Disclaimer: Neither Fruits Basket nor the Fruits Basket characters belong to me. They are still the property of Natsuki Takaya and I guess they will always be.

This plot and all original characters do belong to me. I have had a lot of fun writing this story. At times it has been a major challenge. I hope each and every one of you enjoy the final chapters. Only one more chapter and the epilogue remain. I will post it all today since this chapter is relatively short in comparison to most of my other chapters. It doesn't seem there is much more to say. Let the images my words convey speak for me.Please readand enjoy.

Chapter 23 Reunion

Shigure lingered in a coffee shop down the street from where Tohru was now living. When he told Alfred he needed to see her before he went insane he probably never spoke a more true statement. He did need to see her, desperately. For nine months he had stayed away but the longing was too strong to resist any longer. He watched the street; she should be coming home soon. Perhaps he would just watch her walk by; maybe he wouldn't let her know he was there. He was afraid he would look into her eyes and not see the love he longed for shining there. He was afraid his stupidity might have destroyed his chance for happiness with her.

Tohru got off the bus and began the short walk home. She wearily approached the coffee shop. This had been a long day and she was looking forward to a quiet meal and a hot cup of tea.

Shigure's feet moved forward of their own volition as Tohru approached the coffee shop. He stepped out the door and greeted the girl who had haunted his dreams from the moment she left.

"Tohru-kun"

It was a cry full of longing and unvoiced emotion. Tohru's steps hesitated. Was she hallucinating? It was the voice she loved; the one she had longed to hear for nine long months. Surely it wasn't…

"Shigure-san! Shigure-san! How? Why?" Her steps quickened and she ran into his arms not giving herself a chance to consider what she was doing.

Shigure opened his arms and pulled her into them. He held her close and tilted her head up so he could see into her beautiful eyes. "Tohru-kun, please don't cry." Her sea blue eyes sparkled with tears and more. She still loved him. He didn't know why or how but she still loved him.

Tohru buried her head in the warmth of his jacket. She was home again, this was where she belonged.

After several seconds of nestling in his arms she looked into the gray eyes that had become her world. Her hand lifted to his face and her fingers captured a glistening tear. "I should be the one saying please don't cry." She spoke softly not quite believing he was real.

Shigure had not realized that he was crying too. He was surprised, he never cried. That was a lie, there had been many nights he had cried for this woman he thought lost forever. He bent his head and captured her lips with his own. He didn't care that they were on a public street and blocking the doorway of a busy coffee shop. It didn't matter. All that mattered was her.

Tohru's world was Shigure at the moment. Everything else faded into the gray of his eyes and the solidity that was him. She couldn't believe her prayers were being answered. He had finally come to find her and, she hoped, to take her home again.

Eventually colors began to coalesce and to come into focus once more. She fought against this intrusion on her world and then…She looked around. People were watching them. Realization returned and Tohru was the first to speak. "Forgive us please. It's been nine months since we last saw each other. We'll get out of your way now. So sorry to have inconvenienced you..." She pulled Shigure along behind her. "Let's go to my apartment, I can't believe you are really here."

He followed in her wake. At that moment he would have followed her anywhere. He never wanted to leave her or have her leave him again.

Soon they were behind the door of her apartment and once more in each others arms. Tohru had questions, dozens of them, but the time for them would come later. For now being in his arms again was enough.

Several minutes later, or perhaps several hours, neither of them knew exactly which it had been, Shigure finally spoke.

"Tohru-kun, perhaps you could offer me a cup of hot tea. We need to talk."

"Of course Shigure…I should have thought of that myself. I am so sorry, I am so thoughtless…"

Shigure stopped her immediately. "Tohru-kun, you are no such thing. We were somewhat occupied there for a while."

"Just give me a few minutes to prepare it. Please wait here."

"But I…" He didn't want to let her out of his sight. Right now she was the most important person in his world. He started to follow her into the kitchen but she motioned him to stay in the living room.

"Please just wait here." Tohru needed some space to collect her thoughts and having Shigure in her kitchen would not have allowed that space. She needed the few minutes it took to prepare the tea to collect her thoughts and remember exactly what it was she wanted to tell him when they did begin to talk.

Shigure looked around the apartment as he waited for her. It was small, just a living room, kitchen, single bedroom and bath, but it was warm like the woman living there. Her mother's picture held the central place of honor but other pictures dotted the room. Many of them were the photos taken in Greece that he had given her when she left his house so many months ago. He sighed. Those had been such wonderful days when love existed and troubles were far away. Even now, love still existed.

"Here Shigure-san. I brought the tea and some snacks." Tohru set the tray down and knelt to serve Shigure.

"Tohru-kun…" In two steps Shigure was beside her. "I missed you so much. Since the day you went away I haven't been able to stop thinking of you."

"Then why has Shigure-san waited so long to find me again…" Tohru turned toward him and found herself enveloped in his embrace once more. He spoke softly as his chin rested atop her soft hair.

"When you left, everything was so different. I thought I did the right thing but then the doubts would come. I ate, but the food had no taste. I slept but all my dreams were of you. I wrote but every word was about you. I couldn't very well publish that could I? It was too personal, too private. I said a lot of things when you left Tohru-kun, but I left out the most important words of all. I love you Tohru-kun."

"Shigure…I love you too, that's never changed. When you sent me away, I thought I would never be able to say that again."

"I didn't send you away Tohru-kun; I offered you a choice…"

Tohru stopped him with a finger to his lips this time. Somewhere in the last nine months Tohru had developed a very strong backbone. Her next words were a surprise to Shigure.

"No, Shigure-san did not offer me a choice. Do you really believe that you did?"

"What…Whatever do you mean?"

"When you suggested I might consider leaving, you did say a lot. You told me how much you appreciated everything that I had done for your family. You told me that Greece was wonderful but now we are back in the real world and things are different. You told me that if I left, you would be just fine. You even told me that if I wanted, I could stay. However, Shigure-san, from the time that we got back to Japan you never once said you loved me."

"But in Greece I told you…"

"That was in Greece Shigure-san, but we got back to Japan and you told me things were different. I was afraid you had decided you didn't love me and wanted me to leave Shigure-san. I could have withstood Kyo's and Yuki's pain and anger because eventually that would have changed. I knew they were not in love with me because I learned what love was on Kythira with you…or at least I thought I had. But Shigure-san…that day you told me that Greece had been a mistake, that it would be better if it had never happened. You said that the pain and suffering was too much to bear, but you never said you loved me. With you to love and to support me I could have stayed and worked things out with Kyo and Yuki, but without your love, I had no choice. I had no reason to stay and cause pain for those I loved best. I couldn't stay when I thought you didn't love me; not when I loved you so much. I was left with no choice but to leave Shigure-san. I realized later I should have placed more faith in your love. You've made very few promises to me and you have never broken any of them. I should have realized that your promise to love me forever, the one that was given in Greece, still held true but I didn't. I was so frightened that I might have become a burden to Shigure-san."

Shigure-san looked at her with stricken eyes. "Oh Tohru-kun, that you should have misunderstood my words so much, I never even imagined. I was so certain I was doing the right thing. I wanted to spare you the deeper pain that I thought your continued association with my family would cause. But…in the end I cause you more pain didn't I Tohru-kun? I knew if I said I loved you, you would stay, but I didn't think I could make you happy; I didn't think you could be happy with things being so strained. I am so sorry Tohru-kun…I am the one who should have had more faith…" Shigure laughed in a self-deprecating manner. "I always know what's best for everyone and I always manipulate them into taking the path I know is the best. I am always right, you know…but this time I was wrong, wasn't I"

The pain in his voice was more than Tohru could bear. "Oh Shigure…" He found himself wrapped in her arms; the soft jersey of her dress was a whisper of comfort against his cheeks. He allowed her to hold him like that for interminable minutes. He felt like a small boy in need of comfort and she was his safe haven. Eventually it began to occur to him that something was out of place. "Tohru-kun, I'm still a man…"

"Of course you are Shigure."

"No I mean I'm still a man; we're holding each other tightly and I'm still a man! As a matter of fact, I should have changed long before now."

Tohru's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. "The curse…is it broken now?"

Akito lay on his bed staring at the ceiling and thinking. Shigure had gone to find Tohru today. He wondered if all was well. He took the letter from Sofia Leontarakis off of his desk and read it once more. Tears pricked his eyes…Nomiki was gone. The beautiful, passionate, but frail young woman had passed on to a new life. He smiled through his tears. A beautiful but sad smile lit his face. Miki's quicksilver entry into his life and Tohru-san's steady presence there had taught him to truly live and move forward in life. He and Nomiki had kept up a steady correspondence since their meeting in Greece the previous May. Together they had encouraged each other and made decisions together. And then…two weeks ago the letters stopped. The last one indicated that she was finally able to begin chemotherapy once again but it had been too late for her. Sofia's final words "Miki is in a new place now, one of perpetual sunlight and fresh air. I know she's happy but I miss her as I am certain you do, Akito. I did as you requested, I made sure her room was never dark while the sun shone…I will be coming to Japan soon with her final gift…" had been of comfort to him.

He turned toward the open window and noted the trees just beginning to bud. Soon his garden would be alive with the cherry blossoms floating on the wind and flowers blooming with color and fragrance. He hoped there were cherry blossoms wherever Nomiki had flown. Now if only Shigure and Tohru could accept the happiness that was waiting for them, Spring would well and truly have come to the Sohma world.

His reverie was broken as an excited Momiji knocked on his door and entered with his usual burst of energy.

"Momiji, it makes me tired just to be in the same room with you," Akito complained.

"I'm sorry Akito-san, but I just had to tell you. I was wandering down the hallway at school today thinking about Shigure and Tohru and not really paying attention to events around me. I ran into a girl, I mean I literally ran into a girl; full frontal assault and everything, and I didn't change! What has happened Akito-san?"

Akito sat up quickly. "Tell me exactly what happened Momiji." He listened intently as the rabbit repeated his story with a bit more detail.

"This is good news, isn't it Akito?"

"It is. You did well to come to me with this news. You may leave now."

"Sure. Bye!"

Akito found himself standing in the sunshine of an early spring. "Miss Tohru Honda-san, you were right. I was wrong when I was afraid to allow change, afraid of being left alone. You were right when you said letting myJuunishii find happiness would not leave me alone."

"She was right about a lot of things, Akito." Akito turned to see Hatori standing just inside his window. "Tohru-kun and Kana were both right when they told me that when the snow melts it becomes spring."

"Spring does exist, doesn't it Hatori? Have you also discovered our curse is broken."

"I have. Mayu and I discovered that just now. You already knew?"

"I suspected. Momiji was just here. He ran into a girl at school, literally, and didn't change. It's the beginning of a new era for our family."

While the excitement over the curse finally having been shattered raced through the juunishi like wildfire, Shigure lay unaware of anything but the fact that he was in Tohru's bed watching her sleep. She opened her eyes and turned to him with a smile. "Shigure, we got it a little backwards I think. You will have to ask me to marry you now because you already accepted my invitation."

Shigure's gray eyes darkened with renewed passion. "Tohru-kun, marry me please."

"With pleasure."

A/N: I hope you were able to picture the scenes as I wrote them in this chapter. I have so many images floating in front of my eyes...perhaps it's just me because it's my story. I hope I have succeeded in sharing my vision with you.