Pairing: This chapter contains no obvious pairings
Rating: M
Warnings: There is also slight OOC, minor language, minor references to violence, and blood
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, Natsuki Takaya does.


The phone rang, echoing through the walls of the house, interrupting Shigure from the long awaited moment of peace. He had remained at the table since Hatori had left, still drinking tea as he thought about ways to block out the thoughts that were running through his mind in the cold atmosphere of last night.

Reluctantly, he stood up and walked toward the phone. Who could it be at a time like this? Only curiosity allowed him to pick up the phone. If only he had known what he was picking up on. If he had known what the call had in store, he would have let it ring, keeping a moment of peace if only a moment longer.

"Hello?" he asked as he picked up the phone, hoping that nothing too serious was going on, but what he heard next almost made him drop the phone where he stood. He couldn't believe it.

"Is this Souma Shigure?" the voice asked.

Shigure knew it was serious. "This is he…"

"We would like to inform you that Souma Yuki never showed up to school today," Shigure dropped his cup of tea, his breathing stopping as it shattered, his heart feeling like it was ready to halt as well. "Were you aware of this?"

Shigure closed his eyes as he tried to block out the feelings of discomfort that he had been experiencing since last night. Nothing happened to Yuki. He probably got lost on his way to school. But that was unlike him. Yuki never got lost, he was always on time to everything. He closed his eyes as he tried to find a way to make this seem less obvious.

"I'm sorry, Yuki is sick today and I guess I forgot to call in," he closed his eyes as he thought where his cousin could have run off to. "He should be better by tomorrow."

He hung up the phone as he stared blankly into nothing. What had happened to him? He felt nauseous as he thought of everything that could occur. Was he kidnapped? Was he ever going to see him again? His stomach churned as he thought deeper about it. He should have stopped him from going to school while he still had the chance.

The phone rang again, his hand reaching out to grasp it, hoping that it was Yuki. "Hello?" he asked, praying that all of this was just a huge misunderstanding.

It was Hatori. "Shigure, did you get a call as well?"

"They called you about Yuki too?" Shigure asked.

"No," Hatori stated seriously. "I got one about Hatsuharu… he didn't show up to school. Why do you ask? Yuki didn't show up either?"

The dog's eyes widened as he thought about everything that was going through his head. Both of them were missing. This had gone from a dilemma to a catastrophe in just a matter of minutes. His body shook as he thought about what was going on. Were they going to come for all of them?

"What should we do?" Shigure asked as he took a deep breath.

"We get the rest of them out of school and keep an eye on them, make sure that none of them leave our sight until we get to the bottom of this," Hatori continued. "We don't know what these people are capable of."

Shigure nodded. "Alright, I'll get Kyou and Momiji, you get Hiro and Kisa," they then hung up the phone simultaneously. The dog then started to move toward the door, his mind fixated on one fact: they were under attack.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Shigure walked through the halls of the school, searching for the office. The fear had risen to the point where he could no longer function without thinking about what could have happened to the two boys. His stomach churned as he fought the urge to vomit wondering if they were killed. The chills meant something, and now he wished that he had paid more attention.

As he arrived at the office, he immediately ordered the secretary to do as he wished. "I need you to call down Souma Momiji and Souma Kyou. I'm going to be dismissing them today…"

He watched as the secretary moved to call the classrooms, the two students being sent from him. Shigure felt his nerves ignite as he thought about what could have happened to them. As he swam deeper in his thoughts, he wanted a cigarette even more. He craved it to the point where there was nothing more that he wanted. But those thoughts were killed as he tried to focus on the positive, no more Soumas would go missing.

The office door opened as the two teenagers came in to see him. "What the hell is going on, Shigure?" Kyou asked as he walked toward the dog. "Why are you taking us out of school early?"

"We have to leave," he couldn't give them anymore explanation than that. "We're in the middle of a family crisis right now. It's not safe outside of the house," he walked out of the office. "Haa-san is going to meet us at the house…"

"Ha'ri is involved?" Momiji asked as he followed the dog. "This must be important to make him involved in this," he took a deep breath. "What's going on? Why are we in the middle of a crisis?"

Shigure turned away from them as they walked down the street. He didn't know what he could say to them. He couldn't tell them what had happened to Yuki and Haru. They weren't ready to be involved in this. All they had to know was that they weren't to leave their sight for even an instant. They couldn't lose anymore of them.

As he walked down the streets, Shigure thought about what could have gone through the boy's minds as they were walking to school. Where was the point where they had gone missing? What were they feeling when they were lost? He closed his eyes as he tried to block out any thoughts of them being more injured than he wanted them to.

He wanted a cigarette, he needed a cigarette, he wasn't going to be able to function if he didn't get a cigarette. The stress was piling up on him until the weight was too great to bear. What if he had told them to stay home and listened to the voice within him that told him that they were going to get caught? Both he and Hatori had been afraid that something had happened to them. Why didn't they listen to their hearts? If only they had, they wouldn't be in this mess right now. For the first time in long time, Shigure felt as though he had made the greatest mistake of his life.

Steps became painful as he tried to think of everything that happened in these twenty-four hours. They had a feeling that something was going to occur and they ignored it, and in only a few hours later their lives changed. Yuki and Haru were missing and they were never going to come home. And he knew, even though he tried to deny it, that it was all his fault.

"Shigure!" Hatori called out as he drove up to him. "Need a ride?"

"Get into the car," Shigure stated as the two boys got into the back with Hiro and Kisa. He then moved into the car to sit next to Hatori. "Have you seen anything on the way here?"

Hatori shook his head, trying his hardest to focus on his driving. "No, but I called Ayame. He's looking for them right now."

Shigure took out a cigarette and lit it, giving into his cravings. As he took the first breath of nicotine, he felt serenity flowing through him. All of the fear that was within his heart started to go on the back burner as he tried to let everything go. And for that very second he knew that everything was going to be alright.

"What the hell is going on?" Kyou asked as he looked at the two adults. "What is this secret crisis that the two of you won't tell us about? We're part of this family too; we have the right to know what's going on."

"That's unimportant," Hatori answered as he looked at Kyou. "We'll discuss it later. Right now we have to make sure that all of you are going to be alright," he breathed deeply as he smelled the smoke from Shigure's cigarette. "All you need to know about this crisis is that Haru and Yuki are missing and we're looking for them."

Kisa's eyes lit up as she heard the ox's name. "What happened to Haru?"

Shigure sighed as his eyes watered from the smoke. "We don't know, but we will do whatever we can to find out."

"How long have they been missing?" Momiji asked looking at Hatori.

The doctor took a deep breath, he couldn't hide it form them anymore. "They never made it to school…"

Kyou scoffed at that remark, running a hand through his bright orange hair, his lips curling into a snide grin, a slight chuckle passing his lips. "That damn rat and Haru probably got lost on their way to school and decided to skip. You two are making a huge deal out of nothing."

The dragon shook his head as he looked back at the cat. "No, that sounds like something Haru would do. But Yuki," he paused as he thought about the other boy. "He isn't the type to do something like that…"

As Shigure ran out of cigarette, he replaced it with a new one, lighting it in the blink of an eye. Nicotine was the only thing that was keeping him from going insane at that moment. It was his tranquilizer. He couldn't let it go, for the second that he did, he knew that it would be a catastrophe.

"You shouldn't get so worried," Hatori breathed, noticing how much his cousin was smoking. "We're going to find them…"

Everything changed at that moment; suddenly the children couldn't take their eyes off of the two adults as they sunk deeper into a shallow pit of insanity. They knew that if this situation could do that to them, only the heavens knew what it could do to the rest of the family. The adults were the ones who tried to keep them down to earth as the rest of them flew into uncertainty; it was never to be the other way around. Now they knew that it had become their worst nightmare. They were all doomed.

"Are you two going to be alright?" Kyou asked, causing Shigure to look back him. "It's not that I really care about how you two are feeling right now, or that damn rat disappearing. It's that I don't like seeing you like this," his eyes met the dog's. "Especially you, Shigure…"

A smile rolled across both Shigure and Hatori's faces as they heard that. They were going to make it through this. And even if they couldn't they would have to try. If they feel victim to this pressure, then it could destroy everyone who needed to lean on them. They would have to stay strong.

As they pulled up to the house, they saw Ayame standing in front, his eyes showing no signs of hope. His mission to find the two boys was an obvious flop. They stopped the car, walking with apparent shame to the snake as he shook his head.

"You didn't find them?" Hatori asked as he got out of the car.

"No," Ayame answered as he looked at him. "But I did find something," his hands fell to pick something up. "I found this…"

Both Shigure and Hatori almost fell to their knees as the saw what it was. It was a schoolbag. But it wasn't an ordinary school bag; it was covered with blood, fresh blood. They couldn't focus on the tasks at hand as they watched the blood drop to the ground, ending all of their hope of them getting lost. It was more than that, they had drawn blood.

"Kyou," Hatori whispered, "Take everyone inside."

The cat cooperated as he looked at the blood. He was aware of what happened. It was more than just Yuki and Haru wanting to take a break from their lives. They were hurt. This was the crisis that they were talking about. It was more serious than they all thought it was.

"Whose blood is it?" Hatori asked as he looked at the scarlet liquid.

Ayame shrugged. "I don't know. Whoever it was, they aren't in danger, it doesn't seem like they lost too much…" he took a deep breath. "It's Haru's bag though…"

Shigure looked at the blood as he shivered. "Then I guess it's Haru's blood."

"Then they were kidnapped," Hatori breathed, his eyes expanding to double their size. He suddenly fell into the same pit that Shigure had been in for so long, he desperately needed a cigarette. "But who would take them?"

Ayame closed his eyes as his trembling hand moved to touch the dragon's shoulder. "I don't know. All I know is that we can't give up. We have to find them," he looked deeply into Hatori's eyes. "This is personal now. They took my little brother…" he shook his head. "Tori-san, please find him before it's too late…"

"I will," Hatori answered as he walked to the car. "We'll all go the route that Yuki usually goes to school and see if we can find any more clues."

As the other two walked away, Shigure embraced the bloody bag tightly, closing his eyes with the same amount of force. He could still feel Haru's warmth on the bag, like the boy was just holding it. He didn't want to think about him losing blood; he didn't want to think of all of the pain that he had gone through. It was too much to take in at once.

"Haru," Shigure whispered as he walked toward the car. "Please let us make it in time, before something happens to you…"


Sorry for taking so long. I got so engrossed in Falling Petals that I had a blockage for what to do next in this story.