Title: A Long Forgotten Future

Author: Tinted Basket

Rating: PG

Fandom: Fruits Basket, the manga mostly.

Characters: Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, Hana, Arisa

Pairing: YukixTohru

Summary: Alternate manga ending with Yuki confessing his feelings to Tohru.

Notes: Gift fic.

"Just tell her already ya damn rat!"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"I think Orange here is trying to say you should tell Tohru how you feel."

"Hanajima? When the hell did you get here?"

"A few moments ago like everyone else."

The rest of Sohma family sat quietly in the waiting room of the Tokyo Central Hospital. It had been hours since Tohru had been caught up in a landslide, causing her to fall from the cliff. Akito had surprisingly been the one to call for help. The head of the Sohma family was currently back at the manor with Shigure waiting for any news of Tohru's condition.

"I'm just sayin', I've had to live with you two for months with all that lovey dovey crap you keep jumping around" Kyo said firmly "she even made you those special cookies for Valentine's Day."

Hanajima nodded.

"For once I think Orange Top is right" Arisa Uotani put in "she was this close to telling you how she felt at the play a few months ago."

"Wha-what?" Yuki stammered "I haven't heard anything about this. We had a conversation about the play and she said it might be fun to do something like that again, but I didn't think she meant...I could have sworn she liked Kyo."

Kyo shook his head.

"She cares about everyone, she's just that kind of person" the orange haired teen said.

Then proceeded to drag Yuki out into the hallway. He couldn't risk mentioning what he'd found out in front of Tohru's friends in case they figured out about the curse.

"I found out from Kureno and Shigure that she wanted to keep me from getting locked up" he said "I think she really wanted to break the curse so badly because she didn't want any of us to feel trapped anymore."

"How long?" Yuki asked, ignoring the fact that the cousin he'd just had a shouting match with not two hours before was now speaking candidly with him for probably the first time in their lives. None of it matter to him, not unless he knew if Tohru was going to be alright.

"For a damned long time" Kyo said "from what they said she's been working on this for months. She wanted to be the one to save us, all while we were trying to protect her. Damn it! She was always looking out for you, especially after Shigure told her about your family."

"That stupid dog, what gave him the right to tell her something like that?" Yuki said with a fierce glint in his eye. "She's had more than enough to worry about, what with Akito and all. Why did he have to go and do something like that."

"Much as it kills me to say this, Rat. She was trying to save you from Akito. Yeah, she was trying to get me out of living in that box and everyone else out of this hell we've been living in. Mostly I think she wanted to give you an out. You're her number one in case you haven't noticed."

Yuki clenched his hand into a fist and leaned back against the wall. The situation itself was unfathomable. He'd always liked Tohru. The first day she'd come into his life it was like a cool breeze had swept through his life on the sunniest of days. She had taught him how to trust people and open up to others, including his friends from the student council like Manabe. Tohru had been the first person in his life who contradicted everything Akito had told him about the outside world. A world that had given him friends like Manabe, Machi, and Kimi, as well as a brother like Ayame who, while he had his quirks, was every bit as devoted to his brother and girlfriend as he was to his tailoring.

"Just go and tell her how ya feel, damn it!" Kyo scolded "Like I said I've been watching the two of you for months. I even stopped picking as many fights with you so I wouldn't hurt her as much."

"What will you do if we leave or if she leaves because I'm not what she wants?" Yuki inquired.

"If they don't lock me up...I've always wanted to train at a dojo and become a real master like my master" Kyo said reluctantly. "I don't-I don't feel that way about Tohru, you don't have to worry. It's not like me and her would fit together anyway. I'm not right for her. You are."

Then Kyo glared at his cousin.

"But if I ever hear that you've hurt her, then make no mistake, I will beat you in a fight and you'll get what's coming to you. Understand?"

Yuki felt a slight smirk form on his face. He had little doubt Kyo would be a truly formidable opponent if it were for Tohru's sake. Not that he had any intention of doing harm to the one good thing in his life. If she would have him, there was no chance Yuki would let her down.

The next day Tohru's prognosis had improved and little by little the curse had slowly begun to break unbeknownst to some of the Zodiac members. Kyo's freedom was sealed with a private declaration from Akito, who after making up with Tohru and coming to terms with "herself" had ordered the Cat's Room destroyed for good. One by one everyone went to visit Tohru in her room, Hanajima and Uotani had a particularly long visit with her. Kyo had gone later on the second day of her recovery to say good bye, he said. The orange haired teen had finally gotten Kazuma to make arrangements at a friend's dojo for Kyo to receive further training. He was leaving immediately after their high school graduation, but would be staying with Kazuma until then. The two of them needed some time alone to discuss things now that Kyo was free to live his life on his own terms.

Yuki gave him a nod as the orange haired teen left the hospital and decided it was finally time to go and face the music. He would finally confess his feelings to Tohru and find out if she felt the same. He tried to imagine what someone more confident like Ayame would have said in this situation and then squashed the notion. Everything Ayame did was always a bit overdone, he could only imagine the type of confession that Mine had received years before.

The gray haired teen paused at the door to Tohru's hospital room. He thought back to the events of the past two years. The surprise on Tohru's face when he and Kyo had showed up at her grandfather's house to bring her back. The sheer joy in her eyes at seeing them arrive in the front hall after a horrible confrontation with her relatives had gripped him like nothing ever had. She had been the recipient of the first White Day gift Yuki had ever given and accepted it with a graciousness that those crazy girls from his "fan club" could never even fathom. Tohru had looked out for him after their endurance run was cut short by the arrival of Hatsuharu. Upon waking up he heard his obscure nickname "Prince Yuki" fall from her lips and the ensuing embarrassment had caused him to transform immediately. He would never forget that moment, because Haru had never let him live it down. Though he admitted to being a bit jealous when Tohru had allowed Momiji, whom she'd thought was a younger kid at the time, to share her futon during their first trip to the Sohma owned hot springs. Their trips to the summer house and his inability to protect Tohru from Akito. He reminded himself that he had managed to find her when she was lose at the age of seven. It was the one and only time he'd met Kyoko Honda while she was still alive. She'd even thanked him for bringing her daughter back to her. His only evidence that he was still capable of doing anything worthwhile after the incident with his friends and the curse. Even his seemingly impossible relationship with Ayame had improved with Tohru's help. Everything had somehow worked out in the end, despite a gilded cage that had once kept the zodiac unwilling prisoners to the static flow of their lives.

Yuki turned the handle and opened the door to the rest of his life.

"Yuki!" Tohru called out excitedly "It's so good to see you. I'm sorry if I worried you and all but-"

The gray haired teen held up a hand.

"Ms. Honda-Tohru. There's something I need to tell you."

Tohru blinked. Then smiled.

"Alright" she said cheerfully. All the while thinking I hope he isn't going away like Kyo. I don't know how I'll manage if I lose both of them straight away, but if that's what they want then I shouldn't keep them from doing what makes them happy. I just hope that Yuki stays long enough so that we can graduate together. I can't possibly tell him how I feel, but at least I can treasure the last couple of weeks we have together before we're all separated.

"Tohru I...I care about you" Yuki said as the words stood awkwardly on his tongue "more than anything."

Tohru's eyes widened in response. He couldn't possibly mean what she thought he meant? No no, it wasn't possible. How could she ask for more when she still had the greatest friends in the world. Maybe Yuki considered her to be like a sister...

"I want to attend University and I was wondering if we could change our relationship" Yuki finished "I know we both have to move out of Shigure's house, since he's going back to the Main House. I want to know if you'll come with me...forever, Tohru? We wouldn't have to live together or anything that might make you uncomfortable. I just like you more than any girl I've ever met."

"Yuki you..." Tohru said as tears fell from her eyes "Can I hold your hand? I want to be with you to, if that's okay. I love Yuki But I didn't want to make you think that you had to worry about me, because it's okay if-"

Yuki bridged the distance between them in two steps and pulled Tohru into his arms.

"Do you mean it?" he said with soft smile as he looked up from between gray strands of hair. "It would mean more to me than anything."

"Yes" Tohru said as she smiled through her tears. "I want to go with you. I want to be together even if we can't see everyone very much after we graduate. That's okay as long as I can still see Yuki every day."

Yuki kissed her on the forehead and then softly on the lips. It felt wonderful despite it being mixed with tears.

A minute later when Tohru went to hug him, something Yuki found he didn't mind despite the resulting transformation knew would come after. Only it never did. The dust in his mind scattered as he saw the fleeting image of the rat and a strangely bereft god walking away alongside a battered orange cat and he knew that the curse had finally been broken. This caused him to hold Tohru even tighter as the two of them realized that he was finally completely a part of the human world. And this was the first day of their hopeful future.