Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Furuba Love Stories ❯ Kyo and Tohru ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.

Chapter 3: Tohru and Kyo

Setting: Winter of their senior year of high school.

Tohru walked down the street sadly, head downcast. Kyo was beside her, but she was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she was unaware of him. "Hey, um, are you okay?" Tohru had found out earlier that day that her grandfather had died of a heart attack. At school, where she had received the phone call, she had seemed to be holding up, considering, but ever since leaving the building she had sunk lower and lower into depression.

She turned her face to him and smiled weakly. "I'll be okay. I'm sorry."

Kyo sighed and shook his head. "Why are you sorry? You don't have anything to be sorry about. I mean, your grandfather died and you should feel upset. Look, you can talk to me about it if you want." He hoped that his comments had made her feel better. He always felt so awkward saying things like that. At least the damn rat hadn't heard him say that, since he was still back at school for some stupid meeting.

"Thank you, Kyo," she murmured. Reaching to him, she timidly grasped his hand. Kyo gave her a surprised look and blushed hotly. Seeing her bashful smile, though, he couldn't help but return it. Tohru always had a way of making him blush and bringing a real smile to his face and a million other things that he never did around anyone else. He felt like he couldn't control his emotions around her, which he usually masked behind anger. Tohru definitely made his insides feel like mush, and he didn't mind at all. Of course, he didn't like admitting that to himself, but at times like this it was impossible not too. Still locked in a stare with her, he squeezed her hand and adverted his eyes in attempt to hide his ever increasing redness at his train of thought.

They walked further down the street until they were on the edge of the woods where Shigure's house lay, still holding hands and silent. "Kyo?" she said meekly. He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to go on. "Um, I guess I would like to talk about it now." Kyo waited patiently as she worked up the nerve to continue. "It's just that grandfather, he was my only family left. I mean, there's my aunt and uncle and cousins, but it's not the same with them. I don't think that they like me very much, and I always feel like I'm intruding on them. I don't know. And I feel so bad because I haven't visited grandfather in such a long time. I was so selfish," she finished, now in tears.

Kyo typically hated to see her cry, but this time she had a good reason. "Hey, don't worry about things like that. You saw your grandfather more than most people see theirs, and I'm sure he wasn't upset about it at all. He knew that you were busy with school and work and stuff. I think that he was the type of guy who wouldn't want you to feel guilty about something like that." Now at least she had a slight smile. That depressed look was really getting to him. "And another thing, if those relatives of yours don't like you then they're crazy! The way they blew you off today and told you not to bother going to the house? I wouldn't worry for two seconds about people like them. Family is supposed to care about you and love you. They aren't your family." That didn't seem to be helping. Now she just looked forlorn, probably because he was making her feel like she was alone in the world. "I didn't mean it like that!"

By this time they had come to the center of the woods. Kyo didn't want to end the conversation yet, so he pulled on her hand to halt her and make her face him. "You have a family who cares about you and, you know, loves you and all that. We're your family, now." He paused, working up courage. "I'm your family." There. Knowing her, she probably hadn't thought about the meaning of that, but he had just indirectly admitted that he loved her.

Apparently she hadn't read that much into it. "Thank you, Kyo. I know that I have a family with the Sohmas, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but it's still hard to lose grandfather," she said, letting her tears fall unchecked.

Kyo smiled at her warmly and tugged on one of her pigtails with his free hand. "I know. I didn't mean that you shouldn't feel sad. It's okay to cry when you lose someone you love." Here, he was going to try again. The thought of saying that he loved her directly was frightening as hell. "I wouldn't be able to function if anything happened to you, Tohru." That was as blatant as he was going to get.

Sniffling, Tohru gazed at him with sparkling eyes. "I would be that way, too, if anything happened to you, Kyo." Had she realized what she just said? Maybe she was thinking about sisterly love, if she was thinking about love at all. She latched onto his other hand with her free one, so that she was grasping both. "Kyo?" she whispered. He never had time to answer, because in one sweeping motion she used his hands to prop herself up on her toes and reach up to place a soft kiss on his unsuspecting lips.

Kyo wasn't sure what was going on. This certainly wasn't like the Tohru he knew! She didn't go around kissing people all the time, did she? He supposed she took his shocked paralysis for discomfort, because she quickly freed herself from his hands and ran towards the house, head in her hands. "Wait!" he yelled to her, but she didn't stop. Frowning, he ran after her and grabbed her shoulder. She didn't resist him, but she didn't turn to face him, either. "Tohru? Please, don't be angry with me. I'm sorry."

Tears leaked down through the fingers that were covering her eyes. "I'm so stupid. I thought you felt the same way. I'm so sorry, Kyo. Please, forget I did that! Please?" Her shoulders shook as she silently wept.

"I can't forget it!" he said sternly. She flinched as he firmly grabbed her wrists and pried her hands from her face. She looked so sad that he wanted to cry himself. "I feel the same way. I feel stronger." To hell with not being blatant. "I love you." Kyo slid his hands away from her wrists to clasp hers again, fingers intertwined. He pulled her crying form to him, a hairsbreadth from the verge of transforming, and kissed her back, finally. He could taste the saltiness of tears on her lips, which were swollen from her sobs. It broke his heart to be the cause of that sorrow. "No more crying?" he asked her quietly, face still just inches from hers after the kiss.

Tohru shook her head ever so slightly and shyly smiled at him. "No, Kyo, I couldn't cry now that I have you. I love you, too." Kyo felt his heart drop at those words. This moment was all of his dreams come true. He promised himself that in return for this undeserved love, he would never let her cry again.

A/N: Keep reading and reviewing, por favor!