Author's Note: Welcome to the third chapter of the new Moonlit Serenade. I hope you are enjoying the changes (if you read the original, that is), and if you are new, I hope you are enjoying the story. Fruits Basket, of course, belongs to Takaya-san. The rest? Totally mine. Love you all! For those of you who have yet to finish the series, there are spoilers within. Ye have been warned!

Chapter 3 - A New Life Begins

Three years later.

Tohru sat at her simple desk in her dorm room, staring at the open Biology textbook in front of her, the words blurring together to form a black blob. She closed her eyes and leaned back, pinch the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. She could swear that all this homework was going to make her go permanently cross eyed. She opened her eyes, and stared at the little Zodiac set Shigure had painted for her all that time ago. She reached out and lifted the little orange cat (her own addition to the set) and held it in her hand, rotating it, allowing her mind to wander.

Had it already been three years since she had last seen him? She remembered when she had wished she could sneak into the Main House to see him, but she had never tried because she knew Akito would sure have found out, and where would that had left either of them?

No, it was best to leave well enough alone.

Okay, that was a lie. She still missed him more than anything. It was as though a piece of her was missing.

She set the "cat" back into it's place within the Zodiac figures and shut her textbook, using a pencil as a bookmark. Standing up, she addressed the little cat figure. "No. I have to see him. It's been too long. I have to see how he is!"

Determined to see this through, she picked up her cell phone, the little cat charm jingling delicately, and dialed a familiar number.

"TOHRUUUUUUUU!" exclaimed the energetic voice on the other end, making Tohru smile. Always so enthusiastic, that little rabbit!

"Hey, Momiji, I have a favor to ask of you, if that's all right…"

Several minutes later, all the arrangements had been made. She felt butterflies beginning to flutter about in her stomach. It's been three years, would he be happy to see her? Angry that she waited so long? Would he hate her by now? She had written dozens of letters in the beginning, but after learning that Akito had thrown them all in a fire no sooner than they arrived, she gave up.

Besides, the words never really came out right, so she brushed it off as for the best.

Tohru looked out the window at the setting sun. There was not much time...

Kyo resented Momiji's visits, which were much more frequent than he would have liked. He only tolerated the rabbit's incessant babbling because he always hoped that news of Tohru would slip out. Momiji saw Tohru regularly, and always made it a point to say nothing (this would always make Kyo wish the blond boy would sit close enough to the bars so he could reach through and wring his bubbly little neck). It killed Kyo to listen to Momiji, knowing the latter can see Tohru and revealed nothing. Not to mention that the little squirt managed to be released from the curse somehow and could touch her...

Tonight's chatter was about college. Again. The same college, Akito relished in informing him over and over, that Tohru attended. Without Kyo.

"...Then my teacher called me out to read my poem in front of the class," Momiji was saying, "It felt like being in high school again! I was so embarrassed because my poem was not nearly as good as Tohru's," Kyo's head snapped up. What? "Mine was really-"

Kyo ran to the bars. "Tohru is in your writing class?"

Momiji's eyes grew as big as saucers. He knew he slipped up. "Umm...erm...well, yes, she is...but…" He looked around anxiously, as though Akito was about to leap from the bushes at him. "I am not supposed to-"

Kyo interrupted the younger boy again. "Fuck Akito's bitterness! How is she? Is she doing all right?"

A voice came out of the shadows behind Momiji, and Kyo's heart stopped beating. "She's fine, actually."

Kyo's mouth went dry. It wasn't. He was dreaming. No, he was dead. Yes, that's it. Dead.

She stepped from the shadows and, while she had matured greatly in three years, Kyo had no doubts as to her identity, as she had haunted his dreams every night. Tohru had grown into herself, resembling her mother more than ever, and her brown hair was cut in a slightly longer version of the hairstyle Kyoko wore in the photo Tohru treasured so much. This fell to her shoulders, as straight as always. She was slightly taller, but not by much (Kyo wasn't sure if he just forgot her height or not), and she was slimmer, yet she still had curves. While still plain by society's standards, to Kyo, her beauty was like a glow. She could illuminate the whole courtyard, no -his whole life, with one of her smiles.

"It's good to see you again, Kyo." Oh, man, her voice was even a little different. Warmer, more mature. It flowed over his skin like silk, and his palms grew sweaty. She smiled shyly, the old Tohru shining through, and he lost the ability to speak.

He had to be dreaming. This wasn't happening.

Momiji looked between the two of them, smiling mischievously. "I will be going. I have to keep lookout!" Momiji gave a ridiculous little giggle and, after a quick hug to Tohru (Kyo decided that Momiji needed to be destroyed), he skipped off into the darkness.

Timidly, Tohru approached the bars, the moonlight making her brown eyes glow. She looked at the cat behind the bars. Despite the shadows that the bars cast on his figure, she could see him clearly in the moonlight. He was just as she remembered him, only three years older, and his hair was a little longer. It unnerved her how quiet he was, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "So...erm...h-how are you?"

His voice came out in a harsh whisper, mixed with bitterness and irony, "How do you think?"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She began to wring her hands. "I-I didn't think!" Turning away, she bit her lip. Their first meeting in three years, and she was already making a blunder of things, and it had barely been five minutes.

"You haven't changed a bit, you know." His voice was softer now, gentler. He smiled. "You are my first visitor outside of the family."

"I'm sorry, Kyo."

"Well, it's not as though I have many friends outside, or inside, the family."

Tohru blushed prettily. "I am so sorry! If I had known, I would have tried to come sooner. I just...well…"

"You just what?" exclaimed Kyo in an excited whisper. "You really need to learn to speak your mind for once. You never change." He chuckled a little. It was nice to laugh, he realized.

Tohru took a deep breath to steady her frayed nerves, and took a hesitant step forward. "What if I do what is on my mind?"

Kyo smiled. It felt good to smile, too. "That would be a good step, too."

Tohru blushed deeper, if that was possible, and stepped up to the bars, bringing their faces inched apart. She reached through, and gently cradled his cheek in her hand.

He noticed that her hand was trembling.

She guided his face forward and leaned in, closing her eyes.

And, when their lips touched, it was as though time stood still.