepped back with a smile. She cast a glance back behind me, but I wasn't really paying attention anymore.

"Walk her home today Prince." I heard her murmur, then she started for the door.

"Uo..." My voice was weaker, but she heard it and turned to me anyway. I looked up at her, a true smile emerging on my face. I felt a warm sensation envelop my inside. I was cared for.

"Thank you for the note's." I said quietly as she smiled too.

"No prob. Any time Tohru. Now go home and get some sleep. You going to have a long day tomorrow." Her smile was truly sincere and her eyes danced in the fading sunlight. And with that Uo turned around and walked out of the class room.

I sighed and tucked the notes into my notebook and stood.

"Ready?" His voice calmed me in more ways then I could have asked for at that moment. It gave me strength that I needed deeply, a strength that I had been slowly loosing for a year now. I felt tired now, but not so weak anymore. I turned to him and smiled.

"Ready any time you are." I said, making sure that I held some type of happiness in my voice. The was a pause as we met eyes, and all my strength came back. He looked at me with a smile that was truly his own and nodded.

It was then that I realized that...Yuki had become most of my strength.

~*~

I'm selfish.

I sighed and looked up through the trees to the sky in the fading light. The sky was turning an orange dashed with yellow, pink, and dots of blue. Clouds dotted the sky and shielded the sun from my gaze, pushed along by the slight wind that blew the warmth from around me.

I wanted everything to be as it was. I wanted him to come back.

I wanted the Sohma's back the way they were. I want them to be happy and carefree. I wished to be happy...

The fallen leaves crushed under my light footfalls, and were echoed by my knight's. The air around us seemed softer than normal, easier to breath in somehow. I smiled contented, feeling comfortable and not so alone as I had before. My company was a very welcome retreat from my mind, giving me something else to think about.

Yuki's steps were slower than mine, but he was much taller than me now. If he wanted he could rest his chin on the top of my head, having to bend down some to do so. He had grown up, face becoming thinner and his hair just dusted his shoulders now. His voice had gotten deeper also, but his eyes still had that same shine to them as they always had.

I smiled. He was starting to look like Ayame...

We break into the clearing in front of the house, and for a brief moment I saw him. On the right side of the roof, facing away from us and looking towards the sunset. I stopped in mid stride and stared up toward the roof, awestruck for a moment. But as soon as I had seen it, the image disappeared - seaming to melting into the sunset.

"Tohru?" Yuki's light voice snapped me out of my daze. I blinked and locked my eyes on his, confused and scared suddenly. He arched an eyebrow at me, questioning as to my sudden stop. I blinked and opened my mouth to say something but-

"Welcome home!!" The writes voice echoed through out the houses clearing. We both looked toward the front door to find the dog, dressed in his favorite writers rove staring at us with one of the largest grins that he could have mustered as quickly as he could. I heard Yuki sigh next to me as I took the last few steps needed to meet the dog in the doorway.

"Thank you Shigure." I blinked at him when his smile didn't lesson one bit. And uneasy feeling swept over me, a forced smile on my face. "What is it?"

Shigure shook his shaggy black head, his grin never fading - widening even. That was something weird in itself, weird as in scary weird.

"What are you smiling about?" Yuki's voice cut over my thoughts, sharp and cold. I could tell by his voice that he was looking down his nose at him, and it only made Shigure's smile get wider.

"Noth-ing!" He turned back into the house -still smiling- and sung to himself as he made his way down the hall. I smiled at his back. Shigure had a way for making me smile lately. I wasn't sure how he did it, but I'm glad he could.

"His smile annoys me." Yuki's voice was low, but there was a smile on his face as well when I turned slightly. He drew a long breath and exhaled slowly, eyes closing in a moment of peace and collection. He stepped inside after the singing dog, and I followed them inside shortly -stopping only to stare at the paper decoration that dotted the outside of the door.

I smiled sightly, remembering that night I had cut out the small shaped of the zodiac members with Kagura...

I sighed and shut the door after me. Cross one bridge at a time, I reminded myself. We'll see Kagura soon enough...

Though I'm not sure if it's too soon...

~*~

I sighed for what seemed like the 20th time as I washed the dishes. Dinner had been unusually quiet and I didn't like it all that much. We all ate in complete quiet, even Kubo was quiet. I cleaned the table quickly after that and moved into the kitchen to wash the dishes, slightly happy I had gotten out of that suddenly tense atmosphere.

A tingling sensation wrapped itself around my leg for a moment, making me look down. The small orange tabby cat was laying on it's back now, paws up in the air and staring up at me. I smiled and bent to pet him, only to be rejected as he scurried away. I smiled and laughed as I herd his small feet patter away on the hard wood floor. My hands are wet, I remembered as I stood to start my washing again.

It only took me another few minuets to finish up my washing. I dried my hands and put the dishes away, and walked out into that hallway. Kubo was sitting on the stairs, seeming to wait for me there. He spotted me and with a jingle of his collar he was around the corner and up the stairs. I smiled at the small cat again, knowing I would find him in my room as soon as I got up there.

Upon starting my assent, my attention turned to the walls on the left side. Along them were two streaks of dirty fingerprints. They were just above my hip, and seamed to fit the size of my pointer and middle finger, like someone had dragged their fingers along them. They were cold to the touch, and no matter how many times we painted over them -in a few days- they would start to appear again. Sometimes there would even be finger streaks in the fresh paint. It scared me though.

The finger prints had started a little after I had learned of a certain secret. It had become a habit for him to do that, and pretty soon there was a line running down the wall. And after the...'thing'...Shigure had the marks panted over.

They came back.

And that scared me.

I still couldn't help myself though. Every time I walked up or down these stairs I would just trail the tips of my fingers over the marks. Shigure does it too, but I believe that Yuki doesn't touch the walls in the stairway at all.

That's exactly what I did. I ghosted my fingers upon the marks as I walked up the creaking stairs. Behind me I heard the scratching of a pen from Shigure's room, and Yuki had disappeared some time after dinner.

I stepped into my room and closed the door behind me, another sigh escaping my lips. I stepped out of my school clothes and into a pair of soft purple pants and a baggy blue shirt. This was the most comfortable sleeping clothes I had, and they were faded and worn in and just right.

I then turned to my wood desk and chair set, finding the last piece of my nightly dress set. Folded as perfectly as I could manage was a baby blue sweat shirt that zipped up through the middle. It was hooded with drawstrings and was a few sizes too big on me- almost reaching my knees.

This was the only thing I had left...

I smiled as I slipped it on, feeling contentment sweep over me. I flicked off my lights, figuring that if I needed to get up early tomorrow I would want to go to sleep a little earlier. And as Uo said earlier today, It was going to be a very long day tomorrow.

I curled up in my bed after I said my 'goodnight' to mom, and sighed again. It was dark now, the sky would be clear tonight. The air was colder when the night set in, but it was just warm enough to wear short selves. Perfect weather to fall asleep in.

There was a total absents of noise in the house. I listened to my breathing slow down, relaxing into the soft bed. I closed my eyes and listened to the silence, praying with all my heart that I would hear creaking boards bellow the roof- fooling myself into thinking that I would. Or quiet bickering down the hallway, or the footsteps of someone walking around barefoot. Something, I closed my eyes. I needed something...

I had lost a lot of important things in my life. My father, then my mother...but now...

My heart ached.

I missed him.

I missed him a lot. But I think that I'm the only one that will admit that.

That's truly a heartbreaking thing to know. For only one person to admit they missed you when you were gone. I know I'm not the only person though...

It's me and Kagura. Kazuma too... poor Kazuma...

It seemed like everyone's lives stopped after the 13th, like time had stopped. Three of our members were in the hospital, and one... was...

I turned over in my bed and sighed once more.

Be strong I told myself as I fought against the tears that were eating away at the edge of my eyes . I need to be strong now. Everyone needs me, and I need them just as much. I wasn't sure if I could stand it though... I couldn't admit to myself that he was really...

"Mew!"

The small cry resounded through my small, quiet room. I turned over just in time to see the orange tabby cat jump onto my bed with a jungle. Kubo's eyes gleamed in the darkness as he walked toward me and rubbed his soft head against my face. With another 'Mew' he curled up in a ball near my head and nestled his head into his tail. I smiled at the small cat, happy to have company in misery .

"Night Kubo." I whispered in a thick voice and tucked my head into the baby blue sweat shirt. Sleep started to engulf me quickly, my emotions drained for the day.

Something softly brushed against my cheek just before I lost all thought. I'm not sure if it was Kubo's tail, or someone wiping a tear off my cheek...

~*~

~ "...I know because I've cried..." ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranting: Welcome back! So did you like chapter 2? I'm not sure if I wrote some of these things right, but I tried to do Tohru's POV as well as I could. It's 11:53. I made my deadline! I finished by Friday!! School was tough these past days and I had little time to write. Sorry bout that... I also had to finish my outline of the story, and then get motivate to write. I had some help with that...

*Lady Kara: Thank you for the review. You were my first for the story!

*Missy: Well thank you! I tried to make it different. I hadn't ever read a fic like this so I thought that it would be a good idea. I'm not too sure because the plot is still subject to change. And as you have seen, it's not all going to be one person's POV. Last one was a 3rd and a Yuki, and this was 3ed and all Tohru. It's gonna change a lot in the next one...

*Kath: 2 times? Sok though. So you like Kubo? He is a fun character, and the only addition I'm going to put in this fic. He was a last minuet thing too. Did it get any better in this one? I got you hooked? Yay.

*Kimna: Thanks!

*yamatoforever: I know, it's weird but it fits. I'm glad you like it. You like Kubo too? I'm glad! Sorry that took so long...

Thanks to Iz & Kimna! To all!! By the way, none of the character in this fic are mine. Kubo is my only thing, as well as the plot. Ja!

~ SAL-Chan