"I wanted to know if you wanted a snack?" He asked in his usual little voice. "I don't ever see you leave, and someone finally wnet to the store, so I wanted to make sure you got some before they were all gone..." He smiled timidly. "It probably would've been my fault anyway. But I can't seem to help myself around grahm crackers and chocolate candy. Or grapes for that matter... " He offered up the package and waited for a reply. It always seemed really weird that Sotto locked himself in here, and even locked the door when others came in. But with the way he could remember his father acting, it was no wonder Sotto wanted to stay hidden away from all the bad stuff that was going on in the world.



"I just came to see if Kiyoko-sama had anything she needed done, but it looks like you're handling a lot of it." She whispered to the man who stood near her in the door. "Is there any laundry? I'd like to spare myself the headache and just get that out of the was as soon as possible." Her hands were folded infront of her and she seemed to be looking to the side of Koga rather than directly at him. It was Kiyoko she had glanced at, sleeping in the window sill. Strange how peaceful she looked when she was out cold.

Himeko dropped her guard in relief and sighed as she heard nobody. She checked the chair, making sure it was glued relatively far from the desk. She grinned in satisfaction and made her exit through the second story window of the Principal's office, landing on her feet, unharmed suprisingly. Himeko then made her run back towards the Sohm compound. She felt the dull pain in her knees still softly throbbing, but she ignored it, she had been through worse.

Himeko smiled a bit up at the sky, enjoying how the sun's warmth felt upon her pale skin. She shivered a bit as her blonde locks waved against her neck, but only giggled a bit. Once outside the Sohma compound a frown appeared upon the girl's face and she slowly walked in, looking to her left, then her right before making a sprint to her favorite spot under a desolate cherry tree. Himeko sat down with her back propped up against it, closing her golden eyes, not even attempting to clean the wounds on her knees. It was just a few deep scratches, it's not like there was a puncture wound, she thought to herself passively. Himeko felt herself dozing off and before she knew it, she slowly fell sideways, sleeping peacefully beneathe the cherry tree on the soft grass beneathe her.

"Um yeah there is some laundry, but I can get that if you want me to." Koga said still with a polite smile on his face "I was just finishing up some work before I started to cook dinner for everyone, but I could do some other things so you can go and hang out with the others" He turned around when he noticed the girl wasn't paying attention to him "She looks peaceful...knowing her, when she's sick like this she will be out for while, it gives a lot of people sometime to calm their nerves" He explained before walking over to Kiyoko, and fixing the blankets on her. Kiyoko moved slightly but didn't wake up, Koga walked back to the door "Go on I will take care of everything in here for today"

Trying, rather successfully, to get away from his doting parents, the fifteen year old Monkey of the Zodiac lay in the grass, his upper body shielded by the shade of one of the trees on the Sohma estate. He didn’t care about stains on his brand name shorts nor did he care if his shirt was ruined with folds from lying on it for a good hour or so. Zero just loved the small feeling of peace that suddenly filled his body. In that moment, he wasn’t concerned with whether or not he’d stumble and knock into a female. The young teen wasn’t worried about changing into the ridiculous form of a monkey just because of one random encounter. Instead, he felt at ease. Sighing happily, though he wouldn’t dare let anyone know, he stared at the world above him, pondering if, one day, he’d be free.

Peace interrupted by sudden movement unusual to that of the sounds of nature, Zero blinked. He had spaced out for a moment, trying to focus on the minuscule details of the curse. Frowning and running a hand through his blonde hair, he glanced at the scenery, trying to figure out what the hell had bothered him. Sky blue eyes taking in the figures and shapes around him, he spotted a slight shadow behind the formerly unoccupied cherry tree. Eyebrows raised with pure interest and eyes filled with mischief, the young teen shifted himself out of his former position and walked towards the figure.

Much to his surprise the figure was none other than Himeko Sohma, renowned Cat of the Zodiac. Leaning down beside her, he watched the serene look upon her face, her body language signaling that she had fallen asleep. Shaking his head, Zero pondered if bothering her, while she was asleep, was worth any effort and time on his part. Pursing his lips as if in deep thought, Zero glanced at the deep scratches on her knee. “Damn cat. You’re supposed to get wounds cleaned. Otherwise, you’ll get an infection. Idiot.” He murmured, moving a stray piece of hair out of her face, as if that one strand would ruin her deep sleep.

Himeko was dreaming of her parents, a dream she had every time her eyes closed for an attempt at peaceful slumber, it was always the same one; her mother was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, eggs sunny side up and crisp bacon, Himeko's favorite. Himeko's father was sitting at the table, lips pressed tightly together as he read the daily newspaper and sipped at his coffee. Five year old Himeko was getting ready due to it being her first day of school. She ran downstairs and ate breakfast with her parents, everything was peaceful, they ate and talked about their plans for the weekend, then everything turned ugly..the house was burnt, Himeko was standing there crying her eyes out in it's remains, her hello kitty backpack on the ground as she yelled in hopes of it bringing her dead parents back to her.

Himeko stirred in her sleep and jumped as she felt a hand softly move some of her hair and she jumped nervously, blinking at him obliviously, "What?" she asked in a soft tone, it was audiable, just a little groggy, "It'd do the family a favor if I got some weird infection anyway, besides..I don't like doctors." she stated in a slightly louder, but still relatively soft voice with a light blush upon her features. She blushed only because she was embarrassed that someone actually registered she was hurt.

"You're the monkey right?" she inquired with a small smile daring upon her features, her outgoing appearance contrasting against her shy nature and tone, "I'm not an idiot..by the way..I just didn't really think it looked that bad nor did I think anyone would notice." she said with a sheepish grin, dropping her stubborn and rude remarks, "No one really notices me, unless they're yelling, I'm actually suprised you didn't."

Sotto looked Kimchi over, noting that he seemed rather fragile. He stayed quiet as the boy began to ramble, but he seemed to catch himself before it got out of hand. He wasn't quite sure how to react to him, so he remained silent for just another moment until he was sure that Kimchi was done talking.

"Ah... that's..." Sotto took the bag, somewhat awkwardly, "nice of you, Kimchi." A small smile found it's way onto Sotto's lips. Kimchi was... likeable. "Thank you," he added.

Glancing down at the bag, Sotto was quiet for another moment. He didn't really feel like eating... to be honest, he rarely felt like eating. It usually didn't seem worth the effort of leaving his room. He let his gaze drift back to Kimchi.

"Ne, Kimchi... um... do you want to eat with me?"

Naoki did her best to not flush up like a beetroot as she approached Sogo as calmly and neutrally as her pounding heart and absolute mortification could allow. She kept her eyes down as she walked, but raised them to look the older, pervy player right in the eye and gently took the piece of paper from his fingers.

“This isn’t mine.” The brunette said, hoping her voice was only wavering in her head. “It belongs to a friend from school. She has very strict parents, you see, who tends to go through her things without her permission and… She wanted me to keep this safe for her.”

Lowering her gaze, Naoki began to fold the paper into two, then four, then eight, her fingers shaking slightly from anxiety of being seen right through. The Sohma physician had a very uncanny ability of doing that to her. Slipping the extract into her hot pant pockets, she looked at Sogo again, trying not to sneer at his smarmy smile. Being disgusted by his behaviour just seemed to make him worse.

“Thank you for retrieving it for me.” And with that, Naoki forced out the nicest smile she could manage at that moment and moved to slide past him.

"Sure," Kimchi smiled in response. "If you don't mind me being here?" He wasn't the sort of kid to hang around when no one wanted him, and since Sotto was so recluse, it's hard to tell sometimes what or who he wanted around. He leaned against the wall near the door and waited for an instruction or so on where to sit.


"You know," Hebihito mused. "You don't have to take on all the responsibilities of the house onto your shoulders. There are other big kids around here to lighten the load." She liked Koga, a strong and responsible sort without being too cold. Very rare to find a man with a head for business and a heart for... well to handle children.

(sorry it's so short)

Sogo's smile turned into a smirk at her reaction and watched her as she tucked the paper into her pants. He couldn't help but roll his eyes, disbelieving her explanation. Any idiot could have seen through her act and how many times has he heard that story? He glanced upwards to see her moving away; just as Naoki was about to pass him, he gracefully moved to the side and blocked her pathway. Sogo placed one hand on his hip and leaned to the side, staring at her intensely. "Work on your acting, little girl," he commented bluntly, grasping the damp cigarette and throwing it to the ground. Out of habit, he stomped on the unlit cigarette. Sogo narrowed his eyes, "A young girl like you shouldn't be writing those kinds of stories, you know?"

Zero grabbed his left hand with his right, as if his hand transmitted some kind of disease. Himeko's reaction towards his touch had startled him and, though he refused to show it, her reaction saddened him as well. It was the same reaction his Aunt had shown towards him, the type of jumpy movement that showed her fear of his curse. The fear and disgust had been clear upon the woman's face, despite his father and mother's protests that Zero was not some type of monster. Shaking his thoughts away, he sighed. Why did she have to be so damn jumpy? Listening to her remark about the family, he rolled his eyes. "Don't be a fool. The least you could've done was go to Sogo. He's not even an actual doctor, so it should be ok." He stated, noticing a blush enter her features. Cocking his eyebrow, he began to take genuine interest in the conversation at hand.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm the monkey." He said, returning her small smile with a smirk. For now, Zero would entertain the Cat. . .at least, until he grew bored. "Refusing medical attention makes you an idiot in my book." He stated nonchalantly, noticing her notorious rude and stubborn exterior fading away. "Obviously I'd notice you. You disturbed my nap, besides someone can't just ignore these wounds." He pointed at them, as if trying to show her just how badly they appeared to him.

Naoki gasped at Sogo's suddenly movement, taking a step back inside they collided. If she turned into her animal form now, and then turned back completely naked in front of Sogo, she would never live it down. Not even smutty writing being shown up in front of the whole family could compare to that kind of humilation. Regaining her composure, she glared at him, speaking slowly and with a tone dripping with poison.

"I'm over the age of consent, Sogo. Therefore, writing stuff like this shouldn't mean anything, so don't talk to me like you're my father. Unlike you, I only go around writing this stuff, not performing it, and what I write is my business. So back off."

Himeko's golden eyes softened as she realized what his actions meant, and she turned her head away from him quickly, " Oh..S-sorry." She whispered softly, smiling a bit, understanding his reaction. without even having to see into it completely, "It's my first reaction around people..yet I guess it's my fault." she replied trying to laugh it off, blinking at him dumbfoundedly, "Uhm..Go see who?" Himeko asked, she turned her head to face him, her golden eyes staring at Zero as if he had said something completely unheard of, "Which one is that?" she asked sincerely. Himeko turned her head away again as she felt her face turning a darker shade of red at her own stupidity, "Alright I'm stupid, we've established that, anything else?" she mumbled back.

"That's cool." she replied with a giggle, "You act more like a mother hen however, I didn't exactly refuse medical attention, I just didn't seek it." she mumbled softly to herself, accepting his point obviosuly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. It doesn't hurt. Really." she stated blinking down at the dried blood, "It just looks bad." she stated with a strong smile, despite her slightly present blush