Chapter 2—New Beginnings

"Haru, Haru, wake up!"

Haru awoke to the calm, soothing voice of his cousin Yuki. He had almost forgotten he was at Yuki's house. It was the day after their summer holiday and Haru had decided to stay there and go with Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru-kun in the morning, rather than go back to the main house.

Haru got up, dressed quickly, and headed downstairs where he could smell the delicious breakfast Tohru made, cooking and sizzling. "Good morning."

He looked around to see who was up. It was everyone by the looks of it. Kyo just grunted a hello, Yuki smiled softly at him; Shigure didn't even look up from his coffee and paper. Tohru was the only one who actually greeted him.

"Good morning Haru-kun! Please have some breakfast! You'll need it to keep up your strength!" She was too chipper. But she was always like that so Haru had gotten used to it, although sometimes she got on his nerves. It was at those moments where he had to stop himself and calm down before he went 'black'.

You see, Haru was normally very kind and quiet and peaceful, except when he got really upset and turned 'black'. When he became what the Sohmas began calling 'Black Haru', he was crazed, uncontrollable, and he would tear the place apart. Because of this, he was often seen as two people, not one: Black Haru and White Haru.

"Well," Shigure said as everyone finished their breakfast, "you best be off! Don't want you to be late, and don't want me to be distracted. Which I will definitely be with Tohru-kun here." Haru watched as Kyo lunged for Shigure, who laughed heartily as he ran off. Tohru blushed, and Yuki sighed. It was just a normal day at the Sohma house.

The first part of the day flew by without any abnormalities. When the lunch hour rolled around, Haru got in line. He was busy looking around the cafeteria and did not notice a cheerful, black-haired, blue-eyed girl in an apron come up beside him.

"What would you like?" Haru jumped a mile in shock and turned around to face the girl, who giggled softly. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you!" The girl giggled again, and then as if she just remembered why she was there, she asked again. "What would you like?" She offered him some sort of hamburger product; he looked at it with disgust.

"Umm…no thanks."

Judging by the look on his face the girl let out an 'oh' and then smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry! You must be a vegetarian!" Before Haru could protest she shoved a vegetable platter under his nose and continued in a voice of utter excitement. "Wow! I've never met a vegetarian before! Have you always been a vegetarian? Or is this something you are experimenting with? Is it hard? Do you ever give in and eat meat? Do you eat or drink dairy products? Because I've heard of some vegetarians that don't eat or drink dairy products."

Haru looked at her, a little overwhelmed. She reminded him of someone; someone who was very annoying. He couldn't think of who it was but decided not to worry about it and continued down the line. To his dismay, the girl continued to follow him as he got the rest of his lunch and continued to ask him question after question after question. After a long flow of questions, Haru interrupted her, he knew he was close to going 'black' but he didn't care. "Look, just stop! I am not a vegetarian! I just don't eat hamburger! Now leave me alone you annoying little twit!"

The girl stared in shock as Haru flung his lunch tray across the room, kicking the nearest chair, and flipping the closest table on its back. He stormed out of the lunch room and down the hall, kicking the front door of the school open and walking down the steps.

He was so upset that he did not notice a black-haired, blue-eyed girl following him at a quick pace. After awhile he heard the pitter-patter of someone else's feet. He turned so quickly that the girl almost ran into him. He leapt back so they did not touch, and then turned on her with an evil, almost wicked, glare.

"What do you want?! Why are you following me? Did I not make myself clear? Is there some part of 'Leave me alone!' that doesn't make sense to you or are you just stupid?!" Haru expected the girl to cry or run away or both. What he had not expected was what she actually did; she laughed.

Haru couldn't believe it. This strange girl had laughed! After he called her an annoying twit, stupid, and told her to leave him alone, she actually laughed! He took a step back and gazed at the girl in amazement.

She smiled at him and spoke, her voice was not as annoying as before, but it had softened. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to annoy you. I just get excited about things sometimes."

Haru sighed, he was calm now and he realized he had overreacted. "Why are you following me?"

The girl smiled and giggled softly. "I wanted to make sure you were ok. You kind of freaked in there." The girl's smile was contagious and soon Haru felt the corners of his lips turn up and the rest of his mouth followed suit. Her smile brightened even more at the sight of this and she stuck out her hand for him to shake, "Hi! I'm Lila, Lila Aso. Nice to meet you!" Haru took her hand hesitantly, "I'm Hatsuharu Sohma."

"Sohma, like prince Yuki?! I've never actually met him, but he sounds interesting. Are you related to him?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin."

"Wow! So does that make you a prince? Cause you don't really look like a prince."

Haru chuckled slightly and began to walk around. Thinking he was going to walk off without answering her question, Lila followed him. She began to hum to herself, then her foot caught on a large rock and with a sharp intake of breath, she fell onto Haru. She immediately felt the short hair of something that wasn't human. She opened her eyes to find herself clinging to a large, black and white cow.

Lila just stood there, clinging to cow-Haru in awe and shock. She had not been expecting this. "Oh…oh…H…umm…"

The cow did something else that was unexpected as his turning into a cow, he spoke. "Um…I can explain…just, please, don't yell…"

Lila took a few steps back, her mouth forming into a perfect circle. "What—holy cow!!" She blushed quickly, and then plastered a false smile on her face, "Umm…no offense!"

Haru began to get an uneasy feeling in his stomach. This had happened to him once before, when he was four years old. He was running and playing with this little girl, she tripped and fell on him, just as Lila had done. Only that time other people had been around.

Akito Sohma, the head of the Sohma family, had every single one of those people's memories erased, even the little girl. After that, Haru was all alone. His mother died shortly after and no one else wanted to be his friend. He was constantly made fun of because of the story of the zodiac, since the rat rode on the ox's back.

This would be just like that day…No! Haru wouldn't let it happen. He felt something odd…he felt a freedom of sorts. He took a step towards her, speaking softly as he did.

"Look, I can explain."

"This…is…so…cool!"

It was now Haru's turn to stare in shock. Did she really just say what he thought she said?

"What?" Haru, for once in his life, was speechless.

"I said this is so cool! I mean, I have never met anyone that could turn into a cow before! I've seen it on those magic shows though, but they always turned someone into an airplane or an elephant, never a cow!" Lila gasped, "Are you a magician?!"

After Haru calmed Lila down, they spent the next class period discussing his past, and the future. Lila agreed not to tell, and Haru agreed the same.

Haru had gotten a taste of a freedom, a freedom that had now become a part of him. This freedom was a sign of joy, happiness, relationships, and most important; this freedom, even if it only lasted a day, was a sign of hope.