A Very Long Author's Note:

Well, I'm back! Some of you may be happy, some not. And those who are happy may not be after reading this chapter. I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting. Not really sorry for not writing, I must admit, but for making you guys wait.

I am very surprised and thankful for those who reviewed months after I stopped updating this story. And, to be honest, it's not that I don't want to write, but it's that I don't know what to write. I lost track of my story. That happens when I don't think about it. I'm over the FB craze. I'm right now, in fact, into Harry Potter. Can you blame me? Tom Felton is hot. (I'm going to update that one too since I'm on the roll now. Read pls.)

My writing style is constantly changing. It can be due to several reasons. My style changes with my mood, because I type according to the way I talk. The tone, the slang, the rhythm, the…everything. You get the idea. So you may find subtle differences in every chapter. Also, I change with every other story I read, I'm influenced easily. I'm been reading a lot of Lightning on the Wave's fics. And when I read my own, I have a distinct sense of self-pity. I think I've changed a little since then. Writing, views, and all. (One reason why I lost track of this story and all others)


LadyMelieka: Thank You for that deal offered. As you can see, it was that only one more push I needed.

LadyMelieka:

Thank you to all the rest for your reviews. Most of you asked when I was going to update or just to say that you want me to update, and that means a lot to me.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or any of its characters.

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"I swear to you, Akito! It was all on my own! I chose to go there! I could have stopped him if I wanted to, I didn't –"

"You could have stopped him? You? You could hardly even stop a mosquito from biting you! You could have hardly stopped me before!"

Silence for a moment at the mention of a past no one wanted or needed at the moment.

"Please…" Momiji's quiet plea had more effect than his whining/shouting for the past ten minutes did on Akito. But his anger won and he steeled himself against his younger cousin.

"It sickens me to think that he did that to you." He said, his voice was low. Dangerous.

Momiji opened his mouth to reply but Akito cut him off again.

"And to think that you say that you chose for it to happen!" His voice belied his disbelief through his deadly tone and he continued before Momiji had a chance to cut in again. "Do you know how absolutely fucking ridiculous you sound Momiji?"

The blond visibly shivered and shrunk away to the corner of the bed he sat on but Akito could hardly care that he frightened the poor kid now. Better to have him frightened than hurt.

He made to advance a step but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. The voice of Senri came from behind him. "Maybe I should talk to him, Akito."

Akito, eyes never leaving the vulnerable form on the bed, replied, "You don't know him like I do, Senri –"

"Alone."

He snapped his head around to glare at his lover behind him, tearing his eyes away from his cousin. A pair of dark brown eyes, almost black, stared right back. He felt his anger reaching another peak but a quick movement of Senri's eyes towards the small form behind him halted the arguments in his throat.

With a last, smoldering gaze at the larger man, Akito pulled his kimono tighter around him and walked from the room.

Senri stood there for a minute, silently observing the boy who has become so close to him in the past few years, huddled, bruised, and looking so, so small. His gut suddenly felt like it was being wrenched and pulled out of his mouth. He had to swallow to fight the lump in his throat. He had sworn, once before, to protect this boy who sacrificed so much more to protect everyone else, deserving or not.

He had failed in that task so far. He would not let that mistake persist any longer.

"Momiji," He was careful to make his voice gentle and soothing, like whenever he had to talk to his brothers and sisters in their more delicate moments.

"It really wasn't his fault." A muffled voice came from the boy, his face being buried in his arms.

"Neither is it yours, Momiji. You have to remember that." Senri crept closer to the bed, lowering his large body slowly onto the soft mattress. His movements were careful, like approaching a scared animal. Thinking about it, it most probably was.

"I know," then the head lifted. "I just didn't know what to say to Akito to convince him that it wasn't Haru's."

Senri sighed and reached out a hand to smooth and pet and fuss over the soft blond head. It was easy to forget that Momiji was actually much smarter than he usually portrayed himself to be. He hides too much.

Momiji noticed the slight brood of Senri and just let him mother him for a while. The massaging on his skull was soothing his bruised head anyway. He closed his eyes and allowed the movement to lull him to a doze.

"He didn't do anything else, did he?" Senri's voice made him crack an eye open to peer at him in question. The older man had a hard look in his eyes and Momiji stiffened instinctively.

"Hatsuharu. Did he do anything else other than hit you?" As naïve as the Momiji pretended to be, he wasn't, and he knew where this was leading to. He lifted his head from its perch on his folded arms, making Senri's hand fall away, and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you getting at?" It was his turn to sound threatening, but Senri didn't back off. He had to be absolutely sure, so he continued to probe with his gaze.

Finally, Momiji snapped his gaze away. "No. He didn't touch me in anyway other than to hit me, if that's what you mean."

A breath that Senri didn't know he'd been holding in rushed out between his clenched teeth in a sharp sigh of relief. Looking at the blond hugging his knees till the muscles in this forearm were visibly defined and his knuckles turned white, trying to burn a hole in his abandoned blanket, Senri felt a touch of sympathy for the boy.

"Momiji," he went back to his soothing tone. "I just had to make sure."

Momiji kept up his uptight stance for a moment more before taking a deep breath and noticeably calming himself down. "I know." He rested his head on his arm again.

Another gut-wrenching pull tugged at his heart. He started to pull his blanket up his legs and over the boy, forcing him to lean back and lie back down onto the bed. "Get some rest."

The boy didn't protest as he tucked him into bed, but he didn't close his eyes when he got up to leave and he could still see those open eyes staring up at the ceiling when he switched off the lights and closed the door behind him.


This chapter is to, more than anything (COS I SERIOUSLY FORGOT WHERE THIS IS GOING! AND I'M STILL TRYING TO RECALL, EVEN AFTER READING IT MYSELF FROM THE BEGINNING) to let you all know that Haru did NOT, like my sister assumes, rape Momiji.

Oh, and I know there are different ways of spelling the names, but I like these best. And I also know that Akito is a girl now. But hey! I don't think I read past the 10th book. As I said, I'm past FB. And I liked the story where I stopped. (And thank goodness I stopped too.)