Author's Notes: having effectively frightened myself (and my lovely readers ^_^) with Akito, the fic goes on a slightly lighter note. Yeah right! You're dealing with me here. :P Actually, it is a bit lighter, somewhat... _ I sort of have a plot now though, and might as well just throw in a pairing. What the heck. I like Kyou/Haru, sure. :)

Chapter 3

"Haru? Are you okay? Are you there? Hey Haru...?" I saw my eyes reflected in a pair of bright, metallic brown eyes. Momiji.

"Hm...?"

"Ah! You are there! Why won't you come and have lunch with us today?"

I stared at him with a blank face. When we walked down the street, people usually assume that he was my kid cousin twice removed or something, but I saw Momiji as a 15-year-old like me. Even people close to us (and that gives a grand total of...oh, the Sohmas) summed up our relationship in a protective/brotherly fashion, but that wasn't true either. I saw Momiji as my equal, because I understood Momiji, even if it doesn't appear so. I knew underneath his guise, he probably had more emotional problems than all of us combined.

That was, until Hatsuharu decided to develop something alike a repressed jealousy / head cracking into a million pieces complex. Therefore, to my equal, Momiji, I said in my earnest voice. "I want to be alone today."

He didn't get it though, and unceremoniously grabbed my arm. "Aww...no no! Come on, Haru! I'm so sick of you moping at home, moping at school, moping everywhere! You need to cheer up!"

"Momiji," I muttered, bringing my other arm to my wrinkling forehead. "Please, not today."

"But it's already boring without Tohru-kun! You have to come. I can't stand Yuki and Kyou fighting any longer."

"Wha...what? Honda-san isn't here today?" I questioned him.

Momiji shook his head sadly. "No... She's sick. We should visit her this afternoon! Yeah! How about it?"

Dots began clouding my head, like small needles, not enough to hurt, but fed to the slow progress of blood loss. I'd been feeling like this lately, a numbing loss of mental sanity. Tohru was sick? Why was Tohru sick? Oh no, Akito didn't go off and poison her did he? This was all my fault. Akito's not going to give up... he'll torture Tohru. He'll torture her until...until I... But that's what you want, isn't it? You want to see her suffer. Don't you?

"HARU," Momiji swung my arm harshly and suddenly I felt my sanity slipping away. Shit. No, not now, don't lose it now, please.

"Look. What part of 'leave me alone' do your not understand?" I glared at the blonde with a wrath that I didn't know I was capable of before pushing him harshly away from me. Faintly, I winced as Momiji fell against the ground. It hurts...whenever this happens. It feels as if I was watching a horror movie, except it was real, and I was making it happen. Gomen, Momiji. Gomen, Yuki. Gomen, Kyou. Gomen, Tohru.

Tohru.

Abruptly, her smiling face was ripped to shreds, and my mind saw Akito with his long, slender fingers and blue lips.

["You can do her a favor, Haru. You can make her forget. We don't have to ask Hatori. You can...you can..."]

No! I don't want to. I don't want to...

Dizzy, as the world spun around me. I fell onto the ground. Control, I needed control.

"Haru! You stupid cow! What did you do to Momiji!" I felt a rough hand ringing my body up. Kyou's eyes burned right through my own, but I couldn't feel the heat.

"Don't act dumb! What the hell's with you lately? Huh?!?" he shook me. "Do something?! Yell at me! Fight me? I will whip you until you can't tell the difference between black and white! Apologize to Momiji! Oi!!!"

"Haru...it's okay. Just forget it," I heard Momiji's voice, reduced to a whisper.

"Forget it? Hell no! You have to pay sometime for being such an idiot, Haru. I swear to Kami-sama I could kill you right now. First it was with those stupid kids, scaring Kisa, then it's..."

"Kyou. Shut up," Yuki cut in, his voice like dry ice, quiet but effective.

Not to Kyou though. "Who are you to tell me to shut up! Baka nezumi!? Cover Momiji's eyes for me while I beat the crap out of him."

"Stop it," Yuki actually shoved Kyou aside before those violet holes settled into my own. Then he did something strange. "Stop thinking, Haru." He hugged me.

Yuki Sohma swung his arms around my neck...and hugged me. "Stop thinking so much."

"Yuki," I leaned into his embrace. I wanted to feel his pain curl against my own. "Yuki," is this what he had to endure all these years? All these years of...Akito?

"Hatori...told me that you've been going through a lot lately. Everything will be okay though. Really." he smiled at me. A beautiful, Yuki-like smile. It was a smile of conciliation, of mock pity, of superficial empathy. Suddenly it stung. He didn't understand. No, Yuki didn't know that pain either, he couldn't. Yuki was pure, untouched. That's why Akito wanted Yuki, because no matter how hard he tried, he will never taint Yuki. But me, I was weak, I was impure, I was... The bastard, he probably thought I was mad and was using some kindergarten method to assuage me. After all, what did Yuki need of me? He only needed her...

I pushed him off of me, "stop," and ran.

From a distance, I thought I heard a round of curses from the Yuki's usually sustained lips, but I didn't let it bother me. I wasn't Yuki. I had nothing to lose.