Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…sadly…

OLA!!!

Yep, Chapter Four is here! And I'm NOT happy about it!

I was wrong—THIS chapter is probably the WORST!!! ARGH! It was such a pain in the REAR! I went through all 75 songs on my Mp3 and I STILL wasn't happy with the chapter!!!!

PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! I realized as I was writing this that I really hated it….

So, didja all see my critical error in the last chapter? Huh? Huh? Well, if you look back at the end, where Kaze is having a flashback about being at his grandfather's house, you'll see that I said 'he was still cold from being out at the cemetery for so long…' when technically, he didn't even know Kyoko was dead yet! OOPS! SORRY if I confused you! I didn't realize the mistake until after I posted the chapter, and I couldn't figure out how to change it! SORRY!

Well…until the end of this chapter, it's pretty crappy. PLEASE review—even if it's flames! And PLEASE don't give up on me!

Chapter Four

Tohru nodded and stepped back. Kaze followed her into the room and shut the door slowly behind him. He was pleased with the furnishings as he looked around his sister's room. His eyes fell upon a picture lying on Tohru's desk. Curious, he picked it up. It was a picture of Kyoko. He heard a small click and turned to see Tohru turning on a small lamp. The warm light emanated through the room and Kaze moved to his sister's bed. Tohru went over to her dresser and took out a maroon-colored, long-sleeve shirt and slipped it on over her pajamas and joined Kaze on the end of the bed. Kaze still had the picture of Kyoko and was staring at it intently.

'I wonder when this was taken?' he thought to himself. As he studied his mother's face, he remembered back to the day he had left home.

(Flashback)

A 17-year-old Kaze, wearing his usual red jacket and jeans, shut his door quickly behind him as he entered his room. He went to his closet and dragged out a ratty-looking backpack. Kaze threw it on his bed -which his mother had made this morning - and started throwing clothes in it. That done, Kaze got down on his knees and brought out a small cardboard box out from under his bed. His heart was pounding. He didn't have long. If he didn't show up at the train station soon, he'd be in real trouble. He opened the box and took out his wallet and a small picture. Kaze shoved the box back under the bed and jammed the wallet in his pocket. He bit his lip as he looked at the picture. It was of his mother, father, him, and Tohru at a picnic a few years ago. Tohru was just three and was busy eating a small piece of watermelon in her mother's lap. Katsuya was kneeling behind Kyoko and had one arm around her and another around a young Kaze, who was wearing a baseball cap and had a hotdog in hand. It was a warm summer day— the sky was clear, the flowers blooming…not a care in the world…the picture was taken only a few months before Katsuya had died…

Kaze shook his head and slipped the picture in his pocket. He swallowed a few tears as he grabbed his bag and headed downstairs. He looked around and saw that his mother and sister were in the living room watching TV. Kaze snuck into the kitchen and started going through cabinets for food. He glanced at the clock on the wall and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that it was almost 4:00. He hurriedly stuck a few things in his bag and headed for the door. 'I have to hurry!' he thought. He could hear his little sister laughing in the living room and his throat tightened.

'I'll never see them again…' he thought. He quickly shook off his sorrow and reached for the door handle.

"Kaze?" he froze, his hand resting on the door handle. It was his mother. "Kaze, are you going somewhere?" he turned to see Kyoko standing in the kitchen. She wore a turquoise sweater and jeans. Her bright orange hair was back in a short ponytail. She looked worried.

"No mom, I'm uh…just going to stay at my friend's house tonight, okay?" Kaze lied, hoping his mother would believe him.

"But…Kaze, why would you need to bring food? And you're bag is stuffed full of clothes…' she questioned. Kaze frowned, turning to face his mother.

"Mom, we're going on a hike/campout thing. I just brought some extra stuff." He said. He glanced at the clock and gasped when he realized he was running late. "Uh, I've got to go Mom, kay?" he said, opening the door slightly.

"Kaze…I know when you're lying to me." Kaze froze again. Did she know? "What's really going on?" Kyoko asked. Kaze started to tremble. He wanted to tell her…he would have liked nothing better than to tell her, to have her fix everything…but she couldn't help him now. He had gotten himself into this mess, and he had to get himself out.

"I'm not lying Mom," he lied. Kyoko frowned and took a step toward him.

"Kaze." She said sternly. Kaze shut his eyes. "Kaze, you've been acting really strange lately…tell me what's wrong. Kaze…I can help-"

"No, Mom! You can't help!" Kaze cried. Inwardly, he cursed himself for losing it. He felt a tear fall down his face and he angrily brushed it away.

"So there is something wrong…" Kyoko said, taking another step toward her son.

"MOM! STOP IT!!" Kaze screamed, whipping around to face his mother. There was no way she was getting involved…this was his problem…he had to leave. "I HATE YOU! I HAT E YOU MOM! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME BE?!!!" he screamed. Kyoko just stared at him, shocked. 'I have to let her go…I can't let her get involved!' Kaze thought to himself.

"Kaze…just let me help you-" Kyoko said, a sad smile coming to her face. Kaze couldn't stand it. Didn't she understand?

"NO MOM!!! I HATE YOU! I'M LEAVING AND NEVER COMING BACK! I HATE YOU!!!" he screamed, feeling a fresh batch of tears falling down his face. He wrenched open the door and ran out, throwing his backpack over his shoulders.

"KAZE!!!!" he could hear his mother yelling after him. He ran faster as the hot tears streamed down his face. His mother's voice faded away quickly and still he ran.

(End flashback)

"Kaze?" Kaze jumped and turned to see Tohru looking at him in concern.

"Huh?" he said, hastily swallowing the tightness in his throat. He brushed a strand of hair away from his face as he looked over at his sister.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked, moving closer to her brother. She let out a small gasp and reached up. With a tender finger, she wiped away a small tear that had made its way down Kaze's right cheek. He blushed slightly. "Kaze, what's wrong?" Tohru asked. Kaze looked at her face…it reminded him so much of his mothers – aside from the hair. He shrugged and looked back down at the floor. He looked back up when he felt his sister leaning her head on his shoulder. Kaze smiled softly and put an arm protectively around his sister's shoulders. They both looked down at the picture of their mother.

"It must have been hard." Kaze finally said. Tohru looked up.

"What?" she asked. She had never seen her brother act like this before. Kaze met her gaze with a sad look.

"Mom's death…" he said slowly. Tohru's eyes saddened a bit, and she looked back at the picture.

"I'm sorry." Kaze said. Tohru looked back up at him. He was biting his lip and looked troubled.

"For what?" she asked.

"Leaving." Kaze answered bluntly. His hair fell loosely around his face as he looked down at the picture. When Tohru didn't answer, he continued. "Maybe if I had never left…maybe this would've never happened…" he said.

"Kaze, even if you never did leave, it's not like you could have done anything." Tohru replied softly. Kaze looked over at his sister.

"Yeah, but…even so…I should've been here…. I should never have left. You've had to deal with Mom's death all by yourself. Tohru, that's not right…I'm your older brother! I'm always supposed to be there for you! It's my job to protect you!" Kaze said, his voice rising slightly.

"Kaze…" Tohru said softly.

"If I would've been here, then you never would have had to live in a tent! You wouldn't have had to move in with three strangers!" Kaze cried. He grimaced in anger. "It's all because I was stupid and made the wrong choices!" he said, feeling his anger rising. "I didn't WANT to leave! I wanted to stay with you and mom!" Kaze said. He felt another tear falling down his face and he angrily wiped it away with his sleeve. Tohru was still looking at him.

"Brother…its okay." She said gently, reaching out and taking his hand. "Kaze, I got over you leaving…I was so happy today when I saw you…I just wanted to cry… I never expected you to come back home," she said. "Kaze, really, I'm okay. I'm just happy that you came back to me…it was really hard when you were gone. I worried about you every day…"Tohru leaned her head against his shoulder again. "Brother…all that stuff happened in the past…it's over and done with." She said, her voice calming him down. Kaze looked back over at his sister and saw that she was crying.

"Tohru…I can't tell you why I had to leave yet…but someday I will…what matters now is that we're together again." Kaze said. He could feel his anger melting away…Tohru had that effect on him. He gripped her hand harder, and she looked up at him. He gave a small smile, which she returned. He put his arm around her again and Tohru moved closer to him. They stayed this way for a while…just enjoying being with each other after so long a separation. Another thought came to Kaze and he looked back over at Tohru.

"Hey To-" he started to say. Kaze stopped though, when he saw that his sister had fallen asleep. 'I'll ask her tomorrow…' he thought to himself. He set the picture of Kyoko on the bedspread and gently picked his sister up. He carried her to her side of the bed and pulled back the covers. Kaze set Tohru down gently and pulled the covers up to her chin. He sat down and watched her sleeping for a moment. She looked just like an angel…he reached out and stroked her cheek softly. He had really missed Tohru… Kaze smiled and got to his feet. He quietly turned off the lamp.

"Goodnight Tohru," he whispered. Kaze turned and picked the picture up and set it back on the desk, facing the sleeping Tohru. As he opened the door and stepped out in the hall, he took a last look at his sister, sleeping soundly in her pink bed. He smiled and closed the door, finally feeling like he was home again.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

TEHEE! How was that? Ya know, I started writing this an hour ago, and I said to myself "SCREW THIS!!!" and I just wrote the stuff - usually that works better for me than trying to write the whole thing on paper first.

Personally, I think I did very good. And I totally disagree with my impression of this being the WORST chapter…in fact; I think it's one of the best. I worked hard, dammit!

Did I do okay?

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!! I'm BEGGING YOU!!!!!

Don't worry! Chapter Five will be up soon!

See ya!

-Inu