Ah, it's been a long time since I finished a fanfic. I looked at my userpage the other day and realized that I hadn't posted a fic at all in 2008. So, with a little bit of prompting, I decided to finish and publish all the things I had started. I gave myself the goal of one month so... look out for more from me soon? XD And wish me luck!
A lot of my one-shot ideas come from when my BFF/editor/beta/personal cheerleader Kay says, "I wish people would write more _______ fic." This is one of those stories. XD She was going through an affair-fic reading phase, and I like Furuba, and she likes Momiji/Tohru, so I wrote. I don't really picture Momiji and Tohru having an affair, but this is my attempt, so enjoy! :3
ETA: Apparently opinions on affair fanfiction are touchier than I thought; for the record, I certainly would never cheat and I don't think it's right, and I doubt that if I was cheated on, I would be okay with it. This is just an exploration of what characters would do. On Kay's behalf, this is how she explained her interest to me after I received a few scathing reviews focused on the content of this story: "for the record, I find the emotions, motivations, and reactions of people involved in affairs to be a compelling thing to explore. I do not encourage infidelity in anyway, unless all parties are into that sort of thing..."
And the moral of this edit is, don't read this if you're upset by affairs and then comment just because you want to say that they are wrong. I didn't intend to stir up a moral debate, just present something different.
-elle (I-IV-V)
Momiji, in a top hat and tails, was having tea with a teenage Momo. He asked, after a sip of his green and white tea blend, "So you want to study quantum physics in university?"
"Yes," she replied. She daintily nibbled her coffee cake, and then adjusted the lace cravat on her dress.
"How's the violin coming?"
"It's quite splendid, actually."
An awful noise rang through the room. The china shook, and several pieces fell onto the floor and shattered.
Momiji woke with a start. His eyes sprang open in the darkness. In the split second before he became fully conscious, he thought, "Why am I awake?" The phone chimed loudly, removing Momiji from the warm stupor that was half-consciousness.
He reached out, missing, then finally gripping the phone in his hand. He answered it groggily, "Hello?"
"Um… Momiji-kun? I'm so sorry for calling right now. Did I wake you up?"
"No, Tohru," he lied. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.
"Can… can you come over here? I'm sorry, but… I just don't want to be alone right now…" She sounded like she was about to panic.
"Where's Kyou?"
"He's… he's away. Please, Momiji, I know it's late but—"
"I'll be there in a sec." He hung up the phone and quickly pulled some pants over his briefs. He slipped on a sweatshirt and grabbed his keys. Momiji shuffled, still half-asleep, out the door and to Tohru and Kyou's place.
Momiji's little studio apartment wasn't too far from theirs. He'd remained as close as possible to Tohru since he was able to move out of the Sohma compound after completing university. Even though it was some ungodly hour of the night, he walked to their apartment. And as he trudged along, still waking up, thoughts raced through his head. Why did Tohru call me? She sounded really upset… and where is Kyou? Isn't he supposed to be taking care of her? I mean they've been married, what? Three years now? Sheesh. What a bad husband. Just to up and leave her like that…
I would never do that to her.
When Momiji reached their building, he climbed up the stairs to their apartment. He stretched out his hand and knocked on the door. He could hear several bolts unlatching, and was then greeted by Tohru peeking shyly from around the corner of the cracked door. When she confirmed that it was not a psycho-killer, she opened the door wide and pulled Momiji into a grateful hug.
"I'm so sorry for calling you, Momiji-kun," she squeezed, "Really… it's just that Kyou is on a trip with Shishou right now, and I watched this really scary movie on TV earlier, and I kept trying to sleep but there were all these noises and I felt really scared, but I didn't want to call Kyou because then he'd say that I'm an idiot—"
"It's okay, Tohru," he laughed, "I understand."
She yawned; "now that you're here, I'm feeling sleepy…"
"Me too," said Momiji, also yawning Tohru's infectious yawn. "We should get some sleep."
"Yes." Tohru locked the door and turned back to Momiji. "So we don't have a guest bedroom, and that couch is pretty lumpy, so I thought you could sleep with me?" she suggested innocently, only to realize the implication a split second later, "W-what I mean is, we can share the bed."
"I understood," Momiji chuckled.
He followed her to the bedroom, and they settled into bed.
"So how is Nadine?" asked Tohru, curling up on her side. Nadine was a German exchange student Momiji had been seeing since they'd met in his last year of university.
"We broke up," he answered, pulling off his sweatshirt and tossing it on the floor.
"Aww, Momiji-kun, I'm sorry," she replied, quickly hugging him supportively, then moving back to her original positions beside him in the bed.
"It was time; she went back to Germany and I graduated. Stuff was changing for us, so…"
"Even still, I'm sure it's sad; for me, it's always sad to leave someone you are close to," she responded, readjusting herself on her side of the bed, shifting a bit closer to Momiji.
"Yes," he answered, rearranging himself as well.
"Well, thank you for coming over. I'm really glad you're here; it's… it's hard to sleep alone," she said softly.
"I know."
"Well, goodnight, Momiji-kun," she said, stretching and curling up again.
"Goodnight, Tohru." Momiji was suddenly painfully aware of their closeness. He felt her knee just barely resting against his leg, the knuckles of the hand she had clutched in the sheets curled casually against his abdomen. There was something about the way the fabric of her simple, gray nightgown clung to her, the way her knee twitched ever so slightly against his, the way the soft light from the lamp on the bedside table illuminated the curve of her face. Without thinking, he stretched out his hand and gently cupped her cheek. Her eyes opened at the touch. "Hm? Oh, right, the… light…"
Momiji shook his head, and said quietly, his voice just above a whisper, "How can he leave you alone like this?" Doesn't he understand anything about you? He was studying her face; he saw that flicker of sadness in her eyes when spoke. Doesn't he realize that you hate being alone?
He wasn't entirely sure what compelled him to do so, but he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers.
At first, she was taken aback by the kiss, but after the shock wore off, she relaxed and kissed him back.
The kiss became another, and then another; it evolved into warm caresses and deeper kisses. He slid his hands under her nightgown, kissed her stomach, and removed her panties and his own underwear.
Momiji thought that maybe, if he was somehow better than Kyou this one night, maybe she would leave Kyou and come to him.
No, he corrected himself, that wouldn't happen. They were married; surely Tohru would want to honor that. He let that hope die out like a cheap paper match and decided it was enough to have her then and there.
He wondered if she should stop and remind her that she was married. Was it wrong to keep going? No, he thought, Kyou didn't need to know, he would never find out. It would be his and Tohru's secret. Who knew how far things would go? He decided not to say anything. He would keep kissing her, touching her. If she didn't want it, she would stop.
Tohru didn't once think about stopping. She allowed herself to indulge in this moment with Momiji. She decided that if she wanted to feel guilty, she would allow herself to feel horrible afterwards.
She thought that Momiji was an amazing lover, different than Kyou, but just as satisfying. Where Kyou pressed, Momiji was delicate. Kyou nibbled at her neck, Momiji kissed behind her ears; Kyou squeezed her breasts and tugged her nipples, Momiji gently rolled them between his thumb and forefinger; Kyou positioned her, pulled her closer, deeper, when he was inside of her, Momiji pulled back a bit and gave her space to position her hips the way she liked. Momiji was more tender where Kyou was more deliberate.
In the morning, Momiji felt like he was receiving divine retribution. The very first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Tohru's hand on the pillow, wedding band practically glowing in the morning sunlight (what, did she where it all the time?). He felt guilty; what if Kyou somehow found out and this whole incident spiraled out of control? How could he have allowed himself to jeopardize Tohru's relationship like this?
He reluctantly pried himself out of bed, scrounged around until he located all of his clothes, and shuffled off to the bathroom to get dressed and wash his face. Tohru was awake, sitting up in bed and stretching, when he returned.
"Good morning," she said brightly.
"Morning…" He sat down on the bed beside her. Neither one knew quite what to say to the other. After a while, Momiji said, "I'm sorry."
"Why?" asked Tohru; she didn't ask what about.
"You're married."
She hugged her knees to her chest and paused before replying thoughtfully, slowly, "I may be married, but I'm alone."
Momiji leaned over and kissed her forehead. "You'll never be alone as long as I'm around."