Chapter 17

They were content to just stand there, holding each other for a few more minutes before Momiji leaned down to smile at her. "How did you know what I said?"

Alana blushed lightly. "You speak German." She leaned up and kissed him gently. "When I get a chance, I look up some words to learn it."

Momiji's smile grew and his heart felt like it could burst. She wants to learn German for me. He didn't think he had ever heard anything so wonderful. "I'll teach you." He told her softly and they moved to sit on the couch in the music room to begin their first lesson.

~Art of Love~

The next morning, Alana gave Momiji a sweet kiss after breakfast and headed over to Ayame's to work on her painting of Kisa. For a while, he just lounged around the house, thinking about the night before. Alana had said it might be too soon, but Momiji knew there was really no such thing. Look at the couples around him. Haru knew he loved Rin from the first. Same with Shigure and Akito, though it wasn't romantic until both were much older. Yuki and Hatori had taken months but none of them loved less or more for how long it took to get there. All that mattered was that they were in love and they were happy.

He had a small smile on his face when there was a knock on the front door. This made his smile grow a little, even before Alana came into his life personally, more people were dropping by to visit, starting when Kisa came to ask him for a ride.

Hiro was on the other side of the door, his usual smirk on his face as he looked at Momiji. He's getting tall. Momiji idly noticed as he looked at the younger boy. "Good morning, Hiro." Momiji greeted standing aside to let him in.

"Rabbit." Hiro strode past him into the house.

Momiji's smile grew a bit more and he shook his head slightly at Hiro's entitled behavior. Some things never change. "What brings you by?" He asked as he settled on the chair beside the couch Hiro had flopped onto.

Hiro was quiet for a moment then leaned back and crossed his arms. "That woman is coming back."

It took Momiji a moment to realize which 'woman' he was talking about and then, instead of the expected heartache at the mention of Tohru, he felt amusement at Hiro's ongoing jealously of the girl. "She is." He nodded, trying to keep the smile from his face.

Hiro looked at Momiji from the corner of his eye then relaxed slightly. "Kisa barely talks about anything other than her return."

Momiji felt a rush of love for his family at that moment. Hiro had come to check on how Momiji was dealing with the return of the girl he had loved and who had chosen another. He bet that in the next few weeks, others would be coming to check on him as well. "Not even about the ball?"

Hiro shrugged. "Well, of course she talks about the ball. Kisa likes things like that." Hiro sounded slightly confused about what there was to like about a fancy dress-up ball but Momiji knew he would go to make Kisa happy.

"Has Ayame showed you the outfit he is making you yet?" Momiji asked.

"Just a sketch." Hiro paused then looked at Momiji with a little smirk. "He did show me what he was making for that woman and Kyo though." He leaned forward with an evil look in his eye. "Cat costumes."

Momiji's jaw dropped and he looked at Hiro absolutely horrified for a few seconds then burst into laughter. He almost fell from his seat he was laughing so hard. When he managed to catch his breath, he gasped, "Whose idea was that?"

"Shigure, I think." Hiro replied, chuckling lightly. "She will love it, even if he wants to kill us all."

Momiji slowly caught his breath, every few minutes he would burst into giggles again thinking of Kyo with a pissed off look on his face wearing car ears and a tail. Hiro wore a superior smile on his face, obviously feeling proud of himself.

When Momiji had calmed down, he smiled softly at Hiro. "Still refuse to call her by name huh?" Hiro huffed, blushing lightly. "That's alright. Kisa loves you very much. Tohru is the big sister she needed but you are her heart."

Hiro's blush increased and he stuck his nose in the air. "She is a stupid woman who is nothing compared to me."

With a chuckle, Momiji stood. "Would you like something to drink?" He led Hiro into the kitchen and poured them both some water before seating himself at the table. Their conversation moved on from Tohru after that to what Hiro was learning in his classes and they spent the rest of the morning just hanging out and spending time together. Things they hadn't done too much lately but Momiji was determined to change that.

~Art of Love~

A few hours later, after Hiro had left. Momiji sat on his porch, his feet dangling over the edge, and thinking about his life since Tohru left. It hurt to realize that he hadn't done much and had rather stagnated once he graduated. He continued to learn and play his violin, but he hadn't gone out of his way to work towards his dream. He was happy to visit with his relatives but he didn't go out to see the majority of the family, content to see them at dinners and parties. He had been so lost with the loss of the one person he felt understood him most, that he had shut out the world.

Well no more. With Alana by his side, he was seeing the family more, found more joy in his music, and wanted more out of life. He felt a smile cross his lips as he heard Alana come into the house and jumped to his feet to greet her. She had brought the life and light back into his life, she deserved a welcome home kiss at the very least.

Alana smiled after Momiji released her from his arms and kiss and touched his cheek lightly. "You have a good day then?"

Momiji smiled softly and kissed her hand before taking it into his. "Yeah. Hiro came by and we hung out. It was a nice visit."

"I'm glad to hear that." They made their way into the house. "My parents called, they wanted to invite us out to dinner. My dad's coworkers told him of a new place and they wanted to see if we wanted to check it out with them."

Momiji felt warmth bloom in his chest that he'd been included in a family dinner invite. He hadn't been a part of a family for most of his life and even though the Sohma's were getting closer now, it was different being invited to a small family dinner than a large extended family get together. He gave Alana a hug trying to express his love and appreciation her and her family. She simply hugged him back, knowing that he needed it.

After a few minutes she pulled back a bit and tapped him on the nose. "I'm going to clean up and change and then we can head out."

Momiji laughed and let her go before gathering his wallet and keys and setting them where he would remember them. He was putting his cell down when it began to ring.

~Art of Love~

"Hello?" He answered distracted.

"Momiji? It's Yuki." Came the surprising voice over the phone.

"Yuki! How are you, I haven't heard from you in a while." Momiji felt a smile cross his face, he was fairly sure Yuki was calling at least partly to check on him as the others had done.

"I'm doing well. I called to check on you and request a rather large favor." Yuki started, slightly hesitantly.

"I suspected you were checking on me, but I am doing well. I promise." Momiji settled onto a chair as he waited for Alana to return and to be comfortable as he talked to Yuki, it has been a long time since they had talked. Yuki was finishing his last years of college with his girlfriend, Machi, and kept very busy.

"Aya has kept me a bit up to date with his daily messages." Yuki sighed exasperated but with a bit of fondness. "I heard you had a girlfriend."

"Yeah, Alana." Momiji laughed, knowing Aya, his messages were almost certainly daily if not more than once. As soon as Yuki and Aya had gotten over Yuki's anger and Aya's regrets, they got along surprisingly well though Aya was still extremely exuberant and overwhelming. But, they, like Momiji and Momo, were getting the chance to be the family that had been denied in their childhood. He shook his head slightly to bring himself back to the present. "I'll introduce you when you are in town next."

"That's a bit of what I would like to ask." Yuki sighed. "Machi and I are taking mostly remote classes this semester and planned to come home for a few weeks, leaving after the Halloween Ball." Momiji held in a snicker as he could almost hear Yuki rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of the ball. "Aya has already agreed to let us stay with him, but I wanted to ask you if we could use your place as an emergency stay if needed. If Mine goes into labor or if I need to run away for a few days, could you put us up?"

Momiji hummed as he thought, normally he would just automatically say 'of course', but he had Alana living with him now and not only needed to make sure she would be okay with it, but check he had an extra futon to put out for them. He knew the two of them shared a room, they had been together for so long, it would have been a greater surprise if they didn't. "I'll need to check with Alana, I don't know if Aya told you but she lives with me, but I think it should be alright."

"She lives with you, huh?" Momiji could hear the teasing tone sink into Yuki's voice and laughed along with him. "No problem. Just let us know. As I said, it is just an in case thing. Shigure's old house is being put together for Tohru and Kyo and if I can avoid it, I don't want to stay with Akito and Shigure. We get along much better but I think staying in the main house would just...bring back bad memories."

Momiji felt his heart ache for Yuki. Everyone had suffered Akito's wrath while they were growing up but only Yuki had been abused emotionally and mentally for years on an almost daily basis. "I understand. I'll talk to her tonight and let you know when you get to town." Their conversation ended not long after that just as Alana was coming down the stairs.

Alana wandered to the chair where he sat and cuddled into his side briefly. "Did you have a good day?"

Momiji smiled and hugged her tightly before dropping a kiss on the top of her head and standing to gather their things. "I did. Hiro came over and we spent a few hours just hanging out."

Alana linked hands with Momiji as they headed out and pulled out her phone to check the location of the restaurant. It was fairly close and they were leaving early enough to have enough time so they decided to walk as the evening was pleasantly cool. "What did you do with Hiro?"

Momiji nodded. "We haven't just sat and talked like that for a while, so it was good to catch up one-on-one." He grinned and squeezed her hand as he looked at her. "He got all a flutter about the ball. Doesn't know why Kisa is interested but can't wait to see her all dolled up."

Alana chuckled. "Hiro is so cute! He absolutely adores Kisa yet gets so ruffled when when it is brought up! Has he always been like that?"

Momiji nodded, his smile turning a little sad. "Hiro has loved her for years and was a strong protector. He was convinced for a little bit to stay away from her and she was badly bullied. When he came back it was with a vengeance." Momiji gave a rather dark smirk. "He not only made the bullies cry, but their parents and teachers for not doing anything as well."

Alana made a distressed noise and moved closer to Momiji. "How could anyone bully that sweet little girl!" She shook her head and sighed. "Children can be so cruel."

Momiji agreed then changed the subject. "By the way, I got a phone call while you were getting ready. Ayame's brother and his girlfriend are coming into town for a few weeks, they plan on staying with Ayame but if the baby comes or Yuki needs a break from Ayame's exuberance, he was wondering if it would be alright to stay with us for a few days." Momiji looked at her slightly nervous. Their living situation was very new and he knew that having someone else come in could put a lot of stress on them, but Yuki was family and a good friend.

Alana gave him a soft smile and reassured him. "Of course they can stay with us. I love the family members I have met and I am very excited to meet more of them!" Alana spoke the truth, she was excited to meet more members of the Sohma family, especially the brother of Ayame who was such an amazing, fun, crazy person. They spent the rest of the walk talking about the progress of Alana's painting and their plans for the weekend. It was so free and easy that it was almost as if they had been together for years.

Momiji had a hard time wiping the smile from his face and it only grew when they were greeted outside the restaurant by Alana's family with hugs.

No excuses, RL gets in the way but not forgotten!