Chapter 1-

Emiko's POV-

"Tohru!" shouted Emiko. She had been living here six months, and Tohru was her best friend. She had never fit in at her old school, because she wasn't afraid to share her opinion, and wasn't good with people. That was probably because she had been home schooled until she was in middle school, which is when her parents sent her to public school, which didn't work out. So they moved to Japan. Her family said it was to "learn more about her heritage", but she knew it was because they wanted her to make friends, and she had alienated everybody in her home town. Emiko didn't mind. She loved hearing stories about her father's home. Her home now.

"Emiko!" Tohru shouted back, turning from her conversation with Yuki and Kyo, "How are you today?"

"Pretty good, but we have to go somewhere other then my house to study tonight," Emiko said with a frown. On Wednesdays Tohru tutored her in math, and she tutored Tohru in English.

"Why?" asked a confused Tohru.

"My parents are painting the apartment," Emiko stated calmly, "Although, I'm definitely not looking forward to sharing a hotel room with them tonight." Emiko shuddered.
Tohru considered what Emiko had said for a while, opening her mouth, and then closing it.

"Just spit it out!" Kyo shouted.

"Why aren't you looking forward to sharing a room with your parents?" Tohru asked innocently. Yuki's cheeks turned pink at the same moment that Kyo looked at Tohru in shock.

"Because for old people they sure do get awfully frisky," she said with another shudder. Kyo, Yuki, and Tohru turned matching shades of red. Emiko struggled not to smile or laugh, but little choking noises came out.

"What!" Kyo shouted, still bright red.

"Does having that much blood in your face hurt?" she struggled out before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"What are you talking about?" Kyo shouted.

"You're blushing," Yuki said, no longer bright red.

"I am not, stupid ra-" Kyo was shouting when Yuki kicked him out the front doors.

"Should we stop them this time?" Emiko asked Tohru.

"No," Tohru said. She looked like she was thinking hard, until suddenly she got an excited look on her face, "Do you want to study at my house? You can stay the night if you want." Tohru smiled her *I just did something really nice* smile.

"I...," Emiko said, not sure she wanted to spend the night in the same house as Yuki or Kyo, let alone both. Then, there was Shigure, the owner of the house where Tohru lived. Emiko had been over to Tohru's quite a few times, and every time Shigure either wasn't there, or was locked in his room until she left, "I don't know..."

"Please," Tohru pleaded, "It'll be fun."

Emiko sighed, "Fine, I'll stay the night."

Tohru hugged her, "It'll be so much fun! Come on, let's go!"

"Tohru, I have to go get stuff so I can stay," she said, amused by Tohru's behavior, "I'll be at your house in about a half an hour, okay?"

"Okay, see you in half an hour!" Tohru said, scampering off to find Yuki and Kyo so they could walk home with her.

~And may nothing to horrible happen tonight~ Emiko thought, heading home to collect her things and tell her parents where she would be tonight.

Shigure's POV-
It was calm in his house. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and he hadn't played any cruel tricks on his editor today. ~Hatori would be proud~ thought Shigure just before the silence was shattered by Kyo flying through the front door and slamming into the wall.

"Hey, just because Tohru's not here doesn't mean you two need to fight." Shigure said, then mumbled, "And why must we abuse my poor house."

Yuki walked in the house, closely followed by Tohru.

"Tohru! What are you doing here? Don't you go study with Emiko on Wednesdays?" Shigure asked her.

"Oh, her parents are painting their apartment today, so we are going to study here, and then she's going to stay the night," Tohru said with a smile. Her face turned shocked, and she gasped, "Oh no, I didn't think to ask if it was okay if she stayed! I'll tell her she can't stay! Wait, I can't tell her that, that would be rude! What do I-"

"Tohru," Shigure interrupted, "It's fine. This is your house, too. If you want to invite someone over, that's fine. So, I'll finally get to meet Emiko." Shigure smiled, thinking to himself ~A high-school girl, a young beautiful high-school girl.~

A knock on the door-frame brought him back to reality. A young girl stood in his doorway, and he felt a pulse of fear.

She had silky black curls that reached almost to her waist. Tall, and pale, with adorable golden freckles. She had large green eyes, one of the darkest, most beautiful greens he had ever seen. There was a faint smile on her plump, kissable lips, and laughter in her eyes when she saw Kyo sit up from where he hit the wall. None of this is what scared him.

What scared him was his reaction to her. The moment he saw her, the moment he smelled her, a single word ran through his mind. Mine. Just one word. But with that word came a need. A need to claim her in some way, mark her so no one else ever thought they could have her. It made his heart pound like it hadn't since his first crush. It scared the absolute shit out of him.

"What happened here?" the girl asked. ~Her voice~ Shigure thought in pleasure. It calmed the need in him, yet somehow made him need to claim her even more.
"I kicked him through the door," Yuki said with a small smile. The girl grinned and burst out laughing.

Shigure felt a burst of pleasure at her laugh and smile, and a burst of anger that it had been Yuki, not him, who had done it.

"Emiko! You're early!" Tohru shouted happily. ~This is Emiko. I'm supposed to spend a night in a house with her?~ Shigure thought, not sure if he was happy or scared, ~If she stays any longer I'm going to get emotional whiplash.~

"Yeah, it didn't take as long to convince my parents as I thought it would. Guess they really wanted to get frisky," she said with a large smile, as Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru turned an amazing shade of red.

"Oh, you haven't met Shigure yet," Tohru said, waking over to Emiko. She grabbed her arm and marched her to where he sat, "Emiko, this is Shigure Sohma. He owns this house. Shigure-san, this is my friend Emiko Koga. She's who I study with on Wednesdays."

~How do you get any studying done?~ Shigure thought.

Emiko's POV-
"Oh, you haven't met Shigure yet," Tohru said, crossing the room to her, and grabbing her arm. Then she marched over to an extremely handsome man. ~Oh my god~ thought Emiko in shock, ~What is happening to me?~

He had beautiful dark hair that skimmed his shoulders and beautiful brown-gray eyes. He was gorgeous. But what shocked her was the instinctive desire, no need, to go over to him, and kiss him, let him do whatever he wanted. The fact that she wanted him to dominate her frightened her a little bit. But not as much as she liked the idea. ~Is this what having a crush is like?~ she thought. She wouldn't know. She had never had one. Her heart pounded in her ears, so loud she was scared he would hear it. So loud that she didn't hear Tohru introduce them. But she heard him talk to her.

"It's nice to meet you, Koga-san," he said in his beautiful, yet playful voice. Even so, she winced at the distance implied by the name. She had just met him, and still didn't want him calling her that.

"Call me Emiko, Sohma-san," she said. This time, he winced. Shockingly, it hurt when that happened.

"Only if you'll call me Shigure, Emiko-chan," he said with a smile.

With a faint blush, and her heart thundering, she nodded, "Sure thing, Shigure-san."
"Come on, Emiko. We have to go study," Tohru said, dragging her up the stairs. Emiko couldn't look away from Shigure as she walked away from him, hoping irrationally that it would be the last time.

Shigure's POV-
He saw the interest in her eyes, and knew she didn't hear Tohru introduce them. This left the formalities up to him. But be couldn't help flirting with her a little.

"It's nice to meet you, Koga-san," he said in a flirtatious tone. His heart broke a little when he saw her wince.

"Please, call me Emiko, Sohma-san," she said. He felt himself wince and saw the hurt in her eyes. He had to fix it.

"Only if you call me Shigure, Emiko-chan," he smiled, hoping he had fixed what he had done.

His smile grew a little bit when he saw the faint blush, "Sure thing, Shigure-san." Better.
"Come on, Emiko, we have to go study," Tohru said dragging her up the stairs. He wavered between outraged that Tohru had taken her away from him, and amused that she seemed so reluctant, he settled for amused when he saw her staring at him until she couldn't see him anymore.

Shigure smiled ~Well, dinner is sure to be interesting.~