Chapter 3

Now settled into the Sohma house, Tohru keeps up the cooking and cleaning while she and Yuki wonder where Shigure and Kyo have wandered off to. The pair return with Kyo in such a foul temper that he refuses to eat, and word soon spreads that he will be joining Tohru's school.

His arrival makes him the object of curious classmates, who pepper Yuki with questions. When a girl grabs Kyo's arm he shoves her off, prompting Yuki to challenge his conduct; Kyo counters that the girls could easily set off a transformation. Their friction escalates into Kyo declaring he will beat Yuki and finally take his place among the zodiac, and he lunges at his rival.

Tohru throws herself between them and, by hugging Kyo, turns him into a cat. Convinced she has earned his hatred, she rushes away, leaving Kyo to confide to Yuki that he would rather claim the year of the Cat than the dog.

Later, walking Tohru home from work, Yuki cannot get a word in before she accidentally swings her bag at a passing figure she takes for a stranger. It is Kyo, and his calm reaction makes her realize he is trying, in his awkward way, to apologize. She tells him she has always been fond of the zodiac's Cat, and of him by extension, then heads home feeling the two of them have made peace.

Kyo transfers into Tohru and Yuki's school and clashes with the curious student body. A fight with Yuki ends when Tohru's hug turns Kyo into his cat form, and she flees believing he despises her. A chance run-in on the way home leads to a quiet reconciliation, and Tohru declares her affection for the Cat.

This is the third chapter of Volume 1 and the third of the series overall, running thirty pages by Natsuki Takaya. Yuki Sohma is featured on the cover, and a flashback recalls Tohru's late mother, Kyoko Honda.