A/N: Enjoy.

The Curse of the Cat

066. July

'Urgh,' Zoe complained as she and Koichi walked to the library. 'I mean, today's not as bad as yesterday, but seriously. July's not for months.'

She blinked when Kouichi muttered something under his breath. She may not know him that well, but being in a class with somebody for a semester meant she knew a few things, and one of those was that such vehemence was unusual.

'What was that?' she asked, although she got the feeling she wasn't supposed to hear the other's words.

'What do you know about the Zodiac?' was the response.

'Uhh…' Zoe put a hand under her chin. 'I know the old bedtime story, and that when you're hugged by somebody of the opposite gender or when your body's under stress, you transform and that the curse somehow runs through the Sohma family lines…so I suppose you're related to them on your mother's side?' Before the other could affirm or deny, she added: 'Oh, and there's the God as well. Fuyuno, was it? About how none of you can disobey him because you're all tied together by the curse? And how everyone keeps saying the Cat can't be a part of the Zodiac, even though you're exactly the same as them –'

'I'm not.'

Zoe almost walked into the other.

'Because the Cat isn't named as one of the months?' she asked. 'That doesn't matter.'

'No, it's not that.' The other sounded perfectly miserable. 'The curse exists in a hierarchy of sorts. The God sits at the top; he or she bears the physical brunt of the curse and so their bodies are almost always weak. The remaining Zodiac members are somewhere in between, but the Cat bears the main psychological brunt as they're…' Koichi closed his eyes. 'Well, they're at the bottom of the pile I suppose. For the remaining Zodiac members, whenever they run into problems that come about because of their form, they can just look down at me and say: "I'm still better off". That's why the Cat's around, to be a scapegoat of sorts. Never a true part of the Zodiac.'

067. Desire

'That – ' Zoe's head was reeling in shock. 'That's totally unfair.'

Koichi shrugged. 'That's the way it is. And it's understandable I suppose.' He continued walking, and the other had no choice but to follow behind him. 'We're all human after all; we envy that which is above us and look down at that below us, almost grateful that we have yet to reach that state.'

'If that's the case, then what do you look down upon?'

The other stopped walking. 'Those denied freedom their entire life,' was the reply.

Zoe stopped as well.

'The truth is,' Koichi continued. 'That the curse of the Cat runs deeper than those of the other Zodiacs. I suppose in a sense you can call the Cat a bad luck charm, but that's putting it rather kindly.'

From her position, the blonde could see a light smile on her face.

'Truth be told though, we envy those below us as well. One of those "you can't miss what you never have" things.' He turned to the park they had been walking past. 'Like if I was already locked up, would it be any better than waiting for it to happen?'

Maybe Koichi had forgotten the company he had. Maybe he hadn't intended to say it aloud. But he had, and Zoe didn't know what she wanted to do more: demand a straightforward explanation, punch the pessimistic guy's lights out or give the sad guy a big hug.

She settled for both…or tried to. Unfortunately, the other sensed the attack and grabbed her wrist, stopping himself halfway through a counterattack to leave them both staring at each other awkwardly.

068. Free

'Sorry,' Zoe mumbled finally, unable to come up with any verbal reason or excuse. That one word however opened the dam to others, and she immediately continued: 'But you said it like…as if…do they really..?' The words were getting stuck again, but she forced them out. 'Do they really lock the Cats away? Like a prisoner?'

For a moment Koichi simply stared at her, and Zoe knew that whatever the other had been trying to tell her, he hadn't meant to let that little detail slip. He looked a little shocked; dark eyes wider than usual and really looking a little like Fluffy when she accidentally shone her torch onto its face…except Fluffy didn't have blue eyes.

Later, it would cross her mind that blue eyed cats were supposed to be deaf…according to one of those household myths.

'But…'

The other had remained silent to long to deny, and after her next word he simply turned his face away.

'You're someone who believes in equality,' he said quietly. 'You believe in a democratic world…but there's no such thing.' He fiddled with the beads he wore. 'In truth, the Cat's only crime was that it was too trusting towards the Rat and was therefore fooled, but if things like friendship and trust lead to this then isn't it better to simply never have that?'

Zoe took a small step forward. 'You don't believe that.'

'It's impossible,' the other admitted. 'But…'

'But that doesn't mean you should deny yourself the opportunity to make friends and enjoy the time you have right now…does it?' She didn't know why she was uncertain; she couldn't really say. In any other situation she would have been shouting that…like she had shouted at Koji. But there was something…

She jumped a little at the sound of the Juzu beads hitting the ground.

069. Celebration

'I'm proud of you,' Yutaka said, and Tommy could have skipped all the way home. His brother was proud of him, instead of scolding and lecturing him.

Yutaka had spotted the skip in his step. 'I scold you for your own good, you know.'

'Huh?' Tommy stopped walking and blinked at his elder brother.

Yutaka on the other hand kept walking. 'It's good to know you're growing up,' he commented.

'You're not making any sense!' The younger brother skipped a little to keep up.

Yutaka didn't explain; he simply changed the topic. 'Did you figure out what to get for Mum and Dad's anniversary.'

'Umm…' Truth be told, he had completely forgotten.

Yutaka rolled his eyes. 'Glad that hasn't changed,' he mumbled, before saying clearly: 'I'm planning on getting tickets. The old theatre's doing a new production. Want to go halves?' He paused. 'Unless you spent all your money on games again.'

'I did not!' Tommy exclaimed. 'For your information, we played with JP's deck of cards last time.'

It was good to know he didn't haunt the arcade by himself anymore.

070. Stars

He had died and wandered into some parallel dimension where Tommy had a spine. That was the only logical explanation. The elder brother had hung back, doing nothing even though the look he had initially given said he knew exactly what the other had been planning.

Still, Tommy had managed to spoil his fun all on his own.

Why did he need to ask? Seriously. Was the kid implying he'd want to hang out with him if he didn't? Ridiculous.

He scoffed out loud. He'd sooner find a shooting star in the sky.