Chapter 1: A Pinky Swear

Toru sat in the sandbox. She played with the sand, tried to form onigiris which would immediately collapse after her hand left the form. The sand was dry and loose because it was a sunny day in mid-spring. The brown haired girl looked up into the sky.

Her mother hadn't return home for the last two nights and Toru felt so lonely. She hadn't even gone to kindergarten because nobody had been there to take her to it. She simply sat in front of the door to their flat, waiting for her mother to come home. Although when her mother was home, she didn't do much. She usually sat down, leaning against the wall for support and stared off into nothingness.

But Toru was a clever girl—or at least she pretended to be. Her mother had changed ever since her father left them. Wasn't Toru enough? Would her mother leave for no reason as well? The 5-year-old didn't know but the thought that her mother wouldn't come back didn't seem so unlikely to her.

For a while now Toru had tried to speak like the man she remembered as her father but it didn't have an effect at all—her mother would just continue to cry and then "go for a walk". Toru didn't know where her mother was walking all the time but seeing that she wasn't coming home anymore the place must be much nicer than their flat.

The girl hadn't realized how she had been staring upwards because suddenly a drop of water was hitting her on the nose. Rain. A downpour started, soaking the small child in a matter of mere seconds. But Toru didn't stop looking at the sky. Maybe if she sat here long enough, maybe then would her mother come to search for her and take her home? Because there wasn't a thing in the whole wide world that Toru would want more than to be scooped up in her mother's arms and carried home towards her warm bed.

All of a sudden the rain stopped and the little girl snapped out of her thoughts. The sky above her was red. Or more like it was covered by an umbrella. Toru looked to the side to see a man holding the umbrella. He was old, like her mother, with a kind smile on his lips. His lightly colored hair reached down to his chin and he was wearing a light brown yukata. "You'll catch a cold," he kindly said but didn't sound as if he scolded her.

The brown-haired girl focused her eyes on him. They were usually shining with her own kindness but she felt numb, empty, left alone. "But I'm waiting for my mother," she replied politely but couldn't manage a smile. Instead, she started to shiver. The smile disappeared from the man's face. "Your mother? Where has she gone to?" Toru shook her head in confusion. "I don't know. But I will wait until she comes back. I'm a good girl. I don't need to go to kindergarten. I'm not hungry. I'm waiting for mother to come home."

The man stretched out his hand towards the poor little girl whose tears were mingling with the spring rain. "I'm Akira. I will help you find your mother." Toru stared at the hand, confused, before she latched onto it. Unknowingly, she was yearning for skin contact, for someone who would show her affection by patting her head or even hugging her. She couldn't even remember the last time her mother had embraced her. Akira immediately noticed that the girl's hand was far too cold and that she probably was already suffering from hypothermia. "And what is your name?" he asked, smiling.

Toru opened her mouth but an answer didn't pop out. She sank to the side and collapsed against Akira's knee.

Her eyelids slowly fluttered open. It was bright and her body was warm, covered by a blanket. She felt cozy. The girl sat up, ignoring the feeling of dizziness inside her head. She was lying in her bed! So her mother had found her after all, right? She must have taken her home!

The little girl's dream was shattered when her eyes adjusted to the light and she noticed her surroundings more clearly. She was in a pretty large room with tatami floor and rice paper slide doors. To her left was a large window and through it, she could look into a beautiful garden. Nothing about this room resembled her small but homely flat.

Toru remembered talking to the kind man, Akira, and she hopefully looked around. She expected to find him by her side but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. He had promised to help her find her mother! She hoped, he hadn't forgotten about his promise.

The slide doors on the other side of the room opened but instead of Akira, a boy entered. He was by any chance a few years older than herself and slowly approaching her. Toru didn't remember anymore how to smile but she tried anyway. "Hello," she greeted quietly but in a still friendly way. The boy had reached the end of her makeshift bed and gazed down at her, his remarkably black eyes void of any emotion.

"Stop that." Confused, Toru closed her eyes. "Stop what?" she inquired and tried to smile again. "What you're doing with your face. It's ugly." She felt her cheeks heat up and a sad feeling tugged at her heart. "I'm… I'm only smiling," she whispered weakly but the boy only giggled. "You call that a smile?" He reached into the pockets of his hakama and pulled out a hand mirror. He gave it to her and the brown-haired girl quickly looked into it. Then she smiled.

"Do you understand now?" the boy gleefully said, "You look like you're about to cry." Now that he pointed out the truth, Toru put the mirror down. Her eyes were cast downwards. She felt as if a mean needle had pricked into her heart. Before she knew it, she really started to cry. Her teardrops were rolling down her cheeks and she could taste their salt. While Toru sniffled and wiped her face with the sleeves of her dress, she didn't saw the boy sitting down next to her, taking the mirror into his hand.

Suddenly, his small hand was at her chin, pulling her head up so that she looked into the mirror. Toru was so surprised that she completely forgot about the pain in her heart. She was even more surprised to see the boy hold the mirror that way so that both children could be seen in it. "I will show you, how to smile," he announced and then made an adorable, innocent smile appear on his lips. He turned to look at her. "It's your turn, you stupid girl."

For a last time, Toru sniffed and then looked at the mirror. She was going to try hard! This boy was going through the trouble of teaching her so she wouldn't disappoint him. Her brown eyes looked sternly at her own reflection and out of concentration; she had also stopped breathing without noticing. After a few seconds went by in which Toru continued to become redder and redder, she let her shoulders sink down and suck in a large breath. "I'm sorry," she started but was interrupted by the boy's laugh.

"Y-you were holding your breath," he laughed and dropped the mirror onto her legs, "I can't believe how stupid that was! Look at how red you are!" He continued to laugh his head off and even fell backwards, needing his arm to keep him from lying flat on his back. Although it was fun at her expense, Toru suddenly—without much force—found herself giggling softly. The boy looked simply as if he was truly enjoying the situation and that alone made Toru want to join him.

As soon as the giggle had left her mouth, the boy stopped laughing and instead stared at her. He then became really arrogant looking and told her in a snobby voice, "See, I knew you could smile." Toru continued to giggle and look at the boy. She felt so thankful that she reached out and took his hand in her own. To her surprise, the boy was blushing when their hands made contact. He didn't meet her eyes when he muttered, "But it's still not pretty."

Afterwards, he told her that his name was "Sohma, Akito" and that she was allowed to call him "Akito-kun". The way he said that, Toru felt that she had to be incredibly thankful for that, too, because the woman that had brought tea had to call him "Akito-sama". Akito was keeping her company for what felt like half a day before he stood up, patted her head and told her to wait for him until he came back.

Toru continued to look at the closed door even after Akito had long closed it. She liked his company although he was being harsh and quit mean at times; he made her feel like she could still have fun.

The little girl also rose up and went to the window. When she looked out of it, she actually saw Akito. He was walking through the garden and behind him was an older boy with black hair. The older boy was also very pretty, just like Akito, and he held the younger boy's hand while displaying something akin to a "mischievous look" on his face. 'Maybe he is Akito-kun's brother," Toru thought and watched enviously as they strolled through the garden and ultimately left her eyesight. She wanted to go home!

When Toru heard the door slide open, she turned and saw another pretty boy coming into the room. He looked as old as the boy walking with Akito. He looked calm and serious with parts of his jet black hair falling into his face and pale eyes that were gazing at her without saying anything. "Hello Toru-chan. My name is Sohma, Hatori." Toru remembered the smiling lessons she had received and imitated what Akito called "an innocent smile". "Hello, Hatori-kun! It's nice to meet you. I'm Honda, Toru." She bowed her head.

Hatori answered her introduction with a slight smile. Then, he held out his hand for her to take. "I am going to take you to Akira-sama." Curiously looking, Toru trustingly took the older boy's hand. "Why isn't he coming to me?" she asked innocently and continued to smile at Hatori who was walking extra slow for the still weakened girl. "He also became a bit sick when he was outside in the rain." Toru was shocked, to say the least. "What? Oh no, that is my entire fault…" She immediately teared up.

"Not, it isn't," Hatori replied carefully but didn't stop walking to calm her down properly, "He is simply sensitive to the cold and easily falls ill." After that, no more words were exchanged until they reached a large door to an even larger room than the one in which Toru had awakened. "Is this Akira-san's room?" the little girl whispered to her momentary guardian and the boy nodded before he slid open the doors and pulled Toru into the room along with him.

He deeply bowed and knelt down. Toru copied his action to not make a mistake and then saw Akira sitting on the futon in front of them, covered by a thin blanket around his shoulders. "Hello, Toru-chan. Do you feel better?" Akira asked gently and petted the space next to him. Toru peeked at Hatori but he was looking at the gentle man. The little girl went to her rescuer and sat beside him.

"I promised to find your mother, didn't I, Toru-chan?" Happily, Toru clasped her hands under her chin. "Yes! Did you find her? Can I go home?" Again, she was on the edge of crying, this time out of relieve. But Akira's answer was not what the brown-haired girl had hoped for. "Actually… I haven't found your mother yet but I have found some clues on where I will be searching for her. Do you have any relatives where you can stay until I find your mother?" The happiness dripped away from her as if it had been washed off.

Uncomfortably, the girl nibbled at her bottom lip. She remembered all too well what mean things the relatives of her father had been saying to her at her father's funeral. She didn't want to go to these people! She would love to see her grandpa but he was living with his daughter (her aunt) and she was one of the meanest people on earth. "No, I don't have any," Toru replied sadly and nervously because she was a bad liar and she didn't want Akira to pick up on her lies.

If the man had noticed Toru's lies, he wasn't about to say something about them. Instead, he kindly stroked over her hair and smiled down at her. "Then you will stay here until I find your mother. Is this acceptable?" Toru smiled and crossed her hands over her chest. "I am very grateful, thank you so much!" A small and quiet giggle escaped her and for a few more seconds, Akira simply continued to stroke her hair.

"Hatori, please take Toru-chan back to her room. Keep her company until further notice." The instruction was kindly given but Toru still felt it to be strange that Akira was practically ordering the boy to spend time with her. That was too much to ask for! "I'm so sorry," she interrupted hastily with reddened cheeks, "Hatori-kun doesn't have to spent time with me if he doesn't want to!" Akira looked surprised for a second. "It is nice to say that, Toru-chan, but you are still not completely healthy and you need someone to watch over you."

The time until dinner was served in her room was actually a good one. Toru was too troubled to ask Hatori questions or beg him to play with her, so she simply lied down and watched him reading a book or went to the window to look at the garden.

When the maid silently served dinner to the both of them, Hatori surprised Toru by raising his voice to speak to her. "You are very quiet." The little girl almost let her chopsticks fall down but she got a hold on herself. "Y-yes, I am sorry but you seem to be a quiet person yourself so I assumed you wouldn't like to play with me." She looked down at her rice. "Also, Akito-kun said that it isn't becoming for a girl to be nosy or annoying."

Hatori looked genuinely surprised. 'For a little girl, she surely observes closely,' he thought and at her mention of Akito he asked, "How did you meet Akito-sama?" The girl suddenly lighted up visibly and cheerily told him how the boy came into her room to keep her company. She left out how he taught her how to smile because that was embarrassing. It had been a while that Toru had been able to eat dinner with someone that talked and reacted to the things she said and she wasn't about to chase Hatori away with silly stories how she learned smiling.

The older boy smiled at her and then continued to eat. Again, Toru copied him and started eating as well. They had their meal in silence and the two were also silent when the maid cleared the table and took away the dishes. After the maid left, Hatori settled back down, his book in front of him. This time, Toru decided to join him and sat down next to the black-haired boy. "What are you reading, Hatori-kun?" the girl wanted to know and tried to catch a glimpse of the book cover. "It's actually a book of different fairytales," Hatori hesitantly answered and if Toru hadn't been occupied with happily looking at the written lines, she would have noticed how Hatori's cheeks reddened a little bit.

Seeing how enthusiastically his little companion was reacting to the option of fairytales, Hatori was somehow finding the urge within himself to make this miserable day a little bit happier for her. "Maybe I could read one to you?"

With something alike to glitter in her brown eyes, the girl looked at him and frequently nodded her head. "That would be wonderful, Hatori-kun! Thank you so much!" He simply nodded and started to flick through the book. "Is there a specific one you would like to hear?" he wanted to know and prepared himself for "Cinderella". Toru wanted to answer but the doors were opened and Akito walked in. He stopped when he spotted Hatori. "What is Hatori doing here?" the boy wanted to know immediately and crossed his arms over his chest, an unsatisfied look on his face. He actually looked kind of angry as Toru noticed.

"Hatori-kun was going to read a fairytale to me, Akito-kun! Do you want to stay and listen?" She was so full of enjoy of having both Hatori and Akito there for company and she outright shone with happiness. Akito noticed this change and became angrier. How dare Hatori to improve the happiness of this girl? He was going to make her feel better and not the dragon. The boy wanted to decline when Toru jumped up, came over and pulled him to the table they were sitting at. She held his hand tightly and didn't let go although they were already sitting.

Since he was already in a seating position, Akito was too… lazy to get up and leave so he decided to stay. "Alright, I'll listen to a stupid fairytale. Which one are we going to hear, Toru?" He looked at her with his black eyes that always seemed to tease her. She stared at him, not being able to look away. "Toru-chan hasn't decided yet," Hatori answered for the girl who startled and turned her eyes to the older boy. "I'm sorry! I would like to hear the fairytale of the Zodiac's animals!"

The temperature seemed to drop to a freezing level. Hatori was staring at her with a curious look in his eyes while Akito pushed her hand away from his. "You idiot," he scolded with a frown on his face, "Don't you know that the tale of the Zodiac is not a fairytale?" Akito looked at Hatori and all of a sudden the boy seemed to age at least ten years. A dark and haunted look crept into his face. "It's a horror story."

The dragon moved his eyes away from his God and looked at the book. He was feeling sick.

"Okay! My mother always told me the story and it wasn't scary at all. But if you don't like it, Akito-kun, let's listen to Cinderella!" Toru cheerfully clapped her hands, oblivious to the interaction between her male companions. "That's a fairytale," Akito praised mockingly but didn't mind her to take his hand again.

***

For days, life for Toru was like this; she would have breakfast with Akito and then she would wander off with her friend who showed her the large Sohma estate or played a game with her (while making fun of her all the time). If Akito hadn't been able to have breakfast with her, Toru would eat alone in her room. Although it was really just her, it didn't feel like the times at her flat when her mother had disappeared over night and left her behind; instead, it felt peaceful. Birds were chirping in the garden in front of her window and the morning sun would always fell in her room.

After either spending the morning alone or with Akito, she would have lunch (always alone) and then spent the afternoon with Hatori (sometimes, Akito would pop in and out, too). The quiet teen would read a story to her, teach her chess or simply walked with her in the garden. When they were outside of her room, he always held her hand. Sometimes the little girl wondered if it wasn't because he actually liked to hold it but to make sure she wasn't going somewhere where she wasn't allowed to.

After her first morning, Toru had also not seen the boy again with whom Akito had been strolling around. When she had asked her dark-haired friend about him, he had become incredibly angry, slapping his hand on the table and almost screaming at her. "This lazy idiot mustn't interest you," he had shouted and turned red at the same time, "He is a good-for-nothing piece of crap!"

Quivering, the little girl had looked at Akito with fear in her eyes—why was he becoming so angry with her? Since she hadn't known what else to do, Toru had stuttered, "Y-yes, Akito-kun," and frequently nodded. The slightly older boy seemingly had been soothed by her answer because he had calmed down and they had continued to fold papers into flowers.

Toru learned to never ask about other people than Akira and Hatori since Akito became even angrier when she asked a second time. Although it had been about a grey-haired boy she had seen walking through the garden, his anger hadn't been any lesser. She had even feared that her friend would slap her but he didn't.

Life went on like this for about three weeks. Three very long weeks in which Toru had fun—that much she would admit—but also learned to not think about things that would make her sad. So she simply ignored everything related to her mother and instead concentrated on making smiley faces for Akito.

It was a very sunny and warm day, when Akira came into her room. It was the first time that he did that and it was very surprising and alarming at the same time. Akito and Toru would stop drawing on their large picture and Hatori immediately put his book down. "I have good news, Toru-chan," he announced, with a tiny bit of pride in his voice, "A very large surprise is heading here." The girl laughed happily. "A surprise? Yay! What is it? What is it?" Akira came to sit down with them at the table and smiled. "You just have to wait for a few more minutes."

If Toru had been older, she might have caught up on the fact that it could only have been her mother coming. But since she was only five years old, she screamed in delight as the doors were thrown open and her mother rushed in. Honda Kyoko's orange hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, her clothes looked as if they hadn't been washed for a while and she looked very tired… but she still threw her arms around her daughter, squealing.

"Oh my God, Toru! I'm so sorry! So, so, so sorry!" Kyoko cried and nearly hugged Toru to death. The brown-haired girl laughed, cried and was relieved at the same time. "It's okay, Mom! It's okay. Because you came to pick me up!"

After their reunion, Toru picked up the two other kimonos she got from Akira as a present and said her goodbyes.

Akito looked reluctant to hug her but did so nonetheless. "You will come to visit me, right?" he asked and looked her sternly in the eyes, "You won't forget me or leave me behind, okay? You will always love me." Toru smiled and held out her pinky finger. "I promise, Akito-kun! I'll never forget you, I'll always love you and I'll always visit you! Pinky swear." He hooked his pinky finger with hers and although he slightly blushed, he still looked concerned. "If you break it, I will prick you with 1000 needles," he answered quietly.


Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket and I don't earn money with this.

Hello everyone!

I'm glad you made it through this chapter. This fanfiction plot has been ghosting around my mind for a few years now and I'm glad, I'm able to put it down. You should also know that English is not my mother tongue and that I'm writing this for the enjoyment it gives me! I hope you can find your share of enjoy in this, too.
Differences between the manga plot of Fruits Basket and this fanfiction:

* Akito is and will remain a guy * AkitoToru pairing (if I have a say about it) * Toru's mother had a more severe case of depression which caused her to neglect Toru more which caused her daughter to be that desperate to leave home

Maybe there will be more differences to come up while the story continues; I'll make sure to let you know.
So until next time, guys!

XOXO Padlock