"Tohru. Tohru! Where are you?!"

Momiji turned, looking for that princess with a kind heart. The walls of his castle closing in. Running through corridors endlessly opening doors to find a room filled with people with strange faces. His family. The Sohma curse. He slammed the door, she must be in another room.

Animals deformed bodies piled in one room.

A dead rabbit in another.

His Mother not recognizing who he was and turning her face in disgust saying "I'm glad I forgot you."

Seeing Akito slap someone who looked just like him.

Room after room.

Running, running, forever running. He was out of breath, he felt like he was suffocating. He finally collapsed, holding his face in his hands, horrified.

He looked up again, hearing a familiar laugh.

That's when he saw her. Tohru. He was so relieved, he was about to call her name and run towards her. She smiled widely and he realized, that she wasn't smiling at him.

A boy-or man, with red hair and eyes walked past Momiji towards her and took her hand. Tohru turned away, walking away from Momijis sight, starting to fade into the white end of the hall.

"Tohru!" Momiji choked, sitting up in bed with his hand outstretched in her direction. He looked at his hand for a moment, the dream had felt so real. Tohru had left months ago with Kyo, and he had thought he was finally starting to get over her. Guess he was wrong.

He sat up in bed, and clutched at his aching heart as tears swelled in his eyes. He missed her so much, that's why he had suppressed it thinking of her. But he couldn't escape the memory of her smiling face. Loving Tohru so much, he began to feel like he wished he had never met her at all.

He stopped, dead in the middle of that thought. He wasn't going to be like his Mother, and try to forget, he was going to move forward. After all, that's what he had promised Tohru.

Slipping out of bed, he noticed the time. It was almost time for his first day of his fourth year in high school.

He smiled. Hoping that he would get to see someone very special today.

The path Momo took to school held a slight breeze this morning. She shivered. Her stomach was so tight. The first day of high school. How would it be? Would she be made fun of for her hair again like in middle school? Most probably. Not that it was too bad before. She was shy so people hadn't bothered her much, but this year, she wanted to be outgoing and make lots of friends.

Haru and Kisa were in her same year, and she weakly hoped they would all be in the same class. Walking a little faster, a strong breeze flew up and lifted her school map into the air. Right as she looked up to catch it, another hand snagged it.

"What's this?" the handsome stranger asked curiously, looking at the paper-or gorgeous stranger as she should have put it in her brain.

"Uh- I-I uhm…" she stuttered, looking up at his perfect face. He was tall, and had the same color of eyes and hair as her, but he was almost like a god. His soft curly hair illuminated by the morning sun behind him.

"Oh! It's a school map. Here you go." He said, smiling brilliantly, handing it back to her. Momo's mind went blank, and so she said the first thing that popped into her head.

"You're pretty." she said almost dumbly, leaning towards him a little. His face looking completely shocked. Then her brain realized what she had done and she covered her face with the map, blushing madly.

Momo! You idiot! You do not say that to people you have just met! What is wrong with you?

The boy laughed, surprising Momo as she looked over the paper. His smile was so beautiful it made her want to cry for some reason. His cheeks were dark red and he looked a little ruffled by what she had said.

Maybe it wasn't so bad that I said it out loud.

"You are really cute, you know that?" he said, putting his hand behind his head bashfully.

Momo blushed deeply. "My name is Momo Sohma, it's a pleasure to meet you." she said politely, bowing.

"Momo Sohma huh?" he said bending forward a bit, leaning in on her face with a smirk. " I'm Momiji Sohma. Sounds like you were named after me or something. Are you heading to school right now?"

Momiji Sohma? This is my cousin? I thought he was a girl! I've only seen her-I mean him, a couple of times. I always thought it was peculiar too, like our paths were purposefully not crossed even though we were in the same family. I mean, our family wasn't that big. We looked so alike we could have been sisters, but that's just my loneliness speaking. Wishing for a sibling.

"Oh! Yes I am. I remember you. Momiji-san." she bowed again respectfully.

This time he reacted differently, he looked pained for a second and she swore she saw tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry!" she bowed again, realizing her mistake. "I just referred to you respectfully because you are an older relative of mine- I mean not that your old! Uhm-"

"It's okay. I was just taken by surprise. No one has ever respected me before with that honorific. I guess its just very nice and confusing to be called that all at the same time…" he stopped, looking down as redness reached his ears. "I really like it. So...you can call me that from now on if you would like."

The breeze floated past him as cherry blossoms drifted behind him. His expression was thoughtful, and Momo's heart clenched.

"You better get to school. You'll be late." he laughed, turning around. "It was nice seeing you again, Momo-chan." he said, walking off as she turned tomato red.

He probably shouldn't have done that. But he was glad he did. Momiji walked silently to the gates of his school, he was late but it had been worth it. Looking around hoping he wouldn't bump into her again or he'd be in real trouble with his dad.

Heading to class to the third years room, he opened the door and walked in to find everyone staring at him. He could hear the whispers immediately.

Is that the guy who was held back a year?

I heard he was a good student then suddenly in his third year he let go of his studies.

That's the loser who's repeating a year right?

I used to like him a lot when he was my senpai, but now...

He didn't care much about what they were saying, he had held himself back a year so he could see Momo, even for a little while.

Everyone was restless. Except for one girl in the back of the class, quietly drawing in her notebook. The seats in front of her and next to her were empty, so he decided to take the one next to her. The whispers got even more fierce, although he couldn't tell why.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Momiji Sohma." he said with a bright smile, turning towards the girl.

She had long jet black hair that was slicked back into a perfect ponytail, kind of like a samurai, and icy cold blue eyes that looked almost murderous as her gaze moved up to meet his. Her expression was surprised, and she was really very pretty so he wondered why she was sitting alone.

Her gaze hardened suddenly, and the soft look of surprise disappeared from her expression and turned cold and somewhat scary.

"Why are you talking to me?" she asked in a level voice. "Did someone here put you up to it?"

Momiji was now the surprised one. "No, I just thought I should introduce myself. What's your name?"

"Rito Hakomori." she said blankly, turning back to her notebook.

Rito? Funny, thats kind of a boys name.

"Are you a girl?" Momiji asked almost like a child as he took the seat next to her.

Rito's jaw clenched, and her eyes glassed over a bit. "Yes. Why else would I be wearing a girls uniform? I know I have a boys name, but that doesn't mean you have to be so cruel." she said, not looking up from her paper.

Momiji blinked. He hadn't meant to be rude. "I'm really sorry. I just...my first year in high school I wore the girls uniform. I doubted that you were a boy, you don't look like one. I have just seen some boys so pretty that they look like girls."

This made Rito's expression soften a bit and she turned to him again slightly. "So you weren't making fun of my name?"

"No. Not at all. I really like your name, it fits you. Because its pretty like you." he smiled, hoping she would take it as a compliment.

She didn't.

"Not very pretty then I guess." she said, gloom descending.

"No no! I mean…" he paused for a moment thinking. "Everyone says my name is girly, and I took it to heart and accepted it. My name is part of who I am. I also share half of my name with someone I care about very much. So it's not a bad thing. I think Rito is a lovely name that can be turned into something feminine just because you possess it. That's what I think." he said softly, looking over at her again. Her expression was relaxed again, and...happy.

She smiled and Momiji's heart warmed a bit.

"You are...kind." she said back, her blue eyes softer than before. He blushed a bit, turning towards the teacher, thinking the conversation was over. "I like your name too." she said quietly, making his face turn a deeper crimson as they both turned back to their notebooks.

Hi guys! I hoped you liked my first chapter. I am not sure if it's good or not, I'm a new writer and I was trying to get the feel of the manga series. If you review and favorite it would be a great help! Thank you!