Chapter 1: Legend of the Black Cat

A/N: This is my first fan fic. I hope you all like it. I don't own Fruits basket.

Kira Shaeed (Kee-ra Shaw-ee-d) is a special girl of European descent; her family has lived in Japan for generations so there is quite a lot of Japanese blood in her. She has beautiful, long, wavy, black hair and deep green eyes. She's 16 years old and about 5' 5. On each forearm is a tattoo of long black lines intertwined, this is known as henna. She is normal in every way, except one. Kira, and every woman in her family, is cursed! It all started a long time ago, maybe over four hundred years, in Africa.

There was a peasant named Ashanti, he was deeply in love with a princess, Vasha. Vasha was a European princess, whose family had sent her to Africa to explore the land. She loved Ashanti as well, for a while, but after receiving a proposal from the prince of another more powerful tribe, being used to the wealthy life of royalty, she quickly lost interest in the lowly peasant. Ashanti begged for her to stay and marry him instead. She declined and left to live with the prince. Ashanti heartbroken left into the woods to find Ananzi (a-naun-zee) the spider god. Ananzi was a giant spider that loved to eat but not to work, some people would go into the forest and make deals with him, they of course got what they wanted but everything came at a price. Ashanti traveled for days in the woods searching for the spider, after five days he stumbled upon the spiders dwelling, a ruined city. Ananzi was pleased that a traveler had come to him, and asked how he could be of service. "I love to serve my people!" he said, "Nothing gives me more joy than helping those in need. Please what is your request?"

Ashanti bowed to the Spider and asked,

"My love has fallen for another, make me strong and swift and powerful so as I my recapture her heart! I wish us both to be the same, please grant me my wish." Ananzi smiled crookedly and looked at the man with devious joy.

"My young man of course I shall give you this power! And I shall also grant your love with it as well. In return however you must hunt for me and bring me food every night. You must serve me. Is that acceptable?" Ashanti looked at the spider for a good long time.

"I accept!" he said. Ananzi laughed and waved his front hairy leg at the young man, who saw a tall white man stare at him in the darkness.

"You've no idea what you've started. A chain of depression is about to begin." said the man. He wore a long white coat and had matching hair. His kind eyes shone pity onto Ashanti, whose eyes blurred and the man was lost in the darkness. When he awoke the sun was about to set. Ashanti noticed that the only thing that had changed about his form was that he now had a henna tattoo on each forearm.

"Will this grant me the power?" he asked the arachnid.

"In a way." Laughed Ananzi again. Ashanti didn't understand.

"I don't understand. What are these?"

"They were a gift to me from a witch I once knew. Now they are the gift I give to you and your love." Ashanti was still confused but before he could repeat his question the sun had set, and the curse took over. The marks were spreading up his body incasing him in black, it stung at his insides and he grabbed his stomach and collapsed to the ground in pain. His bones began to shift about within his body, and he screamed in agony. But underneath it all he could still hear the spider laughing. When the pain stopped he opened his eyes to find his body was not human. He turned to Ananzi

"What have you done to me?"

Ananzi laughed. "I granted you power! You are swift and fast, you're strong and handsome, you're skilled and agile, and you are the most perfect hunter of them all! The Panther!"

"Will I be like this forever?" the panther stuttered.

"Only after the sunsets, and when you are sick or angry. When the sun raises you will be human until it sets again. If your body weakens you will turn until you feel better. If you lose control of your emotions you shall return when you've calmed."

"Vasha will not come back to me like this!" he roared.

"I believe she will. I've sent her a message, however I think she already knows what it says."

"What do you mean?"

"You asked that Vasha and you be the same, did you not? She has become a hunter too. I sent one of my spiders to report on the deal you and I've made." Ashanti roared in defiance!

"Why? You've tricked me! You filthy insect you tricked me!"

"I've done nothing of the sort! You asked for power I gave it to you! You asked that you and Vasha be the same I made it so! You wanted her to return and I've made sure she'll come to you!"

"But she will not love me!"

"Love?" Ananzi stared at him, "I don't ever recall you mentioning her loving you." Ashanti looked to the ground in defeat. "Don't be sad my hunter. You have a night of hunting to do. I require my feast."

"What makes you think I'd hunt for you?"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha. We've a deal remember? If you don't run errands for me I'll keep you in this form for eternity." Ashanti rose and headed into the woods to hunt.

The next morning Ashanti rested while Ananzi feasted on his meal. He was awoken but a snarl from outside his stone hut. He ran outside and saw a black panther. "So she arrives?" said Ananzi.

"Imbecile look what you've done to me!" growled the panther as it leaped forward. Ashanti quickly dodged to the left.

"Who are you?" he shouted.

"What? Don't you recognize me in this hideous form you've put me in!"

"Vasha!" Ashanti gasped.

"Yes 'Vasha'! Why did you do this?" she leaped at him again. He dodged once more. "Vasha if you don't calm down you won't turn back, and I can't explain!" she breathed heavily. Then Ashanti saw her body wriggle and squirm in a light her markings uncased her and returned to simple tattoos on her arms. He ran to her side but when he attempted to touch her she backed away. Ashanti explained the curse. After he finished he imagined Vasha would be moved by his love for her. Instead, he received a slap in the face. She stood in frustration and yelled, "I will not hunt for a spider! I am royalty! And I don't love you! I never did!"

Ananzi chuckled "He is the only one bound to serve me you are free to go." Vasha stood.

"I've nowhere to go. I can't go home and my husband will not accept me like this! I shall kill you Ashanti! Then this curse shall be broken!" She picked up the spear and charged after him. Ashanti got away; in fact he got away many times. He continued to serve Ananzi, Vasha stuck to her vow to kill him and hunted him down for years. In fact, she killed almost every panther in Africa trying to do it. But in the end she killed him. After his death however something completely different from what Vasha had thought happened. A white spirit in the form of a panther arose form Ashanti's body. "You've killed my people in cold blood! I curse you! And your female descendent!" The spirit disappeared. Before Vasha died she had a daughter. It was strange as Vasha did not have a lover, but 9 months before her death she mysteriously became pregnant. When she died her marking vanished and reappeared onto her daughter. Her daughter soon discovered the aspects of the curse. Every night until the night of her first kiss she became a panther. After her first kiss she turned into a panther and killed the boy. But every time she was kissed afterwards she didn't harm anyone. Because it was Ashanti's love for Vasha that caused the curse and there is no love purer than that of the first kiss. Every full moon however after the sunset she converted into the cat. Seeing as how the panther spirit is a servant to the spider god, she bound to Ananzi as his servant. Every woman in the line was cursed. No matter what happened the cursed always had a girl and the girl was always diseased with the panther. After the mother died the daughter received her marks. This continued in their family for generations. That brings us back to Kira.

This curse is not what makes Kira Shaeed special. What makes her so different is that she will meet 13 others cursed as she is. Ananzi has become more business like since the time of Vasha and Ashanti; he's also become a chain smoker and taken on human form. He sits in his office in his high building sending Kira back and forth with chores and errands. Kira stood in the door outside his office. She knew he was in there, possibly smoking. She thought about her younger brother, Hakkai, how he'd been so accepting of her disease. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Sure enough Ananzi was staring out his window smoking. "Good evening kitten. Have a seat." she winced at his pet name for her.

"You called for me? What is it?" she sat in a chair and he walked towards her. Ananzi was a tall black man of about 6'5. He loved to dress like a gangster from the fifties and always wore pinstripe suits and such.

"I've never been happier! I received your recent test scores. You're doing best not only in your class but in your entire school!" He smiled.

"Yeah, whatever." She said it wasn't that surprising. Kira didn't have any friends, so she threw herself into schoolwork. Not that there was much throwing to be done, considering how smart she was.

"Well, you may not think much of it, but I've decided that you need a school that's a bit more challenging. I'm transferring you." Kira's mouth hung open.

"What about my brother it's hard enough for me to keep contact with him as it is!" She yelled standing.

Ananzi laughed. "Don't worry kitten, his father has a job there. We're moving to his home town."

She calmed a bit and sat back down. "Where will I live?"

"Well since living with people is out of the question, you'll be living in an old apartment building. I'll be paying rent, and it's not a far walk to your school."

"When do I leave?"

"This weekend, and kitten try to make some friends 'kay? I think you might like it there."

Kira looked at him "Is this a part of some kind of secret agenda?" He laughed again.

"Even if it was, kitten, would I tell you?" Kira shook her head. "Now leave and go pack."

Kira left the building. A few days later the building was sold to another business, and the spider bought a new building in Tokyo closer to where Kira lived. He moved his entire operation there. Kira was finally settled into her new place. People in the neighborhood would not care that there were panther shrieks coming from this old beat up building. Not that they'd be able to hear it over the traffic and people yelling. It was in a generally bad neighborhood, but she could take care of herself, and the semi-long walk to school would be good for her. She had to get ready, the sun was about to set and tomorrow was Hakkai's first day of school and she wanted to see him off.

Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. I hope it wasn't to long, I'll try to make the next one shorter. Thanks for reading.

Pyra