Chapter 1

It's my first day of school in Japan, so I decided I'd make the perfect first impression by making my eye-lids a vivid green to bring my eyes out further, and I'd curl my dark brown hair. I put half a bottle of moisturizer on so my olive skin would be extremely soft. Yup, I was ready.

I ran out the door with my book bag and a piece of bacon. I could tell the day was going to perfect. The sun was shining, kids were laughing, birds were singing, and it just felt good! That's when I remembered my curse… Darn you Sohma- UMPH! I ran into someone and tumbled backwards.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?" I opened my eyes to see a boy with grey hair and purple eyes. However, he didn't look weird because of it; just…unique.

"Don't apologize to her Yuki! She ran into you." the orange-haired guy said.

"Kyo, don't be so-"

"He's right, I'm sorry." I dusted myself off. I looked at their uniforms before my eyes lit up. "Hey, you guys go to the same school as I do, Kaibara High School!" They gave me a shocked look before finally noticing my uniform.

"Oi, would you look at that?" Kyo stated. "What grade are you in? We three are just now started our third years."

"Cool! I'm a third year. I think…No… Right! Third year. Sorry, I missed half of my junior year in America to come to Japan, so I have to try and remember. Gomen."

"No problem." a girl behind them piped up. I hadn't even noticed her until now. "I'm Tohru, by the way."

"Rosa." I said with a small wave.

"Well, not to ruin the moment of possible friendship forming, but if we don't hurry now, we're all going to be late." Yuki stated matter-of-factly. We all nodded and continued to walk. Once we got to the school, we each found our names on the class chart.

"What a coincidence." Yuki chuckled under his breath. Tohru looked at him funny, so he explained further. "We're all in class 3-A." Her eyes lit up so they almost had suns in them.

"Oh yay! We're going to have so much fun! Oh, what classes are Arisa and Saki in, Yuki?"

"Let me see here…2-A as well."

"Yay! Oh my gosh Rosa, you are going to love them! Arisa is a bit of a tomboy and pretends to be a super tough I-don't-need-anyone kind of person, but it actually super sweet and caring. Saki is a psychic girl who senses electric waves, and even though she seems a bit scary at first, she's also really nice and caring."

"Okay…thanks for the warning?" I said, just a bit confused.

"YUKI!" I heard a group of girls call. They started to surround the poor boy. "Yuki we missed you so much!

"How was your break?"

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Please tell me you didn't get a girlfriend!" They wouldn't leave the poor guy alone.

"Ladies, please. We should all be heading to class. We don't want to be late on the first day, do we?" The girls all looked at him pitifully. I looked him the eyes and I could tell the princely thing was just some BS he put together for chicks like this. Why not put on some BS myself?

"Yeah. Besides, don't you know better than to surround another girl's guy?" I said as I squeezed through and linked elbows with him. Now they looked angered, but I only smirked at them. With a hmph, they all walked away to their designated classes.

"Dare I ask?"

"Don't worry, I figured that if you could put up some BS to try to get them away, so could I." I said as I let him go.

"You're pretty different, aren't you?" He obviously wasn't sure what to think of my sassy attitude and confident (slightly arrogant) ways.

"Me? Different? Of course I am." I said as I walked backwards. "Now, race all you guys to the classroom!" With that, Tohru and I bolted for it. Kyo and Yuki, however, stayed back for a second.

"What do you think she'd do if she knew about the curse?" Kyo asked a sheepishly.

"I don't know. She seems like she wouldn't care. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

xxx

During lunch I had finally gotten to meet Arisa and Saki. They were…weird, but I loved them all the same since I'm weird too.

"Oi, looks like we have completed the group. We have the completely selfless Tohru, the tomboy me, the psychic weirdo Saki, and now the sassy girly-girl Rosa! Yeah, that's pretty much from one end of the spectrum to the other." Arisa stated plainly. We all laughed and talked more until the bell rang.

After school I waved good-bye to my new friends and started home.

"Miss Gomez." an almost elderly man called. "Have you forgotten?" Oh yeah…

"Right, sorry. I almost had. Haha." I said as I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

"Rosa, what's with…?" Kyo asked from behind me.

"I-i-it's n-n-nothing."

"Well obviously it's something. You're getting into Akito Sohma's limo!"

"How would you know that?"

"He's the head of our family." Yuki answered for him. "Now can we know?"

"Ah, ah, um…I-I really need to go! Chaio!" I quickly slipped into the limo and closed the door. My heart was pounding a mile a minute. Why did they have to be Sohma's? Why couldn't they be some other Japanese family?

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Gomez." I man said next to me, startling me a bit.

"Uh, hi?" I said nervously. He cracked the world's smallest smile.

"I'm Hatori. Akito doesn't exactly know that I'm here, but I thought I'd warn you that he can be…vicious. Try your very hardest not to anger him."

"Huh? I don't understand."

"It's quite alright, you don't need to completely."

I was about to be my stubborn self and insist he tell me, but arrived at Akito's too soon, only to see him waiting outside.

"So what exactly do I do during my hour here?" I said as I stepped out.

"Do you want the honest or the expected?"

"Well I don't know what to expect, so how about honest?"

"You're naturally intriguing, so I just want you to keep me company."

"Why?"

"Because you're different. Most people are too afraid of me. You however were afraid, yes, but still fearless in a way."

"Wait, so punishing me was just a way to get me to come back?!" He stood up and leaned over me a bit with a smirk.

"And if it was?"

I wouldn't let him know how frickin terrified I was. "Well, I don't know. In a way I'm bit annoyed that you didn't just ask for me to come back, but in a way I think it's nice that even though I trespassed you wanted me back." He narrowed his eyes a bit, but straightened up.

He looked up at the sky before speaking. "That was just an example of what I was talking about earlier." He looked back to me. "You were obviously a bit terrified, but you kept your composure. Also, you don't treat me like I was as high and mighty and people like to think I am. You treat me with a bit more respect than you would treat someone average, but not like I'm an actual God." And here comes the silence and soul searching. Even though I knew what he was doing as he searched my eyes, I couldn't get myself to look away. I never let people search my soul. Why would he be any different? Before I could even try coming up with an answer, I heard someone yelling at us.

"Rosa! Get away from him!" I looked over to see Kyo. He was standing with Yuki and some other man in a kimono. My face fell straight to my palm. Well…this is just great. I hadn't even realized Akito moved so he was right next to me until I felt an arm go over my shoulder.

"I think she should stay, cat." Akito stated plainly, except for when he said cat, he said it with venom.

"Well I think-" Kyo started, but the kimono dude put a hand on his mouth.

"As he was saying, he thinks it just might be better if she go home by now."

"It's okay guys. I'm alright." I stated clearly. Yuki and Kyo both darted a glare at me.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE IS CAPABLE OF." they shouted together.

"I do what I am capable of, though, and I am capable of protecting myself." I yelled to them before mumbling to myself, "not that I need to…"

Akito pulled me closer to him just quick enough to make me give a startled shriek. He also tightened his hand on my shoulder just enough to make the clothing come in so it looked like it hurt. "You three should leave now." It wasn't a question. It was a direct command. I still hadn't fully recovered from the sudden pull, so there was a look in my eyes that could have been mistaken as fear, even when it was really "WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?"

"Yes Akito. We'll be going now." kimono dude said as he pulled the two boys away, of course covering their mouths so they wouldn't shout something stupid. It was quite a comical sight, so I chuckled a bit at them. When they saw me chuckle, they stopped fighting back…as much. Once they were gone, though, I got out of Akito's grasp and wacked him upside the head.

"What the heck was that?" He answered me with an odd look.

"Not once has anyone ever wacked me upside the head like that."

"That didn't answer my question!"

"I was just messing with my family's heads. No harm in that." he smirked at me like he was some sort of prankster.

"You know, I should go and tell them I'm alright…" he raised an eyebrow at me. "After my hour is up…" He gave an approving nod. "Now, I have one last question…"

"Yes?"

"They'll most definitely wonder what the heck just happened, so am I allowed to tell them I have been 'punished' for trespassing and all?"

He chuckled a bit. "I suppose." Suddenly his eyes grew wide as if he remembered something. "Oh, I will warn you, in our family, hugs are a sign of severe disrespect. In fact, hugging basically means you want them dead, so just…avoid such." I gave him an odd look.

"Seriously? Uhg, whatever. I won't ask." I rolled my eyes. It's a weird family, so I'll just leave some things be.