"H-Hatori…Sohma?" I just stared at my old friend in shock, It's impossible! There was no way I signed up to help Hatori!

After a moment, Hatori closes his mouth and calmly says, "It's been a while, my friend."

"Huh?" Momiji looked between us, still smiling. "You two know each other?"

I nodded once. "Yes, we were friends in High School."

"Cool!" Momiji interlocked his arm with mine. "I can't wait to get to know you better, Yukino!"

"Yukino…" Hatori mumbled softly, I could barely hear him. It was obvious though that he was just trying to remind himself of my name.

I smiled down at Momiji. "Thanks for bringing me to Hatori, Momiji, but I think I got it from here."

"Aw…but Yukino…!" Considering he was giving me the puppy face, the whining was kinda cute.

Hatori turned from me and grabbed a wallet, stuffing it into his back pocket. "It's okay, I have to run to the store for something anyway. You and Momiji can get to know each other a little better." He exited his house and said as he was walking away, "I'll show you your room later…Yukino."

I watched him walk away for a moment before following the young child inside. I removed my shoes and cautiously set my suitcase down. I have to admit that, by this point, I'm nervous as hell! I don't want Shigure or Ayame randomly appearing out of nowhere, I know they'd freak. (Especially Ayame, I never did get a chance to say goodbye to him.)

Momiji sat down at a Kotatsu in the middle of the room. "Come on, Yukino, sit down. Lets talk a little bit."

I laughed a bit and sat down at the Kotatsu across from him. "So, what'd you wanna talk about?"

"I wanna know how come you and Hari are friends, and he never mentioned you!"

I smiled just the slightest. Of course he wouldn't mention me, after all I didn't trust him when I said I did. "Well, back in High School, I had this huge secret and I never told Hatori, Shigure, or Ayame. When—"

"You're friends with Sensei and Ayame???"

"Yeah…" I hung my head. "Well, I was. Whenever they found out my secret, they freaked out. I didn't trust them with my secret and it turned them against me."

"Aw…"

I chuckled twice. "It's okay though. Maybe I can rekindle those old friendships now that I've returned."

"Yeah!" Momiji said a little too enthusiastically.

Honestly, I just wanna get through this so that I can become a real doctor in a hospital. I don't even care about rekindling these friendships. I broke that chance when I left.

"So, when'd Hatori go for the 'emo' hair style? I mean, it looks good on him but it's just strange." I wanted to get my mind off of where it was going. I had no idea of what was about to be told to me…

Momiji folded his hands in front of him on the wood of the Kotatsu. "A few years back, Hari met a girl named Kana. They were so much in love, they had plans to marry." He looked out of the nearby window, staring at the sky as if lost in some kind of dream…or nightmare. "Whenever Hari went to Akito – the head of our family – to ask for permission, he not only declined it but he also threw a vase at Hari. It hit him in his left eye, he's mostly blind because of it."

I just stared at Momiji in surprise. I had never imagined Hatori being affected so badly, after all he's the Sohma family doctor. I thought he was living life how he had wanted, not like this.

"So, what happened afterward, with their relationship, I mean?"

Momiji looked back at me, his hands were still folded in front of him. "Akito blamed Kana for Hari losing his sight in his left eye. She fell ill…she was bedridden most of the time. Hari felt horrible for that happening to her and decided to ask Akito what to do about it."

I gasped slightly. Why would you ask someone what to do in a relationship that person screwed up?! It doesn't make any sense!

"Akito told Hari just what to do… For some reason, he has this strange ability to wipe memories… Hari erased all of Kana's memories of their time spent together, even though he knew it would hurt him."

Hatori… I hung my head again and I felt tears running down my face. It couldn't be…! Hatori's life…I had prayed for him everyday I was at the university to have a good life. Why was Hatori cursed with such misery?

Momiji leaned across the Kotatsu. "Yukino? What's wrong?"

I sniffed. "It's just that…I couldn't imagine having to go through that…" I wiped my eyes. "And Hatori was such a good friend of mine…I just can't imagine my friend having to deal with such torment."

Momiji smiled small. "Don't worry about Hari. He's happy that Kana is with someone she really loves."

I wiped my face dry and of the tears. "Yeah…"

The door opened. I looked back, but there was no one there. I looked back at Momiji; he looked just as confused as me.

"Is it possible that this house is haunted?" I asked, kinda scared.

"Um…N-Not that I know of…" Even though he said that, Momiji seemed just as scared.

Suddenly, a shadow flew across the Kotatsu and landed with stealth behind Momiji. The brown haired man turned around, flashing me a smile that I could never forget.

"Shigure?" I squeaked as I tried to control my heart rate. "You almost gave me a heart attack, you bastard!"

Shigure laughed innocently. "Now, now, Yukino, I didn't mean to. I thought you'd be glad to see your author friend."

"Author?" My ears perked up at that, I hadn't heard of Shigure writing anything.

He pulled a book out of the kimono he was wearing and tossed it at me. "I write these."

I caught the book and read the front. Summer Colored Love. Where had I heard this book title before…? "Oh my god! You're such a pervert!" I threw the book back at his head, it hit.

"You've read my book then?" Shigure asked happily as he rubbed the area that had reddened from where the book hit it.

"No, my roommate at the university did!" I shuddered. "I had no idea it was you who wrote it, you perv!"

"I'm not a perv!" Shigure said defensively.

"I beg to differ." Hatori said flatly as he walked back into the house empty handed.

I looked back at Hatori and eyed him suspiciously. "The store?"

"I ran into Shigure. When I told him you were back, he insisted on seeing you."

"Oh." I looked back at Shigure. "How've you been?"

"Great!" Shigure continued telling me about how wonderful his life's been going up until now while I just thought about Hatori.

I couldn't get over how sad his has been. I mean, even though Akito is the head of the Sohma family, he has no right to tell someone who they can or can't love!

"Shigure, Momiji, you should both leave." Hatori said suddenly, cutting off Shigure in the middle of saying something about some girl named Tohru Honda.

"What? Why?" Momiji started whining. "I wanna talk with Yukino more!"

I chuckled a few times and patted the little boy on the head. "it's okay. Hatori needs to show me where everything goes, and tell me how to treat certain people, I'm sure."

Hatori nodded once. "Yes, I do. Shigure, why don't you take Momiji with you back to your house? I'm sure he'd like to see Tohru."

Shigure nodded and snickered. "Okay then, you two play nice."

I blushed and threw an empty cup at the pervert's head as he left. "Shut up!"

Hatori sat down where Momiji had been sitting across from me at the Kotatsu once the door was shut. "I'll call the university later. Maybe they can send you somewhere else."

"Huh?" I just stared at Hatori. "What're you talking about?"

"I understand that if you stay here, it will be…awkward, to say the least. Granted, I had no idea that you were still in Japan, let alone the university, but I shouldn't have even signed up for this." He looked right past me and at my suitcase that was still sitting there. "You're still packed, so—"

"I don't care how 'awkward' you say this will be. I want to stay here, I want to become a doctor. Since you're a family doctor, it'll be easier for you to train me as opposed to being trained in a hospital." I said as-a-matter-of-factly. "I only need to be here for a couple of years, you can last that long. If not, I'll leave…but I don't want to."

Hatori smirked and chuckled once. "Fine, have it your way." He stood up and motioned at my bag. "Grab your bag, I'll show you your room."

I nodded and jumped up to grab my bag. The moment I turned around, the door opened behind me. I turned back around to make sure I wasn't going to be attacked, but all I saw was a pile of clothes.

"Weird…" I turned back around and started walking to where Hatori was standing with a serious look on his face. I smiled reassuringly to let him think I wasn't completely freaked out.

As Hatori showed me the room and began explaining just what time to be expected up and ready a felt something slithering up my back.

"Eek!!" I dropped my suitcase and started jumping around. "H-Hatori, there's something in my shirt!!"

I looked over my left shoulder when I felt it stopped there and saw a snake staring me in the face. I screamed as loud as humanly possible and threw the snake at the wall. "Oh my God, a snake!!!"

Hatori simply groaned even though I was beyond freaking out. I couldn't understand what he was mumbling as he walked over to the snake. As Hatori was bending over to pick it up, there was a poof of white smoke and suddenly a completely naked Ayame was laying where the snake was.

"Holy crap…she's got one hell of an arm…" Ayame chuckled.

I gasped and froze. Hatori did too; I could sense the unrest in the air suddenly shift to unease – though it's not much of a difference.

"Ayame, you should be more careful! She had no idea of the curse!" Hatori yelled at the halfway unconscious man as he threw a pillow over his cousin's waist.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE?!?!" I yelled, completely freaked out.

Hatori faced me and sighed. "In the Sohma family there's a curse that turns us into the animals of the Chinese zodiac…"