Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Fruits basket does not belong to me, because if it did I would have millions and millions of pounds like Natsuki Takaya probably has!

SEEING DOUBLE

CHAPTER TWO

All is revealed (well, most of it anyway!)

"O.k., who the hell are you!" Kyo was so angry that due to his confusion he could hardly breathe!

All the friends had now taken the mysterious girl they had met at school, back to Shigure's house. They thought it would be wise rather than shouting their mouths off at school.

"Well, you've barely given me a moment to explain!" She was still standing by the front door having being immediately questioned by Kyo.

Kyo, Yuki, Tohru and Haru were all staring at the girl, although Kyo's expression was a little more infuriated than the others (as you'd expect from him!)

Everyone was staring at her that is, except Shigure of course, as he had not yet heard the full story of why there was a strange woman in his house and was now looking to and from each person in bewilderment!. I'm not saying that he didn't like the fact that there was a strange woman in his house, just that he was a little confused!

"Err… excuse me?" Shigure was trying to make a feeble attempt to make himself heard. "Erm…excuuuse me?" His voice got louder and bolder as he managed to get a hold of himself a little more.

"HEY! What the HELL is going on here!" And… he snapped.

"I'll tell you what's going on! This girl HUGGED me, and I didn't transform! That's what's going on!" Ahh Kyo, you always let your humiliation get the better of you! He was now going florescent red and his eyes were nearly as big as his ego!

Shigure just stood staring at the girl with a blank face and she gave as good as she got!

"Oh, my!" Was all he was able to mutter.

By this time, Yuki had pulled himself together and called Shigure out of the room to try and explain the extraordinary events, to his older cousin.

"Shigure, she called me a rat and is able to hug Kyo without him turning into a cat! Do you think she's….a…a…. do you think she's apart of the juunishi?"

"No! That's impossible! You and I both know that all the animals of the zodiac are accounted for!"

"Well, whoever she is…she knows!"

The two then entered back into the drama in the next room and sat everyone down.

Shigure didn't want to have to repair his house again so he decided to take a subtle, more relaxed approach.

"Look, Miss…."

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I suppose I really should explain now!"

"Well DUH!" Where Kyo's thoughts

She continued. "My name is Jackie Sohma. I lived in England up to a few weeks ago when I ran away. Let's just say, the country didn't agree with me! My Uncle lives not far from here so I went to stay with him, but it seems he has been missing for quite some time now…so… I've kinda been sleeping in a tree down the road!"

"A tree! What was she living off?" Although quite annoyed by Jackie's apparent stupidity, Kyo was quite impressed!

"AHHH! You poor girl! It must have been so hard!" Tohru of course felt sorry for her and immediately went to give her hug to somehow comfort her!

"Hey! I'm no charity case! Leave off!" Jackie swept the smaller girl aside. As it would seem she was not one to hug and kiss (at least not in public!).

"Well that explains who you are but, how do you know about Yuki being a rat and how come you can hug Kyo?" Haru had also now 'defrosted' from the shock and was his usual laid back self.

"It's not just Kyo I can hug. I can hug anyone possessed by an animal from the zodiac! Everyone that is, except Yuki."

"Why not?" Tohru was getting curious.

"I just don't like him!" She shrugged it off as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

Everyone but Jackie sweat dropped including Kyo who was growing more and more impressed by the second!

"Anyway, why do you think I can hug you?" Everyone looked blank while Yuki was going a beetroot colour in the background!

"Christ! Are you all really that damn stupid! I'm a member of the zodiac too, dumb asses!"

"Th…that's…impossible! There are no more members of the zodiac!" Shigure was mainly saying this to reassure himself but he was saying what everyone else was thinking.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm sorry but the fact that every time I hug a boy I turn into a bloody cat says different!"

"A WHAT!" Kyo almost coughed up a hairball.

Shigure seemed to relax a bit "O.k., now I know your lying! How can you be the cat when……"

"BUT, I'M THE CAT!"

"I know. And I can explain. You see, when you were born, Kyo, For a brief moment your heart stopped and you were no longer breathing. And in that brief moment yours truly was born. And since the person possessed by the cat was apparently dead, I then became the cat too!"

Kyo's mind was racing! His eyes couldn't fix on one thing, until he looked up into Jackie's warm eyes. He saw something of himself in her eyes; it was like looking into a mirror and seeing a new you. A you, you had never seen before.

"Kyo, we share the spirit of the cat."

Just then Kyo stopped gazing and blinked several times (maybe he was close to tears). He brought himself back to reality and looked straight at the girl.

"Do you…do you change? Do you change into….IT?"

"You mean the cat's true form? No. We share the spirit, but not equally. As you were born first, you share more, so to speak! Besides it would be pretty awkward if I did change because only you have those beads!"

Shigure was lying on the floor unconscious at this point and Yuki was close to it! Haru slowly stood up.

"I suppose we should wake sensei before someone treads on him." He casually walked over to the unconscious body and gently kicked it! That failing he then bent down and shook the man's shoulders vigourously!

"Eh?" Shigure's eyes were crossed and half open as he propped himself up on his arms.

MEANWHILE

Back at Ayame's shop!

"Yee He Hee! It's finally finished!" Ayame held up a high school uniform, for a girl!

"A master piece! Ah, I can almost feel Yuki's arms around me!" He held the uniform up higher and walked with it behind a curtain.

A FEW MOMENTS LATER

"Oh, and fits like a dream!" He wandered out from behind the curtain to reveal himself in a blue, long-sleeved jacket with a white lapel trimmed with two thin blue lines, and a short, skimpy blue skirt to match!

Ayame looked himself up and down in a full-length mirror and tears came to his eyes.

"Mmmm! I'm so happy!"

BACK AT SHIGURE'S HOUSE

Shigure was on the phone to Hatori and the teens were in the lounge being pretty quiet really! Every-so-often Tohru would fire a question at Jackie and every one would immediately turn and stare at her, anxious for the answer!

"So, um, Jackie! What made you decide to come to Japan?"

Jackie looked around the room at all the eager faces staring her way.

She sweat dropped at yet another pointless question!

Shigure was explaining to Hatori the events that had recently occurred.

"O.k. then, We'll be right over…. Are you sure Akito only wants to see the two of them?...Alright then., see you, bye!" Shigure put the phone back on the receiver and rubbed his temples. He slowly let out a deep sigh.

He walked into the next room unknowingly saving Jackie from having to explain herself.

Everyone stopped and looked at Shigure waiting for him to relay back the phone conversation he had had with Hatori.

"Akito wishes to see Kyo and Jackie. You two, get your coats, I'll drive you there."

The pair of them got up and walked to the door. They put on their coats and went to wait by the car for Shigure.

"Wow! It's such a clear night!" Kyo obviously was not as enthusiastic as Jackie about the beautiful night, not that he was showing anyway!

He looked up at the girl, "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I suppose it is."

Kyo was probably the most in shock by Jackie's sudden arrival, after all, it's not everyday a strange girl shows up and claims to have your identity, even if it is a spirit of the zodiac! But it was something else that was really playing on his mind.

"We share the spirit, but not equally"

Like many things in Kyo's life, to him this seemed very unfair. He thought,

"She can't possibly know how hard it really is to be possessed by the cat. She's got it easy…compared to me! Compared to me she lives in a six story mansion and eats caviar every day for breakfast! Just like…everyone else."

Jackie seemed to pick up on Kyo's troubles and with a reassuringly calm voice she softly spoke to him.

"You know, I may not change into the cat's true form, but, I still feel it. Physically, it doesn't affect me, but it still haunts me, just like you. I dream about it at night, I feel the pain, the loneliness that you do. And with that, I also feel the anger and the frustration. The hate."

Kyo said nothing, he just stood looking at her, trying to read the emotion on her face. He opened his mouth to say something when, just then, Shigure slammed the front door of the house as he left.

"Right! Shall we get going then?" Shigure got in the front seat of the car and started up the engine.

Kyo and Jackie silently got in the back, drowning in their own thoughts.

To be continued

Second chapter done! In the next one, Jackie meets Akito! But does Akito know more about this girl than Akito's letting on? There's only one way to find out! I need to think up a good story plot for the next chapter, that's how!