Chapter 27

W00t! 300 reviews! I love and adore you lovely people who take the time to write comments! XD 300!

Tohru-Kun09 asked for me to put Kisa in the story way back at chapter 24, so I thought about the best way to do that, and came up with this – ask, and you shall receive; hope you like it, Tohru-Kun.

Karlis – I think everyone should feel sorry for Yuki – I bet Eris can pull some really nasty pranks when she wants to.

ShadoWalker – It's been a quiet couple of weeks for them, in which the main events were summarized. Reality is, even anime characters have times of peace and quiet. Its been more the time when everyone adapts their routine to having Eris in them.

Karen – Yes, writing is one of my greatest pleasures. However, its taken me many, many years and a lot of effort to reach the level of story-telling I have to achieved – and I'm still learning! Don't put yourself down; just keep working at it. (No author thinks much of their own work; I don't think my stories are anything special)

RonHarryHermioneFanatic – Aww, thanks. If your dad doesn't let you scan, don't worry about it. If he does, send me a link or something, I'd love to see your take.

Tohru-kun09 – Thank you! I try to work hard at characterization, because it's a very difficult area; it's nice to know that I'm doing well.

DragonLady – Eris: Me, wreak havoc? Would I do that! Never! …but next time she comes over, she better watch where she puts her shoes – I've got a cornflour mix for the occasion.

Dark Inu – I feel a bit sorry for him too, to tell the truth. Eris' pranks are harmless, and she knows not to go to far – the problem is that there's no breathing space between pranks.

"There, you see? Oogenesis is a word! Oh, and don't forget that the 'g' is on a triple-letter thing-y."

"You rigged the dictionary, didn't you?"

"…Kyo, it's the dictionary, how the heck do you rig a dictionary?"

"I don't know – you just did."

"A sigh, and Eris rolled her eyes, her voice going dry, "Yes, Kyo, I rigged the dictionary - "

"Hah! I knew you'd been cheating!"

" – And the cards, and the chess set, and the checkers, and every other board game we've played, and the horse races on TV – oh, and while we're at it, let's not forget the tables at Vegas!"

"…Shut up, and stop winning."

"No, I like winning!" Eris stuck her tongue out at Kyo, collecting more scrabble pieces.

It was at that moment that their discussion over their game of scrabble was interrupted; by Tohru's voice suddenly crying "Kisa!" out in delight. The pair looked towards the door as, moments later, Tohru and the younger Sohma walked through.

Kisa paused at the sight of, what seemed to be, Kyo sitting in front of a scrabble board, dictionary at his elbow, playing against himself… and losing. The cat watched her and Tohru for a moment, before turning back to the board, muttering something under his breath that sounded like 'cheater' and put some letters on the board. Kisa's eyes widened when a pencil suddenly hovered in the air, and began to write the points into a tally without any visible help.

Tohru took Kisa's hand in her own, and quietly lead the staring girl past Kyo – the older girl always found herself the slightest bit apprehensive when Eris did things like that, though she was sure Eris herself was quite nice. It was simply that floating objects and the like were things of horror stories and the nightmares said horror stories induced.

That was Kisa's first experience with, as some of the Sohma's had started calling it, 'The cat's ghost'.

Later that day, Kisa sat outside, her feet dangling over the edge of the porch, as Tohru made lunch inside. The tiger had decided that it would be best to give her adopted older sister room to work until she was finished – maybe she'd help set the table later.

She was still on this line of thoughts when she heard a sound. Someone was humming a song she didn't know. Slowly, she began to turn her head to look.

The first thing she spotted was the pair of white-and-purple sneakers on the feet that swung back and forth beside her own, in time with the beat of the strange song. Kisa looked up; to see the face of a girl she didn't know, looking up at the sky, leaning back on her arms, sitting beside her. Her eyes looked hazel, her brown hair was tied, looking up at the sky.

As if sensing Kisa's surprised and weary gaze, the humming stopped, and the older girl looked over at Kisa. She stared at her for a moment, head tilted slightly to the side, as the pair observed one another. Then the strange girl smiled, her eyes half-closing in the process, before she got up and walked out of Kisa's vision.

Head turning sharply, the tiger looked in the direction the girl had gone, only to find no one was there.

Kisa didn't mention the girl – it seemed silly, once she thought about it a mere half-hour later. How did she know that she simply hadn't imagined the whole thing, after all? Alright, so it seemed unlikely that she'd imagined it, but what else could it be?

Kisa spent the rest of the day with the girl she thought of as an older sister; they watched a video Kisa had brought (and already watched with Hiro). Then they played several board games, that were near the front of the cupboard they'd been placed in – Tohru said that Kyo had played several of them with Eris recently – before, finally, Tohru made dinner with Kisa's help.

It was during dinner that Kisa really admitted to herself that the strange girl she'd seen was anything other than a mere figmant of her imagination – because, during dinner, though she couldn't see the source, Kisa heard a girl's voice humming the same, unknown song…

It was nearly dusk when it was finally decided that Kisa should go home. As Yuki had just left to take Tohru to her job, and Shigure had – conveniently – disappeared, that left Kyo with the job of escorting the tiger.

Once, Kisa suspected Kyo would have exploded about being forced to do anything, and yelled a few very choice words (that, her mother had once informed her quiet firmly, she wasn't supposed to use) about their missing cousins. Now, however, when Kyo worked out that he was the only one left to take her, he simply sighed, muttered something under his breath Kisa didn't catch, and grab his jacket.

Though Kyo had grown calmer, Kisa still felt nervous around the orange-haired teen. He had always seemed so angry at the world, and, well, he was the cat – how often had she been told he was a monster, like the ones she used to think hide under her bed?

So the pair walked in silence until they reached the edge of the Sohma estate – where Kyo was forbidden to go. Kyo moved to leave, but then stopped, and looked as if he was listening to someone. He gave the thin air a look, and rolled his eyes, turning back to her.

"Kisa." He waited until he had her attention before speaking, "Eris wants me to tell you for her – tigers are cats too."

And with those parting words, the older teen walked off. But someone stayed. The same brown-haired girl she'd that day, dressed in her black jacket and pants, standing a few feet away from the smaller girl, watching her.

For a second neither moved. Then the older girl grinned, and waved at Kisa, before turning on a heel and sprinting to catch up with Kyo.

And, before Kisa's eyes, Eris – she was sure that's who the other girl was – faded away into nothing, just as she reached Kisa's orange-haired cousin.