So I don't know what exactly possessed me to update this early, but surprise!

Again, thank you for the reads, people. It would be nice to know what you think though since that greatly helps me know if I'm doing well, but hey, thank you for the time. I really appreciate it.

I wrote the chapter with When You Wish Upon a Star as my background music, since this is a song which is close to my heart, so I suggest you listen to this as you read the second part of this chapter. It would be great if you find a violin cover, and I suggest the one of Akiko Meyers (great performance, seriously!) I read somewhere that this is the song Tohru requested Momiji to play for her in the manga, but if you prefer Umareru Negai, then go ahead and listen to it. Whatever feels right for you, go for it.

Well I'll cut my rambling here. Hope you guys will like this update.

Momiji trudged up the staircase of his old house in the Sohma estate, careful not to drop his precious burden – an asleep Tohru – from his arms. Her head pressed against his shoulder, her right arm around his neck, breathing deeply. She looked so at home and peaceful within his arms.

Seeing her like this made him thankful that he had started lifting weights back then to gain arm strength. He needed it since he started noticing that his arms would strain from exhaustion with just performing for the conservatoire events for two to three hours straight. When he had first signed the contract with Elise, (he wasn't spared from the kidnap-and-tickle-to-the-death method that she had always used – she saw him win the Henri Vieuxtemps competition, and thought it perfect to have him join her agency) it became apparent that it was the correct decision, since Elise had him working non-stop to the point that he would crash onto his apartment and/or hotel bed, completely exhausted from events and practicing for the Johannes Brahms while in his final year that it was a wonder how he had actually survived. Now he could carry Tohru easily and a few more bags if needed, no problem.

Carefully shifting her so that he could open the door to his room without accidentally waking her, he entered, not bothering to switch the light on. He was grateful that even when he had moved out they had continued maintaining his house, because it was useful for tonight, at least.

He deposited Tohru on the bed, lowering her gently, removing her shoes and placing them at the side of the bed, before pulling the covers over her. It was a full moon tonight, and the moonlight illuminated her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and quite puffy, her nose red, which could be expected due to her crying what seemed to be years' worth of pent-up tears. He wasn't surprised when she eventually fell asleep just from the sheer exhaustion of it all. He just hoped that all the crying has helped her, and that if she wakes up the following day, it would be at least, with a lighter, clearer heart.

He could have sat there forever watching her sleep – it may be his new favorite pastime, he doesn't seem to grow tired of watching her – but he didn't want to be branded a creep, not to mention, look like a stalker. Sighing and smiling a little sadly, he tucked her more securely under the blankets, before bending down to kiss her on her forehead. *"Oyasumi, ore no tsuki no hime."

He then straightened up, and with one last look at her sleeping form, he proceeded to go down to the kitchen, wanting to fix himself a cup of tea before going to sleep himself. Well I guess I can finally use my guest room…

He had walked past his living room and saw out of the corner of his eye someone standing by the grand piano. He stopped to properly look and flinched, catching himself because he nearly jumped a foot in the air when he recognized the form.

"H-Haru," he greeted, half-amused, half-exasperated, heart beating what seemed to be a hundred miles per minute. "You scared the bejeezus out of me. Why didn't you call me out like any normal human being would?"

"I wanted to surprise you." The former ox of the zodiac shrugged, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "I saw your lights were on and the door was unlocked so I helped myself in."

Now that he was able to settle his heart to a more calming beat, he was able to feel more amused at the situation. Haru had an unusual way of thinking which had always been a huge part of him that he was thankful for. A lot of people can misunderstand him, though those who are closest to him in the family knew that Haru is a good kid. He had a different way of seeing things from what other people normally perceive, which is why when any one of them needs an advice, they would prefer Haru's counsel, no matter how weird it may sound at first.

"I think I've already used up my day's quota of surprises." He said, turning to go to his kitchen, just gesturing for him to follow. "You disappeared during dinner."

"Had to be with Rin."

Momiji glanced at him, noticing that Haru seemed exhausted, as he went around the sandwich counter and opened the cabinets to find a packet of tea leaves. He surmised that there was more to it than what he had originally thought earlier. "How's Rin?"

Haru was quiet for a moment. He thought he wasn't going to answer, but after a minute, Haru cleared his throat. "She's fine. She just had an anxiety attack earlier."

He froze unintentionally in surprise, just as when he had found a tea pack. He hadn't meant to, and he was worried that Haru would close off because of his reaction. His cousin wasn't really fond of talking with personal issues with others, something he had understood since he preferred to deal with issues himself if at all possible – but Haru looked like he needed someone to talk to at the moment and he didn't want him to shut him out all of a sudden.

"It's not too serious. It's just that… it was still hard for her to step into the main house." Haru clarified, which got him to move again, getting down the packet from the cabinet and closing the doors before finally turning to face him once more.

He set it down, now suddenly unsure if he still wanted to brew tea. "Have you brought her to a doctor?"

Haru sighed, raising a hand and ruffling his two-toned hair. "We've been discussing it. She's not protesting, she's just scared of having to talk about herself to a stranger."

"I hope she'll find the strength to do so." He said, just relieved that Haru seemed to decide that it was okay to tell him what was going on. He can be totally reserved when he wanted to, not that he doesn't respect that.

His cousin shrugged. "We'll get there, eventually." He said with more confidence than he was expecting him to have. Haru then gestured to the packet he had managed to find from the cabinets. "Got anything stronger than tea?"

Momiji chuckled, amused. "That's right, you missed the impromptu drinking reunion of Aya and Yuki. How he was able to convince Yuki to drink with him is something I could not and would not ever try to comprehend." He gestured towards the refrigerator. "But to answer your question, I don't know if I do have something stronger than tea, I haven't had the chance to check this house yet."

Haru suddenly smirked. "Open it."

He raised an eyebrow, before proceeding to do as what he told him. What welcomed his sight made him laugh.

"I see you have been using this house as stockroom of sorts." He remarked as he shook his head, looking at the different brands of beers, wine coolers and even bottles of soju fixed neatly inside his old fridge.

"No, but we did buy those yesterday and asked them to prep those here. You know, just in case." Haru joined him by his side, before bending down. "Can I have one? I could really use a drink. I thought Sensei and the others may have demolished this pile as well, though they probably forgot."

"They probably did. Well, suit yourself. I mean you were the ones who bought it after all."

"You?"

He paused before shrugging. "I was actually planning to have tea, but I guess I need something a bit stronger too." He grabbed a bottle of wine cooler (mentally noting that it has been hours since he's had some wine, so this will probably be okay), before straightening up and leaning against the counter just as Haru opened the bottle of soju he had decided to get.

"Kampai." They brought their bottles together for a toast, before taking their first gulp of their drinks.

It was silent between the two of them at first, which both didn't mind. Haru looked thoughtful as he took another swig of his drink, though he suspected he would eventually tell him whatever was on his mind. After all, it was quite rare for Haru to seek his company alone and very late in the night after all.

"Has Honda-san gone home?"

He shook his head. "She's upstairs."

"She's asleep?"

Momiji looked at him, wondering where this conversation is going. Granted, he may be just looking for a topic to talk about, though Haru was never really the type of person to randomly talk about random things.

"Yeah. She was too exhausted and I don't exactly know where she's staying in at the moment, so I decided to bring her here. It was a good thing that they're keeping this place maintained." He glanced at the direction of the staircase. "Once she's awake tomorrow I'll bring her home."

"So are you going to sleep with her tonight?"

He was taking a swig at the moment Haru asked this, and he nearly spat out the said drink. As it was, he accidentally inhaled it which caused him to sputter and cough, feeling as if he had branded his throat and lungs with white-hot iron. When he had managed to clear his airways and he felt like the burn in his lungs had lessened, he looked at Haru exasperatedly, who looked completely innocent and blank as if he had said nothing wrong. "Where in the world did you get that idea?"

Haru was fighting the urge to smile, he could see that. "If I've said this to Kyo he probably would've had me in a headlock by now and would be screaming bloody murder at me."

"Anybody will mistake what you're talking about." He rubbed his chest, trying to alleviate the leftover burn. "And not everyone's instincts is on hair-trigger, but I do have the strong urge to smack you on the head right now. My chest hurts because of your imagination. Yuki would have probably hit you by now, if he's here with us."

"I just thought you would finally make your move. It's just about time."

He met Haru's eyes evenly, noting that all traces of teasing was gone from his cousin's expression. He didn't respond to the statement immediately, the silence seeming to grow louder as each minute ticked by, the two men staring at each other almost like they were sizing each other up and was trying to win a stare-down match that nobody thought existed.

After another minute, Momiji sighed, ruffling his hair. "I didn't think you took me seriously when I was complaining about Kyo taking her away from us before. Did Rin actually believe me?"

"Rin thinks you were just being a jealous little kid at the time. I always knew you weren't though." At Momiji's raised eyebrow at him, Haru chuckled. "We're the same age, bunny, not to mention we're in the same year. I see you almost every day. Besides, you weren't exactly shy with your affections towards Honda-san. The others may have taken that as nothing but you being really just close to her, but I knew it was more than that. I've seen the way you look at her, more than Kyo and Yuki ever did. You still look at her like that, even now." He took another gulp of his drink, looking thoughtful once more as he swirled the liquid in the bottle. "Sensei may have known about it though. He's quite perceptive when he wanted to be."

From what he knew, Shigure is no longer a novelist, though the name probably stuck with Haru that he just kept calling him that even if most of his cousins, mainly Hatori, would probably disagree and point out that he wasn't worthy of being called as such. "Well, you got me there." He leaned back against the counter once more. "I really had no idea of when I fell for her. It's like those feelings had been there my entire life. I was just surprised that you think I 'would make my move' or something now." He continued, gesturing with air quotes to emphasize his making a move supposedly.

"Honda-san is alone now. I mean… this is your time." Haru said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, which to him, it probably is. "You've held yourself back for far too long. Even back then, you could have told her how you felt but you chose not to anyway." There was a hint of annoyance in Haru's tone, and he wasn't quite sure if it was just his imagination or not.

"She's in love with Kyo." He reasoned out. "I love her, I do, but it doesn't mean I'll get in the way of her happiness. I backed down so she can be happy – she deserved it. And Kyo was the only one who was capable of doing that."

"At the time, we all thought so. But that's not the case now, is it?" Haru said matter-of-factly.

He didn't say anything for a few minutes, because both of them knew he didn't have to. Eventually though, he couldn't help but voice some of his thoughts out loud. "It's still kind of hard to believe though. After everything, every insecurity Kyo has to deal with and overcome… that something so simple could cause a rift."

The ex-ox shrugged. "It's just as you said. They both grew up."

Momiji's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into his hairline, realizing the implication of what Haru just said. He didn't think anyone was around when he and Tohru were talking at the pond. "You were listening, weren't you."

Haru shrugged again, looking unapologetic. "I was coming back from Rin's. I didn't mean to eavesdrop." He then smiled at Momiji, a very rare one that it amazed the blond for a bit. There were only a few people who had seen him smile, Tohru probably being one of them. "You deserve to be happy too, bunny."

Momiji returned his smile, though his was a bit cheeky. "Did you come here tonight to give me a pep talk, ox?"

He thought Haru would deny it, but he was surprised when he responded. "If that's what you call a pep talk, probably. I'm tired of seeing you holding back. For what it's worth, you and Honda-san look great together, actually."

Momiji had to laugh. "I was just amazed that you were pushing me to go after Tohru. I mean, you liked Kyo enough to support him. Weren't you surprised when they ended things? I thought you'd go all black on Tohru."

"I won't go all black on her, it's not really any of my business; it's their life. And well… Kyo was the type of person who knows and does whatever he wants; leaving Honda-san on her own for too many days at a time. Sooner or later he would have to make a decision. Still, I don't think what he felt for Honda-san is fake. I don't think Honda-san's feelings were fickle either. In their case, as harsh as this may sound, it probably just weren't meant to be."

You're right about that being harsh, though I'm surprised that you were almost expecting it to happen. Momiji thought to himself, again reminding himself why it was always best to talk to Haru about things. He was largely misunderstood and can be too straight and blunt for his own good (which is probably why he was always so misunderstood in the first place,) but Haru is observant and knows more than what he usually let on.

"To be your friend was all I ever wanted; to be your lover was all I ever dreamed." Momiji then quoted, more to himself, finally finishing the wine cooler in one go, looking thoughtful as he eventually lowered the empty bottle to his side.

"Then it's time to make that dream a reality, don't you think?" Haru said, smiling quietly, hearing and acknowledging the quote Momiji just cited. He was quite familiar with it. "I have a feeling she'll be happier this time around."

Momiji didn't respond, instead choosing to smile. They both knew the answer to it anyway.

"Wait!"

Everything was dark around her, but it didn't matter. She was busy chasing after a male figure who was getting further and further from her. She prayed that her usual bout of clumsiness wouldn't appear now. She couldn't let him leave. Not now. Not when she had to tell him something very important.

She could hear a melody in the background – a violin's – and for some reason, it felt like she should know the song but she couldn't remember where she had heard it.

"Please wait!"

He didn't appear to hear her, just continuing to walk away from her and she was on the verge of tears. She couldn't lose him again. Not again. Not again.

"Wait!"

Just then he stopped and in slow-motion, turned to look at her. She could almost see his face now. A high-bridged nose. Full lips.

Almost –

And then her eyes snapped open.

It was bright, and she was still groggy, but for some reason she felt refreshed. Incredibly refreshed. Like she had taken a vacation and has rested for several days and is now enjoying the results of that vacation figuratively.

Just then, memories flashed through her mind. She recalled the night before – she had gone to the Sohma estate, been amused at Yuki and Ayame's antics, had the talk with Momiji –

Wait, Momiji?

She finally decided to look around the room she was currently in. It was almost bare – she could only see a desk, the lamp beside her, the bed, then the air conditioner.

With a panic, she realized that this wasn't her room. The question is where is she, and which house did she unknowingly sleep in? Was she kidnapped? No, she should be tied now, not sleeping on a bed and almost bare room if she was. She remembered crying in Momiji's arms last night. After that was blank…

Oh. So she must have cried herself to sleep on Momiji's chest. Wow. That was incredibly embarrassing, she could feel her cheeks heating up. It wasn't the first time that she had cried in Momiji's presence, though she was always the one who was comforting before, not the other way around. She had been so used to letting him cry and act childish with her, it had completely escaped her notice that last night, the roles were completely reversed, acting childish unexpectedly included.

As she sat confused and embarrassed, she became aware of the soft, melodious strains of music coming from somewhere near her. Or below her. With a jolt, she realized that it is a violin. There is only one person she knew who plays the violin.

She decided to get out of the bed and follow the sound where it was coming from. She found her shoes and a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers (which she found to be incredibly cute that she squealed in happiness upon seeing it,) beside her bed, and decided to wear the slippers. Oh, this is heaven, she thought as she slid them on – the material was so cozy and felt so good on her feet, she didn't want to let go of them – and decided to leave her shoes in the bedroom in the meantime. She went out of the room, noting that there was only one room beside hers, and she followed the hallway to the staircase.

As she went down, she noticed that the house was almost bare of other decorative things one would expect to see in a house, except for the furniture. It felt almost cold… lonely. She followed the sound to another room that was opposite the living room, the door ajar and where the music is coming from.

As she neared and carefully navigated her way to the room, her eyes caught a figure standing in the middle of another, almost-bare room, his back to her, and her breath caught in her throat.

It was Momiji, indeed.

He was barefoot, looking relaxed as he played a piece on his beloved violin. She didn't know what time it was, but the sun's rays were just at the right angle towards Momiji, illuminating him brilliantly and seeming to make his hair glow even more, almost like a daytime natural spotlight. She recognized this room – even without the other furniture, she could tell that this was the room he was practicing in years ago when she had snuck in to see Kureno-san, the sunroom.

The moment felt almost surreal to her, because the first and last time she had seen him play in person was that time when Momo had helped her sneak in, asking her if it was okay for her to be the one to ask him to be her big brother, since they happened to be friends and she thought Momiji would listen to Tohru.

She had broken down to tears back then and was in too much pain to be even able to appreciate the moment properly, but now, that isn't clearly the case. Now she had just woken up, refreshed, and is feeling ready to take on the world once more.

Now she could properly focus and watch, listen as Momiji serenaded her, if unknowingly, singing to her in a way that only music can express without words – the solo audience to this present-time encore.

Tohru was not entirely familiar with the music world, knowing and having just very few favorite melodies and songs, but this is a song she actually recognized. She did, because she had listened to this in a recorded version in a cd, and each time never failed to bring her to tears. Seeing it live, the song seemed to have a life of it's own under Momiji's skillful fingers.

And so she listened, not bothering to make her presence known. She instinctively felt that this moment was a sacred one for Momiji, and she had no wish to interrupt his playing. The last thing an audience should do is to interrupt a musician and she was determined to see this through, this performance that she had just happened to be the lucky solo listener.

Eventually the last note was hit. Before she could react, she was startled when Momiji suddenly slid his bow across the strings once more, this time with more gusto and emotion it seemed, as she recognized the opening strains of When You Wish Upon a Star again. It was like the first time he played was merely practice, and this second time was the concert performance.

Her heart was beating fast in her chest as realization dawned on her the longer she watched him completely immersed in music and totally in his element. This moment, it seemed, was an eye-opener for her.

Her relationship with Kyo had been wonderful. He was her first love, and he would always hold a special place in her heart. Her love for him was what made her transition from a girl who had been pining for her mother and unconsciously mad at her father to a woman who had begun to learn what it meant to love someone, to accept the fact that loving someone else doesn't mean that she would have to replace the memory of her mother in her heart, but to make space for it. As long as she lived, Kyo's love would be a precious memory to her, even if that love had changed forms in the most unexpected of ways from both parties.

But then it seemed, her heart had been trying to tell her something else for years. As she traveled along the pathway everybody calls life, making choices, the man she had first started walking that path with was Kyo, leaving everybody else behind to make a brand new start. What she was too late to realize, was that somewhere in the middle of this pathway they had let go of each other's hands, having fulfilled their purpose in each other's life, it seemed, and continuing to grow even if it meant they had to do it all by themselves now, continuing on in different directions.

In this pathway she was now walking down in, she could envision another figure who was waiting for her with a hand outstretched toward her it seemed, standing in front of another fork in the road. As she got closer, and closer, the figure turned out to be a male.

As she stood witness and audience to Momiji's performance, the rising sun nearly bathing him with light, the man in her mind's eye slowly grew into clarity, until she recognized the blond hair and his smile.

And she fell into tears once more.

* the literal meaning would be "Good night, my moon princess." There is a legend about a moon princess (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) and I felt that Tohru is similar to a moon princess to Momiji, not because Kaguya-hime's tale ends with her returning to the moon, but because in so many ways, she has been so near and yet unreachable for him, and because well, poets in millennia past looked at the moon as a symbol of love and in most cases, lovesickness. Sad isn't it?

Anyway, as always, I love you guys. If you can leave a comment, review, that would make me terribly happy. See you in the next chapter!

Love,

Michiko