"But you found her?" Ayame pressed.
"That's what he just said, or are you deaf?" Hatori sighed.
"My dearest Hatori, my heart leaps with jubilation at the thought of our precious Tohru being discovered that I just had to double check I wasn't going slightly looney." Ayame replied, a smile on his face.
"And we wouldn't want that." Shigure chuckled to himself.
"Hm? Did you say something, Shigure?" Ayame questioned.
"No, I was just considering our slight predicament." Shigure replied easily.
"This is a problem." Hatori agreed. "The fact someone on the outside knows about our curse is odd, almost impossible to say the least."
"Could this girl have bumped into one of us like our dear Tohru?" Ayame asked, a reasonable question for once.
"No, the zodiac in question would have told me; it's standard protocol." Hatori shrugged.
"Then how could it have happened? Hm, the question of the year indeed." Shigure sighed. "And then what to do about Tohru..."
"We certainly can't let her languish in that city she's decided to call home. It's ruining my dear brother's romantic fantasies to have her gone!" Ayame cried. "We must return her to Shigure's house at once." He decided.
"That would be kidnapping." Hatori said reasonably.
"We've fallen lower." Shigure snorted, remembering a high school field trip that had gone, ahem, just slightly awry. Hatori just gave the novelist a look, and Shigure just laughed.
"You ever bring up that subject again, not even Akito will be able to find you." Hatori warned.
"Of course, of course!" Shigure agreed immediately.
"But still, that doesn't solve the issue about Tohru." Ayame sighed, bringing the conversation right back to their favorite brunette.
"You found her?" A childish voice spoke up. "You found Tohru?" The fluffy blond head of Momiji peeked into the room from the doorway, and the three adults sighed.
"I had wanted to keep this matter hidden for just a while longer." Hatori mused.
"He'll tell everyone." Shigure agreed.
"Did you? Did you?" Momiji pleaded, his big brown eyes begging. "Did you find her? Did you find Tohru?"
"Momiji..." Ayame trailed off, unsure. "How do you want to play this, Hatori?" He asked, fielding the question to the doctor.
"I bet she was captured by a dragon or something! That's why she never came back, because she couldn't!" Momiji said excitedly, his fantasies getting as bad as Ayame's on a good day. "Wait! Then that means you can make him give her back, Hatori!"
"Hm?"
"If a dragon took Tohru, then you can make him give her back!" Momiji was saying triumphantly.
"I'm afraid a dragon didn't take Miss Honda, Momiji." Shigure chuckled. "But that would be interesting to see...Tohru, damsel in distress..."
"Don't let your mind wander to the gutter, Shigure. How distasteful." Hatori murmured.
"But why not? Mine and I could create a whole day dream line based off that! Ah, imagine the designs! Long, flowing gowns of pastel pink, tranquil blue, or vibrant fire red! Layers or simplistic, and the shoes! I would say slipper flats...in white...or should it be-"
"Focus, Ayame." Hatori commanded, bringing the designer back to earth.
"Oh, you are no fun." Ayame pouted.
"Momiji, we can't give you any information at this time. We ourselves are not completely sure of Tohru's location. Shigure may have sighted her in a nearby town, but we can't be positive...right, Shigure?" Hatori said, daring the author to contradict him.
"Right." The Sohma in question agreed calmly.
"But...you at least saw Tohru, right?" Momiji asked timidly, looking up at the three men with innocent, puppy dog eyes.
"I believe I did, Momiji." Shigure smiled.
"Where? Which city?" Momiji asked softly.
"It's a town a couple hours away, don't you worry about it." Shigure replied. "Leave it to the adults." Momiji's face crumpled, and tears leaked out of his eyes as he looked at the floor. "Go back to your compound and leave the issue with us. We're going to bring Tohru back as soon as we can, don't worry to much about this, okay?"
"O-Okay." Momiji sniffled, and Hatori led the young rabbit zodiac out of the room. "You'll tell her I said 'hi', right? If you see her again?" Momiji asked sadly, turning back to Shigure.
"Of course." He nodded, and the blond Sohma went on his way. "We're going to have to do something about this. Momiji knows...and he has a big mouth."
"You know where she's staying, right?" Hatori asked, and Shigure nodded. "Then why don't we just pop in for a visit? One person isn't as strong as when he's with others."
"Huh?" Ayame blinked.
"We're going to convince Tohru as a group to come back." Hatori sighed, dumbing it down for the snake zodiac.
"Oh." Ayame brightened. "And then my dear younger brother's romantic life will begin anew with his lady love back in the picture!"
"I think not." Shigure snorted.
"Oh, you are absolutely no fun." Ayame pouted. "And love is the most important emotion on the face of the earth! It makes joy multiply and grief divide, brings hope to the multitudes, and-"
"We get it." Hatori snapped. "Would you please just be silent for once?"
"Well, I can be, but that's not a very enjoyable thing to do." Ayame replied, miffed.
"I think it's time I got back to my house, it's best not to make Kyo or Yuki suspicious." Shigure chuckled, and the two other zodiacs nodded in agreement. "So, did we think of anything? Or was this meeting completely waste-less?"
"We thought of something, we are going to that town Tohru is calling 'home' and dragging her back!" Ayame declared, and Hatori wanted to slap him.
"For the last time, that's kidnapping and it is against the law!" He ground out. "And we're Sohmas, we simply take people from wherever they're residing without their permission and force them to do as we want. There's a difference."