This is my first Fruits Basket fanfiction, the idea's been running around in my head for a while now and I finally got round to posting it

Hope you like it ^^

Review please, I always welcome constructive criticism as I always want to improve

"Am I really alone.......?"

16 year old Tohru Honda sat beside her bedroom window, watching as the rain streamed down the glass blurring the view of the street outside.

Her mother had been dead for 6 months now, a mindless accident, a split second of time that changed Tohru's life forever leaving her an orphan, leaving her all alone.

~knock knock~

"Come in?"

"Tohru I need you to finish the laundry and start dinner, I have a yoga class to get to"

"Yes Aunt I will, right away"

The door closed abruptly. Tohru knew that her Aunt resented feeling forced into taking her in, giving a home to the daughter of her rebellious brother and his unusual wife. Tohru felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes, one of them breaking free to trickled unheeded down her face, her sorrow was threating to overwhelm her again. This home was so unlike the one she had shared with her mother. Although it had only been the two of them, her father having died from an illness when she was too young to really remember him, they had been happy, each of them pulling strength and light from the other growing together both as a family and as individuals. If she closed her eyes Tohru could see her mother's face on her eyelids. Dark red-orange hair swinging around her face, a face that was always smiling at Tohru, even when she was forced to work two jobs to support them the smile that Tohru loved so much was always there for her to see.

But now there was only darkness.

It was the day of Tohru's high school's school trip. The professor who was teaching them a short course in basic geology had arranged to take all the students to a nearby beach so that they could search for fossils, ammonites in particular, most of the students were hoping that they would be able to find their own tiny piece of prehistoric history. The coach pulled up at the beach and after a brief lecture from their professor about beach safety and the importance of always being aware of the tides the students were turned loose on the rocky beach. Tohru pulled the collar of her jacket more tightly around her neck, the wind that swept in from the sea was biting in it's intensity. She shivered and surveyed the scene around her carefully. The rest of her classmates had split off into groups of two and three and were walking slowly up and down the rocks, some of them searching more carefully then others.

"Aren't you going to start looking?" A voice came from behind her

Turning Tohru saw the geology professor standing behind her, hands in his pockets, the same careless smile on his face as he always wore. Professor Shigure Sohma was a mystery, young and handsome he walked around with an attitude that screamed (to Tohru at least) that he didn't really care if people took him seriously or not. Sometimes Tohru thought that he carried an air of......emptiness around with him.

"Oh um.....I'm going now"

Shigure watched the girl walk swiftly down to the shore line before slowly walking along it her eyes fixed firmly on the stretch of rock in front of her. He continued watching her closely for a few more minutes, he was fully aware that Tohru had seen through the shell he wore, that she had seen the loneliness that haunted him, it was his burden and his curse, to always remain alone until someone found a way to break through the stone heart that had him and the others locked up tightly. Pulling a packet of cigarettes out his jacket pocket he lit one and breathed in the smoke deeply his eyes still trained on the girl who was beginning to move out of his field of vision. Shigure knew about her home situation, that she had recently been orphaned and was now living with an aunt who if what he had heard was to be believed had no interest in her young niece. Part of him knew how unfair it was to her, to expect her to free him from his cage of darkness but he had no choice. Suddenly impatient with himself he dropped the cigarette on the floor, grinding it out with his heel. Soon he told himself, soon he and the others would know if she was the one, the one who would be able to break their curse.

Tohru continued down the beach, she could feel Professor Sohma's eyes on her, she didn't understand why he was taking such an interest in her, her grades were average to say the least and she really had no interest in geology, but still.....Professor Sohma had been very kind to her, a kindness that some would of taken for granted but Tohru, having none of it in her life for the last six months, appreciated greatly.

Something glinted in the corner of Tohru's eye. Turning towards the sea Tohru saw a small light blue stone mostly buried in the sand, everytime the light hit it it glittered, shades of blue and silver skittering over it's surface. Stepping over to it Tohru knelt down, her hand reaching for the small stone,

Watching her Shigure caught his breath sharply soon he would know, one way or another,

Tohru's fingers made contact with the stone, the first thought that crossed her mind was "It's warm" and then the world around her exploded into a rainbow of light and dark, like fireworks at a festival, and then everything went black.

That's the first chapter I'll try and upload the next soon.