Kyo lead Tohru out of the forest and sighed as he stared up at the towering mountain ahead of
them. "We goin up there?" Tohru asked, looking at Kyo, who was breaking a light sweat. He
nodded and brushed his fiery orange hair away from his eyes. "Not all the way though, we have to
go about half way up and through a large cave, that leads down to the hidden valley that only
Sohmas can find. Thats where were going. Last time i looked, there were a bunch of books about
the Sohmas. Maybe you can find things about the curse. Hopefully."He said, beggining to walk
again.Tohru picked up the food case and began to walk behind him. They had been walking
nonstop for about four or five hours now and it seemed that the longer they walked, the heavier the
suitcases became. Another few hours went by and the sun was setting behind them, making an eerie
glow on the ground, the odd shades of light filtering through the treetops.
"Cmon, well stop for the night. Its not very smart to go up the mountain at night. Freakish animals
and whatnot." Kyo said, walking off into a clearing in the woods. Tohru followed behind him and
dropped the suitcase and her backpack. Flopping down on the nearest log, Tohru watched as Kyo
rolled a few logs over and began to start a fire.
"I take it you come here a lot when you leave?" Tohru asked, already knowing the answer.
"yea. Its close to the mountains and free. Therefore, i come here." Kyo said sitting down on the
ground with a stick, prodding at the fire now and again. Digging through one of the bags, Kyo pulled
out 2 blankets and tossed one to Tohru. "Here. It gets cold fast about this time." Kyo said, turning
around to grab another log. Tohru nodded her thanks and wrapped the blanket around her
shoulders and looked up at the glowing ashes rising and falling in random places of the sky.
" I wonder what its gonna be like after the curse is broken" Tohru said, not really asking anyone in
particular. "I mean, i wonder if anyhting is gonna be any different then it is now. I hope not." She
said looking at Kyo now, who was watching her through the flames. Shrugging his shoulders he
stood up and stretched.
"I dunno. Honestly. Things might change, but i know a lot of people will be grateful when it does
break." Kyo said walking over to her and sitting down.
After talking for a few hours, the night air became cold and the fire began to die down. Kyo
smothered the fire a bit so that you could still see the embers glowing and laid down on the ground
at an angle where he could see Tohru clearly and not be distracted by the embers. Tohru said
goodnight to him and laid down, looking in his direction for a little untill nodding off to sleep.
The next day, Kyo woke Tohru up and began to gather up all the stuff they got out last night. A few
blankets, a pot, a spatula, a deck of cards and a flashlight. "Wha time is it?" Tohru mumbled pushing
herself up off the ground and dusting her clothes off. Kyo looked up at the sky and over where the
sun was.
"Ummmm... about 6-ish...maybe closer to seven. C'mon, we gotta get moving." Kyo said, picking
up the two suitcases and tossing Tohru her backpack.
"you want me to get one of those?" Tohru asked, putting her backpack on.
"Nah. Youll have a hard enough time getting over the mountain as it is. I usually only have one of
these but i can get up easier than you can. Thats the good thing about having catlike reflexes." Kyo
said, walking out of the clearing and further down the worn out dirt path. Around 3-o-clock, they
got to the mountain. Beginning up the path that wound through the mountain, Tohru kept close
behind Kyo and clung on to the wall of rocks next to her. Reaching a large flat area about halfway
up the mountain, Kyo and Tohru sat down and rested. Flopping down on her backpack, Tohru
looked at Kyo and shook her head.
"I have no idea how you can do this in two days. Im wiped out. I need a nap..." Tohru said, leaning
back on a wall. Kyo looked at her and grinned a little.
"Go ahead and nap. Ill wake you up when we need to get goin." He said, acting like it was nothing.
Tohru thanked him and closed her eyes, falling asleep really fast. About an hour later, Tohru was
woken up by Kyo, who had one of the suitcases hidden between two rocks and some dirt. " I'll
come back for this later. C'mon" He said regarding the suitcase and continuing up the path. Tohru
hopped up off the ground and followed Kyo quickly. The rest of the way up the mountain wasnt
very tough, it was getting through the cave that went through and down the mountain that was the
hard part. Inside the cave was damp and dark. The roof dripped every now and again and the
floors were rocky and easy to trip on. Then there was the large cliff like thing that they had to climb
down to get to the other part of the cave. This didnt go so well seeing as Kyo could merely hop
down and Tohru ahd the unbearable task of climbing down. She got half way down and couldnt find
any more rocks poking out making footholds. "Kyoo.. I cant find another rock." Tohru said calmly,
making sure not to freak out and annoy Kyo. Kyo walked up to the rock and felt around.
"Yea...thats because there are none." He yelled up, his voice echoing in the cave." youll have to
jump." Kyo said sounding kind of annoyed.
"Ehh...really? Ok then." Tohru said letting go of the wall and falling about five feet landing on Kyo.
"Ow.." Kyo said, crawling out from under Tohru, twitching his tail in frustration.
"OHH! Im soooo sorry Kyo, i really amm! Sorrrryyyyyy" Tohru said, Turning around as Kyo
turned back to his normal state.
"Dont wory about it. Ok?" He said looking opposite of her at the light that seemed abnormally dim
from where she was. "Is that the way out?" She asked, standing up and handing Kyo his shirt, which
she was sitting on.
"Yup. C'mon, it wont be too long to get there." Kyo said, pulling his shirt over his head and walking
foreward, grabbing Tohrus hand for more reasons than the one he said about making sure she didnt
trip again. Tohru was thanking the darkness of the cave because that way, Kyo couldnt see how red
her face really was.
Getting out of the cave would have only taken probably about fifteen minutes at best, however,
about 10 minutes away from the exit, a sad moaning came from the hollows of the cave and it
scared the heck out of Tohru, making her run really fast, tripping over a rock and rolling out of the
cave on her side. Kyo walked out with perfect composure and laughed at Tohru who was brushing
herself off once again. "WHAT...wass thattt!" She moaned staring at the mouth of the cave, listening
for the haunting sound again. Kyo rubbed his head and laughed. Moving his hand and revealing a
large red mark he kicked a rock and sighed "That was me. I whacked my head on an abnormaly
large and pointy stalactite" Kyo complained, ripping a small section of his shirt and putting it to his
head where the blood was. "Ow. Ok...but dont hit your head on anything else, that really scared
me." Tohru said, grabbing a bandaid out of her backpack.
"Here. This workd better than your shirt." She said handing it to him. He nodded in thanks and
stared out at the vast green valley in front of them. Randomly placed in the massive space was a
decent sized cabin like house. To the north of it were more mountains, the west a dark looking
expanse of forest and east was...nothing. Nothing that could be seen at least, there was a thick fog
that was lingering over in that particulat location, not seeming to do much in the sence of moving,
almost like it was concealing something from everyone.
"WOAH...wahh..wow." Tohru stuttered,staring at the landscape before her. Everything was like a
new technicolor. The grass was an odd shade of green and was spattered with random specs of
purples and blues. The forest in the west was a dark, ominous green and the house was a blurb of
brown. The fog kind of cast an eerie shadow to the back of the house, but other than that, the place
looked like it had been pulled out of a painting and slapped down here, where nobody could see it.
Like a huge marvelous treasure that wasnt meant to be seen by the wrong sort of person.
"Hey... Kyo? Whats over there?" she asked pointing to the fog shrouded area.
"Oh..uhh. well i dont really know. Its always foggy over there. Some of them say that it was Akitos
childhood house. Haru and Momiji are bent on thinkin that its a huge secret place that if you go
there youll die. But theyre just weird. I personally think it was Akitos house, but nobody cares what
i think so i dont say much about the matter." Kyo said beggining to walk down the grassy path into
the valley. Stopping suddenly he turned around and began to walk back up.
"I just remembered. I have to go get the other suitcase. You go on down, ill be back in about an
hour ok?" Kyo said walking past Tohru and handing her the suitcase he was carrying. Tohru
nodded and called back to him to be careful before walking down the hill and heading for the house,
that seemed to only get bigger as she neared it.
"My God. Just how big is this place! Its huge! Woah. Ehh, anyways. I hope the place isnt locked
up. But i dont know how long its gonna take me just to get to the front door. Kyo might be back by
then. Urk, im tired. stupid bags are heavy. I have no idea how Kyo can carry two of these things.
These two together is like his and my weight combined. blurrggg.." Tohru thought as she made her
way across the feild and to the cabin. It took her about an hour to get close enough to the cabin to
rest. Sitting down on the suitcase, Tohru looked around and took in as much of the scenery as she
could. Looking over towards the mountain, she saw a flash of orange hopping down the mountain,
skipping about 5 feet in between each jump. Smiling, Tohru relaxed a little bit more and watched
Kyo get closer to her. Walking the last few feet, Kyo sat down on the other suitcase he brought and
caught his breath. "Hi!" Tohru said mockingly, like he had been gone for days. "H..Hi." Kyo said,
regaining his composure. He looked up at the mountain and then to the sky, where a few masses of
grey clouds were slowly ascending to the valley.
"I think the next few nights will be used for resting and such, that storm looks like its coming quick
and for some reason, storms run for about 2 or 3 days here. I think its the temperature difference or
something." Kyo said looking from the darkening sky to Tohru who was looking at the sky with him.
"Ok. Then lets get moving. Its getting close." She said getting up and holding her hand out for him.
Looking at her oddly, Kyo thought that if he accepted her hand, it may mean something, so doing
the Kyo like thing he disregarded her hand and got up on his own, though wishing he had taken the
help because his left leg felt like a huge bruise and his head was throbbing from the earlier encounter
with the stalactite. Tohru smiled at him and began to walk ahead of him, but slowed her pace to
walk next to him, seeing as he looked like the living dead right now.
Getting to the house, Kyo kicked at a clod of dirt and then felt around the doorframe, pulling out a
large bronze, rusted key. Shoving the key in the equally rusted lock, Kyo opened the door with a
push and walked inside. Inside the house was nice, but very dusty and filled with cobwebs. Tohru
coffed as she walked inside and jumped back when a large cloud of dust formed when the suicases
were dropped.
"Yeaa... i havent cleaned in here for a while. I figured that since im the only one who really uses this
place anymore, nobody would care if i didnt clean or not. Sorry" Kyo said to Tohru, who was
looking around with a look of disgust. Then diregarding the dust and scum, she smiled and grabbed
a towel. "Weelll... i wont rest till this place is clean...do you have ANYTHING to clean with Kyo?"
Tohru asked, making a joke of the situation.
"Yeaa... outside, theres a mop and a well. ill go get it." Kyo said walking out of the house and
coming back a few minutes later with a couple of buckets of water and an old but sturdy mop.
Tohru was standing on a stool with the towel wrapped around her hand, getting all the cobwebs out
of the corners and celing. Kyo began to wash the floors and walls with the buckets of water and
shampoo, since that was as close as they could get to cleaning stuff. The cleaning continued in all
four accessable rooms for about 4 hours. by then, both of them were exhausted and tired of
cleaning. The rooms they could get to were clean enough to leave alone for the day and Kyo and
Tohru both flopped down on the newly cleaned couch and sighed. Kyo looked over at Tohru and
coughed.
"I dont know how in the world... you go to a large office building and do this stuff EVERY DAY...
no WONDER your so damn tired when you get home." Kyo said. Tohru turned her head and gave
him an odd look.
"home?" She said shocked that he adknowlaged it.
"Yeaaaa...home. My god Tohru, youve been with us for what...3 years now? Youd think youd be
calling it home by now." Kyo said with a stubborn tone.
"Well, yea i guess...i just never thought you...never mind." Tohru said, deciding against saying
somethings stupid.
"Listen. Even though it may seem that way, i dont hate you. So stop thinkin like that okay?" Kyo
said standing up and grabbing a bag of chips from the suicase.
"I didnt thi--"
"I have a pretty good hunch thats what you were thinking. So stop, i dont hate you. The only people
i really and truly loathe are Yuki, Kagura, and Akito." Kyo said definitively. Tohru nodded and
stood up. Walking around the room, she pushed aroud a few books and pulled one out. Blowing
the dust off of the cover she flipped through the pages and put it back. "Theres a lot of books on the
Sohmas here. Maybe they have something about the curse in one of them. I think ill read through
them while your training. ok?" she said flopping back onto the couch.
"Thats a good idea. However, i am tired. Sooo..im goin to bed. theres a spare bedroom upstairs
down the hall from the one i use." He said walking up the stairs. Tohru followed behind him walking
up the stairs slowly seeing as they creaked and didnt seem sturdy enough for anyone to walk on.
Saying goodnight to Kyo, she walked into the once dusky bedroom and thwomped down onto the
bed. The matress was old but comfortable. She turned her CD player on and set it down on the
floor next to her.
The next few days, the rain didnt quit so during that time, Kyo and Tohru cleaned house, making the
place livable again. Every so often, the rain would let up long enough for Tohru to beat all the dust
out of the couch cushions, the beds and the blankets and such. By the third day, the house was so
clean it seemed as though it was never abandoned. The walls were clean, there wasnt any sign of
cobwebs or spiderwebs. There wasnt any more dust and the furniture was like new. The fourth day
rolled around and outside seemed like it never rained. The ground was dry and the sky was a crisp
blue. This was when they both began their promises. Kyo began training in the woods early in the
morning and didnt come back untill the sun was setting over the mountainous horizon. Tohru pulled
out a large amount of books each day and read through as many of them as possible where
something about the curse was found. The evenings were pretty simple. Tohru and Kyo would eat
something and go to bed, an average day for them lasting from 5 in the morning to 11 at night.
Tohru was sitting at the kithen table and reading through another book about the Sohmas. She had
found a whole chapter devoted to the curse, but all it spoke of was how the curse came to be and
why it was only directed to certain Sohmas. "Thats all the books. All the rest are just regular books.
I wonder if there are any more in the other rooms. There have to be keys somewhere." She said
getting up and feeling around doorframes for keys. Two of the doors had them. She pushed the
swolled doors open and fumbled around inside them, grabbing all the books she could find, not
bothering to check the covers. Carrying the armloads back to the table she began to dust off the
covers and flipped through them for anything to do with the curse. Tossing books across shelves,
Tohru began to get anxious and worried that shed never find anything to help them after all.
Checking the clock, she realized that Kyo'd be back soon so she began to fish through some things
and clear books away so they could eat. She realized after she cleaned the stove out that was sitting
dormant for a while, it made a good cabinet and she kept all the foods in there. Pushing past things
and kicking randomly placed books aside, she pulled out some ramen and went outside to start a
fire and boil water. With the pot of water on the fire, she went inside and began to stack books up
and put them in piles with little colored peices of paper signifying which stacks had been looked at.
She fixed the disheveled bookshelves and closed the doors that had recently been opened, keeping
the keys in her bag for further use. Tohru went outside and put the noodles into the water, stirring it
every now and then with a large spoon. Kyo came walking out of the woods a few minutes later
and hastily made his way to the luminous fire. Tohru went inside and grabbed a couple of bowls she
found in the cabinets when they were cleaning during the 3 day long storm and finished the soup.
"Whats your problem?" Kyo said rubbing his arm, which had a nicely sized bruise on it.
"Nothin. Howd you get that brusie?"Tohru asked pointing at his arm with her chopsticks.
"Oh... I was hopping around on some trees and fell on a large and painful rock...but its not a big
deal. Why so upset?" he asked again "I cant find ANYTHING. All the books MENTION the
curse, but dont say how the devil to cure it! Anndd, Im tired, sweaty and i feel like im in Little
House on the Prarie." She said "What the hell is Little house on the..whatever you said?" He asked
stuffing some noodles in his mouth.
"I dunno. Its some american TV show or something. My mom used to like it. They lived on a farm
and stuff. It was WEIRD" She said nodding her head and grabbing more ramen out of the pot.
"Odd. But you wanted to go with me. I never said you had to." Kyo said looking at Tohru, who
was pushing noodles around her bowl.
"I know. Its just, im frusterated. I dont regret coming, i love it out here. But im getting to think that ill
never figure this curse out." She said sadly. Kyo drank down his broth and shrugged his shoulders.
"Theres gotta be something here though.I found a couple of keys for a the two locked doors
downstairs...but all they had was the same stuff ' the Sohma family is regretible cursed. No records
can show how to break the curse and it is said that...' yadyadayada... it got nothing. All of them say
the same thing." Tohru said drinking her broth. "Maybe theres something in the locked room." Kyo
said setting his bowl down and looking at her.
"maybe but, uh, helloo.. LOCKED being the key word here. I cant find any key or anything. It
dosent even seem to have a keyhole. Believe me, i checked everywhere." She said flopping onto
her back and looking up at the oddly colored evening sky.
"Maybe i could bust the door down." Kyo suggested "Yea...but you just got back from running
around in the woods all day and smacking the crap out of trees" she siad throwing a punch in the air
"your wiped out!" She added, pushing up against the ground and standing up.
"Im not THAT tired. And besides. If it helps you fingure out how to fix this.." he said holding up his
arm with the enchanted bead bracelet "Then im all for bustin a few doors." He said standing up and
following Tohru into the house. She set down her bowl and turned around to face Kyo, who was
cracking his knuckles.
"Ok." She said nodding to Kyo who took the hint that he can bust the door down. Kyo nodded and
walked up the creaky stairs. Tohru followed up and stood at the end of the hallway as Kyo stared
down the door like her was taking it on in a wrestling match. Pushing on the door a few times, he
punched the hinges of the door, then kicked ther bottom corner and finally ran into the door,
pushing to the ground and stumbling into the room. Tohru rushed and stopped dead in her tracks.
Inside there was a large desk in the corner, a average sized bed and one large bookcase with one
single row of books. The room was very dusty and the moonlight shone through the single window,
illuminating the floating layer of dust, casting eerie shadows on the walls. Kyo got up and stared at
the wall. The books werent labeled with any titles or authors, just numbers from one to seventeen.
"Weird" Kyo mumbled softly, his word still echoing off the wall.
"Its just like every other room in here...but something feels different" Tohru said looking around at
the dark room. She walked over to the bookshelf and ran her finger across the bindings. Pulling
number one out she opened the cover and flipped a few pages in.
"Hey, Kyo...its somebodys journals. Look here. It says :' today, father made me angry again.
Another strike against him. I swear, one day, ill make him pay for being so mean. Im back in
my cabin. Father dosent know where it is. Only mother did. Her funeral was yesterday. Not
much else to type so im going to go back home to face my father again. -Akito.' Heyy..this is
Akitos Diary!
Maybe theres stuff in these thats useful." Tohru said closing the book. Kyo nodded and pulled
another book out. "C'mon. Well grab all these and takeum downstairs. I dont like it up here." Kyo
said, scratching the back of his neck. Tohru nodded and grabbed a large armfull of books and
handed them to Kyo as she grabbed the rest. Dropping the books onto the table and sat down.
"your not gonna read through those now are you?" Kyo asked confused "no. Im to tired to
comprehend much. Im just putting them in order." Tohru said pushing books between others.
Finishing her small task, she stood up and headed towards the stairs again. Then, stopping at the
third stair, she headed back down. " I think ill stay down here tonight." She said sitting on the couch
next to Kyo. "Why...your not reading...are you?" Kyo asked.
"uh..n..no?" Tohru said unconvincing like. "uh huh. Well then... ill just stay down here until you go to
sleep. your not getting wrapped up in this right now. Its almost midnight. " Kyo said sitting down on
a chair opposite the couch. Tohru rolled her eyes and stared back at him. She crossed her arms and
stared on, waiting for him to nod off so she could read. Unfortunately, she and he nodded off
around the same time, still watching eachothers every move while their eyes flickered and their
heads nodded down. Eventually, Tohru fell asleep and flopped down onto her side. Kyo did the
same about five minutes later, falling off the chair and landing on the ground. The next day, they
woke up where they had fallen the previous night. Kyo got up off the ground before Tohru woke up
so he didnt risk morally embarassing himself. He got up and changed his clothes, then woke Tohru
up and left. Tohru sat on the couch for a little while and thought how exactly she fell asleep. then she
remembered how she fell asleep with Kyo and her staring at eachother.
"Well, thats odd. I was kind of in a trance...looking at Kyo...his eyes are kind of funky.
They're like..orange and gold...odd" She thought as she got up and went to the table. "mmmkay.
time to read through these." She said picking up number one and beginning to read.
"August 13, 1979
This sucks. I hate my life. My mother just died and my fathers a total jackass.
However. There is this one boy who lives at the house...in the hospital ward. his name...well i
dont really know. But, hes the only one who likes me. I know, because my father says he
hates me. I wish i wasnt a girl. Then, i wouldnt be so afraid to fight back. I think boys have it
so much easier than us. Oh well. Tomorrow i think ill talk with my father. Till then.
-Akito"
"Hooolllyyyy crap. Akito is...a girl!" she said continuing to read
" August 15, 1979
Well its official, my life as i know it is terribly and utterly a peice of crap. My father said that
if i mouth off one more time, hell send me to the Americas. I dont want to go there. I hear
they have slaves...and... wars... yuch. I guess i should hold my toung around him. But i swear,
one day, ill get him...ill get him good. Im practicing witchcraft now. I think ill curse him. Or
something. Maybe ill curse all the Sohmas that are mean to me. Thatll show them not to mess
with me... Ill be an eight year old freak of nature. Than nobody would want to get close to
me. Not even that sick kid, Kyo in the hospital. Hes cute, sure...but he dosent like me. Father
paid him to be nice to me. Im learning a spell...i good one...a good curse. Maybe ill fix it so it
works and lasts forever. Or till someone finds out how to break it. It wont happen though. I
think im getting sick. Ive been in the hospital a lot lately. I dunno. Well im retireing for the
night.
-Akito"
"Freakish. Akito was in love with some guy named Kyo...too...weird." Tohru said, adding a little
commentary to each entry.
continuting on, she finished the first journal in about fifteen minutes and went onto book two, reading
through that even quicker, seeing as it was a slimmer book than the previous. Going onto the third
book, Tohru stopped and reread a couple of entrys that had to do seriously with the curse.
" February 15, 1980
Ive found a way to adjust the curse. And i know who to direct it towards. The
curse is this. All of the Sohmas i hit will be this way, if they get hugged by a member of the
opposite gender and they are not involved with the curse, they get turned into a member of
the chinese zodiac. Ill keep a detailed list of who it affects and how it works.
Kyo and Koieme- anyone with the letter K in their name will either be a Cat or a Boar for
their stubborn attitudes, and..i just hate cats. My father- Anyone who is a direct decendent of
him will turn into a dog or a dragon...depends on what side they are born into. Same with
Everyone else. Everybody i give this to, their decendents will be that animal...theres the dog,
the boar, the rat, the tiger, the ram, the dragon, the monkey, the snake, the chicken, the
horse, the cow, and the rabbit. I know the cat isnt technically a member, but i really hate
cats. and Tigers, anyone of the feline family really. however, now that i have the spell
complete, i have to think of a cure...when i do, ill write in here, so i dont forget it. Though it
will have something to do with the cat im sure. Till then.
-Akito"
" Oh...my...god. This kid is sinister. poor Kyoo...i hope..its not too bad. I wont tell him until i find
out more though. I dont want to worry him any more than he already is." Tohru said as she
continued to read the intriguing chapters of Akitos childhood.
Wellllll then. This was a fun chapter! I hope i didnt spoil anyones knowladge of FURUBA by saying
that Akito is a girl. Because its true. Honestly and truly. Cross my heart.. its true. This chappy was
rather long. But hope you enjoyed it. Chapter five up soon!