Note: This story will be a series of short stories. I wanted to do another Kyo/Tohru story and got the idea for this one while watching the TV show "How I Met Your Mother." This will be done in a similar format, where the parents will be telling the child a bunch of different stories about their past.

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Natsuki Takaya and not me.

How I Met Your Mother
Chapter One: Naptime

Tohru Sohma's chocolate eyes darted towards the clock hanging on the east wall of her kitchen. After a moment of watching the ticking hands, her eyes slowly fell back on the pot in front of her. She slowly moved the wooden spoon around the pot, stiring the miso soup she planned on serving for dinner that night. Tohru started chewing on her bottom lip and added another pinch of seasoning to the concoction.

It was almost three in the afternoon, the worst time of the day for her. The hour seemed to drag by and she would always get impatient. Tohru let out a small sigh and turned the burner down low. As she did so, a smile crept its way onto her lips. His stern voice rang in her ears, reminding her to be careful, like he did every morning.

His absence was half of what made this time so hard. He wouldn't be home from the dojo for another hour. Every moment he was away was hard for her because she wished he didn't have to go in the first place. Tohru wanted them to be together every minute of the day, but she knew that wasn't possible. After all, he had inherited his surrogate father's dojo and it was his responsibility to take care of it. It had been his dream, and she wasn't about to stand in his way.

Maybe Kyo-kun will decide to come home early today…She thought with hope. Her mind floated to an image of him walking out of the woods, down the winding dirt path that led to their house. She would be waiting for him on the porch, as usual. He would smile the minute he saw her and then kiss her forehead.

Tohru touched her cheek, feeling it burning beneath her fingers. Just thinking about him made her heart jump. She knew was completely in love with him.

Now, the other half of her impatience was waiting in the other room. Tohru scurried out of the kitchen and down the hall. She stopped outside of one of the doors and rapped lightly on it, "Kyoko-chan? May I come in?"

Tohru waited till she heard a shuffling noise from behind the door. Then the door slid open and she was greeted by a small voice, "Come on mommy, not yet! I want to play some more!"

Tohru smiled down at her spitting-image daughter. With her chin-length, dark brown hair and large eyes, Kyoko-chan looked exactly like her mother. It seemed like the only things she inherited from her father were his auburn colored eyes and his fiery personality.

"I'm sorry but you need to take a nap…" Tohru tried to convince her daughter by holding out her hand. The little girl gave her a soured look but took her hand anyway. Tohru led her daughter down the hall, towards her room.

Kyoko bounded from her mothers side and jumped onto her bed. She threw the covers over herself and looked at her mother, "When's daddy coming home?"

Tohru bit her lip, "Soon."

Kyoko fiddled with the sheets before asking, "Will you tell me a bedtime story?"

Tohru smiled brightly and pulled up a chair beside the bed, "Sure. Would you like to hear the one about Cinderella-san again? Or maybe-"

"I wanna hear one about how you met daddy!" Kyoko's lips curled into a huge smile and her eyes went starry.

A light pink blush spread across Tohru's cheeks, "U-um…I don't know…"

"Come on mommy…just one story? Please?" She pleaded. Tohru sighed, defeated as her daughter unleashed puppy-dog eyes that nobody could refuse. Maybe this would help pass the time until Kyo came home.

"PLEEEASSEEE? I wanna' hear about you and daddy! It's probably a thousand times better than Cinderella!"

She really hoped it would because after Kyoko fell asleep, the afternoon dragged on until four. There would be nothing else to keep her busy until he got home. Tohru folded her hands in her lap, getting comfortable, "Okay, Kyoko-chan. One story."

"YAY!"

"Now then…" Tohru began, "What's a good story about me and your father…"

She was drawing a complete blank. Kyoko's urgent stare forced her to think harder, but she was completely lost. She racked her brain until she thought of, what she thought was, a pretty good story.

Tohru's cheeks turned pink upon remembering the story but she began anyway, "Well…Once upon a time, your daddy and I lived with Uncle Shigure and Uncle Yuki…"

((Flashback))

Tohru walked down the path that led back to Shigure Sohma's home. She was in a pretty good mood. It was a Friday afternoon and she had heard that Kyo was planning to come straight home instead of stopping at Kazuma's.

"I can't believe that stupid cat had to stay after and take a make-up test," Yuki Sohma muttered from beside her. His gray hair fluttered in the wind as she looked up at him, "I'm sure Kyo-kun will do better this time."

She was just glad that he was coming straight home afterwards. Anytime that she got to spend with him made her happy. Tohru knew that they didn't have much time left before Kyo was supposed to be imprisoned, so she tried to spend as much time together as possible. However, the more time she spent with him, they more she found herself falling in love with him. She planned to keep her feelings to herself, because she thought there was no way he could feel the same way about her.

"Welcome home!" A cheery voice shouted from the porch. Tohru and Yuki looked up to see Shigure waiting for them. He had a basket in one of his hands.

"Hello, Shigure-san," Tohru bowed politely. "Are you going somewhere?"

Shigure patted the basket in his hand, "I remembered I have to go pick up a few things. I probably won't be back until late, so you two behave yourselves."

With that, he sauntered off with his basket in hand and a huge grin plastered on his face. Yuki shook his head and rubbed his temple, "I don't even want to know…"

Tohru smiled awkwardly, "Well that was…unexpected. What are you going to do now Yuki-kun?"

Yuki suddenly turned to her, a frown on his serious looking face, "I'm sorry, Honda-san but I also have something I need to do. I promised Kuragi-san that I would go to her house."

Tohru listened to his explanation with wide eyes. Yuki waited for her to say something and when she didn't he prompted "That means you'll be alone."

Tohru's eyes widened even further and she gasped, suddenly remembering that Kyo wasn't with them. She hated being alone and they both knew that. Yuki's features softened, "I can call Machi and tell her I can't go. It's no big deal."

"No!" Tohru cried frantically, her arms flailing, "Don't cancel your plans because of me! I'll be fine! Besides Kyo-kun will be home soon…"

Tohru's cheeks reddened when she said his name. She was thankful that Yuki didn't seem to notice her embarrassment. Yuki ran a hand through his silver hair, his purple eyes gazing off into the distance, "Well…if you insist. Let me give you her number. Don't hesitate to call if you need me."

Tohru smiled as he handed her a tiny slip of paper with the number scribbled on it. Yuki and Kyo always treated her like a child, but she didn't mind. It felt nice to be looked after; to be worried and fussed over. She didn't like it when they did it all the time but once in awhile was okay.

She waved to him from the doorway until he had disappeared into the woods. Tohru lowered her hand, the smile fading from her face. Now she was by herself. She retreated into the house, put her things away and changed out of her school uniform. She threw on a knee-length blue skirt and a white t-shirt.

I'll just get started on my chores until Kyo-kun gets home…Tohru shuffled into the kitchen and began pulling things out for dinner that night. She started chopping up vegetables and put a scoop full of rice into the rice cooker. She threw the vegetables into a pot and began to stir. Her eyes occasionally wandered to the clock, and she was surprised at what time it was when she finished.

It's almost 5 o'clock…Where is Kyo-kun?

Tohru decided that worrying about it would only make her more anxious, so she decided to start the laundry. She went to her room and picked up all the dirty clothes. Next, she went and gathered Yuki and Shigure's things. Finally, she was at Kyo's room. She stood outside his door, chewing on her bottom lip.

She had never been in his room by herself. He had always gotten his dirty clothes and things that needed to be washed for her and handed them to her himself. Tohru took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut and entered his room.

Just grab his stuff and get out! Her mind screamed with determination as she pushed into the room.

However, all that flew out of her brain completely. The minute she entered the room, her nose was assaulted with his scent. She didn't know it well because she could never get that close to him, but she knew this had to be it. It smelled very woodsy and earthy, and it wasn't too overbearing.

His clothes!

"Oh! Right!" Tohru scrambled to scoop up his dirty t-shirts and khakis off of the floor. As she stood up, with an armful of clothes, she noticed a shelf filled with assorted trinkets and knickknacks.

Tohru cocked her head to one side, finding it quite odd that Kyo would hold onto this many things. He didn't seem like that type of person to her. One item that stuck out in particular to her was a dark red book. Tohru glanced over her shoulder at the open door behind her.

I really shouldn't…It would be so bad…but I guess it wouldn't hurt to peek at the cover…

Tohru really didn't want to pry, but she was utterly curious. Anything she could do to learn more about Kyo while she still could.

She shifted the dirty clothes to under her right arm and pulled the book out with her free hand. Tohru examined the tattered red cover. The spine was cracked and the edges of the white paper inside appeared to be frayed. There was nothing written on the cover but from the books appearance, she guessed it had been used many times.

"I wonder what it is?" She said aloud. It didn't look like a storybook, at least not one she had seen before. Tohru mentally reminded herself that she was only supposed to look at the cover, so she decided to put the book back. Just as it was almost back in its proper place, she heard a voice from downstairs.

"Tohru?" It called. "Where the hell is everyone…"

Kyo-kun! She thought, panic washing over her. She instinctively dropped the book, gathered the clothes and darted for the exit. He was leaning in the doorway, just when she was about to make a break for it.

"Hey," He said somewhat suspiciously. He leaned down so he was closer to her, one arm still against the frame of the door, "What are you doing?"

Tohru avoided his smoldering amber gaze, her coffee-colored eyes staring at the floor instead, "L-laundry…" She mumbled.

She pushed past him, blushing profusely and feeling guilty for even going into his room. Kyo watched her scurry down the stairs, still a bit confused. He shrugged and pushed off the door, following her down.

Guess I'll give her a hand. He thought, even though doing laundry wasn't exactly exhilarating. However, if it meant he could be with Tohru, he didn't care. He ambled outside, his hands stuffed into his pockets, and over to the laundry line. She seemed to be quite focused on hanging the dirty clothes, and was muttering to herself.

Kyo came up behind her, "Want some help?"

Tohru jumped, going red in the face. She turned around and smiled awkwardly, "N-no, I'm okay. You can go relax, Kyo-kun…"

Kyo shook his head and grabbed a shirt from the pile, "If anyone needs to relax it's you. You look pretty anxious…"

Tohru's shaky hand grabbed a pair of pants from the pile, "I-I do?"

Kyo pinned the shirt to the line and nodded. He watched her for moment, out of the corner of his eye. She was sweating and blushing. He had never really seen Tohru this stressed out. Maybe she was in trouble?

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kyo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tohru nearly dropped the skirt that was in her hands, "Yes!" She replied, but her uneasy smile told him otherwise. Something was up.

Kyo decided not to mention it again, in order to help her hold onto her sanity. He finished pinning the last shirt and she snatched the basket up. He heard her mutter something about dinner and watched her race off into the house. Kyo was quite confused. He had never seen her act this way, except for when he teased her.

He shrugged and followed her, walking back into Shigure's house. By the time he got back inside, she had already disappeared into the kitchen. Kyo sat down at the table, craning his neck to watch her.

Tohru was hovering over a pot of something, darting quickly from the fridge, then to the rice maker and back to the pot. She was waiting for him to say something about her acting sneaky. Her insides churned with guilt about looking at his things and she wished he would just accuse her and get it over with.

Kyo watched her frantic behavior with a baffled expression. He tried to figure out what could have happened to make her so panicky. Maybe something happened at school? I probably would have heard about it though…maybe I did something?

He shook his head. Kyo could not remember upsetting her or getting angry with her in the quite awhile. He thought that he had handled his temper quite well. He called to her in the kitchen and told her he was going upstairs. Tohru only gave a panicked yelp in response.

Kyo decided to ignore that, seeing that her alarming behavior only got worse when he asked her about it. Maybe she finally went nuts…He knew he would have, if he had to wait hand and foot on that dog.

He climbed up the stairs and hiked to his room. When he got to the doorway, his eyes immediately noticed an object on the floor. A familiar dark red book was left open on the floor, near the shelf that usually held it. Now it was Kyo's turn to panic, as he had hoped that nobody would ever see the contents of that book.

This notebook had been a present from Kazuma. He had told Kyo that he thought it would help with his anger problems. Whenever Kyo was feeling upset about something, he was supposed to write it down in this book. Kazuma had called it a "Venting-book."

Much to Kyo's surprise, the idea worked. Getting all these things off his chest by writing them down helped him feel a lot better. But these were things that Kyo never wanted anyone else to know about.

I knew I should've hidden that damn thing better…He gulped as he walked over to the open book, nervous about finding out which of his secrets had been exposed. He already had a good idea though, about at least one that had been discovered. He reached down with a shaky hand and picked up the journal. Kyo's heart sank when he saw what page had been left open:

Monday,

School pretty much SUCKED. That damn Uotani girl tried to pick a fight with me again. I can't say anything though because she'd just hit me. What's the point? And then that creepy wave chick…ugh. This is dumb. They probably just do it so I won't talk to Tohru…Okay, now this is really dumb. Why the hell is it that everything I write about goes back to her? It seems like every damn page in this book says something about her. There's no way it would work…no matter how much I love-

Kyo stopped reading there, remembering where the entry went after that. Every entry seemed to go like that. Sometimes he wished that he had never fallen in love with Tohru. It would have certainly made his life much easier, but then it would have felt empty.

"How the hell did it get on the floor-" Kyo asked himself aloud and then paused. Tohru had been in his room when he got home. The book hadn't been on the floor when he left. What if…what if Tohru had seen the book? She could have read every little thing he wrote, heard him come home, then dropped it on the floor and tried to escape his room before he saw. She did look like she had been trying to run out of the room earlier.

That would explain why she's been acting so awkward…cause' now she knows that I'm in love with-…SHIT! Kyo dropped the book and darted for the door. He practically flew down the stairs. Why hadn't he noticed it before? She was blushing like crazy around him and looked for any excuse to get away from him.

She knew how he felt and didn't know what to say. Kyo's run slowed to a walk. What if she was avoiding him because she didn't feel the same way? She probably didn't and didn't want to hurt his feelings. That was what he expected, anyway.

He stood in the kitchen doorway, watching her cook and contemplating his current predicament. He had two options: He could confront her about it and get rejected or he could continue with this awkwardness between them. Kyo shook his head and trudged into the kitchen, "How much longer till' dinner's ready?"

Tohru jumped, gasping at the sound of his voice. He had been sneaking up on her all afternoon, "N-not too much longer!"

She heard him sigh and retreat to the dinner table. Tohru quickly went back to molding the rice in her hands. She was in for it now; she could feel it coming. He had gone upstairs and seen the book on the floor. He would accuse her of snooping and never want to speak to her again.

Tohru grabbed a large spoon and put the soba noodles into a bowl. She grabbed the sauce for the noodles and headed towards the table. She practically threw them on the table and ducked back into the kitchen, unable to stand the suspense when she was around him. Kyo stared at the bowl of noodles, his crimson gaze slightly gloomy.

Tohru returned moments later, with riceballs. She set them down on the table and sat down across from Kyo. Figures…He thought with a frown as he picked at his noodles She's sitting as far away as possible.

"So…" Kyo began, his eyes locking on her. He decided to go with is first option and get it over as soon as possible.

Tohru looked up, but avoided his eyes, "U-um…how did your test go?"

"Good. I think I did much better this time. I shouldn't have screwed up the first time, though." He replied with a shrug. At least their conversations didn't seem as awkward as before.

Tohru smile at him, "That's good. I'm glad you did good, Kyo-kun."

"Yeah," He answered and took a bite of his soba, "What were you up to while I was taking my test?"

He watched her chocolate eyes widen the minute the question left his mouth. Tohru began to squirm in her seat, "I cooked dinner…and did the laundry," She squeaked out.

Kyo bit off a piece of a riceball. Did she have to make this difficult?

"Mhm," He muttered, trying to sound as disbelieving as possible. Tohru started to feel a panic settling in her chest. She waited for him to blame her for going through his things, but he never said anything. After moments under his intimidating stare, she bolted for the kitchen, taking her empty plate with her.

She threw her dishes into the sink and began to scrub furiously. I never should have gone in there! It was DUMB! Now he's going to get mad…and…and if I can't talk to Kyo-kun anymore…The idea made her chest feel heavy and her throat feel tight.

Kyo had followed her to the kitchen, but instead of sneaking up on her like before, he spoke softly from the entrance, "Tohru?"

She turned around, smiling awkwardly, "Oh, sorry Kyo-kun…but I was finished. Would you like me to wash your plates too?"

"No," He replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "I want you to explain."

"E-explain?"

"Yeah," He replied, walking towards her. It seemed like it had only been seconds, but he was already in front of her. Kyo placed both his hands on the counter, trapping her.

Her face turned beet red. One wrong move and Kyo would turn into a cat. She stammered, "W-what would you like me to explain, Kyo-kun?"

"About the book," He replied, controlling his tone rather well. He stood there, bracing himself for the rejection.

Tohru chewed on her bottom lip and finally blurted out, "I'm sorry!"

Kyo closed his eyes, and his tense shoulders relaxed. It was all over and he could now go sulk on the roof. However, Tohru wasn't finished. His eyes opened his astonishment when she continued.

"I only went in there to get your dirty clothes…b-but then I saw the book and I wanted to just look at it…" She continued babbling, hoping to explain it in a way that wouldn't make him mad.

"…And so you opened it and read my biggest secret." He finished for her, closing his eyes again. He was about to pull away, when he felt a tug on his shirt, "N-no! I would never do that, Kyo-kun! I only looked at the cover, I swear!"

Kyo wheeled around, surprised by what she said, "You didn't read it?"

Tohru shook her head, her long brunette hair swishing around her face. Her eyes squeezed shut as she plead, "Honest! I didn't read it. When you came home I was looking at the cover and I dropped the book to get out of the room…I'm so sorry, Kyo-kun…"

Kyo stood there for a moment, looking into her eyes. They were practically begging. He wouldn't have been surprised if she started crying. Kyo's lips slowly pulled into a crooked grin. He began chuckling and that threw Tohru into a panic. What had she done now?

"Kyo-kun!" She said, alarmed and rushed to him.

Kyo straightened up, his cheeks slightly red, "Sorry about that. This whole thing was just a misunderstanding."

"Huh?"

He patted her head, "Don't worry about it. You shouldn't have been so troubled about it. All you did was look at one of my books. No big deal."

And I shouldn't have either. The idea of someone like her snooping is pretty stupid. He mused and ruffled her hair.

"You're not mad?" She asked innocently as he pulled his hand away. He shook his head and she smiled at him. What a relief.

"But I promise I'll never do anything like that again," She swore and he laughed again. "I want Kyo-kun to be able to tell me his biggest secret on his own."

Kyo took her hand and squeezed it lightly, causing her cheeks to turn pink. She looked up to see he was still smiling at her.

Me too…He thought, leading her out of the kitchen.

((End Flashback))

Tohru took a deep breath, "And that's the story. I was pretty silly, huh?"

Kyoko stared at her mother with wide eyes, her fingers interlocked in her lap, "Daddy was sillier. Did he tell you that's what he thought?"

Tohru smiled and nodded, "It certainly would have been easier if I found out that way."

Kyoko frowned, "How did you find out! Tell me that story next, please!"

Tohru giggled and pushed back a lock of her daughter's hair, "Not now, Kyoko-chan. Maybe at bedtime. In fact, I'll think of a bunch of good stories about me and daddy while you take your nap, okay?"

Tohru noticed the glimmer in her daughter's eye. That was as good as a yes for her. She rose from her chair and Kyoko's head fell back onto the pillow. She dimmed the lights and exited Kyoko's room. Tohru made her way back to the kitchen, her eyes immediately landing on the clock. The numbers read 3:50.

Kyo would be home any minute. Tohru straightened out her dress and headed for the porch to wait for her Kyo-kun to return.

((End Chapter One))

That's the first chapter! I'd like at least 10 reviews before an update, so please review if you'd like me to continue! .