Prologue: The Beginning

He ran down the street, bypassing pedestrians. In his arms lied a small boy, no more than three or four years old. The boy was covered in blood, cuts, bruises, and god only knew what else. He prayed he took the child to the hospital in time. You couldn't even tell what color his hair was supposed to be. It was so thick with blood.

He ran into a hospital ER entrance and went straight to the nurses' station. "Please help!" the man screamed at the woman. "I found him in the woods, screaming and crying."

She stood immediately, recognizing the young boy from a picture a doctor had on a desk. "I know who to take him to," she replied calmly. "Please help me lay him on the bed this way." She led him to the hospital bed, and hooked up an IV and started cutting his clothes off. "Doctor Hatori Sohma to the ER immediately," she rushed over the hospital intercom. She looked at the man who looked worried and confused. "This is Dr. Sohma's nephew," she replied, wiping at the blood, trying to see the skin of the young child.

Hatori ran down the hall, knowing he wouldn't be paged unless it was important. He was in a meeting with a patient who just had surgery so he knew it was bad. But why was he called? Could it be... no. He could not imagine it was one of the kids.

He stopped at seeing the young boy lying on the cot and the nurse cleaned his hair of a little blood when he approached. Orange-red hair made itself known. Kyo. He pushed the man aside and started working with the nurse trying to clean him enough so they could see him.

"Kyo, its Uncle Hatori, speak up," he rushed out. "Wake up Kyo. We need to know what happened," Hatori stated not exactly calm. The boy shifted at hearing his uncle's voice, and shuddered against the cold against his skin.

"Uncle?" he mumbled softly, and then he froze, looking around and started thrashing and screaming at the top of his lungs. "NO! STOP! GET AWAY! STOP AKITO!" Hatori worked fast trying to calm the struggling boy, and saw the slices from most likely a knife. He tried to restrain him, but Kyo was oddly strong. "PLEASE STOP!" he screamed again, struggling more.

The nurse and the man who carried him in watched in horror as Hatori struggled to control the four year old, and wondered what could possess someone to do this to a child. As Hatori pulled Kyo into his arms, staining his white lab coat red, and hugged the boy, softly but firmly.

"Kyo, Akito isn't here. He can't hurt you anymore," Hatori told him softly. He stopped struggling when the words finally registered and burst into a sobbing mess as Hatori held him.

"It hurts, Ha'ri," Kyo mumbled into his shoulder. "My tummy hurts really bad."

Hatori acted before thinking, and laid him down as he looked at his stomach. Cuts were covering his stomach, and some looked more like stab marks than slices. "I'm gonna fix it Kyo, don't worry." Hatori promised. "Just sleep and I'll make it all better."

Hatori walked out to the man and sighed, sitting across from him in a conference room. "Why did you help him?" he asked quietly.

The man blinked and then looked at his feet. "I was in the woods, hiking, and I found him, crying and screaming, running down a path and he ran right into me. The force knocked him out and I really wanted to make sure he'd be ok. So I picked him up and ran him here."

Hatori blinked and then smiled at him. "You lost your son, at about that age, didn't you?"

He nodded once and smiled sadly. "He was playing with some kids, and fell down at the park. I was at work, so was my wife. The babysitter was supposed to be watching him. Cody fell off of the swing set and we had no idea. He didn't go to the hospital until that night when I got home, a broken rib pierced his lung after not being taken care of. My wife was blaming everyone, including herself. I lost her that same night."

"Kyo will recover physically, and I thank you for helping him," Hatori stated. "I do hope he will recover emotionally though." He mumbled this to himself under his breath.

"Doctor, he just woke up," the nurse from earlier came into the room and looked at the two men. "He wants to see both of you."

The three of them walked down the hall and to the recovery room, and Hatori walked in first. "Kyo, are you feeling better?" he asked monotonously.

He nodded, orange hair bobbing slightly. "Thanks for bringing me here," he muttered to the man, then looked at his uncle. "Do I have to go back to the main estate? I don't want to." He looked at him with pathetic, sad, and fearful eyes.

"You can move in with your Uncle Shigure, Ayame, or myself," Hatori offered. "None of us live at the estate and we can help keep the others from hurting you."

Kyo nodded and snuggled up to his uncle, who sat at the edge of the bed. "Thanks, Ha'ri."

So, this is gonna be an interesting one, ne? I'm not sure what all will happen, but you'll have to wait and find out. Review my dolls, and I will announce the couple in this story. Kyo and (?).