Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket! However, I do own Takara.

A.N. Ok, this takes place when Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame were in high school. Hope you like it!

Hatori Sohma. Just your typical average everyday straight A student with a GPA of 4.0 at age seventeen.

He and his two cousins (and best friends) Ayame and Shigure Sohma are probably the most popular guys in their school. Hatori is very quiet and distant compared to his cousins, but he didn't really care. As long as he kept his grades up, he was fine.

However, Hatori's family was not exactly normal. Thirteen members of his family were cursed by the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac (and the cat). Whenever one of those thirteen members is hugged by the member of the opposite gender, or their bodies were under a great deal of stress, they transform into the animal that they are cursed with. Hatori is the dragon, but when he transforms, he turns into a seahorse. Ayame turns into a snake, and Shigure turns into a dog.

This of course makes life fairly hard for the three boys, especially since all three of them are very handsome. Girls were always chasing them everywhere they went, and in Hatori's opinion, it was extremely frustrating.

Little does Hatori know, that a young girl will walk into his life, and change him forever…

"Good morning Hatori!" Shigure shouted in Hatori's ear. "How was your summer!" Hatori rolled his eyes.

"You should know, Shigure. After all, you and Ayame followed me wherever I went all summer." Shigure just grinned proudly.

"I didn't follow you everywhere you went, Aya did!" he said proudly.

"Did someone mention my name?" asked a voice from behind Hatori. Shigure's face lit up.

"It's been far too long, Aya." Shigure said in a voice that made Hatori want to puke.

"Yes, Shigure, it has. A little too long for my tastes." Ayame replied in an equally idiotic voice.

"YES!" They both cheered at the same time giving each other a thumbs up. Hatori rolled his eyes.

"Could we go to class before we're late on the first day?" He asked.

"Oh Hari! I can't even remember the last time I've seen you!" Ayame exclaimed.

"Try yesterday." Hatori said flatly.

At class, a crowd of girls immediately surrounded Shigure and Ayame. Hatori somehow managed to get away from them. He looked around the room seeing all of the old faces from the previous years. Then, there was someone who caught his eye. There, sitting in a corner seat in the back of the room was a girl whom Hatori had never seen in his life.

'She must be new here.' Hatori thought to himself.

The girl had silky light brown hair that was a little bit above her shoulder blades. Her eyes looked like they were made out of the finest and most priceless emeralds imaginable, but they were filled with…sadness. She was looking out the window, with a distant look in her eyes. She seemed to be in lost in her own thoughts. Suddenly, the bell rang, and the teacher came in.

"Alright, settle down!" the teacher said over everyone else. As soon as everyone was quiet, he said, "Ok, I know this is early in the year, but there is going to be a history project on…well, whatever you want it to be as long as it is historically accurate. I want to see what exactly you know about history." A few people's faces lit up, but fell once he said, "This project is worth 60 percent of your final grade, and I will pair you into partners. You will be working with your partner for the whole project, which will be about two months. You have to agree on things, sort things out, and most of all, get along. Ok, let's see…" he looked down at a long list in his hand. (A.N. If you're wondering, my history teacher made my class do the exact same thing, so yes, it can happen.)

"Shigure Sohma and Mii Suzuki (A.N. I don't know what her real last name is), you two will be partners." A girl with fairly short orangish-blonde hair blushed a little bit, and Shigure just smiled.

"Ayame Sohma and Sora Sato." A girl with long red hair almost shrieked in delight, and Ayame flashed her a smile, which made her make even more noise.

"Hatori Sohma and…" he looked down the list again. "Takara Nakamura." The name wasn't familiar to Hatori at all. "Takara, could you raise your hand to show Hatori who you are?" the teacher asked.

A hand slowly raised in the corner seat next to the window. It was that new girl. She was still just staring out the window. She lowered her hand slowly after about five seconds, never removing her gaze from the window.

After the teacher was finished pairing people up and explaining the project, he said, "Alright, we still have a few minutes, so how about you and your partner work on what you will be doing for this project."

Everyone got up and went with their partners. Hatori walked to the back of the room where Takara was. He walked up to her desk to find she was still looking out the window. She looked up and smiled shyly at him, her emerald pools gazing into his brown ones.

"Hi. I'm Takara. I guess we're going to be partners." Her voice was shy, sweet, and melodic at the same time. Hatori nodded.

"That does seem to be the case. I'm Hatori." Takara smiled shyly again.

"So, what do you want to do for the project?" she asked him after a moment of silence. Hatori shrugged.

"I'm not sure. What would you suggest?" he asked. Hatori saw a surprised expression flash on Takara's face for a moment, but it quickly disappeared. She looked shyly at her hands.

"Well…um…I would like to do…an Ancient Egyptian project." She said in her timid voice. Hatori was beginning to wonder why she was so shy. He smiled a small smile.

"Ancient Egypt sounds interesting. I like the idea, actually. Alright, let's do Ancient Egypt." Takara smiled shyly at him, and Hatori's hint of a smile grew slightly (and I mean barely).

There were still ten minutes left of class, so Takara said, "Well, I doubt that we will get anything done in here with so little time, so how about we just get to know each other a little better?" she had said this in a very shy and timid voice. Hatori shrugged and nodded.

"Alright. My name is Hatori Sohma. I am seventeen years old, and I have two annoying cousins that are somehow my friends." He gestured toward Shigure and Ayame, who were talking/flirting with their partners. Takara chuckled a bit.

"Well, my name is Takara Nakamura. I'm sixteen years old, I don't have any cousins, and as you've probably noticed, I'm new here." All the while, her voice was still shy and sweet. Hatori thought for a moment.

"Wait, you're sixteen?" he asked, a little surprised. She nodded. "When did you turn sixteen?"

"About a month ago. Why do you ask?" she asked him.

"Well, that would mean that you are about a year younger than everyone else in this room, wouldn't it?" Takara smiled sweetly.

"Yeah. I skipped first year of high school. The teachers said I wasn't challenged enough." She said shyly. Hatori nodded in understanding.

The bell rang, which meant that it was lunch (time flies, doesn't it?). Takara gathered her books. "Well, I'll see you later." She said in her same shy, timid voice. She exited the classroom, and out of sight. Hatori went back to his desk, and picked up his books. He was out of the classroom, and putting things in his locker.

"Well?" Ayame's voice asked from behind him.

"Well, what?" Hatori asked as he closed his locker.

"That Takara girl…how was she?" Shigure asked him. Hatori raised an eyebrow.

"She's a nice girl, and she is a little bit shy. What else is there to say about her?" Shigure and Ayame just shook their heads. "What?" Hatori asked, not sure if he wanted to know what was going through their heads.

"Nothing." They both said at the same time.

As the three friends were walking outside where everyone ate lunch, Hatori was lost in his thoughts.

'She's a nice girl, she's shy, and very innocent looking…and beautiful.' Hatori pictured her silky brown hair, and wanted so badly to run his fingers through it. 'Wait…no…NO! I did not just think that! Get a hold of yourself, Sohma! You've only known the girl for fifteen minutes!' Hatori was shaken from his thoughts when someone shouted loudly.

"HATORI!" both Ayame and Shigure had been trying to get Hatori's attention for some time now.

"Hmm?" Hatori blinked and looked at his two friends. "What?" The two just sighed.

"Nothing. We were only trying to get your attention for ten minutes!" Ayame said in a somewhat annoyed voice.

"Oh…uh…sorry." Hatori said, trying to clear his thoughts of Takara.

A.N. Well, there's chapter one! Please review! It encourages me to write more!