Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Custody ❯ Broken links ( Chapter 26 )

Momiji knelt down on the carpet a few minutes after Momo woke up. They all went straight to the living room to open the presents, and even though he didn't feel like laughing and celebrating, he put up the happy act once more for Momo's sake. She deserved to have the best Christmas possible, specially this year, the first one without her parents.

 

Thinking about it he couldn't help it but to think that all the giddiness and clapping on her part was part of her own act for his sake. Somehow, he knew that she didn't feel as enthusiastic about this whole thing as she pretended to be. He didn't like the idea, but he didn't feel like trying to help her at that moment. The situation was hard enough for him as it was. He just couldn't muster the strength required for the task.

 

`You have the right to be selfish once in your life.' Tohru's words came back to his mind and helped him to feel a little better.

 

Brigitta supposed that people never outgrew the excitement of the gift opening ritual at Christmas. Momo was dancing around and giggling in anticipation. Momiji snickered at seeing the girl so happy. Both had grins on their faces and spoke in happy voices.

 

If only she could dismiss the feeling that both children were putting an act for each other's sakes.

 

Momo finally sat down on the carpet, not daring to imitate Momiji's position. Brigitta was amazed once more of how easy it was for him to be on his knees for long periods of time and still stand up after that as if nothing had happened. She thought that it must be a Japanese thing. Momiji looked at Momo and smiled lovingly at her. Momo smiled back, mirroring his feelings in her own eyes.

 

Brigitta took the opportunity to lift the first present to her eye level so that she could read the card without putting on her glasses.

 

-“Let's see… This one is for Momiji” -the boy turned to her and extended his hands. She handed the package to him and both she and Momo waited excitedly for him to open it. Momiji found some cloth in there. He pulled it out of the box to reveal what it was.

 

It was a pink shirt.

 

Momiji laughed. He felt like he had been given a part of his old self back. Although Momo and Brigitta had no way of knowing what the gift meant to him, they joined in. It was good to hear him laugh.

 

-“It just doesn't seem right to me that someone so young wears sad colors. That's not you. I remembered what you told me about your missing pink shirts, and I thought that you should have at least one. I want to see you wearing something brighter, happier. Even if you don't ever put it on, at least whenever you open your closet and see it there, you'll think of me.” -Momo explained shyly. She was glad that he liked the gift, and deep down, she felt relieved. For a moment there, she was afraid that he might not like it.

 

Momiji only nodded and thanked her for the gift. He pulled a random package from under the tree next. It was for Momo.

 

Inside it was a sweater with the craziest and most unlikely combination of colors in random geometric figures. The overall effect, however, was pretty nice. It was also soft as a cloud, as Momo discovered when she ran her hand over it. She thanked the gift to Grandma. Momo gave the next gift to Momiji.

 

Momiji laughed again. He was enjoying this gift opening thing after all.

 

It was another crazy sweater, very similar to Momo's, only the color combination was different.

 

-“These two sweaters look very much alike, but each one is unique in its own way. They complement each other and they look their best when they're together. They remind me of you both.” -Grandma explained. She hoped that they could understand the message behind the gifts.

 

Understanding crossed Momiji's eyes and he nodded in acknowledgement. Momo just smiled, and Brigitta knew that she didn't get it yet.

 

The next one was Momo's gift for Grandma. She gave her a brand new bottle of her favorite perfume.

 

-“I noticed that you were running out of it.” -the girl explained.

 

Brigitta thanked her for the gift with a big hug that the girl reciprocated happily. Grandma felt like the shadow of sadness had finally lifted and the children were really enjoying themselves.

 

That had been the last gift under the tree. Brigitta and Momo looked at Momiji expectantly as he searched for something in the right pocket of his pajama. They had no clue as to what he got for them, since he didn't buy a single thing the day he and Momo had gone out shopping.

 

He pulled out a small box adorned with an red silk ribbon. It screamed `expensive' just by the looks of it.

 

-“I got your rabbit.” -he said happily as he offered the box to Momo. She was terribly curious of the contents of the box, so she undid the ribbon as fast as she could.

 

It was a jewelry box. She was not used to that kind of gift. It was the first time anyone gave her something of the kind. Her father believed that she was still too young for jewels, and he wanted to wait until she was older to give her any. Momo opened the box slowly with trembling fingers. It was impossible for her to hide her excitement.

 

It was a white gold bracelet. Delicate links sparkled as he took it out of the box for both women to have a better look at it. There were a rabbit and a moon hanging from it. If possible, the tiny figures sparkled even more than the links that made up the bracelet. It was breathtaking. As Grandma and Momo held it by turns in their hands, Momiji closed his eyes for a moment.

 

`You have the right to be selfish once in your life.'

 

Refusing to give it a second thought, he began to speak quietly and slowly, struggling to put the words together in that foreign language of his mother.

 

-“There was once a little bunny that was given as a gift to a man and his wife. The bunny was cursed, and because of it he brought sadness to the people around him. The man loved it, but his wife was afraid of it so much that she got sick. She told the man to get rid of the bunny or she would die. He decided that the only way to protect her was to put it on the moon, where it was always bright and the little rabbit would always be happy. The man felt guilty for doing that to the bunny, so he asked it to “help her.” The bunny didn't want to be put away, but he agreed to save the woman's life. He did it because he loved her.”

 

-“Momiji, what are you trying to say…” -Momo started. He interrupted her as if she had never spoken. As he continued speaking, he carefully took the bracelet from their hands and put it around her wrist. Momo couldn't stop staring at the way the metal sparkled in the light.

 

-“In the beginning, the bunny would often think: `Why can't I be with them? I love them! I want to go back home and be a family!' It never got back. It was forgotten, as if it never existed. Later, the man and his wife had a baby. The rabbit felt very happy, because it thought that maybe this child would give him a chance, so it loved her from the first moment. He begged to the man to be allowed to come see the child, or to let her go to the moon so they could play together, but the father never gave in. He thought that his child could get sick like her mother or maybe sad because of the curse, so he kept the child and the rabbit apart. The rabbit wanted to be with the child, but he didn't want to hurt her, so he decided to watch over them all from the moon. He still watches over her to this day. He will always do.”

 

-“Momiji, who are you talking about?” -Momo was really confused. Was he talking about someone, or was it just a story? He continued without acknowledging her question, his voice betraying a deep sadness that only Grandma seemed to notice under the smile on his face. He held the rabbit figure between his fingers.

 

-“The rabbit is free of the curse now, but it still carries the sadness inside, because it will never go back to its family. The bunny will stay away because even though it still loves them, the ties that connected it to them are broken. The links between people are fragile: Once they are broken, they can never be repaired.” -he ran his fingers over the bracelet as he spoke. Momo felt like he was talking to himself. “I'm giving you this rabbit so that you will always know that even though links can be broken, feelings cannot, even if they are never reciprocated. That is the moral of the story.” -he finished with a grin and a graceful bow, as if accepting an ovation.

 

Brigitta couldn't believe her ears. He told his sister the truth after all! She only hoped that Momo could read between the lines and realize what Momiji was trying to tell her. Momo was looking at him with a mix of confusion and hope, but the moment ended abruptly as he laughed lightly and he pulled her into a hug.

 

-“Just think about the story whenever you look at the moon.” -he asked her. “I hope that you liked your present.”

 

Momo could only reply with a broken `thanks' before Momiji pulled another box from his other pocket. He handed it to Grandma with a tender smile.

 

-“I heard that diamonds are a woman's best friends or something like that…” -he trailed off shyly as Grandma stared in shock to the exquisite gold necklace incrusted with at least a dozen diamonds in a beautiful design.

 

-“Thank you, but… This must cost a fortune!” -she loved the gift, but she felt reluctant to accept it.

 

-“Don't worry about that! I told you, I have my own money! Plenty of it, in fact…” -he assured her as he laughed again. The look on his sister's and grandmother's faces was priceless. He figured that they still had a hard time thinking of him as a grown business man and not the teenager he looked like.

 

-“Think of it as my way to make it up to you for all the gifts I never had a chance to give you!” -he looked at Grandma, telling her without words how much he loved her.

 

Momo was still confused. She kept racking her brains, trying to figure out what had just happened. Once again, Momiji cut off her thoughts:

 

-“So, what are we having for breakfast?”