Tohru's POV

I was reading a book on the back porch of the Sohma house, when suddenly I heard the sound of ferocious barking and the sound of something rolling down the hill, hitting every branch along they way with a sort of "hmph!-ugh!-ahg!" sounding louder by the second. Suddenly a girl crashed into the pond, her body submersing into the water. "Shigure, Yuki, Kyo! Help!" I shrieked. This couldn't be good. Shigure had already heard the noise and had been alert a moment ago, thanks to his doggy sensitive ears. He immediately chased off the ferocious beast that was still heading for the body that fell in the creek.

Meanwhile, Yuki and Kyo came running as I grabbed the girl's shoulders and pulled her head out of the water. I was shocked to see Laura's face-so worn out and tired, now with cuts covering her beautiful porcelain face.

"How could this-"

I paused, seeing her eyes open a little bit.

"Its going to be okay, Laura.." I whispered.

Since Kyo and Yuki would be useless in their animal form, I did most of the pulling. They helped by picking up her limbs until I could put her arm over my shoulder. It was a difficult walk to the couch indoors, but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

she's lost weight, I realized.

I layed my precious friend down while I looked her over for a moment, tears brimming over faster than I could control them. We had only known each other for a week, yet I felt as if she were my sister. Mom would've said she was my sister.

I could hear Yuki on the phone with Hatori, and was relieved when I heard him say "see you in a few minutes then". Kyo sat in a corner sulking, looking at the woods.

"you could go get some water and wet rag, you stupid cat," Yuki reproached him.

"Yeah?! Well I was gonna do that anyway ya darn rat!" Kyo stood up, stomped his foot like an elementary school student, and stalked off to the kitchen.

I smiled in the back of my mind. Those two were really getting along lately, it seemed.

I looked Laura's lifeless body over, taking in more abuse than I had been able to see before due to her abilities to redirect conversation and distract fromherself. Her ribs protruded from her body, her eyes had visible bags under them, and she was covered in rashes (as well as the new cuts and bruises from rolling down that huge hill).

I could hear Hatori enter the house, so I rushed to greet him.

"Where's the patient?" Hatori calmly asked.

"In the living room," I replied, rather hurriedly. I was worried and wanted him to look at her as soon as entered the living room where Kyo was standing, waiting with the water and wet rag.
"Thank you, Kyo," I sincerely thanked him.
He just mumbled and walked back to his corner.
Hatori approached Laura and knelt down beside her. "What exactly happened now?" he asked as he opened his briefcase to grab a stethoscope.
"I'm not really sure," I stuttered-"she just kinda-flew-into the creek."
Hatori raised his eyebrows, but asked nothing more. It was quiet for a few minutes while Hatori checked her vital signs. "She seems to be fine, if not a little malnurished and a few bruises here and there. When she wakes up she'll probably ache all over. That is normal. She's lucky she didn't hurt herself more." He leaned over to check her head. "Did she fall on her head by any chance?"
I shook my head. "I think she hit it, but I don't think all her weight impacted her."
"Keep an eye out for odd signs. She has a possibility of a concussion, but that is easy to take care of. Here are some meds for her to take when she wakes up."
I became really worried. I knew Hatori said she would be okay, but a concussion-wasn't that serious?
"Are you sure she's going to be okay?" I blurted out.
Hatori looked me straight in the eye, locking my gaze. "Yes."
"O-okay."
I began to worry about other things then...malnurished..
"Hatori, how little would you have to eat to be malnurished?"
"Less than the normal calorie intake. For her, she must have had only one meal a day, if that."
"That's odd.." I replied.
Hatori began to pack up his things. "Tohru, I know you will take care of her. You always had a knack of making sure others were okay. Do what you need to do."
"Yes sir!" I blurted, giving a straight salute.
Hatori smiled a little, and headed for the door where he spoke to Shigure for a moment and then left.
Laura's POV
My head hurt. What was going on? I couldn't remember at all. Then I remembered that I had been chased by a dog. A big, scary-where was I anyway? Did I die? Escape?
I opened my eyes a little to see an orange haired guy standing over me.
"Finally awake, huh?" He didn't say anything after that, and just left the room.
I took in my surroundings-bed, dresser, mirror,...obviously a bedroom. But whose is it?
I began to sit up, but my world began to spin.
"Oh wait, don't get up!" Tohru's voice.
"Tohru? Wh-wait-why-what?"
"You fell into the Sohma creek yesterday-gave us all quite a scare! Hatori looked you over, and he said you'd be fine-just keep an eye on your head."
"Hator-oh that driver guy?"
Tohru's smile was bright. "Yes! He's actually the Sohma family doctor!"
"Exclusively?"
"Yes-he's also a Sohma." Tohru handed me a couple of tablets with a glass of water.
"Here, take this. Its for your head."
I didn't complain and took it quickly.
"Are you hungry?"
I nodded my head slowly. I was frantically starving-but I didn't want to nod my head faster than it could handle. It was still a little fuzzy around the corners.

The next few days, I stayed in the Sohma household in what I found out was Tohru's room. Arisa and Saki came to visit, and were totally shocked that I had been living in the woods.
"How terrifying, being chased by a wolf.." Saki trailed off.
"Why didn't you tell us you were living in the woods?" Tohru asked me.
Arisa cut in. "Tohru, didn't you do the same thing?"
"Oh yeah, haha" Tohru giggled. I heard about that little story the last couple of days from her, and all about how she began to live with the Sohmas.
"Yeah, I gotta figure out what to do now. I can't believe that the apartment complex didn't exist! My dad is more organized than that!" I exclaimed out of frustration.
"Well, why don't you just stay here?" Tohru interjected. "Shigure told me it would be alright if you shared a room with me!"
I couldn't believe my ears. "He'd take in a stranger?"
"umm, actually he seemed quite pleased about it," Tohru said thoughtfully.
"More like enthusiastic," Arisa interjected. "I can just hear him now-'high school girls,high school girls! All for me, high school girls!'"
Saki lauged a little, while Tohru blushed. "He just wants to help, I think."
I smiled a little myself. "Well, I don't want to intrude-so as soon as I reach my father, we'll straighten out the apartment mess."
Tohru nodded. "Got it. But really, if you want to stay, I wouldn't mind living with you at all!"
"Thanks, Tohru, that means a lot."
Luckily I had found a safe place to stay for now. I was frustrated and confused, though, why I couldn't get my dad to answer my calls-or my mom for that matter. It was like they fell off the face of the earth.