Thanks for the reviewing! I haven't changed things too much but I think I might have to explain what some words mean:

Natto is sticky soy beans, their a traditional breakfast food.

Tamagoyaki: rolled omelet.

Gomen means sorry.


The Muddy Outdoors

Breakfast was exactly as expected from a prestigious house like the Sohma's. Anju couldn't help but stare when the food arrived in priceless bowls and was arranged impeccably. She couldn't even get her sock drawer to appear as neat. And just as Hatori-san and she began to guiltily break into the breakfast the first blond Anju had seen in Japan since the mirror in the bathroom dramatically entered their small breakfast room and greeted Hatori-san with a bright smile—he hadn't noticed Anju yet. But he was soon very happy to meet her. But the small blond boy came after Anju politely inquired about her own future as it seemed to have passed hands again.

"Where will I be staying, Hatori-san?" Anju asked as she tried to decide where her chopsticks might do less damage to the artwork of natto and rice. Hatori looked up from his miso and restrained his frown from forming. Instead of looking at Hatori Anju stared at her tamayogaki and pushed the rolled omelet around her serving plate after giving up on the natto. Finally Anju picked a piece of her omelet and placed it in her mouth hardly noticing the sweet and salty taste as her future stood before her completely empty. When had this happened?

"My first choice would to have you live with me." Hatori said and Anju looked up sharply with a smile on her face.

"Really?" she asked hopefully. But she frowned when Hatori hardly looked pleased.

"I live here in the Sohma estate and Akito was clear on the fact that he doesn't want you inside his walls." Hatori-san said idly pushing his spoon through his soup. "So I've asked a favor of a friend of mine." Anju perked in curiosity when Hatori mentioned he had a friend. "He has his own property outside the estate and he seems to be running a high school boarding house where you could make some friends as well." Anju nodded as Hatori was quite knowledgeable in the fact that Anju didn't make friends very well. If she couldn't stay with him he was going to try and give her the next best thing: a friend of his.

"Is he nice?" Anju asked looking up from her plate.

"Shigure is very…eccentric, but you'll be safe there and close to your new school. And I won't be too far away." Hatori-san smiled at the last comment and Anju grinned. "Finish up your breakfast, we'll be meeting him outside the gate." He said going back to his meal. And that was when the other blond crashed their breakfast with his huge smile and happy voice.

--

Hatori-san's car was painfully cramped during her ride to her new home. And because Hatori was the only one who could drive and the small blond boy from breakfast refused to be left behind at the estate that accumulated to seven people in one car. Anju sat in the back pushed against one door with a girl named Tohru Honda smashed against her other side, and not to mention the boy trying to balance on her lap (100 pounds of little boy not comfortable). He'd been attached to Anju since they met over the delicate dishes and was now cutting off the circulation in her legs. His name was Momiji, and his first words to her had been as follows: "You're pretty! I'm Momiji! You know about our curse, right?" Anju had been interested to find out both of them were half Japanese and half European, they seemed to bond instantly over the fact. Her first friend in Japan!

Anju hadn't expected Momiji to get attached to her, and so quickly at that. She was in the company of the people she was going to be living with from then on for two whole seconds before Momiji hugged her happily. And thus they all stared as Momiji stayed looking like Momiji and Anju frowned as he continued to hug her and laugh about not changing. She felt it would have been stupid to ask if he was one of the cursed zodiacs, that much was obvious. Though she had to admit he was adorable.

Hatori hadn't been exaggerating when he said his friend Shigure was eccentric. And though Anju had thought she would only be meeting Shigure-san (the nice man allowing her to impose on his hospitality and take up his space) she had also met the rest of her house mates outside the Sohma estate gates. Tohru Honda was the first to introduce herself after Hatori presented Anju and Shigure together. Tohru was a nice soft spoken girl with extremely good manners and an awkward cuteness about her. And next was Yuki Sohma who was someone that could have been one of those dark hardly seen figures very early that morning in Akito's sitting room. And last was Kyo Sohma. Someone who definitely was one of the people at Akito's gathering that morning. Kyo's orange hair gave him away.

"So you're cursed too, huh, Anju-kun?" Momiji asked in the previously silent car. When Momiji had hugged her, no one had seemed to dare say anything about it. The curse must have been taboo among them. They just stared and gaped rather than ask. It wasn't what she had expected. Momiji seemed to be the only one brave enough to bring up the subject—or maybe he was just the only one the awkward silence hadn't gotten a hold of yet and could still think of something other than the awkward silence over the car. With his question, the car only got quieter and everyone waited for her answer. The question had plagued their minds since Momiji's hug; at least it would have if the awkward silence hadn't descended upon them. Anju had noticed the subtle glances aimed toward her, they were curious.

"Yep." She answered and pressed her forehead against the cool window. It was still drizzling outside and the streets were a bit flooded. Hatori-san had to drive slowly down the streets because of all the water. The slow drive made the ride to Anju's new home even longer then it should have been and prolonged the time Momiji spent directly killing her legs. As they passed through the streets people hung out their windows and others tentatively stepped out their doors to observe what the storm had left behind. Lots of water and debris seemed to sum everything up nicely. Through lots of garbage cans had ended up very far from home.

"Are you a zodiac animal too?" Tohru asked excited. She turned toward Anju expectantly thinking Anju would answer right away. When Tohru turned it had probably formed a bruise on Anju's hip. Tohru must not have been in the room when Akito had summoned her to the Sohma house; she definitely hadn't been there to hear what only Hatori-san had been privileged to hear. Tohru hadn't even been there with all of the zodiacs together; it was possible that Tohru hadn't met all of them. Surprisingly, Anju could feel the rest of the car minus Hatori-san strain their ears and wait impatiently for her answer. Actually, Anju couldn't help but wonder why Tohru had been at the Sohma estate in the first place. The rest of the car's occupants were part of the zodiac; they knew fully well what her answer would be. But just because she felt like it, Anju left a pregnant pause after Tohru's question.

"Are you?" Momiji asked turning suddenly on Anju's lap and making her grunt as he brutally killed her thighs with his bony butt. His eyes grew big and he looked at her containing his excitement. He should have known that she wasn't, him being a zodiac himself meant he had to know all of the others, and therefore knew that she wasn't part of that select group. She definitely wasn't one of them.

"I don't know," Anju said with fake ignorance. "Hatori-san? Am I?" She questioned innocently putting their driver on the spot. Anju smiled as she plopped her head against the glass again. Attention had turned to Hatori-san.

"Don't lead them on, Anju-kun." He said flipping the turning signal on and slowly taking his overstuffed car through a flooded intersection. "You're not and you know it," a simultaneous irritated groan sounded through the car and Momiji wailed unhappily (--Anju-kun!--).

"You're no fun, Hatori-san." Anju said against the fogged glass, her sigh spreading moisture across the glass. "It would have been nice to have an entire year dedicated to me though, ne?" She pondered aloud breathing deeply onto the window and spreading a thicker fog over her sigh. She saw Hatori-san smirk through his side mirror and Anju grinned. There really was something about that girl. The car slowed even more as Hatori-san turned down an unpaved road and everyone was pushed from side to side as the car trudged through uneven mud and rocks. Anju glared as she hit the door, and Tohru and Momiji pushed into her at the same time. She wasn't having fun. Momiji whined unhappily. Her sentiments exactly.

"Shigure-san!" Momiji said suddenly. "Your house is muddy." Anju turned from the window and peered past Momiji through the windshield. Great, she was moving in with strangers to live in an old house in the middle of nowhere. Someone was going to murder her and no one was ever going to find out she was dead. So this is what her family had been planning the entire time. The Sohma's weren't just taking her off her families hands; they were taking her off their hands. Crap, she thought.

As soon as Hatori-san stopped the car out front of the big old-fashioned house Momiji swung open their door and leapt the three feet to the safe non-muddy grass. Anju, with no such leaping abilities so early in the morning scrunched her nose with distaste and sunk her boots into the mud. At least she wasn't like Tohru with little white runners. Anju joined Momiji in the grass as quickly as she dared and turned to watch the rest of the car's riders grudgingly trek through the mud. According to Hatori-san, Anju would be going to school with all four of the people she had experienced claustrophobia with. She hadn't much time to meet all of them before they were packed like sardines together.

At the Sohma Main House they had stood on the sidewalk waiting for Hatori's car. "It's very nice to meet you, Mamoto-san." Yuki greeted as Momiji introduced everyone. "Hey," Kyo had waved unconcerned. "Hello Anju-kun, I hope we'll be good friends!" that had been Tohru, someone even Anju could recognize as easy to get along with. "You're so cute!" Shigure-san, the owner of the house she was to stay at, was physically and verbally assaulted for his comment.

"Come on, Anju-kun! It's wet out here." Momiji said with a big smile as he skipped toward the ancient looking house. Did it even have electricity? She wondered. Anju slipped her hands into her coat pockets and followed Momiji to the front porch for safety from the elements. On top of forcing five people into three seats, all of them had been sporting thick winter coats against any unexpected weather. Anju swore to never pile into a car like that again. That had been as close to hell as she was going to allow. In response, a large raindrop splattered on her nose stinging her eye.

Anju shuffled across the grass wiping her boots clean before ascending the steps. So far, she didn't like Japan too much. Cursed people lurked behind every corner, dreadful weather loomed over her head, and there was mud. No girl in her right mind enjoyed mud. Especially the dirty kind of mud.

"Heh, heh. That was fun!" Tohru said awkwardly as tension grew between Yuki and Kyo. A girl like Tohru might pretend she enjoyed that, but there was no way it was true. In the small time Anju had to observe Tohru it was clear she was that rare kind of person that would do anything to make others happy. She even nominated herself to tackle the challenge of keeping peace between Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun; even Anju (who'd been in their company for an hour) could feel the constant tension and angry waves between the two.

"I can't believe I had to sit by that damn rat for so long!" The orange haired Kyo yelled shaking a fist at Yuki who was calmly making his way out of the mud ignoring Kyo. Anju paused on the second step and watched Kyo and Yuki glare at each other once Kyo made another remark. In the car they had been silent, and now they were getting ready to go at each other's throats, she didn't get it. There were no consistencies with them. In response Yuki stopped his trek out of the mud and turned back toward Kyo, crossing his arms in defiance to his words.

"Baka neko," Yuki said executing his insult and turning away from Kyo and walking into the house. Yuki acted like Kyo yelling at him and calling him a rodent was a daily happening. He continued an air of indifference all the way to the steps where Anju stood watching them confused. Yuki nodded to Anju planning to greet her in some way, or invite her into her new home before Kyo interrupted.

"Say that to my face you bastard rat!" Kyo shouted, rushing out of the mud. A display of arcing mud followed Kyo to the steps where Anju still stood. Anju sighed, accepting Yuki's non-verbal words that the name-calling and yelling were routine after all.

"It's safe to assume Yuki-san is the Rat and Kyo-san is that fated Cat, ne?" Anju asked Momiji with a tentative smile. For some reason she didn't feel quiet right smiling after Yuki and Kyo's display. Momiji dispersed the feeling quickly as he agreed her assumption was correct with a blinding smile.

"How'd you guess?" He pulled her inside by her hand before Tohru had even made it through the mud yet. Tohru's eyebrows were furrowed as she worriedly went in after the fighting boys. Muddy footprints littered the front porch into Shigure-san's home. He sighed. Echoed from inside, Yuki and Kyo continued calling each other names, 'dirty rat' and 'stupid cat' and all the like. "Oh yeah." Momiji rubbed the back of his neck. "It's that obvious, huh?

"Say, Anju-kun!" Momiji said changing the subject and stopping to turn and look at Anju closely. He leaned in close breaking her personal space and stared hard into her eyes. Nani? Hatori-san and Shigure-san had closed the door removing their muddy shoes with everyone else's and joined Anju and Momiji in the sitting room. "You have the same color eyes as Ayame-san!" He yelled surprised and leaned closer toward her for a better look. Anju tried to lean that perfect distance that didn't say you were awkward with someone in your face rather just surprised. It didn't quiet work, she almost lost her balance.

"Nani? Ayame-san?" Anju asked confused as she sat down with the three remaining Sohma's at a small table. With the cold weather and the just starting winter in Japan a heater was under the table with a thick skirt of blanket to hold in the heat around the edge of the table. Shigure-san bent under the table and turned the heater on to everyone's relief. The whole house had been left alone during the storm and it felt cold and empty. But a few yells and thumps of fighting from Yuki and Kyo warmed the place up a bit. Weirdly enough.

"It seems you do," Hatori-san agreed. Anju glared at him and he gave her that blank look that somehow relayed an amused feeling; they weren't answering her. Who was this Ayame-san?

"Hmm, really?" Shigure-san asked leaning over the table to get a closer look for himself. Hatori-san promptly pulled Shigure-san back to their side of the table looking annoyed. Anju continued to glare at Hatori-san un-amused. Through her squinted eyes and interfering bangs Shigure-san had troubles finding the resemblance, and especially from all the way across the table. "I can't see!" But he found it when she glanced at him. "Well, they are. But that's definitely not a look you would get from Aya-chan." Shigure-san commented. "But still cute! Anju you're so cute!"

"Hey, Anju-kun?" Momiji asked drawing attention away from Hatori speaking lowly to Shigure-san (who didn't look happy); she wanted to know who Ayame-san was, but Momiji was changing the subject. "If you're cursed like us, then do you change into an animal too?" He asked curiously. Anju looked away from Hatori-san long enough to see Momiji was serious.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, "Of course." That was the nature of the curse: to turn into an animal after a "huggle" from the opposite sex. She'd hate to discover another bane curse that had been cast onto human kind.

"Really!" Momiji asked happily. Momiji was a really androgynous boy Anju thought as he smiled happily toward her. Even his ears were pierced and his coat and shirt were a bit flowing like a dress. Whatever, she shrugged. It suited him in an odd way. Oh yeah, they were talking.

"You do?"

Anju turned to see that Tohru and the fighting boys had returned. Kyo had asked the question. Anju also could tell that whatever the two had fought over Yuki had won. He still looked poised and untouchable whereas Kyo looked like he was trying to overcome the anger of loosing to Yuki. Anju rightfully guessed that Kyo lost to Yuki a lot.

"What animal?" Momiji and Tohru asked at the same time. Anju fell back onto her palms in surprise as Tohru and Momiji broke into her personal space again. "Which one?" they persisted. Anju mildly wonder if all of the citizens of Japan were like these two. Though Momiji had already decided they were friends and Tohru had offered her friendship they were already bugging her for details of her life she wasn't even comfortable thinking about to herself. In pure Anju fashion she fell back onto her safest defense: sarcasm.

"A porcupine." Anju answered straight-faced. She had hid behind sarcasm enough to rule out the sarcastic tone and just straight out say whatever. Though she realized she had been a bit too straight faced because behind the two riding in her grill Kyo and Yuki looked unconvinced as they sweat dropped. Anju glanced to Hatori-san and he looked tired with her believable sarcasm with a hand to his forehead and is eyes closed. He had heard too much of it over the time that he had known Anju.

"Really? A porcupine?" Shigure-san asked leaning over the table again. Hatori-san sighed with exasperation for how could Shigure have believed her too? Anju laughed a bit uncomfortably trying to scoot back from the eager faces. She had been joking.

"How cute!" Tohru commented looking up as she imagined Anju turning into a porcupine. Anju let out another uncomfortable laugh; Tohru had believed her too. Why were they so gullible?

"She wasn't serious, Honda-san." Yuki broke Tohru's daydream and she frowned. But Yuki was there to clear the air Anju guessed. Anju glanced at Yuki before Tohru questioned her further.

"You weren't?" Tohru asked. Tohru acted as though no one had ever told her a lie. Sarcastic or not Anju had lied. Anju realized Tohru always expected the best in people, and she should have felt flattered but instead felt a little bad at deceiving the girl so easily.

"Anju-kun's just keeping it a secret, right?" Momiji asked loudly with another bright smile. Everything seemed fun and happy though his eyes, Anju thought. But she mentally sighed with relief from his question. If he had intended it or not Momiji had soothed her bad feelings over and she felt a bit better. She guessed she really did want to keep her cursed animal a secret. The story that went with it was a real pain to explain.

"All the more exciting it'll be when I mess up and some guy hugs me, ne?" Anju asked back to Momiji with a smile. She found she liked him even more after he had so easily made her feel better. "Now, who's Ayame-san?" She added curiously. Anju watched Yuki suddenly glare at nothing as she said the name and Kyo seemed to get angry at a memory. She tilted her head. That had perked her curiosity.

"Ayame-san?" Tohru asked, "That's Yuki-kun's older brother." She said happily. "He's in the zodiac too." Anju thought back to when she had first entered Akito's self-important chair room. If Ayame was part of the zodiac then he must have passed her on his way out of that sitting room. She remembered seeing Kyo, Shigure-san, and a tired Yuki pass her out of the room. And Momiji had curiously watched her on his way out. But someone with the same color eyes as her? She just couldn't remember. It had been too dark to see such details.

"Say Anju-chan?" Shigure-san asked suddenly. "What did you talk to Akito about?"

"And why did we all have to sit in a big circle so he could stand in the middle and call on some spirit?" Kyo pondered.

"That's a secret too!" Momiji said to Kyo as if to humorously ridicule him. "But he was calling a fox to our circle," he said to Anju. "And then you showed up, right? Gasp! You're the kitsune aren't you?" He asked curiously. His face had changed half way though as he came to the realization. A big grin came to his face. He'd figured it out. Anju frowned looking to Hatori-san for help. He gave her a stern look back; these were her questions to answer if she wished to or not. She frowned fumbling over her own thoughts.

A bit embarrassed, Anju looked around the room for everyone's reactions to Momiji's realization. She didn't think she could take it if she was rejected in her new home already. Hatori-san sighed watching her hesitation to say anything. She may have been confident in some areas, but others were too touchy for her to address easily. Talking about the Kitsune with strangers, who everyone in the room pretty much was to Anju, would be like talking about herself to strangers. Hatori-san knew how much she hated talking about her life as it was a sad subject. But then again so was everyone else's, and his included. Anju just needed to realize that. They were all coming from the same place.

"Yes, I am." She said staring closely at the tabletop. Anju was preparing herself for the worst, but Hatori-san smiled to himself. She definitely wasn't prepared for Tohru. No one had ever been able to prepare for that girl. Get ready Anju, here comes Tohru Honda.

"Really?" Tohru asked wide-eyed. "That's so cute!" She practically squealed. Anju flinched because of her tender ears but still managed to look up surprised at Tohru. In his own way, everyone smiled at Anju. All of them had met Tohru and had been shocked at how accepting she was; it was just Anju's turn to be blown away by Tohru Honda and how wonderful a person she was. "Oh I can't wait to see what you look like; too bad all of the boys here are cursed too." She pondered placing a finger to her chin in thought. "Awe!" She complained seeming to come to a realization. "I don't know any boy that's not cursed but knows about the curse." She sighed feeling she had to be apologetic toward Anju. "Oh! Gomen, did I say something wrong?" She asked suddenly. "I didn't know I offended you!" Tohru clapped her hands together and bowed her head in sorry. "Forgive me!"

Tohru's question was excusable after all Anju looked brain dead with shock. Tohru might have been the last person in the room she would have expected to react so well. Being as Tohru was the only non-cursed person present. And then Tohru felt she had to apologize for anything she did that might offend anyone in the entire world.

"No," Anju said clearing her thoughts and rejoining the land of the living. "You don't have to apologize, Tohru-kun." Tohru looked up smiling brightly. Anju had called her Tohru-kun. That meant they were really friends. "You just surprised me. Anyone else that knew about the Kitsune would just sneer at me and tell their children to stay away from the monster." Anju confessed looking down at her hands. "Even my father refused to touch me. It was bad enough he had to support me." In truth, Momiji had been the first person to touch her in months, let alone hug her.

"We wouldn't do that." Anju looked up surprised at Yuki. She hadn't expected him to be the one to break the silence; maybe Momiji, but definitely not him. All of these people were just unpredictable. He looked down at her sitting under the heater with a sincere smile. She looked back with big eyes as if she needed something from him. He just continued to smile because he recognized that look. He'd worn it himself for most of his childhood.

Please review! And I'd like to hear any suggestions you have--they give me inspiration for new chapters.

-BS