A/N: I positively love the father son relationship of Kazuma and Kyo. I think it's the cutest thing ever and I thought the end of the manga that explained Kyo and Tohru's relationship before she crashed into the Sohmas' life was perfect… So here's a little deeper glimpse into Kyo's life at that time.

So, spoilers at the end… And right here, if you have not completed the manga, you might not want to read this. The ending takes place after the curse is broken and everyone is preparing to move out, so Kyo and Tohru are already together.

DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Fruits Basket. The wonderful Natsuki Takaya does.

Just Beginning

"Shishou!" The boy's voice called through the bare hallways. "Shishou!" A young man walked with his arms tucked away within the sleeves of his traditional kimono as he made his way towards the front door where Kyo had come in. The pitter patter of a little one's feet came suddenly closer as the small orange haired boy crashed into his leg, rubbing his cheek before looking up to him with big crimson eyes.

"Kyo, take your shoes off at the door, you know better than that." Kazuma passed in a non-aggressive tone.

"Okay, okay Shishou, but I still gotta tell ya about my day!" The energetic little boy said hoping on his left foot and pulling at the shoe on his right. The shoe flew off in his hand, sending him backwards onto his bottom, Kazuma laughing slightly.

"Well, you must have had one heck of a day. You're even more clumsy than usual." Taking the opportunity to remove his other shoe, Kyo threw them down the hallway to put away later.

"I met this lady today." He stated bluntly.

"Did you?"

"Yeah, she was really weird. She made fun of my hair a little but she kept talking and talking to me and she even showed me a picture of her daughter." As if to illustrate his point, Kyo reached up and twirled an orange lock around his pointer finger with his thumb. Kazuma passed by to pick up the shoes and walked them to the front door before smiling and leading Kyo further into the house.

"And what did she look like?"

"She was short in the picture, and she had short brown hair and eyes."

"Sounds like she was pretty." The elder said while sitting down at the table, legs crossed underneath it. Kyo made a face and stuck his tongue out.

"Girls are gross." He said quietly before looking away. Kazuma shook his head and laughed.

"You won't be saying that for long, Kyo, I can promise you that."

"I don't like girls, they make me transform, Shishou. Did you forget that?" Keeping his smile ever present the man shook his head.

"I'm sure one day you'll find a girl just for you that loves the fact that you're the cat." Kyo huffed a bit but said no more. "Now, I'm sure you're hungry from all this talk. I haven't heard anything about school, just the walk home!" He got up.

"Can we have something that's already made? I don't want to eat any more burnt stuff…" Laughing a bit, Kazuma laughed a bit before walking into the kitchen.

"I'll see what I can do."

The next day was particularly clear. It was one of those perfect days where the breeze was just right and the birds seemed to be the only music needed in the area. Finally, the weekend had come for Kyo (who was never really a fan of school) and he was anxious to get home in order to start his training with his master. The child turned to the park where he had met the woman the day before, only to see her sitting in the same spot, reading a book while the wind rustled her short, shaggy cut hair. She peeked over her book momentarily and smiled widely.

"Hey carrot top! Nice to see you back here!" Kyo looked at her with his head to one side and walked a little closer.

"What're you doing here again today, lady?" He asked quite rudely.

"Don't call me "lady" that makes me feel old. Just because I have a family doesn't make me old just yet!" The woman beamed a smile that would give the sun a run for its money.

"Then what can I call you?"

"Kyoko is fine." She replied and patted the bench next to her. "Have a seat. How was your day today?" Kyo never changed his expression of amazement as he sat next to her and cautiously began telling her how his day went.

"It was bad." He said watching his swinging legs dangle.

"Aw, now why do you say that?"

"All the kids were making fun of me and my hair and eyes." He said. "Not that I care."

"Oh no, of course not. After all, you seem like a tough guy!" She teased a bit. "But not to worry, if they make fun of you again, tell them they're going to have to face Kyoko Honda! It's just like I tell Tohru, Mommy will always be there to kick one of their butts!"

"You're really weird…"

"Weird is good. What's the point of living if you're going to be like everyone else? Just be true to yourself and you can make it no matter what, that's what I always say." Kyo looked at her then at the path way he had traveled down, a little girl with her hair in pig tails within his eye shot. Sooner than he could blink, Kyoko had run over to her and picked her up in a spin, crushing the small figure to her chest before placing her back down. "Tohru! How was your day?"

"Hi, Mommy!" The girl giggled. "I had so much fun, we made bird houses out of pop-sickle sticks today!" Tohru looked at the bench where her mother's book sat. "Who're you talking to, Mommy?"

"Oh, that's Kyo, I met him yesterday. He's nice, you should introduce yourself." Tohru looked at her mother and smiled before moving forward to the bench. Kyo stopped his kicking momentarily.

"Hello, Kyo-kun! My name is Tohru Honda, it's nice to meet you!" She said sticking out her tiny hand to him with a warm smile much like Kyoko. Kyo looked at her hand for a moment, completely unsure of what to do, before sticking out his own to take hers. Before he had a chance, Tohru was swept up into another hug from her mom.

"Tohru you are simply too adorable for words! I love you!" She proclaimed while Tohru merely kept her happy grin. "We should arrange a play date for you two!"

"I don't know… I have a lot of training to do at Shishou's dojo to do!" Kyo said standing up and trying to sound tough.

"Well, go home tonight and ask him if you can come tomorrow. Tohru and I will be here around noon whether or not you can come so, hopefully we'll see you then!" Kyoko said in a pushy tone while taking Tohru's hand and walking away. Tohru giggled and waved at the confused child as he realized how late he was going to be getting home. He picked up his pace and continued walking. Out of breath and tired, Kyo walked in the front door of the house, this time conscious of kicking off his shoes at the door.

"You're rather late today, go get changed and meet me in the dojo." Kazuma said walking towards the door.

"Shishou, I wanna ask you something!" The child called after him, unfortunately when he was out of hearing range. Kyo sighed and walked down the hallway, dragging his bag on the floor and pushing the door to his room open. He stepped into his room and grabbed his martial arts uniform that was carelessly thrown into the corner. Putting it on, he realized just how wrinkled it was and knew that he wouldn't exactly be praised for it. It also wasn't a great convincer as to why he should be allowed to go back to the park the day after. Sighing once again, he walked out into the hallway without socks on and walked to the front door. He followed his mater's footsteps from moments before and entered the dojo quietly. Kazuma sat cross legged on the floor waiting.

"Why were you so late?"

"I saw that lady again and I met her daughter today. And she invited me to go play with them tomorrow at the park." Kyo said in one incoherent babble.

"I'd say that sounds reasonable." The adoptive father grinned.

"Really?" The boy beamed while jumping up slightly. Gaining another grin, Kyo pushed through his training that day until his arms felt as if they were going to give out. Later that night he plopped down on his pillow being overcome by sleep instantly.

Kyo walked by Kazuma's side rather closely as they strolled through the weekend flood of people in the streets. Everyone was rushing in and out of stores while teenagers walked down the way with clumps of friends, giggling and laughing the whole time. Kyo was forced to steer himself out of the way of all the girls who came too close for comfort until Kazuma picked him up, letting him sit comfortably in his bent arm. The two finally rounded the corner to the park where Kazuma let the young boy down and Kyo went back to walking a safe distance away. They approached the path Kyo took to get home, and the two girls were sitting on the same bench that Kyoko always occupied.

"Carrot top! You made it!" The woman called warmly as Tohru stood up.

"Kyo-kun!" She called as the two drew closer. Kyoko walked towards Kazuma with her right hand out.

"Hi there, I'm Kyoko Honda. You must be Kyo's father."

"Well, something like that." The man smiled. "I'm Kazuma Sohma, I've heard quite a bit about you from Kyo." The two adult talked while Tohru pulled Kyo by the hand towards the swings.

"I'm glad your Daddy let you come today!" She said sweetly while playing with her white hair bow that matched her white and pink sun dress. Kyo sat on the swing beside her and shook his head.

"That's not my Dad. He's my Shishou." He corrected.

"Oh… Why didn't you come with your parents?"

"Cuz…" Kyo kicked the dirt with his toe. Tohru began to pump her legs to make the swing go.

"Can't you tell me why?"

"My Mother's dead." Tohru stopped swinging.

"O-oh. Is your Dad gone too?"

"No, but he doesn't want me. Shishou takes care of me now." Tohru began pumping her legs again and smiled a bit.

"My Dad passed away a while ago too. But Mommy takes care of me now. It's hard sometimes but she always smiles." Kyo looked at her with crimson eyes. "Kyo-kun, why aren't you swinging?"

"I don't know how…" He admitted. Tohru beamed.

"Just kick your feet like this!" She showed him and soon the two were swinging in sync.

The two played while Kyoko and Kazuma talked well into the evening when the sky began to show shades of orange and pink.

"It would be great if you two could come over for dinner one night." Kazuma smiled.

"Yeah, I'm sure both of us would like that one of these days. I'll let Kyo know when we're free next!" The woman smiled while ruffling Kyo's hair. "Oh right, there's one more thing that will complete today." She smiled while pulling out a camera and pointing it where Kyo and Tohru stood side by side. "Say cheese you two!" Tohru followed orders while Kyo just looked at the girl smiling. Once the picture was taken, Kyo retreated to Kazuma.

"Well, we both had a great time. We'll see you soon." The older of the two boys said. Both Tohru and her mother waved as they turned around to go home. Kyoko crouched down to Tohru.

"When these pictures develop, you'll have to keep this one forever." Tohru nodded and continued waving to the small, orange headed boy who was looking back the whole way.

XxXxXxX

"Kyo-kun, I was wondering if you could help me move these boxes from my closet, they're too heavy for me. I promise it'll only take a moment, I just want to move them out that way we can leave without problems." Tohru said with her hands clasped delicately in front of her while Kyo got up from the table.

"Yeah sure…" He agreed while getting up from the table with Yuki and Shigure. Tohru opened the door to her room which was nearly all packed in boxes and walked over to her closet, sliding the door aside with little problem. She pointed to the boxes on the top shelf as Kyo walked over and slid them off to the ground. Taking her rag, the girl dusted off the top of the box before opening it to dust off the items in which dust had leaked through the top. She pulled out a book with brightly colored pictures and smiled widely. "What is all that stuff?"

"Oh, this must be the box of my childhood items. This was my favorite book ever, my Mom would read it to me all the time. It was about this cat that needed to find a home, and he finally did. I always loved it." She passed on the information while flipping through the book, only to have something fall out of it. Kyo picked it up for her, his eyes going wide.

"This is…" He handed the picture to Tohru. She looked from it to him and stood back up.

"It's… you and me? When we were children?"

"It's the picture your Mom took of us before me and Shishou left the park that day." Kyo recalled.

"Right! I remember, my Mom told me to always keep this with me forever. It's kind of funny that it ended up in this book about a lost cat." She laughed a bit.

"I didn't think this picture still existed, of course the only picture I remember was the one of you your mother kept shoving in my face every time she saw me."

"Hah, Mom sure did do that a lot." Kyo looked at the picture one more time from over Tohru's shoulder.

"We should find a frame for that." He said before walking in front of her and pecking her on the lips before heading out of the room and back down the stairs. Tohru re-opened the book to the last page and read it quietly to herself.

"And the cat found his home with a lovely little girl. A girl who loved him very, very much. And she promised that even though she was only in his life for a little time, that her love for him was just beginning." She finished the sentence with a smile before placing the picture of her and Kyo back into the end of the book. "The cat found a home, Mom. And so did the girl." She put the book back in the box.

XxXxXxX

A/N: And that is my fluffy little fic! I hope you enjoyed it, it took a lot of work. Thank you very much for reading, and feedback would be well appreciated. Thank you again and have a wonderful day!

A Friend In Words,

--KB ((KyosBeads13))