Chapter I: Tohru Honda

Despite being overly polite and shy at times, Tohru Honda had never considered herself the type of person to run away from her problems. She always stood strong in the face of adversary, and (with her mother's ever present guidance in mind) succeeded in doing what she thought was right, even if it only caused her more trouble than not. No, she was never one to run away, no matter how frightened or in danger she might have been.

Then why was she running now, dashing through the streets at night, in the rain with no discernable destination in sight?

Well, because for once, she really didn't know what to do.

What could she do?

Nothing.

She was so useless…

It had all started that morning with what for over a year now had become a normal routine for the 17 year old orphan who took refuge in the home of the prestigious and mysterious Sohma family. Things had started looking up ever since Tohru had taken it upon herself to confront the leader of the Sohma clan, Akito, some few weeks before and she had been convinced that things could only get better from there on. Even if the curse had yet to be broken, the Sohma's seemed to live a little happier and even Akito himself seemed to take her advice and live as a normal teenager should, even if his chance of a long life was slim. He had joined their high school as a senior and even if she did not see him often she hoped he was enjoying himself. At home, Shigure began a new genre of fiction writing, moving from romance to…horror and Mitsuru was still being teased but in a less life threatening form. Even Yuki and Kyo seemed to have come to an end in their bickering. Yes, in the eyes of Tohru Honda everything was perfect.

That was until this afternoon.

Tohru had been making dinner, while Shigure sat in living room with Hatori discussing the latest matters at Sohma house. Kyo was upstairs asleep because it was pouring outside, and the young girl worried for Yuki, seeing as he was still at school dealing with student council matters. She had just pulled the casserole out of the oven and was about to make some salad, when the phone rang. "Oh…I wonder who that could be." She murmured, turning to leave but Shigure rushed out to stop her. "Don't you mind that Tohru. I'll get it. It's probably Yuki calling to explain why he's so late." The dog said eagerly grabbing the phone and shooing at her. "You just keep on with that marvelous dinner, it smells great. Hello, Sohma residence, this is Shigure Sohma speaking!" The girl smiled brightly once more and turned to leave, but stopped when Shigures' cheerful voice transformed into one of alarm. "What? How…when did this happen?" There was a long bout of silence as the person on the other end spoke, by now Hatori had come from the sitting room to see what the matter was. He stood by Tohru in the hall with his arms folded across his chest as they watched the conversation finish. "I…see. We'll be there as quickly as we can. Thank you."

Kyo marched down the stairs sluggishly, rubbing his eye. "Is dinner ready, yet?" He glanced around the hall, from Tohru and Hatori's curious gazes to Shigures' solemn expression. The zodiac dog glanced up finally from the receiver, an unusual air of seriousness about him. "That was a phone call from your school…" He spoke, slowly. "Apparently, there was an accident in the parking lot this afternoon…Yuki is in the hospital."

The world froze.

It was pure silence on the drive from their home to the Queensberry Memorial hospital at the edge of town. The silence lasted all through the time they spent in the waiting room awaiting Yuki's doctor to come and speak with them. All the while Tohru sat still, going over Shigures' details of the accident again and again in her mind. He was heading out of school, when one of the other students lost control of his car due to the heavy rain. No one saw it coming before the boy was hit head on by the speeding vehicle. Everything felt so surreal and yet familiar to the young girl. It reminded her so clearly of the day her mother died, from the phone call to now, and she just couldn't take it.

She couldn't take losing anyone else.

"Apparently, there was an accident in the parking lot this afternoon…"

"Miss Honda, I'm sorry but there's been an accident…your mother…"

When the doctor entered the room, Tohru stood and bolted out the door, before anyone could say a word.

She wasn't sure how long she ran after that, only knew that it must have been a long time, because she was so tired. She didn't even know where she was running to. Where could she run to? Certainly not back home, there was no one there and besides it would only make things worse. There was always Hana or Uo's house, but she didn't want to trouble them. She felt so stupid for running away, and didn't know quite what had gotten into her, only that she was so afraid. Even more so now, that she found herself rather lost, at the edge of a highway near a long, dark forest. It was still raining down harshly and she was soaked, barely able to walk and see where she was going. Just as the young girl was about to sit and rest for a moment on the ground, a black car drove seemingly out of nowhere and pulled up beside her. It stayed there for a long moment and Tohru wondered vaguely if perhaps she should keep running, in case it was one of those strange perverts Shigure always spoke about, but found she really didn't want to, and prayed that whoever was driving the car had stopped to be of help to her and not of harm.

When the window to the driver's seat slowly rolled down, the orphan could not decide which of those options to choose from. There, staring at her from inside the car with the same distasteful look he always seemed to wear whilst around her was Akito Sohma. He looked tired and frustrated as he pointed a slender finger towards the rain soaked girl, beckoning her over to him. She stood and quickly came. "A-akito…um… what a-re you d-oing here?" she stammered and the older boy raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "Looking for you, why else? The fools are all back at Sohma house, worried and whining about you. I had no choice but to come for you, or else they would never shut up." He quieted, looking her up and down as if appraising cattle for sale. "You are…wet." The Sohma leader spit out in disgust, opening his passenger door and signaling for her to get in to the car. "Well…come on, before I change my mind and leave you to drown, get in." He yelled, after the girl had hesitated for too long. Tohru squeaked and immediately climbed in beside him, buckling herself up as he shifted into drive.

The ride down the desserted road with Akito was awkward to say the least for Tohru. After all their previous meetings had not been really all that pleasant and even though she knew that the boy had made progress in changing throughout these months, she was still nervous around him. Nevertheless, she felt the urge to break the never-ending silence no matter what…she needed some sort of verbal comfort right now and Akito was the only one here and even if he rebuked her, it was alright. She just really needed someone to talk to.

"Um…Akito?" Tohru began hesitantly, but was cut off by a fierce glare from the dark haired boy. She sighed deeply and opened her mouth to speak again, when a rather large flash of lighting struck right in front of the car. They skidded to a stop and instantly left the vehicle when they realized the electricity was not disappearing. "What the hell?" Akito murmured, slamming his door shut and moving towards the light. Tohru followed him meekly, and the two teens stared on in awe as a large, intricate circle began to inscribe itself on the ground before them. A set of brilliant white wings opened from the circle and through the glare Tohru could see two shadowy figures emerged from them. One of the figures turned to glance at them and for a moment the girl thought see caught a glimpse of strawberry hair, and a familiar smile.

Then as soon as it came, it was gone, leaving nothing but the two teens in the rain and what appeared to be a bloody, beaten body lain in the middle of the highway. Tohru gasped as she instinctively ran forward, caring nature taking control and leading her to gently pull the figure into her lap. It was a boy, no older than she, dressed in torn black clothes and a worse for wear red coat, his golden blonde hair was loose around his face, the messy remnants of a braid apparent and his face was soft and young, looking despite the strong curve of his jaw, which the girl found herself tracing in awe. Akito was calling someone on his cell as Tohru examined the boys wounds in panic. He was soaked to the bone with rain and blood from what appeared to be large gash on his chest. What in the world could have had happened to him?

"That was Hatori." Akito finally spoke, cold voice startling the brunet as he stood behind her. "He said to get him into the car. We'll take him back to Sohma house." Tohru nodded and turned back to the stranger in her arms when he twitched slightly in pain. "Now, we haven't all day." They returned to Akito's car in a hurry, the nineteen year old quickly shifting into gear before Tohru was even properly buckled in. The strange boy lay halfway in the backseat and halfway in her lap and she shushed him gently, moving a few wayward strands of gold from his feverish forehead. He shifted slightly, and much to the girls surprise opened his eyes to gaze blearily up at her. She found herself smiling downed into unusual golden orbs as if she knew him all her life. "Hey…" She whispered, holding his left hand in her own trembling one. "…You're going to be okay…so don't worry. I'm a friend." The boy looked at her quizzically for a moment before licking his bloodied lips and speaking.

"Mom…"

Revised 11/5/2016: Again, I don't know if I'll ever continue this story but if you want me to, encouragement helps.