First off, I'd really like to thank all of my reviewers! I really appreciate it, and it makes me work faster and harder for you guys.
Secondly, I still don't own Fruits Basket!
The rabbit awoke to the annoying blare of his alarm clock. He rolled out of bed, after slamming down the snooze button, and headed to his bookshelf. After skimming the first few novels, the rabbit pulled out the fourth volume of Harry Potter and set to quickly wrapping it. A week had passed since Momiji's first visit with Akito. Since that evening, Momiji had faithfully wrapped a book from the Lord of the Rings trilogy in bright paper and set it on Akito's porch every morning before school. When he ran out of those three, he chose to raid his Harry Potter collection. The rabbit figured the transition from one fantasy to another would please the leader of the Sohma family.
Every day after dinner, Momiji went to visit Akito and get his book back. Akito had inevitably read the entire thing, and the two would discuss their opinions on the work. The informal book-club seemed to soften Akito's hard exterior and gave plenty topics for Momiji to make light conversation about.
He was finished wrapping in minutes and hurriedly put on his school uniform before the snooze ran out on his alarm. He turned the alarm off and went to the kitchen to eat a quick bowl of cereal. After breakfast, he headed down the path to the main-house gate, taking a short side trip to Akito's porch to place his present in the same spot. That finished, he paused to look at the daunting building before him. So many sad stories.
Momiji jumped as he realized, he had wasted several minutes in his precise mourning routine. The rabbit ran for the gate but wasn't surprised when Haru wasn't there to greet him. He figured Haru was late again. However, after several more precious minutes, Momiji realized Haru wasn't coming…again. This was the third time this week his friend hadn't joined him for their walk to school. The rabbit pushed down his feelings of hurt and started the journey by himself.
Kyo woke up out of habit. He started all of his mornings early, unless the rain broke his spirit. But today the sun came in through his window, and Kyo stretched and put his bed away. The cat trotted down the stairs and was greeted by the smell of Tohru's morning preparations for breakfast.
He crept past the kitchen. Kyo hadn't been able to talk to Tohru since Yuki had seen through his and Haru's ruse. The cat just couldn't bring himself to tell her. She was the only person he had if…things didn't work out. Besides, Tohru was so innocent, she would never understand about Haru. She couldn't even put two and two together with Shigure's teasing. Kyo's past week had been filled with dropped hints and innuendos about Haru. Yuki just chose to ignore the situation all together.
Kyo sighed as he got outside and started his morning jog. After twenty minutes, he was back home. The cat crept past the kitchen once again and headed for a quick bath. Unfortunately, Kyo became so absorbed in tip-toeing past Tohru that he failed to notice the half-asleep rat heading down stairs. Kyo ran straight into Yuki's chest as he descended from a higher stair.
The cat stiffened in preparation for the expected knock out punch, but nothing happened. Yuki only looked down at him through half-lidded eyes.
"You can't hide from her forever," he said lazily and walked past the shame-faced Kyo.
With hunched shoulders, Kyo went upstairs and finished getting ready for school. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the cat collar Haru had gotten for him. Kyo had taken the bell off earlier in the week, being too embarrassed by the attention the noise got him, but when the cat buttoned his shirt collar, no one could notice the necklace underneath, although some of his fellow classmates had wondered why Kyo had decided to start wearing the required tie. The cat adjusted the annoying white tie in the bathroom mirror. He did it for Haru. Then, after creeping down the stairs once again, he left for school without breakfast.
When he had nearly made it to the end of the forest path, the cat caught sight of Haru waiting for him at the edge of the property. He quickened his pace out of happiness to see the cow and fear that Tohru would see Haru waiting for him.
"What are you doing here?" Kyo asked and moved his face away from Haru's kiss. "Not here."
The cow sighed. "Always not here. Then where?"
Kyo glared up at the sullen white-haired boy. He glanced around, then quickly grabbed Haru's wrist, pulling him back into the woods. Once Kyo decided they were safely hidden, he gave Haru a proper morning greeting.
After a few minutes, the two finally made their way to school. "Hey, where's your little friend?"
"Momiji?"
"Duh."
"Oh." Haru paused as he started fussing with one of his bracelets. "I wanted to walk with you today."
"Okay, nothing wrong with that. Little rabbit is annoying anyway."
The cow remained silent. He had been seeing less and less of Momiji in the past week. Between Momiji's visits to Akito and Haru's trips to see Kyo, the two hadn't talked for more than an hour that entire time. Haru couldn't even tell the rabbit why he was spending so much time away. He still believed his relationship with the cat needed to be a guarded secret and it hurt to see Momiji and lie to his face.
As they came closer to the school, Haru and Kyo went their separate ways, each dreading seeing his closest friend.
Akito woke up to the sun in his eyes. He rolled over and put a sleeve over his face to try and rectify the problem. But he was too awake to go back to sleep, and as his mind woke up, Akito remembered the daily offering waiting on his porch.
So the clan leader slowly got out of bed and pulled the heavy robe around his shoulders. After checking the clock, he determined Hatori would be in any minute to do the routine morning checkup. Akito moved to his porch and saw the golden, metallic wrapping paper glinting in the sun.
He smiled oddly as he picked up the gift, once again not sure how to react to the books that Momiji lent him. Akito sat down, unwrapping it carefully, without putting a single tear in the paper.
Deep down, Akito knew the rabbit was doing this as some sort of repentance for his role in the family curse. But as he looked down at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the family leader couldn't help but be intrigued by the rabbit's new interest in him. Momiji had always seemed like the most fragile of the family, but closer inspection taught Akito that the rabbit was, in fact, one of the strongest. He hadn't baulked in the face of his fear.
As he gazed into the gardens outside his room, Akito remembered how he had asked Momiji if he had liked the gift of his life. But still the rabbit came back day after day, even after seeing one of the leader's weakest and most terrifying moments.
"Perhaps," Akito said to himself as he opened the book, "you won't be as easy to break as my other toys."