Letter from the author:

I don't own Fruits Basket. However I love the depth feelings and characters that are in the story. Life is fun, comical, and exciting, however I feel our lives throw many sorts of games and trails we have to face by ourselves. I thought of a story where a girl wouldn't have to face things alone. As well as a boy who would protect her and face trials with her. They learn to love. Accept. And even though this story may get very deep, it's ok to think deeply once in a while right? Here we go, on with the story...

Chapter 1

Splash.

I shivered as I felt the cool waves wash over my bare feet. It felt extremely tingly, yet nice. The soft sand molded my feet perfectly, and the waves were a mixture of cold water and soft sea foam.

I looked up to watch the horizon. It was almost sunset. The sky had turned a bright shade of pink and purple mixing with various colors. It was so beautiful. I almost had to hold my breath because of how beautiful it was.

As I felt the waves gently wash over my feet. And the warm wind whip my hair around my face I tried to think of my life. Think of everything that had happened. Think of my past, present, and future. What would I do now? What would I do now that I was all...alone?

I always thought I was a normal girl. With normal problems. I worried about how my hair didn't look right in the morning. How I slept on the wrong side of my body and had aches when I woke up. What the grade for my chemistry test would be. Normal...

That's when the tears came. Tears welling up in my eyes and streaming down my face in blurs. I wasn't exactly a normal girl. Not many Japanese girls my age lost their mother and father before they were even 18 years old.

And I thought that would never happen to me. But it did.

I wanted to collapse to the ground. My knees were trembling from the weight, not physically, but the mental exhaustion of the ordeal. My mother. Kyoko. Kyoko. Kyoko..

That name pierced a strange urge inside my heart. It felt as if something was pulling me to leave. Something was pulling at my heart saying I don't deserve to live. Bring her back. Bring someone back. Don't leave me...

But she had left. Left after a car crash. And I was alone on the beach crying my tears out.

I was reminded of her face. Her beautiful smiling face stroking my hair the morning she had passed away.

"Tohru." She had softly nudged me and stroked my hair gently. "It's time to get up for school."

"No...go away mom. Five more minutes.." I had mumbled waving her hand away.

She had paused stroking my hair and had giggled softly. "Alright. I'll be on my way then. Goodbye."

Fresh hot tears rolled down my face as that memory pierced through my mind and heart. My breath started to come out in hysterical gasps. No! This was all wrong! I didn't mean that. Stay mom. Stay mom. Don't go away. Please...I didn't mean that. I didn't mean to say that. Please forgive me, mom.

I stood there crying and hugging my sides with my arms and crying even more. The waves washed away the sounds of my tears. I was standing in the middle of the beach near the water shore. Waves crashed against my feet and I just cried until I felt worse then I did before. I'm so sorry mom...

I had thought getting some fresh air after the funeral would be good for me. A trip to the beach would get my mind off things. But it hadn't helped. Not a single thing.

I wiped my eyes. What would I do? What would I do?

"Hey."

Startled I looked up. A teenage boy with bright orange hair and startling orange eyes stared at me with an expression of sympathy and annoyance. How was that possible to have those two emotions plastered on his face like that?

He was wearing a black loose v-neck, some torn up jeans, and a beaded bracelet. The beaded bracelet seemed off character judging his muscular and angry demeanor.

I blinked and felt slightly embarrassed. My face would be all red from crying. I even felt a runny nose coming. But in that situation I simply didn't care if I seemed crazy to him.

"Y-yea?" I hiccupped out.

"Um..I know it's not really my business and all." The boy looked away scratching his head. "Well. I mean to say that... your dress is all wet."

It took me a second to process back to reality as he said this. "Huh?"

I blinked and looked down. For the first time I noticed how cold I felt and saw that the ends of my skirt were soaked with sea water. Luckily my skirt was blue from my school uniform and nothing showed through.

"Ah! O-oh no!" I yelped and looked around frantically for something warm but nothing came to notice. "I didn't even notice it!"

"Yea. You seemed a bit...out of it." He coughed and glanced at me with raised eyes but looked away a bit embarrassed.

I paused realizing that we were the only ones on the beach. He had seen me crying loudly like this. It seemed to become more and more clear to me how pathetic I seemed to be.

"Um. Yea. Sorry if I was...loud." I mumbled.

"No. I mean. It's alright. You weren't bothering me or anything. I mean...are you ok?"

I stopped patting at my skirt to look up at him questioningly.

"Well...You seemed lonely." He clarified. "Look. Sorry if I'm just confusing you and making you feel uncomfortable. My name's Kyo by the way. I just came over to let you know your skirt's wet and to check on you. You know..."

I watched as he stumbled over his words. For a guy who looked strong enough to beat up a gang of Yankees, he was surprisingly gentle and awkward.

But he had checked because I was crying. To do that to a complete stranger, he must have a kind heart.

"Thank you." I smiled brightly at him. I gave him the best smile I had to give.

"Well. Have a good day." He shrugged and started to walk away.

I stared after him perplexed. He was hiking on the beach? Most people do, but it was odd that he was out alone at this time of day. It wasn't exactly the best weather for a day at the beach.

"Um! Kyo-kun!" I started before I could stop myself.

He turned his head surprised. "Huh?"

"Well um." I paused forming my thoughts. "Thank you. Really. I was feeling down but I'm thankful you cheked. I'm Tohru Honda. It's nice to meet you."

He blinked for a moment looking taken back at the miserable girl he saw before, then the bright character that began to shine through now. He then smiled back crookedly. "You're welcome."

"Um." It felt odd to just let him go after he had bothered to encourage me in the first place. "Do you want to talk for a while?"

"Talk?"

I felt immediately stupid for asking.

"Y-yeah. I mean since you're out hiking I thought maybe you were lonely too and you wanted to talk and get something off your chest. And you seem confused about something. And even though we just met and it's not my place to ask-!"

"Yea. It's fine. We can talk." He interrupted with a small smile.

I sighed in relief and we began to walk towards the benches near the edge of the beach.

Kyo sat down on the bench and I sat down net to him at safe distance.

We were silent for a moment. The only sound was the consistent crashing of waves against the shoreline. Seagulls flocked around above in the sky, and the sky had now turned a shade of bright pink and dark blue.

"So why are you out here all by yourself? It's getting a bit late." Kyo said after a moment.

"Well...i was just...thinking." I admitted. "How about you?"

"Yea. Same here. My future really."

"Oh! Same here!" I sighed. "And some...other stuff."

As I grew silent the pain that threatened to break through my plastic shell kept pushing against the light barrier. I felt the pain well up in my heart but struggled, fought, and won the battle of keeping it down.

I hadn't noticed that Kyo had watched my expression through this. But he had. He startled me by suddenly patting my head with his free hand. He mussed my hair and I started to complain but noticed he had a soft smile on his face.

"Really. It's ok. You might as well cry while you're here. I'm a stranger so I won't judge you."

I looked up and saw his soft smile. For some reason I hadn't noticed his facial features as much. But now that he was up close, and smiling, I saw that he was in fact very handsome. So much more handsome then the boys at my school. I almost felt embarrassed to be caught with a wet skirt, runny nose, and crying face.

Tears began to well up as I took in the words he had said to me.

"It's ok." I breathed out a strong gust of wind and made fists with my hands. "Aja! I'm a fighter! I'll be strong! I'll be strong!" I said this mostly to myself to reassure myself.

He blinked surprised at my sudden outburst, then burst out in a set of laughter and amusement.

"What's with...the overenthusiastic character?" He laughed. He clutched as his side laughing.

I blinked watching him laugh. He surprised me almost as much as I had surprised him. He seemed to have such a cold and scary look that suddenly his soft smiling and laughter threw me off guard.

"Are you ok though?"

"Mm?" He slowly stopped laughing to answer. "What do you mean?"

"Well Kyo-kun is out here by himself too. You must have a reason. Do you have troubles worrying you?" I bit my lip starting to worry. "I'm sorry if I shouldn't ask. You probably don't want to share your secrets with a girl you just met-."

"Yea." He interrupted looking away with a far glance. "I had some things on my mind. Mostly bad thoughts. Not good life. Yknow?"

"Oh." I grew silent and molded my hands in my lap. We grew silent for a moment. I grew slightly worried. I was just wondering if I had offended him when he spoke up.

"You know how...people suddenly seem to want to change your life. Even though that's not what you want?" He seemed to be struggling to form his words well. "Well...that's happening to me. It feels like I'm not in control of anything anymore. And I just wish. Time would stop. Or something could take away all of this crap. I just don't...want to feel so useless all the time."

I looked at him. His side was saying beneath the teenage boy, was a struggling and tired man. He looked extremely mature at that moment.

"I know." I replied softly. I looked toward the waves. "I know how you feel. I'm sure that we can't control the outside things that affect us. But we can control the next thing we do about it. And the next..."

I looked at him giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Kyo-kun. You have control of your own life. Don't give up just yet."

He blinked and looked at me. A small smile crept up his face. "Alright. If you say so shortie."

"Shortie?" I blinked and gasped offended at the nickname. "Take that back!"

"Nah. You really are. Look how small you are compared to me!"

"W-well it's not as if I can control my tallness!"

"Tallness?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes tallness!" I huffed out.

He blinked once more and laughed again pointing at my face. "I was joking Tohru! Joking!"

I blinked and registered the amusement on his face. He was toying with me. He knew how awful I felt, so he was cheering me up and lightning the mood. It was never about him was it?

"Kyo-kun. Can we be friends?"

He stopped and frowned. "What kind of question is that? We're friends already aren't we?"

I felt a strange surge of warmth and delight at his words. Friends already. He wanted to be friends. I almost wanted to cry again.

"Yes. We are." I smiled.

...

After talking to Kyo-kun we had parted saying goodbye and exchanged phone numbers. The next day I woke up early for the first time in a long while to get ready for work. It was the weekend, which meant I would have to go to the dojo to start my new job.

It felt weird. The day after I lost my mother I met a boy with bright orange hair. And now I was going to a dojo to clean and cook. Strange how it seemed the world kept going when all I wanted was for it to slow down.

I tied my hair half back with a blue ribbon, checked my complexion the mirror one last time, (eyes a bit red from crying during the night but not too noticeable) and headed out the door.

I pulled my phone out of my bag as I walked to check the address of where I was headed. Luckily it was very close by to my apartment. Oto-san could drive of course, but it was much easier and comfortable for me to walk to places.

As I scrolled down my phone I noticed with a heart stopping thud that I had a message from Kyo. I stopped walking for a moment taken back. I don't know why. But seeing that I had a message from him made me feel...excited.

I quickly opened the message and saw only a few words typed.

"Good morning, shortie."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. Happily and almost forgetting my destination. I smiled and typed back. "Good morning. Don't call me shortie!"

I sent it and smiled again. It was so like him to say that.

When I reached the dojo a man in a long kimono and silver grey hair tied behind him greeted me. I bowed humbly and smiled.

"Hello it's very nice to meet you. I'm Tohru Honda."

"Nice to meet you Honda-san. I'm Shishou Sohma." He bowed back equally respectfully. "I've heard only great things about you. I'm sure your cooking will save us all from my disaster habits."

I laughed gently. "Oh I'm sure you're not that bad of a cook Shishou-san."

"No. I wish this wasn't true, but I'm not exaggerating." He laughed.

He welcomed me in the gates, and I took of my shoes and followed him down the long corridor. Before my mother had passed away, I had found this job opening a couple of weeks back. I was hired, and now...

"We have several students that come by everyday. Mostly men, but we do have female students. Varying from all ages. Since I'm busy teaching, and other assistants are helping odd errands around, we don't really have time to clean or properly cook meals for one another in the dojo. And that's where you come in."

I nodded understanding. It was simple. "Yes. I'll do my best!" I assured him.

"I'm sure you will." He smiled unfazed and gestured for me to follow him to the next room.

"This is where the higher assistants train daily. From 3-4 hours." Inside I could see several men training and in combat. As I looked at the faces of each man, my eyes caught one boy in particular who was training fiercely. His skilled seemingly far more advanced than the person he was fighting. But his hair was a very bright color...

Shishou called the boy over with a wave of his arm. "Say hello Kyo. We have a new staff member."

The boy stopped fighting and I blinked registering the orange hair in my brain. The same boy. The same exact boy I had met! Turned his head and looked at me.

We both stared at one another. His face went from a tired bored expression to surprised recognition at once.

"What the-? Tohru what are you doing here?!" His face went bright red and embarrassed.

I felt my own face growing hot as well. This was such a huge surprise!

"I-I'm the new..cook." I could only manage to say.

"What?!"

Shishou looked at our interactions in amusement before asking. "You two know each other?"

"I met her once." Kyo mumbled. He straightened up and walked over to stand in front of me. "So you're going to work here now?"

"Yes.." I nodded not knowing whether to feel awkward of happy about the situation.

"What a coincidence." He smirked. "Well. You'll like it here. It's good that we can at least talk now face to face more. I was just about to text you back." He smiled and patted my head. "Make sure you let me know if you need help with anything."

"Y-yeah." I smiled at him relieved it wasn't awkward or anything. "Thanks!"

He smiled then turned to Shishou-san. "Shishou im going on my break now."

Shishou nodded and let Kyo pass us to go.

I turned around and watched him go down the hallway. It was strange. Just a small conversation like that remained etched in my mind long after it had happened.

"Tohru-chan?" Shishou asked taking me out of my thoughts.

"Ah! Yes.." I turned to face Shihou-san. "Sorry. When would you like me to start?"

"Today we don't have anything for you to do since Kuzimo did most of the tasks. I'll show you some odd tasks you might not know about and give you a tour of the dojo for today. Let me know what to buy and I'll buy ingredients for anything you wish to prepare. Your duties will be posted on our board for you to keep as reference. It's all very straightforward."

"Alright." I nodded understanding everything he said. "Please take good care of me." I smiled looking forward to working there.

...