Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Baskets or any of it's characters.

Chapter One – A Rude Awakening

Yuki lifted his eyelids slowly. Sunlight was flooding the room through his shear curtains and falling next to him onto the starched white sheets. Why was there so much sunlight? Had he forgotten to close his shade before he went to bed last night?

He slowly eased himself up into a sitting position and gazed around the room, blinking a few times to remove the sleep from his eyes. 'What time is it?' he wondered.

Glancing at the clock and seeing he had a half hour to get ready for school he slid himself onto the floor and, feeling rather shaky, ambled over to the dresser. "Cloths" he muttered. "Where are my cloths? Didn't I put them here?"

Failing to find anything clean in the drawers or on the counter he turned to gaze around the room, trying to clear his hazy mind. The objects flew by as his sluggish brain slowly identified each one. 'Book ... blanket ... pillow ... pen ... sock ... watch ... magazine ... Honda-san ... pants... tie... wait – Honda-san???'

He wrenched his head back toward where he had seen her sleeping form and sure enough Tohru lay propped up on one side of his bed, breathing deeply her eyes closed. "Honda-san?" he whispered, staggering over to her sleeping form. 'What happened!?!?' a voice inside his head seemed to scream. 'Why is she in here? I couldn't have...it's impossible...I didn't sleep-!'

Tohru suddenly stirred silencing all of Yuki's thoughts and halting his movement.

She yawned, stretched, and glanced up to find Yuki staring at her as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Oh. Yuki-kun! You're up! Are you feeling better?" She asked.

Yuki took a step back, a strange kind of fear flooding his body. 'Wait a minuet,' he thought, 'She has all her cloths on. And so,' he glanced down at his pajama clad form 'so do I.' He looked back up at Tohru who was looking at him expectantly, waiting for his answer.

"Wh-what do you mean, Honda-san?" He asked, forcing a slightly nervous smile.

"You weren't feeling well last night, Yuki-kun." She replied. "You had a terrible fever. You may not remember."

Yuki though hard... last night... yes, he did remember feeling a bit ill at dinner. He had gone up to his room ... but after that... nothing. "Honda-san. What happened?"

"You were going up to your room when we heard a crash. You had fallen in your doorway. Shigure-san put you in you bed and called Hatori-san. When he came, Hatori-san said you were all right, you just had the flu and that you should feel a little better in the morning. He told me to give you this medicine," she added, handing him a packet of small white pills. "You are supposed to take one twice a day with breakfast and dinner." she finished with a smile.

Yuki stared at the pills, thinking. 'She hadn't...had she?'

"Honda-san, you didn't wait up all night with me? Did you?"

"Eh? Of course I did! You looked really pale. I didn't want you to wake up and not understand what was going on." She said in a rush, clasping her hands together.

Yuki sighed. She was so kind, so self-sacrificing. She had put him in front of herself again, and he hadn't been able to stop her. Now she would be tired for school 'Why can't she realize I'm not worth it?' he thought. 'I don't matter. I'm not the important one; she is.'

"Thank you so much, Honda-san, but you really didn't have to. I would have been ok."

Doubt and disbelief flashed across her face. Doubt? Disbelief? He'd never seen that sort of expression on her face before. 'She doesn't believe me?' Yuki thought. 'Why? I've never lied to her outright, and I'm pretty sure she's never doubted me before...'

"Yuki-kun, I wanted to make sure you were O.K.!" She replied brightly, interrupting his thoughts. "It wasn't a big deal, and I'm not even ti-i-i-i-ered!" she said, stifling a yawn.

Yuki smiled. She was always so cheerful, always so bright. He didn't think he would ever understand how she did it. 'She's so strong...and I'm so weak.'

"Well, maybe you should miss school today Honda-san." he suggested, "You look pretty tired, and you deserve a rest. I can take notes for you, if you'd like."

"Oh no, thank you but I'd better go to school. Mom wants me to do well! I'll go down and get breakfast started so you can get ready, that is, if you're feeling well enough to go. You shouldn't over extend yourself Yuki-kun!"

"No, I'm alright Honda-san." He said, with a genuine smile this time. She always did that, make him feel happy, refreshed, and new. Tohru smiled as she got up and walked towards the door. "I'll be right down. And Honda-san," Tohru turned to face him. "Thank you again."

"It was nothing, Yuki-kun! I'm just glad you're alright." Yuki moved to close the door as she ambled down the stairs. How was it that she could smooth out his worries just by being there? He smiled to himself, as he got dressed. He now felt thoroughly rejuvenated, like nothing could ruin his day. Not even that idiotic cat.

More to come, but it might be a while.