Murky green eyes blinked as they stared into the full moon. 'Ookami.' the young girl thought as a tear trailed down her cheek. She brushed her dark-red hair out of her eyes as she became lost in thought. 'I finally find another of the cursed children…and then she moves away…' The young girl's name is Stephanie 'Neko' Green. She is a cursed child, one of seven. They are young girls with mixed pasts, all leading up to one conclusion…complete seclusion from all other humans. Left with no one to understand, or want to help them due to their oddly defensive behavior.

Taking a deep breath Neko threw back her head and howled out her sorrow. Neko is probably the oddest of the cursed, able to switch between the voices of the animals around her…to express feelings she is unable to put into words. Another tear trailed down her cheek as she tilted her head to listen for an answering howl. Nothing. Neko whined as she pulled her knees into her chest and hid her face in her knees. Ookami was too far away to hear her.

'Pack sister…' Neko thought sadly, sobs wracking her body, 'I'll miss you…now I have no one…I'm alone…'

Neko was an orphan, her mother having been murdered before her eyes, and her father in jail for sexually harassing children. Guess who he harassed first? Yup, Neko. Due to that incident she was completely terrified of the male species. No mater how many times she showered, no mater how much toothpaste or mouthwash she used, she could never get rid of all traces of him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand resting on her shoulder. Neko spun around, cringing back in fear. She visibly relaxed as she saw it was only her caretaker, Ms. Taira. Neko smiled nervously at her, and she smiled sadly in reply. Neko was taken aback by this, Ms. Taira was never sad. Suddenly Ms. Taira pulled the young girl into an embrace. Neko tensed, not used to human contact after what her father did to her.

"I'm so sorry, Stephanie." Ms. Taira whispered in her ear, "I did try to stop this, I truly did."

Neko froze, she didn't understand. "W-what?" she croaked, her voice raw from not speaking for so long.

Ms. Taira pulled back to look at the young girl. "They're sending you away. To live on your own."

Neko's mind shut down as her body turned to stone. 'They were sending her away? To a different place? Where she'd be unprotected against…' Neko didn't allow herself to finish the thought and fell to her knees, silent tears streaming down her face. 'Ookami…' she thought as the world around her blurred, 'Now…I truly am abandoned…I truly am…one of the cursed…'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That was four months ago. Now she lived in a small apartment by herself. The landlady was a very kind person, always smiling when Neko came outside…which was very rare for her. She had once again lapsed into the silence that was her most reliable shield. Today was no different. Neko sighed as she straitened out her black, jeans. Her dark-red turtle-neck shirt fluttered slightly as a car went by. She nodded to the landlady and began walking to her new school…Ouran High.

~time skip~

Neko stayed close to the wall, avoiding the stares of the other students as she passed. She was heading to her homeroom class, a class with both girls and boys. 'Great, my life is gonna suck now.' Neko thought, whining slightly. She imagined herself with wolf ears and a tail and made them droop in fear and defeat. She finally found the class and opened the door slowly. Staying near the door as she closed it behind her. She noticed that her teacher was a girl, that was a relief.

The teacher noticed her and smiled, Neko inched closer to the door in response. "You must be the American exchange student." the teacher said sweetly, "Miss Green, right?" Neko nodded. The teacher opened her mouth to speak again but was interrupted by the door behind Neko slamming open.

"Sorry we're late." two unmistakably male voices said in unison. Neko jumped and ran to a different wall, clutching her books to her chest as she stared at the two ginger-haired boys in the doorway. They looked exactly alike, except for the part in their hair.

The teacher glared at them. "Hikaru, Kaoru, go to your seats. And please refrain from scaring the exchange student." she ordered.

The two boys glanced at Neko before nodding and going to their seats behind a girlish-looking boy. Neko noticed that several girls were squealing as they passed. It hurt her overly-sensitive ears.

Rubbing her ear in frustration Neko looked at the teacher. The teacher sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. "Miss Green, please introduce yourself." the teacher asked, looking at the young girl.

Neko's eyes widened and she stepped back, holding her throat. She couldn't let these people hear her voice, they'd know she didn't use it. She looked pointedly at the notebook she held in her hands, then rubbed her throat again. The teacher interpreted this as her being mute, just like at the other schools.

"Then write on the blackboard." the teacher advised, handing her some chalk and motioning her forward. Neko's hand trembled as she wrote on the board; 'Ohayo. My name is Neko. I do not feel comfortable writing my life on this board so if you want to know more about me, ask. If I don't answer, I'm not going to.' Neko smiled and turned to bow to the class. Everyone stared at her, except for the twins who were exchanging looks with each other. Neko turned back to the teacher, a look of confusion on her face.

The teacher quickly shook off her stunned stupor and smiled at the confused girl. "Thank you, Miss Green." she said, "You're seat is over there." The teacher pointed to the seat behind the twins.

Neko took a step back, scared, but was ushered forward by the teacher. Neko tripped, her books and papers flying everywhere. She paled as one of her sketches fell in front of the twins. Their eyes quickly landed on the paper and widened. They glanced up at her and met her terrified gaze. She quickly gathered up her books and papers and slowly walked toward the twins. When she reached their desk she reached a hand out for the paper. The twin on the right hid the paper under a notebook and they both gave her 'innocent' looks.

Neko closed her eyes quickly, taking in a breath, before opening them again and going to sit in her desk, completely ignoring the fact that they still had her sketch. The girl in the desk next to hers smiled. "Hi, my name's Yoku." she said, "It's nice to meet you." Neko smiled shyly in return and sat down. She noticed a sketchbook on Yoku's desk and quickly pulled out her notebook. She wrote out a quick message for her and showed it to her;

'You draw?'

Yoku smiled and nodded. "Ever since I started coming here." she answered, "Do you draw?"

Neko smiled and wrote another message; 'Ever since I was four.'

"Cool, can I see some?"

Neko froze, suddenly noticing the twins eyes on her, then quickly scribbled a reply; 'Maybe later. We're being stared at.'

Yoku frowned and looked around, her eyes landing on a bunch of girls across the room who were also staring. "Oh." she mumbled, "You don't like it when strangers look at your art?"

Neko smiled sadly and shook her head. It wasn't that she didn't want people to look at what she drew, it was that she didn't want them to figure out what the pictures meant. Which is why she had two sketchbooks, one for her true sketches, and one of drawings of random animals and scenery. Unfortunately the blank papers that she had been doodling on had her true art, and now the twins had one.

"Hey, Neko-chan?" Yoku asked, looking at her, "Some friends of mine and I are going to the Host Club after school, do you want to come?"

Neko cocked her head in confusion. 'Host Club?' she wrote.

Yoku looked appalled. "You don't know the Host Club?" she asked, terror leaking into her voice. Neko shook her head. Yoku's eyes took on a determined glint. "Then you have to come with us!" she declared, clapping her hands down on the desk. Neko paled, she suddenly did not like Yoku very much.

~with the twins~

Kaoru took the paper out again and looked at it with Hikaru. The girl in the center of the picture was obviously the girl that was sitting behind them. In the picture she was huddled in a corner, naked except for a blanket thrown haphazardly over her body. she appeared to be around four or five in the picture. Blood was everywhere, leading to a silhouette of a man in the corner of the page. The picture was very good, though it seemed to have been drawn hastily. The colors were very dark; grays, blacks, reds, browns, the only bright color was her murky green eyes, wide with pain and fear.

"Kaoru," Hikaru began, looking at his twin, "What…is this?"

"I think…" Kaoru spoke quietly, "It's an image she wanted to get out of her head."

"A memory?"

"Possibly."

They both turned to gaze at the girl behind them, then quickly turned back around when she noticed them.

"Hikaru, should we…" Kaoru started, looking at his brother.

"…learn more about her?" Hikaru finished his brothers thought, "Yes, I do believe we shall."

~Time skip-with Neko~

Neko sighed as she leaned against the wall during the lunch break. She had been to almost all of her classes by now, and the rest of her teachers were men. She groaned as she slid down the wall, pulling her knees into her chest and hiding her face in them. 'Ookami, I feel like I've been trapped. The way that they look at me, it is the same as my father.' A tear fell down her cheek as she remembered what her father did to her. 'He was sent away for sexually harassing a ten year old. She was the governors daughter. She asked my father to do it to her, and he did. The governor found out and my father was sent to jail. He harassed me when I was four. I told the police repeatedly, but they never took him. That was years before he even met the little slut.' Neko moved one of her hands and punched the wall beside her. "Why did I have to be one of the cursed?" she asked herself quietly, staring at her, now bloody, hand. She brought it up to her face and sighed, thinking about how much blood she had seen in her past because of her father. Neko shook her head and stared up at the dark storm clouds. 'Can't think of that, Ookami wouldn't approve. 'No suicidal thoughts, only homicidal'.' she thought, quoting one of her friends favorite sayings.

"Excuse me, miss?" a feminine voice said above her. Neko blinked and looked up, jerking back slightly when she saw it was the feminine boy from her homeroom. "Are you alright? Your hand is bleeding…"

Neko quickly turned for her notebook and wrote a reply; 'Fine.'

The boy looked confused. "No, you're not. You need your wound looked at."

Neko glared at him and shook her head vehemently. There was no way she was going to have a possibly male doctor look at her hand. She wrote a sharp reply; 'No.'

The boy sighed in frustration. "I'm bringing you to get it looked at whether you want to or not. It could get infected." he reached his hand out and Neko jerked back violently. The boy got a thoughtful look on his face. "Are you…afraid of boys?" he asked.

Neko froze before nodding slowly. The boy smiled. "Ah, that explains your reaction during class." he said before turning to her again and taking out his student ID, "You don't have to worry, I'm a girl. I just dress like this to pay off a debt I have."

Neko looked at the ID and smiled brightly, taking the hand offered to her. She quickly wrote something in her book and showed it to the girl; 'My name is Neko, what's yours?'

The girl smiled. "My name is Haruhi Fujoka."

Neko smiled and wrote another message; 'Please, don't tell anyone that I'm scared of males. Last time people tortured me when they found out.'

Haruhi smiled and nodded. "I won't. Please don't tell anyone that I'm a girl."

Neko smiled and nodded, storing it in her extensive 'things-that-I-must-not-tell' area of her mind.

~time skip-after school~

Neko waited outside the doors of the third music room, looking for Yoku and her friends. They arrived seconds later and instantly walked inside. Neko followed them, only to freeze as she saw where she was. In a room, with a ton of boys. She noticed that the twins from her class were there, along with Haruhi. Haruhi noticed her and glanced at the other boys before looking at Neko again. Neko shot her a pleading look. Haruhi quickly separated from the boys and walked over to the terrified girl in the doorway.

"Neko-san?" she asked, trying to act confused, "Did my father send you to get me?" she caught Neko's eyes and mouthed; 'Play along.'

Neko nodded and pointed to her watch. Haruhi quickly glanced at a clock and a look of horror crossed her features. "I didn't realize that it was time to go already…" she said, just loud enough for the boys to hear. She quickly turned to them and her gaze focused on the tall blonde in the middle. "Tamaki-sempai, I must go with my friend now. I'm sorry but it's really important."

The boy nodded, smiling brightly. "Of course Haruhi. You go with this lovely princess." He suddenly came really close to Neko and she stepped back, scared out of her wits. Haruhi stepped between them and began ushering Neko out the door.

"Come on, we don't want to be late." she said, closing the door once she was outside. She grabbed Neko's hand and led her outside. Once they were out she turned to the girl. "Let me guess, some girls from class asked you to come?" she sighed when Neko nodded, "It's a good thing I was there, otherwise you would have been screaming your head off." Neko stared at her and she smiled, "I know you can talk. You're just afraid to let people get to know you."

Neko smiled. "Thanks." she said, her voice quiet. Haruhi smiled at her.

"The twins will probably try to find you, or me, and try to figure out how we know each other." she said, noticing Neko smirk.

"They can't find me." she said, "All information on me is classified to the highest degree, only to be opened in the event that one of the other seven's parents die. In which case I would need to be found since I am the oldest and therefore their legal guardian."

Haruhi stared at her. "Huh?"

Neko sighed. "They won't find me no matter what they do." she clarified.

"Oh."

"Hey, Haruhi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to come over to my house tonight?"

"I'll ask my dad."

"K."

"Neko?"

"Hm?

"Do you have a cell phone I could borrow?"

"Sure."

~with the host club~

"My lord," the twins said simultaneously, "Do you think it was wise to let them leave?"

Tamaki beamed at them. "Of course, Haruhi knows what she's doing."

"That girl is in your class, am I correct?" Kyoya asked the twins.

"Yeah…" Hikaru started.

"We actually wanted to ask you…" Kaoru continued.

"If you could tell us anything about her." they finished together.

Kyoya smirked and began typing on his computer. After a few minutes he frowned. "I'm…unable to get any information on her."

Neko: Wow. I actually wrote a cliffhanger. That's a first.

Keibi(my muse): Why is it a first?

Neko: I usually leave that to Briar and Tsuki, they always do it…even if it's on accident.

Keibi: *blinks* Explains much.

Briar: *randomly runs in and grabs Neko* It happened again!

Neko: W-what happened?

Briar: *tears forming* It crashed…

Neko: *getting annoyed* What crashed?

Briar: *breaks out into sobs* My computer!

Neko: *rolls eyes* Keibi, please continue without me. I need to help my non-tech-savvy sister.

Keibi: *nods* Good luck. *Neko leaves* K. So…Neko owns nothing and would like ideas on how the story should go. Please read and review. *loud crash comes from another room*

Neko: Briar! I just told you not to touch that!

Briar: Sorry! *another crash* Still sorry!