"Amy come out here, you have to see how beautiful the sky looks." Tohru called from outside the tent.

"I'm coming, I'm coming just hold on a moment will ya?" I said putting down my brush before grabbing my school bag and said a goodbye to the picture of mum before crawling out of the very small and cramped tent.

"Oh wow, the sky looks so clear, I bet we are going to have some good weather today." I said smiling at Tohru.

"We have some time before we have to be at school, want to go for a walk around the area?" I said.

"Okay but first I want to say goodbye to mum." Tohru crawled halfway into the tent.

"See you later mum, take care of the house when we're gone we will be back soon." Tohru smiled at the picture before crawling back out the tent. We started walking down a track that we hadn't used before looking at all the green scenery around us.

Hello, my name is Amy Honda and Tohru's my twin sister, we haven't always lived in a tent, up until last May we had lived with our mum Kyoko, it was just the three of us, but then the accident happened… after we had lost mum we began secretly living in the tent it's not the most comfortable and we hardly have any room but it's alright I mean it could be a lot worse if you know what I mean.

Not to far down the track we saw that there was a huge house that was almost hidden in the trees surrounding it.

"Hey Amy look! I never knew there was a house here!" she said pointing at the house that was no longer hidden by the trees. Tohru continued walking down the track a little faster towards the house looking at it with a look of wonder and amazement on her face.

I followed her at a slower pace taking in everything around me until I stopped behind her to see what had captured her attention; it was little figurines of the twelve animals from the zodiac.

"Oh how cute are they Amy?" Tohru said smiling.

"Yeah I guess they are kind of cute… to bad there's no cat." I said looking at them all.

"My word, do my eyes deceive me or is there two strange young girls standing on my porch?" A mans voice said.

I jumped back startled; looking up I could see a man in around his mind twenties wearing a kimono with an newspaper in his hands, while I was observing the unknown man who was no doubt the owner of the house, Tohru was apologizing.

"Ah-oh I'm sorry we were looking around without your permission!" She cried all the while blushing like crazy.

I put one of my hands on her shoulder trying to calm her down. "Tohru is alright, no need to freak out." I said trying to calm her.

The man chuckled, "she's right, no need to worry I just set them out to dry no harm done." Humor laced in his words," But I find it hard to believe that these silly little things could attract both your interests."

"Oh no I really like them." Tohru said," I don't think there silly at all."

"Huh yes well…" mystery man said," I must admit that I'm quite fond of them myself."

"They are so cute but you're missing one." Tohru said a little bit sadly.

"Missing one?" mystery man said confused.

"Yeah you're missing the cat." I said.

He looked genuinely surprised that we had even thought about the cat," the cat? Ah I take it you're referring to the old folktale of the Chinese zodiac."

"Yeah…" Tohru said with a look as if she was in a far off place," our mum used to tell us stories." I smiled sadly as I remembered the stories.

"A long, long time ago god decided to invited all the animals to a banquet, he set out word for all of them to come to his house the following evening, and don't be late he said when the mischievous rat heard the news he decided to play a trick on his neighbor the cat, he told the cat that the party was a day after tomorrow, the very next day all of the animals lined up for the celebration and the rat led the way riding all the way there on the back of the cow, everyone had a wonderful time… except for the foolish cat who missed the hole thing."

"And so I told her, ' I'm not going to be a dog anymore I'm going to be a cat!' even Amy thinks that, that's how much we like cat's" Tohru finished.

"Funny, I wonder what he'll say when he finds out he has a fan club."

"He?" both Tohru and I asked.

"You both were born in the year of the dog, I knew there was something I liked about you two." He said moving his face closer to ours," I mean aside from your pretty-" he didn't finish his sentence because a book bag whacked him on the back of the head, "Ouch!"

"Please forgive my cousin Miss Amy and Tohru Honda, he's a bit of a flirt… but he's harmless," we both looked up to see the 'prince' of our school Yuki Sohma standing on the porch with his blue book bag in hand," in general it's usually good to just ignore him."

I looked over at Tohru to see that she looked a little start struck.

"Ahh," said Yuki's cousin rubbing his head," what do you have in that bag a dictionary?"

"No," Yuki replied," I have two of them."

'TWO dictionaries! Why on earth does he need two for?' I thought to myself.

"So," said Yuki's cousin who was no longer in any pain," you two are Yuki's class mates from school?"

"That's right," I said because Tohru was still slightly shocked to see our high school prince standing in front of her.

'I swear Tohru if you join the Prince Yuki fan club I will never talk to you again.'

"Let's start again, I'm Shigure Yuki's older and much less violent cousin." Shigure said with a little wave.

Tohru and I both bowed, "I'm Amy Honda." I said pointing to myself," and this is my Sister Tohru." I said pointing at Tohru.

Shigure suddenly smiled, "Twins ey?" wiggling his eyebrows. Yuki's book bag came down on his head again.

"Ouch! Dammit Yuki that hurt!" Shigure cried.

"That's what you get for being such a pervert." Yuki said. Yuki turned to us and asked," what brings you two to our home this morning Miss Amy and Tohru Honda?"

"Ah- well we live in the area and we well… decided to go for a walk before school." I said before Tohru could say anything she was a worse liar than me she'd probably blurt out that we live in a tent in the woods.

"Ah..." both Yuki and Shigure looked confused.

I grabbed Tohru by the arm, "well it was nice to meet you Shigure but we have to go or we will be late for class." I said looking at Shigure I turned my gaze to Yuki," It was nice talking to you Yuki, see you at school… unless you want to walk with us?" I said.

"That's a wonderful idea Miss Honda, let's go." Said Yuki smiling.

Yuki and I made small talk to try and break the awkward silence; Tohru however was too flustered to speak. As we were walking I caught a glimpse of three girls dancing and singing… it was the Prince Yuki Fan Club. SHIT. I could see it now the three bimbos were going to try corner us at school but I swear if they get mouthy with Tohru they were going to have some trouble.

I hate it when I'm right, the minute we had went separate ways from Yuki the girls swooped down on use like a flock of vultures to a decaying body.

"Amy and Tohru Honda start talking!" the leader of the little group shouted, let's just call her Bimbo one, "what was that all about!" Bimbo one yelled.

She annoys me I want to hit her.

"Why were you two walking to school with prince Yuki," Bimbo Two shouted," Details and they better be good!"

She annoys me too.

"It-it was just a coincidence!" Tohru stuttered.

"Well for your sake I hope it was just a coincidence!" Bimbo three shouted pointing a finger at Tohru.

Grabbing Bimbo three by the shoulder, I jerked her away. She was so light; she stumbled three feet and nearly fell.

"It was just a coincidence so leave her alone," I said," And if you ever point that finger at her again you will lose it, got it."

Bimbo three tried to muster as much courage as she could, "

Don't you ever touch me again, you screw with us, and we'll screw you right back, Prince Yuki is ours got it."

Oh really?

"And if you mess with Tohru again, I'll break you in half," I said making the breaking gesture with my hands, "If you don't believe me just go ask Lee Wong what I did to his arm in middle school."

The incident with Lee was not one of my finer moments, it sure got me into a lot of trouble with the teachers and mum, but in all honesty I hadn't expected to break any bones when I shoved Lee into the playground equipment. You must wonder what could had course a eleven year old me to push a fellow class mate into the play equipment… well it happened at lunch time, I was talking to one of my friends Mai when Tohru had come up to me crying and like any normal over protective sibling I asked her what was wrong and when she had told me a group of boy's where teasing her I decided to go to the boy's and make them apologises and long story short thy didn't apologise and I lost my temper and lashed out hence me pushing Lee and he broke his arm. And the incident had given me a dangerous reputation, however people had quickly learnt that if you mess with Tohru you mess with me and most times than not the other party were the ones walking away with injuries. And I'd like to think that my fellow classmates haven't forgotten the incident, and judging by the looks on the three girls faces they had not forgotten, good.

"Hey . . ." Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima were there, " Tohru, Amy are these girls giving you two trouble?"

"St-Stay out of this Yankee, this doesn't concern you!" Bimbo one stiffened.

Saki looked darkly, "one more word, and ya'll get hit will electric shocks . . ." She's psychic.

The girls sprinted off down the hallway; both Saki and Arisa asked Tohru if she was okay.

"Th-thanks I didn't think they would ever leave." Tohru stuttered.

"Tohru were those catty little girls bothering you?." Arisa sighed, "Hana, don't actually shock anyone, okay."

"Hey," I said, " do you guy's have any idea who I just threatened to beat up?"

"Not a clue, sorry," said Arisa. I just shrugged my shoulders, oh well.

All four of us had Home Economics for first period, so Tohru told them about this morning.

"You know the truth is I was so nervous walking with Yuki this morning, I couldn't talk to him," Tohru said, "Amy did all of the talking."

"I . . ." Saki put her knife away, "Can feel some strange electric signal's coming from that boy"

"Here it come's Hana's electric waves again" Arisa rested her chin on her hand.

"Strange how?" both Tohru and I asked.

"I don't know he's different," Saki said putting her knife away.

"Well I admit he does seam to have an air of mystery about him," Arisa said, "And there some weird stories floating around to, I heard one of those fan club girls tried to ask him out once, but he just pushed her away, and I mean that literally right in the hall, then he left her on the floor and ran off."

I put my knife away, "Maybe, he doesn't like to be touched? If I was him I wouldn't like some strange girl to come jumping at me."

"Like I said I sense strange electric signals," Saki said.

Tohru, Arisa, and Saki spoke for a bit more, before Arisa asked me a question, " Hey Amy how's your job at the Café going?"

"Huh, oh it's going great, the pay is good," I said, when me and Tohru started living with grandpa we decided to get jobs I work at a cross play café where the waitresses wear costumes of famous Manga once a month, the normal uniform however is a maid costume it's cute but a little to short and frilly for my taste. Not that I would tell Arisa and Saki that I work there they'd try to make me quiet saying pervert's go there.

School went by quickly, I worried about Tohru all through work, luckily I didn't drop or break anything because it would have come out of my pay, by the time it was for me to leave I couldn't be bothered changing out of my maid costume I just put on my jacket to block my bare arms from the cold wind.

I walked through the trees and into the clearing where our tent was set up, "Tohru are you-"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

I stopped in my tracks, there was Shigure and Yuki standing in front of the tent, Shigure was pointing and laughing at Tohru while Yuki looked politely confused, and Shigure started laughing even harder when he saw me in my maid costume, I could feel my cheeks get extremely red.

"Stop laughing at us you bastard!" I yelled shacking my firsts at Shigure, my temper getting the best of me.

I took a deep breath and sighed and looked at Tohru, " I guess we have some things to discuss," I looked at Shigure and Yuki, "Am I right?"

"So when did you start living in the tent?" Yuki asked

We were sitting at the table in their dining room and Shigure was still being a dog and laughing in the corner. I failed to the humour in this situation.

"About a week ago," I said quietly, then I shot an annoyed glance at Shigure, " knock it off will ya! This is not a laughing matter Tohru and I are homeless!"

"Never mind him. I thought it was strange," Yuki said, "This whole hill belongs to the Sohma family, we didn't sell or lease any land"

"Please," Tohru begged, "Let us stay here for a little while longer? After the renovation is finished, we'll leave strait away. Although, I don't have much. . . but I can pay you! Please!"

"Tohru calm down!" I said, I looked at her worrying, she was getting all pale like, and it looked like she was catching a fever.

"Its dangerous there! The ground is loose and there are pervert's wandering around, a girl can't live in a tent for that long, let alone two and especially you." Shigure said pointing at me "walking around in that cute maids costume." He said suddenly serious.

"Done laughing?" Yuki and I asked statistically.

"No problem!" Tohru shot into a standing position, "I'm already used to the insect's! I have the energy andthe drive!"

Then she slid to her knees in a feint, I caught her and pressed a hand to her forehead. I was right she had a fever!

"Tohru!" I said worried, "You've been pushing yourself too hard again!"

"First, I'll get some ice!" Shigure opened the door to his kitchen, "Ah . . . where is it?"

The place was a total mess, piles of garbage bags cluttering it up. And they said the woods were dangerous.

Shigure was looking out the window with a serious expression on his face, "uh-oh, look's like its going to landslide. The last storm made the soil soft and loose"

"How would you know?" Tohru asked

"Mmm? This is called a wildlife ability" He said, trying to look insightful and serious, and failing.

"Maybe. . ." Tohru looked at him, "Could it be near our tent?"

"It can't be that coincidental" he said

"Then where is it?" Asked Yuki

As it turn's out, yes, yes it can be that coincidental. Our tent was completely covered in mud and plants. Tohru gasped and rushed foreword.

"No! Mom's picture is still in there!" She started clawing at the mound of dirt on top of the tent.

I pulled Tohru back, "Tohru stop, you have a fever, mum wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, I'll come back in the morning and dig our stuff out, okay."

"I'm sorry," She said, "Now. . . I've lost my house again"

"Oh Tohru. . ." I murmured

Shigure sat across from me on her other side, "You fell really bad don't you?"

"No, because I know there are worse thing's"

"Like what?" He asked.

"I didn't tell her to be careful on the road, the day of the car accident" She said.

Oh, Tohru it's not your fault mum died.

"Because I had a test, I studied until morning and overslept. I couldn't get up, only that morning. I usually . . . every morning I would say it, only that day . . . I didn't want to attend high school, I wanted to work. But mom said, 'I only finished middle school, but I wanted to be in high school. So you must try the high school life for me' I knew she always worked hard for us. But I didn't tell her to be careful, I didn't even watch her leave."

By now I could feel the tear's creeping down my cheeks. That's the only reason Tohru and me continued school so we could make mum proud, because she wanted us to have a better life than she had.

A handkerchief was put in my lap, I sniffed and wiped at my cheek's, "thank you."

"Is she asleep?" Yuki asked

"You heard?" Shigure asked

"I'm shocked" He said, "At school, you both always seemed very happy. As if pain and suffering don't ever come close. You two are tough"

I took the ice pack from him and wrapped the towel around it, sticking it under her pillow.

"We did what we had to do, I wanted to quit school so I could get a full time job then me and Tohru could get our own apartment, but I know that if I left school it would break mum and Tohru's heart, so I stayed for them."

"I wanted to leave the Sohma family. . . but I still end up staying on Sohma family land. If I really hated this life I should be like you and Miss Honda and live in a tent or go to some unknown place. I'm not strong like you and Miss Honda." Yuki said

I shook my head and crawled underneath the cover's with Tohru, " no you are strong Yuki in your own way, sometimes it takes more strength to stay than it is to leave."

I was so tired I was out before my head even touched the pillow.