Author Notes: I've never been to preschool... so I'm not sure what they do in preschool so I just did some things we did in kindergarten and just made them a little more simple. My niece goes to preschool so I took some of her activities into mind as well. :)
Chapter 2: Preschool Blues
Years moves on and Miki grew with the other children, all except the cat. The cat was usually kept inside his own room, his parents never wanting him to get loose and having the chance to loose his beads. Sakura still feared her child and she refused to see his face. Mamoru usually took care of the child when necessary but the one who spent most of their time with him was Isamu.
Ai and Jiro stood outside a small building painted in a light beige. On the window the words Reach The Stars PreSchool! A four year old little girl stood inbetween the two, her hands holding theirs. Her gray hair fell in waves to her shoulders and her purple eyes looked at the sight in amazement. Her parents never took her outside the Sohma grounds before.
"Is this a good idea Jiro? What if a little boy tries to hug her... I don't think Ryu would like to erase all their memories... it would wear him out a little bit... so many memories to erase and all..." said Ai nervously. Jiro gave a small sigh and nodded.
"We must... just because she is cursed doesn't mean she can't become social. We'll just tell the teacher that she doesn't like to be touched by strangers... It should be fine. She knows to look out for herself around males..." explained Jiro, reassuring his wife that everything was going to be alright. Ai let out a sigh, she knew when she was beaten.
"Alright... but she will go to an all girls school once starts elementary school," Ai said, not leaving it up to discussion. The group made their way towards the door and entered the building.
Inside were several little children playing before they were to start their lessons. The teacher was sitting at a desk, writing out notes to be sent home to some of the more... troublesome children. Ai and Jiro walked up to the desk and the teacher looked up. She smiled.
"Hello and welcome to Reach the Stars preschool. I'm Miss Sugisaki. Were you here to enroll your student into our class?" she asked. Her green eyes smiled with delight as she greeted the Sohmas.
"Yes, we talked with you earlier this week and filled out everything we needed then. I'm Jiro Sohma, my wife Ai Sohma and our daughter Miki Sohma," said Jiro, introducing the family. Miss Sugisaki nodded.
"Ah yes, I remember you... Sohma... that is very familier... I don't know why though." she said.
"Miki doesn't really like to be touched... so I hope that isn't a problem if she gets a little... antsy around the other children. She's never really liked being touch by people she didn't know," explained Ai, getting it out into the open so she didn't forget.
"I understand. So Miss Miki would you like to meet the rest of the class?" asked the teacher, walking around the desk to look at the small child. Miki had been looking down the whole time. She watched her black shoes and looked up when she heard her name. Miki looked up at her mom, then her dad to get approval. They nodded and let go of her hands. Miki grabbed onto the hand of Miss Sugisaki and walked with her into the room with the other children her age. Ai smiled as she watched her child go and grabbed Jiro's hand. Jiro squeezed her hand and smiled.
"She'll be fine... she can take care of herself... she's the rat child... she's special remember?" whispered Jiro into his wife's ear. She nodded and the two turned to leave their child behind until pickup.
Miki but her bookbag on a hanger and sat at a long, rectangular table. There were six chairs positioned at the table, three on each side. On the table was a color. It was the red table. There were also a yellow, blue, green, purple and orange table. She sat there quietly, her hands in her lap slightly playing with her white and blue patterned dress. She listened to the chatter of the children and the door opening and closing while new children were added to the room. She could sense them all around her and she began to feel closed in. She looked up and peered around the room. Many children were chatting, some were actually looking at her, whispering to each other. They didn't figure she could hear them, but she did. She knew what they were talking about... it was her hair color. Members of the zodiac were cursed to have a hair color that usually was not normal. The cow got the full effect of his curse with having white and black hair. Miki began to slink lower into her chair, her hand tucking some of her loose curls behind her ear. She wished they would stop looking at her. She looked ahead of her and noticed a pair of red eyes staring at her. Red eyes...
"Children, children please quiet down. We have a member to our class today. Her name is Miki Sohma. Please stand up sweetie," said Miss Sugisaki. The kids became deathly quiet and Miki slowly stood up from her seat. She gave a small bow as she looked at all the children. She head hear the whispers... the whispers she hoped she'd never hear...
Look at her hair... its gray...
Her eyes... her eyes are purple! Does she wear color contacts? Is she albino?
"Thank you Miki, you may sit," Miki took her seat quickly and scooted up to the desk as far as she could. She crossed her arms and rested her head on them. She could feel their eyes in her back and it gave her the creeps. "Alright, now lets start with our lesson!" Miki barely listened to the lecture from the teacher as she began to talk about the alphabet.
"Today we start with the letter R. R is for rat," began the teacher and Miki sat up straighter in her seat as she heard rat. The person on her left stiffen their position and looked at her, their eyes peering at her.
"Can anybody spell rat or tell me something about the rat?" asked the teacher, taking a risk at the children spelling. Miki raised her hand. "Yes Miki?"
"I can spell Rat... its spell r-a-t. Rats are usually smart creatures and most of the time can avoid mouse traps. Rats are usually very gentle creatures but can be quite aggressive when desired..." explained Miki. There were soft mumbles behind her but a couple of the children were in awe of her knowledge of animals.
"Wow, thank you Miki... now, more on the letter R..." Miss Sugisaki began to write on the chalk board and the children listened. Miki went back to her daydreaming while the person on her left just looked at her. There was something strange about that girl... yet... he couldn't figure out what.
During recess the children played on the playground in the back. Miki sat on the swing and pushed herself back and forth with her legs. The awe from the other kids didn't last long and most of them played with their other friends and left her alone. Miki just gave a small sigh and rested her head on the chain support of the swing. She wanted to go home and spend time with the other children. She missed her friends, the ones who understood her and her pain.
A pair of hands pressed against her back and she felt herself being pushed a bit. She gasped and turned around to look who was pushing her. A pair of red eyes were looking at her with messy orange hair ontop of his head.
"What are you doing?" she asked, scared to being pushed by a child she didn't know, especially a boy! The boy smiled a little.
"Pushing you. You weren't getting to far by yourself so I decided to help," he said. She looked at him blankly, surprised and a little flattered. The boy was actually talking to her... She gave a small smile towards him.
"Thank you." she said and turned to face forward as the boy pushed her.
Nap time was one of the perks of the day. The little children slept peacefully, dreaming of little goodies they'd get once they got home, or of snack time which was soon to come. Miki didn't nap though, she wasn't tired. She was used to playing all day with her friends and never taking a nap to recuperate. That was another thing about the children of the zodiac, they never tired easily and could do excessive physical activity for hours on end. Miki rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. She still wanted to go home, but the day was now more enjoyable because of the new friend she made... she never asked his name though, she didn't know why she didn't but she felt if she did... she'd ruin something. She didn't understand the feeling so she pushed it aside, a little kid shouldn't be wondering of something like that, not at all.
The rest of the day went by smoothly, snack time being fun for exchanging and sharing their treats, and art time was full of painting fun. The day was over and many children waited for their parents to show up. Miki was sitting, watching several children playing tag. She watched as the orange hair child ran from the person who was it. She giggled as he dodged several children.
"I'm coming to get you Miki Sohma..." said a voice from behind her. She turned around to see one of the boys from the class advance toward her, his hands drenched in green paint. She gave out a scream when he lunged at her and she darted away from him. He laughed and followed her, his hands outstretched trying to grab her. She gave out loud cries, tears starting to form in her eyes. She couldn't let him get her... she couldn't or her secret would be discovered and her parents would punish her. Before she knew it she slammed into the arms of another child and she looked up. There staring down at her were the red eyes of her friend from earlier. Her eyes went into shock. She was in the arms of a child... a boy in fact, and she didn't transform. His eyes were surprised as well as he stared down at her.
"Are... you..."he began. At the beginning of the day he heard her last name was Sohma, but he didn't believe that she was... one of them... one of his kind since there were so many Sohma children because it was such a large family. There was a slim chance that one of them held the curse. It was even slimmer since she was a girl yet she didn't transform from his embrace. Of course, both of them didn't have to think about it long until Miki felt his body slam against hers as the it person hugged him crying, "You're it!" Poof! The puff of smoke soon went away and Miki rubbed her eyes. They went wide when she looked down and saw a small orange cat. Her friend... was the cat?! Thoughts began to run through her head as whispers began to fill her head again...
The cat is stupid... never go near him..... You must stay away from the cat, he's bad luck and would do you no good.... You're the rat, and the cat hates you and he'll never like you.... You're the rat and nobody likes you.... especially the cat. The cat might try to be friends but just watch out, he's only there to hurt you or worse... make you feel less of a person and humiliate you.... The cat..... the cat..... the cat.....
"YOU STUPID CAT!" cried Miki as she stared at the small cat infront of her. She didn't know why, but the feelings she had felt before were now gone. That cat... that stupid cat had ruined everything. Now every person's memory would be erased because of him. Before she could yell anything else, she felt arms wrap around her and her mind screamed. Poof! The boy blinked but saw on the ground where Miki had been, was a small, gray rat.
"What the hell!" shouted Jiro as he walked into the room just as his daughter was being hugged. He ran towards the group and saw a rat and a cat on the ground. Behind him followed Ryu who was brought along, just in case something like this were to happen. Ryu shook his head.
"Why..." he said softly, covering his face with his hand. Jiro knelt next to the rat and looked at her.
"Why... why...." he could only say. Before he could finish, a voice came from behind him to stop him in mid sentence.
"Natsu... Natsu what did I tell you?" Isamu walked up to the cat and looked him in the eyes. "I told you... watch yourself.... I told you!" he said. Natsu looked away, his eyes cast down. Ryu walked over to the teacher and began to talk to her in private. She turned around and clapped her hands.
"Children... please follow me into the empty classroom next door please," she said, and the bewildered children followed her, most of them still eying the two animals who used to be two of their classmates. Poof Poof! Two children sat there, both infront of the person they feared.
"What happened Miki?" asked Jiro, helping her to get dressed. Her eyes filled with tears as she pointed over to Natsu.
"It was his fault! That stupid cat! It's all his fault papa. If he wouldn't have ran into me none of this would have happened!" she cried, hugging onto her father with her face hidden from the others. Natsu sat there, a hurt expression on his face. Why did she have to be the rat? She was his only friend... but now..."That's not true! She ran into me! That stupid rat!" cried Natsu, anger building up inside of him. "Its not all my fault! If we hadn't ran into each other none of this would have happened! I wouldn't have been tagged and she wouldn't have been caught!"
"Thats stupid you stupid cat! Its your fault that those kids have to have their memories erased... poor Ryu.... do you know how bad this is on him? It takes a lot of strength to do one person... but all of them? You... you... I hate you you cat!" Miki shouted before running out of the room and outside. Jiro got up and followed his daughter, leaving Isamu and Natsu there alone. Natsu sat there, his shirt half on, the other half hanging off his shoulders. I hate you you cat!! His anger began to build up inside of him. The stupid rat... always blamed the cat for everything... everything! His eyesight became blurry as the tears began to roll down his cheeks. Isamu looked at him and hugged him.
"It's alright Natsu... its alright. She's the rat... you have to expect this. You two aren't made to be friends you know," Isamu whispered. He was right... but why did it have to be that way? Who said... the rat and the cat had to hate each other to the end of their days? Who?
The wall thudded softly as a ball ricochet off the wall back to the child who threw it. Natsu sighed, throwing the ball against the wall again. His parents didn't care what he did... they never did. He rarely saw his parents ever. His thoughts drifted from his parents to the day at school... Why did she have to be the stupid rat? He finally got a friend, but now... she was gone like that. He sighed. Stupid rat...
"Natsu?" asked Isamu as he opened the door. Natsu sat up, the ball smacking him in the head. Isamu smiled and sat next to the child. Natsu hugged onto the teenager tightly, not wanting to let go. Isamu patted his head.
"Natsu... I'm afraid that you can't return to preschool," said Isamu after a while of silence. Natsu sat up and looked up at him.
"What do you mean I can't go back? I was just starting to fit in there! Why..."
"It's to dangerous... after today's incident Haruko forbids it..." Isamu said softly. Tiny hands gripped the fabric of Isamu's shirt. Natsu growled softly.
"Its because of her... that stupid rat... Its all her fault! I'll get her though... I'll show her that just because she's the rat doesn't mean she's better than me... I'll show her..." Natsu growled softly. Isamu embraced the small child, holding him close. Natsu blinked, caught off guard by the action but he began to relax a bit. I'll beat her... I'll show that girl that I'm a man... I'll beat her...
Miki walked down one of the halls of the main house. The events of the day still burned in her mind. That stupid cat messed everything up... now her parents wouldn't let her go back to preschool and were determined on her going to an all girls school. She failed them... all because of that cat. Tears once again invaded her eyes and she stopped in her tracks and fell to the floor. She cried. She wanted to be excepted by people.... by people not of her kind... not a Sohma... she would have succeeded but... that cat...
"Miki..." came a voice from infront of her. Miki looked up to see Haruko standing there.
"Haruko..." she whispered softly. "What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting..." She felt a finger wipe away her tears and her face went red.
"Why are you crying Miki? Did someone... upset you?" he asked kneeling down. She began to cry once more.
"Yes... that... stupid cat..." she hissed. Haruko gave a small little smile. Good... so it begins...
