Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket

Chapter 3: Invitation

Kyou sulked angrily in his room.

This is not an unusual occurrence. He tended to become angry for large portions of most days, usually over small trivial things. One day, he couldn't find matching socks. Sometimes he woke up and he was too hot. His hair was too orange. His grades were too low. His hot sexy body was just too damn hot and sexy, creating a gigantic army of crazy fangirls who should all be taken to court and given restraining orders.

Lately though, the number one thing that annoyed him to no end was none other than…

"Yuki…" Kyou seethed. Damn him! First he got the brains…then he got the martial arts skills…then he got the freaky cool purple eyes…and now he got Tohru.

Oh…he also has Kagura…but he can keep her

All yesterday, Kyou had thought about Tohru…and Yuki. She was in love with him, he was sure of it. Why else would she be upset enough over the marriage to resort to making smores! Smores damn it, smores! She probably would have sat around the house with a sad attempt of a smile strapped to her delicate features if it weren't for the fact that Kagura and her had stayed in her room giggling with their girl talk.

Probably talking about Yuki or something…

Worst yet, Yuki was completely oblivious to it all…Damn him!

If Tohru was ever in love with me…I'd notice for sure! I'd be all over her in a second!

Kyou pouted. If only she could develop feelings for him instead of his ratty cousin…then his life would be perfect…

Kyou…poor stupid Kyou…continued sulking angrily in his room.

Tohru had decided. It was a tough decision…but she had made it.

"We're having chicken for dinner!" Tohru stated proudly after hours of trying to pick between a chicken dinner and salmon. Ever since her girl-to-girl chat with Kagura, she had felt lighter and happier. She loved being able to have little chats about random topics with her friends.

Oh yea…there is also the slightest chance that she also felt better now that she had decided that she was going to go ahead with operation 'Get Kyou'. It had started out as 'Seduce Kyou into Dumping Yuki'…but Tohru was too innocent to be able to try and seduce somebody. It then became 'Flirt with Kyou Until He Dumps Yuki'…but she didn't like the idea of putting the fact that Yuki would probably end up heart broken in the name of her mission. After numerous attempts of a descriptive name, she had finally settled with plain old 'Get Kyou'.

What was the first step to getting Kyou?

She had to spend more time with him.

The idea of spending time with somebody that you live with and attend school with seems pretty easy.

Pretty really easy.

However, Tohru had spent most of the past two years of her life with Kyou, and he had barely noticed her at all. If she was ever going to make a real impact on Kyou's life, she was going to need to put in a bigger effort.

She would have to ask him out.

Kyou was slowly shifting from his angry sulk to his sad sulk when he heard a knocking on his door.

"Yea?" he called throughout the door. He wasn't in the mood for any company.

"Eh…it's me, Tohru," she called out with a bit of hesitance. "Eto…do you mind if I come in?"

Kyou sat up so fast on his bed he swore he got whiplash. "Uh-uh…yea! Come in!" He eagerly waited for the door to open, but outwardly, he tried to keep an uncaring face. During his sulking, he had wondered why it seemed everybody was automatically drawn to Yuki upon meeting him.

And then it hit him.

He remembered looking over a few girls' shoulders as they read those girly magazines full of ridiculous articles about what girls liked most about guys. Apparently they practically swoon at how men act all uncaring, but have so many traumatizing memories and hidden emotions deep, deep inside their scarred souls. He used to scoff at that stupid stuff, but…Yuki kind of fit that description…and if it worked for Yuki…

Tohru stepped inside his bedroom shyly. This was it. She was going to make her dreams come true. She was going to ask him to go out with her.

As friends! As friends!

As special friends?

JUST FRIENDS!

"Eh…" Tohru started as she stared at Kyou, only to quickly duck her head down. At times like this, she wished whole-heartedly that she lived in a different house. It would have been so much easier to be able to ask him over the telephone!

Kyou watched Tohru as she stuttered over her words, repeatedly clamping and unclamping her hands. Did she know how incredibly cut-er…stupid she looked?

"Tohru. Quit looking so stupid," Kyou said gruffly. "Just go ahead and say whatever it is that's on your mind." He didn't move a muscle outwardly, but inside he sighed. She always seemed to act so nervously around him lately, it was adorable, but incredibly irritating. When she had first started acting oddly, for just a few moments, he had gotten his hopes up and thought that she might have had feelings for him but those thoughts were washed away quickly when he remembered that she liked Yuki.

It's always back to Yuki…oh how I hate him!

Tohru stopped fidgeting at Kyou's voice. She raised her head and saw Kyou's uncaring face, and quickly looked back at the floor.

"I…I just wanted to know if you were okay with chicken for dinner!" Tohru perkily stated as she brought her face up again, plastic smile in place. For the first time since Tohru had stepped into the room, Kyou's face expression changed.

"Oh…uh, yea. Chicken's fine," Kyou said with just the slightest drooping of his lips. He had hoped that she was in there to talk about something more important than her dinner menu. "Next time try to make your own decisions Tohru," he added. "You don't need somebody else to tell you how to do everything."

"H-hai," Tohru called out as happily as she could. "I'll remember that next time," she mumbled to herself dejectedly as she turned to leave the room.

Last time I listen to Kagura

"I need to get off the phone now Kagura…I have a lot of homework…well, I am graduating pretty soon..." Yuki paused to hear Kagura whine about him loving his schoolwork more than her. Sometimes he didn't understand her at all. She was so incredibly clingy. "No…I'll call you back later…don't worry, we're seeing each other later…yes, just the two of us…" She was also incredibly possessive. "No…I'm not lying, honest…" and incredibly paranoid. Why on earth did he want to get married to her? "You'll tutor me? But I don't want to waste our time together…are you sure you don't mind…Yea…I love you too." Yuki smiled fondly at the warm voice of his fiancé. Now he remembered why.

Only moments after he hung up the phone, it began to ring again.

With a heavy sigh, Yuki picked it up. "I still love you, don't worry."

"Hmm…I'm happy to hear that Yuki. But I'm sorry to say that your feeling are not mutual," a monotone voice replied, though, if one listened closely enough, they would find a light trace of amusement in it.

"Ah…Hatori! Sorry about that. I thought you were somebody else."

"For your sake, I hope that the somebody was Kagura."

"Hai," Yuki replied somewhat reluctantly, even though it was common knowledge that he was getting married to her now, he had kept their relationship a secret from everybody else for so long it felt odd to admit he had feelings for her. "So, you called for something?"

"I just thought it would be kind of me to warn you that your fiancé is on her way to your house right now."

"Huh? But I just got off the phone with her and she didn't say anyth-"

"She wants to go wedding clothes hunting with you."

"Oh...no…she can't…I won't…WHAT!" Yuki panicked over the phone. He refused to go shopping, especially for something girls found as important as wedding dresses! He would be stuck holding boxes upon boxes upon boxes of random articles that would take hours upon hours upon hours to try on.

And then, Kagura would also try on dresses. Naturally, she would use the question that every man dreads…'does this make me look fat'. No matter how many variations there were to that one…little… question, there was no right answer! Ever! Sure, sure…everybody says you should just say 'no'…but WHEN do you say it? If you answered to quickly, you were accused of lying…but too slow and that meant you had to think about it and therefore thought it did indeed make her look fat.

"If I were you, I'd find something important to do right now," Hatori said, repressing a chuckle. "Something wedding oriented. It's the only thing that can save you now."

"Thank you," Yuki ended the phone call distractedly. "Wedding…wedding…wedding…what's something that is apart of the wedding, but not too difficult?" There was nothing! No matter what he did at this point he was royally fuc- then Yuki saw the mail on his desk. Mail! He had to make invitations to mail to everybody! He ran to the kitchen and pulled out as many invitation pamphlets as he could find, which was actually quite a lot. Kagura had been searching for designs and prices a few days ago. He carried it all to the living room and dumped his armload on the coffee table. With everything spread across the table, it actually almost looked like he was working.

But something was still missing. Kagura wouldn't let Yuki plan the invitations all by himself. They had already agreed to always get a second opinion to make sure the other would be pleased by the decision. He needed somebody to be with him.

"Yuki? What are you doing?" Tohru inquired as she passed him by.

"Tohru! I need your help. Can you help me decide on the wedding invitation designs?" Yuki asked, desperation seeping into his voice. Kagura would be there any second, and unless he could pull off appearing deep in his work, she would drag him to go shopping…maybe even at Ayame's store…

"Sure!" Tohru said. It felt a bit odd to her, volunteering to help form the wedding that would irreversibly ruin her love life forever, but she sat down next to Yuki just as Kagura came crashing in anyway. She was always told that she should help those who needed it.

"Yuki! Come shopping with me!" Kagura hollered down the hall. Trotting further into the house to see Yuki and Tohru seemingly hard at work. "Yuki…I thought you said you were going to study?"

"I was, but then I decided to surprise you by designing the invitations," Yuki smoothly lied.

"B-but I was going to take you tux shopping at Ayame's shop. H-how can I now if I can't try it on you?" Kagura pouted. Yuki hated that pout, he was almost completely defenseless against it. Soon her eyes would start watering and he would loose all of his carefully built up control. No, he had to think fast.

Enter Kyou.

"Take Kyou with you! We're the same size and he needs a suit too!" Yuki practically yelled, pointing at the other boy like the human sacrifice he was.

"Wait…what?" Kyou asked groggily. He had just come out of his room for the first time that day after what must have been the longest sulk of his life...and he was already horribly confused.

"Hmm," Kagura thought about it, pout wiped cleanly off her face, and Yuki knew he had escaped her evil clutches of shopping doom. "Okay!" She grabbed hold of Kyou's wrist, and with power and speed not seen since she had been in love with him, dragged him out of the house.

"YUKI!!! DAMN YOU!!!"

Tohru, who had been watching the interaction with quiet amusement, turned to Yuki. "Well, I guess we should start making those invitations!" She said enthusiastically.

"Alright, although all we really need to make is the cover. Kagura's already been working on the inside details," Yuki searched through the large pile to find the brochure of cover fonts.

"Okay, maybe we can just have you're names on the cover," Tohru suggested. "It can just say Yuki Sohma and K-"

"Actually, I think that initials might look nicer," Yuki interrupted, lost in his own thoughts. "The inside will have our full names. Besides, Kagura said she would rather have the guests reminded as few times as possible that we have the same last names. It bothers her that she doesn't get a choice of keeping her maiden name or not."

Tohru nodded her head in agreement, giving him her completely divided attention. She was amazed at how much work had to be put in to making something as simple as invitations. The two rifled through many different pamphlets, discussing the possible colours, fonts and placements of the four letters. Tohru found that Yuki already seemed to have an idea of what he wanted, and though he thought over her suggestions, it seemed to be done to be polite rather than genuine.

"What is it?" Yuki asked when he heard a soft giggle escape his friend's lips.

"Eh…it's nothing really. I just think its kind of…eh…cute, that you act like you don't care about this, but you really seem to be enjoying yourself right now."

"Hmm…well, I'm actually only doing this so I don't have to go shopping," Yuki began.

"Oh Kyou! Try this on too!" Ayame thrust another tux into Kyou's arms.

"It's hot pink!" Kyou yelled in outrage as he was pushed into the change room for the fifteenth time in half an hour. "DAMN YOU YUKI!"

"But now that I'm doing it, I guess I really am having fun," Yuki finished, smiling at Tohru. "I should really try more things I suppose, but I'm so used to acting like I don't care."

"All habits are breakable! If you want to break it I mean. Even when you look like you doesn't care, you're still very nice!" Tohru told him, putting her own designs down on the table. Her thoughts floated to Kyou that morning. She knew that Yuki's cool demeanor was mainly an act, a defense mechanism, but Kyou…he really seemed like he didn't care…

"I wonder how Kyou is doing with Kagura right now," Yuki said, efficiently changing the topic. For some reason Tohru's cheer had been slipping away from her before his very eyes only moments ago. Now though, she perked right up.

"I'm sure he's having a lot of fun!"

"I'm sorry Kyou!"

"Shut up."

"I really am!"

"Shut up."

"Aww, c'mon, cheer up!" Kagura pleaded with the angry boy walking alongside her. After one Austin Powers tuxedo too many, he had snapped and run out of Ayame's store.

"I said shut up!" Kyou exploded once again. "Of course, nobody ever seems to listen to me. Like when I said I didn't want that bow in my hair, did anybody seem to hear me? NOOOO!" Kyou spread his arms wide at the 'no', stretching the word into multiple syllables instead of the original one.

"I thought you looked cute!" Kagura mumbled meekly, trying to apologize in a tipsy-topsy sort of way, earning only a 'pfft' in return. "Tohru would have thought you looked cute too."

Now that got a response. His entire face suddenly matched his red eyes perfectly. "So, what do I care what she thinks," Kyou muttered, silently pleading with his blood to stop rushing to his cheeks.

"Kyou don't try it."

"Don't try what?" Kyou demanded.

"Don't try to be all cool. It doesn't suit you at all," Kagura stated. It was true. Kyou really was horrible at playing it cool. All his messages seemed to cross each other, and the only thing you got in the end was 'he doesn't like you, go away'.

"I'm not trying to be 'all cool'!" Kyou exclaimed. "But uh…if I were, why wouldn't I be doing it. I thought girls were supposed to like trying to pry a guy open and get all the gooey emotions and feelings and …stuff." This time, Kyou was the one to get a 'pfft' in return.

The two walked the rest of the way home in silence, Kagura with her growing suspicions that Kyou had more than just a crush on Tohru, and Kyou beating himself over the fact that he had gone about talking to Tohru all wrong.

Yuki was busily clearing his desk of all of his study notes when he heard the front door open.

"I'm home!" Kagura greeted as she searched for her fiancé. "You done with the invitations?" She asked when she finally stumbled upon him in, simple enough, his very own bedroom.

"Yes. I think you'll like it," Yuki stood to give his future wife a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You know, everybody knows about us now. You can give me proper kisses," Kagura told him. When he made no movement, she sighed and added, "Kyou's on the roof and I don't see Tohru anywhere."

"Tohru's out grocery shopping," Yuki told her as he sat back down at his desk, pulling her gently onto his lap.

"Hey, speaking of Tohru, have you noticed that Kyou is madly in love with her?" Kagura asked, momentarily choosing to forget that Yuki had still managed to leave her lips untouched. "He blushes every time I mention her name!"

"They both do that."

"They do!?" Kagura exclaimed happily, twisting herself to face Yuki. "We have to set them up!"

"No we don't. They'll be fine without our help," Yuki said, though it was more for his benefit than Kagura's. He had been fighting with his urge to play matchmaker lately as well. Watching them flitter flutter around each other was incredibly frustrating.

"They barely ever spend time alone. They'll take forever to realize what's right in front of them!" Plans of trapping them together in a dark room for hours swam through her mind.

Heh heh…that'll get them going

"We should mind our own business. I know I would hate it if they tried to set me up. Besides, what if we're wrong?"

"We're not wrong," Kagura said firmly. Silently, Yuki agreed with her, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he decided to end the conversation the best way he knew of.

Kagura smiled against his lips, she had been wondering when she'd get that kiss.

Author's Notes: Ahh! I absolutely adore you reviewers! I get such a wonderful feeling when I log onto my fanfiction account after a long days work of watching television and discover that there are people in this world that are nice enough to leave me feedback! About Tohru finding out anytime soon…I know you people want to know when Tohru can stop suffering this horrible fate of stupidity based confusion, but you see, if I tell you guys when she finds out (soon, almost never, never), if would really spoil the story for you…so I'm afraid you'll simply have to continue reading (and hopefully reviewing) to find out! Oh! And smores always make ME feel better…but I'm not so sure if others like it so much.

My house (and most importantly, computer) is still intact from the party! Hurray!

Lol! Special thanks to Outcast Shadow for pointing something out to me in the reviews! I got a little careless with the whole 'keeping-Tohru-in-the-dark-for-as-long-as-humanly-possible' ploy…oopsies…but I'm trying to fix it up, so don't ditch this story just yet!