"Why do you have to leave, Kasumi?!"

"Momiji, I'm only going to Shigure-"

"OH MY DEAR SISTER IS MAKING HER WONDROUS JOURNEY! Tell our wonderful brother I say hello!"

"I will, Aya!" It's my last few moments at the main estate. Shigure returned to the estate a few minutes ago after making some errands in town. and at Sohma house, and we just finished packing my bags into Hatori's car. It'll be so weird not having all of my stuff with me in my room. Surely Akito will allow me on the property to visit at some point... 

"Kasumi!" Shigure calls from the doorway, "Are you ready? Yuki will be so excited to see you! How long has it been since...?"

"I'm ready Shigure," I say as I close the trunk and blow a few strands of hair out of my face, "And it's been 2 years since I saw him. You know what New Years is like. Not like I'd see him much apart from that after he moved out."

"Shigure! Did you hear that??" Aya laments as he comes up behind Shigure, grabbing his friend by the shoulders, "My poor sister hasn't seen her loving brother in 2 years!"

"Ah, isn't is a shame? Torn apart, never to see each other again!" Shigure cries, clasping a hand to his heart.

"Enough of the dramatics," Hatori interrupts, coming around the car to stand by me. "Let's head out."

____________________________________________

As Hatori drives us up the mountain road to Shigure's house, I'm in awe. It's been years since I've seen anything this far from the main house. The only places outside of Sohma House that Hatori could take me to were the shops in town when he let me tag along for errands, because Akito kept him at the estate so much. Only in the past few years was he able to let me go on the occasional errand (usually a bookstore run) by myself. So beautiful and big!  The trees go on forever!

Towering, green trees whiz past us as we go further into the forest. Occasionally, we can see bits of Tokyo peeking through the foliage. I can't believe Sohma family owns all of this... We pull onto a dirt road that turned off not far up the mountainside. Not long after, we come up to a big, traditional style house. It's similar to houses at the estate, and sits in a little, secluded clearing. It has two stories and a little pond peeking out in the yard.

"Ah, home sweet home!" Shigure exclaims, throwing open the passenger door before the car stops and ignoring Hatori's annoyed scolding. My mouth dropped open. His house was absolutely amazing!

"Is this really your house Shigure?!" I ask, opening my door and getting out. 

"Why wouldn't it be? Now, Hatori will take your things to your room, and I'll show you around."

Hatori glares at Shigure as he opens the trunk. "You'll use any excuse to get out of work."

Shigure leads me through the house and into his sitting room, which serves as both a living room and dining room. Sitting there was Kyo, who I last saw a year or so ago. Shock and confusion registered on his face as I walk in with Shigure. Next to him is a girl who has long brown hair with ribbons holding some of it back, and is already smiling widely. That must be Tohru Honda! She looks just like they say she does! Across the table from her is the person I've been waiting to see for too long. My brother, Yuki. He's taller than when we last saw each other, if that's even possible. He seems surprised to see me, but smiles nonetheless.

"I'm back with a surprise! Tohru, this is Kasumi. She's Yuki's younger sister. She'll be staying with us from now on." Another layer of surprise adds itself to my brother's and cousin's faces. "It all came together last minute. Sorry I didn't get to tell you before I left." Tohru seems so excited to see me, which throws me off. She jumps up, bowing quickly before holding out a hand with a bright smile.

"Hello, I'm Tohru Honda! It's wonderful to meet you! I didn't know that Yuki had a sister! It's so amazing! And you're so pretty! What is your favorite food? I can make it tomorrow night! And-" 

Kyo cuts her off. "Won't ya quit yappin'? She just walked in the door! Let her actually say hi before you start questioning her!" Tohru blushes and steps back, bowing in apology.

"AHHH! You're right Kyo! I'm sorry Kasumi! Of course you want to settle in!"

I pause, my mouth dropping open a little, not exactly sure how to respond. Before I can formulate an answer, Shigure ushers me to the empty spot next to my brother and quickly disappears into his office. So much for the tour of the house, I guess. I should have known better. "It's no problem, Tohru. It's nice to meet you too," I finally replied, smiling softly, "And yes. Hard to believe, but I exist! Thank you, and my favorite food is rice balls, preferably with salmon." 

Kyo jumps up and threw his fist in the air. "Finally, someone who shares my taste in foods lives here!" 

"Kyo! You already knew that! You were the one who introduced me to them!" I counter, smirking a bit.

"Ah, whatever. At least I have an excuse to eat them more!"

I notice while he's talking that Yuki seemed to get more and more annoyed. He's looking down at the table with a hint of a grimace. "Um... Yuki?" 

He jumps a little as I say his name, and looks over to me. "Yes, Kasumi?"

"Are you alright? You seem frustrated." 

He looks surprised. "No, of course not. You know Kyo and I just don't get along. That's all."

He was just talking... But they really didn't get along when we were younger. They have gotten better.... "Alright. Just making sure."

The table falls silent. I guess no one had anything to say. After a few second of the silence, Hatori slips in to say goodbye, with Shigure in tow. "Oh my! Does this silence mean that my house actually isn't getting torn to pieces?" Shigure muses, "My, my, Kyo! What have you done to everyone to make them speechless?"

 "What the hell was that for?! You sound like that dumb rabbit!"

"Kyooo! So mean!"

"ME?! What about you?" 

Their conversation is going nowhere, but Torhu leans closer to me from across the table and shoots me a Momiji-worthy smile. "Kasumi, would you like to help me make lunch?" She asks, "If we have the ingredients, you can pick one of your favorite dishes for us to make for tonight's dinner!"

We walk into the kitchen as Shigure walks Hatori to the car after our goodbyes, leaving Kyo and Yuki in the sitting room. Unfortunately, after the little dispute, Yuki was not in a good mood.

"Stupid cat. She just walked in and you're already picking fights."

"I didn't pick a fight! Shigure did, ya damn rat!"

"It doesn't matter." Yuki said, glaring at Kyo. "The point is, maybe we should try to get along for the first few weeks she's here."

Kyo scowls, and glares over at Yuki. "Why should I?! We didn't when Tohru came, and Kasumi is actually family!"

"You should, precisely because she's family. You know better than I do how long she was kept in the main house. She was in there more than any of us!"

Kyo was silent for a moment. "Dammit, why do ya gotta be so technical?! Just be normal. Don't make her think you're someone you're not, ya damn rat. You, more than any of us. You're her brother." He jumps up and storms upstairs, heading for the roof.

"I'm so sorry we don't have many ingredients to work with tonight. I'll be sure to go to the store tomorrow for more! I know miso isn't Kyo's favorite food, but he's fine with it as soup, so I was planning to make miso soup to go along with curry. What do you think?" 

"Well, in all honesty, I agree with Kyo in this situation. I'm not very fond of miso..."

Tohru's face fills with shock and embarrassment. "OH! I'm so sorry! Are you alright with curry? I can make something else!"

"Don't worry about that. I'm fine with miso soup, and I love curry!" Gosh, I'm sounding like Kyo..... I guess that's what I get for hanging out with him and Kagura so much when we were little. Tohru's face lights up like a little kid.

"Really?! That's exactly what Kyo thinks!" I feel my face heat up and look away. Ahhhhh... she noticed.

"Yeah, well we spent a lot of time together, along with Kagura, when we were little. So... I guess that explains it."

"That's really-" Suddenly, she is cut off by the sound of Kyo arguing with Yuki.

"I didn't pick a fight! Shigure did ya damn rat!" After that, we just hear mumbling from the two of them. Tohru just smiled.

"They're always fighting, though not as much as they did when I arrived." Make that not as much as they EVER did.

"So, Tohru, what ingredients do you need? I can help as much as you'd like!"