Chapter 1

"Ah, look at that beautiful sky." Tohru says to herself staring at the partly cloudy sky.

"What are you mumbling out there Tohru? I thought we could leave a little earlier than usual, see the sights, ya know?" says Kiki, stepping out of the tent they were currently inhabiting.

See, Kiki is Tohru's twin, fraternal twin, but still a twin. You could definitely tell them apart. Tohru has brown long wavy locks with bangs that hand on her forehead, barely reached her sky blue eyes. Kiki on the other hand has short black hair with ringlets with the exception of her overgrown bangs which were more wavy than curly covering her forehead and most of her eyebrows, usually swept to the side, almost coving her light green eyes she got from her father.

She originally had bright orange hair like her mother, but dyed it black once she passed, having to remember she was gone was just too much to be reminded of every time she looked in the mirror. She knew how much it hurt Tohru too though she never said anything. During her period of denial, she also ran away, only going Tohru last month, when she found her walking in the woods by herself heading back 'home'. She knew she was being crazy, but hey we all deal with it in our own ways, so now she's dedicated to being the best sister ever for Tohru.

She wasn't really the most positive of the family either, always keeping to herself, thought Uo and Hana are really nice to her, they just aren't as close as the one friend she had when she ran away from her life.

-Kiki's POV-

"Yeah, that sound great, see ya later mom, and take care of the house while we're gone." Tohru says, yelling the last part back to the tent, I roll my eyes. Of course I don't take my mother's death as a joke, but I know that Torhru still hasn't fully grasped the fact that she's gone, sure she living in our hearts and blah blah blah but she actually acts like the picture of our mom is real , that one day , she will actually answer back to her.

I started walking with her in silence until we stumble across a house in the middle of nowhere with these cute wooden zodiac animals on the porch.

"Geez must be nice having that much free time." I say to Tohru, she just nods her head admiring the work.

"My, my do my eyes deceive me or are their two young girls standing on my porch?" says this black-haired man, holding a news paper in his hands. I bite my lip, wondering what to say. Of course Tohru just starts stuttering. I cover her mouth with my hand.

"We're sorry, we didn't mean to barge in without permission, though barging wouldn't be the right word to get permission for and be like 'Hey can we barge into your house?'. That just sounds like we're going to break something or like do something that isn't mannerly, which we totally weren't we just- shutting up now."I say, sure I have a rambling problem but I didn't need Tohru fainting from lack of breathing. He laughs.

"It's all right I just set them out to dry no harm done. But I find it hard to believe that these silly little things could attract your interest."

"I love the zodiac animals; I don't find them boring at all." Torhru says with her ultra exciting face on.

"Yes, I'm pretty fond of them myself."

"You left out the cat..."I mumbled to myself, they always do. When mom used to read us the stories Tohru used to get upset about there not being a cat year. At the time, I went along with it just because I thought it was unfair, Now that I look back on it, I can kind of relate to the cat, always being an outcast, never really fitting in. I sighed.

"The cat, I assume you're talking about the old folk tale about the Chinese zodiac.

"Our mom told it to us when we were little." Tohru says, her eyes glazing over, a small smile still evident on her face as she told the story.

(I'm sure you all know it, God did a banquet blah blah blah the rat said the wrong date blah blah blah disrespect blah blah blah isolation blah blah blah never allowed as one of the zodiac blah blah BLAH)

"The rat is such an asshole." I said looking down at the ground.

"I wonder what he will say when he hears he's got two fans."

"wha-" I started to say.

"You were born in the year of the dog; I knew there was something I liked about you." He said interrupting me; I lightly glared before staring at the ground once more.

"I mean aside from your pretty fa-" he started to say raising my chin, before he was interrupted by a green bag landing on his head.

"Please forgive my cousin, he's a bit of a flirt, but harmless. In general it's usually best to just ignore him." said none other than Prince Yuki himself, I silently swooned as Tohru just outright gasped and put on her 'ohmygawsh its hym !' smile, she can't really help it.

"Yuki Sohma!"Tohru exclaimed. I rolled my eyes as she went into a haze.

"Do you have a dictionary in there?" asked the older cousin.

"No I have two." Yuki said calmly. I half smiled at the bluntness of his answer. Sure, Yuki was the prince of our school, and he was gorgeous with his silver hair and large purple eyes, and I may have a little crush on him, but it's no excuse for me to act like a fan girl.

"So you two are Yuki's classmates from school. So, let's start again. I'm Shigure his older and much less violent cousin." Shigure said, putting his hand up.

"I'm Tohru Honda and this is my sister Katsumi. It's very nice to meet you." Tohru said, forgetting how much I hated that name.

"It's Kiki; I'd rather be called Kiki." I said quickly. I hate the name Katsume for a couple reasons, but to save time one is that it translates to 'victorious beauty' and my mom wasn't the one who picked it out.

"Ah, and what brings you to our home this morning Honda-san and Honda-san." Shigure says in a mannerly tone.

What's with the change in the attitude? I thought to myself.

"Well, ha-ha we live near-by." Tohru answered. Thank god she did, because I do not have an answer.

"You do?" They both ask in unison.

"Where at?" Shigure asks

There was a long pause before I my mouth decided it was too long of a pause.

"Right" I said pointing to the woods. They both looked at me as if I was crazy; I guess that did sound a bit weird, I looked back down at my shoes.

"Okay I think we'll just be going now, it was nice meeting you-"Tohru said, starting to turn around towards the pathway to school, before getting interrupted by Yuki.

"Miss Honda, since we're here why don't we all walk together." he said, I raised an eyebrow at Tohru just laughed and said yes.

(/-.-)/ Party and party and YEAH (/-.-)/

I plugged in my IPod as we passed the Yuki fan club on the way to school, with none other than YUKI. I told Tohru I had to go to the bathroom and speed walked the rest of the way to school, I got back just in time to hear

"One more word and you'll all get *beeeeeep*ed with electric shocks." Hana said, I silently smiled and waved before passing by.

"Hey Kiki, how ya' doing? Hana don't actually shock anyone, okay?" Uo asked me.

"I'm fine, thanks, they let me in the gymnastic team." I said to her.

"Isn't that like the 6th thing you've got into."

"Well there's volleyball, ballet, basketball, tennis and now gymnastics, so there's only 5."

"Yeah, but then plus work and homework, your overworking yourself." Hana said.

"No no, I'm fine, couldn't be any better, a girl got to do what a girls got to do." I said before running to class, not wanting to see the worried faces of my peers.

After I was done with my group, I laid my head down on the table, since I came here late, I got stuck with the student teacher as my partner, but it wasn't that bad , I always got good grades.

"Listen, Kiki, we didn't get anywhere with Tohru but I know you may think just because you're new to our group doesn't mean you can't ask for help. If you're in some type of trouble or need me to rough someone up, you just say the word and I'll do it. You two are so alike, you both are over doing it, and especially you with these sports and stuff, and you're gunna collapse one day." Uo said, Hana stood there, nodding too.

"I'm not in any trouble, but I'll let you know if I am. Really, I can take care of myself." I said, smirking.

(/-.-)/ Fun, fun, fun, fun looking forward to the weekend (/-.-)/

Here I was, lying on the floor, books spilled everywhere, and all because I slipped on my own two feet. Then of course, who happens to come by at my pathetic state, Yuki. I lift my head up a little bit to look at him and give a weak smile.

"Heeeey Yuki" I said, dragging out the 'e' in hey.

"Ah, Miss. Honda, we're starting to make a habit of running into each other. Would you like to walk home together?" Yuki asked, bending down to pick up my books. I got up and thanked him. Tohru had work and I don't have anything today, I don't think I do anyway, so I eagerly nodded.

"So, did I over-hear you talking about the cat, from the zodiac this morning?" Yuki asked casually.

"Yeah, Tohru and I had this idea when we were younger about being in the year of the cat, instead of dog, silly I know." I answered.

"Cats, what useless, foolish creatures, tell me Miss. Honda how familiar would you say you are with the Chinese zodiac?"Yuki said coldly.

"I know the stories my mom used to tell me."

"Did you know it was originally nothing more than a simple calendar, a mathematical system to mark the begging and ending of a year? Only later did people being to use it for astrology and fortune telling."

"Oh, then I guess the animal thing is just a big myth then."

"No, I'm not really sure how or when the animals first came to represent the years but I don't believe they we're there since the beginning. What I do know is that in no time of the history of the zodiac, has the cat ever been included."

"Slow your roll, cowboy. I'm not that into cats either but you just hate them don't you?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yes, I guess I do take it to another level."