Chapter One

"Love. That one word is all I want. They say that it can cure anything; especially a broken heart. But, I don't have that. One that has never loved cannot have one. It takes love to break a heart, and no one has loved me and I have loved no one."

Those were the words of 15 year old Mimi Sohma as she stood in the back of the family New Years Eve party. It was the year of the ox and Hatsuharu was dancing. Her sister, Hiname, was defiantly enjoying this dance. The crush she had on him was strong. So strong that Mimi thought that if it was put into a force, it could tear down the strongest of materials. Sadly, however, Mimi had no such feelings for anyone at the time. That fact made her envy her older sister.

"Damn bastards. I hate everyone in this whole family!" Mimi left after leaving those words to hang in the air for everyone that heard them to think about. Now, that comment she made, was false. Very false. But, never really knowing what love felt like she couldn't name it. She only knew the word. In fact, she did love someone. Kyo Sohma. Even though he was two years older than her and had a temper that made her skin crawl thinking about it, she loved him more than life itself.

Kyo was sitting on the roof of Shigure's house looking out at the woods thankful Tohru was asleep. He didn't want to be bothered by her right now. Every time he realized it was a new year and he still wasn't part of the zodiac made him pissed. Really pissed. And, there were two good reasons for that as well. One, it means he had not beaten Yuki and lost obviously: Two, he couldn't see his best friend dressed in nice clothes. "She must look nice….." He mumbled to himself not really noticing that he said or even thought it. Now his mind tried to picture what she must look like. "Well, knowing her she'll probably have on something black and it'll probably be a skirt with a lacey top and some really odd shoes she found at some store in Tokyo…." With that on his mind, he tried to picture her figure in the clothes. His mind went from her long wavy hair to her long skinny legs with her tiny, to her mid section. That brought some thoughts into his mind he quickly shoved out before his face got any redder. "Why the hell am I even thinking about this!? Mimi'd get so mad at me for even thinking about it!" Yup, Mimi was his best friend in the world and he was finding himself falling for her.

Mimi ran through the woods toward her house. Falling a few times, her newly purchased clothes were covered in mud and leaves, not to mention ripped. And, just as Kyo thought, they were a lacey top and skirt combo with some shoes she bought in Tokyo. As she ran past Shigure's house, she heard the familiar yelling of her friend Kyo. "What is he doing now?" Since she didn't hear crashing and the ever present begs of Tohru for them to stop, she knew Yuki wasn't there.

Going up to the house, she saw the red-head on the roof apparently mad about something or more likely frustrated. "Kyo! What's up!?" Mimi yelled up at Kyo, who was about to kick a hole in the roof.

Kyo looked down and blushed a bit. Seeing her just as he pictured, only a little dirtier, made him…..Well there is a word for it, but he didn't know it. "Mimi, don't yell. It's late and Tohru is asleep." As soon as the name Tohru escaped his lips, Mimi suddenly felt like yelling some more. She, oddly enough, hated Tohru. She hated her more than anything in the world. Why? Because she was stealing the only friends she had. Hatsuharu, Hiname, Yuki, and most importantly, Kyo. She needed Kyo more than oxygen. He was her oxygen really. His presence around her kept her from killing herself. He was her best friend and the only one besides her ever present sister that would protest her from the bullies at her high school that tormented her 24 hours a day.

"Sorry Kyo…." She quietly said as Kyo jumped off the roof and landed next to her. "It's fine Mimi. Is the party over yet?" He hated to ask about it, but he didn't want to have to deal with Yuki while she was around. He knew that she hated the fights they had. But some part of him made him continue to fight even harder when she was near him.

Mimi nodded, answering his question. "I….Didn't want to stay there anymore. Akito had just left so I figured I'd take my leave." Being the year of the boar, along with Kagura, she was made to attend, and she hated every second of the whole thing. It was terrible to see all of the happy people around her while she was left to stand in her misery. The family she was raised around were way better off than her. Even Hatori. He at least felt love. She never had.

Kyo knew that she hated to go to those parties. Oh how he would have loved to go. To be accepted by everyone and to be a party of everything. He couldn't quite get why Mimi hated everyone so much, but he knew she did and he would forever know. "If ya hate them so, why do you go?" Seeing her turn her head, he knew that she didn't want to repete the answer that she supplied him with every time. "Because I have to. I don't want Akito to kill me." Was the answer she gave each and every time.

Both of them stood there in the silence of the black night until a cold gust of wind made Mimi shiver. "I have to go Kyo. Happy New Years." She smiled and waved her hand as he turned to go inside the house.

As she approached her own house, she saw Kichi, she black cat, scratching at the window requesting he be let out so he could go and play. This made her laugh; a rare action she made when she was around people. Getting the key from her pocket, she unlocked the door and watched as her cat slipped between her feet and blended in with the darkness of the porch. Turning on the lights, she stepped inside her warm and very messy home. "I need to clean this mess badly…" Paints, sketch books, pens and pencils, all of her cameras, and canvases were scattered everywhere. Sighing, she began to regain some order and restore the living room to what it once was. But, her attempt was in vain as she spilled red paint all over her coffee table and spilled it on the white rug under it. "Well this sucks…." She gave up the cleaning and getting the stain out of the rug after about an hour of trying.

Going up the stairs, she got into her pink and black pajamas and went to bed thinking about how mad Kichi will be because she left him outside. But, she was too tired to even consider getting up to let him in. In her bed, the final thought she had on the day was that she wanted to break the curse; a dream she had ever since she saw Kyo and how he was seen in the eyes of everyone who knew about the curse. She wanted to break it for him: she wanted to break it for her. For everyone.