Title: A Single Compliment

Summary: At the end of the year before graduation, they are to write a compliment on a note card for everyone in class, but Yuki struggles to summarize his sentiments towards Tohru.

Genre: Romance/ Friendship

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,051

All of the students in the steaming classroom sat on the edges of their seats, eager to leave for lunch. Just a little more than half of one period separated them from their temporary, forty-minute freedom and just one week distinguished them from the alumni of the school. Graduation tantalized them with glimpses of pure bliss as they fought through their last exams and final preparations. The drumming of fingers against desks rang incessantly, battling for dominance against the murmur of the broken air conditioner and Mayu's monotone words that no one bothered to listen to anymore. That is, no one listened until Mayu flipped over a desk in the front row, startling the student sitting there.

"Hey! Get yourselves in a goddamn circle and take out an index card!" Mayu shouted before muttering, "I'm trying to do you all a favor and boost your little egos before you leave, and this is what I get?"

Awkwardly everyone stood and moved their desks into a circular formation. Yuki found himself beside Tohru and smiled secretly to himself, turning his face downwards to hide his clear exuberance as he pulled out the required materials.

"All right, write your name on top and pass it down to the person beside you. Write down a compliment and pass the card along when you're done. Do try to write something on everyone's before lunch," Mayu added before leaving them to be to finish grading a few leftover assignments.

Tohru turned to Yuki with a nervous smile, handing him her card. She could only wonder what he would write for her as she turned back to the blank card before her and tried to say something nice about the girl who sat in front of her in class that she didn't know all too well. She felt guilty when she realized she had only jotted down an impersonal sentence before passing it down to Yuki. Her eyes had hardly left Yuki since they began. Her curiosity overwhelmed her, but he had yet to write anything other than her name. His pen hovered over the white sheet, seeming to tease her as another card plopped down on her desk. With a disappointed frown, she turned back to her desk and hurried to catch up.

Yuki momentarily glared at the building pile of note cards on the corner of his desk before handing them over to whoever sat to his right without even writing anything. With a satisfied smile, he pressed the tip of his pen to the white paper and let his emotions slide down.

My dearest Honda-san,

One sentence isn't enough to sum up all that you have done for me. I doubt I can even express my appreciation, but I'm going to try. First, I'd like to thank you for being my very first friend and for accepting me as I am, for accepting every side of me. It's because of you that I am no longer ashamed of who I am. It's because of you that I'm comfortable around others now. It's because of you that I learned what love feels like.

You're a beautiful and kind girl. An angel. I doubt there's another like you. I envy your courage and strength. Just watching you overcome all of your struggles encouraged me to go on and try harder. I think your smiles saved me and gave me the confidence to feel happy for the first time in my life. You are the first and only joy in my life. You are my solace.

Before you came into our lives, we Sohmas weren't a family. We were mere acquaintances sharing a surname, but thanks to your efforts, we have grown to love one another, and I no longer detest my brother. It is you, however, that we all cherish the most. I'm sure your mother is very proud of your accomplishments. I know I am. You work so hard. You do all of your schoolwork, have a job, and still manage to clean and cook the most delicious meals for us. I don't know how you do it all, but I'm grateful that you do. You've truly changed our lives-

Yuki glared as the growing stack of white rectangles toppled over onto his note to Tohru. Annoyed, he tossed them over to the next person, ignoring the clear confusion from whoever sat to his right. He briefly wondered whether he had halted the assembly line of compliments before he shrugged with indifference and flipped over the full index card to continue on the blank back. Sneaking a glance at the clock in the corner of the room, he realized he'd have to hurry if he wished to express all of his sentiments clearly. The note cards should reach their owners soon, except for Tohru's of course. He still kept hers locked tightly under his pen.

I must apologize for all that we make you do. You surely must not have enjoyed your time with us as much as I did, but I'll never forget the years you spent with us. My most precious memories are of you, especially of our secret base (I think you made my garden thrive.). I hope you do realize how special you are to not only me but all of us. Honda-san, you're my heroine. I admire you, and in all honesty, I love you. More than I should.

Staring at his last couple of lines, Yuki considered crossing them out with a faintly flushed face before grimacing and daring to be bold. He left the words as they were, taking a second to pass on more note cards before resuming his writing. Yuki tried to bury his confession with the rest of his thoughts before Mayu ordered them to stop.

Please don't forget how loved you are. Even the stupid cat knows how special you are, and sometimes I wonder if he can count to ten. No one compares to you. If everyone were a flame atop a candle wick, you'd be a wildfire. You'd be the sun. You outshine every single person, yet that doesn't stop you from sharing your light, your warmth, your love with us all. Because of that, I hope there's never an eclipse because I'd be lost without you. But don't let that stop you from soaring. You'll do wonders for this world, and I'm glad to have met you. It's an honor to be your friend, Tohru.

Love,

Yuki Sohma

He let the pen drop out of his hand as Mayu called for their attention, asking them to direct the cards back to their owners. They had the rest of the period to read the comments. Shyly, Yuki slipped Tohru's card back to her desk, embarrassed to have monopolized her sheet when he knew others needed to share words with her too. Tohru openly gaped at the tiny calligraphy that coated her card. She then stared at the silver-haired boy beside her in disbelief. She'd admit she had snuck glances over at him every few seconds and had wondered who he was pouring his heart out to, but she had never expected the note to belong to her. She had to check for her name at the top at least ten times before gaining the confidence to read what he had written to her. Tohru could only make it halfway down the front side before tears began sliding down her cheeks. She had to squint past the well of tears behind her eyes to make out his words.

By the time she had made it to the other side, Tohru had dropped her pen and was practically bawling. Yuki could tell when she reached his confession by the audible gasp that crept out of her mouth and how her back straightened to an unnatural degree. He didn't dare lift his gaze to her face, but if he had, he'd find a glowing blush spreading across her face and the widest smile stretching the corners of her mouth. She could hardly restrain herself from leaping out of her seat jubilantly, let alone force herself to calmly continue reading, but as the last lines sank in, she was glad she did. He had finally addressed her by her first name.

For a few minutes, Tohru could only sit in awe and skim back over the last few lines. She probably would have continued to do so if the bell hadn't just rung and made her jump.

"Honda-san?" Yuki queried in a quiet, nervous voice.

She blinked at him a couple of times before snatching his note card back from him. Tohru struggled to locate her own writing utensil but soon gave up and borrowed his. Scanning over his card that seemed crammed with even more writing than her own, albeit with a note from every single person in the room minus a scowling orange-haired boy across the room, she tried to find room amongst the other professions of love and praises. Somehow she managed to squeeze in four more words at the top corner, but it left her wondering if her profession would even show. Nonetheless, she handed it back to him shyly, and he took it, scouring the paper until his eyes rested on the edge, reading over the line five times before looking up at her.

I love you too.

They were four simple words really, but they made his heart swell ecstatically as a grin overtook his face. He grasped her hand in his, about to tug her over and plant a kiss on her awaiting lips, but before he could, a hand grasped his shoulder firmly. Yuki turned around and found himself confronted with the furious brown eyes of Arisa Uotani.

"So you were the one who hogged Tohru's card," she uttered angrily.

"My, my, and you wasted all the room on it. We wanted to express our love for Tohru-kun too," Hana added, flipping Tohru's note card over in her hands.

"Um… I'm sorry?" Yuki offered.

Uo and Hana narrowed their eyes at him as they slipped their arms around Tohru and dragged her out of the room, not offering an explanation to Yuki or even to Tohru. Yuki held out his hand in protest, but they were long gone by then. He left the room in a hurry to catch up with them, but he could only track down Tohru's compliment card and one of her shoes. With a sigh, he reluctantly left for the final student council meeting of the year, but even when he arrived home two hours later, Tohru still hadn't returned. A tad irked by her kidnapping, Yuki devoured a couple of takeout boxes before sulking in his room. He twirled his own note card around his finger, keeping his eyes on Tohru's message before he jumped up and grabbed a blank index card off his desk. After quickly scrawling a note across it, he went to Tohru's room, leaving it on her desk along with her missing shoe and compliment card.

Meanwhile, Tohru sleepily stumbled inside the house. Uo and Hana had insisted upon treating her to a special friendship day to express their love for her to make up for not getting a chance to sign their compliments on her note card. While she appreciated the gesture, the ordeal left her exhausted. Since no lights had been left on, she didn't bother calling out a greeting as she slipped off her new shoes. She crept up to her room as quietly as possibly so she wouldn't awake her supposedly sleeping family. When she turned on the lights and went to her dresser to change, she was relieved to find her compliment card on her desk. When she lifted it up to skim Yuki's words again, she found another card underneath.

Will you go out on a date with me next week?

She laughed, pushing open her door with a smile, but that soon faded when she noticed Yuki's closed door. No light seeped out under the crack either. She shut herself back inside her room, deciding her response would have to wait for morning.

The next morning, when Yuki awoke and stumbled down the stairs for breakfast, he found a folded index card beside his plate with a simple 'yes' neatly printed across.