A/N: Ren Sohma slight OOC-ness. Kinda.

Chapter Six: Revealed and the Snow

Ren Sohma was a strong believer of astrology.

At the times she was supposed to be guiding her two assigned pairs, she instead burned incense in her bedroom and consulted her tarot cards for answers to her every worry. Her horoscope was also of great importance to her. Her room had the only internet connection in the entire house, which she used to read what the day had in store for her.

The loss of her son had shaken her so much that she did not like to come in contact with anyone anymore. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted him to die… it was just that she hadn't expected it so early. She wondered if it was maybe her fault. She wondered if it had been planned… if her son had committed suicide. Despite all she tried to change her mind, she loved her son. She did. Deep down inside, there was a love for that child. But why? Why did he have to die before they could meet halfway? The cards never told her.

She kept herself locked in her room except for an occasional trip to the kitchen for a meal or a visit to Rini. She only felt sorry she couldn't be more of a help to Tohru, Kureno, Kyo, and Hiro: the groups she had been assigned to help. But Ren could not find time to help. With the help of the stars and planet alignment, she would figure out the mystery on her own. And then she would cast her revenge.

A week had passed since December 10th, the day of Akito Sohma's death. Ren woke up and a realization occurred.

She had not checked her horoscope on December 10th.

Quickly, she logged onto her computer and read Aquarius's horoscope for the date of last December 10th:

Something you love will be taken away. The path will be unclear at first, but you will be able to get it back.

-+-

Nobody but three people in the house would speak to him.

Yuki was confused. He though that, perhaps, everyone had found out that he could hug Tohru, and that he was the only one who's curse had been lifted. He thought that maybe he had said something that had offended them.

But he hadn't really spoken to anyone the whole time they had been in the house.

He thought that maybe everyone had found out about his new crush on Rin.

He decided that possibility was the worst.

Sighing, he turned over on his bed. Sam Kohatio had found some old mattresses for him and Rin three days before. Since it was so old, it had a disgusting, dirty, dusty, mold smell. It was also very lumpy and uncomfortable. Even the hard wooden floor was more appealing. It was a miracle how he had fallen asleep the last few nights.

Sam Kohatio. There was something about that guy that Yuki didn't like. Was it his pompous attitude? His annoying habit of constantly being around? Yuki couldn't decide. All he knew was that apart from Rin and Tohru, Kohatio was the only one who still talked to him.

But it was always questions about how he and Rin were doing with the game. The game. He didn't particularly care if he won the Sohma Estate or even the money, but he kind of liked everyone living in the house together, especially when Akito was dead. He would've liked it more if everyone wasn't shunning him though…

Used The Ox For

Rin didn't particularly care about winning the prizes either, but the clues had begun to bother her. She wondered if anyone else's clues had mentioned anyone at the house. She wondered if Akito was just toying with them and these clues meant nothing.

But Ox most likely meant Hatsuharu.

Hatsuharu. She had to stop thinking about him. She had to. She couldn't like him anymore. She couldn't. A randomly chosen Sohma like Yuki was even better than Haru. But why was she doing that? Why was she always flirting with Yuki? Why did she even bother? Why couldn't she just keep to herself and ignore everyone?

She sighed, turning over on her lumpy mattress and coughing a few times. That mattress smelled horrible.

She sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. No matter how hard she tried, sleep wouldn't catch up with her. Something out the window caught her eye, and she had to suppress a gasp.

The snow was almost above the window, and the blizzard was still raging on.

Immediately her claustrophobia got the best of her and thoughts of being buried under thousand and thousands of miles of thick, heavy snow clenched at her heart. Terrified, she stood and padded across the room to Yuki's bed.

"Yuki?" she said timidly, shaking the pile of blankets on the bed.

Yuki was only half-asleep. "Yes?" he answered. He turned over and his eyes met Rin's, his heartbeat immediately increasing tenfold. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't look away…

"I'm… scared!" Rin exclaimed, immediately embarrassed. It wasn't like her to burst out her emotions without thoroughly thinking it out. But it didn't matter to her. She was scared. Yuki was the only other person in the room. And she didn't feel like going next door to Haru.

"What… do you want me to do?" Yuki asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Can I… do you think I could sleep with you tonight?"

Rin was aware of how childish she sounded, but she didn't really care. When she and Haru were still "dating" she would sleep with him when she was scared. But even though she didn't like him, Yuki would have to do. Every moment she wasn't near someone caused images of snow crashing through the windows…

"…sure," Yuki whispered, moving over to make room for her on the old mattress. Rin lay down, resting her arm across his chest and closing her eyes. She wasn't really aware of anything, just how much better she felt now that she knew she wasn't alone. She fell asleep soundly, without knowing that she was sleeping next to the possible murderer. She fell asleep soundly because Haru hadn't had the guts to tell her. Not yet.

And Yuki stayed awake a moment longer, wondering why the sudden change of heart, but kissed her on the forehead and closed his eyes.

-+-

It was Ritsu's turn to discover the closet.

He wasn't tired, and it was midnight. He had no idea what to do, because it was so late and there was no way he could awaked Hatsuharu just because he was bored.

Instead, he quietly opened the closet door and stepped inside to sit in there so he wouldn't bother anyone. He then closed the door and fumbled around for the light switch. Once he found it, he turned on the naked light bulb and had to wait a minute to adjust his eyes. Once he was ready, he looked around. He didn't know what he was expecting, but all that the closet contained were a few coats and a couple dust bunnies. Sighing, he decided he should get some sleep, and turned to open the door.

There were two doors.

And he could not remember which he had come from.

Ritsu decided to just pick a random door, so he picked the door on his right. His hand found the door knob and opened it slowly.

The room he now entered was lit slightly by a candle that was steadily burning out. Ritsu looked around and his eyes fell on one of the beds. There were two people asleep on it. Yuki and Rin. How peaceful… and how cute they looked, with Yuki's lips on Rin's forehead and her hands on his chest. Quietly, he apologized to nobody for barging in and went back to his room. He couldn't wait until Haru woke up. He wanted to tell him what a cute couple Yuki and Rin made.

-+-

Hiro was always awake before Kyo, but instead lay under his covers the next morning. He was awake, but today, had no intention of getting out of bed.

"Hiro," Kyo poked his bottom to try to wake him up. "Hiro, wake up. We got a new paper taped to our door."

Hiro still didn't budge, so Kyo unfolded the paper and read it aloud.

"You're wrong. Guess again…?" he read. "Wait… what?"

Hiro groaned and closed his eyes. Maybe Yuki wasn't the answer after all.

-+-

Only one other Sohma received the paper Hiro and Kyo had: Hatori. After reading his paper, he moaned angrily and ripped it up. So Kureno wasn't the murderer.

But how did Akito know that Hatori would think it was Kureno? Akito was dead. Hatori looked down at the scraps in his hands. It was not Akito's handwriting. He had seen that before. It was much more… feminine.

Shoving the pieces into his hole-less pocket, Hatori wondered if maybe it was time for a visit to Rini Sohma.

-+-

"Sam-san, when will we get our next clue?"

Kohatio looked down at Kisa and Momiji with a fake smile. "Soon, children," he replied, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth and slinking away.

Kisa and Momiji had already finished their breakfast and were bored.

"Hatori!" Momiji screamed across the room but was ignored. Hatori didn't wish to speak to anyone.

"Grandpa Shigure?" Kisa tried, and Shigure pleasantly walked over to them.

"Shii-chan, we're bored!" Momiji whined.

"Go play outside," was Shigure's bored reply.

"But we're snowed in! The doors won't open!" Momiji argued, because he had already considered that a while ago.

Shigure had an idea. He led the two children up the stairs to a large library-type room with a large window. Shigure opened the window and a cool breeze filled the room. "When I was little, I used to jump out this window into the snow. Why don't you do that?"

"Okay!" the children were now less bored. The snow was about six feet deep by then, and they only had to jump a short distance to land in it. Pleased, Shigure left the room as Ayame entered.

After about an hour, the three were soaking wet and once again growing bored.

"I have an idea," Kisa said in her quiet voice. "How about we ask the others to join us?"

Since Hiro felt sick he didn't come, but Kagura, Ritsu, and Hatsuharu (quite grudgingly) came along, and Kyo, Yuki, and Rin to watch.

Yuki and Rin (reluctantly) sat next to each other by the fire place, Yuki reading silently and Rin staring into the fire, and Kyo sat anti-socially across the room. He was still angry about the note on his door that morning, thinking over and over 'how could I have been wrong?' He was so angry, he didn't even wonder how anyone found out he thought it was Yuki. Absentmindedly, he thought Hatsuharu had told someone.

But Hatsuharu hadn't told anyone. He stood by the window, frequently throwing angry glares at Yuki and Rin.

"Hey, where's Tohru?" Kagura asked suddenly as she got in the back of the line.

"I don't know," Kisa replied. Something didn't feel right.

"I knocked on her door but nobody answered," Momiji told them, and Ritsu began apologizing because Tohru should have been there, not him.

Upon hearing this conversation, Yuki decided he had finished with the book he was reading. He told Rin that he needed to fetch a book from their room, which she responded to by rolling her eyes when he wasn't looking. Yuki slipped away quickly.

After a few minutes, Rin felt someone pull her wrist and drag her out into the hall, into a coat closet.

"Haru!" she gasped, her face nearly an inch away from his. "What the hell are you—?"

"Rin, listen to me," Haru pleaded.

"Get me out! I'm claustrophobic! I—!"

"I know who the murderer is."

Rin shut up. "Who?" she whispered.

Kyo had not told Haru that Yuki wasn't the right answer.

"Yuki," Haru told her.

Rin had no time to think about this, because at that moment, a scream was heard from the room next door.