Right. So I am uploading earlier than usual, because I will be undergoing a medical procedure the next day and I don't know how long it'll take me to get back into my usual focus. Good thing I've written a good number of chapters in, so just a little revision will be needed if ever.

I've fallen down the rabbit hole to be honest – all I've done the past few weeks was to download anime OSTs. Yep, not just the opening and ending themes but even the background music. If some of the scenes written here were too fluffy or dramatic, that was probably because I was listening to that kind of music while writing at the time. Lol.

Anyway, I'll stop blabbering and let you read. Hope you like it.

Needless to say, his homecoming became a reunion of sorts.

As soon as Tohru had calmed down considerably (and when his cousins finally felt that it was safe to call them out, all looking at different directions just to make it a point to try not to listen to their conversation,) they all left for the Sohma estate, something which Momiji had not expected. Too many memories which he preferred to not recall were there, and he was sure the other ex-jyuunishis felt the same way. He wasn't opposed to going back, and he was sure the others weren't, seeing that they were all headed that way, though he felt trepidation.

It had been years when he had last stepped foot in the estate, only moving out when he had entered his first year of university while most of his remaining cousins had left even before he had graduated high school. Truth be told, the place held more lonely memories than happy ones, most of the time he had been in an isolation, but over the last few years he was there, it had become more bearable.

Not because Akito had decided to live as a woman and slowly change for the better, no. It was just that he felt that he could finally move forward and pursue a new dream, find happiness, which was, in part, largely thanks to Tohru, even if that meant that he was no longer by her side.

It was not a difficult decision to make. He had always been independent – out of all the cousins, he was the one who knew how to look after himself the most, the result of being left to live by himself far away from the family who had abandoned him from a very young age. Technically, nothing was holding him back from leaving, but when that moment came that he had the freedom to leave any time he wished, (and after making it clear to Akito that he wasn't gonna let her control him and that he would leave her soon,) he felt that there was no need to rush leaving – on the condition that he be left completely to his own devices, something Akito had been more than willing to grant. As for Tohru… well, in spite of his feelings, he knew Kyo would take care of her. Yes, it was painful. Kyo had taken her away after all, far away from them. But as idiotic as his hotheaded cousin may be, he knew that he would take good care of her, and he knew that as long as Tohru was happy, he would be happy for her. He could afford to be happy for her, because wanting more from her than what she could give when she had already given him and his family so much only made him feel selfish and greedy. So when the offer from Conservatoire de Paris came, he had accepted and moved to Paris without hesitation, only the desire to move forward.

That is, until one of Kisa's letters stated that Tohru and Kyo had ended their relationship. Kisa herself is unaware of the reasons behind this, and she only mentioned it in the letter since she felt that Momiji would want to hear news from everyone. Other than that, not a single member of the family knew of the reason, only that it was a mutual separation, one which came from Tohru herself.

At the time the news had reached him, he was already in his third year, busy being trained for conservatoire and small, local performances. He was worried yes, and he had wanted to come home for a visit during Spring Break. But when he had made it clear that he was coming home mainly to check in on Tohru, she had actually been incidentally with Kisa at the time of that call and she had been adamant that he not come home – at least not yet. "I know that you have an upcoming performance right after spring break," she said, at first seriously, before smiling gently through the screen of his laptop. "We're fine over here. You just stay there, make sure to get proper rest, and do your best to prepare for the performance, okay?"

In spite of the barrier of the location and the thousands of miles between them, he could see that she was tired and he could tell that she was forcing a smile, which was most probably for his benefit. He had wanted to point this out, but he was never one to force an issue, especially if those are personal issues, preferring to step in only when the person asked for it and only if he felt that he really needed to. At that point, Tohru was more than capable of taking care of herself and she had Kisa to watch over her as well. If Kisa felt that she needed his help, then it truly meant that things had gotten bad.

That is, until Kisa had told him that Tohru seemed to have just brushed it off and went on as if nothing had happened.

"Momiji?" He was roused from his thoughts by the very same woman he thought about and he shifted his gaze from outside the window to her – she was rubbing his hand, a habit of hers it seemed, something she used to do whenever they held hands and she was worried about something. "Is… everything okay?"

She was sitting between him and Kisa at the back while Hiro rode shotgun with Yuki driving. Kagura and Haru were in a separate car, driving almost side by side with them. Judging by the way the car swerved almost dangerously past the other cars, he could only guess who was driving. "Everything's fine." He assured her, smiling softly at her. "Just got lost in my thoughts for a while."

Tohru's response was also a smile, albeit a little more teasing than his. "Then I guess it's my turn to remind you not to get lost in your thoughts then."

His smile widened to a mischievous one. "I'm thinking about you, so it's impossible not to get lost in it."

He could tell she was surprised with his response – she blushed hard, red bloomed from her cheeks and extended almost to her neck. She looked so adorable that he had to force himself to ignore the urge to kiss her, something he had almost become an expert in.

"I think Paris is a bad influence on you, Momiji-nii. You're sounding stupider and stupider each passing day." Hiro said in disgust from his seat, as Yuki sweat-dropped beside him.

Momiji raised his left arm, tucking his elbow to the window and placed a hand under his chin. "I just returned today, and you really haven't spoken with me day by day, Hiro-chan. There's just no way you would know that I sound stupider each passing day."

"Don't call me Hiro-chan – and who cares if I haven't spoken to you every day, you still sound idiotic – "

"Well at least I didn't rank middle in my national mock exams." He teased, effectively riling Hiro up and making Tohru and Kisa laugh, in spite of themselves.

"Who cares if I'm in the middle, that's still good enough!" Hiro was blushing, forgetting his oath to be a more matured man and unable to resist Momiji's attempt to rile him up. "You're not even the top student!"

"I'm the fifth, which is still a lot better than being in the middle ~ " He was continuing to tease in a sing-song voice, making Hiro even more embarrassed as Yuki sighed at their antics, choosing to concentrate on his driving instead.

"You're so annoying you stupid bunny – "

"We're here." Yuki cut Hiro's continued protests, effectively shushing the duo up. In his case, he was surprised that he hadn't even realized that they had entered the grounds leading to the estate already.

He got out first, before helping Tohru and Kisa out of the car eventually. The years have passed though it was clear that nothing much had changed – the estate was still immaculate, well-maintained, and suddenly seemed larger than he remembered. If there was one thing that did change, it would most probably be the atmosphere.

It didn't feel as oppressive as before. It may be attributed to the fact that he was free of it's influence. Or maybe because they were now free to go or stay if they wished to do so, as opposed to it being comparable to a prison before.

"You're okay, Momiji." Tohru squeezed his hand, as they both continued holding to each other. He liked to think that it was because she wasn't ready to let go yet – just as he was. "You're okay."

He was fine, though he was feeling a little unsettled – he knew it was something which had been ingrained into him, the result of being forced to stay inside the estate before – but hearing Tohru voice that reassurance, well it was enough to calm him down. He shared a smile with her, before heaving a breath and turning to face forward once more.

"Here goes nothing."

So saying, he took a step forward.

Hours later, and Momiji couldn't believe his eyes.

Ayame had turned up all of a sudden, unexpectedly or expectedly, he didn't know what to believe, and had somehow, by some inexplicable trick he's pulled, managed to get Yuki drinking with him. Now the brothers were laughing at something incomprehensible to him, a rare sight to all of them that he couldn't resist the urge to whip out his phone and take a video of it. Knowing Yuki, he wouldn't believe them until he sees the evidence the following day.

Rin arrived by evening and after patting him on the back, decided to be off somewhere doing God-knows-what. Haru was missing as well, so… he figured he didn't really want to know. Kisa and Hiro had already left since they do have classes the following day, while Shigure was sitting in a corner, talking with who he guessed was Hatori on his phone, who was unable to come due to being out of town for business. How they were able to hear each other with all the noise was anyone's guess. Kagura, on the other hand, was off in her own world, heavily drunk and was singing an off-tune version of a current jpop favorite that he could just barely recognize because of the garbled lyrics.

Tohru meanwhile, had disappeared into the kitchen with Akito.

He had met her earlier of course, and in spite of the initial awkwardness at first, she welcomed him, her arms cradling her swollen belly. He had thanked her, smiling if a little reservedly – it still felt a little strange referring to her as 'her' instead of 'him' – and Shigure immediately whined how envious he was that Momiji had gotten to go to Paris and lived there, had become famous, given himself a stage name, blah, blah, blah. Immediately after Shigure had effectively diffused the unusual stiff atmosphere, Akito had excused herself to go and say hello to the others, but was probably something she did to give him some space and to give him more time to acclimate to being back to the estate, a gesture he found he appreciated of her.

She could do it if she tried, he realized.

After the party was well underway, she had asked Tohru if she has some time to teach her how to make their own pudding, to which the girl was only too happy to oblige and how they had ended up in the kitchen. He had to suppress the sudden stab of panic he felt at knowing the two of them were alone. He reminded himself that things have changed, that she and Tohru were good friends by now, and that should by some unknown reason everything would be to repeat itself, he was no longer a powerless, weak kid like he had been back in the Sohma villa years ago.

As he swept his gaze at the absolute chaos in front of him from his place by the engawa, he smiled as he leaned back against the opened shoji. They were still the cousins he knew. Thank goodness.

"Cheers to that." He raised his glass to them, before drinking the rest of the wine away which slightly burned his throat, but he welcomed it nonetheless.

"I'm glad to see you happy, Momiji-kun." A voice penetrated the fog which were his thoughts.

He looked up to see Tohru, gracing him with a smile that took his breath away. She looked like an angel just standing there, smiling down to him, hair tucked to a side braid, the angel feather hairpin he had given her pinned just above her right ear. He was pleased to see her wearing it, having given her the hairpin as a gift when she and the other Sohmas had graduated.

He always thought she was an angel – one sent down to earth by whoever deity who deemed it necessary to do so and he was thankful for it.

"Done with the pudding lessons?" He asked, folding his long legs in as she moved to sit by him, facing the mayhem that was his family inside. Her smile switched to an expression of 'o', eventually giggling with the Yuki-Ayame unexpected tandem. They were now clutching their stomachs from laughing too much.

"Will wonders never cease." He heard her mutter to herself, gazing at the two fondly. She then shook her head, before turning to him to answer his question. "We are finished. We're just having it cooled. Later we can take it out and eat it."

He gave a small whoop of victory. "I never say no to pudding. Thank the kami for you and your amazing cooking skills. Kami only knows how much I've missed eating your meals and desserts."

She smiled, though this was a little forlorn from the way he saw it. "Really? You may have somebody cooking for you though…"

He looked at her perplexed, wondering why she looked almost sad, but he chose to file this in a corner of his mind and clarify her assumption first. "I cook for myself, I had to learn how or else I wouldn't last in Paris. It's just not the same as yours though. I've missed it so much."

"And I've missed eating with you." She responded, looking down to her hands, fidgeting with them, almost hesitant with what appeared to be what she wanted to say next. "Momiji, I… I was just really glad that you are able to find your music again. The When You Wish Upon a Star that you recorded, it was so… beautiful."

Momiji slowly became serious hearing her say that. He then set the wine glass down, turning to give her his full attention. He didn't wish to be drunk, especially if he was talking to the girl who meant the world to him and he recognized that he cannot let this moment pass him by, as it was one of the rare moments that he would get to talk to Tohru alone before she was preoccupied by any of his cousins again. The drink can wait.

"I'm glad you were able to listen to it." He began, sounding unsure and a little embarrassed to his ears. "I recorded that song with you in mind, after all." He told her earnestly, a little of his kid-at-heart personality showing through his smile at her. "I was hoping you'd like it. I don't know if there was any difference from the first time I played it though."

She gave him a watery smile, as she reached for his hand and squeezed it. She felt incredibly honored with his admission. To know that she was on his mind when he had recorded it – something inside of her clicked. Something she didn't know if she was prepared to realize now. "I didn't know if I am deserving of having the song be dedicated to – but thank you. It was beautiful, Momiji. Thank you so much." Her hand was trembling, and he adjusted his grip to help steady her.

"You deserve the world, Tohru, though something tells me you still don't think you're worth it." He said, becoming serious as he turned to face her properly. He began massaging her fingers, knowing that what he was about to ask next may stress her out. "Are you happy?"

She was looking at him, her expression looking startled, probably wondering why he was asking her this all of a sudden. He bent towards her, and she flushed as he stared her into the eyes, waiting for her response. He wanted her to know that he was expecting an honest answer from her.

"I'm happy, Momiji." She said, though she averted her gaze from him, not quite able to continue looking at him directly.

He straightened up from leaning towards her. "I wasn't expecting you to say no, but I do want to remind you that it's okay to be honest with me." At her bewildered expression, he sighed and looked off into the direction of the gardens, which is where the shoji he was leaning on was leading to. A cool night breeze brushed past them, making her shiver involuntarily.

Always in tune to her needs, he removed the cardigan he was wearing over his white shirt and draped it across her shoulders, which were exposed because of her sundress. Since she hadn't spoken, appearing to not have noticed what he even did, he decided to clarify what he meant. "I know about Kyo, Tohru."

This jolted her out of her slight bewilderment. "Momiji, you just came home. I don't think it's the time to – "

"I think it's time to." He cut her off unceremoniously. "It isn't good keeping feelings bottled up you know. I mean…" He waved his hands off into the air. "It's one of the reasons I came home after all."

Tohru was incredibly flustered, given by the way that she was wringing her hands. He felt guilty, seeming to have put her on the spot, but Tohru was just so willing to brush off her pain that somebody had to force her to talk. Kyo seemed to have the talent of getting her to talk about her feelings, but they both knew he wasn't anywhere near them now. He had to take on that role again then.

He reached over and laid his right hand over hers. "Walk with me?" He asked, hoping his tone soothed her at least.

She stared at him, indecision warring within her. He knew, because she looked torn and just because he knew her.

After what seemed to be an eternity, she finally nodded. "Okay."

Well, that's that. Lemme know what you think, per usual. Those things keep me going. See you in the next chapter, my lovelies.

Love,

Michiko