Disclaimer: Fruits Basket and its characters do not belong to me.

Warnings: Possible spoilers (some character backgrounds, nothing too bad), fluff

Author's Notes: This is just a little scene I imagined taking place before the episode in the anime where Momiji and Hatsuharu start going to Tohru's school.

Momiji's New Clothes

By Rapunzel

"Hari! Hari!"

Hatori sighed. He should have known that a quiet morning in the Sohma household was too much to ask for. If it wasn't Akito falling ill again or one of the other members of the family coming up with some creative way to make themselves sick or hurt, it was this: the perpetual bundle of energy better known as Momiji.

"Hari!" The boy came bursting into Hatori's room, all energy and excitement and flailing arms. "Hari, guess what?"

Hatori considered reprimanding the boy for not knocking, but decided that that would be unfair, as well as a waste of time. After all, it wasn't as if Momiji hadn't alerted him to his coming with all the shouting. So instead of scolding, Hatori calmly asked, "What?"

"Look!" Momiji brandished an armful of black cloth, practically shoving it under Hatori's nose.

Hatori eyed the bundle in confusion. "What is it?"

"Our school uniforms," a third voice said.

Hatori almost jumped in surprise, but managed to control the reflex at the last minute. Looking up, he saw Hatsuharu leaning casually against the door frame, perfectly calm in the face of Momiji's enthusiasm. Hatori hadn't even heard him come in, but given the way Momiji was prattling, that wasn't too surprising.

"They're the same ones Yuki and Kyo get to wear!" Momiji said, waving the clothes around in his excitement. "Soon we'll get to start school with them! We'll go to the same school as Yuki and Kyo and Tohru! Won't that be great?" Momiji hopped back and forth from foot to foot, bouncing at the prospect.

Hatori eyed the boy and wondered why on earth Momiji was bothering to tell him this. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised, really. Momiji was excited and wanted to share that excitement with everyone, including his older mentor figure. What with his mother's... condition, and his father always trying to balance two families at once, Momiji was often left to his own devices, and when he needed a stable adult in his life, somehow Hatori always seemed to be the one to inadvertently take up the responsibility. Not that he minded. Most of the time.

So instead of telling the boy that he was busy and to go show off his new clothes to someone else, Hatori found himself saying, "Have you checked to make sure it fits yet?"

Momiji blinked and paused to consider. "I hadn't thought of that." His face brightened. "Hey, that's a pretty good idea! Haru, let's go try them on!" He dashed out the door again, grabbing Hatsuharu's sleeve as he passed and tugging to draw him along. Hatsuharu simply shrugged and allowed himself to be dragged.

"We'll come back and show you when we're done," Momiji promised. "Don't go anywhere!" Then he was gone, his footsteps padding hurriedly down the hallway, followed by Hatsuharu's softer tread.

Hatori smiled a little wistfully. It seemed strange to think of Momiji trying on his high school uniform. The boy had grown almost without his noticing. It was odd how that happened. Hatori was rather fond of Momiji, partly because the boy had never blamed him for what he'd done to his mother. Yuki had been resentful when Hatori had been called on to use his gift on Yuki's friends, but Momiji had been too busy hurting to bother blaming anyone except himself. In some ways, he reminded Hatori of himself after Kana. No accusations, no anger, just emptiness. It wasn't anybody's fault really, it had just... happened.

Hatori shook his head to clear away the darker thoughts. Now was not the time. Momiji was about to go to a new school, something he was obviously excited about, and there was no reason to dim his enthusiasm. Better not to think about the past, but to look towards the future instead. He wondered how Momiji would handle high school.

"This should be interesting," he murmured to himself.

"What will be interesting?" a deep voice answered.

Hatori turned to find Ayame posing in his doorway. There was really no other word for his behavior. In fact, Hatori wondered if Ayame knew how to simply stand without posing.

Although he was a little surprised to see the man here instead of at his shop, he didn't let it show in his voice as he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I had to come, didn't I?" Ayame said, waving a hand as if to brush aside the question. "Once Momiji called to tell me he'd received his uniform, well, I knew I just had to be here. After all, who better to discuss matters of clothing with than me?"

"He called you?" Hatori was a little surprised by that. Momiji must have been more excited than he'd originally thought.

"But of course! He knew that he simply had to consult with me on the matter," Ayame said, making his way into Hatori's room and sitting down with the self assurance and flamboyance that marked all his movements.

"I see." Silently, Hatori wondered just who else the boy had decided to inform of his new acquisition.

His question was at least partially answered half a minute later when there was a soft knock on the door and Shigure poked his head in. "I thought I might find you here," he said, coming in and sitting down with the same ease and familiarity as Ayame, minus the dramatics. "So, Momiji's got his uniform has he? He sounded pretty excited."

"What are you doing here?" Hatori asked. "Ayame at least can claim he came to see the clothes."

Shigure gave him a slightly hurt look. "Why, it's my business, of course, as a family member. I will be attending their ceremony after all."

"It just seems strange to make all this fuss over an outfit," Hatori said. "We certainly didn't make this big a deal when Yuki got his high school uniform." 'Or Kagura, or anyone else,' he added silently.

Shigure laughed. "I doubt Yuki would have appreciated it."

Ayame sighed dramatically. "My poor brother has no sense of the importance of these things."

Hatori kept quiet, but personally he agreed with Shigure. Yuki wouldn't have liked it, particularly if Ayame had been involved.

"Momiji and Hatsuharu about to start high school," Shigure said, his wistful words recalling Hatori to his former state of mind. "It doesn't seem like it's been that long."

"A co-ed high school at that," Hatori mused. "I wonder how they'll manage."

"They'll be fine," Shigure said dismissively. "Yuki and Kyo are doing okay, aren't they?"

"Where is Momiji anyway?" Ayame asked.

"He said he was going to try on his uniform," Hatori said.

"Ah! Excellent!" Ayame said, clapping his hands. "A modeling! Just the thing!"

As if on cue, there came a tentative knock on the door, and Momiji poked his head in, being very careful to keep the rest of his body out of sight. "Hari?"

"Well?" Hatori said, looking at him expectantly. "Does it fit?"

Momiji nodded. "I didn't expect all of you to be here," he said, nodding to Ayame and Shigure.

"You should have," Hatori said. "You did call them, after all."

"Well," said Ayame, "are you going to show us this new uniform or not?"

Momiji smiled and nodded eagerly. "Just a minute," he said. He vanished back into the hallway, and they heard his voice saying, "Haru, you go first."

Hatsuharu entered the room, looking mildly bored. He had dutifully donned the same black uniform that Yuki and Kyo wore, although his tie was undone and the top button on the shirt was left open. No doubt he fully intended to appear in school with his clothes that way too. When it came to wearing uniforms, Hatsuharu couldn't be bothered to care what they looked like.

"Well?" Hatori asked.

Hatsuharu looked supremely indifferent. "It's not bad for a school outfit," he said. Which in White Haru speak meant that he liked it about as much as he was ever going to like something someone else told him to wear.

"Momiji?" Hatori called, and the boy dutifully stepped into the room.

Momiji was decked out in the same black uniform, but unlike Hatsuharu, he had taken the time to make it look nice. The cuffs were all neatly folded as they should be, the shirt was buttoned up all the way, and the tie was tied properly. It even looked as though Momiji had combed his hair to complete the effect.

Hatori simply nodded his approval, while Ayame immediately began gushing. "Splendid, splendid! The very image of what a schoolboy ought to look like! It fits you perfectly!"

Momiji beamed and turned to Shigure to get his opinion.

"It makes you look very grown up," Shigure said with a smile.

He meant it as a compliment, but Momiji's smile immediately fell. "You think so?"

"Well, yes," Shigure said, not quite understanding what he had said wrong. "Every inch the man."

Hatori could have kicked him as Momiji's lower lip started to quiver. "Grown up..." the boy repeated sadly.

Ayame, sensing that something was wrong, quickly jumped in to attempt damage control. "Only grown up in a high school sense. No one would think that you're a full adult yet. I think that uniform has just the right mix of responsibility combined with a boyish charm."

But Momiji wasn't listening to him. He was staring down at the uniform he had been so excited to receive with a mixture of disappointment and sorrow. His lower lip was still quivering, and his eyes seemed to be filling with tears.

'Please,' Hatori begged silently, 'please not the waterworks.'

Whatever deities existed must not have been listening to him that day, as Momiji promptly burst into tears. "I don't want to wear it!" he wailed, and then turned and ran out of the room.

Hatori sighed, partially in exasperation. Apparently, Momiji wasn't too grown up to cry about something like a set of clothes. But it ran deeper than that, and Hatori knew it.

After the boy's sudden departure, all eyes turned and fixed on Shigure, who looked back at them wide eyed and said, "What?"

"If you'll forgive my saying so," Ayame said, his voice radiating disapproval, "that was very poorly done."

"I meant it as a compliment," Shigure said defensively.

"It's not a compliment to him," Hatsuharu said, standing half in the hall and looking in the direction Momiji had run. "He doesn't want to be grown up."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" Shigure defended himself.

Hatori simply gave him a withering look in response. The question, he felt, did not deserve to be dignified by a verbal answer. Anyone could tell just by looking at Momiji, at the clothes he wore and the way he acted, that he didn't want to grow up.

Sighing, Hatori climbed to his feet. "I suppose I'll have to go talk to him now," he said in resignation. 'And see if I can undo any of the damage,' he thought.

"Should I come with you?" Shigure asked.

"No," Hatori replied. "I'm sure you two have other things to do." 'As if I don't.' "Aya has the shop to run, and Shigure, I'm surprised your editor isn't climbing your back about the next story."

Shigure just gave him a smirk. "She is," he said simply.

Suddenly Hatori thought he knew why Shigure had been so willing to simply show up out of the blue for something as trivial as the receipt of a new uniform. How he tormented that poor woman...

"Well, out with you two then," Hatori said. "I'll deal with this." And he turned and marched off, trusting the others to find their own way out. It wasn't until he heard a quiet step behind him that he realized that he was being followed. Hatsuharu had detached himself from his spot and padded softly after him. Hatori looked back at him questioningly, but said nothing.

As he'd expected, he found Momiji sniffling in his room. The boy didn't react when he knocked or entered the room, sitting with his back turned to his visitors, ignoring them. He had already changed out of the now hated uniform, and it lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Now, Momiji," Hatori said gently but firmly, "why don't you fold up your uniform properly. Otherwise it will have wrinkles in it on your first day of school."

"I'm not wearing it," Momiji said sullenly. "I hate it."

"Because of what Shigure said?" Hatori asked. When he received no answer, he continued, "I don't think Shigure really knew what he was talking about. Ayame liked it, and he's much more knowledgeable on the subject of clothes."

Momiji still sat staring at the floor and neither answered nor looked at him.

"I'm sure Tohru would think it looks very nice on you," Hatori said, starting to get a little desperate. "You should show it to her." He was grasping at straws, but Momiji adored Tohru, and Hatori was reasonably sure that if she told the boy what he wanted to hear, Shigure's statement would be all but forgotten.

But Momiji just shook his head. "I can't show Tohru," he said, sounding depressed. "I'll look like a grown up, and I won't be cute anymore."

Hatori sighed heavily. In the end, it always came back to this: Momiji's driving need to be seen as cute and lovable.

"So you think that high school students can't possibly be cute?" Hatsuharu asked, speaking up for the first time since entering the room.

Momiji turned to look at him, but he didn't reply verbally, settling instead on a simple shrug.

"What about Tohru?" Hatsuharu asked. "She's in high school. Wouldn't you say that she's cute?"

"But she's a girl," Momiji said.

Hatsuharu made a thoughtful noise, but then fell silent.

"Look, Momiji," Hatori said, trying to sound stern, "you want to go to that school, don't you? We've already had a lot of trouble getting you in there, since it's a co-ed school. You can't back down now because of a simple uniform."

But Momiji said, "I don't want to wear it."

Hatori gritted his teeth in annoyance. Of all the times the boy had to pick to be stubborn... He was sure that nothing was going to budge Momiji on this one now. But he had to wear the uniform if he wanted to attend that school. Hatori already had visions of notes from the principle and parent-teacher conference requests dancing through his head.

"No uniform means no going to that school," he said firmly. "I'll leave you to think about that for a little while, shall I?" And he turned and walked out of the room, leaving Momiji to sulk behind him. After a moment of silent consideration, Hatsuharu did the same.

As the door closed behind them, Hatori thought he heard Momiji pick up the uniform and hurl it at the wall.

/-/-/-/

Three days later, Hatori was still wracking his brains trying to come up with a solution to the problem. All his subsequent attempts at cajoling Momiji had met with the same result as the first one. No matter what he said, Momiji refused to have anything more to do with the uniform. Hatori was beginning to consider calling the school and asking them to make an exception in their policy, since that might have been easier than trying to convince the boy. However, he knew what the answer would be if he did that. They would simply tell him that all students attending the school had to wear a uniform for that school. End of story.

The whole situation was enough to make Hatori want to bang his head against the nearest wall, preferably until all of his problems, and probably his consciousness, left him. He could see no other solution to the problem. So he was understandably surprised when Hatsuharu came to him to tell him that Momiji wanted to have another uniform modeling session.

Hatori stared at him in incredulity for a moment. "What?"

"He wants to show you and the other two his new uniform," Hatsuharu said, his voice even and uninterested, as if he weren't announcing the most astonishing piece of news Hatori had heard that week.

"What did you say to him?" Hatori wanted to know.

Hatsuharu just shrugged. "Not much."

Hatori blinked at him one more time in surprise, but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to question this particular miracle too much. "Do Ayame and Shigure know about this then?" he asked.

Hatsuharu nodded. "Momiji already called them. They should be here soon."

Hatori was mildly annoyed that no one had thought to inform him before now that he was about to have guests, but he brushed the feeling aside in favor of the optimism sparked by Momiji's renewed interest in his uniform.

And so, fifteen minutes later, he was once again seated in his room with Ayame and Shigure next to him and Hatsuharu leaning casually near the door, waiting for Momiji to decide if he was ready to show them his new uniform. Shigure had been threatened with serious bodily harm if he made any more tactless comments, and Hatori was hopeful that this modeling session would turn out better than the last one. However, he was not prepared for what came next.

"I'm coming in now," Momiji called from the hall. He stepped cautiously into the room, and Hatori had to blink a few times to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was.

He had been expecting a rerun of the black uniform. However, what Momiji was wearing was very different. The new outfit was blue with a sailor style top instead of standard tie, and shorts in place of the long pants. Completing the new look was a blue and white hat perched squarely on Momiji's golden hair. Hatori instantly recognize the color scheme and design as being the same as Tohru's school uniform, so the boy was wearing a uniform for the proper school. But a girl's uniform?

Fortunately, even as Hatori was struck dumb by the odd choice of apparel, Ayame found his tongue and launched into an enthusiastic speech.

"Why, it's perfect! Blue is a very good color on you, and that hat is too adorable..."

Momiji beamed happily as Ayame prattled on, then sent a questioning look at the other two, silently asking for their opinions.

"It looks very nice," Shigure said simply. While his words were simple and cautiously chosen, the smile on his face told Hatori that he was trying hard not to laugh.

Momiji did a cheerful little twirl to show off the outfit. "It's just like Tohru's! Isn't it great?"

"Are you willing to wear it to school?" Hatori asked. Despite his shock, he was willing to concede the point if it meant actually getting Momiji to wear a uniform.

Momiji nodded enthusiastically.

"Fine then," Hatori said. He noticed as he spoke that Hatsuharu slipped quietly from his position and wandered out the door. Excusing himself, Hatori stood and left the other two to gush over and compliment Momiji and followed the other teen.

It didn't take long to catch up to Hatsuharu. The boy seemed to sense that he was being followed and stopped to wait for Hatori to catch up to him, eyeing him in a questioning way that said he was wondering what Hatori had to say to him.

"I take it this was your idea?" Hatori said, raising an eyebrow at Hatsuharu.

Hatsuharu just shrugged. "It looks fine on him, doesn't it?"

"Dressing him as a girl..." Hatori shook his head. "He's not Ayame, you know. Aya's ego is more than ample to stand up to any teasing he might get about that sort of thing. I'm not sure about Momiji. If he ends up scarred for life for this, it'll be partly your doing."

Hatsuharu just looked indifferent. "So what? You'll make me pay for his therapy bills?"

Hatori scowled. "If that boy were ever going to go to therapy, he would have been there already."

Hatsuharu's response was a small, sardonic smile. "Wouldn't we all?"

'Too true, we would be,' Hatori thought. 'Every last one of us.'

"I think you're worrying too much," Hatsuharu went on. "Most of his classmates will probably just think that he looks cute like that, which is what he wants anyway. And if Tohru likes it, and I'm sure she will, half the battle will be won right there."

"And what about the classmates that pick on him?" Hatori asked blandly.

Hatsuharu's lips curved up into a feral smirk. "Black Haru can deal with them."

Suddenly Hatori had a feeling that Momiji was not going to be the one in his year generating requests for parent-teacher conferences.

"Just try not to cause too much trouble," Hatori said, knowing that asking Hatsuharu not to cause any trouble was most likely a pointless request. Still, a part of him felt a little better knowing that Momiji would be starting at his new school with the other boy. At least Hatsusharu could be trusted to look out for Momiji, however strange the methods he employed to do so.

The door from Hatori's room opened, and Momiji poked his head out. "Ne, Hari? Ayame says that if I'm going to wear a girl's uniform, I should do it properly and get a skirt instead of shorts."

Hatori sighed. It was going to be a very long school year.

Owari