Tohru P.O.V

The Police station was very noisy; people running around, yelling, crying, and trying to give orders over ringing phones and doors opening and closing. It was all very overwhelming, but I couldn't leave yet. I came here with a purpose! I felt bad about lying to them about where I was going (over Hana's house), but I couldn't let them know I was coming here. I just feel like there was something that Shigure wasn't telling me.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind, and I turned around to see Officer Yasuda smiling brightly.

"Ah, Ms. Honda, correct?" he said, still beaming.

"Oh, yes. You're just the person I needed to see. I came here today because I was wondering if you could tell me more about the White Hemlocks and the case about Kyo."

"Yes, of course. Come right this way."

We walked down a hallway and stopped at a room a few doors down. He dug a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, and ushered me inside. As he shut the door behind us, he started talking.

"Now, Ms. Honda, what would you like to know?"

"Well, first I wanted to know what kind of organization the White Hemlocks are."

"Hm, I thought Shigure might have told you this, but, are you sure you're ready to hear this? It is a bit extreme."

Of course I wasn't ready to hear. I didn't want to hear any of it. I knew it was going to be bad, and perhaps that's why Shigure didn't want to tell me when he found out. I was still very depressed back then, but I'm prepared to hear the worse. I just need to know.
I looked up at O. Yasuda and gave him a fake determined smile.

"I'm ready."

"Well, if you're sure. The White Hemlocks are an organization that takes teenagers who have family issues, and basically teaches them to fight. They kind of use their sadness against them, like black mail or a brain washing, and usually that makes them conform to their group. It's happened to a lot of teenagers around Japan. It's like they seek out specific teenagers. Every teen has some sort of family problems, but they pick ones who have horrible home life, like abuse or an extreme environment. Which is why Kyo's case is causing so much fuse around here; his family life isn't that bad." This was all too much for me already. Kyo seems like the perfect candidate for all of this. Not only did he run away from home for four months, but he's an amazing fighter. I didn't really want to hear any of it, but for Kyo's sake, I needed all the knowledge that I could gather.

"No! Don't hold back any information. I want to hear it all."

He sighed, and wiped his forehead with a napkin, like he was nervous. "Well, if you're sure. The White Hemlocks pay the kids to fight. They say that when they have enough money, the kids can buy their freedom. But," he paused and stared at me; the look in his eyes were saying 'I'm sorry.' "But the only time a child that was abducted by the White Hemlocks has ever been found, is if they were found dead."

That did it. At first I was shocked. I couldn't move; I couldn't even breathe. The tears wouldn't come for a few seconds, it was like I was paralyzed; I couldn't even cry. Then the tears started flowing like a broken dam, as I buried my face in my hands and started crying. 'Dead? No! No! Kyo wouldn't die! He wouldn't let that happen! Kyo!' Each time I thought his name, the tears came harder. Next thing I knew, O. Yasuda was on the phone with Shigure, asking him to come pick me up from the station. I tried to protest, but I couldn't even look up from my hands.

About fifteen minutes later, Shigure arrived at the station. I still hadn't moved from where I was sitting. I had stopped crying, but I remained in the position I had been sitting in. It was like I really was paralyzed.
Shigure walked in to the office and walked over to my side.

"Tohru . . ."

He bent down next to me and petted my hair. "Hey, Tohru, I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth. It was just so hard for me to even think about, so for you, I knew that you would have been devastated. I was going to tell you when the time came. I'm sorry. I should have told you all the truth."

He slowly stood back up when I didn't reply, and offered me his hand. "Come on, let's go home. I'll make us all some lunch, and then I promise I'll tell everyone the whole truth."

He still held my hand as we walked out to the car. We were driving down the road, when I decided to speak up.

"Shigure," I said weakly. He looked over, relieved that I was finally talking. "Shigure, I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you; I just really needed to know everything. I'm not surprised you didn't tell me at first, because if you had, I don't know what would have happened." A dark image crossed my mind, but I just let it pass. "So, I'm not mad okay? And thank you, for everything." I looked up at him and gave him the biggest smile I could muster, which wasn't very big. He smiled back and took my hand and squeezed it. "Tohru, I promise you, that we will find Kyo. Okay?"

This time my smile was pretty genuine, and I even giggled a little. "Well okay!"

Kyo P.O.V (what you've all been waiting for)

'Crap, crap, crap! There's no way I'm faking my way out of this one. She saw me clear as day! And it's such a small room, I can't hide anywhere. I could hide in the bathroom, but she'd find me, and besides, what about my clothes?! I can't just tell her I'm running around naked! Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!' I need to think fast, but everything I thought of wouldn't work. Crap! I guess I have no other choice but to face it.

I sat there in my cat form as I waited for the smoke to disperse. Shade was sitting on the floor, rubbing her head.

"Hm, I wonder where that big cloud of smoke came from."

She then looked down, to spot me sitting there, an orange tabby cat. I was sitting there cringing, waiting for the screams of terror or confusion. But she didn't say anything. She just sat there staring at me, still rubbing her head; this time out of confusion. And I sat there staring back at her, expecting the worst.

"Kyo?"

Shade P.O.V (for the first time ever)

I had tripped on an upturned corner of the carpet, and crashed into Kyo on the way down. Then there was this huge cloud of smoke out of nowhere, and now an orange tabby cat was sitting on the floor in front of me. This doesn't make any sense? Where did Kyo go, and where did this cat come from?

"Kyo?"

I was saying this half towards the cat, and half out loud. I must be going crazy.

"Uhh, yeah. Hi Shade."

I jumped back. Where did that come from? I slowly turned my head towards the cat, who now somehow had its hand placed like it was scratching the back of its head. My eyes widened. No, there's no way that this cat just spoke. That's impossible. I mean, cats can't talk. I'm going crazy, aren't I?

Like last time, there was another cloud of smoke that appeared out of nowhere. But this time, when the smoke started to clear, Kyo was standing there; naked.

My eyes widened and I looked down in a panic, thankfully not catching a glimpse of anything. This couldn't be happening. This was all too strange.

"Hey! You can look up now!" snapped Kyo.

I looked up, my face probably still flushed red. He had his clothes back on, and I let go of the breathe that was hitched in my throat.

"That had to be an illusion, right? Are you playing a joke on me? That wasn't really you I just saw, was it?

He wasn't looking at me; he was actually avoiding it. He looked angry and confused, and almost hurt, all at the same time.

"No, it wasn't an illusion. What you just saw," he paused, looking down, sadder than anything now, "was my family's curse. You see," he sighed, "when our bodies are under a lot of stress or we're hugged by someone of the opposite gender, we transform into the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Pretty stupid, I know, but I've lived with it my whole life. I hate it."

I paused to think for a moment. "But wait, the cat isn't part of the Chinese Zodiac." I said weakly.

He glared at me with an angry expression. Through gritted teeth he said, "We change into the 12 animals, plus the Cat."

I guess I hit a soft spot, because he just went and lay down on his bed; avoiding my gaze. I felt bad for him; he seemed really depressed about all this. I didn't understand or believe all of this; there's just no way it could be possible. But Kyo seemed to be really upset by it, and it pained me for some reason to see him like that. I began to stand up from the floor, but I wanted to say something. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I just wanted to get him talking. For some reason, I just didn't like seeing him sad.

"Um, Kyo?" I whispered. It felt weird, not knowing what to say. I don't usually hesitate like this.

"What is it?" He didn't have his usual bite. He was quiet. He really was sad.

"Can you tell me more about it? Your family curse, I mean. Since I already know and stuff. I'm curious." I gave him a very small reassuring smile.

He looked over to me, probably shocked that I actually wanted to know more (or at the fact that I actually smiled and showed emotion), instead of running away or being scared. Then, he tried to hide his feeling of shock by being his normal self; like he couldn't care less about the world. I wonder what else he hides with that attitude.

"Sure, I guess." He sat up in the bed and motioned for me to sit down on the opposite end. And there we sat; Kyo telling me all about his family and friends and secrets. I've never really gotten close to anyone like this before.

It's nice.

General P.O.V (this part gets a little intense (no not sexually))

After Kyo finished telling Shade all about his family and the curse, about two hours had passed and they assumed it was nearly time for lights out, but there was one thing Kyo wanted to know before Shade left. 'I mean, I did just tell her about the curse, something that no one is supposed to know about. Now that I think about it, why didn't I go along with what she said? Why didn't I tell her that it was a joke? She would've bought that, wouldn't she? Oh well.'

"So, Shade. I've told you just about everything I'm not meant to tell anyone. Why don't you tell me about yourself more? Why did those bastards bring you here?"

Shade looked taken back by the question; no one ever really cared to ask her about her home life, and the only people who knew were Rush, Ayumu, and Tenshi. She didn't really want to remember, but it was only fair.

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you." She sighed, like she was preparing for a fight. "My Mother and Father and I were a nice family. Not really any problems, and we didn't fight too often. I didn't have any issues with my family. That is, until I was about 8 years old. See, that's when Father died of a heart attack. And after that, I guess Mom just couldn't take the stress. She started drinking and smoking, and," Shade paused, and her breathing became inaudible. "Well, she started dating again, if you can even call it that. She brought a different guy home every night. About halfway through the night, they would usually run out of beer or cigarettes, and she would run to the store to get some more, and the man of that night would stay while she went. When she was gone, the men, they would . . ."

Her thoughts trailed off, as her eyes widened, and she just stopped breathing altogether. She looked like she was on the brink of tears. Suddenly Kyo reached out and grabbed Shade's hand. He could see where this was going. Although Shade herself didn't realize it yet, she had tears streaming down her face while trying to recall her life at "home".

"Hey, you don't need to say it. It's okay. I get it." whispered Kyo.

Shade P.O.V

'Why? Why is he so kind to me? No one's ever been this kind to me. What is this feeling; this aching in my hands, this tightness in my throat? I feel like screaming.'

Then, Kyo grabbed both of my hands and moved closer to me; sitting directly in front of me. When he came closer, this feeling became stronger, like something was tugging at my soul. Then, he put his hand to the back of my head and pulled it down so it was gently resting on his shoulder. That was when I lost it; I couldn't take this feeling anymore, and I just let go of all my control.

'Oh. So this is sadness. I had forgotten what it felt like.'

I'm not sure how long we sat there for. Seemed like hours. I just couldn't stop crying, but Kyo didn't seem to mind, he sat with me the whole time, never once leaving my side. It's weird how he brought out this sadness in me. Even when the "abuse" was still going on at the time, I didn't cry. I guess I never was good at showing my emotions. But somehow, Kyo had brought out all that pent up angst inside me, and it felt great to finally let it go. It might be because no one has ever shown me sympathy before, or because no one ever even bothered to ask or comfort me when I was sad. They just patted my back and moved on, and I guess that's what I thought sympathy was. But Kyo showed me the truth.

He cares for me, doesn't he?

Sorry for the sudden view changes, but certain parts just sounded better when I changed them.