Sand Castles
By: Starlight Rose
Email: [email protected]

A.N. This story was written mainly because I felt bad for Yuki. Everyone seems to support Tohru with Kyou so I decided to write a short piece of Yuki x Tohru. The writing style is much more simple and less flowing style than I usually use but I'm feeling too lazy to use my normal one that is detailed and descriptive.

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket belongs to Takaya Natsuki, I'm just using her characters because I love the show so much.

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"Yuki-kun! Kyou-kun! Hurry up!" Shigure yelled nearly jumping in his excitement. They were going to ther beach which meant young girls in bathing suits. Shigure almost drooled thinking of it and Tohru-kun in a bathing suit. He couldn't wait to see the look on Yuki and Kyou's faces when they saw her in the suit he bought. It was a "family vacation" that Shingure had instigated since it was summer vacation and he didn't want to stay in the house when he could be on the beach sighting out beautiful young girls. Of course he didn't need to let the other two Jyuunishi members in the house know that. It was good enough for them to just think it was a vacation to give Tohru-kun a break from the house work. They would be staying there for two nights.

"In a minute!" Yuki yelled back at him from the top of the stairs as Kyou came trudging down carrying a bag with a scowl on his face.

"I hate water!" Kyou told the novelist.

Shigure chuckled at that and replied thoughtfully, "Oh that's right. Cats hate water don't they. But hey I thought you knew how to swim."

"I still hate water." Kyou replied.

Upstairs Yuki was busy pushing the last of his clothes into an overnight bag. He suspected Shigure's true reasons for deciding to go to the beach but he had to admit that his cousin was right. Honda-san did deserve a break. Since their trip to the hotsprings for White Day, she hadn't gotten a true vacation away from her part-time job and the housework. Honda-san really did work too hard, he reflected. He really needed to think of something to get her to show his appreciation.

Stepping out of his room and closing the door he spotted Tohru leaving her room carrying her own overnight bag. Smiling at her he reached out and took her bag from her shoulder telling her, "Let me get that for you Hinda-san. This trip is to help you relax."

"Iie. Daijoubu desu yo, Yuki-kun." Tohru replied. "You don't need to trouble yourself. I can handle it myself."

"It's no trouble at all." Yuki told her turning to head down the stairs.

As he soon as he reached the bottom, Shigure grabbed him and propelled him out of the door eagerly. "Ahh...Yuki-kun! You're finally down. What took you and Tohru-kun so long to get ready?!?" Shigure asked him as anticpation practically bubbled out of him. Then pausing to think he grinned wickedly and asked, "Not doing anything naughty are you?"

"Of course not! Only you are that perverted!!" Yuki shouted as he sent Shigure flying with his bag.

Shigure landed in a crumpled heap outside by the van Shigure had rented for the vacation. Kyou who was already out there loading several of the bags into the van just looked at Shigure's beat up form before calmly steping over him and muttering, "You said something stupid to that damn rat didn't you," before he continued the packing. Tohru watched the three and sweatdropped. For once it wasn't Yuki and Kyou who were fighting.

After several minutes to allow Shigure to recover and Yuki to load his and Tohru's bags into the trunk the group was on their way to the beach. Shigure drove while Yuki, Tohru, and Kyou sat in the back. They were headed to a beach house owned by the Souma family. Two hours of driving and numerous arguments between the cat and mouse that had to be mediated by Tohru later, they pulled up to a large house situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

An old man and woman walked out of the house and greeted them and called out two younger men to take their bags in for them. The two young men complied and the old man introduced himself and the old woman as the caretakers of the beach house.

Tohru gazed at the beach house in awe. It was a beautiful large two story house that was in a Victorian style. Most of the Souma houses she had seen up until then had been of traditional Japanese architecture. "This belongs to the Souma family?" Tohru asked Yuki who had walked up behind her.

"Hai. It's our vacation house. I really like it here because it is much more informal than most of the other vacation house belong to the family. There is a very pretty flower garden out back along with a vegetable garden I started here one summer." Yuki informed her.

"Honto desu ka?" Tohru asked excitedly. "I can't wait to see it then." Yuki smiled at her enthusiam and led her into the house.

Once in the house the old woman led Tohru to her room chatting amicably telling her about the surrounding area and Tohru listened attentively to her. She was happy that she could go on a vacation with Kyou, Yuki, and Shigure, but at the same time she felt a bit bad that the Soumas were doing so much for her but yet, she could only take care of their house for them. Even now, Tohru knew the main reason they even went on this vacation was to give her a break from the housework, which she enjoyed doing, and from her part-time job.

She came down about thirty minutes later dressed in a light blue sundress wearing her bathing suit underneath. The site that greeted her when she reached the bottom was one of Yuki and Kyou arguing about Kyou and swimming i.e. whether the cat could really swim or not and Shigure loading a camera with film presummably to photograph young women with.

"Ah...Tohru-kun! I'm so glad you finally came down. Would you like to be my first subject?" Shigure asked her.

"First subject?" Tohru asked confused.

"Yes! Yes! I need a subject to photograph!" Shigure said putting one hand on her shoulder and leading her out of the house. But right as they reached the door he found himself pulled from behind and two enraged martial artists glaring at him with flames pratically leaping from them.

"What are you planning on doing with Honda-san?" Yuki asked him menacingly.

"You better not be planning anything." Kyou added.

"Do you really think I would do anything bad to Tohru-kun?" Shigure asked bouncing up and down giving them a "I'm hurt." look.

"Yes." Both boys replied deadpan as Shigure fell to the floor in shock at their lack of faith in him. Yuki and Kyou just left him there and ran out chasing after Tohru. When they reached the beach they spotted Tohru already setting down the blankets and started walking to her, not noticing the flock of girls whose attention they caught as they stepped onto the beach. Two beautiful boys with finely sculpted bodies in swim trunks walking together do generally create a lot of attention.

When they had almost reached Tohru the mob of girls decended upon them. With the press of females around them the two Soumas felt trapped. Yuki who was used to such attention from school put on a false smile and tried to politely extract himself from the crowd while Kyou resorted to yelling at the girls to leave him alone. Both failed miserably in their attempt to escape from the girls as the only reaction they recieved were dreamy eyed stares and giggles. It wasn't until they heard Tohru's voice saying, "No I'm fine really. I'm not alone. I'm with two of my friends..." That their eyes narrowed and they traced the sound of her voice to find her surrounded by three large guys, who apparently didn't know how to take no for an answer. Pushing the other girls gently out of the way they ran over to her. The girls looked on with disappointment on their faces as Yuki and Kyou came to Tohru's aid.

In a soft menacing tone Yuki addressed the three young men, "Excuse me, but I believe Honda-san said she wasn't interested in your company, so I suggest you leave her alone."

"Oh? Is that so?" One of the boys asked sizing Yuki and Kyou up. "What are you scrawny wimps planning on doing about it if we don't?"

"You know that one looks rather pretty. Maybe we can have some fun with him too." Another of the guys said pointing to Yuki.

A vein popped out on Yuki's head at the mention of his effimate features and before the speaker of the offending words realized it, a foot connected with his face and sent him flying into the water fifteen feet away. The other two saw their friend get sent flying into the water by the slender boy before them and their faces reddened with rage. Being two idiots that assumed size mattered more than strength or skill they attacked the mouse they charged at him yelling, "You're gonna pay for that!"

"Yuki-kun! Abunai!" Tohru yelled to Yuki worry clearly written up on her delicate face.

"Don't worry. That damn Yuki will be fine. He's much stronger than those punks. Are you alright?" Kyou reassured her as his prediction of the fights outcome came true. Within less than a minute both of the larger boys were down on the ground with cuts and bruises all over their bodies while Yuki stood over them without a scratch on him.

"If you ever come near Honda-san again, I won't hold back next time." Yuki threatened them. The two boys just groaned. Turning to Tohru with worry on his face he asked, "Daijoubu desu ka, Honda-san?"

"Eh? Hai. Daijoubu desu." Tohru replied staring at the prone figure of the bullies. 'Yuki-kun is really strong.' Tohru thought to herself.

"Ahh...that's good." Yuki said smiling at her and then suggested, "Shall we find another place to sit?'

"Ahh...ha...hai." Tohru replied as the two Jyuunishi members gathered up the beach blanket and few other items she had set out and began heading off.

"That was rather brash of you Yuki-kun." Shigure said as he caught up to them finally, after everything had been set up. "Did you have to beat those guys up that badly, but because of that I did get a bunch of pictures of pretty girls that wanted to know who you were."

Yuki facefaulted at that. The rest of the day was spent playing on the beach and swimming. Kyou kept mainly to the beach, having a cat's normal aversion to water though after mouthing off to the Jyuunishi rat, he found himself tossed into the cold salt water. A fight would have brokjen out between the two then if Tohru hadn't interevened and in the end even Kyou joined in on the swimming and the water games. Later on in the day they played beach volleyball with Kyou challenging Yuki to a match which Kyou lost.

Finally tired but extremely relaxed and happy the group headed back to the beach house. That night Tohru laid in her bed and found herself unable to sleep. Getting up she decided to go outside to take a short walk. Not wanting to wake up the other occupants of the house she quietly crept out of the house to find Yuki standing outside staring at the moon. At the sound of someone opening the door Yuki turned around and spotting Tohru smiled and asked, "Would you like to take a walk with me, Honda-san?"

Smiling at how he read her mind she nodded and the two started walking down the beach. They walked in silence for a while and Yuki stole a few side glances at Tohru noting how beautiful and serene she looked under the moonlight. The soft light barely illuminated her pale face and made her eyes shine more brightly in contrast to the rest of her especially her dark hair. They kept walking until in front of them Tohru spotted a tiny sand castle. "Look, Yuki-kun. It's a sand castle. Isn't it pretty?"

"Hai. It's very cute," Yuki replied, "But it's sad. The tide is starting to come in and in a little bit the castle will be covered by water and tomorrow it'll be gone completely."

Tohru turned to look at him and noticed the slightly sad expression on his face and turned around walking backwards. "When I was little," she began telling him, "Okaa-san used to take me to the beavh to play. I would build sand castles in the sand all the time and pretend I was a princess living in it and that one day a handsome prince would come and take me away. I had so much fun making the castle and used to be so proud of it. But the next time I came, the castle was always gone, washed away by the tide. It used to make me really sad and I used to dislike the tide that washed away my castles. But then Okaa-san told me, 'The tide is a good thing. It washes away both the good and the bad giving you a chance to start over. As long as you keep the memory of your castle inside your heart then that will never get washed away. That way only the bad things get washed away if you want them to and now you can make new memories building another castle.' That made me feel better because I know that no matter what happens, I can always start over. Even if the castle that I loved gets washed away, I'll still remember it in my heart and I can always make new ones. A lot of things are like that, ne Yuki-kun?"

Yuki smiled gently at her story knowing she meant to aim it at him and understanding the lesson that was in it. Tohru really understood him so well, that without really trying to, she could make him feel better about all his insecurities and fears. "Its getting late. Shall we go back now?" Yuki asked her extending his arm out for her.

"Hai." Tohru replied smiling up at him and taking his arm as the two walked back to the house.

The next day, Kyou decided to go off by himself presumably to train and Shigure headed into the nearby town to pick up a few things. Yuki decided to do some gardening and Tohru joined him. As they gardened, Yuki taught her about all the plants that were growing in the garden. Noticing that a few of the plants had leaves eaten of by insects, Yuki returned to the house to get some insecticide. Finding none he informed Tohru that he was going into town to buy some. Tohru nodded and said that she was going to do some reading while he was gone.

As he walked through the twon to a gardening shop he knew well, Yuki passed by several tourist shops. The gazed absentmindedly through their windows until he passed a particular one that caught his eyes. Looking in the window he realized the perfect gift to give Tohru and headed inside to buy it with a smile on his face. After he was done he continued on to the garden shop and went back to the house. When he got back, Shigure was back and so was Kyou and Shigure dragged all of them back to the beach where they spent another day in the sun.

The next morning Tohru woke up as sunlight streamed in from her window. The poast two days had been so fun, but she did feel glad that they would be returning to their house soon. She wanted to get back to doing the housework, because the relaxing almost made her feel lazy. When she worked with Yuki in the garden she felt happy to be with him, but also to be doing something productive again.

Looking over to say good moring to her mother she spotted a tiny castle by the picture. The castle was made of pink sand that glittered prettily in the sunlight with rampants and towers all over it. She smiled as she saw a note by the picture and read it blushing feriously. The note read:

To Princess Tohru, a sand castle that will never wash away. Thank-you for the beautiful memories that will never wash away.

Your humble servant,
Souma Yuki