-1A/N: Well! It's been ages since I last did this, but your reviews were sooo nice that I decided to start working on Chapter 25 already, and it hasn't even been a full 24 hours since I last posted! Now don't you all feel special?
DISCLAIMER: Fruits Basket aka Furuba is the property of Natsuki Takaya-sensei, and I have no hope whatsoever of buying it from her.

WARNING: The best apple juice on earth is made from Tree Top apples, Florida Orange Juice will help you on your way to a healthy heart, and this fanfic has been rated M for lemons, limes, and banana pudding. Proceed with extreme caution!

Chapter 25: Make You Mine

At the beautiful hour of 1:45 in the morning, Tokyo Standard Time, Tsukishiro Ayame sat in front of her computer, watching as thousands of multicoloured petals shimmied their way down the screen, their code a magical wonder.

"Hmm, that's something I never thought of," Ayame mumbled, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Looks like Kyohei-kun really does have some sense in that rock-star wannabe head of his."

"...And just when are you coming to bed again?" Kei, her husband, asked. "You've been staring at the codes on that screen for the past six hours now, and I still don't have a damned clue as to what on earth you're supposed to be doing with it."

"It's only because you never listened when I tried to tell you what all the different types and colors of the petals meant," Ayame retorted. "It was all just some 'psychic talk,' remember? You wouldn't even listen when Kitsune-chan tried to teach it to you!"

"That's because it is a bunch of psychic talk," Kei mumbled, pulling the covers over his head and trying to ignore the bright light of the computer monitor.

"You know he's right," Sakuramoto Kitsune sang as she danced her way into the room. "It's just a bunch of psychic talk because only people like you, me, and Takano-kun can understand it. Normal people? Come on, hun, it just goes whooosh! right over their heads."

Ayame laughed at her best friend's antics and beckoned her over to the monitor. "Well, let's see what you think of the plan Mr. Takano came up with here."

After a moment of deciphering and reading, Kitsune couldn't help but want to give the teen the "Sakuramoto Seal of Approval."

"Looks like the kid really does have something going on there," the blonde stated at long last.

"Indeed he does," her brunette friend said. "Indeed he does."

Sohma Hatori sat in his room, not at all tired, thinking about the words he had heard from the one Sakuramoto Kitsune had referred to as the Mooncastle Seer. It seemed impossible to him that a person could exist only to fulfil a fate set before them by the heavens. It was even more incredulous (in the dragon's mind) that a person such as Sakuramoto Kitsune could exist. His ability to alter the memories of other's was a gift he had always assumed to be unique. Now, this American woman had come inside of Hatori's reality and it threw everything he knew to be fact off-kilter.

Next, someone is going to tell me that Ritsu isn't really all that shy, that his timid behaviour is just a front hiding a stronger, more independent personality.

The appearance of Yue and her childhood connection to the Sohma family had already caused Hatori a fair amount of worry, but now there was even more to think about. Somehow, that girl's family was vital to breaking the Sohma curse, but it irritated the dragon to no end that he did not know why. Honda Tohru had always been the one that the Sohma family tried to find answers in.

Things are just getting stranger and stranger as time wears on, Hatori thought as he rose to go outside. The poor doctor was badly in need of a cigarette.

On the moonlit roof of an otherwise sleeping house, Sohma Kyo and Honda Tohru sat, gazing up at the twinkling stars.

"Kyo-kun," Tohru whispered, "Do you believe that angels look down on us from the heavens?"

Kyo shifted uncomfortably. "Dunno," he said, yawning. "I used to, when I was a kid, but I haven't thought about it in a really long time."

Tohru stared up at the sky, the starlight reflecting beautifully off her chocolate brown eyes.

"I wonder if Hana-chan and Uo-chan would like to go on a picnic tomorrow."

Kyo started and looked over at the sandy-haired girl he called his own.

"What on earth made you think of that?"

"Well," Tohru mumbled, "Okaa-san and used to take us all on picnics a lot before the accident. Then it was just me, Hana-chan, and Uo-chan. But I'm not complaining or anything," she rushed out. " It was always nice to have such good friends, and I'm so grateful that they are still here and care about me so much."

Kyo nodded, and gave Tohru one of his rare smiles.

"But no one cares about you as much as I do," he said, the words coming out before he had really processed what he was saying.

Tohru looked at the cat for a moment, the shock evident on her face.

"Um," Kyo started, blushing red, "I uh...what I meant to say was that..."

But what he meant to say was never to be known, as Tohru took a bold move and sealed the cat's lips with an earth-shattering kiss.

As he lay sleepless in bed, Sohma Ayame couldn't help but think of the young, dark-haired girl he had passed on his way to Sohma Shigure's house. With hair like a raven's wing and features that burned themselves onto the very fabric of Ayame's mind, she was irresistibly beautiful. Ayame couldn't help but think of her as he stared at the moonlight doppled ceiling.

Alas, she probably has no interest or thought of me at all, the snake thought, turning over to stare out the window. The name Sohma Ayame means nothing to her at all.

Oh, how very wrong he was.

As her sister Yue had done before, Takako lay in bed, dreaming of the snake, not knowing his name, but only seeing that handsome face surrounded by a gorgeous mane of shimmering silver hair. Her mind had been consumed with thoughts of him since that afternoon, when she had seen him strolling down the street. His voice rang loud and clear in her mind, the sound of it as soothing as Ranna's bells to her dreams. Takako slept comfortably as rose petals and wedding bells accompanied her vision and she saw herself walking down the aisle, arm-in-arm with the striking stranger, and her twin followed, arm-in-arm with a violet eyed teen.

A/N: And there you have it folks, a brand new chapter! We can see the threads of the tapestry now, can't we? Stay tuned to see what happens next!
Tsukishiro Ayame