Chapter Four: The First Clues

Sam Kohatio was the first to wake the next morning. Retrieving the large envelope from under the clothes in his wardrobe, he emptied out the contents on his bed. There were seven envelopes, already sealed and addressed to the recipients. The envelope contained their first clues. He taped them to the Sohma's doors, mysteriously chuckling the whole time, and returned to his room long before sunrise.

-+-

Hatsuharu woke next. Bored, he decided to take a walk around the large house. Leaving Ritsu muttering something in his sleep, Haru opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

Stretching briefly in front of the door, Haru noticed the envelope.

Hatsuharu and Ritsu Sohma

Clue #1

Since it was addressed to him as well, he sat down on the floor and quietly opened it. Four small papers fluttered out, and one paper, larger, was left inside. Gathering the papers that had floated around, he read the note quickly.

Dear Participants,

Here is your first set of clues. Each word is on a separate piece of paper, so you do not confuse one word for another. Obviously, the words are no longer in order, but in some cases, order is not important.

Sharing your clues is entirely up to you, but why would you want to aid another Sohma to win the prize?

Think hard about your clues. Your next set will be presented to you some time next week.

As for partners, you may not abandon or trade with anyone. No exceptions! You have been assigned for a reason!

Be aware! Beware!

Yours Truly,

Akito Sohma

Hatsuharu put the letter aside and focused on the four slips of paper now.

Get A Rat To

To what? Haru wondered. He mixed the words around, but none of the combinations made sense. He decided that maybe the next week's clue would help. Shoving the papers back into the envelope, he decided he would ask Yuki later.

Yuki was the rat, after all.

-+-

"Hey Kyo! Check it out!"

Hiro was on his way to breakfast when he noticed his envelope. It was addressed to Hiro and Kyo Sohma, respectively, with 'Clue #1' written under it.

"What is it?" Kyo rolled over to face the door from his bed.

"Our first clue," Hiro told him as he locked the door. "It was taped to the door outside."

"Open it," Kyo commanded, sitting up and trying to comb down his mess of hair with his fingers. Hiro sat down on the end of Kyo's bed and opened it between them.

Kyo read Akito's letter aloud as Hiro stared at the puzzling clues. "So what do we have?" Kyo asked, and looked down.

Long The First Banquet

"Well, that doesn't make any sense," Hiro mixed up the words into different combinations.

The Long Banquet First

First The Long Banquet

The First Banquet Long

"None of those make sense," Kyo decided. "We need a longer sentence. What the hell about the stupid banquet?"

"Maybe we have to think about that story… the one with all the animals going to that banquet," Hiro suggested.

Kyo shrugged it off. He hated that stupid story. "Or maybe other people have the end of our sentence."

"Yeah, but nobody's going to want to share their clues," Hiro pointed out. "Unless… we force it out of them."

Kyo thought a moment and a smile came to his face. "You know, kid, maybe you're not such a bad partner after all."

Hiro nodded as he tucked the clues safely under a pile of his dirty clothes. "We're going to win this estate, baka neko."

Kyo smirked and both of them headed down the stairs to breakfast.

-+-

"WAKE UP, TORI-SAAAAAANNNNN!"

Hatori didn't really appreciate Ayame's decision to be his alarm clock, but got up anyway.

"Oh Tori-san, I miss Gure-san SO MUCH! Isn't it upsetting that the whole Mabudachi Trio couldn't be together?"

"Well, we're only allowed groups of two…" Hatori shuffled into the room's attached bathroom and began combing his hair, wondering if Ayame and Shigure were ever going to give up that little high school "group" they had.

"This game is boring! When will it be fun? Aren't games supposed to be entertaining?"

"I don't know, Ayame," Hatori sighed. Could Ayame act any more immature?

"You know, I'd prefer if you called me Aya."

"And I'd prefer if you didn't call me Tori-san."

"I can't call you Tori-san no more?"

"Any more. No, anything but. Please."

"So I can call you Mr. Snuggle-Pants?"

"No!"

"But you said anything but Tori-san!" Ayame giggled, choosing to approach the situation like a child.

What else is new? Hatori thought, and chose to give in. "Aya, could you please leave so I can change my clothes?"

"Okay, Mr. Snuggle-Pants!"

Ayame laughed heartily and left the room, slamming the door on the way out as he planned how he and Yuki would spend the day.

Hatori shuddered and sighed. These next few weeks were going to be… he didn't even want to think about it.

He was almost done tying his tie when Ayame burst back into the room.

"Look, Mr. Snuggle-Pants!" he screeched. He was waving a folding piece of paper around, and in doing so, five small scraps of paper fluttered to the ground.

Hatori took the paper from him as Ayame picked up the fallen ones. It was a letter from Akito, concerning the clues. Rolling his eyes, Hatori crumpled the letter up and threw it over his shoulder. He didn't need any dumb clues. He didn't need this dumb game at all. He was positive he knew who the murderer was already.

"Haha! Look how simply amusing Akito is!"

Ayame had arranged the five papers in order to form a choppy sentence:

God Sneaky , Think More

Hatori rolled his eyes. How humorous. Akito had given him the dud clue, and the dud partner. Hatori could tell when he was being mocked.

After all I've done for him… Hatori thought as he snatched up the papers with one hand and shoved them into his pocket, not saying a word for much of the remainder of the day.

-+-

"Shii-chan! Shii-chan! Somebody sent us a letter!"

Shigure took the envelope from an excited Momiji and dumped their four paper slips on the floor, discarding the letter unintentionally, without reading it.

You The Animals There

"What does that mean?" Momiji was confused.

"I don't know. Maybe we have to narrow down everyone who was at the Main House on the night Akito died."

"Or maybe it means that we were the ones at the Main House when Akito passed away!" Momiji suggested.

"Why don't we think about this later? I'm hungry."

Leaving the pieces on the floor, they went next door to the kitchen, leaving their door open with the pieces in view from the doorway. It didn't occur to Momiji that the words could be moved around. Perhaps it would have occurred to Shigure, or even Hatori, that their clue was not a clue at all, but neither cared enough to analyze the situation further.

-+-

"So what do you think our clues mean?" Kisa asked Kagura as they scrambled some eggs in the kitchen for breakfast. The four words were flashing through her head like a neon sign:

Rat Is Our Any

She didn't know what order the words were supposed to go in. They didn't make sense to her, and Kagura didn't feel like discussing them the moment they had gotten them. Kisa didn't really want to discuss them at all. All she wanted to do was go home. This murder mystery was not to her liking.

"Well, obviously it has something to do with Yuki," Kagura decided. Kisa shrugged and looked around. The entire house—including two of the three detectives—was in the kitchen, except for five other people: Hatsuharu, Rin, Yuki, Kureno, and Tohru.

"Where did you put the papers?" Kisa asked her. Kyo and Hiro nonchalantly walked passed the two girls.

"In my skirt pocket," Kagura answered.

In unison, Kyo wrapped his arms around Kagura and Hiro around Kisa. "What are you doing?" Kisa asked, suspicious.

"Giving you a hug," Hiro told her as if she were the dumbest person in the world. "What? Can't you accept a simple gift?"

Kagura—as Kyo and Hiro's plan had intended—was so distracted by the fact that Kyo was showing her a sign of affection that she didn't notice as Kyo reached into her skirt pocket and stole the four slips of paper out of it.

"I love you, Kagura," he lied, letting go of her as he hid the papers in his fist. Hiro smirked and let go of Kisa, chuckling at how much of a ditz Kagura was.

-+-

Yuki woke up far later than everyone else in the house, which was no real surprise, but was still awake before Rin. He found himself staring at her delicate face, which was not very far from his. He stared at her beautiful features, completely forgetting how much trouble he was in…

Rin was also awake, just not opening her eyes. She was going to lay there as long as possible, trying to convince herself that she was not in the Main House, this was all a dream, she was going to wake up in her own room, and she had not just slept a whole night on the floor in the same room as that stupid rat…

Yuki was startled out of his unfamiliar thoughts of Rin when he heard the sound of a doorknob jiggling, as if somebody was trying to get into the room. Rin opened her eyes and Yuki sat up. They both noticed where the sound was coming from: the door that Yuki had never opened.

The door opened.

Rin let out a yelp and grabbed onto Yuki, pulling him down next to her as a large, black figure emerged into their room.

"Am I… interrupting something?"

Hatsuharu was confused and slightly upset to see his favorite cousin on the floor next to his crush.

"Ack!" Rin yelped, and she and Yuki shot to opposite sides of the room, realizing how strange and… wrong it might have looked, being entangled like that on the floor…

"You know, I don't care if you were… you know…"

"Haru, we weren't! How did you get in here anyway?" Rin demanded.

"My room's next door. I was looking in the closet and saw another door… Our rooms are connected, I guess. Anyway, did you guys get your clue yet?"

"Clue?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah. Your first clue is taped to the door outside."

"Okay, great, Haru. Now get out! Don't use that door anymore!" Rin was still slightly freaked out.

Haru, instead, got the idea that Yuki and Rin actually were doing something private, and stormed back through the closet angrily.

Yuki started to walk to the door to change his clothes in the bathroom down the hall and maybe eat some breakfast, but Rin stood up and slid in his way.

"Umm… what are you…?"

He stopped talking as Rin put her hands on his face. She stared into his eyes as if she were searching for something. A chill went down both of their spines, simultaneously. Without thinking, Yuki brushed a loose lock of hair out of her face and ran his fingers all the way through her long, dark, mane. An odd feeling that was new to him occurred in the pit of his stomach. He almost leaned forward… almost tried to kiss her…

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and rushed out of the room, leaving a mystified Yuki behind.

-+-

"Kureno-san? Kureno-san…"

Kureno turned over and opened his eyes. It was just that Tohru Honda girl, clutching an envelope. "What, Honda?"

Talk about attitude… Tohru thought. She waved the envelope in front of his face. "We got a clue…"

"You're on your own," Kureno told her, standing. Tohru screeched and stepped back. He was only wearing boxers.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"I already know who it is, so why should I help you?"

Kureno left her wide-eyed and alone, and slammed the room's bathroom door.

Tohru was upset. She had thought being partners with Kureno would be okay, but she had also had her doubts. Kureno was just as heartless and mean as she had feared.

She blinked back tears, reading the clues in the envelope.

Do Ago Held Trustworthy?