Chapter Five

A Light in the Darkness

When Hatsuharu next woke up, he was laying on his back, looking at a gray and cloudy sky. Small drops of rain hit his face as he stared up into the vast smoky mass above him. His body ached and he had a headache that pounded at his skull like bullets hitting his brain. /What the hell/ He asked himself through the haze of pain. /How good was that party/ He sat up and tried to get a grip on his surroundings. Apparently he had fallen asleep by the hot spring, and he must have gotten out before drowned. /Weird, I've never passed out from a drink or two before. / Then he saw something that really confused him; there were two towels out there. One of them was by the spring and seemed fairly dry, the other was inside one of the vents on the side of the spring. Slowly and painstakingly, he got up and took the towel out to examine it. At first nothing seemed wrong with it… but Hatsuharu was still wary of the cloth object, feeling that by looking at it, he would remember something he didn't want to. With a start, he dropped the towel to the ground. /There's blood on it/ Then the memories flooded back to him. He remembered why the towel was bloody… he remembered only all too well. He rushed back into the building, not knowing what his next move would be, just knowing that he couldn't just stay where he was. "Momiji!", he called out in sour desperation. There was no answer. He shook his head in disgust for himself.

/ How could you let yourself do this? You sick son of a bitch. / He could hear his inner voice crying out.

/I didn't mean to do it! I t wasn't really me! It was my black-side/ The white side of him cowered at the thought of his lack of control.

/Bullshit! You've been wanting to do it ever since you met Momiji. / A grating resentment showed through his mind's voice.

/No! No! I love my Momiji-chan! And he loves me too/ He hugged himself as he ran down the hall, looking for his lost love.

/Not a snowballs chance in Hell! He's gonna hate you now! He's gonna hate you for all he's worth/ An evil laugh felt the need to bubble forth from his throat.

/Then he'll hate me a lot won't he/ The laughter subsided with this thought.

His inner, dark voice seemed to falter for a moment. /What? That's what I just said isn't it? Yeah he's gonna hat you a lot! You fucking raped him, you pervert/

/But he still means the world to me… No matter what he thinks of me… I'll always love him/ Images shot through Hatsuharu's mind, the first time he had met Momiji, when they were small children, at the zodiac banquet, their first day at school together not too long after, the first time he had learned that he loved his blonde-best friend.

/What have I done/ Haru continued to search through the vast expanse of the Hot springs building. He checked in their room, not expecting to find him there, but still hoping…

Everyone who had come to the party was sleeping; apparently they didn't really care about what had happened to the birthday boy. They just cared that they had had a good time at the party earlier. As Hatsuharu walked along, he noticed all of the families in their rooms. Some had small children embraced by their parents, others had elder brothers or sisters that they clung to. How Haru wished he could also sleep in the embrace of a loved one at that moment…

Suddenly an idea came to him. /Maybe he's with Tohru or Kyo/ Momiji had always told him that, other then Hatsuharu himself, he could always tell Tohru or Kyo what was on his mind when he felt alone or hurt. He had figured that Torhu was one of the rabbit's closer friends, after all he had told her about his Mother. There were only three other people that Momiji had told about his loss; Hatori, Momiji's Father, and Momo, his little sister. But it came as a surprise to him that Kyo and Momiji actually got along when not in public or with others around. Momiji had once put it as, "He and I get along when we're alone about as well as we don't get along when we're with people."

He walked down the hallway with a newfound goal, to find Kyo. Glancing into each room as he reached it, he found what he expected to find, couples sleeping together, like Shigure and Ayame, or Kisa and Hire, and even Kagura and Rin. But when he reached Kyo and Yuki's room he was shocked at what he found. At first he didn't notice anything peculiar, he could see Kyo lying on his futon, his back turned to the door, but as Haru got closer he could swear that… He was almost positive that... Then he stopped in amazement. Lying in the same bed, in a warm embrace was the silver-haired rat! Kyo was lying their, totally oblivious to all around him, holding his 'rival' in a loving embrace! It was then that the cow noticed how tussled up the sheets were, and the multiple clothes that were strewn around the room.

/On second thought, I'll just leave these two and find Tohru…. / Hatsuharu started backing out of the room, when an idea came to him, with an evil grin he snuck into the room neighboring the cat and mouse's, where two other lovers slept. The tiger and ram of the zodiac, Kisa and Hiro, also lay sound asleep in a daze of after glow. Kisa had long ago gone into photography so that she could express herself through pictures instead of words, she still had a little trouble talking to others, but it wasn't nearly so bad as it had been. Now she could always be seen with a little Polaroid® hanging around her neck, that was all Haru wanted. Quietly he took the camera and snapped a few quick pictures of the cat and mouse in each other's arms. /These will be good for the next zodiac banquet. / With that he left the camera back in Kisa and Hiro's room and left to find Tohru.