A blessing or a curse

Chapter 1

My hair was blown in the summer wind as I made my way from the taxi that had driven me all the way to the coast. Sadly I couldn't take credit for spending my summer at the coast as I was actually invited by a family friend just last night. I couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of being woken from my sleep by my phone ringing only to find out I was being invited on holiday to their families beach house.

When I say house, what I really meant was mansion, as the taxi drove away back down the hill my eye's wandered to the mansion sized beach house that now stood before me. Taking a small breath I bent down to grab my suite case and bag that had been laid before me by the driver only a minute ago.

As I walked up to the front door I couldn't help but admire the forest that practically encompassed the house. I couldn't wait to finally go on a walk. Placing my suite case down for a moment I reached out to knock on the white wood of the front door, the sound echoing around me. In seconds I could hear foot steps coming closer and soon the door was pulled open revealing a girl with dark brown hair and kind eye's to match, she couldn't have been much younger than me, I guessed.

"Oh high." She paused for a second no doubt only just noticing my suite case and back pack, that was flung over my left shoulder. "Sorry I wasn't expecting anyone, but please come in." I offered her a smile as I picked up my suite case and made my way inside. If I thought the outside was big then the inside was more than I had expected. The scaling s tall I don't I could reach even if I jumped, though I wasn't the tallest girl you could meet.

We seemed to stop once we reached the living area and the girl turned back around to face me. "Sorry to sound so direct but are you by any chance a Sohma?" My mind grew in recognition at the name and I couldn't help but offer the girl another smile though I could feel this one probably looked a little awkward. "No but I'm a family friend. Actually it was Shigure who invited me here in the first place."

I could see a look of recognition shine in her eyes as I mentioned the mans name. "He didn't tell me we were expecting a guest but I can go and grab him if you'd like." I nodded my head in response and she was soon making her way out of the patio doors that led in to the back garden.

Thank fully I didn't have to wait long, the silence was getting to close for comfort, as the girl soon came walking in with a small entourage not far behind. One among them stood out to me with is need yet messy silvery grey hair and green kimono. "Shigure." His head perked up as I shouted his name and in no time at all he was making his way past the younger kids that had followed him inside. "Ah Isa you came."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his words as the memory of last night's phone call came to mind. "Well you did say that you urgently needed me when you called last night." His hand rose to the back of his head as he smiled sheepishly at being called out. "Oh did I really phrase it in such a way?" I chuckled as a simple 'yes' escaped my lips.

"Shigure who is this?" The you girl from before asked, having a slightly bewildered expression on her face. "Oh right, Tohru this is Isa Natsuba, the Natsuba's are close friends with the Sohma clan." Placing my hands together I bowed to the group. "High it's nice to meet you all." As I lifted myself back up Shigure began to speak. "Kyo why don't you take Isa's bags up to the spare room next to Tohru's and Kisa's."

Suddenly I heard a shout come from a boy with orange hair who looked to be the same age as Tohru and another boy with silver hair, who I hadn't heard the name of yet. "Oh Kyo there's no need to fuss I'll introduce you once you've returned." I couldn't hear much in response aside from a grumble or two, as the boy, Kyo came over and grabbed my suit case and back pack.

"Right well why don't we meet everyone, Isa." I nodded as I noticed Shigure was motioning for me to sit on the couch off to my left. The moment I was sat the others did the same. Shigure sat beside me on the couch as the three older kids did the same as the three younger ones decided to perch themselves on the floor at my feet.

"Isa you've already met Tohru Honda, and beside her is Yuki and Hatsuharu Soma." So there Sohma's to just like Shigure. "Then at your feet are Momiji, Kisa and Hiro, they're also Sohma's" Suddenly I heard foot steps coming from behind me and saw a tuft of orange hair walking past. "And you've just met Kyo."

With Kyo now sat on the floor a bit further away from me I lifted my hand and gave a wave. "Hi it's nice to meet you all." They all gave a wave or a smile in recognition before the boy, Yuki spoke up. "So how do you know Shigure?" I was ready to answer before I heard the siding of the patio doors coming from the other side of the room. "So this is where you've all been." The familiar voice caused my smile to grow even wider as I couldn't stop myself from jumping off the couch. "Hatori."

My shout caused everyone to stare at me, all of them in a strange way aside from Shigure and Hatori and the former was giving me a knowing smile and the latter look at me with a mix of shock and confusion. "Isa?" Hatori questioned my appearance as he made his way over to me. "When I was told you were coming I didn't think you'd be here this fast."

He spoke as he gave me a friendly mile and pat on my shoulder, as the both of us stood, with me only being only half a head shorter than him. "Well Shigure called last night and said that I was urgently needed, so I got here as fast I could with the lack of notice." Hatori's gaze became stern as it now landed on shigure who was still sat beside my spot on the couch. "Well she needed to be here soon so I thought a little white lie wouldn't hurt."

Hatori stilled starred on at him with a glare and I couldn't help but chuckle. Taking my spot back on the couch Hatori had decided to sit on one of the available chairs on the other side of the couch. "Sorry Yuki, but it's actually quite convent that Hatori just showed up. You see Hatori's been my doctor since I was around ten and when I was twelve Shigure decide to tag along with Hatori to one of my appointments, and so the rest is history."

I noticed everyone nodding their heads in understanding as I spoke. "I don't know how you do it then Hatori, being the doctor for two families must be really tiering." Tohru spoke and at her words Hatori decided to shed some light on the matter, with a nod of approval from me. "Actually it's not as hard as you think, Isa's grandparents both died when she was eight or nine and my primary focus has always been Isa anyway so it's not as hard as you may think." I nodded in conformation as Tohru and the other older kids glanced at me.

"It was actually my grandparents who first met the Sohma family Only a few years before I was born. I remember they used to tell me bed time stories about because of how big the sohma family was that in their minds they represented the new years Zodiac's." I smiled fondly at the faint memory of my grandparent's bed time story.

I noticed weird looks cross the others faces, all but Hatori's and Shigure's, but I decided to ignore it. "Well now that we're all properly acquainted, who wants to go down to the beach?" Shigure suggested and immediately everyone was up excitement radiating off of all of them. "That sounds great." I said as I followed the others out the patio doors and down the hill through the forest that led to the beach.