So I posted this like, what, a week ago and I didn't get a notice for it, so I figure something went wrong. Second try. ; Sorry guys!

Chapter 2! This took me forever to write but I must say I'm happy with the way it's coming out. I hope people are still going to review this. ; -throws confetti- Before we get too much into the story I want to point out that there may be, uh, lapses in the vampire scenes but that's because the focus is not on he's a vampire and he's not; it's more on the fact that they are different in general.

Disclaimer: Fruits Basket and all the crazy characters belong to Natsuki Takaya-sama, who is letting us borrow them.

Note: Shonen-ai/yaoi. If it's not your cup of tea, hit the back button. Now.

Chapter One: The Beginning of the End

When Haru Sohma was made a vampire by his cousin Shigure, things were different in the world. Much different. With Yuki, Shigure, and Ayame at his side, Haru had seen conspiracies and true love. He had seen kingdoms rise and fall. Most everything changed in time. Because of this, one would think that Haru would live by the 'everything changes' motto. Not so. Because just as spring always changes into summer, and winter always give way into spring, Ayame Sohma had never changed. And he did mean never.

He was still the same loud, somewhat irritating being who -- if Yuki did not escape the mansion before he did -- would serenade his brother with love songs, ask questions that Yuki was never, ever going to answer, and other such things that tended to drive the nezumi up the wall. Most nights he could get out without being caught. It wasn't hard to wake up a few minutes earlier, just a pain in the butt. But he could do it. And when he couldn't, well...

"My beloved brother! Come and share a feast with your elder brother tonight; we haven't shared a meal in ages. What, is my brother grieving? Is that why he never partakes of a meal with me? Share with me your secrets, my wounded brother! Has some mortal broken your heart?"

"No...definately not," Yuki muttered, shooting a very pitiful glance at Haru. It was a look that clearly said 'Help Me.'

Haru, emerging regally from his own coffin, smirked. He felt bad for Yuki, he really did. But he knew better than to get himself involved. Especially since Ayame didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. No, death by UV rays would have been more enjoyable. So, he decked himself out in his very best and stealthily exited hte mansion. He lived for thenight, Haru did. The mortals were so...alive.

It was just the way that through the day they were so boring. He hadn't, of course, experienced this first hand, but he'd heard plenty of people at the club bitching about how their bosses have got it out for them, or how they have to suck up to annoying brats just to keep on the executives good side. Haru wrinkled his nose, happy that he did not have to be around when the sun was up. Mortals were no fun then.

Something drew him back to the club from the previous night. Maybe it was the girl he killed. Or the boy he spoke with. Maybe it was just to see the chaos of life and death clashing. If there ever was a place to see life and death together, it was in a club.

The police investigation, he was pleased to see, had been swift. Deaths in clubs were so very easy to figure out. Too much of this, too much of that. Someone occasionally got arrested for unruliness but for the most part it was fools who couldn't hold their liqour and drowned in their own vomit. Haru shivered -- not his favorite thing to see.

Ah, there was the boy from the night before. He manuevered smoothly through the crowd and came up to the boy, placing on arm around his waist.

"Heard the police were here."

"New girl was killed," Momiji's eyes showed something undechiperable. Haru frowned; he was too young to be speaking so casually about death.

"Huh."

He released his hold on the boy and went inside, immediately sensing that it wasn't going to be a good night to feed from the club. Half the drunken fools in there were no prize, and the other half were downright disgusting. He couldn't feed from them. He wanted his victim to be at least somewhat sober when he took them. Vaguely, he thought of the blond. 'No,' his mind battled him. 'He's different.' As if to prove this point the boy swang by, placing an apple martini swiftly onto his table.

"There ya go."

"Thank you," Haru flashed him a sultry, sexy look. "Join me?"

He didn't exert any subconscious force on the boy. He wanted to know what the boy would really and truly do. Then he would exert the force. Much too his surprise, the boy sat down beside him without any thought. Haru felt himself softening beneath the boy's unusually large smile; the realization sickened and warmed him at the same time. That a mere mortal could evoke such a softness from him, Haru Sohma, was both astonishing and repelling. He was suddenly struck with the urge to take the boy, to see if that smile would hold up as his fangs slipped slowly into his neck.

The boy -- Momiji, was that it? -- continued smiling, unaware of the battle going on in Haru's head. His blond hair was slipping down into his eyes in a way that nearly sent Haru over the edge. Mortals. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, a mistake. The blood on his lips just sent him into further spasms of want. They just didn't know what they did to creatures like him. How much he wanted them...

It wasn't that he loved them particularly. He loved -- if love was the word -- one or two every century; one who's character caught his eye. He would always exert strong self-control around them, refusing to take them. This boy should have been one of those mortals, but he wasn't. Just because he was so damn intoxicating... The chocolate brown eyes were watching him, questioning. Haru gave a soft smile and sipped his drink, the blood running down the side.

"So. They actually let you in here? How old are you?" Haru eyed the boy. He looked too young to be in a club, especially one like this. He would be surprised if the boy hadn't been deflowered by now.

Momiji giggled, "Oh, the bouncer is an old friend of the family. He knows about the situation, you know? So he lets me in."

Momiji leaned forward and brushed the blood away from Haru's lip. Haru bit back a moan.

"Hm."

"And I'm seventeen."

Seventeen. Just a year younger than when he was turned. Would this boy be able to withstand the change? What would he do, if he were immortal? What was he, Haru, doing? 'What am I doing?' he thought to himself. Feeding every night as he always had, but nothing much else. What were any of them doing, really, up in the huge mansion that was just for the four of them? Did they really need everything they had? But what did they have?

"Time," Haru mumbled to himself, raking a hand through his messy hair. "Lots and lots of time."

Momiji watched him with those chocolate eyes that seemed to draw him in. He felt himself becoming more and more entranced with the boy, and before he knew it he was leading the blond beauty away -- past the tables covered with bottles of alcohol, past the writhing bodies on the dance floor -- and out into the night. Their breath came out in white clouds, then faded to nothing as the wind took them away. Momiji was looking at him, questioning but unafraid. 'Oh you would be afraid,' he thought bitterly, 'if you knew what I had in store for you.'

Was he really going to do this, he wondered as he pushed the soft fabric of the boy's shirt away from that tantalizing neck, reveling at how the softness of the fabric had nothing on the smoothness of the boy's skin. The brown eyes were still on him, still questioning. But there still was not a fleck of fear in them. Then they blinked, and Haru saw only that questioning curiousness, and Momiji wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer -- he was cold. Was he really going to do this? Haru licked his lips at the closeness of the boy.

Of course he was.

He tilted the boy's head gently to the side and descended upon the neck, fangs slipping over his bottom lip and slicing through the flesh. He felt Momiji gasp, clutch at him so hard that he must have drawn blood. But Haru already had blood. It was pouring into his mouth, dripping down his chin. It was warm and it warmed him, filling him to the very tips of his fingers with life, life that had never tasted so good as the life that Momiji's blood gave him. He felt the blond's grip loosening as he sucked in another mouthful of life and panicked, horrified.

What was he doing? Was he insane -- why did start this? Why did he stop? He couldn't possibly let the boy live now that he knew what Haru was. He would be a

danger to his entire vampiric family. To Yuki, Shigure, and Ayame. He would be beamed before he allowed any harm to come to his family, the only thing he had left.

But the thought of finishing Momiji, of sucking the very last drops of life out of him, repulsed him. And still they eyes showed no fear. Wonder, excitement, but no fear.

It was driving Haru mad. He could still taste the blood on his lips, could still hear the beating of Momiji's heart.

He pulled away from Momiji, fangs sliding out from the softness of the boy's neck, back into place. His heart leapt as Momiji moaned and clutched his neck. Was he in

pain, or in rapture? Did he want Haru to continue, or was his only thought to demolish him? What did he want?

Haru shoved the boy up against the chainlink fence that surrounded the area. He bared his fangs for the boy, gently touched the wound on Momiji's neck that had been his doing. And Momiji again moaned, still unafraid.

"Do you see?" Haru demanded, fangs still bared. "Do you see what I am?"

Momiji nodded, so slightly that for a moment Haru wondered if he'd actually done it. It didn't matter anyways.

"I could kill you right here, right now," Haru continued, his finger ghosting over the wound. "Do you understand that? And if I find out you've told anyone, anyone, I'll come back and kill you."

He pressed, hard, against the wound, making it bleed more. Momiji gasped, a painful look crossing his face. He closed his eyes and tried not to think of the pain. How much it hurt... When he opened his eyes again, Haru was gone.

Haru stumbled into his home minutes before sunrise. His legs didn't seem to want to obey him. One moment he would be clambering frantically for his coffin, the other time he would be trying to head back for Momiji. What had he done? What would the others say? He bit his lip, drawing blood. He didn't care about what Shigure and Ayame said -- he loved them, yes, but their words didn't hold as much impact as Yuki's.

Haru groaned and looked up at the door to the cellar. Speak of the devil, Yuki was waiting for him. Haru really didn't want to see his cousin right now. He didn't want Yuki to know about the stupid, dangerous, costly mistake he had just made. He didn't want Yuki to see him cry. So he kept his head bowed and shoved rudely past the boy, wincing as he heard his cousin's hurt gasp.

"Haru, where have you been? It-it's almost dawn."

This was it. The time had come. There was no way he could put this off -- not explaining to Yuki would only put them in more trouble. They needed to know... Haru swallowed. But it still felt so damn hard to admit that he had done this.

"Yuki," he whispered. He turned to face Yuki, who was coming down the stairs. "Someone knows."

Silence. Either Yuki hadn't heard him or he was contemplating all the possible meanings of that sentence. Or trying to invents some. Because Haru knew that Yuki knew that there was only one thing in the world he could mean when he said that sentence, and one thing only.

"What do you mean, 'someone knows?'"

"A boy I met at the club," Haru mumbled. He didn't know what to say, what would make the situation even the tiniest bit better. "I started drinking from him but I couldn't...couldn't go through with it." Damn. Damn.

"You let him live?" Yuki was struck speechless. Haru had never allowed a victim to live.

"I couldn't go through with it!" Haru was yelling, sobbing, arms swinging around like a madman going into a rant. "I couldn't take him! He was too innocent. Damn it..."

Yuki drew Haru against him, murmuring sweet nothings in his ear. He whispered that everything was going to be okay, and that one boy couldn't possibly do too much damage. Slowly, he led Haru down the rest of the stairs and to their store of coffins. He stroked the black and white hair with one hand as he pushed aside the lid of the coffin with the other. Then he kissed his cousin softly and told him to get in. Morning was coming.

"We'll talk about this later," he whispered as Haru clambered in, eyes already heavy with sleep. "Later, okay?"

Haru was asleep before Yuki closed the lid.

Outside in the cold, a young boy was wandering the streets in search of something. The buildings were all either burnt up or torn down, or on the edge of the latter. No one had occupied them in months, years. But the boy was still searching, so something of importance must have resided there. He was bleeding, this boy, on the neck. And he was clutching the wound with a pale, shaking hand. Momiji. Despite what he had shown in his eyes, Haru had frightened Momiji. He had frightened him a lot.

Soon Momiji stopped in front of one of the old buildings, gathered himself, and pushed open the door. On the other side of the door was a room. It was a very nice room, too, considering the state of the overall house. It was full of plush furniture, and a fire was blazing in the fireplace. There were curtains of dark velvet, though holes had been eaten through them by the moths. On the floor was a very old, very beautiful rug depicting a festival of spring. Momiji took a seat on one of the chairs near the fire, trying to warm himself. He was alarmed to discover that he couldn't stop shivering.

The door opened once again, and a figure entered. When the figure came within range of the light, Momiji sighed in relief.

"Kyo."

He let his eyes roam over his friend, taking in his disheveled appearance, the look of sleepiness that still had control over his face. But when Kyo's eyes zeroed in on the wound on his neck, the look of sleep was replaced with one of pure fury.

"Who did this?" he strode over to Momiji and pulled the boy's hand away from the wound. The blood had stopped flowing, but it was still pretty bad. "They drank deep."

Momiji nodded softly, "It hurts. It was a vampire I met at the club..."

Kyo's eyes widened, "You were hanging out with a vampire?"

"I didn't know he was one!" Momiji defended himself wearily, eyes drooping. "Kyo. I'm so tired. Could you take care of this, please?"

Kyo nodded, "Sure. Go to sleep."

When Momiji was deep in sleep on the plush chair, Kyo bathed and dressed his wound with the gentlest care. Momiji -- while annoying at some points -- would always have a spot in his heart. He would protect the innocent boy who had convinced his guardian to take him in after his family had been murdered by a vampire coven. He would not allow anything to happen to him. His eyes narrowed; he was going to find this vampire and kill him. But first... He drew a small cell phone from the pocket of his jeans, flipped it open, and pressed one.

Speedial. The phone rang for a few moments, then,

"Hello?"

"Hey. This is Kyo. Momiji has been bitten."

A sudden burst of sound, a muffled curse, and then silence. For a moment, Kyo wondered if he'd been hung up on.

"Hatori...?"

"Where are you?"

"HQ. Don't worry, he hasn't been changed."

"Then he's dead."

"No. The vampire left him...alive."

More silence. "I'm coming down." Dial tone.

Kyo sighed, closing the phone and slipping it back in his pocket. His eyes wandered to Momiji, sleeping fitfully on the chair. He was shaking, probably from fear of what had happened to him. He walked over to the other boy, draping his coat over the boy's thin shoulders. 'Momiji... What's going to happen to you?'

And we are finished! -dies- I hated the last part. I just couldn't get it to go the way I wanted to go. But this was my best -dies again- version of the scene, so I put it in. T-T Curse my writer's block. Aaanyways, I hope someone is still reviewing this. Gomen for the uber long wait. I'm going to try to finish half of this by the end of Christmas Break. Yup. So now I move on to chapter two of this wonderful ficlet. See you guys next chapter! Reviews appreciated, as always!