Reviews answered by Umi-chan.

Animeprincess1452: Thanks; we try our hardest to write. And you'll just have to wait and see who the dude in the kitchen is! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Girl Water Shaman: The dude in the kitchen will be introduced momentarily.

Spirit of the Dead: Yeah, I wrote that little part with Tsuka and Yuki. As for the drama thing I wonder if there will be any chapters without drama (sweat drops) but hey, as long as it keeps you glued to the screen and coming back for more!

Daine-Wildmage: I think most people would assume it was Akito but it isn't. Anywho, glad you liked the story and here's your update.

Katana: Read on and find out.

Poplollyblues: Wow… I'm so glad to hear you were so moved by our story!

Katana (again): Um… (sweat drops) read on?

Chapter Nineteen: Jack Arson and Fan Girl #7

"What seems to be the trouble my-" Shigure popped his head into the kitchen and found the dark haired boy and myself practically strangling each other. At first my thoughts were that the guy had broken in and from Shigure's look of surprise he probably thought so too, but when Shigure finished talking my thoughts changed completely. "Why, hello there Jack. Does he know you're here?"

My eyes widened and I released my grip on Jack's neck. Shigure knew this cretin?! How?! And how the hell did Jack get to Japan any way?!

Jack stood up straight and brushed the imaginary dust off his sleeves.

"Hello there, Pohli. Nice to see you are still so…" He paused for moment, thinking of which word to use, "pleasant. And no Shigure, to answer your question he does not know."

"Well what a nice surprise he'll get seeing you again." Shigure muttered in his strange little way.

Anger began to boil up inside me as Jack turned to me and smiled the same way Akito does… that cold chilling smile. Shigure frowned for a bit before leaving, but before he left he asked for Jack to come into his office when he was done with his 'business'.

"What do you mean by that, you pervert?!" I yelled after him but then shushed myself so I wouldn't wake the whole house. I just stood there, glaring daggers at the floor before asking, "Why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, you know." His voice even sent chills down my spine. Oh how he reminded me of Akito…

Back at my high school in the States, Jack Arson was my rival. He was 20 now (same age as Aki) and I hadn't seen him for a few years. Last time I saw him I was a freshmen but he was still the same cocky bastard, I could tell. He belonged to a gang (he was their leader as long as I can remember) and they were always giving me trouble.

"Shut up and answer the question, Jack Ass." I snapped.

I loved that little nickname. Ever since I found out his last name was Arson; I started calling him Jack Ass along with everyone else. He hated the name with a passion.

"I'm just here visiting my family, the Sohmas. Why are-"

"YOU'RE RELATED TO THEM!" I gaped, my jaw hitting the floor. He just smirked before replying,

"Yes, now why are you here?" He ran a hand through his dark, almost purple, colored hair and began to chew on his tongue.

"My cousin knows them and we were spending the night." I looked towards the door and saw Kyou staring at us with a blank expression.

"What the hell are you doing back here, Jack Ass?!" Kyou ran up grabbed Jack by the collar and shoved him up against the wall like he was ready to kill him. "How DARE you show your face to me again!" Kyou's eyes flamed a bright red as he dug his fingers into Jacks neck.

I didn't know what to do at first. I just felt numb, and then amused at seeing Jack suffer like I had so many times. A small twinge of guilt at the back of my head told me I couldn't just let Kyou choke him to death… no matter how much I hated him.

Before I knew what I was doing, I ran up and threw my arms around both of their necks. There was a loud POOF sound and when I opened my eyes Kyou was a small orange cat and Jack was-

And Jack was sticking both of his arms out towards me so I couldn't touch him.

"Hi…" We all turned to see Midori and her blank emotionless expression, repeating 'hi' over and over slowly.

"Geez, what's her problem?" Jack let go of me just in time for me to swing a fist at his head. Kyou went into a panic and began running around the house screaming for Shigure. It was actually quite funny!

After a little bit Shigure had caught Kyou and had come into the kitchen. "Kyou let me explain!" Kyou tried to fight him by scratching his face but Shigure snapped at him, "She knows about us, its ok!"

Kyou instantly stopped fighting. "How the hell does she know?! Did that damn rat tell her?!" Shigure set him on the ground and threw a blanket over him. "Does Akito know?!"

"Will her memories be erased?" Jack asked. His dark eyes had an angry look in them reminding me of Akito once again but I shook the feeling away.

"No." Shigure smiled and shook his head. "I talked to Akito, he-"

"Akito told me about the curse." I interrupted.

Jack and Kyou's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their skulls.

"Yes, he told her. Then came and told me that he had. Strange… he seemed like he wanted my approval." He laughed lightly before patting Midori on her head and she merely said 'hi…' to Shigure unemotionally. Jack frowned and cleared his throat.

"There is a reason that I am here this early. And it involves you." Jack turned and pointed to me. "Get your shoes on."

I stood there wondering for a moment but then darted away and pulled my boots on. When I zipped the last bit of zipper I stood up and Jack grabbed my hand dragging me outside.

"There." Jack pointed to a nearby tree and I froze at what I saw.

A dead girl maybe a little younger than me was hanging from a tree branch (not the one I had climbed earlier) and a deep-sea blue lynching rope just like the one Midori gave me was holding up her body by her neck.

"What the hell…?" I whispered in shock.

"I'd like to know how that happened, Pohli." Jack narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously.

"I didn't do it!" I protested. "I swear I didn't do it!"

"I know all about your past and something like this doesn't seem unreasonable for you." Jack pointed out.

I began to panic, I mean, what else could I do?! Jack clearly didn't believe me and I was out all night! Glancing around quickly to see if I could run, I saw that Midori had followed us outside and was staring at the dead girl hanging from the tree branch with her blank eyes.

"Do you recognize the rope, Pohli? Looks a bit too nice to have just picked up off the streets." Jack tilted his head and looked like he was thinking extremely hard.

"Yes…" I nodded and knew the answer to this question would probably be my downfall. "It's the blue lynch rope that Midori gave me when she was still… herself…"

"Hmm…" Jack considered this slowly and started to mutter to himself. "Well anyway, I better get the body disposed of and be sure to keep reporters' noses out of this and also keep the police fairly quiet." The dark-haired boy turned on his heel and strode back into the house with his hands in his pockets.

"What?" I couldn't believe this. Jack, my mortal enemy, was helping me?! Since when did hell freeze over? Thank god! I could almost just run up to the cocky bastard and hug him but I would probably regret it later. "You don't think I did it, Jack?"

"No, I had a change of heart." He turned and gave me a creepy Akito-like smile before leaving.

I felt so relieved that when I walked back into the house I gave Midori a big hug and her eyes just gleamed at me mysteriously.

(Yuki's POV)

As if I didn't need anything else shocking happening, I find out there was a murder right out back last night.

Jack took care of everything though and left right afterwards while Pohli was so happy she was running around hugging everyone she could. She avoided hugging Shigure, Kyou, and I though so we wouldn't transform in front of Uo and Hana.

If I remember correctly, Jack was a pretty close relative to us. His mother was a Sohma and his father was an American, which explains why his last name is Arson and not Sohma. In fact Akito and him are… half siblings.

Tohru was serving us all her delicious breakfast cooking and everyone ate happily around the table together. Midori was acting a little strange and said 'hi…' to everyone randomly. Saki's expression at what her younger sister was doing was a mixture of shock and a little happiness from what I could tell. What does this mean? Does this mean Midori is getting better?

"Hi, Yuki…"

I dropped my chopsticks with a clatter and looked up into Midori's eyes with surprise. She had actually said my name!!!

This took Pohli aback as well. In fact she was so amazed that she spit out her milk onto Kyou's face, who was unlucky enough to be sitting across from her.

Saki hid a small smile that had appeared on her features and continued eating her fried fish.

Maybe there was hope for Midori yet…

TO BE CONTINUED

Umi-chan: By the way, in the chapter title "Jack Arson and Fan girl #7" Fan girl #7 just refers to the dead girl. She's actually one of the Yuki fan club girls because no one likes them. And also if you just glance through my (Yoshiko Kyoda) "The Second Zodiac" story fan girl #7 is mentioned there too!

Kyou-chan: Now here's the big question… Who murdered the girl? If you guess wrong you will be hung in the story too! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Umi-chan: She's just kidding about that…