Chapter Two:

School had ended finally, and both of the young girls were happy to get out of that place of so called 'Learning.' Tora was walking next to Mikata silently. The only good thing about today was that it was Friday...but it didn't seem like normal at all.

"Soo..." Tora started, trying to break the silence. "Where do you think Lance was today?"

"who knows...Maybe he's sick." Mikata answered.

"He's gonna need to make-up the exams then..." Tora said back. They were currently taking the end of the year exams...well, today was their last day.

"Yea, yea, I'm sure he knows that..."

"Something wrong Mika-chan...?" the orange haired girl asked concerned, noticing her friends behavior had shifted now that school was out.

"No, well, yea I guess..." she sighed. "I don't want to go home honestly."

"Uh oh... another classic father daughter fight?" Tora said, almost in a playful voice.

Mikata looked at her, "Hey! what do you mean by that?!"

"Oh nothing! just seems like every other day you two are fighting like cat and dog!" She laughed a bit.

"SHUT IT TORA!" Mikata said, now upset her friend was teasing her.

"Oh come on! you know good and well your fights are over stupid stuff." Tora got a little more serious, noticing that her behavior was actually causing her best friend to get upset.

The white-haired girl looked away from her, "It's different this time..."

"What do you mean...?" Tora took a few steps closer to her friend.

"Tora-kun! Mikata-chan!" A silver-haired girl came running from behind them.

"Oh look, Stormy found us..." Mikata said, a little relieved.

When the younger girl reached them, she looked at the both of them, and by the look on her face, she really wanted to say something. After a few moments of just looking at each other, Tora spoke out.

"Spit it out will ya..?" She smiled a bit.

"please..." Mikata said right after Tora's words.

"Okay, Okay. Guess what!" Stormy said more to Tora than anyone.

"what?"

"Shishou's coming home today!" Stormy told her older friends.

"He is?!" Tora said, a bright smile on her face.

"Mhm he is!"

"why didn't you tell me sooner!" Tora said. She was really happy to hear this. Recently, she had been staying with Isuzu, Haru, and their son Reyoku because Kazuma had been doing some business elsewhere. Now, he was finally coming home..

"well, If I could have I would have told you yesterday...but you guys never came by the middle school..." Stormy said, eyeing both of the girls.

"yea...sorry about that Stormy..." Mikata started, moving her gaze to the ground.

"Yea, sorry..." Tora also said.

"It's alright guys..." Stormy was still in middle school being she was a year behind them. Though next year they all would be in the same school.

"well, anyway, we should go get the Dojo ready!" Tora changed the subject, smiling at Stormy.

"Yea, we should." Stormy returned the smile lightly.

"You guys go on, I'll catch up with you two in a little bit..." Mikata told them.

Tora looked at her and blinked a few times. "Oh, alright... good luck with your...issues." She smiled awkwardly and Mikata through her a dirty look as she continued on her way home.

Mikata walked up to her door and sighed. It was time to face this...her mother wasn't home today and it was just her and her father...normally, it wouldn't be an issue, and the two would just go to their rooms and ignore each other. Sadly, there was something Hiro was upset about today...

She slid the door open quietly...trying not to make any noise as she made her way into their home...

"Mikata? You Home?" Hiro said from the other room.

Mika said nothing and didn't move.

"If I have to get up and come find you, it won't end well..."

Mikata sighed, walking into the livingroom where her father was. "Yes...?"

"May I have a word with you?"

"If I have a choice, then no." Mikata said, crossing her arms.

Hiro sighed, "You're a pain in the ass.."

"Oh really? you're telling me that?" Mika rolled her eyes.

"Shut up." Hiro glared at her. "and I mean that to"

The two of them held a glare that cause the air around them to seem tense. Whatever the two were fighting about, it was serious.

"I don't care what you say, I'm not breaking up with him." She stuck her nose into the air, turning away from her father.

Hiro stood up, "If you stay with him, you're going to blow your secret! and if that doesn't happen first, what do you think Takashi will do?!"

"I don't care what Takashi has to say about it! what the hell is he going to do about it? let him try to do something."

"Mikata, you don't understand just how serious this is."

Mikata turned and looked at him, her icy blue gaze sending chills through Hiro. "You never had to go through this because you were with Mom when you had you're curse. Well guess what, I don't like anyone in the zodiac. So what? I guess I'm just shit up a crick then? Bull shit!"

"I never said that!" Hiro yelled. "I only said you're taking a huge risk here!"

"I don't care! I'll do what I want, And if something happens, I'll own up to it! I don't need your input." Mikata yelled back, talking off up to her room. That had honestly gone better than she thought it would have...but it was true. She was together with an outsider...his name was Sayo, and he had asked her out a few days ago.

When Hiro found out, he was very concerned. The problem was he could never talk to her about anything without causing a fight...perhaps he had never been able to talk about anything right though...

When Mika reached her room, she sat her bag down before flopping down onto her bed. It was pathetic...all this fighting. And for what? so she didn't blow the family secret. She just wanted to cry at this point but she held back the tears...crying would only make things worse...

A few hours had passed now...Tora and Stormy were still at the dojo, but for the most part, it was clean and all in order for Kazuma return home.

"So..." Tora broke the silence between the two girls.

"So? what?" Stormy looked at her.

Tora didn't know what to say really... "what time is he supposed to be here?"

"Don't know...just know he's coming home tonight."

"What!?" Tora stared at her. "You said he was coming home today!"

"Oh whoops, today, tonight, same difference!" Stormy said laughing a bit as she shrugged.

Tora sighed, "I'm going to make something to eat then..." With that, she walked away and walked into the kitchen leaving the young silver-haired girl all alone.

Stormy sat down on the couch with a sigh... her life was so confusing to her...she couldn't remember her parents, Kazuma was the one who had always been there for her... Tora was like a sister to her...and Mikata and Lance...they were the only family to her.. one being closer than family.

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door.

"Don't worry Tora, I got it!" She was hoping it was Kazuma, but when she open the door she was a little disappointed to see it was Mikata.

"Sorry It took so long for me to get here..." She explained. "Kazuma-san isn't here yet is he?"

Stormy shook her head no.

"Alright..." Mikata entered the dojo and Stormy closed the door behind her. "where's Tora?"

"I'm in here!" Tora yelled from the kitchen.

"Oh.." Mikata said. "Alrighty then..."

Stormy laughed a bit, "Lets go practice for a little bit till Tora's finished with the food!"

"Alright!" Mikata said with a smile.

The two went off to train, leaving Tora alone downstairs...She had just set water to boil on the stove and she sat at the table feeling rather lonely not even hearing her friends voices anymore...She sighed, placing her chin on the table...nothing ever happened in her life..it lacked something...excitment maybe? it won't for long...

"Psst!"

Her head quickly lifted off the table and she looked around quickly. 'I must be hearing things...' She thought. She returned to the way she was before.

"PSSSSST!"

Tora pushed herself off the table now. "Who's there!?"

No one answered.

You could say her fur was on end now...she knew something was up, that was for sure...but being the stubborn, brave girl she thought she was, she guessed it was better to check outside to see if anyone was there...

She walked to the door, unlocked it, and slid it open. Everything seemed normal...crickets were making noise like they always did on summer nights like this on...'I must honestly be losing my mind...'

Suddenly, the sound of a twig snapping caused everything to drop to a dead silence...

Tora, now quite a distance from the house, froze. She felt as if she was being watched..but by what or by who? none of this was making any sense to her what so ever...

Then, out of no where, someone sprang out from behind her and grabbed her hands.

Tora quickly turned her head and saw the man, but when she tried to call out, another man placed a gag around her mouth.

Tora's eyes shown nothing but fear now, 'What's happening?! What going on! what do these people want with me!' These thoughts and more were all passing through her mind rapidly. She examined the two as they exchanged conversation.

"Hmph, So that's the new cat is it?" the woman said.

"Yea, sure is..." The man answered.

"Why were we sent out on this mission anyway?" The woman sighed.

"Taka-" He looked at Tora. "You already know why..."

"Oh, did he decided that deal with the mama and papa wasn't valid anymore?"

"Shut up!" The man told his partner... he knew Tora couldn't be a complete fool...and she wasn't.

'deal? with who? for what?' more thoughts rushed through the girl's mind.

The woman nodded, understanding what he meant.

Tora tried to talk, but was completely unable to..

"Keep trying, freak." The man took a few steps closer to her and snickered.

Tora kept a hateful look on her face as she stared at him with the death glare.

"Alright! let's get her cat to th-" He turned to talk to his partner in crime, but she was gone...Then, out of nowhere, someone came ona punched the man so hard it sent him flying before he crashed to the ground.

"You alright Tora?" It was Kazuma...she reached down and untied her.

Tora just nodded, really wanting to hug onto him.

"Lets head back..." He said, looking over to make sure the man wasn't getting back up.

Tora nodded again, shocked at what just happened...it would take a while before all this was fully taken in...

It had been a few hours now...Tora had spent most of her time laying on the couch trying to figure out what she had just went through...Mikata was told to go home and Stormy to leave her be...

Kazuma sat next to her on the couch.

"Shishou?" She said in a quiet voice, just loud enough for him to here.

"Hmm?"

"Those people...they said something about a deal or something...they said, 'Oh, did he decided that deal with the mama and papa wasn't valid anymore?'" She looked at him, "You know I'm not stupid...I know Takashi-san is involved..."

Kazuma sighed...it was sooner than he was told, but he couldn't hide the truth from her any longer...this incident exposed to much information to Tora... "I have to show you something..."

He got up and walked into his room, coming out a few minutes later with a piece of paper. "It's from your mom...she gave it to me right before she disappeared..." He handed it to Tora.

The orange haired girl blinked at the paper a few times... from her mother? why? She took it from him and opened it, reading it...a shocked expression on her face:

"Dear Tora,

I knew you wouldn't be able to understand anything I would have told you when you were little...so I gave this to Shishou-san until you turned 15...I'm not sure what people will have told you about us by now...but me and you're father left to protect you...that's why we left..

Love you sweety...I always and forever will...you're father will to."

Tora read it three or four times...it was so vague though...but one thing was established to her. "My parents are alive?!"

A/N: Guess I'm updating at least every two weeks! xD Anyway, hope you enjoyed thes chapter! Please read and review! :)