" Tohru-san! I can't believe we get to meet a family member of yours!"
Tohru grinned at the counter as she chopped chunks of carrot for the curry she was preparing. She couldn't believe it herself. She couldn't remember the last time she had ever seen any of her cousins, seeing as both of her mother's and father's sides of the family rarely got along with each other.
And since she was an only child, the only one she could really play with that was her age was herself.
" I'm excited too Shigure. To be honest, I don't think I ever remember meeting her, so it will be a first for all of us," She added, and took a look back at the guys in the living room. Yuki sat properly on the couch, reading one of the many books he kept in the small library of his room, and flipped a page.
" Why is that, Miss Honda, if you don't mind me asking," Yuki inquired curiously. Tohru shook her head and smiled.
" Not at all Yuki. I suppose it's because my mother never really got along with her family and vice versa. My father's family was like that too for some reason so they kept me far away from the rest of my family as possible. They never really told me why though; I guess they had disagreements that they couldn't properly resolve and ended up isolating themselves," She paused as she began chopping up some potatoes.
" That's too bad, must have been some disagreement. Who is this cousin of yours again?" Shigure spoke, averting his eyes from the newspaper he was reading.
" Her name's Zakuro. She was my mother's neice from what I've gathered. She says she's one year older than me, seventeen, and attending school at Kawasaka High School on the other side of town. But since, you know, she's supposed to be staying here for a while she's decided to transfer to our school,"
" Zakuro is it? Like the pomegranate. Strange... Maybe her looks will make up for it," Shigure commented as he flipped a page of his daily newspaper. Yuki's eye twitched and he slapped the back of the black-haired man's head.
"Ow! Yukiii!" He wailed, rubbing his head.
"That should be that last thing on your mind Shigure,"
Tohru dropped the chunks of vegetables into the cooker and checked on the rice. It was a nice and soft, fluffy white. She placed the top on it to cook it a little longer.
" Why is she even staying here anyway, and how the hell did she even get our number?" Tohru turned around to see Kyo appear from another room; from the roof no doubt. Tohru blinked and quickly reacted, not wanting to see Kyo as angry; though her reply wouldn't help much.
" She didn't really tell me why, just asked if she could stay over for a while. Supposedly, she found the house phone number through the Public Record Center nearby. I think I might be the only family she has left," Tohru finished, a little saddened at the idea even though her cousin didn't tell her that directly.
"You're making a big mistake by letting her come over, you know that right?" Kyo snapped as he leaned against the thin wall, nearest the door. Yuki sighed, annoyed and averted his eyes from his book, glaring at his cousin.
" Do not take this out on Miss Honda, Cat. And we know exactly what is at stake here, but we can't just turn her cousin down like that. We have an extra room, so who's to say she can't stay? As long as we're careful about this, I don't see why she can't live here,"
Kyo just huffed and folded his arms over his chest. " Well I'm not gonna try and be friends with her if that's what you were hopin' for,"
Yuki rolled his eyes. " Believe me Cat, we know you wouldn't try to behave even if we asked it of you,"
Tohru sighed quietly from the kitchen. She figured Kyo would act as much, seeing as he seemed to be the only one really concerned about keeping their transformations a secret; and because well..he wasn't much of a people person. He had been the same way with her when she first discovered accidently, only a few months before.
It was then that there was a light knock on the front door, and Tohru whipped her head behind her, surprised.
" She's here already?" She thought, and Shigure dropped his newspaper onto the floor, scurrying towards the door excitedly.
" I'll get it!" He announced in a high-pitched singsong voice and slid open the door. Gasping in shock and nearly fainted at whom he met.
His mouth hung agape, and he couldn't help but stare at the purple-haired beauty that had been waiting at the door.
Zakuro watched the sun rise from the small of her balcony from her apartment, her back against the wall as the golden orb shimmered against the waters as it rose. It was something she did every morning as she routinely woke up at about eight each morning; even as the sun would set.
It was one of the few moments she were granted privacy, whenever she didn't have to be the flawless and beautiful Zakuro Fujiwara that Japan had grow accustomed to and admired.
It were these moments that she wished it could be like that all the time; to just be able to watch the sun rise and set with absolutely no care in the world.
A knock on her front door ceased the thoughts that were going through her head and she snapped her head back to the front door, wondering who would be making an appearance at her place this early in the morning.
For one thing, not a lot of people knew where she stayed, and as she tended to be alone most of her time, she didn't have friends.
She approached the door and swung it open before the visitor could knock any more, and slightly narrowed her eyes.
" Yuka? I told you I would meet you by the office at eleven to prepare before the photoshoot,"
Before she could say anything else, Yuka let herself in, and Zakuro irritatedly shut the door behind her, folding her arms over her chest. She followed the older red -haired woman and eyed her as she took a seat at the small brown table in the living room.
" I actually wanted to discuss something with you until then. It may be a little too personal for your tastes but I was hoping it would help in some way," She started.
Zakuro nodded hesitantly. " Go on,"
"Ever since I were first assigned to be your manager three years ago, all I've ever seen out of you was so much as a nod or grimace. I've never once seen you smile Zakuro, when you're not in the public eye," Zakuro narrowed her eyes and looked away, sighing.
Why was she so concerned about this now? Why was she even concerned in the first place?
" What are you going on about Yuka? I mean why are you really here?" Zakuro asked, not believing the sympathetic act she was trying so hard to pull. Yuka sighed and stared into her deep eyes, furrowing her eyebrows.
" I'm concerned Zakuro, I truly am. I'm tired of seeing you like this, down and by yourself. It pains me to see you like this when I work with you. You know, you never even told me about your parents either, why they aren't a part of your life-"
"That's none of your business!" Zakuro snapped, and slammed her palms onto her table, startling the red-haired woman. She had about enough of this- the out-of-the-blue concern for her personal life, it just seemed too synthetic for her. Even still, Yuka continued, pushing her glasses up from the bridge of her nose.
" What I am trying to say is, I think it would be best if you connected with your family for a while. You know, get out of this apartment by yourself and go live with them. Maybe it could brighten up your mood a bit. You know its unhealthy to walk around depressed when you don't have to be-"
"I'm not depressed! I think..it's time you left now," Zakuro muttered, annoyed, and narrowed her eyes as her manager rose from the table. Yuka just signed and slung her purse over her shoulder.
"It's just something to think about Zakuro. By the way, I'm cancelling your plans for today so you can have time to think about what I just proposed. It could do you some good, sweetheart. You may want to give it some consideration,"
Zakuro cringed silently as she followed her to the door and gently closed it behind her. She leaned her back against the door and groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. Why the sudden sympathy all of a sudden?
Did she want her to be prepared for some kind of big project that could boost my reputation?
Or did she really all this time, actually worry for me while I stayed in this apartment by myself from the time I turned fourteen?
Zakuro shook her head at her thoughts, not really knowing what to do at this point. To be honest, she barely even knew any members of her family; at least, no one took the time to reach out to her, even after she became famous around Japan.
Maybe they just didn't want to be a part of her life.
And even still, she found herself walking towards her phone on the receiver and dialing the Public Records facility office number she looked up through the phone book under the desk.
Though Zakuro wasn't very expressive when it came to her feelings, it was apparent that Yuka could see right through her.
It was strange, Yuka never seemed one to be concerned about anyone's feelings or situations, particularly Zakuro's as long as her polished status as one of the biggest names in Japan was still at large.
" Public Records Facility, how may we be of service to you?" She heard a gruff, masculine voice speak monotonely though the phone.
Zakuro cleared her thoat. " I am in need of some information of my family's whereabouts, somewhere near Okinawa maybe?"
And that was how she was led to the small hut like house secluded in the middle of the forest. She held a giant purple suitcase in one hand as she stepped across the thin twigs and dry grass towards the thin screen door and sighed.
She couldn't believe she was actually doing this, listening to Yuka and going to live with some family member, who was in fact, someone she'd never even met before.
And just living with someone else, was just entirely not her at all.
But perhaps she could use a mini vacation from her job. To be able to relax for once, it didn't sound too bad at the moment.
Her name was Tohru Sohma; a year younger than her, and she was currently residing in this very house. When she contacted her over the phone, there was no doubt in her mind that she was shocked that Zakuro had called her. She hadn't told her much, even the fact that she was a celebrity, just that she needed a place to stay.
To Zakuro's surprise she was more than eager to have her over- in fact, she offered to prepare a room for her as soon as she got off of the phone.
She knocked on the door and waited, preparing herself for what she was about to get into. As the door slid open, she couldn't help but stare in shock, at the fact that a man, not a teenage girl, had answered the door; a little creepily at that as he took in her appearance.
She raised a brow. "Um, there is a Tohru Sohma here right? Or am I at the wrong house.."
The man by now was drooling, and Zakuro couldn't help but groan. He was starstruck, nonetheless, Zakuro realized. Still, needed an answer and this man seemed to be no help at all. Just then another boy appeared behind him and greeted her with a smile, and she stared at him in shock.
"A-Another boy? Geez, what kind of house is she running here?" Zakuro thought increduously. The boy began staring also, but he recovered just as quickly and greeted her with a warm smile.
"Zakuro Fujiwara. Well this is a surprise. I can see now why Shigure hasn't bothered to speak to you yet," He said, trailing off as the said man had fallen unconciously to the floor.
"You're at the right house by the way; the name's Yuki, a friend of Tohru's. She's been very eager to have you over just as much as we are," He introduced, and the purple haired girl nodded in response. The Yuki boy began dragging the still unconcious boy the the couch and Tohru spotted her from the kitchen, her eyes widened.
" Oh my gosh! Z-Zakuro Fujiwara? I-In our house? W-What are you doing on a place like this? Did I win something? Where are the cameras?" The brunette began asking as she froze in the kitchen, looking around the living room frantically.
Zakuro sweat-dropped and arched a brow. " This girl is pretty oblivious for her age..."
" I'm your cousin Zakuro. It's nice to uh, finally meet you,"
A/N: If you were wondering, Tohru's last name in the story right now is Sohma because the house was put in her name. She excluded her last name so that it would seem as though she were related to the Sohmas to avoid issues. It will be explained in the story soon.
Anyways, what do you guys think? I know this was pretty risky, but I really wanted to do this crossover and find a way to make it a Zakuro based story and somehow make her interact with the FB characters and eventually fall in love with Kyo. I really hope you guys liked this first chapter! Please review and tell me how you like it! I will try my hardest to make it work!