Disclaimer: Not mine.

Cookies (the chewy, sugary, diabetes-inducing ones—not cybertype) go out to all of my wonderful new reviewers: Dark Inu Fan, Firetwins, Vixen, and Lunar Kitty. This chapter introduces something that ever story needs—the plot!

Chapter 4: Standing on Graves Can Be Dangerous

"Yuki! Don't be mad at Kyo, please!" Tohru sprinted to Kyo, who was slowly sitting up, rubbing the back of his head.

"How can you protect him, Miss Honda? He was trying to kill you!"

Hatori looked up from his book. "Welcome home, Yuki. Would you like me to make you some tea?"

Yuki's eyes widened in disbelief. "Ha—Hatori?" He stammered. "What are you— you're allowing this?"

"Perhaps I should make tea for all of us," Hatori suggested. "Bring Kyo inside, Tohru. We need to have a talk with Yuki."

Yuki was so stunned as he followed Hatori through the paper door that he failed to notice Tohru heave Kyo to his feet and practically carry him into the house.

…

Yuki was still seething as he drank his tea. "You're lying," he said simply.

"What's so unbelievable, you damn rat? After what happened to that girl this morning, Tohru needs to learn how to protect herself!"

"You weren't teaching her how to 'protect herself'! And what does Hatori know about fighting?" He rounded on Hatori. "Why are you even here?"

"I was moderating the fight."

" 'The fight'?" he repeated incredulously. "So you admit that they were fighting! Good God, Kyo, a single one of your punches could have broken Miss Honda in half! How can you 'fight' with her when she doesn't know a thing about hand-to-hand combat?"

Tohru spoke up for the first time since they had sat down at the table. "I know a few things. Kyo has been teaching me since we came home from school."

"That was only two hours ago! You couldn't possibly have learned enough to take Kyo on in a real fight."

The group was silent for a moment before Hatori rose, left the room, and returned shortly with one of Tohru's cooking knives. He handed it to Tohru.

"I want you to throw the knife at the wall," Hatori explained as she stared quizzically at him. "As hard as you can."

Tohru hesitantly drew back her hand the flung the knife, which spun through the air before embedding itself up to the hilt in the plaster of the wall opposite her, eliciting a gape from Yuki, but no words.

Hatori waited another moment before he said, "Yuki, go pull the knife out." Yuki stood and grasped the hilt, but, despite his greatest efforts, could not pry it free.

"How is that possible?" he demanded, once he had strained himself into a sweat.

"Well, you see, Tohru has…become something special."

"What?"

"She's…a Slayer. Warrior of the Light."

"Slayer?"

"Vampire Slayer. Destined to fight the forces of darkness. The vampires and demons."

"Do you really think I'll believe something…that insane?" The last words were hissed.

"And there's no such thing as curses. Kyo didn't believe me either, until he saw Tohru stake a vampire."

Yuki looked utterly unbelieving. By the look of things, Kyo had grown tired of it.

"Damn it, rat! Hatori's telling the truth! I saw her throw a knife at a fly and kill it from eight feet away. I saw a vampire go up in dust! He's telling the truth. And Tohru would've beaten me if we had gone any longer. She's a natural fighter!" During Kyo's creschendoing speech, he had stood up, and though they were at the same heights, he towered over Yuki.

The rat still looked unbelieving. "It's impossible." He said flatly. "I don't know how Tohru was able to throw the knife with such force, but there's no thing as demons and vampires."

"Yuki…they're telling the truth." Tohru's quiet words were strangely loud

"Miss Honda, how can you really believe what they're saying?"

"Because it's true. Do you want more proof?" Her words were still quiet.

"How?"

Tohru was about to answer, but Shigure's voice floated through the house, "Hatori, what are you doing with those kids? You're supposed to be out back, and I don't see you!"

"We're in here, Shigure," Hatori called, and then added, "In the dining room."

When he entered the room, Shigure immediately noticed the knife implanted in his wall. "What have you done, Kyo?" he asked, his voice dripping with mock anguish.

"Why—" Kyo started angrily, then, after seeing Hatori's pointed glare, mumbled an apology.

Shigure sighed heavily. "Not only are you back to destroying my house, but you're doing it with Tohru's knives! How is she going to make dinner for us if you stick all of her cooking utensils into my walls?" He paused. "What are we having for dinner?"

"I haven't decided yet," Tohru answered. "Are you hungry? I can go make something right now, if you like."

"I can wait a bit. I want to hear what you've all been up to, first." Shigure waited, but no one volunteered an answer. "Keep your secrets, then. I'm going up to my office. Call me when dinner's ready."

As soon as Shigure had left, the conversation resumed. "How? How are you going to prove it?" Yuki challenged again.

"I…I…could pick up something really heavy. That I could only pick up with Slayer strength."

"And what would that be?"

Tohru was lost in thought for a bit. Then she brightened as an idea came to her. "Hatori's car!"

"What? No!" Hatori had been listening to the conversation with a detached interest, but now he was all ears, and not happy. "Please, something else."

"Err…Hatori, you seem to like that car a bit much." Kyo ventured.

"Because…" The rest of the sentence was muttered under his breath, and strangely, he blushed.

Something to do with Kana? Tohru wondered distractedly. She wanted to prove to Yuki she was a Slayer, but nothing came to mind. Then it hit her. She was a Slayer, wasn't she? Well, then, she could slay something.

"Then we can go out to the cemetery, and I can slay a vampire!" she said cheerfully.

…

"I still don't understand why we have to do this." Kyo muttered, leaning against a headstone in Greenstone Cemetery the closest graveyard to the house.

Tohru, Kyo, Hatori, and, of course, Yuki were standing around, at various graves. They had left Shigure's once it had gotten dark, after dinner.

Yuki still looked skeptical, and was talking about studying math. He seemed very bored.

"Because Yuki needs to know. Now hush and wait. The man buried in the grave under you is supposed to rise soon. Are you sure about this Tohru? I not sure you have enough training." Hatori answered. Kyo moved off the grave.

"But Yuki and Kyo can help." Tohru looked as clueless as she always did, but underneath she was really scared, and glad Kyo and Yuki were with her. The first vampire had been a lucky hit, and the second was an instant reaction. This would be her first real fight.

They waited for a while longer, Yuki getting increasingly impatient.

"If nothing happens soon I'm going home."

"Just wait, Yuki! Please, we're telling the truth."

They waited for another 20 minutes.

"This is ridiculous. I'm going home." With that, Yuki started to leave.

"Wait! Yuki! Please!" Tohru begged to his retreating form.

"Let the damn rat go. If he doesn't want to believe us that his problem."

"But…"

"I agree with Kyo. If he doesn't want to believe than there's nothing we can do. The less people who know the better." Hatori told Tohru.

"Okay," Tohru hesitantly agreed.

Just as Yuki disappeared from sight a hand burst from the grave Kyo had previously been standing on. Tohru gasped and got a stake ready.

"That just figures." Kyo muttered under his breath.

"It would probably be best to stake it before it frees itself completely. It saves you a fight and gives you more time to complete a sweep," Hatori advised Tohru.

Tohru nodded and waited for the vampire to dig itself out a little more. When she saw the heart exposed she reached in to stake it but she was too slow and the vampire was ready for her. He grabbed Tohru then flipped her over the headstone, which was an impressive feat, considering that most of him was still beneath the ground.

The vampire freed the rest of his body, picked the dazed Tohru off the ground at an amazing speed, and was about to bite into her jugular when a stake seemed to sprout from him and he dusted. Hatori grabbed Tohru before she hit the ground and Kyo stood behind where the now completely dead vampire had been, a stake in his hand.

"Thank you, Kyo. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Well, never underestimate your opponent's strength or speed. Next time you'll do better," Hatori assured Tohru.

"But I did so bad! I shouldn't have let him grab me. I don't think I'm cut out to do this."

"Nonsense. Every Slayer has mishaps the first time they do serious Slaying. Slayers are meant to protect the weak, and they put others before themselves, which is part of your nature to begin with. I think you'll be a great Slayer."

"Thanks Hatori." Tohru brushed some of the vampire dust off of the front of her shirt. "What do we do now?"

"Let's go slay some more vampires! They're great practice. I'm going to get so good I'll finally beat that damn Yuki!"

…

Several vampires and an hour later they once again stood outside Shigure's house.

"I hope Yuki got home okay." Tohru had been worried about Yuki since he had stormed off earlier.

"Don't worry about it, Tohru. Yuki can take care of himself."

"Unfortunately," Kyo muttered.

"I have to get back to the Main House. We'll return to the cemetery again tomorrow after training and start working out sweeps. Goodnight Tohru, Kyo. I'll see you tomorrow."

Hatori got into his car and drove away. Tohru and Kyo entered the house and saw Haru sprawled on the floor playing a video game, furiously punching the buttons of his controller.

"So, where have you guys been? It's pretty late."

"You should be in bed, Haru," Tohru said, avoiding his question. "Is Yuki home yet?"

"No, I thought he was with you guys."

That's not good; I really hope he's all right. Maybe he just forgot something he had to do or get. But it's too late to go find him, and we wouldn't even know where to look. Please be okay, Yuki.

"Well, I guess it's too late to do anything right now," Tohru answered. "I hope he returns later. Come on, Kyo. Lets go to bed."

Kyo and Tohru rushed off to their rooms, leaving a confused Haru.

"Wait! You didn't tell me where you were!"

…

Morning came and still there was no Yuki, forcing them to leave for school without him.

Maybe he left because he didn't want to talk to us, because of the Slayer thing. Oh, I hope not.

When they arrived at school the classes were slightly noisier, but yesterday was still fresh in their minds, if the conversations taking place were any indication. Most of the fragments Tohru heard as she made her way over to Hana and Uo concerned the mysterious disappearance of the corpse from the day before.

"Hey, Tohru!" Uo's eyes narrowed as she noted their missing companion. "Where's Yuki? He's never missed a day of school before!"

"Oh, um… he's really sick today."

"That must be one nasty sickness to keep him from school." Uo turned her attention back to the homework she was trying to complete before school started.

"What are you doing?" Tohru asked Hana, who had newspaper clippings in front of her with a black marker pen on top of them.

Hana turned her head towards Tohru. "Strange things are happening, abnormal things, and I will get to the bottom of it."

"Eh, what do you mean, strange?" Tohru shuffled through the clippings and noted that all of them were obituaries. She recognized a few of the pictures included with the text—they were of vampires she had staked the night before.

"People disappearing and turning up dead with bite marks on their necks. It's been happening for a while, but they were rare occurrences. Two days ago they started happening at an increased rate, and I believe it will continue to get worse." Hana took the clippings back from Tohru just as the teacher walked in.

"All right class, the police still don't know where the body is, but they will find it, and the culprit will face severe punishment, expulsion being only half of it. But, I'll let you deal with it, so let's get this show on the road."

After roll was called, and they had finished math, Tohru faced the realization, with deadly certainty and a sinking stomach, that Yuki was gone, and wherever he had gone to, he was not okay.

(End Chapter 4)

Chapter 5 is next (unless I decide to skip it completely and go on to 6)! Sarcasm aside, there's not much to say. I sincerely hope that all readers are prepared for the next chapter, for it shall introduce my favorite FB character of all time.