Tohru Honda sighed as she sat at her desk, waiting for school to start. Uo-chan and Hana were on a special trip with one of the extracurricular activities that they were in and Yuki and Kyo were outside, beating each other up again. She was tired of them fighting so she was letting them beat themselves senseless for once.

"Uggggg." Kyo and Yuki said in unison as they dragged themselves to the two desks next to Tohru. Yuki looked around. "It looks like Mayuko-sempai is late today." he pointed out.

"Your right." Tohru said. The door to the classroom opened and everyone looked at the door. A tall lady with dirty blond hair who was wearing a sky blue kimono stepped through the door.

She smiled at everyone. "Good morning. Miss Mayuko is not able to make it today because of personal reasons. You can call me Miss Ryuu or by my first name, Kalli. I don't mind." She turned to the door momentarily and motioned with her hand. Two other people came in.

One of them was another girl. She had long black hair with two silver strips at the front. She had large silver eyes that showed that she was reluctant to be there. She wore a large shirt that was loose over her skinny frame and a choker that had a silent bell on it that looked old. She looked shy.

The second one was a boy. He had bright red hair that was the color of flames. His eyes were black and showed eagerness and so did his face. It showed that he was really excited. He wore the normal uniform but the sleeves were messily cut off and he had a tattoo of a phoenix on his right arm.

Kalli sighed at them. "The head of the school told me that there were two transfers but I didn't expect you two." she said to them. The boy smirked. "Introduce yourselves."

The boy went first. "I'm Kai Ryuu and she is Rei Ryuu, my non-look alike sister. Glad ta meetcha." he happily said. Rei bowed slightly before trying to stand behind Kai only Kai wouldn't let her.

Tohru's head shot up when she heard their names. Her eyes met Kai's and he slightly nodded. Rei nodded to her as well. Kalli smirked at her. "Well, lets start today's lesson." she said before muttering. "What is a quadratic formula?"

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When the day was over, both Kyo and Yuki waited for Tohru to walk home with them. But she didn't come out of the building as soon as they last bell rang. They went back to homeroom, worried about her. They got there just in time to see Tohru hugging the substitute teacher.

Tohru looked over at them and smiled. "Hey Kyo-kun, Sohma-kun, Kalli, put me down." she was laughing really hard. "Were both of you waiting for me?"

Yuki looked at her strangely. "Miss Honda, do you know them?" he said, referring to the new people and the substitute teacher.

All three of them looked at him like he was crazy. Kai burst out laughing. "No, she just wanted to hug Li-chan on an impulse. Of course she knows us!!" he collapsed onto the ground, laughing the whole time.

Kalli sighed. "I was a friend of Kyoto. Since I knew her, my younger cousins should know Tohru, considering they were always with me because of their parent's jobs."

Rei was hanging back near the door, away from everyone. She now had a black sweatshirt on and the hood was pulled up over her head.

Kyo looked over at her. "What are you doing? Trying to hide?" he said, a little harsher than he meant to.

Rei gasped a bit and shrunk away. Kyo looked at her with confusion on her face.

Tohru put her hand on Kyo's shoulder. "Try to be a little less harsh. She is really shy." she explained.

Kalli threw her arms over Kai's and Tohru's shoulders and smirked. "Now, you know who we are but now we want to know who you are."

Tohru pulled away and turned towards Kalli, Kai, and the newly dragged over Rei. "This guy with the grey hair and purple eyes is Yuki Sohma. The guy with the reddish colored hair and the bad attitude is Kyo Sohma. I live in the same house with them and the guy who is their guardian, Shigure Sohma."

Kai gasped and pulled Tohru away from them. "You live with all GUYS?!" he said in shock. "I will not let you stay there without meeting this Shigure and telling if that is a good environment for you." he said while protectively holding her but surprisingly not hugging her tightly, like he looked like he wanted to.

Kalli looked at both of them. "I thought that I sensed two spirits in each of their bodies. So they are the children of the rat and the cat. I wonder if they know………….no, Tohru-sama wouldn't have told them our secret, even if they trusted her with their secret." she thought. "I agree with Kai, surprisingly. I wish to see where Tohru lives."

Yuki looked at both of them. They had a determined look on each of their faces and he could tell that they weren't going to take no for an answer. Yuki looked over at Rei but she had pulled the hood almost all the way over her face. "I guess you can come." he said in an unsure voice.

Kai jumped towards Yuki and gave him a slap on the back. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" he excitedly asked before running out the door and heading In the wrong direction.

Tohru ran outside after him. "KAI! WRONG DIRECTION!" she yelled. They all started walking towards Shigure's house while Kai caught up with them.

Shigure was surprised when he saw three extra people coming with Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo. He forced a smile onto his face and stepped out the door to see them. "Why, who are these?" he excitedly said. He tried to put his arms around Rei but he was pushed away by Kai.

Tohru helped him up. "Shigure-san, these are friends of mine. The guy is Kai, the oldest is Kalli, and the shy girl is Rei." she pointed to each of them. "They wanted to make sure that I live in a good place." She smiled.

Shigure nodded. "Come on in. Dinner will be done in about an hour. I already started it." Shigure happily said.

Tohru gasped and pushed past him. "Shigure-san! Whatever you were cooking, its burnt now!" she called. "You are banned from the kitchen Shigure-san!" she shouted.

Rei quietly walked past Shigure, took her shoes off, and followed in the direction of where Tohru went. She slipped into the kitchen and Tohru didn't seem to notice her. "You haven't told them, Honda-sama." she quietly said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Tohru paused and turned around to face her. She had a sort of sad smile on her face. "They can't know. They would think that I was like him."

"You can never be like him! Your soul is pure and kind, not evil and dark!" she quickly said without thinking. She gasped after saying it and she fell to her knees on the floor. "I'm sorry." she quietly said.

Tohru sighed and smiled at her. "Rei, stop doing that. You need to learn to stand up for yourself! You can't devote your life to this." Tohru's voice dropped to a whisper. "Especially since you aren't……."

"Please stop. This makes me happy." she quietly said before standing and picking up a knife. She started to chop up the vegetables. She stay silent while helping Tohru.

"Has he been treating you better?" Tohru asked, knowing that Rei knew exactly what she was talking about.

Rei shook her head, refusing to speak.

"Does he still want me gone?"

Rei dropped the knife and spun towards Tohru. "Tohru-sama, I don't want to see you get hurt. You can't go through with it!"

"I have to." Tohru quietly said.

The door opened and Kai and Kalli walked in. Kalli nodded. "This place is fit to live in. Rei, did you get a chance to speak with her about anything?" Kalli asked.

Rei shook her head.

"She told me that he hasn't been treating her any better and that she doesn't want me to go through with it." Tohru answered. "Lets get dinner on the table." she said while grabbing some of the food. Rei grabbed the rest and followed quietly behind her.

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Rei quietly sat up on the Sohma's roof. She had needed to get away from everyone and this was the only spot that she could find. She glanced over at the ladder when she heard someone climbing it. "Tohru-sama." she quietly said.

Tohru walked over and sat down next to her. She put her arm around Rei's shoulders. "Why don't you want me to go through with it, sister?" she asked.

"Tohru-sama, why? He could kill you. I don't want to be left alone again." Rei quietly said while burying her head into her knees, her sweatshirt hood preventing Tohru from looking at her face. Her shoulders shook a bit and she tried to pull away.

"You won't be. Over half of us are loyal to the Shugotenshi while the other five are loyal to the Akutenshi. The Shugotenshi will win this, don't you worry." Tohru said with a smile on her face. Tears fell out of her eyes while she kept smiling.

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be hurt again." Rei quietly said before jumping off the roof and running into the night.

"You couldn't get to her either, huh?" Kai said as he appeared next to Tohru. "She doesn't trust anyone after what he did to her. No matter what she doesn't believe anything we say, right sister?"

"Brother. Its been so long. Did he do something worse than before?" Tohru asked.

Kai just shook his head and stared at the moon. "She is the outsider of our twelve. She never truly felt like she fit in. What happened was the straw that broke the camel's back. I won't tell you. Only she can tell you in her own time." he quietly said before walking back towards the ladder and climbing down. Tohru followed him and they went back inside.

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Rei quietly walked back to the school the next morning. She knew where Kalli and her older brother were staying but she hadn't wanted to go there yet. She knew that she was really early but she didn't care. She was near the classroom when she heard a loud poof and a flurry of feathers.

She rushed inside to see Kai's clothes fall to the ground and a red bird like creature start to flutter around the room.

Kalli gave her a desperate look. "Rei, grab him! Fenikkusu is in control right now!!! We have to stop him!!!" she hurriedly said. Tohru already had her jacket off and was ready. So was Kalli.

Rei took a deep breath. She rarely took off her sweatshirt but right now, she had too. She swung her arms upward and jerked them down into her jacket while running forward towards Kai. She hurriedly flung her jacket over top of the red bird but Fenikkusu was fighting back. A large talon flew through the jacket and roughly scratched her check.

Kalli and Tohru ran forward. Kalli grabbed Rei's sweatshirt and tightly held onto Kai. She grabbed his clothes and ran to the girl's bathroom. Tohru knelt next to Rei, who was holding her cheek and her eye. She was clutching it and her arms were shaking.

Just with her luck, Yuki had decided to come early today. He immediately ran to Tohru's side when he saw her on the ground. "Miss Honda, are you alright?" He immediately asked when he saw a bit of blood on Tohru's hand.

Tohru gave him a questioning look before glancing at her hand. "Rei, you really are hurt!" Tohru worriedly said. "Sohma-kun, do you think……….."

"I'll go call Hatori-san." he said, interrupting her question. "He will help her out because she is your friend, Miss Honda." Yuki smiled before rushing out of the room to tell Hatori to meet them at Shigure's house.

Tohru helped Rei to her feet, not letting her go the whole time. She steered Rei out of the room and down the hall, where Kalli and Kai were walking down. Kai tried to reach out to help Tohru lead Rei but Rei pulled away from him.

Kai opened his mouth to say something but Kalli clamped her hand over his mouth. She nodded to Tohru, knowing that this would be better for Rei right now.

Yuki rejoined Tohru and they both led Rei back to Shigure's house where Hatori was already waiting. Yuki didn't get too close to the girl because she seemed reluctant and that he didn't want to reveal the Sohma secret.

Hatori immediately walked over to them. He could already tell that there was some risk because of the cut being so close to her eye, he knew from experience. "Bring her inside." he said to Tohru.

Tohru nodded and tried to put her arms around Rei but she pulled back. Tohru gave her a sad look before leading her and Hatori up to her room. She sat Rei on the bed and went to leave but Rei was surprisingly holding onto her arm.

Rei was silent for a minute and didn't look up to meet Tohru's eyes. "Please. Don't leave." she finally said in a quiet voice. Tohru nodded and sat down next to her.

Hatori sighed a bit in relief when he saw Rei's cut. It hadn't actually hit her eye but it would still need stitches. "I'm going to put some antiseptic in your cheek, alright?" Hatori quietly said.

Rei nodded and didn't flinch, not even when Hatori started to stitch up the cut. Soon, Hatori was done and Rei started to yawn a bit.

Tohru smiled. "You can sleep in here, Rei, alright?" she smiled when Rei nodded and pulled herself under the covers. Tohru had to keep her eyes from widening when she saw Rei's arms. But she just smiled and quietly slipped out of the room with Hatori right behind her.

Hatori watched a bit while Tohru paced back and forth. "Is something wrong?" he asked in a monotone voice.

Tohru looked at him. "You saw her arms, right?!" Tohru said with distress in voice. "What would have caused all of those marks?!" she started to freak out again.

"I do not know, Honda-san. I do not know." Hatori quietly said. Hatori saw that Tohru had gotten a sad look in her eyes. "Are you alright, Honda-san?"

Tohru looked at him and blinked a bit. The sad look was gone. "I'm fine, Hatori-san!" she happily said before looking for Shigure. She found him reading the newspaper. "Shigure-san, could I see the paper for a minute?"

"Of course, my flower." he handed her the paper, wondering why she would want it.

She glanced at the horoscopes and nodded. "Just as I thought." she mumbled before handing the paper back to Shigure.

He looked at the horoscope that she had read.

"My frien-, d- you have a -ote? -hen send it into ou- h-mble home a-d see if it will be. Punished."

Shigure frowned. That was strange. He looked at the letters that were missing and frowned even more. "Don't run. Punished." is what it spelled if the last word was added. Tohru knew something and he felt that it wasn't good.