Summary: Yuki Sohma has quite the life. He's desired by two wonderful boys. One is his predetermined rival and the other has been admiring him for years. When Akito ends up approving Haru and Yuki's new found relationship, Yuki begins to feel trapped. And Kyo's attitude to the subject is infuriating and confusing. When Yuki learns the truth behind his mysterious actions, Yuki begins to question his feelings for Kyo. Can Akito's decisions and Haru's affections leave any room for Kyo and Yuki to be together? And what will happen to Kyo's fate if they do?
Disclaimer: i do not own anything concerning fruits basket. although i wish these characters were mine, sadly they come from the brilliant mind of natsuki takaya.
Author's Note: see how much cooler the summary sounds with all my words and such? :P well i'm hoping you guys like my fic because i've been working on it for a while and i'm sooper excited about it! [note: my spelling and grammar errors in my author's notes don't reflect my writing in the fic] in order for me to know if you do like it, please read and review! if enough of you guys give me good reviews i'll continue posting chapters every friday. enough banter! on with the fic!
Chapter One
In Which Tohru Is Worried About Yuki's Social Behavior
If there was one thing Yuki Sohma wasn't having, it was a good day. For starters, it was way too hot outside, making him stay indoors and unable to check on his garden. The feeling of being cooped up in the four, safe walls of his home drove him insane. With Shigure being the only one around for company, Yuki was sure to lose his mind in a couple hours time. Kyo and Tohru had gone out with Uo and Hana. Leaving the restless Yuki pacing around his room impatiently wondering when the group of friends would be back. This activity was also getting boring so he picked up a gardening book from his shelf and plopped onto his bed and settled into a comfortable position as he began to update himself on new gardening techniques. A couple hours only seemed a couple minutes to Yuki for he was so engrossed in his book that he hadn't even noticed Kyo come into his room. Kyo awkwardly positioned himself at the foot of Yuki's bed which just so happened to be where Yuki's head was. Kyo leaned over Yuki's head and when this gave no response, he pushed up the book. Yuki made no sudden movements. He lifted his big, amethyst eyes to look at Kyo's crimson ones above his head.
"May I help you?" Yuki said dully even though that was the exact opposite of what his heart was. It was anything but dull. Truth be told, Yuki's heart was pounding in surprise, but he didn't want his vulnerability to be shown and was quite surprised he could hide it. His purple eyes narrowed with annoyance in a desperate attempt to hide his emotion. Luckily, he had years of practice under his belt at hiding how he truly felt. But for some reason, those fiery, orange eyes seemed to pierce straight through him and it was those eyes that seemed to make his heart palpitate like that. This wasn't a normal feeling to have, and he was quite baffled by it. Maybe it wasn't Kyo's eyes. Maybe it was just his stomach talking. Yea, that's it. He was just hungry and that was all.
"Yea, Tohru just made food and she wants you to come down and eat," Kyo replied coolly. Yuki shook his head and looked out the window. He hadn't realized that it was so late. Kyo rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation.
"Right, I'll be right down," Yuki answered in a soft tone. As soon as the reply was given, Kyo stood up, turned swiftly on his heel and exited Yuki's room as if just being enclosed in a small space with him was so intoxicating that he was being deprived of air. This encounter was weird, compared to others. Normally, Tohru would come get Yuki and tell him dinner was ready. Why was it Kyo? Another enigmatic occurrence was that Kyo just sat down on the bed. He sat down like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to do! Well, thinking about it, it was pretty normal, but not on Yuki's bed it wasn't! And then there was the mystery of Kyo not picking fights with Yuki anymore. What was that all about? It wasn't as if Yuki necessarily liked fighting Kyo, it was just more the fact that their fighting had meant so much to the cat and he thought that this activity would continue until Kyo could finally achieve mastery over Yuki – which, of course, would never happen. Yuki just sighed and put all these questions at the back of his mind. He didn't need to worry about these things right now. He was probably just overreacting anyways. Upon the exit, Yuki exhaled slowly and pushed himself up off the mattress. He turned to sit on the bed for a second then stood, taking the book with him. After putting the book in its rightful place on the shelf, Yuki walked out his room and downstairs to dinner.
The dinner table scene hadn't changed much since Yuki's home became a bit more crowded with Tohru and Kyo. Shigure was once again babbling about his newest novel he was writing. It was quite unfathomable why Shigure even bothered to share his ideas for his novels. As much as he tried to make them sound like pure and innocent romances, they only came out to sound raunchy, risqué, and, for the majority, like a porno. Tonight was no exception. Yuki looked at poor little Tohru who kept her mouth shut, but her cheeks blushed innocently.
Now, if Shigure really wanted to sound rather innocent, he could write a love story about Tohru and Yuki and their romance muddled by the omnipresent Kyo. Such an innocent subject, mostly because it involved Tohru and anything she was involved in was never raunchy or anything resembling porn. Now Yuki wasn't sure if he had feelings for Tohru, other than loving her as a son loves his mother. Maybe he should just let Kyo have her; however he didn't seem that interested in her lately either. What a conundrum. A conundrum he'd have to figure out later.
But Shigure simply wasn't that brilliant, and he probably could have even turned something as innocent as that into a porno as well, so Yuki kept his mouth shut.
After dinner, Yuki once again retired to his room. Too bad there wasn't much else to do around the house. Shigure pranced off to gain more knowledge and ideas for his novel while Kyo and Tohru stayed in the sitting room to work on their math homework together. What good that'll do. Kyo wasn't as smart as he believed himself to be and – no offense to Tohru – Tohru always ended up having to ask Yuki for help with her equations.
Yuki knew, after feeling her anxious stare after him, that Tohru was worried about him. He had been shutting himself away more than usual, and it wasn't on accident either. In the recent months Yuki had felt an inevitable closeness form between Kyo and Tohru. How could he even begin to compete against him? After all, the cat was her favorite of the entire Zodiac, even though the cat wasn't technically part of the Zodiac. For all he knew, she could secretly hate the rat for the trick he had played on the cat all those years ago.
Yuki sighed and plopped on his bed, pulling out his homework from his schoolbag in the process. Concentration was near to impossible with all of these impending dooms on his mind. School was the last thing Yuki wanted to worry about.
A soft knock came from the door which immediately told him that it wasn't Kyo, thank heavens. "Come in," He replied just as softly to the knock. Sure enough, Tohru walked through the door. As always, Yuki pulled out his smile that was only reserved for Tohru and sat up on the bed. He tapped the bed next to him indicating that she should sit as well.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Tohru walked towards the bed and sat down next to Yuki. "Um…Yuki?" Her timid voice was barely audible. Something was wrong. Immediately Yuki's brow rose slightly in concern as he leaned forward a bit more so he could see her face as if it would reveal a secret as to what was troubling her. Of course she had probably already told Kyo so it was secondhand news, but at least he was talking to someone. That was a start. Right?
"What is it, Miss Honda? What's troubling you?" He asked, slight worry rolled off his tongue with his words.
She looked up at him from underneath her bangs. "Well, Yuki, it's you that's troubling me," She replied with a little more confidence.
This took him aback and he widened his eyes in surprise. "Me? Why do I trouble you? Have I said or done anything to you recently that you haven't liked?" As soon as these words formed, he immediately tried to think of anything and everything he could have done that would have upset her. He hadn't fought with Kyo recently so that couldn't have been a possibility. What else could he have done?
Tohru seemed torn. She chewed her lower lip slowly then allowed the full gaze of her brown eyes to be directed at Yuki. She didn't look too particularly happy about worrying him that he was worrying her, but, as usual, Tohru needed to make everything right in the world. "Well, it's just you've been so…distant lately. Kyo asked about you and we were just downstairs talking about it-" Wait a minute? She's been talking to Kyo about it? Kyo is asking about me? Since when does this happen? Yuki thought to himself, still trying to keep his purple eyes hidden behind his usual mask. "-and he agrees with me. Something just isn't…right or normal with you recently," She finished with, it seemed, much difficulty. It wasn't easy for Tohru to confront people on such topics. However, if the time called for it, she was just the person to do it. If anyone besides Tohru mentioned this to him, Yuki definitely would have been on the defensive. But Tohru held such a soft spot with Yuki, as well as with all the others in within the Sohma family, except Akito, of course.
This was why, instead of freaking out and getting angry about the information presented towards him, Yuki relaxed and smiled. He took her small hand in both his own and looked into her eyes. "I can assure you, Miss Honda, that I am quite alright," He replied in the silkiest and most convincing voice he could muster. It seemed to have the desired effect.
"Ok, Yuki, I'll take your word for it!" She said, smiling broadly. "However, I'm going to keep an extra special eye out for you-" She peered at him through squinted eyes and poked her index finger at his nose. "-just in case," Yuki laughed in response which Tohru took as a sign to retreat. She got to the doorway and turned around adding an afterthought. "By the way, Yuki, you can call me Tohru. I'm sure I have reminded you that a few times before. But we're going to be watching a movie, Kyo, Shigure, and I. You're welcome to join us if you want," With that she walked out into the hall. She had reminded him many times before, but it just seemed disrespectful to call her that, in his mind anyways.
He glanced around his room: everything was precisely in order and perfectly clean. Maybe Tohru was right and he didn't get out enough. She left him alone, once more, with his thoughts…and his gardening book. Yuki's eyes wandered once more across his impossibly perfect bedroom. This was the thought that ultimately made Yuki scurry downstairs just in time for the movie to start. Being boring was always something that scared Yuki, and he was scared his life was turning out just that way. Tohru was joyous as Yuki came downstairs, as could be predicted from her. Shigure was sidled up next to her on the loveseat, which made Yuki really uncomfortable, while Kyo sat on the sofa. Since he really didn't want to sit on the floor, Yuki did the unthinkable and sat down on the opposite side of the couch Kyo was sitting on. Yuki looked over at Tohru and smiled.
"Miss Honda, why don't you come over and sit by us? I was going to make popcorn and this will make it easier to share," Yuki called softly to Tohru. She smiled back at Yuki and went to go sit between him and Kyo. Shigure shot daggers at Yuki, but he just smirked back at the dog.
"What if I don't want popcorn?" Kyo asked in a smart-alecky tone.
This statement brought Yuki out of his face making war with Shigure. He turned his deep eyes to the other and gave him a blank expression. "Well you don't have to have any if you want to," He replied in an even tone.
Kyo scoffed in return and pushed himself as close to the arm of the couch as was humanly possible. Yuki got up before the movie started and made popcorn. He put it in a bowl and brought it back out so the rest of the residents could enjoy the tasty snack. Shigure ended up sitting on the floor in front of Tohru so he could get two things: popcorn and a backrub. Both Kyo and Yuki looked at him in disgust. As if his perverted ways couldn't get any worse. Despite this common ground of disgust for Shigure, Kyo still appeared to be angry at Yuki for embarrassing him in front of everyone. In his defense, Kyo had been humiliated worse than that before so Yuki couldn't see why this made any difference now. Nevertheless, something was wrong and Yuki was getting the consequences. Yes, instead of staring at the television screen as the rest were doing, Yuki was almost one-hundred percent sure that his rival's gaze was diverted elsewhere. At him.
