Disclaimer: The wonderful story and characters of Fruits Basket are accredited to Natsuki Takaya to whom we are grateful we can write stories such as this because we were able to enjoy her story . None of the ownership is mine.

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"NO"

"Its not like 'I' want 'you' to come,stupid cat"

"Do you think I'm three or something, having a picnic at a play ground?! 'Oh, I'll race you to the monkey bars. Oh look! Look how high I can swing!' Shit! Are you serious? It's a stupid idea"

"Well it's Ms. Honda's idea," Yuki folded his arms and stared back with a cocky expression in his sapphire eyes.

The fiery-eyed redhead frowned back at him then pushed his long fingers through his tangerine bangs.

"I've got practice today. I'm not going".

Thus the gentle and unusually non-combative conversation of Yuki and Kyou Sohma ended as Tohru Honda skipped into the dining room.

"Yuki-san? Kyou-kun? Both of you alright?", a glint of worried sincerity shimmered across her bright and happy face. Her brunette hair flowed off the top of her shoulders in waves. She had just walked down stairs from her room, still in her pink floral nightgown. Yuki was wearing a long Japanese style shirt and pants, while Kyou was in a pair of blue shorts and a white tank top that he usually slept in.

"Yes. And how are you this morning?" Yuki looked at her with warm eyes. She was always so concerned when he quarreled with that hot-tempered idiot.

"Wonderful, thank you! Kyou, your alright too?" She smiled at Kyou, who was still straight faced. He was sitting at the table with his head propped up in his hands staring out into the wilderness of the Sohma family's property. His eyes shot a quick glance back at Tohru.

"I'm fine." Kyou shrugged his shoulders as he turned back to the window. Tohru didn't think he sounded too fine. Then a brilliant idea came to her.

"I'll make you both something extra special for breakfast!" She smiled excitedly as she pranced out the door, leaving the two boys looking wide-eyed at her exuberance.

As soon as she walked into the kitchen, she realized that her brilliant idea lacked some brilliancy. She had already made all the breakfast meals she knew of. This was going to be a problem, but she couldn't give up so quickly, after all Kyou and Yuki and Shagure were always so kind to her. Letting her stay in their home, walking her home from work late, she really did feel like a princess when she was around them.

So, how could she fail at making the best breakfast for the best people in her life, she thought. She wouldn't give up, not this Tohru Honda. Suddenly, her mind remembered the cookbooks she had bought a few weeks ago. Scanning through the book, she looked from recipe to recipe.

"Crepes, simplicity and elegance, eat like one is dan la Paris" Tohru read the page out loud. Paris sounded so wonderful and romantic. She'd try to make that.

Meanwhile, on the roof, lay Kyou, who was staring at a group of clouds while he reflected on his flaws, as he often did. The first cloud looked like a cat. He grimaced at it as it looked back at him. He hated being a cat and cats also reminded him of all the cat groupies that always liked to gather around him. If he didn't watch out those darn cats would probably smother him in his sleep. The veins in his forehead protruded as he told himself Focus on the clouds and you won't break anything. Just focus on the clouds. This was a necessary precaution mostly because the only thing to break was the roof and he knew that caused trouble the last time. The next cloud looked like nothing to him. Kyou tried to stretch his imagination into thinking it was an obese starfish on a broomstick but even in his tired, dazed state he couldn't believe that. The swirls of the 'Wicca practicing echinoderm who needed to try out nutrisystem' sucked him in to its enchanting spell as his eyes fell shut.

Where the hell am I? Kyou was laying on a cement floor in a dark room. A cage would be a better description of it, for it was only as large as a closet. It was vacant accept for the dust and heavy darkness that enveloped its entire space. His fiery eyes were blinded by a small ray of light seeping through four metal bars, the only window in the room. He got up, panic-stricken and disconcerted. As he stumbled to his feet a film of dust was kicked up, coating his bare arms and tee-shirt in grey. He fell back down and leaned against the cold, unsympathetic wall. His bitter fate had become a present reality; he was imprisoned.

Abruptly, the chilled room turned hot. No, it wasn't the room,Kyou realized. His arms, his arms were burning. He looked down at his forearms and chest. The dust wasn't what it appeared to be. A smouldering pain covered him like he was on fire. Like the blood in his veins was lava and he was getting coated with the ashes, he felt a blaze was sweeping through him, from his wrists to his back. With out warning, all his eyes could see was a veil of flames and smoke. Shit.He coughed. Somebody! Somebody help me! The rooms on fire!The choking smoke whirled about him taunting him to fight for his life, and through the smoke a gray field appeared, out of nowhere. A funeral procession was before him.

A pale faced Tohru was lying on the ground before a grave stone just twenty feet away. She had collapsed from the weight of grief, frail as a budding flower, and was crying with faintly heard sobs. Tohru?! She was too far away to hear him, a moving picture in a smokey frame. The room was now a furious inferno around Kyou. Yuki came and wrapped his arms around Tohru, pulling her up from the ground. Shigure looked down, shame-faced, as he turned and walked away from her.

"Yuki, why'd he have to die?!"

"Shh, everything is going to be o.k. Come on, lets go. Everyone has left and you haven't eaten since yesterday morning" Tohru nodded at Yuki's plea for her health. She looked back at the grave stone and said,

"Good bye Kyou-kun. I wish I could have had more time with you." Then the two both walked off ,Yuki's arm around Tohru, holding her up.

No! I'm not dead Tohru! Help me! Everything'son fire! Help! Somebody!.They kept walking deaf to his screams. The burning continued and his eyes were blinded by the incandescent flames that surrounded him on all sides. His heart was burning and his mind was numb with the images of Tohru weakly collapsed on the ground. Why can't she see me? Doesn't she know I'm locked here?And then his eyes squeezed shut in pain when he realized.They didn't tell her I had to be locked up. She doesn't know about the cat's curse. They thought that telling her I'm dead was the only way for her to come to terms with me being gone. What else would Tohru understand?. She understands death far too well.He fell face first to the floor , his hands clenching, scratching the ground as he slowly sunk.

"Kyou!'

He flipped over on to his back, looking for the voice. Help me.

"Kyou, KYOU!!!"

He felt too weak to answer. He was dying for sure.

"Kyou, wake up!!"

He woke with a jolt and as he opened his eyes he saw Tohru kneeling over him, her liquid blue eyes luminescent with worry. He wasn't in prison after all, but on the roof under the auroral sunlight.

"Kyou, are you OK? You must of been having a nightmare or daymare I guess you could say. You shouldn't fall asleep up here, you could fall off." Tohru's frown slowly faded into an affectionate smile.

"Uh-I'm fine, Tohru. Thanks for waking me up" Kyou stuttered still shaken from his dream.

"I made Yuki crepes. He has already eaten and has went to work in his garden. The batter is ready so I can make one for you now- if your not too tired." Tohru smiled with pride at her culinary accomplishments.

"Thanks, I'll catch up to you in a second. Don't worry, I've had enough rest for the day" Kyou forced a smile as she started down the latter.

"Tohru-"

"Yes, Kyou?"

"Nothing, never mind." Suddenly, he felt a tinge of the burning in his heart again.

A few moments later he walked into the kitchen. She ran over to him and pulled him over to the stove top, her hand in his.

"See? Its almost done. You need to pick some toppings!" Tohru looked up into his eyes after he had glanced at the cooking crepe. Hopefully, he will like the toppings she had bought this morning.

"Well, what do we have?" Kyou answered back. He was in lighter spirits now.

"Look in the fridge" Tohru flipped the golden brown crepe to its other side.

Kyou grabbed the handle of the fridge hesitantly. What the hell does someone put on a crepe anyway? Upon opening it, his jaw dropped. Inside was a crate of strawberries, two cans of whip cream, peaches, blackberries, jelly, jam, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, caramel sauce, bananas, vanilla pudding, butterscotch pudding, chocolate pudding,toffee chunks, pitted cherries, maple syrup, and blueberries. None of these things had been there before. She must have done all the shopping this morning, he thought. How could she be so nice to him like this. Stupid girl, doesn't she know that he can't return her over done niceness? He wasn't a good person. He looked back at her. He had nothing to give back.

"Tohru, I don't know what to pick."

"Huh, you don't like the options?!" Oh no, how could she make the best breakfast Kyou ever had if he didn't like the toppings,"There's ice cream in the fridge too!" She was in a frenzy.

"No, Tohru. It all looks great. I just don't know what to choose from."

"I could make you something for your first crepe." Relieved, she tossed the crepe onto a cream colored plate and placed it on the counter top. She danced the polka to the fridge and grabbed a Tohru-sized armful of ingredients with lightning speed. She was giddy and excited, as she turned her back to Kyou, who was standing in the middle of the kitchen, once more in awe of Tohru's enthusiasm.

"Voila! Bon appétit", Tohru giggled as she handed a heaping plate to Kyou with a curtsy.

"Thanks. Oh-no, 'Merci, Mademoiselle,' With his eyes filled with laughter and gratitude he corrected himself. Tohru giggled once more as he took a bite out of the mountain-high crepe. It was covered by dollops of vanilla ice cream and rivers of chocolate syrup. The mountain was sprinkled with toffee and rainbow sprinkles and its summit was snow-capped with a swirl of whipped cream. Crowning the snow was a petite crimson cherry. As delicious and as it tasted and looked, he felt that he would drop dead of hyperglycemia from all the sugar before he finished. He walked with Tohru into the dining room. Then they both sat down.

"So do you like it?" she beamed with hope and anticipation.

"It's delicious. Have you had one yet?" Kyou looked towards her, his eyes finally drawn from the hypnotizing allure of the "Party Himalayas". Abruptly, he heard her stomach growl and saw a blush on her radiant skin.

"No, not yet. I will make one after I make more batter later," She had made enough for Yuki, Kyou, Shigure and herself but not quite enough for them plus Momiji, Kisa, and Hiro, who had stopped by for a visit earlier that day.

"Well, you can have some of mine. You seem hungry." Kyou wasn't going to let the idiot starve. He knew the kids had stopped by. If he had been her, he would have skipped serving Hiro. He always acted like a brat," I'll go get a spoon, you can have some of mine".

"No, It's yours Kyou"

"I'm getting a spoon" He jumped up from the table and strolled into the kitchen. Damn it, he thought, all the spoons were dirty and he hated doing dishes. What was he going to do now? He heard her stomach growl once again from the other room. He rushed back into the dining room and scooped out a morsel with his own spoon, and put it into the surprised mouth of Tohru. That should hold her over.The determined boy rushed back into the kitchen to go wash her a utensil of her own. After a short moment, he came back with a shiny silver spoon.

"Here, go ahead eat some of mine, I really don't need the extra calories anyway." Kyou tried to reassure her.

"But It's your-KYOU, you shouldn't worry about calories, your in good shape; you work out at the Dojo", Tohru exclaimed at him. Kyou felt relieved now that she was distracted from trying to refuse food. She was taking dainty bites out of the crepe dessert as if subconsciously she wanted to help in any way she could, even if it meant to help him lose weight. She was really silly sometimes, easy to tease.

"Speaking of Dojo, I need to go soon."Kyou reminiscenced, suddenly.

"Oh, will you be back soon?" Tohru remembered something else, suddenly, as well.

"Not exactly, why for?" He knew why she was asking but played dumb. He really did feel bad even if he thought the whole thing was stupid.

"I was planning on having a picnic but I understand if your busy. I know how sports are."

"Oh really?" Kyou mocked her in a friendly way. Tohru had play sports in physical education class and he had seen her lack of coordination. In fact, he didn't even have to see her play sports, her falling flat on her face was a repeated memory that etched a picture of a very klutzy Honda in his mind.

"Well, I did do some ballet" She felt meek when Kyou laughed at her.

"Ballet? That's not a sport!", he stopped as he could see Tohru sinking down further into her cushioned seat,"but it is pretty cool, i mean for you. I never knew you danced."

"YOU DANCE?!", Shigure popped his head out from behind the door frame,"You should dance for us at the picnic."

"Go away you perve!," Kyou jumped up to his feet, in furious rage, as he clenched his fists in the direction of the twisted dog.

"Shigure, I'm not good at dancing. I stopped when I was fourteen. I'd be terrible now" Tohru's face was blushing like a pale fuchsia. Shigure chuckled and left just as suddenly as he had appeared. Hurray! he thought, dancing, dancing high school girls!!!!

"Tohru, how long did you dance before that?" asked Kyou.

"Since I was five." No pride was in her face as she blankly answered.

"Then you must be o.k"

"But I'm so inflexible now, and, oh no, if I have to dance today, I won't have anything to dance in!"

"You need a tutu, or something?" Tutus and Tohru did seem to match well when he thought about it. So did frolicking in a fairy enchanted forest.

"More like tights and a leotard and maybe a tutu or-Kyou could I borrow something from you?" Immediately Kyou was flustered and astounded. What the hell did she think he had? A tutu? A leotard. A "My Little Pony CD?" Now Yuki, he might have those things. That damn rats probably into thatbut he, as sure as hell, isn't.

"Kyou, could I borrow a shirt of yours? That should be loose enough to dance in." Kyou's blood pressure lowered as did his cat ears. Then he teased.

"Loose enough? You calling me fat?"

"OH NO. No No. Kyou, that is not what I meant. I'm so sorry if it came out that way, but that's not what I meant!.

"Tohr-"

"You are in great shape. Your fit and trim as could be. Lots of guys would probably like to have a body like yours and-'

"Tohru I-"

"Why are you hard on yourself. You should be happy with how you are. Be confident Kyou. I like you and-" Tohru was in her frenzy mode once again.

"Tohru, here," Kyou scooped a bite of toffee into her mouth to quiet her,"I was only kidding with you, you can borrow one of my shirts but I have to go now so...bye." With catlike reflexes he grabbed his backpack and sprang out the door.

"Bye, Kyou" Once he was gone, she wiped the sweat from her frenzy off her forehead. Why was she so gullible?
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to be continued...