Disclaimer: As they say, I do not own anything that is of Fruits Basket and of course, I'm not earning any profit from this either. I take no credit for the creations of Furuba.

AN: Hello! This is my first fic of Furuba! Hope you all like it. I'm starting this fic from the beginning of the story... so Tohru hasn't moved into the Sohma household yet. It may seem like I'm rewriting the whole story at first but please be patient with me... I'll get onto the real plot gradually. The coupling is Kyo and Tohru just to clear that up. Alright, I shall not keep you any longer!

A Pledge of Onigiri – Chapter One – By Cherry Chibi

'Beginning of a dream...'

Today is leaving

Tomorrow is there waiting

Move a step forward

- - - -

Tohru woke up with a feeling that something surprising was going to happen that day. Well, a lot of surprising things have been happening to her anyway. But today... it felt completely different. Something was going to happen. It was a heart thumping feeling. Her nerves were on alert. 'Maybe it's just because it is such a beautiful day!' Tohru thought as she walked out of her bedroom. She yawned. "What time is it mum?" She asked aloud, waiting for her mum to reply. Except, no reply came. She woke up fully, "Mum?" The house was silent and there weren't any signs of someone being in the apartment. She entered the simple kitchen and took notice of the clock on the bench. "Argh! It's eight already?! I'm running late!"

The night before she had been studying for a test that was on this day. She rushed into the room and changed into her uniform before grabbing her bag and running out the door. As fast as she could, she locked the door and sprinted to the elevator and traveled to ground floor. Once the elevator doors opened wide enough, she dashed straight out and ran to school. 'I didn't get to say 'be safe' to Mum today...' Tohru thought guiltily. 'I really hope that she would be alright...'

Luckily, Tohru had just made it into homeroom and took her seat beside her two best ever friends Hana and Arisa. "Morning!" She said with a bright smile that radiated like the sun. "How are you today?"

"You were running late today..." Hana said with her cool and calm voice. "Did something happen?" Although her emotions didn't show on her face, she was concerned and when Tohru shook her head she was relieved.

"I was just studying for today's test. That's all." Tohru replied. Her attention was caught when squeals and shouts of excitement exploded the room into the daily routine. The Yuki Fan Club cheered and crowded around their idol as he entered the classroom with a smile on his face. "Sohma-kun sure is popular..." Tohru said with a laugh of nervousness.

"Class silence!" The teacher shouted as he entered the room. "I'll be taking roll call now!" And as the daily routine was, the roll was called and students responded to their names like a choir of birds taking their turns to call out. Just as soon as roll call was finished, an announcement called out.

"Tohru Honda Class 1-D please come to the conference room on the first floor immediately... I repeat, Tohru Honda Class 1-D please come to the conference room on the first floor immediately..."

"Huh?" Tohru stood from her seat. After checking with her teacher, she left the classroom and quickly hurried to the conference room. 'I wonder what it is about...' Once she had entered the room, there was a dark and sympathetic atmosphere. "Hello? Um... I'm Tohru Honda." She said to the lady at the desk as she entered.

"Honda-san, please, have a seat." The lady said.

Tohru sat down, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Is there something wrong?" She asked. The look on the lady's face was worrying her and when her principal entered, that didn't help either. 'Oh no... did I do something wrong? I didn't do anything wrong did I?!' She felt her heart jumping in her chest.

"Honda-san, we have just received a call..." The principal started slowly and carefully. It was clear that he was uncomfortable with breaking the news to Tohru. "It was from the authorities..." The words were coming out painfully slowly, Tohru could feel her hands moisten up from the stress of worries. "Your mother has been involved in a car accident."

"Mum?!" At that moment she felt her blood freeze. Time stopped. The clear blue sky outside had darkened with stormy clouds. The birds vanished. "I-Is she alright?! Is Mum ok?!" At that moment she felt her hands shivering from the shock. She didn't know whether to stand or to remain seated. Should she cry now? Was her mother alright? Her body seemed to have stopped functioning when she saw her principal shake his head achingly slowly.

"I'm sorry Honda-san... I'm afraid... that your mother..."

"Mum..." Tears rushed to her eyes like a race. 'Why didn't I wake up just to say it this once... be safe... mum...' Somehow she blamed herself for her mother's death. She would have never imagined anything like this happening to her mother. Not in a million years. But the fact was, that it did happen. Her shoulders were shuddering like earthquakes. "Mum..."

"Honda-san, I've contacted your grandfather... he'll be picking you up today..." The principal said, "I'm very sorry Tohru..." In his eyes were the sympathetic embers. He offered all the words of comfort to the young girl he could think of but soon Tohru asked if she could return to class. He had no other thoughts in mind so he allowed her to.

The walk back to the classroom felt very lonely. Tears were streaking her face. She smelt the salt from them. 'Why couldn't I say it this once...?' She wanted to cry so much. She wanted to lock herself in a dark room and cry until the end of time. How could a car accident take away her mother like that? Her mother was a woman who had so much strength in her. How could something so common take her mother away?

It had to be a nightmare. The news was just too horrible to be real. She was probably having a nightmare. Soon she was at her classroom door, she stopped. Her hand on the handle to push in open. 'I can't let anyone worry about me...' Tohru thought to herself. She took a couple of sniffles and tried her best to clear herself up.

'Ok.' She slid open the door and entered the classroom. Returning to her seat between her friends, she sat there quietly. She sat there as controlled as she could. "What have I missed?" Tohru asked her friends with a shaky voice.

"Is something wrong Tohru?" Arisa asked her.

"Nope. I'm fine." Tohru said. "So did I miss anything?" She asked her friends again. With a smile plastered on her face, she continued and pulled through her lessons until recess. When they were outside, Arisa and Hana filled Tohru in with all the events that were happening in their lives. Tohru listened but she was just an empty shell. Soon enough Hana and Arisa had noticed it and insisted Tohru to open up.

She was hesitant and being persistent saying that she was alright - until her tears came back and this time, she couldn't stop them at all. In an unclear tone, she explained what had happened. After the explanation, Arisa and Hana reacted in their own ways. Hana fell quiet and mumbled the words, "I'm sorry Tohru..."

Arisa however, her eyes were wider than ever, "Kyoko-san?!" It seemed that the loss was affecting them both as much as it had affected Tohru.

From that point on, the whole day felt like it was one of the coldest winter days ever. Regardless of the fact that it was a warm day and that there wasn't a smear of a cloud in the sky. Their hurt had somehow caught the attention of their teachers and by half way through the day, all three of them were asked to go home since they weren't in any condition to be at school.

- - - -

Yuki entered his bedroom and dropped his bag onto the floor carelessly. 'Shigure probably has gone out again...' He sighed and dropped backwards onto his futon. 'Honda-san seemed upset today... I hope that whatever she was told wasn't something bad.' He turned onto his side. 'It's none of my business anyway...' Just then, Yuki heard the front door of the house open.

"I'm home! And I brought take away too!" Shigure boomed into the house. "Yuki"

He couldn't understand how his dog cousin could ever be so loud. He remained on his futon unmoving. Unusually, he was feeling rather exhausted. He stared right up to the ceiling, thinking that maybe he had already fallen to sleep.

Recently he had ran away from the main Sohma household and arrived here. He also was attending a co-educational school against Akito's wishes. Also, he was popular at school among teachers and students. He should've been pleased that he had made a step out of the Sohma cage. But why doesn't he feel any different? Maybe it was because although he had escaped the main house, he was still in a Sohma house and that he still had to keep his secret. His lifestyle was still barely different.

"Yuki?" Shigure slid open the door, in one hand he held a plastic bag which had the take out food in it. "Aren't you hungry? I brought some delicious food home!" Realizing the glum atmosphere, he lowered his arm. "What's wrong now Yuki?"

"Nothing." Yuki replied. "Nothing at all." He didn't feel like he was wanted to make the effort to tell Shigure everything. After all, he wasn't even sure if he could trust Shigure fully yet. The dog was occasionally going back to the main house for various reasons and he knew that one of them was to report to Akito - whatever there was to report.

Shigure sighed, "Oh well... I guess that I'll eat all of this all alone..." It was one of his attempts to tempt Yuki to get up and into the dining room. No reaction came. "Okay then..." He slid the bedroom door shut and made his way to the dining room. Yuki had been moping about allot for no particular reason. To be specific, Yuki had always been moping around one way or another. 'We need a woman around the house... maybe it would lighten things up a bit...' Shigure thought half jokingly to himself. He chuckled.

- - - -

Tohru wiped her eyes dry once again with the sleeve of her jumper and sealed up the last box that contained her mother's possessions. She had been asked by her relatives to pack all of her mother's things. It felt as though her mother was the only family she had left besides her grandfather. 'They really want to rush things... why can't I just stay here for longer?' She stood and wiped away her stray tears. 'I better go to bed... it's late... I have to wake up early tomorrow because my relatives are coming to pick up everything...' Silently with the occasional sniffle, she entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

For the first time in her life, she went to bed without having anyone to say 'good night' to.

- - - -

In the dark streets a lone figure prowled, hands tucked in his pockets and his face plastered with a sneer. "I'm gonna kick your ass Rat-boy..." He said, his tone dripping with hatred towards the person. Four long months and soon it was going to be time for him to finally defeat his rival. A harsh cold wind blew and an object collided against his foot. He glanced down to find a silver necklace with a small silver... onigiri pendant? Finding the object rather strange, he bent down and picked it up. There was a emerald jewel at the centre that he guessed represented some sort of umeboshi or something. 'Who the hell would want to have something like this?!'

He was about to just drop it carelessly but then a second thought came. He sensed that there was some sort of importance from it and decided to take care of it for the time being. He tucked it into his pocket.

- - - -

Her dreams weren't any help to her situation. She dreams were flooded of all the happy times that she had with her mother - happy times which she took for granted. In her sleep, she shifted continuously. Visions of a car crash which soon flickered back to her mother's happy face and the back to the car crash. "Mum!" She sat upright in tears. 'I can't sleep at all!' She wiped her tears and slipped out of bed. Tohru pulled on an extra jacket. 'I'll go for a walk. I need some air.'

She walked out of her bedroom and to where her shoes waited patiently beside the main door. After slipping on her shoes, she left the apartment. Usually she wouldn't go out at this hour of night by herself but something was telling her to go out. Or more like she felt like she just wanted to be outside in the open and find some place where she could clear her thoughts rather than be in a place which contained so many reminders of her mother.

Once she was outside, she welcomed the breeze which felt so cooling against her flushed skin. Soon enough she was able to find a distraction that made her smile rather weakly. Glancing up at the sky she admired the full moon. 'It's so beautiful... and the stars are so clear tonight too...' She continued to walk the empty streets.

- - - -

'I'm going to beat that Yuki...' He thought as he walked, 'And when I do... I can be part of the zodiac!' He grinned rather evilly and balled his hand into a fist. "That's right! I'm going to beat the crap out of him!" He started to sprint eager to reach Shigure's house. It was only a couple more blocks away until he reached the forest which would lead to the house. Turning a sharp corner, he collided with someone and then... a puff of smoke appeared.

- - - -

"I'm so sorry!" Tohru said in a panic while bowing repeatedly. "Are you alright... ah...?" She then looked down at the orange knocked out cat with boy clothing nearby. She could hear her heart thumping in her ears. 'What happened?' She wasn't sure what to make of it. 'Did that guy just turn into a cat?!' She stared at the cat for a moment longer, 'Mum... this really must be some sort of dream!' She picked up the limp cat along with the clothes. 'Maybe I hit him in the wrong spot...! Ack! I need to get him a doctor! But all the clinics would be closed by now... so would the vets... argh! What do I do? Where should I take him?' It was soon enough did she decide that it would be best to take him back to her place.

Rushing all the way back up to her apartment, she entered the room. Flicking on the lights, slamming the door shut and trying to figure out what to do next in panic mode. 'The couch!' She put the cat on the couch and took a step back. 'Now what do I do?!' She looked right to left up and down trying to think of what to do next.

A bomb of pinkish-purple exploded and Tohru squealed and spun around. 'Oh my gosh... did that cat just turn into a boy? What's happening?! Okay... he... he's...' She blushed a bright red. 'He's... naked!' Unsure what else to do, she rushed into her bedroom and pulled out a spare blanket. Her face still felt like it was burning like a blue flame, she held the blanket up to cover her face and stretched it as wide as her arms would go. Step by step she got back to the couch and covered up the boy feeling extremely embarrassed although she didn't see anything.

After that, she stood there dumbfounded. Who was this boy? Why was he out so late at night and... why did he turn into a cat? She had many questions to ask out of curiosity. 'Wait, it's rude to pry into another person's personal business... when he wakes up... I'll make sure if he's okay and then he can leave and everything would go back to normal.' Tohru then took a look at the boy's face, 'He sure is...' She felt colour rise to her cheeks again. '... cute.'

Unsure whether or not she should leave the room or not, she settled with making onigiri, just in case whoever the person was woke up and was feeling hungry.

- - - -

Kyo woke up and he was face to face with a stranger. "What?! Who the hell are you?!" He said and jumped up. The girl reacted quickly and threw at him his clothing before she saw anything she wasn't suppose to see. He quickly pulled on his clothing.

"I'm so sorry! I saw you moving and I thought that you were going to wake up so I..."

Realizing his rather unusual situation, he kept quiet and tried to control his anger that had been aroused from the embarrassment. "Did you see anything?" He asked the girl with a sort of annoyed tone - he didn't mean to sound that way but that's how he was when he dealt with other people.

The girl jumped with embarrassment, "No-no! I didn't see any.."

"I meant, did you see me transform?" Kyo asked again his tone angrier than the last. The girl silenced and calmed. She gave him a small nod and he turned his head into another direction. 'She saw me... I've exposed my secret... what do I do now?' He glanced at the girl from the corner of his eye, 'She probably thinks that I'm some sort of freak...'

"Um..." She hurried to the kitchen bench and came back holding a plate. "Are you hungry? I made this for you just in case..." Kyo felt his cheeks turn red. He had never met anyone who was so nice to him and he wasn't used to it. Because of that, he just showed more anger than he was supposed to.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Kyo shouted, she winced and backed away a bit.

"I'm sor-"

"Don't apologise! Don't you know it's really annoying when someone apologises so many times?!" Kyo continued shouting.

"I'm sor-"

"I said-!" He stopped when he saw the girl's smile. Guilt came crashing down on him like a whole load of bricks. He growled frustrated. He wasn't meant to deal with people. He just wasn't able to stand around people let alone show any sign of gratitude towards someone's kindness. Another thing he found rather unusual was how the girl was smiling even though he was yelling at her. 'This is a great way to start off a conversation...' Kyo thought sarcastically.

"I'm Tohru Honda." The girl said after a period of silence. He looked at her with awe. She acted like what he had said to her earlier had made no impact whatsoever. "I hope that you're feeling better now... I know that you must've been embarrassed... after all, I did see you transform in a cat and all. That must've been your secret so now that I've found out..." She stopped speaking and then held out the plate with onigiri to Kyo. "Are you sure that you wouldn't like some onigiri?"

Giving in at last due to his empty stomach, he took a piece. "Thanks." He slumped back on the couch and took a bite from it. After chewing the rice and swallowing he was amazed at how good the onigiri tasted. "This tastes good..."

"Did you say something?" Tohru asked him nicely as she sat beside him.

"Nothing." Kyo said with a sigh. "I haven't told you my name yet have I? It's Kyo." He took note of the girl's smile and couldn't help but give a small smile of his own.

"It's nice to meet you Kyo." Tohru said. "So, how are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere?" She looked concerned for a while until Kyo replied that he was alright. When everything fell silent again, he felt as though this girl that he had just met was one that was different from many other people. She had already accepted him even though she saw him transform into a cat and back.

He looked around and noticed that there were quite a number of boxes stacked against the walls and in the middle of the room. "Did you just move in?" He asked her while taking another piece of onigiri.

Tohru smiled gently, "No... my relatives just wanted to pick up my mother's things to take somewhere else." She fell silent and then glanced around the room.

"Why?" Kyo asked her. Why would her relatives want with her mother's things while she was here? How come she didn't say that her things were also part of the luggage. "Are you moving in with your relatives?"

"No. I don't know..." Tohru replied with a smile still in the presence of her face, "... I'm not sure who's taking me in yet." She looked out and drank in the apartment. "My... mum had just passed away today... and my relatives had told me to pack her things." Kyo had sensed a bit of sadness that had managed to escape and it was then that he felt even more ashamed of how he had been acting earlier.

"Some relatives they are..." He said in a low tone. He didn't like the way that Tohru had said things. So her relatives contacted her and told her to pack her mother's things... what about her? Didn't they care about how she felt? Weren't they going to even visit her to see how she was coping? They were probably selfish people who only wanted to get her mother's possessions to sell or something.

Tohru realised what Kyo was thinking. "Please don't think badly of my relatives! I don't want to trouble them at all and I'm doing fine by myself." She smiled at him again and he frowned deeper.

'You've got to admit...' Kyo thought, 'You can admire a girl like her...' Feeling that he shouldn't stay any longer he stood up. "I better get going. Thanks for your help." He said while digging his hands into his pockets.

"Oh... ok." Tohru said cheerily. "You must want to go home." She led him to the door and opened it for him, "I'm glad that you're feeling alright."

"Yeah." Kyo said while stepping out of the apartment. "Hey, hold out your hand." He said to Tohru at a neutral tone catching her off guard. "Just do it." He told her. Hesitantly, she did so and he dropped the silver necklace that he had found earlier into her hand. "Here. You have it. I have no use for it. Take care of yourself." He then walked away silently, he wasn't sure what else to say so he decided not to say anything at all.

Tohru looked down at the small gift with surprise. 'This necklace...' She could feel her tears swell, 'This necklace is similar to the one mum had... only... with an emerald jewel... mum's one had a sapphire one... I can't accept this...' She looked up to chase up with Kyo but he was gone. 'I hope that we do meet again soon...' She thought.

- - - -

AN: Hey everyone! What did you think? Please tell me! I just wrote this since I'm sick at home and bored... Thanks for reading this. Until next time!

- Cherry Chibi