Chapter 4: Eyes Like Yours...
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AN: Thank you, Grrl N for letting me know of my folly with Hana's name in the last chapter, it has been corrected. Hontou ni arigatou gozaimasu.
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The subsequent days were tense. Kagura remained in the house, assisting Tohru, who fortunately hadn't turned into a mouse since she had last put on the amulet. Mind you, Yuki and Tohru had also been on the verge of avoiding each other, which was driving everyone, themselves included, crazy.
Tohru wiped a bit of sweat off her head as she worked in the small garden that Yuki had kept for so long. Since she had such long days to herself now, there wasn't much else she could do. She had cleaned the house from top to bottom in the first day. The next day, she found herself washing, drying, ironing, and folding ALL the laundry in the house. Clean or not.
She had never realized how much of her life was actually taken up with school. Even her part time job wasn't enough to distract her.
Especially since the person she'd been trying to avoid since their last encounter insisted on walking her not only from, but now TO work. She blushed, remembering the rather stubborn look on his face when he had told her the matter wasn't really up for discussion.
She didn't even really understand why she was avoiding him so much. A small sigh escaped her. Because she was afraid to like him too much.
She glanced towards the strawberry bush and idly, she went towards it, gently shifting leaves, trying to find any ripe berries. Perhaps if there were, she could make strawberry short-cake. As she dug through them, she failed to notice the figure approaching from behind her.
Suddenly, a hard blow caused Tohru's vision to spin. She turned, finding herself looking into an angry woman's face. She staggered backwards, feeling the edges of her vision fading to black. Yet, she forced herself to examine the woman. Dark grey hair, vibrant, if slightly angry violet eyes. "Wha-"
The woman lifted the board again, closing the distance a bit more. "Keep your hands off my Yuki!" She whispered fiercely.
Tohru stared at her in shock. "Wh-what!"
"He's mine! You can't have him!" She snarled, bringing the board down again, this time, striking her shoulder.
Tohru sunk under the blow. "Iie...don't hurt me, please..." She was confused, why was this happening to her! She hadn't done anything!
"Don't you every touch my Yuki again!"
Hands grabbed her throat and Tohru gasped for air. She couldn't speak, she couldn't breath. Tears filled her eyes, falling down her face. 'Someone, please save me...' She was beginning to black out.
"If you don't leave this house, I swear, you'll regret ever knowing the name Sohma..." She hissed. "And you'll break another promise, because I'll tell the world..."
Tohru looked up at her in shock.
"I'll tell the world their secret!"
Tohru pulled away from her, running into the forest. Tears filled her eyes as she ran. She couldn't let her promise be broken! She'd swore that she wouldn't! She had promised them! They were her family, breaking that would be...
She tripped on an upraised root, feeling a sharp pain shoot through her ankle. She let out a cry of pain, touching it lightly. She heard someone yelling, and wondered if it was that woman again. Instinctively, she hid herself among the shrubs, trying to avoid being seen.
She clasped the amulet tightly, praying that she would remain safe, that no one would find her.
"Tohru-kun!"
"Tohru-san!"
She heard two concerned voices call her name and lifted her head, seeing two people stumbling through the woods. She would recognize their voices anywhere. "Shigure-san..." She whispered softly. "Y-yuki-kun..." She felt her strength leave her and darkness quickly swallowed her.
Shigure looked towards the bushes. "Over there, Yuki." He said evenly.
Yuki nodded, hurrying over to the bushes. He found Tohru unconscious and there was blood trickling down the side of her head. He knelt beside her, gently taking her pulse. "Tohru-san..." He said softly, giving her a gentle shake. "Tohru!"
She wasn't responding to him.
He bit his lip, sliding one arm under her knees, the other under her shoulders. "Shigure, she's hurt!" He said, hurrying over towards the older boy.
"Then let's get her home, shall we." Shigure frowned deeply, wondering idly what had made the girl run like she had. She was late in returning, and so they had gone out to get her, finding only a beam with blood on it near the garden.
Naturally, the news of this had sent the rest of the household in a panicked search of the area to find her.
Thankfully, she was found.
Yuki looked down at her face, feeling a strange tug in his chest. "Why were you out here by yourself, Tohru-san?" He idly wondered, as they walked back towards the house. Shigure could call the rest back. He would tend to her himself. She hadn't screamed. No one had known she was hurt. No one knew...
He closed his eyes. Dammit, he hadn't been able to protect her.
When they reached the house, he immediately went upstairs, setting her against her bed. She was stirring. A breath sighed out of him. "Tohru-san?" He asked timidly, wondering if she maybe wasn't now suffering from amnesia.
Her eyes opened slowly and she looked at his heartbreakingly worried face. "Yuki...Kun?" She asked softly.
He wanted to cry. He looked at her, his throat closing off all the things he wanted to say to her. He merely clasped her hand gently, resting his forehead against it. She was okay. She remebered him. He felt himself shake, and a sob was ripped from his chest.
Tohru looked at him in shock. "Yuki-kun?"
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Tohru...if you ever run off like that again..." He said softly. "I swear...I will find a way to punish you."
Her eyes widened. "B-but-"
"Why did you run away, Tohru?" He whispered. "What happened!"
She couldn't look at him. "I...I don't remember." She lied. She heard him sigh and bit her lip. She couldn't tell him what she was planning to do. If she did, then he might try to keep her from leaving.
He looked directly at her and his eyes narrowed. "Promise me you wont leave again." He said softly.
Her eyes widened. "D-demo-"
He saw the fear on her eyes and a sudden suspicion filled him. She did remember what happened. He ground his teeth together. He heard the door open and Kagura hurried in, bringing some bandages.
"Would you like me to help?" She offered, seeing there was a rather dark expression on his face. She knew his answer before he opened his mouth.
"No, I'll do it myself."
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Kyo heard Kagura come back downstairs and looked towards her. She had a strange expression on her face as she did. "Oi, is she okay?" He asked, getting up, walking towards her. "Did she say what happened?"
"She's awake...and I don't know." She looked up at him, feeling strangely pensive. "Things are incredibly tense up there." She admitted, sitting down beside him.
Shigure frowned deeply, glancing outside. Something had happened when she was in the garden...and she wasn't telling anyone.
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"I'm not leaving until you promise me." He said evenly as he cleaned the wound on the back of her head. They had been tense with silence for quite awhile till now, when he had broken the awkward moment.
She blushed faintly. She didn't want him to leave, anyways. "Yuki-kun, I don't think I can..." She said softly, wincing a bit as he cleaned her head.
He picked up the bandage, wrapping it around her head gently. "I can't make you if you don't want to." He admitted. "But I can tell you this..." He looked down, biting his lip. "If you don't tell me what's wrong, then there's nothing I can do to help make it right..."
She blushed brightly. She felt him finish bandaging her head and glanced down at her ankle. "I hurt my ankle, too..." She said softly, trying not to look at him. She saw some concern on his face and he moved down, gently probing her ankle.
He frowned, then looked at her. "Tohru, what happened in the garden?"
She knew she should just tell him the truth. "I...I tripped..." She finally said.
"Liar." He whispered, getting angry with her. "Why don't you just tell me!"
"Because if I do, everyone will find out your secret!" She cried, looking up at him, grief on her face. "I don't want to break my promise!"
His eyes widened. Someone else knew their secret! "I think it's time you told me the truth." He said softly, taking both of her hands in his.
She took a deep breath. He was right, of course. He was always right, after all, he was Yuki-ouji-sama. "Someone hit me today, with that beam. They said...that if I don't leave, they'll tell your families secret..." She looked down, tears threatening.
"What did they look like?" He asked, gently cupping her face.
"It...it was a woman...I think. She had dark grey hair and..." She paused, looking into the bottomless pools of violet that were his eyes. "She had your eyes..." She realized, her eyes widening.
He froze. "What?" He just short of whispered. Fear chewed at his insides. Not her. Anybody but her.
"Yuki-kun?" She leaned towards him, seeing fear in his eyes.
Akito, his dad even, but please god, not her.
"Who is she?"
He swallowed hard, shaking his head. "Tohru, don't worry about it. I am going to talk to Shigure. We'll figure out something, but please, for my sake, don't run off again...and don't leave the house without one of us, okay!"
She stared at him confused. "Yuki-kun? What's wrong?"
He gripped her shoulders, holding her still. "Just promise me, okay!" He searched her eyes and saw there was a great deal of confusion in them. "It'll be okay, I swear, but you have to promise me you wont leave the house, okay!"
She swallowed hard. "Okay, Yuki-kun. I promise." She whispered.
He took a deep breath, then kissed her forehead lightly. "Thank you." He whispered, then straightened, walking out of the room.
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Everyone waited for him downstairs.
They looked up when he entered the room, and Kyo spoke up. "Oi, kuso nezumi, are you okay? You're kinda pale..." He blinked. "Well, more than usual anyways."
Yuki slowly sank to the floor. "Tohru...told me what happened earlier today. She...was attacked." He waited for everyone to play out their reactions, then raised his hand. "I suspect...that the person who attacked her is the one who caused the curse to reflect upon her." He looked down at his hands, uncertain of how to continue.
"Did she see the person who did it!" Momiji cried.
Yuki nodded, his throat dry.
"Well? We need to go to the police."
Yuki shook his head. "Let me finish...The attacker...threatened to expose our secret if she didn't leave our house..."
Everyone became deathly silent.
"But who would believe them?" Kagura asked. "It's kind of something unbelievable."
"True, but the...person who gave the threat...who...hurt Tohru-san..." He shuddered, then looked at Ayame. He couldn't say it. His voice was failing him.
Everyone watched him pale further.
Realization hit Ayame like a ton of bricks. "Dear god, no..." He whispered, paling as well.
Akito looked between the pair and knew instantly. Even he paled a bit.
Silence reighned for several moments while Yuki tried to collect himself. "It's my mother."
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AN: MUWAHAHAHA! I bet none of you were expecting that when you began this story! BWAHAHAHA! Well, maybe you were. I had to cliffhang this. It's just too good a place to leave everyone hanging. Please keep reading, onegai shimasu! Thank you for the reviews, everybody! See you next chapter!