Kyo looked down at Tohru and moved a brown lock of hair from her face as he examined her bruises and cuts in the faint moonlight. How could he have let her get hurt like this? Who would want to do this to her? He looked back up at the door to see whether it had somehow got jammed, but it was still shut tight, almost unnoticeable against the bamboo wall around it. He looked down in surprise as Tohru made a small groan and looked up at who was holding her groggily.
Her wide brown eyes looked up into Kyo's red eyes, which were narrowed in concern at her raspy breathing.
"K-Kyo?" Tohru said softly, reaching a hand up to his face to make sure he was really there- that she wasn't imagining things again. Her palm met his cheek and she let out a hoarse cry of relief, throwing her arms around her neck as tears started to sting her eyes. "Kyo, I'm so happy you're here. You came for me!"
"Of course I did." Kyo said, his throat suddenly constricted with emotion. He leaned against the wall behind him and slid to the floor so that Tohru rested on his lap, surrounded by his arms. He buried his face in her long hair, trying to bury down the feeling of wanting to cry in relief. He had never felt so scared in his entire life when he had found out she was captured. At least when Akito had stabbed her he knew where she was, and that she was in safe hands at the hospital.
He tightened his embrace as he saw the bruises covering her face and shoulders, and silently wondered how many more covered her body.
"B-but this means you're stuck here too!" Tohru said suddenly, her eyes wide in horror.
"So? I can protect you while I'm here. No one will hurt you again." Kyo said, putting a finger softly to one of the bruises, making Tohru flinch. Kyo quickly took his hand away from the spot, letting out a deep breath. "What did they do to you?" he asked, his voice quiet.
Tohru looked away, not able to meet eyes filled with such sorrow. "They wanted me to forget about you." Tohru whispered.
Kyo's eyes widened in shock. "Why?"
"They want to bring the Sohma curse back. They think that my loving you was the thing that broke the curse, so they wanted to make me forget you." Tohru said, starting to shake. Kyo tightened his grip on her as he felt her shivering, looking at her with concern. She was acting so strangely…
"I couldn't forget about you. I never can, I love you too much." Tohru said against Kyo's chest, her hand clenching his shirt as tears ran down her cheeks.
Kyo ran a hand through her hair as he looked up at the barred window at the other side of the small building, a grim smile coming over his face.
Hadn't Tohru tried to stop him from being captured in this very place? How ironic it was that he had walked right into it, for her sake.

Yuki looked down at the watch on his wrist, which was blaring 12:30 in neon green numbers.
"He's late. Do you think he got lost?" Hatsuharu said, looking at the forest in front of them where they had searched for the cat house, but with no luck.
"Have you ever known Kyo to get lost anywhere?" Yuki replied, looking into the shadows of the trees nervously. Something didn't feel right… he shouldn't be this late.
"I'll give him fifteen more minutes. If he doesn't show up, I'm going to track him down." Hatsuharu said, leaning against a tree casually as he waited.
And waited.
"That's it, I'm going to look for him." Hatsuharu said, standing up from the tree and walking in the direction Kyo had gone deeper into the forest. Yuki nodded and followed, hoping Kyo was just lost. What if he had met the same people who had captured Tohru? He walked faster at the thought, keeping pace with Hatsuharu as they searched for Kyo.

"They're coming." Tohru whimpered against Kyo's shirt, clutching to him tighter as the door across from them swung open loudly. Kyo set Tohru on the ground beside the wall behind them carefully, standing up in front of her with his fists clenched.
"That do you want?" Kyo asked, his red eyes burning with rage through the darkness of the room.
"Ah, look who we caught in our little trap? Just as expected." An elderly voice said behind the men walking toward Kyo.
Expected? Kyo's glanced back at Tohru when he realized that he had walked right into a trap, but as long as he could protact Tohru, he was fine with being in a cage temporarily.
"Yeah, so you caught me, what's the big fricking deal? I'll just kick your ass and get out of here." Kyo smirked, taking a fighting stance before the two men in front of him.
"We do not want to hurt you, cat, but if you do not cooperate we'll have to take desperate measures." The woman sighed, as if Kyo was acting like an unruly child.
Kyo stood straight again, finally recognizing the woman's voice. "Wait- you're that servant from the Sohma house! Why are you doing all this?"
"I AM NOT A SERVANT." The woman yelled, walking in front of the two men to glare at Kyo. "I cared for you and the other Sohma children for most of my life. I never cleaned, I never cooked. My only task was to make sure you children were safe from harm and that your curse kept a secret from society."
"Then why the hell are you hurting Tohru? Why kidnap her?" Kyo hissed, starting to get angry again.
"She somehow broke the curse. God blessed all you Sohma children with a wonderful gift, and you just cast it aside. I am trying to help you and get the curse back, so that you can be special again."
"Blessed?" Kyo laughed in disbelief. "You thought I was blessed? I'll bet you never saw my true form, then."
"I have, and it was beautifully unique." The woman said, smiling sweetly.
"You're fucking crazy, you know that?" Kyo said, taking a step back in shock. Panic rose in him when he realized he was being held captive by such a crazed person, and he looked wildly around the room for a way to get out.
"Very well, I see that you are unwilling to cooperate." The woman sighed again, and snapped her fingers. The two burly men advanced toward Kyo and Tohru. Tohru stood up as Kyo lashed out at the closest enemy, hitting him squarely on the jaw with a hard punch. The man stumbled back, cradling a broken jaw in his hands and groaning in pain.
"Come on, big guy. You wanna get hurt too?" Kyo smiled, waving his hand in a taunt. The man growled and started running toward Kyo. Kyo's eyes widened as he was tackled to the ground by the much larger man, pinning him easily so that he couldn't move.
"Found you!" A familiar voice yelled, followed by another yell from the man Kyo had already wounded.
Kyo looked over the man's shoulder to see Hatsuharu and Yuki in the cat house, looking around for Kyo. Yuki ran over to Tohru, examining her face with a hiss of pity. The man on top of Kyo raised himself up so that Kyo was stilled pinned and punched him hard on the side of the face over and over as Kyo tried to block the blows as best he could.
"KYO"! Tohru yelled, making Kyo look up in surprise and get hit especially hard from an unblocked blow.
Tohru stood still for a moment as she saw Kyo was bleeding from his nose and mouth, and let out a low Growl. She pushed her way out of Yuki's arms and ran over to the man on top of Kyo. "GET OFF HIM!" She yelled, kicking at the man as hard as she could, aiming for his spine.
Yuki stood in shock at the sight of Tohru hurting someone on purpose, but shook his head to get back into the fight. Hatsuharu was easily taking care of the wounded man while Kyo was struggling against the man Tohru was still kicking, managing to squirm partially out from under him. Tohru heard a loud crunch under her foot and gasped, backing up quickly against Yuki as she watched the man.
Kyo easily got from under the limp figure now, walking quickly to Tohru as she examined the man she had been kicking.
He wasn't moving.
Yuki walked over to the man's head to check his breathing, and looked up at Kyo with wide eyes. "He's gone. She must have broken his spine."
Tohru fell to the ground, her eyes wide. She had killed someone. The world went silent as the thought ran through her mind.
Kyo picked up Tohru in his arms and looked down at her wide, blank eyes. He looked at Yuki, who shook his head in disbelief at the situation. Hatsuharu walked over to them, the other man unconscious on the ground.
"What's wrong with Tohru?" He said, wiping his bloody knuckles on his black muscle shirt. Yuki pointed to the man on the ground, and Hatsuharu looked at Tohru in shock.
"She…?" He looked down at her wide eyes, her shallow breathing and the fact that she was shaking all over.
"Yeah." Kyo hugged her tightly to him, looking around the room again. "Where did the old woman go?"
"Shit." Hatsuharu looked around the room, but saw she was gone as well. "Well I suppose we were pretty occupied. She can't have gotten far. You two bring Tohru back to the apartment, I'll try to look for her." Hatsuharu said. He walked closer and moved Tohru's hair from her face. "Get better Tohru, or Isuzu will kill me." He watched for a minute more before running out the door of the building to find the woman responsible for this mess.
Kyo and Yuki walked through the forest, occasionally glancing at Tohru, who was still silent and limp in Kyo's arms.
"She's never hurt anyone, and now this…" Kyo looked down at her in concern. "I don't know how she'll get through it."
"She'll need you for support." Yuki said, looking at Kyo thoughtfully. "You're her anchor now."
Kyo nodded as he stepped onto the asphalt of the road "Why does she always get hurt from being with me?" He whispered, to no one in particular.
"Because you two are meant to be together." Yuki answered, glancing at Kyo with bright purple eyes. "This is fate's test for you two, for the strength of your bond. If you want to stay together forever, then you have to deal with the good, and the bad." He looked ahead at the apartment building ahead of them, and looked back at Kyo. "I'm going to get some food for us. Take good care of her, and I'll meet you at the apartment later."
Kyo nodded, walking up the stairs to the apartment and managing to unlock the door. He walked in with Tohru, switching on lights as he continued into the rooms. He laid her softly down on their bed and sat beside her, watching her black face.
"Tohru." He said softly, trying to get her attention. Her eyes stayed staring at the ceiling, still wide and dilated. Kyo put a hand onto her cheek and rested his forehead against hers. "Some life we've started, huh? It didn't turn out exactly like I'd wanted it to be." He said, looking into her soft brown eyes. "Please get better. I know you're probably shocked at what happened, but it was for my sake, right? Don't think I won't forgive you for what happened, I already have. Just… please wake up." Kyo waited for a minute and when she didn't react he moved behind her so that she rested against his chest. He held her against him tightly. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep us together Tohru, I promise. I'm not losing you again." He whispered, kissing the top of her head lovingly as he rocked her reassuringly in his arms.