“Feh, the zodiac banquet,” I said to no one in particular. “It’s not like I wanted to be there anyway,” I’d convinced myself. I sat quietly in a tree outside the main house, watching as everyone arrived for the banquet, I’d even seen when that ass, Keiji, had beaten up... what was his name again? Kohaku or something like that. The girl with him, had begged for Keiji to punish her instead, I didn’t really understand the point of that. Keiji had grabbed her and pulled her inside, leaving Kohaku, just lying there. After that, a couple of people came out, and took Kohaku with them.

When they’d left, I heard an uproar coming from inside the main house. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, all I could tell, was that a girl was yelling at Keiji. A few seconds later, someone came running out of the main house. As they came closer to the tree I was sitting in, I could see it was a girl, probably only a year younger than me. She sat down underneath my tree, and started crying. “What’s wrong,” I asked her before I could stop myself. She looked up, surprised, and I could see a red mark on her cheek. “Nothing,” she replied, and went to stand up.

I jumped down from the tree, and landed in front of her. “It doesn’t look like nothing to me,” I said, crossing my arms. She went to say something, then decided against it. “Who are you anyway? Only Sohma’s are allowed at the main house,” she questioned me. “I am a Sohma,” much to my displeasure, I replied. “A Sohma?” she looked confused, “but I’ve never seen you before.” “Not many people have,” I smirked. “Hmm, Really? So what’s your name?” she looked at me. “Haji, Haji Sohma,” I told her grimacing. “Haji? Well Haji, It’s nice to meet ya,” she smiled, “I’m Keiko.”

~Haji