Disclaimer: Nope. Still don't own Fruits Basket.

A/N: And I present for your viewing pleasure...

Chapter Three

Tohru marched into school with determination. She would tell him. She would tell that boy how she felt. Uo and Hana gave her words of encouragement as they walked into the building. Now all she had to do was find him. It shouldn't be too hard, right?

Eventually they spotted a group of Sohma boys down the hallway. Haru was leaning against the lockers looking bored. Yuki and Kyo seemed to be in a heated discussion. Immediately, her insides liquefied and her knees felt very weak. Stupid feelings.

"Go on," Uo encouraged, pushing her gently. "Tell him and then we'll meet you in class." She smiled as Tohru stumbled her way forward, the girl's entire face alight at the thought of what she was going to do. What would he say? Did he maybe like her too?

…doesn't belong to you…

She smiled at the thought and attempted to muster up her courage, not noticing as Uo and Hana slowly left her to her own devices. But as she got closer, Yuki and Kyo still didn't seem to notice her. They were too caught up in their little debate. She began to falter. Haru noticed and eyed her with interest. Why was Tohru stalking up on them like this was a life or death situation? And why was she looking at him so intently? It was like he was the sole focus of her world.

Tohru suddenly looked very nervous and very ill. Haru could almost hear her heart fluttering. The gears in his mind slowly clicked. She opened her mouth. "I need to talk to-"

"Tohru-chaaaaan!"

And her words were cut off as a sudden streak of blonde hair come flying towards the girl. Kyo and Yuki both looked up at the sound of her name.

"Honda-san!"

"Tohru!"

She paled visibly as his eyes turned towards her. And then, quite suddenly, the tiny rabbit was dancing before her. "Tohru-chan! Tohru-chan! Where have you been? I came over to Shigure's house last night looking for you!"

Tohru gulped, looking from the tiny German and back to the object of her determination. He was gazing at her quite intently. She flushed. "Eheh…"

"Honda-san, how was the slumber party?" Yuki finally asked.

Tohru couldn't seem to find the words to speak. Once again, in his presence words escaped her mind. "I…well…cookies…" Ah, if only she could put together a coherent thought!

He chuckled as she stumbled over her words. Her face turned bright red. This was so embarrassing. Think, Tohru, think! Stop looking at his brilliant smile. Say something witty. Something clever. Anything!

Kyo bopped her on the head. "C'mon, spit it out!"

She wanted to. She really did. It was just so hard to think and she was quite sure she had the goofiest grin on her face. Haru was starting to look at her suspiciously as well. Did he suspect? Was she being so obvious?

Momiji waved his hand in front of Tohru's face. "Helloooo? Tohru? Slumber party?"

This seemed to knock her out of her stupor. "What? Slumber party? Ah, hai! It was lots of fun. I enjoyed myself very much."

Momiji laughed, "Tohru's silly!"

She sweatdropped. "Really, Momiji-kun…"

The blonde-haired boy suddenly grabbed her hand. Tohru looked down at their intertwined fingers. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks. Not to mention, he was looking at the gesture too. Was it her imagination or did he look perturbed that she was holding hands with the small boy?

"Tohru," Momiji spoke, interrupting her thoughts. "Can I come over tonight? I miss seeing you."

Tohru felt her heart melt at the earnest look on his face. "Of course, Momiji-kun! You're always welcome."

"Yay!" the little bunny ran around. "It will be Momiji and Tohru's excellent slumber party! I'll bring movies!"

"Slumber party?"

The Prince and Orangey both responded quite vocally.

"NO WAY IN HELL!"

"Absolutely not."

Momiji stopped running and began to pout. "But Tohru said I could come!" he pointed out.

"You're not spending the night!" Kyo growled.

"Momiji," Haru reasoned. "I'm sure Tohru has homework and chores to do. I don't think spending the night would be the best idea. Besides, you should only be having slumber parties with other boys. Like Yuki, Kyo, or myself. Speaking of," he turned to look at Yuki, "my dearest, would you care to slumber with me tonight?"

Yuki narrowed his eyes while Kyo made gagging noises in the background. "No."

"Someday you'll say yes to me."

"That day will never come."

Haru stared blankly. Momiji looked up at Tohru. "So no sleep over?" he questioned sadly.

Tohru looked thoughtful. "Well…I do have a lot of homework, but you can come over for dinner!"

"Yaaaay!"

Tohru laughed. As the bell rang for class, she realized that she was both grateful and slightly frustrated at Momiji's appearance. It delayed her sudden determination at telling him that she liked him. At the same time, she felt that to tell him now was much too soon.

She watched him as he entered the classroom ahead of her. Some girls tried to talk to him as he found his desk to sit down. Tohru found herself wishing she could be as bold as those girls. They made it look so easy, throwing themselves at him. At the same time, he didn't appear interested in any of them on a more romantic scale. Would he be like that with her too? She gulped. She didn't want to think about it. She shook the ill thoughts from her head as the teacher walked into the room to begin that morning's lesson.

~0~0~

At the lunch break, Uo and Hana assaulted her. "Did you tell him?" Uo asked excitedly. Tohru shook her head, causing Uo's smile to fade. "What happened?"

"Momiji-kun," Tohru began. "He…interrupted."

Uo's frown deepened. "That kid. I liked him until now."

Tohru looked horrified at the thought that anyone could dislike the boy. "No, Uo-chan! He didn't know what he was doing. Please don't blame him for this!"

Uo laughed slightly. "Calm down, Tohru. I was just joking. I still like Momiji. I'm just annoyed that he's elongating the suspense of what he'll say."

"What who will say?"

The three girls looked up as Kyo Sohma began to sit down next to them. Tohru's eyes widened in surprise. "K-Kyo-kun?" she squeaked. "Why aren't you on the roof?"

Kyo looked annoyed. "Because that stupid cow is up there and wants to challenge me to a fight. I don't have the time to waste pounding his stupid ass," he grumbled.

"So you decided to spend some quality time with us?" Uo cooed. "How cute."

"Shut up! I just wanted to eat my lunch in peace."

"Now, now, Carrot Top. No need to bite my head off."

"Maybe if you weren't so goddamn annoying."

Tohru sweatdropped. There never seemed to be an end to their bickering. "Please don't fight," she pleaded.

Kyo looked like he really wanted to say something, but then decided against it. Instead he took a bite of his salmon onigiri and chewed thoughtfully. "So what were you guys talking about before?"

Tohru paled and looked frantically at Arisa and Hana. "Um…" she was sweating bullets. "You see…"

"Girl stuff," Hanajima supplied suddenly. Kyo raised an eyebrow. Tohru looked relieved. "Not to be heard by male ears."

Kyo glanced at Tohru who flushed bright red and immediately busied herself in eating her yakisoba. "Whatever." He didn't really want to bring up something that made Tohru so uncomfortable. "I don't care."

Tohru sighed gratefully. After a few moments of eating in silence, she attempted conversation and blurted out the first thing she could think of. "Where's Yuki-kun?" she questioned. The orange-headed boy scowled and she realized her mistake. That was definitely the wrong thing to ask Kyo-kun. "Ah…ano…I mean…" She looked around nervously.

Kyo caught her nervous glances and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why do you care what that rat-boy is up to?"

Tohru gulped at the look he shot her. "I…I…"

…doesn't belong to you…

"Good job, moron. Way to bite her head off!" Uo yelled at Kyo.

"Hai. Tohru-chan deserves more respect than that."

Kyo's mouth fell open. "Wha? No! It wasn't like that! I didn't mean-" he stopped as he looked at Tohru wildly. "I just…it caught me off-guard. You know I can't stand that guy."

Tohru shook her head vigorously. "No, really, Kyo-kun. It's my fault. I should have known. I'm really sorry!"

"Don't blame yourself. Kyonkichi just doesn't know how to act around women," Uo stuck her tongue out.

"He can't be a perfect gentleman like Sohma-kun," Hanajima reasoned.

"Stop insulting me! I'm right here!"

"Sohma-kun?" a new voice entered the conversation. His voice was soft and smooth. "I hope you weren't talking about me." Everyone looked up to see Yuki's frowning face.

Tohru almost fell out of her chair. Kyo whipped around. "How the hell do you sneak up on someone like that?"

Yuki looked disapprovingly at the Cat. "I did not sneak up. You just have terrible hearing." He leaned forward to look past Kyo's angry scowl at Tohru and the others. "Did you need something?"

Tohru gaped wordlessly.

"Come on, Tohru," Uo whispered, nudging her. "Say something."

Instead Tohru's face lit up as the two Sohma boys looked at her.

…doesn't belong to you…

I want to be with you.

RIIIIIIIIIIING!

"Class! Gotta go! Bye!"

Hanajima sighed, "I feel like this is going to take awhile."

~0~0~

Momiji was helping Tohru make dinner that night. She already had stew bubbling away on the stovetop so they were making onigiri for snacks later.

"Look, Tohru!" Momiji laughed excitedly as he held out a dog-shaped onigiri. "Shigure-san!" Tohru laughed and quickly made some modifications to her own onigiri. She held it out and Momiji's blue eyes danced with glee. "A bunny!"

The two laughed as they continued working on their riceballs, which were quickly becoming small works of art. "A cow!" "The horse!" "Tiger!" "Snake!" The entire zodiac was rapidly appearing.

"Ok, Tohru!" Momiji bounced up and down. "Who do you want to make? Yuki or Kyo?"

Tohru suddenly stopped in her ministrations. "Eh?"

Momiji laughed like she hadn't heard. "Yuki or Kyo?" he asked again, interest in his eyes.

All the thoughts that had been running through her head all day came back to her in a rush. His smile. His voice. Girls throwing themselves at him.

…doesn't belong to you…

Why do you care what that rat-boy is up to?

You know you have to tell him.

She dropped her onigiri. She'd tried her best to avoid this topic all day. Why was she thinking about it now? Why now when she was trying to enjoy her time with Momiji?

"Tohru?" the Rabbit looked worried. "Tohru, are you alright?"

"Huh?" she snapped out of it and realized what had happened. "Ah, gomen! Gomen! I'm fine. Just thinking." She smiled too brightly as she picked up her onigiri and began shaping it again. She rambled as her hands moved without thinking. "How are your classes, Momiji-kun? I'm so happy the weather's been nice…"

Momiji forced a smile as she continued on and on. Did she even notice she hadn't answered his question? He watched as her hands flew as she completed her onigiri.

"I'm home!" his voice suddenly announced. Tohru dropped the onigiri again.

"O-Okaeri!" she responded, her voice shaking. This shouldn't be happening. These feelings shouldn't be here.

…you have to tell him.

"Tohru?" Momiji asked uncertainly.

She stared at the kitchen door with determination. She had to. She had to stop thinking like this all the time. Momiji watched as she slowly untied her apron. "Excuse me one moment. I'll be right back." She swept herself from the room before her courage failed.

Momiji looked at the shape of her fallen riceball and the puzzle pieces fell together – her stammering, the looks, the dazed expression. All the strange ways she'd been acting the past week suddenly made sense. He had suspected all along but hadn't known if it were true. "Tohru…" Momiji whispered and blue eyes turned sad. So this was who Tohru wanted to be with.

~0~0~

Tohru walked into the room. "Dinner is almost ready! You must be so hungry!" He looked up at her and his face broke into a brilliant smile.

That smile caused her world to stop. Her breath hitched as his eyes bore into hers. Thousands of butterflies danced in her stomach and she tried to remember how to breathe. Staring at him was total and complete bliss. She watched as his eyebrows suddenly furrowed in concern.

"Are you alright? You look kind of warm."

Warm indeed. She felt like her face was on fire! Then, slowly, she gathered her courage. "I need to tell you something."

He looked more worried than curious. "Did something happen? Is everything alright?" he questioned rapidly.

"I-" she paused. Could she really do this? Was she ready? One look at him and she knew. Yes. "I really li-"

CRASH!

"Tohru!"

The girl's eyes widened. "Momiji-kun!" She turned and fled into the kitchen. Stew was splattered all over the countertops and the floor. The empty stewpot lay overturned on the ground. Momiji looked like he was about to cry. "Momiji-kun, what happened?" Tohru asked frantically.

"I'm so sorry, Tohru! I tried taking the pot off the stove but I didn't realize it was so hot." Pain shot across his young face as Tohru registered his words.

Yuki and Kyo ran in as Tohru began scuttling around Momiji like a mother hen. "Quick, let's get your hands under cold water. Someone call Hatori-san." Kyo and Yuki just looked at each other, not knowing what to do. "Hurry!" her voice shouted and both boys made a beeline for the phone.

~0~0~

Hatori arrived with take-out (Shigure's idea when he heard that dinner was ruined) just as the three kids minus Momiji were finished cleaning the kitchen. "Hatori!" Shigure launched himself at the man.

"Don't touch me," the doctor warned.

Shigure grabbed the food and pouted. "Haa-san can be so cruel!"

"I bring you food and this is how you act?" Hatori sighed at Shigure's ungratefulness. "Typical. Now where's Momiji?"

"Right here," the boy mumbled as Tohru walked him over. She had refused to leave his side like an overprotective mother.

"Momiji, you should be more careful," Hatori scolded, gingerly taking the boy's hands into his for closer inspection. "These look horrible."

"Will Momiji-kun be alright?" Tohru asked quietly. She was so worried. She felt like it was her fault for leaving him in the kitchen by himself.

"He'll be fine," Hatori slathered some ointment on Momiji's red palms and began to bandage them. "They haven't blistered so he'll be good in a couple days."

Tohru looked immensely relieved and Momiji managed a weak smile. Her stomach suddenly growled loudly. She blushed in embarrassment. "Ah…"

"You should go eat, Honda-san," Hatori spoke. "I need to finish Momiji's bandages and then I'm taking him home."

As if on cue, Shigure's voice sounded from the dining area. "You better come eat before the boys eat all your food!" His statement was followed by two short 'whaps.' "Itai…"

Tohru still looked uncertain. Momiji smiled to make her feel better. "Just go, Tohru. I'll be ok! Hatori's taking care of me."

Tohru frowned, "Ok…but only because you say so." Momiji's ears turned red but Tohru didn't notice. "I'll grab you some food."

She walked into the dining area to see the two boys and Shigure eating from their bento boxes. "I'm sorry about dinner," she started to apologize.

Yuki shook his head. "It's not your fault, Honda-san. Accidents happen."

"But I really should have-"

"Stop apologizing and just eat!"

Tohru shut her mouth abruptly at Kyo's command. "H-Hai!"

"Dammit. You don't have to be so complacent."

"H-Hai!"

Yuki glared at Kyo in disdain. "Will you quit harassing her? Stupid cat."

"I wasn't harassing!"

And thus another argument began in the Sohma household. Hatori sighed from the other room as objects began flying. Those two were never going to grow out of it.

~0~0~

At the end of the night, Tohru was picking up discarded bento boxes from the table. She smiled as she remembered the evening's events. Yuki had once again beaten Kyo and the poor boy had been knocked unconscious. He was now sulking on the roof at his defeat.

Yuki and Tohru had instead chatted pleasantly throughout the rest of the dinner, and Shigure sobbed in the corner once more about his "broken" house. Then there was that incident. Tohru blushed upon remembering. Yuki had handed her a bento box and their fingers brushed up against each other. He had quickly retracted at the sudden touch and looked away quickly.

"Sorry," he mumbled, cheeks developing a beautiful red stain.

Tohru's face lit up too as her fingers tingled at the loss of contact. "Hm," she acknowledged his apology and they both went back to eating quietly. They had departed on an awkward note and now he was upstairs doing his homework.

Then there was Momiji. Spending time with him had been nice. Especially since both Kyo and Yuki had come home late so the boy had kept her pleasant company (Yuki stayed behind for his president duties and Kyo had gone to train at the dojo). She was sad at the way things had turned out with the whole stew escapade, but ultimately she was happy that Momiji was ok.

She moved to the kitchen to throw away the last remnants of dinner and spotted the thirteen little onigiris that she and Momiji had made. They could probably be salvaged and used for lunch tomorrow. She pulled out a container and began placing them inside.

She smiled tenderly as she reached to pick up the last of the riceballs. It was slightly indented from when she had dropped it. It was supposed to be him, but his face looked all lopsided now, probably from the two falls. Except…the ears looked longer now than she had thought. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why did that look so familiar?

"Do you need any help?"

Tohru whipped around. Searing cinnamon amber eyes locked with hers. She dropped the onigiri for the third time that day.

Kyo stared as the riceball hit the floor. "Is-Is that a bunny?" he looked up in confusion.

Tohru shook her head desperately. "N-no," she sounded flustered. It was supposed to be him. The one she liked. But how could she admit that to him? She could barely breathe.

Thoughts. Too many thoughts. Running through her head.

You know you have to tell him.

Why do you care what that rat-boy is up to?

…doesn't belong to you.

She stared into his crimson eyes and drew in a shaky breath.

"It's a cat."

~0~0~

A/N: What did you think? As always, please review!

Preview next chapter:

The silver-haired boy continued to stare very adamantly at the ground. "I won't be able to walk you home from work tonight," his quiet voice broke through the silence. "I have student council duties. That's what I came over to tell you."

Tohru's mouth shaped into an 'O.' She tried smiling to make him feel better. "It's ok, Yuki-kun. I know you're a busy person," she spoke happily.

"Yeah," he said bitterly. He looked up at her once more before his eyes flicked to the side. "Kyo will pick you up instead."

Tohru's heart stopped beating. "K-Kyo-kun?" she froze. "Kyo-kun will…walk me home?"