I don't own Fruits Basket, Tsubasa Chronicle or any of the characters in them. I am simply a very bored wirter who likes the two shows and is looking for a way to fill my insane amount of free time. hehe XD please R&R. This story is so sad because all the other stories have reviews and it does not. :..(

Say Arigatou

He had worried her again, just like he always has. Maybe it is just in his nature to make this girl miserable. But then, it's not really that he does it on purpose to hurt her, it's just that's the way things always work out. It would seem as though he can't do anything in life for her but give her a cause to worry frantically over yet another thing that shouldn't concern her.

And then everyone else around would stare at him, much like they are staring at right now in that same accusing way. He knows that he's screwed up again. His face flushing slightly, his teeth also grind together in frustration. "Gomen," The boy says rather flatly, cursing under his breath after as he knows that she'll just keep assuming that there's something she's been doing wrong.

They exchange a glance for a moment in which he feels the amount of concern she has for him just about crushing its full weight over his body. He offers only a small grin and a nod before she turns away, shrugging in that carefree way. But he understands it's only a hoax, or a ploy to keep the others from worrying that she might be sad. He lowers his head.

She's never going to stop worrying about me. I wish I could just tell her what's on my mind. But that will hurt her, plus I really have no social skills. I wouldn't know how without hurting her feelings. He excuses himself from the room, closing the door gently behind himself, trying vainly to get her to not worry for him. Besides dumb girl, there's no reason to worry about me.

And yet one more reason, he decides as he walks into his room, why he could never tell her of his feelings for her. They will only burden her. Knowing him, he'd probably end up making her feel as if she's obligated to love him or something. Calling a person "dumb girl" is probably not the kindest, gentlest way to let someone know of your affections for them either.

After a while of sitting in silence after thinking the whole incident over again, he finally gets welcomed company. There comes a knock on his bedroom door. "Hai?" He calls out. "Ano…I have your laundry." It's not the girl he was hoping to see, but a friend will do for this kind of talk. Plus this now offers him the opportunity to speak with someone about his situation and his…dare he say the word? Feelings…

He sighs aloud, the girl who is presently placing his clothes on the end of his bed glancing up at him in a curious manner. "All right, you wanna talk…talk," She says it rather blandly, coming over and taking a cautious seat beside him. He sighs again, more heavily.

"Well I don't know what to do. I always end up acting like such an idiot around her and I say or do something that makes her upset and then…" He pauses, not sure he can get it out so he takes a deep breath in and lets it out. "And then when she looks at me like that…with that worried look on her face…I don't know what I'm supposed to do. So I just say I'm sorry 'cause I don't know what else to say." The girl nods at him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"And?" She coaxes. He lowers his head a bit. "And…everyone -like just now- they all look at me like they're expecting me to do something. I don't even know what it is I want to do…how can everyone expect me to know what the hell it is they want from me?"

The girl nods one final time before giving a gentle sigh. "I get it," He looks at her. "So, do you know anything that's useful here or what?" She glares meaningfully and he nods. "Gomen."

"Well, first of all…a good thing to do would be to stop snapping like that. You're gonna scare the poor thing to death that way." He nods at this and motions for her to continue. "Secondly, I'd recommend much more patience than you seem to possess." His brow furrows slightly in frustration and his fists tighten up slightly. "Okay, okay, I'm impatient…moving on…" She gives him a small encouraging smile and then leans in and casually whispers something into his ear. A piece of information that he will later thank his lucky stars he knows.

After all of the others have left the party and the other residents of the household have excused themselves to run some errands, he finally decides that it's time to follow his friend's advice and seek her out to talk to her. He walks around the house, checking her room first and then the living room and finally the kitchen. Those words whispered to him earlier replay over and over again in his mind the whole way through the house.

"Perhaps, instead of saying 'gomen' all the time when she's worried for you…you should try saying 'arigatou'." He nods to himself. I know…I know what I should do but…

"It's probably better for her to understand that you're grateful, rather than making it seem like you're still upset over something." He nods again when he stops in the doorway to the kitchen. It's time to stop this being afraid all the time.

This is where he finds the girl, washing up some dishes remaining from the night before. She hums to the sound of the music coming from the radio on the counter, a cute little smile gracing her features. He bites on his lip anxiously and takes a silent step toward her. She has yet to notice he's even in the room.

"Hey," His hand goes into his pocket when he blurts this word out, now standing behind her. She gasps, shocked and jumps back, dropping the dish into the sink. Her back hits his chest and they both stumble back into the opposite wall, just in time for his familiar transformation into a cat.

"Oh, Kyou-kun, I didn't know it was you!" She lifts her body up, taking her weight off the small cat. "I'm sorry for squishing you like that! Gomen ne!" She tells him, and he looks up at her just in time to catch her cute smile and that way the tilts her head respectfully to show how much she cares. If the redhead had been human, which he's thanking god at the moment that he's not, he'd be blushing ferociously.

"It's fine Tohru," He gets onto his short legs with a heavy sigh, happy to have the air returning to his lungs. "Kyou-kun…are really sure that you're okay…you look a little tired."

His face sets in his usual annoyed expression as the hair on his tail stands on end with his irritation. "Of course, that's what I said isn't it?" He is almost at a yell now, sending poor Tohru into her irrational frenzy of scolding herself and apologizing. "Why the hell would I say something and not mean it like that? I'm sorry for making you worry all the time! What else do you want from me!?"

Her face lines up with the small tabby cat. Her eyes lock onto his gorgeous scarlet orbs for only a few seconds and then she lowers her head. He knows that he's messed up again in saying something like this and just as he opens his mouth to make take a step toward making amends, there is another familiar poof as he changes quite suddenly from a cat, back into a young man.

Tohru panics and quickly whirls around to face in the opposite direction while he scrambles around behind her trying to get dressed, cursing through the whole thing. He wishes that there could be some kind of miracle remedy for this damn shyness of his, a cure for all these problems that he causes her.

"No, that's not what I meant," He says, pulling his jacket sleeve into place as the girl turns and looks up at him. "What?" He sighs and tries being a little gentler. "Tohru, stand up, please?" She nods and gets onto her own feet, turning to face him fully. The girl is looking up at him with these big, brown Tohru eyes and she clasps her hands together in that innocent way she does. His face fills with its usual blush.

"I didn't mean to be harsh…It's just that I don't know how to react." She shakes her head. "So then, you're okay Kyou-kun?" He looks at her, realizing that he never really did answer her question properly. "Yeah I'm fine…"

Kyou stares nervously at the floor. This is horrible. It's always terrible to try and break an old habit. So, this is it is it? He's gotta say it now. His face heats up even more. He shoves his other hand into his other pocket, clenching it tightly.

She looks concerned. "Kyou-kun, Daijobu…desu?" Lowering his head more he feels that his head might explode with all the pressure. He finally looks back at her after a moment. "Tohru…" Her eyes widen in curiosity, but her small smile remains thus far unchanged. He takes a deep breath, though it does nothing really to calm his frazzled nerves.

"Tohru, ar…ari-gato-u…arigatou." He stumbles getting the word out, but it comes and he says it again, making sure incase she hadn't caught it the first time. For a moment, there is nothing but silence. Kyou looks at Tohru, waiting for whatever reaction may come…a good one, a bad one, anything but all this goddamn silence. She seems a little surprised but other wise is unfazed, whereas he is a red-faced pile of nerves. He doesn't know what to think.

"Tohru…um…please say something…" He mumbles and she squeals, taking him completely by surprise. "You're welcome Kyou-kun! I'm so happy!" He can only give a gentle smile in return at this point and finds himself reaching out toward her, his hand coming over hers. She pauses all together and looks at him.

"Tohru," For the first time, she doesn't freak out. She seems to only melt, moving in toward him some. "Yes?" Their hands remain at the fair distance, not curling around one another like you would if you wanted to hold hands, but merely remaining in place as if trying to determine whether this is real or as if they are frightened to find out what holding hands would be like. But, whatever the case, his hand and her hand are simply placed together. Palm to palm. No deeper than that. It never had to be...has to be. They just understand one another.

"Tohru," He repeats, but is abruptly cut off by Momiji, who has somehow gotten back into the house.

"Aww! Kyou is getting all lovey with Tohru!" Kyou about flies through the wall in his haste to get away from Tohru and makes his angry, embarrassed way over to Momiji, hitting the smaller boy on the head. "I am not you stupid rabbit!" "You are too!" He argues back, gaining him only a headlock and a noogie. "Waaa! Tohru, Kyou's hitting me!" "Don't whine to her you stupid kid!" Kyou yells back.

"Now, now…calm down you two…" She says, looking exasperated.

After clearing up that whole fight with yet another of the two Sohma boys, Kyou watches carefully as Tohru heads off somewhere. He follows at a distance, maintaining the visual and finds that she actually leads him to the roof.

"Hey," He says, climbing onto the cooling tiles. She looks over. "Since when did this become your spot?" She freaks out again as he takes a seat beside her, apologizing and trying to leave, but he takes her arm, pulling her gently into a sitting position on his opposite side from where she had previously been. They stare at one another.

"You don't have to go, sit down before you fall or something!" He hisses in an embarrassed hushed tone, keeping his face low so that she won't see the blush on his face. Through his bangs, he sees her face light up just like he knew it would and he raises his head, grinning. Even if he hadn't seen her, he'd have known his telling her to stay would make her the happiest girl alive for those two seconds. She so easily pleased. When he sees the delighted expression on her face, he can't help the soft smile from coming over his features as well.

"Tohru, I didn't upset you back in the kitchen did I?" She shakes her head, and then worries again that she may have alarmed him in some way. "Did I look upset?" "No," He says. "You didn't, but I was only checking. You get upset easily and when you're upset I get pissed off. So I'm covering my bases ahead of time." Her smile, if possible, grows even larger. "Thank you for worrying about me." His face turns rosy once again and his hand finds its way over top of hers.

She smiles gently. "Tohru," Unlike how he thought he would be, he is not nervous at all. Tohru is the type to take people's feelings and consider them and then give you an answer based on how she feels. She wouldn't be horribly upset if he said it. Sure, she would be as confused as ever, if in this situation true to her own character. But she would not be mad. The only thing he must confess inside of himself and to her is that he is worried she might be saddened if she doesn't return this feeling. But it's highly unlikely that even if she does become sad that it will last too long. Tohru easily bounces back from everything.

She is looking up at him with this questioning expression gracing her features. Her hand grips the edge of the tile under his hand. She slides a little closer. This…this isn't how Tohru would normally act. There has to be some kind of feelings inside of her, some feelings toward him other than just loving him as a person, or as a very special friend. There has to be something like that inside of her for her to act this way now, right?

"Tohru, there's something else that you should know." He says and Tohru nods at him again, biting on her lip. This is equally as embarrassing for her as it is for him. Lately Uo and Hana had been trying to convince her that "Orangey" as Uo-Chan calls him, has feelings for her. Judging by his actions prior to this and at this very moment, she would have to say it'd be a safe bet he does. But that does little to nothing to deter the fact that this situation is incredibly embarrassing.

Tohru has never been seriously liked by a guy before, so she can't say it's really a concept she understands. If any boy has ever had a crush on her before, she's never noticed. Sure, falling in love with a wonderful man and being married is a cute fantasy, and one she is rather fond of, but she never dreamed of the day that something like this would happen for her. In fact, with how busy things had gotten lately, she hadn't had much time to really think about that.

His eyes soften more, he leans in a bit. He's now more determined to tell her about these feelings than the first time he noticed it. No more interruptions, chickening out or bad timing because it has to be right now. There's no reason to hide this from her now.

"Tohru, I love you." With those words, his lips fall onto hers, kissing her gently. She, frozen for most of the kiss, is beginning to worry Kyou. He pulls back, placing his large hand on the side of her face. She looks into his eyes. "Tohru, please answer me." His confidence has begun to fade. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Kyou-kun?" She asks, he looks questioningly at her. "Hai?" Her eyes are soft and warm, two loving, endless pools of ocean. "I love Kyou-kun too! Very much, so much that it can't even be beat!"

He smiles, moving in closer. "Tohru," He whispers softly, placing a feather light kiss to her temple. She grins. "Yes?" "Arigatou." She squeals again, making him jump this time, which leads on into a conversation about not surprising people when you are sitting on a slanted roof.

They stay there for a while longer before heading inside and heading back to their separate rooms. Kyou can't help but think as he lays staring at a ceiling, what a big help the word "arigatou" can be.