Chapter 1

Kidnapping and Curses

Three small children about the age of seven happily played under the warm welcoming rays of the sun. Their happy shrieks filled the air as they started playing an interesting game of tag. Laughter filled the air as the three children happily played together.

"I caught you Tohru!" Yuki Sohma, the prince of Filore happily yelled. His silvery grey eyes were filled with happiness as he watched Tohru Honda, daughter of Lady Kyoko, slowly pick herself up.

"Okay!" Tohru brightly replied as she ran after the person nearest to her. "Caught you Kyo!" Tohru joyfully cried as she started running away from the orange haired boy next to her. Kyo Sohma was the son of a simple village peasant. Tohru and Yuki still continued to play with him, ignoring the fact that he was the son of a peasant. Tohru never fully understood the reason why the rank of Yuki and Kyo's parents were different when they both had the same last name.

"I'm tired Tohru!" Kyo cried as he fell down the ground, exhausted.

"Okay! Let's rest!" Tohru cheerfully replied. She sat down right next to Kyo completely forgetting the fact that grass stains would be all over her white dress.

"Kyo, Tohru stand up" Yuki commanded as he nimbly took off his heavy cloak and placed it down the ground for the three of them to sit on. "There, that's better!" He cried with childish joy as he fell down the ground a loud thud. "Now our clothes won't get dirty!"

"You're always the worrier Yuki" Kyo playfully teased as he sat beside Tohru. Tohru watched the two boys with a worried expression on her face. She knew that a fight was about to start. She looked at the skies and let out a delighted gasp as she watched the skies slowly turn pink.

"Guys look!" Tohru happily yelled as she tugged at their sleeves. "Look at the sky!" Both boys raised their eyebrows and slightly tilted their heads to watch the sky. The three children made a captivating picture that any artist passing by would have wanted to stop and paint them. Yuki in his princely clothing, Tohru in her simple yet elegant white dress and Kyo in his plain peasant-like garb, altogether the three children made a captivating picture.

"This is boring!" Kyo cried. He was never the type of child to stay still. "Let's play another game!" He suggested.

"Like what?" Yuki asked. His gray eyes were fixed on Kyo. Kyo fell silent for a moment to think of a game that they haven't played.

"I know!" He said excitedly "Let's play hide and seek!"

"That's a great idea!" Yuki readily agreed. "The castle grounds are huge and we have plenty of places to hide in. The forest, the garden, the-"

"I-I'll get lost…" Tohru nervously mumbled. Yuki and Kyo both looked at Tohru with raised eyebrows.

"No you won't Tohru" Yuki gently told her.

"But in case if I do Promise me you'll find me" Tohru whispered. "Promise me…"

Both boys exchanged exasperated looks and smiled at her.

"Of course we'll find you" Yuki said with a smile on his face. Tohru always worries about unnecessary things. Yuki thought with a small smile on his lips.

"What makes you think we won't look for you?" Kyo added. Like as if she'll get lost. He thought.

"Okay!" Tohru brightly replied. "Let's play!"

Then the three children started their ritual determining which one was going to end up as the seeker. The ritual was playing the simple game of paper, scissors, sticks and stone. Tohru and Kyo both had paper while Yuki hand was clenched into a tight fist, a stone. With Yuki the loser Kyo and Tohru ran off to find their hiding places. Kyo ran towards one of the gardens while Tohru ran towards the miniature forest that grew within the castle grounds.

"Eight, nine and ten! I'm coming to find you!" Yuki yelled and he ran off towards one of the many gardens in the castle grounds.

Meanwhile…

Kyo climbed down the tree he was hiding from and looked around. Where's Tohru? He thought, looking around him. Maybe I should go find her. He thought with a frown on his face. I'll go find her and see if she's okay. He thought and he ran off to find Tohru.

In the forest…

Tohru looked around the unfamiliar surroundings and decided one thing. She was lost. Scared, she crouched down the ground and started crying.Slowly mist started creeping around the whole area and Tohru lifted her head to see what was going on. Out of the mist a figure could be seen, slowly approaching her. As the figure got nearer and nearer Tohru could see that it was a man with teal coloured eyes and raven black hair that was darker than the skies of night. She didn't know who he was. She never saw him before.

The figure stopped in front of Tohru and looked down at her.

"Hello Lady Tohru" The man whispered. He had a cold cruel voice that Tohru didn't like and she instantly started edging away from him. The man saw this and grabbed her upper arm and stared menacingly at her.

"Where do you think you're going?" He snarled.

"I-I need to go home now stranger-san" Tohru said politely as she tried to wriggle free from his vice like grip.

"You're not going anywhere princess" The man whispered menacingly. Tohru was getting scared. What did this man want with her? She was only the daughter of Lord Kazuya and Lady Kyoko.

"Please, let me go" Tohru whispered.

"No. You're coming with me Tohru. Without you the Sohma's will slowly crumble to the curse I placed on them and when that happens conquering the kingdom of Filore will be an easy task for me to accomplish" He hissed. Tohru gasped. So this man is a sorcerer. She thought her brown eyes as wide as saucers.

The stranger's head snapped up in surprise when he heard two childish voices calling out Tohru's name. Wordlessly he quickly picked Tohru up and vanished into the mist. Tohru let out a scream but it was drowned out by the man's maniacal laughter. Luckily Kyo and Yuki heard it and they both ran towards the direction of the scream. The only thing they found was a single blue ribbon lying on the ground. The ribbon was one of the many gifts Yuki gave Tohru for her birthday.