'Yuki-kun... is it true what they say?' 'Do... do you love me?'

The day was a bright one, the type of day that anyone would be happy to see when they woke up and looked through their bedroom windows. The type of day that Yuki Sohma and Tohru Honda were off gardening in their secret base. It was there that Tohru hoped to ask the one question that had been weighing so heavily on her conscience for so long now. Something that Hana-chan and Uo-chan had brought to her notice one day.

'That Sohma boy, he cares for you, you know?'

'Sohma... boy? What are you talking about Hana-chan?'

'You know, Prince Charming, He likes you. Well, Orangey likes you too, but who cares about him?'

'Uo-chan... you... no, no that can't be...'

'You're right my dear Tohru, it can't be just like... his waves suggest it is far more... perhaps even love. It's the same for that Kyo.'

'What's a matter Hana, you seem upset now?'

'Oh, our little Tohru is growing up...'

It had been after the words 'love had slipped into the conversation that Tohru had spaced out. She thought about it and didn't see how it could possibly be so. It was just that Yuki-kun always pushed girls away... he seemed afraid of love. Still, Tohru had always hoped... Those thoughts of hope and discouragement floated around in Tohru's head until she didn't feel like she could keep quiet about it anymore. Until she decided that that day, whilst among the brightly colored pants and ripe looking strawberries, was the day that she would ask Yuki what his real feelings were.

"Honda-san? Honda-san, is there something bothering you?" Yuki's voice melted her thoughts like a warm ray of sun melts an ice cube on a warm summer day. The very sound of it made her heart flutter in her chest and her eyes widen a bit as she looked up at him. She must have seemed a bit confused, or maybe upset at the question, because Yuki seemed to feel the need to explain his question. "I mean... I'm sorry if my question bothers you, I just hoped that you would talk to me if you had something on your mind... especially as you allow me to talk to you when I'm troubled." Tohru continued to look at him with wide eyes, in reality she was not bothered at all, she was touched by Yuki's concern for her. "You just seem... bothered by something." He finished, blushing a little and looking away.

Tohru let a soft smile lift onto her lips. Yuki always thought he was bad with people, but ever since Tohru had known him, he had been nothing but kind to her. "No, I'm so sorry to worry you, Yuki-kun." She said brightly, letting her smile grow and take over her face in the usual way. "Please, tell me what I was doing that made you worry, and I promise never to do it again!" She was blushing a little too now, but only because of what she had been thinking only moments ago. How could she ask him? What words would she use? Tohru had to hand it to herself, she did have a way with random outbursts. She wanted this question to be more than that though, she wanted it to sound right... and she just didn't know how to do that.

Yuki stole a small glance in her direction, before pulling up one of the few weeds that occasionally wandered into this little patch of garden that Yuki claimed to be his secret base, the very same secret base that he now shared with Tohru. "I suppose it was just the look on your face. I would say the spacing out, but you do that alot..." He laughed nervously. "Don't you?" Yuki looked up at Tohru again, and this time he didn't break their eye contact. "But, there, it's gone. You only look happy now. Just... for a second you looked like you were..." He paused and looked away with even more of a blush. "Like... you were longing for something."

Tohru was so embarrassed that she completely forgot about what she was going to say. "Oh, oh no. That's not it at all. See?! I'm completely fine! And I have everything that I want... I'm so grateful to you all..." Tohru looked at he hands in her lap and sighed inwardly. When was she ever going to be able to get this out? She'd been trying to find the courage to do so for a while now, and it seemed that she never had enough. And now she felt herself needing to change the subject quickly before she said anything too stupid.

"Honda-san, we already told you it's-" Began Yuki's beautiful voice only to be cut off by Tohru who in her panic had not heard him start to talk.

"It's such a pretty day!" She said quickly, blurting out the first thing on her mind, and covering her embarrassment with an exaggerated smile. But instantly she felt stupid for her words, it seemed to obvious a subject, a subject meaning that she wanted to change the subject. "On such a pretty day, I wonder what Kyo-kun is doing." She added, letting her voice calm down a bit, and turning her gaze to the sky with a soft smile, while inside her mind was reeling at the stupidity that was flying out of her mouth. Kyo? What had brought up Kyo in her mind when all she was thinking about right now was how much she was in love with Yuki. Was it perhaps that comment that Uo-chan made.

'Well, Orangey likes you too, but who cares about him?'

Poor Kyo, what if he did like Tohru as well. The thought made tohru worry, because unlike Uo, Tohru cared about Kyo... just not in that particular way. Even so, she wouldn't want to break his heart. OH NO! Would she break his heart by telling Yuki she loved him? Tohru tried her best to keep the expression from her face, but just incase it wasn't working she kept her glance fixed at the puffy white clouds that floated around on that calm sea of blue.

"Kyo?" Came Yuki's confused voice. "Why would you wonder what Kyo was doing?" He asked sounding a little upset. Though, Tohru couldn't figure out why he would be. It wasn't like Kyo and Yuki had been fighting as much as usual. They actually seemed to be getting along. "Probably... training." He said after a while of silence between them. Tohru let her eyes drop back down to Yuki and watched him as he began to pull up weeds in an almost annoyed way.

"Yuki?" She asked gently. 'Here I go, I'm going to ask him! I'm going to ask him if he loves me or not!' she thought with a determined sound to her inner voice which turned out to be more much more brave than she actually was more than half of the time. "Yuki, what do you feel about... about..." She paused and curled her hands into fists as the seconds of silence went by. Why was she letting this torment her so. It seemed so unfair that she would suffer like this and then not be able to ease her mind... why couldn't she just ask him? "What do you feel about Kyo?" She blurted out finally, letting out a tiny sigh

"What do I feel about...?" Came Yuki's further confused voice. "Honda-san what... what are you talking about? Are you feeling alright?" He moved a bit closer, taking of his gardening gloves and reaching out one of his delicate hands, placing it on her forehead. "You don't feel like you have a fever." He said, and for an instant Tohru wondered vaguely if he was trying to make fun of her. Of course she wasn't sick. But that hand on her forehead was jolting her thoughts and provoking butterflies to dance around in her stomach like little over excited ballerinas at their first recital.

"Please answer me..." She said, looking away. Tohru felt stupid enough, she didn't want to have to explain that she hadn't meant to say that at all. She met Yuki's eyes with a slight desperation, almost begging him to go along with it and just answer, telling him that it would mean alot if he did. Of course she was hoping that Yuki was thinking it was just one of Tohru's random strange questions that she seemed quite fond of asking.

"I hate him. I mean why does that stupid cat always--" Yuki began, but stopped when Tohru gave him a bit of a sad look. He let his hand drop from her forehead and looked intensely at her. Tohru knew that he was wondering what she was thinking with that look.

"I didn't mean it like that..." She said with a bit of a sigh. Tohru knew that Yuki hated Kyo for whatever reasons that he had. Yuki had told her some of them... like how Kyo annoyed him for wanting to be apart of the same Sohma family that Yuki was trying te escape... but Tohru just wanted them to get along. Then it hit her all at once how much animosity this was going to cause between the two. If Tohru loved Yuki... and Kyo found out... if he really liked her like Uo said, wouldn't that just make the fighting worse? Tohru sighed heavily and looked at Yuki, her big eyes seeming to search for something, her brow furrowed a bit. It was a look that she had never worn in front of Yuki before. She knew why Kyo had come into this conversation, it must have been a part of her, a part that didn't want to see Kyo hurt despite her feelings for the prince charming that was kneeling before her with such a confused look spread across his face. "What I really meant... I guess... Yuki, do you think Kyo loves me?" Her voice was quiet, almost flat with all the emotion that was behind it. She was realizing now what it meant to be caught in the middle, and she was realizing how every little thing she did or said right now... no matter who she chose, someone was going to end up hurt... Hana had said... told her, that they both loved her. Both Kyo and Yuki, and to Tohru, the fear of causing someone pain was a bit over powering.

A silence stretched between them, and as a result Tohru was left staring at the boy she loved, taking notice of every little detail. How his dark purple, nearly black hair caught the sunlight just right, creating a sheen that made her want to touch it and see if it was as soft as she imagined it to be. How his face always looked so beautiful, his eyes always seeming to shine like two amethyst pools. Even now, when those depth less purple waters were filled with a strange sadness that Tohru had never seen before. She even noticed how beautiful his body was, though tiny and very feminine Yuki was such a beautiful human being that it almost made her want to cry.

Yuki meanwhile looked very hurt, his face was a mask of confusion and pain. His hands trembled in his lap a bit as he looked over at Tohru. "The truth?" He asked quietly, and upon getting a nod from Tohru, he nodded himself. "I think... I think that he does..." Came the soft, and perhaps pained reply. "I can tell by the things he does, by the looks he gives you, the way he tries to apologize to you every time he--"

"Yuki-kun... is it true what they say?" Tohru said, interrupting what Yuki had been saying because it was making her feel worse and worse. "Hana-chan and Uo-chan, is it true what they say?"Tohru fiddled with his hands that were pressed firmly into her lap. She was going to ask this time no matter what, no matter how scared of what the answer may be. She couldn't bring herself to look at Yuki, feeling her cheeks begin to heat up already.

"Honda-san what is a matter... you seem very bothered today?" He paused as if that wasn't the question that he wanted to ask. "And what do they say?" Yuki reached his hand out and placed it gently under her chin, making her face him. His piercing eyes meeting Tohru's making her heart skip a beat. "What is the matter Honda-san?" He asked quietly, holding her chin there and continuing to gaze.

Tohru swallowed hard and let the blush grow, closing her eyes and letting her nervous tears slide down her cheeks. She was going to rush into this like always, she could feel it, but if that was the only way that she was going to get it out, it was better than nothing. Not knowing was just something that she wasn't good at, and the question felt like it was eating her alive from the inside out. "They say you love me..." She gasped out, scared. "Yuki-kun..." She let a sob wrack through her body, making her shudder. She feared so terribly much that Yuki would turn her down like he turned all the other girls in their school. Of course they had one very important difference from her, they didn't know Yuki's secret. "Do... do you love me?"

It was then that Yuki froze and let his eyes widen, but whether it was from surprise or horror, Tohru did not know. All she knew was that the look made her sad, especially when Yuki pulled his hand away and looked away from her. And with all her body she questioned why she hadn't bothered to just keep her mouth shut. This was the worst feeling in the world, getting pushed away from Yuki was probably one of the saddest things she had gone through, aside from her mother's death. And finally she broke down into deep sobs, her hands covering her face, as she continued to frantically think one panicked thought;

'Oh no... why did I say that?'

Author's Note:

Do you want to know what happens next?

Do you want to know if Tohru has a reason to cry?

Do you want to know who Tohru ends up with in the end or what Yuki says?

Well, if you do, please leave me reviews telling me that you want me to write another chapter to it.

I will be more than happy to write another chapter, so long as it's wanted.