…I panted, hearing ground tremble beneath me. It felt as if the woods were crumbling all around me, "This is no good…" I felt my legs giving out. Suddenly, I saw more of wolves. Their yellow eyes, matted in darkness. They came out of their homes, huts that were planted just above the ground. I couldn't see nothing in pure darkness and quite slowly I could feel myself falling closer and closer to my death…

…And like before, there was that look again, a look that seemed to show that it was ashamed. The beast paused, looking ahead of us and panting lightly. Then it began walking away from me. "Kyo… I know it's you…"

Chapter 7 - Revealed

I closed my blinds.

Was Kyo really staring at me? Was I even sure that thing was Kyo? My stomach dropped as I grew more confused. I know I wasn't imagining things. I saw that creature with my own eyes and I knew it wouldn't be safe to go out there alone just to check.

But just to prove my point, I stupidly walked outside, this time I had a jacket and shoes on. I grabbed a lantern off the porch and began walking into the forest. I thought, why wait? When I could conquer my fear, now that I knew who this creature was.

My heart was ready and my mind was clear.

"It's now or never." I sighed, "I have to do this." that's what I said the last time. Speaking of last time, I was more scared then I was this time. It was humid tonight and the darkness made it worse for me. The atmosphere felt as if I was ensnared in a black plastic bag with no air holes.

I held my breath as the earth beneath my feet became still. Finally the wind stopped blowing and the trees stopped swaying. I guess you could say the calm before the storm…

I stopped in my steps, shinning the lantern ahead of me. I heard light footsteps and it wasn't just one set… it sounded like a whole pack of whatever it was. Then I thought, wouldn't it be funny if this was all in my head. Or… maybe this creature wasn't Kyo. Maybe my mysterious monster had a family. How absurd would that be, a monster having a whole family of monsters and those monsters would have kids, inducing the much older, bigger monsters to be grandmonsters…

Funny how a brief set of words could make one feel better. It made a difference in my perception and I was able to continue walking through the forest with ease. "Oh hush Tohru…" I told myself. I was thinking such silly things. Monsters aren't even real and this creature was indeed Kyo. There were certain things about it that made me positive it was him, but they weren't obvious things like the orange hair and ruby eyes.

It was the subjective things that caught my attention more. Like the way its eyes glared at me. They poured out such bold and vibrant emotions, mixed in with anger and arrogance. The way the beast stood resembled Kyo's stance, a gallant stance of chivalry and power. These were all things I came to like about Kyo as time flew past us. These were the only attributes that could tell Kyo apart from Yuki without looking at appearance or attitude.

I heard those footsteps again but somehow I wasn't scared. I felt like something greater was watching over me as I mindlessly went farther. I wouldn't stop now. My heart raced as I tried to look for those footsteps. This was dangerous but I didn't care. I admit, I had never been this anxious before in my life. I just couldn't help it. I was actually… excited?

…Mind you, the whole time I was walking, I only thought of happy thoughts like meeting the family of monsters and playing with their kids.

I sighed.

Nothing like that would ever happen. The earth was so dead, so quiet. In fact, the footsteps stopped. They stopped a few seconds ago. I knew I had to be on the other side of the forest now. There were a smaller amount of trees now. Just a few feet from me, I could see a wide spread of grass, which appeared to be a giant field. Still, trees were among my path.

Above me were deep night skies, plain, with a few stars present and a gleaming moon staring into my fatigued eyes. It was all so charming but at the same time… scandalous.

The sky seemed animated, boring, and way too perfect to be a regular night sky. Just the way the moon appeared, was unreal. It was apparent that it would take up at least more than half of the night heavens. These skies never looked like that in around Shigure's house. After looking at the sky for so long, I finally decided to stop and look around. I hadn't seen nothing scary yet. I couldn't help but giggle at my ignorance.

"There's nothing. I got my hopes up for nothing" Maybe Kyo was much farther away than I thought. I sighed, "I guess the only thing to do now is go back home… only which way is home?" I figured that if I just traced my steps backwards I'd get somewhere other than being stuck here.

So I began stumbling backwards, realizing that I would probably end up getting more lost then I already was. However, that didn't matter because I found something that I thought I would never see again. I gasped, looking at the old tent that I lived in before I moved in with the Sohmas. There must have been another landslide causing it to appear above ground. There it laid, matted and clumped together pathetically in the soil.

How did I know it was my tent? Easy… because I never knew how to really make one, which explained how oddly shaped it was. I'd recognize that dirty old thing anywhere. It brought back memories, living here in the wild on my own. "Hehe, I guess if I can't find my way back, I can always remake this thing and live in it until someone finds me." I laughed.

My happy thoughts dispersed as I felt a discomforting feeling tingle down my spine. You know that feeling? When someone is watching you intently? Well, something was watching me. I dropped my old tent hearing a deep growl. "Uh oh…" I mumbled, I couldn't run this time. I was away from home and lost. I had nowhere to go.

I turned around, suddenly remembering that wild life roamed out here and I was just as good as food if I wasn't careful. Unfortunately, I wasn't careful enough. A creature, which appeared to be a wolf, stood there staring at me. It didn't look harmful until it revealed a set of sharp white teeth.

…Here we go again, I was sure of what was going to become of me next. But then, I noticed a few things, this animal wasn't hungry like the other creature I saw the other night and second; this animal didn't seem like it wanted to kill me.

Then I noticed the baby cub that spontaneously appeared from under my old tent. "Oh my gosh." I took a step back.

It made sense now. This wolf didn't want to kill… it was defending. The cub sauntered to its growling mother. I understood as two more cubs revealed themselves. Yes, I see… I stumbled over a family's territory. The mother must have been using my old dusty tent as shelter for her babies. It was clear that once her babies were all present, she'd let me go.

I hoped.

I took even smaller steps back, trying not to trigger something unfortunate but I think it was too late. I dropped my lantern. I guess the mother felt threatened and leaped for me. Right then I jumped back, running deeper into the forest. I couldn't keep my cool any longer. I began screaming, like in most of my dreams, hoping that I would wake up. But I knew this was very real. It was a nightmare come true.

I panted, hearing ground quake beneath me. It felt as if the woods were crumbling all around me, "This is no good…" I felt my legs giving out. Out of nowhere, I saw more of wolves. Their yellow eyes, matted in darkness. They came out of their homes, huts that were planted just above the ground. I couldn't see nothing in pure darkness and quite slowly, I could feel myself falling closer and closer to my death. I must have been a mile away from home and yet I was so lost, so confounded.

"YUKI!" Why did his name come out of my mouth? I wasn't even thinking about him when I did it. Did I think he was really going to come to my rescue? Right now? All that energy I had to yell was the only energy I had left. I slowly fell to, what I thought, was my death. My hopes and dreams vanished in a blink of an eye.

…But abruptly, did something come to my rescue. Oddly, something that I didn't expect. A large orange four - legged creature soared out in front of me, with that same disembodied grow that scared me that night ago. I couldn't forget it.

"Kyo." I breathed. Then, it just dawned on me, why he wasn't the monster I saw years ago, the one he turned into after his beads were taken off, instead he was this beast.

The animal roared like it was the king of the jungle, its claws dug deep into the soil beneath us. At first, I thought it just growled just to scare them away but very quickly did this creature snatch up one of the wolves with its mouth and crunched down on its body like a human finger food. Then swallowed it whole.

I shook my head in disbelief. I didn't want to believe that this was Kyo. He would never want to harm anything or anyone, not like this. I was amazed at how violent this beast was too. It would often rip its prey to shreds, shaking the remainder of its body around like a mad demon. Fresh blood rolled down the beast's mouth as it leaped to grab another wolf, repeating the same gruesome gestures.

It was the most grotesque thing I had ever heard honestly, the sound of an animal's bones breaking all at once. The weeping sound of the prey in immense pain. It was all so awful. I hated watching but I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It had even been a while since I blinked. This monstrous thing viciously grabbed even swallowed the few cubs there were whole.

I assumed the massacre was over. The rest of the wolf pack scampered away and then it was quiet…

Now… was I next? I laid there in my own dirt, unable to get up. The creature shot a glare at me so deep I thought I was going to die from just staring at it. Still, I just couldn't move. I was much too in shock to even scream and deep inside, I kept telling myself that this wasn't Kyo. But the young man had been gone for three years, Shigure even told me that Kyo was different and Yuki warned me about him too. So there was nothing debunk.

However…

This creature, beast… whatever it was, may had very well been Kyo but that didn't mean he was in control of what he was doing. I don't think… no in fact, I know Kyo wouldn't have been that hostile. Kyo was taken over by this beast, I assumed. That's who was in control and I was still in danger. Knowing this, I still couldn't move. Yet, I was able to regain a level head, gleaming into its ruby eyes. "Am… I next?" I softly whispered in fear.

…I hoped that I wouldn't get eaten tonight.

Finally, the creature looked back at what it had done, blood and wolf hair covered its face. I could hear it growl softly like it had feelings. It sounded sad. To be real honest, I wanted to leave it there, allowing it to drown in its own grief. Could you blame me? Or maybe I was talking out of fear. Who knows… but I continued to lay there.

I quickly cleared my throat, attempting to speak. "Kyo…" I managed to say loud enough.

And like before, there was that look again, a look that seemed to show that it was ashamed. The beast paused, looking ahead of us and panting lightly. Then it began walking away from me. "Kyo… I know it's you…"

I paused only for a second.

"…It's okay… you don't have to hide it from me… I already know…"

It looked at me swiftly then turned to the moon. Just as the abnormal white moon hid itself, this beast revealed itself. Its body shrunk to human size and slowly the excessive hair began to reduce off his body. I could have fainted but something was keeping me conscious.

Once the shedding was over, Kyo's clean pale face was shown and he was shirtless. The only other clothing he had on was his black pants which were rigid and torn at the hems. "Kyo…" he was silent for a moment, in fact, he didn't even look at me… was he that ashamed of what he did? He protected me, even though the way he did it was quite grisly.

"..I have told you this many times, she may have accepted you like the monster you used to be but she will never accept you now, as a killer…"

Shockingly, that made sense to why Yuki called him that.

"Kyo…" I whispered again.

His eyes softened, while his voice remained a bit harsh. "What?"

My heart beated loudly. I wasn't sure if he could hear it… though he looked like…

"What is wrong with you… your damn heart beats so loudly… it's annoying the hell out of me." he rudely cooed.

I grabbed at my chest. "I'm sorry." I almost wanted to smile from seeing his face after I said his most hated word. "I just didn't think…"

"You didn't think what? That I was like this…" Kyo interrupted me, "Yeah. This what I am… a horrible murderer, with means to kill who I want… whenever I please. It was this or, living under a rock with that sanity I had left."

I couldn't believe what I was seeing… hearing… but it all made sense. This was the reason why Kyo spent most of his time in his room, why he would eat little or refuse to eat during meals. Now I knew why he would even isolate himself from us. He wasn't like us anymore.

"Kyo…who was cursed with the cat, had to undergo different changes with his curse. This has made him much different the rest of the Sohmas and different from you as a normal human being…"

…So that meant that he wasn't even human.

"Well…?" Kyo frowned. "Are you going to get up or you going to sit there like an airhead?"

I realized that I had been staring with my mouth open for too long. "Oh…" I then sighed, "But I don't think I can move… then again, can you blame me?" As I said before, I did want to run. I wanted to run so fast it would feel as if I was flying. That's how afraid I was of this new side to Kyo.

But my comment struck him by surprise and he silently walked over to me, grabbing me with just one arm. I was sure that was just a small, small portion of his strength. He began walking at a steady pace as I was forced to be cupped under his arm.

"Kyo… where are we going?"

"You're going home… it's not safe out here to be roaming about. I told that damn Yuki to keep you locked up."

"But I'm safe now right?" my feet dangled to and fro, "Nothing would be coming to harm us now…"

"I meant with me…" he explained.

"Kyo…" he didn't trust himself and I could understand why but still. "It's okay, I trust you…"

Kyo frowned at me from above. "You shouldn't ever trust me. Just cus I didn't harm you back there doesn't mean I won't ever try…"

I wondered, "Like the other night…"

Kyo stopped walking and sat me down. "You don't understand, I wasn't trying to harm you that night."

I looked into his face, "So if you weren't trying to harm me then why did you chase me all the way back to the house… I was really scared, Kyo. Really, really scared."

"Meh…" Kyo sighed, sitting down in the plants with me, his pale hand resting under his chin. "I did it to scare you away…" he hesitated when he saw my face, which was a surprised one. "What I mean is… I didn't want you to get hurt so I chased you into the house."

"No you didn't. You blocked me from going any farther to the house. "I said as one single tear rolled down my cheek. "I don't really remember much after I tripped."

He had a blank face for a second then he began to remember that night as well. "Actually, after you tripped, I picked you up and placed you inside." he breathed heavily, "I still don't know how to control myself, Tohru. The monster inside me is the same monster I've been trying to run away from. It's also the same monster you saw with your own two eyes, a few years ago. Now that, that monster side has consumed me, I'm something much greater and I'm much more dangerous than you think…" he sighed, taking a glimpse of the night nature around him.

"My intentions were to scare you off so you wouldn't come back outside but my hunger got the best of me. Tohru, if you never believe a word I say, just believe me when I tell you that I had never wanted to hurt you so badly and when I saw you slip into unconsciousness that night, that's when I realized what I was doing, you get it?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "And … is this a new curse?" I asked.

Kyo raised a brow.

"I mean, with you being this creature… does that effect you're other forms?"

"…To gain one, you must lose the other…" he mumbled to me.

"Hm?"

"I can still turn into a cat… but I don't have all the answers." he replied. "All I know is that I can no longer change into my true form because of this beast within me." with a hand, he pointed to his cold chest. "I also know that I went through a great deal of shit to come this far. So I'm not complaining."

"A great deal like what?" I wondered. He suddenly looked like he was thinking hard, maybe trying to find a way to answer my question. But at the end of the moment, he just shook his head.

"Nothing. Forget about it." he answered frowning. "Just know I'm a dangerous person and it's not safe for you to be around me. I'm sure they have told you already." he referred to Shigure and Yuki, "If you have any doubts that they were wrong, you can forget it." he explained.

"They have told me things, but I know better…" I smiled and in return he frowned again.

"Well you better know this," he warned me with his eyes, "…This isn't a dream and time can't reverse itself, understand? I can't protect you anymore because I'm the bad guy now. "

"Kyo…" Now I worried.

"What? Now, I guess you're going to act like your old goofy self… with that damn goofy smile, pat me on the back and say it's okay…" he assumed, "But it's not. It's not okay if you're hurt. I couldn't live with myself if I harmed you."

"No its okay, Kyo… really. I know you're not a monster on the inside. You are a great guy, sweet and protective." Now that I think about it, I would have never said those things to Yuki. I only kept these thoughts to myself. Positive or negative.

He finally stood up, ignoring my words. "Let's go… I don't have much longer."

"Till you transform into that… thing…"

"Yeah…" Then Kyo raised a brow, "Wha? Thing! I'm not a thing." And he was right. He looked like a cat and a wolf breeded together. As I described him before, in his beast form he was large with white intimidating teeth but he had the prettiest orange fur until it was obscured by the blood of his enemies.

"A Werecat?" I thought aloud as we began walking.

His ruby's eyes laughed at me. "Yeah sure…" He was calmer now that I knew what he was, but still he didn't accept himself as that. I could still see the man's shame lingering in his eyes. What great pain it was, knowing that you were harmful to everything around you even the people you cared about. There was nothing you could do about it either.

…You would either continue harming natured life or, go insane from the hell that confined you to the shell you were force to hate… for as long as you lived. I couldn't imagine what that felt like.

"Tohru…" he breathed lightly, his voice sounding shy.

"Yes?" my eyes stuck to the side of his face. "Something wrong?"

"You mind if I held your hand?"

"Uh…" that comment shocked me, I mean this was Kyo. The almighty, rough and tough Kyo. Of all people I wouldn't think of him wanting to be that affectionate.

"Yeah it's weird. But I just had the sudden urge to hold your hand… we don't have to… if you don't want to." a faint blush appeared on his face.

"No we can…" and I grabbed his icy cold hand, which became warm by my touch. I felt our bodies becoming as one; just like the time when he rushed to break my fall a few days ago, only the feeling was more immense. I knew I should have been afraid after what Kyo said but oddly I wasn't. Even when we finally reached the house, I could have worried about Yuki waiting outside for me when I got there.

But… I didn't.

…or I could have been scared of Yuki seeing Kyo and I holding hands.

But… I wasn't scared.

"You'll be back won't you?" I questioned him. I can't believe I was worried for him. Like anyone could kill him anyways. I think it was safe to assume Kyo was immortal too.

"In the morning… I will." he let go of my hand, smiling. "When you wake up, I'll take you somewhere okay?"

"But what about Yuki?" I wondered.

"So? Lie to him…" suddenly the moon separated itself from the foggy clouds and quickly did the man transform back into what he hated so passionately. Orange fur swiftly covered his body and with just one blink he was gone.

His last words stained my mind… "Hm… he wants me to lie to Yuki?"

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