Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Custody ❯ Snow memories ( Chapter 7 )

Momiji arrived at his house late into the night. The graduation party had been better than he had expected. It was good to share those final moments celebrating with his former classmates and friends. Tohru had been there as well, though she was dragged away at the first yawn by her two overprotective bodyguards. He took that as his cue, and had started to leave when two of his friends took him back in for a while more. He danced, laughed and tried to drown his disappointment at his family's absence in a couple -ok, maybe more than a couple- of drinks that proved to be more than enough to make him dizzy. He just hoped that he didn't get a splitting headache in the morning.

 

He was in great spirits at that moment. His only thought right now, though, was to go straight to bed and sleep the rest of the night and the next day away. They couldn't say anything to him now. He had done everything they asked him to do. Today he graduated from college. He was entitled to some laziness.

 

He glanced at the answering machine and saw that he had a message, but he figured that if it was that important they would've called him to his mobile. Whatever it was, it could wait until next day.

 

The morning came and went, and true to his resolution, Momiji slept until noon. Yup, he officially had a terrible headache now. As he searched desperately for an aspirin, he saw the answering machine again and he remembered that he still had to listen to his messages. He'd get to that as soon as he could think clearly, and that was not going to happen as long as he didn't get something for the headache!! Hatori must have something. He left to his house.

 

Momiji didn't go back home until after dinner. He spent the afternoon at Hatori and Mayu's house. He got the aspirin he so desperately wanted, but soon forgot about it anyway as he got busy with other things. Hatori and Mayu's twin toddler boys were a handful, but he loved them despite their pranks and they loved their uncle Momiji back with a passion. They looked like a miniature version of Hatori, and though the children were identical, Momiji never had a problem telling them apart. He liked to play with them, even if it meant loosing at each and every game.

 

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Mayu smiled as she saw Momiji, lying face up on the carpet, getting beat up by her two year-olds. He never grew tired, and that only reinforced Mayu's belief that Momiji was really still a child trapped in the body of a young man. The former rabbit was 22 at the time, but he still looked like a teenager. His boyish looks could've fooled anyone who didn't know him. Mayu loved him like a younger brother. It was impossible not to like him after you've met him. They had grown close during the three years since she married Hatori. It worried her that he forced himself to be “happy” when something in his eyes told her about the storm going on inside, in his very soul.

 

Tohru and Mayu had learned to read the “cheerful rabbit” well. They were the closest to him, along with Hatori, and they often shared their concern about their favorite bunny. Tohru once said that Momiji cared too much about others to care about himself. He would sacrifice anything, even his own happiness if it would make the people he loved happy.

 

Tohru told her that Momo could make Momiji happy just by being near. They didn't even need to talk to communicate to each other. They had a special wordless language consisting of coded looks, little gestures and music. (It was such a pity that Momiji quit playing the violin when he started to really focus on his studies.) When Tohru finally dared to talk to him about his little sister about a year after she left, he just forced that fake, nervous smile onto his face and told her with the cheeriest voice he could muster: “I'm sure that she's happy!! Wouldn't you be? Living in a whole new country!! Imagine all the things she must be doing!! The people she must've met!!” -And then he added, voice serious now, “She'll forget about us soon, Tohru, but it'll be okay as long as she's happy, right?” -the fake grin looked real, and it could've convinced her, were it not for the wistful look in his eyes. She knew. It was killing him inside to think that she would forget him.

 

She remembered Momo. She wondered where she was now.

 

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Hatori watched them play and have fun, and he couldn't help but to think that Momiji could've made a great big brother if only he had been given a chance. He had a gift. Children loved him. He would make a great father someday. It was good to see him “wrestling” with the kids, specially because Momiji was the kind to avoid any physical contact even now, years after the curse was lifted. Maybe it was an unconscious reaction born out of habit, or maybe he was scared deep down that the curse could come back anytime. He could see it in his eyes: the ever present fear of rejection. Even now, being a popular guy, Momiji struggled to gain the acceptance of the people around him. It was a fear deeply engraved in his heart the day his parents turned their backs on him.

 

Even so, Momiji told Hatori that he had invited his family to come to his graduation. He had finally found his father's work address, and after a week of hesitation, he gathered the courage to post it. As expected, they didn't come. Not even Momiji believed they would. It didn't make it easier for the young man to accept it, though. He wondered if his family knew about the curse being broken now. He only wished that they would allow Momo to come back to visit every now and then, but ever since the day they left, they never received any news from them.

 

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Later, Momiji had a delicious, warm take-out dinner (Mayu's cooking skills were still a bit on the rough side) with his favorite family. They even had a cake afterwards to celebrate his graduation. It was good to laugh and enjoy times like these with people who accepted him and liked him just the way he was.

 

He had a family now. If only it could be easier to let go completely of his “other” family.

 

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Momiji sat down on the couch next to the phone and started to listen to his messages. The first two were congratulations, as he had expected. The third one, however, would turn his whole world upside down.

 

It was a feminine voice.: His father's secretary, no doubt to apologize on his behalf. She spoke German with a perfect accent, so he had a little trouble making out the words. He spoke the language, of course, but it had been years since he had a serious conversation or even heard a word of it. What he heard made the blood freeze in his veins. His parents had an accident and were dead now. His father had asked her some time ago to call Momiji should anything happen to him, and so she was fulfilling his request. She gave him her phone number and asked him to call her back for the time and date of the funeral. Momiji checked the time the message was recorded: it was almost 24 hours ago.

 

Blaming himself for his stupidity, Momiji dialed the number with trembling fingers, all the while thinking of the fastest way to get to Germany. He had to go to his parents' funeral. He needed to be with Momo.