Chapter 2: History
A mysterious heart illness was spreading through Japan. Kaiyo's parents were heart-specialist doctors, so they were going all around the country trying to save people's lives. They never lived in one place for very long.
When Kaiyo was only 2½, her father passed away from the mysterious heart illness.
Her mother was called to another job. A boy at the age of six seemed to have come down with the same illness, but it hadn't taken him victim like the many others. Over a half a year's time she'd go into the sealed compound and check on the boy. After that, the single mother and her daughter were allowed to live in the walls of the Sohma family.
Kaiyo made many new friends. She had never been around so many kids that were around her own age. One day she was taken in to see the boy who was sick. They became instant friends, even though he was over double her age.
Every day her mother went to check in with Akito, the sick boy, Kaiyo would go too. She learned, even though she didn't understand it, the Sohma curse. A select 13 members of the family were cursed by animal spirits, or at least how she understood it. Kaiyo didn't understand how it affected her new friends, but she didn't care.
Time passed, and Kaiyo became closer to her new friends. A year after Kaiyo and her mother moved into the Sohma house, tragedy struck. Her mother died of the illness, just as her father had.
In her sadness and disarray, four year old Kaiyo ran to Akito for comfort. She cried in the eight-year-old's lap for hours on end. Akito stroked the girl's hair and held her until she fell asleep. He truly cared about the girl in his lap; she had trusted him enough to go to him first. It was the most trust anyone had ever put in him.
A feeling of warmth came over Akito as he held the sleeping girl. The pain, the sorrow, the burden of the curse was lifted. He looked down again, but he didn't see a girl anymore. He saw the key to his salvation. He was saved, thanks to his response to the crying thing that went to him for comfort. She was his.
Time passed and Kaiyo was able to be happy playing with her new friends. She got to take care of a little boy and a little girl, who were both born just before her mother died. She was best friends with two boys that were her age. She played with those younger and older than she was. She would later find out that they were all the cursed children, or used to be.
Akito was always around, no matter where Kaiyo was on Sohma grounds. One of the older kids, Hatori, started keeping an eye on her. He didn't like the way Akito had been treating Kaiyo; like she was an object that he owned.
Hatori was out one day when ten-year-old Akito approached Kaiyo. He told her that she was his; it was thanks to him that the cursed Sohma's were now free. She had been the key; and now she had to do what he told her. He kissed her forcefully. When she ran away, he caught her and proceeded to beat her.
Hatori came in time to save Kaiyo's life. Pulling the girl to safety, he knew that Akito wouldn't leave her alone. He was right. Over a period of two years, Akito continued to make advances on Kaiyo, and then proceeded to beat her when she refused. She lived in fear at the sight of him.
Hatori tried to protect Kaiyo as best as he could. Eventually, however, it was too hard of a job to do. Akito was named the head of the Sohma household, even though the curse and been broken. He did the only thing he could think of to protect her. Hatori sent Kaiyo overseas; hoping to protect the young girl from the torture she would receive otherwise. After research, he had found out that Kaiyo's mother was originally born overseas. He hoped that they would find some of her relatives so she could live a normal, safe life.
Kaiyo grew up in foster homes. Her family was never found. She was often bullied for looking different; which had her moved from foster home to foster home. She missed her old friends back at the Sohma household. She would take being beaten everyday over being alone.