Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket

A/N: I'd just like to shout out a thank you from everyone reading the story and that I'll be dedicating chapters to people who review, favourite and alert the story. If you've read any of my other stories you may already know this.

Chapter Two

For I'm Not What I Seem

Death darkens his eyes, and unplumes his wings,

Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings:

Live so, my Love, that when death shall come,

Swan-like and sweet it may waft thee home.

~ George Washington Doane.

~ (***) ~

Rosalie sat silently in the car trying to ignore the constant bickering going on between Erik and Momiji. They had become the long lost brother's neither of them ever had. That or the civil partner neither of them been able to find. She could see for sure that they were going to get along. She massaged her temples and closed her eyes with a frown on her face, trying to block out the noise. At first he seemed like a calm sensible individual and one that she hoped she would be able to get along with. His looks were so soft, his eyes seemed so gentle that anyone could mistake him for having a calm contenance. However after spending a few hours with him in the car, this very much changed, it seemed that like Momiji had a very excitable nature. One that was almost worse than that of Erik's. He would jump up and down about the slightest thing. Cookies. The latest fashion. Tohru, probably his girlfriend. Anything seemed to be able to excite him. Just. Like. Erik. It made her want to bang their heads together, not that it would shut them up. It would probably make them talk even more. What annoyed her the most was now Erik had even more of an excuse to act as he usually did and instead now he had someone to act excitedly with rather than an extra person to hit him around the head for acting like an imbecile. William shouldn't have left them alone together, she was now becoming afraid that she would soon be put on trial for homicide.

Nana leaned down for as much as her back would allow with a concerned look on her face.

"Rosalie? Is something the matter?"

Rosalie looked up drowsily and blinked. She found the family eyes of her Grandmother which her mother had inherited staring down at her with concern. Although hers didn't seem as bright and deep as her colour still was. Her grandmother's eyes were more of a lilac rather than a violet now. Time and experience had made her colour age and decay until on the day of her death the remains of her physical existence would wash over any sign of life with a clean white blanket like the ones used in a hospital when someone had passed and threw a blanket over their face almost as if they weren't there. She wasn't used to people being so worried about her. She was more used to having to be concerned for herself rather than anyone else taking the time or energy. Most of the people in her family consisted of people who were either self-absorbed or plain spiteful. Another reason why she wanted to get away from Venice. She had enough of all the family politics. She hoped that after a few months or years away from them that maybe they wouldn't seem so bad after she returned. A bad which was likely to fail. For the others left over they usually knew that it was because she was getting frustrated by Erik's antics and massages her temples. It was something which caused everyone to have a migraine. She wasn't the only who hated Erik in the family. In fact she couldn't think of a single person who could put up with Erik, so much as get along with Erik. She even suspected that there were many other family members who tried to throw him out a window or held him at knife point. She was sure that she had heard a story somewhere where Faron had tried to throw a table at him. Then again, Faron was the most violent member of the Laurent family.

She wasn't aware of this but there was another person in the car who was acknowledging her behaviour was some concern also. She was never used to attracting attention, although if she did she knew it meant that whatever it was that she was doing she needed to stop, since it meant that it wasn't a good thing. Mainly because she usually attracted Yuri's attention rather than anyone else's and Yuri was the worst person to have paying attention to your every movement. It was something she would've found quite surprising, with regards to his behaviour so far. Momiji had stopped bantering with Erik for a few moments to gaze at the violet-eyed girl who seemed so distracted, her eyes misted with some emotion which she didn't seem to recognise. She only realised until she actually stopped hearing the noise which was causing her to have a headache and to see what had happened (since it took a lot to actually shut Erik up. That or a really terrible death threat). He had no idea of what it could be that was on her mind since it was something which seldom visited her there.

He tilted his head knowing that look which was one that was all too familiar to him. He had seen it countless times on the faces of his family, and even on Tohru on the odd occasion when they were thinking about terrible times which had long passed. He even saw it on Akito when he saw her waiting outside the hospital. It was look that he had not seen in a long time. It was only shortly after it was all over that this expression was marked on some of their faces. He knew full well of the burden of dark family secrets and of being locked away from the outside world. But there was something else there as well. Something had changed. Something around her had changed. Maybe she was actually running away rather than seeing her family again. It always felt so lonely to be entrapped from those freedoms which so many other people could enjoy. This girl had that same looked on her face at that precise moment. She was hiding something, a secret which caused her to withdraw from society completely, to distance herself from others in fear that they would see the real her and the hidden secrets which lingered within. He knew exactly what that fear was: rejection. She was afraid that if she tried to open herself up to someone that they would reject her out of disgust.

He reached out and gripped her wrist. The gesture caused there to be almost an electric shock between the two of them. Neither of them could believe that he did something so sudden and forward for a moment but they almost seemed to sink into it and all of that was forgotten. Her skin was so smooth like cherry blossom petals in the spring. Though before he thought that it looked as smooth as Japanese silk. He could feel her shaking more than he was. She had the same calm, peaceful expression his mother sometimes had on her face when he saw her. Hatori was never able to restore her memories nor did Momiji approach her and tell her the truth. It was better for things to remain left as they did, things couldn't change, the past could never be changed. Erik glanced Rosalie's direction to capture her reaction, it wasn't often that she ever allowed someone to touch her. It was some strange phobia she had but he knew the reason behind it. He even doubted that she ever had a boyfriend. It was rather slow and hadn't noticed it for a few moments. That confirmed as to how little contact she had with people, let alone men in general. She first looked down at the place where she was being touched and as if following a piece of string looked up the arm into the face of the persons next to her. She stared at the young man touching her hand, who once again looked at her so gently with a small smile on his face. A smile which told her that everything was going to be okay. That it was alright to cry. That he would always be there is she needed someone to hug her.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently.

She hesitated and then nodded. "Yes...I'm fine. I'm just thinking..."

Her voice then trailed off like the spring wind. A dynasty seemed to pass before she answered again. "How annoying Erik can be."

"HEY!" Erik jumped up from his seat. "I thought you were going to finally say something heartfelt and profound!"

Rosalie narrowed her eyes at Erik. "What are you talking about you buffoon?" She grumbled.

"BUFFOON? BUFFOON?"

Nana started waving her hand urging Erik to sit down. "Now, now. Erik. The driver will start wondering what's going on in the back. Why don't we all settle down, after all we don't want to be hyper when we arrive now do we?"

"Awww. Momiji this party's going be fun, isn't it?" Erik begged, flickering his eyelashes.

Momiji nodded with a bright smile on his face. "Yeah. Everyone's going to be there. My cousin Kyo has a girlfriend called Tohru who I haven't seen in ages and can't wait to see. He took her with him when he went around training which everyone thinks is selfish of him. They're all especially excited to see you, Rosalie, considering that you're related to us but have never met us before."

Rosalie looked away regretfully and out the blacked-out window. She wanted to have stayed there. There was a part of her which almost allowed her that but the fear of rushing into such a moment made her scared. She wasn't entirely sure what had come over her actually, to let someone even brush their hand against herself made her feel paranoid. She would've liked to meet them sooner also but she knew the reason for why she had been unable to meet them. Yuri. Yuri had practically made it impossible for her to leave Venice to see her other relatives. Yuri was the head of the family and therefore any rule made was one that must be followed obediently and without question. Then again her being here was enough to be considered the rebel of the family. Yuri acted like they were of no importance to her. The Laurent were her real family. But they never felt like a family to her. More like a firm rather than a family. A firm was cold like a miserable autumn morning. A family was warm like a fire on a winter evening. The Sohma's were her mother's family therefore of no consequence. It was a great pain which year by year made the void all the more bigger. As time passed it made it more difficult to be able to see the family she had ever met. She would reach out across the ocean calling out for her lost family to save her. To rescue her from her prison. This opportunity felt like her only chance to finally see them and to escape from Yuri's grasp.

She turned to Momiji with a small smile and nodded. "I've also been waiting to finally meet my family. Unfortunately, I've been having trouble being able to get away from my father's family. We're all quite close actually."

"Hm...We're all...SO CLOSE!" Erik cried pulling Rosalie into an iron grip.

Rosalie was about to punch him in order to release herself from the grip until the driver interrupted them when he told them they had arrived at their destination. They both seemed to be frozen in a stereotypical slapstick pose where she had her hand held in the position as if to punch him and he had his hand up in mock surrender leaning far back against the window. A look of relief crossed Erik's face and leaned back in his seat with a notable smirk on his lips. Rosalie slumped back in her own wishing that she had the opportunity to relieve some of her stress and frustration on someone. Though Rosalie did breathe a sigh of relief at the announcement since then she wouldn't have to stay in the car another moment longer. She couldn't wait to get out of this car, it felt more like a nightclub rather than a classy limo drive. She sat back against the leather seats trying to catch her breath and waited for the car to stop so that she could jump out. She had to wait a few minutes though for her Nana to get out the car. With her old age she wasn't as energetic and fast as she used to be. Rosalie smiled sadly as she watched the driver help her Nana out the car and gave him a grateful nod.

She remembered very distantly when she would run in the fields with her on summer trips her parents would make to Japan or the mountains walks she was still able to manage. Now, she knew that those days were long gone. It did make her a little sad but then again it was only a matter of time until the day came when you could no longer walk up that mountain that you seemed to march up when you were a child. He tipped his hat and held out a hand to help her out. She blushed slightly and accepted it, not wanting to make a fuss and to give Erik another reason to go on a rampage about her lack of ladylike manners. She should have been used to this considering that this wasn't the first time someone had offered a helping hand out of the car despite the fact she was more than capable of doing so. She looked around her, absolutely enthralled by the world she had stepped Laurent family were rich but she had never seen an estate at this size with so many houses so closely built to one another. Her memories of staying with the memories must've been more distorted than she thought. There were gardens filled with fountains and little waterfalls. Trees filled with cherry blossoms and little white flowers she had forgotten the name of. She had never seen anywhere more beautiful than here. The warm spring breeze brushed against her hair and embraced her like the maternal hug which she had been lacking for so many years. She felt an arm wrap around her and looked up to find Momiji leading her to the house with people awaiting the lost daughter who had finally made her way home. She had to admit when she looked back on that evening she was sure for a moment, just a moment she allowed herself to sink into that comfortable half-embrace.