Weeks went by, and the four runaways still hadn't been found. Life went on more peacefully. Kyo was actually being nicer to Kagura, yet still making his affection for Tohru grow even deeper and more known. Yuki was becoming quite the flirt around Tohru. Tohru generally didn't do much responding to either of the boys; she figured the more space between them, the more time she had to figure everything out. Kaori amusingly watched the four's affections grow and be tested.
"Tohru!" Kagura shouted gliding clumsily towards her. Tohru was making some late afternoon lunch.
"Yes Kagura?" Tohru smiled turning away from her food preparations.
Kagura was all giddy in the face. "Look what I made for Kyo!" She whipped out a rather scruffy made orange scarf that read in black: Kyo heart Kagura.
Tohru made her normal fake smile and giggles, anyone knew that this gift would be the kind you hide in the back of your closet, never to be seen again. "Wonderful…I'm sure he'll love it."
Kagura smiled twirling around with the scarf in the air, "You think so? I hope he does. I've been working on it for over a week." Tohru noticed band aids on Kagura fingers; she knew that Kagura must have slaved over making that scarf.
Kagura smiled one last time before heading out to find Kyo to give her gift. Tohru wondered exactly what Kyo's response would be to it. She hoped he wouldn't do anything too rude. Kagura was a fragile little thing.
"So…you think they'll end up together?" Kaori asked while leaning against the kitchen island. Tohru hadn't heard her come in at all.
"Excuse me?" Tohru said with a nervous smile.
Kaori smirked and looked at her hand, admiring it like it was a sculpture. She looked back up, "Let me rephrase that. Do you hope that the cat and that girl get together?"
Tohru twitched just a hair, Kaori noticed, but didn't comment. Tohru presented another nervous smile, "Why does my opinion matter?"
Kaori smiled, it wasn't evil, but definitely not friendly. "Come now, you have both of our fair boys' hearts in your hand. The question is though which will you choose? Hmm?"
Kaori walked closer to Tohru, a little to close for comfort. Tohru began getting a tad defensive, "I really don't think that it's any of your business."
"Really now? Well that's probably true, but either way you have to decide which boy's heart your sending to the shredder." With that, Kaori left Tohru in a state of confusion, leaving the kitchen.
Tohru slowly finished making lunch; her body was shaking a bit. She finally realized that if she chose one boy over the other then one of their hearts will be hurt. She couldn't bear hurting anyone like that.
Night fell over the mountain cottage, flames flickering slowly in the fireplace. Kyo was strangled in Kagura's scarf; she sat laying on him, thumbing the scarf. Yuki sat next to Kaori in identical chairs watching the flames dance on the walls. Tohru was in her room, she had to separate herself tonight. She couldn't be around Kyo or Yuki; it just reminded her to much of what she had to do.
'If I chose Yuki, Kyo would probably do something stupid and might get himself hurt or worse. If I chose Kyo then Yuki would be all alone. Kyo always has Kagura, and who does Yuki have…no one. They both are genuine people and I would be lucky to be with either of them. What should I do?' Tohru was thinking to herself, trying her best to sort out her feelings.
Suddenly Tohru whipped her head in alert, there was a loud boom noise coming from where everyone else was.
Tohru ran to them, she heard shouts and things breaking.
She gasped at what she saw. Akito stood there in front of the doorway with Yuki by the throat. Kyo and Kagura were collapsed against a wall; Kaori was held back by two guards with an evil glare in her eyes.
Akito's gaze was fixed on Tohru, smirking and laughing at her. "You thought we would not find you? You truly are infidels."
Yuki's hands were clawing at Akito, gagging for air.
Tohru felt unsheathed tears swell up her eyes. They were tears of terror. Her body shook slightly and the hairs on her arms stood on end.
Akito never took his eyes off Tohru, he was fixated on her. He squeezed harder on Yuki's neck, rewarding him a loud moan of pain. "Come here girl, slowly, or he dies. You wouldn't want that to happen."
Tohru knew Akito would never kill Yuki, but hurt him severely he would. Tohru wouldn't stand by and watch that if she could do something. Tohru slowly walked towards Akito, every step seemed heavier than the previous. Yuki's eyes were wide, pleading Tohru not to go any further, but she continued until she was in arms reach of Akito.
Akito smiled, pleased and threw Yuki against the wall, making him collapse unconscious.
Tohru turned away from Akito and shouted out for Yuki. Bad mistake.
Akito grabbed Tohru's hair and pushed her to her knees. Tears finally streamed down her face. Akito moved his hand from her hair to her chin, tilting it ever so slightly to look up at him.
"I told you before; you would be punished if you ever crossed me. Trust me, the punishment will be so harsh that you'll be begging me to end your life," he whispered the last phrases.
Tohru made a small squeal of fright, while trying to stop her tears. Akito knelt down to be level with the knee ridden Tohru. "Before I torture you though, I'm going to let you watch the punishment of the other three."
Tohru cringed her eyes in anger and spat in his face. Akito, without flinching, pressed his palm into her face, shoving her to the ground, her skulls rubbing against the floor.
"Don't try to be brave girl. It only makes your grave deeper." Akito whacked Tohru's head against the floor making her, too, unconscious.
Tohru opened her eyes wildly, looking around herself. Where was she?
Her arms and legs were chained along a cold, stone wall. Her body was completely vertical, very uncomfortable.
The room was dim, but she could see Kyo, Yuki, and Kagura's bodies aligned opposite of her, hanging from similar chains.
"Yuki! Kyo!" She shouted out hoping that they would respond. Yuki's head propped up, but Kyo was not responding.
Yuki's eyes were red and his lips were edging into blue. He coughed roughly into the air.
"Yuki, are you all right?" Tohru asked her voice in a hoarse whisper.
Yuki nodded, "Are you all right?"
"Yes. Yuki what's going on? Where are we?"
Yuki looked at the room; it seemed he really didn't even observe where they were until now. He sighed greatly, "This is Akito's playroom. The dungeons of the Sohma family."
Tohru saw on one wall blades of all sorts and other objects she couldn't even describe, let alone name. She bit back the fear in her voice, "Will he be using those…things?"
Yuki's face was grim, though you could hardly tell because his hair was spilling forward hiding it. "I'm afraid so."
Tohru's heart sank, her stomach winced. "Is there any way out of this?"
Yuki shook his head negatively, "No. We went against Akito; you know he will make us pay for it."
Tohru shuddered and then broke down into a series of tears. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault. Yuki I just keep causing you're family pain."
Yuki lifted his head more, straining to see Tohru's sobbing face, "Please don't say that. You've only caused this family joy Tohru. Just because Akito is a selfish ruler, doesn't mean that you've done anything wrong. Please don't cry anymore."
She still continued to cry, slowly though it died down. She sniffled a bit wishing she had a free hand to wipe her face clean.
Then a load moaning creak erupted into the room. Light shone high into the room, stairs fell below it; a door. A silhouette of someone came walking slowly down the steps. Each step was more of a scrape then anything. The person let out a sinister laugh, no, more like giggle.
A/N:
Ok well this Chapter had a bit of excitement in it! Yippee! Well I'm still being pummeled with homework, so much fun! Bleh. Thanks everyone for the reviews, they are always welcomed! Well I guess I'll have the next chapter up in about a week, so hang in there! )