Chapter 1: Akana Neko

Story:

“Oof!” A 15 year old girl and 16 year old boy muttered. He had been looking up at the sky and she had been looking at the ground when they collided. The boy; Sohma Yuki, a teenager living in Japan while carrying his family’s curse.

The Sohma’s were cursed people, whenever they embraced and or were embraced by the opposite sex; they changed into one of the 12 Zodiac Animals of the Chinese legend.

Yuki would turn into a white rat while his older and younger cousins; Shigure, Kyo, Momiji, Hatori, Hatsuharu (Haru), Kagura, Hiro, Isuzu (Rin), Kisa, Ritsu and Kureno, would transform into a dog, cat, rabbit, seahorse, cow, boar, sheep, horse, tiger, monkey and Yuki’s older brother, Ayame, would transform into a snake. Kureno was free of the curse, thus not transforming into the rooster.

Kyo, the cat, was not actually counted as a Zodiac Animal as the rat had, in the legend, tricked the cat into thinking the banquet was another day. The cat did not attend and was not counted as a Zodiac Animal.

The girl landed on her back and Yuki landed on top of her. A few people giggled at their position. Yuki quickly stood up and offered his hand to her.

‘Why didn’t I transform? Unless… unless she is a Sohma…’ Yuki thought to himself

‘Huh? Why didn’t I transform?’ The girl thought. “Sorry.” The girl said sticking out her hand and smiling. “Akana Neko.”

Yuki shook her hand. “Sohma Yuki.” Yuki stared at her; she was like nothing he had ever seen before. Her black hair reaching her waist was left to hang free and a fringe framed her lightly tanned face perfectly.

Neko wore a very fitting high-necked red sleeveless shirt; that had a white stripe down the middle, along with a pair of black denim mini-shorts and black converse high-tops.

A silver rectangle piece of edged with gold was worn as an armlet on her left upper arm while an almost identical piece of jewellery, except in the form of a wristlet, was worn on her left wrist.

A small green jewel with flicks of blue was worn on a silver chain as a piece of head jewellery. A dark brown fingerless glove that reached to her elbow was worn on her right arm while a similar piece of material was worn on her left arm from a little above the wristlet and stretched up till a bit below the armlet.

‘Sohma? That would explain why I didn’t transform…’ Neko thought looking at him, she shook her head mentally. “Well, it was nice meeting you.” Neko said smiling and Yuki nodded. ‘He doesn’t talk much, does he?’ Neko bowed and started to walk away.

“Hey, what school do you go to?” Yuki called out

“Kaibara High school!” Neko replied, “I’ve just moved here, I’m starting tomorrow!” Neko ran off and Yuki smiled after her. It seemed to be only Miss Honda that made him smile; this girl reminded him a lot of her too.

--

It was Akana Neko’s first day at Kaibara High school; she had tried to avoid talking to people and was now sitting down at a table by herself. She was writing in a book and trying to pull her skirt down further, short skirts weren’t exactly her thing, nor was long. Someone sat down next to Neko and she turned to see a smiling Honda Tohru. This caused her to jump and quickly close the book she was writing in.

“Hey! I’m Honda Tohru!” She said still smiling and sticking out her hand for Neko to shake. She stared at the hand and shook it hesitantly.

“Akana Neko, I should probably go.” Neko said standing up and packing her book away. Neko wasn’t a social person with people she didn’t know; she preferred to keep to herself.

Tohru frowned a little. “Have you already eaten your bento?” (A/N: Bento is a Japanese lunch thingy. Is quite delicious.)

Neko shook her head. “I was in a rush this morning, I didn’t pack one.” Tohru’s eyes widened and she grabbed Neko by her right wrist, Neko’s wince of pain going unnoticed. Tohru pulled Neko towards her table, with Kyo, Haru, Momiji, Hanajima Saki (Hana) and Uotani Arisa. Releasing Neko, Tohru started to dig around in her bag and Neko stood there looking uneasy.

“Tohru-san, why did you bring her all the way over here?” Kyo asked, Neko looked at him and recognised him as a boy from her form.

“She didn’t bring any lunch!” Tohru replied still digging around in her bag.

“No, it’s alright. I don't want any food!” Neko insisted.

“Careful, if you refuse she’ll force-feed you.” Kyo muttered, Neko swallowed and started to back away slowly. Turning around she ran smack-bang into Yuki, knocking him over and her falling with him.

Tohru, Haru, Momiji, Kyo and Yuki braced themselves for the puff of smoke indicating Yuki had turned into his zodiac animal, the rat, and the guilt that would come with the act of everyone’s memories being erased. Yuki landed on his back and stared up into the eyes of Neko. A deep red blush crept onto her face.

Lucky for her, her skirt stayed down. She rolled off Yuki and sat on the floor while Yuki groaned and rubbed his head. Whacking his head on a hard tiled floor wasn’t the most pleasant of landings.

“I’M SO SORRY, YUKI-SAN!” Neko said; she watched Yuki sit up.

‘Why didn’t he turn into a rat? And she knows him?’ The thought went through Tohru’s, Kyo’s, Haru’s and Momiji’s head.

Neko gave her full attention Yuki who was still rubbing his head with a look of pain on his face.

‘Phew, it was Miss Neko… but I still don't understand why I didn’t transform when I cam in contact with her…’ Yuki thought, he felt his hand being taken off his head and fingers massaging his scalp. He looked at Neko through the corners of his eyes.

“Does it hurt here?” Yuki blushed, this was this first time he had ever really been touched by a girl without being turned into a rat. It felt good, her fingers moving softly over his scalp and through his hair. Her fingers moved up a little as he didn’t reply, he winced a little. It hurt THERE. “SORRY!” She withdrew her fingers and stood up.

“It’s alright…” He answered standing up slowly.

“Do you want an ice-pack? I can go get you one if you mmfff.” Yuki put his hand over Neko’s mouth, muffling her last word. Neko blushed even more and Yuki laughed a little.

“I said it’s alright. How did you end up backing into me anyways?” Yuki asked.

Kyo wore a big smile and quickly slipped his phone back into his pocket. BLACK MAIL! “Tohru-san tried to force-feed her.” Tohru glared at Kyo and Yuki raised his eyebrow at Tohru.

“She didn’t bring any lunch!” Tohru said in her defence, “I was just going to get her some!”

“You didn’t need to, I never eat lunch. I’m fine.” Apparently that was the wrong thing for Neko to say, Tohru’s pupils shrunk and her eye’s widened along with her mouth.

Kyo sat her down before she exploded. A rice ball was placed in front of her face, when she opened her mouth to say something it was shoved into her mouth. Neko took the rice ball, bit off some, chewed and swallowed then looked at Yuki.

He smiled. Neko bowed in thanks. She noticed her bag on the ground with its contents spilled out over the floor. She bent down to start packing it up and Yuki joined her, he stopped as he picked up a letter that was lying upside down. The name of the sender was one that sent chills down his spine, Sohma Akito. The letter was tugged out of his hand by Neko and he blushed a little.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” He said handing Neko her books, Neko waved off his apology and smiled. They both stood up and Neko slid her bag onto her shoulder.

“Nah, don't be. I should probably go now.” Neko said sticking out her hand for Yuki to shake, he did so and Neko walked away. Turning down a hall the bell rang and everyone rushed to class.

“Damn Rat, hurry up.” Kyo muttered, breaking Yuki out of his day-dreaming. They walked together, with Tohru, to their next class. 11A maths.