Author: Maho and Karuya
Disclaimer: ::Kyou-neko walks out:: Ahem! Maho and Karuya own nothing! Please don’t sue them!

Warning: YAOI!!! AU some OOC-ness and fan girl Tohru.

Maho: This is the first Fruits Basket fic by both Karuya and I. We both worked on this chapter so I hope you like it!
Karuya: You better... >.<

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CHAPTER 1

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Late afternoon one summer day, some time ago, two boys playing at the beach. The older one, an orphan, met a younger boy with the family he never had, played together on the beach. Until the sun went down and the tide came in. When the younger boy’s mother called him back, he presented a perfect white shell to his new friend, kissed his hand and promised the older boy they would see each other again one day.

...........

"Tohru! Slow down! It’s not like we’re going anywhere important!!!" Kyou yelled to his best friend.

Tohru turned to him and winked. "This IS important! We’re going to see Yuki! THE Yuki!"

"But-"

"No buts, you promised not to complain!"

Kyou turned to glare out the window. "Well I don’t see what’s so special about this guy." Kyou mumbled under his breath. "All he can do is sing and look good. And I’m sure both of those are digitally altered."

They pulled into the parking lot of the stadium where the concert was being held. Tohru was out of the car and racing toward the entrance while Kyou was still managing to unbuckle himself.

"C’mon! Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Tohru yelled to Kyou when she noticed he wasn’t behind her.

"Damnit, I’m moving as fast as I can! What’s the freakin rush? The damn thing doesn't even start for another hour!"

Instead of arguing, Tohru grabbed Kyou’s wrist and pulled him the rest of the way into the building.
.................
What seemed like eons later, Kyou and Tohru were sitting in the personal dressing room of ‘Yuki’. It was part of Tohru’s grand prize. She had called in to some random radio contest and won two tickets and backstage passes to ‘Yuki’s’ new concert. And being Tohru’s best friend, Kyou had agreed to go. Agreed- read; forced.

"I can’t believe we are actually here." Tohru was pacing around the not-so-small dressing room looking at everything and trying to capture every memory. "Look! I think these are his sunglasses!!!" She squealed, picking up said object and trying them on. "And this must be his gum wrapper!!!"

Kyou scoffed. "I just don’t see why everyone loves this guy so much."
Tohru looked at him, mouth agape. "How can you not? His lyrics come from his heart-"

"His lyricists heart." Kyou interjected.

Tohru paid no attention and kept on going. "He helps out at orphanages-"

"-His publicists idea."

"He’s smart-"

"Oh an elementary school education! Genius!"

"And to top it off, he’s gorgeous!"

Kyou smirked. "Most likely, he’s forty three, balding, and has yellow teeth. It’s all digital. No one really looks like that."

"I assure you, I am not forty three, all my hair is natural, and my teeth are as white as possible for the money I pay."

Kyou and Tohru turned to look at the speaker with identical looks of horror. There, standing in the doorway, was Yuki himself. He was wearing black pants and a navy blue top cut in a chinese style. He was completely casual compared to what he had been wearing on stage... black, with a lot of zippers. But around his neck still hung the same white shell that appeared in every single picture he was in...

"So you are the winners. What are your names?" Yuki walked the rest of the way into the room and sat down in one of the big chairs.

"I am... my name is... um..." Tohru was able to make her brain function long enough to get that out before it shut down again at the sight of Yuki.

Kyou glanced at his best friend and rolled his eyes. "I’m Sohma, Kyou and that’s Honda, Tohru."

Yuki looked at the ruby eyed boy long enough to cause Kyou’s cheeks to turn a light shade of pink. "I hope you don't mind my saying, but you look a tad familiar..."

Kyou was feeling cornered by now, with both Tohru and this Yuki guy staring at him. He hated being stared at. "Nope, sorry. I'm pretty sure I would have recognized your paparazzi a mile away."

Tohru giggled.

“Ah...” Yuki sighed and shifted his gaze to Tohru. "I'm guessing that from the lack of enthusiasm from this guy, you're the one who entered the contest?"

Tohru blushed. "Yes. Kyou is my best friend and I asked if he would come with me. I absolutely adore your songs Yuki. And everything you do for society. I was at your "Save the 'African sea slug' convention last month and the speech you gave was amazing."

"Save the sea slugs? SAVE THE SEA SLUGS??!" Kyou’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sheer absurdity of such a convention.

Yuki chuckled. "That one was my publicists idea. And you'd be amazed by the sudden enthusiasm people had to save the damn things... " Tohru started laughing, and even Kyou was grinning.

"So, Yuki," Kyou began "What do you famous stars do in your spare time? When your not 'saving sea slugs' anyway. Go to the movies... go to parties... hang with your girlfriend?" Kyou laughed weakly. He thought of Yuki kissing another girl and ducked his head down. What the hell ? Why did that sound so desperate?

Yuki looked up and stopped smiling. "This 'stardom' thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. I can't go to the movies without being attacked, all of the parties I go to I'm the only one under 30, and I don't have a girlfriend, I'm gay."

The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Your- your what?" Tohru cried, glancing over at Kyou. Kyou refused to return her glance but shook his head slightly. Tohru shut up.

"Is it that surprising?" Yuki asked, smiling sadly.

"No, not at all! I have a frien- I mean, I know people who are gay, it's totally cool! But-" Tohru stopped and gulped nervously "-Your just so popular, with the girls and all, and I've read dozens of magazines about you and none of them say-"

"-That I'm gay, I know. My publicist preferred that I keep quiet about it, seeing that most of my fans are teenage girls." He tilted his head thoughtfully and glanced at Kyou. "Does it bother you?" The question behind the question was obvious in his voice. Tohru smiled and, again, turned to Kyou.

Kyou blushed. "Nope. Doesn't bother me a bit." Kyou said nonchalant and offered no more information.

Yuki sighed and turned to look at the clock. "Well, I'd love to stay here and chat some more, but I have to be on a plane in about 20 minutes to repeat this same concert in London tomorrow. So..."

Tohru immediately jumped up and began stammering with unrecognizable apologies.

Yuki laughed. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Honda-san." He stood up and gave her a hug. Tohru's eyes glazed over and she fell against the wall. Kyou looked at his best friend and rolled his eyes, trying to keep his gaze from drifting to Yuki, who was staring at him.

Kyou turned to leave and felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun and found himself face to face with Yuki. Up close, Yuki looked even more beautiful than ever, large violet eyes, skin as smooth as a porcelain doll, silver hair framing his face perfectly, giving him that -feminine but still masculine- look that few could pull off. Right now his pretty was face etched with confusion.

Kyou felt tongue-tied suddenly. "I- I guess it was nice meeting you." Kyou stammered, half wishing Yuki would move his hand away and half wishing he would move it- in a different direction.

Yuki smiled suddenly and moved his hand away. "I'll be seeing you, Kyou." Kyou nodded gruffly and wasting no time, grabbed Tohru's hand as they fled from the room.

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"Well, wasn't that fun..." Kyou grumbled from the far corner of the car, wishing he was at home on his roof so he could sort out his thoughts.

"H-hai!" Tohru exclaimed, missing the sarcasm as usual. " I thought it was awesome! Yuki is just as amazing as I thought he would be, don't you think? He's even more beautiful up close, and he was so sweet and polite! And he even hugged me! I thought I was going to..." Tohru glanced at her friend and faltered at the sullen look on his face. "Ano, Kyou, didn't you even have a little bit of fun? Didn't you enjoy the concert?"

"I guess... I'm just ready to go home." Kyou saw Tohru's lips began to quiver, a sure sign that she was unhappy.

"Gomen nassai Kyou! I didn't want you to have a bad time! I just wanted my best friend to be there with me..." Kyou looked over at Tohru and saw her face pinched and tight. He immediately felt bad.

"Ah Tohru, don't mind me. I had fun. REALLY" Kyou pressed, hating seeing his friend sad. He ruffled her hair and forced a grin.

Tohru's face cleared. "Just as long as you weren't bored-"

"I wasn't."

"Ok."

They were quiet the rest of the drive home. When Tohru pulled into the driveway, she parked the car and turned to her friend.

"Well, goodnight Tohru." Kyou pushed his door open and felt her hand on his arm. He stopped and looked at her face, and Kyou could tell she was struggling with something.

"Kyou, don't you think it's amazing that Yuki is gay? I mean, at first I was kinda bummed but then I thought maybe-"

"Maybe what? Kyou interjected.

"Well, Kyou... maybe you-"

"Goodnight Tohru." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and got out of the car before she could say anything else. Tohru watched him walk away and slowly shook her head. She waited until his door clicked shut before she put the car into reverse. Kyou, what am I gonna do with you?

.......................................................................................

Kyou leaned against the door of his home and drew out a long sigh. It had been a long night. He could see the room partially light up from Tohru’s car as she drove away. He loved Tohru, like a sister. She knew more about him then anyone else and she always managed to say what he was thinking. Even if she didn’t realize it.

Turning off the hall light, Kyou headed up to the roof. His mother would have a heart attack if she knew how much time he really spent up there.

Up on the roof, Kyou stared up and the night sky and tried to sort out the mess that was his brain at the moment. Part of his brain said he should have acted differently in case he never got to see the pop idol again.

A sudden image of Yuki’s face flashed into Kyou’s mind, causing his already jumbled emotions to become even more so. Ah, what am I thinking? The guy is a superstar! Why would a guy like him even- Kyou stopped that line of thought. “I’m such an idiot.” Kyou chuckled to himself. If I keep this up I’ll start acting as fan crazed as Tohru...

At that moment, which Kyou would later come to think of as part of God’s strange sense of humor, a car drove by blasting one of Yuki’s songs. Natsu no Kokoro.

<A memory of a dream

My heart only lies

the sun never turned my world gold

but you-

You let me fly

gave my life a silver lining...>

The music faded as the car got farther away and Kyou was left with a heart pounding feeling caused by the slow, dark, melody. It had been the first time he had paid attention and really listened to one of the songs. Even at the concert, the sound of the screaming fans, had caused him to block it all out and his mind to wander. That, and the ear plugs...

Kyou closed his eyes, trying to block out everything but the sound of the night bugs chirping in time to only one other. As Kyou was about to fall asleep, the face of Yuki came to his head. Strangely, that is when he felt contented enough to sleep...

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Karuya: Does anybody think Kyou is too OOC?
Maho: Is this worth the time to continue? Anything else?
Karuya: Uh...no
Maho: Okay then. Review!