A/N. Well then, this is the first chapter. It's not very eventful really, it's just the beginning and all the more interesting happenings occur in later chapters. Such as the Yuki/Haru love (Yay!).

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Furuba awesomeness, not the characters, names, titles, plots etc etc etc. I am merely borrowing some of it to have some fun!

Warnings: Not a lot to warn you about, just boy on boy (aka Yaoi) and mentions of past child abuse in later chapters, and there shan't be much swearing at all, unless you count words like damn and shit as highly offensive. Although chances are those words won't be in it much anyways!

This entire story is dedicated to a fantastic person: Mariah! (A.k.a. yukiharuyaoi). Without whom I probably wouldn't have forced myself to sit myself down and actually write this! If you haven't read her fics (she has Yuki/Haru yaoi!) I highly suggest you do so!

BTW, the italics are either a memory/flashback or thoughts.

-Mariah, I hope you enjoy this! ^.^

**Chapter One**

Yuki Sohma was sitting in his classroom, gazing absent mindedly out the window, waiting for the other students to finish the equations written on the board so that the teacher could rub them off and write up new ones. There was nothing out of the ordinary going through his mind, only his usual speculation on how mathematics is so much easier to figure out than the real world.

Outside on the oval, Yuki could see what looked like a sports lesson. Amongst the other students, he saw two people that he recognised.

One was Momiji Sohma. The small boy was running along gleefully, smiling and laughing as he usually did. Yuki wanted to know how he did that. How it was that after all the pain and tragedy Momiji had suffered in his short life, he was still able to remain so jubilant all the time. He acted as though he was the happiest boy in the world.

And then there was the other person he recognised: Hatsuharu Sohma.

Haru was jogging along with the rest of his classmates, keeping a vigil eye on Momiji. Yuki smiled to himself; though Momiji was small and childish he was the same age as Haru, but still the white haired boy was as protective of him as though the rabbit was an 8 year old boy amongst a group of teens. Yuki admired that in him, the affectionate and protective nature that existed behind his seemingly blank personality.

As though Haru sensed the gaze that was aimed on him, he stopped jogging and turned towards the building Yuki's classroom was in and saw the older teen watching him through the window. Immediately, his face lit up into a smile and he waved at Yuki enthusiastically.

Yuki was momentarily taken aback at being caught staring at someone so outwardly, but recovered from his shock in time to smile back and return the wave, which only seemed to please Haru more.

Haru continued to smile at Yuki, seeming not to notice that he had been separated from his class, until he turned towards his gym teacher and Yuki realised the man was yelling at Haru, most likely telling him to get a move on. Haru turned back towards Yuki, waved once more and smiled apologetically, then ran off to join the others.

Yuki waved goodbye to Haru, and heard his teacher cough rather loudly in the background. But it wasn't until he turned back to the front of the classroom that he realised his teacher had been coughing to get his attention specifically.

"Is there something outside that requires your attention to be taken away from your schoolwork, Yuki Sohma?" Mr. Nakamura inquired. He was their new mathematics teacher and news that he had developed some serious anger issues had spread throughout the entire school already.

"No Mr. Nakamura," Yuki turned his attention back to the board, where he found new equations. He hadn't realised Mr. Nakamura had written up new ones.

"Then pay attention to the board,"

Yuki nodded and began copying the equations into his book and tried to ignore the looks of his peers. He was the class, no, the school role model and everyone was slightly shocked that the teacher had spoken to Yuki in class for a purpose other than to praise him, no matter how small a berating it had been. Out of the corner of his eye he even saw Tohru and Kyo looking at him. Although whereas Tohru looked slightly concerned Kyo just wore the same look of annoyance he got whenever the attention went to Yuki.

Yuki continued his work but found his mind drifting elsewhere, as it seemed to be doing more and more recently. And of all the things it could've settled on, his mind chose to think of the way Haru had looked so happy to see Yuki smiling at him. There was something about the way he had stopped and smiled at Yuki… It reminded him of a time when they were little, it had only been a couple of months prior to Haru's outburst at Yuki and the beginning of their friendship.

Yuki sat in the window, the very same window he had been sitting in when Haru had first met him properly, staring out at nothing in particular. His gaze seemed to be unable to stay on any one particular thing for too long, as though if his train of thought didn't continually shift his mind might begin to ponder upon the harsh words that had been spoken to him earlier that day. He looked at the trees stretching up towards the sky, the grass blowing freely in the breeze, the flowers blooming in the sun and the fluffy white clouds dotted against the clear blue space above. He kept shifting his eyes from one to the other, trying desperately to distract himself from thinking about that morning… But still, the words came back to haunt him.

"You're worthless! No one cares that I hurt you, because no one cares about you! No one loves you and no one ever will!"

As more and more venomous words began to flood his mind, Yuki's eyes began to sting with tears. He tried to blink them away, but a few escaped and slithered down his face. He wiped them away angrily.

He began looking around for something else to distract himself, something more captivating than the gardens. And then he saw what he was looking for.

Less than a hundred metres away, in an empty yard in the middle of the garden, was a group of about ten Sohma children, running around joyfully; it looked as though they were playing a game of tag. Most of them Yuki didn't know, but he recognised Haru and Momiji running around with the other children. In fact, it looked like Momiji had been tagged and was now chasing after a very timid looking boy who Yuki then recognised to be Ritsu. The monkey looked to be suffering inner turmoil over whether he should follow the rules of the game and run away or just let Momiji catch him. The expression of confusion on his face was almost humorous enough to make Yuki smile a little.

Almost, but not quite.

He began watching the children intently, and soon he found himself envying them, envying their free will. He stayed watching them for quite some time, having no other way to pass the time.

And then Yuki realised that Haru had stopped in the middle of the yard. For a moment he wondered what on Earth the younger boy was doing, if he just stood there he would be caught by the chaser. But then he realised that Haru was looking directly at him. In fact, the white haired boy was smiling and waving at him too! Yuki wasn't quite used to people waving at him, let alone people actually smiling at him. It made him especially uneasy that it was Haru smiling at him, the younger boy tended to have a rather blank expression on his face most times, except for when his other personality came out.

Nevertheless, Yuki tentatively raised his own hand and waved back. Haru's smile was so genuine and kind, he couldn't help but smile back too, even though his smile was no where near as large and jubilant as Haru's.

Yuki expected that to be it. He expected that now Haru had at least acknowledged him he would return to playing with his friends. His proper friends. So he was completely shocked when he realised that Haru had abandoned his game and was running towards Yuki.

"Hi Yuki!" he exclaimed once he had reached the window.

"H-hello Haru,"

"Why are you sitting in that window again?" his expression had turned slightly blank again, though the smile remained in his eyes.

"I'm just waiting…"

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for Akito to come back…" Yuki could hear it himself, the edge of sadness and fear that always crept into his soft little voice when he mentioned the head of the Sohma family.

Whether Haru noticed it or not, he didn't show it. But Yuki liked to think that his next words were his attempt at comfort, "Well then why don't you come and play with us while you wait for him? We're playing tag, it's fun,"

He was surprised to be invited to join in a game, but unfortunately accepting the offer wasn't a very good idea, "Thank you Haru, but I can't. I'm not allowed,"

"Why not?" now there was confusion in both his voice and his face. He didn't know that Yuki wasn't there of his own free will.

"I'm just not," Yuki snapped. He didn't want to talk about his misfortunes with Akito, not ever. But when Haru flinched at the aggressive tone in his normally passive voice he regretted speaking like that to him, "I'm sorry Haru, I'm not in a very good mood today… You can go play with your friends if you want, you don't have to stay and talk to me,"

"No," Haru stated in a stubborn voice as he sat himself down in front of the window, "I want to stay here and keep you company,"

"Haru, you don't have to-"

"I'm staying. I want to, really I do,"

Yuki studied his face for a moment. He genuinely seemed to want to stay with him, though he didn't see why he would want to. Yuki didn't think there was anything special or interesting about himself, why would Haru want to stay with him?

"Okay then… What would you like to talk about?"

For a while after that Haru sat outside Yuki's window and spoke to him about every little insignificant thing he could think of, just for the sake of conversation. At one point, they even talked about the different colours of the flowers in the garden.

But eventually, Yuki heard footsteps making their way towards his room, and they most likely belonged to Akito. He immediately began to panic, if Akito saw that Yuki was socialising with someone without his permission, how much punishment would he be given? It scared him to think about it… and what about Haru? Would he be punished too? Yuki couldn't stand the thought of his only friend being hurt on his account.

"Akito's coming. Haru, you have to go!"

"What…?" Haru didn't understand why he had to leave, but he stood up anyway.

"If Akito sees me talking to you we'll both be in trouble! You have to go, now!"

"But why-"

"Haru, now!"

Haru hesitated only for a moment, but the urgency in Yuki's voice must have been clear, because the younger boy turned and began to make his way back to his friends, calling back over his shoulder to Yuki, "I'll come back and visit you again, promise!"

Yuki didn't really believe him, not fully. He never trusted anyone when they promised him things anymore; he had already learnt in the past that it hurts to have a promise broken.

But still, as he got down from the windowsill and turned towards the door, he hoped that Haru would keep his promise, if only so he could see his friend again-

"Yuki Sohma! Stop ignoring me and do your work!" Mr. Nakamura's loud voice shook Yuki from his reminiscing and back into the present, where he found himself being yelled at by his teacher in front of the entire class. He hadn't realised that he had completely zoned out. How much time had passed? And how long had Mr. Nakamura been yelling at him?

For a moment Yuki didn't quite register what his teacher had said to him, "Pardon sir?"

"Don't be smart with me!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I don't care what you meant, stop being disrespectful and do your work like everyone else here!" Yuki had heard that Mr. Nakamura was strict, but his level of aggression came as quite a shock to the entire class. No one had expected it to be so easy to wind him up, no matter how angry the rumors claimed him to be.

In a calm and polite voice Yuki said, "Mr. Nakamura, I honestly didn't mean you any disrespect,"

This only seemed to enrage the man further, "You know what, I have had enough of you talking back! Maybe an afterschool detention will make you realise that no matter how popular you may be amongst your peers, I am still your superior!" he slammed a detention slip down on Yuki's desk.

As the realisation that Mr. Nakamura was actually seriously giving Yuki a detention set in, a collective gasp went through the class. Not only had Prince Yuki Sohma been yelled at on two separate occasions in one lesson, he had been given a detention. It was unbelievable.

Yuki could hardly believe it himself. This man was completely unreasonable and he was abusing his power as Yuki's superior. Or at least, that's what Yuki thought. And he would've liked to tell Mr. Nakamura that, but he had a feeling that wouldn't sit well with the aggressive teacher.

So instead, he simply turned his head towards his work and said in a defeated voice, "Yes sir,"

"That's what I thought," Mr. Nakamura smirked. Yuki disliked the man already, and from the fuming glares, it seemed apparent that the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls didn't either.

Yuki risked a glance up from his desk to see the bewildered faces of Tohru and Kyo.

Tohru looked even more concerned than she had been earlier, concerned and shocked. Kyo looked confused, but when Yuki glanced at him his face quickly distorted into an annoyed grimace.

Turning back to the equations in his book, Yuki sighed. Oh how he wished life was as straightforward and consistent as mathematics….

A/N. Well done, you have successfully managed to read through the entire first chapter without meeting a terrible fate: death by boredom. Either that or you skipped parts…

Anyway, I hope you liked it. More shall be coming very soon! Faster if I get some encouraging reviews…. *hint hint* although on a more serious note, reviews would be extremly appreciated!

Thanks for reading! ^.^