Tohru Honda has a secret. She's not human. Not entirely, anyway.
She's a Silvae. They look like humans, but they harness incredible powers and their souls exist outside of their bodies, in whichever form they settle in. They don't age and the only way they can die is if the single vulnerable point on the Soul's body is pierced, their Achilles heel if you will.
They spend their whole lives, eternity if they're lucky, by each other's sides.
The Silvae are a solitary race and they prefer to only get together to have children, before going their separate ways. Traditionally, the boys go with the father and the daughters with the mother.
But Tohru's father fell in love with Kyoko, her mother. A human. This made her half-human, and an outcast among her people. But they didn't know about her overwhelming power.
The only difference between her and the other Silvae was the fact that her mother was human. That was it. She was Silvae in every other way.
Her precious soul, her best friend, her other half, was named Ryuunoshou, which means 'dragon soar high'. Rather appropriate.
Each Silvae has an animal they can change into, whereas their Soul can change into anything until it settles. That's two more differences.
Tohru is the first Dragon Silvae in history, and Ryuunoshou will never settle, always able to change his form as he pleases. Her father had been a Tiger Silvae.
More millenniums than she cares to remember ago, the humans had gone around and killed every Silvae in existence, and her father gave her mother the gift of never aging as he died.
With her mother Tohru had fled to Japan, and changed her appearance. Her amethyst-purple hair had shortened, changing to a warm brown, and her golden eyes became hazel.
She could tell her mother was slightly disappointed at her daughter's loss of her beautiful appearance, but it was necessary.
Ryuunoshou took to being a silver and midnight blue butterfly, to match his hair and eye colour, and resting on her shoulder.
It had been a happy, albeit slightly lonely, existence. Until tragedy struck, and by some cruel twist of fate her mother was stolen from her.
And so, a hundred lonely years later saw her sitting in a tent, in a forest, leaning backwards against Ryuu, in human form, whose arms were around her waist.
This was a common position of comfort the past century, Ryuu being her only companion the past century. Sometimes they used a lot of magic to turn him into her mother when people were around so it wouldn't raise suspicion, but since her mother 'died' recently, and she had nowhere to go, she had to live in a tent.
It was early morning, and she had awoken from a nightmare to Ryuu's embrace, just as the sun was rising. It wasn't a super-common thing, but it wasn't unusual either.
"Hush, Yuuki." He soothed. Yuuki was the name she was given at birth, and it meant 'distant hope'.
It was rather appropriate, for at that moment in time, all hope was a distance away. But not gone completely.
"Wake up, Kokoro." He said softly, rousing the girl from the sleep she had fallen into against him. Kokoro meant 'heart' and was a name only he used for her, as she was the heart and he the soul.
"I have to get ready for school!" she exclaimed in shock when she saw the time. She rushed to get changed, but froze before turning to her Soul. "Ryuu…" she said in a sickly sweet tone. He paled and rushed out of the tent.
"I'll stand guard!"
She got changed quickly and walked out, heading in the general direction of school. Ryuu landed on her shoulder, and she walked slowly, enjoying the forest.
She stopped when she came across a house. She decided to investigate, and walked up to the porch where twelve figurines sat in a row. They were the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
"A beautiful young lady has appeared outside my house. What luck!" a slightly perverted voice made her jump.
"I'm so sorry! I was just looking, I swear! I didn't mean to intrude! I'm sorry!" she pretended to freak out a little bit. The black-haired man laughed kindly.
"Don't worry. I just set them out to dry, so feel free to take a look." He smiled gently at her, his eyes glinting creepily.
'I don't like him.' Ryuu growled in her mind, and she laughed internally.
"I don't suppose you would include the cat." She sighed sadly, remembering the zodiac legend. She had cried for the cat, knowing his loneliness, the feeling of being an outcast, and decided she would be a Year of the Cat.
"Hmm? A Year of the Cat fan, are we?" he asked.
"Oh, yes! I love the cat from the Chinese Zodiac. I wish it was a real thing." She sighed again.
"I wonder what he would say if he knew he had a fan." The man muttered, too low for human ears, but hers were able to pick it up perfectly.
"Did you say something?" she asked pleasantly.
"No." he said too quickly, before changing the subject. "I don't believe we have introduced ourselves. I am Shigure Sohma. What is your name, if I may ask, my dear-" he was cut off by a book bag landing on his head.
Before her stood Yuki Sohma, the Prince of her high school! "I apologise for my perverted cousin, Miss Honda, isn't it?" he greeted her in a monotone, yet he still managed to live up to his nickname.
"Y-yes." She stammered in reply.
"What do you have in there, a dictionary?!" Shigure exclaimed once he regained consciousness.
"No, I have two of them." Yuki replied simply. Tohru sweat dropped nervously and began to sneak away. "Wait! Miss Honda, why don't we walk together?" Yuki asked.
"O-okay." She agreed nervously.
They walked together. Sort of. Tohru kept her distance, standing a little back from him and to the right. Ryuu growled at the other boy in her mind, and she spent most of the silent walk mocking and scolding him for his jealousy.
"Well, then. I will see you in class, Miss Honda." Yuki gave a small bow and Tohru quickly bid him farewell with a low bow.
"Hey!" Tohru turned around, only to encounter three members of the Prince Yuki fanclub.
"Y-yes?" she asked, faking nervousness at the three girls.
"Just what do you think you're doing, walking with Prince Yuki?" 1 demanded. (I'm just gonna call them 1, 2 and 3.)
"Yeah! According to Rule 1 of the Prince Yuki fanclub, Prince Yuki belongs to all of us!" Number 2 exclaimed.
"Oh, really? He belongs to you now, does he?" Tohru's best friend, Arisa Uotani, the Yankee, appeared, holding the metal rod she always seemed to sneak into school in a threatening manner. The girls paled, but didn't run away. Yet.
"Are these girls bothering you, dear Tohru?" Tohru's other best friend, Saki Hanajima, the Wave Girl, appeared to her other side. "I sensed your distressing waves, and rushed over." She added monotonously.
The girls, after receiving a glare from Uo and a shock from Hana, took off at a, erm, brisk jog to escape the terrifying duo.
As soon as they were out of sight, Uo pulled Tohru into an over-affectionate hug, smoothing her hair and generally squeezing the life out of her.
"U-Uo-chan!" Tohru squeaked.
"She cannot breath, Arisa." Hana said simply. The other girl quickly released Tohru, apologising, before hugging her again, gently this time. "We must go before we're late for class."
"So, what was that about?" Uo asked her friend.
"They were angry about me walking to school with Yuki. But it wasn't my fault," she rushed to continue, seeing her friend's mouth open. "I ran into him on the way and he said we should walk together, out of politeness! That's it!" she insisted. Her friends shrugged, but dropped it, and they proceeded to suffer through school.
Ryuu fed her most of the answers from her hair, where he had sat, giving the appearance of a beautiful hair clip, like most days.
Once she had finished work, as a janitor at an office building, she practically collapsed on her bed. "I have to get up and do my homework." She pushed herself off her bed exhaustedly.
"No, you rest. I'll do it." Ryuu said kindly. She nodded gratefully, and slowly crawled out of the tent. And what she saw made her freeze in shock.
Yuki and Shigure Sohma stood there, staring in shock at the girl who had just crawled out of a tent.
At which point, Shigure burst out laughing.