Declaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.

The True Him

Chapter 1: Terrible News

"Miss Honda, isn't that your friend over there?" Yuki Sohma asked, pointing to a girl sitting on a swing.

Tohru looked over to where he was pointing. There she saw her friend, Ren Yamamoto, sitting on a swing. She looked like she had been crying. Tohru walked over to her with Yuki following close behind. She sat on the swing next to Ren's. Yuki sat on the bench facing the swing set. Tohru looked at Ren for a second before beginning.

"Hey Ren. Is something wrong?" Tohru asked quietly.

"…………"

"Do you want to talk about it? You know I'm here if you need me."

"I know……my parents died……in a plane crash accident coming home from America this morning. Apparently there was terrible weather after they got up in the air and they could not find a place to land….. They crashed in to a building…………there was no survivors," Ren said in a shaky voice.

"I'm so sorry," Tohru apologized.

"Its not your fault."

"…Do you need a place to stay?"

"For now, I can stay at my house. I have a few months before I have to get out since my parents paid the bills."

"I'm sure you can stay with us. Wait……I don't know what Akito-san will say about it."

"I'm not so sure about it either, Miss Honda. We will have to ask him," Yuki said softly. " Actually, I much rather have Shigure ask."

"He does have the special relationship with Akito-san."

"But…Miss Honda, you have changed Akito a little. He is a little better about treating people right."

"I really don't think I did anything."

"…..Ummmm, who's Akito? And Shigure?" Ren asked.

"Akito is the head of my family. Shigure is my cousin," Yuki answered her.

"You really don't have to do this. I'm sure I'll find someone to live with."

"But your family lives so far away," Tohru said.

"But they still live in Japan," Ren said.

"I would be very sad if you went away, Ren."

"Yes. Why not just ask my cousin if you can stay at our house. I'm sure he'll let you." Yuki said with a smile.

"Shigure-san yes, Akito-san…maybe," Tohru corrected him.

"You're right."

"Lets go back to our house. You can meet Shigure-san. And if we're lucky, Hatori-san might be there," Tohru said to Ren.

Ren smiled and nodded. Yuki helped her out of the swing. She smiled at him and let him lead her to Shigure's house. Tohru followed them. She was very sad to hear one of her best friend's parents died. Tohru could remember how she felt when her mother died. It was unexpected. So sudden. It made her very sad. Tohru still cried for her mother every now and then. But it's mostly around the anniversary of her death. Tohru was now going to be there for Ren. She wanted to help Ren through this difficult time for her.

The three arrived at the house a half hour later. Tohru had Ren sit down while she made some tea. Yuki sat in the room with Ren to keep her company. Kyo passed by. He really didn't even noticed Ren in there. Shigure emerged from his office to the smell of sweets. He then noticed that Ren was there. He smiled at her. Then he looked at Yuki and decided to tease him.

"Yuki, why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend? How could you replace Tohru-kun?" He asked sadly.

"I didn't replace her! This is Miss Honda's friend, Ren Yamamoto," Yuki said to him.

"I see. Well its nice to meet you. I'm Shigure Sohma. Yuki's cousin."

"Its nice to meet you," Ren said has she bowed to him in respect.

"Well, I'm going to go see if I can help Tohru-kun with anything," Shigure said as he left the room.

The two of them watched him go. Not to long after, Kyo returned to the dinning room, where they were sitting. He looked from Ren to Yuki then to Ren again. He hasn't seen her before. Well, maybe a few times when he saw Tohru talking to her. He sat down.

"Who are you?" He asked her.

"My name is Ren Yamamoto," Ren said quietly.

" I'm Kyo Sohma………Are you one of Tohru's friends?"

"Yes."

Kyo nodded. Then everything went silent. You couldn't even hear Shigure teasing Tohru. Yuki looked at Kyo. Kyo looked at Yuki. They nodded at each other, got up, and opened the kitchen door. There they saw the person they'd least expect on earth to be in the kitchen, or even the house. Yes, there stood Akito Sohma. He was towering over Tohru with a gentle look in his eyes. Shigure was close to him, just in case something were to happen. But Akito had no intention to hurt Tohru. In fact, he was there just to talk to her.

Ever since that day, Akito has become very good about controlling his temper. He's a little nicer now. Not quiet there to match up with the other Sohmas. He did tell Kyo that he is welcome to the Main House. He broke off the deal between them. He no longer has to defeat Yuki to be a member of the zodiac.

"Well now, Akito, why don't you come in the dinning room and sit. I have something I want to talk to you about anyway. Tohru will join us in a minute," Shigure said trying to put Akito in a good mood.

"Yes. Let us sit. We will wait for you, Tohru Honda," Akito said leaving the room with Shigure.

"Miss Honda, did Akito do anything to you? Did he say anything?" Yuki asked worried.

"No. Akito-san was very nice," Tohru said with a smile.

"Good. I'm glad."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Akito, this is Ren Yamamoto. She is one of Tohru's friends," Shigure told Akito.

Akito looked at this new girl with some sort of interest. She was beautiful, even he had to admit. Her hair was long and silky. Its color is raven black. Her skin was soft a creamy. Her eyes were a beautiful green. He could tell it was natural beauty for he saw no trace of make-up on her face. She looked so much like his mother. Though, his mother's hair was a little bit wavy. She even had the same name as his mother. Ren. He then looked to Shigure.

"Why are you telling me?" He asked.

"Well, actually, I have something to ask you," Shigure told him.

"And that is?"

"Well, just before you came, Tohru was telling me something. I think we should go outside."

Akito looked at this girl once more before getting up. He led the way to the porch with Shigure following him. Shigure closed the doors behind him.

"What is it that you need to ask me?" Akito asked, sitting down.

"Well, Tohru told me that Ren's parents had died this morning. Ren has no place to go, so we were wondering-"

"If I will allow her to live with you," Akito finish.

"Yes. She knows nothing of the curse, but if she were to live here, she would eventually find out."

"For now. I think will allow her to live with you. And if she does find out, it goes the same for her as I said about Tohru."

"Thank you, Akito. You're very kind."

"No, I'm not. I want to talk to her first before I make it final."

"Oh, so that wasn't your final decision?"

"No. Didn't you hear me say, "I think?" Now, bring her to the Main House tomorrow. Bring Tohru Honda as well. I want to speak with her."

"Ok. I will."

With that being said, Akito got up and went to his car. He got in, started it, and drove away. Shigure watched him until he was out of site. Then he went back into the house. There he saw Yuki, Kyo, Tohru, and Ren waiting for him.

"So, what'd he say?" Yuki asked.

"Well, he would like me to bring Ren and Tohru to the Main House tomorrow. You can stay here tonight if you want, Ren," Shigure said as he sat down.

"Thank you, but I can return to my own home. I need to feed my cat anyway."

"Oh hell no! If she's going to live here then I'm moving out! I'm not going to live in a house with a cat wondering around!" Kyo shouted.

"Kyo, that's not nice. Ren has been through a lot of pain today. Don't hurt her even more by saying that." Shigure said getting just a little upset.

"Fine!"

Kyo then left the room. He really didn't mean to say it. He was still kind of worked up about Akito being there. Even though him and Akito are now on speaking terms, he still didn't like the fact that Akito was in the house. With Akito, you never know. He could tell you that he likes you and truly mean it. But he can also say that he likes you, and not mean it at all. Though his face would show kindness. So you really couldn't tell if he was lying or not. He hated that about Akito.

Kyo then saw Tohru go into her room. He heard the sound of something being stuffed into a bag. Then everything went quiet. Tohru left her room with a jacket on, a shopping bag in one hand, and her school bag in the other.

"Hey!" Kyo called out to her.

Tohru turned around to face him. "Yes? Do you need something, Kyo?" She asked.

"No. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to stay at Ren's tonight. She really needs someone there for her."

"Oh. Ok."

Tohru said her goodbyes to him then went down the stairs. She said bye to Yuki and Shigure then left the house with Ren. They walked in silence. Tohru knew that Ren needed sometime to herself to think, but she still wanted to be there for her.

"Tohru," Ren began.

"Yes?" Tohru asked as she looked over to her friend.

"You're such a good friend."

A/N: Ok. I'm writing a new fanfic. Ahhhh. The only character I own so far is Ren. All the others are not mine. Though, I wish that some of the Sohma boys were. Like Yuki, Kyo, Hatori, and a certain other person that you would have to go to my profile to find out. Well Read and Review! I hope that my writing has gotten better. I don't know. But I am trying to improve!