I haven't updated in sooo long. Please forgive me! I've been really busy.

I don't own fruits basket; now on with the chapter!

Beep-Beep-Beep

We were back in the hospital again. Our eyes glued to the little deformed angelic body before us.

Beep-Beep-Beep

The room was full of sobs and reassuring words.

Beep-Beep-Beep

No one was reassuring me.

Beep-Beep-Beep

That beeping was driving me crazy. Why couldn't she open her eyes already?

FLASHBACK:

"Please come home. Don't make me forget you again."

As my mother had said those words then entire room had fallen silent. They all waited for a response from me, but no words flowed out of my half hanging mouth. My mind was clouded.

"Momiji?" My mother put her burned hand on my arm.

An elevator style tune started playing in the background. We turned to look at Hatori flipping open his cell phone.

"What is it Kagura?...Oh. She didn't hit her head did she?...Ok, put her on a bed and we'll be right over."

Hatori turned off her phone and looked at us.

"Kagura said she was playing with Momo when she suddenly collapsed."

"What?" Both my parents spoke in unison.

"Kagura said she caught Momo before she fell to the ground so she isn't hurt but we better get going to see how bad it is."

My parents hastily nodded at Hatori and ran towards the door, leaving me behind…again.

"Akito put out that flame." Akito looked at Shigure and then glanced at me. I just looked back, still numb from the overload of the current situation.

"Now Akito!" Akito quickly picked up a pot of water and put the fire out. She slouched and hung her head and walked towards Hatori and Shigure, like a child about to be scolded by her parents. They all walked out the door while I stood there, my eyes on my feet. Finally, I followed them out.

END FLASHBACK

When we had gotten there, Momo was far beyond pale, she was ghostly white with veins bulging out. Her skin on her face almost seemed transparent and I felt if I touched her, it would fall off to reveal the muscle beneath. Kagura had taken off her layers of clothing to keep her from over-heating so that she was only wearing a t-shirt and some kakis. Her now exposed deformed skin was peeling and an even more grotesque color. The smell in the air was horrible. Hatori and my mother were the only ones who overlooked their nausea and ran to Momo's side. According to Hatori, her hearting was beating too rapidly for a human.

We called the hospital and an ambulance came to get her. The nurses stopped short in their steps when they saw Momo's appearance and the smell crept up their nose, but upon Hatori's orders, they professionally ignored it all and took her to the hospital. The doctors didn't know what to do. They had never seen anything like this before. They did what they could to slow her heartbeat, but told us she had fallen into a coma.

When we were finally allowed to see her, my mother burst into tears, murmuring words I couldn't make out. My father tried to sooth her by massaging her shoulders, while I stood on the other side of the bed staring down at Momo.

Beep-Beep-Beep

I put my hands to my ears and shut my eyes. I didn't want to be here anymore. I just wanted everything to be the way it was before. No. I wanted everything to be the way it should have been. Us living as a happy family. No curse. No hospitals. A hand on my shoulder brought me back to reality.

"Momiji, it's going to be alright."

I turned to see Kagura. She had looked like she was on the brink of insanity when we had come home. She thought she was responsible to make Momo like this. They had been playing tag and apparently she had just tagged Momo before she passed out. She thought she tagged her too hard, but Hatori had told her that couldn't be the case. Kagura looked fairly like herself again now, but her eyes were puffy.

"No, nothing will be alright."

I said that and walked out of the room. No one stopped me. The stress was making my head hurt. I sat down on one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs and leaned my head back against the wall and shut my eyes.

I was walking through darkness.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

No one answered and I figured I was alone. I tried reaching out to grab something, but to no avail. I walked in the blackness like a blind man. I fingers finally touched something flat and the room suddenly turned white. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the brightness. When I could finally see, I saw there was a door on the others side. I walked towards it, but the closer I got, the farther it seemed to get. Typical. Gravity seems to shift as my feet were shifted towards the wall. The room was spinning and the door wasn't any closer. My feet were on the ceiling now and suddenly gravity went back to normal and I fell to the ground with a thud and everything was dark again. I sat up and a light turned on so I could see the door right in front of me. Sitting on my knees I reached out and pulled the door open. There was a corridor of rooms inside. I opened the first one and there was a woman inside with a rabbit in her arms. She shrieked and I quickly slammed the door shut and put my hand to my heart. What was that? I opened the next door and there was a little boy being scolded by his mother, hatred in her eyes, for spilling his juice on the floor. The next one had a middle school boy in his uniform sitting by himself in a kitchen staring outside a window with a plate full of untouched food in front of him and a rabbit backpack leaning against a table leg. The fourth one had a tired man typing away on a computer in a dark apartment. I hesitantly opened the last one and saw a woman with her back to me.

"Excuse me." I called out to her, hoping she could tell me where I was.

She turned and I gasped as I saw her monstrous face. I took a step back, my heart beating fast.

"Nii-san, don't leave me." She reached out to me.

My eyes flew open and I gasped. I saw that everyone else in the waiting room was staring at me. An old woman put her hand on my head.

"Are you ok sweetie? It looked like you were having a pretty nasty dream right there."

"Here have some water." A man handed me hit water bottle. I drank the water and thanked them both.

The dream's images repeated in my mind. Nii-san, don't leave me. That voice. It was mature like a woman's, but I knew it was still Momo's.

"I won't leave you Momo, I won't." I whispered to myself and headed back to her room.

It had been hours since I had left but when I stepped back in, I saw that everyone was still where I left them. But Momo looked so much worse. There were dark circles around her eyes and her fingernails on her normal hand were turning purple.

"Can everyone give me a second alone with Momo please? I need to talk to her." Everyone looked sadly at me.

"Momiji, she's in coma. She can't hear you."

"Hatori-san, please, can you just give me a few minutes?"

He nodded and guided everyone out. I went and sat in front of my little sister. I took her hand in mine gently, scared that it would crumble away to pieces.

"Momo. Momo can you hear me? Even if you can't I have to tell you something. I was going to do something that was stupid. I thought I was doing it to help you. But now I realize I was just doing it to run away from it all. If everyone forgot me, I would be alone and it would hurt. But it wouldn't hurt as much as watching everything unfold in front of me. I think deep inside I wanted the ritual to make me forget, too. I was dumb. I was selfish. When mom and dad ran out to be with you, I actually felt jealous. Can you believe that? I was jealous that they went to you when you fainted…But I won't leave you now. No matter how you are, we still love you. You can wear Kyo's bracelet if you want to, but even if you don't, I'll hug you every day and be the brother you want me to be. Mother said she'll still love you, too. So please wake up Momo. Please."

I rubbed the back of her hand. I felt so cold.

Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeppp.

I flung my head up at the sound. I eyes opened wide at the straight line I saw there.

Beeeeeeeeeeppp.

I sprung off of the chair and dropped Momo's hand and raced to the door.

"N...san."

I had my hand on the knob and froze.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Ni…an…N…san"

I turned back to look at the little body lying on the bed, strapped to several wires.

"N…Nii-san…"

She slowly lifted her hand slightly and reached towards me. I went back to Momo's side quickly and took her hand again. She opened her eyes a little and looked at me.

"I'm here Momo, I'm here."

The doctors came back in to check if everything was ok and rushed over when they saw that Momo was awake. They quickly pushed everyone else out, except for Hatori, to do some tests. We waited and watched doctors and nurses going in and out. Time moved so slowly. Finally, the doctor stepped back out with a beaming face. My father didn't wait a second and took with by the shoulders.

"How is she?"

"She's absolutely fine. She started picking up a fever while we were doing tests and a nurse gave her a sponge bath. Her…skin problem washed right off.

"Washed…off?"

"Well, the layer on top seemed to be dead and we were able to scrub it off. Her skin is slightly sensitive now, but other than that everything with her in completely normal. You may go see her now. Hatori-san is with her now."

My father let go of him and we hastily made our way inside. We saw Hatori and Momo laughing over something when we came in. Momo still looked incredibly weak, but her skin was normal. It was a light red color, but still normal. Hatori stood up to make room for my parents who quickly lunged towards Momo. They practically squeezed their daughter to death and drowned her in kisses. Hatori walked towards the door but stopped by me and put his large hand on my shoulder.

"Good job Momiji." He smiled at me and walked out, giving us some privacy.

I looked towards my family. My mother extended her hand towards me.

"Come Momiji."

I walked over and my parents pulled me into their group hug as well. As I stood their tangled in their arms I felt a wave of some strange feeling wash over me. But I couldn't tell what it was. They finally let go when we heard someone say, "Smile!"

We turned to see our large family standing by the door. Shigure had a camera in his hand. We all smiled and he snapped a photo of us.

I feel like I rushed this a bit, but I tried. What did you think? Good? Bad? Review and let me know!