[FB] The Same Shade of Yellow, chapter 10

The Same Shade of Yellow, a Fruits Basket fanfic by Raberba girl

Chapter 10 - Love Regained

"Hey, Momo-san! Wait up!" Ronnie ran up to her and smiled.

"Hi," Momo said coolly.

"Hey now, don't make that face at me. I was just saying hi, you know?"

"All right. Then say it so you can leave."

Ronnie looked at her. "I really hurt your feelings the other day, didn't I."

Momo's throat felt tight. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, Ronnie-kun. You're not interested. It's finished. I have to get to class."

"Wait, Momo-san." He caught hold of her sleeve as she tried to push past him. "I...I was thinking about it, over the weekend. And I realized that you've changed."

She stared at him.

"I mean...you used to be so shy, you know? Kind of boring. I didn't know anything about you, I barely even noticed you. But I've been watching you lately, and you seem to be - cooler. Like, you talk more in class, and you smile more, and, I don't know, you...almost seem to...look prettier than you used to."

Momo's face was turning pink, but she didn't look away.

Ronnie laughed. "And, see, I can see your face now. You used to look down all the time, and mumble, and it was kind of annoying. But you don't do that as much anymore. I like that." He drew in a breath and let it out. "Okay, what I'm trying to say is, I reacted the other day without thinking. But now that you don't have me by surprise, I'm saying that we can try it, okay? I'll go out with you for a while and see how it is, and if we both like it we don't have to stop. That is, if you don't totally hate me by now." He gave her sad, pleading look. "Do you?"

That pretend-hurt face reminded Momo so much of Momiji that she couldn't help laughing. "Stop giving me that fake look, and smile at me. Yeah. We'll try it. But if I don't like how it's going, you can just forget it."

He smiled hugely at her. "Great! I'll see you after school then, Momo-san." He had turned and was walking away when he suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Momo-san! I forgot to tell you - I think when you don't try to hide it, your lisp is really cute!"

Momo felt like walking on air.

o.o.o.o.o

The phone rang that evening when Momo and her parents were watching a movie together in the living room. Momo's father picked up the cordless phone lying next to him and answered it.

"Hello?" Then, "Oh, Momiji-kun. How have you been?" He listened for a second longer, then handed the phone to Momo. "It's for you."

She took it. "Momiji-kun?"

"Hey, hey, Momo! I called to say that Akito's out of the hospital! He's still kind of sick, but he's recovering at home now."

"That's wonderful, Momiji-kun! Maybe we can visit him together soon."

"Yes, that's a good idea!"

"What about the kids, though? Kia and Tohaku, are they okay?"

"They're getting better. They're still kind of jumpy, but Tohru's been talking to them a lot, and I think they'll be fine after a while."

"I just feel so sorry for them, and for Kyo-san."

"It was going to happen sooner or later. It would have been best if Kia and Haku had been older - but everyone goes through scary things when they're kids. They'll be all right."

As they talked some more, Momo noticed that her parents were beginning to look mildly annoyed. "Hey, Momiji-kun, I have to go, Mama and Papa are trying to watch TV."

"Momo," her mother said suddenly, "why don't you invite Momiji-kun over for dinner tomorrow? That way you can talk to him all you want, and you won't interrupt our movie."

Momo gaped at her mother. "Mama - do you mean it? Can he really come over?"

Mama looked tense for a minute, but then she relaxed and tried to smile. "I think it's a good idea."

"Momiji-kun, Momiji-kun, did you hear that?! Mama wants you to come over for dinner tomorrow!"

There was a silence at the other end. Then, "I'll be there, Momo. Give my love to Mama and Papa."

As usual, he hung up abruptly.

o.o.o.o.o

Mama spent several hours cooking, and they all dressed up a little more than usual. Momo had been excited and restless all day (it didn't help that she got her first kiss from Ronnie as he said good-bye to her after school), and she couldn't concentrate on her homework. She took out some of her feelings by going around the house trying to find things to clean, straighten, or tidy.

Finally the doorbell rang, and Papa went to answer it, and he came back with Momiji shy and eager at his side.

"Hello, Mrs. Sohma," he said politely, and kissed his mother's hand. She looked surprised, but did not object. Then Momiji turned to Momo and dropped his shyness. "Momo! How are you?" He grabbed both her hands. "Isn't this so fun? The house looks really nice; I wish I could live here! Ah, and whatever is cooking smells sooooo good!"

They went into the living room and talked for a while, and then they all helped bring in the meal before sitting down to enjoy it.

"Mrs. Sohma, this is delicious! Even better than Tohru's cooking!" Momo knew he was just being polite; Momo had never tasted anything that topped Tohru's food.

"Why, thank you, Momiji-kun. Such a polite boy!"

The smile he rewarded her with was truly sparkling.

"So, Momiji-kun," Papa said conversationally, "how are you taking care of yourself? What have you been up to, who are you staying with, that kind of thing."

"Oh! Well, I was staying with Kagura, but since she's getting married I think I'd better start looking for a place of my own pretty soon!" Momiji laughed.

Momo gasped in delight. "Kagura-san's getting married? You mean, she and Daisuke-san are engaged?"

"Yes! Kagura's soooo happy! She's been dancing around and around, singing love songs and imagining the wedding."

"That's wonderful news," Papa said. "It's been years since things began to turn around for us, but it's still good to hear of people in this family being happy."

"What about Daisuke-san?" Momo wanted to know.

"He says he's kind of nervous about everything, but his face is also really happy. Isn't it great, Momo?"

"Yes, of course it is!"

"Maybe--" Mama said suddenly, then fell silent.

"What is it?" Papa asked gently.

"I was just thinking...if you had nowhere else to go, Momiji-kun, while you were looking for a place to live...perhaps you could stay with us. You're a nice young man. I don't think you would cause trouble. And you're still so young, you shouldn't be on your own yet. I don't know how your parents feel about it, but a teenager like you is better off living with adults who can...care for you."

Momo was stunned. Then she went tense and breathless, trying not to hope for too much.

Momiji's face was shining. "If you really wouldn't mind, Mrs. Sohma, I think I would like that," he whispered. Then he began talking animatedly about rent and things like that, and Momo's parents insisted that, if everything worked out and he did end up staying with them, payment was out of the question. Then Momo got bored and mentioned Germany, so Momiji ended up spending the rest of dinner entertaining them with college stories. For Mama's sake, he made it sound more as if he had been to boarding school than college.

"Oh my! Where did the time go?" Mama said in surprise.

"It flew off on wings like a bird," Momiji sang.

"My goodness, dear, you really do have a pretty voice," Mama said admiringly.

"Really? Thank you! I joined a choir for a while in Germany, and it was so much fun! They liked me because my voice never really broke; it just kind of smoothed, you know what I mean?"

Mama laughed and said again that his voice was beautiful.

"Well, Momo," Papa said cheerfully, "why don't you help me clean up, and Mama and Momiji-kun can visit some more?"

"Good idea," Momo said quickly, and started grabbing dirty plates. Mama and Momiji went to the living room. As Momo helped her father wash and dry, she could hear Momiji's high voice and her mother's murmuring one. After a while she could not hear them anymore, over the splash of water and the clink of dishes. Had they stopped talking or just started speaking more softly?

Momo had just finished and was drying her hands when she heard the explosion. Her head snapped toward the living room door - smoke was wafting gently out from around the edges. Momo and her father ran together into the living room.

Mama knelt on the floor, surrounded by discarded clothes. She stared in shock at the rabbit she held in her arms. "A rabbit..." she whispered in disbelief.

"Mama, don't hurt him!" Seized by a surge of fear for her brother, Momo grabbed him and wrapped her arms around him protectively.

"Oww! Momo, you're hurting me!"

Mama screamed when she realized the rabbit had spoken. Momo ran from the room and sat on the floor in the hallway, clutching Momiji's warm, soft body close to her heart. They were both trembling. "Oh, Oniisan, what's going to happen?" Momo whispered. She listened to her mother being hysterical in the living room, and her father trying to be soothing.

It was a long moment before Momiji spoke. "I suppose she'll just visit Hatori again." His voice was low and emotionless. Momo didn't want to hug him tighter and hurt him, so she stroked his ears instead.

After a while Mama's voice became too quiet to hear.

"I don't feel strong right now, Momo," Momiji said. "Mama screamed when she saw me."

'...won't touch me, they refuse to come near me....'

"I love you, Oniisan," Momo said fiercely. "I'll love you enough for both me and her."

"That's what Papa said," Momiji whispered.

Finally, Mama and Papa came out into the hallway. Mama hung back, and she had her hand up to cover her trembling mouth, but she did not look away. "Um." She had to clear her throat. "Your papa told me about the Juunishi thing." She paused, then knelt and cautiously stretched out a hand to Momiji.

"I won't bite," he said. Mama gasped and jerked her hand back. Then she laughed nervously and reached out again.

Momiji closed his eyes as she gently stroked his head. "You make a beautiful rabbit," Mama said with a soft smile. She carefully took the rabbit from Momo and cuddled him. "I keep remembering what Akito-san said, that time," Mama murmured. "I didn't understand what he was talking about then, but now I think I do. At least a little." She rested her cheek against Momiji's soft fur. "I want to be an accepting person. I don't want to be weak. I love you, Momiji-kun."

"I love you too, Mrs. Sohma," Momiji sighed.

Papa put his arm around Momo, and she leaned into him. The sight of her brother in Mama's arms brought tears to her eyes. 'If you can learn to accept this boy's strange animal form,' Momo thought to her mother, 'Then perhaps someday you'll be able to handle his other secret. I pray that one day you will have a son again.'

Momo smiled and held that thought close to her heart.

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I needed a love interest for Momo, but I wasn't too interested him and didn't want to work with him too much. Ronnie obliged me by never getting in my way, though he did his job wonderfully. Thank you, Ronnie, you're just like Daisuke. Nice, undemanding characters who do what they're supposed to, and yet aren't pieces of lifeless baggage.

I had been planning a sequel, but had problems. Good ideas for the characters (mainly the second generation Sohmas, like Kia and Haku), but absolutely NO idea what to do for a plot. Or how to include the canon characters. After about two years of struggle and procrastination, I finally produced a one-shot sequel that I hope everyone will enjoy.