Sorry it took me so long to get this up. I was on vacation and there wasn't a comp anywhere near me. so sorry!

And again I do not own any of the Fruits Basket characters. But I do own the other ones.

The characters might be OOC but I'm trying not to make them that way. So forgive me if they are.

And please leave feedback.

Thanks!

☼☼

Open My Heart: Lost and Found

Exactly a month had passed since her arrival at the Sohma house, and Annika was having the time of her life, although she was always a little grumpy in the mornings when she STILL could not find the Fruit Loops she desperately wanted. Tohru and Annika had become fast friends. And in effect Annika became good friends with Uotani and Hanajima. Towards the end of the month it had become a habit for the two other girls to come over and hang out in either Tohru's room or Annika's room and do homework and then just have girl time.
Annika had kept in contact with her younger sister Isabella and relayed messages between Torhu and her sister. And to her dismay, Annika's crush on the orange haired male had grown. There were also those times when she noticed something was weird about the Sohma men. They avoided all physical contact with the opposite sex. And when she confronted either them or Tohru they just shook their head and told her not to worry about it. Although with them saying that did make her worry, something wasn't right and she knew it.
It wasn't until early Saturday morning that the big secret came out.
Annika had come home from her usual morning run and she was in the shower. She was just about to shut the shower off when she realized that she had forgotten to bring her towel with her. Blushing from embarrassment, Annika peeked her head outside the door. Her bedroom door was just down the hall and around the corner, could she risk running to her bedroom in the nude?
'I don't think I can do that' Annika thought, 'Just my luck I'd fall and everyone would come running just to find a very interesting surprise… but I'm not going to stand here all day or wait till someone comes along… who knows how long that will be' With a sigh Annika made her decision.
Taking a deep breathe, Annika opened the door and ran to her bedroom. As she turned the corner she ran into a hard muscular chest making her fall backwards.
"Ah!" Annika screamed and tried covering herself.
"WHAT THE-" POOF
Annika looked at the poof of smoke. And when it cleared she sat an orange cat standing with his hackles on end looking at her. She could have sworn it was Kyo that she had just bumped into, now there was a cat where he was standing.
'What the hell?!?!' her mind screamed. She heard running footsteps and quickly ran to her room shutting the door and backing up against it. 'How could I have kidded myself into thinking that something like that wasn't going to happen!! STUPID!' And then she heard raised voices from just outside her door.
"What did you do!" it was Yuki.
"I DIDN'T DO A DAMN THING! YOU DAMN RAT!" That was definitely Kyo's voice.
"What do you mean by that? I heard screaming! What happened baka neko!"
"The hell with that! That damn exchange student was running around naked! She ran around the corner and bumped into me! It's not my damn fault!" Kyo yelled. Then there was silence. Shame began to fill Annika to her very core. So he had seen her. Annika curled up into a ball and just sat there as anger towards herself grew. Then there was a soft knock and a female voice called through softly.
"Annika?" it was Tohru.
"Go away." Annika said bitterly.
"Annika please let me in" Came Tohru's reply. With a sigh Annika quickly pulled a pair of boxers and a shirt on and slowly opened the door. Tohru looked at her tear stained face, came inside then shut the door and locked it so no one could come in.
"Tohru I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to… I just… I forgot a towel… and I thought that I could make it without being seen… and then I turned the corner… and… and" She looked at Tohru and stopped trying to explain. Annika sat on her bed heavily not knowing what to do.
Tohru sat next to her and put an arm around her, "its ok… no one was hurt." Annika looked at her.
"What happened Tohru? I KNOW I saw Kyo. And then the next thing I know there was a cat with his hair color standing where he was standing" Tohru sighed. She had hoped that something like this wouldn't have happened so that they wouldn't have to deal with explaining about the Sohma curse. But what was done was done. So Tohru spent the next half hour telling Annika about the secret and explaining that's why they never got close to the opposite sex with a passion. Towards the end of their conversation Annika became embarrassed once again it once again came to mind that Kyo had seen her naked. Tohru saw her pink face and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. I doubt he'll thinking about it too much. It is only Kyo"
Without even thinking Annika blurted out, "Yeah maybe to you, but your not the one who likes Kyo" As soon as that statement had come out of her mouth Annika slapped her hand to her mouth and mentally shot herself over and over again. 'How could I have just said that out loud!' Annika thought. Tohru looked at her surprised. Now that wasn't something that Tohru heard everyday. But she smiled as she had remembered her days of liking Kyo. Without a word Tohru stood up and walked out of the room. Annika spent the rest of the day in her not even coming out of her room to eat dinner. She did come out once to take a phone call from one of the girls from school asking about homework. When she went back upstairs to she passed Yuki who just gave her a smile before she disappeared up the stairs.
Meanwhile Kyo was at the dojo working out trying to get his thoughts under control. 'You shouldn't be thinking like that. It's going to get you into trouble if you do. And you know it.' As he ran it over and over in his mind he thought about what he saw, 'You perv Kyo! Although you can't not say that she is very good looking. But… what was that on her side?' Kyo pushed it out of his mind for the time being as he continued to bash himself until he tired himself out enough to where he stopped thinking about everything else and thought about how he wanted to go to bed. As he entered his room he lay down on his bed and feel asleep. Images of Annika naked kept invading his dreams. Maybe there was something to this exchanged student that he had spent a lot of time avoiding.
The next morning Annika finally came out of her room to face the world. And plus she had to go on her morning run. As she ran she thought about yesterday's events as well as what Tohru had told her about the family curse. So it wasn't just some random family tradition, well… so to speak. But it all made sense, the guys not liking big crowds, and Kyo and Yuki running away from the fan girls. Why hadn't she seen it before? It was something that she would never understand. When Annika arrived at the park, which had become the spot where she was sit and look at the people surrounding her and also to get her mind about her, she sat on the swings a bit longer than she usually did.
While she sat on the swing a little girl about the age of five or six came up to her with a tear stained face. Annika looked at her worriedly.
"Hey, what's the matter sweetie?" Annika asked the girl.
"I want my mommy" The little girl cried.
Annika got up from the swing and held out her hand to the little girl, "Ok, then lets go find your mother shall we?" The little nodded and took her hand, "What's your name sweetie?" Annika asked her.
"A… Akari" The little girl stammered out. Her big brown eyes looked up at Annika with such hope that it almost broke Annika's heart.
"That is such a beautiful name Akari. How old are you Akari?"
"Five years old Miss" the girl replied.
"Oh please call me Nika Akari. That's what my little brothers call me" This got the girl's attention as she looked up at Annika curiously, "Yeah, I have twin brothers that are also five years old. They like to call me Nika. So would you do that for me Akari?"
"Yes Nika!" The little girl giggled as she said the nice lady's name. Akari tightened her grip on Annika's hand and looked around.
The two of them spent about another hour looking for Akari's mother. With a sigh Annika sat down again on the swings, "Akari, I don't know where your mother could be. And I don't know about you but I'm getting hungry. Are you hungry?" Akari nodded her head.
"Nika… I want mommy!" Tears burst from her eyes once more; Annika wrapped the sobbing form in her arms and held the child.
"Well… how about we walk back to my house and we can get something to eat then we can come back and search some more. And if we can't find her we can go to the police and I'm sure the nice men there will help us find your mother. Does that sound like a good plan?" The little girl nodded.
So Annika walked all the way back to the Sohma house with Akari on her back. A small lump of homesickness caught in Annika's throat as she remember giving her little brother's piggy back rides all around their house and to the store when they would come with her. But determination soon filled her being as she thought about the girl she carried on her back. Annika became even more determined to find this girl's mother. When she arrived home Akari was fast asleep on Annika's back.
She entered the house silently; as she walked towards the stairs she heard footsteps behind her.
"What the hell?!" Annika turned around to find Kyo looking at her and the sleeping form on her back.
"Her name is Akari. She came up to be at the park saying that she couldn't find her mother. Now lower your voice or you're going to wake her!" Kyo opened his mouth to say something but closed it when Annika gave him her trademark glare that only her friends and family back home had seen. Kyo felt something move within him when she gave him that look. Something about that look made him stop. It surprised him; no one had ever given him such a look. But before he could figure it out Annika had turned around and walked upstairs.
Without waking her up Annika placed the girl on her bed and went downstairs to make something quick for them both to eat then brought it up on a tray ready for the girl to eat whenever she woke up.
It wasn't long though before she began to stir. With sleepy eyes Akari sat up and looked around her and found Annika sitting at her laptop typing away before sitting back and starring at the screen. Akari got out of bed and walked over to Annika.
"Nika? Where are me?" Akari asked a little bit confused.
"This is my house. Remember? We came back to my house to have something to eat. And then we can go out to look for your mother again if you would like. If you don't we can just call the police man and he'll help us. Your food is over there if you would like to eat something" Akari walked over to the bedside table and began to eat what was on the plate. When she was done she went back over to Annika who was again talking to Isabella.
"Who are you talking to?" Akari asked.
"I'm talking to my sister" Annika replied.
"How many sisters to you have?"
"I have two younger sisters and three younger brothers. Right now I'm talking to my sister Isabella who is 13. She lives over the America" Annika sent one last final message before shutting her laptop, "Now… let's go take our dishes downstairs and we can go back to the park to see if your mother is there." They took down there dishes to the kitchen. As they were putting their dishes in the sink Kyo came in. Akari saw him and hid behind Annika.
Annika laughed, "Don't be scared. That is just Kyo. He won't hurt you, why don't you say hi to him?" Kyo just glared at Annika. Akari shook her head and buried her head in Annika's thigh. Annika chuckled and picked the child up, "Come on, lets go say Hi to Kyo" They walked so that they stood in front of him. "Come on Kyo-kun, say hello. Kyo, this is Akari, Akari this is Kyo"
Kyo looked at the little girl and then at Annika. Annika had that look on her face, suddenly Kyo heard himself say, "Hey"
Akari looked at Kyo, "Hello" Akari said with a shy smile before burying her face in Annika's shoulder.
Annika looked at Kyo thoughtfully and before she knew it she asked, "Would you like to come with us Kyo-kun to look for Akari's mother?"
Kyo looked stunned that she would even ask. He was going to say "Hell no" but what came out of his mouth was not what he at though, "Why not?" A broad smile flashed across Annika's face as she felt her heart flutter just a slight bit. But in Kyo's mind he felt betrayed by his own mind and body. Why had he said yes? He didn't want to go help them find some girl who was stupid enough to get herself lost. He didn't want to spend anytime with this exchange student. 'Or do you?' Kyo found himself thinking as they made their way towards the park. It was seven in the evening before the three of them gave up looking for the girl's mother.
With a sigh, Annika looked down at the girl, "Akari I don't think we're going to be able to find your mother tonight. It's starting to get late. So let's hurry and go to the nice police man and ask him to help us" Annika silently thanked herself for asking Kyo to come with them, because she didn't know where the police station was. But within a couple minutes they had arrived at the station. They talked to an officer who took their information and promised to get a hold of them as soon as possible before they returned home.
The girl was fast asleep on Annika's back when they were halfway back to the house, Annika looked over at Kyo who was looking straight ahead. So many thoughts were running through her head at that very moment. It took her a minute to sort them all out.
"Thank you Kyo" She finally said. Kyo looked at her as if she had done the most outrageous thing possible.
"For what?" Kyo replied, surprisingly calm.
"For coming with me and Akari to come find her mother. I think it meant a lot to Akari… I know it meant a lot to me." She looked at Kyo again to find him looking at her with a strange look. "Why are you looking at my like that?"
"You are just one hella strange girl. You know that?" Kyo looked away, not knowing what else to say. There was something strange about this girl that kept amazing him. He couldn't put his finger on it and he wasn't sure that he wanted to. But when ever he was with her, he didn't feel the need to be angry or yell all the time. There was something about her that made him want to do what ever she wanted, whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not. Mostly not, just because he was Kyo.
She looked down not knowing whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. So she just kept quiet. The rest of the walk home was in silence, neither one of them speaking. But every once in a while they exchanged a quick glance. When they arrived back at the Sohma house Yuki was waiting for them.
"If I may ask, where have you two been?" Yuki looked from Kyo to Annika to Akari.
"The hell with you" Kyo spat back.
Annika sighed, "We went to look for Akari's mother. I found her earlier today when I was on my morning run. And so we came back here for lunch and then we went back out and I asked Kyo to come along. Now if you two don't mind, I'm going to put this little girl to bed" With that Annika walked up the stairs and into her room. Tohru soon came into her room. She repeated the story to Tohru as her and Tohru replaced that girl's clothing with one of Annika's smallest t-shirt which still came down to the little girl's knees.
Annika sat on the bed with Akari's head in her lap as she softly ran her fingers through the girl's soft hair. "Ya know Tohru; this reminds me so much of my little sister Izzy. She would always come into my room and fall asleep on my lap when she was 5 years old. I was only 9 when she did it, but still… I had always acted older than I was. Akari is just like my sister. She even has the same big eyes as Izzy although Izzy has hazel eyes instead of brown."
Tohru smiled as Annika spoke silently wishing that she had a family like Annika's, even though Annika always spoke of her sister Izzy and never spoke of her other sibling or even her parents. She had been looking at Akari when Annika stopped talking. Tohru looked up to find Annika frowning.
"What is it?" Tohru asked.
"Tohru? I don't know what to make of Kyo. I thought that he didn't listen to anyone, but why has he been listening to me?" she felt shy asking but she couldn't get it off her mind. Tohru thought about it for a minute or two before answering carefully.
"Well… if I didn't know better… it'd be because he likes you. I have noticed that he doesn't seem to yell as much when you are around." Tohru didn't really know what to say though, because she had found out herself that Kyo was a very unpredictable person. Nothing seemed to surprise her anymore when it came to Kyo. "Are you going to tell him?"
Annika looked at her eyes wide with shock, "NO! Of course not! Kyo wouldn't like me. He would just shout in my face and get mad" Annika laughed softly as she thought about what his face would look like if she told him.
Tohru sighed, "You should tell him. Because you never know… he might like you back. Now, he might reject you at first. Kyo is very proud. And he isn't use to people liking him for him, because he is the cat. So your right, he would shout at you and tell you you're crazy, but I bet you anything that he would come back and tell you he likes you. I've never seen Kyo-kun act like that so often." She smiled at Annika before getting up, "Well… I'm going to go to bed. Please think about what I said. And if you don't tell him soon, at least make sure you tell him with in the next couple months if you can. Good night Annika. Sweet dreams"
"Good night Tohru, thank you for... well you know." Tohru smiled at her before shutting the door and walking to her own bedroom. Tohru felt that the next couple months could become very interesting, and she was excited to see how things played out. But she had a feeling that Annika needed to let go of some things before everything got resolve, call it intuition if you will.
Annika woke to find her bed empty except for herself. Panic spread through her body like a wild fire. She ran through the hall and headed down the stairs not even realizing that she was speaking in Italian, "No! L'ho persa! Dove l'è! L'Akari dove la sono!!! oh mio perbacco oh mio perbacco non posso credere che l'abbia persa! non questo è buono! Non BUONO!" (1)
She looked through the living room, then the kitchen and every room in the house. The more she looked the more frantic she had become, as one point she opened the door to the backyard and found Akari playing with Tohru and Kyo. Akari looked at the door and squealed when she saw Annika. She ran to Annika, who had fallen to her knees and was holding her tight.
"È sicura, i cieli di Ringraziamento è sicura!"(2) Annika muttered to herself and she closed her eyes, slowly calming the panic that had consumed her. Tohru walked over to them looking a little worried.
"Annika are you ok?" she asked.
Annika laughed awkwardly and looked at her friend, "Yeah I'm ok now. I woke up this morning and I couldn't find Akari." Annika quickly picked Akari up and walked to the grass before spinning around with Akari in her arms. Akari squealed with laugher at being twirled. Kyo stood back looking at the two girls spinning and let himself have a very small smile. Annika finally put the girl down feeling really dizzy, Akari pounced on Annika and began to tickle.
Screaming, Annika tried to get away as Akari attacked her sides with her relentless torturing.
"Ahahaha Help me!!!" Annika screamed as she kept trying to get away. Tohru laughed as she watched the scene before them. "A-Akari! P-Please! S-S-Stop, I can't- I can't b-breathe" And literally her face was beginning to turn blue. Akari giggled as Annika struggled on the ground. The older girl tried to roll the girl off but she always seemed to stay where she was no matter how much she squirmed and tried to get her off. Kyo saw her face with was turning dark blue.
"Kid, why don't you let Annika take a brake?" Kyo walked over to them and cautiously plucked the small girl off of Annika. Akari pouted as Kyo set her down next to Tohru. Then he walked over to the panting Annika, "You ok?"
Annika looked up at her rescuer and smiled as she felt color come back to her cheeks, "Yeah I'm all good. Thank you" Annika held out her hand which Kyo took and helped her on her feet. Then Annika looked at Akari with an evil smirk. When Akari saw this her eyes grew big as saucers and screamed and ran for the house. With a quick glance towards Kyo and she was running after the offending girl.
The week passed and they still hadn't found Akari's mother. Kyo and Annika brought Akari to the park everyday. When they weren't searching Akari became more of the family especially to Annika. None of the other residence could find Annika without Akari. It was at the end of the week that they got a phone call. The four of them were watching the American Disney movie Robin Hood which Annika had brought with her from home when the phone rang, soon after Yuki walked into the room.
"Miss. Annika, the police officer is on the phone" He said before walking out of the room. Annika walked out of the room and to the phone. A minute later Annika came back into the room with a smile on her face. "So that was the police. They found your mother Akari. She'll be coming to pick you up tonight" Annika smiled as Akari's face lit up and she ran into Annika's arms.
"Yay! I see mommy!" The excitement in her voice replaced Annika's increasing sadness from her heart and mind, "Nika-chan?" Akari pulled away just enough to look into the older girl's eyes, "I come visit you right?"
"Of course sweetie, you can come back and visit any time that you want to" Akari smiled at the girl she had come to love as a sister in the past week. Then she let go of Annika and ran over to Tohru. Tohru gave the girl a hug, a smile on her face. When Torhu let go of Akari, Akari turned to Kyo who was looking at Annika but then turned his attention to Akari. Kyo's eyes widened when Akari started coming over to him.
"Oh no. No no. No one hugs me" He held out his hands to hopefully stop her from coming any further. Akari looked at her hands before hugging his hand. Kyo looked at her surprised. He then looked at Annika not knowing what to do with the child. Annika just shrugged, she then came over and sat so that she was leaning against the couch that Kyo was sitting on. Akari let go of Kyo's arm and climbed into Akari's lap. Then they all finished watching the movie that they had begun.
They had just finished dinner when they heard a knock on the front door. Shigure got up and walked to the door, when he came back he was leading a tall woman with long blonde hair.
"Everyone this is Mrs. Shimizu" Shigure announced.
"OKAA-CHAN!!!!!" squealed Akari. She stood up and ran into the arms of her crying mother. The reunion was both heart-warming and heart-breaking all at the same time. The girl and her mother held each other for a long time before they let go. When they did Akari ran over to Annika and hugged her. "Okaa-chan here Nika-chan"
Annika smiled and nodded, "Yeah. Yeah she is. Are you ready to go home with your mother?" The little girl nodded her head, so Annika stood up and walked Akari back over to her mother. Mrs. Shimizu watched with teary eyes.
"Thank you young woman. I am forever in your debt for finding and caring for my daughter." Mrs. Shimizu said.
Annika laughed, "Oh please it was nothing at all. It reminded me of home. I hope you don't mind but I told Akari that she could stop by when ever she wanted"
"Oh that's fine. It's the least can do" Mrs. Shimizu looked at her daughter, "Alright sweetie. How about we head out? Daddy misses you" The girl gasped at the mention of her father.
"Daddy home!" With that Akari took her mother's hand and the two of them walked out of the door. Annika, Tohru and the rest of the Sohmas' walked out to wave them farewell. Akari turned in her seat and waved out the window of the retreating care, watching the standing figures get smaller and smaller.
Later that night Kyo walked out of his room and headed out to go it on the roof. When he got up there he stopped cold. Annika lay on her back with her eyes closed but she was awake. Silently Kyo climbed the rest of the way before standing near her looking at her face. Her cheeks were shinning with her tears, and in the moon light he could see that her eyes were a bit puffy. So that she wouldn't catch him staring at her, Kyo cleared his throat. Annika jumped a foot of the ground when he announced his presence. She quickly wiped her face hoping that Kyo wouldn't notice how wet her face had been. Of course he had noticed, but he decided not to say anything about it, if she wanted to tell him why she was crying then he would listen. Silently he sat down next to her but she started to get up
"I'm sorry, Tohru told me that this was your spot. I shouldn't have intruded. I'll leave." Annika's voice was strained as she said this.
Kyo looked at her, "No please. Don't go. I don't mind you being here" His mind froze when he found himself giving her a small smile. 'Don't smile you idiot! You never smile!' He yelled at himself mentally. But it seemed to work, Annika sat back down beside him wrapping her arms around her knees. They sat down in silence for what seemed like forever. But each of their minds were in different places. Eventually Annika lay back down and continued looking up at the stars.
'What should I say?' one side of Kyo's brain asked,
Then the other side came into play, 'What is the matter with you? You use to be this bad ass guy, now you're just some pain in the ass softy. This really can't be good for your reputation.'
'I am NOT a softy!'
'Oh yes you are fur ball. Look at yourself! Your oogling over this damn exchange student that you've known for a month!! You won't beat Yuki like this.'
'Who says that I won't? Ok yeah she's beautiful…. But… she looks so sad right now. What can I say?'
'You don't need to ask her anything! Stop thinking about her! She isn't worth your time especially if you are going to beat that damn rat! Now GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!'
With determination Kyo made up his mind, "Are you ok?" Annika looked over at him curiously before going back to stargazing.
"Yeah why do you ask?"
"Because you were crying." Kyo stated although he still didn't understand why he even cared.
With a sigh of defeat Annika gave in, "Yeah, well… I was kind of hoping that you wouldn't have noticed. I guess there was a small part of me that wished that we would never have found her mother."
Kyo looked at her in surprise, "Why?"
"Well… just because she reminded me of my sister Izzy and my two younger brothers Aidan and Damean. It was like having them here with me, yeah I know it's real selfish of me to think like that, but I just can't help it" her eyes looked up at the stars as if she were hoping that they would carry her away.
Kyo nodded although he didn't fully understand. He had never lived in a place where he had brothers and sisters. He just sat there and waited. Annika thought about her whole time being there so far and she couldn't help but become home sick, she closed her eyes hoping to keep her flaring emotions at bay.
"Kyo…"
Kyo looked at her curiously, "Yeah?"
"… I wish my younger siblings were here. It's going to be the first time that I've spent a birthday away from my family" A single tear escaped from behind her closed eyes. Kyo's face turned from one of curiosity, to pure surprise. Annika had never told anyone about her birthday. He was rather surprised that she hadn't said anything about it until that moment.
Annika wiped her face and stood up, "I'm sorry, you must think I'm stupid for being so emotional. Actually I'm rather embarrassed. I must be pmsing or something. Again I'm sorry" With that she walked over to the ladder and climbed down.

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Translation:
(1)No! I lost her! Where is she! Akari where are you!!! oh my gosh oh my gosh I can't believe that I lost her! this isn't good! NOT GOOD!
(2)She's safe, Thank heavens she's safe!

Thank you again for reading. Comments and reviews are much welcomed.

The next chapter will be kinda short. Cause it's not that big of an event.