Fruits Basket: The New Zodiacs

The first day of school at Rengoku Academy; a very nice private high school in Japan. It was a nice morning; the sun was out and white, puffy clouds decorated the sky above.

It was around twenty-five minutes before the first warning bell was set to ring when Hikari Sohma jogged up to the front gate of the school. Despite not really being that involved in sports or other athletic activities, Hikari was a rather athletic person. Running to school had always been a breeze for her; she could even out-run the track team. She leaned up against the outer wall of the school and waited for her little brother, Nobunaga Sohma, to catch up.

The Sohma Family was fairly notorious for being very distant, very secretive, and very VERY large; a good number of them living on one single estate. While many people don't understand this, there was a reason for it. The Sohma family had an odd curse upon them where thirteen of the very numerous family members were possessed by a vengeful spirit of the Chinese Zodiac. Hikari and Nobunaga just happened to be two of those Zodiacs; Nobunaga representing the Dragon and Hikari representing the Rat.

Hikari continued to stand around outside the front of the school; keeping a casual lookout for Naga.

Tenshi was walking up the street in the boy's uniform of her new school. She had at one time long black hair. Now it was choppy and had red highlight ends to it. Looking up she saw her cousin, Hikari. "Hey." she said with a wave. Tenshi Sohma was the new Transfer student at Rengoku Academy. Why must the school be so close to the estate? she thought.

"Sup, Tenshi?" Hikari grinned lightheartedly. Her cousin and her had their differences, yes; but in the end Tenshi and Hikari got along pretty well for a couple of Sohma cousins; despite the fact that Hikari and Tenshi didn't really see each other all that much. Sometimes, Hikari got the feeling that people in her family just generally got annoyed with each other and sometimes even sick of seeing each other. "Your hair's different from the last time I saw it! Look's really cool; cute even!" Hikari grinned mischeviously; a common trademark of hers. "Jeez... Nii-chan is really taking his sweet time..." she sighed worriedly, looking down the road for her little brother. Hikari never called Nobunaga "Nii-chan" to his face; she knew very well she'd get slapped if she did.

Tenshi scratched the back of her head, "Thanks, I got it finished last night. i'm sure Draco's on his way, he can't be too far." she said. Tenshi had her new guitar with her and she had been hoping to get in the music class.

Further down the road a boy with the Rengoku uniform was heading towards the school with his violin in tow. "I hope today will be a good day." he said. Tobi ran his hand through his dark grey hair trying to smooth it out. Looking over his shoulder he caused a few school girls to scream and made them pass out. As they fell they said things like Tobi is so cute." or Tobi is dreamy."

"Oh, really? What kind of hair dye did you use...?" Hikari began to ask, but just then Nobunaga ran up panting and wheezing. Hikari grinned a little bit. "Well, looks like I beat you to school again; Naga!" she giggled. Nobunaga just shot her an icy glare, and although it hurt a bit Hikari did her best to hide the pain. "Aww, why don't we play racing games like we did when we were little anymore?" Hikari asked her little brother.

Nobunaga looked up with dull and slightly irritated eyes. He hated the fact that she was the older sibling, but it wasn't like he could change it. It was honestly just more of an annoyance to him than anything. "...Because we're not kids anymore. And it's pointless; you always win." He responded coldly, then stalked off towards the school to go find his locker.

Hikari looked after him with a small tinge of sadness, but perked herself up a bit so to not appear emotional in front of her cousin; whom she hadn't seen in quite a while. "We should probably go find our lockers, too. There's only about ten minutes left before school!" Hikari suggested cheerily as she began to follow Nobunaga inside.

Tenshi glared at Nobunaga. Little twerp. He's lucky to have a sister like Hikari. she thought with envy. With a sigh she walked inside with Hikari. She failed to notice the grey haired boy behind her. Tobi walked passed the girl heading straight to his class. He soon noticed a dark shadow lurking in the corner.I'll come back tonight. he thought. Tenshi swiftly took out her I-phone and texted Hikari: "Want to have some fun tonight? There's a dark shadow lurking and my hair is standing on end!"

Hikari's phone buzzed and she jumped a little bit; startled by the sudden buzzing from her phone. She yanked it out of her pocket and woke it up from sleep mode.

"Want to have some fun tonight? There's a dark shadow lurking and my hair is standing on end!"

Hikari slowed her steps down a bit; long enough for her to respond: "Sure! I love sneaking out after dark... Especially because I'm not allowed >:3
We'll be just like Ghost hunters... We should bring tape recorders and stuff!"

Nobunaga just kept on walking, not really noticing when Hikari fell behind. He didnt even notice when, as he was walking down the suprisingly empty hallway towards his locker, a female student named Miyuki Ito was walking straight towards him.....

*bump*
*oof!*

*poof*

Quickly thinking, Tenshi used her book bag and "accedentally" hit the Miyuki girl. While she did this she failed to notice Tobi was behind her, also knocking him out as well. Hearing a thid from behind her, Tenshi turned around and saw a dark haired boy on the floor. "Ahh, crap. Nobunaga! You should be more careful!! You make me knockout two people instead of just one!" she hissed. Growling she glanced at the boy now laying on the floor. The girl was also knocked out.

"Well it isn't my fault." Nobunaga growled. He whipped his tail around and opened the nearby boy's bathroom door, relieved to find it empty.

"Aww no, what happened?" Hikari exclaimed as she ran up. Nearby, a younger man named Tskune Sohma (a math teacher at the school and also the dog Zodiac) watched the scene carefully. He wasn't a familiar face to either Hikari or Naga as he tended to keep to himself and had barely met any of the other Zodiacs, so they mostly just passed him by. Hikari rushed up, bent over and began to pick up Nobunaga's clothing for him.

"You,.... Hikari Rat......" Naga growled as his eyes (which were cold, so cold they burned) followed her movements. "Maybe if you weren't such a laggard.... You could have warned me. Then I wouldn't be in this position." he spat at her before disapeering into the bathroom; bitter about the idea of having to erase more memories.

Hikari flinched and then paused at the harsh words, trying to fight tears as she stubbornly held a small, plastic-looking smile to hide her true feelings of guilt and sadness. She finished gathering up Naga's clothes and slid them in to him as the bell for first period rang, then sadly shuffled off to class, giving a small wave goodbye to Tenshi.

--AFTER SCHOOL, FINAL BELL OF THE DAY--

"...You're hiding things from me again, Naga! And I wanna know what!" a very loud and eccentric voice sounded over the din of the hallway as students raced to get out of their classrooms and get home for the day. The loud voice belonged to the rich, eccentric, and very well-dressed (out-of-uniforn, in fact) Kagamine Toya, a girl who seemed to just love harrassing Naga. He just rolled his eyes and made an annoyed face as Kagamine continiued her tyrade.

Hikari stood nearby, but she was slowly and somewhat absent-mindedly drifting away. She had been to the office a few times that day (being a frail and weak girl in terms of health, she would often get sick, but always did her best to fight it); most likely having caught something from around the school. She was doing her best to hide her fatigue.

(Ooc: Tskune isn't really important at the moment; just introducing him)

Tenshi walked up behind Hikari, sensing something was slightly off. Tenshi whacked Hikari on the back of her head gently. "Don't let what dragon breath said get to you. I got detention on the first day. I mean all I did was the assignment! stupid teacher." the girl complained. With a sigh she folded her arms and started walking home. Glancing back she decided to try to know more about her cousin. "You coming? I'm heading to that new Cafe place." she said.

Tobi's day had been hectic. First he gets knocked out by some dude with red highlights, and he get's detention for being late. Crumbling up the detention slip he head off the the new cafe.

"I'm alright, thanks Te-BLEAAACHOO-nshi!" Hikari grinned, blown back a few steps by her giant sneeze. "...Sorry, I think it might be allergy season or... something!" Hikari exclaimed, not wanting to admit that she was getting sick. She met Tenshi's pace again, listening as she talked about her day. "...Man... that sucks Tenshi..." she commented.

Just then, Hikari stuck her hand out suddenly, stopping the duo in their tracks. Not even a step ahead of them lay a thin, practically unseeable tripwire.

"Sorry, I went around and installed a few of these today, mainly on my trips to the nurses's office." Hikari snickered, banging on a locker and causing the tripwire to retract. "That sounds like fun! I'd love to go!" she responded happily when Tenshi suggested going to the new cafe.

Tenshi stopped when Hikari put her hand out in front of her. Looking down she saw the almost invisible trip wire. "Thanks. What if someone trips over it on their way to class?" she asked. Tenshi was trying to remember the name of the cafe. What was it? Something about a Cherry tree. she thought. Tenshi made an impatient growl trying to remember the name. Coming to the end of the street she looked up as a few cars went by. "It's "Sakura" something." she muttered.

"Heh heh, that's what makes it funny!" Hikari responded with her trademark grin. "It catches people off guard; not only tripping them up but shaking their lives up a little bit! It's funny; or rather it's supposed to be. It's all up to the victims perception and sense of humor..."

"Wait... You mean Sakura Point Cafe?" Hikari asked with a certain interest.

"Yeah, that's it." Tenshi said. Looking up she saw it was safe to cross. "Come on we're nearly there. Think I'll get an ice cream. What about you?" she asked her cousin. Tenshi didn't know much about her cousin other then she was the Rat. Hikari had always gotten sick easily, so this was why Tenshi hardly ever saw her.

"I might have the same; I rarely ever know what I want until i get there when I go out to eat... Mostly cause it's such a rare treat.... Cooking in my house is a chore that generally falls to me!" Hikari laughed sheepishly. Hikari loved to get out whenever she had a chance (which wasn't always very often); and even when she was sick and incapable of leaving home she never let anything put a damper on her sunshine and fun.

Well... There was one thing...

But Hikari preferred not to think about that. AT ALL.

"Isn't that it; right up there?" Hikari asked her cousin, pointing just ahead.