(Chapter Five: Triple Date)

Tohru wandered into the woods heading for the secret base. Kandis had just left so she thought it would be a good opportunity to go there to think about what she had heard. She walked over to the garden and sat down with a sigh. As she sat there she heard the crunching of the leaves as Yuki approached. He stopped and looked down at her in concern.

"Miss Honda."

She looked up and he could see the worried look on her face and the slight tears in her eyes. He stared at her in surprise and then sat down.

"I thought something was wrong when you left so suddenly. Are you all right?"

"Would it be wrong of me to say no?" she replied softly.

"No of course not" he shook his head, "What could be wrong about that?"

"I don't know what the matter is with me" Tohru said, "I just feel so down today."

"We all have our ups and downs Miss Honda" Yuki replied, "It's not a bad thing if you do too. I mean you can't be cheerful all the time. You'll wear yourself out."

"Really?" she looked into his eyes happily, "Because right now I just feel like crying on someone's shoulder."

"Well, my shoulder is more than vacant" he said with a princely smile, "Go ahead and use it."

Tohru nodded gratefully and laid her head on Yuki's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tight as she cried softly.

"It's gonna be okay Miss Honda" Yuki replied in her ear reassuringly, "I know that somehow you will get through this."

"I hope so" she said muffled in his shoulder, "But right now it seems impossible."

"You mean everything with Kyo?" he asked.

"Mhm. Yuki I just hate seeing him like this. I hate seeing what this is doing to him. I wish there was someway that I could help him. But there isn't."

"Don't worry Miss Honda" he removed her from his shoulder and placed his two hands on hers, "Kyo is not going to give up without a fight. I know him he is so stubborn. It will take more than this to lick him."

"I know" she nodded again wiping a tear from her cheek, "But what Kyo has to accomplish is" she stopped herself.

"What?" Yuki raised an eyebrow, "What is it Miss Honda?"

"Never mind" Tohru shook her head and once more placed her head onto his shoulder.

He in-turn once again wrapped his arms around her.

"I wonder if she knows about the deal?" Yuki thought, "If she does then maybe that will affect my decision after all."

(Next Scene)

After her talk with Yuki Tohru felt much better. With graduation so close Yuki and Kyo were very busy working on their secret project. Tohru meanwhile was over with Hatsuharu as much as she could to practice the song for Rin's Birthday party. In another week or so Haru was planning on hiring people for their band, just as soon as they were really ready with the song. One afternoon however Yuki and Tohru had an afternoon free and they were sitting in the sitting room working on their homework. Kyo was once more at the dojo and would be home in time for dinner. As Tohru brought in Yuki a cup of tea he turned to her as she sat down.

"Miss Honda."

"Mhm" she nodded as she picked up her pen.

"You know I have been thinking about what we talked about two weeks ago."

"And what is that?" she asked curiously.

"Do you remember how I mentioned having a double date with Kyo and You and me and Machi?"

"Uh huh. But then you mentioned something about a triple date."

"That's right Miss Honda" he smiled, "You got a good memory."

"Well thank you" she smiled back, "But I still don't understand."

"Well here was my thought. Ritsu has been doing so well with Machi's father. You know for the last couple of weeks. She told me so today. I was thinking that he is getting so much confidence that maybe there is something that can boost it even more."

"Oh?"

"Yep" Yuki nodded, "And I finally figured out what that was. My idea is that we can convince Miss Ward to meet us downtown with her cousin Rebecca and we bring Ritsu along as the other half of the third date."

"Oh I see" Tohru grinned, "We are going to try to set up Ritsu and Rebecca is that it?"

"That's the plan."

"It's a wonderful idea Yuki but there is only one problem Yuki."

"What is that Miss Honda?"

"We can't very well invite Kandis and then ask her to leave."

"Oh there is nothing to worry about that Miss Honda" Yuki smiled, "Miss Ward can be my date. Machi is busy that night so I asked if she wouldn't mind. She said she wouldn't since it's for Ritsu and she is already quite fond of him."

"Well then" Tohru smiled again, "Then I guess the only things we have to do now is ask Kandis to help us and convince Kyo to come along."

"Do you think he will be a problem?"

"Oh no" Tohru shook her head, "I'll talk to him. I'm sure he will understand."

(Next Scene)

"You have got to be kidding me?" Kyo replied that evening as Tohru told him Yuki's idea, "I already spend way too much time with the damn rat working on this stupid project."

"But Kyo" Tohru said, "We're doing this for Ritsu's sake. I really want to help him with this."

"How come?"

"Well one Ritsu is my friend and two I want to be able to repay him for helping me during New Years."

"Oh yea right" Kyo softened up immediately and scratched the back of his head, "I guess you do have a point. Okay" he finally nodded, "I'll go."

"You will?" she said eagerly.

"Yea" he nodded with a grin as she wrapped her arms around him, "I really do owe him this much for what he did. I'll spend an evening with the damn rat for you and for Ritsu."

Thank you Kyo" Tohru replied happily as they embraced.

"You see" he said, "I'm not always a hard head."

She laughed and then they both embraced once more.

(Next Scene)

Later that week Kandis was informed of Yuki's plan. She at once became very excited and told Tohru that she would handle everything on her side. Yuki told Ritsu that he, Tohru, and Kyo wanted to take him out for dinner on Friday night to celebrate his newfound passion. Ritsu agreed not really knowing what was going on. After school on Friday afternoon Yuki was at his locker talking with Machi about the triple date.

"It is going to be such a big surprise" he replied excitedly to her, "We'll all go out and then we can get the two of them together."

"It sounds great Yuki" Machi smiled, "I am really happy for Ritsu finding someone. He is really a sweet guy. Where is dinner going to be?"

At that moment three pairs of ears listened behind a group of lockers. Minami Kinoshita was ahead of Mai and Miho listening to everything the two of them were saying. Ever since Motoko Minigawa had seen them together out on a date the three of them had spied on them at every opportunity they could. They listened in closely as Yuki closed his locker.

"It's going to be at that restaurant I took you to on our first date. You remember?" he replied.

"Of course. What time?"

"Tonight at about seven o'clock. Kyo and Miss Honda will be there too for support. It is going to be so great I can't wait."

Machi smiled and then took his arm as they walked away from the lockers. Minami and the other two pulled away from the lockers and a look of understanding passed between Miho and Minami.

"Did you hear that?" Miho replied, "Tonight. At about seven o'clock."

"Uh huh" Minami nodded, "We need to call President Motoko about this immediately. And then we need to find something to wear."

"Why's that?" Mai asked curiously.

"Because" Minami said in a huffy voice, "Tonight is the night that we ruin that girls fun. No one gets away with taking our beloved Prince Yuki. We'll make her pay."

"Oh" Mai nodded still not really understanding.

(To Be Continued.."

Authors Note: That's right folks! It's time for another two-parter!! I hope you enjoyed this half!! I will do the next part and Chapter six tomorrow however. I know it's terrible to make you wait, but I am sure that you will live until then!!!

To my fan Maya-chan: Thank you for your reviews for my other story "The Zodiac Stone." I wrote this story first as an attempt to see if I could write Fruits Basket. It was an introduction to seeing if I could get their characters down. The idea just came to me. I'm not sure where but I used to make up stories about Momiji telling fictional stories to Kisa, Tohru, and Hiro involving all of them in a make-believe environment. I guess that is really where it stemmed from. Any way I got such wonderful reviews I decided to continue with writing Fruits Basket but from a manga point of view, because as we all know the anime doesn't tell the whole story. Thanks again and I hope you continue to enjoy my stories!!

Next Part:

Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo take Ritsu to the restaurant and Kandis meets them with Rebecca. How will they feel about the set up and what kind of set up does the Prince Yuki Fan club intend to unleash? Find out what happens next time!!