A/N: Sorry the update took a little longer than before. Don't worry; I am planning to carry on with this story right to the end, though updates may be just once a week.

Anyway, this chapter is a little different to the previous ones, so I hope you enjoy it. I look forward to any comments you may leave, and to writing the next chapter for you.

And The Snow Falls

Interlude I - Tohru

Changes

We moved into the Sohma house today. It was a little strange; I'd got so used to thinking of Shigure's house as my home, and I'd never really thought we'd ever have to leave. Akito's offer was so generous, though. He said I could work for him doing housekeeping, so I won't have to worry about finding a job, and it will be work I already know how to do. Sometimes I wonder how I can be so lucky to be taken care of so well.

Packing everything up only took a couple of days. I was surprised, but then Momiji came to help, so perhaps that's why it was done so quickly. I hadn't realised we had so many photographs around the house- I filled a whole box with them. I'd forgotten about that one of Kyou and Yuki that I took last autumn, the one with the two of them asleep in front of the TV, half sprawled over each other. It was such a cute picture.

I went to pack the things left in Yuki's room, but it was already done. I think Shigure must have done it. He's been a lot quieter lately than he used to be- he doesn't even make Kyou annoyed as often as he used to. I sometimes think there's something in his face that's changed. He seems to look at me more often now with a worried kind of expression, and I always want to tell him I'm fine, but it would be strange to say that when he hasn't asked me anything.

It's so hard to figure him out. He smiles so much, even when his eyes are sad, and I've noticed that he never really talks about himself. Yuki and Kyou would sometimes open up and say things that tell me what they're thinking or feeling, but Shigure never does that. It can be pretty confusing sometimes.

It reminds me of that night I went after Kyou, the night I saw his true form. I didn't expect anyone to come after me, but Shigure did. I thought if anyone came after me, it would be Yuki, or even Kazuma. But it was Shigure. He knelt in the mud, and seemed so desperate, but everything was so hard to really understand that night that I never really took in what he said, and I still haven't worked out what he meant by it. He looked so terribly sad that night. I think about it sometimes.

This morning, right before the van was due to arrive, I was calling Shigure to ask if he wanted anything to eat before we left, but he didn't answer. I ended up looking in Yuki's room, and Shigure was there, stood by the window, looking at the wind chime hung there.

I'd forgotten about it; I'd bought it for Yuki one day, because he'd said once that he found it hard to sleep because it was so quiet at night. I suppose he was always used to a little bit of noise, even at night, since he grew up in the main house.

I wonder how busy it is there. I've not been there many times, and it always seems so empty.

Oh, but yes, I found Shigure in Yuki's room, and he asked me if I'd heard the wind chime play recently. I said I hadn't, and he reached up and touched it, making it dance and make those pretty tinkling sounds.

It was so strange, how many memories that sound brought back. Yuki had been quite ill last winter, and I'd spent a lot of time in his room nursing him. I'd noticed that the sound of the chime seemed to soothe Yuki when he was fitful and feverish, so I used to push it gently over and over for ages at a time until he fell asleep. And when we were studying for our final exams, early spring, and the year before, too, the wind chime would play quietly as we worked.

Listening to it play, and seeing Shigure's face, I remembered so many things about the ways things were before Yuki died. I even remembered things about my life before my mother died.

That wind chime makes me so sad, but also happy, somehow. It made me feel lonely, almost, stood there listening to it. I wanted someone to reach out to me, because I just knew that would make me feel better, but I don't know why.

Shigure seemed to shake something off himself, and he smiled at me, putting his hand on the top of my head before he went downstairs. I felt a little less lonely after that.

He seems to touch me more lately, in lots of little ways.

I like it when he's close by. It makes me feel... safer.

I was so sorry to cry in front of him, that night in the kitchen, but Shigure told me not to worry. He touched my lips with his fingertips to stop me talking when I apologised, and just said, "Shush, Tohru-kun. Never apologise for crying." He sounded so serious, even though he was smiling.

He's so hard to figure out.

I keep thinking about that night I cried, though, for some reason. I've never sat so close to Shigure for so long before, and the way he touched my hair made me feel sort of shivery. But it was nice. It made me feel calmer.

I'm not sure how to understand him. He seems to know things that I can't work out, and he thinks about things in such a different way to me. Sometimes, his eyes will close up, as if he's just shut himself away so no one can see him anymore. His eyes look very old sometimes.

I hope he doesn't blame himself for Yuki's death. But I think all of us blame ourselves.

I think even Akito blames himself.

I saw him tonight. It was difficult to sleep; I was so used to my old room, and the bed felt different. I felt kind of out of place, like the house hadn't accepted me yet and was uneasy with me there. I'm so silly, I know.

The hallways were dark and still, and each room I passed was too quiet and so empty, and I really thought I'd get lost if I walked too far... but something kept pulling me forwards. And just when I felt almost too tired to walk any farther at all, the corridor opened up into a big open space, with steps down to a little garden. It was a lovely place, rocks set out in pretty patterns and the bare branches of the trees twisting gracefully in the moonlight. The stars all swam out overhead, thousands and thousands. It was so still and calm.

Something moved, and it scared the life out of me. A figure in the garden turned to look at me, and the angle he leant his head, and the way his hair fell across his face, was so perfectly familiar to me I almost couldn't breathe with all the hope that filled me up so quickly.

I whispered, "Yuki-kun," but when he smiled, it cracked the picture and it wasn't Yuki anymore, and it never would be, and it hurt so much I was shaking a little.

"It's late to be awake, Tohru-san," Akito said softly, and I wished I was anywhere but there. I was so embarrassed to have mistaken him for Yuki, and still trying to calm down from the shock, I couldn't even think of how to move when he stood and came towards me.

He reached out and touched my cheek with his fingertips- just his fingertips, and so gently I almost couldn't feel it- but his fingers were so cold I shivered.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said quickly, feeling terrible to have disturbed Akito's privacy, and to have troubled him.

He smiled again, and his fingers slid down the side of my face. I wanted to lean away, because being touched so softly reminded me of Shigure, somehow, but they were too different. It scared me a little.

He told me I should go back to bed, and I left right away.

Something about that little garden that was enchanting at first became eerie once I'd seen Akito there. I'm shivering a little again, just remembering it. And I still can't get to sleep just yet.

But I'm glad. I am glad.

I'm glad we still have a home we can all share together, even if it will take a little while to get used to. As long as things stay the same for just a little while now, I'm sure we'll all be fine. I just have to remember how things have already changed- it's silly of me to be so forgetful. It's silly of me to see Yuki in the empty corners of rooms, or on the stairs, or in the garden. I can't believe I saw Yuki in Akito like that. I must try harder to remember.

Like earlier today. It was chilly outside, and I'd suddenly thought I should find Yuki's scarf for him, but then I remembered.

You know, chilly days in autumn, like today, always made Yuki's face look gentle- the grey daylight reflected in his eyes and made them soft. And I think, perhaps, if I can still picture that, it'll be okay. Even if it means I have to remember all over again that he's gone. I think it'll still be worth it.

I don't want to forget things like that.