It was night time. Tohru sat on her bed with her knees to her chest. A small lamp on her nightstand was the only thing that lit up the room. Her lips curved up into a smile as she giggled softly into the phone. She glanced around the dark room fearing that someone had heard her. The only response she got was the distant chirping from crickets. With a silent sigh she went back to listening to what Yuki was saying to her. She listened careful trying to catch up with their conversation, but he asked her a question before she understood anything. She cursed herself for not fully paying attention.

"How does that sound to you?"

"Eh?"

"Thank you for listening to me," Yuki teased her, his smile going by unseen.

"I'm sorry!" she cried embarrassedly into the phone.

"I was teasing you."

She didn't say anything a dark blush lingering on her cheeks. Yuki grinned on the other side, the fact that she was blushing was obvious even without him having to see her. He felt cruel; making her blush was growing into a hobby of his. She looked adorable with a shade of red on her cheeks; it suited her as well as a large grin. He loved both looks. Tohru was oblivious to this, as usual. He repositioned himself on the armchair he had in his bedroom glancing around the still night air.

"I was asking you if Saturday morning was a good time to meet…." Yuki repeated himself.

"Oh! That'd be perfect… Where would you like to meet?" Tohru responded her excitement made clear through the phone.

"Anywhere will be fine…. I'll find you… Wherever you may be…" Yuki smiled.

"Bu-but that's so inconvenient for you!" Tohru exclaimed.

He simply smiled. What else could he say? He didn't know the town well enough to have a meeting place. Discreetly he was saving himself from ending up lost and having to come up with some sort of excuse. Besides, it'd be fun to find her. It'd be like a test, to see how drawn he really was to her. Tohru wasn't the type to argue and didn't try this time. She knew him well enough to know that she would lose anyways. Neither of the two had anything to say now, an awkward silence resting between them.

"Can I ask you something?" Yuki asked, breaking the stillness.

"What is it?"

"Don't take this the wrong way but why are you talking on the phone with a complete stranger and agreeing to meet again?" Yuki breathed into the phone.

Tohru paused not sure how to respond. She didn't have an answer to that. It just felt right. But he'd think she was crazy if she said that. Yuki was quiet on the other end, regretting asking her that. Maybe she just pitied him, that'd end up being real embarrassing. There were many different reasons for her talking to him on the phone and such that he had come up with on his own, but he didn't want to guess he wanted the truth. He realized it would be a hard question to answer, but he wanted to know why; his curiosity had gotten the best of him. There was no taking back those words now.

"…Yuki… Why did you give your phone number to a complete stranger and offer to meet again?" Tohru asked back.

"…I asked you first," Yuki replied.

Maybe if she answered first it'd give him more time to think. Why did he give her his number and ask her to meet him again? That wasn't like him. Usually he avoided any meetings with females as much as possible since they usually liked him for his money and royalty. He had never thought he'd be asking a girl out and a girl he hardly knew for that matter. All his life he just thought his mother would find a wife for him, but now he wasn't sure he wanted that. No, now he was positive he didn't want that.

"I'm not sure… I think… Because I feel like I've known you all my life…" Tohru shyly responded.

Yuki froze. His silence went on a bit too long making Tohru feel uncomfortable. The only way she knew he was still there was from his slow breaths every once in a while. She shifted in her spot. Had she said something that offended him? That'd be horrible. Yuki drew in a deep breath long enough to make her think he was preparing to tell her off and hang up. Tohru clutched the phone tightly in her hands, praying he wouldn't do anything like that. Had her response not satisfy him and tell him what he wanted to know? It was the truth though, if he wanted more, she'd have nothing else to say.

"Yuki? Are you there? I'm sorry! I probably wasn't making any sense!" Tohru frantically exclaimed.

"No… It's okay… And to answer your question, I think I feel the same way. But I'm not trying to copy what you said; I just trust you, I guess is what I'm trying to say…" Yuki added.

Tohru felt a blush creep up onto her cheeks. She hadn't expected him to say something so sincere and considerate. Her mouth opened to speak, but she stopped when she heard a door open and a woman's voice speak on the other end. Yuki was talking but it didn't sound like he was talking to her. His voice was softer as if he had covered the receiver with his hand. If she was completely quiet and didn't move she could make out what they were saying. Eavesdropping was wrong but she couldn't help but be curious. She wanted to know who he was talking to and about what.

"Yuki, Ayame wants to see you."

"Why? What for?"

Ayame? Isn't that a girl's name? His girlfriend? Tohru guessed, as she pressed her ear against the phone to hear his conversation better. She could hear footsteps, someone walking in heels? Was this Ayame coming to see him instead? Subconsciously she bit her lip to keep herself from crying out to him. She wanted him to speak with her once more. More specifically to tell her he didn't have a girlfriend and wanted her to be his. Maybe that was asking for too much, but at least she wanted him to tell her this Ayame person wasn't his girlfriend.

"Who are you talking to?" a malicious voice cooed.

She gasped lightly, afraid of what he was going to say. Tohru wanted to hear how he would describe her, but at the same time she didn't want to know. If he made her out as a good person, then she would want to know, but there was the chance that he would say bad things about her. He could easily point out that he was speaking with a clumsy and spacey girl he met a few days ago. That would be bad; she didn't want to hear that come out of his mouth after she had only thought about him for the last few days. In a couple of days he had effortlessly become the world to her.

"Nobody important," Yuki's replied nonchalantly.

She was speechless. His voice was cool and collected, it didn't seem to bother him one bit to say things like this. Tohru clung to the phone desperately hoping that she was just hearing things. His voice was barely audible to her. But why did the words of someone she hardly knew hurt her so deep inside? Tohru couldn't listen anymore, she couldn't handle it. She didn't want to know anymore, her fingers trembled as she ended the call. The phone slipped out of her hands, dropping onto the bed. Tears started to trail down her pale cheeks. With weak fingers she gripped her bed sheets, unable to stop crying. Tohru pressed her face against the pillow not understanding why she was crying over what a person she hardly knew said about her.

----

Yuki let out a sigh of relief. His mother had finally left him alone without prying too much about him actually using his cell phone. Before it was pretty rare to see him carrying it around let alone use it, but now he had a reason to have his cell phone, Tohru. He looked down at the device laying half hidden by his hand, praying that she hadn't heard any of that. Yuki placed the phone to his ear only to be greeted by the sound of the dial tone. Had he made her wait too long without saying a thing to her or was she repulsed by the things he had said? Without another thought he hit redial, if she was mad the least he could do was try and explain things to her. He didn't want her to have a bad impression of him, even if this was the last time they spoke.

----

Tohru stared at the phone letting it ring waiting for him to hang up. She knew it was Yuki. Nobody else would bother to call her; she didn't even know anyone else outside of the palace. The rings silenced as her answering machine picked up. No message was left. Maybe it was rude not to take his calls… Tohru sat up in her bed wiping the tears from her eyes and picked up the phone. She felt bad already, after a sniffle she picked up the phone to call him back. Before she could dial a single number it began ringing again. Slowly she took the call hearing her voice crack as she greeted him feebly. Tohru didn't want to let him know she had cried, but there was no way she could hide it. Her voice made it too obvious but she made an attempt nonetheless. At least he couldn't see her red eyes and disheveled hair.

"Tohru, were you crying…?" Genuinely distressed words flowed from his mouth and into her ear.

"No…" she lied placing her hand over her mouth to hush her hiccup.

"Yes, you were… Is it because of me?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Tear drops pricked her skin as they made their way down once again. They flowed as endless rivers, dropping onto her bed sheet and skirt leaving dark circles. Why was she so incapable of controlling her emotions? She shook her head, even though he couldn't see. A small sob escaped her lips; she didn't try to cover it up anymore. He knew, what was the point? Tohru covered her mouth for a second trying to catch her breath. Yuki let her calm down before he continued, "Was it because of what I said?"

She swallowed, her head bobbing up and down. Tohru didn't want to speak in her teary voice. She hadn't thought about how she'd sound, she couldn't hang up on him again though. Yuki understood her answer anyways. He was sympathetic giving her some time to regain her breath. Tohru wiped her arm across her face attempting to stop the tears. They slowed down, but her eyes were still watery. She hoped he didn't think she was weird for crying; she thought it was strange herself, but the tears still came.

"I… I do-don't know why…. But it hu-hurt, Yuki-kun…. My heart hurts real bad… I don't mean to sound crazy or obsessive b-but that's the truth…" she breathed delicately.

"It's not true though… I just said you were… nobody… to get my mother out of my neck…" Yuki responded with a half smile.

"That was yo-your mom? Y-you don't have a girlfriend?" Tohru choked out before she realized what she had asked.

Tohru clasped her hand over her mouth, gasping loudly making Yuki laugh. He fell back onto his chair with a thud struggling to speak. She didn't mean to ask that aloud. It was just a passing thought, something not meant to reach his ears. Her jaw hung open with horror as her question replayed in her head a total of ten times. Each time she heard it the worse it sounded to her. She chewed on the inside of her mouth and twisted her hair around her finger anxiously praying that she hadn't offended him with her question. Tohru hoped she hadn't overstepped his personal boundaries.

"No-no…. I'm afraid not…" he answered a smile spreading across his face.

"Oh!"

Her voice was filled with unintentional cheer. Now he really would think she was insane or something like that. Either that or he would think she had a crush on him for sounding so happy over the fact that he had no girlfriend. That was half true, she couldn't stop thinking about the guy, but there were some things she just didn't want him to discover just yet like her crush for starters. She probably didn't realize just how happy she sounded; it was just another innocent quality of hers that Yuki thought was adorable. Tohru was a pure white angel something he never was or ever could ever be. That was just another thing he had to admire about her. Somehow, he wanted to be like her a bit. He had the feeling that she always looked on the bright side of things, unable to see the darker side while he was perfectly aware of the bad things in his life. Naïveté was a gift she was blessed with.

"You don't need to sound so happy about that…" Yuki said in a fake hurt voice, feeling evil for toying with her again. He knew she'd apologize like it was the end of the world and he was correct. As soon as she heard those words she went into an apologizing fit. She sounded so honest it made him feel guilty inside. Quickly he stopped her from saying sorry by apologizing himself. That caught her off guard and kept her silent long enough to let him ask what she had previously asked. He was pretty sure he knew the answer but he wanted to hear it come out of her mouth so he knew he wasn't just assuming things.

"You don't have a lover yourself… Do you?"

"No…" Tohru shyly replied.

"So should I start apologizing now too?"

"No, that's okay!" Tohru giggled, her face shining with happiness once again. That smile just seemed to grow bigger when she was talking to him. A smile only he seemed to be able to bring out. Her joy was climbing up and out of her throat, seeping out of her. She was overflowing with happiness and that was made clear in everything she said. The tears and sadness from a few minutes ago were quickly replaced with a grin and pure bliss.

"So I'll see you Saturday morning?"

"Yes…"

Now began the treacherous wait until she got to see him next. But at least now, she was sure she would see him unlike the first time she met him. Back then she was relying on fate to bring them back, but now he had told her he would see her again. Phone numbers were incredible things these days, and she was glad she had his. She could already tell this week would be filled with calls back and forth between them. His voice was something she wasn't sure she could last without hearing. He had no idea how big a role he now had in her life. Yuki was now the source of her joy that kept her running.