Disclaimer: Neither one of us owns Fruits Basket…much as we want to…it is owned by the great Natsuki Takaya.

The Off-White Years

By Death's Apprentices

Chapter 1

"Alright kids, settle down now!" Himura-sensei said to all the kindergartners running about the room.

They all immediately rushed to the giant rug for good spots, which ultimately ended up with five minutes of wrestling, spitting, and hair-pulling.

"Hey, Yahiko, don't kick Kurogane in the head!! Shigure, didn't I tell you not to pull on Emiko's hair!" Himura-sensei's patience was really wearing thin by this point.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Himura-sensei! Himura-sensei! Why's yer eye twitchin'?" A silver-haired feminine boy said to him, jumping up and down. "Why you snap the ruler in half? Why you grabbin' that sword? Why you glarin'? Why you eyes all gold 'n' stuff? Why-?"

"WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT THE UP AND SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN!!!!!" Himura-sensei shouted, swinging a sakabato around and glaring at them all.

All the children immediately 'sat their asses down,' including the little silver-haired boy who looked ready to cry (along with most of the others).

They all heard a 'snap' sound and suddenly Himura-sensei had violet eyes again. He held up the sword and looked at it. "What was I saying?"

A little black-haired boy with pale eyes looked up from his coloring book. "Do you really want to know what you said?"

Himura-sensei blinked and sheathed the sakabato. "Probably not. MOVING ON THEN!" (All of the students jumped.) "Everyone sit down quietly on the floor." He looked down at the students in front of him. "Oh…ok, then, you're all already there…ATTENDENCE! Akiko Yuri…Amato Saiyuki…" Two students raised their hands silently, scared that speaking would set off the scary teacher again. "Myojin Yahiko…Misuki Emiko…" Himura-sensei looked down the list and noticed that he had three Sohmas in his class. "Oh, thank god…At least I have 3 good children..." he muttered to himself before calling out the name of the first Sohma. "Sohma Ayame." The little silver-haired feminine boy who had driven the teacher into his little 'episode' raised his hand fearfully. "Shit," Sensei muttered. He was almost afraid to call on the next Sohma. "Sohma Hatori?" The little boy with the coloring book raised his hand without even looking up. 'One loud student, one quiet student; do I want to know what the third Sohma will be like?' Sensei thought to himself. "Sohma Shigure?" The little boy who had been pulling Emiko's hair earlier raised his hand, smiling innocently. Himura covered his face with his hands. This was going to be a long year. Poor Himura-sensei.

RECESS

Young Hatori Sohma sat on a swing as far away from the group of girls as he could get. He was staring off into space while doodling aimlessly in the dirt with his foot when one to of the girls bounced over to him.

"Are you Hatori Sohma?" she asked, still bouncing on her toes.

"Yes," Hatori answered warily.

The girl turned around and yelled to one of the boys on the other side of the playground. "Gure! Gure! I found him! I found him! Come look! Come look!" the little boy came running over.

While Hatori was distracted watching his classmate almost fall over himself in his effort to run across the playground, the girl flew at him, arms wide. Taken by surprise, he ended up falling off the back of the swing, the girl on top of him. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable screams…But they never came. Cautiously, he opened his eyes back up to find a pair of gold eyes and a pair of brown eyes staring back at him, concerned.

As Hatori lay there, blinking up at them, the boy playfully shoved the girl off him. "I told you not to scare him!" The boy held his hand out to Hatori. "I'm Shigure Sohma. He's Ayame Sohma." Shigure pointed to the girl on the ground after pulling Hatori up.

Hatori stared down at the girl. "That's a he? Are you sure?" He poked the kid, gaining a squeak.

"Yep, he's my cousin!" Shigure explained. He lowered his voice. "And if he was a girl, you could still hug him. He's the Snake. I'm the Dog," he said proudly. "Aren't you Dragon?"

"Do you want to be our friend?" Ayame asked, dusting himself off. When he looked back up at Hatori, there was a crazy gleam in his eyes.

Hatori tried to back away from the crazy-looking kindergartner only to find that Shigure had moved behind him. He was trapped. Poor Hatori.

PLEASE R&R!!!...or the shadow monster will attack you..