Hallo everyone! This is a revised chapter! (I made a few grammatical errors with my German, but thankfully one of my readers corrected me. he he.) I'm so surprised at the popularity of this story! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. This is based on a beautiful poem I read in British Literature class. (Aren't all my stories based on poems or songs?) And it is a pairing of my two favorite characters, and because it is so sweet I have to be careful and "tread lightly" to make this a really good story! I hope you enjoy!
But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor in the marble vault shall sound
My echoing songs; then worms shall try
That long-preserved virginity.
And your great honor turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
-From "To His Coy Mistress"
by Andrew Marvell
"Guten Morgen Haru-kun! Stehst du auf!" a cheerful voice shattered Hatsuharu's sleep, forcing him to open bleary eyes and examine his surroundings. At the far end of his bed, another boy bounced impatiently, his tussled tresses jumping up and down over his eyes. "It's time to go to school!"
Hatsuharu had to smile, despite the drowsiness dancing through his head, at Momiji's eagerness. "Well, you certainly look ready," his eyes scanned his cousin's uniform and neatly laid-out notebooks. "Are you hoping to meet girls or something?"
"Aren't you excited Haru-kun? We're finally going to a real school!" The teasing did not seem to register with Momiji, for he continued to banter without pause. "Tohru-kun will be there! Meine beste Freundin! And Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun too. We'll finally make real friends, Haru-kun. We'll be just like everybody else."
Swinging his legs off his bed and pulling his weary body to a standing position, Hatsuharu flashed a small smirk. 'Hatori-san was right. I will have to watch out for him, won't I?' He regained his composure and mustered a serious face. "Remember Momiji-kun, don't start thinking you are too normal and forget about the curse. If you get on one of your hyper fits and accidently bump into a girl, it could be disastrous for all the Sohmas. They would never allow us off family property again."
A pout crossed Momiji's lips at being reprimanded, and he continued in a slightly calmer voice, "I know, I know." But a sunny grin soon regained control as he handed his cousin a freshly-washed uniform. "It's just going to be so fun! I can't worry about the curse right now. What will people think of us? Will they like us? Will the teachers all be nice? Remember what Ayame-san told us last night at dinner? High school was the best thing in his whole life. And he was so popular. Will we be like that? I hope so!"
The other boy's head pounded with the exuberant interrogation. But he could not bare to tell his cousin to be quiet, even if his sleepy mind was begging him to do so. Momiji's sunny disposition was warming, and his forgiving nature and strength over difficulties was inspiring. Hatsuharu fully knew that, behind golden locks and innocent eyes, there lay a very mature fifteen year old who had faced much suffering at a young age and still found the courage to laugh. The rabbit's sincere joy was a trophy of his triumph over the past, and seeing him reminded Hatsuharu that the curse did not predetermine his own doom. So instead he basked in the warmth of Momiji's voice as he dressed for school.
"I hear you caused quite a uproar when you decided to get a preview of the school, at the culture fest," Hatsuharu mused. "You've already seen it. I don't see what you are so curious about."
Dropping his boxer shorts to the floor and pulling on the clothes, Hatsuharu turned his body away from the other boy, hoping that Momiji would take the hint and shift his gaze elsewhere. But embarrassment failed to reach the small rabbit, and he continued to smile at Hatsuharu's back without taking notice of the nakedness. 'Is he really that naive?' Haru thought inquisitively. 'I don't even remember when I was as unaware as he is. I guess that's part of his sweet charm. It's just strange. He's been through so much and yet he's kept a childlike love for others.'
"Come on Haru-kun! We need to go. Wir sind spät dran!" Momiji urged him, playfully pacing from one corner of the disheveled room to the other. "We can't be late on the very first day. I can't wait to see everybody!"
The other boy laughed. "When can you ever wait?" He pulled a crystal pendant around his neck and slicked his fingers through his shiny white locks, before grabbing his bag from the floor and scanning the room for any forgotten item. 'My room? Or our room?' Haru shook his head, bewildered, as he remembered how Momiji had crawled into his bed every night since they came to live at Hatori's house together. The ritual had been happening for a few weeks: Every night the smaller boy would go into his own room, and about an hour later he would slip into the other bed and wrap his arms around Hatsuharu, his eyes brimming with warm love as he attached himself to the other cursed Sohma. Hatsuharu's own emotions swirled in turmoil every time he felt those small hands against his chest. 'Momiji may be blissfully innocent, but I'm not! I don't think he realizes how he makes me feel when he's so close to me. I almost feel dirty thinking about it.' He chuckled aloud. 'Well, almost!'
"What's so funny, Haru-kun?" the higher voice broke his daze.
Hatsuharu shrugged. "Nothing," he replied cooly. "Now," he picked up Momiji's backpack and threw it over the rabbit's shoulders, "who wants to go to school?" He allowed himself to be pulled into the hallway and toward the door by the bouncy rabbit, but glancing back, his thoughts returned to the nighttime. 'Once again, I can't bare to tell him this needs to end. Especially when I hear him whimpering for his mother in his sleep and know that I am the only comfort he has. And,' he felt a hot rush creeping through his veins as he watched the bobbing blonde head in front of him, 'do I really want his visits in my room to stop?' He shook head. 'Wow, it's not like I'm a virgin or anything. But why does being around Momiji make me feel like a girl with a one-sided crush?'
"Tohru!" Momiji cheered in a sing-song voice, dashing down the hall toward two taller figures. They had already seen their friend at new student orientation, but this did not impede the small boy's excitement.
The red-head beside her whipped around, a look of horror in his eyes. "Are you RETARDED!" Kyo screeched, storming at the other Sohma boys. "That's the GIRLS uniform, Momiji!"
Hatsuharu took note of his companion's uniform for the first time that morning. Alternative clothing choices had never been a big issue with Hatsuharu, and he saw no problem with people expressing their personality through unusual outfits. He flashed Kyo a scolding stare.
"But, but, this one looked better on me," Momiji's eyes started to water as he smoothed his hand over the sailor blouse.
"I think he looks cute!" Tohru interjected, smiling brightly in Momiji's direction.
"Momiji, what are you wearing?" A calmer figure approached them from behind Kyo.
Hatsuharu's eyes shot toward his other cousin. "Yuki-kun," he reached for him flirtatiously. "You found the strength to escape from the mob of little girls, just because you wanted to see me?" Yuki's violet eyes blanched, but it was not apparent if the source of his disgust was his new following of girls or Hatsuharu's suggestive remarks. But Haru did not have time to ponder this question.
"Momiji Sohma! Have you no dignity?"An obnoxious call broke the silence. A clod of people stormed at them, the student council president at their head. "The faculty may turn a blind eye, but I can't let this go. A girl's uniform?" His eyes narrowed as he faced Haru. "And you, what is that hair color? You know that dyed hair is specifically against the school code."
"This is my natural color," Haru replied calmly, lifting his eyebrows as if to challenge any response.
"Lies! How can you expect me to believe that when your roots are black?" The president demanded. Behind him, the other student council members nodded in agreement, as mechanical as a machine.
"It's true," Yuki added, growing impatient with the whole situation. "His hair's always been that way."
The President dropped the argument briefly, instead turning his attack back on Momiji. "But you! Don't you think they designed different uniforms for guys for a reason? You should be ashamed!"
Hatsuharu felt a heat creep over his skin, so unlike the enticing warmth that had raced through his body when he thought of Momiji earlier that morning, when he saw tears in his small friend's eyes. This was a fire, violent and cruel, burning at his heart. "Who are you to tell people what they should wear?" His eyes cast a penetrating stare at the other student. "It looks better on him! In a few years he will get bigger, and then he can wear the boy's uniform." He turned to the girls in the challenging crowd. "What if Yuki wore the girl's uniform, would you stop him?"
Outrage crossed Yuki's pretty features. "Haru-"
"Sorry Yuki-kun," he whispered, caressing the other boy's shoulder. "I had to say it, for effect."
His voice shot up once more, anger bubbling as he stared at the president. "It looks good on Momiji!" He looked to where the point of controversy stood and suppressed an uncharacteristic giggle as he noted the oblivious expression on the rabbit's face. He had already turned his own conversation with Tohru away from the topic of uniforms, and did not seem to care what was being said about him by the other students. Eyes sparkling with happiness, Momiji's smile flashed in the stark hallway. 'He looks good that way,' Haru's heart jumped at his own thoughts.
Momiji's German lesson #1 revised!
"Guten Morgen, Haru-kun! Stehst du auf!"- "Good morning Haru-kun! Are you awake!" (I had to resubmit this after a German reader told me that I remembered wrong what my German host mother used to say to me every morning! How embarrassing!)
"Meine beste Freundin"- "My best friend"
"Wir sind spät dran!" - "We are late!"