Chapter Two: The Sohma Family Curse

I tried to calm Tohru down for twenty minutes.
During said time, Tohru grabbed all the animals and ran downstairs. Tohru ran to the postman pleading for help. The dog took the mail and the postman left. Then, Kyo-Cat started shouting at Shigure-Dog and Yuki-Rat. We were then explained that the Sohma family has a curse. Certain members could turn into the twelve members of the Chinese Zodiac plus the cat.
"So, this is normal?" Tohru asked.
"I finally got her to calm down and let out a sigh of relief. Geez. "It's about time." I said in my sigh.
"Strange choice of words," Shigure-Dog said. "But yes. Our family has lived with this curse for generations. After a while, we change back. Only problem is" *POOF! POOF! POOF!* "We're naked." Shigure said laughing.
"OH DEAR GOD!" I shouted as I whipped around, covering my eyes. Tohru just whipped around, screaming.
They got dressed. We were all in the living room. I had made sure that Tohru's bump was okay.
"You really dote on her don't you, Cady?" Shigure asked. I glared at him for an instant. He started cracking up. "That's cute! Don t get me wrong: I only wish these two-" Pointing to Yuki and Kyo. "-Would get along the way you two do." He asked Tohru what it was like to meet the Rat. She said it was exciting. Shigure asked me the same thing but about the Cat. I thought my answer thoroughly as I stared at Kyo's back. He seemed to get even angrier and angrier.
"Well to be honest, it's a little overwhelming. I didn't exactly expect to meet him like this." I said, laughing a little.
"Yes, he's the Cat!" Shigure said. "Although a little clumsier than most. Seeing as how he let Tohru fall on him like that. But he's a skilled martial artist. He actually has a black belt. He'd tell you himself if he wasn't so busy bruiting like a child."
Kyo shot up. "WILL YOU SHUT UP! I told you: It's not my fault. If you wanna blame someone, blame them." He said pointing to me and Tohru. "They shouldn't even be here."
"Leave them out of this." Yuki's soft voice said. "Who we allow in this house is none of your business. You're the one who doesn t belong."
I saw fury grow in Kyo's eyes. He snapped. "PUNK!" He said to Yuki. Kyo punched the table in front of me and Tohru.
A huge piece flew to Tohru. I shoved her back and blocked the table. It hit my arm.
"Ngh!" I grunted as the pain shot through my arm.
I thought I saw Kyo flinch a little. I hit the ground and held my arm.
"Cady!" Tohru said as she pushed up my sleeve.
She inspected it. Shigure came and inspected it too. It was really red and bruised up.
I heard a sharp sound, skin striking skin. I looked up and saw that Yuki had back handed Kyo.
"I knew Kyo was reckless with his temper," Shigure said, giving me a bag of ice. "But to act like this?"
"You're still as stupid as ever." Yuki said. "I'll punish you by giving you exactly what you want. Only this time, I won't hold back."
"OKAY, SISSY BOY!" Kyo shouted as he and Yuki began to fight.
"No, Yuki!" Tohru shouted.
"Don't worry." Shigure said as he covered my arm with a bandage. "This happens more often than you'd think. Those two do nothing but fight whenever they see each other."
"Shouldn't we try to stop them?" Tohru said.
"Would you stop a real cat and rat fight?" I asked her, slipping the sleeve down.
"I wouldn't get involved," Shigure said. "Besides, it'll all be over in a moment." With that, Yuki kicked Kyo through the door and into the yard.
"I told you I wouldn't hold back." Yuki said.
"He sent him flying." Me and Tohru said at once.
"Yuki," Shigure said. "Try not to destroy the house. Okay?"
"It's not my fault. He let his guard down." Yuki looked at us then walked up to me. He touched my hand. "Miss Rhinestone, you're hurt.
"I'm fine. Shigure gave me some ice and bound it." I said. I then looked at Kyo. He was on his hands and knees now. "But..."
"Don't worry. The only thing that's hurt is his pride." Yuki said.
"I suppose your dreams of becoming the Cat are pretty much shattered now." Shigure said.
Kyo took off. Does Shigure always speak without thinking things through? I stood up and walked in the direction he went.
"Cady, where are you going?" Tohru asked me.
"I'm going to see if I can calm him down a little." I said, turning to them. I smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be back soon. Fill me in on everything that goes on, okay, Toto?"
"Okay." I then broke into a run towards Kyo.
I felt the earth beneath my bare feet almost vanish like I was flying as I ran at my fast pace through the small woods. I saw a fallen tree and cleared it with ease. I landed on the other side like a cat.
I had always been like this. I was literally like a real-life Cat Woman.
When I was little, I'd watched that movie so many times that Halle Berry gave me enough provocation to make me train my body. I took many fighting classes, drank milk every chance I could, I loved cod fish, and I absolutely loved the sun light. The feeling of its embrace on my skin made me curl up and take a nap.
I continued to run through the forest. Finally, my hand smacked a tree and I took panting breathes.
I heard faint swearing. I looked up to see a young boy with orange hair. He was hitting his head on the tree.
"HOW COULD I DO THAT? I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!" I smirked. He continued to blame himself for God-only-knows-what as I approached him. My hand touched his back. In instinct, he grabbed my arm and flipped me over his back. I suddenly had my hands pinned to the sides of my head with Kyo's legs straddling either side of my hip.
I stared at him in shock. I winced at the pain in my arm and stomach. My stab wound was irritating. Kyo was angry at first but his face suddenly softened. "Hey, you're that girl from earlier."
"Yeah. I am." I said bluntly.
Kyo's grip on my wrists loosened. "It's Cady...right?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. Um-" His face was a little red.
"What's wrong, Kyo? Is something on your-Ngh!" My wound was hurting.
"Wha-what s wrong?" Kyo asked clearly panicked.
"My wound probably opened." I said through my teeth. "Just give me a moment to focus my energy." I then closed my eyes.
"What the hell are you-" When I opened my eyes, I knew. They were crimson red. I tapped into my inner power to heal my stomach wound. I didn't bother with what happened to my arm. That wasn't fatal. Any wounds that weren't fatal, I rarely healed. I took his hand and guided it to the bandage on my left side as my eyes faded back to its dark green. I panted. I knew he'd figure out that I was weakened if he d only looked into my eyes. I was sweating a little and I hadn t done my hair. I probably looked as sick as a dog. Wait...was that an unintentional Shigure joke?
"What's wrong?" Kyo asked in a panicked voice.
"Can you remove the gauze? It s on the left side of my stomach I can't I need to rest a moment and it's pissing me off." He lifted my shirt just enough and ripped the gauze off without really hesitating. I winced a little at the two seconds of stinging pain, but dropped it. Kyo helped me sit up. I put my hand on my forehead as I propped my elbows on my knees. My breathes were finally evened and silenced.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I was just using some of my power.
"Power?"
I smirked. "In a way, I am cursed too."
"How's that?"
I shook my head. "I don't really wanna talk about it."
"Oh. Okay." There was a few moments of silence but it was comfortable. I liked this silence. I liked to be with him. Why was that? "Hey, uh Cady?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. About earlier...with the whole table thing." I chuckled.
"It's cool. You lost control. You haven't really gotten used to being with people."
"What the-How did-"
"I can tell. You have that shy aura around you. I can tell that you are shy at first but after time you open up to people."
"How do you know that?"
"You're the Cat." I said simply, looking up at him with a soft smile. "All cats are like that." He stared at me. I stood up and held my hand out. "How about we start over?" He stared at me. "My name is Arcadia Rhinestone. Just call me Cady though."
Kyo smiled awkwardly. He took my hand and I hoisted him up. "I'm Kyo Sohma. Don't call me anything other than Kyo, got it?"
"Tell ya what," I said, dropping my hand to my side. "I'll only call you Kit if I m pissed at you."
"KIT?"
"I'll probably come up with something better though in the future." I said, laughing.
"WHY YOU-" I stepped back as he raised his fists. I tripped backwards and grabbed his hand, hoping he'd catch me but to no avail.
He fell on top of me. His face almost a few centimeters from mine and his knees rested on the ground between my legs as his hands slammed onto the ground next to mine to prevent himself from transforming. We stayed like that in shock of what just happened. His eyes were a nice kind of red. They softened as he stared at me. "C-Cady?"
"Hn?"
"Can I...kiss you?" I couldn't speak. I then nodded. His lips awkwardly touched mine. The kiss soon became fairly rough. Kyo was trying to keep his body from falling against mine. His hand went behind my head and pushed my face closer to his as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. I gasped as he did that. One of my hands found his soft orange hair while the other slipped under his shirt as I felt his abs.
Needless to say, he had some abs. (A/N: Sorry! Had to be done! COPYWRIGHT! *inside joke*) He pulled away from me so we could breath. He then pushed his lips against mine again. His other hand found it's way into my shirt. He massaged my stomach. His knee slipped in the dirt and his body fell against mine.
I gasped in shock of the sudden weight and he flinched, waiting for the transformation. We were both in shock.
There was no transformation.
"Why didn t I-"
"I. Have. No. Idea." I said, trying to figure it out.
He stared at me. He realized how close his hand had gotten to my bra. He jumped off of me. "GAH! I'm sorry!" He said. He was blushing like twenty different shades of red.
I smiled. I then got up and fixed my clothes. "C'mon. Let's go back, Kyo. Toto's probably having a panic attack, wondering where I'm at."
"Toto?"
"That's my nickname for her. Her name is Tohru but I call her Toto."
"Why?" He said, getting up.
"Well, when we were little, I couldn't pull her away whenever Wizard of Oz was on. Plus, she was born in the Year of the Dog. It sort of stuck after that. Pretty stupid huh?"
"Hmph," was all he said.
We walked back and talked for a while. When we finally got to the house, I was glomped to the ground immediately by Tohru.
"AH! GEEZ! WHY CAN T I GO ONE DAY WITHOUT SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENING TO ME!" I shouted to the sky as Tohru held me.
"Cady, I'm sorry! I was so worried! Kyo, you didn't hurt her, did you?"
"Are you kidding!" I said as I jumped up. "He almost killed me! He was such a jerk to me!"
"WHAT THE-NO I WASN'T!"
"He hurt me so much!" I said, putting my face in my hands as I faked a sob.
Tohru started laughing. "Cady, you're so cruel!"
I immediately shot up from my hands and gave her a thumbs up alongside my world famous smirk. "Damn straight!" I said completely serious. Yuki came out as Tohru and I were laughing at Kyo's face. Kyo had a red face and was getting angrier and angrier.
"So, I take it things went well?" Yuki asked.
"Yeah. I managed to calm him down. Took a while because he wouldn't stop shouting but in the end, it worked out well. Right-" I turned to Kyo but he wasn't there. "Kyo?" I looked up on the roof and saw orange hair walking along it. "He really is a cat, isn't he? I said, putting my hands on my hips as I shook my head.

Tohru and I sat down in the living room after cleaning up the pieces of the broken table.
"Well, Shigure went to tell Akito everything that went on. Akito's the head of the Sohma family. He's the only one outside the curse in the family that really knows about it." She explained.
"Oh, okay." I saw something in Tohru's eyes. "Tohru, what's wrong?"
"Well, Yuki said that our memories may be erased."
"Let me guess: We're outsiders in the family and because we found out about the curse, our finding out may be erased from our minds. Right?" Tohru jumped and stared at me. She then smiled meekly and nodded. I stood up. "That's okay." I said. "Even if I forget, I was still lucky to have met them."
"Arcadia?"
"You know how reluctant I am to trust males, Tohru. But for some reason, I feel I can trust them. Maybe that's just my instincts or something about my gut or heart but I trust them."
Tohru stared at me. She then smiled. "You're opening your heart. That's the first time you've ever done that with anyone who isn't a girl." I glared at Tohru. I saw that I sent shivers down her spine, which made me smile. It wasn't that I scared her, it was the expression on her face that made me smile.
"What d'ya want for lunch?"
Tohru recovered and smiled. "Anything you make is always all right." I walked into the kitchen. I'd forgotten about the mess.
"Erm... how about we clean this up first." I said, pointing to the Piles of Doom.
Tohru and I cleaned the kitchen. After we were done, she started to cut the vegetables as I was stirring my experiment.
"What are you making?" Tohru asked.
"No clue."
Tohru laughed at me. "You're the same as ever."
"Oh my!" Yuki said as he walked in. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I'd walked into the wrong house."
"Hey, Yuki. Welcome back." Tohru said.
"Oh, you went out? Huh." I said as I continued to cook.
"What are you making?" Yuki asked me as he peered over my shoulder.
"No clue."
"Huh?" Yuki said, kinda worried. I smirked and stayed quiet.
"You see, she likes to do experiments." Tohru explained. "She never follows recipes. Even the recipes she s given, she'll alter because some ingredients sound weird."
"Leeks should not be in soup form." I said, glancing at Tohru and Yuki. "I don't mind eating them raw but cooked leeks always taste nasty to me. Just like spinach." I shuddered at the thought of what cooked spinach tasted, let alone smelled like.
"Cady has always been interested in cooking. When she was little, she'd watch those cooking competitions with her mom." Tohru explained to Yuki.
"Tohru, ya mind helping me set the table?" I said.
"Sure."
"I'll help too." Yuki said.
We set the table and I served everything. Yuki and Tohru tasted it first. I refused to eat it unless Tohru liked it.
"It's amazing!" Tohru said, hugging me.
"It truly tastes wonderful, Miss Rhinestone." Yuki said.
I let out a sigh of relief and ate too. "So, where'd you run off to, Yuki?" I asked.
"Oh, I just went out to my secret base." He said plainly.
"What?" Tohru said, standing up. "You have a secret base? You mean like an underground lab or a fort? That's so cool!"
"Here we go." I said, eating some of the ramen I made. "You really shouldn't have said that, Yuki."
"Huh?" Yuki asked. "Well, I don't know if it s that great," Yuki said. "But next time, I'll take you there."
"Really?" Tohru said. "I'm going to get to go see a secret base! The neighborhood boys had one when I was a kid. But me and Cady weren t allowed to go because they said No Girls Allowed! and-"
"Kyo, stop!" Shigure said as he and Kyo came in.
This suddenness of it made Tohru freeze up for a moment. Me and Yuki just kept eating.
"SHUT UP! YOU JUST LOVE SCREWING AROUND WITH ME LIKE THAT!"
"Kyo, I do-Okay. It was a little fun but you know why I did it! It was Akito's orders! I had no choice!" Shigure explained.
"SHUT UP! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT AKITO!"
"Oh," Tohru interrupted. "Cady made lunch. Would you like to sit and-"
"SHUT UP!" Kyo slammed the door. Shigure took off his shoes, telling Kyo not to take it out on Tohru.
"So," I said, picking up some rice. "I take it our memories aren't getting erased so as long as we can keep your family s secret, right?"
"Exactly. Once again, you never cease to amaze me with your wits." Shigure cooed.
He stepped up to me. "One more step and you'll be eating my cooking through a straw when I'm done with you." I said coldly but with my famous smile. Shigure sat down immediately.
"So, what's the idiot upset about this time?" Yuki said.
"Oh, Kyo's just upset because I made him take an entrance exam. As of Monday, he'll be the newest student at your school." Shigure said in his usual sing-song voice that usually pissed me off.
"Don't you take a single bite," Yuki scolded. "Get out."
"I had a feeling you'd be upset." Shigure explained to me and Tohru. Apparently, he (as in Kyo) had gone into the mountains for training for about four months. "You'll have to excuse him, Cady." Shigure said. "He's a little rough but-"
"It'll take time for him to readjust to living with people. I get it." I finished for him.
"Oh my! Your cooking is excellent, Cady!" Shigure said after trying the soup.
We all ate lunch and Tohru helped me clean up. I went into my room and got dressed. I walked back down the stairs to have Yuki walking by.
"Um, Miss Rhinestone?"
"Hm?" I said, looking up as I slipped my boots on.
"Where are you going? To the club. I have rehearsal tonight. Tomorrow, we have a show." I said, getting up.
"Didn't I tell you, Yuki?" Tohru said, walking in. "Cady's a singer."
"Really?" I nodded. "I'd like to see your show sometime."
"I'll get some passes. Toto, ya mind seeing if Shigure and Kyo wanna go too?"
"Sure."
"Well, I gotta go. I'll see ya guys later tonight. Toto, please don't trip and fall on them." Tohru laughed. I thought I saw Yuki trying to hold in a small laugh but shrugged it off. I said goodbye and dashed off.

"CADY!" Aido shouted as he clung to me.
I dragged him to the stage like that. "You guys ready for tomorrow?" Our manager asked us.
"Yeah!" We all simultaneously said.
I was then showed the costume for the show. It was a black corset with cloth where my chest would be. The stomach would ve been showing and a large belt held up a black and brown ruffled skirt. I would have a glove on my right hand with black straps holding it up. The socks I would be wearing were black. One went all the way up my thigh and the other went to my knee. I would be wearing black boots with it. I had many necklaces that were sometimes longer than the last and large, silver hoop earrings.
Mai would ve been wearing a red jacket that opened up with a black belly shirt under it. She'd have a black mini skirt and wear knee high combat boots.
I didn t see Aido's or Kain's though. I'd see it the next day I guess.
We started rehearsal, going over microphone checks, making sure all the speakers worked. We even got my keyboard out so that way I could play the piano parts of the songs.
"All right. See ya guys tomorrow." I said, waving to them as I dashed off with the four tickets in hand.
I slipped the tickets into my jean pocket. I walked outside and nearly ran into someone.
"Whoa!" He said. He jumped back. I looked up to see red eyes.
"K-Kyo!" I said. "Hey! Geez! You scared me."
"Back at ya."
I blinked then laughed. "Right. Forgot about that. Sorry. So, are you coming?"
"Huh?"
"Let me guess: Tohru meant to tell you but tripped over something and landed on you. Then she totally forgot as she practically screamed so loud maybe the States would've heard her apologies, right?"
Kyo laughed a little. "Yeah. That's what went down." We walked down the streets. "So, when Tohru landed on me-"
"You transformed, didn't you?"
"Yeah." I put my finger to my chin, deep in thought. "What makes you so different that I won't transform?" Kyo asked.
I knew the answer. It was because of my own curse but... "I have no clue." I said, looking him in the eye. "Anyway, you never answered me:-" I held up the tickets. "Are you coming to my show tomorrow night?" Kyo nodded.
"I wouldn't wanna miss it for anything." He then hugged me tight. I blushed at this. He pulled away and shuffled my hair.
"You're so weird." I said, walking ahead. We walked in and took off our shoes.

The next day, I awoke to my alarm clock. I glared at it angrily, as if it would understand and shut up for the rest of its inanimate life. I let a sigh out and slapped the snooze button. I was way too tired from last night. I stayed up until three in the morning, finishing the remainder of my homework.
I turned over in my bed and was met by a soft but hard chest. I curled into its warmth. It was nice to feel the warmth of his chest early in the-
Wait...
Who is this?
I then looked up to see a freaked out Kyo. We stared at each other for a moment. Finally, I snapped.
"KYO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE! GET OUT!" I kicked him out of my bedroom. I ran my hand through my hair. "Well, I'm awake now." I whispered.
"You stupid cat. What were you doing in Miss Rhinestone's room? I heard Yuki say in disgust.
"SHUT UP!"
I heard Shigure laughing. "What were you and Cady doing last night?" I walked out of my room and punched him in the head.
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Me and Kyo shouted at once.
I let out a growl and walked to my room. "That's it. I'm getting ready." I glared at Kyo. "Stay. Out. Of. My. Room." I said through my teeth.
He flinched and I slammed my door closed. I got dressed in the boy's uniform then walked downstairs after I brushed my hair. I had taken a bath the night before so I wasn't really worried about it.
I made pancakes and blueberry muffins.
"Hey, does anyone have any special requests?" I said, poking my head in the living room. "I'm making pancakes and B.B. muffins. Does anyone want anything else?"
"Thank you, Miss Rhinestone." Yuki said politely. "I don't think I'll have anything other than what you're already making." I nodded. Tohru and Shigure said the same thing. I looked around the room the three were in. "Where's bed head? I asked.
"SHUT UP!" I heard Kyo shout in the kitchen.
I jumped and spun around. He was at the fridge, holding the carton of milk and a glass. His face was a little red. I let out a sigh, shook my head, and went back into the kitchen. I finished making the food.
"Kyo, ya mind helping me out?" I said.
"Sure." He took the plate of muffins and I had the pancakes. Breakfast! I announced as we walked in.
We all ate.

At school, Kyo felt so scared. I snickered a little. Then, I felt guilty. Hana said that he and Yuki were almost not human. Of course, Tohru and I had inner freak outs.
"Hana," Uo said. "That's just rude." Yuki walked by. "Uh, hey." Yuki looked over. "Question: Is that orange top over there really your cousin or what?"
"Yes. Let's keep it that way."
I raised an eyebrow. Kyo walked away and a girl immediately attached to his arm. In reaction, he flipped the girl over him and pinned her arm behind her back. He snapped.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" He then jumped out the window, landing like a cat.
Uo started laughing. "He looked like a cat trying to get out of a bath."

A/N: OMG! Chapter 2 is done! I'm so sorry everyone! I've just gotten used to this website's system! But (Finally) Claws & Wings has been updated. I'd just like to say that the entire story is actually finished... Yeah. I spent almost three months on this story with my Microsoft Works Word Processor to make sure it was perfect. Of course I had technical issues with my laptop so I didn't get Internet on it at all. But thankfully it's been fixed. I still have the story so I'm happy with that. I'll keep loading up new chapters but I'll have to edit with them first so that way it has quotation marks. I'd actually gotten complaints about that and sent messages of sincerity that I felt HORRIBLE for it. But, hopefully all this hardwork can make up for it. And breathe *inhale, exhale*
So...what d'ya think? I know that maybe it was a little soon to get Kyo and Cady to kiss but I figured I could make it a really romantic moment but also very awkward.
BTW: How is it that Cady can hug Zodiacs?
Next time: Claws & Wings: Chapter 3: Horrible Things

BTW: I'd like to point out that any songs Cady does in the future: by Evanescence. When I use the lyrics, i'll be sure to throw it in this little bit afterwards. Also, closer to the end, she'll do that cheer routine from lucky star. If you never watched Lucky Star, here's a link from youtube: .com/watch?v=I_G3L8AZO88

Just click it. If it doesn't work. type into the search bar (Of youtube) lucky star dance full. it ranges around 2 mins.

Okay. I'm done ranting. Bye-Bye3 R&R!