A brand new story in a genre I've never written in before. Now, I've kept it mostly to the main characters, so the zodiac, Kyo, Akito (female), Tohru, Arisa, Saki and Master Kazuma. This means that there are a lot of very... odd pairings. Each chapter is focused on a different character, their life, how the cafe fits into it and all the interesting people they meet along the way. This is a romance, so be prepared for lots of blushing, crushing and plain infatuation.

Warnings: this story will contain two slash (maleXmale) pairings, though it will be very soft, the worst being a kiss. Also, there are some very strange pairings.

Disclaimer: the characters do not belong to me.

I hope you enjoy it!


Fruits Basket Cafe-Bookstore

Chapter One – Rice-ball's Opening

Looking at the finally finished store before her, Tohru Honda allowed a large smile to cross her face. It had taken two months for the renovations to be completed on the building, which was after all the paper work, had been done and not to mention the past few years at university to learn how she would take care of her new baby.

It was a medium sized area, with large glass windows at the front allowing plenty of natural light to stream into the building. The door was in the centre of the front of the building, the name of her café/bookstore in fancy writing along the top: 'Fruits Basket Café – Bookstore'.

She walked over to it and pushed the door open slowly, delighting in the small chime that sounded from the bell above the door. Stepping inside, she looked around the place with wide, excited brown eyes. Shelves with new books lined walls and created small, half walls around the tables and chairs that customers would later use. Towards the right was the counter area with a coffee machine along with a display area for cakes and scones, behind it and hidden from view she knew there was a small kitchen area where sandwiches and other sweet things could be prepared.

Smiling with delight, she allowed her fingers to lightly trail over the backs of chairs, the surfaces of tables, bookcases and book spines as she perused the room. Her joy only increasing the further she ventured into the space.

Pulling out a seat at the very back of the store, she sat down and allowed her mind to wander over how it was she had ended up in this position.

When she was sixteen her mother had died, being hit by a car as she stood on a street corner. It had paved the way for a more determined Tohru Honder then she had previously been. She had moved in with her Grandfather and had lived there ever since. She graduated high school and moved on to university where she had done a business management degree, her goal in life the opening of her very own café – bookstore. It had always been her mother's very favourite place, the small, slightly rundown, café – bookstore at the end of the street. It had been very sad when it had finally closed down after twenty-eight long years.

With the help of her two very best friends, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima, she had finally achieved her goal at age twenty-four.

Sighing happily to herself she rested her head the table and allowed the contentment and excitement to engulf her.

'I did it mum, I've really done it.'

***

Tohru felt a slight thrill as she unlocked the door for the opening morning, knowing that this would be the first day that customers would be coming to her store and enjoying it. With any luck she would get someone who was like her mum had been, and would find this place to be as wonderful as that old café – bookstore had been down the end of her street as a child.

"Good morning Tohru!" A male voice called out from behind her. Looking around from where she had just pushed the door open, she smiled in greeting at the sight of one of her new employees – Shigure Inu.

"Good morning Shigure!" She called back to him as he made his way towards her down the street.

Shigure was older then her and, according to both his resume and the stories he enjoyed telling at regular intervals, he had already had quite a number of odd jobs in his short thirty years. He had done everything from high profile market research to the lowly McDonalds job. He had also done a cooking course at TAFE in his spare time a few years ago and so he was hired to help with the cooking when Tohru herself was unable to do so.

"Excited about our first day open?" He asked pleasantly as he finally reached her.

"Oh, yes! It's going to be so much fun." She gushed as he followed her inside.

"Well, I must say, the place is looking very nice. I'm sure we'll have loads of customers." He said, smiling encouragingly.

"Do you really think so?" She asked, stopping in her tracks and looking over at him with big brown eyes. He gave her a slightly funny grin before giving her a large smile.

"I'm positive it will be a great success!" He pumped one of his fists into the air to accentuate his point.

"Hello?" A new voice came from the front door.

Turning around, Tohru smiled warmly, and a little nervously, at the sight of the second of her three employees, Kyo Neko.

When she had first met Kyo she had been sure that he didn't like her. He had yelled at her lack of professionalism in the interview process and then sulked for a good minute about the whole thing when she'd apologised and explained she'd never done anything like it before. However, despite his rough exterior, there was something about him that led her to believe that he had a kind and gentle soul. Thus, when she had begun looking at the short list for potential employees', she had put his name down as a certainty.

"Hi, Kyo Neko this is Shigure Inu." She obediently introduced the two new staff mates.

She watched as the two men moved forward and shook hands, as was the common practice.

"Nice to meet you, I'm sure we're going to get along just wonderfully." Shigure said, a big smile on his face as he vigorously shook the orange haired boys hand.

"Er, yeah, sure."

'He's probably just shy.' She thought to herself as she watched them.

"So, we're just waiting for Yuki to get here and then we'll all be here and ready to begin our very first day!" She clapped her hands together excitedly; she just knew this was going to be fantastic.

"Good morning, sorry I'm a bit late." The voice of Yuki Nezumi-Hebi came from the door way as he walked into the café – bookstore, the soothing chime going off from the tiny bell.

"Y-Yuki! Good morning!" Tohru exclaimed, feeling the blush staining her cheeks as she set her eyes on what could only be described as a prince. Yuki had been her first potential employee interview and she had been so nervous that she'd made a fool of herself. He was just so good looking and she'd never done anything like this before so they'd both been quite awkward in the beginning. However, once she'd told him about why she was opening the café – bookstore in the first place, he had smiled and said that it was a wonderful dream and he was so pleased that her dream was coming true for her.

She could have stopped the interview there and told him that he had the job, regardless if he had any people skills or training as a waiter. However, she had remembered Uo's words from that morning about how she had to treat everyone fairly and go through everything, even if she didn't really want to. So they had sat there for fifteen minutes, her asking questions as he answered them and they discussed his resume. In the end she had simply thanked him for his time, told him she would be in touch, and they'd gone their separate ways. Her to the next interview and him to wherever it was he was going.

"You're not late, not at all!" She quickly hurried to reassure him, feeling herself blush even harder when he smiled at her.

"Yuki, this is Kyo Neko and Shigure Inu; everyone, this is Yuki Nezumi-Hebi." She pointed to the correct person as she spoke, her usual happy smile dancing on her lips.

"It's nice to meat you both." Yuki said politely, smile still in place.

He was greeted with another one of Shigure's enthusiastic greetings while Kyo just nodded in his direction, a small frown on his face.

"So, now that everyone's here, we can start!" Tohru said, earlier embarrassment fading in light of the sheer joy she could feel welling in her heart at the idea of finally opening the café – bookstore.

The three men nodded in agreement before going about opening the store for the first time. It took a little while as no one was quite sure who was supposed to do what job first, before the closed sign was flipped around to read a cheery 'open!'

It wasn't long before they received their first customers. Two young women wandered into the café – bookstore, curious looks on their faces as they looked around in approval.

Yuki was the one who served them and Tohru found herself unable to take her eyes off her very first customers as they sat at a table for two, ordered from the brand new menu's and they lapsed into conversation between them like they would in any café.

"I'm sure you're mum would be happy to see this." Yuki's quiet voice came from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise and spin around to see him leaning against the counter as he waited for the coffee machine to finish with the dinks.

"Yeah, I like to think so." Tohru offered him a large smile but was distracted from further conversation as another new customer walked inside to the cheery chime of the doorbell.

The store had been steadily getting new customers for the past hour when Tohru was overjoyed to see her two favourite people enter the store.

"Tohru!" Arisa Uotani called out, waving a hand over her head in greeting as both Saki Hanajima and her entered the café – bookstore.

"Uo, Hana! What are you doing here?" Tohru asked, as she moved away from the register and over to them, leaving Kyo to man the counter.

"It's your very first day open, you didn't think we wouldn't come and have a look around, did you?" Arisa asked as she pulled the shorter girl into a hug.

"This looks wonderful, Tohru." Saki said quietly as Arisa released Tohru and Saki took her turn hugging the girl.

"Uo, Hana…" Tohru smiled hugely at the duo, thrilled that they had thought to come and see her, on the opening morning no less.

Arisa and Saki had been friends with Tohru since they were in middle school. Tohru's mum had helped Arisa, the former Yankee, to get out of the dangerous life style and to begin enjoying life again. Arisa had been looking after Tohru ever since as it was the one way she could think of to pay Kiyoko back. After the accident, she had doubled her efforts to make sure that Tohru had a happy and as pain-free life as she possibly could.

Saki owed Tohru the happiness and free acceptance that she now had. When she had been moved to Tohru's class, she had at first resisted all attempts that Tohru, and Arisa by extension, had made to befriend her. However, it didn't take all that long for her to cave and she gave into the friendly smile and warm, open arms of unconditional friendship and love. After the accident, Saki had sworn to keep that smile on her dearest friends face.

"So, how's business this morning?" Arisa asked, winking at Tohru as she spoke causing her to laugh.

"Oh, it's really so wonderful. I'm so happy. We've already had so many customers!" Tohru told them, elated.

"Tohru, that's wonderful!" Arisa exclaimed, hugging her friend again.

"Yes, I'm very happy for you." Saki said, nodding quietly beside her best friends.

'I've got such wonderful friends.' Tohru thought to herself as they complimented her on the shop as they walked towards the back and sat down in a semi-secluded area.

"Oh, and the man cooking behind the counter is Shigure, while Kyo's working at the register and this here is Yuki." Tohru gestured to the individuals as she spoke; offering a large smile to Yuki as he stopped before them, paper and pen in hand ready to take their orders.

"Oh, are you both friends of Tohru's?" He asked, looking them over as they returned the gesture, eyes darting from him to Tohru as identical smiles began to surface on their faces.

"Yeah, we've been friends with Tohru since middle school." Arisa grinned, clearly looking like she knew something that no one else did.

"Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you then." Yuki offered a small smile to them.

'They're getting along, I'm so happy.' Tohru thought to herself, unable to keep the smile off her face.

"Here, I'll go and get you both something to eat, I'll be back in a moment." With that Tohru rushed over to the counter, happy to see her friends getting along with one another so well.

All too soon Arisa and Saki were standing and preparing to leave the shop, at first refusing the discount Tohru offered them. That was until she gave them the puppy-dog eyes and they consented, saying they would definitely stop by again as the food and atmosphere was wonderful.

"Hey Tohru, you've got fliers for this place, don't you?" Arisa asked once they'd farewelled the three men.

"Oh, um, yes I have some, they're here." Tohru reached over to the corner of the counter and picked up one of the flies and showed it to her friends.

"Well, give us some and we'll put them up at work and around for you, that way everyone'll know about this place." Arisa winked as Saki nodded along with her.

"Oh! You don't have to do that." Tohru shook her head, but was ignored by her two friends who each grabbed a stack of fliers each.

"I'll put one at the temple." Saki said, looking over the brightly coloured paper.

"And I'm going to the bath house today, so I'll be sure to drop one off there." Arisa grinned at Tohru before the two turned in union and walked towards the door.

"See you later, Tohru." They called out and before she could say anything else they were gone with the sound of the bell chiming above the door.

"Good bye, be safe." Tohru called out uselessly, hand raised slightly in farewell.

"You have some good friends in those two." Shigure voice suddenly came up from behind her, causing her to jump in fright before his words sunk in. Grinning she looked back at the empty doorway.

"Yes, yes I do."

***

It was the third day that the Fruits Basket Café – Bookstore had been open when Tohru met who would become her first 'regular'. It was the afternoon, school had just ended for the day and Tohru was watching the many school kids as they walked past through the large windows at the front of the shop. She felt slightly nostalgic as she saw a group of girls walk past in what had been her uniform when she had gone to high school.

Idly wondering if she would see anyone wearing her middle school uniform today, as she had seen someone yesterday looking in through the window, she was distracted when the chime above the door sounded, announcing a new customer.

Smile already on her face, she looked over and to her delight saw a high school boy walking over to the counter. He was slightly short for a boy in high school, around her own height, and he had soft looking blond hair atop his head. His large blue eyes seemed to sparkle with life as he shifted the bunny shaped bag on his back.

"Hi there, is this your store?" He asked boldly, as large smile on his face.

'He's so cute!' She thought immediately.

"Y-yes, that's right. My name's Tohru, Tohru Honda." She bowed slightly in greeting, as was custom.

"My name's Momiji Usagi, it's a pleasure to meet you." He gave her a child-like smile.

"No, the pleasure's all mine."

"You've just opened, haven't you?" He asked, moving over to the back of the shop where he could sit down. She followed, finding herself enjoying his company right away.

"Yes, we only opened two days ago."

"I was really excited when I heard that you were going to be opening. I told all my friends at school that I couldn't wait to see what it was like here. I'm so happy that it's so nice." He continued to chatter on to her, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other employees.

It was after almost half an hour of the two talking together happily that Kyo wandered over, his curiosity becoming too much for him to stay away.

"Oi, this is your shop so why don't you do some of the work too?" He snapped at her once he had reached the two.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't realise how long I had been standing here." Tohru apologised, hanging her head slightly in apology.

"Hey, don't be mean!" Momiji spoke up from his seat at the table, blue eyes locking with crimson.

"I wasn't, I was just stating a fact." Kyo said defensively, immediately finding his normally short tempter strained by just the sight of this little brat.

"You're a big meanie." Momiji insisted adamantly.

"Who there hell are you anyway, you little brat." Kyo snarled quietly, only half mindful of the other customers by a piercing look Yuki was sending him from the other side of the shop where he was waiting to take the order of a party of five.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce you both!" Tohru exclaimed, appalled at her own thoughtlessness.

"Kyo, this is Momiji Usagi, Momiji, this is Kyo Neko. Kyo, Momiji was just saying how he once tried out for the karate team." Tohru said; hoping the talk of his favourite past time would calm some of the orange haired mans infamous temper.

"Pft, and I bet you didn't get in, did you pip-squeak?" He asked, his voice not kind but not cruel either.

"Hey, we can't all be giants like you." Momiji shot back, a cheeky smile lifting the corners of his lips as he spoke.

"Why you little brat!" Kyo made a move towards the blond, but Shigure suddenly rested a hand on his shoulder, holding him in place.

"Now now children, let's not make a seen. As they say, ca sera sera." Shigure said, his voice mocking as he sing-songed the last three words.

"Argh! You just like hearing the sound of your own voice!" Kyo snarled at Shigure who didn't deny that fact, an amused smile on his face the whole time as Kyo steadily got more annoyed with them all.

"By the way, Momiji, was it? I'm Shigure, I cook the food here." Shigure said, pointed to himself as he spoke, making Momiji grin in amusement at him.

"That must be a pretty fun job."

"Oh, yes, it's great fun. However I was once working in a performing arts studio, now that was a fun experience." Shigure said, a small amount of wistfulness in his voice as he spoke.

"Oh really! What where you doing in a performing arts studio?" Tohru asked eyes alight with excitement.

"Excuse me?" Yuki suddenly said, having walked over to the slowly gathering group of people.

"Not to be rude or anything, but we're supposed to be working." He said simply, causing Shigure to laugh and excuse himself, disappearing back into the kitchen area while Kyo cursed quietly to himself about how when he had suggested it no one had moved but because Yuki said it everyone was doing as they were told.

"Sorry Yuki, I'll get right back to work!" Tohru said, pumping a fist to show her determination.

"Umm, this is your place so you can work as little a you want." Yuki said helplessly, but she wasn't listening, too intent on going back to the counter to help out.

"So, are you going to take my order?" Momiji asked from where he was still sitting.

"Yeah, I'm Yuki by the way…"


Please Read and Review