A/N: O.O AHHH! I didn't know you guys liked this story that much. I mean... Wow. I just... wow. I really didn't think that you guys would like it this much. Hm. Well... enjoy!


Chapter 14

Ok... so I was sitting on Hatori's lap, shocked as hell, and trying not to pee my pants. I mean... I was STRADDLING him! And then he just asks me some random, hypothetical question? HE CAN'T DO THAT! He can't just pull me into a straddling position, ask me a question like THAT, and expect me to give a response!

"H-Hatori-kun, w-what are you s-saying?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"Please..." he said, giving me a look I've never seen before. "I just need to know."

I swallowed hard and coughed. "I-i-if you w-were a m-monster..." I tried to control myself and took a deep breath. "I-I would think that you were over r-reacting... b-because a monster could never b-be as k-kind as you are... B-but... if you were a m-monster... I'd still l-" I stopped talking, shook myself awake, and kept going. "I'd s-still be your friend..."

Hatori was just looking at me, and vice versa. That was practically the only thing we did for the next five minutes. I had NO idea what to do because, well... once again, I WAS STRADDLING HIM! I could feel my body temperature rise too high for me to handle, and I tried getting up. Now, the problem with that was Hatori pulling me back towards him. He then proceeded into pulling me into a hug.

No lie. A hug.

I just felt his arms wrap around me, and then nothing. I was shocked, and I thought to myself that maybe this was all just a dream. Then I felt myself fall onto the floor and probably break my ass bone. I swore loudly, then noticed the cloud of smoke/dust/something of that sort around the love seat. I instantly got up to my knees and searched through the mess for Hatori.

"Hatori-kun?" I asked, dazed. "Hatori-kun?" I saw his shirt... lying on the cushion... without him in it. My mouth dropped open and I slowly picked up the shirt.

There, sitting upon Hatori-kun's pants, was a tiny seahorse. My reaction:

1. WHAT. THE. HELL!

2. I'm pretty sure that my scream could be heard accross the pacific.

"HATORI-KUN?" I asked the seahorse incredulously. When he didn't respond, it hit me that a seahorse needed water to survive. "AHHHHHH!" I scooped up the seahorse, ran into the bathroom, drew some water in the tub and placed it... er, Hatori in the water.

"Don't you die on me, Hatori-kun!" This was crazy. I was yelling at a seahorse for Christ's sake. "Don't you dare die on me!"

The tub was half full, and I stopped the water. The seahorse, that was supposedly Hatori as well, was swimming around and breathing, thank god. I watched it go around and around my tub, my heart racing. I tried deep breathing methods, and, for some cosmic reason, I felt like crying. As soon as the tears sprang to my eyes, though, I wiped them away.

"This... this is really you, isn't it, Hatori-kun?" I asked, my voice changing. I sniffed and tried not to let the fact that I was nearly crying show.

POOF!

"Yes... this is really me," Hatori said. He was so quiet that the sentance was almost inaudible. By the time the smoke/dust cleared, I was coughing, a few tears streaming down my face. I looked at him, the man I loved, and... well, this is hard to explain. I just felt... completely indifferent. I mean... the fact that I had JUST seen him turn into a seahorse was startling, but it made a lot of sense why he never hugged Kana.

"What was that?" I asked, not really sure how to phrase the question.

"The curse of the Sohma family," Hatori responded truthfully. "All members of my family are born in a certain year of the zodiac, and when hugged by the opposite sex, we turn into that animal. I was born in the year of the dragon."

"But you were a seahorse," I blurted out. He nodded, and I realized that I wasn't too great in tough situations like this. My head felt too light to think. "Umm..."

"We're not supposed to tell outsiders," Hatori explained, a sad look clouding his gaze. "We've only let one person in on the secret, and that was Tohru-chan." He sighed. "Well... I made the mistake of telling Kana and..." His voice trailed off, and I remembered how my friend, my BEST friend had ended up. His happiness was broken, and her memory erased.

"Are you going to suppress my memory?" I asked quietly. He stared at me, and I waved it away. "That was the only thing I got out of Shiguire. How you suppress others memories..." I fell silent, praying.

Hatori paused, not taking his eyes off of me. You know, he hadn't been taking his eyes off of me for this entire conversation. "... I sincerely hope I won't have to."

To try to explain what was going on inside of me would be impossible. I was sad, for Hatori's situation. I was happy that he trusted me. I was hurt for him, and I shared his pain. I felt guilty for loving him so much. I now knew why he hesitated to tell me, and why his happiness was broken, and why he never got too close to Kana. I was worried, both for myself and for Hatori. I didn't want my memory to get erased, and I didn't want Hatori to get in trouble...

And I was embarassed as all hell because (have I mentioned yet?) he was completely naked.


A/N: HAHA! (clears throat) Ahem... anyway... the next chapter is the last, so... stay tuned(?)