Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. I just adore it from afar.

Whenever I hear her cries for help, her cries for happiness, any type of cries from her, I begin to feel her pain. I feel her suffering that she has endured for the past years in her life. I try to erase the pain from her by holding her, but it seems my holds are hurting her even more. Her cries get louder, and she silently screams.

But I am the only one to hear them.

She smiles, every day, no matter what she is doing. Whether she is cooking, sleeping, doing laundry, anything. She just smiles and keeps the happiness around home. That's something new. Home. I already feel like she should already stay forever, to be by my side no matter what.

But my thoughts keep coming back to me and scare me to a limit where I can not tell her. What if she doesn't love me? What if she can never accept my type of love? What if she only wants a type of friendship love? Or, possibly, a sibling type love? What if her type of love is the exact opposite of my love?

What if I cannot accept her type of love?

Then my thoughts stop me. One minute, I have the confidence, the urge, to tell her that I love her with all of my heart. The next minute, it's all gone. A wall is put up between myself and my feelings, and by the time I have the urge to tell her again, she's gone, out of my grasp. I try to find her, trying to tell her everything on my mind.

But she is nowhere to be found. She's gone.

I don't want anyone else to take her for themselves. I'm afraid they won't give her enough love for her to smile like she does. I get afraid that someone will kidnap her away from me, and the loneliness will return. I don't want someone to give her something she needs, then take it back from her, and crush her.

But she always returns to my side, with a smile on her face and her presence healing my heart. All I need is her smile and I can smile, my gift to her. It doesn't matter if I hurt her the previous night because I was reckless, or if I healed her with words. She always has a smile on her face.

My love smiles back.

0o0o0o0o0o

They stayed in Akito's room for over 10 minutes more, and finally scurried out of the room, realizing where they were. Hatori watched as Tohru walked out of the room for him to get his equipment from the checkup, and saw her shadow begin to walk towards his room. He grabbed everything he needed, and walked out the door. Before he shut the door, he saw Akito looking back at him. He could've sworn Akito was crying.

He looked down the hallway, and saw Tohru wobbling down it, barely dodging the servants moving out of the way for her. He began to walk down the hallway and saw the servants look the same way they did with Tohru: with disgust. Was it because he held her?

He was able to reach her and hold her up from falling, and saw herself barely awake. She was mumbling coherent things, like, "What about the laundry?" and "I need to cook something." He saw her eyes weren't filled with the color she usually had with him. Her smile was nothing more then a frown. The cheeks on her face were still wet from her tears, and were obviously flushed. He put his arm around her shoulders, and continued to walk down the hallway, completely ignoring anyone looking at them.

He saw his door. Finally! They could go inside, she could sleep, and everything would be just fine! Then he heard something crash. 'What was that?' He looked around, and saw the old servant throwing things in the other room. Why was she doing that? He saw her make eye contact with him, and stopped throwing different things. She looked down to Tohru, and scowled in disgust. "To love that thing is a disgrace to this family, Hatori." And she closed the door.

He stood there, hearing her words echoing in his head. 'Thing?' That's what they thought of her? A thing? He looked down at her, and saw her eyes falling more and her legs about to give up. He brought his other arm around the front to catch her, and saw she basically fell asleep! They were so close to the room too! He leaned her back and allowed himself to carry her bridal style. 'It's as if I'm carrying a child.' But, he did notice one thing:

She was happier.

0o0o0o0o

'Why did I cry so much when I saw him?' She thought as she walked out of the room. 'I didn't mean to cause so much worry to him. I would never want that with him!' She looked back and saw him not coming out. 'Then again, when I first saw him, at school, I knew that I would never want to worry him.

He was so handsome looking, so graceful wherever he went. It was as if he was a God and I never heard about him from my mother!' She looked around and saw the servants moving out of the way for her. She saw the disgust in their eyes. 'When I left the office that day, knowing his past about his eye and Kana, I didn't want to leave. Isn't that embarrassing, mom? To not leave somewhere when you just met someone!

After that, I saw him more and more. I became a good friend to him, and vice-versa. He would always look at me and smile at me. A true smile! Mom, when Kyo told me that my love was just an illusion, when I thought I loved him, I felt like my life was over.' She felt him draped his arm around her shoulder and continued to walk.

'See, mom? He protects me. I would've never known this side of him if I never have gotten to meet him! When I thought my life was over, the moment I heard those words, I knew that maybe, just maybe, someone else was out there for me.' She saw him look down at her and she smiled inside. 'And, Mom, I didn't have to look very far either.

When I had to leave my old home, I didn't know where to go. I hesitated for Hatori. I didn't know if it was wise for me to live with him at all. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Shigure told me to go to him, and I knew that you were guiding me to someone that cared about me. Someone that l--' She shot out of her thoughts when she heard a crash. She felt him turn to it, and she heard those words. 'To love that thing is a disgrace to the family, Hatori.' She felt her legs give out, and her eyes droop down. 'Mom, I know now that I made the right choice to live with him. No one else would care about me like he does every day for me.' And everything was black.

0o0o0o0o0o

A day later, she finally woke up in her 'bed' and saw Hatori staring at her. Not right away, though. She shot up first to see where she was, then saw him looking at her. The whole day, he told her, he was awake. He waited for her to wake up so he knew she was safe. 'All that time, I thought about how much I love you. All that time, I wondered if your heart was repaired from anything or not. All that time, I had the urge.'

She brought her knees to her chest and looked up at the clock. It was 10 AM! She gaped at the clock, wondering if it was true. It was true! She really did sleep for a day! She looked around the room and saw laundry galore! 'Oh no! I forgot to do the laundry!' She stood up right away, but felt a headache shoot right through her head. She didn't see that coming. Her hand held her head for the pain to go away and she heard his voice.

"I need you to rest for another day." What?! 'I can't! I see so much clothing to be done!'

"I can't! I need to clean, do laundry, cook dinner, and shop for food!" She had a point there. For the past week, he forgot to do the laundry and shop for food for lunch and dinner. He told her he was going to do it, but he never did it.

Every day, he had another patient to tend to, and when he got home, he saw it. He wanted to do them, but heard his pager go off every time he reached for it! The patient wasn't really sick. They had a minor illness that could be treated with every day medicine. After a long day, he would come home and look at records, completely forgetting about the laundry. She had to do them when he was gone, when he told her that he would do it. He felt ashamed that he didn't help her when he really did want to help her.

He saw her reach down for the laundry basket and realized she was going to do the laundry again! He quickly stood up, with the edge of the chair hitting the desk really hard, and it startled her. "EH!?" She looked behind and saw him standing there, staring at her! "H-H-Hatori!" Then another crash was heard. This time, it was in the room.

Kana. He heard the picture fall down on his desk, the glass shattering. He didn't want to see the glass cracked, or the picture facing the desk. He knew it was that picture, and knew that if he saw that, he would break down, just like any other night that he thought about Kana. Then, he felt Tohru walk past him. Just grazing his arm made him jump.

"Hatori, your picture fell!" She didn't know what to do! She didn't know if she should touch it, or leave it! She made up her mind and decided to pick the picture up. The glass was cracked, from the right corner through her face and down towards the left side. She set the picture back up and faced out into the room. "There. Even though the glass is cracked, she's already happier!" She smiled and looked at Hatori.

He looked back towards the picture and frowned. When he saw Tohru holding it, he was stuck. 'Did I really push her out of my heart and out of my life forever?' He couldn't see Kana's smiling face from the picture, and saw no happiness at all from it. He forgot about the happy times with her. He forgot.

He looked at Tohru, who was smiling at him, and he smiled back. Even though there had been so many hardships the past week, he seemed to be happy. She would show how much she cared about him, would always be with him, and would always smile.

Everyone was happier.

"I'll do the laundry, Tohru." Her face dropped. She didn't want to bother him!

"N-No! That's okay! I-I can do it!" She smiled, and he put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be fine. I want to help you. I told you I was to do the laundry, correct?" She nodded and he began to walk towards the basket. "Then it is my duty to do it. You should rest." She shook her head and saw the grocery list on his desk.

"But I need to get the food! And prepare lunch and dinner!"

"We can skip lunch. We can get the food some other time. As for dinner, let's go out to eat. I haven't been around town," He picked up the heavy load. "for a while." She started to tremble.

"Oh! B-B-But I don't want to trouble you!" She nervously laughed and saw how serious he was.

"It wouldn't trouble me. You need a night out on the town, and it would strain you to work." She saw him walk out the door, and stopped before closing it. "Be ready by seven." And he closed the door, walking right across the hallway to his room.

0o0o0o0o0o

She sat in his chair by the desk and watched the clock slowly tick. 'It's only six and I am already ready!' She really didn't dress up for the event, and thought it was appropriate for it. 'Though, he probably has a suit on!' She sighed and heard the door being opened. She sat up straight and kept her eyes looking out towards his shelves on the desk.

Hatori walked into the room, noticing she was just sitting there, staring at nothing. He looked on his shelf to see what was so interesting, but there was nothing on that shelf! "Tohru?"

"I didn't touch anything!" He blinked several times and saw her sweating. Did she have a fever? "I-I mean… Welcome back!" She looked over at him, and saw she was right: He was wearing a suit!

It was out of the norm for him! Usually, she would see him in a lab coat and in casual wear underneath! She saw the suit was a dark color, almost black, and it looked like the suit Shigure wore at the parent-conferences. To her, he looked incredibly handsome.

He brushed his hand through his hair, and started to blush. Has she ever looked this cute? In his eyes, of course. But, like a porcelain doll?! She wore a white buttoned shirt, with a white tank top underneath, (it was see-through) and a black skirt that went halfway to the knees. She looked really formal.

'I might as well get this done fast before something comes up.' He held out his hand and she smiled. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her up from the seat. "I'm ready." Both of them were still blushing from each other's outfits, and both had smiles on their faces.

Hatori, of course, drove to his favorite restaurant as a kid, probably about five to seven blocks away from the Main House. He remembered going with Shigure and Ayame to the place when they were little, and also in high school after school. He didn't want to look at Tohru, who was eager to see where they were going, and do something stupid.

They arrived at the place in ten minutes, since traffic was still bad, and entered the place rather quickly. They sat in a booth and ordered their food, which weren't special, just orders of different sushi, like salmon, tuna, and odd ones too, and an order of three rice balls. It was normal enough at a sushi bar.

He leaned back on the booth with his eyes closed and sighed. He wasn't able to leave the house for a while, and it was nice to relax. He opened them and saw her looking out the window, around the place, everywhere! Apparently, she wasn't able to get out that much either!

Though, he watched her, getting rather excited at nothing around her. She looked like a little kid going to the carnival and seeing all the rides. She had a smile on her face and a glimmer in her eyes. He leaned forward and rested his head in his hand. She looked at him and started to panic. She looked down at her blouse and started to play with it, embarrassed and ashamed at what she was doing! He smiled, and began to talk.

"Tohru." She looked up, frightened. "How are Shigure and them?"

"Oh! They are doing really good! They told me that they learned how to cook better than before, and how they can do their own laundry now! It was really incredible to hear that about them, but then they can do anything they want because they know how to!" She smiled, and he nodded.

"Good. It's nice to hear how they are doing once in a while." She nodded, and asked him.

"Do you ever call Shigure?" He nodded, and she smiled wider. "That's good! You two are good friends!" He chuckled and leaned back again. 'That's what he thinks.' He saw the food placed on the table and they thanked the waiter. Soon enough, they began to eat.

0o0o0o0o0o

"Wow! That was good food!" Everything was gone! All that Sushi was delicious and gone! They were really hungry! "Thank you again, Hatori! I've never been here before!" He bowed his head, and smiled.

"Shigure, Ayame, and I used to go here all the time when we were young. A lot has changed since the last time I was here. Including the tastes of the food." 'Though, it is delicious.' He looked around and there were many different objects around the room, but it still had the same feeling like before. He looked at Tohru, and saw her smiling like a goofball again. He had the urge again.

"Tohru." She opened her eyes, and saw herself stuck in his gaze again. A tug at her soul came. "I need to tell you something." She looked at him seriously, and nodded. "I--" The waiter came around and placed the bill on the table.

"Sorry to interrupt, but here is your bill! Enjoy the rest of the night!" She bowed and headed for the front of the restaurant. 'Why does this happen all the time?' He placed his hand over his eyes and sighed.

"-Will pay for the bill." She laughed, and nodded. That wasn't what he wanted to tell her! He had something else in mind! He placed the money and a tip inside the envelope and stood up. "Ready?" She looked up at him and nodded. She tried to avoid eye contact and to not stare long enough at him where she couldn't move. They walked side-by-side, hand-in-hand, out the door, and towards home.

0o0o0o0o0o

A month went by with the same schedule, with them never seeing each other on the weekdays and getting little time to spend time together on the weekends, with the weekly checkups with Akito. Every week, Hatori would ask her to go out to dinner or to have a picnic, to catch up with each other. She would always nod and would always have a good time laughing and smiling with him.

A couple of times, Akito had a bad case of the flu, so Hatori had to leave Sunday afternoon to see how he was progressing. He hated to leave her all alone, in his office. She seemed so vulnerable to get caught by a servant and scolded. In the end, he was always relieved to see her doing something safely. He enjoyed that.

One day, they got a call from Akito.

Tohru was organizing Hatori's desk, since she noticed it was getting messier each day, and Hatori was sitting at his desk, what to throw away and where to put what. "What would you like for dinner tonight?" He thought about it. He hadn't had one of Tohru's magnificent dishes in a while, and since it was the only day to get anything delicious, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Cook whatever you wish to. Anything will do." Then, the phone rang. It startled both of them. Tohru watched as Hatori picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Hatori Sohma speaking."
"Give the phone to her." He recognized the voice anywhere. Did he dare tell her who it was? He didn't want to take the risks, and gave her the phone without any words spoken. She looked worried and he watched her.

"H-Hello." Tohru heard nothing come from the other side, and continued. "This is Tohru Honda speaking." Then, he was heard.

"You may leave the House. You can go and live at Shigure's again. Your choice." Click. That was all he had to say for her to stop everything she was doing. She gave the phone back to Hatori and he put it back. He looked at her and saw her surprised. What did Akito tell her that was so important?

"What did he want?" She jumped and looked at Hatori. She smiled and looked down. 'Bad news,' Hatori thought.

"He said that I can leave the Main House to live at Shigure's again." Hatori's eyes widened and he abruptly stood up. 'What am I doing? It's her choice to leave.' He continued to look at her and she looked up at him. She had tears rimmed on her eyelids and her bottom lip was trembling.

"I'll go pack your things." She watched as he left her eyesight and left her staring up at the ceiling. A tug at her soul began to hurt again. She looked to her left and saw him picking up things on the ground and placing them in her bag. She never saw the tears in his eyes falling down his cheek.

He didn't want her to go.

Then, he heard the words he wanted to hear from her. "I'm not going." He stopped suddenly and looked down at the bag. 'She's not going?' "I would've if it was a month or so ago, but I like being here!" He looked back at her, and saw the tears falling down her face and smiling. "I'm already home." He dropped everything he had in his hands and stood up. He started to walk towards her and she continued to smile. He didn't care if she saw his tears.

He stopped really close to her and, suddenly, he put his arms around her. She opened her eyes in shock, and heard him whisper the words, "Thank you." Nodding, she closed her eyes tight and felt the tears falling down, while her arms wrapped around him. The tug stopped hurting and she cried in his chest while his tears hit her hair.

They were the tears of happiness.

0o0o0o0o0o

'Maybe, if I get rid of her, she will leave my head. But, what if she cannot leave? What if she is a poison and the only way to cure it is to have her around? What if… what if I cannot stop this? If she is leaving, which she will not leave, what will happen?

'I see the birds fly around, landing in their nests and caring for their children. I don't see that in her. I see her helping me, helping others. Where am I? I am on the sideline, routing her on, just like any other bird. If I stay around her long enough, will she rub off on me so I can be loveable?

'My wish is to be loved. That's all I want before I die. And maybe, just maybe, she can be my only friend that can help me make this wish come true.'

Mann This chapter kept going on and on. I just want the other chapter to come! ((I have that one all planned out))

You'll be surprised at the next ending in the next chapter 8D

ANYWAYS! Yes, this chapter kept going on and on. I didn't know where to end, how many pages I had, etc. I decided to end it... short and sweet, if you must. You go inside of a head and get a little sweetness! I really didn't know I was going to add the little "You can go" scene because I deleted so many scenes and wrote probably 3 chapters before I decided on this. Literally.

But I guess I am a sucker for my own cute moments XD

At any rate, this isn't my best chapter. It's one of those boring chapters. Until the end of course X3 Then it got hot in this joint XD

Be prepared for the next chapter. BE PREPARED I SAY! You won't be disappointed... I hope!

Thank you for the lovely reviews again! I smiled at them 8D I hope you don't quit on me!

Keep reviewing to make me happy!

And until next time!

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