A/N Sorry to everyone who loves this story and especially to Honda-san's Twins, your review meant a lot to me! As most of you probably know, this will be the last real chapter, the only thing I'll have to publish next will be the epilogue. This chapter is a tearjerker as everything I set out to tell is finally going to be told. I might as well say this now Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story that honor goes to Natsuki Takaya. However, the plot is originally mine. Phew, now that we got that out of the way, let's get on with it!

Chapter 5- Sohma Set Free

The rain was as cold as ice and it stung Haru and Kisa's bodies like knives. Akito's gunmen were hot on their trail and both knew it. Screams of rage could be heard from a distance, signifying that Akito was in a fury, once again. "Haru, what do we do!" Kisa screamed as the two of them continued to run for their lives. "If I knew I would gladly act on it!" Gunshots could be heard from behind them, sounding very close. They heard one of the gunmen yell out, "We'll find you, you little rats! Count on it!" "Great," Kisa said sarcastically, "they're determined.

"We'll never outrun them," Haru said. He grabbed Kisa's arm and pulled her into the bushes on the side of the path. He pulled her close to him and held his hand over her mouth until the gunmen passed. It took them a few minutes to finally run out of sight of the two juunishi members. "I think they're gone," Kisa whispered as softly as she could. Haru nodded and stood up. "We have to get help. There's no way I can take on three guys of their proportions, especially since they have guns. There has to be a way we can sneak out of the grounds." "We could try to make our way to Shigure's," Kisa suggested, shivering.

"How about you stand right in those spots and let me shoot you," a voice said behind them. The two turned around and came face to face with a gun. Kisa screamed and was about to run away when a shot was fired. It was fired straight into the air, however, because of the arm that had wrapped around the gunmen's arms. The gunmen then gasped and collapsed to the ground, revealing Kyo, Yuki, Tohru, and Hiro.

"Where the hell did you guys come from?" Haru asked. "You're welcome for saving you're sorry asses," Kyo replied. "Thank you," Kisa mumbled. "Hiro heard a commotion going on from Akito's quarters and called us to come over and help." "Is it true…about Hatori?" Hiro asked. Tears again, went to Kisa's eyes and she nodded. Everyone's eyes became glassy as tears flooded them.

"Look, we can't get all teary-eyed now," Haru said, wiping his eyes. "We've got three killers after us." Everyone nodded. "You guys shouldn't have involved yourselves in this," Kisa said. "Now Akito will be furious with you too." "You think we're not used to that?" Kyo asked. "We're in this now and we're not backing out of it, period." "Suit yourself," Haru said.

Yuki looked both ways down the path and said, "The coast is clear, I think it's safe to make our escape now." The rest of them walked out onto the path. "Obviously we're heading away from the main house," Hiro said. Haru nodded and took off at a run in the opposite direction of the main house. The others followed. "Where the hell are we headed?" Kyo asked, catching up to him. "I'd figure we would head to master's house, he can protect us, if only for a little while."

The group ran on for what seemed like hours. They could tell they were heading up into the mountains as the weather around them was getting colder and the rain droplets were now small balls of hail. The hail was hitting them, bruising their skin, but none of them lost speed, they kept the same pace the entire time. A couple of times they would have to stop for a little while as they thought they heard the gunmen. After the supposed danger passed, they kept right on going.

A few hours after their insane journey began, the small group came to a gorge with a flowing river cascading through it. "Now what do we do?" Tohru asked nervously. A rat approached Yuki and he knelt down and picked it up. Although he wasn't saying anything, everyone could tell he was communicating with it. After a few minutes, Kyo got fed up and asked, "Are you done talking to rats, you sissy rat boy!" Yuki nodded and put the rat down. There's a log about a hundred yards north of us that spans the gorge."

The ragtag group approached the log and stared down at the river below. "Th-that's a pretty high fall," Tohru muttered, backing away slowly. "Do we even want to cross the gorge?" Kisa asked. "Kyo, you trained up here, does this place look familiar to you?" Hiro asked impatiently. "I can't tell with all this damn rain!" he said. "Speaking of rain Kyo, why aren't you tired?" Yuki asked. Kyo shrugged, "How should I know?"

"Can we please get back to the subject at hand?" Kisa asked. "Do we want to cross the gorge?" In the distance, they heard men talking. "Hey look, I found the traces of footprints! They went this way!" "I think that's a yes," Hiro said. "Come on!"

Yuki jumped onto the log and steadied himself. Then he turned around and said, "All right Miss Honda, you next." Tohru eased her way onto the log and let Yuki help her catch her balance. Kyo made his way onto the log and supported Tohru from behind. Hiro, Kisa, and Haru followed slowly. "'Kay, let's go."

The six of them shuffled across the log, occasionally stumbling. The rain was still coming down heavily and the wind was gradually picking up speed. A thick mist was forming above the river, making it impossible to see the surging rapids below. The gunmen's voices were getting closer every minute and they were running out of time. She was about to step onto the other side of the gorge when her foot slipped and she fell off the log. "Tohru!" "Miss Honda!" "Sissy!" Tohru was screaming at the top of her lungs until her cries were silenced by a splash.

Yuki and Kyo jumped in after her. "Are you guys stupid!" Hiro yelled. Then, Hiro felt a sharp pain in his back and everything went blank. Kisa and Haru gasped as they saw the bullet lodged in Hiro's back. Hiro's lifeless body fell off the log too quickly for either of the remaining two Sohmas to catch him. They turned around and saw the gunmen again. "Would you stop running kiddies? It's getting a little annoying." "You bastards!" Haru yelled in rage. "I'll kill you for doing that to Hiro!" Haru charged at the gunmen and managed to knock one of them to the ground. Another one, however, punched him in the back and sent him off the log.

Kisa shrieked and curled up into a little ball on her knees. "Hatsuharu!" The gunmen all aimed their weapons at her but she threw herself off of the log before any one of them could fire a shot. She hit the water hard. It was freezing and it felt like knives were stabbing her all over her body. 'No matter how cold this is, I have to find Haru and the others! And…Hiro.' Tears swarmed to Kisa's eyes and surged down her face, not that it made a difference, however, her face was already soaked.

The current of the rapids was so strong and Kisa was becoming exhausted. Her body bumped into something and it sent a sharp pain through her ribs. The object in her way was a large boulder that had manifested itself in the riverbed. She put a hand on her side and felt her ribs, three of them were broken by the way they felt. She lay there on the boulder, sobbing. The icy water continued to flow around her. She didn't move a muscle. Her entire body was wracked with pain and chills. Small ice crystals clung to her like leeches.

She simply lay there, crying, not caring at how many minutes and hours were passing by. Eventually, she began to here voices calling out to her. She lifted her head and saw a small light through the mist. 'Am I dead?' she asked herself. "Kisa…Kisa!" "Yo, tiger, you out there!" "Kisa!" 'Those voices sound like Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki. Are they dead too? Where's Haru?'

Despite the fact that she was slightly delusional, she did her best to wade through the water, towards the light. She felt small pebbles in her icy hands and the water was much more shallow. Seconds before she collapsed, she saw Tohru's worried face and Haru reaching out to grab her.

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Kisa stirred in her sleep and she slowly rose. Her side seared with pain but she felt warmer than before. She sat up slowly and looked around. Yuki and Tohru were both asleep, Kyo was sitting next to Hiro's body, and Haru was nowhere to be found. "Kyo?" Kisa managed to get out. "Hey you're awake," he said walking over to her. "How are you feeling?" "Not too good. Is Hiro…is he really dead?" Kyo's expression turned from happy to sad as he nodded head. Kisa nodded as another flow of tears came to her eyes.

"Where's Haru?" she asked after a few moments of silence. "He should be back soon, he was getting firewood." As if on cue, Haru strolled into view with a pile of firewood in his hands. "Speak of the devil," Kyo said. "Kisa, thank god you're awake," Haru said dropping the firewood and bringing her into his arms. "I was so scared, Haru."

Kyo's ears pricked up and he turned around. "You hear that?" he asked Haru and Kisa. Both shook their heads. "The gunmen must have followed the river, their close. I can hear them." "Then we have to move," Haru said getting up. "Wake them up." Kisa walked over to Yuki and Tohru and gently shook them. They both stirred and sat up. "What is it?" Yuki asked. "The gunmen are close, we have to get moving." The two nodded and stood up. Kyo had picked up Hiro's body and had slung him on his back. Haru came back from the river with his shirt off. He rung it out over the fire and the embers disappeared. "The river carried us almost all the way back home," Haru said as he put his shirt back on. "We'll drop Hiro off at Shigure's house. Let's go."

"No," Kyo said. "We'll, as in Yuki, Tohru and I, drop off Hiro at Shigure's house. You two head up to master's house." Haru gasped, "Thank you." "Be careful sissy," Kisa said. "You too," Tohru said as the three of them took off at a run.

"C'mon, we need to move!" The couple ran into the water and did their best to cross. After finally making it across alive, they continued up into the mountains. Kisa's side still brought great pain to her but she kept pushing on.

When they reached Kazuma's dojo, the sun was just peaking over the mountains. It was still hard to see because of the clouds that blocked it, however. Haru knocked furiously on the door until a very groggy Kazuma showed up at the door. "Haru, Kisa, what are you two doing here?" "You need to hide us master," Haru said desperately. "Why?" "We'll explain later, you just have to hide us." "Very well." He let the two in and gave them some tea.

"Do you mind telling me why you're here?" Haru told the entire story, starting from when Kisa and Haru became a couple until they separated from Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru. "I see, well you were very foolish to run from Akito," Kazuma said calmly. "We would've been shot on the spot if we hadn't ran away when we did!" Kisa protested. Kazuma was about to respond when there was a knock on the door.

"You two, hide in the closet and don't make a sound," Kazuma ordered. Haru and Kisa did as they were told. Kazuma walked to the door and opened it. He was about to greet whoever it was at the door when there was a deafening sound and Kazuma collapsed to the ground, bleeding from his head. Kisa gasped but didn't make a sound. Haru's fists were clenched and he lost it, he turned black. He threw open the closet door and dove onto the nearest gunmen.

"You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" The gunman was taken by surprise as Haru dove onto him and snapped his neck. He was about to go for the other two when they shot at his legs and shoved him into the wall. Kisa, who had emerged from the closet, had tears flowing down her face and she was trembling.

She was backing away into a corner and her body was wracked with sobs. "Say goodbye little girl," one of the gunmen said as he rose his gun. Haru looked on with horror and yelled, "NOOOOOOO!" But he was too late, the gunman fired and Kisa collapsed to the ground. Tears flew to Haru's eyes and he made to get up but his legs wouldn't allow it.

The gunmen turned to Haru and were about to shoot him when they both collapsed on the ground. Haru looked up and standing behind them were police officers with their guns raised. Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru were standing behind them in the doorway with sorrowful expressions on their faces. The police officers came into the room and walked over to Haru. Medics came in and the room turned into chaos. Exhausted and in pain, both physically and emotionally, Haru lost consciousness.

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Later in the hospital, Haru sat up in bed staring at the wall. Someone was talking to him, he couldn't tell who, he didn't care either. His legs were bandaged and they hurt him. Nothing really seemed to matter, however, at least not anymore. She was gone and she was never coming back.

A/N Well, that's it. I was crying while I wrote this chapter, sorry to all of you Kisa, Kazuma, and Hiro fans out there! There's only an epilogue left, which I should be posting soon. Until then!