The Cursed

I do not own Fruits Basket or any of its characters; this is purely a spin off and does not relate to the main story at all. The Folk Tale is also something I made up Sorry! Please enjoy the story.

Chapter 1

I sniffed the air curiously. It smelled so odd, so familiar, as if it was something I had forgotten long ago. I noticed when some nearby students were staring curiously. I quickly stopped; I didn't want to get on the bad side of them before I even got to meet them. That happened too much.

I had a secret. When I was little, someone told me that I, Sohma Li Na, was the Night Cat of the Sohma Family. I didn't and still don't know why I am like that or if there were any other people are like me, but there was one thing that was for certain: someone wanted me to have a horrible life.
My mother, who was a Sohma, moved from Japan to China, having been a fanatic of its history and legends. She soon met my father, Zhang Fei, and they had a child, me. When they found out that I was the Night Cat, they did what everyone else has for my whole life, reject me. They managed to raise me for a several years before dumping me in Japan, where I had to fend for myself.

I walked up the steps to the high school, my body trembling. The school courtyard was filled with chattering students. They all looked at me when I walked past them. I blushed, knowing that they must have been marveling my only good trait, my thick silky hair and soft emerald eyes. My hair was very healthy, instead of having a bluish tint that most black hair has, it had a white shine, letting it stand out.

I went to the office, where they told me where to find my class. Without any trouble, I found the classroom for my first period: Social Studies. I swiped the door open to see a neat, loud class, all hushed immediately to see the new student. The teacher stood up expectantly, leading me into the middle of the desk.

"Good Morning Students." The teacher called their attention. "I would like to introduce a new student for the rest of the year. Sohma Li Na-san has come from Kyoto and I hope you will welcome her as a normal student." I sensed some backs stiffen once they heard the name Sohma. I wondered distantly if they knew my family before wiping it from my mine. Sohma was a common name.

"Li Na-san, you may take a seat next to Miyuzaki Fuyumi-san." I walked to my seat, my gaze lingering on the red-brown haired girl and the boy who sat to the right of me. The boy had a fiery orange mane which I was positive was dyed. He looked grumpy and snappish. I made sure to stay clear out of his way.

As the class started, we all took out our supplies for notes. I realized to my dismay that my favorite ink pen had leaked all of its contents onto my sheets of paper, ruining them all. I felt pathetic. I picked out one of the least ruined papers and tried frantically copy down the notes on the board. Unfortunately, the pen started to blot and run all over the paper, making it worse. I felt like a huge idiot. This was so me, making a mistake from the start.

"You're helpless." I heard the boy next to me murmur. I looked over to see him staring at me with the corner of his eye. "Do you want some paper?" I shook my head and gave him the tiniest smile I could bear before I would burst into tears.
"That's okay, you'll need it later. I don't want to cause you any trouble…" I saw something in the boy move. It was more like a shifting of the head or a cock of the eye brow. I looked away and was glad to find extra paper in my notebook, completely ink free. I used a pencil from then on.

Luckily, nothing bad happened throughout the whole class. Maybe this school was lucky for me. As the bell rung, I gathered all of my things and was dismissed out for passing period.

My next class was gym, which was always a horror in my world. The coach's was rough and the games were always hard for me. After I got changed into the uniform, the teacher told us to get into pairs for dodge ball.

I planned to just quietly wait until the last person available would have to come to me. But that didn't happen. A girl with light brown hair walked eagerly up to me. I recognized her as being one of the girls who was staring at me since the beginning of gym class.

"Hi, do you have a partner?" I looked at her in wonderment then I shook my head.
"I'm Honda Tohru! I hope we can be partners. I have to admit, I'm not very good at dodgeball, but I'll do my best." She gave a little giggle at herself. I looked up at her; a shy smile came across my face.
"Of course. My name is Sohma Li Na, and we didn't do this at my old school, so I'm sure I'll be just horrid." I replied softly. Again, the word Sohma made her click and she gave a happy squeal.
"Really? A Sohma? So, do you know Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun?" I shook my head.
"Never heard of them." Tohru's face reddened.

"I-I'm sorry!" I sputtered apologetically. She quickly shook her head in earnest.
"No, I'm the one that should be sorry for mistaking you!"

"It's okay. So, do you know how to play dodgeball?"

The rest of the day wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, since Tohru happened to be in all my other classes. She was so nice, being with me the whole time, helping me when I was alone. But I felt she just felt like she needed to be my friend because I was alone. It was after school that I asked her if this was true, as casually as I could.

"Um, Honda-san?"
"Yes?"
"Is the reason your being so nice to me is because you feel sorry for me?" It seemed her whole face widened.
"Of course not Li Na-san! What, was something I did to make you think that? I'm so sorry I made you feel that way!" Her face flushed as she apologized many times. I actually felt elated for a few moments before I got back down to earth.
"Thank you Honda-san for being honest. Most people think that way about me." My voice trailed off but Tohru just smiled.
"Well, I never thought for a minute like that. I hope I'm not prying, but who would ever feel that way about you? You're just about the prettiest and nicest girl I've met!" My eyes popped open.
"No! I'm not-err-um; uh I'm not pretty at all Honda-san!" Tohru gave me a pat on the shoulder.
"You may think like that Li Na-san, but I still think you're beautiful. But you're just as pretty on the inside." She gave me a soft smile, and to my surprise, my eyes filled with tears. Nobody ever called me nice, much less beautiful. Not even my own father would had ever said that. More tears rolled off my eyes and onto my cheeks as I began to tell her about my past.

I ended up sobbing into her shoulder, as Tohru began telling me how wonderful of a person I was. It felt so good for someone to tell me I was a good person.

After I finished crying, I gave her a tiny sincere smile. It was the first time in a long time I had smiled sincerely. I felt like a new person, well more like I felt a little cleaner, a little lighter,

This school was the place for me. And I knew it.