Faded Memories

I walk down the stairs to find Yuki and Kyo ready to leave for school.
When we enter the school’s gate everyone stares at us. I ignore the stares, but I can tell Kyo is a little on edge. When we enter the school, I go to my locker; it is in between Kyo’s and someone else’s.
The owner of the other locker walks up to it. “Hi, you must be the new girl and guy.”
I look at the girl with short brown hair. “Yeah, I’m Ruki and that idiot is Kyo.”
The girl smiles at me. “I’m Mickey. I think I was the last new kid. I transferred here from America last year.”
“America? I just returned home a day or two ago. It has been five years since I was in town.”
Mickey looks at the schedule I am holding. “I think we have the same classes,” she looks at Kyo’s schedule too. “Yep both of you are in all my classes.”
I smile. It feels good to have a friend that isn’t a Sohma or a dude.
I walk into my first class with Mickey and Kyo. When I sit down I am surrounded by guys and Kyo is surrounded by girls. They start asking me questions and I can’t make sense of some of them. Most are about me being a Sohma. After a few minutes, I snap. I shove a girl that was in the circle surrounding me and run to the open window. I hear Kyo snap as well, but I am already sailing down to the earth. Being around people is harder than I remember it being. I hear Kyo land beside me, and I take off in the direction of a ladder that leads to the roof of the school.
Once I am lying on the roof I breathe again. So many people at once, if they were all girls, I could have stayed calm, but all of them were guys, and one wrong move would expose my secret.
“Are you okay?” I look up and see Mickey standing in the door that leads to the staircase.
“Did you take the stairs up here when you saw me jump?”
She nods. “You looked like you were going to kill yourself jumping out the window,” Kyo climbs on to the roof, “both of you.”
I feel guilty. “I’m sorry if we worried you, but I didn’t think you would care, we just met this morning.”
Mickey smiles, “Well, I got the feeling that we were meant to be best friends when we met. I am good when it comes to picking good people out of a crowd.”
Good people. If only she could know how messed up Kyo and I truly are. “What do you think about Yuki Sohma?”
She stops to think for a moment. “Every girl in school thinks he is a prince. They call him Prince Yuki, but I don’t. I can tell he doesn’t like all the attention he gets from the fan girls. I can tell he would rather be alone, like you and Kyo.”
I feel weird because she is right. He has people skills and makes other believe he is fine around them. He can stay calm for a long time in a crowd, but he would rather be a loner. “Wow, you got that completely right. What about that idiot.” I point at Kyo.
“Stop calling me an idiot!”
“You jumped out a window, which makes you an idiot.”
“But, you jumped too!”
I pause for a second. I didn’t realize I accused him of doing the same thing I did. Mickey opens her mouth and starts giving us her “Kyo impression”. “Well, I think he wants to be able to open up around people instead of just being annoying. He never thought of manners as what you should do all the time and around everyone. He seems to let out his emotions in physical contact, instead of talking about them.”
“Yep, that sounds like Kyo to me.” I stand up and walk over to the door leading to the school’s staircase.
“What are you doing?” Kyo asks.
“I am making a better impression. I don’t want to be known as the person that jumps out windows and ditches school.” I walk down the stairs and hear Mickey catch up to me. We talk as we walk, but before we make it to our class, I hear Kyo follow us.
When the last class ends I stand up and walk to Mickey’s desk, which is on the other side of the room. She looks at me and smiles. “There is a rumor going around that you and Kyo are twins, another says you two are engaged, and the third says that Yuki is your boyfriend.”
I just stare at Mickey. “None of those are accurate. I’m not even sure how Kyo and Yuki and I are related, all I know is that Kyo and Yuki are cousins. Our family tree is pretty large.” I have to stop myself from adding “and corrupted” to the end of the sentence.
“Yeah,” Mickey says. “I heard that there are two other Sohmas in a younger grade.”
I stare at her. “How do I not know that?”
On cue, Yuki enters the classroom with Haru and Momiji behind him. “Look who I found.”
Momiji runs over to me and jumps on my back. “Ruki, you’re back. I have missed you so much!”
“I’ve missed you too Momiji! Mickey, this is Momiji.”
Mickey follows me as I walk over to Haru, while Momiji sits on my back. “Hey Ruki, It’s been awhile.” Haru hugs me and something feels weird about it.
“Hey, we better go,” I turn and look at Mickey. “Bye. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
When we make it outside Haru proves my suspicion. He punches Kyo in the jaw. Momiji gets off my back and moves over by Yuki.
Kyo looks at Haru. “I’m not going to fight you right now Haru!”
Haru walks over to me and puts his arms around me. “Hey, Ruki, what do you think about moving to my house?”
Before I say anything, Kyo punches Haru. Haru always knows what makes Kyo want to fight. I jump in between the two of them and get punched in the mouth and the chest. “Okay! Whoever just punched me in the chest is going down!” I start beating the crap out of Kyo and Haru.
When I finish, they are both laying on the ground looking like crap. “Okay, who hit me in the chest because I am not done with you?!?!”
“Umm…Ruki, I think they had enough.” I look at Yuki and Momiji who are both frightened to death.
“I guess I overreacted a little…”
Kyo and Haru sit up and look at me. Haru speaks first. “I swear it wasn’t me who hit you there. I am positive I hit you in the jaw. I swear.”
I turn my gaze to Kyo. He looks scared, but he isn’t denying anything. I just shake my head. “Just forget about it, I overreacted.”
I help Kyo and Haru up. They aren’t seriously injured. Well, sure they are bruised so bad their skin color looks purpley-yellow, but that will wear off…hopefully.