Title: Once You Go Black...
Written by: jolieXD
Summary: Sohma Yuki has been dealing with Sohma Hatsuharu's split personalities for most of their lives. He knows how to tame a Black Haru and he knows how to make a Black Haru. But it's no secret that Hatsuharu has feelings for the Rat. Could a couple wrong words create a Black Haru that even he can't control?

Disclaimer: I don't want to say it, because everyone knows I don't own Fruits Basket. d;
Warnings: Slash—boy&boy—but nothing explicit, I promise, because I don't want to have to have a high rating on this story—like, at all. They annoy me. So, there will just be a hint here and there. Yep—for those who don't like the graphic content. However, for those who do... ;D Look closely, lovelies, and you may see—or not. It depends on if I feel like writing it. Soooorry.
Rating: T, for themes of homosexuality, as mentioned above, and—possibly—vile language.

Author's Notes #1: I'm actually surprised this chapter's come out so early; it was pretty hard to write. As school is fast, fast, fast approaching, I have less time to work—especially at night, when I work best—and, to be honest, less motivation to do so. And, of course, as my junior year starts, I expect to be slowing down a lot—as I think I mentioned in my last chapter—so don't get very excited, okay? d;

But I hope you enjoy this chapter, all the same.

XOXOXO
jolieXD

Once You Go Black...
Begin—Three: Black Haru, you lecher.

In the far depths of his mind, depths usually kept under lock and key, Black Haru was humming contentedly. It sounded unlikely, but there were times of satisfaction like these in the life of Sohma Hatsuharu—sometimes after thoroughly demolishing an opponent, sometimes after long periods of time on the outside, sometimes after lavishing in the way his cousin, Sohma Yuki, responded to him.

Black Haru smirked devilishly from behind those bars in White Haru's mind at the final thought. He agreed.

White Haru was humming in a similar way to Black Haru, and Hatsuharu, as a whole, found that he could relish completely in this time of peace until it was shattered. And he hoped the madness took a long time coming, because it wasn't often at all that Hatsuharu experienced moments like these—especially moments such as these when they involved Yuki.

Hands deep in his pockets, grin smug, and eyes on the sky, Sohma Hatsuharu strolled across the Sohma Estate. He paused in his lazy pacing across the courtyard, his entire being consumed by thought, when Black Haru began muttering about Yuki and White Haru took his sweet time to agree and provoke the other mind.

"Haru!"

Hatsuharu's gray eyes snapped open—when he realized he'd closed them sometime in his thought—to glare at the Rabbit grinning and waving at him from across the way, shaded by trees. His contented mind was crushed and pushed away until next time, utterly forgotten, and thrown back into chaos.

He could feel Black Haru on the prowl again, growling and complaining and pacing and waiting for a crack to appear in his cage in the back of his mind. "Hello, Momiji," Haru greeted, squashing his other personality's annoyance, and joined the boy under the trees.

Sohma Momiji was covered, from nearly head to toe, in dirt. He seemed to have been tending to the garden behind them, even though the Sohma clan was more than prosperous enough to hire gardeners. The sight of his cousin in this condition made Haru smile a little; the Rabbit always did go a little too far in activities such as these.

Momiji beamed back. "You were staring off at nowhere! What were you thinking about, Haru?"

"Oh," Hatsuharu's eyes sharpened. He could hear Black Haru's growling in his ear, but he ignored it—Black Haru never liked a prying person, even one like Momiji—and waved a hand dismissively at the Rabbit, "You know, this and that."

His cousin obviously wasn't impressed with his vague answer. His large, brown eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to peer up into Hatsuharu's face as if to pry the information directly from his skull, hands clasped behind him.

But he didn't speak. And that only made things more difficult for poor White Sohma Haru.

Then, without warning, Momiji lifted a dismissive and nonchalant shoulder and grinned. "Oookay," Momiji relented, and spread his arms out wide, "Did you know, Haru-chan, that Yuki really likes to garden, too?"

Hatsuharu's cousin's comment seemed innocent enough—and, when he began to spin in circles across the courtyard, arms still outstretched around him, it was even endearing—but Black Haru was suspicious, and that was enough to put White Haru on edge.

"Does he?" He lifted his chin in mild interest, trying not to look eager. Hatsuharu could not deny the sudden spike in his hearing. Whether or not the comment was suspicious, it was intriguing.

Momiji nodded happily. "Yep, yep! It's cool, I think. Tohru told me Yuki's got a "secret base" where he goes to garden everyday, but she wouldn't tell me where that was. I guess it was because, you know, it's a secret! But—"

"Momiji," Black Haru was snarling in the back of his mind, throwing his weight against the bars confining him, "Why are you telling me this?" Haru didn't appreciate the annoyance that Black Hatsuharu snuck into his tone, but he didn't correct it, either.

"I'm just saying, Haru!" The Rabbit insisted, then looked away with feigned innocence and shrugged, "And, maybe I was thinking that he'd appreciate a plant or something..." Momiji added in a mumble that Hatsuharu had to strain to hear.

Black Haru silenced instantly. So, with gray eyes narrowed, Sohma Haru watched his cousin carefully. "You think?" He inquired after a moment.

Momiji was grinning and nodding enthusiastically again, fingers laced behind his back, before Haru even got his words out.

Damnit.

Hatsuharu was lost. He didn't know where he'd taken the wrong turn, but, looking around him, nothing seemed familiar. He'd been walking along the road, like any other pedestrian would, but, somehow, he'd ended up in the middle of a forest.

How? God only knew.

Haru raked a hand through his white and black hair and sighed in defeat. He twirled the stem of the lavender—a color Hatsuharu adored because it reminded him of Sohma Yuki—flower in his fingertips idly.

Black Haru was muttering in the back of his mind about what an idiot his counterpart was and about if he were on the outside then they—Haru loathed the way that Black Haru always used the word—wouldn't be lost in the first place. White Hatsuharu only told the other to shut up, and then ignored the further muttering it eliciting. He even threw another lock on Black Haru's cage, if for nothing more than to annoy the Black personality.

He continued on his way, deciding that standing around and staring off into the distance would do him no good. Everything in this forest, Haru would later swear to anyone who asked, looked exactly the same. It wouldn't make a difference, he convinced himself, if he had the worst or the best sense of direction on earth; he would still be lost.

And then he stumbled—literally, over a tree root and everything—upon a small clearing. There seemed to be a rough path, one that Haru hadn't seen on the way there, that led to who knew where, but that wasn't was piqued Hatsuharu's interest in the relatively boring patch of grass.

What piqued Haru's interest was the garden. It wasn't grand or humongous or terribly prosperous—just a quaint patch of assorted fruit and vegetable plants—some of which Haru could see were growing nicely were the leeks and strawberries.

He approached the patch slowly and with caution, as if something would leap out and attack him—maybe a cabbage plant!—if he came too quickly, to admire its beauty. It was perfectly kept; whoever this garden belonged to certainly put a lot of time, work, and heart into it.

Before Hatsuharu could get beyond admiring the amazing progress of obviously newly-planted leeks, Black Haru sensed someone approaching and mumbled a warning to his disgustingly enthralled counterpart. And, so, Haru turned from the garden to greet the person, fully prepared to apologize for intruding and continue on his way—wherever that was.

But he hadn't prepared himself to see Sohma Yuki approaching and smiling a small smile that he probably didn't even realize was there, consumed by his thoughts. His violet eyes were heavenward, but it was evident that they were unseeing. He moved forward as if on autopilot. And he was alone.

Hatsuharu frowned at that final thought, for it was of Black Haru's addition and it held suggestions that White Haru would never admit to agreeing with.

It wasn't until Yuki entered the clearing that he seemed to realize the second presence, blinking out of his stupor and lowering his eyes from the sky in alarm. Hatsuharu somewhat wished that he'd taken longer to notice, as he'd very much enjoyed the image of Yuki strolling, obliviously peaceful, through the waning light of the sunset fast approaching.

"Haru?"

Sohma Hatsuharu offered a tender smile in return. The only thought that registered to him was: could this be the "secret base"..?

"What are you doing here?—Shouldn't you be at the Estate?"

Haru thought he nodded vaguely, but he couldn't be sure. He was far too enraptured by the pleasantly surprised look on Sohma Yuki's face to string words into sentences. However, he did manage to ignore the lecherous remarks that Black Haru contributed to the chaotic nature that was his mind.

He could be proud of that, but he had to speak.

"I should," Hatsuharu confirmed, "But I wanted to come see you, and I—" He lowered his eyes in something akin to shame, "I got lost on the way. And then I found this garden and..." Expecting Yuki knew the rest, Haru let his gaze drop to the flower in his hand. Its petals were a little wrinkled and the stem cracked, but it was for his Yuki-kun and that was all that mattered.

Black Haru snorted in his mind, as if that were the stupidest ideal he'd ever heard. But Haru knew that his Yuki-kun would think otherwise.

"You wanted to—" Yuki stopped himself, as if it was useless to repeat the words, and shook his head, "Why did you want to see me, Haru?" He was a little monotonous with the question, but Hatsuharu beamed in return.

"I wanted to give you this!" Hatsuharu extended his hand to Yuki, uncurling his fingers from around the nearly-crushed stem, and smiled kindly.

Yuki laughed in surprise and Haru reveled in the sound. Only the lucky were fortunate enough to hear Yuki laugh like that; Hatsuharu was glad to be in that category. "You—um, thank you, Haru." Hatsuharu knew he was beaming again, and knew he should stop in case Yuki didn't like it, but the color dusting his cousin's cheeks was too much to ignore.

The dark-haired boy leaned forward as if to hug Hatsuharu, who waited in anticipation, breath caught in his lungs and his heart caught in his throat, until Yuki seemed to realize what he was doing, visibly shake himself, and moved away as quickly as possible after he gently took the broken flower from Haru's open palm.

Hatsuharu dared to breathe again when Yuki moved away and, in his mind, added yet another lock to the cage when he felt a troublesome crack form. Who knew anger wasn't Black Hatsuharu's only trigger? Sohma Haru certainly didn't—until now.

"Thank you," Yuki said again and smiled.

Haru nodded without words, and he felt Black Hatsuharu fall content in his confinement, in the far depths of his mind, humming.

End—Three: Black Haru, you lecher.

for my own purpose, really, but if anyone's interested:
Date Chapter Was Started: August 23rd, 2006
Date Chapter Was Finished: August 25th, 2006
Date Chapter Was Posted: August 26th, 2006

Ending Notes: This chapter was originally going to be from Tohru-chan's POV, but I couldn't get anything good out of her, so I skipped a chapter—sorry—and moved on to what was supposed to be chapter four. The chapter that was supposed to be here can fit in elsewhere, anyway. No biggie.

But, gosh, Haru-san's POV was harder to write than I thought it would be. I much preferred Shigure-san's, but, alas, I had to move on. This's probably not my best, but I think that's the best—and easiest—way to describe Black Haru. At least, I think.

I did enjoy writing this, though. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. :P

Thanks to: -little oro-, Pocky-Pocky-chan, mistic fox, and Orangedcgirl for reviewing. Reviews are awesome; hugs for all!

XOXOXO
jolieXD