Fruits Basket does not belong to me.

Chapter 8: Reunion

Haru awoke the next morning slowly, carefully opening his eyes and wondering where in the world he was. That's when he remembered the past events. That's right, he thought, we came in here because of those flamethrowers… He looked over at Akito, noticing that the young man was actually awake and staring into nothingness. "Morning, Akito," the younger Sohma said.

"Oh, good morning, Hatsuharu." Akito looked toward the darkened hallway. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, come on," said Haru, helping Akito up. Then they both began walking down the hallway. The dark stone walls felt cool to the touch, Haru noticed, feeling his way through. Since there were no lights in here, and there was an actual ceiling, it was difficult to see where one was going. They paused in their tracks, however, when they heard a shout for help coming from just a short distance away. Oh no, Momiji! Haru thought frantically, speeding up his pace toward the end of the hall, Akito just a few steps behind him. Praying with all their mite that their young relative was going to be okay, they hurried to the location where they thought he might be.

Momiji was running as fast as his legs would go, not wanting to be crushed at all by the giant rolling, tumbling boulder. "Help!" he cried, running out of breath. Still, he kept running; nothing was going to stop him from escaping this cruel fate. As he quickly rounded a corner, he felt someone grab him by the arm and pull him out of the corridor of certain death.

Looking up, the blonde boy was glad to see who had found him. "Haru!" he exclaimed breathlessly.

"Yeah, it's me, Miji." Haru embraced the little rabbit-possessed boy, then turned to Akito. "Let's get out of here."

"Right," answered Akito as they went back through the hall, looking for the doorways they had found while looking for Momiji.

"Not here either," Hatori said to himself as he looked in an empty room. Where could Momiji have run off to?

The sound of footsteps caught his attention immediately, though causing him to be a bit suspicious. Could it be his younger cousin, or someone else? Deciding to investigate, the dragon quietly walked to the doorway and glanced out. He saw the shadow of an individual unfamiliar to him, and so he went back into hiding within the darkness of the room. He wasn't very sure who else could be here, and he didn't think he would want to find out.

A pause in the steps in front of the opened door alerted him that the person was just a few feet away. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," came a woman's voice that sounded unbelievably familiar to him. Where had he heard that voice before? She walked into the room, switching on the light, coming face to face with Hatori Sohma, yet another one of her old friends. "Hatori?" she asked in disbelief.

"Akina? What are you doing in a place like this?"

She looked away. "I live here. Didn't you know that?"

Hatori didn't respond, still a bit stunned to see this young woman after so many years of absolutely no contact. No one knew how she was doing; she just seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth. But here she was. "You… live here?"

"That's right," answered Akina. "I'm sorry, Hatori, but now… I must kill you."

Had he actually heard her correctly? Was she really going to try to kill him? "Why are you doing this?" he questioned her. "You have no reason to do this, or for even remaining in this place."

"You know how your family has a curse? Mine sorta does too; this mansion. After we are of age we cannot leave here. The outside world is poisonous and dreadful."

She was brainwashed, the doctor thought to himself frantically as he saw Akina take a bloodied knife out of her pocket. She smiled evilly at him, "The blood of your cousins is on this blade. Soon yours will be, too."

Shigure and Ayame? "Please, Akina, do not do this."

"I have no choice, Hatori. I have been taught to never let anyone leave this house alive."

"Why did they teach you that?"

Akina looked genuinely shocked at the question. "H-huh? What do you mean?"

"Why would your family teach you how to kill innocent people? Are you from a family of serial killers?"

Akito stopped at a dead end, pondering whether or not to turn around right now or wait and rest. Haru and Momiji brought up the rear, frowning at what they found. "Is there any way out of here?" the young blonde asked his two older relatives. He really didn't want to be here anymore, especially after almost being crushed by the giant boulder. This place was terrible trouble.

Haru walked up to the wall, looking at it curiously. I wonder, he thought to himself as he pushed on it a little, causing it to move slightly. "I thought so," he then said aloud, alerting the two behind him. He pushed it through, looking around the room they had now just arrived in.

"It's the lobby," said Akito, seeing that nothing had changed since the knife attack.

"You're alive!" they heard someone exclaim from another doorway. They looked to see many of their other relatives. The person who had shouted to them was Tohru.

"We almost got killed," Haru explained, finally checking himself for burns. "There was a hall full of flamethrowers, a giant boulder chasing Momiji, that psychopathic woman…"

"I think we get the point, Haru," Yuki told him.

Kyo looked at the small group. "Did you guys see Hatori anywhere?" he finally asked.

Akito shook his head, now becoming worried about his friend. Hatori had probably gone off looking for them, and then had gotten lost in this mansion. Please be safe, Hatori… please…

"If you don't have an answer, then stop."

She glared at him. "This isn't exactly something you can just quit, ya know. I've been doing this for years. Besides, it's my duty to protect my mansion."

Hatori still didn't back down though, not yet. He had to try, had to have hope. He knew that there was someway to get through to her, but what? "Akina," he said finally, looking into her eyes, "I will not allow you to harm anyone else."

She grinned. "Well, what do ya know? You can want revenge also, eh? So, Mr. Bookworm thinks he can stop me, eh?" She held the blade up high. "Let's see you try to stop me, Hatori. If you can, then I'll think about stopping… after every one of you is dead."

Chapter 8 End

A/N: um…uh…I know I haven't updated in a long time… and if any of you read Jade Sohma, then I truly apologize for the delay. However, I was looking for what I had started for it and I realized that I didn't have it anymore. In other words, I'm gonna have to rewrite the whole thing. Sorry. And about this chapter that you guys just read. I know it's short, but it's really late and I have school tomorrow. I'll try to start writing more often for you guys. I'm really sorry about the long wait. Oh yeah, sorry about any OOC parts that were in the chapter also. I was almost falling asleep while writing.

Hikari Rioki

PS: IF YOU DO NOT REVIEW, I MAY NOT UPDATE FOR A REALLY LONG TIME AGAIN.