Inspiration struck while I was binge watching Furuba, Fruits Basket. I thought that Hatsuharu was a really neat character. Tbh, he might be my favorite, lol. I might turn this into something more, because I think it'd be interesting to explore possible dynamics between him and Tohru, but for now, here's a little one shot for ya'll to enjoy while I continue working on Tamashi o Daku Hito!~

NOTE: Seeking a beta reader!

Disclaimer: I don't own Furuba. I kind of wish I did.

I would thank you from the bottom of my heart,

but for you, my heart has no bottom.

- Unknown

As much as Haru resented being called slow, he was fairly positive that he could be thick headed sometimes. It was Black Haru who had noticed her first. Really noticed her. Not as just some girl who, for some mysterious reason, Akito had allowed to know about the Sohma curse and live amongst them, but as a member of the Sohma family circle. And he said family, because as far as friends went, their family didn't really have any. Not outsiders, at least. So it was odd for someone like Tohru Honda to not only know about the Sohma curse, but for her to have met almost every member of the zodiac and to have seen all of their animal forms. Haru assumed that she would eventually have her memory erased. Akito was known for playing games, and so it was only a matter of time until she tired of the girl and had her removed from the Sohma family. Yet, the months went on and still she stayed. The first time he really started to look at her had been when the incident with Kisa happened. Tohru had not only gotten the tiger to open up, but she also gave the girl the courage to return to school and face the obstacles in her life. Haru had to admit that it had been an impressive feat. When everyone, even her mother had grown weary and was about to give up, Tohru didn't. Not only did she not give up, but she also succeeded. She succeeded with everyone she met. She succeeded with Akito. "She's got guts." was Black Haru's remark. One by one, as if it were like watching dominos tip over in a row, she began to befriend, help and even heal every Sohma that she met. Even Akito couldn't have predicted the outcome in the end.

The curse had been broken. This ordinary and at times - often - airheaded girl had managed to free them from the zodiac curse. Haru had no idea how it had happened. He wasn't even sure when. He had just looked up to the sky one day and realized that he could finally breathe. As if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Later, he learned that it had all been because of Tohru. He needed to thank her. In person. And so he currently found himself attempting to find Shigure's house, but it seemed that his lack of sense of direction wasn't actually due to him being the cow zodiac, as he had originally hoped. He was still very much directionally challenged. And he had still gotten himself very much lost.

"Maybe I should of asked Rin to come with me..." he muttered to himself while studying each street sign he passed. Despite this, he couldn't figure out which way to go. The signs meant nothing to him. Wasn't he supposed to have passed the school hours ago? "Then again, maybe not. She probably still hates me." he continued his distracting, self-conversation as he went, which was likely one of the reasons he always got himself so turned around. He should stop thinking of Rin, though. They'd broken up awhile go. She was most likely happier without him and thinking of her now wasn't going to solve the problem he had now. Bringing one hand to his head, he ran it through his multicolored hair - something that he thought would take on a more normal color after the curse was broken, but to his dismay, the color stayed. It was the same with all of the other previous zodiac members. Their appearances didn't change. He guessed it had something to do with the fact that they had been born during the time of the curse. Pausing in the middle of the street, Haru took a look around, but it didn't change anything. He was still lost. Which street was he on? Wasn't the school around here somewhere? "That's right...the school. Must find the school." mumbling, he searched for someone to ask for directions. Another hour or so later - he wasn't sure, as he wasn't really keeping track of the time -, Haru found himself standing near the bridge where he had first met Tohru. This had been where he'd challenged Kyou to a fight, he remembered. And the first time an outsider - Tohru - had seen his animal form and didn't even bat an eyelash. She'd been startled, sure, but who wouldn't be when Black Haru suddenly grabbed them and yanked them into a hug? Maybe if he waited here long enough, he would get lucky and one of them would pass by? With few other choices, the black and white haired boy took a seat in the grass to wait.

"Hatsuharu-san?" He knew that voice. Opening his eyes, Haru was greeted with the sight of a darkening, orange and pink streaked sky. Oh. He must have fallen asleep. He sat up, coming face to face with one very surprised Tohru Honda. It looked like his luck had been with him and she had passed by, after all. She was crouched in front of him with her bag resting on top of her knees, the strap clutched between tense fingers and a look of concern painting her pretty features. "Oh good! You're awake!" she smiled, and her entire face seemed to light up with the action. "Are you okay? How come you're out here, sleeping? Did something happen?" As usual, she was starting to get herself worked up from worry. She really was a kind soul. Always concerned for others.

He opened his mouth to reply. "I was-"

"Just shut up, you stupid rat! That's a lie!" an annoyingly familiar voice drowned out his own, making him lose track of what he was going to say and causing the girl in front of him to jump, her bag hitting the ground with a soft 'thump!'. With an irritated tick at his jaw, Haru turned his head to see Yuki and Kyou nearby. So she wasn't here by herself as he had thought. He hadn't noticed initially that they were here, too, but he shouldn't be surprised. Wherever Tohru went, one of them weren't that far behind. They never gave the poor girl a moments peace, did they?

Yuki scoffed in his usual manner, arms crossed loosly against his chest and replied, "Or what? And why are you still calling me a rat? You make no sense sometimes." That was a good question. With the curse gone, they weren't the zodiac animals anymore.

"Because that's what you are! You'll always be a dirty rat!" came Kyou's oh-so-brilliant retort. His adversary cast a smug glare upon him.

"And you'll always be a dumb cat."

That did it. The red head lunged at Yuki with an outraged war cry of, "I'm gonna kill you, you damn jackass!" and the two of them became a blur of Kyou's kicks and punches with Yuki calmly deflecting every attack before retaliating. It wasn't long before the red-head was sent flying.

"There they go again..." Tohru sighed, but she gave Haru an amused smile that indicated she was more than used to their shenanigans and offered her hand to him as she stood up. "That's just how they are, I guess. So what brought you out here, Hatsuharu-san?" she wondered, then added with a nervous chuckle, "I hope you didn't come with plans to join in on the action over there." Normally, he would have every intention on barging into the middle of the other two's fight, but for once, Haru had something more important on his mind. He took Tohru's hand.

"No. I don't intend to fight." he told her simply and allowed her to help him to his feet. From the corner of his eye, he saw both Yuki and Kyou freeze and look at him as if he had grown a pair of horns. And maybe a tail. Even Tohru looked surprised. Damn, was he really that bad? Did everyone expect him to only come around because he was looking for a fight?

"You what?!" demanded Kyou.

Haru disliked repeating himself, especially to the carrot topped idiot. And the cat knew that all too well. Kyou always knew how to push his buttons to bring out Black Haru, but right now, he needed to stay White so that he could focus on what he wanted - no, needed to say to the girl looking on with an ever increasing, worried frown. Narrowing his eyes, he said again, "I'm not here to fight." That seemed to grab Yuki's curiosity, and he abandoned their brawl in favor of joining Haru and Tohru's conversation, to which Kyou began protesting loudly, "What the hell do you mean you're not gonna fight?! You wuss! You know you wanna fight me! And I'm gonna kick your damn ass!" and to which he was promptly ignored.

"That's unusual for you, Haru. What brings you, then?" Yuki asked over the shouts of the seething cat behind him.

Speaking as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world, Haru told him bluntly, "I came to talk to Tohru." That caused Yuki to raise one elegant brow, but he otherwise didn't question it. Haru knew that it wouldn't take the former rat long to figure it out.

"Me?" she was startled, pointing at herself in disbelief. She had no idea why Haru would want to talk with her. What could it be about, she wondered? When he only nodded and said nothing more, Yuki assumed - correctly - that he would want to speak with her alone. Dragging a belligerent, yowling Kyou along, he told Haru to make sure that Tohru got home safe and then vanished over the hill and down the road. Kyou could still be heard yelling obscenities for a few more minutes. Haru made a mental note to thrash the moron later for using such foul language in front of Tohru. He studied the girl's expression as she watched them leave. She seemed a little worried, but then, she was always worried about something. It was just in her nature to care for others. Finally, she turned her attention to him. "So...uh, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" He didn't want to take too long thinking of what he should say, but he hesitated. He wasn't really sure what to tell her. A simple 'thank you' didn't feel like it was enough. She had broken the Sohma curse. She had saved them all. Because of her, they were all free. How could saying 'thank you' ever express the gratitude he felt? "Hatsuharu-san..?"

"Haru." he corrected without thinking.

"Huh?"

She appeared confused, so he elaborated, "Just call me Haru." It was so formal, he realized, the way she addressed him. Why did the others get to be called with more affection? Even Momiji had 'kun' added to his name. For some reason, that really annoyed him. It annoyed Black Haru. It wasn't fa- was he jealous? The thought struck him like a charging bull. He was... jealous. Because Tohru didn't call his name with any sort of affection. What.

"O-oh, I'm sorry! I wasn't sure if you wanted me to call you just Haru! I mean...it's so informal and all. Only friends call each other by... N-not that we're not friends! I didn't mean it like that! I do consider you a friend! It's just..." she was rambling and fumbling over her words like she always did. It was cute. If he wasn't currently in the middle of trying to come up with some grand speech in his head to thank her for what she'd done, he would have laughed. That and he was still trying to come to terms with the idea that he was actually jealous. "...b-but if you want me to call you just Haru, I can do that! You do call me by my first name, so it would only be right!" He realized that she was still going. Putting words aside, he made a decision. With the curse gone, he could do it now. And this time, he wouldn't end up turning into a furry cow. Stepping forward, he engulfed her small frame into a tight embrace, earning a shocked squeak from her and then silence. It took him a few seconds to find his voice.

"Thank you." he managed, finding it difficult to release her once he had her in his hold. He had originally intended to give her only a brief hug, but when her arms slowly came around his waist to return it, as if she instinctively knew he needed it more than he knew himself, he couldn't bring himself to pull away.

Confusion laced her words when she asked, "Thank you? F-for what?" He couldn't see her face, but he could imagine that she was probably about as red as a beet right now. Again, instead of moving away as he figured he should have, he only lowered his head until his chin was resting lightly on her shoulder. Even now, she was so selfless that she hadn't a clue that he was talking about how she had broken the curse. She knew. Of course she knew. It just wasn't in her ability to think about only herself. It was always about others. So she had already put what had happened aside, expecting nothing in return for what she had done. Feeling his lips turn up into a smile, he gave into the chuckle that rose from his chest.

"You're so modest, Tohru." he told her quietly. "You had to endure so much. You went up against Akito. You've given those of us cursed our freedom and you never even expected any of us to thank you for it." She inhaled, he assumed to go off into another one of her awkward, but endearing rants, and he quickly went on. "Before you start, I don't mean that in a bad way. It's a good thing. So chill out, got it?" Loosening his grip, he took a step back to look down at her flustered face, amused.

"Okay, s-sorry!" she brought both hands up to her cheeks, wide-eyed and red-faced with astonishment at the situation. He rolled his eyes.

"What'd I just say?"

"Oh! Sor-" his frown cut her off and she gave a sheepish laugh. "I guess I do a lot of apologizing, don't I?" she asked, turning her ocean-blue gaze toward the ground.

He was unsure on how to respond to that, so he settled for a short, "Yeah." The word fell flat and awkwardly between them. Inside, he was mentally smacking a palm against his forehead. Did he go too far? Should he have just let her do her typical apologizing? He didn't want to make things awkward.

"I'll work on that, Haru-kun. And...thank you." her soft voice brought him back to reality and he stared at her for a moment. She was smiling. It was one of those smiles that seemed to make her glow. He wasn't sure why, but he was certain that his heart did this funny, little skip at that. He supposed that he was happy she was finally referring to him by his name in a more informal manner. That meant they were friends. Well, closer friends. Right? Yeah, that was it. Now he knew the source of his jealously. He'd been jealous at the thought that he wasn't considered a good friend to Tohru like the others were. Satisfied with such a conclusion, he glanced upward to see that the sun had completely set and the stars were just beginning to awaken. The moon would be up soon. As if reading his mind, Tohru tugged on his shirtsleeve and said, "We better get going. It's late. Shigure and the others will be worried and it's almost dinner time!" He could agree with that. It wouldn't surprise him if either Kyou or Yuki - or even both of them - came back to see just what in the world was taking them so long. A selfish part of him, a specific part named Black Haru wanted to keep Tohru with him a bit longer, but she was already working herself up again over being late on starting dinner. He smiled faintly and picked up her school bag. He expected her to try and get him to hand it over to her and when she did, he refused, insisting that it was his job as a man. She looked like she wanted to argue, but he began heading up the hill toward the road, beckoning for her to follow. She did so without hesitation. In the end, it was really Tohru who led the way - would he ever be able to go anywhere without getting lost? - and despite numerous complaints from a certain red haired loudmouth, he stayed for dinner upon her request. Kyou's usual taunting couldn't even goad him into a fight, which Shigure just had to comment on. "Oh my! What's this?! Haru is unwilling to fight? How grown up and mature you've become! Or are you jut getting soft on us?" And even though the older man was clearly teasing, Haru was pretty sure that there was some praise mixed in there somewhere, although it was always hard to tell with the perverted novelist. Then, when dinner was finished and Haru was thinking about heading home, Tohru insisted that he stayed, because it was rather late and she was concerned that he would get turned around in the dark. Admittingly, he was glad that she wanted him to stay, because he had actually been worried about that, as well. He wasn't exactly keen on getting lost all night long. So he accepted.

Kyou may have laughed at him about it, but it was easy to ignore when Tohru smiled at him like that.

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