Kyo spent several minutes in the bathroom, staring at his reflection. It made perfect sense that his red hair was gone; he only had it because it was a characteristic of the cat, just like Haru's hair was a characteristic of the cow. But, it was such a shock. It would take a long time for him to get used to this much darker color.

He heard a door slam, the front door from where the sound came from, and then pounding feet across the floor. He considered hiding out in the bathroom, figuring it was Kagura (for who else would enter so noisily and urgently) until he heard Kazuma's voice float out from the living room.

"Where's Kyo? Is he all right?"

He was out of breath, his questions coming out in gasps. But, Kyo had heard the urgency in his voice, the worry and the fear. He sighed; had Kazuma heard that he was unconscious and worked himself up, worrying about him? He walked out of the bathroom and headed to the living room.

Kazuma had his back to him, and was facing Yuki and Shigure. Tohru was walking in from the kitchen.

"Shishou."

His karate master turned around quickly, and stared hard at him, as though unsure it was him. "Kyo?"

"Yeah, it's me," Kyo said. "What're you-"

He was cut off very suddenly when Kazuma flung his arms around Kyo, holding him tightly. Kyo gasped, nearly choking. "Shishou!"

He was cut off once more by a squeeze. "I was so worried…." He heard Kazuma mutter. "I'm so glad you're all right….I thought you'd…."

"You though I had what?" Kyo asked when the karate master finally let go of him.

"I-I thought you were dead, Kazuma said slowly.

"Why the hell would you think that?" Kyo snapped. "I was just unconscious, and Tohru said Hatori couldn't find anything wrong with me-"

"There's another Cat."

The room fell silent, all eyes on Kazuma. Yuki, normally composed Yuki, had his mouth open slightly, Kyo's eyes were large and Shigure had, for once, a completely serious expression as he stared at his cousin.

"What do you mean?" Tohru asked quietly.

"I just found out today, from one of the kids I train. A distant relative had a girl last night. When the father held her, she transformed into a cat. I…. Since the curse only breaks when – when you die, I had thought…." Kazuma trailed off.

All eyes turned now to Kyo; he shifted uncomfortably under their stares. He hated being the center of attention.

"How did you do it?" Shigure asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"You broke the curse, didn't you?" Shigure said, that strange, eerily serious expression still locked on his face. "How did you do it?"

Kyo shifted again, and brought a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "I-I just…. I fought the Cat."

"Fought- how did you do that?" Yuki sputtered. "They're spirits, not beings!"

"I told you, I fought him!" Kyo snapped back, expecting to feel his hair start to bristle as it always did. But, it didn't, and he almost sighed. There were a lot of traits that Cat took with him when he left; he'd have to get used to it.

"But how!"

"I-I…. Can you…feel your zodiac animals? Like…you just sort of know they're there?"

Both Shigure and Yuki nodded, while Tohru and Kazuma looked completely lost.

"I meditated, and when I got deep enough, I was with Cat. I fought him, and I won."

The room was quiet for a moment. Then, Shigure spoke.

"Kazuma," he said, "I do believe I shall start taking meditation classes at the dojo shortly."


Word spread quickly about how Kyo beat the curse, and how the other members of the zodiac could also beat it. The only two who did actually break the curse were Hatsuharu and Shigure. Yuki, Kagura, and Ritsu all tried to defeat their zodiac animals, and failed. Hatori and Momiji didn't want to force the curse onto other Sohma's, and Kisa and Hiro were too young, and hadn't received enough training. Only Aaya didn't care either way if he was cursed. But, the fact that Kyo was able to break free from the curse and Yuki couldn't only worsened the all ready tense relationship between each other. Yuki would fight Kyo nearly every time they were in the same room, and it got so bad that Kyo moved in with Kazuma at the dojo.

The only downside of this was that he saw less of Tohru.

True, he saw her in school, but he did miss seeing her around the house, to have her just brighten up his day with that goofy smile of hers. He made an effort to spend time with her whenever she wasn't working and when he wasn't training at the dojo, but Yuki was almost always with her then. With the tension between them, it only made Tohru uncomfortable, and he definitely did not want that.

One day, after school, Kazuma suggested that, instead of training, they go visit the new cat of the zodiac, saying that Kyo hadn't seen her yet, and that he should. It was over six months since the baby had been born, six months since he had beat the curse. Kyo had been slightly nervous about it; the new cat's mother would undoubtedly be there. Would she blame him? Or, would she blame her daughter, hate her just as his mother hated him?

He was not expecting to be greeted by a warm smile and the mother holding the baby, who had bright orange hair and deep red eyes. Kyo was suspicious at first; nearly all his relatives had been fooled by his own mother's warm outer shell. He wanted to find out if there was a chance that this new cousin of his was going to be in as much of an unhappy setting as he grew up in; if at all possible, he'd try to prevent it.

"Hello Emiko," Kazuma said, giving a little bow as he came in.

"Hello," she said happily, her smile widening. She looked over Kazuma's shoulder at Kyo. "And you must be Kyo; hello. It's amazing we haven't met yet and we're in the same family, don't you think?"

Kyo shrugged. It wasn't that amazing; there were so many Sohma's, it was completely possible to never meet each and every one of them.

"How's she been doing?" Kazuma asked, smiling down at the baby.

"Oh, she's been a handful, but I'm getting used to it. Aiko's very fussy." Emiko beamed down at her daughter.

Kyo perked up at the sound of her name. "Aiko?" he repeated.

"Yes," Emiko said. "It fits her, don't you think? I'd let you hold her, but she'd transform, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah," Kyo said. Kagura, before she knew that Kyo was no longer possessed by one of the spirits, had pounced on him and promptly turned into a boar.

"I guess that's all right just the same; I don't think I could let her go. She's just so precious….Oh, what are we doing, standing in the hall? Come in, come into the living room and make yourself comfortable."

Inside the living room, Kazuma and Emiko chatted for about how work was going and the like, while Kyo sat on the floor with Aiko, who was busy playing with some blocks. All read around her wrist were some beads; a new bracelet, one small enough to fit around her tiny wrist. Kyo still hadn't parted with his. He felt naked, exposed without them, and he supposed he always would. Aiko giggled happily as she knocked over a small tower of blocks Kyo had been building out of boredom.

Kyo smiled at the small laugh. He was not partial to babies, but Aiko was cute. Unfortunately, his mind reminded him, she was also that cat, and no matter how cute she was, the other members of the zodiac and other relatives were not going to treat her nicely. For the first time, he felt bad for breaking free of the curse and causing someone else to become the cat.

Slowly, Kyo leaned in and softly said to Aiko, "Kid, when you're old enough, I'll teach you how to break the curse, okay?"

Aiko gurgled and Kyo smiled again. He'd make sure she grew up happy.


!End!

I hope you all enjoyed the story!

Please leave some constructive criticisms.

Oh, and Aiko means "little loved one" in Japanese...or so my sources tell me.