Chapter 9: Questions, questions, questions.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket, Natsuki Takaya does, and without Takaya-sensei's creation of these characters, this story wouldn't exist!

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in, like, a month, but school started :grumbles: and my workload went up. Meh, so here you are!

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When Uo and Hana had said their goodbyes to the group, Kyo planting a kiss firmly on Uo's lips, and left the house, Yuki walked into the living room to watch TV and Kyo dragged Tohru upstairs to talk.

Kyo shut the door to his room and flopped down on his bed, motioning for Tohru to do the same. Tohru perched on the edge of the futon, and gave Kyo a quizzical look.

"Tohru," Kyo began.

"Yes, Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked, flashing him one of her trademark smiles.

"Am I doing the right thing?"

"Eh?"

"By going out with Uo?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well, to tell the truth, I still feel guilty about breaking up with you."

"Don't, besides, I still have some feelings for you, but I think of you as a brother and Yuki, well, I have different feelings for him. I love him, Kyo-kun, you have to understand this, I think you're both very special, and if something were to happen to either of you, well, I don't know what I'd do."

"You're the best. I don't know what the Sohma family would do without you," Kyo said, hanging his head.

"Thanks, Kyo-kun," Tohru bowed.

Then she stood up and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Kyo lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. The desire to call Uo and do something coursed through his veins. This puzzled him. Why on Earth did he want to see her again, when he had just spent the night with her? Figuring this was just another impulse; he rolled over and picked up his telephone, punching Uo's number into it. It rang twice before Uo picked up.

"Uotani residence, Arisa speaking," she said.

"Hey Yankee, you wanna go see a movie tonight?" Kyo inquired.

"Yeah, sure, what time?"

"I was thinking," Kyo started.

"You were thinking? Oh wow! What a change," Uo teased.

"Whatever," Kyo shrugged it off, determined to keep his temper with Uo, and continued," does 8 work for you? Then we could go get a coffee if you like."

"8 works for me. So are we meeting at the theater or should I come over?"

"Why don't you come here? You haven't been to this house in about forty-five minutes. Nah, why don't we meet at the Tagashi street Theater?"

"That sounds like a plan."

"See you there, then."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye."

He rolled over and hung the phone up, checking the alarm clock as he did. 12:45. He set the wake up time to four and flopped back over on the mattress. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, Tohru and Yuki were downstairs watching TV.

"Where's Shigure? I haven't seen him since we left this morning," Tohru said, concern lacing her voice.

"Mii probably kidnapped him, sat him down in her office, taped him to her chair, and forced him to write, but not to worry, he'll probably come home sooner or later," Yuki replied, a small laugh escaping his lips as he did.

"That reminds me," Tohru started," I need to go shopping for dinner today."

"Would you like me to help you?" Yuki queried concern in his voice.

"You know I could never do it without your help."

--Meanwhile--

"Miichan, you can't keep me here forever, you know," Shigure said, tapping his pen on Mii's desk.

"You sent me pieces of cardboard that were labeled as your manuscripts," Mii shouted, pulling Shigure back by the hair, causing him to scream like a girl.

"Ok, ok, here, as my Christmas gift to you, I'll write," Shigure said, beginning a sentence on the piece of paper in front of him.

--Back to Yuki and Tohru--

"And that's it," Tohru said, throwing the last item on her list into the plastic basket she was holding with her left hand.

Yuki's hand tightened on her right hand and she smiled up at him, he smiled back, eyes sparkling.

When Tohru and Yuki had checked out and were walking home, Yuki paused outside a flower shop and told Tohru to wait for a minute. He walked inside while Tohru stared at the snow, which was now coming down in squalls. It wasn't until Yuki took her hand again that she noticed she was in the way of a large group of tourists. She stepped aside with Yuki and let them past, apologizing furiously.

"I got these," Yuki said, bringing his right hand out from behind his back," for you."

Yuki held out a dozen yellow-tipped roses to Tohru.

"Oh, Yuki, they're beautiful," Tohru sighed, taking the paper wrapped flowers from Yuki and putting them up to her nose," They remind me of spring."

"I'm glad you like them," Yuki smiled.

When they arrived home fifteen minutes later, they found an empty house.

"Kyo-kun? Shigure-san? Are you home?" Tohru called up the stairs.

"I think Kyo is asleep and, look, a message," Yuki said, pressing the 'play' button on the white answering machine next to the door.

"This is Shigure and I'm just calling to say that Miichan's kidnapped me to write, so I won't be home until tomorrow, so don't worry Tohru-kun! I'll be okay," Shigure's obnoxious voice echoed through the hallway.

"Well, that solves the mystery of the disappearing Shigure," Yuki chuckled.

-- After dinner--

Kyo pulled on his dark red parka and orange hat.

"I'll see you two later," he shouted into the living room where Tohru and Yuki were watching TV.

"Have fun," Tohru smiled.

"Don't do anything nasty to Uotani-san, Kyon," Yuki winked.

Kyo gritted his teeth and walked out the front door.

-- Back to Shigure-san--

"Well, Miichan, there you are," Shigure said, as he plopped a heavy stack of papers onto Mii's desk.

"THANK YOU SENSEI," Miichan shouted.

Shigure pulled his fingers out of his ears and smiled at her, "No problem, anything for my wonderful editor who I'm going to ask," he paused.

"Ask me what?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Shigure said, waving his hand.

"TELL ME SENSEI!!!"

"Well, um," Shigure tugged at his collar and sweated, "Um, do, um, you love me?"

There was stiffness in the air that even a freshly ironed kimono couldn't describe.

Mii stared at Shigure, open-mouthed.

"Umm," Shigure said, breaking the silence, and before he knew it, Mii had hit him so hard that it knocked him backwards onto a chair.

"I DO LOVE YOU SENSEI," she screamed, so that Shigure had to stick his fingers into his ears once more.

"Even when I miss my deadlines?"

"We'll discuss that."

"Yay," Shigure yelped, now jumping Miichan and knocking her back onto her desk.

--At the Movies--

Kyo held Uo's hand as they walked into the movie theatre.

They had chosen to see the new kick-ass martial arts movie instead of the girly, frilly one.

SUSPENSE! What will happen at the movies? What will happen between Shigure and Miichan? What are Yuki and Tohru doing for New Year's?

THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE WILL BE ANSWERED IN CHAPTER TEN OF Love, Yuki. Love, Kyo.