Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.

When the Knight met his Squire

The figure kept getting closer and closer to Akito.

A guard ran in after the boy, "Your Highness, I am terribly sorry! He wouldn't wait for us to get you! He just barged in and –"

"It's okay, just leave." Akito said to the guard, who did as he was told and left the room. "Kyo, what brings you here?" Akito asked, though he already knew what Kyo wanted. Kyo had been bugging him about the same problem since he was 18 years old.

"Akito…. I'm 20 years old now! I've trained, worked hard, and I'm ready to become a knight!" Kyo shouted. He had been training for years to become a knight and still wasn't one! Once his older cousin had become the king, Kyo figured he could become a Knight earlier than originally planned. He was wrong though; the guy had practically begged Akito become a knight since he was 18, promising Akito that he would be the best of the best.

It never happened though; Akito would always say things such as, "Kyo, you must wait until you are 20, it is the proper age."

This would only make Kyo angrier because his other cousin, Yuki, was allowed to be a knight when he was 19! Akito would always say the same thing when Kyo brought up Yuki,

"Yuki is very mature for his age, and he has many wonderful skills that helped him achieve the title of Knight at such a young age."

It was unfair, but Akito was king so there wasn't much Kyo could do about it.

"You are right Kyo, you are now at the age where you can become the knight you've always dreamed to become. I will allow this, and I expect you to be ready for whatever I give you at all times. I shall get messengers to send word of you to town; from now on you are Sir Kyo, Knight of Sohma Castle. Now go, I must get you a squire, have your stuff moved to a different room, and I will call you back later when everything is arranged." Akito said.

Kyo was taken back for a moment; Akito actually said he was a Knight? It was very weird for Akito to suddenly agree to this, especially since many times before Akito had said Kyo would never become a knight. While Kyo was very happy for this event, he wasn't too thrilled about getting a squire. The fact that some person he never met before would basically "baby sit" him, annoyed him.

Kyo snapped out of this thought suddenly and replied, "Thank you Akito. I will not let you down." He walked out of Akito's Chambers and went to his room.

It made Kyo sick to say thank you to anyone, let alone Akito. Honestly their relationship was not the best, even though cousins usually are close, especially when they're only 5 years apart.

No, Kyo and Akito were not close at all, even though they lived in the same castle all of their lives. All the Sohmas have lived in Sohma Castle forever. When Akito was a child, he always picked on his younger cousins, Kyo included. When the huge war between humans and dragons ended, and Kyo's mother ended along with it, it gave Kyo a reason to really hate his older cousin.

Akito and that horrid mother of his escaped the castle without orders to help anyone. Kyo and some of his cousins stayed behind to help. Hatori, Shigure, Ayame, Hatsuharu, and Yuki Sohma, who were all cousins of his, helped people in the castle escape. During this time, Kyo's mother was attacked and killed along with other people. In return, his father blamed him and disowned him, claiming Kyo was too busy helping others instead of his own family. Kyo never felt this to be true, he knew his mother would have wanted him to help other innocent people instead of worrying over just her.

Kyo's father wasn't the only one who blamed Kyo for his mother's death, Akito did as well. When Akito and Ren returned from…wherever they fled to, Akito joined in the blame game. Kyo found this funny, especially considering Akito and his crazy mother fled while the rest of the Sohmas stayed and took responsibility. Not to mention the fact that Kyo had tried to save Akito's father. Yes, Kyo, Shigure, and Hatori had found Akira lying near the dining room, hardly breathing and unconscious. Hatori then treated him; he was the Sohma Doctor after all. Kyo and everyone else in the family were aware of the fact that Akito had grown very cold after his father's death.

Another thing that really pissed Kyo off was that Akito did "favorites" in his family. Yuki was Akito's favorite for no particular reason and Kyo was Akito's least favorite. That's why Kyo was a little shocked from the conversation he just had with Akito, it was a calm and non-violent conversation.

Now Kyo was going to become a knight and do what he loved to do!

Fight!

Fighting was something he loved to do; now he could officially fight "bad guys" and save people. He sighed in relief as he walked towards his room, relieved that the task of asking was done. But now that he was a knight, he had to deal with a stranger living in with him. Some random guy who would do weird things for him, such as pray for him, and randomly watch him all the time. To Kyo, the idea of a squire was just plain creepy. The thought of a stranger sleeping in the same room as him was even creepier! Where's the privacy?

As Kyo packed up he wondered how he could get out of having one of these "squires". After all, whoever it was would only get in Kyo's way. He had no intention of making friends either.

Tohru Honda was polishing the armor in the armor room of the Sohma Castle she lived in. She was a 16-year-old servant girl who was an orphan, losing her father in the Crusades (when she was a newborn), and her mother 2 years ago during a dragon invasion. When her mother died, at first, Tohru found it hard to believe. How could someone as happy as her mother, die from such a tragic event? It was very hard for Tohru, the death of her mother. She had been very close with her mother, always talking with her and taking as much advise as possible from her.

But Tohru also knew that she couldn't become depressed and shut down because her mother would certainly not want that. Besides, Tohru wasn't completely alone. She had her two best friends, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima (known as Uo and Hana). The two girls were working with Tohru currently, trying to polish armor.

"Why do these people let this cool armor sit here and get old and dusty? I mean, if I owned this stuff, I would be wearing it during battles and teaching any bastard who wanted to mess with me a lesson!" Uo said as she put her fists up in the air threateningly. Hana, who remained silent, just kept working with a blank stare. Tohru just smiled, her two best friends were so different from herself, but she still loved them so much anyways.

Uo was a tall blonde girl with a wild attitude and Hana was a calm, dark haired beauty who was also very mysterious. (And apparently could sense waves in people).The three tried to be together as much as possible, and thankfully they were assigned the same sleeping quarters and jobs around the castle.

Tohru was having a random conversation with her two friends when a guard walked up to the three.

"Which one of you is Tohru Honda?"

"… I am Sir."

"Follow me to King Sohma's Chambers."

Tohru did as told, but was ultimately scared. Why did the king, out of all people want to see her? What had she done wrong? She couldn't think of what she could have possibly done, but hoped he wouldn't punish her much. She had never been to the King's Chambers ever. She didn't even think King Sohma knew of her existence to be quite frank.

The giant door to Akito's Chamber's opened, and Tohru could see someone sitting in a huge golden throne across the room.

"The girl you asked for is here, Your Majesty." The guard said.

"….that'll be all."

And once Akito said that, the guard closed the door. Tohru stood there for a moment, not exactly sure of what to do.

"Please, Miss Honda, come forth."

Tohru immediately rushed up to Akito and went down on one knee with her head down.

"I am sorry Your Majesty, Sir." She said, eyes closed as she listened to Akito.

"It is okay, Miss Honda." Akito was smiling, "Now please stand up so I may properly talk with you."

Staring at this girl made Akito sick. He looked her up and down. Her plain, simple self; why was she so important? This was the girl that his father made such a deal over? The sooner he got this over with, the better. He would be quite pleased that those two monsters would be put together. If Akito was lucky, Kyo, like the monster that he was, would kill the girl or something of that sort.

"Miss Honda, you have recently turned 16, have you not?"

Tohru gulped, she didn't know why she was so afraid of Akito. Probably because all the power he had was quite intimidating.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Akito was still smiling at her, it was a fake smile of course, but she didn't know that.

"I don't know if your mother ever told you this Miss Honda, but her and my father…had arranged plans for you at this age." Akito said.

Plans? No, Tohru definitely didn't know what he was talking about.

"No Sir, my mother said nothing about it." She answered.

"Well Miss Honda, your mother and my father were good friends. My father decided that you would become a squire. Now that you are 16, you will be, and today is the day that you stop being a servant and start taking care of my dear cousin, Kyo Sohma." Once Akito stopped explaining, Tohru just stood there taken back for a moment.

Why did she never know such things? Her mother kept this from her all her life, was this on purpose? And this Kyo Sohma, what was he like? Tohru only knew a few of the Sohmas. Tohru obviously knew of Akito, she also knew Momiji Sohma, who liked to talk to the servants for some reason.

Tohru was thinking a lot as she packed the few belongings she had. She was going to take care of this boy, well technically man since he was apparently 20. This made her blush, sleeping in the same room as a man. She also began to worry, what if she messed something important up for him? If the food she made was nasty? What if she broke something of his while cleaning? What if Kyo didn't like her? The last question bothered her the most…Not only would it be awkward, but it would also make Tohru upset. She definitely wanted this Kyo guy to like her considering he would have to deal with her for a while.

After Tohru told Uo and Hana what she would have to do, she said goodbye to them. She didn't know if she would see them around the castle anymore, so she said goodbye to them just in case.

She started walking toward a part of the castle that she had never been in before. It was where many of the Sohmas lived. Apparently Akito didn't want the Sohmas to interact with other people (even though Momiji secretly snuck around the castle). She stood in front of the door to her new room, her new life. She stared at it for a few minutes and then gulped down her nerves. She knocked on the door, taking in a deep breath as the door slowly opened…

There! The end of Chapter 2! I hope it wasn't too boring, hopefully you'll think it's getting a little more interesting! Anyways, I was questioning whether I wanted all the Sohma family in this, also if I wanted there to be a Zodiac curse. I think that the story is already hectic enough, so I decided that there is NO ZODIAC CURSE. Well, until next time!

Sarah.