The noon sun made the sea look like it had tiny diamonds embedded in it. The waves slowly splashed against the rocks on the edge of the Japanese harbor. Seagulls and many other sea-birds soared through the air, occasionally diving into the water, coming up and having caught a good fish in their mouth for lunch. A large ferry putted along the waves. It was empty except for two passengers and the ferry's crew. It docked and a plank was lowered. The two passengers got off and onto the dock.

One was a young woman about the age of 18 or 19. She had dark brown hair that came to her shoulder blades. Her bangs were about the same length as the rest of her hair and she had them pulled back with black hair-clips. Her dark blue/green eyes shone with anticipation. She wore a black tank-top with a bunny face with a green mo-hawk on it. Below the bunny were the words 'Punk Bunny' in white 'spray paint' effect letters. She wore camouflage pattern cargos with a chain that hung from the side. She also had several necklaces hanging from her neck. One was red beaded and had the Chinese symbol for 'horse' on it. She carried a large duffle bag filled with her belongings and a guitar securely in its case slung across her back. At her side, the second passenger, a spunky dark tabby striped kitten trotted along.

The girl smiled as she walked down the dock and into the city. "Well, Braveheart, I wonder if this town has any good clubs or bands. It looks big enough...What do you think?" She said to her little companion. Braveheart mewed in agreement. The girl smiled and picked up the kitten and put him on her shoulder so that his upper body rested on her collar bone and his lower body hung behind her back. "Good! Let's see if we can find my little cousin's house shall we? Uo-chan will be surprised to see Shiko-san back from America so soon!" She took off at a slow sprint towards some apartment complexes, her luggage behind her in her hands.

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Shiko knocked on Uotani's apartment door. She waited for a while but no one answered the door. She had just turned around when she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and read the front: 'Went to Tohru-chan's, like anyone would come here anyway...Uo-san' Shiko turned the paper over to find a map to where this Tohru lived. "We might as well go there. We can meet one of Uo-chan's friends, too!" And once again, Shiko and Braveheart set off in search for Uo-chan.

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As luck would have it, Tohru had planned a slumber party for her friends Uo-chan and Hanajima-san and all the Sohma's. They decided to have the house split up, one half for girls and the other half for the boys; for obvious reasons. The living room, bathroom, and kitchen were the only rooms not separated, well besides the entry way. Currently they were in the living room playing Old Maid; boys vs. girls of course. Tohru, Hana, Uotani, Kagura, Kisa, and (previously decided) Ayame were on the girl's team. The boys' team consisted of Yuki, Kyo, Shigure, Hiro, Hatori, and Ritsu.
The girl's were in the lead and the boys' were kind of lagging behind. Uotani grinned as she took another card from the deck. "Aren't you guys sorry you gave us Ayame-san? He's such a good card player!" She looked at the card then put it in her hand.
Kyo scowled at the Yankee. "Well you bunch of wimps will be sorry when our seventh player gets here!"
Uotani looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Yuki drew a card from Uotani's hand and looked at it interestingly. "Haru-kun isn't here yet. He must have gotten lost...again."
"Man if my cousin were here she'd make whipped cream out of all of you. To bad she went to the U.S. to study at a college." Uo said with a smirk.
Tohru looked at Uo with excitement. "You mean Shiko?! Do you know when she's coming back?" she said as her eyes sparkled.
"Nope."
"Awww...that stinks!"

----------------------------------------------------})i({------------------- ------------------------------- Meanwhile....

Shiko dragged her belongings lazily. Who knew it would be so exhausting! She looked up and saw a bench and sat down beside a young man hidden behind a newspaper. She slumped her shoulders and Braveheart curled up in her lap. Shiko unzipped a side compartment on her bag and pulled out a water bottle and a bowl. She put the bowl on the ground and opened the water bottle. The water looked so good when she poured it into the bowl she would have drank it from there! Brave jumped down and drank thirstily. Shiko threw back her head and drank the water from the bottle.
She sat up and poured some on her hand and rubbed the back of her neck and upper back. She looked over at the boy. From what she could tell, he wore black boots that went up to his mid-shine. He had black slacks on and wore biker gloves on his hand. What surprised Shiko most was that he was wearing a coat! She tapped him on the shoulder gently. He didn't respond. She tapped him again harder. "Hey, buddy! You want something to drink?" She asked him.
He folded up the newspaper and looker at her somberly. Shiko was even more shocked when she looked at his face! He had white scruffy hair but the hair on the lower back of his head was black. He had grey eyes and his ears were pierced. He had necklaces hanging from his neck and he also was wearing a black shirt. He looked like a rock star! 'A HOT rock star!' Shiko thought. He held out one of his gloved hands and said, "Sure."
Shiko handed him his own water bottle from her stash. "So, you live around here?"
He merely nodded his head.
Shiko smiled awkwardly. She was about to open her mouth when he spoke.
"Do you know where the Sohma house is?" he asked.
Shiko looked at him incredulously. But then she remembered the map. She took it out of her pants' pocket and unfolded it. Above the circled house was 'Tohru's House', but below those words were '(Sohma's House)'. She grinned at the stranger and showed him the map. "I'm heading there myself. Why don't we go together?"
The boy looked at her with that same solemn look but said "Okay." Shiko got up and picked up her kitten.
"I'm Shiko and this little dude is Braveheart. What's your name?"
"Hatsuharu Sohma."
Shiko smiled and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Haru-kun!"
Haru flashed a small smile and shook her hand slowly. Shiko and Haru walked side by side with little Braveheart following them.