Chapter 4: Death by Hand

The knives stopped firing, and everyone looked around cautiously. Was someone injured? What happened? The walls were now dented beyond belief, two even had holes telling of where a few powerful knives have gone through. Yuki, Tohru, and Akito ran into the damaged room, wide-eyed at the sight. "Is everyone okay?!" questioned Tohru, looking to see if any of the Sohmas had any wounds.

"I think so," said Hatori, checking each Sohma to make sure.

Ritsu and Kisa seemed to be suffering from shock if anything (AN: yay, Ritsu's back!). Shigure was trying to calm down, and Ayame… stared into space. Another door opened and in came Haru, panting from the long run to get here. "Is everyone… okay?"

"Yes, we're fine," said silver-haired Ayame. "Though I never want to experience something like that again."

"Same here," agreed the dog-possessed Sohma. Then, after looking around the group of people, he asked, "Where's Kyo?"

***

The last Sohma in the mansion was still running in the many, many halls. "Damn, where the hell is the lobby?" he cursed. He stopped in front of a staircase going up to catch his breath, wondering how big place really was. It felt like it was miles long, but it couldn't be… or could it? "Where the hell am I?" he then asked himself. He ran a hand through his orange hair, trying to figure out which way to go next. He looked back at the staircase. "Maybe they're on a higher level than I thought. That's it, I'm going up." He started climbing up the stairs, but age it seemed had something else in mind as the steps beneath him caved in. "Oh shit!" he shouted, falling into the darkness.

***

Yuki walked to one of the walls and pulled out a knife. The handle was made of sapphire, and the blade was extremely sharp. What's going on here? he wondered, putting the weapon in his pocket just in case. He began walking back to the others when he heard a crash coming from a room to his left. What has that stupid cat done this time?

Walking into the room where the sound came from, Yuki saw a whole in an old staircase. "Kyo!" he exclaimed, looking down into the depths of the pitch blackness that he was sure his cousin had fallen into. "Kyo!"

"Shut up… damn rat," he heard a mumbled reply. Kyo sounded as if he was in pain.

"Don't move, Kyo, we'll think of a way to get you out," Yuki told him, yet wondering how on earth they were going to do this.

"I can't move. The damn thing ended up on top of me… just get me out of here!"

"Okay. Hold on." The violet-eyed boy ran back to the lobby. "Everyone, I found Kyo but he needs help."

"What happened?" asked Hiro.

"He's fallen through a staircase. It was a very old one."

"Can you take us to him?" inquired Hatori.

"Yes, this way," Yuki answered, showing everyone the way.

Ayame was last to follow, causing him to get grabbed from behind. "Hello, Ayame Sohma."

Wait, he thought frantically, I know that voice! It's her!

"I'm sorry that I had to do this, but…" Ayame froze when he felt a sharp blade rest against his throat. "I guess you're the first one to go, huh? Don't worry, though. The others will be joining you shortly."

No! I still haven't been able to be a good brother to Yuki yet! And why is she doing this?! What's going on here?!

***

Shigure felt like someone was missing from their group as he continued to follow Yuki to where Kyo was. He looked behind him and saw that Aya was nowhere to be seen. Great, he's missing. Where did he go? It's not like him to wander off on his own. Swallowing back his own fear of this place, Shigure went back the way they came, determined to find Ayame no matter what.

And he did. As well as the one responsible for what had happened to the snake-possessed man.

***

Kyo's back was in excruciating pain, making even a simple task such as breathing difficult. He looked up after hearing a few voices getting closer and closer to where he lay. He was glad to see that he might actually get out of here. "C'mon, help me out!"

"Are you okay, Kyo?" Tohru asked him, peering down from the hole above him.

"No I am not okay!"

***

"How are we going to get him out, Ha'ri?" asked Momiji as Tohru tried to keep talking to him.

"I'm not entirely sure. We could try to find the room he's in, but then we might get ourselves lost here."

Kisa thought of an idea. "If you can hear Kyo's voice, then you can find him."

"And if he stops talking?" Hatori wondered.

"He won't. Some of us will stay here. Like what Sissy's doing, we'll talk to him. Is that okay, Hatori?"

The older Sohma nodded and decided who would stay. "Kisa, Hiro, Tohru and Ritsu will stay here," he told everyone. "The rest of us will search for the room that he's trapped in so we can get him out of there." He looked at Akito, curious as to what he thought about all this.

"I'll be on my own looking for a safe place to stay," said the Sohma family head. "I'll come back and get everyone once I find such a place."

"And if they're not back yet?" asked Tohru.

"Then we'll just have to wait for them," Akito answered, leaving the room.

Haru looked at the remaining people here, then questioned, "Where are Ayame and Shigure?"

Everyone then realized that the two had not been there for quite some time now. Hatori sighed in frustration. "Haru, you go look for them, then bring them here."

"Got it," said the younger Sohma, jogging out of the room.

"We better get leaving then, too," the doctor said to Yuki and Momiji. So they left.

Kisa sat next to Tohru. "Do you think they're okay?" she whispered.

"I hope so," was the whispered reply.

***

Haru stopped in the lobby, disgusted by the sight of fresh blood on the floor. "Shit!!!" he shouted, following the wet trail of the red liquid. If what he thought was true, then Shigure and Aya were… but they couldn't be! He refused to believe it! This wasn't happening! It wasn't happening!

He stopped in front of a closed door. He tried to open it, but it was locked. So, of course, he decided that the only way to get in was to break in using force. After a few powerful kicks the door collapsed, revealing a most disturbing sight, one that Hatsuharu Sohma would never be able to forget.

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Sorry it took so long to update. I had severe writer's block and plus I was being lazy. So today I actually got an idea! So, here it is! Please don't hurt me for not updating for the longest time. I'm really sorry. I couldn't think. Oh well.

Reviews are always appreciated too. I thank every single person who has reviewed my story. And if you haven't been reviewing, then at least you're reading the story and I hope you like it. And well… I'll be going now. Bye-bye, everyone! I'll have the next chapter up eventually. (I hope)

Hikari Rioki