Aha! My first ever Tohru x Kyo fic! Aww this took me a few days after a random idea but anyway - i really hope you like and enjoy it :P Remeber to read and review please! xD

Disclaimer - I do not own Fruits basket or any of the characters. I do own the plot

A Single Rose

By xFadingMoonx

Snow was utterly captivating. It appeared like sudden white magic from the grey clouds above and silently fluttered to earth. The breeze would blow these droplets of pure white and send them in a flurry, whirling around and around. When the snowflakes would touch the bare concrete, the foul boring grey would be replaced suddenly with a thick, white blanket. Ever since she was a little girl, Tohru had never minded the coldness or the bitterness of the winter weather that arrived before the snow, she loved holding onto her mother's hand and taking her first steps into the bliss, watching as her tracks imprinted the sheer perfect frozen crystals as she went. Snow angels in her eyes – were the best thing ever. Just stumbling back up to look back down at her body shape in the stardust was a thrill in itself.

Yes, Tohru loved the winter. Christmas would soon come around and she would be celebrating and enjoying the festivities as she un-wrapped her gifts and hungrily devoured the wonderful food her mother cooked every year. After all, Christmas was a time for families – right?

"Muuuuum!" A tiny six year old version of Tohru pouted cutely and stuck out her bottom lip. Kyoko Honda laughed sweetly at the sight of Tohru trying to look mad and crossing her arms. She reached down and plucked up the little brunette girl, swinging her around before settling her on her hip.

"C'mon Tohru, it's freezing out there."

"But I like the cold!" Tohru protested. "I don't mind it one little bit!"

Kyoko sighed heavily and carefully returned the girl to the floor. She crouched down and straightened out her daughter's now crumpled clothes. Satisfied, she sat cross-legged beside her and raised an eyebrow questionably,

"You like snow that much, huh?"

Tohru grinned, the gaps in her teeth showing. Kyoko sighed yet again and tutted under her breath. Before she got to murmur the words: "Fine go outside", Tohru had already managed to slip on her coat and shoes and bolt out through the front door, leaving an invisible cloud of smoke in her wake.

The exact coldness of the air hit her in the face as the warmth of her heated home was replaced with the bitter chill of reality. The snow had long ago stopped falling, which left Tohru with mounds and mounds of white in which she could construct a snowman out of. Not that she could make a proper kind of snowman anyway; she more or less made a random pile and stuck a few twigs on it – making the 'snowman' look as if it had already melted. Once, she had snuck back inside her house to try and 'customize' her masterpiece more. She had found her mother's absolute favourite scarf (a gift from Katsuya) and had taken it outside, where it had been trodden on countless times by Tohru's own clumsy feet. Kyoko really wasn't at all pleased when she appeared outside to find a comical kind of snowy mess, holding her scarf captive in the middle.

Tohru shuddered at the very thought of her mother's slight twitching and the vein popping out of her forehead. She didn't actually shout but in Tohru's eyes, getting the silent treatment is a million times worse.

The brunette sighed contentedly as she got up to survey her tenth snow angel. Even she had to admit, with all this snow, it was fun for a little while before she started to grow bored and wish that her friends were there to play as well. Taking one last glance around at her front garden before returning inside, she stopped dead in her tracks as something caught her eye. Not too far away, a little orange cat was skulking around by the wall, batting the snow and fallen twigs out of the way with its tiny paws. Tohru was enchanted; she edged closer and sank to her knees, watching this animal in awe.

'It's looks so human.' She wondered, carefully reaching into her coat pocket. She pulled out half a battered chocolate bar and peeled away the wrapper. Extending her hand, she reached out in the cat's direction,

"Here, kitty."

The cat froze at the girl's voice and almost fearfully looked at her. Before Tohru could say anything else, it leapt and vaulted over the small brick wall. She sat there for a moment before scrambling up to follow out the gate after it.

"Kitty, the road is there! You will get hurt!"

Not thinking at all of the consequences, she kept on running out of her garden and down the path of the road in which she spoke of. Cars thundered by noisily one after the other. Tohru quickly scanned her eyes around the area, searching for the flurry of orange – to no avail. She clenched her fists to her side and took a few steps forward.

'I'll have to cross the road and see if he's over there.' The very thought of slipping in between these huge metal beasts terrified her to the very core – but she needed to try. Closing her long eyelashes and hoping for the very best, she waited until the sound of the traffic was gone and darted off the curb. What she didn't see, was a shape flying out from a nearby bush and colliding heavily with her torso. She fell back to the safety of the path with a thud and a lot of pain throbbing from her arm which somehow managed to get caught underneath her.

Due to complete shock she lay there for a few moments and tried to run over what had happened in her head. A lump of fluff on her chest uncurled itself and two crimson pupils regarded her almost angrily. However, he padded a litter closer and twitched his little nose, sniffing to see if she was still alive. His head inched a little closer and hissed when her eyes suddenly flew open. The cat acted fast and fled as fast as he could away from her.

"Gone again," she whispered, surprised at how quiet and strained her voice now sounded. "Ouch.." Her face of disappointment turned into a grimace as she glanced down at her injured arm – the wrist was bent in a way that wrists were not meant to bend in. Feeling another rush of pain, she cried out again and small tears started to gather at the side of her small angelic face.

From somewhere behind her, a shadow emerged and carefully stepped toward the little crying girl. The person stared at her injury and pieced two and two together, they extended a quivering and gently touched the girl on the back. Tohru swung her head around to find a small boy crouching beside her. The boy had unusually orange hair the exact same as the cat she saw and the same piercing crimson eyes. But Tohru was undoubtedly naïve and didn't think of the similarities as all. The tears had stopped leaking down her face now to reveal a small shy blush, the boy pointed down to her arm,

"Your wrist." He said quietly. Tohru could detect a slight trace of some kind of accent that she'd never heard before. The boy somehow entranced her more than snow ever did – and that was saying something.

"Yep," she giggled, a wide smile now making its way onto her face. "I had an accident."

The boy silently fully sat down and stretched out his tired legs, propping himself up by two tanned skinny arms. Tohru noted that he held a few nasty bruises on them but said nothing. After all, her mother had always taught her that being nosy was a bad thing.

"Oh, I'm Tohru by the way – Tohru Honda. It's nice to meet you." She introduced herself humbly and tried to attempt a bow sitting down. The boy rolled his eyes and placed a hand on her forehead, gently forcing it up.

"Idiot," he commented. "You will only hurt your neck by doing that."

She blushed a lighter shade than that of his eye colour,

"R-Right, sorry!" She apologized. "So what's your name?"

He trained his sight back onto her, almost in awe that someone would actually ask him that. After all, he didn't get out that much.

"Um… K-Kyo." He mumbled shyly, a light pick slightly grazing his cheeks. Seeing Tohru's smile made him turn away – face now completely pink.

Tohru rose to her knees – dirtying them in the process – and tried to get up one handed whilst keeping her injured one close to her chest. Seeing the struggle, Kyo too got up and yanked her free hand. She slipped on the slush from the patch of slightly melted snow and knocked into him. Kyo's heart rate soared as he looked down at how close Tohru's body was to his own. He gulped and counted his blessings that the brunette didn't get any closer. He knew what would happen if things turned for the worst.

As usual, totally oblivious to the worry of Kyo, she thanked him and gingerly stepped away, shuddering as a sudden breeze blew around them and caused Tohru's long hair to whip around her head.

"I-I should go now – before mum finds out that I've been naughty and left the garden."

Kyo nodded,

"Ok."

Tohru bowed – properly this time as she was standing – and gave one last quick grin before turning and starting to make her way back to the garden. Her tiny but otherwise intelligent mind was analyzing the day's events in her head.

'That cat ran away in the end,' she thought sadly. 'But I… I think he saved me! I was nearly in the road and for some reason he pushed me back,' she slowed down her pace and tapped her pale chin thoughtfully. 'Was he worried about me?' Hearing a pair of shuffling feet approach her back, she turned to find that very same orange haired boy – Kyo, blushing awkwardly,

"I… Um came to er… Walk you back."

Tohru's eyes lightened up,

"Oh really? Wow thanks Kyo!"

"Yeah well… Only 'cause you looked as if you were in a daydream and would probably walk off a cliff and not notice.." He replied, a little unsure of what to say next.

The journey went by pleasantly slowly and after a short while, Kyo began talking more and more about himself – the ice shell that he thought had encased him, he felt began to break. However, he just couldn't help himself – this young girl penetrated him to his very core every time she did so little as to smile in his direction, and totally on their own, his lips would part and he found himself grinning back.

Tohru had learned a lot about Kyo already. He was an only child who lived with his abusive father and his anti-social mother. Tohru wanted to ask more about his life and if he had gotten his bruises from home, but his heart was like glass. She felt that if she happened to touch it – it might break.

So fragile.

Both children's hearts dropped when they found themselves outside of Tohru's front gate. She glanced back in the direction that they had come in awe – did she really run all that way?

"Looks like she hasn't noticed that I'm gone yet," Tohru cautiously peered through the black iron gates into the garden. Footprints and piles of snow lay there exactly where she had left them – remnants of her earlier excitement. "I guess I better go on then."

And for the second time that day, the children stood uncertainly and not sure of what to do next. Tohru noticed Kyo had goose bumps trailing up his arms; his jacket wasn't warm enough to keep the poor boy insulated. For a second she felt sorry for him – and then a sudden flash of inspiration invaded her mind.

"Hey Kyo! It's Christmas eve tonight right?"

He nodded silently, slightly alarmed at the girl's excitement.

"Well then, why don't you come in and have dinner with my and mum!"

"W-What?"

"..- She makes the best food ever!" Tohru boasted, throwing her arms up in the air and causing Kyo to take an alarmed step back. Sensing his fear, she giggled under her breath and immediately calmed herself down. Her cheeks were tainted with pink as she murmured the words: "Well… Because you helped me and all.."

Kyo took a hesitant gulp and stared into the front yard. The snow seemed perfect even though Tohru had been rolling around in it and the hedges and flowers were each cut evenly. Kyo felt as if he might even dirty the air as he entered – but a nice warm house was better than a dark empty room, he supposed.

A happy family?
Psssht. No way were the words to describe him and his very own kin.

They had never always been very close from the absolute beginning anyway. His mother hardly ever let him outside due to his 'condition' and would probably go mad at his sudden disappearance and summon his father. Mr. Sohma was a foul man who didn't care who he'd just and aspired to reach the top. This included punishing his son for being bad and even sometimes his mother.

Kyo awkwardly stroked the soft material of the new soft T-shirt he was wearing. Upon seeing his ragged unwashed from, Kyoko had not at all kicked him away from her door like he thought she'd might, but actually smiled and told him to come in. She then found some spare clothes and handed them to him while she chucked his old ones in the washing machine.

Casting his mind back to her smile that somehow was even more radiant then Tohru's – if that was even possible – he began to wonder about her father and the reason why he hadn't joined them for dinner. Kyo was not being nosy but just wondering. He couldn't stop the rush of guilt that clasped his heart though when he caught a glimpse of a mini shrine to a brunette haired man that was in a very small room. He remembered Tohru's embarrassed blush and her rushed words telling him exactly where the bathroom was. As he followed her directions, he turned around to thank her, but Tohru was stood silently – gazing at the now closed door. No smile.

And now here he was – in the bathroom and thinking about the day that had possibly turned out to be the best of his life.

Sighing heavily and wrapping his arms around his legs, he dropped to the floor and glanced out of the small window. It was seriously starting to get dark now and he knew that somewhere, his mother was screaming his name angrily.

His attention was suddenly caught when something white and tiny drifted past the window. Followed by another, and another, and another…

'It's snowing again.'

Mirroring his exact words, he heard Tohru squeal excitedly from somewhere downstairs. The padding of small feet led her to burst into the room without knocking, fully glad in her warm winter gear. Kyo hastily got up and wiped a stray tear from his eye so she wouldn't see and pasted on a fake grin. Tohru said nothing but held up a pair of black boots and a navy duffel coat. Rolling his eyes, Kyo got the hint and took them off her hands, and then together they rushed down the stairs, out of the door and into the winter bliss.

Kyo stood with his hands on his hips and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"So this is how your make snowmen?" He scoffed. Tohru stuck out her tongue at him and pointed out her hand to regard the pile of snow at her feet.

"Yep. He only had a head and body thought – It's waaaay too hard to make the rest of him!"

Kyo rolled his eyes and began to shovel up more snow and pile it on top of her 'snowman'. When he was satisfied, he compacted the loose snow together and began to roll it around, leaving a trail of frozen grass as he went. Tohru watched as the ball of snow gradually got bigger and bigger until it was too hard for Kyo to push around. He wiped his brow and glanced at the girl.

"Right – do exactly the same thing but smaller. Ok?"

She nodded happily, eager to try this new technique herself. Rushing to gather another pile of this white gold, she constructed a lumpy ball a little less smaller than Kyo's and attempted to push it forward, failing miserably and she slid backwards. Kyo's fast reflexes meant that he could catch her easily – and there she was, lying back in his warm arms and gazing up into his crimson pupils.

Kyo grinned and got up, grabbing Tohru and pulling her with him, also careful at the same time that he didn't accidentally knock her newly wrapped bandaged wrist.

"Ok," he began, gesturing to the lump sitting near them. Tohru placed her free arm on it and again tried to push with all her might. Kyo appeared behind her and slinked his own arms around her body and settled them on the ice beside hers. Feeling the rush of heat rise to her cheeks, Tohru turned her head slightly and thanked him, together then pushed it around the garden until it was exactly the right size. Kyo huffed and huffed until he managed to haul the mound on top of his own

"There!" Tohru jumped up and down and squealed in delight. "You did it Kyo! You're so strong!"

Unused to praise, he shrugged modestly.

"It was nothing."

He climbed down from the bricks that he was balanced on and stood back beside Tohru to survey their work for the past hour. The snowman had a traditional 3-tier base. The bottom supported the middle which had to long sticks sticking out at his sides for hands. The top ball was the smallest and therefore the head. Tohru had earlier been rooting around and managed to dig out some stray pebbles and rocks to form eyes and a mouth. Sadly though, they did not have a carrot for a nose, but instead had jammed a random flower there that strangely, was still in full bloom.

A single red rose. The symbol of love.

"We did really good," Tohru smiled. "My bestest snowman ever!"

Kyo laughed, finding her happiness infectious and gently pushed her.

"Well then, you really have never made a decent snowman before!"

The glass front door behind them opened a little wider and Kyoko appeared, holding two steaming hot mugs full of hot chocolate.

"Come in and drink guys! Before I have it all!"

Glad to be out of the bitter coldness at last, both young children trotted obediently inside and hung up their warm clothes by the door and slipped off their shoes. They gratefully took the drinks from Kyoko and both sat beside each other on the fluffy sofa, feet dangling off the edge off the cushions. The television provided them with programmes which made them burst out with laughter at the exact same time, and others which made them yell out stupid answers to the game shows. They both stayed clear of romantic ones, claiming they were "Yucky." Soon however, at some point Tohru's eyes began to droop heavily until she could stand it no more. Her head dropped onto the nearest thing to her – Kyo's shoulder. She was conscious of him draping an arm around her after a while and then all sounds of the television faded into a blissful deep sleep.

It was the sound of the heating switching itself on that eventually woke Tohru up. She sat up in her sheets and yawned loudly.

'I guess that someone must have carried me up to bed.' She wondered, taking a glance at the clock beside her bed. Only being quite young, she couldn't read it exactly that well but the hour hand on the '8' was a big enough clue that she had endured a very long sleep.

"Merry Christmas to me!" She exclaimed happily, kicking her feet out of bed and slipping on her robe. All the way to the bathroom and back, she hummed all different kinds of festive songs under her breath and got changed.

She got to the bottom of her stairs and skipped into the living room where she had fallen asleep the night before. The two empty mugs were still rested on the small table beside the TV remote and a few magazines.

But no Kyo.

Tohru didn't think much of this – he was probably sleeping in the guest room or something. She busied herself with a few food treats for herself and quietly flicked through the channels on the television. Growing bored as the clock hit '9', she padded up the stairs to the guest room and rapped her soft knuckles on the wood. Hearing no response, she guessed it was alright to enter. Upon opening the door and preparing to wish him a Happy Christmas, she stopped.

No Kyo.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she was set into deep thought. She definitely remembered falling asleep on his shoulder last night, but somewhere along the line, she must have been moved and tucked in bed. Coming to a sudden realisation, Tohru's eyes opened wide and she bolted out of the room and downstairs once again.

Throwing open the front door, she stepped out into the bright morning sunlight and stared. And stared. And stared..

All of the snow had melted over the night and was now reduced to mud. All of her beautiful white blanket – gone. Heart filling with sadness, she eased herself through the slushy mud and stopped at the only tiny patch of white left in the whole garden.

Inside this last twinkle of white gold – was a rose. A single red rose.

And with the melting snow.

He had gone.