I woke up with my face in a basket of strawberries.

"Hina-san! Hina-san, are you alright?"

"H-Huh?" I sat up, blinking in the bright light. Yuki Sohma was looking down at me.

"You passed out," he said.

I felt a vibrating in my pocket. I pulled out a flip phone. Mei was calling.

"Hello?"

"It's me," she said. "Where are we?"

"I don't know, I just remember that prediction the lady gave us," I replied. "We're supposed to get what we want."

"So we wanted to live in log cabins miles apart? And to live all by ourselves?"

"Yuki Sohma is here," I said.

"What? How is that…?" Mei said.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Here, here, I found something," she said. "I'm Mei Sohma and you're Hina Sohma. Your sister's Isuzu Sohma. You're the Horse and I'm the Cat."

"Hmm…thanks for that," I said. "Wait? Rin is my sister?"

"Yes, and apparently you have the same birthday as Rin Sohma…you must have bumped her off the Zodiac. Same with me and Kyo…"

"I wonder why I don't live with Rin…" I said.

"Okay, well…tell me what you find out," Mei replied.

"Okay," I replied. "Bye."

I hung up the phone.

"Yuki?" I said. "Why don't I live with Rin? She's my sister."

"I…don't want to be the one to tell you this…" Yuki said. "You always were the most naïve of us all…"

"Tell me what?" I asked. "Yuki, what is it?"

"This house was…designed to keep you in," Yuki replied, continuing his work and not meeting my eyes. "Akito locked Mei in a house just like this…you tried to bust Mei out, and Akito said he was going to lock you in the Main House. Haru and I…begged that you not be locked in the Main House…you were always a free spirit, much like Rin. Akito agreed, as long as you lived alone until you were eighteen. Now that you are eighteen, Akito said he was going to send someone to live with you. I volunteered, but…I was denied by Akito."

"I see," I said. "So this is all because Mei is the Cat, and none of you would stand up with me to stop Akito."

Yuki flinched. "I…I'm sorry, Hina-san."

"I'm not angry," I said. "But…I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

We finished the harvesting in silence.

"I've got to get going if I'm going to make it home before dark," said Yuki. "See you tomorrow afternoon."

Yuki left my backyard, heading back down the trail.

A remote in my pocket buzzed.

"Intruder at the front gate. Notify Main House security?" asked an automated voice.

"No, I'll go see who it is," I replied.

I picked up the basket of slightly smushed strawberries and went across the backyard, past my two-story log cabin-with a terrace!-and all the way across the pathway, over the bridge, and to the front gate.

Standing there was Daisuke Niwa.

I dropped the strawberries. "Oh no!"

Wiz came out of Daisuke's backpack and started eating the strawberries.

"No! Get back here, Wiz!" Daisuke said. He picked him up and put him back in his backpack. "I'm sorry. Are you Sohma-san?"

I nodded. "You can call me Hina. There are too many Sohmas."

"Okay," he replied. "I'm Daisuke Niwa. I was told by the head of your family to come here."

I sighed. "Of course. But…you can stay."

"Come on inside," I sighed again, pressing a button on the remote.

"Security disabled."

I paused. "Daisuke? Did…Akito hurt you?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Never mind," I shook my head.

I sat down on the couch. This was too weird. My head was spinning. Akito was so messing with my head. I'm the second most hated in the Zodiac, so naturally he would send Daisuke to me.

"You're uncomfortable, aren't you?" I said. "I'm sorry. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of weirded out myself. The guest room upstairs on the right. Wait…how did I know that?"

Daisuke stood and went upstairs with his suitcase.

The sun was setting. I took out the remote and pressed a sequence of buttons.

"Security activated."

I pressed another sequence.

"Dinner sequence activated. Ready in twenty-nine minutes. Dining for one or two?"

"Access Intercom for the guest room."

"Access Granted, Sohma-san. Proceed with transmission."

"Daisuke? Can you hear me?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to let you know that the house is automated. I activated security and started dinner. It'll take time for it to get used to your voice patterns, but when it does I'll have a remote made for you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't worry, I don't have cameras or anything. I was calling up to ask you if you wanted some dinner."

"Okay, I'll be right down."

"Take your time, we still have twenty minutes. And one more thing…if you ever want to deny me access to your room or to the intercom in your room, press the red "privacy" button. It's better than a lock on the door."

There was silence on the line.

"Daisuke?"

"Access Denied."

Daisuke sighed. He didn't want to block her out, but he had to have silence to talk to Dark.

What exactly am I looking for?

The Staff of the Jyuunishi and the JuJu Beads of the Cat.

That isn't helping me much, Dark! Where are they?

The Staff is with the Ox. You have to find out what years these people are.

Like in the Chinese Zodiac?

Yes. They pass the staff along with the changing of the year.

And the beads?

Oh…you aren't going to like this.

What is it, Dark?

We've gotta convince the Cat to give them to us. We've gotta go.

Mei stood on her terrace. Year of the Cat. This is gonna be…interesting.

She sighed and leaned back and looked up at the stars. Living alone wasn't her favorite, but it was nice.

What was that sound? Wings?

Dark landed on her terrace. "Now who…are you?"

"Mei Sohma," she said. "I know who you are, Phantom Thief Dark."

Dark doubled back. "Are you one of the Jyuunishi?"

"That depends…I hear you also have a secret," she smirked.

"Where are you getting your information?"

"Not telling!" she said teasingly. "Is it true…the way you change back?"

Dark edged back a bit. What was with this chick?

"Just a yes or no…tell me and I'll help you with…whatever it is you need."

"Hmm…fair enough," Dark replied. "Help me and I'll show you how I change back."

"Okay, we'll do it that way then," she replied.

"I need to know who the Ox is," Dark said. "And…the Cat."

"Hina's sister's boyfriend," replied Mei. "He's the Ox…and I'm the Cat."

"Okay then," Dark said. "Time for me to go."

"You said you'd tell me how you change back," Mei said.

"Well, maybe I think you know too much already," Dark said.

"I thought you were honorable!" she said.

"Alright, if it's to defend my honor," Dark leaned in and kissed her. He turned from Dark into Daisuke.

"Hello," Mei said, not bothering to look surprised. "Daisuke Niwa."

Her cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," she said to Daisuke, who still looked shocked from the kiss.

"Hello?" she said to the phone.

"Hey, cuz," said Hina. "Have you been remembering stuff, like me?"

Mei laughed. "Yeah…like how you tried to rescue me?"

"Yeah…How did you find out about our share of the curse?"

"I…hacked into the Main House," Mei replied. "Our houses are automated…so I figured if the information goes one way, it could go the other."

"Cool!" Hina exclaimed. "So…have you seen Daisuke?"

"Relax," Mei replied. "He's here."

"Well…he can't come home tonight because…ah…can I talk to him?" asked Hina.

"Daisuke—phone for you!" Mei handed Daisuke the phone.

"Hello?" Daisuke answered the phone.

"Daisuke?" Hina's voice was on the line. "Daisuke…can you stay the night over there? I'm sorry but…Satoshi just suddenly appeared on my doorstep."

"W-What? What's he doing there?" Daisuke was a bit upset.

"He…sort of passed out on my doorstep," Hina replied. "He would've set off all the alarms and alerted the Main House, but I shut off security when the pressure sensors went off. Daisuke…are you angry?"

"W-What? Of course not!" Daisuke replied.

"Look…I want you to come back as soon as possible, but…Satoshi said that it would be best if the two of you weren't in the same place. Tomorrow I'm taking him to the Main House, and we'll sort all of this out. I…I've gotta go. Incoming call."

Daisuke hung up the phone. "Mei…what's the Main House?"

"She's not going there, is she?" Mei asked suddenly.

"That's what she said," replied Daisuke.

Mei grabbed the phone and dialed Hina's number.

"Hina, you know you can't go there! Akito will—"

Mei paused, listening. "Fine…if you're sure. But you do realize that he's messing with you. And Satoshi might be on his side. Be careful…"

Ah…that explains it. Mei is the Cat. Outcast of the Zodiac. And Akito must be the head of the family.

What? What does that mean, Dark?

It means her entire family hates her, and she…and her family could possibly be part of an ancient curse…

A curse? What kind of curse?

"Daisuke!" Mei said. "Come on, let's go inside, it looks like it might rain."

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Sohma-san," Satoshi said.

"Are you feeling better, Satoshi?" I asked.

"How did you know my name?" Satoshi asked.

"I'm from a prestigious family, and so are you," I said. "Of course I would know about you."

"Or your hacker cousin told you," Satoshi replied. "I don't care really. Thank you for taking me in."

"You were looking for the Main House, weren't you?" I asked. "But you had some trouble getting there. Don't worry, I'll take you there tomorrow."

"Well that's good then," Satoshi said. "Could you show me to my room? I think I'll get some rest now."

I smiled. "Right this way, Satoshi."