(I'd appologize for taking so long in writing this, but it's not worth it. I think that you should not complain that it took a while but that you should be very incredibly grateful for my actually writing this. After all, it was quite a lot of effort and time, which I should have spent planning a party and figuring out what to tell people. I would also like to point out that I'm feeling quite ill, and my birthday is tomorrow. Be grateful to me for considering you people enough to actually take up some of my prescious time writing this story.

Anita Sohma basically belongs to Werecat13, and no other characters representing realy people have been introduced, and thus I don't need to say a thing about them.

And in case you didn't figure it out yourself, the words that are italic are thoughts or emphasized words, what's "in quotations" is speach, bold letters probably won't be used, but are probably incredible emphasis if they ever are, underlined words are only now being instigated as indicators of words that aren't actually a part of the story, and the long series of ~ things indicate the beginning and end of the actual chapter.

Be happy and please comment and maybe someday I'll post some fanart of this stuff, or at least put the next chapter up sooner.)






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Chapter 4

The next day, Haruka left for school like a normal school girl—except, of course, that she was still wearing the boys’ uniform shirt. Otherwise, she departed normally, arriving at school about ten minutes early. With nothing better to do, she decided that her best option would be to wait outside the gates so she could at least get some fresh air.

The day before, Anita had walked her home, except for the last hundred meters or so. At that distance, she left Haruka on her own, and turned around to go back in the direction of the school.

Yuki followed her all the way, though. Actually, he didn’t leave until after dinner, and Haruka guessed that was only because the other ghosts might worry…although what they’d worry about, Haruka couldn’t even begin to guess, seeing as he was a ghost. If nothing else, Haruka guessed that they could worry that he’d decide to stay at her house or something and they’d never see him again—or, at least, that’s what Haruka figured. She still hardly knew what exactly it meant to be a ghost.

Haruka leaned on the wall by the gates and waited, breathing in the cool morning air. She always had found that incredibly refreshing, and that was the same even now. It somehow made her think of the dream she had when she was about four or five years old. That was her favorite dream, her dream about having a sister with orange hair, and now she recalled it, trying to remember why the morning air made her think of her dream sister.

In her dream, she had a sister who was one year older than her. Haruka followed her sister everywhere she went, because her sister was a great person that Haruka wanted to be like as much as possible; in fact, given the choice, Haruka figured that she’d actually bleach her hair in the hopes that it would turn the same shade of bright orange that her sister’s hair naturally grew into. The only thing that she wasn’t as certain that she’d want that her sister had was the curse.

Haruka never really understood the curse, mostly because she didn’t know of any possible way for her to do anything that would put the curse into effect. Well, she did, but she did it only once and effectively learned her lesson and never dared even consider doing it ever again if it was at all possible.

Part of the reason that she was so uncertain about that the dream wasn’t real was because it was too detailed; the details of the dream made it seem impossible that she could have dreamed all that in one night—or over several, for that matter.

One of these mysterious details was when Haruka made the curse relevant; she was fairly young in the dream at the time (also, the dream’s sense of time seemed too warped and long to be overnight), probably a little younger than three years old. She had a sudden wondering as to why her sister wore a certain bracelet, to the point where she actually pulled it off. However, Haruka’s dream was a lot more vague around this point, almost as though someone willed her to forget it entirely…

…Haruka shook her head to clear it of her dream. All that was past, even if it had actually happened; furthermore, there was probably a reason as to why she had forgotten that detail, or why that detail was erased, or whatever it was that could actually make her forget what happened at that point. The only thing that she did remember was that, after that day, she made a reconstruction of her sister’s bracelet and told anyone who knew of her sister’s curse that she was cursed, too, because she was so into what her sister did that whatever happened to her sister was relevant to her.

Haruka leaned her head back on the wall and sighed. Her other main reason for believing the reality of the dream was that she actually had the replicated bracelet, and hardly ever took it off. By that time, she was so used to it being on her wrist that she could hardly stand being without it; whenever she did, she couldn’t help wringing her wrists to imitate the feeling of having the bracelet on it.

“Hey,” an incredibly familiar voice broke through Haruka’s thoughts.

She opened her eyes to see Anita leaning her face into Haruka’s.

“I didn’t know that you were such an early-bird,” Anita continued. “You’re here pretty early.”

“Really?” Haruka asked. It felt more like school had only five more minutes before it started. She wondered vaguely what time it was and dimly cursed herself for not wearing a watch.

“Yeah,” Anita continued. “We still have at least fifteen minutes until school starts.

Fifteen?! Haruka thought, surprised. I thought I was only ten minutes early!

“You’re clocks are off,” another familiar voice, this one male, answered.

Haruka jumped and looked up to see Kyo hanging over Anita’s shoulder.

“Is something wrong?” Anita asked, apparently noticing Haruka’s little start.

“Huh?” Haruka asked. “Oh, no,” she continued slowly, “I was just, ah, a little cold…”

“Oh, yes, you’re so convincing,” Kyo pointed out sarcastically. “I believe your lie with every fiber of my being.”

Haruka would have shot a glare at him, but Anita couldn’t see or hear him, but she could see Haruka. She settled with blinking slowly in his direction, which was close enough to Anita’s that she didn’t notice.

Anita seemed to take Haruka’s excuse easily enough that she didn’t question it, but instead continued the conversation, “Well, why are you here so early?”

“Oh, um, I guess my clocks are kind of fast or something, so I didn’t know that I was this early…” Finally, Haruka had a chance to tell the truth. “Is there any reason why you’re here early?”

“Eh,” Anita began nonchalantly, “I just always wake up early, and today I got bored pretty soon so I figured that I might as well head off to school.”

The conversation ended there, but it seemed to only start fading away at that point. It might have survived if only the orange cat hadn’t distracted Haruka.

It wrapped itself around Anita’s ankles, purring loudly enough for Haruka to hear it faintly, and still miraculously not disturbing anything on Anita, and Haruka wondered again as to why that was, when she finally realized it, but still asked Kyo to be certain.

That cat’s a ghost, isn’t it?

Kyo paused before responding, “Basically. There’s probably a better word for it but I guess you could call it a ghost.”

Haruka felt triumphant. She had seen her first non-human ghost and identified it without assistance. For some reason, this felt something like a great accomplishment.

The silence continued awkwardly, until it was broken by a loud and cheerful call of, “Anita, why are you here so early? And who’s your friend?”

Anita sighed and called back, “I should ask you the same exact question, Akemi. Why are you here so early?”

“Oh, my parents needed me out of the house because they were going to clean the whole place,” Presumably-Akemi responded. “You?”

Haruka now saw the speaker, skipping/galloping/running toward them along the sidewalk. Her hair was fairly long and blonde with brown at the ends and was flowing along behind her from two ponytails coming out of the side of her head. Her face was cracked in two by a huge smile spreading from one ear to the other and back again.

Since the girl was approaching at the speed that she used, Anita answered more quietly, “I’m here already because I felt like it and I have nothing better to do anyway.” Haruka noticed the difference between this and what Haruka heard.

Apparently-Akemi stopped next to Anita and looked at Haruka. “Who are you?” she asked brightly.

“Uh,” Haruka stammered, caught by surprise.

“ ‘Uh’? That’s a strange name…”

“Huh? No, that’s not it,” Haruka added hurriedly. “My name’s Haruka Sohma.”

Akemi(?) jumped with joy. “You’re another Sohma? Wow, there really are a lot of us! We should make a club, with a secret handshake, and secret codenames, and—”

“Akemi, you should at least introduce yourself before you put people into your plans for the great Sohma Cult,” Anita interrupted tartly.

“Oh, right! My name is Akemi Sohma,” Akemi finally introduced herself. “And that’s my cousin, Anita Sohma—”

“She knows me,” Anita pointed out icily.

“Oh, Anita, stop being such a party-pooper,” Akemi half-whined.

“I might if you stop being such an obnoxious brat!” Anita half-shouted.

This conversation had apparently drowned out another, because just as Anita finished saying that, Haruka heard another voice, this one male but otherwise not unlike Akemi’s, whining, “Waaaaaaaaaah, somebody, Kyo’s hurting me!”

Haruka looked past the arguing Anita and Akemi to see Kyo twisting his fists into the skull of a young boy who seemed to be at least a year younger than him. The younger boy had short blonde hair that started to poke out of a sailor-style hat of a color that was similar but not the same as the main color on the girls’ uniform shirt that he wore.

How strange he is, Haruka thought, wearing the girls’ uniform like that…

It took her a full minute to remember that she was wearing the boys’ uniform “like that.”

Haruka sighed. I hate my mother.

“Oh, look!” the boy exclaimed as Kyo released him. “It’s a girl that I haven’t met before! Hello, new girl, what’s your name?”

I’m not new, Haruka denied, having already decided that the boy was a ghost because of how he knew Kyo.

“Well, I still don’t know you, and I still want to know your name,” the blonde boy pointed out.

Haruka sighed internally. My name’s Haruka Sohma. And before you say anything, she added pointedly, yes, I know that the family is really big. I’m finding that out now myself.

“Well, now that I think about it,” the boy responded, “I guess that the family’s really pretty big…”

Okay, Haruka reminded him, I told you my name, now you tell me yours.

“Oh, yeah, my name’s Momiji,” he chirped back. “Oh, and I’m a Sohma too, but I guess you sort of knew that already…”

“So you’re Haruka Sohma?” Akemi turned to Haruka again to ask. “You know, I’ve really heard a lot about you. You’re really popular in the Main House!”

“Really?” Haruka asked somewhat sarcastically. “I’ve heard about those same few words several times now from about three or four people within the past day or two, and I haven’t even seen the front of the Main House.”

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t have,” Akemi added thoughtfully. “I mean, the only people allowed in the Main House are—oh, wait,” she added. “Uh, we’re…”

Anita interrupted, “The only people allowed to go into the Main House are born there.”

“Really?” Momiji asked thoughtfully. “I don’t remember that rule…although I guess that not a lot of people have been going into the Main House recently, so I might just have not been paying attention…”

“Idiot,” Kyo grumbled. “That was a lie. She doesn’t want Haruka to know.”

“Oh,” Momiji sounded. “Sorry,” he added, realizing that Haruka heard that. “I’d forgotten that.”

“Forgotten what? That your family has a curse?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Momiji sounded somewhat disheartened. “But doesn’t that mean that she knows that now that you said it?”

“What?”

“You just said that I forgot that the family has a curse, so she knows now.”

“Aaaaagh! What is wrong with you?” Kyo cried out in rage, grabbing Momiji’s head between his fists and twisted them. “You don’t tell her that I told her that we’re cursed! I swear every time you open your mouth, it pisses me off!”

“Waaaaaaaaaah! Somebody, Kyo’s hurting me!” Momiji whined loudly.

Haruka choked out a single loud laugh, then immediately changed her sounds to a loud coughing in an attempt to keep her sane appearance.

“Hey!” Anita exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

At that moment, Haruka’s coughs became real, and she coughed hard, desperately gasping for breath between coughs.

Finally, she stopped coughing and sighed, “Ow…”

“Yeah, are you okay?” Akemi asked.

“Not really,” Haruka choked out. “But I guess I’m alive…”

“Well, you can tell us that, so I guess you’re okay…” Akemi’s logic seemed slightly lacking, but Haruka still agreed; her throat still hurt slightly, but she was otherwise fine.

Silence took over again. Haruka was the only person to hear what broke it; Kyo asked, “So, how long until school starts again, anyway?”

Why? Are you getting your education now, too? Haruka asked half-teasingly. Isn’t it a little late for that now?

“No, it’s just that I’m getting a little bored,” Kyo denied. “And don’t go giving me crap because I died.”

How did you die, anyway? Haruka wondered, really as just a passing thought, but Kyo apparently heard her. Did you get mad and commit suicide or something?

“NO!” Kyo protested. “Do I look like I freaking killed myself?”

I wouldn’t know the difference, Haruka pointed out. I don't know anyone who commit suicide.

“Well, I didn’t!” Kyo enforced. “That damn dog acted stupid again.”

In case you don’t know, I haven’t the slightest clue who you’re talking about.

Kyo sighed. “Shigure. He’s a damn fool, and he got us both killed!”

Really…?

“Yeah! He ignored his deadlines again, and his editor went crazy and burned the house down! Maybe we’d still be alive now if he wasn’t such a lazy idiot!”

Editor? Haruka asked interestedly. So he was a writer? What kind of books did he write?

Kyo looked slightly surprised for a moment before his face darkened. “You don’t want to know.”

Haruka was uncertain. Really? Why don’t I want to know?

Kyo stared at Haruka with a disgusted expression. “You really don’t.”

Okay… Haruka still wasn’t so sure, but she figured that Kyo wouldn’t tell her anyway.

“Um, I think he wrote horror stories,” Momiji chimed in.

Really? Then why didn’t I want to know?

“Because that was only once,” Kyo answered darkly. “He usually wrote something completely different.”

Haruka wondered vaguely what Shigure wrote about before she made a mental note to ask him when she saw him again.

Haruka heard someone sneeze and looked up to see two people walking forward; one seeming to be the ghost Shigure, who looked to be the one who sneezed, and the other being a person whom Haruka didn’t recognize, who had black hair the fell unevenly into his eyes and reached about the top of his boys’ school uniform.

Anita seemed to notice Haruka’s shift in attention and looked up, too. She saw the living boy approaching and called out, “Saburo, come and join our party! We’re having a lot of fun standing around out here before school for no particular reason!” Her voice was normal, but her intention was almost definitely a sarcastic one.

“No, I just realized that Akemi went out early,” Saburo(?) explained. “And we all know that she’d get into horrible trouble if I just let her go out without someone to watch her. No offense Anita,” he added, “but I’m not so certain that you’re entirely capable of watching her thoroughly enough. You know how she is.”

Anita grinned and nodded. “Yeah, you have a point. So are you going to join the party or not?”

Saburo(?) turned to Haruka first. “Anita, you don’t usually associate with anyone, but I somehow have the feeling that you and this girl started the party.”

“Uh, I guess,” Anita answered uncertainly.

Saburo(?) smiled. “I assume that this is the ever-popular Haruka Sohma?”

Haruka paused for a moment before nodding. “Every time I meet someone else, I’m reminded how popular I am and how big my family is.”

“You’re right,” the boy answered Haruka’s unasked question. “I’m a Sohma, too. Saburo Sohma, to be specific.” He bowed courteously. “It’s good to finally meet you.”

Haruka had been fairly certain that Saburo was a Sohma, but she wasn’t entirely certain, and was even more surprised when he answered her question even before she worded it in her mind. Maybe he can hear my thoughts? she wondered half to herself and half as a test to see if he could.

“No, he can’t,” answered Shigure. “Actually, if he were able to know what you were thinking like we do, he wouldn’t be alive. Well, all things considered, I don’t think he would have been born.”

Why’s that? Haruka asked.

“Well…” Shigure began and ended. He didn’t say anything else.

Haruka noticed a fairly large black dog sitting at Saburo’s feet and wondered vaguely if it had anything to do with it. Then she remembered the orange cat at Anita’s ankles and realized that the dog was probably a ghost, too.

Really, what is the whole thing going on with this family? Haruka had to ask. Everyone I’ve met so far seems to be in on some big secret, and nobody’s saying what it is, but it always seems relevant, because every other conversation ends with someone cutting someone else off.

“My dear Haruka,” Shigure began, “haven’t you realized that there’s a reason that you don’t know this secret?”

Yes, I have, Haruka retorted, but like I said, everyone keeps slipping up, and if they can slip up, then I think that this secret is too relevant for me to know that it exists without being told what it is.

“Hmm…” Shigure said thoughtfully.

Haruka looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps to see two familiar people coming forward: Nanami and the ever-ghostly Yuki.

Akemi looked up at the same time and called out, “Hey, Nani! Come and join the party! Everyone’s having a blast!”

“Oh, yes!” Anita added sarcastically. “We were having such a wonderful time, doing normal party things—you know, we were hanging around, and being completely silent! It is such the best!”

“We were talking and having fun a moment ago,” Akemi retorted.

“Yuki!” Shigure called. “Come and help us to decide on something!”

“What is it?” Yuki asked more quietly than Shigure, somehow already among the ghosts and people.

“We need to decide if we can tell Haruka our little secret,” Shigure explained.

“She already knows that we’re cursed,” Momiji blurted.

Kyo turned his head around and faced Momiji with an expression of pure loathing and hissed, “She might not have if you hadn’t said anything!”

Kyo, Haruka chided, don’t kill Momiji because you did something stupid.

“She’s right,” Yuki added coolly. “Don’t take your frustration at your stupidity out on other people, stupid cat.”

“For the last time, I’m not a stupid cat anymore, you damn rat!” Kyo spat back, his hair seeming to stand on end.

“Well, if you’re not a stupid cat anymore, then surely I am no longer a damn rat?” Yuki pointed out without a single hair out of place.

Kyo yelled something back, and Yuki retorted calmly, and this repeated several times, but Haruka didn’t pay so much attention, because Anita had made another stab at conversation and asked, “So, Haruka, do you have any siblings?”

The air seemed to tense among all the others—even the ghosts seemed slightly on-edge, and Akemi finally stopped bouncing on her heels.

“Um, no,” Haruka responded honestly and slightly bewilderedly. Even if she still wore the replicated bracelet from her dream sister, that might just ruin her public sanity. “Why? And why is everyone so serious about it?”

Anita nodded, frowning slightly in confusion. “It’s a long story,” she answered vaguely. She waited a moment, and Haruka was about to return to her ghost conversation when she asked, “Is that bracelet supposed to mean something?”

The other Sohmas’ eyes darted to Haruka’s wrist and widened at the sight of it before they looked Haruka in the eye with a questioning and perhaps fearful expression.

“Um,” Haruka began awkwardly, before she decided to answer similarly. “It’s a long story. But,” she added, smiling slyly, “I’ll tell you it if you tell me what’s up with this whole sister thing.”

She instantly cursed herself. Sister? she asked herself. SISTER? Do you really think something of this? You don’t! Why did you say sister instead of sibling?

A moment later, she stopped cursing herself for that and redirected her attention. ‘I’ll tell you if you tell me’? I can’t tell them that! I’d look completely insane—I mean, just because my parents can’t tell me why I have it doesn’t mean that it really has to do with the dream!

She continued complaining to herself for not thinking enough, while the other Sohmas exchanged serious, surprised and questioning looks.

They’re seriously considering it! Haruka thought, panicking. What will I do if they actually tell me what’s up with the family? Oh no, I really shouldn’t have said anything!

“What’s going on here?” a serious voice demanded. Haruka looked up and saw Katsuo standing in a very grave and harsh stance. “Did someone say anything stupid?”






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(End of chapter. Now comment or slowly walk away or scream at my stupidity or whatever you want to do in response. The whole screaming at stupidity thing is rather unwanted, and I would prefer the slowly walking away, but I don't really care. Do whatever floats your boat, weasel, kitchen sink, or whatever else you might be trying to keep afloat.)