Fruits Basket revolves around Tooru Honda, a high student that is recently orphaned when her mother dies in a car accident. Alone and unwanted, Tooru goes to live with her grandfather. Things are ok for a while, but when Tooru's aunt and cousins decide to move in with gramps too, she has to temporarily move out while the house is being renovated. Unwilling to be a burden on her friends, Tooru does what anyone in her position would do: she pitches a tent in the woods until it's ok for her to move back in! While walking through the woods on her way to school one day, Tooru stumbles onto a house where she meets Shigure Souma and his cousin Yuki. Later that night, after she gets back from work (Tooru works as a cleaning lady to pay her school tuition), she runs in to the Souma's once again...only this time it's in front of her tent! They take her back with them to their house, and while she's explaining everything, the unthinkable happens: her tent is completely buried in a landslide! Tooru spends the night at the Souma's and the next day Shigure offers to let her stay with them. She accepts, but only on the condition that she earn her keep by doing the housework and the cooking. Things are fine until another member of the Souma clan shows up: Kyou Souma. While he's trying to beat the crap out of his sworn enemy Yuki, Tooru tries to stop him by grabbing him from the back and *poof* he transforms in to a cat! As she's freaking out, she accidently falls on Shigure and Yuki and they too turn into animals (a mouse and a dog)! Now that they've been found out, Shigure (still in his doggy-form) lets Tooru in on the Souma family secret: they each turn into animals from the Chinese Zodiac when hugged by someone of the opposite sex! Only 12 Souma family members have this gift two of them being him and Yuki. Kyou, or the cat, is not a member of the zodiac but still has the ability to transform.