"A- angel-chan..." He took a step towards me. I swallowed hard. Minoru-San...saved me. But he..."Whatever were you doing out so late?" What could I do? What should I say? I felt the urge to cry when I thought back to why I was out. Then Minoru-san wrapped his arms around my slightly shaking figure. I wanted to accept this hug. I needed a hug. But he was a member of the zodiac so...
POOF! I fell to the ground, hitting the dirt hard with a THUMP! I backed up until I had my back against a tree. The rip in my shirt going down my back from those men earlier exposed my bare skin to the harsh bark. I heard the ripping of clothes as the scraps of Minoru's shirt and pants fell around the cloud of puffy orange smoke.
And, standing there, was a horse.
"M-minoru-san!" I cried out. "You're the horse!" I mentally kicked myself of that one. Of course he knew that! Why was I being so stupid all of a sudden? Was it because I was so scared of him? He did just...
Before I knew what I was doing, I had reached out to pet his mane. I couldn't help it. Wasn't it every girl's dream at some point to have a horse? He stayed perfectly still.
"Let's walk," He said gently after a moment. He was speaking kindly, but I was still afraid. He led me a few paces into the woods. I walked at a distance, but I kept a grip on his mane. "So? Why were you out so late?"
"I didn't-didn't-didn't," I kept saying 'didn't' like a broken record. I started crying. It felt like there was a hole in my chest. I wrapped my arms around Minoru's neck and he seemed to get it. He just stood there for me. "Minoru-San," I cried. "Does Sohma-San hate me?"
"No." He paused. "Anything but, in fact. He seems to care quite a lot about you. He was just worried when he first ran into you. You see, the dragon of the zodiac has the power to wipe memories. It's pretty much how the curse stayed secret for so long. But for some reason, it didn't work on you, Angel-chan. You're something special."
I sniffled and wiped my eyes, to little avail. "W-wipe m-memories...?"
"That's right. It's always been the Dragon's job. Miki doesn't like it very much though, you can imagine." Sohma-San was such a nice person. Of course he wouldn't want to wipe memories.
"M-Minoru-San...d-do you h-hate me...?"
"No. I don't hate you, Angel-chan." Strangely, I was happy to hear that. "I don't mean to ruin our little moment here, but you should know I can't change back if you keep your arms around me." I nodded quickly, and broke off my hold. I was sitting on the pine needle covered ground, forcing away the rest of my tears.
POOF! I turned my head away respectively. "Damn," Minoru-San cursed. "Being such a big animal means I don't have any clothes left to change back into when I turn back." I then stood up and slipped off my skirt.
I started to unbutton my shirt. "H-here, I know it's not exactly your size, heh heh, but you can wear these-" I looked up at him for a quick second. I looked back down at my shirt. He was probably just worried about me being cold. "Oh, d-don't worry about me. I've got tights on so my legs won't be cold and of course I've got a bra on under-"
SLAM! I winced as Minoru-San shoved me back against a tree. I gasped, and it made a strange little sound. He eyed me carefully with stone eyes. A slight wind blew my half opened shirt wildely. My hands shook.
"If," He started, his face centimeters away from mine. His bare body was so close to mine I could almost feel his body heat. His breathing was hard, like he had been running a marathon. "You don't want guys like those scum earlier to come after you, then don't be so stupid and quick to strip, got it?" He backed up a few steps and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I, I just thought you might b-be cold," I trailed off absentmindedly. Minoru-San scared me just a moment ago. I was very fearful of him, and this didn't help. I wished I could just go back to before I saw him attack those people. Then I wouldn't be afraid of him.
"Angel-chan...do you hate me?" Minoru-San asked suddenly. I shook my head instantaneously.
"Of course not! Why would I hate you?" Then my thoughts flashed to him stabbing the one man. To the look of bloodlust in his eyes. To the emptiness in his heart. "I could never hate you." He smiled, but it was the type of smile you make when you didn't hear someone but you didn't want them to have to repeat themselves.
He didn't believe me.
"Let's go back," I smiled my most encouraging smile. I looked at him but quickly turned away when I remembered he was naked. He laughed his nice special laugh, the one that told everyone everything would be okay.
"Sure, let's get going. My house will be burnt down if we leave Haruka, Taki-Aki, Miki, Aika-chan and Daisuke together too long."
So we walked off, kind of hoping in the back of our minds that one day we'd be able to say the truth, the truth of whether we hate each other or not.