Her Otherworldly Smile (Kyo⨯OC; Yuki⨯OC)

「Chapter 12」

—The Real Curse (and a Hint of Something Else)—
—Skylar—

I gape at the huge, towering wall. On the side, carved into a plaque, is Sohma, telling me we're in the right place, but geez! It's so tall!

"Holy Gods," I breathe. "And I thought Tohru was overreacting when she freaked out. Now look at me! It's like we're entering another world!"

Aly rolls her eyes. "We're already in another world, Skylar."

I shoot her a look. "Thank you, Lieutenant Literal, but I don't remember asking you~"

She shakes her head, completely unaffected by the insult, and looks at the looming double doors. "It is big," she says. "I'll give you that."

'Big' is an understatement! The wooden, double doors tower at least ten feet up, a corrugated roof draping over the edge of the top enough to block out some of the winter wind attacking us. Plus, the wall goes on for what seems forever—as far as I can see!

"Hi!" an excited Momiji interrupts my internal damnation. "You two're right on time~ Go ahead and let yourselves in," he says, smiling as he disappears as fast as he came.

I laugh a little. "I forgot about him."

"That's because you have tunnel vision when it comes to Hatori."

I push her a little. "That's 'cuz Hatori's great~"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go."

I stick my tongue out at her as she pushes open the large door.

Momiji's standing in the middle of a stone pathway, holding out his arms. "Welcome to the Sohma Estate!"

I look around, eyes wide.

It's like a private town! Houses crowd the stone path, a small well placed near the entrance, with a few cars parked here and there. There's enough room for over 100 families to live here without a problem.

But even though it's so big, it's quiet. Just... dead silent. There's no one around but me, Momiji, and Aly.

Momiji turns to us with a huge smile, grabbing our hands. "Come on! I'll show you the rest of the way to Ha'ri's house~"

I chuckle as Aly smiles, shaking her head.

It's not a long walk despite how much space there seems to be in this town. A few turns and a couple short-cuts, and we manage to come to yet another wall. This one isn't as massive or oppressive, but it's still huge in its own right. Again, there's a sign on the side of it: "Main House."

I look at Aly, a little panicked.

I forgot Hatori lived in the main house!

She sends me a look that says, Breathe, before following Momiji through another set of double doors.

The main house is, of course, a traditional, Japanese house, much like Shigure's, with shoji doors, but it's almost three times as big. It's separated into three different sections: the main part of the house is off to our left. It's the biggest section, taking up most of the space, and it wrapped around a beautiful koi pond. Off to the right is a smaller section with a cute sozu in front of it, much like the one in Yuki's garden.

Momiji doesn't take us to either of these, though. Instead, he takes us to a more secluded section behind the one on the right section. This one is much less impressive—smaller than even Shigure's. Hatori's waiting for us on the deck of it, looking at Momiji.