The Blood that Ties

A/N: Hi all
sorry about the long pause. My son was born a few month’s after my last post so
I haven’t had much time. Now I’m expecting my second little boy, so please bear
with me…

Previously:

Oh, kami! I
could feel the blood drain from my face as the pieces fell into place. This
girl, this Shina, has Isuzu’s blood in her That’s
probably why I didn’t transform. Akito is going to have a fit when he finds
out. There goes my other eye.

Now on with the story…

            Just then a
blond blur ran in and attached it-self to my waist, knocking the wind out of
me.

            “Hari, hide
me!Haru’s looking for me!!” Oh, no! I turned to the
two idiots.

            “Block the
door don’t let him in here!!”

            class=GramE>“Momiji. Get back here! You shouldn’t run into Hatori’s
office like that.” Too late. I watched as Haru walked
in and upon spying Shina, became a blur of black and white streaking toward the
futon where she lay, leaving Shigure lying against one wall twitching and Ayame
loudly complaining about throwing “a thing of beauty to the ground in such a rough
and uncouth manner”. Idiots.

*Haru’s POV*

            My knees
gave out from under me and I collapsed next to the futon where my class=GramE>angel lay.

            “Rin, I
can’t…it’s” I stuttred dumbly.

            “No, it’s
not,” Hatori deadpanned from behind me. I turned my stormy gaze towards the
doctor, wondering how he can be so calm about this.

            “But she
looks just like…”

            “I know,
but it’s not her.” The doctor said again, this time forcing some emotion into
his voice.

            More
confused than ever, I turned to face the raven-haired beauty again. Her hair
was splayed around her like a halo, and her eyelashes rested feather light on
her cheeks.

            “This has
to be Rin. No one else can possibly look like her.” I said with more
conviction. I heard the dragon sigh behind me.

            “Look at
her shoulder, Haru. There’s no scar.”

            Carefully,
I brushed her hair away from her shoulder, revealingun-marked skin. How could
this be? How could this girl look so much like Rin, yet not be her?

            Suddenly
the girls eyes fluttred open, revealing not Rin’s
brown eyes, but startling blue ones. I jolted back from her, but was surprised
when the love I felt when I thought she was Rin didn’t fade away. The girl
blinked a few times, and …grinned?!

            “Haru,” she
said my name as if it were a prayer.

I was shocked, how did this girl no
my name?

style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Then her brow furrowed and she looked confused
as to where she had just gotten the name. I looked at the girl curiously, and
she looked back at me with an intensity I didn’t know existed. I turned away
from her as I heard a scuffle outside.

“I don’t want to be here! I hate
this place!” Kyo’s angry voice floated to my ears. I heard Yuki sigh.

“If you don’t
like it, why did you come, you stupid cat?”

“If it weren’t for your ‘delicate
condition’ we wouldn’t have to be here in the first place!” Kyo retorted
slamming open Hatori’s door.

“If you could refrain from
frightening our guests it would be much appreciated, Kyo.” Hari said as he
watched the girls jump. Kyo turned and looked at the two. When he saw the
black-haired beauty beside me he started.

“Isuzu?”
He looked as if he had seen a ghost. I didn’t blame him. The girl turned and
looked at him. Her eyes got really big.

“The-the S-Sohma
curse.” She breathed before fainting dead away. The other girl stood up
quickly and rushed to her, calling her name.

“Shina!
Are you ok? Speak to me!” she had started to
hysterical when Hari walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Tora, calm down.
She’s fine. She’s just had one too many shocks.” I saw a movementout of the
corner of my eye and turned to see Tohru come up to the girl. She took her
handand the girl looked up.

“Hello, my name is Tohru Honda.
Hatori’s going to take real good care of your friend. What’s your name?” The
girl gave a small bow at which Tohru blushed.

“My name is Tora Oshima. This is my
sister, Shina Hinako. It’s nice to meet you Miss Honda.”

“Why do you have different last
names?” Tohru asked.

“Oh! My father and her mother were
both divorced. Then when they met for the first time they fell in love. We’re
both children from their previous marriges.” Tohru gave her a small smile, then
stood and walked over to me.

“Are you ok Haru?” I nodded slowly
still entranced by Shina. How could she look so much like Rin, yet not be her?
I was also still shaken by the fact that my love for her didn’t change when I
realized it wasn’t her.

Shina stirred beside me and I
placed my hands on hers. Her eyes slowly fluttered open.

“Oh, Shina!
Your ok!” Tora exclaimed as she threw her arms around
her. She almost knocked me in the process.

“Tora, breath would be nice!” Shina
gasped.

“Sorry.” She said releasing her
Shina turned to me with a small smile.

“Hi. My name is Shina Hinako” I
smiled.

“My name is Hatsuharu Sohma. It’s
very nice to meet you, Shina.”

“It’s nice to meet you Haru.” She
said with a winning smile. This was going to be fun.