Reviewer Replies:

Steeply333:

yep, it's an Anime thing. I guess they don't really make references to Hana's hair color in the manga o.o it just never occurred to me before.

I'm actually a huge KyoxTohru fan, but when I was watching the anime, my first impression of Kyo's prospective love life was when he was fighting with Uotani over Rich Man, Poor Man, and I was like "Dude, they'd make a freaking sweet couple xD" For the longest time I just had the first DVD to entertain me, and that sixth episode (Uo and Hana come to inspect Tohru's living environment with the Soumas) I was just, wow, those two would be hilarious together! of course, when I finally finished the anime I was converted to KyoxTohru (I mean, with Kyo's other form and everything, how could you NOT? honestly...), but that didn't stop me from experimenting with my first impression, obviously

Lady Evilness:

yes, I'm glad I'm keeping them in character! That's one of the hardest things about writing fan fictions, I think, is that you have to hold true to the original personalities, which means you can't always have the characters do what you want them to xD It means a lot to me that you think they're in character. If I ever start deviating from personalities, let me know!

Chapter Summary: Tension and deep talks. What will the Zodiac have to say?

Author comments: in this chapter there's a point at which Arisa calls Kyo "Kyon-Chan." You'll be seeing a lot more of that nickname in later chapters. I got it from Valentines Day. The girl who gave Kyo chocolates called him "Kyon-Chan," so I figured it was a fitting nick.

Standard Disclaimer: Once again, I am not the genius who first thought up Fruits Basket. I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but I can't let you go on in a misconception. I'm just the dork that makes up additions to the original, genius plot, which does not, sadly, belong to me.

Oh, and, by the way? You people are smart. I'm done with this disclaimer crap xD I'm flattered that you would think I was the original creator, but...sadly, that just isn't true -- Emily's always sucked at original stories...

Anyway. onto my not-so-original fanfic

...-...-...-...-...-...-...-...-...-

Just like she said, Arisa awaited Kyo's arrival at the school's main entrance. Hana thankfully covered for her and Kyo both, getting the prince and Tohru to walk home without their orange-haired friend that day.

Kyo walked up to her, mumbling, already glowing a light pink.

"Listen, Uotani," Arisa had started to speak, but Kyo barreled in with his proposal, and Uo slowly started leading the walk, while Kyo continued to speak.

"I can't tell you anything today, so please don't ask. I...I have been thinking about it...but don't read too far into that. I still hate your guts. I just...when you mentioned Tohru, you opened my eyes to something. A lot of somethings. Give me tonight to sort things out. I'll talk to you again tomorrow."

Kyo never once made eye contact with her, and he walked along slouched, his fists buried in the pockets of his school slacks. Arisa smiled calmly, but couldn't help being worried by his speech. He wasn't thinking that he'd prefer Tohru to her, was he? That would be...horrible. Uo had never been stabbed with jealousy before...she didn't want to find out what it would do to Tohru. Would she be able to be like Hana, and just be happy for her friend? No, Arisa wasn't a very good person. She could never be that strong. Her stomach reeled with fright, that if Kyo picked Tohru tomorrow, she'd never be able to love Tohru again. Could she even stand to call her her friend?

"Listen," Kyo's sudden command snapped Uo out of a daze, and she lifted up her bangs to look at him. "About Tohru...I think you were right, that we shouldn't tell her yet. She...might get the wrong idea, or something...I don't know, but just, please don't tell her, okay?"

"I won't." Arisa nodded. Since Tohru had to work tonight, she likely wouldn't see her until tomorrow, anyway.

"Okay," Kyo breathed a small sigh of relief. He was glad to have all that out and over with.

"So, I guess I told you what I think about this," he sighed again, "You wanted to tell me about your motives or whatever, right? Well, go ahead, I'll listen."

"I don't really hate you, you know-"

"Obviously,"

"You're just so cute when you're flustered, I-"

"Cute?" Arisa sighed. This wasn't going very well.

"You know, the kind of cute that girls call guys they're attracted to? It's not like you look like a baby or anything, it just brightens my day when I see you get all red and angry."

"Well, that's just peachie. So what, you want this...relationship...to consist of me getting angry and you laughing? We're already doing that, Yankee, and I'd rather not go through it as an obligation to my girlfriend." Arisa laughed and shook her head, bringing Kyo to look at her at last, confused by the reaction.

"No, I wouldn't want you to get mad all the time. You just seem like an interesting person, Kyon-chan-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Arisa giggled and brushed her hair back, and Kyo blushed crimson before looking back down to his feet.

"Like I said," Arisa commented, before continuing with her little selling speech.

"Anyway... I love your orange hair. It's freaking awesome."

"But you always made fun of it-"

"Don't you know girls flirt with guys by dissing them?" she laughed again, and Kyo's blush glowed brighter. She really did know how to get him flustered. How could she be so composed in a situation like this? He was insanely nervous as it was, and her little pokes of nerves weren't helping at all.

"...Kyo, would you be able to stand it if Tohru and Yuki..."

"WHY THE HELL SHOULD I CARE ABOUT WHAT THAT STUPID RAT DOES!" Arisa giggled again, but the moment was over shortly, and the two of them walked in silence for a while, a sudden air of somberness hanging about them.

"...But you do care about what Tohru-"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

More silence.

"You know, Kyo, if you turn me down and end up taking Tohru, our fights will be a lot less flirting and a lot more hatred."

"WHO EVER SAID I WOULD GO TO TOHRU! She's STUPID and DENSE and REALLY annoying! I'm not interested in her at ALL, okay? Now can we please stop talking about her!"

Arisa was less than amused by this most recent outburst. He was still adorable, all angrily scrunched up and red, but the words that came out of his mouth here so...cruel. She knew he didn't really mean them, but she felt bad, as Tohru's friend, hearing them.

"Yes, she is.." Arisa carefully offered, "But that's part of her charm, isn't it? How cute it is that she hardly does anything right, but is always so cheerful about it? And how she always makes you feel better whenever you can't do something? She's always there for you, even if she can't directly do anything, her enthusiasm is enough." A smile curled on Arisa's lips again as she spoke, and Kyo blinked at her crookedly before looking down to his feet again.

"...Damn, Yankee," he murmured, "You sound like you're in love with her."

"Hm," Arisa humored, "I do, don't I?"

The rest of the walk was in silence, and they both contemplated what had been said. There were heavy emotions that were brought out during that conversation, and neither one of them wanted it to get any heavier. Arisa was really starting to like Kyo's idea of talking about it later. She was, however, glad that he did talk to her. She thought that his willingness to do that, at least, as a good sign.

-/-/-

"Shigure!" Tohru triumphantly marched into his study, holding the two-paragraph story out in front of her while her face beamed with pride. The author looked up from his desk and pulled down the glasses that rested on his nose.

"Ah, so I see someone wrote me a story! Let's have a look-see," he playfully slipped the paper out of Tohru's hands and read it over, while Tohru discovered that there was a sobbing Mii in the corner.

"Um, Shigure-"

"Mitchan's fine. I just gave her the manuscript," he waved off in her direction, and the disheveled editor seemed too fazed to notice she was being talked about.

Yuki entered the room now, back from using the restroom upon his return home. The two stood awkwardly in the doorway while Shigure read through the story, his cryptic grin on, as always. At last he smiled more sincerely and held the paper out for Tohru to retrieve.

"Very, very cute, Tohru-kun," he smiled playfully and patted Tohru on the head when she reclaimed her paper. "I'm so very proud of you." He grinned at Tohru's ever-ecstatic expression, while the girl searched desperately for an outlet for her excitement. Yuki, of course was the closest thing.

"Yay! He liked it!" she squealed with delight, "Thank you so much, Yuki!" in her moment of ecstasy, she made one fatal mistake.

Shigure looked up from his book to that familiar poof noise, and as soon as they all three had taken in what had happened, all eyes turned to look at Mii. A deep sigh of relief was exhaled when the editor did nothing but continue sobbing over the manuscript that Shigure had been taunting her with for two weeks.

Seeing as they hadn't been discovered, Tohru quickly escorted Yuki out of the room, taking up his clothes with her.

"Sorry," she said, sweatdropping as she set Yuki down on the dining room table.

"No, it's alright. Mii didn't see. Even if she had turned to look, I don't think she would doubt it if we said she'd been hallucinating. With all Shigure puts her through, she's likely losing her sanity, anyway."

"Oh." Tohru blinked between Yuki and the hallway leading back to Shigure's study, where soft sobbing could still be heard.

Then a door slammed, and gruff, heavy stomps could be heard making their way up the stairs. Shigure poked his head out of his study and glanced just in time to see the familiar orange head of hair disappear behind the wall.

"Whelp, someone's grumpy," Shigure commented lightly before retreating back into his study. Tohru blinked in the direction, while Yuki simply sat on the table, sighing at the immaturity of his cousin.

"He seems grumpier than normal..." Tohru pondered, "I wonder what's bugging him? Ever since he came into class this morning he's been a little edgy...I'm worried about him."

"...Miss Uotani was talking to him a lot in homeroom..." The two sat silent, soaking in that thought.

"I wonder what they could've been talking about?" Tohru mused. Yuki just sighed again.

"Maybe you should go talk to him later. But I think he n-" Tohru squealed and quickly flung her eyes the opposite direction when the poof sounded again. She never would get used to them suddenly being naked. Yuki hastily donned his clothes and cleared his throat to let Tohru know it was okay to look. It took her a moment to get herself composed again, but then she couldn't help but giggle silently. Yuki blinked and kneeled down to her level.

"What?" he asked, honestly at a loss for what she could find funny.

"You, Yuki," she beamed at him, "You just told me to do what you thought was best for Kyo. You're worried about him!" Yuki smiled meekly at the notion. Inside he was denying it with all his soul, spitting insults at the stupid cat and poking fun at his short temper and immaturity. But Tohru was so happy about the thought...he couldn't bring himself to deny it to her.

"I...suppose I am. A little. It's just annoying to see him like that, really."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Tohru smiled vibrantly and giggled a little more, before Yuki stood and offered her a hand up.

"The weather's lovely, do you want to come with me to my secret base?" Tohru leapt at the thought.

"Always!" she cheered. Yuki matched her enthusiastic smile and headed for the door.

"Shigure, we're going out. Keep an eye on that stupid cat and make sure he doesn't tear down the house or anything." Shigure smiled and poked his head out from his study to wave to the departing teens.

"Don't worry, I've got Kyo under control. You two have fun! Bah-bye! Be safe!"

"Bye, Shigure!" Tohru waved, "I promise we'll be back in time for me to make dinner." The waving continued until Yuki sweatdropped and finally nudged Tohru the rest of the way out the door.

Much to both the teens' confusion, a familiar head of blonde hair was disappearing into the woods. Yuki stood gaping in wonder, and turned around to glance at the house, making the connection instantly.

Tohru, however, had passed over the issue with Kyo, and rushed to meet her friend.

"Uo!" Tohru called as she ran up to her. The blonde turned around in time to be tackled with a hug, and she laughed, patting the shorter girl on the head.

"Hey, Tohru," she greeted, then glanced up, "Hello, Prince Charming," Yuki rolled his eyes a bit at the name, but walked foreword to meet up with the two girls.

"So, Uo, what brings you to the Souma's?" Tohru asked, innocently enough. Yuki glanced back at the house again, and he was wondering if he'd regret getting to know the specifics.

"Oh, orangetop and I had some business we had to take care of at the bowling alley. I lost, so I told him I'd walk him home."

Hm, Uotani didn't make for a bad liar. To Tohru, anyway. To Yuki, however, walking her opponent home seemed like an odd condition for losing to Kyo. Something else was up, and Yuki was incredibly curious.

"Oh, well that's good," Tohru said, smiling, "That you're such a good sport. You must've beaten Kyo at something though, he was all grumpy when he got home,"

"Was he?" Arisa cast her eyes to the side a bit, smiling a little melancholy. Yuki stared, but Tohru just kept on smiling.

"Oh!" All at once Tohru exclaimed and turned around to face a startled Yuki.

"Is it okay if she comes along to the secret base, Yuki?" Arisa blinked. Her imagination truly failed to picture what Prince Charming's secret base could possibly be.

"Well, uhm," he glanced at Arisa, who gave him the same blank expression he gave her, then smiled to Tohru, "Sure, I don't see why not."

"Hooray!" Tohru glowed and attached herself to Arisa's arm, leading her after Yuki as he started for the vegetable garden. Yuki was in a fairly good mood now; he'd made Tohru ecstatically happy three times already that afternoon, and he couldn't help feeling a little warm because of it. It was a wonderful feeling to see Tohru so excited.

"Well, here it is, Uotani," Arisa stared blankly at the small vegetable garden, shock clearly taking over. This was obviously not what she'd been envisioning on her way to a secret base.

"Yuki and I come here all the time to take care of his vegetables!"

"And strawberries," Yuki grinned as he knelt down next to the small fruit patch.

"Wow, so the prince has a green thumb. I never would've guessed."

"Yeah, I was really surprised when he first showed it to me, too!" Tohru happily recalled the memory, "It was raining and I helped Yuki protect it from the storm! It was so exciting!" Yuki chuckled lightly. It wasn't quite how he had viewed the incident at that point, but he found Tohru's rendition quite entertaining.

"Well, sounds like you two have a lot of fun here," Uo smiled and knelt down to see if she could help Yuki pick some of the strawberries, while Tohru pulled some weeds over by the leeks.

The three probably spent a good hour or two weeding, digging, burying, watering and picking, talking about various things - most of which Tohru spoke quite excitedly about - before the brunette finally decided that they should get going back if she was going to get supper done in time for her to go to work.

Arisa separated from them and waved good-bye half-way to the house, all three of them smiling and laughing. It was quite a pleasant afternoon, Arisa thought. She'd learned a lot about Yuki. About both his gardening, and his relationship with Tohru. She noticed, especially, that Tohru's smile made Yuki happy. She wondered, jealously, if Kyo felt the same way about the lovable brunette. Hopefully she'd find out tomorrow.

-/-/-

Supper went smoothly as always. Shigure playfully taunted Kyo while he and Yuki fought over nothing, and Tohru sat grinning stupidly at the homey argument as she nibbled at her food.

She realized too late, of course, that it was nearing the time that she had to be at work, and when Shigure finally caught note of the time and let her know, she stuffed the rest of her food in her mouth and hurried around the house to change and take the items that she needed before zooming out the door.

Yuki had volunteered to clean up the dishes for her since she was so close to running late. Kyo, of course, helped as well, and Shigure retreated to his study again, where Mii had finally gotten over the emotional shock of the late manuscript and left him be.

"Hey, stupid rat," Kyo said by the kitchen door while Yuki deposited the last of the ditches in the sink. It wasn't his usual tone, but the words seemed more used out of familiarity than contempt. Yuki, however, curled his lip as he walked by.

"What is it, stupid cat?" he muttered. Kyo swallowed, both some saliva, and some pride, and followed after Yuki as he headed up the stairs.

"I...I really need to talk to you. And I really need not to fight. This is about Tohru." Yuki thunked his back against the hallway wall and turned to look at his cousin, arms folded.

"What could you possibly want to talk to me about Tohru? Shouldn't we do this while she's here?" Kyo shook his head violently.

"HELL no. She can't know about this. Not yet. But there are things that, that you and I have to sort out."

Yuki exhaled and rolled his eyes, "I really don't feel like fighting now, Kyo."

"I don't want to fight you, damned rat! Not now, anyway, maybe tomorrow. But...things...have come up, and, well, I need...I-I need your input..." He huffed and cast his eyes to the side, his fists clenched tight in their pockets. He hated having to swallow his pride and approach the rat peacefully like a little wuss, but this is what he felt he had to do. For both Tohru and Arisa's sake.

Yuki scoffed, finding this whole peaceful plea to be rather out of character for Kyo, and also rather pathetic. Still, he had to admit he was curious about what had gotten Kyo in his previous grumpy mood, and now he was intrigued by his suggestion that they talk about Tohru.

"Fine. But if you start snapping, stupid cat, I'm kicking you out,"

"Fine," Kyo spat back, following Yuki into his room where they could both sit and not stand uncomfortably in the hall.

Yuki flopped down on his bed and glared back at Kyo, who decided sitting wasn't really all that important, and he stood leaning his shoulder against the doorframe instead. There was a long moment of silence while Kyo pondered just how exactly to go about this, and Yuki grew impatient quickly.

"Well, if you think we need to talk about miss Honda, then lets talk. I still can't imagine what could be so important that she didn't deserve to hear-"

"How do you feel about Tohru?" Kyo made the question abrupt and blatant as he turned to look Yuki in the eye, accenting his seriousness.

"What do you-"

"I mean, are you...content, with the way things are, living life like we're...I dunno, siblings or something..." Kyo drifted off. He was finding it rather difficult to vocalize the question he really wanted to ask. Yuki raised an eyebrow.

"It's amazing, Kyo," he breathed, "This has got to be the most nonsensical conversation I've had with you yet. Just what are you getting at, you stupid cat?" Finally, Kyo decided to take a different approach. After all, Arisa had only asked him not to tell Tohru - neither of them had said anything about not telling Yuki.

"That Yankee bitch asked me to be her boyfriend today." Yuki tilted his head to the side and blinked. He was completely and utterly astonished. That had definitely not been what Yuki had imagined Kyo and Arisa talking about in homeroom. This was certainly a twist to the plot. But what did it have to do with Tohru...? How he...felt about her?

"I guess what I'm trying to say, rat," Kyo reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, still having trouble getting the words out. He was a little afraid of what Yuki would think when he said them.

"If I say yes to her...then, with me out of the way...do you think you might...I dunno, advance on Tohru?"

"You say it like you're Shigure pretending to be worried about us having sex," Yuki muttered, his eyes now cast to the side. This conversation had gotten sufficiently awkward.

"Well what I mean rat-boy, is, I want Tohru to be...okay with whatever Arisa and I decide to do. Hell, I don't even know if I'll say yes yet, but...she made some good points...and...I guess she's kinda pretty and all..."

"You two...would make an...interesting couple..." Yuki offered. He still wasn't quite sure how he felt about Kyo and Uo being an item, but, as much as he disliked Kyo, he wasn't entirely interested in condemning his love life. If he wanted to go out with Arisa, then, well...that would be his business. He wasn't too interested in Arisa's life past Tohru, anyway.

"Yuki," Kyo was starting to sound exasperated, exhausted just from talking this serious with that damned rat. Yuki calmly looked up at him, anticipating what else he had to say.

"I guess I'm worried about what will happen to Tohru if I say yes."

"Don't be so arrogant," Yuki scoffed, "Her life doesn't revolve around you."

"Yes, it does," Kyo stepped foreword, the heat inside him starting to build up. "It revolves around both of us! Don't you realize how much time she spends obsessing over supper and your stupid leek garden and my martial arts? She lives with us, stupid rat, of course her life revolves around us!"

Yuki was silent for a moment. He wanted to yell back, but he didn't know what, and he was trying to refrain from snapping too much, anyway. It was stressful, but it was good that they were having this talk. For them, Tohru, Arisa, hell - even Shigure - it was good that issues were being confronted.

"So, Kyo," Yuki finally offered again, "What do you want me to say? That Tohru's not in love with you?"

There was a thick, dreadful silence. Kyo wasn't sure if that was what he wanted to hear or not.

"If I say yes to Uotani, rat-boy..." Kyo faded off to think again, and this time Yuki graced him with the time instead of interrupting again.

"I want to hear you say you'll be there for Tohru, if she needs someone other than me." Yuki nodded slowly. He was almost in shock. He hated to admit it, but...that was an incredibly mature thing of Kyo to say. He was shamefully proud of his cousin, that he'd managed to grow up so much, and he wondered a little if, in the maturity department, he was starting to fall behind.

"Alright, Kyo," Yuki offered one more time, "If you say yes to Uotani, and I feel like Tohru might be down about it, I'll talk to her." Kyo nodded slightly, but lingered at the door. He could tell that Yuki still had something that needed to be said, but he was hesitating, like Kyo was doing earlier.

"What about you, stupid cat?" Yuki asked, superficially bitter, "If Tohru decides she does need someone, will you bee able to focus on Uotani? Or will you be the jealous one, instead of Tohru?"

Kyo gritted his teeth inside his mouth and balled his fist up against the doorframe.

"I..." he started, but cut himself off, changing his mind on what to say. Yuki waited patiently on the bed. "I don't know." he finally admitted, and then, surprisingly, swallowed his pride further. "But I think... you might have more to lose in Tohru than I do." He swallowed hard then, and hastily slipped out the door, having all he could take of this heavy conversation with his nemesis.

Yuki remained sitting on his bed, looking out the window, and contemplating over the enlightenments of the past few moments. That was a lot to take in over 15 minutes.

Kyo, following standard procedure, stomped downstairs and flopped the ladder out onto the roof. He needed his thinking space desperately now, and dreaded tomorrow when he had to put all these things in action. He still didn't even know if he wanted to say yes to Uotani. Was he getting ahead of himself in all this overly heavy emotional crap?

-/-/-

Yuki had eventually decided to escort Tohru home that night. He had been planning on it before his talk with Kyo, but he had to admit, with all that talk of 'how do you feel about Tohru?' and 'will you be there for her?' ..it had set him kind of on end. Had he agreed to do something for Kyo that he'd regret? Was all of this fair to Tohru? Even now, he wasn't sure if he really felt that way about Tohru or if she was, as Kyo said, more like a sister to him. A very close, special sister.

"Good evening, Yuki!" Tohru cheerfully greeted her prince charming as she skipped out of the building, to find Yuki leaning casually against the rail as always.

"Good evening, Miss Honda," Yuki greeted cordially and nodded his head, extending his hand for her to take, as had become the recent custom. What had not been the norm recently, however, was that Yuki found a warm blush building up on his face, as he thought about what Kyo had said, and he wondered if Tohru felt warm like he did now, with her hand in his.

He found himself wondering a lot about Tohru. Was she actually closer to Kyo than she was to him? Was she wishing that one of the boys would make an advance on her? Did she care who? Or was she just the innocent little Tohru she appeared to be, happy with whatever the boys dished out to her? Even if she was, would she be even happier if they dished more?

Finally, so many questions Yuki couldn't stand it.

"Tohru," Yuki paused and leaned against the rail again, taking both her hands in his. Tohru blinked, very surprised and confused by the action.

"Yes? What is it, Yuki?" Did I mention, very confused? Was something wrong? Yuki seemed nervous and insecure about something...was it something that she did? Did she hurt him somehow? Her heart started to race and she panicked, giving Yuki a rushed bow.

"Uhm, I, m, I'm sorry!" she said, panting a bit. Yuki blinked, and then broke out laughing, leaving Tohru blinking in even more confusion.

"No, no, Miss Honda," he said, dropping her hands to wave his own, "You've nothing to be sorry about. I just wanted to ask you something."

"Oh. ookay." she nodded, curious as to what Yuki could want to ask her five steps away from her work building. Why didn't he want to wait until they were home, she wondered?

"Tohru, you know that you're very important to me," he said, and then quickly added as a disclaimer, "And to Shigure, and that stupid cat," Tohru nodded dumbfounded. The confusion was starting to severely interfere with her brain processes.

"I really enjoy our time at the secret base together, and at school, and when I help you study for tests, and," he paused, leaving Tohru a little stressed at the suspense. She bit down on her lip to pass some time while she waited for Yuki to decide how to finish.

"I love it when you smile, Tohru," he slowly, cautiously reached up to her face and brushed his hand up against her cheek. Tohru stood frozen, her heart pounding and her head swirling. Was Yuki getting ready to say what she thought he was?

"Would you...like it, if I kissed you, Miss Honda?" It was sort of an odd way to phrase the question, but she got the message, and all of Tohru's body leapt for joy and she cried out,

"YES!" Yuki exhaled one very relieved breath, and he started to lean in, and exercise the right he'd earned, when Tohru gasped and softly pushed him away.

"I-Im sorry, Yuki, but...what about Kyo? I sort of...I mean, if he's jealous, I-I'll-"

"Kyo's fine," Yuki said softly, caressing Tohru's cheek again. She had to admit she loved his gentle touch, and a fierce burning warmed her whole body from her chest. She'd never felt this way before.

"But he-" Tohru wanted to do what Yuki asked her to do, but...she couldn't stop thinking about Kyo. If this would hurt him in any way, she didn't think she could-

"Uotani asked Kyo the same question this morning, Tohru." Tohru blinked and drew back, out of pure surprise.

"Uo? Well, that-that's...that's wonderful!" she smiled cheerfully, taking that notion as a relief, that Kyo would be happy with someone else while Tohru could be happy with Yuki. She couldn't help feeling a little envious, but...it would all work out.

And then one horrible, frightening fact hit her.

"But, Yuki, about Kyo and Uo...the zodiac..." Yuki was quiet for a long moment. He had to admit, the zodiac didn't seem to be first on anyone's mind when they were thinking about this. Kudos to Tohru to realizing the problem there.

Yuki stuttered for a moment, unsure what to say. Tohru made an excellent point, and he wasn't sure if he could console her.

"Well, she's bound to find out eventually, I guess." he said, smiling meekly and continuing the rub at Tohru's cheek. That didn't seem to comfort Tohru much though. Yuki sighed and tried again.

"We don't have to tell Shigure about the relationships yet." Tohru gasped.

"We-we cant hide from Shigure! I think he'll understand, it's-"

"Akito, yes. Shigure won't run to tell him until someone finds out about the curse. I don't know that Akito would show the same grace to Uotani as he showed to you." Tohru's eyes started to melt, and she took Yuki's hand in hers, moving her face to bury her eyes in his palm.

"But Yuki, what'll they do? Even if Uo gets past his being a cat - I mean, she likes cats and all, but - but what about his other form?" she sniffed, and all Yuki could find to do was pat her awkwardly on the shoulder, while his other hand was held captive by Tohru's.

"What'll she do when she sees him as a monster? What if she's too scared or too disgusted? She-he-it'll ... Y-Yuki, I can't let them hurt each other like that..." she looked up from his hand and into Yuki's eyes, and his heart lurched to see tears already welling up in her sight, and her jaw trembling. He wanted so badly to hold her and embrace her... why did the curse have to be so cruel?

"Uotani is a strong girl, Tohru. I think she can handle it." Yuki stroked Tohru's hair gently, unsure how else to comfort her. He truly hated to see her cry like this, and he wished desperately that he could do something to stop it.

Tohru put her face back down into Yuki's hand, her desperate worry starting to turn into sobs. In her moment of vulnerability, Tohru sank foreword, her emotional instincts seeking a body that would hold onto her.

"Tohru," Yuki quickly stepped to the side, his own zodiac instincts kicking in. Tohru tripped when the body she'd expected to be there wasn't, and Yuki just barely caught her with his arm before she hit the railing. By that time Tohru had finally snapped out of it and realized what she'd almost done, and once Yuki got her standing on her own two feet, she instantly bowed deeply.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, and Yuki shook his head.

"No, no, Miss Honda, it's okay. ...I'm sorry, that I can't hold you. Now of all times, I'm sorry that embracing is something I can't do. ...Will you be okay with that? Dating a...a normal boy...might be..."

"No, Yuki," Tohru shook her head, "I want to be happy with you. I just-" she sniffed, "I just want Kyo and Uo-chan to be happy, too,"

"They will be," Yuki nodded and lifted Tohru's chin so that she could see the gesture. "You don't have to worry about them; they'll survive whatever they have to go through. You survived, after all, and here you are." Yuki smiled meekly, and Tohru followed suit, trying desperately to wipe away her tears.

She felt bad now, that she was being a nuisance to Yuki, worrying about Kyo who he hates so much, on the very same night, just moments after he asked her to worry about him first and foremost. She would...she always has, but that didn't mean that Kyo took back seat. She may not be close to him in the same way she was to Yuki, but she still cared for him deeply, and hoped that she would still be able to help him in any way she could.

"Come on, I think we should go home, Miss Honda." Tohru nodded and started walking. Yuki lazily hung his arm over her shoulders, careful not to bring her in too tight, and the two walked along in silence, save for Tohru's occasional sniffling. She didn't like thinking about Kyo's other form, as much as she accepted it in order to accept Kyo.. she was just very worried that Uo might not be able to do things like she did.

If Arisa couldn't accept Kyo like Tohru did...this could only end in a horrible, dysphoric tragedy. Something she didn't want either of their lives to be.

...-...-...-...-...-...-...-...-...-

w00t. A little heavier than last chapter. Heh, kinda strange that Yuki and Tohru get together before the title characters xD ah well. Suspensefullnss is fun. I just have one question for you guys, before I go on like this any longer:

Are the chapters too long? I guess I'm just not sure which is better to read, several smaller chapters, or fewer bigger chapters? If you guys could let me know, that would be great! Shorter chapters would possibly mean updates more often, too, since it would be easier to write up chapters to keep with the update schedule. So, shorter, more frequent updates, or longer, more drawn apart? Your guys' call, I'm asking you because I don't care xD

Also, I'm afraid tomorrow I've got to help out with my mom's play all day, the next day I have to clean house and pack for music camp, and then I'm gone from sunday to friday with no computer access::tear: so you guys'll have to wait at least another week before the next update. I'll make it up to you with an uber-long chapter, though xD The next chapter is looking like it's gonna be close to 15 pages o.O;;

So, until next time, read, enjoy..review! nyah! xD