Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

A/N: AHHH I've been itching to write a Hatori/Mayu fic for so long! X3 Read and Review!

Snow. It always snowed on Christmas. And it was always so… alone… These were Hatori's thoughts as he leaned back in his chair of his office, hardly noticing the darkness that had fallen over the room he was sitting in hours back. The only light that fell on the room was a sliver of silvery moonlight that shed its glow on the papers that lay long untouched in front of him. His blue orbs rested on a photograph that sat by his desk as the ticking of the clock became the only sound that rang through his ears. A sigh escaped between his lips. Christmas always reminded him of snow. That very word made his heart clench as his soul desperately tried to claw its way out of the blizzard in his heart to no avail. He had become buried too deep in his snow to escape now.

"You know, Mayu-chan will be alone for Christmas this year. I will be home with Tohru-kun and the others, so I won't be able to visit her. You should drop by sometime. I'm sure she'd be delighted."

Shigure's words rang through his head. That man… he was always trying to set him up with Mayuko. It's not like he didn't know. Hatori knew only too well. There was a part of his heart that reached for her hand when she offered it to him with her tears. Those tears she cried for him, when he wouldn't let them out of his own eyes. They meant more than anyone could ever imagine. Yet he wouldn't let himself fall into that trap again. He didn't want anyone to get hurt… like last time. And so he had let himself be covered with the sheets of freezing snow. How bitter and cold he had become. It made him want to cry. He never cried on the outside anymore, though. He let himself mourn in the swirling snow that covered his heart with an icy barrier that he had thought no one would ever break.

That was until she came along. She was so much like Kana. It made his love for her swell up inside his throat. It was different from the love he had felt for Kana, though. It was more fatherly than anything, he supposed. But that was beside the point. The point was that this girl had slowly begun melting away that ice that had separated him from his emotions for so long. Tohru… Tohru had given him light and hope that maybe someday, that snow inside him would melt and give way for people who he wanted to care for… like Mayuko. It was that warm touch in his heart that bade him to stand up and put on his coat. It was her soft voice that willed him to put on his shoes and emerge into the snow filled wonder of the night on Christmas Eve. Mayuko…

xXx

Mayuko lay on the couch of her living room in front of her fireplace. The crackling of the flames was the only sound that accompanied her silence. She sighed and looked to the book that she had lost interest in a while back. She didn't really feel like reading. Her parents had gone off to some island vacation for Christmas. They had offered to have her come along but she figured the old couple could use some time alone.

"Hope you find yourself a husband while I'm gone!"

She scoffed at her mother's parting words. Yeah right. First of all, guys never really go for a person like her. She had a feisty personality and some attitude issues, which were hardly winning qualities. Secondly, there was someone… someone she just couldn't make herself forget. That person was Sohma Hatori. She could never forget those distant blue eyes that had seemed so empty since that day Kana had left. She couldn't bear to let him go. She held onto him like a memory she wanted to cherish her whole life, but it was no use. The hope of them ever being together was like a flickering candle. Sometimes it burned with confidence like that day that he had treated her to lunch after she had bawled her eyes out for him. Others, it was almost non-existent—like right now. But it was there, no doubt, and she clutched it to her heart with everything she had. She loved him. She always had. And she always would.

She hugged a cushion to her chest and was drifting off to sleep, the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree going in and out of focus as her eyelids fluttered to a close. Just as sleep was about to take her, the doorbell rang, causing her to bolt into a sitting position, cushion flying out of her hands. She quickly got up and smoothed out her clothes and hair, placing the pillow back onto the couch before padding to the doorway, wondering who could be coming at such a late hour. She was just guessing that it was Shigure when she creaked the door open to rest her eyes upon the very person who had plagued her thoughts for so long.

"Hatori… what brings you here?" She asked, stepping aside and letting him come in.

Hatori thought about this himself. Why had he come here in the first place? He didn't even have a gift for her. 'I was just in the neighborhood' didn't seem adequate either. He looked into her confused eyes and gave her the only reply he had. "I was alone. Shigure told me you'd be alone. So I thought… I should come… so we wouldn't be alone anymore."

Mayuko didn't know how to reply to this, so she just clicked the door shut, still blinking at him. She snapped out of her state of astonishment and stammered nervously. "Um… come… sit down…" She gestured to the couch. "I'll… make some tea." She scampered into the kitchen and leaned against the wall. What am I going to do now? He just appeared like that—out of nowhere! Her hands shook as she set a kettle on the stove and made her way nervously back into the living room.

xXx

Hatori lowered himself onto the couch and took in his surroundings. She really was alone for Christmas, then. Shigure hadn't lied, for once. The warmth of the fire seeped into him and he felt the coziness of the room envelope him. He closed his eyes and let out a breath. It felt so… right.

Those were his thoughts as Mayuko had come back into the room and sat down on the couch next to him. They shared an awkward silence before Mayuko spoke, pain evident in her voice. "It must… be hard for you…" Hatori looked up and listened to her words carefully. "I remember… you celebrated Christmas with Kana a few years before… And now…" She didn't finish her sentence.

Hatori nodded, his gaze turning back to the flames casting dancing shadows across the floor. "It is hard, sometimes… I don't think I can forget her ever… But… I try not to dwell on it… and to move on… but it is… so hard sometimes."

Mayuko looked at her hands, biting back the tears that were threatening her. So he was still in love with her. There was no hope for her now… she knew she could never replace that place in his heart. "I bet… you miss her… you probably want her here with you now… instead of me…"

Hatori looked at her sharply. She was hunched over, looking at her hands, her hair covering her face in a veil. "No…" Hatori said as he reached out to her. "I was searching for something… something to warm my heart… and thought nobody can take her place… I wanted to make new memories…" His fingers stroked her hair gently. "There's nobody I'd rather be with right now… Mayu…" He tucked her hair behind her ear to reveal wide eyes that turned to look at him, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hatori…" She said as she squeezed her eyes closed, clenching her fists as tears fell freely from her eyes. "Me too… I've been waiting, too… for someone… for you!"

All this time…

Hatori raised one hand and lifted her chin so that her dark eyes looked into his. The shining lights of the Christmas tree glimmered on her shining eyes as they met his. A curtain of hair rested over her face. With his other hand, Hatori pushed it aside. "It's in the way. You… should cut it."

The distant chiming of a grandfather clock echoed twelve times through the house, signaling midnight, and the beginning of Christmas. Mayuko turned to look towards it, but Hatori grabbed her and turned her back to face him, their lips meeting in a long slow kiss that deepened as Mayuko was lowered onto the couch, her palms pressing onto his chest as he supported himself on his hands so he didn't transform.

All this time we had been waiting…

The shrill whistle of a forgotten kettle interrupted them, and Hatori broke the kiss, he and Mayuko pushing themselves upright reluctantly. Mayu looked at Hatori, blushing at where that could have led.

Hatori simply smiled lightly. "Merry Christmas, Mayu."

Mayuko smiled back. "Merry Christmas, Hatori."

All this time we'd been waiting for each other… and finally winter has found summer, who has so easily melted the snow that had covered the flowers in its heart.