Title: Lab Rats

Summary: Yuki gets mixed up in a group of lab rats brought in for a class experiment, and it's up to Tohru to save him.

Genre: Romance/ Friendship

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,601

Yuki and Tohru were walking back to class from gym class when they found themselves in their current predicament. As usual, trying to avoid running into any members of the opposite sex, Yuki walked huddled by the wall with Tohru guarding his other side. Alarmed when she noticed a line of girls the width of the hall nearing, Tohru stepped closer to Yuki, expecting him to press himself more tightly against the wall, but apparently he hadn't noticed the row of girls because the next thing she knew, their torsos met and a cloud of smoke burst as Yuki transformed into a rat. Tohru gasped, catching the rat as she stumbled into the nearest room to hide.

"Honda-san! Is that a rat in your arms?"

Tohru jumped and whirled around to see her teacher pointing at Yuki with wide eyes like those of a lioness about to pounce on her prey.

"Thank goodness! One of the lab rats just escaped. Thank you for finding him!" Mayu exclaimed joyously before Tohru could even speak.

Realizing she had walked into her own classroom, Tohru panicked further, unsure of how to deny Mayu with a furry Yuki in broad daylight with no where to hide him. Frantically, Tohru whipped her head around the room, but she was trapped. Entering students blocked her exit, and Mayu didn't even wait for her affirmation before she rushed over and tried to grab Yuki from her. Tohru backed up against the wall and clutched Yuki closer to her chest, trying to cover his tiny body with her arms. Yuki shied away from Mayu's hands, burying himself in the folds of Tohru's arms. Mayu eyed Yuki oddly as he continued trying to resist capture while Tohru laughed awkwardly, unsure of how to act as more students filtered in, tossing her strange looks or a shocked glare in Kyo's case.

"I guess you can keep him for now since you'll need a rat for the class experiment anyways," Mayu acquiesced, giving up on retrieving Yuki from Tohru.

Tohru nodded gratefully and bowed before tottering to her seat, embracing Yuki tightly to keep him from transforming back before the class. She snuck Yuki an apologetic look as Mayu explained the class assignment. In pairs, they were to train a rat to run through a maze with a rat, a wooden labyrinth, and a couple blocks of cheese as their only equipment to test their retention of yesterday's psychology lecture. Tohru glanced nervously at the empty seat next to her, where her partner should have been seated and then down at the violet eyed rat that seemed deep in thought in her arms.

"Has anyone seen Yuki Sohma?" Mayu asked suddenly, noting his empty seat.

A silence settled through the class of curious students that made Tohru anxious while she hugged said missing student tighter in her arms. He nudged her gently with his fuzzy head, praying she'd get his tacit plea to make up an excuse for him. It was bad enough that his uniform, discarded on the ground outside of the classroom, laid out for anyone to steal and question. He just hoped no one suspected the outfit to be his since he'd probably never get it back due to his obsessive fan club, and then he'd need some creative excuse to explain why he supposedly ditched class to strip in the hallway. Until he regained his human form, however, he'd have to depend on Tohru to cover for him.

"Ah! Um! S-Sohma-kun wasn't feeling well, so he left after gym!" Tohru announced with as much confidence as she could muster to cover her poor lying skills.

Thankfully, everyone seemed to believe her as worried murmurs raked through the class.

"Honda-san, do you mind working alone then?" Mayu inquired.

Tohru shook her head since she technically wouldn't be alone.

"All right then, you may all begin! First group to finish gets extra credit! Don't forget what you learned about operant conditioning!"

Lifting Yuki's tiny body towards her face, Tohru whispered to him, "I'm so sorry, Yuki-kun. Please forgive me."

Yuki tried his best to smile in his rodent form, not daring to speak lest someone overhear him. Taking her continued distressed expression as a sign that he failed to convey his reassuring message to her, Yuki leaned towards her, placing his paws on her face and pressing his nose against her cheek in what he hoped to be an affectionate manner. Noticing a blush begin to spread across her cheeks, he decided that the gist of his sentiments had made it through to her and settled back down into her arms, secretly reveling in the warmth of her embrace, though he'd never admit that to anyone.

"Jeez, Tohru. That rat sure seems to like you," Uo commented with a smirk

Embarrassed, Tohru tried to deny her claims, "No, no! He's just being friendly!"

"Aww… There's no need to get so worked up. It's not like the prince is here to get jealous!" Uo assured her friend.

Watching Tohru's cheeks darken further, Yuki was sure his face would mirror hers if he had no gray fur to conceal his embarrassment. Tohru found herself unable to meet the purple eyes of the rat in her hands, so she placed him at the entrance of the maze Mayu had just set on her desk. Concerned about transforming back, Yuki scurried through the narrow halls of the maze as quickly as his greatly shortened limbs could carry him while striving to act like a natural rat. He sniffed at the walls periodically as he navigated through the maze. Within two and a half minutes, he sat up at the end, climbing to his hind paws in attempt to signal to Tohru to pick him back up but before she could, Mayu returned, gawking at him with the box of cheese in her hands.

"Honda-san, how did you get your rat to the end of the maze without any reward?" Mayu questioned in shock.

"Um… I… Uh… I-I don't know!" Tohru finally supplied.

"Well, I guess since I didn't specify how you were to get the rat to the end, you deserve the extra credit."

"B-But I didn't do anything!" Tohru protested guiltily.

"Well I suppose you could try it again."

Tohru nodded, and this time, Yuki waited for Tohru to place a cube of cheddar at the end of the maze and carry him back to the start with a quick embrace before he hurried to the end again, attempting to improve his impersonation of a real rodent. This time he made sure to hesitate at a few of the dead ends and sniff the floor like a maniac mouse for the treat at the other end before he leapt to the end and grabbed the block of cheese, nibbling at it happily. Glancing back at Tohru for approval, he found her standing beside Mayu, clapping her hands ecstatically with a grin pasted across her face, and he felt his heart flutter.

"Congratulations, Honda-san. Your rat seems to enjoy mazes," Mayu stated with a smile as she wrote something down on her clipboard.

After Yuki finished the cheese block, Tohru scooped him back up in her hands and hugged him. Tohru peered down at him with her eyebrows furrowed in shame, and Yuki stared back, confused and wondering whether her prior happiness had just been an act to fool the teacher or not. She figured he had wished to complete the maze rapidly as to avoid an accidental return to his human form, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had cheated. Spotting her forlorn expression deepen, Yuki nuzzled against her, trying to cheer the girl. He hugged her to the best of his ability with his scrawny inch long arms and managed to elicit a laugh from her, mostly due to how his whiskers brushed against her neck and tickled her mercilessly.

"That rat really loves you. As much as the prince does, I bet," Uo remarked, watching them rather than the white rat trying to leap over the maze on her desk.

"Yuki-kun does not like me!" Tohru exclaimed to her friend, humiliated, but her friends hardly seemed to listen.

"Funny that you should say that, Arisa. The waves of that rat are the same as Yuki Sohma's," Hana commented with her dark eyes boring into Yuki's.

"Hey! That rat has the same eyes as the prince too! I've never seen anyone else with purple eyes. How strange," Uo continued, intrigued by their discoveries.

Tohru shifted anxiously as Yuki burrowed his face in the crook of Tohru's arm, trying to hide his face in vain. Luckily for them, the escape of Uo and Hana's rat distracted them for the rest of the period. Tohru let out a sigh of relief and gave Yuki another piece of cheese, remembering how little he had eaten at lunch. After she had fed him all their rations of cheese, Tohru snuck a peek at the clock, startled at how little time they had before school let out. She began to wonder how she could sneak Yuki out when Mayu began calling people to return their rats. Lifting her backpack to see if she could squeeze him in there, Tohru frowned and quickly declined that option when she noticed the heavy books in there that might crush him. As the minute hand slid faster and faster towards the top, Tohru fiddled with the hem of her blouse, weighing her options until her desperation offset her humiliation.

"Sorry, Yuki-kun, but please hang on until I take you out, okay?" Tohru murmured to him.

After scanning the room cautiously to make sure no one was looking, she slipped him under her shirt and tucked the hem in to create a little hammock of sorts for him to sit on before Mayu got to her. Tohru flushed at her boldness. She really should have gotten his consent before shoving him under her top, but she couldn't risk wasting time and getting caught trying to sneak him out. Perhaps he'd forgive her later. Meanwhile, forgiveness was the furthest topic from Yuki's mind. Hidden beneath her school uniform, Yuki's skin darkened at the sight of bare flesh that he had never seen before- although he'd be lying if he said he hadn't dreamt of said flesh before- and a lacy undergarment above his head.

Spotting Tohru's empty arms, Mayu questioned, "Honda-san? Where did your rat go?"

"Ah! He ran away again!" Tohru feebly lied, unable to meet her eyes.

"Oh no…" Mayu muttered, frantically scanning the room as she left to secure the rest of the rats before she lost another.

Hana and Uo glanced over at Tohru, eyeing the bulge on her stomach knowingly, but said nothing, simply helping her exit once the bell dismissed them. Tohru walked with one arm on her abdomen to support Yuki, trying not to let him fall out yet attempting to avoid crushing or suffocating him. All the while, she bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing each time his fur or whiskers grazed her stomach. Nevertheless, Uo and Hana still had suspicious looks on their faces, especially when the door slid open, and the original rat scampered back inside the room and Mayu pounced on the small rodent. Tohru hardly had time for a second of solace before the interrogation from her friends began.

"Tohru, whose rat is that?" Uo asked, gesturing to her stomach.

"Um… Mine?" she started hesitantly before gaining confidence, "Yes! He's mine!"

"You had your rat with you all day?" Uo continued skeptically.

"No! He- um… He found me! He likes to follow me around sometimes!" Tohru answered.

Her friends almost seemed to believe her, but then Kyo burst out of the classroom and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around.

"Where's the damn rat?" Kyo suddenly interrupted.

Tohru stuttered embarrassedly, averting his angered scrutiny, but gestured to her midriff honestly. Kyo's threatening glare slowly softened into incomprehension before it twisted back into disgust and horror. He extended a shaky pointer finger towards the lump on Tohru's stomach. His jaw dropped as the protrusion off of Tohru's body stirred, confirming what she had tacitly revealed to him. As his left eye began to twitch in fury, Kyo thrust his hand forward to yank the rodent out and strangle him to death, but before his fingertips could even brush against Tohru, Uo practically tackled him to the ground, restraining him with both her hands.

"That pervert! I'll kill him!" Kyo hollered, thrashing about violently.

"He's a rat. Calm down, Orangey," Uo choked out as she wrestled with the struggling boy.

"Yes, do be careful before you accidentally hurt Tohru-kun," Hana added ominously.

While they were distracted, Tohru took the opportunity to slip into the boy's locker room. Nervously, she shut the door behind her and glanced around, checking for any lingering boys. Relieved when she found none, Tohru reached under her shirt and gently slid him out but she soon panicked when she discovered the rat hardly breathing. Tohru choked back screams as she ran about in circles around the lockers, wondering if she could resuscitate a rat as a human. Cradling him in her palms by her face, Tohru managed to make Yuki sputter back to life, but that situation hardly seemed better since he felt unusually warm in her hands and suffered from a coughing fit. She stroked his soft fur in apology before she hesitantly left him on a bench after he quieted down.

"I'll be back. I have to get your clothes," she told him.

After tossing another fretful glance at the slightly red mouse behind her, she exited carefully and snuck back to the classroom, grabbing the discarded uniform off of the hallway floor hurriedly. When she reached the locker room again, however, she nearly bumped into a human again Yuki, who was thankfully dressed in his gym uniform, almost transforming him again. Tohru peered up at him quizzically, wordlessly questioning his clothing choice as he gently towed her away from the double doors.

"Sorry, I didn't think the male athletes would let you return so I came out to meet you," he explained.

"I see," she replied shyly.

He stared at her for a moment before he added, "Thank you, Honda-san. For everything."

She timidly nodded, awkwardly clutching his uniform in her hands before thrusting the articles of clothing at him. He smiled and took his clothes, but not before leaning over and kissing her on the cheek, to which she flushed and froze where she stood beside the entrance to the boy's locker room. The pink stain across her cheeks readily began creeping down her neck, and Tohru could only gape at him in utter shock, unable to believe what had just transpired. One hand slowly flew to her cheek, covering the burning flesh with a mix of incredulity and sheer bliss. Yuki, who had continued walking obliviously, stopped and turned around, suddenly noticing her disappearance from his side.

Gauging her scarlet face with an amused upturn of the edges of his lips, he commented, "I apologize if that was too bold of me, but you didn't seem to mind earlier when I was a rat."

Recalling his prior caresses, Tohru could only turn her face downward to hide the growing ruby stain. Her reaction fed the tiny pool of hope lying in the pits of his heart, and he beamed at the scarlet girl who teetered after him.

For a brief moment, he seemed grateful that he came from a cursed family.

I edited while pissed, so please catch those typos for me. c: