Yuki's plan was to walk right past the guard without stopping. He thought that if he acted like everything was normal then the guard might just ignore him. But as Yuki approached the guard shack, the man in the black suit came out and stopped him. "Hold it", he said gruffly. "Why officer, what ever seems to be the problem?", Yuki fluttered. The guard looked at Yuki and knit his brows together. It seemed he recognized the face, but couldn't quite place it in this context. "What's with the laundry?", the guard said sternly. "Why what do you mean?", Yuki countered girlishly. "Why are you carrying laundry out of the building?", the guard asked with suspicion. Yuki had to admit it did seem odd. He thought fast. "The, er, the washing machine is broken, so I'm carrying it to the car so we can take it to the laundry-mat", Yuki lied. The guard looked at him sideways, unsure whether to buy the story or not. "But why would you take it to a Sohma family car?", the guard's eyes narrowed. "Well, Yuki stammered, "it is their laundry", he said haltingly and then giggled nervously. There was a pause in the conversation while the guard decided whether to believe the maid or not. Suddenly, Ichiro sneezed, and then started to cry. He had had his fill of being buried like this. Yuki's eyes showed his panic as he looked at the guard. He slowly set down the basket and uncovered the baby. The guard and Yuki peered into the basket at Ichiro. Yuki picked him up saying, "Oh, little one, how did you get in there?", and he giggled sheepishly at the guard. Surprise and realization spread over the guard's face as he looked at Yuki. He narrowed his eyes and reached up and pulled the dust cap off of Yuki's head, letting his mop of silver hair fall out of it. "Well, gotta run", Yuki said with a smile, and he made a mad dash towards the parking stalls with Ichiro in his arms. The guard jumped back into the booth and radioed an alert to the main house. In no time a handful of guards spilled out of the doors in hot pursuit of Yuki and the baby.

Yuki ran with Ichiro tucked under his arm towards the black sedan Hatori always drove. Haru was waiting there for him in the driver's seat. "Hit it!" Yuki yelled as he jumped in the passenger side. Haru started the car, but hesitated. "Now how do I get this thing to go backwards?", he said to himself. "HARU!", Yuki yelled. "I thought you said you knew how to drive!" "Well, I've watched Hatori do it lots of times", Haru said as he studied the gear shaft. "Do you think 'R' stands for reverse?" Yuki glanced out the windows to see about a half a dozen guards closing in on them. "HARU!", he shouted again. Just then Haru slammed the car into reverse with his foot on the gas pedal. The car flew backwards almost flattening three of the men. "There we go", Haru said triumphantly. He put the car in drive and burned rubber out down the long driveway.

Yuki's heart leapt into his throat as he realized Haru's driving skills were nil. He put on his seatbelt, strapping both himself and Ichiro together. "OK, so this makes things go, what does the other pedal do?", Haru was still talking to himself. He pushed hard on the break, laying down about 10 feet of skid marks, and almost throwing Yuki through the windshield. "Uh huh", Haru surmised, "Just as I thought. OK Yuki, we're good now. I can stop and I can go", he said proudly. Yuki looked at him a little dazed, then something caught his eye in the rear view mirror. "Well, you had better get going", Yuki said, "because here they come!" From behind came a car almost careening out of control for speed. It was definitely one of the Sohma fleet cars, and it was filled with dark suited men. Haru hit the gas, and the chase was on.

Haru did alright driving on the secluded roads that led to the estate, but in no time they were on city streets. "You have to lose them!", Yuki said emphatically as he glanced out the back window. Several shots rang out. "They're shooting at the tires", Yuki yelled, "get going Haru!" Haru hit the gas and started to weave in and out of traffic. He had seen it done before in movies, and he thought it was pretty fun in real life. Still, the guards weren't far behind. "Can't you duck down a side street or something?", Yuki asked desperately. "Sure", Haru answered, and abruptly turned a hard left throwing them all against the side door. Suddenly they were like salmon swimming up stream. All the traffic was going in the opposite direction! Horns blared as Haru dodged the oncoming vehicles with a wild grin on his face. "This reminds me of an arcade game!", He said, obviously thrilled. "This is a one way street, you maniac!", Yuki yelled at him panicked. "Time for another turn", Haru announced, and he turned a sharp right off of the one way route.

Haru careened around the corner and hit the gas. A few pedestrians jumped out of the way of the speeding cow. "You can slow down now Haru, I think we lost them", Yuki suggested. Haru acted like he hadn't heard. "Haru, slow down", Yuki insisted. "But this is fun", Haru grinned as he ran a red light and almost hit a man in a crosswalk. "Haru!", Yuki panicked, "we have to get to Tohru! If you don't cut it out…" About that time they passed a motorcycle cop going about 80 miles an hour. In no time his lights were flashing in the rear view mirror. "PULL OVER!", the cop announced over the loud speaker. Haru finally complied. He slowed and tried to pull over, but went up the curb with the left set of tires and jerked to a stop. "Great", Yuki said; another delay in getting to Tohru. The policeman got right to the point. "License and registration please" he said sternly. "It's in the glove box", Haru said unruffled, and he leaned over to search through a stack of papers in the compartment. Yuki started to panic as he realized Haru probably didn't have a license, and then he was stopped cold at what he saw. Yuki recognized the policeman. It was Tohru's cousin, the proud fledgling police officer he had met at their engagement ceremony. He quickly pulled the dust cap back over his hair in the hopes he wouldn't be recognized.

Haru found the registration and handed it to the policeman, and resumed fumbling through the papers in the hopes that Hatori had left his license there, but to no avail. "License", the officer insisted to Haru again. "I think I left it in my other pants", Haru lied. "Please step out of the car, both of you", the officer commanded. Haru grinned and opened the car door. Yuki sighed, and opened his door as well. He tried to hide his face from the police officer. The cop checked the name on the registration. "Sohma", he said aloud. "Hey, I have a relative by the name of Sohma", he quipped, "my cousin's husband. Let's see, ah, Yuki I think it is". Haru snickered, "never heard of him", he said flatly, and then laughed again. Yuki stared at the ground and tried to keep his face concealed by the ruffle on his hat. His face was a brilliant red now. "Yeah", the cop continued, "he doesn't look anything like you". He gestured to Haru, who was still chuckling. Then he turned to Yuki, "And he's a guy", he started, but then he screwed up his face in concentration. "You know, you do look a little like him though", and he scratched his head. Haru was about to bust a gut from trying not to laugh. Yuki shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "Hey, wait a…", recognition dawned on the policeman. "You're him!", he said with wide eyes. Yuki decided there was no use denying it. "Yes, it's me. Allow me to introduce my cousin, Sohma, Hatsuharu", Yuki said politely, and he gestured to Haru. Haru bowed with a huge grin on his face.

"You're 'cousin', huh?", the cop said skeptically. Haru and Yuki didn't look related at all to him. He looked at Haru and then to Yuki, and gave a sideways glance. "Oh, I think I know what's going on here", he said. He leaned over and whispered to Yuki, "does Tohru know about this?", and he gestured to Haru and gave Yuki a wink. "No, she doesn't. I mean, no! It's not like that!", Yuki insisted, waiving his hands in emphatic denial. The officer narrowed his eyes at Yuki, obviously not buying it.

"OK", Yuki finally said in desperation, "I'll tell you the truth. I've been held prisoner for months by the evil head of our family. Haru just helped me escape, and we are taking the baby back to his mother". Yuki gave him a point blank stare after his disclosure. The officer looked at Haru; black leather pants, open shirt, two-toned hair, piercings and heavy chains. He turned to Yuki; full make-up, pink maid's uniform, and nylon stockings. The policeman started to laugh. Oh, I get it!", he exclaimed. "Cosplay, right?" He slapped Yuki on the back. "Hey, this is great! I'm into hentai myself", and he winked at Yuki and jabbed him in the ribs. "No wonder Tohru married you, you're an interesting guy."

"Great, I only have the rest of my life to live this down", Yuki said with exasperation. "Hey, he turned out to be a decent guy", Haru cajoled from behind the steering wheel, "At least he let us off the hook for the speeding ticket", Haru grinned. Yuki shot him a death glare. "Yeah, but only after I promised him I would come see his hentai collection", Yuki added with disgust.

At long last Yuki and Haru and Ichiro pulled up the drive to Shigure's house. Haru jostled the car to a jerky stop. "I think I'm getting better at this", he said to himself. Yuki looked up at the house. He could see the silhouette of Tohru slumped over at the bedroom window. He picked up Ichiro, put him back into to basket and made for the front door. Shigure greeted them on the threshold. "Well, well, it's the prodigal husband returned. Yuki, you look good!", he quipped with a grin. "I almost didn't know it was you, and I thought for a minute Aya had sent me a present", he wiggled his eyebrows. "Shut up", Yuki said sourly. He was in a hurry to get to Tohru. "Where's the little guy?", Shigure asked with sudden anxiousness. "He's here", Yuki said motioning to the basket, "but he's seeing his mother first". He brushed past Shigure, and went for the stairs which he took in threes. He hesitated for a moment outside Tohru's door, suddenly self conscious about all that had happened over the last few weeks. But he took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

There sat Tohru in her chair by the window. She was slumped over the sill, having fallen asleep- still in her bedclothes from the day before. Yuki went quietly to her side, wiping the lipstick off his mouth with the back of his hand. "Tohru", he said softly, as he crouched down and touched her hair gently with his hand. She stirred, and her eyelashes fluttered as she focused her eyes on him. At first she thought she was dreaming because she saw Yuki, but he didn't look quite right. Then she raised her head and took another look. She blinked incredulously at him. "Yuki?", she said sleepily. He smiled warmly at her. "I think you misplaced something", he said and uncovered Ichiro. The baby reached for his mother right away making happy babbling sounds. "Ahhh!", Tohru exclaimed, and she snatched up her child into her arms. Tears of joy streamed down her face as Tohru held her little one to her. "I knew you would come. I knew you would bring him back!", she exclaimed emphatically. Yuki watched the color return to Tohru's complexion as she squeezed the baby. Ichiro seemed relieved too. It was a heartwarming reunion.

Tohru suddenly turned to Yuki. Her eyes shown with gratitude, and it became apparent she had come out of her distress. "Are you here to stay as well?", she asked timidly. "If you'll have me", Yuki said quietly. It seemed some of his hope in the future had returned as well. They embraced with Ichiro caught in the middle again, a family reunited, but they had little time to bask in the moment. Yuki stopped and looked at Tohru seriously. "We need to get moving before Akito finds us". Tohru met his eyes with a steady gaze, and nodded resolutely.

It occurred to Yuki now they had come full circle- back to his original strategy of running away, the one he had concocted when he had abducted Tohru months ago to save her from her Grandpa's betrothal plans. The difference was she was agreeing with him now; they were on the same page. They would make a run for it- together. The corner turned up on one side of Yuki's mouth, and he slipped his hand into hers.

Yuki and Tohru quickly changed and started gathering the necessary items for their trip. Shigure got on the phone with a shady but useful friend who owed him a favor. "Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about. You know, a passport for a baby. It just needs to look convincing, and I need it yesterday. OK, thanks". Shigure hung up the phone. "It's going to take at least an hour", he looked up at Haru a little worried. "Well, maybe if they can get to Okinawa we could ship it to them or something", Haru offered.

Yuki came down the stairs with a couple of bags. "I keep telling her we can't take all this stuff, but she says the baby needs it", he said a little impatiently. "Well, I could drive you to the train station", Haru offered with a grin. "Uh-uh", Yuki countered. He had no desire to get back into any vehicle with Haru at the steering wheel, but there was another consideration; "if I know Akito, the police are looking everywhere for that car by now", he said warily. "True", said Shigure, but before he could add anything else another black sedan pulled into the drive. Yuki looked panic stricken and ran to the stairs. "Tohru!", he shouted, "We have to get out of here, now!", but it was already too late. Hatori and Akito stepped out of the car. Akito looked livid as she glanced at the stolen vehicle that was parked there. Her eyes narrowed and she stepped towards the house with determination. Yuki fled upstairs to find out what was keeping Tohru. He knew that meant he would be trapped, but he hoped he could still get her and the baby out of this somehow.

As Akito walked towards the house her mind wandered back over the events of the past few days since she had taken Ichiro from Tohru. She knew Yuki had been right- she had done this without forethought. She had acted rashly because of the threat that Tohru and Ichiro posed to her long enduring plans for Yuki. He had been given to her as a child, and she had watched and waited patiently for him to grow up. She had planned for him to be by her side forever. But somewhere along the way she had failed to convey that plan to Yuki, and even though he had been content to be with her as a boy, it wasn't what he wanted now. She knew that, but she had been so sure she could make it work for both of them; that, like so many other times when he had acquiesced to her demands, he would come to see that it was for the best, but it was not to be this time. She had tried to keep him from others all his life- fearing all along that this would happen, but he had fallen in love anyway despite her efforts to isolate him. She knew now that she could not break him of this- this love was not going to fade away like just another fascination. This love for Tohru was in Yuki's soul- it was an intrinsic part of him. If she continued to try to eradicate him of it she would destroy him in the process. Still, she could not admit defeat. That would be too painful. There was no way to save her pride, so Yuki would have to pay for his folly with his life- one way or another.