The stairs creaked softly at being trodden upon by so many people. Tohru walked quietly, silently hoping that her heart wasn't beating as loudly as she heard it. The girl Ivy was muttering and probably uttering a swear or two under her breath as she lead them further into the labyrinth these people resided in. She also was sharp enough at this point to notice the other one, Molly. She had been casting off forlorn looks at the older boy Danny. Tohru would have giggled at this but it really wasn't the time.
"Here," Ivy halted. "My room." She stood in front of the door reluctantly as a barrier. Tohru wasn't the only one to see the rebellious look change to one of shock. Her brother took her by the arm and pulled her out of the way.
"The door was left open." Momiji finally noted.
"Was this where you left the cat?" Hatori inquired. She nodded briefly and stepped away.
"That means he might as well be anywhere." Danny broke the silence. "Where would he go?"
Shigure answered in a very low tone, "He would try to escape. Are any doors or windows open on this floor?"
"Not that I know of, I can ask Jeffrey he knows these sorts of things. Jeffrey!" Danny's call sent the butler running.
"How may I be of assistance Master Daniel?"
"Jeffery, we're looking for Peaches and he seems to have gotten out of Ivy's room have you seen him or do you know if there is any way he could escape the house?"
"I do not know Sir, I have been attending to the broken lunch dishes all afternoon. I do not recall opening any windows, but the one in the south drawing room might be open. Is that all Sir?"
"Yes Jeffery, that'll be all." With a curt turn the butler swooped around the stairs and was gone.
"Shall we check the drawing room then?" Danny smiled politely, "and Ivy, Molly, you two and I will have a discussion afterwards about those dishes." Ivy and Molly exchanged terrified glances and followed Danny in the direction of the south drawing room. Tohru fell back as Momiji, Shigure, Hatori, and Yuki all walked ahead.
Yuki looked back just before turning another corner that Tohru wasn't among them. He ran back to her as she sauntered into the room across from the bedroom.
"Miss Honda! Wait." Tohru leaned out into the sky. The dying sun catching her hair and glinting in her eyes. Yuki paused to take in this sight before wondering how she was accomplishing this. Realizing she was leaning out of a window.
"Yuki… He's gone." She lifted up her hand to reveal that she held four orange strands of fur. "They were caught in the ledge." She started to get a teary look about her.
"Don't worry Miss Honda, Kyo, will be alright. He just didn't know to stay, he didn't expect us to be able to find him. He might even get back to the house before we do. We should be able to go outside now and look for him, now that we know where he might be, maybe the people here have some flashlights we can borrow? We should go let everyone else know about the window."
"But, it's getting so dark…" Tears glistened in her eyes and caught on her eyelashes.
"Please Miss Honda, don't cry…" Before his brain had the chance to function, Yuki had wrapped his arms around Tohru in a protective embrace. Tohru's smile returned.
"Yuki,… Thank you." Yuki had let go of her and helped her to her feet. He was sure he was blushing slightly but tried not to notice. "Thank you for being so kind." She blessed upon him another smile and his blush deepened. Luckily for him Tohru had gone into the hall and hadn't seen the flourished red color in his face. She called back to him, "Let's go get the others!"
Everything looked the same. Every tree seemed familiar, every scent, even the feel of the ground. Kyo's fur ruffled slightly as he took in a new smell. It was similar to chicken, but that didn't fit it was silly. He leaped sideways suddenly as a giant bird swooped past him.
"What the hell—" He stumbled backwards as the bird decided on a landing spot, right in front of him. "What are you looking at? Go away. Yahhh!" He tried screaming, but the bird paid him no mind. It was a decent sized bird, a bit bigger than Kyo and it was all a deep mahogany color except for its bright red tail. It hopped cautiously over to him and leaned its head to the side, as far as a bird can anyways.
"Go away stupid!" It only edged closer till it was leaning against his side. It squawked feebly and rubbed its head along Kyo's side. Kyo screeched and leaped about a foot in the air. The bird leaped too clearly enjoying this game.
"I said leave me alone! What don't you get!" Kyo spat back at the bird, turning around defiantly, his tail straightening. The bird chirped gleefully and straightened its wings. "It's not funny!" Kyo moaned. The bird thought it was, it kept right along, enjoying every moment of Kyo's frustration. "You know what! Fine! Follow me, see what I care!" He got to his feet, turned sharply, faced forwards, and… Walked face first into a nettle bush.
"Kyooooooo!" The cry rang out chorused by a thousand echoes. The only answer was the shuffling of bird's wings and an occasional crunch of a leaf.
"Kyo! Kyooo!" Tohru's words rang out as the only female voice. She thought there was a slight rustle in the trees ahead. Holding her breath she ran underneath the vast canopy. Or at least she tried. Tohru hadn't noticed the intensity of the knots wound around the ground of the forest floor and in an attempt to run she had accidentally tripped.
"Miss Honda!"
"Tohru!" Yuki and Shigure called out only off from being in unison by a second or two. The reaction time proved how used to Tohru's actions they both were. She pulled herself up and shot them a reassuring glance.
"Oops. It's okay, I'm fine!" Hatori stepped over momentarily to examine her. Satisfied he left her to continue watching over Momiji and keeping an eye out fro Kyo. After the others had left, Shigure took Yuki aside.
"Have you found anything?" The soft tone Shigure normally possessed was non-existent now.
"No, nothing. If that bastard thinks this is a joke, if we don't find him… He'll regret it. I'll make sure of it." Yuki's eyes glowed with a cool intensity that blazed like fire. It almost seemed impossible that Yuki could reach such a state.
"I think I found some footprints, I wanted to have you and Tori come look at them before I said anything in front of Tohru, in case they aren't cat prints."
"Show me." Was the only response from Yuki. The seriousness still hadn't quite left him.
"Toriii! Come look at this!" Shigure half danced half trotted over in Hatori's direction, pausing only momentarily to motion Yuki to come too. Yuki came obediently. No one noticed the distant yowls of a cat in distress.
Kyo lay on the ground a few feet from the bush that had caught him. Most of his fur was now worn by said bush, which proudly sported the gingery locks. He looked one final time at the bush before turning away from it forever. He couldn't bear the sight of his beautiful fur in tangles and dead any longer.
He drove himself onwards into the overlapping shadows till he was consumed into the vale of trees. Following in Kyo's shadow was the bird. The last of the bird's tail feathers disappeared, as the dying sun fell and their world was plunged into darkness.
Author's Corner!
To everyone, I finally updated! Sorry for the wait, I'll be sure to work on the next part soon, I'm working on a new fan-fic altogether too, so, hopefully I'll get that up sometime too. ' I hope you people are happy! coughKatie/Gilliancough I updated it! See ? I am not a bum... Thanks for all the support for my story everyone -