Chapter 4:
The whirring sound began to grow fast a and faster, until suddenly there was a loud BANG and then everything disappeared. Then suddenly a long tunnel appeared. It was white and had no distinguishing marks or features Either I'm going back in time or I've died and am going to heaven thought Tohru. Either way it should be a good ride. She could feel her self being propelled forward through the tunnel. And then, as quickly as it had started, it was over. She felt herself flying and then landing on the soft grass. She stood up an dusted herself off and checked herself over. Looks like I made it in one piece she thought. Waiting to see if any of the others would be following, she decided to get a idea of the area where she had landed. She was standing in a small clearing, of about 100 feet wide by 100 feet long. It was actually where she had hoped the machine would place her. It was secluded enough not to attract much attention, but close enough to Shigure's house so she wouldn't have to walk to far. Hopefully he won't decide to try to see if any other high school girls have tents on Sohma property She thought to herself, grinning at the memory of her second meeting with Shigure and Yuki at her tent. Quickly she stopped the memory. Remembering the past was one thing but she had a job to do. As she was thinking, a sudden bright burst of light appeared and out from it came several large boxes. It was quickly followed by a much bigger circle of l9ight out of which came the rest of the Shoma family. Tohru couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the rest of them piled on top of one another on the ground. Helping them get free of each other she said "not enough time to do single transport I see?"
Hatori shrugged his shoulders "Well that and it seemed more efficient. The machine was supposed to be able to handle groups anyway. It was the exit I was concerned about"
Tohru pointed towards the path that led out of the clearing. 'As you can see we've landed right where I wanted to, about a 10 minutes walk from Shigure's. I'm going to take Momiji and do some scouting. I haven't had a chance to just take a nice quiet walk for a while. Setup the base camp, but be quiet. Now that we're here, the timeline has been officially broken. Try not to make to much noise, lest our past shelves decide to take a walk and investigate. I want rotating guard shifts, two hours each. Ritsu can go first, he never complains when he's on guard duty. Radio silence, unless it's an emergency. If you see ANY sign of the enemy, radio in. We'll deal with it from there. Any questions?" Hatori shook his head, he was used to Tohru taking command and everything she had said was good practical action given there circumstance. The part about the enemy worried him a bit, but he decided not to say anything. There were still at war, and there was no reason to assume they were completely out of the enemy's reach. Tohru mad her way to where Momiji and Haru were working to set up a tent. "Momiji-Kun, would you mind joining me for some scouting. I want to get an idea of the situation and your ability would be quite useful" Momiji smiled and jumped up. "Sure thing Tohru. Lead the way" They made their way out of the clearing, following a small path through the dense forest. Tohru knew about this place, she had taken the boys out here for a picnic one summer day when the weather had been to nice to stay indoors. It wasn't that far from the house. She turned to Momiji and gave a silent nod. Momiji knew what she was saying and quietly closed his eyes, as if concentrating on something. Suddenly he turned invisible and proceed to move as quietly as possible through the woods to approach the house from a different direction. Tohru continued down the path until she thought she heard some noise. Suddenly a thought came into her head. She had no idea what day it was. The plan was to go back a week before the Incident, but in all the confusion off trying to get out ahead of the attack, she hadn't confirmed the date. Being careful to check that no one was around, she tapped a button on her watch. "Riceball to Bones, come in". Over the radio came Hatori's amused response "Tohru you don't have to use our code names here, there's no one to listen in". Tohru rolled her eyes and said "It's better to be safe than sorry isn't it? Anyway, I need you to confirm the exact date we arrived" "Roger" came the response. A few seconds of silence then "My equipment tells me that we have arrived on May 16th, 2002." So a week or so before the Incident. Now all they have to do is intercept them before then, and make sure the Ritual is done properly. She then noticed that there was another path intercepting the one she was on. She realized that this was the path that led to Yuki's secret base. Then the sounds of people talking came down the path. Immidently recognizing the voices as belonging to herself and Yuki, Tohru hid herself in the foliage and watched as the two passed by the intersection they had walked by dozens of times before, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. She could hear them talking about what vegetables they were going to pick this time, and Tohru was asking Yuki what she should cook for dinner. It was hard for the older Tohru not to jump right out of the bushes and grab Yuki right then and there. She knew it would be hard to see him and Kyo again after so many years, but she hadn't prepared herself for it, and suddenly here it was right in front of her. A look back at happier, simpler times. As the two of them passed safely by, she sighed. It was time to move on. She was surprised to receive a call in her earpiece. "Tohru, this is Momiji. Perimeter is secure. No sign of enemy signals. All occupants present and accounted for."
"Roger that Momiji. You can return to camp if you want. I'm going to check on the house myself in a minute" Momiji replied" Actually if it's ok I'm going to stay for a bit longer. It's nice to just watch and remember the old days. I can't remember if I drop by the house to visit anytime close to the Incident" Tohru grinned and said "That's fine Momiji. If fact I'll join you. I just saw Yuki and myself on the trail. I suppose you can't get out of the waster once your halfway in. I might as well go see Kyo and Shigure, and get it over with. Hold tight Momiji, I'll be there in a second" She turned off her communicator, and with a deep thought, pop out of existence to reappear next to Momiji several feet from the house.
Author Notes: I'm a big stinker aren't I, leaveing on such a cliffhanger XP. I really wasn't planning on leavening this chapter on such a cliffhanger, but it seemed like a natural place to end it. I had been planning this section in my head for a bit, and wasn't really sure how to handled it. The idea of having old Tohru hid and watch her younger self and Yuki on the way to the secret base came to me at the last minute. I wanted Tohru to have an encounter with at least one of the three guys before they all met at the house and since she was already in the woods, I figured having her watch them go to the garden seemed like a good way to do that. I'm, honestly not sure if there are any other paths thought he woods neat Shigure's house, so if anyone has any license art books with drawings and maps, I apologize. I hope you found it an interesting ready anyway. I'm sure many of you are also wondering why Momiji is turning invisible and why Tohru can teleport. Well as I said, everything will get explained in time. I'm slowing introducing elements of the plot, and I hope it intrigues you enough to want to read more. So again, thanks for reading, and I'll see you again for Chapter 5.