Hey everyone!! Long time no see, right? Okay so here I am with the new chapter! This darn thing took me FOREVER to write. Other plot bunnies got ahold of me, and I had finals, and I'm giving way too many excuses. Anyway- it was 12 pages long so here's a long chapter for a long wait. I hope everyone's New Year was great! Mine certainly was.
Thank you to Risingwinter, Reidluver, and Kyo Sohma (!) for reviewing this! It means a lot- keep it up guys!
Enough about that- here it is!
"Tohru...? Come on, don't do this. You've gotta wake up right now, damnit!" Tohru heard Kyo's voice, which was somewhat distorted for some reason, yelling very close to her ear.
'Did I forget to set my alarm again?' she wondered absentmindedly.
She slowly opened her eyes, finding the night sky filling her vision. 'How odd... where did my roof go?' Then memories came flooding back to her, of the mission and Kyo, and with them the pain of her injury. She winced, tightly closing her eyes, and brought her hand up to her wounded stomach.
Kyo noticed this and leaned closer, resting his hand on hers. The sudden movement pulled Tohru back into focus and she opened her eyes again. She tried to sit up, but was halted by the shot of pain from her wound.
"Watch it, geez. I've only just now stopped the bleeding. Could you try not to undo what I've just done?"
The medical ninja sat up, this time very slowly, with Kyo's hands on her back helping her. The night was almost pitch black- the only light came from the lamps from the building. She put her hands on the bandages that covered her wound. They were tightly wrapped and slightly uneven, but they did the job. "You mean, you did this?"
The boy nodded, his hair glowing an even brighter orange in the lamplight, and then looked concerned. "Did I not do a good job? Damn it, I knew I didn't, it was enough to stop the bleeding so I thought..."
He was interrupted by the girl's bright smile. "It look's fine, silly!" He breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked embarrassed by her compliment. "Can you help me lean against this tree?" She gestured toward a small birch tree behind her.
"Yeah, sure." He slowly helped her scoot back until she could lean back onto it.
"How long has it been?" Her hands moved to her wound, then started glowing as she used medical Ninjutsu to heal it. She winced at the touch of her own hands.
"Not long at all; maybe ten minutes? Suzaku isn't back yet, and you woke up right after I finished those guys off." He moved his head to indicate the clearing where they had fought.
"You're not hurt, are you?" She inquired, concern showing on her face in the lamplight.
He shifted his weight. "No, just a few scratches, nothing to worry about. How's it healing?" He leaned forward.
"Good, I should be okay to move in a few minutes..." She was cut off by the sound of a door opening.
Kyo immediately jumped up, kunai in hand, peering through the darkness. A voice sounded. "Hey, put that down, brother. It's just me! Don't be scared."
Kyo slowly lowered his knife, letting out a chuckle. "Scared? Of a little cat like you? You've gotta grow a little bit bigger so I can see you, Suzaku."
The cat padded up to them. "Here are the scrolls." He dropped them at Kyo's feet, then turned to Tohru. "What happened out here? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, really." She reassured him, petting his head.
He let out a loud purr and sat down next to her. Kyo knelt down and grabbed the documents, looking through them as he stood back up. "That's everything, thank you Suzaku."
The cat licked his leg passively and stood up. "So I guess that means I'm done here, it was great see-"
"Wait a minute, I'm not done with you." The feline sat back down with a huff and went back to his cleaning. "Tohru, are you okay to travel?"
She hesitantly nodded then opened her mouth to protest. Kyo put his hand out to stop her. "Listen, you know what's going to happen. Suzaku, I want you to stay with Tohru until she gets back to the village."
The cat looked up. "What about you?"
Kyo sighed, then smiled down at the cat. "I'll catch up with you guys later, I've got some matters to deal with here first."
"Well why don't we just wait for you?" The cat was confused, he cocked his head to the side.
Tohru answered before Kyo could, while using the tree to lift herself up. Kyo went to help her, holding her arm. "We have to deliver these to the village as soon as possible." She provided no further explanation.
The cat sighed, then stood up, kneading his claws. "We better go then."
Tohru nodded, somewhat sadly, and then turned to Kyo. "Listen..."
He shook his head, "Please, just... don't. I don't want to say goodbye..." he whispered.
She looked down, then suddenly looked back up and started digging through her pockets. "There's something I want to give you." She held her hand out and opened it to reveal a small necklace, an orange cat on a chain. "My mom gave this to me when I was little. It... it's supposed to bring you good luck. I saw it earlier and it reminded me of you and Suzaku so..."
She handed it to Kyo, who closed his fist around it. "Listen, I can't let you give this to me. It means a lot to you and it's just going to get destroyed."
"I don't care. I... I wanted to do something to help you but I couldn't think of anything until I found this. Maybe, its luck will make you lucky too!" She was giving him the puppy-dog look that no one could resist, especially from Tohru, since she didn't realize she was doing it.
Kyo let out a chuckle, still looking down at the cat necklace in his hand. "Thanks, Tohru. This means a lot." He slipped the necklace around his neck. "You guys'd better leave before their back-up comes looking for them. I don't want either of you to be in danger." He handed the scrolls to Tohru and gave a sort of half smile.
Tohru nodded, her heart felt like it had sunk into her stomach. 'This may be the last time I ever see him.' She thought sadly. She paused for a moment, and then threw her arms around his neck.
Kyo was startled for a moment, but eventually he rested his arms on her back, returning the embrace.
"I... I'll miss you so much," She was sniffling, silent tears running down her cheeks. "We all will."
He smiled into her hair, a small tear running down his own cheek, and pulled away. "Go, before I start having second thoughts."
She wiped a tear off of her cheek and gestured for Suzaku to follow her. They made it halfway across the clearing when Kyo spoke.
"Don't... don't get yourself into any trouble. Tohru, I know you, you won't have me there to tell you when you're spacing out. You'll end up hitting your head or falling into a river...again. Just, try to be safe. Okay?" His face was turned away from her but she could hear the sincerity in his voice. "Besides," he chuckled, tossing the scroll Shigure had given him into the air. He caught it and finished. "I don't trust that damn rat to take care of you."
Tohru smiled. "I'll be safe, I promise. Don't you worry, Kyo-kun!"
Then she and Suzaku left him alone in the clearing, staring at the small scroll that could hold the key to his life.
---
Tohru and Suzaku ran through the dense forest away from the temple. A few silent minutes passed when Suzaku finally spoke.
"So what was that all about?" Suzaku asked.
Tohru, who had been silent up until this point, finally spoke. "What are you talking about?" She looked down at him.
He leaped over a log behind her. "Back at the temple. You and Kyo were acting really strange. I know we had to get away fast... but still, we could have waited for him."
Tohru lowered her head. She was facing away so he couldn't see her face. "There was a reason. I'll tell you when it's done, okay?" She looked back and smiled.
The orange cat flicked his ears back. "Well I'm not one to be patient, but I'll try. So what was with all the hugging, eh? You two aren't..."
Her face flushed a bright red. "No, you've got it all wrong. That wasn't it..."
He smiled his feral grin. "Ha-ha! I knew it! I didn't think that kit had the guts but hey- I guess I was wrong."
Now poor Tohru was a little confused. "He has the guts to do what? Suzaku, you've definitely misunderstood. Kyo doesn't..." She would have continued except the feline was not paying attention. He had leaped past her and out of sight, veering to the left.
Tohru followed him, yelling for him to wait for her. "Hey, Suzaku!? Wait up, what are you doing. The village is the other way, right?" She thought for a minute. 'It is that way, right? Maybe I got lost and he was trying to point me in the right direction. Oh how embarrassing if I couldn't even find my own home!"
She heard a loud hiss from up ahead, a thump, and a yell. She sped up, crashing through the bushes that blocked her vision. The bushes scraped her legs as she leaped over them...straight into a rippling stream.
"Ahhh!" She let out a shriek and jumped up, soaking wet with freezing water.
"Tohru, are you alright?" A voice that was almost certainly Suzaku yelled from the bank. He was standing inches from the water, as close as he wanted to get.
"Oh, Suzaku, there you are. I'm fine, really, just a bit wet. I guess thats what happens when you fall into a stream! I didn't even realize it was there!" She giggled, wading out of the water and onto the bank. "What were you doing, anyway. You just leaped out of sight!"
A drop of water fell from her hair and onto Suzaku's head, who gave a little "mrrw" and backed away, shaking his head to get the offending water off. "This rat here decided to join us. I didn't realize it was him at first, so I kind of attacked him."
"You knocked me into the river without getting your paws wet. How do you do that anyway?" A voice sounded to the right of Tohru on the bank. He was also soaking wet, and was sporting a few fresh scratches. "Miss Honda, we have to talk."
"Yuki!" She rushed over to him, checking him over. "You shouldn't be out here. You have to train and your arm is still..."
He calmly put his good hand on her shoulder. "That's no matter Miss Honda. Tsunade-sama sent me to retrieve the documents and to make sure you were okay." He stepped closer, eyeing her bandages. "You're hurt. What happened? Do I need to take you back to the village right now?"
"Hmmm?" She realized that the bandages that Kyo had so carefully wrapped were still covering her semi-healed wound. "Oh, yes I was, but I've healed it enough to make it back to Konoha in one piece. It was pretty bad at first though..." She thought for a moment, about to add something more to her story before Yuki interrupted.
"Kyo's not here, is he?." He seemed as if he was just observing.
Tohru felt uncomfortable lying to Yuki, but she couldn't let him know what was really going on. No matter how much he hated to admit it, and probably never would, she knew he admired and cared about Kyo. "He... he stayed back to finish something." She managed to say, somewhat sadly.
"Miss Honda, you don't have to lie to me." She stared back at him. 'How did he know? Am I that bad of a liar?'
He continued, "Shigure told me about the real mission."
Tohru now looked shocked. "How?" She and Kyo had done everything they could to make sure Yuki didn't find out. She knew that if he did, he would rashly chase after them, completely ignoring his injuries and training for the exams.
'So much for that?' She thought.
Yuki spoke again, choosing his words carefully. "I had been having this funny feeling ever since Kyo started acting weird. So as soon as you guys left, I went to deliver a package from the Hokage to the gate where Shigure and Kakashi were working. Shigure was acting really strange, almost worried, and distracted. When I asked him about it, he wouldn't tell me at first. He just brushed it off like it was nothing and kept looking through his papers. I kept pestering him and Kakashi finally convinced him to tell me." He paused, glancing at Suzaku, who looked utterly confused.
"I ran straight to Tsunade. I must admit, I was a bit outraged. She wasn't very happy with Shigure for telling me, she sort of yelled at him." He chuckled. "He got out of there before she could start throwing punches."
Tohru smiled at this, imagining Shigure's terror as the insanely strong Hokage's rage bore down on him. 'I'm glad he got out of there when he did. He would have landed in the hospital for weeks!'
"Anyway, I convinced her to assign me to this mission as soon as she calmed down a bit." He concluded, reaching up to a tree and picking a leaf off of it, turning it around in his fingers.
Tohru walked next to him. "How did you manage that with your arm still injured? Surely, as a medical ninja, Tsunade would-" She was cut off by a chuckle from Yuki.
"I have my ways." Suzaku, from behind the two teens, burst out laughing. "Quiet cat, all she did was check my arm. It is healing fine, so she said I could go as long as I was careful with it." He held out his injured arm- it was now unbandaged and, although thinner than usual, looked perfectly fine. He even wiggled his fingers to prove this. "Plus, Miss Honda is here, and if I have any pain in it she can check it out."
Tohru opened her mouth to protest but Suzaku cut in, squeezing in between Tohru's legs and turning to face the two teens.
"Can somebody please tell me what is going on? What is this "real mission" you two are talking about!? "
Yuki turned to Tohru, still twiddling the leaf in between his fingers. "Miss Honda, you haven't told him?"
She shook her head, feeling a little guilty about lying to the poor cat. "Before we left the temple, Kyo told me not to tell him. He didn't want Suzaku to freak out and end up hurt by the explosion."
Yuki slowly nodded. "I can understand that. I wouldn't want my summoning to get hurt, either. However, Suzaku is going to pester us until he finds out. We're far enough away from the temple. He won't get hurt."
Suzaku now was even more confused. He jumped, putting his front paws on Tohru's leg, almost standing, and looked up at her. "E...explosion? Nobody said anything about an explosion. When is Kyo coming back? He'll tell me what you guys are hiding."
Yuki dropped down to Suzaku's level. The cat pushed off of Tohru's legs and faced him. "Suzaku, Kyo didn't want us to tell you because he didn't want you to worry about him. He's..." he turned away for a moment, flicking the leaf into the stream, "He's been assigned a suicide mission."
The cat backed up away from Yuki, straight into Tohru's legs. "Damn rat, I don't believe you." He turned around, looking up at Tohru. "Tohru, please, tell him he's wrong. Kyo would never accept that kind of mission. He...he was fine just ten minutes ago! Tell him, Tohru." His voice shook with anxiety.
Tohru knelt down, petting the cat on the head. "I'm afraid I can't say that. This mission wasn't one that he could turn down. That's why...that's why we said goodbye before we left the temple."
Suzaku held his mouth open, mortified and shocked. "You mean, he was just told, 'Kyo, you're going to die on this mission.' and there's nothing anyone could do about it?"
Tohru looked away. Two days ago she had felt the same way, spoken the same exact words. However, she learned that words alone couldn't do anything to change the situation.
Suzaku continued, becoming even more frustrated. "He's just going to die, all alone, hoping we made it back safely while he never would? That... that's just sick. Are you serious...Tohru?" She shook her head, still looking away. She couldn't speak.
He spun around to face Yuki. "Yuki, please, we've got to do something."
The teen lifted his head, starting straight into Suzaku's maroon eyes. "There's nothing we can do."
Suzaku narrowed his eyes, and then turned away at a steady walk. "If you guys think I'm just going to sit here and let him die, then you're wrong."
Yuki got up and hid the documents Tohru had given him under some rocks. "They'll be safe here until we come back for them" and started running after Suzaku with Tohru following at his heels.
"Listen Suzaku, we've tried, we really have!" Tohru begged him.
The cat did not reply, but started at a run back towards the temple. Yuki and Tohru quickly followed after.
Kyo had watched as Tohru and his summoning left the clearing. They had sent long shadows cascading across his vision in the lamplight. Now, it was just him, alone with his shadow, Tohru's lucky cat necklace, and Shigure's scroll.
He glanced down at the small scroll in his hand. Shigure had said that this was his only way to be spared. However, no one knew if whatever the scroll held would actually work or not. 'Sucks if it doesn't.' Thought Kyo, as he wrapped his hand around the scroll so the edges barely showed.
He felt a soft breeze, causing the trees to sway back and forth, almost making him dizzy. To avoid looking at the trees, he instead faced up. The half-moon shone above him, uncovered by the canopy of the trees. Stars twinkled around it, lighting the sky. He closed his eyes and let out a long, exasperated sigh.
'Tohru and Suzaku should be out of range by now. She'll be safe.' He thought, and slowly walked towards the door. He paused at the door, and, as curiosity had gotten the better of him, opened the scroll.
Inside, as he expected, was a seal. He quickly released it, although his hands were shaking. From cold, fear, or just pure exhaustion Kyo would never know. As soon as he released the seal, the scroll vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a small, orange pill.
Instead of relief about the pill that could save his life, annoyance at Shigure and Tsunade instead filled Kyo's mind. 'I know Tsunade is a medical ninja and all, but really? She knows I hate swallowing pills. Also, why the hell does the pill have to be orange!? As if my hair isn't enough...' He just imagined Shigure smiling his stupid grin, laughing at Kyo's face when he saw the color.
"It matches your hair, Kyo! We made it orange just for you. Look, there's a little cat engraved in it too!"
Shigure would do that.
Although there was no cat engraved in the pill, Kyo was sure that perverted dog would have found a way to do it if he had the time.
Well, he would have, if the situation were completely different from the situation Kyo was in right now. He had tried to keep the fact that in less than ten minutes he was going to die out of his mind. Now it slowly crept forward, taking over his thoughts. He looked once more at the small cat necklace around his neck and almost believed Tohru's story that it was truly a lucky cat.
"This is it." He said aloud, and opened the large, wooden door into the temple.
Alarms greeted his ears, and automatic lights turned on. Kyo barely noticed, his mind was focused on running. He stopped when he saw a sealed paper bomb on the wall to his right.
'If this one blows, the other should be triggered to do the same.'
He closed his eyes again as a feeling of dread crept in the pit of his stomach. He took a shaky breath and tried to be as calm as he could. He hadn't gone through all that training as a ninja for nothing. All thoughts elsewhere, he opened his hand, grabbed the pill, popped it in his mouth and swallowed it. There was no time to think afterward; Shigure had said to blow the place up as soon as he took the pill.
A weird kind of energy surged through his body, but Kyo was focused on making the correct hand signs with shaky hands. Finally, he stopped.
'Tohru...I....'
All was quiet for a second. Then, the world as he knew it exploded into pieces.
"Suzaku!" Yuki and Tohru simultaneously yelled.
The cat ignored them, racing through the trees at full speed. "I don't care what you guys say, I can't let him die."
"You don't understand! There was nothing we could have done! Anyway, we're too close, if we get any closer we could be seriously injured. " Tohru yelled after him.
Suzaku stopped mid-leap, skidding to a halt. He turned to face Tohru when she and Yuki caught up. "No, Tohru, you don't understand. What happened to the always happy and optimistic Tohru? Why did you give up?"
She was taken aback. "I... I haven't given up. Even right now, I'm hoping and praying that he makes it through alive. Even though my brain tells me it's not possible, my heart tells me to hope."
His gaze softened. "Now that's better. Yuki." he turned to the teen, "You of all people should understand why I can't let him die. We share a bond, unique to the Sohma family, with summons that, if broken, is extremely painful."
"Suzaku." Yuki started, "I know where you're coming from, but we have to be realistic. Kyo..."
Suddenly, the earth shook around them and they heard a loud booming noise close by. Tohru screamed and covered her face, Yuki fell into a tree, and Suzaku started running forward, screaming Kyo's name.
Another blast sent them all tumbling to the ground. Yuki crawled to Tohru, blocking her as the wake of the blast hit them, knocking over trees and throwing debris into the air.
When the smoke finally cleared, the whole forest was in shambles. Smoke and dust still lingered, turning the sky a yellowish-orange in color. Trees lay flat, others were stripped of bark in some areas. Yuki lifted his head up, coughing, and let Tohru sit up as well. Both were covered with tiny scratches from flying debris.
They looked ahead, less than a mile away was the spot where the explosion had occurred. Yuki got up and carefully picked Suzaku up; the cat lay unconscious on top of a fallen tree.
"Is he okay?" Tohru asked, still sitting on the ground.
"He's just knocked out. He should be fine." Yuki answered.
Tohru stood up, brushed herself off, and immediately started sprinting as fast as she could towards the explosion site, with Yuki at her heels.
'Kyo- if you're there, alive, we will find you. No matter what!'
I'm sorry if there are any grammar or spelling errors- I tried to proofread it but it's really late right now O.o It's kind of a cliffhanger but not a big huge one.
Please review! You have no idea (or maybe you do) how much reviews motivate me to keep writing! Thanks for reading and review review review!!
By the way, thanks Kyo for posting this story on Facebook :D
