Hello everyone! I'm so terribly terribly sorry that I haven't updated for three weeks! (I feel like such a bad fanfiction author!) I just had a ton of work to do and I couldn't get aroundt o updating. On top of that I was kind of stuck for ideas. No worries though. I updated with a longer-then-usual update. PLUS there shoul dbe more soon because I have an awsome idea.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You have no idea how much it means to me to get reviews. I really, truly apprieciate it. I know it can be a pain to review and I'm so grateful for every one that I get. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! (Sorry I can't list everyone this time but I have a lab due tomorrow! Sorry!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will try to never take so long to update again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Baskets or any of its characters (sigh).

Chapter Three – A Good Moment in a Bad Day

Yuki sighed as he closed his locker with a sharp "clang!"

It had been another long day at school. Thank goodness he didn't have a student council meeting today. 'I'll just go home, take a bath, eat Honda-san's dinner...'

Honda-san

"Tohru." He whispered.

Yuki sighed again. He didn't know why he kept calling her Honda-san. She was calling him Yuki-kin, but for some reason her first name seemed untouchable. He felt foolish, not being unable to say it, but to him it seemed like something he was unworthy of, something reserved for the great and the good, the noble. His brows furrowed as he thought of how the damn cat abused her surname. He certainly didn't have the right to say it. And Tohru, being so kind, embraced it.

Yuki bristled, filled with – he hated to admit it – jealousy.

He was jealous that Kyo was too stupid and too ignorant to realize that her name was special. Jealous too that no one stopped him from saying it. Jealous that he, the dirty, pathetic, sickening rat would probably never be able to say it.

He looked up from his thoughts as he heard approaching footsteps, and smiled as he saw Tohru wave at him from down the hall.

"Yuki-kun! How was your day?" she asked, blessing him with a beaming smile.

"It was fine." He replied. "How was yours?"

"It was great! Ready to go? Kyo-kun got a detention for fighting, so he said we should leave without him."

"Alright," was Yuki's simple reply. He smiled inwardly. Time alone with Tohru was a precious commodity. It seems his day was looking up.

Yuki's mind wandered as they made their way through the woods towards Shigure's house. Bright golden leaves were drifting to the ground throughout the forest; crisp and crunchy just like the fall air that filled his lungs.

He allowed a small smile to slip onto his face. He was the luckiest person alive. How anyone like himself could get to spend such a beautiful day in such a beautiful place with such a beautiful person was beyond him.

Yuki listened to Tohru, absorbing her sounds. He heard her short puffs of breath, her footsteps as she crunched the leaves underneath her, the squeaks of the leather rubbing together on her bag, and the ever present soft swish of her skirt.

'She's so alive.' He thought. 'So full of movement.' He snuck a side-glance at her.

He was surprised to find her already looking at him, rather apprehensively. 'I haven't been worrying her, have I?' he thought 'With my not talking?'

"Honda-san, is everything alright?" Yuki asked, pausing their walk as he turned to face her, the house barely in view through he trees.

"Yes I'm fine. It's just ..." she bit her lip before blurting, "it seems like something is bothering you!" Her cheeks became tinged with red as she worried if she had intruded. She always worried if she had intruded.

'Doesn't she know she can ask me anything?' Yuki thought.

"Sorry, but if something is wrong you can tell me, I want you to tell me. It's not healthy to keep your troubles cooped up." Tohru finished, explaining herself to him.

Yuki smiled. He couldn't help it. She cared so much. How could you not feel loved? 'That's what I like about her,' he realized. 'She makes me feel loved. She makes me feel worthy of love.'

Yuki could have died of happiness as Tohru smiled back up at him.

He could have died of agony three seconds later as she tripped over a rock.

He launched forward to catch her, somehow managing to keep enough distance between them to prevent his transformation.

By the time he had the chance to think, Tohru was positioned over him, her arms supporting her above his chest.

"Yuki-kun! I am so, so, so sorry! I can't believe I fell! Are you alright?" she cried, simultaneously blushing and propping herself up on her knees.

Yuki sat up. "I'm fine. But how are you? You didn't get hurt at all, did you?" he asked her, nervously.

"Nope! I'm fine!" she replied, smiling once again, "But really, Yuki-kun, I'm terribly sorry! I didn't mean to cause any trouble. What if you had transformed?"

There she went again, making him smile. If she kept this up he would never be able to stop. Yuki allowed himself to look at her face. He took in her wide eyes, dainty little nose, and soft pink lips. He suddenly had the urge to lean in and kiss her.

'Tell her how you feel!' one part of his brain screamed.

'Don't! She'll reject you, idiot rat!' shouted another.

Yuki, confused, sought Tohru's hand unconsciously, intertwining his fingers in hers.

"Ouch!" Tohru yelped, jerking her hand away. "Sorry Yuki-kun – it's just my finger hurts." She said, examining her left index finger.

Yuki bent down to look at it as well. It didn't look good. The finger was quite swollen and appeared to be turning a pruple-ish color. He felt his stomach drop. "Honda-san," he choked out, "did you get this when you fell?"

"I guess so." She said, eyes still on her finger. "I'll soak it when we get home. It doesn't hurt that much."

Yuki felt his heart stop. He had let her get hurt. He had put himself before her, wanting to avoid transformation. He had let her fall and injure herself. How could he be so selfish? And after all the times when she sacrificed so much for him ... only last night she had gotten only a few hours of sleep so he wouldn't wake up confused and scarred. And he couldn't even put himself through a simple transformation to save her. 'I really am the pathetic selfish rat.' He thought bitterly.

"Honda-san...I'm sorry I let you – "

"Yuki, Honda-kun." Said a solemn voice behind them. Yuki whipped his head around to see Hatori walking up the path towards them.

"Hatori-san!" Tohru called cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"

"Shigure called me." He replied, giving Yuki a pointed look. "He wanted to talk to me about Yuki's illness."

Yuki sighed. Looks like his day wasn't going to get that good after all. "I'm fine, Hatori. It was probably just the flu. But while you're here you can look a Honda-san's finger? I think she broke it."

Yuki paced around his room, his hands clenched into fists, loathing seething from his eyes. How could he have let Honda-san fall? Her finger had been broken, although not badly. As a consequence, however, Hatori had had to bandage it, crippling Tohru's actions. And to top it off, she insisted on cooking anyway. Shigure, Kyo, and himself had told her numerous times that evening that they didn't mind takeout for the week or so that her cast would be on. She had said she couldn't allow it, that they were too kind to her as it is and that she simply would never forgive herself to let so little a thing as a broken finger stop her from cooking. This had, of course, only added to Yuki's guilt.

He felt wretched. This whole thing was his fault. He needed to vent some of his frustration. He decided to go downstairs and get something to drink, to try and calm himself down.

As he headed down the stairs, he paused as he heard his own name coming from the living room.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Hatori asked. "Yuki said he was fine."

"Haa-san, do you not enjoy my fine company? Or must you finish your business and leave so soon?" Shigure wimpered.

"Seriously Shigure, you sounded genuinely worried on the phone, which is incredibly rare for you. What's wrong with Yuki?"

"Only that he was practically screaming in his sleep with the fever last night. I was wondering if you could give him some sort of sedative so he wouldn't wake me up again and spoil my beauty rest."

'I was screaming?' Yuki wondered. 'Honda-san didn't mention anything.'

"Screaming?" mused Hatori. "What about, exactly?"

"Actually, it was a little disturbing." Said Shigure, suddenly serious. "All I could hear properly was Akito's name and 'the room'. That and he kept pleading for help. I wouldn't want Tohru to get flustered if she heard it one night."

Yuki shrank back against the wall. He had ... screamed ... in his sleep ... about that room. Had Tohru heard? Most likely she had. She had been in the same room. That would explain why she hadn't believed him when he had told her he would have been fine without her. It also explained why she found it so necessary to stay with him the whole night. What if ... what if he had mentioned other things, only softer so Shigure hadn't heard? What if he had told her about that time...

He made his way blindly back up to his room. He could vaguely hear Hatori's answer.

"Yes ... I'll drop something off tomorrow. I knew there would probably be long lasting damage."

He closed to door behind him and collapsed into his desk chair, mind racing furiously. He would have to talk to her. Apologize. Explain it in some way. But how? He didn't even know what he had said aside what Shigure had heard from the other side of the house. He cringed. What if Kyo heard? That could be bad.

But back to Tohru. He would have to talk to her tomorrow. Hopefully he could figure out some sort of explanation. Hopefully he could figure out exactly how much he had to explain.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let me know what you think of Hatori and Shigure. Are they OOC? Next chapter should have Kyo in it - and soon I shall be addressing the issue of who Kyo ends up with. I have alot of Kagura - kyo requests. Tell me what you think about that. (normally I don't like them together but I might make an acception and pair them inthis fic.) Also, people seem to want more romance (hence the bit where Yuki almost kisses Tohru - it was too soon for them to make out!) so I'm going to try to put more of that in as well.

Review if you can!

-Orangellama :)