Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, but I own Amaya, Rei and, unfortunately, Leiko, who you will hear of in this chapter.

Sorry I didn't update sooner, I was having difficulty overcoming my writer's block. So, when I overran my writer's block, I decided to make the chapter bigger, to repay you for your waiting, and those of you who reviewed, for your reviewing. And now, for my chapterly thank you's. Thank you to all who reviewed (Kitty Kyon Lover, moonflower, redsarah, nekokazam, Aqua, and Amandazh94). Now, here is the chappie, which s now the longest chapter I've written for this story! over 2000 words! 2269 words to be exact! Yay!

Chapter 9

"Kyo-kun, I'm going to the main house, ok?" Tohru sat up on the roof, watching the petite birds soar through the air, silhouetted by the early afternoon sun.

"Tohru-kun, why do you want to go? Tell me or I won't let you go." Kyo moved over to ladder and knocked it over so she couldn't use it to get down from the roof. Her reaction was an affectionate smile. He was evidently concerned, still remembering her last requested visit to the main house, the one to see Akito.

"I am going to see Amaya-kun. Thank you for your concern, Kyo-kun." He sighed, knowing she was telling the truth, she could never lie.

"Ok, fine, but I'm coming with you. As for Shigure and that baka nezumi, they don't need to know." Kyo leapt down off the roof and to the ground below. "Come on, I'll grab your hand, you won't get hurt, I promise." Tohru did as she was told, and miraculously landed on her feet.

"Thank you, Kyo-kun!" Tohru smiled, Kyo hadn't yet let go of her hand. She took off, dragging Kyo along with her.

"Anything for you, Tohru-kun." He grinned and ran along with her, knowing she would tire soon and he would have to help her.

"Megumi-kun…" Amaya held a picture, and she was gazing at it sadly. "Why does everything have to be so difficult, Megumi-kun? Why can't be just be happy? Why does love and life hurt us so much? Were we meant to suffer?"

The portrait didn't answer. Of course it didn't, it was a photograph. Suddenly thinking that she needed to let all her constrained emotions out, Amaya walked over the grand piano that rested in the crook of her room.

"Hmm…" Amaya played a few notes, trying to remember a song that fit her situation. Her eyes widened as she remembered an American song that would be alright. As she played first few notes, Rei walked in. She had heard this song before, and she started humming the tune.

As the solo of the piano went on, Amaya waited for the singing part to come. "I know there's something in the wake of your smile… I get a notion from the wake of your eyes, yeah… You've built a love but that love falls apart… Your little piece of heaven turns too dark… Listen to your heart…"

Rei lowered her head to hide that she was weeping noiselessly. Amaya stopped playing, finding it difficult to go on with the song. "Amaya-kun, listen to yourself!" Rei lifted her head, letting her tears trickle down her face.

"You're right…" Amaya nodded, and started to play the beginning again. "I know there's something in the wake of your smile…"

"Kyo-kun, we're here…" Tohru stopped n her tracks, feeling the ominous air of the whole Sohma village that rested inside the gates.

"Let's go inside, the sooner we go in, the sooner we get out." Kyo pulled her through the now opening gates by her hand, trying to drown out all the bad with the simple pleasure of her hand touching his.

Eventually, they navigated to Amaya's little house, with much help from bystanders. They looked at the tiny shack. It looked as if Amaya would be lucky she could fit a bed, a stove, and a bathroom in the place.

"Akito sure doesn't favor her…" Kyo looked around and pulled Tohru into the house without knocking. They surely didn't want to be seen by Akito or anyone who would tell him about them, now would they?

"Kyo-kun, I think we should have knocked…" Tohru's voice trailed off as she heard singing drifting from a room that had been able to be separated in the tiny shack.

"And there are voices that want to be heard… So much to mention but you can't find the words… The scent of magic… The beauty that's been… When love was wilder than the wind!" Both Kyo and Tohru followed the sound, still holding hands, into the room to see Amaya singing and playing the piano while crying silently.

Both stood in awe, gaping silently as Amaya finished singing. When she was done, she looked up, seeing them. Rei leapt off of the piano, where she had been sitting, and slinked out of the door.

"Hello, Tohru-kun, Kyo-kun. How are you both?" She acted as if she had known they were there the whole time, which she had.

"We're wonderful, Amaya-kun. I-I came to talk, about what happened to you." Tohru stepped forward and sat on her knees, alarming Amaya, who, in turn, sat too. Kyo, felling awkward, sat also.

"Of course, Tohru-kun, what do you want to know about?" Tohru bit her lip, she hadn't thought of what she exactly wanted to know.

"Well… how exactly you became a neko and what happened when you went to school as one." Amaya winced, and Tohru knew she had hit a tender spot. Kyo scooted closer to Tohru and gripped her hand again.

"Akito used a certain curse to turn me into a neko; I don't remember what it was accurately, though. That's why I have a hard time finding out how to break it. When I went to school, many of the kids caused physical harm, but a lot of them teased me, too. Some of the darker kids cut me… All popular kidsburnt me, portraying me as a witch. That was a bit colonial, if you ask me… But it wasn't half as bad as what I get from Akito all the time."

Tohru gasped as Kyo hung his head, they both hadn't though it would be that bad, but they were proved otherwise. Amaya felt the room disappearing like it had at Shigure's house. This time, her memories took her to the school she had gone to.

"Akito-nii, must I go?" Amaya didn't get a response, instead she was forced out of the car. All the kids were staring at her.

"So, Gothica, where'd you get the tail, maybe at Hot Topic?" A boy snickered at her as she hung her head and held her tail shamefacedly.

"N-no… I don't shop there…" Amaya looked down at her black attire miserably. Her nickname was Gothica, since she wore all black.

"Did you hear that? She doesn't shop at Hot Topic! She's so poor, she probably can't afford it!" the most popular, and meanest, girl in school laughed in Amaya's face, her click followed her lead and laughed along. "So, you're a witch, right? That's how you got the tail; she put a spell on herself! What a stupid witch!"

"It takes one to know one, you know." Amaya closed her eyes and waited to be made fun of or slapped, but she never was, the whole click was paralyzed. "Fascinating…" She walked right past them into the school building, thanking the heavens that she had somehow escaped the popular girls. Unfortunately, her thanks were being interrupted by many screams, all of them directed to her.

Amaya walked into her homeroom class and sat in the back, so she wouldn't be noticed by anyone else. In a few minutes, the preps had joined the group that populated the classroom, just as the teacher, Ka Kameko Asuhara, walked in.

"Hello class today- Sohma-san? What is that you have?" The teacher walked over to Amaya's desk and looked at her. "Take those fake ears and tail off, now."

"Kameko-sensei, I cannot." Amaya looked down sadly. She was going to get in trouble for this, she knew it…

"And why is that?" Kameko glared at Amaya, she had never misbehaved before, why was she starting out now?

"I just can't, Kameko-sensei." The teacher's eyes widened as her temper grew short.

"Outside, now!" Both walked out of the classroom. Once they were out, Kameko tried to pull off Amaya's cat ears. "What!"

"Th-they're real, Kameko-sensei." She watched as the teacher fell on the floor in a dead faint. Hearing the thud, the students came out to see what happened. When they saw Kameko on the ground, they began to spazz out.

"Oh my god, she killed Kameko-sensei!" One student, one of the shy ones fainted after talking.

"T-the witch killed her, too! She's going to kill us all!" Another learner spoke up, dreading what was to come.

"No, I didn't kill them! They're just unconscious!" Amaya realized that she hadn't denied she hadn't done anything to them in remorse. 'Dammit…'

"She should know, she's the one who hurt them! She's a witch!" One of the more popular girls screamed as Amaya turned her way. "She's going to-!" The girl fell to the ground, shivering.

"She's a witch, it's true! And do you know what they did to witches?" The most popular girl, who had teased Amaya before, Leiko, walked up to her and brought out a lighter, flipping the cover off.

Amaya's eyes widened as she backed up. "Leiko-san, please don't…" She trailed off as she felt herself being pushed to the ground and kept there.

"Now, now, little witch, don't worry." Leiko smiled maliciously and placed the now burning lighter to Amaya's skin, who bit back a whimper and hissed instead.

"Get away, you arrogant fool!" She pushed the schoolgirl away and knocked her captors off of her, now she was mad. "Go to hell, you arrogant fool!" Amaya kicked Leiko into the wall and did the same to all of those who had held her down.

"She's crazy!" Leiko tried to run away, but was stopped by the furious cat girl, who smiled evilly. "Let me go! Hurt the other, kill them for all I care, but let me go!"

"For that declaration, you will be punished." Amaya's eyes used to be a calm gray before she was turned into a neko, but now her eyes shined with a scarlet that was full of hatred and blood lust, the eye color only a demon could have.

Leiko screamed with terror but found her punishment was only to be kicked into a locked closet. The others took the chance to scatter about, running away. It was a wonder that no other class had emerged to see the commotion. Or maybe they had, and had decided it would be best to wait protected in the classroom until in was safe to come out.

Amaya sat as her temper cooled down. She had never become so enraged in her life, and this was just a small fraction of the catastrophe which frequently befell her. "What have I done?"

"Amaya-kun!" As she opened her eyes, Amaya found Tohru's face hovering above hers. "Are you alright?"

"What happened?" Amaya sat up to find herself in her house laying on the ground by her piano. "Why does my head hurt?" She looked over to see Hatori and Kyo sitting on either side of Tohru.

"You fainted for no reason." Hatori looked at his clipboard. "There is no physical reason you fainted, but Tohru-san and Kyo-kun said you didn't answer for a while, you were just sitting, staring into space, and then you fainted.

"I don't know what happened…" Amaya bit her lip, she knew lying was bad, but she really didn't want to worry anyone. 'I can't tell them that the reason I fainted was that I had a flashback about school as a neko, that would make Tohru-kun feel responsible for my unconsciousness.'

"I had better be going; I have more than one patient, believe it or not." Hatori got up and walked out of the little hut, leaving a confused Tohru.

"Does Hatori-san mean that his business is slow?"

"No, he means that he spends so much time patching me up that he might not have enough time for everyone else. He does, though. You lovebirds had better be going, too." Amaya giggled as Tohru and Kyo blushed.

"Hai, we do not want to worry Shigure-san and Yuki-kun!" Tohru grabbed Kyo's hand, waved goodbye with the other, and skipped out of the room.

Amaya sighed woefully, wishing she had someone to talk to. 'Where is Rei when you need her?'

Poor Amaya... Well, I decided that I wanted you to know more about Amaya, so I wrote this. Gomen if I made it sound too much like Hanajima's old school. And if you haven't read about that yet, and you read this, just forget that I said it's like Hanajima's past, ok? Alighty, if you were pleased, go ahead and review. If you weren't please, go ahead and review with flames. I don't really care, either way, as long as you review! Sometimes I find that I write better when I get more of a response from my readers. If you don't know, the song Amaya was singing is called Listen to Your Heart. Thanks for reading. Until next chapter, sayonara!