Chapter 22

Wufei stared in wide eyed horror at the young girl in front of him. His brain was on shut down mode. The young girl, Hitomi, had jumped onto his lap and gave him a huge hug. She had wrapped her arms tightly around his torso before jumping off and bellowed "YES! I knew it!"

This, in turn, had caused not only Yuy and Maxwell to run back into the living room, but also Memso. Hitomi was off a little ways away from Wufei, doing a victory dance while Wufei stared off into nothingness, lost in his thoughts.

"Fei?" Duo called out, hesitantly. "Wufei? You okay man?"

It was only when Heero placed his hand on Wufei's shoulder that he somewhat snapped out of it. He looked on in almost horror at the young girl before looking at Yuy. "I didn't… she's one…" he trailed off.

"You didn't what?" Duo asked. "She's one of what? The female species?" Duo looked to Heero when Wufei didn't respond. He was lost, but it looked like Heero wasn't. Turning quickly, it also seemed like Memso caught onto what Wufei was hinting at. He was the odd man out.

Meanwhile, after the words registered to Heero, he looked between the young girl and Wufei. "Are you sure?"

Wufei fully snapped out of his musing. "Heero, she knows. She knows! She's one."

"Of course I know. I'm standing here, ain't I?" Hitomi asked. "Memso, he's one of us." Hitomi completed her sentence by pointing to Wufei.

"One of what?" Duo asked. "What do all of you know that I don't? C'mon Fei, you can't hold out on me."

Wufei buried his head in his hands. "Nataku, help us all."

"Hitomi, do you know what you're saying?" Memso asked. He thought that his son, Heero, might be one of the cursed, but he didn't think that the Chinese youth was.

"I hugged him," Hitomi boosted, like she had something to be proud of. "I hugged him!"

"That's what this is about?" Duo asked, completely missing what this meant to the other four people in the room. "Hitomi hugged you? Wait until I tell Sally about this." It was then when Duo noticed the look on Heero's face. He then looked at everyone else's faces again. 'Damn, I'm still missing something.' "Does someone want to clue me in?"

"You know?" Memso asked to Wufei.

"As does Yuy," Wufei confirmed.

"Know what?" Duo demanded.

"Duo, hush," commanded Heero.

Memso looked at Heero, taking in the sight of the son he just found out he had, a son who knew of the curse. Because Heero knew of the curse meant that most likely he was also one of the cursed. Memso looked hard at Heero. He didn't see the black and white beaded bracelet that signified the cat. Than again, Wufei wasn't wearing one either. Neither of them were the cat, thankfully.

"So you're going to stay now, right? Both of you?" Hitomi asked.

"Stay?" Heero asked, curious.

"Well duh! You're a Sohma."

The three young Preventers looked confused. "What Hitomi means is that all the Sohma's live together on or near the Sohma compound, or in one of the summer houses. It is unheard of for a Sohma to live anywhere else," Memso explained.

Duo looked on his two friends. He may not know all that was going on here, but he understood that Heero had found his long lost family and that said family all lived together. Now this family was going to want Heero back with them. The real question was did Heero want to go back and live with his family?

Wufei looked at the situation before him. He clearly knew that he didn't want to go and live with his very extended family. He wanted to know about them, have a few contacts, but not move in with them.

"Lets leave them alone, Maxwell," said Wufei as he walked towards the door. He only stopped to look at Heero as he was about to walk by him. Their eyes met and silently Wufei conveyed that now was the time for Heero to talk to his father. Heero nodded his understanding. Only one word slipped past his lips. "Maxwell?"

Heero understood the query. Wufei wanted to know if it was okay if he told Duo their secret. He gave the slightest nod back in answer. He then watched his companion and his lover walk outside, Hitomi following.

Heero turned to look at his father. He wasn't surprised to see the man looking back at him.

"Are you also under the curses effects?" Memso asked.

"Yes," Heero answered. Heero may have forgotten his birth name, but once he knew when the female population tried to embrace him, he would turn into the cat. With that knowledge came the additional knowledge that he needed to keep the bracelet upon his body at all times so as to not change into his other form.

Heero used to wear his bracelet upon his wrist until one mission he went on with Odin Lowe. The enemy had grabbed his arm while he was running from the mission he and Odin had just completed. When the soldier had grabbed his arm, the bracelet had broken and he transformed into his other form.

After that day, Heero had started to wear the bracelet on his ankle upon the advice of Odin. It was now in a place where it would be harder to break or fall off. It was also protected by the socks and sometimes shoes he wore. He never wanted to transform into his other form ever again, nor his cat form if it could be helped.

"Are you also cursed?" Heero asked.

"I'm the Ox."

Heero nodded. "Hitomi?"

"Monkey. I know where most of the Sohma's cursed are. We are only missing a few members; the Serpent, the Dragon, and the Cat. Since neither you nor Wufei have the mark of the Cat on you, one of you is the Serpent and the other the Dragon."

"Mark of the Cat?" Did Memso mean the bracelet that he now wore as an anklet? Or was there some other mark?

"The Cat is cursed with two different forms. Besides turning into a cat, when the Cat looses their bracelet, they turn into a monster. This bracelet holds some power to hold back the second transformation."

"So this bracelet is the mark of the Cat," Heero clarified.

"Yes. The Cat is looked down upon. He is the cursed thirteenth animal. While it is a curse to be one of the Zodiac animals, it is worse to be the cat."

This caught Heero's attention. "Because the Cat has two transformations?"

"The cat was never one to be looked upon in our family, it is our disgrace."

Heero didn't like the sound of that. Thankfully, he hadn't told anyone of his transformation yet. But had Wufei? Hitomi had followed them out. If he tried to follow after Wufei or Duo right now, he might as well as shout out to the world that either he or Wufei was the cat.

Memso went on, not seeing the internal conflict that was occurring in his son. "While the cat is our disgrace, he or she is allowed to go to school until they finish their high school education. Once that happens, the Cat is taken on the Sohma compound and locked away not only from the outside world, but also the rest of the family. The Cat is cursed to live that way for the rest of their days."

Heero looked at Memso, gauging his words. What he saw disturbed him. Memso had spoken the truth. "The Cat has no hope?"

"T'lenna, the head of our family, has made it clear that once we find the Cat, that they must face her."

"Once they meet, this T'lenna will then imprison the Cat." That had to be why she wanted to see the Cat.

At Memso's nod, Heero knew that he could never reveal to anyone which form he transformed into. Wufei would keep his secret, as would Duo. So would Trowa and Quatre if the word traveled far enough. But he still had to be careful. Right now Memso believed that neither he nor Wufei was the cat, he had to keep everyone believing that for as long as possible. At any moment the Serpent could make themselves known. That would be when the real danger started.