Title: "Find Your Zodiac Love"

Summary: Shigure and Ayame and Uo and Hana set up profiles for Yuki and Tohru on a dating website without telling them. AU

Genre: Romance

Rating: K+/T

Word Count: 4,987

A new website had recently launched, specifically, a dating website called "Find Your Zodiac Love." Shigure Sohma, a middle aged but devilishly handsome man, or at least he liked to refer to himself as such, found himself perusing this site with a happy grin, typing up a profile with his best friend, the man with long silver hair seated on a stool beside him, but this profile was for neither of them. Of course he wouldn't need to use such a site to find a woman with his charming personality and wondrous looks. Besides, he was happily married already. It was for his younger cousin and his best friend's little brother.

Yuki Sohma had recently turned twenty five, too old to never have had a girlfriend before, or at least the two men decided so. Though Yuki was rather quite handsome, being related to his absurdly attractive best friend Ayame, he was rather antisocial and awkward around other people. Not to mention unnecessarily violent, though perhaps he was partially to blame for that since he did go out of his way to provoke the younger man. Anyways, Yuki had finished school and was now quite a successful manager of a large family company. He lived in a large apartment alone and either starved or lived off of instant food since all he seemed capable of doing in the kitchen was turning everything into charcoal. Hence, Shigure and Ayame decided to help the hopeless male find a much needed wife by setting up a profile for him on this new site.

They sat happily before the computer monitor for hours before they finally hit submit after putting up a picture of a half naked Yuki that they had taken after he had fallen asleep after showering. That was another quirk of Yuki's- it took him at least an hour to fully awaken in the morning. Before that, he was a walking zombie that destroyed everything in his path and that periodically fell asleep everywhere.

Half an hour later, they called Yuki over, surprised at how quickly this site had paired him up with a woman and how quickly she had responded to their offer to take her out to dinner tomorrow.

Meanwhile…

Two women in their twenties sat before a laptop perched precariously on the end of a large bed. One had her hair dyed blonde and the other had dark hair wrapped in a thick braid. The blonde had a cookie halfway in her mouth and was typing rapidly while the other ate from a bag of potato chips. They were on the same site, similarly trying to make a profile for their similarly awkward friend before said friend came home from work.

Tohru Honda was twenty four, and her friends considered her too shy and too selfless to ever have hopes of finding a boyfriend on her own. She flushed at the mere mention of the opposite sex, and well, thought herself incapable of attracting them anyways. Though Uo and Hana enjoyed sharing an apartment with her, they wished she would meet more men since they knew she dreamed of marriage and a family of her own, especially after both her parents passed away. Since Tohru was taking no steps forward on her own, Uo and Hana decided to help her. Secretly. They knew she'd never approve of their ideas, so they waited until after they found a match for her, twenty minutes after they launched her profile.

They studied this Yuki Sohma character carefully, scrutinizing his pictures with suspicion before perusing the rest of his profile. They had to admit. This site was good. This man did seem to be a perfect match for Tohru, despite the strange picture he had posted. He had a high position in a job, so he had to be rich enough to support the large family she yearned for. He was handsome, and he loved cats. Besides, he quickly sent out a rather sweet offer to take her out to dinner tomorrow, so they had no qualms with agreeing and sending him their address. If he turned out to be scum, Uo could beat him with her lead pipe, and Hana could zap him with her waves; Hana had some strange special abilities, which included reading people's waves and harming them with such. She would serve as a sort of background check on this Yuki Sohma when he arrived tomorrow.

They were quite satisfied with themselves and eagerly bombarded their shorter, brunette friend with such news as soon as she stepped through the door.

"A d-date?!" she exclaimed after they finished explaining.

Tohru seemed flustered and on the verge of fainting. She clutched her hand bag to her chest, strangling the strap in her arms as she leaned against the wooden door. Her brown eyes were stretched wide open as she gaped at her friends in disbelief while they held the laptop to her face. They noticed the telltale blush across her cheeks as they showed her the site and the profile of the man who offered to take her out.

"Tomorrow he will be picking you up around seven to take you out to dinner," Uo affirmed with a smirk as she clicked on his profile picture and maximized it.

"B-But I don't know him! And I've never been on a date before! And I don't have any nice clothes or anything! Oh, Uo-chan! Hana-chan! I'm not ready!" she cried.

"Tohru, what about marriage? You need to find your future husband soon, I'm afraid, if you want all five kids you dream of," Hana reasoned in a monotone voice.

"B-But this is all so soon! I mean… He seems nice and all. And he does love cats, so maybe we can get a cat together… but I don't know him!" Tohru protested.

"Tohru, you can get to know him tomorrow. Besides, you shouldn't judge him now. You should give him a chance," Uo urged.

"B-B-But what if he doesn't like me? What if he thinks I'm strange? What if-" Tohru continued to babble.

"You'll never know until you try, Tohru," Uo reminded her.

"I-I-"

Her protests were cut off as Uo and Hana pulled her into her small bedroom and started rummaging through her closet for her outfit for tomorrow. She didn't seem to have much of a choice or say in the matter, so after a restless sleep and a stressful morning and afternoon preparing, she found herself in a simple pink dress, waiting in the living room for her date to arrive at seven.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Yuki shouted only minutes after he had stepped into Shigure's house.

"We have greatly assisted you in your heart-wrenching search for the love of your life, dearest little brother," Ayame crooned as he made a second attempt to wrap the younger man with matching silver hair in an embrace.

Seconds later, Ayame lay unconscious on the floor with a large bump on his head, leaving Shigure to do the rest of the explaining.

"You see, Yuki, we have set up a dating profile for you. And we've found you quite a match. She's really cute, and she even loves to cook and clean!" Shigure exclaimed in a singsong voice.

"I don't care. Remove my profile now," Yuki seethed.

"But you have a date with her tomorrow at seven. You're picking her up to take her out for dinner," Shigure informed him.

After Shigure regained conscious and grabbed an ice pack for the growing bump on his head, he managed to climb up into his chair and over to his computer. He quickly brought up the website and clicked on Tohru's page before Yuki could pound him again.

"See? Isn't she beautiful?" Shigure sang with glee.

Yuki opened his mouth to retort and only walked over to the computer screen in order to remove his profile himself, but before he could say anything or even grab the computer mouse from Shigure, he words got caught in his throat. He stared at the brunette girl smiling so widely that her eyes were shut in the photo on her profile. He could quickly feel the blush creeping up from his neck and across his face. Yuki cursed the fact that he knew Shigure was watching him with a lewd expression, so he turned away sharply from the picture, resisting the urge to keep staring at the beautiful girl on the screen. Yuki forced the blush away from his face and made his eyes narrow into a glare as he scowled at Shigure.

"Cancel the date," Yuki ordered.

"What? Yuki, don't you think she is beautiful? Don't you want to take her out?"

"I don't know her. She doesn't know me. This is not a date. It cannot go well. I will not take a girl out on a date you set up for me online. If I want to take out a girl, I'll meet her myself and ask her out!" Yuki steamed.

"Yuki, you're twenty five years old, and you've never asked a girl out before. You're hopeless. Besides, how can we contact her? We don't have her number. And she'll be waiting for you all night if you don't show up…" Shigure mused.

"Shigure, just send her a message from that stupid site," Yuki hissed.

"Ahaha, Yuki. But you want me to delete your profile, don't you? Then how can I contact her?" Shigure laughed as he logged out of Yuki's profile.

"SHIGURE YOU WROTE I LOVED CATS! I AM GONNA KILL YOU!" Yuki screamed, catching a glimpse of his profile before Shigure closed it.

So when Ayame awoke, he found Shigure collapsed on the floor beside his computer sporting three more bumps on his head and Yuki furiously typing on the computer, trying to guess the password for his profile on the dating site but failing miserably. His teeth were gritted together tightly, and his veins looked ready to burst. His face was tinted red, but even Ayame doubted it was due to embarrassment, so like the good big brother he was, he wrapped a comforting, or so he thought, arm around Yuki, only to have it rudely brushed off. He folded his arms around his chest with a haughty sigh, but he couldn't stay mad at his little brother.

"Don't fret, dear brother. Tomorrow surely shall be your blessed day of romance! Soon love will sprout and you will be spewing forth children and thanks to your older brother!" Ayame laughed.

Ayame's body quickly joined Shigure's on the ground. In fact, Yuki kicked his body on top of Shigure's because he was blocking his access to the computer.

After 7 hours of trying to hack into his own profile, Yuki finally admitted defeat and took the scrap of paper with Tohru's address scrawled across that Shigure and Ayame gleefully offered him, but he stormed out of the door before either could mutter more nonsense.

That is how, Yuki wound up climbing up the steps to Tohru Honda's apartment with slumped shoulders. He had convinced himself he was only going in order to explain the situation and apologize to her. After he rang the door bell and she opened the door, however, he had to mentally curse to himself. She looked beautiful, decked out in a knee length pink dress with her long brown hair delicately curled. She was smiling with a faint blush across her cheeks as she looked at him. She was obviously excited for their date. He wondered how he could gently break the situation to her without hurting her and without making her hate him so he could eventually ask her out later.

Unbeknownst to him, however, Tohru's head was spinning with a similar dilemma. Since six, she had been hyperventilating with apprehension over her impending date, wondering whether he would even show, or if she looked too eager in the extravagant outfit Uo and Hana had forced her into, or whether she should tell him about how Uo and Hana had set up her profile. It would be cruel not to tell him, but it might also offend him. It would be deceitful of her not to though. She really hadn't been the one to create the account or respond to him, so he might think she was interested when she really didn't even have a role in setting up the date! Not that she wasn't interested. Quite the contrary since she found him quite handsome, and they seemed compatible enough with his love for cats and all, but…

The door bell interrupted her thoughts. She jumped off the couch at the sound. Quickly, she fumbled for her purse on the coffee table as she hurriedly tried to straighten her dress and check her hair all at once before she scurried to the door. Looking at the clock by the door, Tohru was alarmed to see it was ten minutes to seven. He was early! He was so eager to go on a date with her and she had to confess to him that she hadn't even been the one to agree to go on such a date. She forced herself to stop biting her lip in nervousness as she slowly swung the door open and smiled at the man at her door.

Yuki tried to return her smile as well as he could, but even without glancing at the small mirror hanging on the wall across from him, he knew his lips formed a questionable smile at best, likely grossly misshapen. Nervously, he ran sweaty palms through the back of his hair as he fought to keep his eyes locked with hers, though she wasn't exactly helping by darting her eyes across every surface of the room and the hallway past the door other than any part of him. As if she knew what he was thinking, she finally mustered the courage to gaze at the tips of his shoes. He opened his mouth and got out half a word as a beginning of his explanation to her before two women came bursting out of a room from the back hallway.

When they saw him standing in the door way, the blonde rushed over eagerly and crowded by Tohru in front of the entrance, scrutinizing him with either excited or suspicious eyes. He couldn't quite tell what to call her expression as she scanned his entire being with her eyes over three times. The other nonchalantly meandered over without bothering to fight for a spot close to him. She seemed content to stand a foot off to the side and stare at him with apathetic eyes. Tohru still wouldn't quite meet his eyes, but she made it to his nose. She was blushing, seemingly embarrassed over her friends' behavior.

The blonde turned to her friend with a smirk, loudly announcing, "I don't recognize him from any gangs around here or from any "Wanted" signs. I'm giving my approval. How about you, Hana?"

"He seems overly nervous about a date, and his waves don't seem quite normal, but they seem good overall. I've found no intentions to do Tohru harm. He could be a little happier to be here, but I won't forbid this date," the one called "Hana" commented stoically.

Smirking, the blonde turned back to Tohru and him and told them, "Well, enjoy your date. You two are free to go!"

She shoved Tohru out the door and practically into him before she shut the door behind them. He briefly caught a glimpse of Tohru's panic-stricken face as they heard the lock click. She stood there with her back turned to him for what seemed like an hour and then shakily turned to face him with a death grip around her purse strap. The strap seemed deformed, as if she had done this a lot recently. When she lifted her face to his at last, the faint traces of building tears gathered at the corners of her eyes startled him.

Eager to make her feel at ease again, he started to tell her, "H-Honda-san, don't worry. We don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to. Please don't feel obligated to do this. I-I actually wasn't even the one who set up this date. My cousins sort of forced this upon me, so I won't be offended if you'd rather not go on this date with me."

"Really?!" she cried.

Her eyes brightened instantly, and she sounded so excited that, though he said he wouldn't be upset, he felt his confidence drop. His first official date was ending before they got one step past her door. Maybe Shigure and Ayame were right and he was in fact the most pathetic creature on earth. He'd probably have to start accepting dying alone or start looking for a Martian.

Before his self-deprecating thoughts could get any further, she continued, "My two friends set me up on this date too! And I was so worried that you'd be angry with me about this! This makes me feel a lot better!"

He allowed himself a small sigh of relief, and he almost smiled. She returned his smile so eagerly that he found his own faltering as he began to question his own appeal and to wonder if a date with him really seemed so appalling.

Hesitantly, he asked, "Well, would you still like to have dinner together?"

"Of course! T-That is if you'd still like to!"

They both looked at each other, both self-conscious, and stood in the hallway awkwardly together for a few minutes. Staring at her beautiful, bashful face, he took a deep breath and decided to make the first move.

"Do you have a favorite restaurant? Any place you'd like to try?" he queried.

"I… I don't eat out very often, so I wouldn't be a very good judge. I don't mind though! We can go wherever you'd like!"

"Do you like western food? I know a nice Italian restaurant ten minutes away."

"I'd love to try it! I've been learning how to make spaghetti anyways!"

"Then let's go."

He held out his arm for her to take, but she didn't move for a moment. She stood in front of her door and seemed uneasy as she shifted the strap of her handbag from her hands to her shoulder before taking a step towards him. Carefully, she slipped her arm through his while keeping her eyes directed at the plush carpet below. He waited for her to raise her downcast gaze, or for any signal to leave. Receiving none, he uneasily took a step forward, and finding she did not falter but willingly followed, he tried to seem confident as he escorted her down the spiral stairs, out the door, and into the passenger seat of his car.

The road seemed unnaturally slippery while he walked around the front of his car to the driver's seat, and he couldn't count how many times he almost tripped during the five feet journey. He could only pray that she didn't notice. Luckily, when he finally managed to slide into his seat, she seemed too preoccupied with clutching her handbag to process much else. He wasn't quite sure whether to take this as a good sign or not, so he could only start the car and head towards the quaint restaurant a few miles away. During the whole ride, he couldn't stop wondering why his car seemed so hot this cool night. He felt sweat dripping down the sides of his face the whole time, but he didn't dare turn on his air conditioning; he had noticed Tohru's slight shivers.

The whole night seemed rather strange, and it didn't seem any better when he parked the car in the small parking lot. He had been planning to open her door for her, but before he could get around to her side, she had already swung the door open, and then he tripped a step away. He fell against her door, slamming it shut against her knee that she had started to lift out.

Yuki hardly heard her pained gasp as he frantically yanked the door open and bent down to examine her leg, apologizing profusely the whole while. She only pulled the hemline of her dress lower to cover the darkening spot on her knee but otherwise didn't seem too bothered. He felt smothered with humiliation, but at least she still let him help her into the restaurant. She even offered him a small smile when the waiter seated them at a small booth in the corner next to a large window.

He desperately wished he could have said the dinner went better than their quiet drive, but if he were her, he'd be trying to escape. He could just curse himself for being so idiotic. After they finished explaining to each other how they had wound up on this date together, he had run out of topics to talk about, and the waiter had only just served their dishes. He tried to talk about himself, but he realized there wasn't much to his life. He told her about his recent promotion, his office, the crazy rush he'd been in last weekend to finish a last minute report, but that only took them through a few bites of dinner. She seemed too shy to offer anything herself except in direct response to his questions, and unfortunately, he couldn't think of too many questions that seemed appropriate for a first date.

He didn't want to seem overbearing and obtrusive, so their dinner ended up rather quiet, and when the waiter came with a dessert menu, she quietly declined. She even offered to pay when the bill came, and they had a small disagreement about paying. In the end, they ended up splitting the bill. As they left, he didn't dare take her arm after such a date. He dropped his hands into his pockets and slowly walked back to his car.

Tohru trailed behind him, frowning at how he walked slightly ahead of her rather than beside her and how he made no move to hold her arm as he had done earlier. She too was upset with herself for how she had acted during dinner. She was sure she had bored him. She had been so nervous, she could hardly speak, and then, she was sure she had offended him when she offered to pay, but she had felt guilty about such a wretched date. Now they were quietly heading towards his car, so he could drop her off and never see her again, but she was sure that she could like him, and maybe he would like her in return if only he'd give her a chance. She found his sleeve between her fingers and his eyes on her before she realized she had tugged on his jacket and now floundered for something to say.

"L-Let's go on a walk!" Tohru nearly shouted.

His eyes, bugged out with shock, made her stagger and choke on her own breath. Her efforts to fix the situation seemed to make him only think worse of her. She only dared to look at the tip of his left shoe when she tried to redeem herself.

"I mean the weather is quite nice today! Don't you think so? And this restaurant can't be more than a couple of miles away!"

He still didn't respond, so she began to question what seemed like a wonderful suggestion as she continued, "Well, maybe it doesn't seem like such a good idea for you… You did drive me here after all, and if we walk, you'd have to come back for your car. Then that wouldn't be quite a short walk for you, and you'd be alone on the way back, so you might get attacked! And then- Never mind! It was a silly idea! Let's just go back! Oh- I don't want to force you to drive me home! I can walk! I did say it was a short walk!"

Yuki listened to her rambling, rather alarmed. He wanted to interrupt her, but he didn't know how. He couldn't seem to find the right words, or any words for that matter. He had meant to grab her shoulder, but she still kept her face adverted from his, so she didn't notice that he wanted her attention, so she moved, and his hand wound up on a part of her body lower than he had intended. Then he apologized. He'd estimate around an hundred times, but he doubted she understood even one of the words he had said through his sputtering, choked speech. By this point, her blush made her look rather feverish, and they both wished they could burrow under a thousand feet tall mound of dirt or anything that'd hide them for an infinite amount of time.

Looking at her scarlet face, he knew she wouldn't dare say anything anymore, so if he wanted to rectify this situation, he'd have to make the next move.

"Do you still want to go for that walk?" he asked in a steady voice to his surprise.

Astonished, Tohru turned her wide brown eyes toward him with her mouth open, and she knew she should respond because his smile was fading with every passing second that she stood gawking at him. She could only force her head to mechanically nod, and then an awkward silence resettled upon them as she once again found herself one step behind him walking past his car.

Yuki noticed this too, and he tried to slow his pace to match hers, but then he'd wind up a pace behind her. Regardless, he was determined to end the date more positively than the rest of it had gone so far.

"Uhh… I guess the point of this is to get to know each other and clarify any misunderstandings from our rather unconventional way of meeting, and well, for one thing, I don't love cats. I hate them… actually…" he admitted.

"Oh… I see," she quietly replied, looking away and sounding a little disappointed before she confessed, "I love cats."

Hearing that, he fought back a groan. So far, his efforts seemed to be to no avail. Embarrassedly rubbing his hand over the back of his head, he rambled, "Well… um… I guess I don't necessarily hate cats… I just am not overly fond of them. I mean if you love cats, I don't mind. We can even get a cat if you want…"

She peered up at him with wide, startled eyes. Opening her mouth, she tried to say something in return, but she only repeatedly opened and shut her mouth soundlessly. Even more than ever, Yuki wished himself anywhere but in the middle of a deserted road with a girl he had probably terrified. He deeply regretted that now that she had finally looked up at him, he could see nothing positive in her eyes.

"Forget what I just said!" he gasped, realizing what he had just said before hurriedly continuing, "I mean I know what I said just sounded quite extreme considering the brevity of our acquaintance. We don't really know each other so why would we get a cat together…"

He trailed off when he realized what he had just blurted out sounded no better than what he initially said, and worse, she wasn't even looking at him anymore. She had her purse tightly clenched in her hands again and her head lowered. He couldn't quite tell with her head angled so, but he thought she was biting her lower lip in what seemed like disgust or horror. He couldn't even look at her anymore, but they still had another mile back to her apartment, so he might as well continue to try to salvage their relationship, though he doubted he could actually refer to it as that.

"But I guess the rest of the profile seemed accurate enough to my knowledge. I really can't cook… or clean…" he acknowledged sheepishly.

Tohru actually looked up at him with a small smile. He almost missed her smile, but luckily, he happened to steal a glance towards her that very second, and then he couldn't look away. She was smiling! Not exactly at him but she was smiling while somewhat walking beside him after listening to something he told her!

"That's okay. I love to cook and clean," she told him.

After that, the rest of the date went quite smoothly. They finally managed to synchronize their walking without one pulling ahead or one falling behind. What seemed like a dreadfully long walk a few minutes ago now passed by rather too quickly for his liking. Only a few mere blocks separated them from her apartment and the end of his time with her, so he gathered his courage and reached for the tiny hand swinging back and forth beside him. She seemed startled at first but quickly relaxed and gently squeezed his hand with a gentle smile, so he dared to ask her to get a cup of coffee a couple of days later, and she agreed. When they reached her door, he was about to lean in for a kiss, but before he could even get inches within her lips, she fell backwards as the door she was leaning against opened and her friends dragged her inside and shut the door in his face.

But as he stood outside her apartment, rubbing his sore nose, he had to smile, and that smile didn't fade during the entire walk back to his car or on the drive home. Even Shigure and Ayame spotted this uncharacteristic happy expression across Yuki's face, and it generated rather inappropriate thoughts in their minds. Uo and Hana similarly were suspicious of happier than normal smiles across Tohru's face, but neither Yuki nor Tohru seemed to notice; they were both too busy thinking about coffee.

I am not dead, just lazy. This was written because I think I write too much of a princely/charming Yuki and not enough of awkward Yuki c: I am actually working on a multi-chapter story! :D But since I am writing it out of order, who knows when it will be posted. Hopefully more oneshots soon too.