A/N: My most sincere apologies for taking absurdly so long to update. I had a horrible writer's block and have been very busy. But here it is, at last! To make up for the delay—and also because it was requested—this chapter is longer than the previous ones. Perhaps the next will be even longer. I hope you like it!

Oh, and I decided to keep the endings "-san", "-kun", etc. I just can't imagine them calling each other without those.

–CHAPTER 3–
Making Acquaintances

Although Yuki could understand some English and the enormous man called Tohru was Japanese, the group was having some communication problems. Seemingly, Tohru had lived in the United States for so long with no contact with his mother tongue that his Japanese was a bit rusty; he changed the order of the words, confused and forgot words and expressions... He seemed to understand perfectly what they said to him, but got confused when he had to reply.

Despite that, Shigure and Yuki still managed to invite them in. Kyou didn't trust them very much, and Yuki couldn't blame him, though he would never admit aloud that he agreed with him. Indeed, these strangers were very... well, strange. But it didn't look like they meant them any harm; they had even helped in the fight against that old wizard. Despite himself, Kyou wasn't so reluctant to let them in, either, for he looked curious and impressed by that young man's martial skills.

Apparently, Tohru understood more when it was Honda who spoke to him, so Yuki let her do all the talking and just watched the group of visitors. The little girl wouldn't stop asking Tohru what Honda was saying. The young man next to her just looked about rather nervously. The old man didn't pay attention to any of them, just frowned and shook a dead blowfish while murmuring strange words. It didn't sound like English, but somewhat Chinese.

Suddenly, everyone's throats glowed green. Honda screamed out and accidentally dropped the tray she had been bringing from the kitchen with tea cups, breaking them and spilling all of their contents on the floor. Kyou jumped on his feet and stood on a threatening fighting pose.

"What's that? What're you doing, grandpa?" he demanded to know.

"Just a spell. This way we can understand each other without the need of an interpreter," the old man answered. Yuki's eyes widened a little as he realised the old man had just spoken fluent Japanese. His cousins and Honda must have noticed the same thing, for they looked very surprised as well.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that, Uncle!" the little girl commented. "Well, that means now we can introduce ourselves properly!" she added, standing up, and turned to the group on the other side of the table. "I'm Jade Chan, this is my Uncle Jackie Chan," she said, gesturing at the young man, then at Tohru and the old man. "This is Tohru, and that is Uncle."

"Uncle?" Honda repeated, puzzled. Yuki also had to wonder if that was his real name, which would be indeed very odd.

"Yeah, just Uncle," Jade answered, grinning.

"Why's that?" Kyou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because..." Jade actually had to think about it for a moment. "Well, because he's Uncle!" she said if that explained everything.

They didn't find that answer satisfactory, but seeing they wouldn't get anywhere—especially when Jade herself didn't know the answer—, they let the subject drop.

"Nice to meet you," Tohru and Jackie said. "Uncle" just nodded in greeting.

"My name is Tohru Honda. I am glad to meet you," Honda said, bowing. Very polite, as usual, Yuki noted, smiling slightly.

"Funny how your name is Tohru, too, even though you're a girl," Jade remarked. "Maybe Tohru is a neutral name in Japanese?"

"I am Yuki Souma," Yuki said before Tohru could answer Jade's question.

"And I am Shigure Souma." Shigure pointed at Kyou when the latter just stared in silence, apparently concentrated on something. "And this is Kyou Souma. Heehee, it seems the cat got his tongue. A cannibal cat! Ahahaha! That was great!"

Yuki suppressed the urge to roll his eyes when hearing this attempt at a joke. Kyou also heard it and glared daggers at Shigure while the latter laughed. Honda laughed softly as well. Their guests, however, couldn't understand what was so funny. Not a surprise; they didn't know about the curse of the Souma family.

"Uh, I noticed you three have the same surname. Are you brothers?" Jackie asked.

"We're cousins, actually," Shigure answered, catching his breath.

"Unfortunately," Yuki muttered under his breath.

"Well, now that we can talk to each other properly," Kyou began, sitting down. "can somebody explain what just happened out there? Who was that freaky old man?"

"His name is Daolon Wong, a dark chi wizard," Uncle answered slowly. He was silent for a moment and watched each one of the group across the table before speaking again, "I suppose strange things have been happening you lately, right? Things you cannot explain with logic?"

The three Soumas and Honda glanced at each other. Kyou looked suspicious once more.

"How do you know about that?"

"My locator spell recently sensed activity of two talismans."

"Talismans?" Kyou interrupted him. Jade stood up again, leaning on the table.

"You see, the talismans are magical objects. There're twelve of them, each one representing an animal from the Chinese zodiac." She excitedly jumped onto the table, much to Jackie's chagrin. "And they have fantastic powers that can be—"

"Jade!" Jackie exclaimed, shocked. "Get down, right now!"

"Oops! Sorry." She smiled apologetically and sat down next to her uncle.

"As she said, each talisman has its own power," Uncle continued. "A while ago, Wong tried to steal them, but they got destroyed during the fight and their powers were released. Thus, they sought a new vessel. My locator spell indicated that all of them were here in Japan, and the last two powers to be activated were the immortality and motion to the motionless."

Yuki and Shigure looked at each other, thinking exactly the same thing.

"Immortality? That is why you escaped unharmed from that accident, Shigure!" Yuki said.

"Accident? What accident?" Honda asked in concern.

"Oh, it's just that I was run over by a car on my way home, but I wasn't harmed. I mean, my head was injured, but now I don't feel anything. It just... healed itself," Shigure explained, unconsciously touching his head on the spot he had been injured.

"And the other thing you said... 'motion to the motionless'... What does it mean?" Kyou wanted to know.

"Simple. It means any unanimated object can come to life," Jade said.

"The teddy bear!" Honda exclaimed, beginning to comprehend what had happened.

"What teddy bear?" Jackie asked.

"A teddy bear... it suddenly began to talk and walk. It was very strange and... scary."

"I see. Now everything makes sense. Then it was a magical talisman..." Yuki murmured to himself, deep in thought.

"Only one thing doesn't make sense," Jade said, frowning. "Why did the talismans possess them?" she asked, gesturing at the two Soumas. "When you said they were part of a cursed family that turned into animals, I expected to find animals! But they look like ordinary humans to me."

The old man snorted. "Don't you ever listen to Uncle? Thirteen members of the family turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac when they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex!"

"You never said anything about hugs and opposite sex!" Jade protested, but the four residents of this house were more surprised by something else.

"H-How... How did you know... about the curse?" Kyou asked, alarmed.

The old man gestured dismissively. "The story of the Souma family's curse can be found in any book about ancient eastern curses."

Yuki paled. The curse was supposed to be a secret! Was Akito aware that people from the other side of the world knew about the curse? If not, what if—

"So..." Jade interrupted his thoughts, watching both Yuki and Shigure carefully. "You must turn into a dog and a mouse, right?"

Yuki gulped and nodded after some hesitation. Shigure nodded as well.

"Anyway, we came here as fast as possible to remove those powers from you and take them to a safe place," Uncle said.

After the incident with the maniacal teddy bear, Yuki had no desire to repeat the experience, and this time he promptly nodded. "You may start right now, sir," he said firmly. Shigure, on the other hand, didn't look so enthusiastic about it.

"Is that really necessary? If it weren't for this talisman thing, I wouldn't even be alive now! Can't I keep it?" he asked whiningly. Yuki looked away, ashamed of his older cousin's childish behaviour.

"If you want to keep the power of the dog talisman, Daolon Wong will come after you for sure," Uncle replied seriously. Shigure shuddered.

"Well, don't waste your time, then!"

"But if Yuki-kun and Shigure-san have been possessed by the powers of the talismans of the same animals which they transform into, does that mean the others will have magical powers, too?" Honda asked slowly.

"That's right," Uncle answered.

"And that crazy old man will go after them too?" Kyou continued.

"Certainly," Tohru said.

"So we're gonna have to fight him and those other orange-skinned guys again?" the boy concluded, getting excited.

"Uh..."

"And the others will be in danger, too!" Honda exclaimed, beginning to panic.

"Calm down, please. We will help them. Do you happen to know where we can find the others?" Jackie asked.

"Yes, of course, we must go help them immediately!"

"Another activated talisman power was super strength, remember, Uncle?" Jade pointed out and he nodded.

"Super strength? Oh, so that's why Haru was so strong!" Kyou shouted, banging his fist on the table, nearly breaking it.

"He was here not so long ago! He surely will be Daowon Long's next victim!" Honda said.

"That's Daolon Wong," Jade corrected, but no one paid her any attention.

"Where did he go?" Jackie asked, standing up.

"I... I don't know..." Honda murmured in aguish.

"It's all right, the locator spell can find him," Uncle assured them.

"C'mon, let's go, then!" Kyou was the first one to leave the house, looking pleased not only with the prospect of fighting, but also that of seeing Hatsuharu's super strength being taken away from him. And speaking of taking powers away...

"Wait a minute! Won't you remove the power of the rat talisman from me?" Yuki asked them.

"Ah, you two can keep them for the time being. Since you are going to help us, they may as well be quite useful."

Yuki didn't remember having told them he would help. After all, the Chans defeated the wizard called Daolon Wong and his henchmen pretty easily, and with Kyou's help there was hardly any need for Yuki to go with them. However, Honda was going with them, and Yuki didn't want her to risk her life. Sighing in resignation, he stood up and joined the group.

"Well, since now I am immortal, I don't mind helping you too," Shigure remarked conceitedly, being the last to get out of the house. "Hey, if I am immortal, does that mean I am some kind of god or something?"

"No," Yuki, Jade, Uncle, and Kyou resolutely answered at the same time. Shigure didn't hear them—or just pretended not to—and gave in to his daydreams.

------

As expected, at first it was difficult to find Hatsuharu, since they couldn't guess where he was. Theoretically, he should have gone back to the Main House, but knowing his sense of direction, he had most likely ended up on the other side of the city.

"We'll never find him like this!" Kyou snapped. Uncle then took a bell out of his bag and began to chant in Chinese. The bell glowed green and vibrated slightly. The old wizard raised it above his head and let it indicate the right way.

"This way," he said quietly.

They ended up in the woods that surrounded Shigure's house. The two younger Soumas began to doubt if the "locator spell" was really working, but in a few minutes, they found Hatsuharu wandering around, sort of adrift.

"Hatsuharu-san!" Honda called him, relieved for seeing that he was all right. Hatsuharu turned around when he heard her voice.

"So you're the ox guy?" Jade said, looking at him up and down. She seemed to find it odd that a fourteen-year-old possessed the super strength. His calm appearance was deceiving also, merely because he was on the "White" mode at the moment.

"What's the matter?" he asked in confusion. Honda very hurriedly told him everything the Chans had explained to them. When she was done and stared at him anxiously, he looked only slightly surprised.

"So what?"

They all stared at him in disbelief. That certainly wasn't the reply they had been expecting.

"What do you mean, 'so what?' Didn't you hear what she just said? You can't just go around like that, you're in great danger!" Jade snapped in exasperation.

"If that so-called wizard you told me about comes after me, I can simply beat him up. Am I not super strong now?" he questioned coolly.

Then, the old man did something unexpected; he whacked Hatsuharu in the head with only two fingers. The boy probably wasn't using his super strength, for he yelped and rubbed his head where he had been hit.

"Daolon Wong is a wizard like me! If I have the power to remove your power, then so does he!"

He had a point, and Hatsuharu agreed with him after pondering for a moment.

"Hey, he could be a big help, being so strong and all!" Jade told Jackie.

"I suppose."

Uncle was about to add something, but stopped when something inside his bag began to glow. He searched for it and produced a rattle.

"The power of the snake talisman is near and active," he stated.

"The snake?" Honda repeated slowly.

Yuki twitched. The snake of the Souma family was his annoying elder brother, Ayame. Yuki didn't want to see him, especially now when Ayame had a magical power and would spend the whole day showing off. Great, that was all he needed...

For a moment, he considered if he should give up helping them look for the other members of the zodiac and go hide before Ayame saw him. However, as he watched Honda running after the group, guided by the rattle, Yuki decided to put that idea aside and keep following them.

------

Hatori was comfortably sitting in his room, writing down a list of medicines that he had to buy, when he suddenly heard footsteps outside. Probably Ayame or Shigure again. He ignored them and went back to his list.

He heard more footsteps and knocks on wood. Whoever it was, they were asking for permission to enter. Sighing, a bit annoyed by the interruption, Hatori stood up and opened the door. He glanced around, but didn't see anyone near the house. Either one of his dear relatives was pulling a prank or him, or he was imagining things.

Maybe I should rest a little, he thought while going back to what he had been doing.

Half a minute later the door was opened. Hatori immediately looked up, but still didn't see anyone. He couldn't be imagining things this time, and a sliding door could hardly be opened by the wind—especially when there was no wind at all.

He stood up once more and walked to the door. There wasn't any person or animal around. Intrigued, he closed the door.

"Ha-to-ri..." a voice whispered behind him. He jumped and turned around. Surprisingly, he was alone in the room.

"Who's there?" he asked, unafraid. He felt something blowing on his left ear and turned again.

"I have returned from the dead to haunt you, Hatori..." the voice said in an attempt to sound spooky, but Hatori immediately recognised it and sighed heavily.

"Ayame!"

"How did you it was me?" Ayame asked in his normal voice. Hatori had the feeling Ayame was just two metres away from him, and yet he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you, Ayame?"

Ayame laughed. "I'm here, Tori-san!"

"Where is here?"

"Over here!" now the disembodied voice came from the other side of the room.

"Stop fooling around, Ayame! Show yourself at once!"

"I can't!"

Hatori frowned. After a moment of silence, he asked, "You can't?"

"All of a sudden, I became invisible. I don't know how to go back to normal."

Invisible?

"Ayame, I—"

"Oh, I had a great idea! I'm going to make Yuki a surprise!"

"Oh, no... No, Ayame!"

The door was opened and Hatori heard quick footsteps out of the room. He ran and reached out for him, but grabbed nothing and could just listen to the other's laugh at some distance.

Hatori sighed. He still didn't understand what exactly was going on, but he was sure that Ayame was looking for trouble. He was alarmed just to think of Yuki's reaction when he found out his older brother was now invisible.

Yes, he could have to go after him.

------

To everyone's surprise, the rattle which was supposed to track the snake talisman took them back to Shigure's house. Everything looked exactly the way they had left it, and for a moment even Uncle wondered if there was something wrong with the locator spell.

"Odd," Jade commented, looking around unenthusiastically.

"Hmm, the locator spells is working fine," Uncle stated after some inspection.

"Then why can't we see anyone?" Kyou asked, also disappointed.

"'See'..." Jackie murmured, rubbing his chin. Suddenly, he seemed to realise something. "Of course we can't see anyone! The power of the snake talisman is invisibility!"

Yuki froze. Ayame? Invisible? It was like a nightmare! He really should have escaped when he had had the chance...

The rattle glowed more intensely.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuukiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" a cheerful voice resounded behind them, making them all jump in fright and involuntarily turn around.

"He's here," Uncle announced, pointing the rattle, which was now glowing even more, towards the door.

Wordlessly, Yuki went to the cupboard where they kept some paint buckets. Tightening his grip on one of them as he listened to Ayame's loud and irritating laugh, he took a deep breath to calm down. When he went back to the sitting room, Ayame addressed to him.

"Ah, Yuki, there you are! I know you can't see me, but it's me, your elder brother! That's a great surprise, isn't it? Hahahah! Ah, I see you have some new friends here!"

Completely calm, as if he did it every day, Yuki threw the pink-coloured paint onto the spot the rattle indicated. Thus, everyone could see Ayame standing on the middle of the sitting room.

"Quick, take off his power!" Yuki whispered dangerously, his eyes flashing threateningly and scaring even Jade.

"Take off my power? I won't be invisible anymore? But I'm enjoying it so much!" Ayame protested.

"Yeah, that's not fair!" Shigure intervened to support him. "If we can keep our talisman powers, why can't he?"

"Shigure, do you really want to let Ayame wander around invisible?" Kyou questioned sarcastically. "Just think about it."

"But... he is covered in paint now, so I think there is no problem—" Honda tried to defend him, but Ayame began to laugh again.

"I can take care of that! I just need to clean myself and—" He unbuttoned his clothes and took them off before anyone could stop him. Honda and Jade screamed out and turned around, closing their eyes and blushing.

"Ayame, what do you think you're doing?" Yuki hissed, flushing in embarrassment. Jackie, Tohru, and Uncle looked very disturbed and could just stare.

"Don't worry, Yuki, never fear. I'm invisible, anyway. Now, I just have to wash this paint off my face—"

"Hurry, Uncle!" Yuki shouted urgently. Uncle flinched and almost dropped the blowfish, but quickly recovered from the initial shock and began to cast the spell to remove the invisibility power from Ayame's body.

Jade half-turned. "Can I see it now?"

"No!" Jackie shouted in alarm. "Especially not now!"

"Put some clothes on already! No one here wants to see that!" Kyou ordered. Shigure chuckled while Ayame redressed.

Four snaps were heard outside and everyone turned to see what was there at the moment a voice complained, "Oh, no, not here again!"

"Do you think Chan is gone now?" someone else asked.

"Daolon Wong!" Uncle gasped. Kyou smirked pleased and cracked his knuckles, preparing to fight.

"Honda-san, try to find a safe place to hide in," Yuki whispered, also getting ready.

"Yes!"

"Who just arrived? More new friends of yours, Yuki?" Ayame asked curiously. He had just finished talking and an explosion completely destroyed what was left of the sliding door, along with the whole sitting room.

"Why? Why do they always destroy my house?" Shigure whined, falling on knees dramatically. No one paid him any attention.

The old dark chi wizard and his mutant henchmen entered the house. As he saw the group, Daolon Wong smiled evilly.

"Well, well, well, look at this. Now there are four of them reunited!" he said in triumph.

To be continued...

Thank you very much to my dear reviewers: Ariyana (Sorry I didn't replied before, but I couldn't find your e-mail address... Anyway, the boar has heat-beam eyes), CrazyInsaneAnimeFanGirl, FoxyFireDemon, Aura Black Chan, Hiei's Vampire Kitten, GirlWaterShaman, s.l. chanco, VampireNaomi, and sakurafairy. I love you all!