Warning: OOC Tohru. Also the flashback scenes from manga/anime are altered to make it more of a Yukiru fanfic.
Pairing: Yuki/Tohru
-x-
Girls would fantasize becoming twenty something. They would expect a handsome man to sweep them off their feet, propose to her after a month of dating, get married, and then have two children (one boy and one girl) and live inside a beautiful white house.
Girls would imagine who they wanted to marry. For long term relationships, they chose their future husbands to have a strong masculine body with hard, rigid muscles from hours of weight-lifting. Others would love boys who had a slightly delicate frame, who would be passionately jealous about their girlfriend hanging out with another guy.
But Tohru didn't get to choose anything. She didn't get to choose that her heart wouldn't be stolen by Kyo Sohma, every girl's dream boy, but by Yuki Sohma, the female population's ideal of a future husband, but who also harbored a terrifying past.
She didn't expect him to love her first. She didn't think that he would confess to her first, when she thought she should confess to him like how every girl confessed to her crush in her high school.
Tohru smiled faintly, twisting the beautiful wedding ring on her left ring finger which was the traditional thick gold band with a large, precious diamond in the center.
Most guys would spend so much time trying to get so unique with the types of engagement rings and wedding rings they placed on their girlfriends. But Yuki was traditional, sweet and simple. And Tohru liked it how he didn't try too hard to impress her with expensive things.
"Tohru?"
Tohru looked behind her to see her husband standing and leaning against the door frame of her -no their- bedroom.
"Yes?"
"What were you thinking about?" Yuki asked, sitting next to where she was sitting on the floor, wrapping his arms around her. He wouldn't have to worry about transforming. The curse was broken.
"Just… thinking about the past," Tohru looked at Yuki and then at the picture in front of her that was of her mother, Kyoko.
-x-
"Kyo…" Tohru trailed off. She was astounded. She always thought that she knew what Kyo looked like, an orange tabby cat. But she didn't realize that the true form was a green monster that everyone found revolting.
"Get back! Stay away from me!"
But her feet dragged her forward. She couldn't stop, no she wouldn't stop.
"Why would I?" Tohru wondered out loud.
"Because I am ugly. I am hideous. I am disgusting, that's why," Kyo said.
"I don't think so. And frankly you aren't the only one who thinks that way," Tohru said, "We all have our inner demons. We all have our flaws, imperfections and fears. Inside everyone is another person."
-x-
"Hmm, so they got married?" Yuki asked one day, as they went through a picture book.
It was a picture of Kagura trying to kiss Kyo on their wedding day after they sealed their vows and Kyo was trying to push her away. But he was smiling and blushing a bit, so he didn't hold that grudge he had against her affections before.
"Yes," Tohru smiled, "I think they make a very good couple."
"Although I do feel jealous," Yuki said.
"How so?" Tohru asked.
"Everytime he wants to pick a fight, Kagura is there to fight him," Yuki sighed.
"Oh don't worry, he won't be able to beat you, that's for sure. Even Kagura can't beat you, but she can reduce him into a ball any time of the day," Tohru smiled.
"But they don't make a better couple than us," Yuki placed the book on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around his wife, nuzzling his face into her hair.
"I am just happy that you accepted me."
-x-
"Yuki? Where are you going?" Tohru asked, confused, as Yuki was going to skip dinner to go outside.
"To go see Machi," Yuki smiled, "I like her, and I think she might like me back."
Her name hurt Tohru's heart. That girl always scorned Yuki, but he always chased after, never knowing that what he was always chasing for was right in front of him.
But Tohru knew she couldn't be selfish and try to stop him from chasing love. He had been severely deprived of the necessary love he always needed.
"Okay! Just know when you come back, the dinner is in the fridge, okay? Heat it up," Tohru forced herself to conjure a warm smile that could fool him.
Yuki smiled, nodded, and ran off. Tohru's heart sank. No doubt, he would hug her, he would transform, and maybe there would be a chance Machi might accept him, despite thinking how disgusting he must be. And Yuki would unknowingly live a life of lies.
Her heart hurt at that thought. After dinner, Tohru went to her room to quietly cry.
Eventually the brunette pulled herself together, and forced herself to pick herself back up, clean up, and clean up the house. The house wouldn't and couldn't clean itself, knowing that if she left the chores to one of the three boys, they would make the house into a pile of twigs in a vain attempt to clean.
She had cleaned all the dishes, organized the living room, mopped, vacuumed, and cleaned her room.
Sitting down at the kitchen table and reviewing her homework for the next day, though she felt like it was a stupid thing to do since it is finished; she heard the door open slowly.
A coat was placed on the coat rack, and soft footsteps trudged in a sad, reluctant manner. The door opened, revealing a very sad Yuki. Tohru expected it to be Kyo, who might have come back from training very hard and thus be very sluggish when moving about.
"Yuki, what happened? You're crying," Tohru said, concerned, knowing somewhere along the lines that the girl rejected him.
"Come here and sit with me at the kotatsu," Tohru beckoned him. Yuki reluctantly obliged.
"She rejected me," Yuki whispered.
"From your facial expressions, that was a given. But how? What happened? I thought she liked you, too," Tohru asked, confused.
"She did, at least that was what I thought," Yuki just covered his face with his hands.
"I don't understand. How did it happen?"
"I told her to meet me at a secluded part of the park, where people couldn't find you. When she asked me why we were so hidden, I asked her if she truly trusted and loved me, she should hug me. She seemed hesitant, indicating that she really didn't trust me, but hugged me anyways. I turned into a rat, and she became disgusted, saying she would never love me the way I want her to. Hatori had to come and erase her memories. I had to dress and come home on my own," Yuki sadly said.
It hurt her to think that when Yuki thought he was being loved, it was all an illusion.
"In a way, she was no different from those girls in my fan club. They see a prince who is a trophy person to cling on to, nothing more," Yuki said quietly.
It was too much for Tohru to take and she leapt forward and hugged him, surprising Yuki. With a purple "POOF", Yuki turned into a rat. Yuki climbed out of his pile of clothes and looked at Tohru, who didn't view him with lust, possessiveness, or disgust.
Tohru scooped him up and brought him to her eye level and whispered, "To me, whether you are in your zodiac form, the prince at school, or that person who fights with Kyo, all I see is Yuki-kun, a person who desires nothing more than to be held, loved, and appreciated. And that is the person I love the most."
Yuki's little beady purple eyes watered as he heard the very words he had longed to hear his whole life. It was then he realized he didn't love Tohru just like a mother, but something seriously.
Tohru kissed his nose and patted his fur with affection that somewhat felt alien to Yuki.
-x-
The doorbell to their apartment rang, and the couple froze in fear for one second.
"Yuki, we can't avoid it any longer. Answer the doorbell," Tohru whispered.
Yuki nodded, and went to do so, but he couldn't help but feel dread wash through him. No doubt it would be Hatori.
"Hatori," Yuki said, when he opened the door.
"Yuki, Tohru," Hatori solemnly nodded. Tohru still felt bad for him. After all these years of the curse being broken, Hatori couldn't undo the one thing he was forced to do, erase Kana's memories. And so Kana moved on with life and fell in love with another man and it hurt to see the love of his life talk wedding plans with another man.
"What is it?" Yuki asked, letting him in.
Hatori shook his head politely and instead looked at Tohru, "Akito-sama wanted to see you."
"What does she want?" Tohru asked.
"I have no idea, but she asked me to come get you," Hatori said.
"I'm coming," Yuki firmly said.
"Yuki, please-"
"I don't want to lose you, Tohru. Believe it or not, Akito used to be extremely cruel and even if she changed, I don't trust her at all," Yuki said.
"Tohru, he is right. You never know what might happen," Hatori said, looking at the pair. He would hate to see another faithful couple get torn apart.
"Ok," Tohru nodded, allowing Yuki to take her hand.
-x-
"It is so nice to see you," Akito grinned mysteriously at Tohru when she came.
"It was my pleasure, Akito-sama," Tohru neutrally said.
Akito had changed a bit. She wasn't that scornful person anymore who vied to keep the Sohma's from ever loving. She even grew her hair out, which was a bit shaggy, which shocked the Sohmas, revealing that she was a girl, not a guy that she appeared to always look like.
"Did you need something?" Tohru asked.
"Shh…" Akito held a finger up to her lips when a hesitant bird approached the tips of her finger which contained food.
"Let's just spend today in silence."
-x-
"What did she want?" Yuki asked as the two were being driven home.
"She just wanted some company," Tohru said, "She said she was feeling a bit lonely."
"But she has Shigure," Yuki protested.
"True, but Shigure is trying to publish a book and he and his editor don't have the best relations," Tohru said awkwardly.
"That is his problem for putting it off, then," Yuki huffed.
-x-
"Yuki?"
"Hm?"
"When did you fall for me?" Tohru asked the one question that was bothering her for days now.
"It is a long story…"
-x-
It started when Tohru comforted Yuki after Machi rejected him.
Machi, who lost her memories of the incident only, tried to win Yuki's affections again. But Yuki couldn't bring himself to accept her like he previously wanted to.
"But I love you!" She screamed one day, after cornering Yuki after a student council meeting.
Tohru, who was waiting for Yuki to come out from the meeting, down casted her eyes. If Yuki accepted Machi, she would force herself to smile, force herself to be happy for him, even if it meant that her own heart broke in the process.
"No you don't," Yuki said, "You wouldn't accept all of me."
"How do you know?" Machi asked. And that was hard to prove to a person who didn't remember.
"Trust me, I know. If I were to reveal who I truly am, you would be disgusted, you would be horrified, and most of all, you wouldn't want to see my face again. I thought you were different, but in reality, you are like the rest of the female population at this school," Yuki said, "It would be best to give up now. I love someone else anyways."
"Who is she?" Machi bitterly spat.
Tohru couldn't handle it and she quietly walked away. She left before she could hear her name being uttered from Yuki's lips.
"Honda. Honda Tohru."
-x-
"Wait, it was me that you told her you loved?" Tohru asked, shocked, "But you said you loved someone else!"
"You walked away before you could hear, Tohru, but you know I loved you. It really didn't take a confession to confirm it," Yuki said, pressing his forehead to Tohru's.
"But I thought you only loved me like a mother," Tohru whispered.
"I always loved you. It took a big push for me to realize otherwise," Yuki said.
-x-
A/N: A little something that came to mind since I watched Fruits Basket after so many years. I always loved Yukiru, but I have craved to make a somewhat dark, short oneshot that wasn't TOO romantic.