He fingered the smooth material of a small photo booklet he kept by his side always. The leather, from being opened daily, was frayed at the edges, its once deep brown color now a lighter shade. Even with the leather in the shape that it was, its contents remained looking as it did the first time it had been developed in the dark room. The first photo, was of a beautiful blonde woman that much resembled him in many ways. A carefree smile captured in the essence of time. He smiled as well, thinking how happy she must have been when the photo was taken.

"Your mother is falling apart, please, do this for her…"

His smile faded. His own mother didn't know he existed. His mother was able to get a new chance at life, but the price he paid was a life of pretending that his mother was just another member of the Sohma family. But it's okay. Everything was all right as soon as he had seen his mother smile, just as she had in the picture that was taken many years before. He touched the edge of the photo, tracing the woman's smile.

This was only a small price to pay for his mother's happiness. Her memories of him compared to her happiness…he would be saying falsehoods if he said it was an easy decision to make, but he knew it was a decision he had to make. No matter how much he had tried as a child, he was never able to make her smile as she had in the picture as long as she remembered him. By her forgetting he even existed, she was once again able to smile without the shadows that frequently passed by her face when she came to realization that she had given birth to something that couldn't possibly be human in her eyes.

"Mother, I miss you."

"Are you going to regret forgetting your son?"

"The only thing I've regretted in my life is giving birth to that…monster."

Liquid droplets splashed onto the protective plastic of the booklet. Rain? He touched the corners of his eyes, surprised to feel wetness on the pads of his fingers. Tears after he thought all the tears he could ever cry in a lifetime were shed because of the incident. Apparently, there were still a bit more left.

If he put himself in his mother's shoes, he couldn't really blame her for saying what she said. Perhaps if he was the parent, and he found himself not being able to even show such a small affection such as hugging his child, then perhaps he himself would withdraw back into his shell, denying the child's existence. No matter how much pain that act might bring the child.

"Mother, today I went to Yuki and Kyo's house. Tohru's really nice, I'm sure if you ever get the chance to meet her, you'd like her as much as I do. Do you know what day tomorrow is? It's your birthday." He put a finger to his lips. "But shh…it's a surprise. Father always said you liked surprises."

The small case in his pocket that contained his mother's birthday present felt heavy, yet he didn't want to leave it out of his sight for one second, because then, he wouldn't have a present for his mother. Why he always got a present the same time each year he didn't know. His mother would never get to open it. The person who would open the present would be the stranger who was in the Sohma family. His mother without her memory. A stranger.

But it was the only time each year, that he could see her smile. When she opens the present, surprise, then an expression he never got to see as a child. Somehow, that made up for it all. Made up for not knowing him, made up for never getting the love that he had craved so for as a child.

"Momiji-kun?"

He looked up, startled to find himself facing the person of thoughts. Shoving the leather booklet back into his pocket, he jumped off the stand he had been sitting on, turning to the woman with an expression he didn't feel. An expression of lighthearted innocence.

"What are you doing here at this time of night Momiji-kun? Wouldn't your parents be worried?"

Biting back the bitter disappointment he felt each time he encountered her and realized she would never regain her memory, he let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, I was playing with this new game my father bought me, I guess I simply lost track of time."

The stranger whose face was his mother's, smiled gently. Her face showed no signs of recognition other than that of him being related to one of the Sohma clan.

"I better go before my parents start to wonder where I am." He waved to her as he ran to the closing elevator, getting on just as the doors shut. Feeling the quiet thudding of his heart going off in an uneven pattern, he closed his eyes, instinctively reaching out to the leather casing that held his mother's photograph. Relief washed over him as he once again saw his mother's picture.

He had given his mother a second chance. Who would be there to give him his?

Another chance so he can once again learn to smile without the shadows that always held him back. To be able to smile…just like his mother. He turned to the second page of the photo booklet, to reveal a childish drawing of a smiling Momiji, with the sun and stars in his eyes.

His second chance.

TBC…

Note: I originally wrote this to be a one-shot fic, a stand alone fic about Momiji's past, but then I thought this would be a nice introduction to Momiji's character in this series. Although the scenes seem a bit unstable right now (jumping from scene to scene without any connections), the later chapters should clear things up. :)