Title: Kidnapped!

Summary: There's blood, and Tohru's missing. Yuki can only conclude that she's been kidnapped, leaving Tohru embarrassed and her two friends amused. Featuring an adorably ignorant Yuki.
Genre: Humor/Friendship/Romance

Rating: T

Word Count: 5,175

The student council meeting had run late. When Yuki Sohma finally stepped through the door of the old-fashioned house and weakly announced his presence to the empty room, it was already two hours past dinner time. His stomach rumbled as he sauntered up the dark stairs to his room to change out of his uniform. He hurriedly tossed his uniform on the floor and struggled into more casual clothes, ready to devour the plate of food Tohru always saved for him when he came home late, but before he climbed down the stairs, he decided to knock on the door beside his to greet the girl who had prepared the dinner for him, the girl he loved but didn't dare confess to, Tohru Honda.

He only meant to knock, really, but her door hadn't been shut, and he accidentally pushed it open with the first knock. Then he had meant to turn away as soon as he noticed his mistake, but the darkness of her room caught his attention. The white curtains glowed in the dark room with the moonlight seeping through the translucent fabric as they fluttered in the night breeze. The fall of the moonbeam on the light pink bed sheets revealed that only a large stain in the middle of the mattress occupied the space. He had meant to leave and search for Tohru, though he hadn't seen anyone outside or downstairs, but then his thoughts returned to the stain on her bed, and he flinched.

Tohru not only cooked for them, but she also kept their house spotless. She was neat; nothing was misplaced in her room. Everything sat in its rightful place, and everything seemed in order except for her bed with the suspicious stain and the blanket carelessly cast upon the floor.

Yuki stepped over to her bed and stared at the stain. It was dark, and in the moonlight, he could barely make out the color, but it had a red hue to it. He dared to touch the stain. It was warm and still wet. Staring at the discoloration it left on the tips of his fingers, Yuki's eyes widened. He brought them closer to his face for a better inspection, but it wasn't necessary. He knew what the stain was.

It was blood.

He took a deep breath to calm his reeling thoughts and shaking limbs as he studied her room a little closer. Then he noticed a drop of blood on the wooden planks by his feet. He had to fight to keep his heart from bursting from his chest when his eyes turned back to the open window. Starting to sweat, he jumped over to her window and stuck his head out, staring at the empty yard below in horror. Then he ran from her room.

"SHIGURE! Honda-san! Honda-san has been kidnapped! Hurry! Call the police!" he screamed.

Shigure slid his office door open, groggily appearing with his reading glasses still perched on the bridge of his nose as Yuki slid the backdoor open, but Shigure's hand on his shoulder kept Yuki from rushing out of the house. Shigure gently but firmly pulled Yuki back inside the house, and Yuki almost tossed Shigure over his shoulder for trying to stop him at such an urgent moment. Though Yuki grudgingly picked up his right foot and planted it back on the kitchen tiles, he still desperately wanted to push Shigure away and bolt out the door, and he barely managed to refrain from doing so. As if he suspected this, Shigure quickly released Yuki's shoulder to instead slide the backdoor shut and to place himself between the door and Yuki.

"Where are you going?" Shigure asked.

"Where do you think?! Honda-san has been kidnapped! I am going to go save her!" Yuki yelled impatiently.

"Hold on, Yuki. Are you sure? Let's examine the clues carefully before you go running out and embarrassing yourself again," Shigure urged.

"Examine what?! There's blood all over her bed and on the floor! And her window is open! We can't wait any longer! Some creep is taking her farther and farther away as I stand here trying to make you understand!"

"Yuki, let's just make sure."

Yuki was fuming, but he reluctantly followed Shigure back to Tohru's room. He stomped up the stairs with his fists clenched after Shigure, who seemed to walk at an agonizingly slow pace. The tight grip Yuki had around the railing was the only thing that kept him from shoving the older man to their destination. Yuki was afraid that by the time Shigure grasped the gravity of the situation, Tohru would be severely injured and beyond their reach. Luckily, Shigure got a hint of Yuki's tacit pleas and threats. Once they reached the top of the stairs, he walked quickly to her room and pushed open the ajar door. Flicking on the light, Shigure confirmed that the stain on Tohru's bed was indeed red.

"See?! Honda-san's hurt! And she's been kidnapped! You're just wasting time! Will you just go call the police already? Or do I have to do it myself?" Yuki practically growled.

"I'm going, I'm going," Shigure muttered as he slipped out of the room.

Yuki was about to follow him when a new form in the doorway made him halt. He instinctively pulled away from the woman in front of him while she stared at him with wide eyes. She dropped the neatly folded set of sheets and towel she had been holding in her arms, but both were too shocked at the other's presence to notice.

"Yuki-kun! What are you doing in here?"

"Honda-san! You're- You're still here? You're okay?!"

"Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're not hurt?"

She shook her head, flabbergasted. Unable to quite look him in the eye and looking for something of a distraction, she was relieved to find the crumpled sheets on the ground. She quickly stooped down to pick up them and slowly folded them in attempt to hide her reddening face from his scrutinizing eyes. He was about to kneel down and help her pick up the bedding, but before he could even bend his knees, she had jumped up with the messy bundle crushed to her chest without bothering to finish folding them. With her face scrunched with some complex emotion he couldn't quite process, she inched around him into her room, seemingly trying to block the rest of her room off from him or to edge him out, while he watched her and grew more perplexed.

"But the blood on your bed…. What's that fro-"

She cut him off with a shriek and tossed her bundle into the air. Then she shoved him out of her room and slammed her door in his face. Bewildered, Yuki stared at the wooden barricade before jumping out of his stupor and knocking on the door.

"Honda-san! What's wrong? Are you sure you're okay? Did I do something wrong? Honda-san?!"

Despite the hours he spent knocking on her door, Tohru never opened her door or responded to his countless inquires about her wellbeing. He had to stop himself from breaking down her door on several occasions, and the only thing that stopped him from doing so was that she seemed healthy enough, judging from the vigor with which she had slammed her door shut. He spent the rest of the night searching for the set of keys they were supposed to have for all the rooms in the house, but those seemed to have gone missing. Yuki only let himself sleep for half an hour before he dared to knock on Tohru's door in the morning. To his surprise, her door wasn't even shut and had once again swung open at his first knock, but the excited flutters of his heart settled when he noticed the vacant room.

With a slight frown, he checked on her bed quickly, noticing she had spread a clean sheet over her bed. He felt a little better than he had last night but was still very confused about what had happened last night, so as he walked down the stairs in search of Tohru, he tried to think of a kind way to bring up the topic that wouldn't make her scream again. Yuki's sleepy brain really couldn't comprehend her actions. Tohru was comfortable talking about everything with him, but for some reason, something about this situation made her shut him out.

Unfortunately, all he found in the kitchen was a large platter of breakfast with a pile of three plates.

Almost as alarmed as he had been last night, Yuki quickly ate a bit of breakfast and hurried to school, determined to find her. He had circled the school three times before he found her by her locker. When their eyes met, she quickly lowered hers and looked ready to bolt, but before she could, he called out to her, so instead of fleeing, she swung her locker open and buried her head inside as she muttered an incoherent greeting to him. Before he could even get half of his question out though, she had darted away again, practically shoving him aside in her haste. He had tried to chase her, but she ran faster than he could ever imagine.

This happened repeatedly throughout the day whenever he tried to talk to her. Her cheeks would flare red and she'd quickly choke out some excuse that didn't make sense and run away as if he were some villain out to attack her.

At the end of the day, before he had even returned to the classroom from the student council room to retrieve his belongings, he had been told Tohru had left to go to work early today. By this point, he was exceedingly troubled by her behavior. Luckily, he managed to find Tohru's two best friends, Uo and Hana, lingering in the classroom, so he approached them a little hesitantly and told them in a raspy voice about what had happened last night. For some reason, they seemed more amused than worried as he told them the story. Even Hana was hiding a small smile by the time he finished.

"…So, Uotani-san, Hanajima-san, that's what happened. Has Honda-san said anything about it? Do you know what she's so mad at me? She won't even look at me anymore! She just turns red with anger and runs away. What did I do wrong? And is she hurt?"

Uo was fighting to keep her hysteria under control but she managed some semblance of seriousness as she spoke to him.

"Don't worry, Prince Charming. Tohru's fine. She's just on her period."

"Period?"

"Yeah! Don't tell me you don't know what a period is?"

"Of course I know what a 'period' is! It's… a common form of punctuation. But what does that have to do with Honda-san bleeding?"

Uo stared at him dryly. All the mirth melted from her face, and her chin slipped off her palm, which she was using to prop up her face. Yuki swallowed nervously, feeling that he had somehow taken a wrong step or crossed the wrong line. He could only watch the pair, however, as they exchanged looks of incredulity, though Yuki could only detect the incredulity marked on Uo's face as she flicked her blond bangs from her face. He could only presume Hana felt shocked, though all she did was pull out a small bag of chips from her book bag and open it. He slunk back in his chair, a little perturbed by their scrutiny of him.

"Her period as in her menstrual cycle. You know where babies come from, don't you?"

He nodded uneasily at the deep arch of Uo's eyebrow as she continued to study him in disbelief.

"Tohru's a grown woman, you know. That's how a woman's body prepares for a baby every month. Gotta be prepared, you know?"

"B-baby?"

"I'm not saying she's pregnant. Don't look so jealous. I assure you she's still a virgin."

Yuki's blush reached his neck by this point, and he could only stutter out his reply, "I-I don't really understand. Why would t-that make her bleed?"

After an hour long session over a health textbook Uo had found on the bookshelf in the back of the classroom, Yuki was staring at the pictures in the book with an expression of horror. Completely speechless, he could only blink at the graphic diagrams on the glossy pages in front of him before he dared to peek up at Uo and Hana. They watched him rather apathetically as his blush flared a little brighter. He hadn't stopped blushing since they had started their little lecture, and his ignorance had ceased to be amusing by the second page of the chapter on puberty, but they suffered through the awkward lesson to spare Tohru the humiliation, though Yuki seemed to be the only one who found the situation awkward. Uo and Hana seemed rather subdued as they alternated explanations and filled in each other's gaps. Uo lounged on top of the desk in front of him with her legs crossed and feet planted on a chair while Hana sat in the seat beside him, nonchalantly snacking on her bag of chips.

"How do you not know about this, Prince?"

"I went to an all-boys private school until high school! Why would I know about this? Who wants to know about this? This is awful! Honda-san has to go through this every month?"

"Yes. It is quite the tragedy for women."

Yuki shuddered and looked down to avoid the penetrating gaze of Hana that seemed to bore through him. Unfortunately, that meant examining the complex diagram of female reproductive parts, so he quickly slammed the tome shut and shoved it aside. He had to admit, as horrifying as this monthly ordeal sounded, it came as quite a relief to Yuki, paling in comparison to the horrid scenes of gore and macabre that his distressed brain had come up with in the past few hours. Yuki still couldn't quite grasp all the details of this biological phenomenon, but at least Tohru hadn't been hurt, though he still would prefer if the blood had come from someone else's body, preferably Shigure's.

After a moment, Yuki, still confused, asked, "So why is Honda-san mad at me?"

"She's not mad at you. She's embarrassed!"

"Embarrassed? Why would she be embarrassed if this happens to every woman? Are you sure this is why she's mad at me?"

"She doesn't want you to know when she has her period!"

"Why wouldn't she want me to know if t-this is so common?"

"Because it's embarrassing!"

"Arisa means Tohru would prefer to keep this kind of occurrence private."

"Okay…," Yuki muttered, trying to accept their responses. "So wouldn't Honda-san know that she has a p-period?"

"Of course!"

"Then why… did she… um… have it on her bed? That doesn't seem very practical. That's a lot of cleaning to do every time, isn't it…?"

"Prince Charming, I'm beginning to question your intelligence."

"Tohru probably forgot yesterday was the start. Women typically use certain products in these situations," Hana explained, ignoring Uo's previous comment.

Though he had his mouth opened already, Yuki stopped himself from asking about those products, afraid of another lengthy explanation involving more disturbing diagrams and such. He figured he had learned quite enough for the day. Besides, he was sure his skin was now ashen, and Uo seemed unable to contain her snickering any further, so he moved on to a more pressing issue.

"So what should I do to make her forgive me?"

"Eh. She'll get over it. Just go talk to her."

Though not sure what to make of such vague advice, Yuki nodded, afraid to trouble either of them any further, especially since Hana seemed to have finished all her snacks, judging from the pile of wrappers littered across her desk. He quickly thanked both of them before awkwardly bidding them farewell and walking out the classroom with his head bowed, unsure if he'd ever be able to look either in the eye again, or Tohru for that matter. Actually, he wasn't sure he'd be able to look at another female the same way again. As he walked down the school hallways, he could feel his whole face burn every time he passed by a girl. He didn't know how he could face Tohru later, let alone find the words to convince her to forgive him, so he decided to take the long route home.

Still unable to think of the perfect way to remedy the situation, Yuki decided he should stop by a store and pick up some certain products for Tohru to help her in her state. Too soon, he found himself idly walking through the store, trying to identify some of these products Hana mentioned, but he couldn't even begin to fathom what could possibly be used in this situation, so he tapped on the shoulder of the nearest employee, who had her back turned to him as she was stacking some cans on an empty shelf. She turned around a little too enthusiastically, so he started to regret even thinking this would be a good idea, but it was too late to turn around and scamper away. He had to persevere for Tohru's sake, so with his cheeks enflamed, he scrounged around his throat to find a wisp of his voice.

"Excuse me, ma'am. D-Do you happen to know what a p-period is?" Yuki stuttered.

"Of course! Do you need some help?"

"Y-Yes. M-My friend, you see, is having her period… And I was… w-wondering what kind of p-products are used in… these situations…"

"Does she use tampons or pads?"

"T-tam-what?"

After his second embarrassing lesson of the day—the officious store clerk really hadn't needed to go into such a lengthy and detailed explanation about feminine hygiene products and to prattle for half an hour about the benefits and downsides to each brand in the aisle—Yuki found himself in the front of the store, more flushed than he had been all day, with a basketful of said feminine hygiene products, slowly lifting each out of the plastic basket dangling from his arm and setting them on the conveyer belt to let the cashier ring each one up. With the group of younger girls giggling behind him and the cashier hiding a smirk, those were the most painful five minutes of his life.

He had wanted to bolt out the store the whole while, but he kept his feet firmly planted before the cash register until he had paid and every last package was bagged. It was for Tohru, after all, and he'd do anything to make her forgive him, but as soon as the cashier placed the change in his hand, he stiffly walked out of the store as quickly as possible without drawing any more attention to himself or the large bag in his arms. Unfortunately, on the journey home, he discovered the plastic bag was not as opaque as he would have wished it, and giggles followed him home, but somehow, he managed to make it back.

As he expected, he found the living room and kitchen empty. While he had been making new discoveries about female biological processes, Tohru had finished cleaning and cooking. She had even served all the food and left little cards with each of their names written on one by the plates filled with food. Presuming this was all so she could avoid him, he sighed and walked out of the kitchen to clamor up the stairs with the large bag dangling from his arm. The thud of his feet landing on each step resonated in his ears, drowning out the staccato beats of his heart. When he reached her closed bedroom door, he was surprised he could hear the soft taps of his hesitant knocks.

Not hearing an immediate response, he called gently, "Honda-san? Are you here?"

He heard a muffled gasp and some faint shuffling as if she were trying to hide before he heard her squeak, "Y-Yes! C-Come in!"
Wrenching her door open seemed to take an exorbitant amount of strength, and he could feel the bag slipping in his sweaty palms by the time he managed to crack the wooden structure open enough to step inside. He found her standing beside her desk with her face turned towards her fluffy pink slippers and her hands nervously wringing the edge of her pajama top. Her desk light was still on, illuminating the textbooks and papers spread across the table. He intended to apologize for disrupting her studies, but his throat was dry, and he could only manage half a croak. Both apprehensive, neither noticed the swatches of red reflected on the other's face.

Silence had stifled them until Yuki forced himself to choke out, "I'm sorry if I appeared rude or insensitive yesterday. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. I didn't mean to… I was just worried. I thought someone had hurt you… but Uotani-san and Hanajima-san were kind enough to explain… so I am sorry."

At this, she finally looked up at him, and he thought he caught a wisp of a smile amongst the sea of red that had overtaken her face. Her eyes were wide with a bit of surprise, but he believed she looked mainly pleased, but that may have been a bit presumptuous of him. It may have been his nerves, but he couldn't seem to wait for her to say anything in response. The silence probably hadn't lasted as long as it had seemed to him at the time, but before he could stop himself, he had thrust the bag full of female hygienic products into her face. She actually had to take a step back to avoid a nose injury.

In humiliation, he could only exclaim as an explanation, "T-This is for you!"

She stared blankly at the bulging plastic bag hanging from his extended hands before she realized what he had gotten for her. With a brief giggle, she took the package into her arms. She was a little embarrassed that he felt the need to buy her such things, and it was a bit of a humiliating reminder of what had transpired the previous night, but she couldn't help but be touched at his desperation to reconcile with her. Seeing him standing before her, nervously rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding direct eye contact with her, made her heart flutter and her stomach twist, but he didn't seem to register her happiness.

"You see… I thought you didn't have enough of… um… these, so I… uh… bought some more for you!"

Tohru just smiled at him, hugging the bag in her arms happily.

After that night, everything returned to normal, or even better than normal. It may have just been hope clouding his interpretations, but he and Tohru seemed closer than ever. They spent more time with each other than before and not just at the secret base. Lately, she had been blushing at everything he said to her and she even let him hold her hand for no reason at all. He had almost managed to tell her how he felt about her. Twice. But each time, someone interrupted him. The first time, Shigure had with a whine about dinner, which made Tohru flutter away from him and into the kitchen to start cooking. The second, Kyo had marched in, challenging him for a fight, and he really hadn't held back that time. But he had been satisfied with the progression of their relationship and was rather quite happy until Haru visited.

Haru had marched into the house from the backdoor rather confidently, though judging from the state of his wrinkled and stained uniform, he had been wandering around for days. He didn't even bother to greet Yuki. Haru just smirked and tossed something at him, which Yuki reflexively caught.

"Since I've heard you've taken to buying all of Honda-san's feminine products for her, here," Haru said.

Yuki barely had a chance to look at what he had unfolded in his hands before he heard a familiar high-pitched shriek.

"Yuki-kun! What are you doing with that?!" Tohru cried, rushing over and tearing her underwear from his hands before rushing away, completely scandalized.

He hadn't even lowered his hands by the time she had vanished out of sight. She had disappeared in a red streak, leaving him standing there with his mouth agape. He felt all his slowly built-up progress had shattered in a matter of five seconds, and all he could do was glare at the snickering black-and-white haired teenager lounging against the kitchen counter.

"I never said I bought them. I just found them on the clothes line. Really, you should advise her not to hang her panties out in the open like that. A pervert may find them," Haru told Yuki with a wry smirk.

Exasperated, Yuki couldn't even speak to reply. He could only shake in fury. He couldn't even clench his fingers into fists. His fingers were limp, and he could barely even bend them. They were numb, and the tingles that raced through his fingers made them stiff and inflexible. At the realization at what he had just been holding in his hands, he couldn't fight the blush and mix of embarrassment and tinge of pleasure, so he hurriedly stalked upstairs to his room and slammed the door behind him. Unfortunately, he continued to hear chuckling for the next past hour, and once again, he did not see Tohru for the next twenty-four hours, so at the end of the school day, he found himself with his head bowed before Tohru's two friends again, trying to explain what had happened without giving them the wrong idea.

Luckily, instead of getting attacked by a lead pipe and electric waves, Yuki just had to bear the embarrassment and the heat in his cheeks as Uo roared with laughter and Hana studied him carefully while chewing on a cookie.

Trying to speak over Uo's snickering, he asked a little too loudly, "So, Hanajima-san, Uotani-san, how do I get Honda-san to forgive me this time?"

He held his breath at the complete silence that had settled as soon as he finished asking his question. Yuki felt frozen, bent over the school desk in the bowed position. He felt cramps raking across his back, but he didn't dare allow himself to raise his head until he heard a choked chortle escape Uo's throat. Looking up, he found Uo with a hand over her mouth to stifle her resurging hysteria while Hana watched ambivalently, as if she were deciding whether she should shock him with her waves after all or let herself smile a little, but Uo managed to quiet her mirth enough to speak before Hana could make up her mind.

"What color was it?"

"I-It? Color of what?" Yuki stuttered.

At his utterly clueless expression, Uo had to fight back another snort of laughter. Yuki wasn't sure if he wanted to hear her explanation, given that Hana also turned towards Uo with her cookie held midair and her head tilted to the side quizzically as well. Yuki was a little scared to keep looking at Uo because he knew that if Hana stopped eating, whatever it was must be really horrifying, but Uo either didn't notice or ignored his trepidation because she just hopped off the desk she had seated herself upon and clapped her hand around Yuki's shoulder, making him lurch forward with the force, and grinned.

"The color of her panties! Just get her a matching bra."

With that, Yuki began violently choking on nothing, coughing and sputtering while his face burned a deeper red than it had all day yesterday. He even suspected that his face had turned purple for a few minutes because he knew he didn't breathe for longer than what was probably healthy. Then he felt so lightheaded that he could barely stand up, let alone walk, but he had to force his feet to step forward and take his body out of the classroom because he could not look at her two friends after one of her friends put such an image in his head. That image, plus the image Haru had to put in his head yesterday with that thing Haru dared to put in his hand, and the whole unspoken implications of her two friends' lesson the other day was making him explode.

He couldn't take it.

His lungs couldn't take it. He couldn't breathe properly.

His sweat glands couldn't take it. He was sweating uncontrollably.

His heart couldn't take it. His blood was inundating his face and he could feel his heart raging to burst through his chest.

Yuki Sohma couldn't take it.

He couldn't think as he started to walk down the hallway to the nearest exit. He wasn't sure whether he had said goodbye to Uo or Hana or not or even told them that he was leaving. A small part of his brain knew that was rude of him, but he couldn't make himself care now. He wasn't even sure if his fingers were wrapped around the handle of his book bag or if he had abandoned it on his desk. He wasn't even sure where he was or who he was. All he knew was that he had to keep his legs moving and move towards the red exit sign.

Meanwhile, still trying to stifle her guffawing, Uo moved towards the classroom window just in time to see Yuki pass by underneath, muttering to himself just loudly enough that she could catch every word if she just leaned halfway out the window, which she did.

"Well… buying those things made her forgive me for that so maybe…"

Hana moved towards the windows just in time to catch the last half of the sentence, but of course, she didn't need to even lean towards the window to hear. Though her face appeared rather apathetic, Hana was actually glaring when Uo pulled herself away from the window.

"What are we going to do if he actually listens, Arisa?"

"Tell Tohru to buy him a box of condoms," Uo answered, nonchalantly waving away Hana's concern.

"No, Arisa. I don't want grandchildren just yet."

"That's what Tohru's purchase will be for."

In response to Hana's glare that would have been visible to anyone, Uo just shrugged. "What? Tohru still doesn't think that writer is a pervert, so even if the Prince does go through with it, Tohru will probably just be glad to have new underwear. It'll get them together one way or another. You'll see."

Hana just continued to stare disapprovingly at Uo until Uo gave in with a sigh and made her way out of the classroom to go chase after the dazed prince who was still mumbling nonsense to himself as he wandered toward the school gates.

What? A typical Yuki discovers what periods are and the Yukiru version of that scene with Manabe when Yuki is helping to clean Machi's apartment? Yes! I need some silliness when I am writing an ungoing non-fluffy story :c And because I have a growing affinity with awkward Yuki. Tell me what you think!