Prologue

A music box and a silver heart shaped locket. My most valued possessions, worth all the money in the world in my eyes. The music box has a simple design: it's made of wood, with flower design and some old kanji carved on the top. Though it's old, when opened it plays its song as splendidly as it did the day it was made. Though by now it's scratched and the paint all but gone, it will always be beautiful in my eyes. And the locket, which used to be my mother's, still shines brilliantly in the light of the sun. I wear it always, to help me remember. Remember my mother's love for me, as well as other things. I've never opened it, it's stuck. I've always wondered what's inside it, and maybe someday, when I'm strong enough, I'll be able to find out.

It's hard to believe this is all I have left of what used to be my family. Even the curse is gone now.

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had never meat the strange family known as the Sohmas. Would I go through my whole life not knowing the truth about what I am? Would I continue to live blindly as I have for the past sixteen years? Would I be better off with out them?

But then he smiles at me, and all my doubts disappear.

Chapter 1

"Hurry up Kairi, you're going to be late for school." My aunt yelled from downstairs.

"Huh!" my aunts voice snapped me from my trance.

"School. You know, where your suppose to be right now!" she yelled.

I look at the clock. "Oh crap I'm late!" I yell, grabbing my bag and bolting out the door.

"Wait!" My aunt called after me. "You need an umbrella!"

"No time!" I call back running out the door. Our house at the time was surrounded by woods. My new school was only a few miles away, so I walked there.

Not three yards from the house, I was regretting my decision not to bring an umbrella. It was starting to poor rain.

"Oh now that's perfect. I'm going to be socked!" I said to myself.

The walk to school was not a long one, but even still, I was soaked to the bone when I walked into the door. Thousands of eyes feel upon me in an instant, and I looked away as best I could. I stood out like a sour thumb! Everyone else was mostly dry and had on the school uniform. As for me, I was wearing baggie jeans, a black t-shirt, over which I wore my favorite hoddie, black with an orange cats head on it. I've always liked cats. I just seemed to have a better understanding of them. They aren't as judge mental as people are.

Of course, I have other reasons for liking cats, but that's my secret.

"Hello! Who might you be!" a cheery voice asked from behind me.

I gasped, snapped once again out of my own little world. I wondered why someone would talk to me. That was definitely a first.

When I turned around, I saw a girl about my age, with long brown hair and a skirt that was way too short for my liking. I mentally cringed when I remembered I too would have to wear the hideous uniform.

"Um, hi." I said, not really sure how to react. "M-my name is Kairi Nomura. I'm new here."

"Oh so you're the new girl! I was wondering why you didn't have a uniform!" she said. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Tohru Honda. Pleased to meat you!" she bowed. "I can help you find the office if you want."

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to think of Tohru Honda at first. She seemed like a total ditz brain. But she was talking to me, a first in my book. And I was in no situation to pass up a possible friend. Plus I had no idea where I was going.

So I decided to be friendly. What do I have to lose? "Sure. I'd just end up getting lost on my own." I confessed. "My since of direction sucks."

"Okay!" she said, grabbing my hand, forcing me to follow her. "This way Nomura-san!"

"Okay." I answered. We were getting so many funny looks, but I didn't care. I was used to it. Either Tohru didn't know or didn't care. She just kept on going, smiling all the while.

After we stopped in the office and got my class list, locker number, and of course, the dreaded uniform, Tohru offered to take me to the restroom to get changed and cleaned up. I took her up on that offer in an instant. First we tried to dry out my hair. After paper towels, we tried the electronic hand dryer, neither attempt giving us much success.

"That's as good as its gona get." I said, heading into a stall to change.

She giggled. "How did you get so wet anyways?"

"Forgot my umbrella." I answered, thinking that was the obvious answer to her question. "I was kind of out of it this morning."

"Tee-hee, that happens to me sometimes too. So, where are you from exactly?"

"Everywhere." I answered from the stall. I was attempting to button the sailor-style blouse, without much success. "My aunt travels a lot with her work."

"So you live with your aunt then?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah. My mother died when I was eight or nine. Her side of the family shunned us, so I'm living with my dad's sister." I hated telling people about my family, because no matter what, I could never tell them the whole truth. They'd never believe me, let alone understand.

"Oh I'm sorry." She apologized. "I had no idea! I didn't mean to-"

I cut her off before she could finish. "It's okay. You didn't know. And I don't mind. At least someone's talking to me."

"What do you mean?"

Oh shit I didn't mean to say that last part out loud! "It's just that, before, at my other schools, no one talked to me much. They'd all just… shy away from me, ya know? Like they thought I was gona bite them or something." I finished with my top and moved on to the skirt. Thank god my aunt knows I hate wearing skirts, she got me one that just passed my knees. I made a mental note to thank her later.

"I'm sorry. I don't see why, you seem like a good person to have as a friend Nomura-san."

No one had ever said something like that to me before. "Really Honda-san?"

"Yup! And from now on you don't have to worry about that kind of thing. I'll be your friend!"

I laughed a bit in spite of myself. "I'd like that. Thanks Tohru-chan. Oh, you don't mind if I call you Tohru-chan, do you?" I felt a little embarrassed for calling her that.

"No, of course I don't mind Nomura-san!" she said cheerfully.

I was dressed and folding up my cloths by now. "Just call me Kairi, okay?"

"Kairi-san?" she said it like a question.

"What?" I responded.

"Nothing, I just wanted to say it. Sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about it." I said opening the door and walking out.

"And I didn't get to say this before, but my mother died too, earlier this year." Tohru said, still smiling, but with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry Tohru."

"Thanks." She said. "You look great in that uniform Kairi-san."

She changed the subject, so I guess she doesn't want to talk about it. People don't change the subject it they want to talk about something, right? "Heh, it's not really my sort of thing." I put my cloths down next to my bag. Tohru's eyes seemed to light up when she saw the cat hoodie.

"Oh what a cute cat!" she said.

"I was wearing it before, didn't you notice?" I asked as I pulled out my hair brush and started to brush my tangled, still damp hair.

She rubbed the back of her head. "I guess not… so you like cats Kairi-san?"

I smile, "Yes. I love cats. My mom used to tell me that old zodiac story when I was younger. I always liked the cat."

"Me too!" said Tohru. "I even wanted to make a year of the cat fan club."

"Hey can I join?" I asked jokingly.

"Sure, of course!"

Oh yes, I remember that story very well. It's one of the few good memories I have from my childhood: Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, God invited all the animals, "I'm inviting you all to a banquet tomorrow. And don't be late." After hearing this, the mischievous rat lied to his neighbor, the cat, telling him the banquet was the day after tomorrow.

The next day, the rat rode on the back of the cow and arrived at the banquet hall before all the others, thus gaining the first place in the zodiac. After him came the cow, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the ram, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the boar. Together they all feasted until morning. All except for the foolish cat who had been tricked, both out of he banquet and a place in the zodiac.

I cried the first time I heard that story, but I decided not to tell Tohru that. Instead I said, "I always wanted to show the cat that I cared about him. Funny, in a way, the cat from the story was my first love. Silly huh?" Oh yeah Kairi, that's a hell of a lot better!

"That's not silly at all." She said. But her smile was different now. I wasn't sure how, but it looked to me like she was hiding something.

That's stupid, I though to myself, what would she be hiding?

If only I knew…….

I finished with my hair and put the brush away, sticking it and my cloths in my back-pack. I walked over to the full body mirror and examined myself. My shoulder length brown hair was still a little wet, and it looked a little stringy. My face was pail from lack of sunlight, as were my legs. My emerald green eyes seemed to stand out against the rest of my features. Seeing myself in a skirt was a surprise. The girl's uniform was sailor-style and navy blue. The guys uniform that I had seen before was black pants, a black shirt and a tie. How I envy them.

"What's your home room class?" Tohru asked.

"2-D I think."

"I'm in that homeroom! This is great! I can introduce you to my friends! I know they'll like you! Come on let's go!" she grabbed my wrist and tried to pull me out of the bathroom.

"Hold on, I need to get my book-bag before we go!" I told her. I grabbed my bag, threw it over my shoulder, and followed Tohru down the hall.

We walked through the hall ways and into the classroom. It was here I meat the first of the Sohmas, the people who would change the course of my destiny.

As we entered the room, we were confronted by a boy with silver hair and purple eyes. He had a sort of, I don't know, a girly look about him. I remember thinking that he was so beautiful, and wondering if this was a dream, or if I'd died and gone to heaven.

"Hello Honda-san." He greeted Tohru. "Who is this?"

My cheeks were beginning to turn red, I could feel it. 'Try not to say anything stupid!' my inner voice screamed at me. "I'm Kairi Namura. I'm new here."

"I see." He smiled slightly. "My name is Yuki Sohma. It's nice to meat you Namura-san."

"N-nice to m-meat you too." I said. The bell rang and the students took their seats.

"Looks like I'll have to wait till after class to introduce you to the rest of my friends." Tohru said disappointedly.

"Okay." I said. Tohru went to go sit down. I tried to follow her, but a hand on my sholder stopped me. It was a woman I assumed was the teacher. She was young and quite tall, with longer hair pulled up into a pony-tail.

"Aren't you the new girl?" she asked.

"Yeah." I shrugged.

"Thought so. Okay. Find yourself a seat and I'm going to take role. The rest of you, do you're homework or something."

I scaned the room for a seat, wondering if this women's really a teacher or if she's some sort of pod person. The seat next to Tohru was taken, as were all the ones anywhere near Yuki.

Taken by girls no less, I thought to myself bitterly. And why are they all stareing at him like they're going to eat him? Oh great, now they're looking at me. Man these girls are scary. Poor Yuki…

Then I saw him, and all my previous thoughts seemed to disappear.

An orange-haired boy sat towards the back of the room, and, like almost everyone else in the room, he's staring at me. His hair caught me off guard. I mean, I've seen red heads, but never orange heads. I wondered if that was his natural color.

Though there's something different in his crimson eyes. Annoyance? Anger? Our eyes locked, and he blushed slightly, just like I knew I was. But neither of us broke contact.

Then, well, I'm not sure what happened exactly. I started walking towards him. I just couldn't help it. It was almost like I was under a trance. At the time I thought it was just because he was good looking.

I sat down in the desk next to his, our eyes still locked. He's even more good looking up close, I thought. "Um, hi."

He turned so his back was facing me, "Whatever."

More embarrassed now than I had been all day, I faced the top of my desk and tried to swallow the lump that had grown in my throat.

The teacher walked up to the board and started to write something. Me, being the idiot that I am, sat in the back and couldn't see anything.

"Damn it." I muttered under my breath, reaching into my bag and pulling out my glasses. They were black with thick rims. I only had to use them for reading small print, or things that were further away, such as the chalkboard. I go back and forth between wearing them and not.

"You wear glasses?" he questioned. It surprised me a little, enough so that I had to hold back a yelp.

"Uh, yeah. Sometimes. Usually I can see fine…"

"You don't have to explain it!" he said angrily, "I just asked a simple question."

"Jeez, what crawled up your ass and died?" I returned.

"New chick, Orange-head, will you be quite I'm trying to teach up here!" The teacher yelled at us from the front of the room.

"Yes. Sorry." I apologized. The rest of the class was snickering and pointing at us.

Oh great, why does this always happen to me? Every where I go, I get treated like this. I wonder why that is? Well, I do have an idea, but that's impossible, my curse was lifted a long time ago.

Wasn't it?

Of course it was, I thought to myself. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't.

The rest of the morning was no better. I sat there and pretended to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. Every once and a while, I caught the orange head staring at me, but when I looked at him he turned away.

The lunch bell finally rang and the students filtered out of the room.

"So, how was class Namura-san?" Yuki asked me.

"It was okay." I said. Though I wasn't paying much attention. I was watching the orange-head stalk out of the room. Why do I feel so attracted to him? I know he's good looking, but this is crazy! I can't even take my eyes off of him long enough to hear what Yuki's saying to me!

"I wonder if he's okay?" Tohru asked.

"It's just the rain. I'm sure he'll be fine." Yuki assured her.

It was obvious that they knew each other, but before I got a chance to ask about it, I was interrupted by someone else.

"Hey Tohru are you ready for lunch?" she asked. It was one of the girls from our class. She was blond and wore her skirt long, like some sort of yankee. There was another girl with her, who had long black hair and lightless eyes.

"Um, yes. Let's go."

"Ah, and who might this be Tohru-kun? A new friend?" The other girl asked.

"Yes! This is Kairi-san!" Tohru said smiling, of course. "Kairi-san, this is Arisa Uotani-san and Saki Hanajima-san. I call them Uo-chan and Hana-chan. They are my best friends."

"A pleasure to meat you." Hana said with a sligh bow, her long braid falling forward as she did so.

"Same here. Now let's eat!" Uo declared.

I sat with them and ate my lunch: a ham sandwich and a bag of chips. Of course, because I shoved my cloths in my bag with full force, they were crushed. I was hungry enough by now I didn't care. Eating was always a favorite hobby of mine, and other than veggies, I'm not a picky eater.

"So," Uotani asked over her bowl of ramen, "its Kairi right?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"It's a cute name." Yuki commented. I blushed.

"But… your waves are very strange." Hana said.

"Hum? What's that?" I asked.

"Yes. Very strange waves." She added, nibbling at a potato chip. "Could be dangerous."

I was deeply confused. What the hell was she talking about? "What do you meen 'waves'?" I asked.

"Hana-chan can sence peoples electro poison waves!" Tohru explained.

"I still don't get it…"

"In a way it's like mind reading." Hana explained. "I can reed peoples emotions and feelings. They sort of enter my mind like waves."

"Oh. Okay I think I get it now." Though really I had no clue what she meant.

"So Nomura-san, how are you liking school?" Yuki asked me.

I shrugged, "Its okay I guess. I don't really like school too much."

"Neither do I" Uo said, taking a break from her ramen-scarffing to take a drink. "So, you said you live with your aunt? Where at?"

"We bought a house in the woods a mile or so from here." I said.

"Sounds nice." Said Hana.

"It's okay. I like it better than living in the middle of the city anyways." I said, opening my chips and shoving a handful in my mouth. The rough edges scraped the room of my mouth.

It was nice. Sitting there, eating lunch with them. For the first time, I had friends outside my family. Real friends, not people you get stuck with because no one else wants to talk to them either. They were talking with me because they wanted to, and if felt good. I smiled, this was nice. Maybe I can fit in here after all…

"It's always quietest before the storm." My mothers voice rang in my head, as it often did. I thought about her words as the others kept chatting and eating. Why would I remember those words now, of all times? What were they suppose to mean? These were nice people, they welcomed me and made me feel like I belonged.

If only I had known then…

Impossible, how could I have known? But as always, my mother was right in the end.