The Beginning
Katsuko Honda stretched in the early morning sun, preparing for another day of school. The 12 year old girl had her bag all packed and she was waiting for her older sister to come out of the tent. Yeah... they lived in a tent but only until they could go back to their grandfather's house once the renovation was done. Then they would not only be living with Grandpa but his son, daughter-in-law, and their daughter. Family that she wasn't even sure her big sister knew beyond the basic knowledge of them being their relatives. The uncertainty of the new people made her nervous but she promised herself that she would try...if only for Onee-chan's sake.
A happy exclamation behind her had the light orange-haired girl grinning as she turned to face her big sister, Tohru. "You're right. It's such a great day... Mama must be happy that we're still together and healthy. That last storm almost blew our tent away..." In truth, she had been worried that Tohru would wind up running a fever or catching a cold. The older girl had the unfortunate luck of worrying herself into a fever, rain or shine.
That was why the younger Honda did her best to try to ease the financial burden. Tohru had to bear the brunt of the finances since neither of them wanted to ask their grandfather for help. The house renovation was expensive and along with the household expenses... the two school girls were determined to pay their school expenses. However, as a 12 year old, Katsuko was underage and only allowed to do little jobs like making cloth flowers, folding envelopes, and 'volunteering' every Friday at Tohru's workplace-- the boss was sympathetic to their plight and offered to pay Tohru time and a half every Friday and Katsuko would do simple tasks like handing out tissues, flyers, and helping Tohru with her cleaning if they didn't have any other task a kid could do. Even now, the middle schooler had her quota of envelopes boxed up inside her bag, ready for delivery after school.
After they bid the picture of their mother goodbye, the sisters walked through the forest, hand-in-hand, to get to school. They always left with plenty of time to enjoy the fresh morning air and the bright sunrise, the chirping of birds that seemed to greet the morning with them. Today, they decided to take a new route to school and noticed a house for the first time since they started camping a week ago. Tohru's curiosity led them through the yard and next to the patio where 12 small zodiac figurines sat on a small box.
"Oh! How cute~!" Tohru moved even closer to look at them, Katsuko following to inspect them. She had to agree with her sister--they were very well made. And they looked like they were in the process of drying...
"Oh my... do my eyes deceive me?"
An older man's voice had both Hondas looking up to see said man wearing a green kimono and holding a newspaper. His dark hair was messy but also parted in the middle, grey eyes widening as he commented on school girls being in front of his house.
Tohru panicked, backing away and bowing as she apologized. The middle schooler also said she was sorry but didn't bother bowing. True, they had rudely trapezed through his yard but they didn't hurt anything. She listened to Tohru and the older man talking about the zodiac ornaments and the myth that their mom told them as a bedtime story. Katsuko smiled as she remembered her onee-san declaring herself as a cat instead of the dog she was born as.
It was then that the man seemed to become a little creepy towards her sister and she was prepared to defend her when a school bag smashed onto his head, stopping his forward behavior with a cry of pain. The Hondas spotted the pretty light haired boy responsible and, as always, Tohru freaked out about his identity. Really, Katsu didn't get what was so wonderful about him but he did stop his older cousin so he couldn't be that bad.
"Oh... well, we live nearby..." Both Sohma men looked confused at the statement but it was decided that Yuki (the pretty boy) would walk to school with them. Katsuko didn't mind but Tohru was very nervous, way more polite than usual which was quite a feat in and of itself. She couldn't help the feeling of relief when she got to split away from the older students on her way to her middle school.
Xx.xX
Katsuko grinned as she packed away the colorful origami papers for her next assignment--paper flowers. Megumi had gone with her to turn in the envelopes and now they were headed towards the park near the Hanajima house. It was a shortcut that the light-haired Honda was glad they took when they came across a group of girls bullying a small girl with orange hair and a white school uniform. The other girls were pushing the small girl around, teasing her about her strange hair and eyes, mocking her for not speaking up.
"What kind of cowards gang up on one chick?!" All the kids looked at the loud brash girl with hair just a bit lighter than the one being picked on. She was growling at them while cracking her knuckles.
The dark haired boy next to her had a look of minor displeasure. "That is an unsightly display. Certainly worthy of a bit of punishment... perhaps a curse or 5..."
The group of bullies bristled at the threat and swiftly ran off to try to escape the curse of Megumi Hanajima. He shook his head and looked at the remaining girl with his usual impassive gaze. "If you give me their names, I can curse them with no problem. It would only take 3 days to take effect..."
The long-haired girl rolled her eyes. "I hate people like that-- always picking on someone so they can feel better about themselves. Makes me wish Mom would have let me join a gang. I would have run it so we would have avenged the victims of bullying... but that would have made us the bullies... ugh, whatever." She turned her blue eyes to the still silent girl and grinned. "Don't worry about them. They're just disagreeable foilks by nature." She took that line from her grandfather for when she was upset with people. "I'm Katsuko and this is Megumi. What's your name?"
Those orange eyes widened at the sudden introduction but even though her mouth opened, no sound came out. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she started to fiddle with her fingers nervously. The boy looked over at his brazen friend before returning his gaze to the strange girl. "You want to come with us?" At the curious orange eyes, he knelt down and started to gather her spilled items, putting them in her schoolbag. "Those girls were deterred for the moment but they still may be laying in wait. It would be safer for you if you came with us... or we could drop you off at your home, Kisa-san..."
Katsuko was busy helping the smaller girl when she heard her best friend say that name and looked over. "Kisa-san? You think that's her name... wait! Are your powers evolving so now you can find out names just by looking at somone? That would be pretty handy when it comes to the whole curse thing." She noticed the nervous look on the newly minted Kisa-san and laughed. "Not that he would curse you, ya know? Megu-chan isn't like that. He's practically a hero of justice... kinda like Batman!"
"..." Megumi chuckled with a small smile as he raised the final item that belonged to the girl-- a planner with a name written on it. 'Kisa Sohma.'
The light orange-haired girl turned to the darker-orange haired girl and replied, "He's also kind of a cheater. But that's why he's my best friend." It didn't make sense to anyone but her. He could be sneaky but he also was willing to help a stranger in trouble. It was admireable.
Xx.xX
Katsuko stretched from her spot in the tent, kneeling in front of a box that doubled as a desk for the two school girls. As it turned out, Kisa did come with them to Megumi's house and the three middle schoolers played card games while eating snacks and drinking tea. Kisa didn't say a word the whole time but she did smile and opened her mouth in a parody of laughter when the Honda girl lost for the 5th time in a row. She noticed that the girl stuck closer to her but that was fine. Megumi's parents had come home and his grandmother drove Kisa home after she assured the girl that she could come over any time she wanted. And when his grandma came home, the whole family invited Katsu to have dinner with them, packing some leftovers for her to take to Tohru-- apparently Saki thought she was looking a bit too thin.
Katsu sighed, rubbing her head. She hated not telling them what was going on. But she understood her sister's decision. It was only for a little while longer. Then this feeling of guilt would go away and her sister would have regular meals that didn't come from school or a convenience store. She looked over at Tohru and noted the flush to her sister's face. Was she getting sick? It wouldn't surprise her...
Tohru was busy talking softly to their mother (a picture of her), saying how much homework she had even though she was so tired. But even though she saw the container of leftover food, she ignored it for a handtowel. "I'm gonna go wash my face at the stream..."
"Tohru-nee-chan... you should eat..."
The tent doorway was unzipped and both Honda's stopped at the sight of two Sohma men... one of which started laughing after the shock wore off. Katsuko sweatdropped at the blatant display and sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Looks like the cat's out of the bag..."
"...not quite..." the grey-haired Yuki commented, his small smile seeming a bit forced as he started hearding the two females and his hysterically laughing cousin to their house to talk things out. Before zipping up the doorway, the younger Honda made sure to grab the leftovers. Hopefully since they were going to their house, they wouldn't mind her using the microwave so Tohru could finally get some good food in her. This was gonna be a long night...
