Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Furuba Love Stories ❯ Yuki and Tohru ( Chapter 2 )

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A/N: Thanks for reading thus far! Please review and tell me what you think.

Chapter 2: Tohru and Yuki

Setting: Early spring of their senior year of high school.

Yuki churned the fresh earth with his small rake. The garden was going to be beautiful this spring. He hadn't been sure how the soil would hold up through the long, snowy winter, but it seemed that his worries were uncalled for. The ground would soon be covered with a lush variety of fruits and vegetables. Smiling slightly, he glanced through his tousled hair at the girl working beside him.

Tohru Honda. She diligently copied his motions in tilling the dirt to aerate it. Tohru hadn't known much about gardening when she first started helping Yuki, but she had taken to his teaching with ease. She was proud of herself, he could tell, and he was proud of her, too. Besides the extra set of hands, though, he had ulterior motives for asking her to help him tend to his secret base. Just being near her was enough for Yuki; she always brought joy to his otherwise dismal life, and the reason for that joy stemmed from the fact that she had no idea how special she was. Tohru brightened his day just with her presence. Maybe he wasn't as open with his feelings as the stupid cat, but that didn't mean that she was any less important to him. Tohru was the only person that he could let his guard down. Only with her could he laugh out loud. A voice stirred him from his reckless daydream.

"Yuki?" she said, eyes wide with innocence. He loved that childlike quality she possessed.

"Yes, Miss Honda?" Yuki was intoxicated by the sound of her voice after letting his mind wander like that.

"Why is it that you never call me by my name?" she asked with a curious expression.

"What do you mean?" He often wondered why she had never asked him that question. After two years of living in the same house, he still addressed her in such a formal manner.

"Don't you feel comfortable around me?" she inquired pitifully.

Yuki brushed his hair away from his face and smiled. "Of course. I feel most comfortable when I'm with you."

"Oh," she said simply. She was blushing as he had expected, but she looked confused, almost upset. Obviously she didn't understand why he couldn't say her name now. He had thought about it infinite times, and even practiced when he was laying awake in bed at night, but he never said it to her face. There was a deep-seeded fear that if he said her name that she would be able to read his soul and know his love for her.

"Miss Honda, please, don't be offended. It's not anything that you've done. It's me…. I suppose I just let it goon too long. Eventually, it got to the point where I thought that if I used your name it would be an awkward change." He looked at his hands, still resting in the soil. "I guess now it's awkward that I don't use your name. I'm sorry."

Tohru crouched down so that her head was in his line of vision and smiled up at him. "It's okay, Yuki. I don't mind, really. I was just wondering. I kind of like being called 'Miss Honda,'" she laughed. "It makes me feel like I'm important."

"You are important, Miss Honda," he told her truthfully. "What do you say we call it a day? It's getting a bit cold out here." The spring might have arrived, but winter was still nipping at its heels.

Tohru shivered and rubbed her arms. "Brrr! It is a little chilly out." Her teeth began chattering to emphasize her statement.

Yuki deftly removed his olive green jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Miss Honda. What kind of gentleman am I?"

"The best kind!" Tohru said with a passion he hadn't heard in her voice before. She realized how strange that sounded, apparently, because she immediately clapped her hand over her mouth and looked at Yuki in horror.

Was this a clue to her real feelings? He wasn't sure what she had meant by saying that, if she meant anything at all. "I'm afraid that isn't the case. I can't even call you by your name when it's obvious you want me to. I'm certainly not the best kind of gentleman," he told her honestly.

Tohru took her hand away from her mouth to reveal a sincere smile. Her cheeks and nose were a rosy red from the frosty air, making her even more beautiful in Yuki's eyes. "I don't think you give yourself enough credit. Any girl would be lucky to have a noble prince like you." Then she blushed harder and covered her mouth in embarrassment again. Tohru had a way of saying things before she really thought about them and he supposed this was one of those times.

Yuki couldn't help himself now. Hearing her return the praise that he felt for her made his heart sing. It was now or never. "Miss Honda, there's something I'd like to ask you, as a gentleman." He didn't remember his throat being so dry before. She looked up at him expectantly, eyes like shimmering pools. He loved her eyes. "Miss Honda, may I…may I kiss you?" Tohru nodded numbly without taking her eyes from Yuki's. Her face was ten times redder than it had been a minute ago.

Now that he had asked her, Yuki wasn't sure what to do. He had never been so forward before in his life, and he had a feeling that he was as red as Tohru, if not redder. He cautiously raised both hands to Tohru's face. Sweeping his thumbs across her hot cheeks, he dropped his head down slowly, hesitantly, until he was close enough to feel her breath upon his lips. This was it, what he had dreamt about countless nights. His first kiss, with his first and only love. "Tohru," he breathed, and then closed the gap. Warm lips met cold in a gentle kiss that lasted but a few seconds. Yuki drew his head away from hers regretfully. "Tohru," he whispered again, "there's something I want you to know. You're the most special person to me. I only want to share my heart with you. I love you." He waited as his words visibly sunk into her mind.

"Yuki?" she said finally. "I love you, too."

He responded by kissing her again. This time it was much longer and more affectionate somehow. Yuki felt all of his troubles melt away. Everything would be all right now with Tohru by his side.