A 4-year-old boy with silver hair and dark grey eyes was roaming the forest by his cousin's place. He and his older brother went over to visit their cousin, it was getting pretty crazy inside the house. So the boy decided to take a walk in the forest, he has always loved nature. He's always wanted his own garden but he could never have one back at the estate. So he was thinking of moving in with his cousin Shigure who lives in the forest so that he could have his own garden, also so that he could get away from the chaos back home. His brother understood what he was going through and so did his parents, so he was going to move out once he was in middle school. The boy let out a sigh as he kept walking, 'I should probably head back soon.' He thought, then he heard the sound of crying. It hurt his heart to hear someone cry but this one caused pain in his chest,
'I must go see who's hurt.' He thought, then the boy started running in the direction of the crying. As he got closer he heard a voice, "Mommy!" The voice sounded like a little girl was lost. "Where are you, mommy?!" The girl cried again, the boy ran faster so that he could see what was wrong with the little girl. 'She needs help but why would a little girl be hurt on Sohma property?' He thought when he arrived at the source of the crying he saw a sight of pure beauty.
The little girl has long brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, that were all red and puffy from crying. Tears were still running down her face, "Are you alright?" He asked the little girl, she looked up at the boy thinking that she was being saved, "No, I'm not. I'm lost and scared, I got separated from my mother. We were walking in the city when I took a wrong turn after getting lost in a crowd of people. I don't know how long it's been since I went missing but, I know that I was roaming around at night when I tripped on a tree root. When I went to get up I could not stand up at all." The girl explained, "I see, is it ok if I look at your leg?" He asked, the girl nodded, "Which one did you hurt?" He asked, "The right one." She said the boy rolled up her right pant leg so that he could see her leg.
He got a good look at her leg and it was all swollen, it was blue and purple. "I can see that it's swollen, let me help you back to my cousin's house." He said, she nodded, "Oh, by the way, my name is Yuki Sohma, what's yours?" He said introducing himself, "I'm Tohru Honda, it's nice to meet you, Yuki." Tohru said with a smile, Yuki smiled back, "Same to you Tohru, now let me help you up." He said standing up and extending his hand to her, Tohru accepted his hand and Yuki helped her stand up. She made sure not to put pressure on her right leg. Yuki led Tohru back to Shigure's place, and he knew that he was gone for a long time so he knew that his older brother would be so worried about him. "Take it easy, Tohru," Yuki said. She smiled at him once they were close to the house and they heard voices. "YUKI!" Called one of the voices, "Where are you, little brother?!" Called the other, "I'm over here, big brother, Shigure!" Yuki called to his brother and cousin. The next thing heard was running coming towards them.
Then a silver-haired man with golden yellow eyes and a guy with black hair and black eyes came into view. "Yuki, where have you been?" The silver-haired man asked, "I was walking in the forest." Yuki answered, "I was so worried, please don't do that again." The older brother said, Shigure placed his hand on the older brother's shoulder. "Calm down Ayame, I'm sure he has his reasons for being out so late. Just look, he has a little girl with him," Shigure said, pointing to Tohru.
Ayame looked to Tohru and saw her hurt, then he looked at Yuki who seemed to be sweating more from exhaustion than embarrassment. "Oh no you poor thing, let's help you inside the house," Ayame said, as he picked Tohru up and made his way to the house followed by Shigure and a worried Yuki. "I understand that you are worried about her little brother, please calm down," Ayame said, Yuki nodded and did the best he could to calm down. They made it to the house and Ayame laid Tohru down on the couch while Yuki went to get the first aid kit. He walked over to Ayame and Shigure who were next to Tohru, "How are you feeling Tohru?" Yuki asked, "My leg hurts." She answered, "It will be ok Tohru, hey Shigure do you have any ice so that we can stop her leg from swelling?" Yuki asked, "Yes wait right here, then once I get the ice I will call Hatori and have him come over to see if he could help us with her leg." Shigure said as he walked into the kitchen to get the ice. While he was gone Yuki was calming down Tohru so that Ayame could talk to her, "So sweetie, what's your name? First and Last so that we can help you find your parents." Ayame said, Tohru looked at Ayame the best she could. "Tohru, Tohru Honda." She said, "Alright Tohru, how did you hurt your leg?" Ayame asked, "I was roaming around late at night, I was lost, cold, and scared. I didn't see where I was going so I tripped and fell onto the ground. I think I sprained my ankle." Ayame looked at her shocked, "Aww poor girl, don't worry we will help you. By the way, I'm Ayame Sohma, I'm Yuki's big brother. And the guy who went to get you ice for your leg is our cousin Shigure Sohma." Ayame said, "Thank you for helping me." Tohru said Ayame and Yuki smiled at Tohru.
"It's no problem at all Tohru, we're happy to help you." Yuki said then Shigure came back into the room with the ice pack, "I'm back," He said, he handed Ayame the ice pack, "Alright Tohru, which leg did you injure?" Ayame asked, "My right one." Tohru said, "Hey little brother, can you help me?" Ayame said, Yuki nodded and he took the ice pack from Ayame, "Tohru this may sting a bit." Yuki said, he then gave Tohru a reassuring smile, she smiled back at Yuki. He carefully placed the ice pack on Tohru's right leg where the swelling was, she flinched at first but eased up when she left the coolness of the ice pack on her wound.
Tohru sighed, "Is it feeling better Tohru?" Yuki asked, "Yes," she replied, "I'm glad," Ayame saw how good Tohru and Yuki were getting along, 'I really hope that they become more than friends since I can see that they care deeply about each other. And I wouldn't mind if when they were older, that Tohru became my sister-in-law.' Ayame thought with a smile, the snake turned his head to see Shigure get off the phone with the main house. "So what did he say?" Ayame asked, "He said that he's on his way to check on little flower here." Shigure said
"I see," Ayame said, then a knock was heard at the door. "Coming," Shigure said, he opened the door and Hatori was standing there smiling slightly, he had his doctor's bag in hand. "Hello Hatori, come on in." Shigure said, the Sohma doctor walked inside the house. "Where is the girl?" Hatori asked, "She's in the living room with Ayame and Yuki." Shigure replied, Hatori nodded and made his way to the living room with Shigure following behind. Ayame heard the 2 men walk into the room, "Hatori, you've come." He said, "Yes, now let me see the girl." Hatori said, Ayame nodded and he got up from his spot then moved out of the way so that Hatori could look at Tohru's leg.
Yuki stayed where he was since he wanted to be close to Tohru, Hatori sat in Ayame's spot. "Hey, little one. Mind telling me how your leg got so swollen?" Hatori asked, Tohru was a little scared but Yuki gave her a smile. "Don't be afraid Tohru, this is Hatori Sohma, he's the doctor of the family. He's going to help you with your leg." Yuki said, Tohru nodded at him then spoke to Hatori. "I was roaming around the forest at night, since I got seperated from my mother in a huge crowd of people. I took a wrong turn when I was trying to find her, I ended up in this forest at night, I didn't look where I was going and I tripped over a tree root." Tohru explained, "I see, now I'm going to check your leg." Hatori said he removed the ice pack from Tohru's right leg.
The swelling has gone down but it still had blue and purple coloring. Hatori carfally moved Tohru's leg so that he could get an all around look at her wound. Tohru did not like the pain, so Yuki held her hand. When Hatori got how bad her wound was he spoke, "Well it's swollen and she can't walk on it. But I do have an ointment that can be applied to the swollen area of her leg. I'm going to try and contact her mother to let her know what happened to Tohru and that she is safe. I want you guys to try and contact her mother as well, also her leg needs to be iced every hour and a half to an hour. She can't put any pressure on her leg at all." Hatori said, "I see she will be staying here with us for a couple of days." Said Shigure, "Yes, and Ayame I think that it's best for you and Yuki to stay here as well." Hatori explained,
Ayame knew what he was talking about, "Yeah I will go and call mother." He said before walking away, Hatori went into his bag and pulled out a white tube. He handed it to Shigure, "Here, this is the ointment for her leg to stop the swelling." Hatori said, Shigure takes the tube. "Thanks Hatori," Shigure said, Hatori nodded. "I'm going to head back to the main house, if her swelling doesn't calm down then call me and I'll come look at it." He said the dog nodded, Hatori then left and Shigure walked to Yuki and Tohru.
"Tohru, I'm going to apply the ointment to your leg. It may sting a little, ok?" She nodded, Shigure applied the cream to her leg. It stung for a few seconds then the pain started to subside from her leg. "Thanks Shigure," She said, "No problem, now Hatori said that you have to stay here for a couple of days until your leg is healed. Ayame is going to see if he and Yuki can stay a bit longer, then once you're healed we will take you back home." Tohru nodded, Yuki helped her sit up and she smiled at them. "I'm grateful that you all helped me." She said, "We're happy to help." Said Yuki, and that caused Tohru's smile to become brighter.
5 minutes later Ayame walked back into the room smiling, "Guess what little brother." He said, Yuki looked up at his brother. "What?" Yuki asked confused, "I called mother, explained to her what happened, and she said that we can stay until Tohru goes home." Yuki smiled brightly as if he just got the best christmas present. "Really? We can stay?" He asked for clarification, "Yes little brother, we can stay." Ayame said, and he knew that he just made Yuki's day.
Yuki has been taking care of Tohru as she was healing from her wound, Ayame and Shigure were happy to see that Yuki was making a friend. "She might be the first one to accept Yuki for who he really is." Ayame whispered to Shigure, "I agree with that." He replied, he knew that it was going to be a long few weeks which would fly by fast.
*With Hatori*
The black haired doctor was going through missing child reports for kids with Tohru's description. As he was scrolling he found the report, "So her name is Tohru Honda," He said to himself, he looked through the report until he found her mother's number. He picked up the phone and called the number.
"Hello?" Said a woman on the phone, "Yes, is this Kyoko Honda?" He asked, "Yes, that's me who's calling?" She asked, "I'm Hatori Sohma, and recently a family member called me, and said that a little girl was injured. So I went over and treated her, and I heard that her name was Tohru. She explained that she was lost in the forest when she got separated from you. I just wanted to call and let you know that Tohru is safe and is being treated." He said the woman on the other line sounded to be crying tears of relief that her daughter was found and is safe. "I'm so happy, thanks for letting me know how she is, I'm afraid I won't be able to pick her up right away. So can you wait at least 3 weeks?" She asked, "Yes I can and that should be enough time for her leg to heal fully." Hatori said, "Alright, thank you for letting me know that my dear sweet Tohru was safe." Kyoko said, "No problem, we will see you in 3 weeks." Hatori said, then he ended the call with Kyoko.
'I'm glad that I was able to contact Tohru's mother, even though I know that she's going to be attending public school. I saw the way Yuki looked at her, I can tell that he has a crush on her. I also know that he wants to attend the same school as Tohru so I will go ask Akito if she will allow him to attend the schools that Tohru attends.' Hatori thought to himself before getting up and walking towards the main house where Akito, the head of the Sohma family lives.
Hatori arrived at the main house and headed inside, he walked down a long hallway before he made it to a dark oak door. He knocked on the door, "Come in," The voice said from the inside, he opened the door and walked inside. One the other side of the room a woman with short black hair, and black eyes was standing facing the wall away from Hatori. "Yes Hatori," He took in a deep breath, "Akito, today Yuki met a girl in the forest. She was wounded so Shigure called me over to check on her. While I was helping her I could sense that Yuki was drawn to the girl." He said that caused Akito to smile. "So our little Yuki has found himself a friend?" Hatori nodded, "Yes he did, and also since they're so close would you allow Yuki to attend the same public schools as Tohru?" Hatori asked, "Of course he can, but you need to understand one thing, that when she hugs Yuki for the first time he will turn into a rat. She needs to accept him for who he really is, do you believe that she will stay beside him?" Akito asked, "I have no doubt in my mind that she will be able to not only accept Yuki but our entire family for who we are." Akito nodded then turned around to face Hatori.
"In that case I have no problem with him attending the same schools as his new friend Tohru. But if she turns him down and causes him heartbreak, you know what to do, Hatori." He nodded before leaving the room, Akito also had a feeling that Tohru would be the first one to accept the Sohma family for who they really are.
*3 weeks later with Yuki and Tohru*
Over the past 3 weeks Tohru and Yuki have been getting closer and closer everyday, since they are getting so close Yuki decided that it was time to tell Tohru about the Sohma curse. He was scared that he might lose his one and only friend, but he had to tell her. "Tohru can I tell you something," He asked, "Sure, what's the matter Yuki?" She looked at him and he could tell just by the look in her eyes that she was worried and that she would listen to him. "Well has your mother ever told you the folktale of the Chinese Zodiac?" He asked, Tohru nodded.
"Yes she tells me it almost every night since it's one of my favorite stories, and she tells me both halves of the story. I felt so bad for the poor rat, he never deserved the treatment that the cat gave him. I declared to my mother that I was the year of the rat and not the dog, but I'm happy that the cat got punished for being so cruel to his friends. But what does that story have to do with what you need to tell me?" She asked courrious, "Well apart of the punishment that God gave the cat was that a family in the future would be cursed by the spirits of the zodiac animals, and Tohru that family is mine." Tohru looked at him as she was taking in this new information about her new friend. "So Yuki, who are the cursed members of your family?" She asked,
"Hatsuharu Sohma is the cow, little Kisa Sohma is the tiger, Momiji Sohma is the rabbit, Hatori is the dragon, Ayame is the snake, Rin Sohma is the horse, little Hiro Sohma is the sheep, Ritsu Sohma is the monkey, Kureno Sohma is the roaster, Shigure is the dog, Kagura Sohma is the boar or the pig, my other cousin Kyo Sohma is the cursed Cat spirit, while I'm the…" Yuki could not find the words to tell Tohru which one he was. "I'm guessing that you're the rat?" She asked, he nodded sadly, "When a cursed member of the family is hugged by the opposite gender they turn into their respective animal. I've lost many friends because they found out that I was a cursed rat. Then Hatori erased their memories," Yuki said, "But I don't want that to happen to you, Tohru." She looked at Yuki and smiled at him,
"I don't care if you were cursed or not I still care about you either way. But I would like to hug you." She said, Yuki was surprised that she accepted him, he smiled and hugged her, she hugged him back. Then a 'poof' was heard, Tohru looked in her lap to see that Yuki turned into an adorable little rat. She picked him up in her hands and looked into his little dark grey eyes, "You're adorable in this form Yuki, and don't worry I won't betray you or turn you away. I accept you, and all of your family for who they are. I will always be your friend even if others turn you away." Yuki smiled at Tohru and she smiled back, then she sat him down on the floor just in time for him to transform back into a human.
She covered her eyes as Yuki gathered his clothes and got dressed. Once he was done she opened her eyes, and a little blush was on her face. "Do you accept me and my family for who we are?" He asked, trying to make sure that Tohru really accepted them. "Of course I do, and I promise that I will help you and your family break this curse. I will be there for you when you need a friend, someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, and a defender. I will do anything I can to help you, Yuki." Tohru said, Yuki smiled at her and he had tears coming down his face.
He hugged her the best he could without transforming into a rat, as they hugged Ayame walked into the room. He saw the sense he smiled at them then he took a picture with his camera, 'That is so cute, I see that she accepted him and all of us. I'm happy,' Ayame thought before Shigure walked in, and that was just as Tohru and Yuki parted from their hug. Shigure spoke up, "Tohru, Hatori called earlier and said that your mother will be here in an hour." Tohru turned her head and smiled at Shigure even though she felt like she may never see Yuki again.
Yuki felt the same way as Tohru, but Ayame spoke up this time. "Also he said that he spoke to Akito, she said that the both of you can still see each other. The best part is Akito is allowing the both of you to go to the same schools." Ayame said with delight that definitely made both Tohru and Yuki's day, they smiled brightly since they would be able to see each other and go to the same schools.
*An hour later*
A knock was heard at the door, Ayame got up to get the door. When he opened the door a woman with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes was standing there. She looked relieved and worried, "Can I help you?" Ayame asked, "Yes, I was called by Hatori Sohma 3 weeks ago about my daughter being here." She said, "Do you happen to be Tohru's mother?" Ayame asked, the woman nodded. "Yes I'm Kyoko Honda, I've been so worried about little Tohru." Kyoko said, Ayame similed. "Well then come on, she's in the living room." Ayame said letting Kyoko inside, then he led her to the living room where Tohru was and she was talking with Yuki. "Tohru," Kyoko said, getting the little girl's attention. Tohru turned her head to see her mother standing in the doorway.
Tohru started to cry, she got up from her seat and ran towards Kyoko. "Mommy!" Tohru cried, The strawberry blond haired woman held her brown haired daughter tightly as if she was going to leave. "I'm so glad you are safe, Tohru." Kyoko said, "It was all thanks to Yuki and his family." Tohru replied. Kyoko let go of the hug and she thanked Yuki, Ayame, and Shigure for helping Tohru before she picked up Tohru and left the house to take her little girl home. Yuki knew that he would be seeing Tohru again since he has permission to go to the same schools as Tohru.