Hitomi looked down at the address her aunt had written down for the pick up. It was a clothing shop that her aunt had ordered to make a wedding dress. Her aunt had no knowledge of the curse and was not even really that close to the rest of the family but her and Hitomi had always been close.

So of course when her aunt asked her she was happy to take the opportunity to go pick up the dress. "Hello?" She called as she walked into the shop. The little door bell jingled and she looked around. The shop was full of beautifully made clothes. "Wow..." Hitomi lightly touched the fabric of a sundress and grinned. She could imagine wearing it and giggled slightly.

"Can I help you with something?" She turned around and froze. Standing there was a tall man with long silver hair wearing a wedding dress.

"Uh… I…" She looked at him in shock and confusion. She had no idea how to react to the strange man.

"I am Ayame Sohma, the owner of this wonderful place." He waved his arms around. "How can I help you?"

"Oh right, I'm here to pick up a wedding dress of Lily Makuro." Her aunt wasn't a Kibaru so she had to make sure she said the right last name. "I'm her neice I came because she is busy with wedding planning."

"I'll take care of it." Ayame spun around and started looking at papers. "Makuro…. Makuro…. Makuro… Ah here we are. Let me go get that." He turned and headed to the back room.

Hitomi continued to keep looking over the area. The clothing was amazing. She touched the sundress again and then looked at the price and tried to decide if she would be able to afford it. She had to work to afford to go to school but that didn't leave much for anything extra that she wanted. She sighed and backed away shaking her head.

"Here you go." Ayame returned he was now wearing a red outfit that looked much better on him than the dress. "She already prepaid so there is no problem."

"Thank you… Um… can I ask you a question?"

"Sure what is it?"

"You said your name was Sohma right? Do you happen to know two guys named Kyo and Yuki?" Hitomi had heard about the Sohma curse from her cousins and she liked to think that the Sohma's had something to do with what happened to Kami.

"Yuki is my younger brother and Kyo is my cousin." Ayame laughed. "How do you know them?"

"My cousins go to school with them." Hitomi looked around. "I have one named Kami-."

"Oh Kami!" Ayame grinned. "She's a nice girl! How is she?"

"... She's not doing so good right now… Actually I was wondering if… never mind…" She took the dress. "We'll I'd better be going."

"Hmm…" Ayame grinned. "I noticed you looking at that sundress, why don't you try it on?"

"No it's fine…. I can't afford it." She started walking towards the door. Ayame took the dress from her arms and set it down on a table. Then he began pushing her towards the changing room. He tossed in the dress and smiled.

"Go ahead!"

Hitomi sighed but she really had no choice. She slid the dress on and looked in the mirror. It was amazing. She spun around and smiled. "Wow!"

"Let me see!" Ayame called through the door. Hitomi sighed and opened the door. She blushed as Ayame looked her over.

She looked down. "Um…"

"It looks amazing on you." Ayame walked around her. "It fits your perfectly" He nodded in appreciation. "Alright let me get you a bag." He spun around.

"What's that for?"

"Your clothes." Ayame returned with the bag and handed it to her. Then he took out a pair of scissors. "Go ahead and cut the tags off."

"WHAT?!" Hitomi gasped shocked.

"Think of it as thanks for your cousins. They have been helping my brother and cousins, as well as Kami's wonderful cooking. Let her know everything will work out! She should talk to Hatori, the two of them got along pretty well."

"Thanks." Hitomi blushed. "I….I…"

"Come back anytime." Ayame waved to her as she left the shop holding the bag to her chest and grinning.

Raine stretched her arms over her head and then walked out of the back of the kitchen and into the dining room. She walked over to the nearest table. "Hi, how can I help you?" She smiled. A person sat there holding a cup, shaking with nerves. "Have you decided on what you would like to order?"

"I'M SORRY! I'M TAKING TOO MUCH TIME!"

"Calm down sir." Sure the guy looked like a woman but she had seen enough crossdressers at school to recognize them. She blame that on the fashion class in her same building. "I'm free to help you. Just let me know when you need something."

"Th-Thank you…" He looked down at his lap.

Raine continued to serve the other guests and after half an hour she glanced back, the guy still hadn't called out to her. She turned back and headed over to him. "Hey again, have you decided?"

"Um… I was thinking…. some eggs and bacon… please…" He looked down. "I'm sorry if I am distracting you."

"Not at all." Raine smiled and refilled his water cup. "Feel free to speak up, I won't be mad or anything." She headed off to place his order. As she returned with his food he was still twitching. "Here you go sir." She smiled.

"Th-thank you…. I-."
"Don't go apologizing." Raine frowned. "There is nothing for you to apologize about. Now be a good boy and eat your food." She left him and continued working for the rest of her shift. As soon as her shift was over she headed off back to head home. Outside she found the same guy from earlier in a tree. A dog was under the tree barking up at him.

"Are you okay?" Raine called up at him.

"I-I…" He gaped.

"Shoo!" She waved the dog away and smiled up at him. "You can come on down."

"Th-Thank you…" He gasped. "I'm s-."

"Enough of the apologies." Raine laughed at him. "I'm guessing your older than me, you shouldn't be apologizing to me…" She smiled. "Just calm down and relax. I'm not upset about anything."
"But I-."

"Are a nice man who has to relax." She chuckled. "You seem nice enough I don't really have a problem with you so I don't see why you have to apologize. Grow a backbone, okay."

He looked down. "I'm…. Okay…" He looked down. "I understand."

She laughed. "OKay then. By the way I'm Raine Kibaru. It was nice meeting you."

"Ritsu…. Ritsu Sohma."

Raine smiled. "Really? I actually have some family members who go to school with some Sohmas." She laughed. "Small world."

Ritsu smiled slightly. "Really?"

Isamu took a deep breath as he prepared to walk into the grocery store. As soon as he let out the breath it was like he did a one-eighty in his personality. No more shy quiet guy but a confident bad boy. Of course it was all a front. As he walked in he winked at the first girl he saw and then flashed her a charming grin. The next girl he slid his sunglasses down slightly as he looked at her. This continued as he walked around the store buying the ingredients he needed. He hated doing this but he had to.

As he finished up he left and relaxed as he avoided anyone who would try talking to him, like girls. At least it wasn't the girl he liked. He didn't even know her name he just knew he would never be able to talk to her… His shyness would take over if he even was in the same room as her. He walked around a corner and slammed into someone. "Ow… Sorry…" He gasped. He looked up and froze.

"Sorry that was my bad." The girl who was standing there was the one he had seen many times before. She had always been kind and he had seen her helping out some kids once, an elderly woman another time, and the best had been when he had seen her buying ice cream for a little girl with orange hair. From everything he could tell she was a kind caring person and he had kind of developed a crush right away.

"N-No pro-oblem…" He quickly grabbed his bag and started walking. He had to find some secluded place quickly. A place where he could transform.

"Hey wait!" She yelled after him. He started running and he was sure she was chasing him. He managed to see a couple bushes and stashed his bags there and then continued to run, slowly changing until he was a deer. He stopped and panted slowly. "WAIT!"

Isamu froze. She stood there staring at him. How had she managed to catch up to him?! "You… KIbaru?" She asked.

"How?" He gasped before he could stop himself.

"You really are one aren't you?" She walked a little closer. "It's okay. I know about you guys." She smiled and her hand slowly reached out and touched his head. "I know your cousins."

"Wait… Are you one of the Sohma's?!"

She shook her head. "My name is Tohru Honda, I live with some of the Sohmas."

"Oh…" Isamu looked down.

"What's your name?"

"I'm… Isamu…." He glanced at his hooves. "Nice.. Nice to meet you…"

"Nice to meet you as well…. What kind of emotion do you have?" SHe looked at him. "You do make a cute deer." She laughed.

Isamu flushed, even as a deer. "I… I am… shy…"

"How cute." She laughed again. "But you don't need to be shy around me."

"I…."

"Let me help you take your stuff home then." She looked around. "So where did you put your stuff?"

Isamu smiled and shifted slowly working his way back to turn into his human form. "You don't have to."

"I would like to… I'm happy to make a new friend." Tohru smiled and picked up one of the bags. Isamu didn't feel so shy anymore but he felt his crush growing. She was amazing… and he hoped that he would be able to better get to know her. He smiled.

"Thank you." He accepted her help.