"Are you sure you've got the bag Honda-san?" Yuki smiled as he helped Tohru lift up the grocery bag.
"Yuki-kun, I'm all right. There's not that much in here." Tohru lifted the bag up and down to prove it. She didn't want to worry him. Her brown eyes sparkled in the light, as the two walked back to Shigure's house. Yuki started up a conversation, and soon the two were deep into it, talking about school, gardening, and various members of the juunishi.
"Yuki-kun?" Tohru interrupted. "Have you seen Ritchan-san lately? I haven't seen him since summer break." The two started to cross the road, when suddenly a car horn interrupted her thoughts.
"Honda-san, watch out!"
"Ah Tohru-kun, you're finally back. It took so long." Shigure looked out of his office smiling. "What did you-hey, where's Yuki?" On a closer look, Shigure saw that Tohru's face was red from crying, and even now tears were streaming down her cheeks. "What's wrong?"
"D-didn't they call you? It h-happened about ten m-minutes ago." Tohru stammered out the words, tears dribbling down from her face. "It's Yuki, h-he's-" She burst into tears again. A knock from the door interrupted her crying. Shigure opened it, staring face-to-face with Ritsu.
"Rit-chan? Oh Rit-chan, this is a bad time it-"
"I saw it." Ritsu said, voice quavering. "I was coming to visit you. They say it was a drunk driver. Tohru-kun and I both watched. Gure-nii, it's Yuki." Shigure gasped, then fell silent. An awkward silence ensured. "I'M SORRY! I should have warned him, pushed him out of the way, oh I'm sorry! It's my fault Yuki's dead, all my fault! I should have yelled, I should have stopped the driver, I'm sorry, I deserve to die also! I'm sorry Yuki!" Tohru burst into tears again, this time Ritsu joining her. Shigure just stood motionless, then patted the two on the back, and gave Tohru a little hug. POOF! He turned into a dog, but still snuggled next to Tohru. All three were now crying, loud noisy tears.
The news of Yuki's death had affected all of the juunishi. Momiji became less cheerful, Kisa stopped talking again, and Kagura was now prone to break out in fits of crying. But oddly, the news had affected the rat's mortal enemy more than the others.
Kyou paced around the room. Yuki was gone. At the thought of that he grinned. Finally! That damn rat was gone, nothing could dampen his spirit! Except for one thing. The rat itself. The spirit would pass on to another person, another token for his hate. He couldn't hurt Kyou, but Kyou could hurt the rat. Grinning, Kyou leaned back a bit, then let out a triumphant laugh. His laugh was cut short when the words of Hiro rang through his head.
"Go ahead big man. I'll have you charged with child abuse."
The rat's mother would freak out. That is, unless she rejected the rat, like Momiji's mom. "Let's have rejection!" Kyou yelled, laughing again. Of course, there was a little nagging feeling in the back of his head...
"Kyou." A tall man with long black hair walked into the room. Oh yeah. Hatori was here. "I understand you're happy, but please tone it down a bit. Honda-kun is very depressed. She's wandering the house aimlessly, and is shut up in her room a lot. Whenever you're around her, please pretend to feel sorry for Yuki's death."
Kyou blinked. Was she really depressed? Was that why she was acting so weird? "O-okay." Suddenly, that little nagging feeling turned into a bonfire. "Hey, Hatori." The dragon turned to look at him. "Can we see Akito tomorrow?"
"Why are you here? This better not be a waste of my time." Akito scowled at Kyou, and Kyou snarled right back. If it was possible, Kyou hated Akito more than Yuki.
"Yuki's dead. I can't beat him in a fight. Does this mean I'll be locked up...does this mean there's no hope for me?" Kyou blushed. He was a bit flustered. How would his life change? What would become of him?
Akito smirked. "Well, well the baka neko actually thought things out...amazing." She paused, evidently thinking hard. "Guess you'll be locked up." Akito smirked again.
"WHAT?" Kyou's anger flared up. Knocking over the table, he turned to Akito. "Dammit, how could you do this to me? I thought I had a chance!" Howling with rage, Kyou broke the table in half, then promptly left.
Kyou stormed outside, toppling anything that was in his way, including Momiji. The rabbit promptly sprung back up, crying.
"Wa-ah-ah! Kyou hit-Kyou?" Momiji stood up, drying the crocodile tears, and following Kyou. "What's wrong? Did Akito do something funny?"
"Stop following me!" As the shine of bright daylight hit his eyes, Kyou raised a hand to block out the cursed sun. Only then did he see Hatori outside.
"Momiji told me there was a new rat." Hatori frowned, puffing on a cigarette.
Kyou blinked. "Already?" That was fast. "Has it ever been this fast? It's been almost a week since Yuki died." A thought occurred. "Dammit, Momiji why didn't you tell me?"
"That's what I was going to tell you. I saw Oba-san today, and she told me! She was the one who had the baby!" Momiji stuck his tongue out. The death might have hampered his cheerfulness, but not by much.
"To answer your question Kyou, no it hasn't. With the previous ox and Hatsuharu, it was about a year. It varies with each juunishi member. Things like this rarely happen." Suddenly, Momiji blew his nose rather loudly, interrupting Hatori. Looking at him, Kyou could see that his eyes were watering.
"Hey." Hatori put a hand on the cat's and rabbit's shoulders. "Let's go out to eat. My treat. I know this great Barbeque place not far from here."
"O-okay." Kyou stammered. A new rat. A weak baby. Now was the chance. Now the hawk came in for the kill.
Halfway through his plate of ribs, Kyou stood up. "I need to use the toilet."
Hatori just shrugged him off. "Go on ahead." Momiji was happily digging into his burger, oblivious to what was happening.
Kyou grinned then headed for the restroom. Halfway there, he did a double take and ran outside. He ran as fast as he could, only stopping when he reached the Sohma estate. He saw a little girl standing there, playing with a dolly.
"Hey kid. Do you know where the house of the new rat is?" Kyou snarled, kicking a pine cone in the air. He had to find him. Fast.
"As soon as you get 'inside' it's the third house on the left." The girl continued to play with her doll, unaware to who the boy was.
Not uttering a word, Kyou sped off, passing house after house after house, until he finally got to the rat's home. Going close to it, he threw a rock into the window. The glass shattered, making a hole big enough for him to crawl in. Climbing through the now open space, Kyou looked inside. What luck. The window was in the baby's room. An "It's a Girl" balloon hung over the cradle. Kyou walked over to the cradle, picked up the baby and hugged it. Still human. She was the rat. He shifted his grip to the baby's neck.
"I hate you. You made me be like this, you made me an outcast." The baby's face started turning blue. "You tricked me! I hate you! Die!" The baby was suffocating, it could hardly breathe. Something hit him in the back of his head. He dropped the baby, looking around for what hit him. Unknown to Kyou though, someone caught the baby.
"Kyou! I-I never knew you could do something like this." It was Hiro. Hiro threw the rock, Hiro caught the baby. He put his head on the baby's chest. "She's still alive. You bastard!" Hiro's eyes were full of tears.
"Why'd you stop me?" Kyou wiped blood off his now bleeding neck. "Why the hell are you even here?"
"This is my house." Hiro stood up, frowning. "You were hurting my sister, Hinata." An awkward pause ensured. "You'd better go. I think Mom's calling the cops."
"Damn sheep!" Kyou spun around, slapped Hiro then ran off into the darkness.
"Shigure-san, have you heard from Kyou any?" Tohru set down a plate of toast and eggs for Shigure. It had been a week, since Kyou had practically killed Hiro's sister. After he fled the scene, he just vanished.
"Hmm. No I haven't." Shigure said, through a mouthful of toast. "Try Kazuma's. He'd probably be there." Tohru nodded, picked up the phone and dialed Kazuma's number.
"Hi this is Sohma Kazuma." The answering machine. Tohru wasn't sure whether this was good or bad. "I'm off in the mountains training with Kyou. Please leave a message-" Tohru hung up.
"Kyou-kun's in the mountains with Kazuma-san." She looked blissfully happy. "I hope he's okay though."
"With Kazuma?" Shigure laughed a bit. "Kyou's probably in paradise."