Sohma Hatori closed the door quietly behind him as he emerged from the small room that had been cleared for Serki and turned to Kyo, Shigure and Yuki.

"Well?" Kyo prompted, bristling in the silence, "Did she survive?"

"Yes, she will live, it would be wise to let her rest for a few days," Hatori replied, "Don't underestimate my skill as a doctor Kyo, I am yet to lose a patient. Now then, mind explaining what this is all about? Shigure wasn't exactly precise when he called me over at two in the morning."

"You hurt my feelings, Haa-san," Shigure gasped in fake surprise and hurt, then his eyes turned serious, "Things happened too fast anyhow, Yuki and Kyo were the ones who heard everything."

Yuki spoke up first, "It was simple, I heard a roar in the night. I thought maybe Kisa was out there and somehow she'd become a tiger and was possibly weak and lost and headed outside. That's when the idiot cat jumped down from the roof and we headed into the woods. I heard voices, a girls voice and the threating voice of another. After that a fight broke out and after the dust had settled, Sadnesan Serki was demanding answers for the extermination of the Sadnesan clan and after I had knocked him out, she apparently tried to erase our memories of seeing her and lost conciousness. That's when we brought her back to Sensei's house and he called you."

"Eh? I dare you call me idiot again, damn rat!" Kyo growled.

"Idiot." Yuki replied tonelessly.

"Did you say, Sadnesan?" Shigure asked as he stepped between the two.

"Yes." Yuki replied.

"They are the ancestrial allies of the Sohma clan. Both Sohma and Sadnesan clans knew of the others secrets and curses. It was during the feudal era of Japan, that the alliance was made. Sohmas may have lead, but the Sadnesan were the warriors that gave the Sohma clan strength and in turn, they were both protected and free to gain strength. I had heard that in Yokohama that the Sadnesan compound had been destroyed, but I did not know they had been killed, in fact its been years that any Sohma has had contact with a Sadnesan. This is something worth passing on to Akito..." Shigure answered.

"So what, they are cursed and they are Sohma warriors. Not that it matters to me, but whats the difference between Sohma and Sadnesan?" Kyo asked still furiously glaring at Yuki.

"We have fewer members of our family that are cursed and less choice when we become our respective zodiac animal. However almost all of the Sadnesan clan is cursed, but they do have one thing we Sohma's lack: Control. Serki was most likely a mountain lion becuase she wanted to be a mountain lion and had she been stronger, she would have changed back to human form when she was ready, however since she was very weak she did not transform for a very long time period. Whereas, when we are weak...well we all know what happens." Shigure replied, his eyes turning towards the room and a troubled expression on his face.

"We can all continue this lovely conversation in the morning, I am sure," Hatori spoke into the tense silence, "By the way, where's Tohru? Usually she would ahve shown up at one point by now."

"She's with Uo and Hana, a sleep over I believe, she'll be back tommorow and then we will have to explain a few things to her, won't we?" Yuki answered blithly ignoring Kyo's death glare.

"Yes and Yuki? Kyo? I want both of you to go and pick her up from her friends. If what Sadnesan-san said is true, anyone attached to the Sohma's isn't safe either. Tohru doesn't know what happened here, she could very well walk into them and never know..." Shigure explained, "I'd go with you, but Akito needs to know about this. Whether we like it or not, he's the one who can orgainize the family into safety better than anyone else. I'll go with Haa-san back to the main compound."

"Are we certain we should take this so seriously, Shigure? For all we know the girl had a high fever, she could have been delirious." Hatori asked.

"Its a little more serious than that, in the lead thugs pocket I pulled out the mark of the Daeusha clan, another clan with ancestrial ties with our clan. If the Sadnesan are our ancestral allies, then the Daeusha are our enemies. They are the reason why the Sohma and Sadnesan clans had to resort to utter secrecy. At one point normal people knew of us and our curse and were complelty at peace with our clans, till they began to spread bad gossip about our clans curses and we were forced to erase the memories of those who had known of us and to guard our secret more closely than we have ever had. The history books have had them written down as long extinct, destroyed in a final battle with the mixed armies of Sohma and Sadnesan. Yet it seems they have survived and will destroy every last member of the Sohma and Sadnesan clans for that defeat, if my guess is right. A old wounds are about to open and I don't know if we can push them back again. So whether or not Serki-san was delirious or not, the proof is in this seal that her story bears truth." Shigure answered as he pulled from the sleeve of his kimona a red, gold, and black symbol framing a skeleton dragon and tiger, each empty eye socket pilled with blood red rubies.

Hatori, Yuki, and Kyo shivered at the un-natural expressions on the tiger and dragon's boney faces.

"The Daeusha have returned." Shigure sighed simply as he pocketed the loathsem thing, "This will be proof enough for Akito to take action and know the full depth of this situation. I just hope Serki-san will be alright, she may know enough to help us against them."

"Don't think that way, Shigure," Yuki growled, "She's in pain in so many other ways. She's lost her entire family, her clan, and nearly her life to this. Don't go prying till she's ready to speak is all I have to say."

"Fine," Shigure replied as he held his hands up as though he were warding off a attack, "I'll wait but we need her help."