To clear something up, Yume is not a part of the zodiac curse because when she and Duo first meet she couldn't hug him.

Chapter Seven: Meeting others

Rain poured down on Duo as he ran to school. A crack of thunder echoed from not too far away. "You'd think they should cancel school because of this weather!" Duo hollered, barely able to hear himself. Other students were also running to school. One of them was running in front of Duo and slipped on the wet concrete. Not being able to stop in time, Duo tripped over the person. "Ack! Sorry!" Duo helped the person up then continued running to school. Being as distracted as he was, Duo didn't recognize the surprised Prussian blue eyes that stared after Duo. By the time Duo reached homeroom, he was out of breath and his braid had come loose. Stray strands of chestnut brown hair hung loosely past his waist. Mocking laughter from behind him caught Duo's attention. He turned around to see a guy with jet-black hair slicked back into a short ponytail.

"Chang…" Duo muttered. Wufei was the only person in school that competed for the title of prince.

"Maxwell, that's a good look for you." Wufei snickered.

"I'd fight you here and now, Chang, but I'm sure you wouldn't want a single hair to be out of place." Duo smirked.

Wufei scoffed and pulled his hair out of the ponytail. "You wanna fight? After all, I'm sure it would be an easy win for you, Prince."

So much for Duo's bluff, he knew he wasn't even a close match compared to Wufei. Fighting him would surely get Duo put in the hospital. Wufei seemed to realize this too, for he was smirking most wickedly. A familiar blonde figure could be seen out of the corner of Duo's eye. Yume saw what was happening and strode casually over behind Wufei and elbowed him in the back of the head, but it looked like an accident.

Wufei whipped around angrily. "Baka onna!"

WHAP!

Yume left a red imprint of her hand on Wufei's left cheek. "Don't disrespect women." Yume said calmly.

Wufei was pissed now. "Women are weak! How dare you touch me!"

Yume picked up Wufei by the shirt collar and his feet dangled a couple of inches off the ground. "I see the imprint of my hand on your face wasn't enough! How about the wall this time?" Yume shook Wufei roughly.

Yume frightened even Wufei. Note to self: bug Wufei about this later. "Injustice!" Wufei yelled.

"Oh, my bad." Yume dropped Wufei, who decided to move to the other end of the classroom.

"I see that you had to have your woman fight for you." Wufei sneered after moving a great distance from Yume.

Duo was about to make a smart remark when someone else beat him to it. "Maxwell is becoming a nicer person than you'll ever be!"

Turning around, Duo looked at Yume who looked as puzzled as him. Then Duo saw Heero standing at the door. He finally made the connection that it was Heero that he had helped up on the way to school. Note to self: don't help someone who wants to shoot you with his 9mm.

Yume looked between Heero and Duo, shrugged and walked to her seat.

The downpour of rain continued all day. Yume and Duo had decided to write the report about Egyptian mythology. Neither had much time to study during the week but since tomorrow they had the day off from school, both decided that they should meet and study at the public library. Duo had taken his umbrella out of his locker and walked home. The dull sound of rain drummed on the umbrella as he walked. He wondered why Heero stuck up for him earlier today. Last time he checked, Heero had wanted to kill him. Oh well…

"Duo-kun!" a familiar voice shouted as they ran to him.

Turning, Duo saw a silver blur before it hugged him tightly. "Erm… Hi, Gin."

Gin released Duo and smiled. "Yume-chan says you have to take me by a fabric store to buy some fabric for my costume in an up-coming play. Then she wants you to drop me off at her work."

Duo sweat dropped. "Oh joy…" his voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Which way is the fabric store?"

"This way!" Gin pointed and pulled Duo after her.

The sign to the store had a large rose on it. Duo and Gin entered and a bell rang.

"Why hello there! I guess you must have heard about how wonderful my store is!" said a tall figure with long white hair.

Duo felt himself turn slightly red in the cheeks. This woman was pretty. "Well uh…" Duo stuttered.

"G-good evening." A male shop assistant with flaming red hair that looked like a rooster, bowed to Duo and Gin.

Before he knew it the woman was right in his face. "Now, now, don't be shy! I'm sure we can find something here for you! Let me guess, you are one of our special cases, aren't you, sir? Which do you prefer? A maid outfit? Or maybe just any nice dress?"

"A dress?! For me?!" Duo exclaimed while his blush deepened.

"You don't have to be ashamed! We have lots of customers like you here!" the woman flipped her long white hair over her shoulder and a rosy background appeared.

"Whoa! Wait a minute! I'm not gay okay! This little girl wanted some fabric." Duo explained.

"Oh…" she seemed very disappointed. "Well what would the young lady like?"

Gin told the woman what she wanted and waited while the woman and her assistant took some fabrics off the shelves.

Duo laughed slightly. "The owner really reminds me of you, in a way." Duo looked down on Gin.

"Oh!" Gin whispered in Duo's ear. "That's because Ayame also has the zodiac curse. He is the snake. And the shop assistant, his name is Nori. He's the rooster."

"All of the snakes must be drama queens or something…" Duo blinked twice. "What the…? You said he!" Duo pointed at Ayame. Gin nodded. Oh my God! Duo had just been a little attracted to a man!!! He was starting to scare himself.

Ayame handed Gin the fabric and she paid for it. "Don't tell me!" Ayame smiled in fake modesty. "You mistook me for a woman?"

"Well uh… about that… I'm very so-"

"Oh I'm so happy! Even a woman couldn't compare to my looks! Are you sure you don't want a dress, sir?" Ayame asked. "It'll be free since you gave me such a big compliment."

"No way! Let's get out of here!" Duo grabbed Gin's hand and fled back into the rain.

Somehow, in the process of running away from Ayame and his shop, Duo had forgotten his umbrella. So he and Gin ran to Yume's work to avoid getting totally soaked.

"This building is HUGE!" Duo panted while running through the door.

Gin squeezed her long silver hair to dry it out. "Yeah, it's owned by the Sohma family. They're like rich!" Drying out the rest of her clothes as best as she could, Gin continued, "Yume-chan is on the 27th floor." She led the way to a nearby elevator and they rode it up to the 27th floor.

The doors opened and several women were cleaning. Duo recognized Yume cleaning over by a window.

"Yume-chan!" Gin ran over and hugged Yume.

Yume laughed and looked up at Duo. "Thanks for helping me out. But the store closes pretty soon and I didn't have enough time after work."

Duo nodded. A commotion down the hall caught his attention.

"What do you mean they didn't agree to our deal?! That deal was very important to the company! Thanks to you, your job might be gone by tomorrow." A tall woman with long black hair yelled. She looked too thin and wore a fashionable suit with a skirt.

"I-I am really sorry, ma'am!" another employee stammered.

"It's all your fault! Get out of my sight now!" the black haired woman screamed.

"Y-yes, ma'am!" the employee ran down the hall and locked himself in his office.

The woman lit a cigarette and some ashes fell onto the floor that was currently being cleaned.

"Oh! Excuse me, ma'am. But you're dropping cigarette ashes onto the carpet." Said a young girl that Duo thought he recognized from school.

"That's not my fault. It's because there aren't enough ash trays in this building!" the woman complained.

"I'm terribly sorry! I'll make sure that there are more tomorrow!" the girl apologized.

"Tomorrow isn't soon enough-!"

"Please, Fujika-san, Tohru is really trying. Stop bullying her around." Yume said quietly but firmly.

Yume's reputation must hang over her like a storm cloud because Fujika stopped yelling and went back into her office.

"Yume-san, you didn't have to…" Tohru began.

"Yes, I did. Don't argue with me Tohru. I'll see you guys later." Yume walked over to the elevator with Gin and entered.

"Talk about PMS queen." Duo snickered.

"Fujika Uchida blames everything on everyone else." Yume explained. "In a way she doesn't suit her sign."

"She's cursed by the zodiac too!" Duo exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, believe it or not she is the monkey." The elevator arrived at the bottom floor and Gin held Yume's hand and left. "Thanks again, rat boy!"

Duo walked home in the rain again. He had met three other people with the zodiac curse today. Almost everyone seemed cursed now! How many more would he meet?

TO BE CONTINUED

Profiles for Nori and Fujika:

Nori Miroku

Sign: rooster

Age: 19

Year in school: graduated

Crush: Ayame

"Oh, did you mean me? Sorry!"

Fujika Uchida

Sign: monkey

Age: 20

Year in school: graduated

Crush: Hatori

"It's all your fault!"