-The Secret Sohmas-
I'd like to thank xmissayumix, JennyKim319, and Demon in the Snow for giving me such supportive reviews, and so quickly too! I didn't expect three already!
Xmissayumix – I'm sorry I chose Ko's name before you suggested one, but I think you'll like this one too.
JennyKim319 - You liked the chapter ending too, huh? Well, I hope I can keep it up!
Demon in the Snow – I love your name! Thank you for enjoying my writing style and thank you for the luck. I love luck too.
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Chapter 2 -
A quiet chime rang in the corner of the room and the young girl reached over to check it. She had a new test message that consisted of four words: I FOUND MORE SOHMAS
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Ko sat against the wall in Tohru's room. A while before she had run out of the house and been stopped by a young man who could've been her twin and fallen to the ground weeping when she saw that they had been tied to the same fate. She had passed out, or faked it. The last thing she wanted was to explain herself.
She tilted her head and looked at Tohru through the darkness. I can understand the others, but why are you here?
She slept the rest of the night. She was aroused once when Tohru came in before she went to school, though she pretended to still be asleep.
"Should I wake her up? Well, she'll want breakfast when she wakes up, right? Should I leave her a note? I'll just be a minute."
Ko waited restlessly another hour after she heard them all leave for school, to make sure they were gone. Next to her head was a small note that Tohru had left: Breakfast is in the kitchen.
Ko sat up, picked it up lightly and looked at it for a minute. It seemed so real.
She picked herself up and brushed herself off and found her way to the kitchen. There was egg and rice and toast and little jams. Ko smiled at the second note: I wasn't sure what you liked. I hope this is all right. I made lunch too. It's in the fridge. I hope you like that too.
Sure enough, when Ko looked in the fridge, there was a little wrapped up package with a third note that she didn't bother to read.
She leaned against the counter and sighed. She looked over at the breakfast she had heard Tohru make that morning. Reluctantly she picked it up and moved it over to the table. Strands in the tatami mat were dented or broken from when she had tripped over the table. She shifted her seat so she couldn't see them and ate slowly in silence.
She washed all the dishes when she was done. Glancing at the fridge, she pulled out the lunch Tohru had prepared for her and the note: Here's lunch. We'll see you after school. XO, Tohru
Ko placed the lunch package in her backpack and headed for the door. A voice stopped her before she got to her shoes.
"Leaving so soon?"
Ko turned to find a man in a traditional kimono standing in his doorway, fixing his glasses. "How can we see you after school if you leave?"
Ko smirked at the man, not curious about whom he was. "Did they tell you about last night?"
"Of course. I require knowing about all young woman in my house."
Ko gave a breath of a laugh. "That comes to no surprise. You're the dog, right?"
The brown-haired man, Shigure, smiled his secretive, suave smile. "Sohma Shigure. Always glad to meet a fan."
Ko shook her head and went for her shoes. "Good-bye, Shigure-kun."
"Why are you leaving without saying good-bye to the others? It's not very polite to the hosts."
Ko looked at the floor. She could see both her shoes and the door from where she stood. "I have to keep moving."
"But why? You're safe here."
There was a pause. "I'm not safe anywhere." And she stepped down and slipped on her shoes.
"But you like it here and you're curious."
Ko stopped and, after a moment, sat down on the step. Shigure was leaning against the doorframe. "You're the cat, right?"
Ko slowly fell against the wall and the beads around her wrist clinked softly as she hid her face.
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When the three arrived home after school, after a brief stop at the dojo to tell Shishio that Kyo couldn't stay, they found that Ko's shoes were gone. They had barely gotten in the house when Shigure frolicked past them to slip on his shoes and coat.
"Shigure, where's the girl?" Kyo asked, disgusted with Shigure's frolicking.
"Oh, she's around here somewhere." He smiled carelessly and skipped out the door humming to himself.
So the hunt began. Ko's bag was still in Tohru's room, its contense spilled. The bathtub had been used and dishes had been cleaned.
"She's not in the house."
"You don't think she's outside, do you?"
The snow wasn't very deep at all and had begun to melt some that day, but when they looked out back, they found footprints leading into the trees. Looking at each other, they quickly resnagged their shoes and coats and headed into the woods. They hadn't gone far when they found her sitting on a low branch.
Kyo spoke first. "Hey, you. What are you doing?"
She looked at him coldly, and then pointed up to a nest where a small bird quickly fled. They all watched it flee until it passed by Ko and she smiled a very small, peaceful smile. "We don't have those where I came from."
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The conversations started up again inside.
"I've been on the run for the past 3 days."
Tohru brought more tea. "On the run from what?"
"Being the cat." There was a slight pause before Ko put on a humorous grimace and turned to Kyo. "Does it suck here as much as it sucks where I came from?"
Kyo scowled a bit to himself. "It sucks pretty bad here."
"Yeah, well, at least you don't live in the main house. You have a nice set up here away from everything." Her face began to transform from a humorous grimace to anger. "You have some peace."
All three of them looked like they had something to say, but Ko wasn't done. "And you're guys. They can only kick you around so much."
Both Yuki and Kyo 'humphed', both their own silent way of saying that they get kicked around plenty.
Ko let them not believe her and put an empty cup down on the table. "Yuki, fill me up."
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The conversation went on. Everyone was extremely curious about the there being an unknown second cat. Were there others? Did they all have a second zodiac? How did this one exist outside their knowledge? Ko wouldn't reviel much of anything about herself even though her secret was out, but she continued to probe into Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru. This conversation was relatively louder than the pleasant dinner conversation they had had last night, although this time they had Kyo. Sometimes Kyo and Ko would gang up on Yuki and some times they were at each other's throats. She was a very loud and physical girl when she felt like it.
When it came time to prepare dinner and Tohru wondered if they all wanted to help, Ko dragged both the boys into the kitchen and forced them to help (even though they both probably would've helped anyway) and there was more shouting.
It calmed down when the dinner was served, though they were all comfortable with each other now. After small comments were made about how such and such a person messed up such and such a course, they all gladly dug in.
No sooner had they started did the door open and the rather boisterous voice of Shigure filled the house. "Hello, dearies! I'm home!"
"You're late." Yuki commented.
Shigure hopped through the door, more peppy than usual. "Sorry. I was at the main house and ran into someone. Where's my dinner?"
"I ate it because we didn't think you were coming." Ko said, swirling her tea. Shigure was all in tears, but a voice coming through the doorway cut him off before he could say anything. "It seems that you're doing just fine."
They all turned and looked up at the soft, but chilled voice from the doorway. Standing there with a black shoulder bag and a black school uniform embroidered with white was the most fragile girl Tohru, or any of them, had ever seen. She was not a sickly kind of delicate, not at all. The only part of her that seemed sickly was the paleness of her skin, but that was an alabaster white. She seemed like some kind of specter. Her eyes were gray and cloudy and her expression serious and narrowed. Her hair was gray and short, as short as Rin's would one day be. She presented the illusion of being tall, though she was shorter than Ko, her posture rigid and perfect. She was, in every way, Yuki's twin.
Ko shot up. "Yuki-chan! What the heck are you doing here?"
The delicate girl placed her bag down. "You sent me a text message."
Ko's voice had grown loud again. "That was a 'I'm alive' text message, not an 'I'm dying, come find me' text message."
The fragile girl had bypassed Ko and bowed to the party eating. "I'd like to apologize for my cousin's behavior."
"How'd you find me, dang it!"
The girl looked over at her, her expression never changing. "I looked up the largest Sohma residence in the area your train went and it led me here."
Shigure rubbed the back of his head. "And I found her outside the main house and she said she was looking for you."
"Oh, God, they know what direction my train went?" Ko ruffled her hair with frustration.
"She was going to the main house?" Yuki asked, almost coughing in his tea.
"Yup, caught her before she got there and brought her here."
"Thank you for catching her." Yuki was extremely relieved, knowing that if a girl looking exactly like him strolled into the Sohma house, they'd all think it was him and he'd never hear the end of it.
The fragile girl stood. "Hurry up and eat your dinner, Kyo-san. We're leaving."
Everyone looked up, but Ko answered. "No, Yuki, I'm not going back. I told you that before I left."
"Be serious, Kyo, you can't just leave the main house. It's causing problems for all of us. They have us under lock and key. I only managed to come here because I snuck off from school."
"Go home then before they worry. They don't want me there and I'm not going back."
"Of course they want you there, Kyo, be reasonable."
"No! They want me to keep my mouth shut. They're only worried about themselves!"
"Don't make me fight you, Kyo. You know how it hurts me to fight you, but I will."
"That's why you're here too, isn't it! Now that I'm gone, you're the next best toy, aren't you! Well, I won't go back. I'm not going back just because you want me to amuse him so you don't have to!"
"Kyo, please, that's not it at all."
"GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY LIFE! Don't steal the little light I have!" Ko's shouts had turned into a rage. She stormed over to the fragile girl's bag and thrust it out for her, standing by the door so that the party at the table could not see them. The girl Ko had called Yuki bowed to the party, after a pause, stood and walked out of the room. She took the bag that Ko held out for her and slipped on her shoes. "For your information, Kyo-san, I came here because Honda-san asked me to."
Ko stayed rigid as the girl called Yuki slipped noiselessly out the door and back into the cold night. Ko moved only after the sound of the fragile girl's gentle feet was gone. Ko moved back into the main room to see them all looking at her, all with their own expressions.
The dams in Ko's eyes looked like they were about to break. "Sorry," and she turned and hurried out the side door. Don't do that, she thought as she left. Don't look at me with such pity. I don't want pity anymore.
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Tohru followed her footprints in the dark to the spot where they had found her earlier that day. She was standing in her socks looking up at the empty nest. "It's gone," she whispered. "It may not have ever been here." Ko slumped to her knees as she had the first night when she felt utter defeat, and then onto her backside, her arms in between her knees. Tohru crouched down next to her.
"So, umm, your name's Kyo?"
"My name's Kyoko, but no one ever calls me that."
"Oh, my mom's name's Kyoko!"
"Really?" Kyoko smiled a bit to match Tohru's before it faded. "I never had a mom..."
And Tohru stayed with her in the snow until her tears she couldn't cry finally subsided inside her.
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When they came back in the house everything had been cleaned up.
"Oh look," Tohru smiled when they got to the kitchen. "They packed up our dinners. That's so thoughtful."
Tohru took the dinners back out, unwrapped them (not that they were wrapped with much skill) and warmed them up again. "So, that girl's name was Yuki, too?"
"Yukiko," Kyoko corrected, "But no one calls her that much."
Tohru giggled and Kyoko gave her a look. "It's just cute because she seems older than Yuki."
"She looks it, doesn't she." Kyoko smirked over her dinner. "We hit our teenage years and suddenly we age." Her voice was quiet and Tohru knew that there was something Kyoko wasn't saying. Tohru would wait.
"I guess I should thank you." Kyoko looked at herself in the broth. "and the boys too."
"For what?" Tohru asked.
"For coming after me, for being concerned." She drank her broth as quickly as she shot-gunned her tea. Her mood had recovered. "Makes a girl feel special, ya know?"
Tohru giggled a bit at Kyoko's smirk. "I'm very glad."
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It wasn't until they had gotten into bed that Kyoko sat up and looked over at Tohru. "I'm sorry... about dinner, I mean."
Tohru sat up quickly. "Oh, no. It's alright!" Tohru's voice was loud and apologetic. It caused a few shadows to form outside the door.
"It's just that... Yukiko's always there."
Tohru looked over at the silhouette sitting against her wall. "Do you not like Yukiko-san?"
The silhouette shifted, the head falling back against the wall. "No. I don't hate her. I just can't bring myself to hit her. So I shout. I can shout and scream until I'm mute and she's deaf, but that would never accomplish anything..."
Kyo moved from his stance by the girls' door to find Yuki standing behind him. They had all been listening. Yuki met Kyo's eyes for just a brief moment, but it was long enough to share that he knew the truth in those words. It had been a truth that he had only recently begun to understand.
The girls fell silent and Kyo and Yuki went to their own rooms and a quiet fell over the house.
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Note -Ko as an ending means 'child'. So if Yuki means 'snow', then Yukiko means 'snow child'