Hiya

Hiya! Kuro-Kihaku here! I was searching through my computer files when I found this!It's a long one. I have about sixty pages total already saved, so when I get a few reviews I'll start updating regularly. This has foot notes for any beginning Fruits Basket lovers. Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of it's characters except for my own.

"Shishou1!" I cried as I heard the door slide open

I sprinted out of the kitchen and jumped over the table. I extended my right fist and aimed for Shishou's undefended stomach. I felt a trickle of hope as I flew closer to him. Maybe today I could hit him. I stretched to reach him.

His hand floated towards the area that I aimed for and caught my blow. He got a firm grip on my wrist and I cried out as he twisted it. I gave in to the pain and allowed my entire body to spiral. I felt the need to cheat, to get out of that position, to fly. I fought away the instinct and struggled to get control of the spiral and use it to my advantage.

I landed in push up position, with my face at his feet, and tried to propel myself into a back flip over him. I could feel my hair brush his face. He took a small step to the side and sent a karate chop into my side; I felt my ribs bend slightly under the pressure. I crashed down into the wood floors below me. I heard a crack as it tried to support my body with the force of the blow I had just received.

I stood up from my slight dent in the floor and stretched out my back. "Welcome home, Shishou!" I announced happily, as I massaged my sore wrist. He smiled slightly and sat down at the table looking troubled. I knelt beside him, "Something wrong, Shishou? Would you like something to eat?"

He shook his head and then looked at me, "Another conference at Kyo's2 school. Would you have anything to do with it, Kurozake3-san4?" I frowned at the memory of this morning. I winced as the bruise on my face protested the movement. "This time he deserved it," I hissed. I could feel my eyes changing color5. "And don't call me Kurozake-san. I hate my full name and being called san makes me twitch."

Shishou chuckled. He knew I had gotten the line from Kyo. He reached out and indicated the purple mark on my face.

"I take it you were the mysterious person that the principal just couldn't find, Kurokitchi6. It would never occur to him to search for a girl, would it? Why weren't you in school?"

"It was during lunch, the damned cat! He got in some hits. Rai-san mentioned his hair color and he threatened her. I defended her and he challenged me to a fight. It is only natural that I accept. I didn't want to be rude."

Shishou sighed. I ignored it and continued. "Why am I the only girl he fights? He never defends himself against Kagura7-nee8!" I stood up and walked into the kitchen to see if there was anything Shishou hadn't messed up.

The refrigerator was bare except for a moldy sandwich that nobody had dared to touch. I called out to Shishou, "We need milk, orange juice, bread, curry, codfish, ice cream, cereal, soap, soup, leeks, miso, plums, rice, yams, crab, and liver. Actually, we need much more but we can live on that for a while. Shishou? Are you keeping mental notes on this? Better yet, are you writing this down?"

I poked my head out and saw that Shishou wasn't at the table. I wandered into the living room and saw Shishou at the window, watching someone. I peered out too and saw Kyo practicing his martial skills against a straw dummy.

"He's going through tough times; he is ashamed of being the double cursed9 cat. You beating him today probably didn't help."

I quivered with anger and jealousy. Kyo was lucky just to have a double curse. I adjusted the straps on my backpack before snapping.

"That cat doesn't know how lucky he is! He just mopes around thinking he's the one who has it bad! Then even worse, he's blaming the wrong person for his misery! It's not the rat's10 fault! IT'S NOT THE RAT'S FAULT! I was gullible enough to…" Shishou cut off my rant with a wave of his hand.

"He doesn't know, Kuro. He doesn't realize the curse fully. Give him time, you'll see." I scowled at my reflection in the window. It warped surface bent my face into bizarre shapes. "You'll see," Shishou reassured me while patting my back softly.

I turned and stalked to the doorway. I tightened my tie on my school uniform and smoothed down my skirt.

The reflection in the hallway mirror was less satisfying than the distorted one in the window. The window was more accurate at showing what was inside. The smooth surface of the mirror revealed only black hair and the bright yellow eyes of a crow. I stuck my tongue out at the half human that continually followed me.

I put on my school shoes and marched out on the porch. Gold dust from the straw dummy's pounding floated around me and stuck in my hair. Kyo didn't look up as I watched his progress. The anger I had felt before faded slightly and only one sentence seemed to make sense now.

"You're damned lucky, cat!" I yelled before I sprinted down the road that led to the market.

I ran until the trees thinned and the rocks below me turned to pavement. The black wings on my backpack fluttered in the breeze.

"Witch!" someone called from my childhood.

"You're a crow wannabe! Caw! Caw!" a high baby voice screamed from second grade.

"I'm not, I'm not!" I mumbled under my breath. A little girl and he mother watched as I jogged along, talking to myself.

"Mommy! Did you see that girl's eyes? Did you see her wings! Was she an angel Mommy? She had gold dust all over her. Huh Mommy? Huh?"

"No darling, she was a regular school girl. She certainly was interesting, wasn't she? You should hope to be like her; be in school and beautiful11. Although you shouldn't hope to have eyes like her, they aren't normal."

I stopped for a moment and looked back at the mother and her little girl. The mother shrunk away a bit while the child tried to walk up to me.

"Don't touch her, darling. She's a stranger," the mother called, not meeting my eyes. I looked down at the dust that sparkled on me.

"Am I a stranger or am I strange?" I asked. I knew that my eyes and my inhuman perfection caused the mother's uneasiness.

I looked down at the little girl and knelt down until I was at her eye level. "Never hope to be like me."

I stood and continued to the market. Many passersby stopped and stared as I walked down the road. Only the children dared to come near me.

I turned to the left and entered a fish store. The man at the counter greeted me. "Welcome to the Fish Market! Please browse our… Ah! Kurozake-san! I haven't seen you in a long time! What have you been up to?"

Most of the teenagers in the store paused to stare at whom the fish man was greeting. Many of them didn't look away.

"It has been a while. You know me well enough to call me Kuro. I don't want to hear you announce to the store my incredibly boring name. Today I'll need codfish. Shishou can't cook and so he spoiled all the food in the house. How much is available?"

I turned and looked at the people staring at me. I met each one in the eye, and each person in turn looked away. I wanted to say that it was my punishment to look like this; and that I wasn't dangerous. However, that wasn't true. I was dangerous.

"How many pounds, Kuro?" the young fish man asked from behind the counter. I thought about how much Kyo enjoyed codfish and how much Shishou and I would eat. I was expecting Kagura to come over sometime for dinner, too.

"Let's go for 5 pounds. I'm expecting company."

The man at the counter nodded and looked at a large fish with a judging eye. He scooped it up and weighed it. The scale beeped 6 times12. I scanned the other fish to see if there were any five-pound ones.

The fish man wrapped up the 6-pound codfish expertly and winked as he packed in some miso and leeks too.

"I can't afford that! Please, isn't there a smaller fish?"

He shook his head even though I could see there were plenty of fish that had potential.

"I'll give you a discount; I know your father ruins food regularly." I felt my face grow warm.

"Thank you for your kindness." I paid for the fish and ignored the stares that drilled in to my back. I turned to the door and walked out, searching for rice.

"Kuro! Kuro-san! Over here!" I turned to the familiar voice and smiled when I saw Rai. I ran over to her.

"Why are you here? I thought Kyo or Kazuma would be with you. By the way, how's your face? You and Kyo were amazing! Where did you two learn to fight like that?"

I frowned. I had never fought with an audience before.

"Why would Kyo be with me?"

I had never told anybody we lived together. Even though we never talked anymore, I was very protective of that fact. I felt the need to shield Kyo and our curse.

Rai sputtered slightly, "Well, I thought you two were friends and I've seen you two here together before so I was just wondering…"

I shook my head at her. Rai, the only person who would talk to me, who would help set up my best pranks, still didn't know me well enough to realize the reasons behind my actions.

"No, Rai. Kyo and I aren't friends. We just know each other. You must have been mistaken when you thought you saw Kyo and me here. I would never go anywhere with him, even if it was just so he could carry my groceries," I said calmly.

The crow's personality gave me the ability of persuasion.

I watched her consider what I said. I knew I won her over when a glazed look crossed her eyes for a second. I took that opportunity to change topic.

"Help me search for the rest of my supplies for my hungry household." Rai giggled and linked arms with me. It must have been a strange sight with my perfect appearance.

Rai had always had trouble with trusting people. She would do almost anything if somebody told her to trust him or her.

I rescued her at a street corner when I over heard an older girl whispering to her, "It's easy and nobody will hurt you. You walk in, grab it, and walk out. Trust me."

I had grabbed her arm at the time and started to chat with her as if we were great friends even though I had never talked to her at school. I do admit that I have used the trust me line on her before. She's excellent at developing plans.

"Why do you look like you do, Kuro?" Rai asked me. I sighed. We had gone over this before.

"I was born this way. You know that."

Rai shook her head. "I mean your face. It looks open, friendly, and so pretty but when people come near, you suddenly reject them. Why are you like that?"

I frowned and turned into a store. I scanned the place for ice cream. I couldn't tell Rai that beauty ran in the Sohma family and sadness seemed to run through the curse.

"I don't know." I made a mental note to ask Akito13.

I grabbed a tub of rocky road ice cream before parting ways with Rai. I found the rest of my items easily. It was dark when I finally finished. I wish I had brought Shishou along to carry groceries.

I bumped into a tall boy.

"Oh, pardon me. I wasn't watching…" I recognized him from the fight earlier that day. He obviously recognized me too.

"You're that girl from the fight today. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

I blinked.

I couldn't tell a perfect stranger that. I brushed by him talking a mile a minute.

"I'm terribly sorry I bumped into you but I really must go, I have things to attend to and no time to chat."

He grabbed my wrist. I twisted my arm, grabbed a hold of his wrist, and turned it until he hissed.

I let go and he spat, "Ow, my god, I just wanted to talk."

I felt a warm feeling pass over me. He wasn't afraid of me. Of course, it was dark and he couldn't see the glitter on me or my eyes.

To humans I was perfect, beautiful, and unnerved most boys. Some boys saw that as an excuse to act friendly, however, I had never expressed interested in them.

He cleared his throat when he saw he had my attention. "I uh, am sorry for being so forward and I understand that you have things to do, but could we set up a time to talk sometime. You seem like an interesting enough person. Anybody who could throw a punch like that has to have something to say. I'll listen, if your, uh, interested."

I considered what he said. No doubt, where ever he had in mind was in public, which would mean stares. Moreover, he hadn't seen the whole me anyway. A part of me wondered how he would react. A big part of me wondered. I couldn't resist.

"Sure. I think I can fit that in." I could feel the heat rolling of off him. He was nervous.

I wanted to laugh, but instead, I called out as I passed him, "Tomorrow, during lunch, the zoo entrance."

He nodded before walking along to where ever his destination was. I sprinted home; Kyo and Shishou were hungry.

A little OOC, right? Sigh…Oh well. I haven't altered this at all from a year ago, so you get to see my original style and such! Also, doesn't this chapter go a little…erm…slow? I want to fix it so bad! Please read and review.

1 Shishou- master. Pronounced shi-shoe. Foster father of Kuro and Kyo.

2 Kyo- possessed by the spirit of the cat. Hates leeks, miso, and Yuki. Mainly Yuki. Gets in fights a lot with Kuro. Kuro is one of the only to match Kyo in stubbornness, strength, and she surpasses him in fighting.

3 Kurozake- pronounced cur-oh-za-ki. Her nickname is Kuro. The spirit of the crow possesses her. Her backpack has wings that she controls mentally. They seem to have a personality of their own. Her father made the backpack for her before she was born. He was the previous god of the zodiac. He passed away ten months before she was born. Her mother died in childbirth.

4 san- honorary for miss, Mrs., Mr., mister, and master.

5 Kuro's eyes change from yellow to black according to mood. An attribute of the spirit of the crow. She and 13 others are called the Jyunishi.

6 Kurokitchi- kitchi means "lucky". The name literary means "Lucky little Kuro".

7 Kagura- pronounced ka-gur-uh. The spirit of the boar possess her. She is in love with Kyo and tends to beat him up because of her enthusiasm to see him. He is often knocked unconscious because of it. She one of the few who can actually beat Kyo in a fight. Bashful, yet headstrong. Determined to marry Kyo, even if it kills him.

8 nee- honorary for older sister.

9 Double cursed cat- Kyo is banned from any banquets/celebrations with the 12 known zodiac animals. Kuro is also banned.

10 Yuki is possessed by the rat spirit. Soft-spoken and has self-esteem issues. At school he's called "Prince Yuki. Kyo hates his guts. Yuki, Kagura, Kuro and Shishou are the only people who can defeat Kyo with ease.

11 The Sohma family members all have inhuman attributes such as beauty and reflexes. It's part of the zodiac curse. It kind of unnerves people.

12 I have absolutely no idea if scales beep the amount they weigh.

13 Akito is possessed by the spirit of the Jade Emperor. She is the head of the Sohma family.