Chapter Two: It's Better to Have Loved and Lost…

Hello! I'm Pyra! This is my second fanfic, and I just wanted to say that I dedicate this fic to my good friend Asuka! I love you! Happy Birthday! I hope you like this. It is not the Asuka that has an account on here; it's a different person. I'm afraid that this is going to be very short. Way shorter than my other fic! But enjoy it while it lasts. I'm working very hard on it. I hope you like it! BTW I apologize for any grammar/spelling mistakes.

Chloe had fallen asleep on the couch again. She was quite a sight to see when Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki got home. Shigure came to greet them whistling. "Welcome home you three! How was school?" He asked.

"It was fine." Tohru replied forgetting about the beautiful girl sprawled on the couch.

"What's for dinner?" Shigure wondered.

"I was thinking-"

"Shigure! Why is there a woman collapsed on your couch?" Kyo yelled. Shigure shushed him.

"She's sleeping. Come into the dinning room and I'll explain." Shigure said leading them out of the living room.

"Don't tell me Shigure," Yuki started, "that you got her pregnant?"

"Why does everyone assume that?"

The trio was speechless. Until Tohru broke the silence. "Wow! That's wonderful!"

"There's nothing wonderful about that! It means that he dressed her!" Kyo shouted.

"Why didn't you tell us this morning?" Yuki asked.

"I wanted to keep this a secret, then Haa-san said that she'd have to stay here, and I figured telling you would be easier than hiding her. Even though I wouldn't mind keeping her in my room all to myse-" Shigure was cut off by a fist to his face.

"Don't be such a pervert!" Kyo yelled.

"So if she's a Sohma," Tohru asked. "Does that mean she's a zodiac member?"

"Well," Shigure bowed his head in thought, "I don't think so. But Hatori seems to think that there's a chance."

"How can that be? She's never been to the new years banquet. I've never even met her." Yuki pointed out.

"Me neither." Kyo added.

"What makes Hatori think she's a member?" Yuki asked.

"I'll show you!" Shigure cheered.

"He seems a bit too happy about this." Yuki and Kyo thought, but followed Shigure to the living room anyway. Shigure gently pulled Chloe up. He sat next to her and allowed her to fall onto him. Usually he'd transform, but nothing happened. Except Shigure put his arm around her and held her. Everyone stared.

"See? No puff of smoke. Even if she's on my lap." Shigure said shifting her on top of him.

"That's amazing!" Tohru cheered.

"She certainly is a heavy sleeper." Yuki commented. Kyo sat down next to Shigure on the couch. He looked Chloe up and down.

"What a weird chick!" Kyo commented. Shigure let go of Chloe and allowed her to fall on top of Kyo. There was a large puff of pink smoke and Chloe was lying on top of an orange cat. "What!" Kyo yelled.

"Huh?" Said a drowsy Chloe opening her eyes. She smiled at the cat and began to pet him. "Hello." She greeted.

"Hmm…well this is unexpected." Shigure said. Chloe turned to him.

"I'm going back to sleep." She said and rested her head on the arm of the couch. Kyo jumped off the couch.

"What the hell!" Shigure shushed Kyo again. Kyo turned back and quickly changed into his clothes. Tohru turned away. They left to the kitchen.

"She seemed nice." Tohru stated.

"This doesn't make sense. How come I transformed when she hugged me but you didn't?"

"I'm not sure. I'll have to tell Haa-san." Shigure left to get the phone.

When Chloe woke up she was properly introduced to Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo. She greeted them kindly. It was then decided that, rather than sleeping on the couch, Chloe would be sleeping in Tohru's room until further notice. Hatori didn't have any thoughts on how Kyo could turn but Shigure could not. A few days pasted and Shigure found himself alone with Chloe more and more. That was until-

"Shigure! It is so wonderful to see you once more! How I've long for this moment of reunion!" Ayame shouted.

"Oh. Aaya. How nice of you to visit." Shigure said.

"Hmm….who's this lovely young girl with you Shigure?" Ayame asked indicating Chloe. She held her hand out to him.

"I'm Chl-"

"Ahh! By any chance is this the girl who has amnesia?"

"She is." Shigure said. Ayame grabbed Chloe's hand and kissed it lightly.

"My dear lady I am the fantastic, wonderful, charismatic, incredible, talented Ayame Sohma!" Chloe blushed.

"I'm-"

"Shigure, boil some tea!" Ayame ordered. Shigure sighed and went into the kitchen to make the tea. "Miss Amnesia, have you ever worn a maid outfit?"

"Having amnesia I wouldn't know."

"We can't have that! Take off your clothes and I'll give you one!" Hearing this Shigure popped out of the kitchen and pulled Chloe in with him.

"Chloe, would you please get the tea out of the pantry?" Shigure requested.

"Mr. Sohma, have I ever worn a maid's out fit?" Chloe wondered. Shigure coughed.

"Um…well, I…er" Shigure struggled.

"Am I a maid? Or a house worker?"

"No, you're actually…a writer." Shigure answered with a bit of sorrow in his voice.

"Am I good?" She handed him the tea packet. He smiled at her.

"You're brilliant."

"So then, did you know me?"

"You and I are relatives after all, even if it is distantly. But I'm afraid that I don't know you very well."

"You seem to act like it." She pointed out. "Are you sure you don't know me?"

"Shigure look at this girl! She looks positively starved! How can you keep such a delicate flower so famished! Come! I shall feed you immediately!" Ayame interrupted grabbing Chloe's hand. He swept her away out the door before Shigure could say or do anything to stop him. When they were far from the house Ayame finally stopped running and allowed Chloe to catch her breath. "Now that we are far from the house I've stopped running to allow you to catch your breath." (Ha, ha, ha! I love being repetitive.)

"What…are…we…doing…here?" she panted. Ayame laughed.

"Why you silly girl! We're here so I can talk to you in private, of course!" Aaya explained. Chloe gave him a confused look. "Here, let us sit and I shall explain further." Aaya offered. Chloe sat on the ground under a tree and Ayame sat next to her. "Has anything happened between yourself and Shigure?"

"Well I've only known him for a short while-"

"No, no, no! Before you got amnesia. Were you in a relationship?"

"I don't know! I have amnesia!" she yelled.

"Calm down there's no need to get angry. I was simply asking. He seems to be acting a bit strange around you though."

"Well I just showed up at his door in the middle of the night. I'm sure anyone would act strange."

"This is different. Do you remember anything at all about him?" Chloe shook her head.

"I don't remember anything about my own life."

"Well I was hoping you could help him with his predicament."

"What predicament?"

"He's been devastated for years since Akito broke up with him. For the past year though he seemed to be feeling better. But then three months ago he was dejected again. No one knows why. Not even Hatori."

"A-key-toe?" Chloe sounded the name. Nothing familiar.

"She's the head of the Sohma family."

"Shigure and her are in a relationship?" she asked.

"No. Listen they were in a relationship now they aren't. Shigure is a good friend of mine I want to make sure he's happy. So will you help him?"

"I'm not sure what I can do. It has nothing to do with me I don't think I should get involved. I mean, I'm enough of a burden on him already."

"Don't be ridiculous! Any man would give his right leg to have such a beautiful young girl in his house!" Ayame reassured standing. "I just need to know one thing. Do you like him?" Chloe blushed.

"I haven't known him very long."

"Answer the question."

"I am attracted to him, yes."

"Good. Then let's be off." He took her hand and continued to run in the same direction as before.

"W-wait! Where are we going!" she stuttered.

"Did you forget already? I promised to feed you!"

Shigure waited patiently for them to return. Tohru had saved Chloe a plate of dinner. It was getting late; Ayame and Chloe had been out for a while. Every time Shigure called Aayas cell phone he only got his voicemail. Finally, there was a knock on the door and Shigure jumped up to get it. Ayame pushed Chloe onto Shigure and quickly left with out a word of explanation.

"Are you all right? I hope Aaya wasn't too much trouble."

"Oh, no. He was very…eccentric."

"I see." Shigure chuckled. "Tohru saved some dinner for you. Come on in and eat it."

"Um…Mr. Sohma?" Chloe said. Shigure stopped and turned to face her.

"Yes?"

"It's just… am I. No. What I mean is…is my presence here hurting you at all?" Shigure gave her a confused look. She looked to the ground. "It's just that Ayame said you were heart broken and I didn't want to make it worse by being here. So what I mean is if you don't…want me here I'll leave." She hurried. Shigure smiled in spite of himself.

"What did Aaya say to you exactly?"

"Just that you were upset about your old girlfriend."

"Who? You don't mean Akito do you?" Shigure wondered. Chloe nodded still looking at the floor. Shigure laughed loudly and caused Chloe to look up at him confused. He set his hand on her head. "Don't worry about that my dear. I think Aaya is just making assumptions without understanding the entirety of the situation." He chuckled.

"So then you aren't heart broken?" She asked concerned and a bit happy. Shigure immediately stopped his laughter. His eyes faltered for a moment, then he lightly smiled at Chloe.

"No. Not anymore." He answered softly, thinking to himself.

"That means that me being here is all right?"

"Of course! Now let's go eat some of Tohru's delicious cooking." Shigure cheered. He removed his hand from her head where it had been resting since he put it there, and headed towards the dinning room Chloe in tow.

"That's a relief!" Chloe admitted. "I thought that I was making you uncomfortable."

"Why's that?"

"Well, you know. Reminding you of a lost love and all." She replied. Shigure cleared his throat.

After dinner Chloe had fallen asleep into Shigure's lap. Not that he minded. He just sat there gently stroking her hair until he himself could not stay awake any longer and carried her up to Tohru's room. Tohru had been asleep for quite some time and she didn't even so much as budge when Shigure entered the room and laid Chloe down to sleep. He looked at her sleeping face for a long time. He lightly ran his fingers down her cheek. She shifted at the chill of his touch and turned over. Not being able to resist, he leaned down and kissed her forehead lightly, then left. Had he not been so depressed by what she'd said, he might have laughed at the irony of it. She did remind him of a lost love. But not Akito.