A/N: We're pass 300, guys... You're awesome!

Minami led Ritsu to Shigure's and started up some tea. "This is rare! Who would've thought the introverted Rit-chan would willingly visit us." Shigure said casually.

"Ye-Yes, I'm sorry. I caused Minami-san lots of trouble…." Ritsu said with a shocked and embarrassed look on his face.

"It was no trouble." Minami explained and placed a cup of tea down in front of him, hoping it would calm the ball of precious anxiety that was Ritsu. "It's nice to meet you."

"But why the sudden visit?" Shigure asked.

"Huh… Huh?!" Ritsu said and looked up. "I-I'm sorry, I must've interrupted you, right?!"

"Yeah," Shigure said with a smile and Ritsu stood up and moved to run out of the house apologizing.

"I lied. I lied. It's just a joke." Shigure said, as he held onto Ritsu's shoulder.

"Shigure if you want to make from of someone, try someone a strong will." Minami scolded and he pouted.

"You mean like you Minami-chan?" Shigure asked and received a cold look back as Shigure sat down.

"You're still asking your mother for opinions and getting worked up over everything. You'll be a working adult soon, you'll have to be more mature than this!" Shigure said to Ritsu.

"Yes… I'm sorry." Ritsu said.

"Well then, why did you you come all of a sudden…?" Shigure asked

"Ye-yes, that's… I heard that most of the Zodiac had already met Minami-san… Mother wanted me to greet her… That being the case, I felt it would be rude of me not to meet her…" Ritsu bowed. "I beg your pardon, how do you do, I'm Sohma Ritsu. My mother received much of your hospitality previously…"

"It's my pleasure to meet you. I'm Honda Minami." Minami said and returned the bow.

"Ah, that's right, this.. Just a token of appreciation." Ritsu said and opened up his bag.

"What. Are those gifts?" Shigure asked happily.

"Yes, they dropped to the floor a while ago." Ritsu placed a bunch of thick books on the table. "I wanted to buy fruits, but I didn't know which you liked, so… I bought a few books on fruits instead... " Ritsu looked at their blank faces. ".. Huh. Huh? Huh?! I'm sore, was it the wrong thing to do? I've troubled you again haven't I?!"

"No…" Shigure said with a smile, though you could see the vein that popped out on his forehead. "You haven't…" Which caused Ritsu to get u again, as he apologized.

"I was kidding." Shigure said, as he held onto Ritsu's kimono. "I was only kidding." Ritsu dropped down and covered his arms around his head and cried.

"You can be frank with me. I have absolutely no right to visit you.." Ritsu said sadly.

"It's not like that!" Shigure said as he picked up one of the books.

"You're the monkey right Ritsu?" Minami asked and Ritsu looked up and nodded.

"Yes. I am." He said.

"Then I'm very happy to meet you." Minami said and gave him a soft smile. "So please don't cry."

Ritsu looked up in shock and smiled happily, and whipped away his tears. Minami was almost jealous at how beautiful he looked. "Thank you very much…"

"See, you look much better when you smile." Minami said and Ritsu blushed and looked down. "I haven't met the horse yet? Do you know what she's like?"

"Ren-san… she's rather…" Ritsu said and looked over at Shigure.

"Why're you still in your uniform? Why don't you change?" Shigure said.

"Fine, I guess you're right." Minami said with a nod and left. Minami put on a nice red short sleeved shirt and black shorts. It was simple and nice. Once she walked down she noticed Yuki. "Oh Yuki, welcome home."

"I'm home, and Ritsu's here." Yuki said.

"I know already." Minami said and looked over at Shigure and Ritsu. "How's Hatsuharu? Is he alright?"

"... I guess…" Yuki said and clinched his fist. Then he looked away. "In the end, Haru's problems… many… He's fighting…"

"Fight...ing…?" Minami asked confused and Yuki looked over at her with a stiff smile.

"It's all right." Yuki said and Minami paused at his look. "Well then, I'll… I'll be changing first. Ah! Let me tell you, Ritsu is actually…"

"A b-" Minami went to say but Ritsu stood up beside them.

"I'm about to take my leave…" Ritsu said.

"But you just got here." Minami said. "I haven't spoken to you for long."

"No, this is just wishful thinking on my part... " Ritsu said sadly. "It's the tough which counts… I'm happy enough to hear it from you…"

"But you don't have to leave yet." Minami said and there was the sound of a crash and Minami looked over at a broken plate. Ritsu screamed in horror.

"HOW DID I TURN OUT LIKE THIS? I ACTUALLY BROKE MY HOST'S PLATE WHILE IN HIS HOUSE, I'M JUST LIKE A DEMON! I'M SORRY I'M SORRY, I SHOULDN'T HAVE DISTRUBED YOU AT ALL! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY I APOLOGISE TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD!" He screamed and stepped on the leftover glass. Minami pulled him over towards her and noticed they were too close. Minami looked up and saw Ritsu who had a look of shock on his face.

The entire house went still for a few minutes. "R-Ritsu?" Minami asked and Ritsu backed away. Entire body flashed through different shades of red and everyone held their breath wondering what his reaction was going to be.

"I… I…" Ritsu said and there was a poof of smoke and Ritsu dropped down to the ground, in his monkey form. He was so cute.

"Ah… Sorry… Ritsu…" Minami said. "I.. I already knew you were a boy." If you didn't think a monkey could blush, you'd be wrong. Ritsu turned red and collapsed on the ground. Minami picked up the monkey and held him in her arms. "Ow!" Minami said and looke dup and saw that blood was rushing down her palm.

"Minami are you alright?" Yuki asked as Shigure mentioned he was going to call Hatori and walked out to the hallway. "You knew.. Ritsu was a boy…" Yuki said as he bandaged up her hand. "But he was wearing women's clothing."

"Well.. most of the Zodiacs I've met have been male." Minami explained and looked away. "So I just made a guess and his voice didn't exactly sound feminine… which isn't much of an explanation either." Yuki looked at her shocked and sighed.

"...done." Yuki said and wiped some sweat off his forehead. "I'm finally done wrapping…"

"It was a nice try Yuki." Minami said and he looked away embarrassed.

"He says that wearing women's clothing.. Makes him more relaxed." Shigure said from behind them. "You've seen how introverted he is, if he were to wear men's clothing, he'd shrivel up even more!"

"Is that so.." Yuki said with a confused look on his face. At that exact moment Ritsu in monkey form got up and ran off into the next room. There was a big puff and he came out again wearing a white button up shirt and dark pants. It was amazing how well he looked in both sets of clothing. Ritsu took one look at Minami, his face bright red and ran away.

"Ah.. Ritsu! Wait!" Minami called and ran after him. It didn't take long, since Ritsu wasn't that fast, Minami grabbed his hand and he turned bright red again and she immediately released it as he stopped. She was afraid he was going to transform again. He took one look at her and had the same reaction.

"Dear God, Dead Buddha… Please forgive for my sins.." Ritsu said sadly and looked over at her with tears rushing down his face, his face still red. You would think that she either broke up with him or ended their engagement with home much he was crying. "Minami-san… An apology can't solve this problem, I'm sorry for causing you great harm…"

"It's only a cut." Minami said and his eyes trailed down to the her bandaged hand. "Yuki's just really bad at bandaging."

"I'm sorry, I lacked the courage to tell you I'm really a boy… I feel ashamed…" Ritsu said and he placed his hands on his face, his entire body looked like it was in anguish. "Ah… Ah… Why, why is it always like this… Bringing trouble to those around me… I'm only capable of troubling others, aren't I… Me being like this, just why, why must I exist on this earth! So-someone like me, who has no right to live in his world,, I don't even have courage… That's right, I'm of no use to this world, but still existing, I'm truly shameless! I hate this…!" He dropped down to his knees, as though his body couldn't handle the weight. "Aah… haven, please punish me.. Heavenly punishment…"

Minami looked over at the crying man before her and wrapped her arms around his beck. "It's okay Ritsu. Has anyone ever told you it's okay just to be yourself?" He flinched. "Do people only mock you and ridicule you because you're different? Because you can't find strength? Because you can't fit the mold that people try to place over you?"

Minami could feel eyes on her, but she didn't move. "Even the people who seem strong, feel weak. We spend most of our days blaming ourselves, thinking about our past mistakes, thinking about how wrong we are to even be here. That we can't even appreciate the moments when we do something right. I can't say that I'm upset that you came to meet me, because you found it important enough to introduce yourself to me. Doesn't that mean that you're still capable of doing something good?"

"Wanting to erase your existence from this world, won't help you fix whatever you think is wrong about yourself. And I'm sure you already realize that, because you're still here today. You might think that you're doing something 'good' because you're erasing the 'burden' that you put on others, but the thing about being a 'burden' on someone… It's means that they want you to be a burden on them, because they're willing to put in the effort in letting you continue to make mistakes. And if they're tired of you, then go and find someone else who's willing to help you. Not just pity you, but help you, because they want you to change into someone they know you can become."

"So you see? There's nothing wrong with being a burden, there's nothing wrong with feeling like a burden, there's nothing wrong with being sad, or angry, or depressed… there's nothing wrong with feelings… because those feelings just show that you want to change. That you want to be better."

There was silence. "Ritsu? Ritsu?" Minami asked noticing her didn't say thing. His face flushed a deeper red.

"I think I sprained my ankle running." He said and Minami couldn't help laughing. A hand was in front of their faces and Minami looke dup and noticed Hatori was standing there. With his help and Yuki and Shigure, who were also watching the entire time, they got Ritsu into the house.

"... I originally thought only Minami was injured." Hatori said as he bandaged up his foot. He looked over at Minami. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I think so. It was a tiny cut." Minami explained and sent her a faint smile and Ritsu looked over at Shigure.

"Shigure-nii-san… If it's all right, for today… For only one day.. I'd like to spend the night ehre." Ritsu said with a nervous tone in his voice.

"Eh, that's rare, earring you say such positive words!" Shigure said in shock.

"Ye-Yes…" Ritsu said and looked over at Minami with a deep blush on his face as his hands touched his neck.

"Why are Ritsu and Hatori here all of a sudden?" Kyo asked from behind Ritsu.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Ritsu said crying.

You couldn't help but like Ritsu.

A/N: Another Ritsu chapter coming out soon. Comment! Comment! Any questions for me?