Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Fruits Basket

AN: This little bonus chapter is dedicated to my wonderful mom, who is always supporting me in my endeavors no matter how crazy or weird they sound. She is my endless source of energy, encouragement, and hope. She is the reason I am started writing and the reason I am still writing. And she has taught me not only to do good, but to be good. She is full of warmth and love and light, and I am infinitely lucky to have her in my corner.


Murasaki sighs at the letter before her.

Dear Mom...

The school bell rings, startling Murasaki out of her trance. Lunch break has begun, and already, her classroom has erupted into chaos.

"Hey Yankee! Are you ready to get your ass whipped in Rich Man Poor Man?" Kyo calls from across the room, and Uou turns to him with the death glare of May hay fever and competitive bloodlust.

"You wanna try me, Carrot Tops? I'll destroy you so hard you'll be cleaning the classroom for two weeks!" she shouts back, ripping off her face mask for good measure.

What proceeds is the usual affair. Kyo and Uou go at it in an overly argument all throughout the card game, only to both get thoroughly wrecked to pieces by Hana. Tohru participates with a smile and a ends up somewhere in the middle. Uou narrowly avoids dying before Kyo, who, inevitably, is stuck with cleaning duty for two weeks.
At this point, the events are so consistent that Murasaki is beginning to think she's having deja vu every time they play that card game.

"You're not going to play?" Yuki asks her that day, as they sit and watch from a safe distance, whilst Yuki reads his book and Murasaki stares woefully at a letter she doesn't know how to write.

"No, I find it funnier to watch how the exact same thing happens every single time. If I entered myself as a new factor, it might through off the cosmic balance of inevitability," Murasaki jokes in return. She twirls her pen.

Dear Mom...

"Working?" Yuki asks, eyeing woefully empty sheet of lined paper on her desk.

"Struggling," she replies.

"Something I can help with?" Yuki offers.

Murasaki considers their first run together, and he's response about his parents.
"No, not this time. Thank you for offering though."

Murasaki sighs at the letter before her.

Dear Mom...

The school bell rings, startling Murasaki out of her trance. Lunch break has begun, and already, her classroom has erupted into chaos.

"Hey Yankee! Are you ready to get your ass whipped in Rich Man Poor Man?" Kyo calls from across the room, and Uou turns to him with the death glare of May hay fever and competitive bloodlust.

"You wanna try me, Carrot Tops? I'll destroy you so hard you'll be cleaning the classroom for two weeks!" she shouts back, ripping off her face mask for good measure.

What proceeds is the usual affair. Kyo and Uou go at it in an overly argument all throughout the card game, only to both get thoroughly wrecked to pieces by Hana. Tohru participates with a smile and a ends up somewhere in the middle. Uou narrowly avoids dying before Kyo, who, inevitably, is stuck with cleaning duty for two weeks.
At this point, the events are so consistent that Murasaki is beginning to think she's having deja vu every time they play that card game.

"You're not going to play?" Yuki asks her that day, as they sit and watch from a safe distance, whilst Yuki reads his book and Murasaki stares woefully at a letter she doesn't know how to write.

"No, I find it funnier to watch how the exact same thing happens every single time. If I entered myself as a new factor, it might through off the cosmic balance of inevitability," Murasaki jokes in return. She twirls her pen.

Dear Mom...

"Working?" Yuki asks, eyeing woefully empty sheet of lined paper on her desk.

"Struggling," she replies.

"Something I can help with?" Yuki offers.

Murasaki considers their first run together, and he's response about his parents.
"No, not this time. Thank you for offering though."


Dear Mom,

I know I've been distant recently...

Murasaki is still pondering the letter when she gets home that Friday evening. She burns her potstickers wondering what she should say. She takes a shower that will probably come back to bite her water bill, only thinking to emerge from both the water and her pensive trance when she notices that her fingertips have become wrinkled. She cannot sleep, running a million opening sentences through her head, none of them quite right. She finds her usual proficiency for succinct, precise, meaningful language frustratingly absent in the moment when she feels she needs it most.


Dear Mom,

I know I've been distant recently, but I just want you to know...

"Murasaki-san, are you sure I can't help you with whatever it is you're struggling with? You seem ... really distracted, and I'm concerned for you," Yuki says the next morning, after Murasaki has taken a wrong turn on their morning run for the third time in a row.

"I ... I'm sorry. It's just ... at a certain point after you've distanced yourself from someone, it can be so hard to reconnect and know you've gotten your meaning across. I wish it was as simple as saying "I'm sorry, I love you, that hasn't changed" but it just... what if after enough time, absence is irredeemable?" she sighs, slowing to a walk without even realizing it, until Yuki slows down to join her, that is.

"I don't think any absence is completely irredeemable. Just like distance takes time, I think so does closeness. It takes time and effort, but taking the initiative to reach out and apologize plainly can't be a bad thing, right?" Yuki says, his eyes looking upwards at the oak trees lining their path. In the light of springtime, the leaves cast dappled shadows and allow thin streams of light through, like tiny shooting stars suspended in place under the shade of the trees.

"I suppose so. Yes. You're right. Thank you," Murasaki says.

"I'm happy to help," Yuki replies.

They continue on their run, parting ways at Murasaki's apartment.


Dear Mom,

I know I've been distant recently, but I just want you to know that I love you. And that I'm sorry. After everything that happened with Nezumi, it was really hard for me to be with anyone. But I see now that that was probably selfish of me. And I hope that you can forgive me.

Mom, I want you to know that I love you. I miss you and dad and the house. And I miss Nezumi.

I miss your hugs. I miss the hot chocolate you always make on rainy days. I miss your smiles whenever you came to pick me up from school. There were so many things I took for granted when I lived in Tokyo.

I hope you understand why I'm staying here. There are so many things I still cannot face head-on, and I need time. Thank you for supporting me during the move, and after ... after everything.

Mom, I love you. Thank you for always working to give me the best life I could possible have. Thank you for holding me when I cried and for laughing when I laughed and for cheering when I succeeded. I couldn't have asked for a better mother. No one could have.

I love you so much,

Kaname