(A/N)So, this chapter is a fun one! My longest so far because it's more of a collection of small vignettes that happen within two days of each other. As a reference point, this coincides directly with the end of Vol. 12 and beginning of Vol. 13 of the manga. If you squint enough at the early chapters you can see the other plot points too. From here on things start to get interesting.

Thanks again and I hope that you enjoy!

"Misaki." I approached my foster mother casually with the required flyer. "There's gonna be career counselling on Monday. And even though I just transferred, it's still required."

Misaki looked up from her book, taking her reading glasses off to look at me. "Oh, of course sweetie." She smiled, taking the paperwork, promptly putting her reading glasses back on. When you're a child, you never really think about your parents getting older, but then little things sneak in over time. "Ahh, I remember doing these back when I was your age." She looked over the document thoroughly. "I bet you're wondering what you should tell your teacher."

I shrugged. "I suppose. But, the Sohma family is also a company, so I can just say that I'm going into the family business, which is true."

She took off her glasses again, "You know, you do still have so freedom, you could leave, it's not like they're going to stop you."

"It's not the Elders I'm afraid of, or even Akito. They'll threaten, and Akito might actually do something violent, but they have no power over me, they're just people." I looked down, clasping my hands together. "But there is a very real force that binds me here. The spirits chose me as much as Yuki or any of the others. Even if I left, I'd still hear the screaming in my nightmares, and hear that incessant song. Nothing will change."

"Kanae…" She stood up. She was still a little bit taller than me, but I wasn't sure how long that would last. "Kanae, you will always be your own person, no matter what. It doesn't matter what you've been told all your life, or what you believe. I know that you are a human being, and human beings have control over their fates." She placed her hands on my shoulders. "I took you in Kanae, because I couldn't stand what the Sohma family was doing. I had to watch my one of my best friends suffer through her daughter's birth and childhood. Dealing with all that additional stress of this damn family on her shoulders. My entire life has been tainted by the curse too. My own mother was caught up in the same game that your mother played, and because of that I've never even met my brother." I was shocked. Misaki had hardly ever mentioned her immediate family. She looked very serious, I started to understand. She saw something of herself in me.

She stepped back, letting herself calm down a bit. A soft smile formed on her face. "But…Kagura turned out okay, and you did too." Her warm gaze turned to me. "And I believe that you can do so much more, and find a life away from this place." She stepped forward again and shook me lightly to punctuate her statement.

I looked away, clearing my throat. "Thank you…M-m…" She tilted her head at me. "Thanks…mom…" The word came out as a broken croak, as I threw my arms around her. She was my mother, she has always been there, and she deserved to be called as such, when it mattered.

"Sohma-san, thank you for coming." Mayuko-sensei greeted as Misaki and I sat down in the conference room.
"Not a problem Shiraki-san." Misaki smiled. "You want to know about Kanae's goals in life, as I understand it?"
"Basically, yes. Just to make sure that she has a plan in place, and that she is taking the appropriate classes now to prepare for that."

Misaki nodded and smiled. "Yes of course,"

Mayuko-sensei began looking through the papers on her desk. "As I understand it, Kanae was expelled from her last school for disciplinary reasons, and is enrolled in this school on a probationary tuition. Her grades were impeccable, if she can keep this up for the next testing period, she will be cleared to enrol in our sister cram school for next year."

"Actually," Misaki looked at me, "go ahead, tell me."

"I don't want to be enrolled in cram school. I know the main house took care of that for me, but, it wasn't my choice."

"That's fine, Kanae-san. I'll make note of that."

"And you want to join clubs right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I've talked to the Choir club advisor. I can sit in this semester and if I'm lucky they'll let me sing at the Culture Festival."

"That sounds great, Kanae, glad you're getting involved." She scribbled a little more on her paperwork. "The only thing left is to talk about your future career path. What do you have in mind?"

"I…" I cast my eyes down. "I'm not really sure."

"You could try to do something with music, go on to university and study it there." Mayuko-sensei suggested.

"I…could." Though I did love singing, I found it tainted and weighted down by its tru purpose. "Maybe I could…learn the piano."

"That's a start." She made another note.
She turned to Misaki. "Sohma-san? Do you have anything else you want to tell me?"

"No, I trust Kanae, she can make her own decisions."

"Thank you very much for coming in." We stood up, saying our polite goodbyes to make room for the next appointment.

I felt fine. And I was glad for that. I even felt a little hopeful. I walked with her outside the school, and stopped at the gate.

"Have a safe trip home," I said to Misaki.
"Huh?" She turned back to me. "Aren't you done with school for the rest of the day?"

"I told you, I have Choir Club."

"That's right, I'm so proud of you, and I hope that you have fun."

When I went back inside the school, I suddenly caught sight of Tohru, along with…Shigure…I grimaced.

"Oh ho ho." Shigure laughed the edge of his kimono covering his mouth. "When Yuki told me that his lovely sister began attending this school too, I almost didn't believe him!"

"I'm just going to ignore you."

"It's a shame I never see you, I wanted to tell you how lovely I thought your singing was, and how I look forward to your singing again this year."

"Ehh?!" Tohru exclaimed, looking from Shigure to me. "You sing, Kanae-san? That's so amazing!"

"Uhh…yeah…thanks?"

Shigure gave her an amused look. "Now now, Tohru-kun, now's not the time to give Kanae-chan the 20 questions."

"Oh!" She said, with a look of almost laughable horror. "I-I'm sorry!"

I gave an awkward smile, starting to walk away.
"Goodbye Kanae-chan! Come see uncle Shigure soon!" I swear…that bastard…

I was walking so swiftly that I accidentally ran straight into someone. A male student, I surmised.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" It was that peppy guy from the first day of school. Dammit, I still can't really sense his Aura clearly.

"No it was me that ran into you. Don't apologise so much. It comes off as pathetic."

"Ah, thanks for the advice." He…didn't sound sarcastic or reproachful. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"Did you have your conference already?"

"Yes, but I don't see how that concerns you."

"Wow, you really don't do small talk at all, do you?"

"I think it's pointless. Is that a problem?" I gave him a somewhat suspicious look.

"No," he replied with a smile. "I find it quite refreshing, actually."

An older man cleared his throat from behind the boy.

"Tamaki-sama, we really must be going. We must hurry. Your father will not tolerate tardiness in the slightest."

"Of course, Tanaka-san." He smiled politely at his…his Valet? Butler?

Wow he must be some sort of big shot, or his father's just a rich asshole.

At that point, Tamaki-sama turned back to me, and smiled. "It was nice running into you, I hope we can meet again." It was still so odd to me how his politeness actually seemed real. Now I was really curious. Seriously, there had to be something. Some dark past or deep-rooted resentment.

I watched him go before I pushed to be free from the crowd. Once I found some free space I felt better. Less on-edge. Rarely did I find myself intrigued like this by anyone. Most humans were all-around the same. Petty, selfish, angry, regretful, shameless. But, everyone in a while somewhere I would see a flicker of something different. More often than naught it was just a fluke or a falsehood.

Humans cannot escape their base desires, no matter how much they hope to deceive themselves.

The next day was when Yuki's moth—my aunt finally decided to show her miserable face. She was as entitled as ever, being the only one who needed to reschedule. I knew as well as any other that Yuki's Parents used all their "Zodiac Money" to live it up as far away from their children as much as possible. It made me sick. Yuki looked rather distraught when I saw him go meet her. I admit that my blood also ran cold at the sight of her, remembering that day when I first discovered the curse.

I was around, most classes were off and we had free-study period. I heard a commotion near the conference room. I came across Kyou who seemed to be avoiding the crowd.
"What the hell's going on over there?"

"That idiot Ayame decided to show up. He's busy making a scene as you would expect."

"I bet." He was his usual slumpy self. He seemed a bit grouchy. "Why are you still here? You know you could just go home if you wanted to."

"Tch. Yeah, I know, why do you think I was leaving? I'm probably gonna go to the Dojo." His face softened only slightly, turning to me. "Wanna come? You haven't been around in a while."

"I have club after school so I have to stick around. I'll come around after that, kay?"

"Sure." I let him walk ahead of me. It was nice to see him at least try to be social.

I went the opposite direction to find something to do until club.

After waiting around a while, I found that I was still worried about Yuki. I had no idea if he'd be in class or if he decided to just go home. I wondered what happened. I can't imagine that his mother was very conducive to whatever Yuki wished. From what I could gather she had a very ridged view of things she was cold and stiff.

I saw him when he was making the rounds during club hours. I had recently joined the choir club as a trial member, and decided to say something before I forgot.

"Hey, Yuki-kun."

He smiled pleasantly. "Hello, Kanae-san."

"You doing alright? You seemed kinda upset when your mother showed up."

His smile was thin. "I'm alright Kanae-san, thanks for your concern."

"Yuki, there's no use lying to me."

"I suppose not."

"I just…" I pressed my lips together. "I know we're not that close, but," I brought to mind the feeling I got from him, the desperate, cold feeling. One that I hadn't felt from him since we were children. "But, you…we…you could tell me about it, if you want. Sometime, someday." I shook my head. "Sorry, I probably sound ridiculous."

"No, no, Kanae-san it's okay. I don't mind, and I appreciate the offer."

I nodded. "I can see you are busy, but, just, I would like to help…if I can."

He "smiled" again. "Thank you Kanae-san, I really appreciate it."

I withdrew. I wasn't going to get through. It was naïve of me to try now when we weren't even that close. I wanted to help, his pain was so evident to me, while it was so easy for everyone else to ignore.

"S-sorry for interrupting your duties." I mentally punched myself as I watched him walk away. I felt so stupid and useless.

That afternoon, I upheld my promise to Kyou and visited the Dojo. My official lesson were ceased when I entered high school, since I was supposed to only focus on music, according to the main house. Kazuma greeted me warmly as always, Kunimitsu even showed his face for a brief moment.

I changed into my Karate robes, walking through the different chambers until I came to the open warm-up area, where I hoped to find Kyou.

"Oi." I said in greeting.

He finished his practice form with a round-house kick on the practice dummy before acknowledging me.

"Hey." He did the ceremonial bow to end his forms, then did some warm-down stretches.

"Just finishing up?"

"Yeah, just enough to make sure I don't go soft." It was funny, he was so much taller now. I had so many memories of him here when we were younger, seeing tiny little Kyou trying to kick at the full-sized punching bag.

"Idiot, you're going to hurt yourself."

"Shut up Kanae. You're not the boss of me."

"So what? If you hurt yourself now you won't be able to complete the trials next week. I'm already a belt ahead of you, you need to catch up."

"Whatever. Someday I'm gonna beat you and that stupid rat!"

"Hey! Don't put me in the same category as him!"

"Hey! Let go of me!"

The memories of that time were fragmented. Some of them happy, some of them not, most of them just…blank.

"Hey…" He waved a hand in front of me. "You still in there?"

I jerked back to the present, looking up to meet his peculiar

"Wanna spar? I haven't been practicing much, so you might actually beat me." I teased.

"Tch. I'll beat you just like that goddamn rat-boy."

"You mean not at all?" I sidestepped as he swung at me. I quickly countered him, only to be blocked. He attempted to grab my arm and break my defense but I broke free, stepping around him to get a better angle.

He responded by adjusting his stance expertly "Take that! He yelled, swinging a punch that I ducked.

I was at a disadvantage because of my smaller size, he could easily over power me, but his legs were long and his centre of gravity high, all I had to do was—

"D-dammit!" He swore as he fell to the ground, me with him. We both landed painfully in a tangle of limbs and hair. I had miscalculated and had lost my step, causing me to land awkwardly on top of him. He didn't transform as I was able to keep myself aloft, only just. We both panted a bit winded and pissed off.

Just as, the fates decided to be a bit fickle.

There was a shocked, high-pitched gasp, and then words that were mostly stuttering. "I-I-I-I-'m-m…s-s-o s-sorry! I-I-I didn't mean to interrupt!" I rolled away, cursing loudly along with Kyou. He was notable flustered.

"Should I try and help explain?" I asked, laying sprawled out on my back.

"No…" He groaned, standing up. "I'll take care of it." He was obviously much closer to Tohru than I was. But I still wanted to tag along, curious on how Kyou would interact with her, since apparently he was actually a human being around her; and according to Momiji, he was totally in love with her.

I waited a few moments, and then pursued them, instantly finding myself entertained when they came in to ear shot as neither of them were really getting anywhere as to actually communicating.

"Honda-san." I said in a firm voice. "Stop freaking out. We were sparring and we fell over." Only then did I actually look at them. Kyou had his hand on either side of her head, apparently trying to calm her down, and she just looked extremely flustered.

I elbowed Kyou in the side. "Oi, that's not how you treat a lady!" He grunted, jerking away. I put an arm on Tohru's back. "Come with me, Honda-san. Let's get you some tea."

She nodded, already calming down a bit, outwardly at least. It was really a bad idea for me to touch her. She didn't burn like Akito or Black Haru, she festered. The bright light of here willpower frothed and writhed around, trying desperately to hide a seething blackness below.

"Kazuma-Shishou?" I called as I made my way to the kitchen. "I'm sure he won't mine." I let Tohru go, letting Kyou guide her to the sitting room. "I'll make tea."
"Oh no…" Tohru said, breaking from Kyou. "I can do it! To apologise!"
"Honda-san. I said I'm making the tea, now go sit down before I make you." I said with a contradictory smile.

She complied with a swift bow. I turned my back to them, taking out the tea-pot and filling it for three.

AS the pot was boiling, I leaned up against the counter. I could glimpse the two of them, just sitting and talking. I couldn't hear them from this distance, but I did my best just to see them. I watched their facial expressions, and saw how they reacted to one another. The people I was seeing were completely different from what I felt, but that didn't make it any less real.

The teakettle shouted at me, and I took it off the heat quickly.
"Hey? And cream or sugar?" I called to them.
"Two sugar, one cream, please." Tohru smiled at me.
"You know I like it black," Kyou said.
I nodded, taking out the sugar and cream for Tohru. I sometimes like a little cream in mine, but today I just wanted it black.

I brought them their tea, and joined them at the table. Kneeling properly as I always did. Kyou had his legs sprawled to the side, but Tohru was taking the proper approach like I was.

I sipped my tea placidly, secretly hoping that Tohru wouldn't—

"Ahh! The tea is delicious Kanae-san!"
Dammit.

I swallowed my mouthful with slight difficulty. "Thanks, it's nothing much. I've been the one to make tea since I could hold a tea kettle." I smiled candidly.

"Oh, so do you cook mostly too?"

"No, my mom can handle most of that. I can handle cold stuff pretty well. I always tend to overcook things otherwise."

"Ah, I was wondering. Since Yuki-kun can't really cook, I was just wondering if you were the same."

My eyebrow twitched. I took another sip of tea to calm myself. "Yeah, no. Me and Yuki were brought up very…differently."

"Ah, and, if you don't mind my asking, do you live near the others in the "Inside"?" She may look docile but she was surprisingly bold.
"Yes, more or less. My house is Inside, yes."

"Ah, but, you aren't a cursed animal are you…"

My hands clenched around the cup. I felt Kyou look at me worriedly. "No, no I am not. I am not so fortunate." I said, a considerable amount of venom leaking into my voice.

Kyou decided to speak up. "Hey Tohru, I'm hungry, could you whip us up something?"

"Oh, of course, Kyou-kun."

I groaned, collapsing onto the table as she skipped away. Honestly, that girl.
"Please…try not to kill her."

"Wasn't I trying hard enough?"

"Y'know she doesn't mean any of it."

"I know…" I sighed. "But how on earth does she manage to say the exact wrong things."

"I honestly am trying to understand that too." I sensed his posture relax, and I felt his aura soften. "But y'know, most of the time, she knows how to say the exact right things."

I looked at him? "I guess so. Like, how on earth did she get you and Yuki to get along?"

He sighed. "She didn't get us to do anything. Despite what you may have heard." His eyes opened, looking up. "I don't know, I don't really need to explain it."

"You don't need to." I assured. "Your Aura says enough. She hasn't changed you per se, she just…distilled you." I still wasn't 100% on my word choice.
He gave a light chuckle. "That's one way to put it."
I laughed in return. "I'm glad, it means I can actually stand to be around you longer!"
"Hey! What's that's supposed to me!" He swung a playful punch at me and I blocked him.

It was sad that it was so strange for us to be this normal.

(A/N) I hope you liked it, and i look forward to hearing from you all! Please don't hesitate to send me questions, comments or critiques, especially critiques. Otherwise, how do I expect to grow as a writer!

Cheers,
Lucy