Disclaimer: I don't own them. I wish I did. *nod*

Notes: This sort of came out of no where as I was rereading my Fruits Basket manga... There's a picture--first of second page of chapter 2 in volume 1. Tooru's sorta standing there, in a cute little dress, tilted somewhat, with her hands looking like they're reaching towards the center of the book. Like she might be holding something, maybe. *shrugs* anyway, I saw that picture and started writing.

Warnings: Au-ish and OOC. sorta

Anyway.. This could be a one shot, this could be a part of a longer story... it kinda depends on what y'all think of it. Is it worth continuing? ^^;;


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The girl raised an eyebrow at the paper skeptically, "You want me to kill this guy?"

"He is remarkable well protected. For... unknown reasons, the head of the Sohma house always has been remarkably well protected from anything outside of the family. Every one of our previous attempts has failed." The small piggish man looked like he belonged behind a desk piled high with paperwork and doughnuts instead of the dark featureless room where the two figures were talking. Even more then that, he didn't look like he should be arranging for someone to be killed. But then again, she didn't look like a killer, either.

She smirked, brushing her long hair over her shoulder, "Which is why you called in the best, right?"

"...Yes."

Her smirk broadened slightly, "Well then, what are you willing to pay to have this Akito killed?"

He named a figure. The girl turned towards the door and raised a hand in farewell as she walked forward wordlessly.

"Fine, fine! I'll double it." She didn't stop walking, "Triple it, then!"

She paused, then turned back around to look at the other, "That's more like it..."

***

Cries of 'kuso nezumi' and 'baka neko' reached Tooru's ears, even though she was in her room and Yuki and Kyou were downstairs. A small smile touched her lips. It wasn't a very Tooru-ish smile, but no would see it. Shigure would be downstairs egging Yuki and Kyou along--one would almost think he enjoyed having his house broken regularly--and Yuki and Kyou, well... they were busy trying to kill each other. So Tooru smiled.

It wasn't her 'vacant happy moron' smile, nor was it her 'I'm so happy over a small little thing' smile. The smile almost seemed evil, or crafty. Very out of place on Tooru's face, if you knew her like Yuki and Kyou knew her. If they had seen that smile, they'd have stopped fighting immediately and wonder what happened to 'their Tooru' or if 'their Tooru' was sick again. Some other, unnamed individuals would have shuddered in fear to see such a look on that face, though.

Honda Tooru was not the innocent she appeared to be. Not by far. But she was a good actor, and that was all she needed. She had been so lucky in finding Yuki-kun. Yuki-kun was so easily taken with her innocent charm, as was Kyou. Shigure was a bit sharper, but all it took was one well-placed breeze and a too short skirt and he was hers. She had been, to say the least, shocked when she had 'tripped' and 'fallen' against Kyou's back and found herself cradling a kitty rather then a teenager. Then to repeat the performance with both Yuki and Shigure a second later... Well, it had quite possibly been the hardest bit of acting she'd ever done. To keep from yelling out 'What the frigging hell?!' and cursing like a sailor that had been kneed in the groin. Her teacher would have been proud.

She was also lucky in that she had convinced everyone to not erase her memories. That could potentially have been a very bad thing. She might have revealed her mission, and that would have been death. If not at the hands of the Sohma clan, then at the hands of her own.

But everything had worked out fine, and Tooru, poor, sweet, loving, innocent, moronic Tooru was worming her way into everyone's hearts. Once she had known that there were a total of 13 juunishi, it was easy to hide her own initial reactions and let sweet Tooru jitter about and apologize.

She had been nervous, at first, though. The tiger juunishi, and the dragon juunishi could potentially be a threat to her. Their animal counterparts could be life threatening. But once she had met timid little Kisa, and discovered that Hatori's juunishi form was a -seahorse-, she stopped worrying about that.

Actually, the longer she spent in the company of the Sohma's, the more the felt she'd be doing them all a favor. Nobody seemed to actually like Akito. Fear him, yes, but like? No. Of course, once she finished her business here, and they all found out what kind of person she really was, no one would want her here. She felt a bit sad at that, but really, it was to be expected. Besides, she liked her work. It was so refreshing to leave a place, and then reappear somewhere else with a different name. As a different person. With a different mission.

From downstairs, there was a crash as a body--Kyou's likely--went through a door or two. She heard Shigure's voice rising as he mockingly scolded Kyou for breaking his house again.

Tooru shut her eyes and exhaled a sigh. When her eyes opened again, they were transformed. A happy, slightly vacant look graced them, rather then the crafty, calculating look of just a moment earlier. A smile slid easily over her face as she headed downstairs to 'discover' the broken door.

***

So.. reviews are nice things. I'm not sure if I wanna go further with this.. revise.. rewrite.. turn it into more of a story... what do you all think?