Hello friends, I'm back with a short fanfic that is a follow up to "So Far Away". This one picks up about six years after Tohru and Momiji shared their vows but this is more Shigure-centric than anything else. I wanted to write a fic for the holiday and the song with the line "Ho-ho the mistletoe, the holly and the ivy too
Somebody waits for you, kiss her once for me."
began to haunt my thoughts and I stuggled to think of a good situation in which to make that my holiday theme. Shigure, Momiji and their feelings for Tohru as based on my fanfic began to revolve in my mind and this is the result. I loved writing this one and I hope it at least lives up to my previous efforts and no one is disappointed or finds it too OOC. Any way please read, enjoy and leave a review if you would. I'd really like to know how I did. Thank you so much.
"Fruits Basket" does not belong to me. The original story and its characters are all the property of Natsuki Takaya. However, the plot and any original characters do belong to me. I hope those who read this like it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Kiss Her Once For Me
Chapter 1 An Invitation
Shigure Sohma, world renowned author and everyone's favorite uncle, held a Christmas card in his hand as he gazed out the window watching the snow fall. A blonde young man and sweet smiling woman with brown hair and teal eyes watched him from the enclosed photograph. Momiji and Tohru…they were one of the happiest couples he knew and the two little boys seated on their laps were probably two of the happiest children in the world. His thoughts drifted with the deepening snow as he considered the invitation within its covers. It was an invitation for him to visit Arizona at Christmas along with Jun, Kyo, Yuki, and their families. He knew he'd have to go because Jun would insist. As the dog of the Zodiac it was his duty to follow where his god led and Jun was the new god of the Zodiac since Akito's passing a few years ago. Jun would definitely want to go and then there was also the fact that he was a weak man when it came to the wishes of a certain beautiful woman with sea-colored eyes.
He didn't really have to look at the photo to picture the woman there. He remembered her from a time when she was only a first year high school student and came to live with him and his two younger cousins. She had lived in his house and made it a warm safe haven for him and all of the misfit children belonging to the Zodiac. The peace had lasted for three short years and then it all ended. Akito had hurt Tohru badly in one of his jealous rages and the impact on Shigure had been serious. Shigure was forced to arrange for Tohru to be spirited out of Japan. The action forced on him by Akito inspired a cold, dark, rage that he lived with for five years. And even worse, it had generated a strong mistrust of Hatori to the point that Shigure kept his actions a secret from his best friend.
At the time he had not clearly recognized his feelings for the young woman. He had always seen her as a cute high school girl and believed she would be the key to breaking the curse that had haunted his family for centuries. His family was still cursed but he strongly felt that this would be the last generation to suffer from it. The curse would end and it would largely be due to her influence. She'd laugh and say he was giving her too much credit, but he didn't really think so. Tohru's appearance in their lives helped the cursed members of the Zodiac realize they could be loved and accepted by normal people.
Now, 15 years later she was the yardstick by which he measured all women. Perhaps that was the reason he was still single at 43, the devoted caretaker of Jun, and everyone's favorite uncle in the youngest generation of Sohma. It still surprised him sometimes that Momiji should have ended up marrying her. He had thought it would be either Yuki or Kyo; at least he'd thought so until the day that she disappeared from the shores of Japan. However Yuki and Kyo had found other loves to replace the one they had lost. Momiji had not abandoned his dream and when the time was right he searched for and found it.
Shigure had not even realized he had a new dream to replace the old that Akito had shredded to pieces until a trip to San Diego brought Tohru back into their lives. It was then as he sought Tohru out during that visit that his dream crystallized. He didn't abandon his dream, but it did change. His thoughts drifted once again…He deliberately chose a time when he knew no one else would be around. He grabbed the car keys from the side table and drove to the bungalow where Tohru was visiting Momiji along with her best friends. He only wanted to assure himself that she was okay and had taken no lasting harm at Akito's brutal treatment of her.
He was a heartbroken man with shattered dreams when he made the decision to visit Tohru. He had been avoiding being alone with her for the better part of the week. He felt she deserved an apology from him because it was his fault she had even come to be among the Sohma and he was one that hated to ever regret his actions. She had glossed over his apology and then slowly; word by word; with compassion and understanding, she had rebuilt his heart and rekindled his dreams. She'd helped him realize before it was too late that his anger with Akito was hurting him more than it was hurting that quixotic god of the Zodiac. Because she was willing to forgive him and Akito, he found himself believing that maybe he could do the same. It was as he sat there on the floor in his canine form cradled in her arms that he faced the fact that he loved her. When Yuki, Momiji, and Kyo came in from their boys' night out he'd teased her with some nonsense about them being caught in a compromising position and said that she would have to marry him. She'd laughed and accepted his joke in the spirit it was offered, but deep down he wished she really could be his... He envied Momiji his steadfastness and the realization of his dream.
He had long since accepted the fact that she and Momiji were very much in love. He really was happy for Momiji, truly. But…He managed to fool everyone as he gave Tohru away at their wedding six years ago even Hatori and Ayame. That day a part of him was ecstatic that Tohru was marrying someone who would lavish as much love and care upon her as she would upon him. But the other part of him, the darker side of his personality, wished he could kidnap her from the back of the chapel and hide her somewhere far away until he became the most important man in her life. His better half won that battle. In the end, for him, her happiness was the most important thing in life and Momiji did make her happy. He could admit the truth, but he didn't necessarily like it. Of all the members of the Zodiac who loved her, Momiji was the one closest to Tohru in spirit. He had the unique capability to love and understand her as much as she loved and understood him. He knew all this but still…
If he really wanted to, he could extricate himself from the visit. He could say no because he had important publishing deadlines to meet. He could send Hatori in his place…he could but he wasn't strong enough to deprive himself of the privilege of seeing her again.