Disclaimer: yadda yadda yadda… Fruits Basket isn't mine.

Someone was talking to him, someone he couldn't see and someone that no one else seemed to hear. It was strange but he wrote it off as hallucinations, maybe he was still dreaming. Whatever it was, Yuki was determined to ignore it.

"Hey Yuki-kun. You better hurry and get your ass to school or you'll be late." Yuki clenched his teeth to keep from crying out. Is it just my imagination or does that 'voice' sound just like Kyo's? Whoever or whatever it is, this is starting to freak me out. But he sighed and followed Tohru out the door. He didn't need his older cousins to worry that he was losing his mind, which he was beginning to think that he was.

"Sohma-kun, is there anything you want to talk about?" Tohru's sweet voice cut through the fog of confusion in his head. "I'm here for you if you just need to get things off your chest."

"Thank you, Honda-san." He nodded and hitched a smile on his face. "I'm fine but I'll keep that in mind." Saying nothing more, the two walked to school in a companionable silence. But he kept his eyes trained to the cement beneath his feet and in doing so, missed the furtive looks of unease that Tohru frequently sent his way.

"Sohma Yuki," a ruler slammed on his desk and he jumped up, staring blearily at the thick hand holding the ruler. "Sleeping again! That does it, that's the third time this week. Since you obviously didn't hear a word I was just saying, perhaps you'd like a refresher on today's lecture? In detention." Smiling sweetly, his teacher straightened and walked back to the front of the room. He glared at her with every ounce of hatred he could muster. The students glanced at him, puzzled; it really wasn't like him to sleep during class and it certainly wasn't like him to show such intense disgust toward a teacher.

After class, however, he resigned himself to doing whatever the teacher had in store for him. She sat him down and lectured him for a while then left him to do the worksheets she'd assigned. He was in for two hours of her detention and finishing the worksheets didn't even take up half the time.

"Stupid cow. Who does she think she is?" And he snapped his head in the direction he thought he'd heard the voice coming from but there was no one there. He forced himself to relax; he didn't realize that every muscle in his body had tensed when the disembodied voice floated through his ears. But the rest of the time passed uneventfully; no more voice, the teacher was pleased with the work he handed to her, and he had successfully managed not to fall asleep in the pleasantly warm sunlight that filtered through one of the windows. He swung the bag around his shoulders and walked out, assuring her that this would not happen again. He was about to walk through the gates when a small sound caught his attention. He turned his head and amongst the trees he saw something. His curiosity piqued he walked closer, somehow realizing that he shouldn't allow himself to be seen unless it was absolutely necessary.

"No, please god, no. Leave me alone, please." A girl whispered, her voice catching; she sounded close to tears. He crept closer still, hidden in the trees and all the shrubbery. What he saw horrified, disgusted, and angered him. "No. No, not like this. Just leave me alone."

A very pretty girl was backing up, begging with a tall, muscular man. She was wearing a school uniform but Yuki didn't know who she was. He had never seen her before. Her shirt was untucked and her skirt was torn. Her pale face was streaked with dirt and tears and her long legs were scraped, muddy, and bleeding. Long black hair billowed in the wind that suddenly picked up and Yuki could see the leaves stuck them. The man advanced on her with a feral look in his eye and an animalistic grin on his face. He looked too old to be attending the high school so Yuki figured he was about twenty years of age or maybe even more.

"Shut up you little whore." He snarled angrily and then the sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh and a soft thud. The girl was on the ground now, her lower body resting on her hips but her upper body twisted at the waist and her face was pressed into the rich dirt. "I'm going to get what I want, when I want it." And the man crouched down and harshly grabbed her arm. He pulled her toward him and kissed her on the lips. She struggled, small fists smacking his broad chest, doing nothing but angering him even more. He threw her back on the ground and she fell with a loud cry. Her lip was bleeding and she coughed, still pleading with the man. He kicked her and she clutched her stomach, whimpering and shaking and by this time, all Yuki saw was red. She was hurt, in trouble, and he needed to help her.

"Leave her alone!" he yelled and launched himself at the man who looked up at him, surprise registering on his face.

"What the-" was all he could say before Yuki knocked him backward. He stood with an ugly look and faced Yuki. When he realized how small and slight the boy was, he began to laugh. "You have the nerve to try and take me on? I could kill you, boy." And, arms outstretched, he ran at Yuki who was able to dodge him easily. With all the skill and agility borne to the slender boy, he kicked his attacker much like he would have kicked Kyo. The man went flying and when he landed, he scrambled to his feet. "This isn't over. I'll find you, boy, whoever you are. And then you'll be sorry you ever messed with the likes of me." Rubbing his jaw, he turned tail and jumped over the fence closing in the school grounds.

Breathing slightly harder than usual from his exertions, Yuki then turned his attentions to the girl who had pushed herself into a sitting position. He approached her but she scooted away from him, her torn skirt snagging on the branches and twigs littering the ground. She stopped and he crouched beside her, hands reaching out to her. She cowered and shrunk away from him.

"I won't hurt you." He said quietly. She stopped moving away from him but watched him with distrusting eyes. "Come on, let's get you home." He grasped her by the hand and helped her stand up. She went willingly but began to shiver. He shrugged off his blazer and handed it to her.

"Thank you." Not another word was said until they reached her apartment building. Yuki escorted her inside, just to be safe. He pressed the doorbell and it was opened by a broad woman of average height. She wrinkled her eyebrow and perused him skeptically but then she saw the girl.

"Sayuri!" and the girl threw herself at the older woman, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh mama, I'm so sorry." Sayuri said and buried her face in her mother's arms.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Yuki coughed discreetly, trying to get the two females' attentions. Both of them looked at him. "I think it would be wise if Sayuri was taken to a police station, so she could file a report against the man who did this. He shouldn't be allowed to walk free." Sayuri's mother nodded and smiled at him.

"Thank you, sir. We'll be sure to do that." She inclined her head toward the floor to show her gratitude.

"Yes, thank you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there to help me." Sayuri spoke up. She removed the blazer from her shoulders and handed it to him. He took it and the mother-daughter pair walked inside the house and closed the door firmly behind their backs. Yuki left the building and started back for home. Tohru and Shigure both would be worried about him and sure to ask of his whereabouts and his reason for arriving home so late.

"Dammit, be careful. That man looked dangerous. He'll be sure to keep his word about making you regret what you did." The same voice warned. Yuki shrugged his shoulders, knowing that he couldn't argue. Was he really sure the voice he kept hearing wasn't coming from inside his own mind? But he couldn't shake the feeling that this was Kyo's voice. It sounded like Kyo's voice. What was Kyo doing in his head?

It was getting late and the sky was darkening. As the sun faded from the sky, Yuki shivered from the chilly night breeze that swept past him and threaded his arms through the blazer, pulling it closer around his slim body, snuggling into the warmth the fabric and his body created. The house came into view and Yuki had never been so happy to see it before. He had treaded this path so many times but the sight of the house with its paper doors and twinkling lights hadn't ever seemed so sweet. It was cold and he was shivering flat-out so he wasted no time in opening the door and stepping into the heated hallway, grateful that he was able to shut out the cold. He was just slipping his shoes off when a very angry Shigure came rushing out of his study.

"Where the bloody hell have you been, Yuki? He demanded, hands on his hips.

"I'm sorry I'm so late. I was—delayed on my way home and had no way of reaching you. I'm sorry," Yuki bowed apologetically and Shigure calmed down.

"What's the matter with you lately? I never would have thought you'd be so affected with Kyo's death. Kyo, of all people. If only he could see you now."

A/N: Not much happening here… but it's an IMPORTANT chapter. Keep that in mind…. hint hint