AN: All right! Ready for Round Three! By the way thank you so much for all the reviews! I feel loved!!!

Gone...?

Chapter 3 – The Search in the Woods

Around five in the afternoon, Koga returned to the house. Kameko was just beginning to prepare the evening meal when he entered. "Where is the girl?" he asked.

"Oh, you mean Ame?"

"Is that her name?"

"Well no, at least, I don't think so, she doesn't remember her real name."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously as he pulled off his dirty shoes.

"She can't remember anything. All she knows is that she fell in the river last night and when she woke up, she was here."

"Amnesia, hmm?" he mused. "That's a shame. What if there's someone out looking for her? We don't even know how far down river she came."

"What should we do?" Kameko asked, drying her hands on a towel and then smoothing her skirt worriedly. "Should we call somebody?"

"Well, I would call a doctor either today or tomorrow to have her examined. She didn't have any other injuries?"

"No, just a few bumps and bruises and she was exhausted so I let her sleep in my room. I'm going to wake her when dinner is ready."

"Koga! Come give me a hand here for a minute!" a loud voice called from just outside the front door. Thus summoned, he smiled at his sister and shoved his feet back into his shoes before running out the door again.

After a few phone calls, all of the Sohmas along with Uo and Hana were gathered in the woods. "We found this here, in this spot, but the rain had washed away any trace of her," Kyo told them all.

"So here is our new meeting point. I guess we'll have to spread out in all directions from here," Shigure agreed. "Well let's not waste any time, grab your partner and let's see what else we can find."

Hatori took Momiji by the hand and they quickly set off towards the southwest. "Ha'ri?" the boy questioned. "Do you think Tohru's all right?"

"I do," he answered.

"I'm scared. I'm scared we're never gonna find her. She's out there somewhere all alone and if we don't find her…" he trailed off leaving the sentence unfinished, but Hatori knew what the boy was thinking.

"We will find her, Miji, as long as we continue to search for her, I know we will find her."

"Do you miss her, Ha'ri?"

"Yes, very much."

"You like her, huh Ha'ri?" Momiji said with a hint of a smile.

"Why shouldn't I? You do, don't you?" he replied, although he thought he knew where this was going.

"Yes, but that's not what I mean. You love her, just like Kyo and Yuki!"

"What makes you say that?" he asked in surprise.

"The way you get that funny look in your eyes every time you see her. And you smile when she's around. You hardly ever smile, Ha'ri. It's obvious."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said innocently, a soft smile briefly appearing on his face.

There was a noise like the rushing of water and they found themselves drawing closer to the sound. Hatori stopped quickly and held out his hand to stop Momiji from stepping off of the low cliff. "I don't think she came this way. She would have fallen into the river. Come on. Let's go this way." So with one last glance over his shoulder, Hatori led Momiji away from the water and they plunged back into the woods.

"Ame," Kameko called softly, opening the door an inch or two. "Ame, wake up. Dinner's ready."

The girl was deep in slumber, and would not be woken, so Kameko thought it best to let her rest for the evening. She closed the door and went into the kitchen where her brother and father were waiting. "She was so sound asleep, I couldn't bear to wake her," she explained as they cast her questioning glances.

"What did you say she was called?" her father asked.

"Ame. She doesn't remember her name or anything else, so I gave her that name until she can remember her own."

"Well, I'll call Utami in the morning. For now I think you were right to let her sleep. She looked terrible this morning when I first saw her," he said with a decisive nod. "For tonight where will you sleep Kameko?"

"I will sleep in the spare room tonight and when Ame wakes, she may have that room until she leaves."

"Kameko, I think that we should also notify some of the officials in town of the girl so that there may be a chance of finding her parents or relatives of some kind. So, first thing tomorrow, we'll go to town."

"All right," the girl said brightly, almost too brightly. Koga bent his head lower over his bowl to hide a small smile. He knew what she was so happy about and what was so fascinating about going to town.

"Hey. Hana?" Uo asked, tilting her head slightly to face her friend. "Have you ever thought, well, maybe, that letting Tohru live with these people wasn't so great of an idea?"

"No. Why do you ask? Do you think that her disappearance may be connected with the Sohmas?" Hana asked in a tone of concern. She had always thought that the Sohma family was a little on the strange side, but not once had she questioned their reliability.

"Oh, I dunno. I mean they seem nice enough, but sometimes I just wonder, you know? They just seem so secretive. Like they're hiding something. I can't explain it. I know they care about Tohru like she was their own, but I still get the feeling that there's something fishy going on in that house sometimes."

AN: You can just picture Kyo with a fish in his mouth saying, "Fishy?"

"I know what you mean. All of the Sohma members have a very peculiar aura around them and their electromagnetic waves change almost entirely sometimes. Not in a bad way, just in a different way. I wouldn't suspect them of any crimes," Hana said resolutely.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So can you feel her at all?" Uo said almost impatiently.

"I think we chose the wrong path, because I do not detect her presence at all," the semi-psychic answered with a sigh. "I suppose we should go back to the meeting spot. It's starting to get dark. Perhaps the others have had better luck than us."

They trudged home in confused silence. Not a trace had been found but for the simple gold ribbon. They knew that they now must hand over the case to the police. School resumed tomorrow and they would not be able to continue the search. As they approached the house, the normally not so tight knit family exchanged sorrowful good byes. "I'm sorry I couldn't look harder!" Ritsu was ranting. "I swear I'll help in any way possible! I can go look again right now!" No one was in the mood to tell him to shut up, so they let him continue without any second thoughts. As they began to slip quietly down the street, Shigure could be heard quietly telling Ritsu to go home and get some sleep. Kagura hugged Kyo and Yuki and then with a sad smile, she left, aware that this was neither the time nor place to harass her dear Kyo. Hatori returned to the main house. Momiji tagged along behind him. Haru too slipped away with hardly a word. Hana and Uo left hurriedly. Both looked as though they might break down at any moment. Though before they left, they promised to see Kyo and Yuki in school the next day. The boys let themselves into the house. It seemed so empty. So void of life. If it weren't for the fact that they were about to pass out from starvation, they would've gone straight to bed. Yuki grabbed something out of the fridge and munched quietly. He didn't even taste it. Nor did he even realize what he was eating. He could have been eating a piece of cardboard and not been any the wiser. Kyo took a box of crackers out of the cupboard and then hurried up the stairs and out of sight. The last thing he heard before he closed the door was Shigure's voice in the hall. "Yes, she's seventeen, brown hair, about 165 cm…"