Disclaimer - ::hums merrily to the tune of Yankee Doodle for no apparent reason:: MACARONI!
The macaroni - We, the ingestee of this fine woman before you, royally announce her dis-claim. . .
Not that any claims have been MADE!
The macaroni - Right, her dis-claim that she owns Minamino Shuichi or any of the YYH characters used in this story. She is not making money off of this story.
Good lunch, nice lunch, goodbye lunch ::eats lunch::
The macaroni - NOOOOOOOO! ::are engulfed::

A/N - Wow, am I hyper today! Hyper hyper hyper! Fwee! Yahoo. Go me. ANYWAY. . . yeah, chapter three is up. And with every chapter come AUTHOR RESPONSE CORNER! YAY!

Katy(B-W-of-R) - I LOVE you! ::gives over a complimentary Shuichi rock and a dozen cookies:: You have given me one of the best compliments I have received in my life. I needed that, especially since my English teacher right now hates me and is giving me a B and is constantly telling our class how awful our writing is. I swear, he's evil. He is the spawn of Satan! I really needed someone to give me a lift off my sad butt like you did. I am eternally in your debt. This chapter is dedicated to you, my friend!
lilacpurple - Hello there! ::waves:: I'm glad you liked the OC. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

I know you didn't review Nefus, but since you are probably reading this : GO ERIS! ELF RAWKS MY DIRTY SAWKS! w00t w00t! And also – The Things They Don't See SO ownz all of j00!

Teehee, that was fun. Anyway. . . that's all for Author Response Corner--until more reviews .

If you have any comments/concerns/complaints, please review! I don't care what you say, just do it. I command you to! NOW! (Dark Side: Shut up!) Fine. And if it's getting Mary-Sue-ish, please tell me. Well, on to the next chapter!

Recap: He turned me around as he pulled it away. I looked into his eyes and the evil grin turned to one of compassion. When he saw that, I suppose it made him more comfortable and we walked side by side along the road towards the town.


Onegai
Chapter 3 - A Wilting Fear

As we neared the edge of the woods, he stopped. I didn't notice at first, so I kept walking. I whistled to myself a happy tune of my own with no real words. The wind groaned and I stopped and listened to it. I turned to my side expecting him to be there, but he wasn't. That's when I realized I had walked about another 100 feet without him. "I'm sorry!" I shouted loudly, running back to him. The breeze blew his garnet hair around him, making him seem like he was casting some sort of spell. He put up his hand, as if saying 'Don't come any closer!' I noticed a fire growing in his eyes, and it scared me. His once comforting emerald eyes had turned to gut-wrenching evil, invoking fear into my torn soul. It might have just been my imagination, but I thought I saw of streak of grey in his hair. I slammed on the brakes, causing myself to slip a little on the muddy dirt.

"Go find shelter." he said, in a very low and quiet voice. I looked at him strangely and refused to move from my place about 20 paces from him. "NOW!" he screamed at me, and I fell on the ground, startled and in shock. Was this the same boy that, just a few hours before, was comforting my deepest troubles like nobody had before? I nodded, frightened, and scrambled to my feet and away towards a 24-hour diner that was nearby. I had to run through the woods and a creek. It was still dark and I couldn't see anything. I felt my right foot catch a tree root as I fell onto my side and rolled over a few times. A little blood run down my left arm as I pushed myself back onto my feet and continued running. Just after that, I felt my right foot betray me again as it wedged itself in a hole and refused to give as the rest of my body continued to run. I ended up falling into a pit of mud and losing one of my shoes, but that was only the beginning. My ankle was also badly twisted. I struggled to get back on my feet, but every time a sharp pain came shooting up through my leg and made me yelp in agony and slide back onto the ground.

Everything around me was spinning. It was dark, but I could see the shadows of the trees and the light from the road. The road! If I could make it to the road, I might be able to find help. Carefully, I pushed myself up onto my arms and pulled my left leg underneath me so that I was supported evenly. I gently place my right knee on the ground, being sure not to let any pressure come to my ankle. Like that, I slowly crawled along the forest floor, stopping frequently to let out a troubled cry of misery. I continued my long, crippled journey to the dimly lit street until I reached the grassy patch on the edge, where the pavement met the dirt. My eyes burned from the sweat dripping into them, but I managed to find a sign nearby that I could pull myself up on. It was small, only about two or three feet high, made of a smoothed wood. It said "Woodland Park Hills/Staymill Park/Closes at Sunset". Is that what this place was called? Whatever it meant, I made my way over to it and threw myself onto my knees, gripping the sign for dear life. With that, I quickly jumped up from my left knee to my left foot, leaning hard onto the wood to make sure I didn't fall back onto my ankles. I gasped a little for air, finding myself short of it. It didn't come. I stayed like that for a little while inhaling and exhaling heavily, but it wasn't working. I decided to just say "Screw it!" loudly and turn towards the street. I looked around, trying to get any accurate measure of time. Maybe midnight. I couldn't tell at all. I had no sense of the fourth dimension.

Whatever time it was, nobody was on the roads. It was like a ghost town or an abandoned road that nobody knew about. No headlights were visible and no sounds came that would make one believe they hear an automotive vehicle drawing near. I yelled out for help. "Help me! Somebody! . . . Anybody . . . Please! Hello?!" Still, everything was tranquil and calm. The only responses I got was an echo of my own cry and the occasional sound of a bat flying overhead. I leaned against the sign hard, almost sitting on it as I lifted my right leg into the air and rested it on an imaginary stool. It seemed hopeless. My throbbing right ankle was laughing me straight in the face, my eyes burned, my left arm was bleeding heavily, and I could feel my face all scratched up. Just then, I saw light growing from the corner of my eye. I turned to face the direction to see a pair of headlights heading in my direction. I thanked God for sending them.

"Please, STOP!" I screamed, waving my arms and hobbling over to the very edge of the road. "Please, please, please!" A loud screeching noise echoed throughout the night, and the passenger of the car rolled down their window. I looked to see a glint come off the person's shoulder, then noticed the driver had the same. They looked at me curiously, and I gasped for air again. "Please help me!" I huffed greatly, before completely falling into the side of the car.

The driver quickly got out of the car and helped me back onto my feet. I yelled in pain as my ankle touched the ground and pulled it back up violently. "Miss? Miss?" I heard from behind me, and I looked to see black. "Miss, what's wrong? What happened?"

As soon as I was out of range of the door, the passenger flung out of the car and let me lean on his shoulder. "Miss? Miss, we can't help unless we know what's wrong!" I closed my eyes as my lungs continued their fight against heaven-knows-what to get much-needed oxygen. I felt myself being placed gently into the seat of a car and I leaned my head back against it. I gasped to get enough air to tell them something important.

"My friend. . . in the woods. . . " I coughed up something into my hands, and the warm, thick liquid began dripping down onto my jeans. They began talking to each other outside, but I heard nothing of the conversation. My eyes could see nothing, my ears heard nothing except a general blur of everything mixed together, and occasionally I would feel a drip of fluid running down my cheek. I couldn't tell if it was blood or whether I had just started crying again. Soon, I heard a loud siren that I recognized was from a police car, and tried to look around to see where it was coming from. The car had begun moving as I was thrown into a seatbelt that was carefully buckled for me while I was dead to the world. "What's. . . going. . . on?" I said slowly, unable to comprehend anything that was going on.

"Miss, try not to talk. I'm going to take you to a hospital." the voice said, calmly and collected. There was no tremor to his voice. "You're badly injured. You're ankle might be broken and you have massive wounds, and quite possible head trauma." I slowly shook my head back and forth, trying to take in everything this man was saying. It didn't click.

"No! Where is he? Where's my friend?!" I yelled, violently thrashing about in my seat, unconsciously screaming curses. He stopped the car to restrain me, but I wouldn't stop threshing about. "No! I can't leave! I can't go yet! NO!" I cried out, still trying to get away, whipping my arms and legs in the man's general direction. "Let me go! I have to go back! I have to find him!" I felt something pierce my arm and I started to feel weak and immobile. The serum was pulsing through my veins as I grunted.

"I'm sorry Miss, but this is only to protect you. I'm taking you to the hospital." My head ached greatly as I threw it into the back of the seat and groaned. I heard the familiar siren throughout the whole event and finally realized it was from the car I was seated in at the very moment. I tried to move but found myself unable to. The drug had almost fully intoxicated me. I didn't want it.

"No. . . " I said gently, before being thrown into a land of unwanted sleep and horrid nightmares.


"Woods" is more like "patch of wildlife reserve maybe 1 sq. mi. total". I guess I got the idea from the wildlife reserve that surrounds my house. I don't really know what else to call it. It's not big and it has lots of trees, but it also has pathways and a little road that goes right through it. As I said before, your mind gets screwed up when you're abused, so she thinks of this little place as a peaceful forest that nobody can reach her at. Yeah. . . right. . . but, I think it adds to the story. . . a little. . . maybe. . . not really. . . WHATEVER! I like it. So nyah!

The fourth dimension is time. I don't remember where I heard it, but I thought it sounded cool. I'm going to say "Does anyone know what the fourth dimension is right now?" and scare everyone I know! ) MWAHAHAHAHA!

A/N - Sorry so short I wanted to get the next chapter up really quickly. Plus, I really don't have the slightest clue where I'm going to take it from here . So. . . yep. That's it. Reviews are most certainly welcome, and look out for chapter 4. Fwee. Yeah. That's pretty much it. I'll be seeing you around then. Remember, you get cookies when you review! . And the name for the park is completely coincidental if there is any park by such a name. I made it up, so sorry if there really is one out there.

Rei-chan the Almighty bids you adieu!