Yeah, it's been a while since my last update. Sorry! I only have a few more chapters planned out here, and I have a vague idea for a sequel, so if you have any ideas for that I'd love to hear them!

Chapter Fifteen

When I awoke, I was laying in my bed. I blinked and glanced at the clock, which told me it was a little bit after noon. I stretched and yawned. I was still wearing my pajamas, which I remembered going downstairs in. Then there had been the Kagura incident… I rolled my neck around and stood up, walking over to my closet. I stared into it for a minute or two before just picking out a few things and putting them on.

When I was content with my appearance, I bounced downstairs. I saw Shigure talking quietly on the phone, so I walked past him without a word and into the kitchen. Tohru was there making something or other, and Yuki was leaning against the counter, keeping her company. I didn't want to intrude, so I said a simple 'Good Morning' and went outside.

I sat down on the porch and just stared at the trees and such. I wasn't bored, I just felt nice and… calm. It was a bit of a rare thing around here.

After a while, Shigure came out and joined me. "Hello, Shigure," I greeted.

"Rei," He replied with a smile. "That was Hatori I was talking to on the phone."

I blinked. "Oh. What did he want?"

"Well…" He murmured slowly. "He wanted you to come in for a check-up, just to make sure that everything healed correctly from the accident."

I frowned slightly. "Really? That seems so long ago… I'm fine, why would he want me in?"

"Who knows?" Shigure shrugged. "That's just the way Hari operates, I suppose. So, will you go?"

"Of course, it's been too long since I've seen Hari. Besides, I doubt he would take no for an answer."

"That's right," Shigure mused. "I'd almost forgotten that you know Hatori already. Kyo told me."

I just nodded. "So, when am I scheduled to go in?"

"Tomorrow, 12:30," he responded.

I smiled and nodded. "I'll try to squeeze that in. We all know how busy my schedule is."

Shigure just laughed and went back inside. I stood, stretched, and turned, almost running right into Kyo, who was walking outside. I made a weird 'eep!' noise and jumped backwards.

"Dear God, Kyo! Make some noise or something, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" I exclaimed.

He seemed amused at my being frightened. "Scaredy cat," he teased.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're the one who's a cat," I pointed out.

He shrugged and hopped off the porch. "What were you talking to Shigure about?" He questioned.

"He was talking to Hatori on the phone," I informed him. "Apparently he wants me to come in tomorrow for a check up."

I saw Kyo stiffen ever so slightly, and he turned to look at me. "You're going to see Hatori tomorrow?"

"Yes, I believe that's what I said."

Something about that seemed to agitate him. "Is there a problem?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at him.

"I don't trust Hatori alone with you," He said bluntly. I felt my eyes widen in surprise.

"Are you kidding, Kyo? I've known him as far back as I can remember, if you seriously think he'd—"

"That's not what I meant," He cut me off, blushing slightly. "There's stuff about him that you don't know. It's… part of the zodiac, I guess. To help keep it a secret."

I blinked. "Well, what does he do?"

Kyo looked at me solemnly. "He erases people's memories."

My jaw dropped, and I stared at him for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, whenever someone finds out about us, he gets rid of their memories about it." He repeated.

I shut my eyes and shook my head slightly. "Hatori wouldn't do that to me…" I murmured.

"He would if Akito told him to." Kyo spat out the name.

I took a deep breath. "Who is this Akito? I keep on hearing that name, but you've never told me about them."

"He's the head of the Sohma house," Kyo muttered.

"And… He's not a good guy?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not at all," He muttered again.

I blinked as something clicked in my head. "That's why you guys didn't want me to be near Sohma house on the night of the dance, you didn't want Akito to see me." I remembered the dark figure I'd seen that night. Had I imagined it after all, or had it been Akito?

"Yeah," He said gravely.

I blinked, trying to imagine Hatori actually erasing someone's memories. I just couldn't see him doing that to anyone, let alone me. But… Akito was the head of house. That meant that Hari would have to listen to him, right? That just wasn't fair.

"Well, what reason would Akito have to erase my memories? I haven't done anything wrong."

"Yet," Kyo growled. I stared at him, taken aback. His eyes widened slightly. "That's not what I meant!" He hurriedly assured me. "I don't think you're going to slip up, but Akito will. Akito just likes making the rest of us suffer."

My eyebrows furrowed slightly, but before I could reply, there was an excited shout from the end of the walk way. I glanced up to see Hiro and Kisa running towards us, smiling and waving. I grinned and waved back.

"Hey, squirt one and two," I greeted once they reached the porch. "What are you doing here?"

Kisa opened her mouth to answer, and then shut it again shyly, so Hiro took over. "Kisa wanted to know if you and Tohru would take us to the park." I smiled, amused that he had to stress that it wasn't his idea.

Kisa giggled. "You were the one who wanted Rei to come with," she teased.

Hiro's blush made me grin, but I stood up. "I'm certainly up for it, and Tohru is in the kitchen if you want to go ask her."

The two hopped up on the porch and scurried inside to seek out Tohru. I smiled after them, and then turned to see Kyo with his head down, shoulders shaking slightly.

At first I was concerned, and I leaned over to see what was going on. "Hey, are you—? " I realized he was laughing. "What's so funny?"

He looked up at me, grinning, and shook his head. "Hiro," He murmured with a chuckle. "He's never liked anyone but Kisa."

I frowned and crossed my arms. "What, and that makes it funny that I've won him over with my charm and cunning?"

"Don't forget your modesty," Kyo put in with a roll of his eyes.

I stuck my tongue out at him, and Tohru walked outside with the kids in tow. "Ready to go?" She asked energetically.

I nodded and stepped off the porch. "See you later, Kyo Kyo!" I teased. He scowled at me, but I just stuck my tongue out again and kept walking.

The four of us walked down the sidewalk, with Hiro and Kisa between Tohru and I. Kisa chattered excitedly about a new game that her classmates let her play with them, and I couldn't help but smile.

As soon as the park came into view, Kisa took Tohru's hand and bolted for the swing set. Hiro seemed about to do the same, but he must've remembered that he was supposed to look cool, and he hesitated. I laughed and took his hand, pulling him forward. "Come on, slowpoke," I cried, "or they'll beat us!"

He grinned and we both started running after the two girls, trying desperately to beat them to the playground.

We made good time, but Tohru and Kisa had gotten a good head start. They beat us by a couple of feet, and all four of us collapsed onto the sand, panting and laughing.

Our day out with the two youngest Sohmas flew by unfairly fast. We bought ice cream and popcorn, played on every inch of that playground, and somehow ended up buying cute little animal key chains in a souvenir shop, a tiger for Kisa, a sheep for Hiro, a rat for Tohru, and a cat for me.

By the time the sun had started to set, we'd made our way back to the park. Tohru and I were dragging our aching feet, and the kids were having troubles keeping their eyes open. We plopped down in a cool patch of grass for a breather, but within moments Hiro and Kisa were both fast asleep.

Tohru and I sat long enough for some of the ache to seep out of our feet, and then I sighed and stretched. "I suppose we'll have to carry them home," I mumbled. Tohru just nodded tiredly.

I rolled my wrists and then tucked my arms under Hiro, about to pick him up. "Oh, Rei, wait—!" Tohru cried, but it was too late. I heaved him up into my arms, and there was a small puff of white smoke, and when it cleared there was a small, delicate looking sheep, still fast asleep.

I managed to keep myself from letting out a little 'aww' but couldn't help whispering, "He's so cute!"

Tohru smiled lightly and whispered back, "At least he's still easy to carry that way." She then carefully picked Kisa up as well, and I shifted Hiro to one arm so I could pick up his clothes and drape them over my shoulder before continuing to carry him normally.

Tohru and I started walking in silence, too tired for conversation. When we were halfway home, however, I spoke up. "It occurs to me now that we could have just called one of the boys and had them come pick us up…." I mumbled.

Tohru shrugged slightly. "Might as well just keep going now." I nodded in agreement, and the silence fell back into place.

We finally stumbled into the front yard and onto the porch. I shifted the miraculously still sheep-like Hiro into one arm again, and slid the door open. I blinked in surprise to see two boys sprawled on the floor in the living room. Kyo and Yuki had fallen asleep waiting up for us.

The two of us tiptoed upstairs and set Hiro and Kisa side by side in my bed, then crept back downstairs. I carefully draped a blanket over Kyo and smiled fondly at him while Tohru did the same for Yuki. It was amazing, how different he looked when he was asleep. As cliché as it sounds, the lack of tension completely transformed his face.

Yawning, Tohru and I made our way upstairs once again. I started to follow her into our room with the intentions of sharing her bed, since mine was otherwise occupied, but I hesitated. Both the boys were asleep downstairs… I turned and walked down the hallway to Kyo's room, sliding the door open. His bed was empty, of course, and I shuffled over to it, collapsing on top of the covers.

I fell asleep so quickly, I didn't even have time to worry about my appointment with Hatori coming up the next day.

Okay, I'm really sorry for the super long wait for an update. This chapter was kind of just filler, since I wanted to kill time until the Hatori thing the next day. Hopefully it wasn't too bad though. Please review, and I'll really try to update sooner, but our summer musical (Annie) opens this week, so I'll be pretty busy, Please forgive me!