A/N: Ok, so this is the fourth chapter, and I'm just wondering…so far, my chapters have all been kind of long and it just seems to come naturally. But if you guys would prefer shorter chapters with more frequent updates, I could do that, too. Just let me know!

Tohru stepped into the classroom, taking a deep breath as she found her seat. She was not looking forward to another confrontation with the teacher and hoped to avoid it if at all possible. No such luck.

"Well, well, Miss Honda, looks like you decided to show up on time today. Class, why don't we all give a round of applause to our dear Miss Honda?"

The class dutifully clapped and the teacher smirked. Tohru sank further down into her seat miserably. The person in the seat next to her snorted in amusement, "Looks like the teacher's got it out for you, huh?"

Tohru glanced over in surprise. The boy who had spoken was tall and had broad shoulders. His hair was a startling orange color and his eyes were reddish orange, too. She gaped for a second before realizing that she had been rudely staring, "Oh…um…well, I guess I just need to work twice as hard, right?" She chuckled nervously; somehow, this boy made her uncomfortable.

"Um…my name's Tohru Honda, I'm pleased to meet you. And what's your name?"

"Kyo, Kyo Sohma, not that it's any of your business."

"Heh heh," Tohru laughed nervously again, "well, it's very nice to meet you." She inwardly poked herself. Somehow, she had irritated this boy.

The teacher's loud, abrasive voice interrupted her thoughts, "Take out your pencils and erasers. We have a pop quiz today. I want to see how many of you really studied last night."

Tohru breathed a sigh of relief, Thank goodness I studied extra-hard last night. Maybe the teacher will see that I really am serious about this class.

The teacher passed the tests down each row. Tohru scanned the problems and realized she knew the answers to all of them. She began filling in the answers when she felt an elbow nudge her on the side.

"Hey, you got an extra pencil?" It was the boy who had spoken to her earlier, Kyo.

She rummaged around in her bag but she couldn't find one. She turned back to Kyo, and whispered, "I'm sorry, this is the only one I have."

Unfortunately, the teacher happened to pass by at this exact moment. Gleefully, she marched over to Tohru's desk and demanded, "What is this? Talking during a test? Miss Honda, I'm sure I don't have to remind you the consequences for cheating. I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to finish this test. Please stand up and leave."

"I…I wasn't cheating…I was just—" Tohru protested.

"ENOUGH! I know what I saw, and lying is not helping your case, Miss Honda. You're lucky I haven't dismissed you from this class. Now, please, leave. I don't want to see you again today."

"Please, just let me explain…I honestly wasn't cheating."

"So they all say, yet did I not just see you speaking during a test? If that isn't cheating, what is?"

"BANG!"

Kyo had slammed his hand against his desk and stood up, "She wasn't cheating, you old hag. She was telling me she didn't have an extra pencil because I asked to borrow a damn pencil! Now, if you don't believe her, that's your problem. But I'm telling you right now, she wasn't cheating, damn it! If you're gonna punish anyone, then it's gonna be me."

The teacher's face turned beet red with rage, but then she calmed down and plastered on a fake smile, "Well, isn't that sweet? Hmm…you're right, it does take two to cheat. Well, if you insist, then BOTH of you get out."

Tohru frantically shook her head, "No, no, it wasn't his fault, I—"

"SHUT UP…you twit," yelled Kyo, "I don't give a damn about this class anyway."

"OUT!" screamed the teacher.

Once outside, Tohru hung her head miserably while walking alongside Kyo.

What have I done, Mom? Now, not only have I messed myself up, I dragged another person into it, too.

"I…I'm so sorry, Kyo," Tohru apologized in a trembling tone.

"Will you please just SHUT UP? I told you, I don't care about that damn class or that old hag or you for that matter, so just leave me ALONE!"

"Kyo, wait, Kyo!"

He had run off. Now, she was completely alone. Slowly, she walked along until she realized she had somehow made her way home. She was surprised by the many police cars parked in front of her house. Has something happened?

Tohru rushed inside and tried to find the butler. "Have you seen—"

The maids rushed past her without even a second glance.

What has happened here? Why is everyone in such a rush?

She gasped when she saw someone being carried out by a stretcher. Desperately elbowing her way through the scuttling crowd, she managed to catch a glimpse of the injured person. It was the butler.

"What happened here? Please, will someone tell me what's going on?"

Finally, a maid stopped to inform Tohru, "Earlier, a burglar broke in. The security guards were off in the back and the only one here was the butler. He tried to block the burglar but he was knocked aside and he hit his head on the staircase. The paramedics are taking him to the hospital right now."

In shock, Tohru rushed to the butler's side. "Please, can you hear me? Please…wake up."

The butler's eyes fluttered open and he weakly replied, "Miss Tohru? Is that you? You have to listen to me. Your father heard what happened and he ordered that you immediately move out of the house. It isn't safe right now and we still haven't caught the burglar. Don't worry about me, I will be fine. Just promise me that you will pack your bags and leave as soon as possible. You do have friends you can stay with, right?"

"I…yes…I do, I mean, yes, I will. I will be fine." Tohru was so flustered she couldn't even find the right words to say.

"Good…good, now my mind is at ease. Be a good girl, Tohru." The butler's eyes fluttered closed again and the paramedics hauled him off to the ambulance.

Half an hour later, Tohru held two bags stuffed with her belongings. She had quickly packed all of her essentials, but now, she had no idea where to go. She had told the butler that she had friends to stay with, but really, she didn't.

Uo lives in such a small, cramped apartment. I couldn't burden her further…and Hana's family already has six people. They really don't have room for another person. Oh, Mom, what am I going to do?

Sighing, Tohru slowly walked away from the house. No sense in staying here; I promised that I would find somewhere else to stay.

She headed towards the park so that she could have a quiet place to think. Once there, she found a bench and set her bags down.

"Oof…" she rubbed her hands where the straps had cut into her and left two red marks.

Unfortunately, this just was not Tohru's day. A droplet of water dripped down. Tohru looked up. She groaned in despair. The sky was quickly being covered by thick gray clouds and it was already beginning to sprinkle.

She looked around for a place to avoid the rain but the best she could find was a densely-leaved tree.

The rain began to drop faster in big plops. Her hair was already damp and her bags were quickly soaking up the water too.

Deciding there was nothing she could do, Tohru quickly grasped the straps of her bags and winced in pain as they cut into her hand again. She hauled them up and ran for the tree.

Once under, it was a little drier, but the rain still managed to pound through the leaves and soon, Tohru was soaked through. She shivered as a breeze picked up and her wet clothes clung to her. Mom, I'm really in for it now. What am I supposed to do though?

Suddenly, Tohru did not feel the rain anymore. Has the rain stopped? She glanced up hopefully…and realized there was an umbrella above her head. She gasped in her surprise and then realized someone had approached her from behind and was holding an umbrella over her. Whirling around, she came face to face with…the boy from the library.

"I…thank you…but…oh no! You're getting wet now. Don't worry about me, I'm already wet, but look, you're getting wet too and…" Tohru started babbling.

The violet-eyed boy looked at her curiously but said nothing.

"Oh please, don't go to any trouble on my account. You're getting all wet, and I…and I…" Tohru felt faint. Suddenly she swayed and then all of the day's events finally caught up to her and she fainted.

Tohru woke up and found herself in an unfamiliar room. Where am I?

She looked around and was startled when the door opened. The violet-eyed boy smiled at her.

"Oh good. You're awake. Now you can go take a hot shower and change into some dry clothes."

"But…but how did I get here? Where am I?"

"You're at my apartment. Earlier, you fainted at the park and I carried you here since I didn't know where you live."

"Oh, thank you so much. I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble."

"It was no trouble at all. Don't worry about it. And your bags are in the living room. Just take a shower and then we can talk later."

Tohru was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden whirl of events and all she could do was nod and offer up a weak smile of thanks.

Yuki sighed. The girl was tiring to be around. She always seemed to be babbling something or other.

What was I thinking bringing a girl here?

But she fainted…what was I supposed to do? Just leave her there?

She was heavier than she looked. Carrying her had been no easy task. He had to be extra careful not to hold her too close or he would have transformed. The sidewalk was slippery from the pouring rain. He had gotten soaking wet. And then, he had had to go back for her bags. All in all, it was not a pleasant experience. He was surprised at himself for making such efforts for this complete stranger.

Why did I even go up to her in the first place? I guess I was just asking for trouble…but she looked so fragile there, soaking wet and shivering. She seemed so grateful though for a small thing like that.

"Um…excuse me?" The girl had emerged from her shower. Unfortunately, she only had a towel wrapped around her body. She was slightly blushing, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

Yuki's breath caught for a second. She was…stunning. How could I have thought her plain? Her long brown hair shone with beads of water and her face had a pretty rose-tinted flush. Her shoulders were milky-white and the hand that clutched the towel tightly about her was delicate with long, slender fingers. Her towel…her clothes!

Yuki snapped to attention and he was irritated at himself for losing focus for a second.

"Um…I'm sorry to be a bother but I don't have any dry clothes…"

Smiling politely, Yuki replied, "Oh, no, it's my fault. I should have thought of that. You can borrow some of my clothes while your own clothes dry."

Glad for the excuse to get away, Yuki quickly walked into his own bedroom and searched for some clothes for her to wear. What is wrong with me? I've seen plenty of girls and none of them have interested me. I'm acting like…like Shigure! Wrenching a pair of shorts and a shirt from his drawers, Yuki hurried back to the room where she was still waiting. He handed her the clothes and told her she could change in the bathroom.

Nodding her thanks, she quickly took the clothes and scuttled back into the bathroom. Yuki sighed and for the second time that night, seriously regretted bringing this girl back to his apartment.

A/N: Wow…this was such a long chapter. Sorry, hope you don't mind. On a side note, I just wanted to say, it was really hard for me to actually type "damn" because I'm very anti-cursing, but I thought it would be out-of-character for Kyo to have squeaky clean language, so I put it in. I wanted to introduce some more characters, but it just didn't happen. So, that's my goal for the next chapter. I finally did get some conversation between Yuki and Tohru. Don't worry, even though Yuki is very anti-girl right now, he'll have a change of attitude soon! By now, I hope you've figured out that yes, the curse is in the story. There will be other aspects of the original story that will be in this story too. So, be looking for those.