Grah it's been so long since I've posted something x.x But I'm back with another fanfic woooo. Unfortunately this one does contain the usually lovey-dovey romance I usually pour into my YukixKyo stories, sad day XD I do want to make more YukixKyo stuff but this fic, as I've said before, would not leave me alone omgggggg. This actually took quite awhile to write. Mainly because I would work on it be all "meeeeeh I don't like it" and then not touch it for weeks XD But I suppose I'm glad I finished it...

This is more of a what-if scenario based off Yuki's back-story. So if you have no read up to volume 15 of Fruits Basket... I'm not sure if it would really spoil anything I'm just not sure the fic would make too much sense. It's based off a specific scene from volume 15 that I would prefer you all have read before reading this. On another note who totally cried at Yuki's backstory?! *raises hand* then again, I may just be a sap... *huggles Yuki anyway*

MOVING ON

I hope you all enjoy it, I'm not sure if I like this fic as much as I like my others but I guess it's not bad, erm. Oh well, but Fruits Basket is not mine (and in all honesty I'm not sure I want it...) But playing with their characters is fun :D And omg this AN has gotten waaaaaaaaaay too long.

Enjoy~ :D

"Kyo, why do you wear those beads? I didn't think you'd ever like jewelry or anything like that." The boy asked swinging his short legs back and forth on the porch. It was hot; the sun was beating down as the two children held their popsicles close. Summer was soon approaching and already the heat had begun to kick in.

"It's not jewelry! I have to keep them on all the time or something… something bad will happen! It's not my fault!" The boy felt a cold drip fall on his wrist from the ice cream as he glared at it.

"I didn't say it was… it was just weird." He smiled and his friend turned his glare to him when suddenly his face saddened a bit.

"Mom used to hit me when I tried to take them off… sometimes she'd hit me real bad and I didn't know why…" There was a long silence and suddenly the little boy felt a pang of guilt hit against his chest.

"I'm sorry, Kyo. I didn't want to make you sad." The small boy looked down at his hands, folded in his lap as Kyo wiped his tears away with his wrist.

"I really miss her… I didn't want her to die…" Kyo sniffled and suddenly his face became angry. "That's why I have to beat that stupid rat! He ruined everything!" The boy jumped off the porch with his ice cream to look back at his friend who was still looking down at his own treat. "You'll help me find him, won't you? You'll help me, right Yuki?"

The gray haired child looked up letting the smallest tear fall from his cheek as he looked up to face his friend. "Y-yea."

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During winter nights the two boys slept in Kyo's room. They would push their two little futons up next to each other so that they could converse into the late hours of the night without Kazuma hearing them. One night in particular Kyo had confessed about how his mother had died. Yuki had heard rumors and stories from the maids in Akito's house but hearing the story from Kyo was a whole different experience. It was so heartbreaking and made Yuki want to do something. Kyo had confessed that he had thought it was all his fault, how he missed his mother, about how he missed his father, about the cookies that his mother would make for him when he had done well in school. Yuki's chest felt tight and he felt as though he should cry. The next day at school he spent all of lunch baking cookies under the supervision of the home economics teacher as he stood on his tip-toes on the stool to be able to mix the batter on the counter. When Yuki showed up the next day he handed the box to Kyo, chocolate still smeared a bit on the side of his face, and said that they should go visit Kyo's mom. The cookies were burnt and left a bad aftertaste but Kyo thought they would be more then enough for an offering.

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"Shii-han! Shii-han!"

"Oh hello Yuki. I see you're very energetic today." Kazuma patted the small boy's head and Yuki smiled.

"Is Kyo here yet? I wanna practice!" The older man laughed at the gleam in the small boy's eye and helped him hang up his backpack.

"He's in the back, are you going to stay over again today? It may be your last chance in this nice weather to camp out." Yuki followed cutely behind the seemingly large adult and stared up at him.

"Is that ok??"

"Of course, if your mother says its ok." Kazuma said with a smile but Yuki's smile dropped from his face as he stopped walking.

"She won't be worried. It's fine by her if I stay." Kazuma made no point to argue but let the moment pass before giving Yuki a slight nudge forward.

"Come on, I bet Kyo is in the practice room."

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Yuki and Kyo fought almost everyday, it was always playful and yet serious at the same time. They would grate on each other's nerves call each other names and tackle and beat the other one up. But in the end they would always come out smiling and laughing and talking pleasantly. Kazuma fussed over them every time, worried about the extent of their rough housing. It wasn't until one day that Kyo had said "this is how we're friends." Kazuma stepped back from the two who were eating their dinner while talking about their day. He laughed and supposed that was true.

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That night Kazuma set out their tent, the sleeping bags that they had grown quite accustomed to over the summer and the big can of mosquito spray beside them (he remembered the first night the two boys slept outside and came in the next morning crying with red marks all over their bodies).

Their sleeping bags lay next to each other as the two boys talked and joked and Yuki made Kyo mad for the thousandth time. It was under those stars they had talked about everything. Everything they could possibly think of, to the curiosity small boys had on life in general to the family they had. But today was different. Kyo knew that at least by Yuki's big smile.

"Guess what, guess what! Today I made friends! They asked me to play!" Yuki's smile was so wide that Kyo felt the need to smile too.

"Well it's about time."

"You're just being mean because no one at your school likes you." Yuki responded with playfulness.

"What was that you stupid brat?!"

"Don't call me something you are too." Kyo hmphed and Yuki laughed.

There was silence for awhile as Kyo flipped through one of his comic books and Yuki read over his shoulder, his eyes glazing over the pages. He looked down at his hands then back at the comic and then back to Kyo.

"Kyo you know… you know that…"

"There you are!"

"Mommy!" Yuki suddenly shot up from his sleeping bag and his eyes grew large. Kyo looked up at Yuki and sensed his panic.

"Yuki, what are you doing?! I've been looking everywhere for you! A maid said she saw you come in here! Haven't I taught you better?! I said to stay away from this filthy cat! Come here now! Akito has been asking for you and I will not have you making me look bad!" Yuki's mother pulled at Yuki's arm as she bent down into the tent to retrieve her son who resisted with all his might.

"No! No! I want to stay here with Kyo! Leave me alone! I don't want to go see Akito! Akito says really scary things mommy! I want to be with my friend! No! Please mommy let me stay!" Yuki began to cry as his mother took him away and Kyo felt frozen in his small body. Never had he seen Yuki cry in his life.

It took a good seven minutes for the woman to finally drag her son out of the tent as Yuki's cheeks were stained with the tears of a broken child. Why did Yuki have to go see Akito? It wasn't like he was cursed! Why did his mother want him to stay away from the cat so much he was close to beating the poor boy?! And even despite that…

…Yuki cried so much so that he could stay with him?

Kyo felt something warm in his chest and suddenly a small bit inside of him that felt completely useless crumbled that night.

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To Kyo it seemed that Yuki had every right to cry. He had remembered when Yuki had told him never to come to his house and how hurt he felt. Instead he rebelled against his friend and followed Yuki home one day, just to annoy the other little boy. Kyo saw Yuki open up his door and was about to rush toward him and tackle him when he heard a piercing scream. He heard shouts directed at Yuki like "where have you been?!" "What have you been doing?!" "What a worthless child you are!" It seemed to go on like that for an hour in Kyo's impatient kid-time. He didn't want this. He didn't want people to be saying these things to Yuki. So when Yuki came back out of his house with a somber face and water-rimmed eyes he looked around to make sure no one was looking and ran over to Yuki, pulling him into a child-like embrace and repeating "I'm sorry Yuki, are they yelling at you because of me?! I don't want to make you sad! I don't want them to yell at you anymore!" Yuki returned with a smile hug and said "You could never make me sad, Kyo!" This is what he had been waiting for every time his mother had said those things.

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"Mommy says I have to go see Akito a lot. Akito says he's my friend but all he does is say really scary things to me. I don't like going to see him, I like playing with you a lot more. With Akito we can't even go outside 'cause he's sick a lot." Yuki stopped a bit to sip his drink, the glass a bit too big for his small hands and Kyo continued to watch his friend from across the table. "I have to go see Akito a lot because Mommy says it helps her, but sometimes she leaves me there for days and never comes to get me. Mommy even said one day that she would come to get me in one hour and after three days Akito told me that she went on a trip with Daddy."

"But that's not fair! If you don't want to be his friend you should run away! You can come live with me and Shishou!"

"If I do Mommy will hit me and Akito will be really mad, but it's ok…"

"No its not! I'll help you too! We can find a way for you to escape and we can live outside in the tent! We'll ask Shishou to get us really warm blankets for the winter and Akito won't know where you are!"

"It's ok because… you don't hate me."

"…I don't hate you?"

"Akito says everyone hates me. Mommy sometimes says it too. She never gives me a hug or plays with me and she never likes bringing me home. She always gets really mad at me. Even Nii-san and daddy don't like me. None of them like playing with me. They say I can only be friends with Akito."

"But you're friends with me! So there, you're wrong. You're wrong a lot; I guess that comes with being such an idiot." The carrot-top smiled at his friend and Yuki smiled back.

"Yeah but you're a bigger idiot."

"Shut up you stupid brat!"

"Don't call me something you are too."

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Yuki limped home, black paint in his hair, on his clothes and staining his face. Akito had painted his walls, painted his floor, painted the plants that decorated the corner of the room and painted him. His foot hurt from being stepped on and crushed after Akito had stopped him from crawling away. He tried to go home he really did but when he got to the cross trail he took the path to Kyo's house instead, knowing he would know what to do. Knowing he would be there, knowing he would care. When he came into view, sure enough, Kyo ran out of the house and put his arm around him so that he would have support. He leaned on Kyo. He leaned on him and leaned on him and hoped he wouldn't make him fall.

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"Come on Yuki! Come on are we gonna play?! You have to be it first!" Yuki heard a bunch of kids laughing around him and he felt as though he was in a dream. Everyone around him was smiling as he tied the blindfold around his head when suddenly he stopped.

"Oh wait! I have to go get someone! I'll be right back, keep playing without me, I'll be right back!" He heard a bunch of kids "awww" as he ran off but quickly heard the game start as he run as fast as his little legs could take him right to Kazuma's house.

"Kyo! Kyo! Come on!" Yuki said after immediately seeing Kyo sitting on the front porch. He swiftly took the little boy's hand and started running toward his group of friends.

"Hey! Don't hold my hand, it's weird!"

"I want you to meet my friends!" Yuki said with a large smile that Kyo couldn't take his eyes off of. Suddenly holding his hand wasn't that weird anymore and he started running with him.

The two ran to the big group of kids where they quickly joined the game, running around as fast as they could losing their breath after laughing so hard and feeling their legs slowly turn to jelly.

"We're here!" Yuki exclaimed when his friends came back into sight. "This is my friend Kyo! He's a Sohma too, can he play?" Yuki asked the large group of kids and was answered with a wave of approval.

"Mommy says I have to be home in a little bit though because she says it's going to rain."

"Mine too."

"Mine too."

The group of kids all agreed that they would play only three games and then go home. Yuki asked Kyo if he could spend the night again and Kyo answered him with a thumb up and a toothy smile as they began to play.

First Yuki was it. He ran and laughed and shouted in surprise when Kyo came up from behind and poked him on the side. He ended up tagging Kyo whose quick get away wasn't exactly quick after he had poked the little boy.

The second game didn't start for a little while because Yuki and Kyo started fighting.

The next game Kyo was it and ended up accidentally pulling a girl's pigtail as he couldn't see much through the blindfold. Yuki scolded him for making the girl cry and gave him a wilted dandelion to give to the poor girl. He did after Yuki had stepped on him but had the biggest blush on his face. Needless to say the girl stopped crying.

The third game the girl could see Yuki's outline through the blindfold and started blindly chasing after him since he was the closest. He laughed and smiled and could hardly breathe from the excitement.

A raindrop landed on Yuki's nose and he looked up at the sky for a quick second. The only second that mattered.

The girl tripped on a rock jutting out of the ground. The sound of her shoe being scratched on the stone echoed through Yuki's mind as he felt an unwanted heat consume his body as he never got the chance for his head to hit the ground.

A bright light and a sea of clothing surrounded him and as he crawled out all he could hear were the screams and cries of children. All he could feel were the raindrops sticking to his skin. And all he could see was Kyo's face marred with terror and confused anger.

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The tattered hat was given to Yuki as a birthday present. There wasn't much meaning or thought in the present. The poor boy had freaked out when he had realized he had forgotten his most important friend's birthday and coined the hat something Yuki might possibly like. Kyo expected the boy to tease him or sulk at his friend's forgetfulness. Instead, Yuki examined the hat with an intent fascination. Marveling at the material, and even running his hand over the small dirt stain. Yuki looked around for a mirror and ran to the bathroom where he stood on his tip-toes and fondly placed the hat on his head. His eyes gleamed and he let his hands rest on the cap as he smiled warmly. Kyo looked at him, confused. He even asked why he got so excited over a ratty accessory. Yuki smiled and told the boy he didn't have anything like it in his closet. It took a moment for Kyo to realize how true that was. He only ever saw the boy in his uniform or his formal robes. Yuki smiled at him again before looking back into the mirror. Throughout that entire night he couldn't stop feeling the material of the hat that never left his head.

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Yuki watched as his last friend was pulled into the car, unconscious and gently breathing out every memory of him. His tears kept falling. He needed someone, anyone. He looked around and no one was there. His mother had only come into his sight to beat him or to yell at him, usually both. Hatori wouldn't make eye contact with the boy and Kyo… he hadn't seen Kyo since that day.

Yuki began to hug his knees when a familiar orange came into his sight. "Kyo!" He exclaimed happily only to stop short when he saw the anger that tied down his friend.

Kyo's breathing was hard and his fists were clenched as his face glared at him ruthlessly.

"Kyo…" Silence fell between them for awhile and Yuki could feel a similar fear rising up like the pre-taste of vomit.

"L-liar… you… you're a liar…"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

"Why did you lie to me?! Why didn't you tell me you were the rat?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME I HATED YOU?!" Yuki's eyes widened. His mouth dropped open as if to say something but nothing came out. He willed his brain to work and clenched his tiny little hands into fists, desperately trying to fight off such a terrifying feeling.

"Because I didn't want you to hate me! Because I wanted to be your friend, because I wanted someone to not hate me! Please don't hate me Kyo, please don't hate me!" Yuki stood up and began to walk toward his friend only for him to step back. "Please… you're… you're my best fri-"

"SHUT UP!" Kyo shouted harshly, his mind being cut off by pure anger and the boy winced at the voice. "YOU'RE THE RAT! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU RUINED MY LIFE! I HATE YOU! EVERYONE HATES YOU! I HOPE YOU DIE! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN, EVER!" And with that Kyo ran off into the bitter cold as fast and as hard as he could until he was out of sight. Yuki couldn't stand, he couldn't breathe he couldn't think.

"Kyo… Kyo… Kyo… please don't hate me, please don't hate me, I don't want you to hate me, I don't want anyone to hate me." Yuki fell to the ground his tears running down his cheeks onto the hard ground as he lay there on his side. "Please don't hate me… please… please be my friend…"

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Yuki had been missing for two weeks, no one in the household could find him, nor could anyone at his school. The teachers fussed as the students gossiped. His mother grew more and more infuriated with each day and Akito seemed to blow it off with an aggressive indifference. Many times did different Sohmas try and go to Kyo's house to ask if he was hiding the boy. It ended with Kazuma having to hold the boy back from kicking every visitor in the shin as he screamed his declaration of hatred for the damned rat. But every night since Yuki had been announced missing; Kazuma could hear the sobs of a child at night.

No one knew how or even why he had come back to the Sohma estate, but when they had found him he was malnourished from not eating properly, his skin was pale from exhaustion and the bitterness of autumn, his tattered hat had soaked up a small amount of blood and even more dirt and his hands were covered in a light layer of chocolate.

Kazuma had handed the package to Kyo with a small note attached. In it read a small plea from what could have only been a shattered soul.

If we both hate the rat can we live outside in Shii-han's tent? We can get blankets for when it gets really cold and mommy won't know where we are.

-Yuki

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Yuki didn't know what to do. The snow was biting into his pale cheeks, and his hands fidgeted nervously with his sleeves. The brightness of the crop of hair before him amazed him, captivated him. But his voice scared him, made him weak and unsure. He had been yelled at before, screamed at, hit, punched and even spat on. He feared it, he feared his curse bringing out the worst in those he only needed comfort from. He held the same fear a child has when they see a shadow in their bedroom or when they look around and can't find their mother in a crowded place. It spread through his chest until he couldn't think straight, until he could barely breathe.

"You… you're the rat aren't you?! Aren't you?!"

No one cares for the rat…

Everyone hates the rat…

I hear even that ox boy hates you too…

Your mother sold you to me; you're nothing but my toy!

I'm the only one that would ever love you, ever love the dirty rat…

The voices rang in the small boy's head as the child in front of him glared him down. His breathing became harsh and he felt his eyes well with uncertain tears. The tears of desperation, of want, of self-pity, of self-hatred and of hope flowed freely from his silver orbs. He didn't want this, he didn't want that fear. And that fear was so intense in knocked out his senses and seeped into his tongue as he looked firmly into the boy's eyes.

"N-no. No I'm not."

If you review be nice because I'm a wiiiiimp