A night alone in bed hadn't helped her thoughts, she realized as she stretched the next morning. A weekend. Kyo would be up already, Yuki dead asleep.
She dressed, and walked downstairs, careful not to make too much noise, lest she wake the Rat up. But when she reached the bottom, she found him already up, sitting in the living room with Kyo and Hatori, their faces stony. Shigure was gone.
"W-what happened, Sohma-san?" she asked, going back to her old name for him in her fear. "What's going on?"
Kyo and Yuki exchanged glances, for once agreeing on something, if it was only that they didn't want to be the one telling her. Hatori was the one who spoke up.
"Akito wants you memories erased," he said, his voice cold, without emotion. "Shigure's trying to persuade Akito not to. Swear not to tell Akito, but I hope Shigure succeeds. But in the meantime, you are not to leave this house."
"Y…yes, sir!" She sat down, hard on the piece of furniture that happened to be closest. "I-I won't move from this spot!"
Hatori, in spite of the less-than-ecstatic atmosphere, chuckled softly. Even Kyo and Yuki found themselves smiling a bit. "It's fine if you take a walk in the yard or the garden or something like that, just send Kyo-kun to do the shopping while Shigure's gone, okay? He might be a few days; Akito's rather sickly and might not want to see him. My orders are to guard you, but I trust you not to go too far. So I'll be leaving, all right?"
"Hey!" Kyo said suddenly, realizing that Hatori had said 'send Kyo-kun to do the shopping' instead of 'send Kyo-kun and Yuki to do the shopping.' "Why's it gotta be me? Why not the baka nezumi over there?"
"Because I'm not replaceable," said Yuki matter-of-factly. "There are millions of guys like you in the world. You're not important."
"HEY!" And Tohru thought, as she laughed along with the others, that if they could find a moment of happiness in such a gloomy time, that maybe, even if Akito erased all her memories, she could still remain friends with the Sohmas. If they could salvage this moment of happiness among the grim horizon, maybe anything could happen. Maybe she could find love.