Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of it's characters.

Warnings: Shounen-ai/Yaoi (But probably not until later chapters…still just implications, mostly), dark/angst, language, possible gore, and probable romance.

Pairings: ?/Tohru, Hatori/Ayame, Haru/Momiji, Shigure/?

Summary: He's their best friend and, yet, he's their worst enemy. He hides behind his joker's mask and pretends he cares, but he doesn't. What does he want and can they stop him before he destroys them all?

Harakiri: Chapter 7!!!

Skye: Even I'm impressed!

Harakiri: HA!!! XP Anyways, this is going to be a rather Hatori-centric chapter with, perhaps, a hint of Ayame. X3

Skye: Oh! 3 Snake bish!!!

Harakiri: X3

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Eternity is Forever Chapter 7-The Memories of Antiquity

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It was close to a month now, since Tohru had come to the Sohma's and already she felt at home with them. She had just recently met Kagura, Kisa, and Hiro. She absolutely adored Kisa and treated her like a little sister. Kisa was so cute she had to resist the urge to cuddle her every second as it would make Hiro mad. Kagura was cute, too, but she seemed to have some sort of split personality. Either that or she just loved beating up Kyou. Of course, Shigure said that was how she proved her love to Kyou. Everyone was unique, but sometimes Tohru thought it was a bit much.

She sighed and smiled as she finished the last of the dishes. She felt a certain pride in completing her work and felt even better when people were made happy by her work, especially Yuki and Kyou. She blushed as she thought of the two Sohma boys. She had begun to get close to them and was finding out so much about them, especially Kyou who she learned had only opened up to one other person, but not as much as he had to her. That gave her a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time she thought about it.

Tohru sighed again and grabbed a glass to pour herself some water. Just as she reached to turn on the faucet she noticed a glass of water over on the other side of the sink. "Eh? When did that get there?" She looked at the glass she had then at the one on the counter. 'Maybe I filled it up without thinking….?' She set the empty glass down on the counter and reached for the full one. The water seemed kind of silvery, when she looked at it up close, but it still looked like water and there was no strange stuff floating in it, so it was probably ok. She brought the glass up to her lips and was about to take a drink when a hand reached out and grabbed the glass, stopping it from tilting.

"You shouldn't drink that," came a familiar, deep voice. Clear blue eyes looked up and met burnt gold.

"Ah, Hatori-san!" She quickly set down the glass and bowed. "Gomen nasai! I didn't know that was yours!" Hatori stared at the flustered girl for a moment before picking up the glass of silvery liquid and heading out.

"Follow me," he said just before he completely exited. Tohru stood up and stared at the door to the kitchen, mildly confused. She jumped as she realized she was falling behind and exited the kitchen then made her way hastily down the hallway, almost running into Hatori in the process. He glanced over his shoulder at her and she blushed, turning her face downward. He smiled, only faintly, then opened the door to his office and entered.

Tohru followed him in and shut the door behind her. She figured if he didn't say anything to her in the kitchen then he wanted some privacy. He gestured to a pillow, indicating she could sit there. She sank to her knees and sat on the pillow, waiting for him to speak.

"I suppose you're curious as to why I stopped you from drinking this," he said as he held up the glass, "and why I asked you here. Correct?" She nodded slowly, not wanting to say anything. He opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a beautiful crystal vial. He then picked up the glass and poured the contents of it into the vial, sealed it, then put it back in the drawer and set the glass back on his desk.

"The substance that was in that glass wasn't water. It's something of my own creation, something I call Nepenthe." She blinked. That name seemed rather familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "Nepenthe was the water that the dead drank once they entered Hades so they would forget everything from when they were alive. That is what that substance does. It makes people forget everything about their lives." Tohru's eyes widened as she realized just how close she had been to losing…everything. Herself, her new friends…all of it.

"But…how did it…" Hatori leaned back in his chair, arms folded across his chest.

"I'm assuming Hiro did it. He gets jealous very easily, as you know, and he's too young to consider the consequences of his actions." Tohru shuddered. She really wished Hiro wouldn't be so mad at her. She didn't mean to do anything. "It's not your fault. It's just how he is." His eyes suddenly became sad and he looked at a picture on his desk. "It's not your fault…" Tohru watched as his eyes became more distant, like he was living in a memory.

Not wanting to disturb him, she slowly got up and exited the room as quietly as possible. Hatori always seemed to have this air of sorrow to him, but that was the first time she had actually seen him sad. She wished she knew why he was so sad. Maybe she could help somehow. At least she hoped she could. She made her way back to the kitchen to see if there was anything she missed when she saw Momiji heading her way.

"Ah, konbanwa, Momiji!" she called.

"Tohru!!" The brown eyes boy saw her and ran at her, full speed, then glomped her. There was a poofing sound and a puff of yellow smoke and Tohru was cuddling a cute little yellow bunny. "Hello!!" She smiled at him.

"Hello," she said in response.

"Ne, Tohru, why did you go into Hari's office?" She blinked.

"Oh, well, I had finished dishes and was about to drink something that I thought was water, but Hatori-san stopped me. He took me into his office to explain what it was." The bunny's eyes widened.

"Was it Nepenthe?" he asked. She nodded and Momiji suddenly looked angry. "Who would do such a thing?!" A sweatdrop appeared on her head as she remembered what Hatori said.

"Ah, well whoever it was probably wasn't thinking clearly," she said. "Or it could have been an accident." Momiji huffed.

"I doubt it! Hatori always keeps the drawer with the Nepenthe locked so…" His eyes widened. "O-h! Just wait until I get my hands on Hiro!!!" Another sweatdrop appeared.

"No, it's alright! No harm was done." The bunny stared at her indignantly.

"But he could have done some major damage!! He at least needs a major talking to!" She smiled and hugged the bunny.

"Thank you for caring so much, but it's alright. I'm fine and nobody else was hurt. That's all that matters." Momiji looked up at her and wondered, like everybody else, how she could be…her. She was almost too good to be true. He sighed then snuggled against her, quite content with staying as a bunny for the time being. Tohru smiled, but then remembered Hatori's sad look. "Ne, Momiji?"

"Hai?"

"…Why does Hatori seem so sad all the time?" Momiji blinked and looked up at her.

"Oh, that's right. You don't know." Tohru looked at him.

"Don't know what?"

"About Kana." She tilted her head to the side and shook her head. "Well, some years ago, when I was little, Hatori met a girl named Kana. She was nice, pretty, and smart, too. She was his assistant in the clinic he runs. Well, the two of them got really close and began dating, but because of our curse, Hatori couldn't hug her or be really too physically affectionate." Tohru blushed at that comment. "One day she was visiting him and, well…the secret kind of got out." She could only imagine the chaos. "Hatori thought she would get upset and eave him, but she didn't care about his curse. After that, the two of them lived happily for a while until Hatori proposed to her. You see, anything that has to do with us junishi goes through Akito, so Hatori had to take Kana to see Akito and ask for his blessing in their marriage. If Akito said no then they either couldn't or they would have to do it secretly."

Momiji shuffled a bit so her legs and his bum wouldn't fall asleep. "Well, they went to the meeting, but Akito wasn't happy…not at all. He smashed a vase over Hatori's head, which is why his right eye is partially blind, and then he blamed Hana for everything. She couldn't take it and began to think that she actually was the one responsible for Hatori getting hurt. She sank into a depression and became almost manic." Tohru continued to listen intently. "Hatori couldn't bear to see her like that so…he took her memories of him. All of them. She forgot all about him and eventually married somebody else." Suddenly he felt something wet hit the top of his head. "Huh?" He looked up and saw that Tohru was crying. "Ah, Tohru, don't cry!!"

"I…I can't help it!" She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. "Hatori-san is such a nice person. He doesn't deserve something like that!" Momiji patted Tohru's arm with one of his little paws and neither of them noticed Hatori as he walked away from them.

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Hatori opened the door to his office and was greeted by the sight of Ayame sitting on his desk. His eyes narrowed and he walked over to the effeminate man.

"What are you doing on my desk?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for Tori-san!" came the loud, enthusiastic reply. The dark haired man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why was Ayame always so noisy?

"What do you want?" he asked rather grumpily. The silver haired man pouted.

"I came to talk to you. We never talk anymore."

"If by talk you mean listen to you prattle on about meaningless things, then we have nothing to talk about." Hatori settled into his chair then opened a file and began to read it.

"Hidoi!!! You're so mean, Hatori!!" He sighed then put the file down and looked up at Ayame, his features looking extremely tired.

"Gomen nasai, Aya…" Ayame's eyes widened a bit as Hatori called him by his nickname…his nickname that Shigure usually only used. He slid off the desk and walked over to his friend.

"What happened?" he asked, suddenly serious. The dark haired man sighed.

"Nothing just…bad memories." Bright gold eyes soften and Ayame reached out and hugged Hatori.

"Your whole life has been nothing but memories. I-I wish you could escape that…if only for a little while." Hatori smiled softly into Ayame's robes and brought his hand up to place it on Ayame's. Not for the first time in his life, he was happy that he had Ayame as his friend. The two stayed that way for some time; Ayame offering comfort and Hatori receiving it.

Shigure smiled from his vantage point at the doorway. 'As it should be,' he thought. He quietly shut the door and padded softly down the hall to his room, leaving his two best friends to each others company.

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Not too long and I'm definitely not happy with this one. I did horrible with writing their characters!! Then again….it's about 3:30 AM….0.0 Oh well. I did happen to like my explanation about the Nepenthe, tho. X3 And bad, Hiro! Oh well…leave me lots of reviews and let me know if you liked it or hated it as much as I do. XP Ta!!