I know I know, it seems like this story is going to be Kyoru. But not to worry! This will most definitely be a Yukiru story. I'm just adding to the suspense so that when they do get together…well, we'll see what happened ;-)
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.
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Chapter 6 Without a Trace
"Yuki-kun isn't here?" Shigure asked frowning. After Yuki had returned yesterday, he seemed much more secluded. Yuki had barely spoken a word through the whole evening and ignored and avoided everyone, especially Tohru. No he was gone? Shigure had just walked into the kitchen greeted by a frantic Tohru and an empty table.
"Yes!" Tohru practically yelled, "I've check everywhere."
Shigure frowned again. Where was Yuki? The older man wasn't as concerned as Tohru because Yuki had once pulled an escape act, but he had been found the same day. However, now, Shigure was beginning to grow worried. It wasn't like Yuki to run off without warning. He was a reasonable kid; he wouldn't have run off without a reason. Something must have happened at the main house.
"What's this I hear about my little brother?" Ayame walked in hoping to see Yuki. But he only saw two solemn faced people.
"He's gone, without a trace." Shigure answered seeing to how Tohru was on the verge of crying.
Ayame's face dropped. What?
Kyo walked in at that moment, and upon seeing the three's sadness, scoffed and said, "What? The rat's gone? I think it's better if he never comes back." But one look at Tohru made him regret what he had said. He then mumbled something about going back to bed and walked upstairs.
Shigure piped up and said, "Well, it won't help if we mope all this time. I'll call Hatori again, maybe Yuki went to the main house." Shigure suggested, the other two occupants of the room wanted to believe that, but they both knew that there would have been no way that Yuki would've went to the main house on his own.
After Shigure came back from the phone, he just shook his head at the two hopeful faces; all three faces were gloomy. Shigure added, "Hari's coming over."
Ayame nodded and Tohru just fidgeted. She started making breakfast, but ended up not turning on the stove, or forgetting to put out the stove. So breakfast was out of the question. Ten minutes after the phone call, Hatori walked in the front door, followed by Momiji, Haru, and Kagura.
Kagura and Momiji rushed to Tohru's side and started helping her with breakfast, while Haru just stood watching the adults, concerned with what happened to Yuki. Ayame looked at Hatori, almost pleading as if the doctor knew where Yuki was but wouldn't tell them, he asked, "You have no idea where he is?"
Hatori shook his head. Haru commented, "Something happened yesterday during his talk with him."
The three old adults weren't surprised; rarely did a zodiac member come out unharmed from a talk with the family head. But Yuki was growing stronger; he had survived the other times, what had happened? What had happened that was so serious that made him run away?
Tohru couldn't keep her mind on cooking and Momiji finally coaxed her to rest. She listened in on the conversation and added her thoughts, "He seemed so sad. I've never seen him that sad. But he was also hiding his feelings. He had on that mask which he puts on whenever he was surrounded by his fan club."
Hatori sighed. Akito was known for his ways of torturing a person. He asked, "Is there anyone that he might have gone to?"
Tohru shook her head almost immediately, but it was Haru who answered, "You know that the zodiac members rarely have other companions. Yuki couldn't have gone to someone else."
Hatori nodded, zodiac members relied on the 'inside' of the Sohma family, but Yuki hadn't gone to any of the people that lived 'inside'. Something happened that caused Yuki to run away from them, his only family.
Ayame was getting restless. He worried over his brother like he never had before. "We have to find him!" he yelled. All his happiness was gone this morning; the thoughts of Yuki being alone and possibly injured pained him. It also angered him, what did Akito do this time?
Tohru looked at Ayame, if it were any other time, she would've smiled at Ayame's determination to help Yuki, but now, she didn't think that she would ever smile again. She had thought that she like Yuki, but she was wrong, she didn't just like him, she had fallen in love with him. The saying of how a person never really appreciates another until that person was gone ran through Tohru head. It was true; she never realized her feeling for Yuki until he was gone. More tears spilled down Tohru's eyes as Momiji came up behind her.
Momiji said to Tohru, "Tohru! Don't cry! When you cry, I feel so sad."
Tohru looked at Momiji as a sob caught in her throat. Crying won't help Yuki, Tohru scolded herself, and it'll make everyone else worried even more. Tohru wiped her tears quickly and nodded, not trusting herself to speak, fearing that she'll break down crying.
Ayame looked at Tohru and scolded Yuki in his head, Look what you're putting her through! But no one answered, Ayame felt like crying himself.
Hatori sighed and looked around the gloomy room, "We'll have to try searching for him. Although, if he decided to run away, I doubt that we'll have a lot of luck trying to find him. Report back in three hours, and if he isn't found by then, I'll ask Akito what happened."
The group nodded and hurried out the door. They didn't know where they were going, or how long it would take them to reach the person that need to find. An hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed, no Yuki. The group walked sadly back to Shigure's house. Hatori went to the main house to ask Akito.
"What do you want?" Akito asked, annoyed that someone had disturbed him in his tranquility.
"Yuki's gone." Hatori reported. He watched for a change of expression on Akito's face. All he got was anger.
"What? He wasn't supposed to do that!" Akito seethed.
Hatori was confused, so Akito had done something. "What happened?"
"Is that a demand Hatori? How dare you? First Yuki, now you!" Akito sat up and glared at Hatori, a glare that took him back so many years, back to the days when he was with Kana.
Hatori was confused on what had happened; Yuki defined Akito? Akito was now muttering things to himself, his eyes wild in anger, "He wasn't suppose to go away. He was supposed to turn that girl away."
Hatori could only guess 'that girl' was Tohru. So they had a talk about Tohru, was that why Yuki left?
Akito looked at Hatori once more and glared, "Let him go, I want to see how long he lasts" Akito laughed at this.
"We can't let him go!" Hatori almost shouted, "We have to find him." Hatori was surprised at himself, he never expected himself to speak against Akito.
Akito glared even more menacingly and said, "Don't dare disobey me! Yuki obeyed me. Stop searching. I don't care for him anymore. He can go, let see how long he lasts without people to clean up his mess."
Hatori wanted to say something more, but knew that it would get him nowhere, so he bowed and walked out the room. He let out a sigh and set his mind to work. Yuki had defined Akito…something about Tohru…Yuki has ran away because of it…Akito didn't care…he had set the order. Hatori tried to piece together the conversation, but wasn't succeeding. He shook his head, what will Ayame and Tohru say? He drove back to Shigure's house deep in thought.
He told about his conversation to everyone; Tohru was shocked. They had talked about her, and Yuki had run away? What could they have talked about? Ayame was almost in hysterics. He didn't understand, Akito ordered Yuki to go? The house was in chaos.
When nighttime came, when the house had finally calmed down, Tohru found Ayame sitting on the couch in the living room staring into space.
She sat down beside the snake and said, "He will come back. I know he will. He wouldn't leave his family behind."
Ayame looked at the caring girl in front of her and replied, "I just keep thinking that he'll walk through that door at any moment." He shook his head and said somewhat comically, "I'm going to have to scold him when he comes back."
Tohrutried tosmile, but tears gathered up in her eyes again. Where are you, Yuki?
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O! Dun, dun, dun…Yuki's gone. Where did he go? Will he ever come back? Find out!
What Akito means by Yuki obeying an order is that he did kind of order Yuki to leave by ordering him to stop seeing Tohru, he just never specified how.
Thank you so much to reviewers! Like I said, it will be a Yukiru, but I'm afraid that I'll have to put in some more non-Yukiru scenes, so please bear with me! Hope you like it! Review please )