A/N: Ah, the cliched sakura blossoms. But hey, no self-respecting otaku can resist. You know, this feels more like the beginning of a story than a oneshot. Maybe I'll tie in several more oneshots to this chapter later.

Oh yay! I've already reached ten chapters. I'm already a fifth of the way there from completing the challenge! I'll do my best!!!

7# Reunion

Momiji walked through the streets after school let out, his book bag slung over one shoulder. There were clumps of school kids all around him, but he was mostly alone. A little unwillingly, he remembered the times when he would walk home with Tohru and Kyo and Yuki and all of their friends. But that was a distant memory.

A smudge of pink caught his attention. Momiji stopped and lifted his head. A few early bloomers sprinkled the sakura tree with pink and white. Momiji cocked his head, puzzled. Had that much time passed already? It was almost graduation time. The thought squeezed his chest tightly. Going to college meant even more distance, more lonely walks—at least until he made some new friends. And yet, they would never quite compare to the company of the person he most wanted to see. He may never get to see the sakuras blossoms with the one person he wanted to be with.

Someone let out a sudden shout. Momiji ripped his eyes away from the sakura tree just in time to spot a sun hat bouncing past him. He deftly caught it before it had the misfortune of landing in a mud puddle. Hurried footsteps approached him as he dusted it off.

"My hat! Oh, thank you for getting my hat!" a distinctly female voice panted. "I'm just so clumsy, and the wind went whoosh!"

Momiji straightened up and prepared to hand over the hat with a smile. "No pro—" But the words stuck in his throat. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at the little lady before him. The hair was a little shorter. Yes, yes, but those eyes could only belong to one person.

Judging by the way her pretty little mouth slowly fell open, she must have recognized him as well. "Mo-momiji?" she stammered.

Momiji was half tempted to choke out "Speak of the devil," but that wouldn't fit, because Tohru was far from a devil in that loose, white sundress she wore. He grabbed her into a tight hug, if only to reassure himself that she was not some magnificent ghost from happier memories. But there was no poof! of smoke. No fading or dissolving into thin air. She remained perfectly solid in his arms. Solid and warm, just like always.

"Tohru," he mumbled over and over again. "Tohru. Tohru. Tohru!"

She returned the hug before gently but firmly prying him away. "I was hoping that I would run into you, Momiji-kun," Tohru said lightly, her eyes staring at her feet in a show of coyness. As she slipped her hat back on, Momiji could have sworn that she was blushing slightly.

This was too much! Momiji felt his legs starting to give out, so he latched onto Tohru's shoulders to make sure he remained standing. "But where's Kyo? Last time I saw you, you two were going far away to go live together. Isn't he—?" Momiji broke off when he saw the look in her eyes. They clouded over, and Tohru ducked her head even further. He thought he felt a faint quivering in her shoulders, as if she was about to cry.

"I'm taking a vacation is all," Tohru mumbled in a low voice. "I wanted to visit all of my friends."

Momiji held a suspicious belief that something was wrong, but he didn't press on it. All that mattered was that she was here, alive and well, before him. A breeze blew past them, and Tohru quickly held onto her hat in a panic, as if worried it would fly away again. The wind brought with it a few of the sakura petals. In fact, one pink petal drifted right between them, almost fluttering against Momiji's nose at one point. Shocked, Tohru looked up at the sakura tree they were standing under. "The sakura blossoms are rather early this year, aren't they?" she remarked distantly.

Momiji gave her shoulders a squeeze. "That's exactly what I was thinking."