Chapter 3

"I can't believe you let her go alone with those strangers Kano. After everything she's just-"

"I trust them. Yoko went willingly and this dog smelt no rat. So, I made an educated and informed decision, that you wouldn't understand, and decided that it would be safe for Yoko to ride with Mr Sohma and Tohru."

"Mr Sohma?" Suzu smirked at him.

"Mr Sohma." He then winked at her, and left her to talk to (or at) Takara.

in the car with Shigure, Tohru and Yoko…

"So, how old are you Yoko?"

"16, just. I'm kind of the baby of the bunch." She grinned. "But it means I get away with a lot more."

"So you get up to more then?" Shigure slipped in slyly. Yoko blushed, but nodded with a grin.

"Yep." She sat back into the seat with her hands behind her head. "I said I get away with it. So I do it. Besides, with friends like mine I never really get into trouble. Oh wait…I do. I tend to get detentions thanks to Suzu, and her 'violent outbursts'. She isn't always like that. And usually she has a pretty damn good reason. She only bit at you because she thought…" Yoko looked at Tohru.

"I understand." Shigure laughed. "And I say good on her for feeling the need to protect our little flower. Yuki would be grateful anyway."

"Yuki?" Yoko raised a cinnamon brow.

"Oh, Yuki Sohma. He is Shigure's cousin. He's really really nice! He is the one I got this for." Tohru took the rolled up magazine out from under her arm at last and tried her best to flatten it on her lap. "He is really good at gardening, and he let's me help him with it." Yoko smiled at the enthusiasm in her eyes and her voice.

"What's he like?"

"Ask him yourself. We're picking him up from a school council meeting at the town hall on our way home. And Kyo if we pass the tree he is hiding up." Shigure looked out of his rear-view mirror to make sure Kano was following him. Wouldn't want such a…interesting guy like that to get lost again. Now would we? He smirked, and kept driving when he was convinced Kano took the same street as him. He even made sure to indicate way too early just to let him know their next turn.

"Kyo?"

"Oh, the third and final boy I live with. Kyo and Yuki don't get along very well, but they are trying! And they've stopped fighting at much at school now too." She added to herself with pride.

"At school? You all go to school together?" They are just like we are.

"Yes, and we are all in the same class too! It's really great, Kyo is so funny and Yuki always helps me with anything and everything. He helped me study a lot for my last test!"

"Ouch, I hate tests. I have to study for ages and ages to get a good score." She shook her head, like tests were a bad flavour on her tongue. "Hate tests. Prefer more vocational exams."

"Like Art?"

"No!" Tohru blinked at her.

"I'm sorry I-"

"No, it's ok. It's not your fault, really." Yoko chuckled weakly. Damn, I did it again. I really need to start to kick that habit…

"Oh, no need. Sometimes I think I'm a little over zealous with my answers too. Or so I'm told."

"I can't imagine that." Yoko smiled brightly, as Tohru told her about her school, her friends Hana-san and Uo, her favourite vegetable and fruit, and even what she was planning to cook for dinner tonight.

"I was thinking something like Gyoza dumplings. My mother used to make them for me when I was little, and I've bought all the right ingredients."

"Well you should ask Kano to cook!" Yoko said eagerly. "He is a bit of a master chief, very experimental, loves spicing things up."

"Oh does he now?" Shigure smirked even more. And Yoko missed his meaning.

"Yeah, sure does. He likes to pour hot lemon sauce over fried rice and chicken slices, and it is delicious!"

"Oh, that sounds so different. I'll have to ask him for the recipe." Tohru nodded, adding that to her things-to-do list. "Can everyone stay for dinner Shigure? There is plenty of food, and I would be able to see how good Kano is, maybe learn a few things." Both girls looked to him eagerly.

"Sure, why not." The thought of having Kano stay a little longer at his house wasn't unappealing.

With his sisters, of course. "You know, you don't look like Kano."

"Hmm? Should I?" Yoko blinked.

"Well he did say you were his sisters."

"OOOoooh, I see. Well, not really. Suzu is his birth sister, but he kind of adopted me and Takara as his sisters to." She giggled. "Takara, Suzu and myself have been friends for so long, it seems natural to him to call us all his sisters. He has really looked out for us like a true brother." She then looked distracted to the side. "He always seems to save the day, and come to my rescue…our rescue." She added with a chuckle. "So, you see now that we aren't all related?"

"I didn't think so somehow. Black and magenta eyes, and blonde and amber? And then green and blonde? Hardly. Ms Fukazawa's appearance however, is more believable."

"Those two are so alike in some ways, and different in so many more ways." Yoko laughed. "So you said we are picking up Yuki from a school meeting? It's Saturday, right?"

"That's what he said." Shigure laughed. "But apparently the school council wouldn't be able to function without their class president, so he put aside his own needs for the needs of his people." Shigure said dramatically, and then laughed. "In other words they begged him."

"Ha!" Yoko chuckled and looked to Tohru again. "I'm glad we are allowed to stay for dinner. I'll be on washing dishes if you like. And Takara will really want to help out too, so she can be on drying up." She said to herself more than Tohru.

"Oh no! I couldn't have you do that, you're the guests!"

"We're the burdens, more like." She laughed at her confused expression. "Never mind." The car slowed down. "So…does that mean we've found Yuki?"

"No, it means we've found the tree Kyo was hiding in." Shigure chuckled cheekily, before flipping the door switch. "Come on in, Kyo. Enjoy yourself up there?"

"Oh Shut up Shigure. I was only up there because of those damn cats! Following me around…" Yoko gulped at what she saw. Redish brown eyes, a ruffled head of orange hair? He was slightly tanned, and very lean, tall. He wore trainers, army green utility trousers with all the pockets and the black belt, had a little bit of toned tummy peeping through a gap, and a skin tight black T shirt.

And he was half way in the car, frozen stiff with his eyes on her.

Who the hell is this? At first he had seen the baggy clothes and started his defensive mode, not liking there was a strange guy with Tohru. But then he saw her face, her bright Amber eyes, her cinnamon blonde hair, and feline shapely face. Shape about the body. He thought. "Who the fuck is this?" he pointed rudely at her. She instantly stopped staring at him, scowled, and looked forward with folded arms.

"I'm Yoko. And it's bloody rude to point." She huffed. Tohru moved up to the other side of the car, Yoko the middle, and was horrified to see that this guy was going to sit next to her. "Kyo?"

"Erm, yeah? How did you know my name?"

"They told me." She said bluntly. Manners like a pig!

"Oh, they shouldn't have." He said, but it sounded like he meant it. Literally. "Yoko? How do you know Tohru and Shigure?"

"Can you interview me inside the car? You look a big of an idiot with one foot in and one foot out of the car like that." He growled, forcedly sat next to her, and slammed the door.

"How do you-"

"I came with my friends and their brother. We got lost. Our money doesn't work. Tohru is in-humanly kind, and Shigure very hospitable too. We're going to your house, having dinner it seems, getting directions, and then we are leaving. Happy? Or do you want to glare at me a little more?" she pouted at his glare, matching his stare.

What is with this guy? Why does he ruffle my feathers like this?

"You're staying for dinner? And how many others?"

"Three more. Want to know my birthday as well? Perhaps my blood type and any past involvement with the police, while your at it?" Kyo growled even loud, and grunted against the seat.

Shigure had already started driving off, and laughed.

"That should teach you to be so blunt Kyo."

"Shut up." He said moodily out of the window.

Yoko took a deep breath, and looked to Tohru. She looked very down, looking at her knees.

Is that my fault? Because I wasn't very nice to her friend? That made Yoko feel awful, after all Tohru had done for them, she went and made a bad impression with her friend.

"Grrr, fine." She said to no one, but Kyo looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Look, I don't like being addressed by 'who the fuck is this?', ok? You spoke like I wasn't even here. Or like I was a disgusting thing on the car seat." and I am through with being treated like that. "And so I lost my temper and bit back at you. I'm not one to usually sit there and accept that sort of thing. But I'm sorry. I shouldn't have had a go at you so soon. I apologies." Yoko put her hands together and bowed to him. "Forgive me?"

Kyo just blinked at her.

"Humph, yeah whatever." He brushed her off and started to turn his finger in his ear.

"Yeah whatever! Is that all you can say!"

"Erm, yeah?" he raised a brow at her. Weird kid.

"Fine." She turned on the leather seat to face Tohru. She wasn't going to let Kyo upset her. "So, about dinner. Kano and you can cook, I'll wash up, Takara will dry, and Suzu will do her usual thing and go off somewhere. She does that, just to be alone for a while. No big."

"Oh…ok."

"Just for dinner, then you're leaving?" Kyo asked, but didn't even look at them. Yoko bit her bottom lip, trying not to slip a harsh comment for the sake of it, and forced a smile. And obviously forced smile.

"Yeah, then we will be out of your pretty orange hair." She spat, and tuned her back to him fully.

"grunt good."

"Good."

Shigure gulped on the tension. And then he relaxed.

"Ah." He opened the window. "Finished early?"

"I've been waiting for you to pick me up for 20 minutes." He said slightly annoyed. "Is Tohru with you?"

"She sure is, plus two."

"Hana and Uo?"

"No, Yoko and Kyo."

"Yoko?" the front passenger door opened, and he joined them in the car. The first thing the new person did, was crane his neck round and look at them all in the back.

Yuki had had a hard day, trying to please everyone, avoid giggling girls, and get some work done at the same time. Where his thoughts have been on Tohru and feeling at a loss. He should have walked her to the shop, he should be the one taking her home and carrying her shopping with her. Not Shigure, that pervert, or Kyo, that stupid cat! He didn't want to listen to over hormonal girls tell him how they want to paint the new Sophomore common room sunflower yellow with pink dots, batting their eyes at him all the time. He made no sign of knowing, but he did know exactly what they were doing.

I never wanted to be there. But Tohru was so proud of me when I became the class president. I couldn't slack off in my duties when she made such an effort for me. He smiled to himself as he thought about it. She even got up an hour early to make me some breakfast, because she knew I wouldn't have any otherwise. She even made some rice balls for me to take with me.

But then when he finished his meeting, and everyone had gone, he was sat on his own on the park bench by the road, wondering what she was doing.

Was she safe?

Had she managed to find everything she needed?

Had Akito come after her again?

Was he hurting her for being the only joy in Yuki's life?

Those questions whirred and burned in his head, until his eyes stung and his temples throbbed. His worry only grew with each massing minute, and after 20 minutes, he was contemplating running home.

But at last that black car pulled up, the familiar face of Shigure looked to him gratefully, and his racing heart relaxed.

It was just silly concern, Tohru was alright. But who is this girl with her?

Yuki was looking at her through the space between his seat and Shigure's, blinking his deep purple eyes and ignoring the lovely breeze through the window as it fluttered through his famous grey hair. He pulled on his collar, and smiled to her. "Oh, I assume you are Yoko. My name is Yuki Sohma." He reached back and shook her hand. She seemed to brighten up after this, and nodded to him with a smile.

"My Name is Yoko Nakamura. Pleased to meet you Yuki. Oh, can I call you Yuki? Or do you prefer Mr Sohma?"

"No, please, call me Yuki." He smiled politely, and looked her over. She seems nice enough, harmless even. He had to admit (to himself) he felt a twinge of worry when he heard an unfamiliar name being with Tohru, but his fears had been set to rest. "It's nice to meet a guy with manners." Yuki blinked, but realised what she meant when Kyo grunted.

"I see you have become acquainted with the stupid cat already. Let me apologise for anything stupid he might have said or done."

"Shut up! You damn rat!"

"Is that the best you can do?"

"The best I can do!" Kyo reached out and fisted the shoulder of Yuki's seat. "I'll drag you out of this car and show you just what I can do!"

"Anytime catnip head."

"You're on sewage monger!" lighting danced between red and purple eyes furiously. Shigure smiled to himself, feeling content with the normality of the situation for him, while the two girls paused before their reactions.

"Oh dear." Tohru frowned. She really didn't want Yoko to think this is how they acted all the time. They didn't, and they had been doing so well recently.

"Oh yeah!" at that, everyone but the designated driver Shigure stared at her with disbelief, especially Kyo.

Yoko had her fists in front of her, grinning and looking excited. "So, which one of you has the most skill?

"I do." They both said.

"Grr, I have more skill that you, damn rat!"

"Really? Then why do I beat you all the time? Hmm?"

"Oh I'll show you!"

"Less talk more fights!"

"Yoko no!"

"Ya know, I think I'm starting to like you Yoko." Kyo turned his smirking head to look at her, and for a moment, she was stunned. When he grinned like that, his red eyes dazzling with the passion of fighting, his boy soft lips curved with perfect white teeth showing, he looked…

"And if you are as good as you say you are, I think I am willing to say the same for you too." Yoko nodded. "In fact, I'd be tempted to take you on myself."

"You fight?" Kyo sat back, eyes still shining and all interest in Yuki gone.

"I'm a martial artist, actually. I've been practising since I was about oh…7? I haven't been in a week though, I was supposed to go yesterday, but we got lost so…" And with running away I don't thing I could have just turned up at the dojo. She chuckled to herself.

"I've trained since I can remember. In fact, quite a few months ago I lived in the mountains, just to train and hone my senses through intensive training." Yoko opened her mouth in awe.

"The only time I've been able to train in the out doors is when I've gone camping with Suzu and Takara. But they aren't much for that sort of thing so they end up either teasing me, or getting me to do something else. I live in the middle of town you see."

"This town?" he said hopefully.

"No, I don't even know where this town is! Kano, the guy who was driving, got us totally lost on the way to the camp site. Ever heard of Hiko lake?"

"Hiko?" Shigure asked with a brow raised.

"Yeah. We live in Hiko city, but the lake is quite a drive away. The camping site there is wonderful, and Kano and his sister take me and Takara there to his lake hut every holiday. And we planned to go there this weekend too. But he got us lost somehow…"

"And how many years have you been going there?" Shigure asked.

"Well, Kano and his sister Suzu have gone since they were little children, but Takara and me joined them oh, say, 9 or 10 years ago?"

"And after going to the same place for 10 years, he gets lost?"

"Yeah, that idiot. I know it was dark but still." She huffed, eager to change where this was headed. "But I love going there. It's like all your worries fade away, surrounded by beautiful nature, that calmness you can't get in the city, and I just find my focus gets even more focused, if you know what I mean." She laughed. "I know that sounds stupid, but-"

"I think it's ok." Kyo blushed, and looked away with his arms crossed. "Not the most stupid thing I've ever heard, at least."

"Take that as a complement." Yuki added with a smile.

"I think I will." Yoko nodded.

"Hiko lake sounds beautiful." Tohru beamed dreamily.

"Oh it really is." Her eyes saddened, and she looked to the back of Shigure's seat. "Once, when I felt like falling forever, I stood on a prayer stone at the centre of the lake, and looked up to see the most beautiful night sky I have ever seen. The stars shone like a millions diamonds in the moonlight, twinkling on the water's edge all around me. The Constellations were bright and it was a full moon, my favourite kind, and it hadn't rained for days. I hate rain." Kyo looked to her distant face. "It always makes me sad. Too many memories." She chuckled softly. "But all those things just disappeared in the moonlight, the lake waves crashing gently over my feet…" Her eyes started to water.

The was the night she thought about ending all her worries, only to be rescued by the beauty of the world around her. She survived because of it. "Really moving." She chuckled, and blinked suddenly. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"We're home." Shigure rescued her. "Home sweet home." Anxious to make sure Kano (and the girls of course) had found a place to park, he got out to find them. "Lock up Yuki." He threw him the keys.

"Ok." Yuki got out so quickly, he surprised Tohru by opening her door for her. "Here." He smiled, and offered her his hand.

"Oh, thank you Yuki." She blushed, and let him held her out. Both Yuki and Tohru looked back into the car, to see Yoko and Kyo staring at each other with an eager smirk on their faces.

"You know…there is a lot of space in our back garden."

"Space to…stretch off perhaps?"

"And some."

Their smirks grew, and Yuki was very afraid. Because Yoko looked too much like Kyo right now it was unnerving. "Race you."

"You're on!" Yuki pulled Tohru out of the way as Yoko bolted out of the same door he held open still, and Kyo the other, towards the back garden.

Kano barely avoided being ploughed over and jumped to the side. Suzu watched them go, and scratched her head.

"Who is that?"

"Hell if I know." Kano whispered to her. "But he seems to be chasing Yoko into the back garden. With a grin on her face." Suzu looked to him and that same brow raised.

"Do you think…"

"It is possible." Kano said thoughtfully.

"No, it isn't." was her blunt reply.

"Oh please, you have to stop them!" Tohru came up and grabbed onto Suzu's hands. Suzu didn't know what to do, not being used to having her hands held like this.

"Why?"

"They are going to fight! And they could get hurt!" Or hug!

"Peh, told you so." She aimed at her brother. "Look, Yoko is a great fighter. I've watched her compete loads of times, she knows what she is doing. She actually has great control. She'll be fine. I would worry about that orange headed guy if I were you."

"I am!" Tohru then hurried off to Yuki, who had already grabbed Shigure to tell him.

"I don't see a problem." He said calmly.

"But if they hug, you know." Yuki whispered, now joined by a frantic Tohru.

"You said they are fighting, right?" Shigure held his chin in thought, as he picked up a shopping bag with the other hand. "I hardly think they will 'hug' while fighting. Besides, Kyo wouldn't let her. He is just as body conscious you are Yuki." Yuki blushed and pouted slightly at that.

"Am not…" he muttered. But he knew it was true.

Takara and Suzu joined them (Takara carrying 2 bags, Suzu 4), and Suzu stared at Yuki waiting.

"Well? Are you going to make yourselves useful and carry some shopping or not?"

"Who? Me?" Yuki pointed to himself. He then blushed with embarrassment. "Of course, where are the rest of the bags?"

"Over here!" Kano yelled, his upper body bent into the car front. He was trying to pull bags over from the other side of the car, and failing. Great, just leave me to it them girls. He chuckled. What did I expect of teenagers?

"Here, let me help you with that." Kano looked over his shoulder and saw Shigure.

"Oh, great thanks." He pulled himself up into the seat, and started to hand over bags to Shigure, who put them down on the floor and waited for the next one.

When the car was unloaded, both grown men reached down to carry the bags, and their hands touched over the same bag. Shigure's ontop of Kano's.

"Oh, sorry!"

"No, my fault." Both men chuckled through their blushes.

Kano didn't know what to do next. This had never happened to him before. "I'll just get these."

"Let me help. It's my shopping after all."

"Are you head of the household?"

"Well, this one. But not he family household." They lifted bags up, Shigure having 2 and Kano 3. "The Sohma estate is quite a way away."

"Don't you miss your family?"

"Well, those two boy are my family. My younger cousins. Yuki, the one with grey hair, and Kyo, the orange head."

"Ah, the one who chased my Yoko…I see." He smiled dashingly. "So, shall we?"

"Oh, after you."

"Oh no, you're the host. I insist." They laughed, and Suzu just stared at them blinking and had to suddenly suppress the urge to laugh her arse off!

About time I say!

"Well, if you insist." Both grown men led the way, followed by Suzu and Takara, then Yuk and Tohru, who was showing Yuki the magazine she's bought him.

"Oh wow, is this the newest addition?" Yuki looked over the top tips section. "For me?"

"A ha." She beamed and nodded happily.

"Thank you Tohru. But I haven't got anything to give you."

"Oh, no need. If you enjoy it, that's payment enough." They smiled to each other, and Suzu gave Takara a look from in front of them. She leaned into her blonde haired friend, and whispered.

"Just who are those two trying to kid?" Takara chuckled silently into her bitten lips, and walked on. Until she almost had a heart attack.

"GOOD MORNING!" Takara fell backwards out of shock of the sudden appearance of a tall man, with long silvery white hair and golden yellow eyes. He was dressed in an expensive looking, long, scarlet red robe, with elegant embroidery along the red edge of the high neck collar, with a white rim that ran down the centre of the robe all the way past 6 golden buttons, and stopped just before his pelvis, where it opened all the way down to the floor. He wore a white under-robe, and had frilly white cuffs. "Yuki boy! My dearest beloved brother! It is I! Aayame!"

"Oh God it's you." Yuki hung his head over. "How did you get in here?"

"I have a key." He beamed.

"And who gave you a key?" Yuki then glared at Shigure, who then held Kano's back, turning him with him to tip toe towards the kitchen comically.

"What was that Kano? You want to see the kitchen? I would be delighted to show you." He chuckled nervously.

"Shigure." Yuki growled, outlining in purple and scowling. "Did you-"

"And who is this?" Yuki looked back, to see his 'brother' doing a full circle around Suzu and Takara. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure." He bowed from his waist, and held a hand out to them. Suzu took it, and sarcastically curtseyed to the side with her hip.

"I'm Suzu Fukazawa, and Takara Mei. And you are?"

"A pain in the ass…" Yuki groaned, and Tohru giggled.

"This is Aayame Sohma San. Yuki's older brother." He flinched.

"Did you have to tell them that?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, but it thought-"

"Now now Yuki boy, you may have wanted to shout to the heavens above that I am your brother with pride yourself, but you shouldn't take it out on Poor Tohru for getting there first." Suzu snickered behind her hand. "Ms Fukazawa, right?"

"Wrong. Suzu. I hate being called by my last name." she flipped her hair confidently.

"Very well. Then you must call me Aayame."

"I will."

"You hair my dear, it is so glossy, and yet so wild. I love it." He took a strand of it in his manicured hands, and brushed his cheek with it. Like his own, her hair ran down to her waist, so it was long enough to play with without needing to pull on it.

"What can I say, I just woke up like this." Literally. He saw stars in his eyes, and nodded.

"You truly are something Suzu, and-" He then opened his mouth like he was going to say something…but then didn't. He stepped closer to her, and looked deep into her pink magenta eyes, letting her hair slip out of his fingers.

"What?" she blinked at him.

"Snake." He said with a devilish smirk.

"Huh?"

"You were born in the year of the snake, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was. 1982." She chuckled, taken back. "How did you know that?"

"I can ssssmell my own kind." His smirk didn't falter, and neither did his proximity. "You're a proud snake, aren't you?" Suzu smirked, and took off her short leather jacket. She turned it, and showed him the large emerald snake on the back. With its big glowing read eyes and vicious fangs.

"You could say that." He then looked to her shirt, and smirked even more.

"So you bite?"

"If agitated, yeah."

"Like any respectable snake."

"Of course."

"I like you." He got closer still, and put an arm around her shoulders. Although with his height, he then found he had to look down at her, but she actually seemed used to it. "Suzu, why don't we take a walk, and you can acquaint me with the story of how you became part of this family?"

"If I must, I suppose." But she was smirking. "And I like you to." Suzu put her bags down, and they walked through the house, leaving everyone else to stare after them.

"How the hell did anyone hit it off with him?" Yuki looked boggled, and Takara giggled silently into her hands. This caught his attention, and he looked her over.

Brilliant golden blonde hair, dainty white summer dress that crumpled around her bust, spaghetti straps, white buckle shoes, white cardigan…

Yuki started to see a certain brunette in that dress, and had to shake his head to stop himself staring.

Takara blinked at him, wondering what that was all about, and shrugged it off with a smile.

They all seem to be hitting it off around here. Yoko disappeared with that orange headed boy, Kano with Shigure San, and now Suzu with that Aayame person. Very strange, very dramatic. She chuckled to herself. Just Suzu's kind of person. But I will have to make an appearance…I wouldn't want anything to happen to her. I trust everyone else, because they are children like us. And Kano can handle anything, I've seen that. But can I really trust that other adult to behave around Suzu? Or vice versa? If he starts to flirt with her, he will get a lot more than he bargained for. And I don't mean a verbal insult. The last one lost all sensation in his pelvis area, if I am not mistaken. She told herself that wasn't funny, and was a serious injury. But a smile curved on her lips all the same.

Out of the corner of her emerald eyes, she saw Yuki go upstairs, and Tohru started to pick up the shopping that had been so kindly dumped in the middle of the hallway.

Tohru opened the bags to see how they had been packed, looking for anything she would need to put in the fridge and freezer first, when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Oh, hello…Takara is it?" she nodded. "Oh, hello. Are you alright? Can I get you anything?" Tohru straightened up and dusted her purple skirt off, pulling the sleeves of her white turtleneck shirt over her wrists.

Takara smiled, shook her head, and proceeded to lift a few bags up with a huff. She could tell Tohru was shopping for a full house of growing men. How much shopping did she need? "Oh Takara, you don't need to do that." She smiled with a chuckle, trying to take the bags off her.

But Takara shook her head again with a smile, and simply headed off to the kitchen. Tohru in pursuit.