Fruits Basket: The New Zodiacs

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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 growled before heading out of her room. "Yes I looked everywhere! Even in the--" CRASH! Tenshi fell face first into the floor "Grr. Hikari you left another Tripwire laying around." Tenshi seethed. Hearing soft mews Tenshi looked behind her as she got up. She soon spotted her two cat's, Soul and Espada. "Ohh shut it you two, can you help me find my I-pod?" she asked the cats. Both cats nodded and went outside to look. Both cat's where on the roof of the main gate.

Tobi soon found himself at the Sohma estate. "Well that one good thing about sensing Aura. Now to return--" he stopped as he heard growling from above. Looking up he was a black Norwegian Forest cat and a White Turkish Angora. "Um, hi?" he said with nervousness. Tobi wasn't a big cat fan. Both cats hissed and leapt on Tobi's face scratching at him. "AHHHHHHH!!!!!! SOMEONE GET THESE DEMONS OFF ME!!!!" he yelled trying to get the mongrels off. He can ward off evil spirits and other things of the supernatural, but cats? Tobi was raised by monks while in a foster home, even though he was born in Australia and had been raised there, he moved to where he is now. He had been training for years to fight Werewolves, evil spirits, even a few demons.

"Help me!!" he shouted. Ringing the doorbell as quickly could and tried to get the beasts off of him.

"Ehhhh.... ooops...." Hikari muttered sheepishly with a slight grin, obviously enjoying the little prank she had pulled off along with feeling guilty. Then, the doorbell started to ring furiously, and she was so startled she just about jumped out of her tree. "Oh jeez..." she whispered, clutching at her poor little heart. "I got it Tenshi! Just keep looking! It's around somewhere!" she called, hopping out of the tree and lending lightly on her feet. She went to the door and unlocked it and then......

(Hikari's face as she sees Tobi: o_o)A black-haired youth stood at the door; being slowly mauled by Tenshi's two cats. She teared up a little, trying to hold back gales and gales of laughter. "Tenshi! Soul and Espada are hunting pedestrians again!!!" she called as she attempted to pry the one named Espada off of Tobi, tears and snickers escaping as she did.

"Huh?" Tenshi asked. When she had heard that Soul and Espada were "Hunting Pedestrians" this caught her attention. Heading out to the front gate she had the same look as Hikari as she saw a black haired boy getting mauled by her cat's "Soul, Espada! You two know better then that!" she scolded the two felines. Soul stopped scratching the boy and hopped to the ground. Espada just wouldn't let go, even with Hikari trying to pry him off. "Let me Hikari." she said with a sigh. Scratching behind the Angora's ear he started purring and crawled into her arms.

With a sigh of relief, Tobi rubbed his face getting the fur and blood off. "Thanks. I don't know why they did that." he said. His grip on the I-Pod tightened and played a random song. "Hey that's my I-Pod!" the girl with black hair with Red highlights said. "Where was it?" she asked glaring at Tobi. "Don't look at me like that. I just found it, I was about to see who it belonged to when those beasts from He** attacked me." he explained.

Ooc: This is the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdyU7KS858g

Hikari backed away from the cat, then watched the scene unfold. She recognized the song that was playing; she would hear Tenshi play it every so often while she was doing... Tenshi-type stuff. It was a nice song...

*growl*

Hikari cluched her stomach, the source of the sudden noise, and blushed. "Whoops... Guess it's getting close to lunch..." She laughed sheepishly from the sidelines.

Tenshi chuckled, "Come on, I'll make us some lunch, Hikari." Tenshi said. She stopped and turned to the boy, he looked close to her age. "Would you like to join us? I'm sorry for Soul's and Espada's behavior." she said.

"Uh, it's ok. Cat's don't like me much. Not sure why." Tobi said with his Australian accent. He handed Tenshi her I-Pod back and looked at her. "What?" she asked. "Oh Sorry. Thank you for inviting me. You listen to Skillet? I'm Tobi by the way." he asked seeing her long sleeved shirt. It's not that cold. Why is she wearing a long sleeved shirt? he thought.

"Oh, I love that band. It's nice to meet you Tobi, I'm Tenshi." Tenshi said with a grin. Glancing at his shirt she saw the words Linkin Park. "Cool we like the same bands." she said heading in the kitchen. "The restroom's down the hall, first one on the left."

"Hey Tenshi, you don't have to cook!" Hikari said as she chased after her cousin. "I mean, I was just thinking we could go to the cafe is all." Hikari laughed sheepishly. "I'd like to try their new flavor of ice cream, really!"

"We need to wait for Tobi to come back." Tenshi explained. She went upstairs to change her shirt. After a while she came out with a short sleeved shirt and those long finger less gloves.(what ever their called)

Tobi walked out of the bathroom with several bandages on his face. He also noticed that Tenshi was wearing a different shirt. "You do realize that Freddy Kruger as a Pedophile. right?" he asked her. "Yeah, but that's not why I like him." she said with a slightly creepy smile. She walked over to the foot of the stairs and picked up her guitar. "We heading out or what?" she asked her cousin.

Hikari was rather confused as to why Tenshi had changed shirts or why she had even had a long sleeve shirt on, for that matter, but she shrugged it off for now. There was food to be and cherry blossoms to be seen. "I'm coming!" Hikari laughed as she dashed for the door, but not without first grabbing the house key and the main gate key. As they left she locked everything up tight, then they were set to make their way over to the cafe.

Tenshi mused on what to eat, Maybe I'll get a cheeseburger. she thought. Putting her hands in her pocket she started to hum a song.

"So why Do you like Kruger?" Tobi asked. He liked his share in horror films but not Freddy Kruger.

Tenshi stopped humming and looked at Tobi like he was crazy. "Dude. He can hurt you in your dreams and he can enter your nightmares." she said with a chuckle.

Hikari listened to the convorsation quietly, seeming a little more downcast than before. Something appeared to be bugging her, nagging at her thoughts and driving her into a depressed mood. She looked like she were grieving over something...

A waiter with sandy-blonde hair and striking ice-blue eyes walked up to the table. He looked a little tired, but otherwise mildly friendly (despite the fact that he was rarely ever sociable). "Hello, and welcome to..." he began as he pulled out a pad of paper, but he suddenly stopped. His gaze was immediately drawn to the girl with the odd grey hair at the end of the table, who was looking rather downcast. The boy recognized this emotion, as he knew it very well. "Hey, you, on the end. Mousey." he piped up. Hikari jumped, a little more suprised than she ought to be. "Somebody cut your tripwire?"

Hikari blinked. The boy had hit a bullseye with his question; as she, Tobi, and Tenshi had been leaving the estate Hikari had discovered that one of her precious little tripwires had been slain with a pair of wire cutters; presumably the work of either Auntie or Naga. Hikari looked down and to the side slightly, becoming even more downcast. "That poor tripwire didn't do anything to anyone... Except maybe trip them up. But that's the point; it's supposed to be humorous..." she sighed quietly, looking as though she might cry at any second.

The boy looked at her with sad understanding. A sudden urge he couldn't understand suddenly urged him to speak. "It's okay, I know how you feel... When one of your creations gets destroyed, I mean. All that hard work crushed under the heel of some stale prick's boot." he sighed sadly, finding himself sharing in the grey-haired girl's pain for some odd reason. It wasn't odd because he didnt know the feeling (because he did; all too well in fact), but more because he usually didn't connect with other people like this.

"Yeah; right? Some people just don't know how to have a sense of humor!" Hikari agreed wholeheartedly, perking up quite a bit and grinning as she suddenly threw her head up and looked in the boy's direction. He me her look with a shrug and a half-smile. The two looked as though they could continue the conversation for hours.

"Sorry to interrupt, but can you please get our order?" Tenshi asked. This guy made her feel odd, maybe it was because of his eyes. Or maybe it was because he had called Hikari "Mousey". Tenshi just noticed the conversation. "I think Naga cut the wire." she said. Tenshi sighed and listened to the band play a song but there was no singer.

Picking up her guitar, she walked over to the small stage and began to strum her instrument. With a dark chuckle she started to sing. "Be my bad boy, be my Bad boy" she sang.

Tobi looked at Tenshi with amazement. "She can sing? Is she allowed to do that?" he asked the waiter. Extending his hand he introduced himself. "I'm Tobi."

Hikari sighed at the mention of Naga ending the life of her beautiful creation. The boy blinked. "Oh yeah, sorry. Name's Emile. Your orders...?" Emile began, only for Tenshi to suddenly get up and leave. "...Ah well. Nice to meet you Tobi and..." He shrugged; taking Tobi's hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Hikari is my name. Although my teachers all call me "Hikari-get-your-butt-to-the-principal's-office!" Hikari sniggered with a wave.

"No way; my teacher's call me the same name! Only replace 'Hikari' with 'Emile'." Emile smirked right back, loosening up a little. "Tell me, we're you the one that pulled the choice baking soda prank in Chemistry yesterday?"

"YES?!?" Hikari exclaimed in excitement. "Oh, no way! You go to Rengoku Academy?!"

"Just transferred in from America yesterday. Loved the bit in Algebra too. Superglue on the teacher's chalk; what a classic!!" Emile laughed. As Tenshi began to play, their chatter simmered down to about nil. Hikari loved to hear her cousin play the guitar. "Tenshi's a natural, isn't she? She's such an awesome cousin!!" she commented as she listened to the music. Emile nodded and agreement.

"Oh and Tobi, this ain't my resteraunt so I can't really tell her no... Besides, I don't think I wanna attempt that." Emile grinned. "Now, can I get your drink orders?"

"Sweetened iced tea for me, please!" Hikari smiled. Emile nodded and jotted it down on his pad of paper.

"I'll take a water." Tobi said. He was laughing quietly at the stories that Hikari and Emile were exchanging. They were funny.

Tenshi stopped when she heard the applause. I really hope I don't get kicked out for this. she thought. Hopping down from the stage she sat back down and put her feet on the table. With a sigh she started tuning her guitar.

As Tenshi played, the manager walked by. He was fairly young, only in his mid-twenties, but he certainly knew how to run a clean, respectable establishment. He heard Tenshi singing and looked over at the spectacle. He had stopped allowing unplanned indie performances a long time ago due to an incident with a really shitty indie band, but he could see that Tenshi obviously knew her stuff and she was attracting a number of potential customers, so he just walked into hi office and turned a blind eye to the scene.

"...Um, Tenshi likes soda. You can just bring her one of those." Hikari laughed as Emile jotted down Tobi's order. Even if they were just small notes, Emile wrote oddly fast.

"...Alright, be back in a second with your drinks." Emile grinned. He turned on his heel and suddenly he was just sort of... gone. He moved so fast it was like he hadn't even been there. Hikari was looking out the window and didnt catch this, however.

Tenshi felt a small breeze and shivered. "Should of kept that other shirt on." she mumbled. Putting her guitar back in it's case, she noticed Tobi was starring at her. "What?" she asked. Tobi quickly turned away trying to hide a blush." I-it's nothing." he muttered. Tenshi saied, Did the waiter get our drinks? Dang it I forgot to tell the guy what I wanted." Tenshi said. Quickly sitting up she placed her feet on the ground.