More one-shots come to light. I finished this one after having a random spurt of inspiration. I know it's been done over and over again but this is how I would imagine this scene to play out and it's different than all the others that I've read so I hope you all enjoy it too.

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket and its characters belong to Natuski Takaya, their wonderful creator.

Yuki took a deep breath. He wanted to do this. He did. It was his choice and decision to tell her. He had to. "Honda-san? Could I talk to you about something personal?"

Tohru, who had been chopping vegetables for supper, stopped working to look at him with one of those gazes. One of those open and heartfelt expressions that felt so honest and reassuring that he felt comfortable telling her anything. One of those accepting and caring gazes that made him want to dedicate his heart to her. "Of course you can." She reached back to untie her apron but Yuki quickly spoke before she could.

"I didn't mean now, necessarily, but maybe a little later tonight if that's okay." If it was this difficult just saying he wanted to talk to her, than how much more nervous was he going to be later?

She nodded, smiling. "That's perfectly fine, Yuki-kun. You can talk to me whenever you want."

Yuki thanked her and left. He'd done it. There wasn't any escaping from it now. She'd politely bring it up later and he'd end up pouring out his various feelings to her. But he didn't know if she'd treat what he had to say in the same way this time. He didn't even know if she wanted to know. She'd been accepting of everything else, but somehow when what he wanted to say involved her… It felt different. He knew that what he was going to tell her wasn't going to upset her, but it was something he hadn't shared with anyone else.

But then, most of the other things he'd told her had been secrets to the rest of the world too. She was just the only person he trusted enough to tell them to.

OoOoO

Yuki peered cautiously outside his bedroom door and down the hallway. In the main house you never knew who might be nearby and he couldn't risk it. When he saw that the coast was clear he softly closed his bedroom door and tiptoed over to the chest where he kept his few things. He'd just put something new inside the previous day and he wanted to look at it without anyone finding out he had it.

Kneeling down on the floor, he gently lifted the lid and stared down at the red hat. It was the single piece of color in an otherwise colorless and grey room. The hat wasn't even his. It was Kyo's. Or was it? He didn't want it anymore because… Yuki bit his lip thinking about what Kyo had said. The reason Kyo didn't want it was because Yuki had touched it.

That's all he'd done and yet he'd ruined something. Yuki shifted his gaze down to his fingertips. Was he really that repelling? Was he really as disgusting and hated as Akito said? He had to be if merely the small act of his picking up this hat made someone no longer want it.

Something tightened in his chest and he quickly shut the lid of the chest and backed away. Retreating into his small bathroom he stared at his reflection in the mirror, trying to understand why it was that people could never want him. What part of him made the act of his touching something disgusting?

OoOoO

"Damn rat! Look what you've done!"

Yuki gave Kyo an uncaring glance. "You mean the fact that I helped Honda-san and set the table for supper? You're honestly upset over that?" Yuki gave him a disbelieving look. He really was an idiot.

Kyo only looked angrier. "No, damn it! You moved my school things, didn't you?"

"They were in the way," Yuki said simply. "Move them yourself if you don't want me to. Better yet, don't leave them lying around."

Yuki didn't feel like arguing further and headed towards the stairs to retreat to his room until supper was ready. Kyo could fume on his own if he wanted to, Yuki needed to put his thoughts in a coherent order so he could correctly convey to Tohru what he wanted to say.

OoOoO

The following day Yuki sat inside the classroom while the rest of his classmates played soccer by the playground. Akito had forbidden him from ever participating in recess. He wasn't even allowed outside while the others had their fun. Instead he would remain at his desk studying until they returned. If he ran out of work to do he'd watch what went on outside the window, wondering what it would be like to join them.

They looked so happy. He was envious of them. He wanted to be like them. He wanted to be able have friends the way they did, participate the way they did, have a family the way they did. It was similar to the way he felt about Kyo, but different because Kyo spent his time being angry at his own situation which Yuki couldn't stand. He had people who loved him and he didn't care. Yuki had been told that the Rat was highly respected and looked up to but all he felt directed at him was hate and high expectations he could never meet which would only result in more pain and more hate. Never love.

He'd give anything to be Kyo. Absolutely anything. Yuki opened his school bag and reached inside to touch the hat inside. It had probably been a gift from some one. What was it like, he wondered, to have some one give you a gift out of love?

Suddenly the classroom door opened and the rest of his classmates came in, laughing and talking together. Yuki pulled his hand back out of his bag, watching as they all took their seats. No one said a word to him. In a way it was better that way since he wouldn't have said anything in return. He'd only have looked away having given up on speaking to people.

Still, he wished for once, he could have been included in their laughing circle of friends.

OoOoO

Yuki didn't say much during supper and Tohru kept giving worried looks, wondering if something was wrong. Yuki was so deep in thought that he didn't notice. He hardly noticed the taste of the food he was eating either.

After supper he was going to tell her. He wouldn't let himself back out of it. What he would tell her was the only precious memory he had from when he was young. He'd been happy once before when he'd made his first friends but that had only turned into something painful when their memories had been taken away.

This was the only memory of his childhood that could truly make him smile.

When he'd gone back to dig up her belongings from the landslide he'd found it and he'd stopped breathing for the shortest of moments. He had thought how impossible it was. After all, it was only a red hat. It could easily just resemble the hat he remembered. But then she'd admitted it. She'd told him where she'd received it from. He'd almost told her the truth then, but the window had blown in, interrupting him before he could finish.

Now… now he was about to tell her what he hadn't been able to that day.

OoOoO

Yuki sat in the alley, crying as he listened to the girl and her mother's reunion. He'd been helpful. He'd been needed. He had been a necessity for the first time in his life.

Someone had needed him.

Worthless, unneeded, abandoned. That's what you are. No one could ever need a person like you.

But she had. She had needed him. It was the most beautiful feeling he'd ever experienced.

Eventually the tearfully happy voices of the girl and her mother faded away and there was the sound of a closing door. When he transformed back into human form, Yuki changed back into his clothes, before slowly sitting back down. What now? He'd run away wanting to hurt himself somehow and wanting to die but now… Now he felt as if he was worth something for the first time in his life.

If he went back to the main house and back to Akito would anything have changed? If he didn't go back, though, where could he go? He had come this far so why not never go back? If he did go back to Akito there would surely be punishment for having run away.

But maybe now after being needed by some one it wouldn't be so awful. Maybe he wouldn't feel as weak as before.

There wasn't anywhere else for him to go but back to Akito. He took in a breath before standing up and wiping the remaining tears from his face. Somehow, it almost seemed like he'd be all right now. Even if Akito did lock him into the dark room and even if he did decide to beat him. He felt as though he'd be able to make it through.

Yuki stepped out of the alley and looked up at the girl's apartment window. The light was still on and he could see silhouettes inside. Even though he didn't speak to people, in the silence of the street he whispered, "Thank you."

OoOoO

"Yuki-kun? Do you want to talk now?"

He had just finished drying the dishes while she washed them, and the house was quiet. He didn't know why this was making him so nervous; it was such a simple and happy thing. "Sure. Do you want to sit down somewhere?"

Tohru nodded and the pair made their way to the couch. After they sat down, Yuki tried to think of how he might want to phrase what he was about to say. "I've never told anyone about this, and honestly, you already know."

"Eh? I do?"

"You don't know that you know, Honda-san, but you do. Just let me explain." Yuki looked down at his hands. His heart was beating at a pace he was sure it never had before. "When I was young, there had never been any points in my life where I felt needed by anyone. I was living in the main house at that point and I never moved out until just shortly before high school. When I was around eight, though, I tried to run away. I didn't even know where I was going, but I left. I was just walking around when I saw someone screaming at some policemen. She didn't see me, but she was giving them a description of some one very dear to her who she couldn't find. But I recognized one part of that description, because I had seen that person before." Yuki paused and then said, with a smile, "'Pom-poms'."

"What?"

"That was the last part of the description. The girl was wearing pom-poms in her hair." Yuki turned to Tohru, looking her in the eyes. "Last week when I was helping you study and the window of your room blew in I almost told you this." Yuki stopped for a minute, wondering only briefly if she would prefer that 'the boy with the hat' remain anonymous. "Honda-san… it was me. The woman I heard the description from was your mother and she was describing you."

Tohru looked confused. "I don't understand. How can you be sure it was Okaa-san and that—"

"Because you have the hat I gave you." Yuki looked back down, not entirely sure he wanted to see her reaction. From what she'd said before the window had broken, she'd built the boy she'd met into something very personal to her. What if he didn't meet the standards she'd created? "The time that I helped you to find your way home was the first time I have ever felt needed and felt as if I was worth something to some one. I always wanted to thank you for that."

"I-it was you?" Her voice almost sounded tearful and Yuki regretted telling her. He'd probably ruined the memory for her and knowing that tarnished his own memory of that event.

He had just begun to whisper his apology when Tohru enveloped him in her arms, causing him to transform. "Th-that's so wonderful! I always wanted to say thank you too, Yuki-kun," Tohru said, holding Yuki's small rat form close to her. "I'm so grateful that you told me."

Yuki felt relief flood into his heart. "Honda-san, I may have led you home, but you saved me that day and the memory of that saved me on countless other days too." Yuki breathed in her warmth, loving the feeling of being so close to her.

"Okaa-san would have thanked you too, if she knew. Both of us were so grateful to you. We even prayed for you for a long time because we never got the chance to thank you. So thank you, Yuki-kun. Thank you for that day and for telling me."

Yuki didn't know how to respond to her and instead let himself drown in her warmth, happy just to feel her so close to him: the girl who had unknowingly saved him.

There we go. The hat scene is one piece of Yukiru that no one can ever take away from those who ship that pairing. It's truly undeniable. Tohru even unknowningly calls Yuki her "first love"! Check back into the scene where Hana and Uo spend the night the first time. It's right there. Anyway, I hope you'll be kind enough to leave a review and tell me what you think!

By the way I have a new Fruits Basket shirt now. It's black with "House of Sohma" on it with Zodiac (and onigiri) forms of Yuki, Kyo, Tohru, Ritsu, and Shigure. If you to see an image just Google "House of Sohma Fruits Basket t-shirt". That's how I showed one friend what I had. I also bought the After Story portion of Clannad. TT_TT I have no words for this anime. None. I finished it two night ago and… and… I just don't have words. ((SPOILER – Sort of)) Lydia and I used to be skeptical of how there could be any sort of happy ending unless Tomoya died, but THEIR WAS ONE. Somehow, there was one. *weeps*