This.. is.. Fruits Basket!!

Basic Plot:

Fruits Basket follows the life of high-school student Tohru Honda, who was recently orphaned when her mother, Kyoko Honda, died in a car accident. After that, Tohru lived with her grandfather, but when his house needs remodeling, Tohru resorts to living in a tent in a forest and holds down a job to support herself. Despite suffering many hardships, Tohru remains optimistic.

One day, Tohru comes upon a house in the forest that is the home of her classmate Yuki Sohma and his cousin Shigure Sohma. When the Sohmas discover that Tohru is living in a tent, they are quite surprised by her inner strength. The entire area is Sohma property, and Tohru asks to be allowed to stay in her tent, but then collapses because of a fever brought on by working too hard. A landslide buries her tent, including her mother's picture and school clothes, and she moves into Shigure's house for the night. Desperate for a break from the filth of the house and takeaway meals, she is asked to become a permanent guest in the house, if she cooks and cleans. She accepts, and is being shown her room by Yuki when Kyo Sohma bursts in (through the roof) to challenge Yuki. Tohru, not knowing Yuki's strength, tries to stop Kyo by grabbing him, and as a result he transforms into a cat. She is then hit on the head with a plank of wood, and collapses into Shigure and Yuki, turning them into a dog and rat respectively.

Tohru discovers the Sohma family's secret, and the reason why Yuki is so private and secretive at school: thirteen members of the family are possessed by the 12 animal spirits of the Chinese Zodiac plus the spirit of the cat who was, according to legend, left out of the Zodiac. They transform into animals when hugged by the opposite sex or when put under a great deal of emotional or physical stress (such as being sick). When she promises to keep their secret, the Sohmas allow Tohru to keep her memories rather than hypnotically erasing them, a fate that had previously befallen anyone not "Inside" the Sohma family who had discovered the secret.

The story follows the lives of Tohru and the Sohma family as they deal with each other and a society where neither quite fits in, as well as the feared Akito Sohma, head of the Sohma family. Soon, after living with the Sohma family she began to like, then love, all of the Sohmas, and sets out to break the zodiac curse.

-Written by Arisa Uotani-