Dark Horizon

Note: OMG! There were two reviews for the last chappie! I'm so happy! ((hugs reviewers)) You guys are the best! Well, here you go, then, all... hope you like chapter 6!

Chapter Six: The Sohma Household

She stared at him, following like he had asked. He's a Sohma. She knew he was. His aura had that same oddly dark feeling as Yuki and Kyo's did. But, since she couldn't very well come out and say that she knew this, she took a different route.

"Um… thank you for that. You could have just left my lying in the mud, but you chose to help me. Who knows how long I could have been there? I could have gotten ill. But still… who exactly are you?"

"Oh, of course, silly me! Introductions! I'm Shigure Sohma."

"You're related to Yuki and Kyo, then?"

He nodded. "They're my cousins, though that can be a mixed blessing at times. You go to their school, I assume?"

"Yes."

He had been expecting a name to be included in her response. Strange girl, this one. But I wonder… how she looks when she's not covered in mud?

"Ah, here we are! My wonderful home!"

She was staring at a rather large house that numbed her mind just looking at it. "It's huge."

"Oh, is it? To me it has always been home, and that is all."

Okay, just when I thought the Sohma family couldn't get any weirder… they throw this nut case at me. And now he's bringing me to his house… this is bad… I shouldn't have let him talk me into this… Now I'm going to have to leave town. And I had hoped to stay here for a while.

"Thanks very much for your hospitality, but I'll have to be going soon."

"Not that dirty you aren't. And shouldn't a young high school student like yourself be in school right now?"

"I… wasn't feeling well… so I… left."

"I see. Now, through there's the shower, I'll take those for you," he said, reaching out as if to take her dirty clothes.

She shrank back. "I think I'll be keeping these, thank you," she said, stepping into the room and firmly closing the door. What kind of sick minded… oh, never mind it. I'll only be here a while longer anyway. But nice, warm water will feel really good… and getting all this mud off…

Relaxing for a little while helped her to regain the rest of her calm. I really lost it back there… running away from school, blowing up at Yuki. He probably hates me now. I guess that's a good thing, but… I don't know… something about him, and Kyo and even Tohru felt… nice. If things were different… if I wasn't, well, me… then I might have had a home here.

"How is everything in there?" Shigure called.

"Fine," she said back in a barely audible tone. He'd just disrupted her peace, and now she was feeling almost as depressed as before. She didn't want to leave. She liked this place, and this school, and these people.

"Just call me if you need anything!"

Oh yeah, I'll do that… while I'm standing here naked! "Ok, thank you very much."

After a little while longer, she was once again clean, even more so this time, and stepped out of the bathtub, wrapping a towel around herself at once. Maybe she was still a little shaken up from the snakes, or maybe it was Shigure.

"Yuki, Kyo and Tohru should be back soon," he said when she stepped out of the bathroom.

"Um… I can't exactly stand around in a towel all day… if it isn't too much trouble… some clothes, please?"

She was almost certain that she saw him pout, but then he rushed off and returned with some clothes that looked about a size or two too big for her.

"I think Tohru's clothes would be too small for you, so I brought you Yuki's instead!"

She colored a little, thinking about Yuki. "Oh, thank you… I'll just go back in there and…"

And she did go back in there and change. She felt ridiculous wearing a boy's clothes, and Yuki's nonetheless. Well… it's official… he's never going to forgive me… after this morning, and now I've kidnapped his clothes… I guess I should be glad that it's turning out this way.

"I knew you'd be adorable when you weren't all muddy!" Shigure announced, beaming at her.

"Thanks… I think. Are you sure that Yuki will be… okay with me borrowing these?"

"Oh, don't worry about him… However shall we entertain ourselves while the youngsters are away?"

"Eh…"

"Shigure! We're home!"

Thanks goodness! Kara thought.

Aww… they're spoiling all my fun! Shigure mentally whined.

"Hello Yuki, Kyo, Tohru! Come in here, there's someone you might want to-"

"Miss Silvers… what are you doing here?"

"Oh… it's sort of a long story, Yuki…" she trailed, trying to think of a way to put it lightly and escape attention.

"I found her in the woods, collapsed in the mud."

Well, that wasn't blunt or anything… "I, um… I wasn't feeling so good… I'm sorry for before, by the way… but I decided I needed to take the day off… get some fresh air. And then… I, er, tripped."

"And Shigure found you?"

"Um, yes… I guess I just got lucky…" Or unfortunate, as it may better be put.

"What are you doing here? Why'd you invite her in, Shigure?" Kyo grumbled, adding a few less polite things under his breath.

"Tsk Tsk, Kyo… where is your sense of hospitality? I couldn't possibly leave her all wet and dirty in the middle of the woods."

"Why not?"

"Because it's rude, honestly you stupid cat, shouldn't you have picked up on that by now?"

"That's none of your business you-"

"Yuki, Kyo, not in front of our guest, whose name, might I add, I still do not know."

Kara blushed. She hadn't realized that she hadn't even introduced herself. Apparently having a lot of mood swings affects a person's memory. "Sorry about that… like I said, I wasn't feeling well… I'm Kara Silvers."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kara."

Kyo, Kara noticed, had already sulked off, and Tohru had gone to the kitchen. She was alone with Yuki and Shigure.

"Are those…?"

"Oh, yeah… Shigure said it'd be okay… My uniform is a bit of a wreck right now…"

"It's quite alright. I was concerned when you disappeared earlier… you were acting a bit strange… are you sure you're okay now?"

"Just ignore me, Yuki, by all means," Shigure grumbled before disappearing to who knows where.

Yuki did that, and so did Kara.

"I'm sorry about that… I had a bit of a break down back there… lack of sleep, I guess… I didn't mean to be so rude to you, after you've been so kind to me… it's just… well, you know what I told you before?"

"Yes."

She had decided that confiding in him would make her feel much better and, since she was going to leave anyway, do him no permanent damage. "I guess it really bothers me that you… you have so many friends and… you don't have to be afraid that they'll get hurt… I know it's silly, but… I'm a little jealous of you, Yuki. You've got such wonderful friends, and I have… a little shack in the woods and strange snakes to keep me company."

"Jealous? Of me?"

"Is it really so hard to believe?" she asked, tears welling in her eyes. No one had talked to her for this long in such a long time. No one had taken an interest… most of them were scared. "You've got so many people who care about you… and, unlike myself, you don't have to know that a day will come when they're sick, or dead, because of you."

"Miss Silvers… I honestly do not think that you're cursed."

She sniffed and looked away. "I'm sorry… I lost it there again. Just forget I said it."

"Once again, I'd like to extend the offer that you stay here, with us."

"I can't, Yuki. You know that. Do you want to get sick? Do you want Tohru to get sick? And Kyo… well, I guess you just might want him sick… but that's beside the point."

"Miss Silvers, you did promise me you would stay here if anything bad happened."

"Oh, this isn't so bad…"

"You're upset, and you shouldn't have to face that alone. Now why don't we go and get your things?"

I have to leave this place… I'll go tonight… but I guess letting him think he's done me a favor wouldn't hurt. "Okay… but Yuki… there has never been an exception to my… curse."

"That's a chance that, for the time being, at least until you prove that what you say is true, I am willing to take."

She was a little touched by his selflessness, but then was it really so selfless? Maybe the ones we leave behind suffer more than us when we go… maybe it's easy for him to say that because he won't have to live with the guilt like I would… and maybe, it's easier for me to run away than to live with that guilt. I didn't want to have to find another new town, one that hasn't heard of the strange sickness in the old one, but that's the only choice I have left. I'll go with him for now… but the first chance I get, I'm out of here.

End note: Hope you liked it! Review for me, please!