A/N: Ah, what the heck. I'll make it a collection. Enjoy! This was a school assignment (yea, I'm that lazy) that I later edited.
Disclaimer: No. If I did, I would have watched the anime. I've only read the manga.
The diffident Kisa hid behind me when he came in. He had always been a person of opprobrium to us- "Oh, look at him, the cat, the outcast. We're not as bad off as he is; we're better than him." Our feelings of superiority to him have been slightly hypocritical, though, as we aren't better off than him, and we know it.
He is even cognizant of our feelings, and some don't even try to hide it. He ignores it and takes his anger out on dummies when he practices his martial arts. …Or when he challenges me, which has been pretty often the past few years. We hated each other mutually before, but I think that that's about to change soon.
Thankfully, there will be twelve- no; thirteen other people to commiserate with, as there are thirteen of us who are to be freed from this stringent curse, including myself and him. And then there's the other person, who Kisa refers to as 'onee-chan': Tohru. She can become friends virtually anyone- even the antisocial Isuzu and the violent, confused, and misunderstood Akito.
Tohru and Kisa both have antinomy personalities- shy and quiet, but slightly outgoing after you get to know them. They are the complete opposite of him; he stays sullen and angry, except around Tohru.
He glares at me as he passes, and I glare back. To call him an idiot would be redundant, as the two words are basically synonyms- Kyo the idiot cat.
Then Akito walks in; looks like he doesn't want the situation to be drawn out any more than necessary. But what is he wearing? Has he taken up Ritsu's annoying habit of cross-dressing? No, 'he' is a she, and she looks nice, slightly less crazed, in her cherry blossom kimono.
But that is beside the point now. Now, it is time. This is the moment Tohru, Shigure, and Rin have been waiting for; the moment the rest of us never dared to believe would come; the moment Akito has dreaded- the moment that has been hundreds of years in the coming. The moment when all thirteen of us- me, the rat; Shigure, the dog; Haru, the ox; Rin, the horse; Momiji, the rabbit; Ritsu, the monkey; Hatori, the dragon; Kureno, the rooster; Kisa, the tiger; Ayame, the serpent; Hiro, the ram; Kagura, the boar; Kyo, the cat- are now formally freed from the curse.
We are no longer possessed by the vengeful spirits of the Chinese zodiac and the cat who was left out of the zodiac. We are finally free!
I am free to be myself; to mess with Manabe; to hang out with Machi; to have Manabe tease me and Machi; to have her freak out on her half-brother. Free to fight with Kyo; free to be hugged by Tohru, in a friendly way; free to be hugged by Machi, free to hug her back, and then make fun of Manabe and his girlfriend when he teases us. I am free to be me!
A/N: OK, without flaming, tell me how bad it was? Oh, and just a note: I think these stories will be slightly OOC, and if they are to you, they are meant to be that way. If they aren't OOC to you, go reread the manga. Please review and then check my other stories! THNXUZVERIMUCH! (Thank you very much!)