A/N: This story has no real 'foreplay' to it because I wasn't sure what exactly had happened to make things end up this way. All I know is that the 13 members of the Zodiac are more cursed than they used to be… and that's saying a lot, isn't it?

Anyways, I apologize in advance if the characters are somewhat out of character; I know it bothers me when they are, but I often have difficulties warping the real characters to suit my stories, so they usually do end up a little off. If it really bugs you though, let me know, and I'll try my best to fix it.

Oh, and I don't own Fruits Basket or any of its characters. If I did, why would I be writing a fan-fic about it? Geez, what a dumb accusation…grumble grumble

"Tohru, you don't have to stay. We can take care of ourselves."

"Yeah, it's not like a bunch of animals living by themselves would be suspicious in any way," Hiro snarled from the living room.

Tohru looked down at the dog in the doorway to the kitchen and smiled, shaking her head. "It really is ok, Shigure-san. I got you guys into this mess; I should stick around and see you out of it."

"Touching, Tohru-kun!" exclaimed a slim, white snake as it twisted its way between Shigure's front paws. Ayame's voice became more serious as he reared back to look at her. "But it really is dangerous for you here. Wouldn't you be happier back in the city with your friends?"

Tohru busied herself with the carrots to hide her face. Ayame's words struck too close to home.

"And Akito, might I add?" Kyo threw in from where he sat on the counter. "Yes, I'm sure she wants to go back to where there's an insane, homicidal maniac lurking in wait to kill her for getting the thirteen of us away from him."

"You make Akito sound like a villain from a horror movie, Kyo-kun," Shigure chided.

The orange cat snorted impatiently. "And what would you call him?"

"Completely beside the point… Shouldn't you be helping to set up the rest of the house?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"We are helping young Tohru-kun with supper! Feeding one person and thirteen animals is no easy task you know!"

Kyo turned his dark orange gaze on Ayame. "Like hell you are!"

Tohru swallowed nervously and dumped the chopped up carrots in the massive stew pot.

"Now, now, Kyon-kyon, Gure-san may not be doing anything, but I am supervising! Well done, Tohru-kun! Come now, Gure-san. Lazing around and letting Tohru-kun do all the work won't do at all! Fetch some potatoes at once!"

After supper was served, everyone gathered in the small dining room. The cabin they had come to occupy was some ways off from the nearest town, which was really small enough to be called a village, and was made of solid wood some years back. It was off a main highway that passed through said town, and sat in front of a large green field. Beyond the field, there was a dark evergreen forest, setting an eerie backdrop for the otherwise homey cabin. There was even a garage attached to the main building where the larger Zodiac members (like Rin, and Hatsuharu,) planned to spend their nights. The master bedroom had been voted, by majority (consisting of everyone but Tohru,) to be Tohru's bedroom. Shigure had already placed dibs on the couch near the front door, claiming that if a burglar or such came knocking, he would be able to give them the most warning.

"Right, like a thief is actually going to come through the front door," Kyo hissed, stalking away.

Yuki and Ayame had discovered a maze of mouse tunnels that (eventually) made their way throughout the entire building, making a convenient mode of transportation for the two that had extreme difficulty with stairs. Kisa, tiger or no, was still only the size of a cat, and would be usually at the foot of Tohru's bed. A massive aquarium had been purchased for Hatori's use, with the promise to figure out some way to enable his to travel through the cabin. By midnight, most of the arrangements had been decided on, although Momiji was noticeably unhappy with staying in the garage for even one night, while Rin, Hatsuharu, Kagura, Hiro, and even Kureno were fine with sharing it.

One day, maybe a week into the future, there was a sound heard so long ago that it was nearly forgotten, and was heard three times in the middle of a storm before anybody identified exactly what it was.

BANG BANG BANG

Rin looked up. Everyone was gathered in the Garage playing, with great amounts of effort, Chinese checkers by candle light – the storm had cut the power. For those that don't know, (and I hope that is no-one, because Chinese checkers is an extremely fun game,) Chinese checkers involves jumping little, round, bright coloured balls over other little, round, bright coloured balls to get all of your color into the space of the person across from you. As there are only six people at a time (even so, the board can get rather busy,) only six people were playing.

Rin was playing blue, across from green, played by Kureno.

Kyo was playing yellow, across from white, played by Hiro.

Momiji was playing black, across from red, played by Hatori, who was in a small fish bowl and had Shigure and Ayame playing for him, and rather than being in first place as he should have been, he was in dead last.

From first to last, Momiji was in the lead with a bunch of doubtful moves, Kureno was in second, Hiro was in third, Rin, fourth, Kyo, fifth with a lot of swearing, and Hatori in dead last, as stated above.

Anyways, Rin looked up at the loud banging noise.

"I think that's the door," she commented.

The entire group stared at her blankly for a few seconds before Tohru registered exactly what she was saying.

"Oh, right!" she scrambled to her feet.

Shigure started to stand too; he was the obvious choice for who was to accompany her to the door, after all, who would think anything of a teenage girl answering the door with her dog at her side?

"Wait, Gure-san, it's our turn next!" Ayame protested. "Who would move the pieces?"

Shigure hesitated for a second, undecided, before Kisa rose to her paws. "I - I'll go with her."

She and Hiro had hit growth spurts during their stay, so she was getting near the biggest housecat in the world, but still small enough to pass for one to anyone not looking to hard.

Kisa at her side, Tohru listened to the storm as they approached the door, jumping at another sudden noise:

BANG BANG BANG

Then a thought occurred to Tohru. In this weather, she couldn't turn away anyone seeking shelter from the storm. That meant that whoever it was would have to stay until the storm died down. She turned to Kisa.

"Kisa-san, when I start making tea, could you please run and get everyone to clean up and tell them we have a guest please?" When the tiger nodded, Tohru took a deep nervous breath and opened the front door to the unknown stranger.