OOMISOKA NITOBU TOKI

"When you skip out on New Year's Eve"

Part 2

I know that the last one was supposed to be in Hatori's P.O.V. and this one's supposed to be Shigure, but I figure it'd be easier to write as Hori (or Hari, or Ha'ri or Hatori. Doesn't matter to me) after I made fun of him. YAY GURE CHAN! Anyway, chapter 6:

Shigure had left early. So had Yuki, Kagura, Kisa…okay. Everybody except me Akito and Ayame. We stood around, looking at the mess of firecrackers, fortune cookies and colored paper. Akito coughed. Yes, a very interesting conversation. You could tell we enjoyed each other's company.

"Haru wasn't here this year." Ayaa said. I looked over at him. He was right. I hadn't noticed, but Haru hadn't had his yearly fight with Kyo. Kyo. He hadn't been here either…

"Where was he?" I asked. "Do you know Akito san?" I asked. He smiled. In other words, he wasn't going to give me an answer, so I'd have to visit Gure chan and baby-sit Ayaa at the same time. I glanced at my watch. It was four hours into the year of the dragon, and the dragon was getting tired already.

As we drove to Gure's house Ayaa began to fidget.

"Can you turn up the heat a bit Hari?" He asked. I sighed and took off my coat. I put it over him like a blanket. He snuggled into it and smiled. There was a loud honking noise and the sound of breaks screeching. I must have run a light or something. I just want to point out before we go further that I am a bad person. I am also a role model. This is a bad combination. Oh, and I'm blind in one eye. I'm a bad, blind, daydreaming role model. I defiantly shouldn't drive a car at four thirty in the morning.

We made it semi-safely to the Sohma house, and I told Ayaa to drive on the way home. He nodded and pulled the coat closer to him. I hugged his shoulders, strictly to keep him warm, and heard a whistling noise. Shigure, Kyo, Tohru and Yuki were hanging out the window. I also heard Momitchi laughing and Haru telling everyone not to catch cold or fall. That was switch. Why was Haru being the cautious one? Then I noticed that Tohru was wearing Haru's coat. This was when Ayaa jumped to conclusions.

"Tohru and Haru switched bodies! They've possessed each other!" Then he screamed. And was very girly about it. I'm relieved to this day that the Sohma house is isolated and in the middle of the woods, or someone would have called the police and arrested Ayaa for disturbing the peace. Anyway, it all happened very quickly after Ayaa's screams.

"Who told him?"

"Hari! Shigure! Shut him up!"

"Ouch Momiji go away!"

What did they mean by 'who told him'? I walked briskly inside, pulling Ayaa by the wrist. Everyone hurried down the stairs, and after some explanation, I was told what had happened. Neither Haru nor Tohru would allow an examination, though I doubted I would find out anything anyway.

"That explains why Haru didn't attend and the rest of you left early. Oh, Yuki? Akito's mad at you. He said he expects to see you tomorrow. Okay, today. It's the morning now isn't it?" Everyone nodded. It was now five in the morning on the first of January. I looked out the window. The clouds where pale and snow was beginning to drift gently to the ground. A broad smile stretched across Haru's face as he saw the snow. That was confusing.

"So which one of you are we calling Tohru?" I asked. They replied that Haru's body was called Tohru. So it was Tohru who smiled. Okay.

Haru and Tohru hurried outside and began to catch the flakes on their tongues. Then Tohru said something to Haru and they both began to make a snowman. After a while Haru came inside and picked up some of the colored paper on the floor. He went outside again and put it on the snowman's head.

"Who are they making?" Ayaa asked. I shrugged.

"I have a pretty good idea of who it is." Shigure chuckled. I looked back at the snowman. It had hair over one eye. And a stethoscope made out of a tree branch.

"Ha ha." I said, and went outside to tell them to stop. This was rewarded with a snowball to the blind side. Soon everyone was throwing snowballs. Ayaa made a fort out of one of the drifts and stocked up on slushballs. Momiji went around the side of the house and returned a while later with and armful of snow and food dye. We all stopped and went over.

"It took you that long to find the food color?" Yuki asked. Momiji shook his head.

"I was doing something else too." He said. "Here's the game. We divide into three teams and choose one of the colors. All the snowballs you throw have to be your team's color. In the end, whoever's dyed the most of the other teams' colors loses. Alright? Pick your colors!" Everyone decided which colors they wanted and wrote them on paper. Then they gave them to Momiji. He organized the groups.

"Tohru, Yuki, and Hari picked yellow!" He said. I shrugged and walked over to my teammates. "Kyo, Ayaa and me have red!" He announced. Kyo glared at both of them and went to get snow. "That means Gure and Haru have blue! Let's go! The game starts in five minutes!" Then he ran off to help Kyo dye the snow.

After the five minutes were over everyone had forts, dyed snow, ad were ready for Momiji's signal. Yuki and I were both strait faced, and Tohru looked determined. But somehow she managed to smile.

"Come on guys, it's just snow!" She said. I shrugged and looked over to Yuki.

"You go after Ayaa. I'm taking Shigure." Yuki nodded and looked over to Tohru.

"Do you want to help? Haru's got a good throwing arm." He smiled as she nodded. Momiji's whistle pierced the air seconds later, just after seven in the morning. I wasn't tired anymore. But I doubted this would be much fun either. As Yuki sprinted toward red's fort, I pulled Tohru back.

"If he starts to cough, bring him to me." I said. Tohru nodded, and looked like she was about to leave when she smiled and handed me a snowball.

"Remember that snow will always melt." She said and ran off. I smiled and ran to blue's fort.

Yes Tohru kun. Without fail. The snow will melt some day.

Our team ended up winning. Here are the scores:

Tohru-mildly covered

Yuki- One red hit by Kyo

Kyo-covered in yellow by Yuki

Shigure- covered in yellow and red

Momiji-mildly spotted with blue, covered in red

Me-completely blue

Ayaa-completely yellow

Haru-spotless

It turns out what took Momiji so long to return was that he too was making snowmen. There was a dog chasing a cat chasing a rat. And Tohru sitting in the middle, holding a rabbit, and a snake. All being watch be a huge and magnificent dragon, who seemed to be smiling. And had a stethoscope. All worries about Akito, the curse, the mind switch and the new year had melted like the snow, without fail, thanks to our friends.

Wow. I think that turned out well, considering it's difficult to write as Haru. Here's my secret: I kept my bangs over my eye the whole time. Works like a charm I think. Please review. This will sadly be my last one until the end of the month. Oh, do people want me to put Japanese words in like I did with Chapter 1? Review!!!