Jamie: M wants to say she is very sorry and is too scared to come out right now. She's afraid that all of you are going to kill her, so… -kicks ritsu out in front of her- rit-chan will apologize for us.

Rit-chan: AAAAUUUGHHHH! SUMIMASEN! GOMEN NASAI! M-SAN SHOULD NOT HAVE WAITED SO LONG TO UPDATE! GOOOOMMMEEENNN! SHE WANTS TO DIE! SHE DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE! AAAUUUUGGGHHHH!

M: -angry- rit…chan… I don't deserve to live?

Rit-chan: -realizes what he said- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GOMEN, GOMEN GOMEN! I APOLOGIZED SO BADLY! I SAID AWFUL THINGS ABOUT M-SAN! I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!

Jamie: . Perfect!

M: umm…I had a lot of homework, and region band auditions, and benchmark exams, and the BOA marching contest in San Antonio, and I had to work on my solo, and that evil monster writer's block ate my creativity, and the worst part… well, you see, I had taken my notebook (the one with the outline for all of the fic and a rough draft of this chappie) to school, so that I could work on it after my math test, and...someone stole it! So I had to rewrite the chappie… GOMEN! Now…on with the story!1

For Stacy.

------

A lanky 18 year old with long white hair and night-black eyes stepped out of the school. She sighed, thinking about the stupidity of her teachers. They hadn't gotten her to speak in 5 years, why did they think she would start today? She'd gotten so stressed that her hair and eyes had changed color by themselves, but they thought that some trigonometry would make her feel so happy she would cry out the answer. What a bunch of idiots.

It started to rain. Just great. She didn't have an umbrella. Her thin body shivered, then -POOF- a slender white tiger about 3 ft high at the shoulder appeared. At least no one saw. The tiger shook its head, grabbed its clothes, and slowly padded toward Hatori's house. Not again. He would verbally probe her, trying to get her to tell him what happened, lecture her for transforming in public, then reluctantly hand her a notepad and ask her to write it. The same thing happened about once a month.

Eventually, the rain turned into snow, and the tiger's slow walk turned into a fast trot, then eventually a gallop as the tiger ran into the office of Dr. Hatori Sohma. She stopped fast as she saw a head full of long brown hair. The shock made her turn back into the lanky teenager, naked with clothes in her mouth. She gasped and ran to go change.

Tohru Honda, at Hatori's for a checkup, and to say hi, was very, very confused. "Hatori-san, that white tiger…was that…Kisa-chan?"

"Hai, Ho…I should call you Tohru-kun now…Hai, Tohru-kun. After you left, Kisa-kun…changed. She stopped talking and eventually her animal became a Siberian tiger; a lonely tiger."

"Sugoi…(wow)…has that happened before? I-is it my fault?"

"Iie, Tohru-kun! You shouldn't blame yourself! If you had stayed six years ago, and Akito had found your child, he would have tortured and killed every Jyuunishi except Isuzu, Kureno, and possibly Hiro. He would have even killed your child, and definitely you."

"A-ano…all I did was cause the Jyuunishi trouble…I feel so horrible, Hatori-san…"

At this point, Kyo walked in. "Oi, Hatori, Kisa's out here waiting. I think she's upset, but she won't say anything, as usual. Oh, konnichi wa, Tohru." The skinny girl with white hair down to her thighs walked in. The change in hair color wasn't what scared Tohru the most, though. It was Kisa's eyes. They were so black you couldn't see anything but, well, black. Tohru was actually frightened by the new Kisa.

"A-ano…Kisa-chan…ano…konnichi wa…" Tohru bowed, as did Kisa, but she kept her eyes on her. Hatori knew that Kisa wouldn't say anything, so he proceeded, "Tohru-kun, Kisa-kun needs my attention now, so if you don't mind, we can finish our visit at Shigure's place."

"Hai, Hatori-kun," Tohru replied before leaving the Sohma estate.

The next day

"Hentai inu! The doorbell is ringing! Aren't you going to get it?" Yuki shouted. Shigure, in fear of a beating, ran to the door, wishing for a hot delivery girl, but, instead, found his thin, white-haired tiger of a cousin wearing knee-high black leather boots, a black dress that ended a few inches above her knees, and a white overcoat that went to her calves.

"Eeeh? Satchan? What are you doing here? Come in! Did Haa-san tell you about Tohru-kun coming, or did you meet her already?" Shigure pelted Kisa with questions to fill the silence that he knew would come if he didn't fill it. Kisa merely shook her head, making the ponytail sway back and forth. Tohru came down the stairs, and, letting an old habit get the better of her, squealed "Kisa-chan!", ran toward the surprised teen, and hugged her hard. Kisa's eyes were wide with shock, when, out of nowhere, she started crying. Tohru, of course, was confused, so they went upstairs together while Shigure went to the main house to bother everyone."

In Tohru's room:

"Kisa-chan, are you alright?"

-nod- I'm fine.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

-shake head- No. Leave me alone. You left me. I loved you so much, but you just left for no reason. Why? Only Yuki had a note, and that note was crap. You abandoned all of us to Akito. You abandoned us to his gloating, him telling us that he had been right all along, that you were nothing but a bitch, and I thought he was right.

"Okaa-san, Konnichi wa! Who is this pretty girl? An onee-san for me? I'm so happy! There have been to many oji-chans." Sakura walked in.

This child…

She looks like…

Yuki.

I…I know now.

You were protecting yourself.

You were protecting your and Yuki's child.

You were protecting us.

"O…Onee-chan…"

"Eeh! Kisa-chan! You're speaking!"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

A/N: that still felt kinda short, but i tried to make it longer for you guys...