A/N Here's my attempt at Kakeru/Tohru for Obviously Entei. As you can see, I basically avoided any real characterization on his part, considering that it's been so long since I read the manga. By the way, I completely neglected to notice at the actual anniversary, but this story's been being posted for over a year now. Woot!

Thanks to Avi and yaoifanatic2

Disclaimer I don't own Fruits Basket or any associated characters, events, etc.

XXIV. AVOCADOS & ONIGIRIS

It was a casual sort of thing, how they got together. No one ever expected it, least of all the two themselves, but it happened anyways, somehow, on a day when light rain was dotting the sidewalk and streaking the side of the school building, with the end of the term's warmth hanging at the edge of the air, dampened by a chill wind that curled around the streets.

Tohru hugged her schoolbooks closer to her chest, ducking her head down to try and protect her face from the breeze that had already nipped her cheeks into redness. Yuki had been sick today, and Kyo was acting distant lately—too distant to provide the assistance that the silver-haired Rat usually did, helping her to support her massive haul of homework. Instead, she struggled along on her own, trying not to trip over her own feet.

She managed to avoid that much, but there was no way she could have seen the corner of the sidewalk jutting up in front of her. So the toe of her boot managed to hook over its edge, sending her flying forward, heart jumping forward as she voiced a small shriek of surprise.

Then there were hands on her shoulder, holding her back. "Careful, there," a bright, animated voice chuckled, and she glanced up between the mussed-up strands of her hair to see a face—a very good-looking face, she couldn't help but notice, dark-haired and large-eyed, grinning down at her.

"I—I'm sorry," she stammered, glancing down at the fallen books, "I'll… I'll take care of these…"

"You don't happen to be the famous Tohru Honda-san, do you?" he questioned, his tone overly inquisitive, as she got down to her knees, pulling her notebooks and binders into a haphazard pile. "Yun-yun mentioned that she was clumsy…"

And it all came together from there.