"I want to break the curse," Tohru said softly. Momiji looked up at her silently. She did not understand why that wish became so overbearing, but she wanted it to come true, even if she did not know how. Silently in her heart, she had hoped and thought that if she had broken the curse, Kyou would be free and he would no longer live in a cage.

How does it feel like to wake up to four walls surrounding you? To have the feeling like something is hiding in the shadows from the four corners of the walls? To have a morbid sense that the walls are closing in on you and you have absolutely nowhere to hide? No one to be with, just you and the walls, just you and the shadows. Just you.

Momiji nodded silently, "It is impossible to," He looked away. That feeling again, where it felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. It felt like the sorrow and sympathy she had been feeling moved right up to the back of the throat, she swallowed hard. She must be strong. "Momiji..." Tohru placed her hand on Momiji's, she felt his hand tensed up a bit, but relaxed after a while. Both of them regarded each other in silence, "If there is a way, at least, I must try. Even if it is impossible to, at least there is still hope and I won't give up now. If I can't do it right this time, I'll do it right the next. I know that even Momiji-kun would want to be able to hug your sister, without having to worry about transforming... I know that everyone else feels that way too... I..." Tohru paused and looked at Momiji, he had begun to look away and refused eye contact. Tip-tip-tip ... that sound... "Mo...miji-kun?" He was crying.

With a swift turn, Momiji wrapped his arms around Tohru's neck and enjoyed the embrace for a few minutes, she's here... she's real..., before he transformed again. Tohru smiled widely at Momiji again.

"If you want to know how to break the curse, you must ask Shigure-san, I bet he knows..." Momiji said. "Shigure-san?" Tohru asked. How could it be? How could Shigure know so much about the curse? Yet he had not spoken a word about it? As if reading her mind, Momiji relaxed in her arms, "Hmn... Shigure is very close to Akito, for some reason... and Akito listens to him sometimes. Shigure-san's grandfather was the previous God in the Jyunishi, back then, Shigure-san was a child," Shigure's grandfather was the previous God? Tohru listened on intently, "Back then, Shigure's grandfather's health deteriorated until the point where he was bed-ridden and during that time, Shigure's grandfather called Shigure in and told him something about the curse, and to look after the new God when he is gone,"

"As soon as his grandfather died, Akito was born 2 weeks later and the curse was reborn again. Until now, we do not know what his grandfather told him... but we all know that Shigure remembers it," Momiji said and paused as he regarded Tohru. "Momiji-kun... how do you know so much?"

"At that time, only Ayame and Hatori was borned... I..." Momiji blushed, "had also thought about breaking the curse, and I asked...

Hatori: "I don't know anything about it, don't ask so much,"

Ayame: "HAHAHA! Let uncle Ayame tell you what happened... but on one condition!!! YUKI our close bond must not be broken Because of my endless love for my brother and because of my hopes to see Yuki be able to open his heart out to his most dearest and closest girl in his life recently cough Tohru cough... to be able to carry out MAN'S ROMANCE! HAHAHA! Once Yuki Blah he will... blah and Yuki... blah then Yuki could... blah... (Editor's note: Ayame just talks too much but I love him nonetheless! HAHAHA! –ahem-)

"That's how I knew..."

"Momiji-kun... why didn't you tell me...?" Tohru asked. Momiji defended, "I intended to, but the time I went to Shigure-san's house, he explained that you had returned to your grandpa's house..."

POM!!!

"EH!!" Tohru looked away and blushed. "Gomen Tohru-kun!" Momiji changed back into his clothes, leaning forward so he could whisper into her ear, "Thank you for coming back," He let the words register in Tohru's head, he smiled widely and winked at her before he turned and left, leaving Tohru with hot tears trickling down her face.

[After word: I just adore Momiji in the anime, so much so that I gave him so much time in the story, heh. I tried to write the characters as close as they can be... especially Momiji, in this essay, you would have seen both sides of Momiji, I guess... the serious and the cheerful, but because I wanted this fanfic to be as serious as possible, I made him more serious than cheerful. I especially enjoyed writing the characters out. Perhaps those who have watched the anime, would have noticed the drastic change in Tohru although I have kept some parts of her personality, like how she always like to smile and stuff. I wanted a more serious Tohru in this story... so yeah. Thanks to those who reads my fanfic even though it's really painful to because of the long chapters... Little word on next 2 chapters is that Tohru is going to talk to Shigure and find out how the curse could be broken AND she meets Kyou!

Anyway, here's the explanation of the Japanese language I've used in this chapter.

Gomen – Sorry; can also be in a longer form Gomenasai or sumimasen (if you had watched the anime, those are the words Rin kept saying when she thinks she's done something wrong. )