A/N: This chapter was fun, and a bit awkward to write. There may be some slight spoilers for any of you who haven't read the whole series yet, but nothing big. I hope you like it!

On the quiet ride home, Shigure didn't ask any questions. I don't know what he thought of the tears that were still fresh on my face, but whatever it was, I didn't care. I was joyful; another weird emotion for me. But it was true; for some reason I was busting with happiness at the seams. It was like that dream you had when you were six years old, and you went into a candy store and the clerk said you could have as much as you want and you wouldn't get sick and you had unlimited money....

Wow, I was really giddy.

I half expected my head to answer back. But it didn't. There no longer was "the voice in my head"...it was me now. I think that part of me was the part that felt joy, love, happiness....

And hate. But I'll get to that later.

I felt different. Elated. Like I was floating, flying, in a hot air balloon above the sea. And in some weird way, I felt brand new.

Unlike most nights, Shigure didn't just drop me off. He walked me into the house, made dinner for me, and saw me off to bed. All silently. And he followed me wherever I went. I wondered why he didn't ask any questions. He had been so eager to get me to Momiji in the first place, but know he was almost totally the opposite. Did he really have no curiosity at all?

Or did he already know?

The only alone time I got was while I was in the shower. With the hot water (too hot, but who was I to care?) pouring over my skin, it completed my sense of elation. The warm fuzziness in my heart had traveled to my skin.

When I curled up in the covers on my bed, I felt just like a kid again. Shigure stood over me like he was going to tuck me in. I closed my eyes and snuggled into sleep.

But I couldn't seem to relax. I felt like someone was watching me.

I opened my eyes, and there was Shigure, still staring at me. "What?" I asked politely.

Shigure blinked, as if coming out of a trance. "Nothing." He said, and smiled. I liked it when he smiled like that; really genuine and original. He nodded, as if assuring himself, then headed toward the door.

He caught himself on the door frame. "Mizuki?" he asked.

"Yes?" I said, turning to look at him.

"I-I just wanted to let you know that I love you." he said, looking down. I could picture him turning red.

"Me too." I said. I was now sure that he somehow knew about what Momiji had told me.

But right now, it didn't matter. I was happy.

And I was in love.

I just wanted to let you know that I love you.

I woke up in the middle of the night with quite a different feeling.

Was I blind?

Had I been so joyous at the fact that Momiji loved me that I had totally overlooked the real issue? My Momiji had been hurt.

By a person I very well knew.

Suddenly, I was on my feet. My heart wasn't so warm and bubbly anymore. In fact, it was hot and boiling.

I started hyperventilating. How stupid could I really be? That I had to wait until four o'clock in the morning to figure out the problem.

Now I was at the front door. I put on my shoes, one by one, very deliberately, then threw on my coat. As a last though, I checked in Shigure's room. He wasn't there. Huh.

As soon as I was out of the front lawn, I started running. It was pretty chilly, but I didn't care. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know why. What would I do when I got there? I couldn't answer that either. But I ran. I ran past Momiji's house, and Haru's house, and every other of my family's dwellings. I had one destination in mind. That's all I could focus on.

I pictured Momiji, stuttering for words. His closed eyes, biting his lip. Searching his brain. All because of one thing that one person had done. He was ruined. Maybe not forever, but I couldn't be sure. Would he ever put a full sentence together without struggle again? His eyes, would they always be so distant?

Would he play violin again?

I approached my destination, at the very center of the estate. I took the steps leading to the door. two at a time, keeping very quiet.

The dark halls were silent, surprisingly. I was lucky. Where was Kureno?

Thousands of questions boiled in my mind like water in a pot; I just ignored them. Whatever had driven me here wasn't about to stop. There was also a boiling in my chest, but hotter than water. It was lava, seeping out of my heart, spilling through every pore. I was hot, I could feel my face turn a bright, cherry red.

And then I stood before the door. And then I stopped.

Suddenly, I knew what it was like to be Momiji, to struggle for words. My thoughts felt like those little magnet words that stick on your fridge. There were so many words, but I just couldn't make a sentence.

Hate. Love. Torture. Hope. Lava. Water. Struggle. Happiness. Pain. Healing. occasional "and" or "the". Rabbits. Birds. Violinists. Orphans.

Brothers.

I grabbed the doorknob, and tenderly pushed inward.

At first it was dark, and silent. The only source of light was from a small window; moonlight spilled in and covered a patch of the wood floor. As my eyes adjusted, I turned to my left and saw a dent up on the wall that was the precise shape of Momiji's head...I swallowed back the sudden tears that sprung to my eyes, my dream vivid in my head.

Then I heard something. Two words, that I won't forget. A voice that was so familiar...

"Oh, crap..."

I looked over to the far right corner of the room and saw two faces, two bodies entwined...

A pair of eyes that I knew all to well.

I froze. My heart stopped beating for a long time as our eyes held contact for one moment that seemed like forever.

"Mizuki..." he said.

And then I was running again.