Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 2: Following the Dog

Tohru woke up with the sun shining through the thin tent material. Sitting up, she stretched her arms above her head. It was Sunday which meant today she had no school or work and would mostly result in her studying the day away.

Putting her coat on over her pajamas, she looked out to the sunny day.

"Ruff!" Tohru looked up confused and swore she heard someone say 'ruff'. Slowly turning her head and a small way away was the same black dog from earlier.

"Did…the dog…say it?" She asked herself when the dog actually barked. "Oh, I guess not." She smiled extending her hand to him.

"Come here Boy, and I'll help you get back to your owner."

The dog only took an unsure step closer to her and Tohru slowly stood up and taking a few small steps, began to approach him. The dog stared at her directly in the eye as the two both were moving towards each other.

"Come on Boy." Tohru coaxed when the dog suddenly turned and ran off. "Wait come back!" Tohru shouted running after him already in shoes. "Your owners probably worried about you!"

Oddly enough no matter how many times she thought she lost him, he already seemed to wait for her.

"Is someone in trouble or are you leading me somewhere?" She huffed. The dog only kept running off with Tohru only believing her own ideas and following. Leaning against a tree, Tohru rested a few minutes to catch her breath after going through the large chase. She only now realized she was very deep in the forest and unsure how she would find her way back.

The dog patiently waited on her as it walked on behind a tree. Tohru pushed herself off, and followed, hearing the small tinkle of water and saw there was a small fresh stream. Falling to her knees beside it, she cupped her hands to drink. Gulping down the water greedily, she wiped her mouth and looked to the other side of the stream at the dog where he was dinking.

"Were you only going to lead me here?" She asked with a smile when the dog got up and walked further on the other side of the stream.

Skipping over it and holding onto a tree to steady herself from falling, Tohru looked up and unexpectedly saw a very large estate.

"What's a house doing way out here?"

The dog led the way towards it, leaving Tohru unsure to follow since she would be trespassing.

"Shigure!" A voice shouted sounding like it belonged to a child. The dog bolted inside the large house. Tohru decided to follow and just make sure this was the dog's owner's house.

The house was practically falling apart, with everything looking gloomy and dark. She followed the dog around the back where it slipped in through a type of hole busted through the door. Taking the handle, Tohru slid the door open having it nearly fall down and make her gasp from the small startle, she still stepped in.

The place was dark and from what Tohru could tell, messy as if it hadn't been cleaned for years.

"Hello?" Tohru asked when she heard something 'squeak' and jumped.

"Shigure! I told you to not lead her here?" Someone hissed.

"Is someone there? Ow!" Tohru said tripping on something and fell to the floor.

"We should turn something on; otherwise she'll be tripping with her every step." A calm and older voice said. A small light came on that Tohru walked over to and saw it was a lantern. Picking it up, she held it out in front of her for a better view of where she was walking. Before she could take another step to look for the dog's owner, a roar erupted and echoed followed by a large 'thump' that shook the house so hard Tohru fell against the wall.

"Great. Now he knows, the idiot knows!"

Tohru looked around trying to look around for the owner of the voice when she spotted movement on the ground. Bending down and holding the lantern above the ground a small gray rat came out. It was crawling towards her instead of scavenging around for food, only remained focused on her.

It even went so far to crawl up on her shoe and looked up at her with large violet eyes as if expecting something. Tohru didn't even freak out, but just bent down and held out her hand for him to come to.

"I'm surprised you're the only rat in here." She smiled when she felt a shaking in the house again when the rat jumped on its hind legs and pointed back towards what Tohru assumed was the kitchen.

"What?! How are you doing that?!" The rat only kept furiously pointing when there was a large crash right from the floor above.

Tohru paralyzed in shock as the rat leapt from her hands onto her shoulder. Dust clouds formed around her and she covered her mouth with her hand when she saw two big red-brown eyes peering at her. Something inside of Tohru told her to run, but her legs wouldn't move. A smell. A horrible smell as if something dead was near. The dust cleared out for the creature in front of her looked like an insect. Large but boney and had large deformed paws.

They were only staring at each other, Tohru unsure if running away would be a wise idea. There was a low dangerous growl in the room, as the creature recoiled.

"What are you doing here?!" It yelled, although it came out as a loud shriek having Tohru cover her ears. "Did you come here to gaze upon the hideousness trespasser!?"

"S…so th…this is your p…place?" Tohru said shaking violently in fear. The rat looked up at the poor girl and then glared over at the hideous creature.

"And what are YOU looking at you damn rat?!" It yelled again.

"P….please don't ye….yell."

"Why should I listen to you?! You trespassed here and now you shall be punished."

"Maybe you should think about this first stupid cat." The earlier voice said calmly yet still angrily. Tohru glanced around to see there was no one else in this room.

"What was that?!"

"Shigure lead her here stupid cat."

"DAMN IT! I DARE YOU TO SAY IT AGAIN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!"

"D…don't hurt anyone please." Tohru squeaked when the creature glared back at her.

"YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT TRESPASSER! MAYBE I SHOULD MAKE YOU MY PRIZONER!"

"P…p…prisoner!" Tohru repeated in chattering teeth.

"Yeah, because you trespassed into my house!"

"It's not only yours-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

"I'll stay then." The creature looked up and over at her with arms no longer full with complete rage. "You're right I trespassed here, I need to accept what you want to do for me."Everything was quiet as the rat jumped off of Tohru and scurried over and up the beast's shoulder.

"Follow me." It said the first time not actually yelling. It led the way up the stairs and easily leapt up to the other floor and waited for her to follow. It stood outside a door and with a not he gave her permission to open it. "It's dark and dusty, but you can clean it or something. This will be your room for the time being."

"I d...don't mind. I like to clean."

"Just don't come up to the third floor." It muttered and in a flash was gone. Tohru stood still before she walked into the room and wiped her hand across the wooden dresser. Dust covered her hand completely; Tohru looked at it and felt tears well in her eyes as she wiped them away with her clean hand. She slid against the wall and fell down onto the floor. She clutched her knees closely to herself.

"Miss Honda?" It was the same calm voice and when she looked up to see who it was, the gray rat stood in front of her. "There's no need to hide it now, but I can talk."

"That's amazing how can you guys talk?! Or is it just some sort of big secret?" Tohru asked suddenly fascinated and immediately forgetting about her surroundings.

"It's a long story, but I must apologize for that idiot." He said crawling over and up her knee. "They want things to play to their will even if that means the sacrifice of another's sanity."

"Who are 'they'?"

"Others you will probably meet in good time. Others like me."

"You mean other talking rats?"

"Not exactly," He sighed.

"What's your name?" The rat looked up startled at the question she asked him.

"What?"

"What should I call you? Surely you have a name." There was a long pause as the rat looked back up at her.

"Yuki; Yuki Sohma."

"It's nice to meet you Yuki." She smiled as a small pink began to tint the rat's fur. And thus a new adaption was made in two different families.