Well, my lovelies, I'm finally getting around to continuing this. Obviously I've renamed it because the first name wasn't exactly... fitting, relevant or interesting in any way, but yeah, whatever. Point is, I'm finally continuing it. But first, to rewrite everything I have thus far because, while certainly better than the first attempt, if I actually want to go somewhere with this story, I'm definitely gonna have to make a better first impression and give myself a much better initial foundation to work with. Cuz, let's be honest, everything was still ridiculous and unrealistic, and Dragon was still hitting the Mary-Sue juice pretty hard. Let's fix all that so I can stop being ashamed of this mishapen freak and stop wondering how many people are deciding to look through my stuff cuz they read something else and then were immediately turned off by this particular story, shall we?

Let'sTryThisAgain,ShallWe?Chapter1...

And finally, the apartment was finished, walls painted colours that I loved, sparse furniture situated exactly where I wanted, a few pictures and posters scattered about... The apartment was, finally, furnished and decorated exactly how I wanted it to be.

I say the apartment, but really, I suppose I should call it my apartment. Mine, under my aunt's name and checking account, but mine nonetheless. Mine alone, at that. There's just something about being able to call a place your own, knowing that you won't have to share it with anyone, unless you want to, and you can do almost anything you want at almost any time is just so... liberating.

My stomach growled suddenly, reminding me sharply that it was almost ten-thirty at night and I hadn't eaten since noon when my aunt had stopped by to see how the apartment was coming, give me some last minute paperwork to fill out for the school and bring me lunch. As my stomach bid, I gradually made my way towards my kitchen, still basking in the aftermath of a lot of hard work. Inside my small, cozy kitchen, I tossed two poptarts into the toaster and leaned against the counter, my mind traveling as I waited. In the last two weeks my life had changed drastically. Of course, when all was said and done, I couldn't exactly say I was even slightly worse off for it. When it comes right down to it, the change had been almost certainly for the better. And enjoying poptarts at ten-thirty at night without having to worry about quieting myself in the kitchen was certainly a relaxing first time experience.

Nearly as soon as I finished my poptarts, my phone vibrated in my pocket, signalling I had recieved a text message.

~Hey there! Just thought I would remind you that you will have to go school tomorrow, so you had better be in bed already and only seeing this text when you wake up in the morning or I shall be quite cross XP

I laughed in my silent kitchen, listening to the sound echoing through my otherwise vacant little apartment before replying, saying that I wasn't quite in bed yet, but I was certainly getting there. She, of course, replied with some faux-scolding and then bid me a goodnight and pleasant dreams. As I didn't exactly want to make it a habit of lying to my aunt, I cleaned up after myself in my kitchen and then headed to my bedroom to get some sleep. After all, with tomorrow being my first day at a new school, I would probably need the energy. With nothing more than the thought of what tomorrow could bring, my mind finally relinquished consciousness for the night and I fell asleep.

PageBreakCuzWhyNot,Right?

The alarm on my phone, which was currently set to play Masquerade from The Phantom Of The Opera, woke me up at seven the next morning. I blinked up at the ceiling, still not quite used to the light purple of my bedroom being the first sight to greet me in the morning, though I was quickly becoming more and more accustomed to it as the days passed. The bed, as per usual, was so comfortable that it was really a shame that I had to leave it so soon. But, alas, a new school awaits me. In like... five more minutes...

Two seconds later, he alarm woke me again, telling me that, okay, seriously, it's 7:05, time to get up for this time. Though it pained me to do so, I obeyed the alarm this time and finally dragged myself out of the blessedly comfortable bed. My first inclination was to pull on the first thing I found in my closet, but when I opened the closet, I was harshly reminded of the reality of being a 16 year old sophmore in high school by the sight of the navy blue school uniform hanging in the very front where I couldn't miss it if I wanted to. And believe me, I did kind of want to.

After getting dressed and then doing all of the miscellaneous bathroom stuff (brushing teeth and hair, putting on eyeliner, etc.) the next order of business would have certainly been food if the soon to be routine hadn't been interrupted by a knock on my door.

As expected, it was none other than my aunt Rumiko, the one who had recently become my legal guardian and who was also funding my current... Well, everything really. My father had agreed to pay a certain sum every month after he basically foisted me off onto my aunt, which was more than my apartment rent for sure, but after the recent move, furniture, appliances and other such things were also necessary, and it was not enough to cover those initial expenses. She herself lived in the same building, though on a lower floor, in an apartment which, like this one, was only one bathroom, one bedroom, a small living/dining area and a kitchen. This, she decided, was the best living arrangement for the time being, as the apartment was just small enough to be cozy for her and her husband, but would certainly become crowded with three. Especially with one of the three being a rather mature teenage girl who is also used to looking after herself and having a significant amount of freedom, according to my aunt Rumi. And, I couldn't say I was at all displeased with the arrangement, obviously.

"Good morning Dragon." My aunt immediately swept me into a hug as I let her into the apartment. "Two questions- Did you sleep well and did you have breakfast? Cuz I made muffins and you're eating them no matter the answer to the second question." She shook a paper bag in my face pointedly.

"Well, it's a good thing I haven't eaten yet," I rolled my eyes teasingly, "And yes, I slept very well, thanks for asking." I replied as I brought her into the kitchen so that we could sit at the table and eat, since it was only about 7:25 and I didn't have to be at school until eight o'clock and it should take less than ten minutes for me to walk to school, if not five.

"I would say I'm glad you got a good night's sleep, but then, with all this cheek you're giving me, I'm not sure you deserved it." My aunt shot back, then winked.

"Aww, you couldn't say something like that about little ol' me, could you?" I blinked at her, widening my eyes to portray the look of perfect innocence as I pulled out one of the muffins and took a bite.

"That face. I don't trust it." She flicked my forehead before taking her own muffin out of the bag," There had been only two in the bag, but they were both fairly large muffins so I wasn't all too concernd about it.

"So, are you excited for your first day of school." She asked, making small talk as we had our breakfast.

"Sort of. I mean, I already miss my group from my old school, but I guess I'l still be able to see them every now and again, and surely I'll make some new friends one way or another. Probably." I muttered the last part, trying not to become insecure and psych myself out and ruin my first day.

"Hey, don't worry about it." She smiled comfortingly and patted my arm, "You'll find your place here in no time, I'm sure. At least you're a sophmore, not a senior, so you'll have plenty of time." The alarm on her phone interrupted her consolatin, signalling that it was 7:30 and she needed to leave if she wanted to be at work on time. She smiled apologetically, threw away her muffin paper and left my apartment with a final 'Have a nice day' to mark her parting. In her absence, I found that I had no preparation left and simply grabbed my pre-packed backpack, left and locked my apartment, and headed towards the school.

AndHere'sAnotherPagebreakCuzWhyNot?

The walk to the school was fairly uneventful. I doubted I could have gotten lost even if I wanted to, considering my apartment building was rather close to the school, close enough that I saw several identical uniforms on my way, giving me a general flow to go along with. A somewhat friendly girl was kind enough to show me where the office was and by 7:50, I was sitting in one of the waiting chairs in the office next to a little blonde boy who was chattering away to a guy, who looked about my age, with white and black hair who seemed completely bored out of his skull with everything. At nearly 8 AM on the dot, a tall, lanky old gentleman practically bounced into the office with a startling amount of energy. He nodded at the three of us as he spoke.

"Ah, good, you're all here. And early too, what luck! If you'll all come with me, I would prefer to do this in my office." The cheerful man bade us follow him and, with only a short, quickly averted glance traded between the leather clad boy and myself, we followed him.

"Now," The man, whom I'm assume at this point is the principal, "You are Dragon Angelius, right?" I nodded. "Good. Now, it's a little unusual for us to get transfer students nearing the end of fall, but not completely unheard of. Since you won't have gotten any sort of official tour like, say, the incoming freshmen or transfer students, we've decided instead to give you a guide to make sure that you make it to your classes at least the first few days. These boys are Hatsuharu and Momiji Sohma." The leather clad one nodded and the blonde boy waved enthusiasticaly.

"As they're both your age and grade level, they have several classes with you. Here," He handed me a folder with a piece of paper stapled to the front, "That's your schedule, you can keep it and the folder, if you really wanted to, but the paperwork needs to be finished and signed by you and your guardian by the end of the week, though tonight would certainly be preferable. Any questions?" I shook my head, glancing over at the two, wondering how the blonde was my age and grade when he looked so young... And he was even wearing a girl's uniform...

"Fantastic. Feel free to ask me or any of the teachers or your guides if you need anything. You may all go to your first period class now, I've already informed Mr. Amota that the three of you will be late." The man smiled brightly as the three of us got up and left the office, in no particular hurry to get anywhere, as it would seem. The second we were out of the office, the blonde boy latched onto my side.

"Hi, nice to meet you." The boy smiled, youthful face guileless and friendly, "I'm Momiji and that guy over there is Haru." The boy nodded in friendly acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you too." I couldn't help but smile back at the kid- Er, sorry, the boy who was apparently the same age as me, "So, how is... Algebra 2?" I asked, looking over the schedule I had been given.

"It's pretty easy, actually, especially since Haru is really good at it and can help with anything you might not understand, but Mr. Amota can be kind of scary." The blonde frowned at the thought of the teacher.

"Well, that's good to know," I pouted at the thought of intimidating first period teachers, and math in general, "How is... Literature and Composition?"

"Yuki is in that one." Haru mentioned, and I nodded, though I had no idea who Yuki was. "May I?" He held out his hand for the schedule, which I readily relinquished.

"Third period, Chemistry. That's with me. Fourth period, varsity choir, with Momiji, fifth period World History, also with us and Kyo. Sixth period, gym, we're all in that. Seventh period, principles of business with Kyo and I and your eigth period is basically study hall." The boy quickly rattled off, too quickly for me to fully take in.

"Um... You might have to remind of those later on... And, who exactly are Yuki and Kyo again?" I asked, feeling sheepish at my lack of knowledge.

"They're technically our cousins. Sort of." Momiji replied, "And they're also... Well, you'll see later, I'm sure." Momiji leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "It's supposed to be sort of a secret, but it doesn't take much to figure it out at all." He giggled.

"We're here." Hatsuharu interrupted as we stopped in front of a door, which seemed menacing suddenly as I considered Momiji's previous warnings about the algebra teacher. Haru, however, showed no such hesitation and merely opened the door and entered, forcing Momiji and I to abort all stalling and follow him.

"There you are." The surprisingly imposing math teacher stood up as soon as we entered. "I was beginning to wonder how long Mr. Fujioka was planning on keeping you." With no further ado, he nodded to a corner in the back of the class where three empty desks sat next to the window, "Go ahead and sit down, you may as well be one lesson less behind than you would have been otherwise." I nodded, stiffening at the stares that I suddenly found aimed at me from the other students. Immediately, he began teaching, and though I took exact notes and tried very hard to keep up, he used at least two major concepts that I had yet to learn and I quickly found that I was very, very lost. Thanfully, the class was almost done, and I knew that once I got home, I could google it all and have the internet teach me how to math. As the bell rang, Momiji, who had been surprisingly quiet, piped up again.

"Did you understand that, Dragon?" I laughed and shook my head.

"Not a single tiny bit." I sighed and shrugged.

"Don't worry, I didn't either," He giggled as we quickly left the room, no one eager to stay in a math class any longer than absolutely necessary, "At least you have an excuse."

"Momiji, am I going to have to reteach everything he just said today because you weren't paying attention?" Haru sighed in exasperation, clearly already expecting the answer.

"Absolutely." Momiji grinned brightly,

"Momiji, you should really pay attention in class. Give Haru a break every once in a while." A soft, gently scolding voice interrupted.

"But there's no fun in that Yuki." Momiji whined and then stuck his tongue out at his cousin. And finally, I was greeted with the sight of the third Sohma I was intended to meet that day. Intended being the key word.

End

Just condensed the first the chapters into on and it's still shorter than the next two, despite the fact that they both got literally halfed in the rewrite. Whatever, happens sometimes. Hope you enjoyed, my lovelies!