AN: Yay, I late-in-the-day-still-on-time update! You'll either hate the events, hate the spontaneous-ness, hate all of the little notes I stuck in, or love it all. Yeah.

Chapter Twenty-Four- Freedom?

(AN: I bet that title got you excited. And right it should!)

"Oh, this is exciting! I haven't seen Yuki-san in so long!" Tohru smiled in anticipation as she followed Kyou to the cage he'd narrowly escaped four months earlier (AN: That makes Tohru somewhere from 5-7 months in. I'll decide later (lol))... "...will he be okay?"

The former Neko kept his head to the ground, silently speculating identically as the Onigiri behind him, 'I guess... he will be more like I used to... bitter... without Tohru, which he doesn't have I would be that way, still, too...'

Their thoughts were interrupted by a cry, "Thank goodness! You're... alright..."

Tohru rushed to the bars nearly, recognizing the voice immediately and dropping the basket she held, "Yuki... san...!"

He smiled, "... I'm... sorry..." it was rather obvious what he meant as he looked mournfully at her swollen stomach. (AN: -ruins the moment- Do you know how hard it was to phrase that? I still don't like it...)

She returned the smile, "No... Don't be..."

Kyou looked on idly... not jealous, but grateful. "...I'm... sorry, too... You've taken my place. I give you my thanks."

"As long as Tohru is happy."

The Onigiri looked lost in thought, "You... may not have to be locked up..."

The Nezumi looked down in despair, "There is no entrance, I watched them forge these new bars myself, Tohru. And it is Akito's will that I am here..."

She shook her head, "No, no... You are still cursed with the Nezumi, right?"

Kyou answered in Yuki's stead, "He is. What are you getting at?"

Tohru cautiously put her arms into the cage, and leaned against the bars, "Yuki, turn into a nezumi... escape!"

The damned one looked to Kyou, as if seeking permission, and at the former Neko's shrug, he accepted Tohru's embrace.

The resounding poof came, and the pink smoke cleared to show the once familiar phenomenon that not one of the three had witnessed in months. Yuki looked wistfully into the Onigiri's eyes as she held him in one hand.

"It worked..." she proclaimed as she retracted the hand carrying her friend out of the bars.

"I'm... free..." the condemned (AN: I found another word to use in place of "damned"!) looked about, unsure of what to do.

Kyou smiled at the irony, "If it had been anyone but you in there, they wouldn't have fit through the bars..."

The Nezumi suddenly realized, "...was it a coincidence?"

(AN: Um, I'd like to point out a mistake I made. Before I'm corrected. (lol) I said, before, that Yuki couldn't see anything, and I didn't remember when writing this that I'd said that, but I needed to have the cage be outside. Yeah. So ignore that. The cage is outside now, and the darkness was in Yuki's head, 'kay? (also, I'm not totally sure that Yuki's smoke was pink. I think it was, though))

A familiar face rounded the corner, "Kyou? Tohru? ...Yuki?"

Kyou looked to the voice in astonishment, "Shishou?"

"Why, hello, Kyou... what are you all doing?" Kazuma looked at the scene with curiosity.

Yuki looked guiltily beyond Tohru's hands to the ground, "They were freeing me... Please, don't tell Akito..."

Shishou smiled knowingly, "That's alright. I admire you three fro opposing the God."

"You aren't going to tell?" (AN: I don't know or care who said this.)

Kyou's adoptive father nodded, "Nope."

There was a pause where they all seemed to smile inside.

And all was well in this moment until a puff of smoke in Tohru's hands broke the silence.

AN: Next update will quite likely be late. Know why? 'Cause I only have a page and a half (of four pages) written for chapter twenty-five. Wonderful, huh? Just a heads up. Also, I'll mention the 100th reviewer when we get that high! So, go! REVIEW! Also, if anyone cares, I'd like to share a mostly original story (it's technically in the FMA universe, but basically everything's my own stuff). So, should I put a bit in the next update, or would you like me to send it to you in a review reply? Tell me in the reviews!