Here we go, yet another chapter. Sorry it took a while to get out, but I've had prior commitments. Ah! And yes, either I'm confused, or Yamatoforever is confused, but this is set when Eriol are the same age as Kyo and Yuki etc. They'd be in the same year-level.

I walk through the woods, enjoying the newfound connection that I feel with it since Flora. It's the third say of the holidays, and I find myself surprisingly enough, enjoying my time alone. Yuki, Haru and Tohru have gone into town for the day, but I made sure that I couldn't be found in the morning, so they left without me. Shimo won't be impressed, but he's acting too much like a mother hen.

I made myself a simple lunch, which I've packed into my backpack, along with my diary to write down observations if I have any, a towel on a just-in-case basis. You never know.

Fauna, back in it's cat form, is roaming out in the woods, just on the edges of my senses, and Blossom is sniffing around in the bushes as I go past them. Shadow roams amongst the trees, but Bright, preferring to rove during the night sits warm in my chest. Flora, still inside allows me its power, and Reflection flits around, changing from animal to tree, to some strange combination of the two as it comes across them.

Something still strikes me as strange about the seeming normality of this scene, but I can't complain.

Nah, it's a bit weird, but it's still fun.

I cross the driveway, emerging from the forest and into the sun for a few moments, and shield my eyes from the bright glare.

A bicycle bell rings a short way down the road, and my Elementals sink back into the surrounding forests while I wait expectantly. I know that it can't be Haru, although he is the only lunatic with a bike that I know, because he left it at the main house this time. I black head comes into view, and I recognise it from the way the sunlight glints off the glasses as belonging to Eriol.

He waves at me, then skids to a stop in front of me.

"Sohma-san? What are you doing here?"

"Well," I scratch my head with the back of my hand, something I didn't realise until later as a rather cat-like thing to do. "This is my backyard…"

Eriol blinks, surprised. "This is all your family's land?"

I nod, and Eriol smiles. "Well then, forgive my intrusion. I hadn't realised."

I shrug. "People think that all the time. Don't worry about it." I shift my backpack in my shoulders. "I made myself some food, but there should be enough for two if you want to eat with me…"

Eriol smiles again. "I would like that, Sohma-san."

My thoughts spring back to Shimo, and I resist the urge to shudder. "You can call me Kyo if you want," I tell him, hopefully implying that I prefer my actual name. When people call me Sohma, I just feel like a freak. My mind springs to 'Sohma curse', then to 'cat', and then it all goes downhill from there.

"Alright then, where do you want to eat, Kyo-san?"

Ah well, it's better than nothing.

We pass the chopsticks back and forth between us, as there is only one pair. We sit in the middle of the clearing where I found Flora, and the conversation between us generally consists of the differences between England and Japan. Eriol lists Beethoven as his music, and I suddenly feel like my friend isn't entirely a teenager.

It's not like he's creepy, though I can tell that he could be, but he just seems to know everything in an exceedingly polite way. He's…

While I try to consider a word that best describes Eriol, my subject matter delicately picks up a sushi roll, pops it in his mouth, careful not to touch his mouth to the sticks, then hands them to me. I do the same but with some smoked fish, before Eriol says "This is very nice, who made it?"

"I did."

"It's very good."

I shrug. "Tohru's better. I only cook when I have to."

"You should cook more often,"

There is something almost devious about Eriol's smile when he says it that unsettles me.

"Um… yeah. Well, I'm gonna nap. You can go if you want."

Eriol 'hmms' then sits with his knees near his chin and arms wrapped around them, staring up at the sky. I settle into the grass, and close my eyes to the blue sky.

I open my eyes again to a grey sky with great drops of water falling out of it.

With an indignant hiss, I grab my lunch things, stuff them back into my backpack, then run for the trees. I hate the rain.

I run back through the undergrowth, past where Yuki and I confronted Fauna and burst out onto the road, where Eriol waits on his bike.

"How far away is your house?" I yell over a burst of thunder, hating the feeling of my shirt starting to stick to my back and cold water running down the back of my neck.

"It's about 15 minutes on a bike,"

I nod. "Alright then, we can shelter at my place."

I run off and hear Eriol peddling behind me.

I can tell that Fauna's communicating with me when I picture myself riding a horse back to my house through the rain, but dismiss the tempting idea. A horse bursting through the bushes and allowing me to ride it bareback back to the house would be just a little too bizarre around Eriol.

We finally burst back into the cleared space around my house, and I wait shivering on the front porch while my dark-haired companion props his bike up against a tree out of the rain then runs across to me.

I slam my hand against the front door, but it doesn't open. I move around to one of the sliding side-doors and have it half open when it slams shut again on my fingers. "OW!"

"You're not coming inside like that, think of the floors!"

There is silence for a moment, then the door opens a fraction, and two towels are thrust out. "These are for you and your friend. Don't let your cousins or Tohru in until they're dry either.

I hand the second white towel to Eriol, and we sit down on the deck, watching the rain hitting the ground while drying ourselves. I grin wryly. Today hadn't gone like anything I had hoped for, but it had been an experience even so.

"What's so funny?"

"Yuki, Haru and Tohru have to come back from town in this. I can't wait to see Haru's expression of intense disgust."

Eriol gives me a strange look out of the corner of his eyes.

"What? It's a hobby,"

He laughs, and scrubs at his head with his towel. Eriol's glasses are off and sitting next to him, and it makes him look older, more like he really is my age when he doesn't have them on.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, dripping sorrily, when two dark figures burst into view and tumbled onto the steps: Haru and Tohru.

The hand once again thrusts itself out the door, offering three more towels. "Don't come in until you're dry!" Shigure shrieks.

Haru's towel immediately goes to work on his poor abused leather pants, while I hand another to Tohru, who's hand shakes as she takes it. I put a hand to her forehead, and she barely notices.

"Shigure, open up goddamnit, she's got a fever."

"… is she dry?"

"SHIGURE, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR BEFORE I SIMPLY GO THROUGH IT!"

Shigure opens the door and makes a brief appearance to take Tohru (all the while smiling pervertedly, I am that close to kicking him).

"Where's Yuki?"

I blink, only just grasping that he isn't there. His garden. He would think about his vegetables at a time like this. I drop my towel, then jump off the deck and run back into the woods.

The harsh rain that hits my skin seems to almost sizzle with energy, and my Elementals, which had been lurking in the woods waiting, flow back in with me, making me feel stronger.

This rain shouldn't be, I realise with a moment of clarity, but the Elemental can wait. For now, I have to make sure that Yuki and his weak lungs don't end up with hypothermia or something equally bad in the cruel storm.

I finally reach the clearing to see a soaked Yuki struggling to spread a piece of black plastic over his crop. He isn't going well, because the edges keep flying up, uncovering what he just covered.

I reach the edge of the clearing before I am knocked off my feet and back a few paces by a sudden wind. It throws me up against the trunk of a tree, wrapping around me like invisible bindings. A second Elemental, I surmise, and both seem to want to inflict pain upon me.

The wind whips around my body and holds me up with an invisible force as I struggle against it.

The breeze penetrates all parts of my body, whistling under my clothing and running through my hair like a gentle hand, and brushes across my skin. My body still tense, I stop struggling, and the bonds loosen.

I am lowered to the ground gently, and the wind gathers together to form the shape of a female. She is clothed in a kimono made out of what looks like mist, and her long white hair flows around her head like a veil. Her lips are light blue, the same shade as her large, jewel-like eyes.

"Good child."

The voice, low and feminine, sounds in my head.

"Acceptance is a sign of wisdom. I would not submit to someone that I deemed unworthy, but to you, I bend."

She gives a slow bow, and I nod, rubbing my neck, which is still sore. "Thankyou, Breeze."

Her loose body disbands, and floats gently around me for a few seconds, caressing gently, before being sucked into every pore of my body.

Something clenches inside, and I cannot breathe. It feels like my body is trying to explode and implode at the same time. Tears come into the corners of my eyes as I can finally suck air back into my lungs, and a trembling hand goes to my chest, massaging it, like that will help relieve the feeling of tension.

I lean my head back against the trunk of the tree that I have fallen against, and try to console myself. 'It only hurts the first time.'

Slowly, I notice that while the sky above is still dark and crackling with energy, the wind has died down to what is usual in a storm. Using the tree as support, I manage to stand, and stare up through the gaps in the branches at the sky. I honestly can't be bothered being calm or awed by anything right now – I am still trying to regain the feeling in the tips of fingers and toes.

"Tempest!"

The sky booms, and briefly, I can see the shape of a long, traditional dragon in the lightning before it shoots down and hits me.

I watch from the ground as the clouds pool together, then follow the blot that is still connected to my chest. Distantly, I can feel that my nerves are on fire, that a tingling is spreading through my entire being.

When the sky has been drained down to a wintry blue, Yuki is standing over my, yelling something that I cannot hear over the ringing in my ears. I raise my head and shake it slightly, and my ear pop, letting sound back in.

"Ow…"

Yuki wraps an arm around my waist and helps me to stand. Leaning on each other for support, one soaked through, one still feeling the after effects of being struck by magical lightning, we walk back to the house.

*~*~*~*

22.10.03 – 8.32 PM

I still smell like burning hair. I've had a shower, but I still smell like it. I grilled Shimo as to why he didn't show up for the last few Elementals, and basically all he did was smile mysteriously, and say 'You were never really in danger,'

I beg to differ. Breeze was the worst that I have ever felt. I think it's because she is stronger than to others, and therefore makes a bigger impact.

Eriol's nice, but he seems to know a lot more than we do. When Yuki and I finally got back to the house (his vegetables are fine, I've put Flora and Blossom onto keeping them healthy), Eriol was smiling like the Cheshire cat, when others looked concerned. He's… Argh.

He left a little while ago, because we insisted on letting him have dinner, and I am writing this whilst on Tohru watching duty, which basically means that I keep her compress cold and wet, and make sure she's comfortable. She hasn't woken for hours, but she did manage to suffer down the dinner I made for her and the others. Yuki complained in his usual manner that what I make is never as good as what Tohru can do, so it's hard to believe that a few hours ago, he had his arm around my waist. We've been touching a lot more lately, and I'm sure as hell not complaining.

I hope Tohru gets better soon.

*~*~*~*

I put down my book and tuck my pencil in my pocket as Tohru's wide brown eyes finally open.

I smile. "How are we?"
Tohru smiles slightly, looking rather wan.

A warm hand lands on my shoulder, and I look back at Yuki.

"I'll look after her now."

"You shouldn't be out of bed either, so leave me to it."

"You were out in the rain just as long as I was, and you had a harder time, too." Yuki says, his eyes explaining what he meant by 'harder time', as their depths swirl amber for a second, Shimo acknowledging me.

"That's not the point. I'm fine now, and you have a more delicate disposition."

"Delicate enough to beat you systematically?"

I make a noise of frustration, and Tohru groans and turns over, dislodging her compress. With a sigh I reach over her, take it from where it had fallen, and dip it back in my bowl of cold water. After wringing it out, I place it on her forehead again, and lean back to keep watching her. Yuki crouches down next to my chair, and with his eyes still on Tohru's sleeping form, takes my hand. With a start, I stare down at him from my place, and then shift over slightly, so there is room for both of us on the seat. Yuki looks up at me, and accepts it, and we sit, our knees touching while our 'little sister' slept.

Just a little bot of sap there. Eriol's being strange again, and I leave you there to think of what he might do next. Please review though, reviews make my world go round.