It was a day very much like any other, yet somehow very different. I was walking to the grocery store, as I do every Monday morning, when I ran into this stray cat. It was bright orange, and it looked somehow angry. When it saw me, it hissed, hair standing up on its back, and then it ran away. I didn't know what to think, but something was telling me to follow it. I ran after it down the alley, forgetting all about the grocery store.

It ran around the corner, and down the street, and right into the woods.

As I ran, I could see a house neatly tucked away in the woods. It was a rather large house, and seemed to be in the Japanese style with sliding doors. The strange cat ran all the way up to the house, opened the door, and ran inside.

'Wait, did that cat really just open that door??'

I made it to the house sometime after the cat did, since I am a slow runner.

When I came up to the house, I looked around the premises a bit. It looked like someone was in fact living there, and it felt wrong to intrude. I decided that it was foolish of me to follow the cat in the first place, especially since I was completely lost now. I started to head back to what I though to be the way I came when I heard a…hmmm….what kind of sound was it? A poof maybe? Yea, a poof. I heard a loud poof from inside the house. I looked back, and there was this peach-colored smoke coming from inside the house.

I raced back to the house, trying to figure out what it could have been. I reached the door in record time, and almost had a heart attack upon looking inside. Standing a few feet from the door was a tall, handsome, orange-haired boy. I almost had a heart attack because as I looked at him I realized that I had caught him in the middle of getting dressed. I blushed and turned away, hoping he hadn't seen me peeking. I started to walk away when the door opened.

"Hey!" the boy called after me.

I froze in place, knowing I had been caught, and that I had no chance of running away. He came up behind me, and then walked around me until he was looking me straight in the face. I couldn't look into his eyes because I would turn red as a tomato if I did. His eyes were a darker shade of orange, and not only were they extremely beautiful, they somewhat resembled those of a cat.

'Oh my gosh!' I thought to myself. 'Orange hair, cat eyes, could he be…?'

"Who are you and why are you at my house?" the boy asked, seeming very irritated.

"Um, well, I…."

I couldn't think of what to tell him. I was too embarrassed, and he was just too beautiful for me to think straight. I had to think of something, seeing as I was trespassing, and he was glaring fiercely at me.

"Well…." I said.

"You see, I was walking to the grocery store like I do ever morning when I ran into this orange cat and I stupidly decided to follow it and I ran around the street corner and…" my words all blurred together.

"Ok, stop, I get the picture." He said.

"Oh….so um, what now?" I asked hesitantly

Then I thought of something.

"Was that your cat?"

"Uh…kind of" He said, seemingly drifting into thought

"Kind of? Does someone else live here?"

"Well no…..er, yea…" He seemed to be getting angrier, and extremely worried at the same time.

"Then what…." I was trying to understand what he was telling me when I got a strange thought.

"Oh my gosh! Was that cat you?" I asked excitedly

As I said this, his eyes got really big, making them even more beautiful, and also more cat-like. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the house.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!" I cried

He took me into what seemed to be the living room. It was hard to tell because the inside of the house reflected the outside's Japanese theme. The only indication there was as far as the living room went was a T.V. and an extremely short couch-like chair. He forced me to sit on the chair, and then went into another room, I'm assuming the kitchen. I heard him pick up the phone, and then start of conversation. I caught bits and pieces of what he was saying, but nothing comprehensible as a sentence.

When he came back, he was deep in thought, and looking more irritated than I had seen him all day.

"What was that all about?" I asked, quite irritated myself

Just then there was a knock on the door. The boy yelled for the guest to let himself in. A few moments later, an extremely tall, black haired man wearing a white shirt with a black vest and black dress pants walked into the room. He was even more beautiful than the boy, if that was possible, and he had amazing golden-yellow eyes.

"Hatori…." The boy said

"I know. This is quite unfortunate. Akito won't be happy about this at all. He won't be happy with you either, Kyo."

"Hey, don't go blaming this on me! That stupid rat pushed me into that girl on the sidewalk. What else was I gonna do? Not transform?"

As I listened to the conversation, I became terribly confused. Who was this Akito person? And what does he mean the rat pushed him into a girl? I started to get a major headache. As I was trying to sort out all the things they were saying, Hatori walked over to me and put his hand on my forehead. He was looking me straight in the eye. As I seemed to be doing a lot today, I blushed.

"Okay" he said, in a deep, strong voice "Tell me exactly what you saw."

"Well…what do you mean? I mean, I saw a cat, some peach-colored smoke, and then this boy, um, Kyo." It was hard to speak coherently with him starting at me like he was.

"Is that all?" he asked

"Um, yea. I think so."

Hatori sighed.

"Well Kyo, you truly are an idiot."

"HEY!"

I could've sworn Kyo's head was going to explode as he said that.

Hatori looked at me, uneasiness apparent in his eyes.

"What is your name, Miss?"

"I'm T-Tohru…Tohru Honda…"

"It seems we're going to have to erase your memory, Tohru." Hatori said, looking very disappointed.

"My what?? But-but how? Why?!"

"You see, our family has a very…dark secret. It is only known within our clan, and it is forbidden for any outsiders to know." He said grimly

"Secret? You mean that b—Kyo is actually is that cat I saw??" I was excited and nervous all at the same time.

"Yes. That stupid boy over there is that cat. There are 12 other members of our family that transform as well. They each transform in to one of the members of the Chinese Zodiac. The rat he mentioned earlier is his cousin Yuki."

"That's amazing! Wait, how exactly do you even transform?" I asked, getting more excited with every word spoken

"If we hug a member of the opposite gender, for some reason, we transform"

"Oh wow! Wait; are you one of those members?" I could hardly contain myself, I was so fascinated. To think things like this could happen in real life!

"Well, yes." He said bluntly

"So what animal—"

"Never mind that. The fact that you know about our secret is a serious problem."

I was remembering the conversation earlier more and more clearly.

"Wait, who's that Akito person you mentioned earlier?"

Kyo and Hatori exchanged glances.

"Akito is the head of our family. He is our God. He decides everything we do. And don't do." Kyo said, choking out the last 3 words.

"Wait…" I said, realizing something very wrong with the story.

"There are only 12 members of the zodiac, but 13 of you transform. A-and the cat….the cat isn't actually in the zodiac, is it?"

Hatori looked at Kyo, who was glaring outside the window.

"That is something I don't think we should discuss. Kyo is special among our family. Have you ever heard the old tale of how the zodiac came to be?" Hatori asked, his speech smooth and emotionless.

I had in fact heard the story. My mother told it to me constantly as a child. You see, one day the king of the land, God, had decided to throw a grand feast. It was to be held the next day, and attendance was mandatory. He invited 13 of the animals that lived in the village, including the rat, cat, boar, cow, monkey, dog, dragon, tiger, ram, horse, snake, rabbit and the rooster. When the rat heard of this, he ran to tell his neighbor, the cat. But the rat was feeling devious that day, so he decided to play a trick on the cat and told him that the feast was the after the next. The cat was really excited, and graciously thanked his friend for informing him. The next day, all 12 of the animals arrived at the party, the rat leading the line riding on the back of the cow. All the while, the cat was lying in his bed, dreaming of the feast that would never be. In seeing that the cat did not show up, God banned him from ever being a member of the zodiac.

"Yes. I know it very well. My mother told it to me often as a child."

"Then you know of the cat's sentence?"

"Yes."

"That's all the explaining you'll require then. As far as your memory is concerned, even though I would prefer to erase it right now, it is better than we wait and see what Akito wants to do."

Hatori stood up, finally releasing me from the hold his eyes had over me. I breathed freely for the first time in hours.

Hatori then looked sternly at Kyo.

"I want you to call Akito and tell him what happened. It is your fault, after all. I will be waiting in Shigure's room."

Hatori walked off to some other room, deeper in the house. I was sad to lose sight of him.

"Well, what should we do with you?" Kyo asked, looking at me but talking more to himself. He sighed, went into the kitchen, and was once again in a phone conversation I couldn't hear. I waited patiently on the couch, seeing as I couldn't move anyway. I was too tired to pry off my legs that had frozen to the couch during my conversation with Hatori.

When Kyo came back in, he looked, well, need I say it? Irritated. He told me that I would have to stay in this house until Akito could talk to Hatori. He pulled me up from the couch and dragged me to the stairs. He told me to go upstairs, and there I would find the guest bedroom. He said we would figure out things like my clothes later. Then he muttered something under his breath and walked away.

Well, what do you guys think? Should i continue it? Review and let me know! :D

--Yokonami