Disclaimer: see first chapter.

Yes, I'm continuing. For a while at least… the first part of this chapter was written two years ago, so forgive me if the writing takes a sudden dive upwards (or, hopefully upwards anyway. If it goes down, we're in trouble)

Thanks for all the reviews! They're the only thing which made me update this fanfic again. Apologies for any canon errors, it's been a long time since I saw the series. If I remember right, Saki's family was rather well off, and I KNOW the Soumas were.

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"Ha! I win again!" The jubulant cry cut through the game and Momiji whimpered unhappily.

"You have so much LUCK Momo!"

"It's not luck, it's skill." Momo informed him with the quiet genuis of a ten year old. Saki had to hide a smile as she turned to take the dinner out of the oven, the two blondes arguing like typical siblings. Evidently she'd distracted Momo however, as the girl's voice made a reappearence.

"Wasabi!"

"It's tayoyaki Momo-chan..."

"Yay, wasabi tayoyaki!"

Saki smiled faintly, separating the dinner onto three plates. It'd been a long time since she'd cooked for more then one...

--but she wasn't going to think about that. She had more then one person here now, two, even. A new experience, one she hadn't thought of since Megumi died and her parents moved out. Subconsciously, she tucked a stray strand of black hair over her ear.

Tug... tug...

"Is it ready yet?" Momo asked innocently, blinking up at her with adorable brown eyes.

"Just a moment." She replied calmly, then jumped as someone came up behind her, blonde hair appearing over her shoulder suddenly.

"Momiji!"

The blonde looked over at her with wide-eyed surprise, face closer then Hanajima would have preferred it.

"What'd I do?"

"Nothing, nothing..." She returned her attention to the food quickly, feeling an involutary heat rising. Momiji blinked, taking one of the plates curiously.

"Do you think you'll eat this Momo-chan?"

"Of course!" The blonde child beamed and took a plate and pair of chopsticks. She smiled up at Saki again.

"Oniisama's been teaching me to eat with forks and knives, but chopsticks are better!"

"Oh, really? Maybe we should try to eat western style and keep up your training." Saki suggested, opening a drawer with a clank. Metal glittered inside and Momo stared then beamed.

"Yeah! I can show you!" She took a fork and knife, poking the fork into the wasabi-flavored treat, then sticking it into her mouth with obvious self-satisfaction.

"See?"

"Yes, you're quite talented. But I believe you shouldn't have eaten the entire--"

"H-h-h-hooooo--" Momo's eyes, which had widened as Saki started speaking, were watering badly now, the girl fighting all her instincts to spit out the bite right onto the table. She looked around in panic, hands clapped over her mouth.

"Momo-chan!" Momiji knelt next to her, unaware of what to do. "Um, Saki, do you have a--?"

The black-haired denpa was way ahead of him, holding out a glass of water, which Momo frantically grasped at.

"The bathroom is at the end of that hall--"

"-hic- W-wahhhh!" Momo whimpered pathetically, having downed the glass in one long gulp. Momiji looked at her pityingly, rubbing her back as if she was sick.

"Shhh... it's okay..."

"-hic- No, it's, -hic-, not!"

"She has the hiccups." Saki noted and Momo nodded tragically, hiccuping again. Saki knelt next to the younger girl and her quietly-comforting brother.

"You know, whenever Megumi had the hiccups, we'd count them until they got to a hundred. After that, they always stopped. If they didn't, then we went out for ice cream, and they ALWAYS stopped."

Momo stared up at her, the room encased in dead silence for a second.

"Ice cream?"

"Only if you can get to a hundred."

"Of course I can!" Momo said enthusiastically, with all the hyper-activity a ten-year-old could muster, and waited.

Nothing happened.

She felt her throat in vain, pouting.

"They're gone!"

The black-haired goth ruffled her hair slightly and nodded pityingly.

"Don't worry. Megumi and I usually got ice cream anyway." She looked up at Momiji.

"The same thing happened with Tohru, when she got the hiccups. She would get so distracted by something, she'd forget her 'disease'."

The blonde laughed and nodded cheerily.

"That sounds like Tohru! She's having a lot of fun with Kyo in Hawaii by the way." He tilted his head to the side cutely. "Last time we heard from her, she said that she was worried about you, so I guess I should pass that on now."

"Ah... she shouldn't be. But it's sweet of her."

"Why shouldn't she be? You're still friends, aren't you?"

Ah, his innocence was beguiling. Looking up at her with his still-big, sparkly eyes, Saki felt a twinge as she remembered Megumi. Wait, why should Momiji remind her of Megumi? Megumi hadn't ever had this kind of perky bliss, even if Momiji was…

Was…

Was what? Her eyebrows drew together, wondering. He wasn't emo. Megumi had been classified as emo by the children in his class who dared to be cruel, but Momiji wasn't emo. He wasn't an angsty teenager… like her. Momiji would always burn with the careless glee of the sun on a clear day. But there wasn't something different…

"Sakiiii can I watch tv?" Momo asked endearingly. "And eat ice cream?" She tacked on almost as an afterthought. Saki could tell that it wasn't though and shook her head at the child's manipulative tactics.

"Yeah, we've got ice cream. Go find something decent on the tv." Momo skipped off to the front room but Momiji stayed, to Saki's surprise, as the girl started taking down bowls and looking through the freezer for the illusive ice cream.

"So why are you home all alone?"

Saki didn't hesitate. "I told you, they moved."

"But why did you stay?"

"Are houses so expendable to Soumas? I knew your family had money but I didn't think you just threw away houses when you didn't want them." She sounded harsh, something she could tell from listening to her own voice from a detached perspective. Momiji had probably expected her attitude to be like smooth wood that he could run his hand along safely but she was splintering.

"No, that's not what I meant," She backpedaled, finally locating the elusive Rocky Road ice cream and pulling it to the front of the freezer, accidentally cascading three or four other cartons out onto the floor with several thunks. Momiji dropped to help pick them up.

"Then what did you mean?" He asked simply. Saki blinked. He hadn't taken offense at her jibe to his financial status? His face didn't betray him at all.

"I-I meant that I had to stay here because this house has been in my family for a long time. They moved, yeah, but I had to stay here to make sure it was kept up properly."

"Couldn't you have sold it?"

"Yes, but Megumi loved this house and my mother didn't think that we should get rid of it. It won't sell for enough to make it worth the bother of selling and keeping me here was cheaper than sending me to the college I was at and paying for dorm fees. So I transferred to the community college." She held out a bowl of Rocky Road to Momiji. "Can you take that in to Momo?"

The blonde was twisting a curl around his finger, a gesture that made him look contemplative, childish, and a little feminine all the same time. His face expressed puzzlement and disappointment, though Saki got the feeling it wasn't in her. He broke his pose to take the bowl with a smile however, and disappeared into the other room. Saki returned her attention to the bowl on the counter when she heard Momiji say softly, "Don't bother making a third."

Momo must have fallen asleep on the couch. Saki picked up her bowl of ice cream and walked into the main room. Sure enough, Momo was sprawled on the couch, dead to the world, as 'Oklahoma!' blared on. Smirking faintly, she muted it.

"Well, she was watching Oklahoma. That's practically asking to be put in a coma."

Momiji looked at her, wide-eyed with shock. "But I like Oklahoma!"

The girl hesitated, then shook her head. "Whatever you say Souma."

"Oh, now you're calling me Souma again, just because I said that? Well, just for you Saki, I will deny that I like Oklahoma!" Momiji proclaimed, loud enough for her to hear and smirk but not loud enough to wake Momo. As he stated this, he seemed to get more ideas about it. "In fact, I'll never sing again. Or watch a Broadway show! Or any kind of theat-"

"Stop being ridiculous."

The blonde stopped speaking abruptly and Saki winced inwardly. Too harsh, too harsh.

"So what have you been doing the past couple years?"

He fidgeted, taking a seat on the couch and pulling up his legs like a little kid. He still was a little kid despite his age and maturity, Saki mused. She had trouble viewing him as the same age as here.

"Well?"

"I've been around." He offered, untalkative for the first time. The black-haired girl lifted an eyebrow.

"Majoring in Psych and all. It's taken a lot of time. Plus I had some trouble at home, so I've been busy."

That was odd. That was very odd. Momiji didn't seem like the type to mention any kind of trouble at home, no matter what the situation was. Why had he said that to her? There was nothing to lose in asking she supposed.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Oh just-just things. Family things." Momiji said with a hint of nervousness. That was when Saki saw him visibly realize that he was talking to a girl whose parents had moved without her and had lost her brother. He behaved accordingly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Saki! I didn't think…"

"It's all right." Saki responded. And it was, sort of. Momiji had known Megumi, he'd grieve him in his own way and he didn't have to pander to walking on eggshells around her. Too many people did that already for entirely different reasons.

"So, how's Yuki?" She inquired, changing the subject away from the testy subject of Momiji's family.

"He's good. Married that girl he was dating in high school, they're really happy together. Though Yuki said their fights are always contests of who can hold out with the silent treatment the longest." He smiled, happy at the memory.

"Any kids yet?"

"No, no." His face was shadowed again but the perkiness that was so essentially Momiji came back almost immediately to chase it away. "But they want to. Soon. Since we got the family business sorted out."

"Did the family things have something to do with children?"

"Yes. But not anymore." Why was he so happy all of the sudden? "No more." Saki couldn't figure out why his face looked like a candle and he couldn't stop beaming.

If the blonde had spoken his mind, she probably would have understood, better then Momiji thought she would. Being cursed to become a rabbit when hugged isn't the only way to become an outcast. Momo murmured in her sleep, turning over and cuddling next to her brother, who grinned.

"Guess it's about time for her to head home."

Saki nodded. All good things had to come to an end and this had been a good thing. But Momiji wasn't about to let it go at that.

"I'll see you around, right?"

"I am going to the same college as you."

"I know but still… are you going to join orchestra?"

The girl frowned, puzzled, then her face cleared as she remembered. He'd seen her playing the cello yesterday. How could she have forgotten? She shook her head.

"No."

"Aw, but…" Momiji pouted and his companion lifted an eyebrow.

"But what?"

"But you don't do any extracurricular activities, you just go straight home don't you?"

She stared at him, dark eyes uncommonly wide. How did he know? Nobody knew that. Momiji smiled with a hint of superiority. "I knew it!"

Momo groaned and he took his voice volume down a couple notches.

"You should make friends; you could make friends at orchestra. Haru plays the trumpet and I play the flute, we could have lots of fun if you'd join." His eyes were big and pleading and Saki had little doubt he'd physically drag her out of the house. He didn't think it was healthy for her to stay here and she knew it wasn't, but still…

"I don't really play in groups." She said shrugging. It wasn't really a lie; she'd never played in a group so how would she know? But the boy wasn't going to give up; she could tell from watching him gather Momo onto his back piggy-back style and smile brightly at her.

"I think you should come anyway. The group will become your friends, and everybody plays with their friends, right?"

She didn't have a response to that. The blonde exited the apartment, waving a floppy goodbye to her, and heading off into the night.

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Sorry if Momiji is out of character. Putting him in college is a difficult thing to write for, since he's so immature-but-sometimes-mature in the series. Kiyah!