(Slowly walks out from the shadows.) Privet! Remember me? XD I really feel terrible for abandoning this story for so long, especially after getting such nice, thoughtful reviews on it as well! I do plan on finishing this; it's just going to take a little time. I'm not immune to writer's block, or just plain old laziness, but I can promise that I'll try to write these chapters the absolute best I possibly can. I apologize for not updating sooner, but I hope you all will still read and enjoy! Again, I want to thank everyone who reviewed the first two chapters and for adding me as a favorite author - I really am humbled.

- FromRussiaWithLove

God's Plan

Not so according to plan

"Ah! What a beautiful night," Tohru whispered to herself, casting her eyes above in awe, looking at the sprinkling of stars the night had tossed about the blue-black sky. They were everywhere. Unknowingly, she had stopped walking, now standing right in the middle of the side walk, craning her neck up at the wondrous sight. She was so enraptured, she didn't even notice the blond boy at her side, looking at her with a bemused look.

"Tohru, what are you doing?"

"HUAA!" Tohru leaped away from him in shock, instantly dropping the bags she had been holding. All the contents instantly splayed on the ground, spilling over into the dewy grass.

"I'm sorry, Tohru. Did I scare you?" asked Momiji worriedly, bending down to pick up all of her fallen items without hesitation.

"No, no, I'm fine," Tohru assured him with a small laugh, her heart rate calming down just ever so slightly. "Thank you," she told him graciously as he handed her the last of the items that had fallen. She quickly stuffed it into her bag before finally taking a good look at him, smiling.

"But what are you doing here, Momiji? I thought every Thursday you stayed with Hatori-san."

"Usually I do," Momiji shrugged, kicking a small rock as they started walking down the sidewalk together, the soft tup-tups of their shoes breaking the still night. "But he called my father earlier today, saying he was really busy with work or something. I'm not sure though. Father didn't say much about it."

A look of concern quickly flashed over Tohru's face. "Is Hatori-san alright? He always works so hard…" The cool wind stirred her long chocolate locks, the strands criss-crossing her flushed cheeks as she took on a pensive look. She brought her bags closer to her. Perhaps there's something I can do, she thought earnestly.

Across from her, Momiji could easily read Tohru's anxious thoughts. Sticking out his tongue playfully, he looped his arms gracefully through hers, hoping to bring her out of it.

"Come on, Tohru! Let's hurry to Shigure's before it gets too late!"

"Eh?" Momiji only bounced along, briskly pulling a slightly frazzled Tohru along with him as she scrambled to get a better hold on her bags. "You're coming to Shigure's too?"

He only answered with a cheeky grin, leaving her to be pulled along once more. Falling silent again, she found her wandering thoughts returning once more to the Sohma family doctor, the majestic dragon. Hatori. She never really had the opportunity to see him that much, as he was almost always working or at the main house and she had her own responsibilities with school and managing all of the household chores. But when she did see Hatori, he was usually preoccupied with other things, his eyes distant and weary. And the more she thought about it, the more Tohru realized how much he did work, and the more she thought about that, the more she realized that she had never really thought about doing anything about it ever before. Suddenly, a wave of foolishness swept through her. The young girl frowned slightly as she wondered how she could have been so selfish and negligent. How could she have not seen it before?

"Tohru? What's wrong?" The rabbit had stopped suddenly, losing the bounce in his step. The sad look upon Tohru's features seemed to deflate his good spirits.

Tohru looked up at Momiji, her wide eyes blinking. "N-nothing!" Tohru stuttered helplessly. "Nothing's wrong! Everything's fine!" She tried giving Momiji her best smile, as if swearing to him in her own Tohru-logic that there was nothing to worry about.

Momiji just stared at Tohru with sweet cinnamon eyes, finally shrugging in quiet defeat. "Alright." The fact that she was lying was glaringly clear to him, but the last thing the boy wanted was to upset her more. "Let's hurry then. We're almost there."

"Yes," Tohru agreed softly, as Momiji took her hand once more and led her towards the main road towards Shigure's house. Stealing another chaste look at the stars, Tohru felt a swell of determination lift her heart. Maybe she had been foolish not to notice in the past, but she would do better, she vowed silently to herself. Her eyes shone pure and resolute in the stars' light as they winked down at her.

There must be something I can do.

TxHxTxHxTxHxTxHxTxH

Everything was supposed to go according to plan. Shigure had called Kazuma earlier that day and told him of the current situation, which, to the dog's surprise, he had full knowledge of. The tranquil man had accepted Shigure's proposal, inviting Kyo over to spend the entire day at his house so he could spend more quality time with his surrogate child. Though Kyo was initially disappointed he wouldn't be spending the day training with his master, the idea of an entire day spent talking and joking around with Kazuma with no interruption greatly appealed to him. Shigure had checked him off the list. Yuki, who had become heavily immersed in his student council duties as of late, had, naturally, several meetings each week, some even after school. That night, he had had plans to go out with the student council body for a meeting and a dinner for a week now, which was why he hadn't had the chance to walk Tohru back home from work. Though he was slightly bothered by that, he knew as president that he couldn't just skip the meeting. Shigure had easily checked him off the list. The two male teenagers taken care of for the night, Shigure was very much surprised that everything was running so smoothly. Indeed, he started to grow hopeful that if he could just talk to Tohru in private about the situation, while tomorrow speak with the two boys privately before school, that everything would go according to plan.

But unfortunately, things rarely ever go according to plan.

The first misfortune came soon after Shigure had settled himself in his favorite chair in his favorite room of the house, his office.

"Aaaaahhhhhh." He seemed to melt in the supple cushions, his eyes closed in soft content. In his lap lay a well-thumbed novel, a snaky red ribbon hidden amongst the pages. After a moment, he opened the book with gentle hands. An appreciative smile graced his lips. "There's nothing like a good book in a quiet house," he murmured to himself, beginning to read.

All of a sudden, there was a violent bash along with the heavy padding of bare feet on wooden floor. Shigure recognized the overbearing footsteps instantly, and, after giving a small, dejected sigh while putting his book away, walked towards the front door.

"Kyo, what are you doing here?"

"I suppose it's such a crime to forget something?" the orange-haired boy snapped back, his eyes straying from one thing to the next, obviously looking for something. Across his lanky shoulder sat a black sweatshirt, the strings dancing about as he paced the room with a fury.

"Ah, yes," Shigure said with ease, "You do seem to have trouble remembering things." In response to the boy's scowl, he offered, "What are you looking for?"

"My other sweatshirt."

Shigure seemed on the verge of making another one of his comments, but decided against it. If he wanted Kyo back out of his house as soon as possible, then he would have to be tactful.

"Try your room. I know Tohru just washed a lot of our clothes yesterday."

Kyo registered this and wordlessly ambled up the wooden stairs, until Shigure could see him no longer. He shook his head in wonder. Must you really need two sweatshirts for one day? The boy was a real mystery to him sometimes.

While Kyo noisily rummaged through his room upstairs, Shigure made his way back to his office. In a few minutes, Kyo would have what he wanted and would be out of the dog's hair for the night. Just be patient, Shigure thought calmly. Sitting down in his chair once more, he took out his book and began his light reading.

Five minutes passed. Then ten. About eighteen minutes later, Shigure started growing anxious. Tohru would be arriving home any time now. She came home like clockwork – every night was precisely the same as the night previous. Leaving his office, Shigure rubbed the back of his neck as he noticed Kyo once again downstairs, looking more frustrated then before.

"You know, Kyo, you have a sweatshirt right there. Must you need the other one?"

"Why would I even be here if I didn't need it?" Kyo ground out, looking just about on the verge to pull out some tufts of his bright orange hair. His striking amber eyes glowed fiercely. "I mean, why would I want to be here with you and –"

"I'm home," came a softly cheerful voice, as a tall, silver-haired boy walked through the front door, a tired yet pleased look on his face. Yuki was about to take off his snowy white coat, yet paused in the action when he saw Kyo. His eyes instantly narrowed, the pleasant look vanishing from his features in the blink of an eye.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Kyo challenged.

Yuki shook out of his coat, rolling his eyes silently. "Our meeting ended early, if you must know." Figuring he wouldn't get any information out of the stubborn cat, he turned to the dog instead. "Shouldn't he be at Kazuma's?"

"Don't talk as if I'm not here!"

"Yes," Shigure answered Yuki wearily. "And you shouldn't keep him waiting, Kyo. If I find it, then I'll bring it over later."

"Find what?" Yuki asked as he took of his shoes carefully.

"Another sweatshirt."

"Don't tell me you lost it or something," Yuki said coolly after he finished, brushing past Kyo on his way to their nice, cozy kitchen.

"Shut up, you damn rat!"

As the two traded insults of equal sarcasm and bitterness to one another, Shigure glanced at the clock more and more. In fact, he seemed quite nervous, glancing at the door, to the kitchen, to the clock, back to the door, and so on. He could never have a quiet conversation with Tohru if the boys were both at each other's throats. And no doubt they'd want to know what he'd be telling her. Finally, starting to jump up and down in nervous excitement, Shigure popped his head into the kitchen with a bright smile.

"Okay, time to leave the house now, Yuki-kun, Kyo-kun. Off you go."

He waved his hand at the two.

Suddenly the two boys halted in mid argument, staring at Shigure with bewildered, blank expressions.

"What are you talking about?" Kyo scoffed.

"You need to get back to Kazuma's and Yuki…will walk you there. See? So you both need to leave now. I'll miss you both, really I will." As Shigure was (forcefully) steering the two out of the kitchen and towards the door, Yuki suddenly gave him a rather odd look.

"Why would you want me to walk him there? He knows the way."

"Yes, well, we all know Kyo-kun is forgetful-"

"Hey!"

"And why do you want us gone when Honda-san is about to get home?"

Shigure slightly blanked at that. His momentary pause caused the once suspicious glances from the two teenagers to erupt into full-blown attack mode.

"Why don't you want us around when she gets home?" Yuki hissed coldly.

"What are you gonna to do to her, you sick dog?!" Kyo clenched his fists.

"Eh heh…" Shigure backed up slightly, holding his hands up in a feeble attempt to deflect the two boys' heated remarks. Nervous laughter escaped from his lips. "Why would you two think I would do anything to our precious flower?"

"Because it's you, you sick bastard!"

"What's going on, Shigure?" Yuki crossed his arms, his face all hard lines.

Very gently, the front door to the house was opened by a young girl followed by an even younger boy. It went completely unnoticed by the three preoccupied men.

Shigure sighed wearily, dragging a hand through his unruly hair; perhaps it was best just to let them know. At least he would nip the problem of telling them right in the bud. "Alright….tonight," he paused slightly, trying to find the right words before continuing forward with blunt honesty, "I was going to talk with Tohru about something that Akito has recently decided…" The two teenagers looked at each other wordlessly. "For some reason…Akito has seen in necessary to remove Tohru from this house and make her stay with Hatori for a while, in his own home."

There was a moment of stunned silence, before one small voice instantly shattered it.

"What?"

Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki whirled around to find a very shocked Momiji standing in the open doorway, his expressive brown eyes looking at the three men before staring up at an utterly silent Tohru. Her face seemed to take on an ashen appearance.

"Tohru…" Momiji gently tugged at her sleeve. "What are they talking about?"

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