Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket!

Chapter 3

We stood on a gravelled stone path on the outskirts of Tawa.

I had rested at Kyo's little cabin for about three days until my wounds had finally healed. While I had been resting, Kyo had gone and brought supplies for our trip; including some clothes for me.

After we had packed up everything, we set off to the first town. Kyo carried a big rucksack on his back with everything we needed, while a rolled up blanket sat on the top of the bag.

I didn't have to carry much because Kyo had most of it, but the bit's left over to carry were just the spare clothes and bottles of water. I stored it all in a medium sized bag that hung behind my back.

And that's how we got here.

"We are currently in Tawa. This is where I found you, at Crystal waterfall," Kyo pointed at a blue object on the light brown map. "And we are currently here, on the border-line of Tawa."

"So, this is the nearest town?" I pointed at the town mark called Machi. After only walking for an hour or so, I had picked up map reading skills quite easily.

"Yes, Machi is just a simple village town. It's not very popular so is a quiet place to live." Kyo pointed at the village a few miles away.

A tall wooden sign post stood to our right. An arrow broke off, pointing behind us which was labelled 'Tawa'. A second sign pointed right down another gravel path leading to another town. But the arrow that pointed forward was the one that we were following. It was labelled 'Machi'.

"Were you born in this town then?" I asked him as we started to make our way down the path.

"No, I was born in a place far away from here."

"Could we make a stop there? I'm sure your parents are worried about you-"

"I don't have any parents. They died a couple years back after a deadly disease was spread through the continent. They weren't rich enough to buy the vaccine." He avoided my eyes.

"I'm sorry for your loss...I wonder what my parents were like." I mumbled to myself.

I'm sure that my mother was loving, caring and beautiful; and that my father was courages, strong and helpful. I wonder what it would have been like if they were still alive. Would we have been a loving family that always looked out for each other?

"Only two and a half miles to go," Kyo pointed at a nearby sign with '2 1/2 miles' etched into it.

"Then, that will take us about thirty minutes at this speed right?" I counted on my fingers.

Kyo looked at me shocked, mouth agape. "How did you work that out?"

"I'm not dull you know. I've read many books on maths, english, science and all the other important subjects. What else would I have done in all the spare time I had?"

Kyo scratched his head. "I just thought that you wouldn't be so..."

"Intelligent?"

"Yeah, I suppose." He looked at the ground.

"How long till we get there?"

"We're already here." Kyo pointed at the town in front of us.

"These houses are so cute!" I squeeled.

They looked exactly like the witches house from the story Hansel and Grettle, except there was no candy decorating them. They were all mostly brown with black slate roofs, where small porches were attached to the front of the house with the odd table or chair.

"Hey, missy."

I looked down to find a small boy tugging on my top. I gave Kyo a quick glance. I don't know how to deal with younger kids!

"What do you want brat?" Kyo glared at the boy.

"Kyo!" I hit his shoulder. "Don't be horrible."

"What do you want?" I bent down to his level.

"Can you come play with us?" He asked.

"Can I Kyo?" A smile spread across my face as I waited for his answer.

"Fine, but don't wander off too much. Stay in the borders of the town." He sighed.

"Yay! Thanks Kyo!"

"Come on Ane!" The boy grabbed my hand before pulling me along with him.

"Be careful!" I heard Kyo shout before we disappeared around a nearby house.

"Where are we going?" I asked the boy.

"To meet my friends. We're all going to play a big game together!" He exclaimed.

"Okay," I laughed as we stopped in a field.

A swarm of children suddenly surrounded us, a mixture of boys and girls.

"Who is Ane?" Asked a little girl.

"I don't know her name..." The boy holding my hand looked at me as if expecting me to answer.

"My names Tohru."

"Yay, Ane has a name!" Cried a girl.

"What game are we going to play?" Asked a little boy.

"Why don't we play hide and seek?" Said a girl with long pigtails.

"No Rika! The woods are dangerous!" Said the boy holding my hand.

"Why are they dangerous?" I wondered.

They all gasped, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Your not from around here are you Ane?" Rika asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know where I'm from."

"T-There's a big tiger in the woods! Mama said not to go near the woods otherwise the tiger will eat me!" Said a boy.

"The tiger isn't horrible. It's not her fault that she lives alone in the forest." Mumbled a boy. He looked at me with his brown eyes as a slight gush of wind blew his mousy brown hair to the side.

"Shut up Hiro!" Yelled another boy.

"Leave it Wakai." Hiro glared at him.

"Leaving the subject!" Said Rika. "What game are we going to play?"

"Tag!" Shouted a little girl with white hair.

"Good idea!" The boy holding my hand replied.

"Tag! Your it Sesso." Rika tapped the white haired girl on the shoulder before running off.

"What's tag?" I asked.

"You don't know what tag is?" Questioned the boy beside me.

"Nope."

"The person on it has to tag someone. The person that gets tagged is then on it. Simple, right?" He replied.

"I suppose.."

"There's no point explaining to her Kaname, she too dull to understand." Hiro kicked a stone on the ground.

"Don't be so mean!" Kaname yelled.

"TAG!" I looked down to find Sesso with her hand on my arm.

"Your it Ane." She giggled.

"What do I do?" I froze.

"You have to tag someone else now." Kaname pushed me forward.

"Right." I ran around the field as all the children began to run. Who should I tag?

"AHH! ANE IS ON IT!" Rika shouted as she ran past me.

"I'm gonna get you Rika!" I let out a childish giggle.

Rika screamed before running around me in a circle.

"Keep still!" I tried to tag her but she kept dodging my every move.

"You can't catch me!" Rika poked out her tongue.

"Yes I will-" I tripped over and hit the ground, face first.

"Ane?" Rika came up to me. "Are you ok?"

I grabbed her ankle as she let out a squeel. "TAG!"

"Ah! Ane no fair! You tricked me," she protested.

"Your it Rika!" I giggled, standing up.

After a long time of playing, I got tagged again.

"Kaname, you snook up on me!" I lunged for him.

"You tricked Rika!" He shot back.

"Get back here!" I reached for him as he sprinted across a patch of flowers.

"Oi, stupid."

I stopped running and looked at Hiro who was sitting on a branch in a tree.

"Yes?"

"Your too slow, just like a turtle." He snickered.

"Are you going to join in?" I ignored his comment.

"Sure, but only if you can catch me." He jumped from the tree.

I ran towards him as he started to run away. "Hiro!"

He ran into the woods and I followed, forgetting about the scary tiger story.

"Ane! Don't go into the woods!" I heard Kaname cry.

"I'll be back!" I reassured him.

"ANE!" His voice dispelled as I ran deeper into the woods.

Hiro ran around a bunch of trees before hopping over a few stepping stones across a wide pond.

"Hiro! Wait for me!" I said as he disappeared around a bush. "Hiro-"

My foot went down as I fell into a ditch. I slid down the mossy grass as I noticed a hole up front. I looked around desperatly for something to grab onto but was too late for my legs went down, carrying me with them. I landed on a heap of hay and twigs as small rocks and leaves fell from above.

"Ow," I rubbed my head.

I averted my gaze up as a twig snapped. "Hiro?"

A large orange tiger with black stripes growled from above. It leaned forward, looking at the size of the hole before jumping down with ease. I gulped, backing away against the side of the hole.

It growled again, letting out a low roar. It slowly walked towards me, getting ready to pounce.

"N-Nice tiger..?" I stuttered as it pounced.

I let out a scream while ducking from it's long sharp claws, running to the opposite wall. I brought out my white feathery wings and flapped. They turned a slight silver as my emotions connected with them. This is not the time to be scared Tohru!

The tiger pounced again, this time aiming for my throat. I flew up from the hole, just escaping the tigers jaws. I hovered above the hole, seeing what it would do next.

It let out another growl before jumping onto the wall, leaping onto the opposite one. It used it's claws to climb up and out the hole before retracting them.

I landed back on the ground. The tiger stalked around me, circling. I tried to ignore it by sitting down cross-legged. The tiger got confused by my sudden movement and growled in my face. I reached out my hand.

"I'm not a threat." I smiled, shaking nervously. Maybe if I show that I'm not scared, then it will be nice to me.

It came closer, sniffing my hand. It suddenly opened it's mouth and bit onto my hand.

I let out a quiet yelp at the pain, but wiped away my tears and smiled.

Posting Date: 1st June 2012

Symm: Hello everyone! Yes, I know, it's a Friday. I would have updated this chap tomorrow but at 2:00AM tomorrow morning I'm going away to Italy for 9 days with my school since it's half term and I'm not allowed to take my netbook. So the chapter for next saturday will be up either Sunday or Monday because I don't get back until late Sunday night or Monday morning. So sorry about this!

Crona4ever: Thanks for the review Andrew! Thanks for adding my story to your favourites and on story alert!

MakaAlbarn888: Thanks for the review Lissie! And I can't wait to see your tomorrow morning for the Italy trip! I'M SO EXCITED! .

Rebecca: I don't know if your reading this story, but thanks for the last review on my Fruits Basket goes Wonderland story! I would have replied to you through email, but since you don have a profile it wouldn't let me :( But thanks for the review!

Gena346: Thanks for the review! I wish I had Tohru's wings too...And yes, they will be in this story at some point, and Kureno will be too!

Thanks for adding my story to your alerts Lucarby!

Matt and Mello equals Metto XD !