I DO NOT own any of the Fruits Basket characters. But I DO own Annika and her family and friends! And there will be a lemons in later chapters. But please give me reviews and comments about it.
And I do admit I'm not as familiar to Fruits Basket as some… The characters might be a bit out of character, and for that i'm sorry. i don't mean for them to be. and if I do write some of the characters OOC… then please forgive me and give me some slack. Thanks.

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Open My Heart: Meet the Family

The air plane landed at the airport on March 31, 2006. And there in the lobby of the airport stood Annika Conte looking into the crowd looking for the man that was to pick her up.
She had spent many months talking to the family that was to be her family for the next year as she took up a position to be an exchange student from the Americas. Months she had spent talking to a boy her age named Yuki Sohma. Months talking about politics, the ways of their separate countries, as well as the way that they lived at home.

Now that she was actually here in Japan, and standing in one of their airports doubt began to creep into her mind. Telling her to go back on that plane and go back to her own country. It wasn't until a hand laid to rest on her shoulder that she was brought back into reality.

"Miss?" Annika turned around startled to find herself looking into the eyes of a young man a couple inches taller than she, violet/grayish eyes and purplish hair. A small smile lay across his face as he looked at her., "Miss… I'm sorry to have startled you, but would you happen to be Miss. Conte?"

Annika smiled back at him, "Please, call me Annika. I'm very pleased to meet you"

"As am I, Miss Annika, now if you would like I can take you back to my uncles house and I can introduce you to my family" Yuki picked up her bag and looked at her waiting for the ok. For as much as he was exited to be there he wanted to get out of the crowded airport as fast as possible.

Looking at him with a smile she said, "Ok… but I think I should go down and make sure my luggage will be safely sent over to your house. Shouldn't I?"

Yuki chuckled, "Yes but of course. Let us attend to that" He said as he led the way to the baggage claim.

After the two of them talked to the man at the table, and arranged for Annika's baggage to be delivered at once to the Sohma house then the two of them headed outside where Yuki led the way to where he parked the car. The drive to the Sohma Estate was a quiet one but it was by no means awkward. Annika spent the time looking out the window watching all the people they drove by as well as all the buildings and shopping places. They spent about an hour driving through the city before they reached an area where there were no buildings, just trees lining a dirt road which eventually ended at a house with very handsome features.

Yuki stopped the car in front of the house and got out. He walked over to the other side of the car and opened the door for Annika.

"Thank you Yuki-kun" Annika said as she looked over all the details of the house. She grabbed one of the bags that she had brought on the plane while Yuki took the other bag and walked into the house with Yuki once again taking the lead.

Yuki showed Annika around the downstairs floor before showing her to her room upstairs which she would later find out was next to Torhu Honda's room. Then Yuki left Annika alone so she could put her stuff in its place. The room was bigger then the one at home, It was a window seat, a desk, a full size bed, bedside table, dresser, closet and a large book case. The two bags that she had with her were mostly her books and other things that she had wanted to bring on the trip over and have access to. She began to place some of her books onto the book shelf, while placing the pictures of her younger siblings on her desk.

She placed her laptop on the desk as well before she set to work putting up her internet system. After she was done she sat at her window looking down into the yard below. A small pond stood in the back with beautiful plants growing all around it. Thoughts of home crept back into her mind since being at the airport. Images of home invaded her mind as she saw her family standing outside of their home as their mother drove her to the airport, her father nowhere in sight.

As she sat at the window Annika heard voices coming from down the hall, one a male voice, Yuki's, the other one female. Curious as she was Annika stayed were she was not wanting to bud into their conversation so then deciding to tune them out as she continued her inspection of the yard below.

It wasn't long though before she heard a small knock on her door. Annika got up from her spot and walked over to the door, opening it to find a girl with brown hair and big eyes smiling at her.

"Welcome. My name is Tohru Honda, please call me Torhu!" Torhu held out her hand. Annika smiled back at her already liking the girl in front of her.

"Thank you. My name is Annika Conte. I'm honored to be here. Please, come in and stay a while. I could probably use the company" Annika opened the door wider so as to invite Tohru into her new room. The two walked over to the window seat and sat down looking at each other.

"So, Yuki tells me that you came from America?"

"Yes that's right. You speak very good English"

Tohru's face flushed a bright pink, "Yes, I decided to learn it when I was very young. My grandpa taught me"

Annika chuckled, "That's a smart thing to do then. Cause to be honest I don't know much Japanese. I feel bad saying that… but it was an offered opportunity to come here so I took it. I don't get to travel much so I take the chance when ever I'm offered"

Tohru's eyes sparkled, "Really?? I would have guessed that you traveled a lot. Since your skin is so tan from the average American"

"Oh no, I don't travel at all. I'm half Italian. So I get my tan skin from my father's side of the family"

"OH Italian!" Tohru couldn't contain her excitement, "How exciting. Do you have family in Italy?"

"Yes I do. I visited them right before I came over here. So it was nice to see nonna and nonno again," Annika laughed again at Tohru's confused face, "nonna and nonno is Italian for grandma and grandpa."

Tohru's face once again flushed a bright pink, "Oh of course! I didn't know you could speak Italian so well."

"Oh yeah, since my father was raised in Italy for most of his life it was only natural that he taught me and my siblings"

"How many-" But she was cut off my another knock on the door

"Come in!" Annika called to the door, feeling too lazy to get back up.

A second later Yuki's head popped into the room, "Miss. Honda, would you assist me in the kitchen?"

"Oh yes of course Yuki-kun. I'll be right there," Tohru got up to leave but before heading out the door she turned back to Annika, "Like I said before, Welcome. I really hope that we can become really good friends while you stay here. It'll be nice to have another girl in the house for a change." Then she was gone and once again Annika was left to her own thoughts.

Looking around the room, Annika walked over to the bed that was neatly made with fresh sheets that smelled of lavender and chamomile, her favorite sent. She faintly remembered telling Yuki that it was her favorite sent, because it always reminded her of her childhood when her mother and her father had spent her first 5 years in Italy with her father's parents. Her nonna had always smelt of lavender and chamomile. Even thought neither flower where native to Italy, nonna always managed to smell like lavender and chamomile. She lay upon the bed silently smelling the sheets, soon falling asleep dreaming of those childhood memories that she would always remember.

Meanwhile, Yuki and Tohru continued to talk downstairs about their new guest.

"She seems very nice Yuki-kun! I'm so very glad that she has come to stay with us." Tohru glanced over at Yuki before turning her attention back to the fish that she was cooking for dinner. "When will she be starting school?"

"She will start next Monday" Yuki replied as he finished chopping an onion. (A/N: I'm sorry if I don't get their food right! I'm very bad at this! Please forgive me) He looked over at Tohru who was again busily preparing the meat, before turning her attention to the rice. With a small sigh he turned back to continue his copping of carrots. It would probably become very interesting to have another person around the house. Not that they never had people coming through.

The meal prepared, the Sakana on the table and everyone but two sat at the table ready to eat. Looking around obliviously, Shigure sat at his place looking longingly at the food before him while Tohru and Yuki exchanged looks.

"You did tell Miss Annika that dinner is ready right Miss. Honda?" Yuki asked as he looked towards the stairs.

"Uh… yes I did. Maybe she didn't hear me. I'll go and see" Tohru got up from her place and walked up the stairs. When she arrived at Annika's door she knocked softly. When no one answered she knocked again. When no one answered she opened the door and poked her head inside.

"Annika?" Here eyes fell upon the sleeping form on the bed and smiled as she closed the door again. When Tohru arrived back downstairs Kyo was sitting at the table in his usual bad mood, "She's sleeping. I'll just save her some," Quickly Tohru put some of their dinner onto Annika's plate and put it in the kitchen, "Alright lets eat then," She said as she sat back down.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Kyo asked as he stuffed his mouth with fish.

"Our exchange student baka neko" Yuki replied.

Kyo swallowed and glared at Yuki, "Damn rat! When did we get an exchange student?"

"I picked her up today from the airport."

Kyo glared once more at Yuki before eating more of his food. The rest of dinner was eaten in silence.

It was the next morning by the time Annika woke up from her deep and restful slumber. Sun filtered through her window making it impossible to go back to sleep. Giving up on sleeping, Annika sat up taking in her surroundings. The sun lit the room profoundly, lighting up the beautiful light blue color of the walls. 'I wonder how long I've been out' Annika thought to herself. Slowly Annika got out off bed and walked over to her bag. Quickly she changed into her sweat pants and tank before going in search of the bathroom.

Without even thing her body came into auto pilot. She did her business, washed her face, brushed her hair and teeth then headed down the stairs. As much as she wished her mind was still not awake making rather slow.

When she got to the kitchen she sat down at the kitchen table, folding her arms on the table and burying her head in her arms. It was only a couple minutes before she heard footsteps behind her.

"You'll get me my fruit loops won't you me sweet Izzy? Please?" Annika asked without even thinking.

"What the hell?!" A baritone voice said.

Annika's head shot up and she looked at the man you had spoken to her. Red eyes starred angrily down at her. Annika felt her face pale as the red head man starred at her.

"I… I uh… I'm so sorry!" Quickly Annika stood up and bowed. Her face was bright pink at her sudden lapse in memory.

"Who the hell are you?" Kyo shot at her.

Straightening up Annika starred straight into his eyes, "Annika Conte," She replied.

"So you're that damned exchange student that they were talking about at dinner" Kyo took out the milk and started drinking out of the carton.

"Ya know, it's polite to pour the milk in a glass before you drink it" Annika commented. The red head glared at her before putting the milk back in the fridge and walked out of the kitchen mumbling to himself. Suddenly not hungry Annika went up to her room grabbed her running shows and her hoodie and decided to go out for a quick run.

The air was cool and crisp, perfect weather for a run. As Annika ran, she passed shops and restaurants and homes. About an hour of running brought her to a park with children playing on the play structure. The swings not far off were unoccupied so Annika sat down and watched the children play. Not long after Annika continued her morning run but this time heading back I the other direction. She only got lost once on the way back. And when those few times did happen she was able to find a kind person to get her back to her path.

It was around 8 am when Annika finally arrived back at the house sweat pouring down her face and hr breathe coming in heavy pants. Annika walked up to her room to find all her luggage either sitting on her bed or on the floor. Just as she stripped to her underwear and a bra she heard a knock at her door.

"Who is it??" Annika called.

"Its Tohru" Came a female voice.

"Oh come in" Tohru opened the door and walked into the room, "Morning Tohru-chan" Annika said with a smile on her face.

"Oh!" Tohru looked surprised when she saw what Annika was wearing, "Do you want me to come back? I didn't mean to interrupt you from anything" And she turned to leave the room and leave Annika to finish dressing.

"Oh no please don't. I just want to get out of my sweaty clothes," Annika laughed. Tohru turned back around and sat down on the chair next to the desk with a smile on her face.

"I hope you didn't mind me not waking you last night. You looked so tired so I left you to sleep" Annika took out a towel and some other clothes.

"Oh don't worry about it. I was tired. So thank you for letting me sleep."

"No problem. Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

Annika shook her head, "No I just got in from my morning run. I was hoping to take a shower before I eat if that's ok with you"

"Yes of course. Would you like me to make you breakfast when you are done with your shower?"

"Yes that would be nice. Thank you so much Tohru" Annika replied. Tohru once again turned to leave when Annika asked, "Tohru? Who is the guy with orange hair and red eyes?"

Chuckling Tohru replied, "Oh that would be Kyo. He usually is in a bad mood. So don't be offended if he is unpleasant" With that Tohru left the room leaving Annika to take her shower. Annika grabbed her clothes, wrapped a towel around her body along with her shampoo and conditioner as well as her body soap and headed off towards the shower.

She stripped completely before setting her clothing and towel by the door. Then she turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature before stepping into the soft waterfall coming out of the nozzle. The warm water felt wonderful upon her sweat soaked skin. Annika took her body soap which smelled sweetly of Honeysuckle. After washing body free of sweat she took her shampoo and poured some into her hand. With that she went on to washing her hair and spending a couple minutes afterwards just basking in the warm that was pouring from above her.

Turning off the water Annika walked over to her towel and wrapped it around her and began to dry herself off. Minutes later Annika walked out of the shower room and walked over to her room.

Sighing Annika pulled her laundry basket out of one of her big bags and put her towel that was now wrapped in her hair into the basket along with the clothes that had gone running in. Then she walked over to her desk, opened her laptop and opened a window which led her to her e-mail. A smile crossed her face as she saw that her sister was online. Quickly Annika opened a new message and typed in Italian,

'Ehi Izzy. Come le cose sostengono sono alla casa? La manco già gli individui. Lei soprattutto, manco vedendo la mia piccola faccia della sorella.' (A/N: Here I'll put the translation: Hey Izzy. How are things back at home? I already miss you guys. You especially, i miss seeing my little sister's face.)

She waited a couple minutes and to her delight, a message was now sitting on her screen.

'Oh Anna! La manco cosí terribilmente molto! Le cose sono andate matto poiché lei ha lasciato. Sembra come se il padre è stato in anche più di un umore cattivo poi mai! Ma abbastanza della casa! Come le cose sono lí in Giappone? Le persone sono il suo stare con piacevole?' (Translation: Oh Anna! I miss you so terribly much! Things have been going crazy since you left. It seems as if father has been in even more of a bad mood then ever! But enough about home! How are things there in Japan? Are the people your staying with nice?)

Annika smiled at her younger sister's enthusiasms.

'Sì le persone sono molto piacevoli. Quel Yuki di ragazzo che l'ho detta di è molto piacevole veramente. E c'è una ragazza molto dolce che dorme nella stanza prossima di scavare. Ma c'è un ragazzo... non è ciò piacevole. Il Tohru, quella ragazza che ho detto appena lei, ha detto circa me che si chiama Kyo e che è di solito in un umore cattivo. Sembra già come se non me ama. Un giorno verso la fine dell'anno che lei avrà per venire e visitarme e vede che la mia vita è stato qui come! Oh la sorella cara dice per favore che lei ciò farà!' (Translation: Yes the people are very nice. That boy Yuki that I've told you about he is very nice indeed. And there is a very sweet girl that sleeps in the room next to mine. But there is one boy... he isn't that nice. Tohru, that girl that i just told you about, told me that his name is Kyo and that he is usually in a bad mood. It already seems as if he doesn't like me. Sometime towards the end of the year you will have to come and visit me and see what my life here has been like! Oh dear sister please say you'll do that!)

'Oh Anna di corso. Non lo mancherei per il mondo! Lasciamo la speranza giusta che quel padre consentirà esso. Sono Anna cosí spiacente, ma devo andare. La madre chiama. penso che abbia bisogno dell'aiuto pulendo la cena. Dunque le parlerò dopo! Anna di buonanotte! E dice per favore Tohru ciao per me!' (Translation: Oh course Anna. I wouldn't miss it for the world! Let's just hope that father will allow it. I'm so sorry Anna, but I've got to go. Mother is calling. i think she needs help cleaning up dinner. So I'll talk to you later! Goodnight Anna! And please tell Tohru hello for me!)

'Bene mio caro. Le parlerò dopo. La buonanotte per lei, è tuttavia la mattina qui in Giappone. Arrivederci mia sorella cara. Dare tutti il mio amore sostiene la casa. Dirò indubbiamente lei!' (Translation: Alright my dear. I will talk to you later. Goodnight for you, it's still morning here in Japan. Goodbye my dear sister. Give my love to everyone back home. I will definitely tell her!)

And with that she shut her laptop and made her way down the stairs with a smile on her face. She entered the kitchen to find Tohru setting a plate with eggs and toast onto the table.

"I figured you'd be down soon when I was upstairs and I heard you walk to your room. So I went ahead and made you something to eat. I hope its ok" Tohru said shyly.

"Oh no. This is perfect! Thank you so much for making me breakfast! I truly appreciate it!" She sat down and began to eat thankful to finally have something being put into her growling stomach. As an afterthought Annika looked up at Tohru, "Oh and my little sister Isabella asked me to tell you hello for her"

Tohru's face lit up with excitement and she giggled excitedly, "Oh did she! Oh that is so exciting. Please tell her that I say Hello back. When did you talk to her?"

"I just got done e-mailing her. Mamma wanted her to help clean up dinner so she had to leave, but it was nice to get to talk to her" Annika replied, "Do you think that it might be such a bad thing if she came to visit towards the end of my stay here? I would like her to see the world that I've been living in"

"I'm sure that Shigure wouldn't mind! That would be exciting for your sister to come and visit."

'Yes that would be fun,' Annika thought to herself as she ate her breakfast.

Then a man with black hair came into the room, he looked at the two girls in the kitchen and smiled.

"My dear, you much be Annika!"

Annika looked at him and smiled, "Yes that would be me"

The man bowed, "You can call me Shigure. It is a pleasure for you to be in my house" Annika stood up and bowed in return.

"No the honor is mine sir. I couldn't have be able to do this without your hospitality" Annika stated before sitting back down to her breakfast with her attention still on Shigure.

"Well then we will share the honor. Anyways, Yuki told me a lot about you. He told me that you can speak Italian"

Annika laughed, "Yes I can. I can speak it fluently" Annika thought for a second then thought of something quick to say, "Mio padre è venuto da Italia e ho speso il primo cinque anni della mia vita crescendo in Italia, which means, My father came from Italy and I spent the first five years of my life growing up in Italy."

Annika laughed again at the look the two of them had on their face, one of awe and amusement. At that moment Kyo came into the room. He went to the fridge and took out the milk, he glanced at Annika before walking over to the cupboard and taking out a glass and pouring milk into the glass. A smirk tugged at her lips as she watched him, remembering their small conversation earlier this morning.

'He really is a handsome guy' Annika thought making her blush pink. Quickly she finished her breakfast, putting her plate in the sink and with one more look at Kyo she went outside and sat looking at the pond before her.

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So thank you very much for reading this! Please give me feed back. I know I'll need it. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. And again… Lemons in later chapters.