Blanket disclaimer for all chapters: I do not own Fruits Baskets or its characters, but I do own the plot (or lack of plot) for the story.

A/N: So I have started watching the series again and decided I wanted to write another story for this anime. I hope you enjoy it and please review if you have a chance. Thank you.

Chapter 1 – A Really Bad Day

Tohru Honda was wondering why she even bothered to get out of bed today. It had been horrible. It started with the stove breaking and thus she could not cook breakfast for everyone in the house. Next she slipped and fell in a mud puddle. Luckily she was close enough to the house that she was able to run home and change, but this made her late. She had told Kyo and Yuki to go on without her so that they wouldn't be late also. When she finally got to school and the teacher asked for her homework, she realized that it was still on her desk at home. A pop quiz was then announced and Tohru had failed it. Yes, she decided she should have stayed home and in bed. It was only lunch time and her day sucked. In fact if Kyo had not grabbed her bento for her, she would not have lunch right now.

She just wanted to go home, but tonight she had to work. She let out a long breath. Tonight was going to be a long night and she wasn't looking forward to it. She had never wanted to call in sick to work so badly before, but knew that she couldn't. She had school to pay for and had to make money for her expenses. She would not fail in her responsibilities.

She made it through the rest of the day, but was more like a zombie going through the motions. After how bad her day started, she just was trying to get through the rest of it without drawing attention to herself. When she arrived at work, she was greeted by Momiji and had to smile at his excitement upon seeing his friend. He did not get a chance to see her at school today like he normally did since he was stuck in the classroom at lunch, but he knew he would see her tonight and was ecstatic when she finally walked up to the building his father owned. "Tohru! I am so glad you are here! I wasn't able to see you at school today, so I decided to come see you here. I hope you don't mind. Hari knows where I am," Momiji said in one breath.

Tohru's friend made her chuckle for the first time today, "No, I don't mind. Let me go get checked in and changed and I will see you in a few minutes."

"You got it! See you in a few minutes," Momiji said and then saluted her. She laughed again and together they walked into the building.

Tohru quickly changed and walked to the floor she would be starting on. She grabbed her supplies and started cleaning and wondered where her friend had gotten to. She lost herself in the work trying to get through it as quickly as possible so that she could get home and finish her homework. She didn't need another day like today.

"Psst, Tohru over here!" Tohru looked around, she knew she heard her name being called but did not know from where. She didn't see anyone except her co-workers and they were busy cleaning. "Tohru, this way!" She heard it again and looked in the direction she thought it was coming from, but there was nothing there but a group of plants and a window. She walked forward and crouched behind the plants so that he would not be seen was her little rabbit friend.

"Momiji what are you doing back there?" Tohru asked quietly. She worried that something was wrong and immediately started to wring her hands together, "Is something wrong? What happened? What can I do?"

Momiji chuckled at his friend. He knew that she was high anxiety and today seemed to be worse for some reason. Hatsuharu (Haru for short) told him that she was having an off day. He wasn't sure what happened, but told Momiji that she seemed out of it and anxious today. Now he felt bad for making her worry, "I am fine Tohru. I just didn't want mama to see me since papa said she was on her way up. I don't need to get in trouble again, but I didn't want to go home yet since I wanted to see you and I told you I would help you, so I am hiding until the coast is clear." He gave her one of his biggest smiles and she returned it.

Tohru felt relieved when she heard his explanation, but she didn't want him to get into trouble on her account, "No Momiji, you should go home. I don't want you to get into trouble."

"Don't worry Tohru. I won't get into trouble if she doesn't see me. That is why I am hiding. She will be gone soon; besides Hari said I could come here and keep you company."

She realized arguing with him was going to be useless and she did like having a friend with her right now, "Ok Momiji. I will let you know when it is safe." She started cleaning near the hiding spot and within a couple of minutes saw Momiji's mother walk towards his father's office with his sister in tow.

She always felt sad for her friend because his mother rejected him and his sister had no idea who he was. Hell, his mother had no idea who he was after Hatori wiped her memory clean of him. She never understood why a mother would do that, but she had never been a mother to a baby she couldn't hold without it changing into an animal. She hoped that she would never turn her back on her child though. Actually she didn't think she could after getting to know everyone in the zodiac; maybe she was different, she had no idea, but even if she couldn't hold her child, she could never turn it away. That thought made her think of Kyo and Yuki. She could touch them and hold their hands without them changing into the cat (Kyo) or the rat (Yuki). She smiled at the thought of her two friends. She loved all of the people in the Sohma family that she had met, she even wanted to understand Akito more, but she did have her favorites and Kyo, Yuki, and Momiji were definitely them.

Tohru was pulled out of her thoughts to someone calling her name, and when she looked up she saw Mr. Sohma, Momiji's dad, in front of her. "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Sohma I was thinking and didn't hear you."

He laughed a little. He could tell he startled the young woman who had become so dear to his son. He knew that Tohru had become like a mother figure in his life and he needed that. He saw the change she brought out in his first born and would always be grateful to her. He looked behind him and saw his wife and daughter waiting for him by the elevators a ways away, "I was just saying, tell Momiji he can come out of hiding after we get on the elevator. I also wanted to say thank you for everything you have done for the Sohma family, but especially for being Momiji's friend. You may not realize it, but you have become very important to them. I was wondering if you would do me a favor though."

She was floored by the speech she was hearing. She wasn't that important, she was just a girl. No, the Sohma family has been the one to help her and show kindness. She was just giving back. She blushed and looked up at the man standing in front of her, "I don't know if I would say all of that, but I will do what I can to help."

"Saturday is Momiji's birthday and I cannot be with him for apparent reasons. I have plans to take him out on Monday after school, but I don't want him to be alone on his birthday. Can you maybe arrange to do something with him? Don't worry about the cost, I will cover it all. Also don't worry about coming in for the rest of the week. I know you have a couple of tests coming up so I don't want you back here until next week. I am giving you a paid vacation." It was the least he could do for the girl.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that. I am fine. I can work. As for Saturday, I will do what I can. Maybe I can plan a surprise party for him with the rest of the zodiac."

"I insist you take the week off. If you are going to plan a party, then you will need time to do that. Please, consider it a thank you gift for helping me out. If you show up, I will just have them send you home, so it will do you no good to come into work," he said smiling. He knew how she could be about work and school from his son, so he figured he would have to resort to his mild threat.

"O-oh, okay then, thank you Mr. Sohma for your kindness," she said as she bowed.

"No Tohru, it is you who has been kind," he said as he bowed back and then walked off towards his wife.

After they got onto the elevator, Momiji burst out of hiding, "What did papa want with you Tohru? What did he say? Am I in trouble again?"

She couldn't help it, she laughed at her friend. He just looked so forlorn, like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "He was just letting me know that I have the rest of the week off to concentrate on some tests that are coming up. He also told me thank you for being your friend." She didn't want to tell him about Saturday just in case she did plan a surprise party.

"Well, I did tell him all about you and how you were one of my best friends and how much I love you and appreciate you," Momiji said flying towards her to give her a hug. Luckily no one was around to see him change into the white rabbit. She put him down behind the plants along with his clothes and told him that there was still no reason to thank her, she was happy to be his friend. She started back on her work and soon heard the popping sound that came with the transformation.

Together they finished her work (well she worked and he kept her company). She put away her supplies and went to clock out and change. They walked out of the building together. She was wondering what to do for Momiji's birthday this Saturday. When they got to the street, they realized that it was drizzling. Tohru thought that it was not going to be fun walking home when a light rain was coming down, but she didn't have much of a choice (or so she thought). She heard a car door open and close and Momiji shout Hatori's nick name. She looked up and sure enough, there was Hari with an umbrella walking towards the two of them. "Hatori what are you doing here?" Tohru asked the doctor.

"Momiji called me and told me that it was starting to rain and you both would need a ride. So I came to pick you up," he said blandly.

"You didn't have to do that! I could have walked home," Tohru said. She hated putting any out and she felt that she was doing that to the dragon of the zodiac if she asked him to take her home.

"It's alright Tohru. I would rather take you home than have to deal with those three at the house if you got sick," he said calmly. He knew she hated to be a burden, if she only knew she wasn't, "I insist on taking you home and I needed to pick up Momiji anyway."

"W-Well, if you say so. Okay," she gave him a small smile and the three of them walked to the car so that they could get home.

When Tohru got home and went up to her room to do her homework, she realized that today may have started out bad, but the ending wasn't so terrible. She smiled when she thought about her friends and she suddenly felt a lot better about the day. Tomorrow would be better and if not, she had friends to cheer her up. Now the question was what could she do for Momiji's birthday? She fell asleep thinking about it. Tomorrow was another day.