Running (Fruits Basket)

Tohru and Kyo

Night was falling when Tohru walked up the path to the house. She had been out much later than she'd anticipated and it wasn't until now she realized she hadn't called to let her housemates know. Just a quick pang of guilt and then she let it go. She was so tired after all the visits she had made that she didn't have the energy to keep it up. Instinctually, Tohru looked up to the roof, knowing before she saw him that Kyo would be there. She watched as his form moved from laying down to a crouch and then he was climbing down towards the ground.

"Tohru!" He called out with relief in his voice. He ran towards her and when he was ten feet away he stopped, chest heaving. "Tohru, I'm so sorry," his voice cracked on the last syllable and it was this that triggered Tohru's own tears. He fell to his knees, hands palm down in the grass. "I'm so sorry," he said again.

Tohru closed the distance between them and lowered herself to her own knees in front of him. For several moments they just looked at one another, listening to the music of the crickets in the lawn and the wind through the trees.

"I went to see Hana," Tohru finally said.

Kyo appeared confused but he waited for her to continue.

"And Uo," Tohru added. "Uo especially had some...colorful advice. But really they both told me the same thing; that it's scary loving someone so much. This is scary, Kyo but if I trust you with my heart and you trust me with yours, then I don't need to ever be afraid. I visited mom and saw you had been there. Those tulips were beautiful, mom loved them. Thank you for going to see her." Tohru laced her fingers through Kyo's hair. His scalp was like ice.

"How long were you on the roof?" Tohru's voice wobbled with worry.

Kyo shrugged his shoulders and lifted his eyes to the level of hers. "Not long after you left this morning. And I would have waited forever if that's how long it took for you to come back to me."

Tohru sniffled. "I wasn't trying to avoid you. I was afraid, Kyo. I've never loved anyone this much and I've never been so...close to someone the way we were yesterday. I've never...I mean..." Tohru continued to mumble.

Kyo now engulfed Tohru's hands in his, looking relieved. "Tohru, you call the shots, here. We don't do anything you aren't ready for, okay? We'll slow things down."

Tohru shook her head and felt her face burn. "That's not what I want. Kyo, I am ready and that terrifies me. What if I'm no good?"

A smile spread across Kyo's entire face making his eyes twinkle like water in sunlight. He was beautiful when he smiled and Tohru was so happy she got to see it more often now that his curse was broken.

"No good? That's impossible. And I'm scared too," Kyo admitted.

"You mean you haven't..." Tohru trailed off, closing her mouth tight when she saw the quizzical expression on Kyo's face.

"Are you forgetting I was cursed?"

"I know, I just thought that maybe you and Kag--"

"Don't say it," Kyo warned.

Tohru giggled.

"When it happens it'll be the first time for both of us and I am way too arrogant to believe we'll suck at it." Kyo tucked a loose lock of hair behind Tohru's ear and kissed her temple.

The butterflies returned. They rarely left when Kyo was around and as much as she loved them she wanted to feel what she had the day before. Something a little less delicate, a bit less innocent. She couldn't take Uo's advice; just the thought made her skin burn with embarrassment. Maybe someday.

Tohru scooted herself between Kyo's thighs, draped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Tender at first, then fiercer. His long fingers tangled themselves in her hair and again his tongue danced with hers. Kyo lowered Tohru onto her back, the grass a soft cushion beneath her. She could again feel the effect she was having on him as he positioned himself over her. His eyes were dark but the question in them was clear.

"Yes," Tohru said. And this time, knowing there was nothing to fear, she didn't run.