Bonds of the Zodiacs

That Strange Girl

She was staring at Shigure's zodiac collection, her face in awe. Those were the first moments I met Tohru Honda outside of school. What was she doing on Sohma land anyways? I hated that collection, it was incomplete.

"Why hello there?" Uncle Shigure said, startling the simple girl.

Her face turned bright like a tomato, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry! I was walking by and saw your zodiac collection!" She started babbling. I sighed and looked at Yuki, who was leaning against the wall next to me, listening as well. His silver hair shining in the sunlight, he was just as intrigued as myself.

"But it's another one that missing the cat..." she said, sounding almost sad.

"Ah yes, the cat. So you have heard the ancient story?" Shigure asked, now even more intrigued than us.

Everyone in the Sohma family knew the story; God invited all the zodiac animals to a banquet, however; the Rat was sneaky and told the Cat that the banquet was a day later. So all the animals enjoyed a wonderful meal with God, except the Cat. Now the Cat was isolated and avoided by the other spirits, abandoned by God.

"I was sad for the Cat that I wanted to change my birth year from the year of the Dog to the year of the Cat!" The girl exclaimed.

Yuki pushed himself from the wall, interrupted the perverted comment we both knew what Shigure was going to say. "Sohma!" Tohru exclaimed, "I didn't know this was your house!"

I stepped around the corner as well, causing the girl to blush even further. "Ah! Kana-Chan! You live here too?"

I nodded my head, the bright orange hair bounced in conjunction. "Yuki is my cousin after all?" I questioned, wondering if she didn't already know from our same last names. "Would you like to walk with us?"

Her face got even more red, which I didn't know was possible. "Oh no! That's okay! Sorry for intruding." And she sprinted away like a scared rabbit.

Yuki stood there frozen, confused by the strange girl. "I wonder if she lives around here?" He asked as we made our way down the street.

I scratched the top of my head, none of the Sohma land had been rented in the past couple months. Kureno would have mentioned something the last time I was at the main estate. I could sense pondering from Yuki, what was he thinking?

"Don't look at me like that." He mumbled, tightening his grip on his bag.

I smirked, "she's an interesting girl, don't you think?" Might as well poke the bear... well rat; while I can. Anger started to bubble, he was getting frustrated with me; causing me to chuckle. I threw my arm over his shoulder and smiled; "you better control that anger, a prince doesn't lash out."

He shoved me off him and crossed his arms; "ridiculous" and continued onward, entering the school.

"Yuki Sohma! Kana Sohma! Please take your seats; your guardian already called; sorry to hear about your great aunt." Teacher said, looking sad.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath; he was chuckling right now, either laughing at us or the fact that he fooled his ex girlfriend. Sitting down, I looked over my shoulder, Tohru was staring down at her book, scribbling sloppy notes. Who was this girl?

The day dragged on, agonizingly slow. All of Yuki's emotions were flooding in and out like a dam with a growing leak. The closer I was to him, the more the crack grew. Worry, confusing, annoyance, stress. It swirled around my chest, leaving me almost out of breath. Shoving my chair away, I left the room quickly; almost gasping for air. I needed to get out of here; away from the emotional hurricane. Sprinting down the hall, I left the school without telling him. He would figure it out, he probably already knew. The worrying was probably for me.