OOC: I do not own Fruits Basket, nor do I own Hiro, Kisa, or Momiji! ^-^ Though they are cute as it is ^_^

The constant ‘thump’ing coming from outside the main Sohma home had attracted attention of very many of the family members. And only Momiji, sitting on the roof of the wall, glaring with a new anger at Hiro. In old times, about four years ago, Momiji would have cried and ran off to Momiji or another ‘adult’ to get his bouncing ball back from Hiro, but the nineteen year old merely glowered now. Tohru, twenty-years-old now was inside the main house somewhere, congratulating Kyou and Yuki on their repair of the house anyhow. Besides, he was nineteen now, he could handle it himself. Somehow. The fifteen-year-old Hiro merely smiled quite darkly, pushing blond bangs out of his face.

He was clad in a Haru like outfit, the sheep dressed in black large boots, a black coat, over black jeans and a black shirt. His hair hadn’t changed much over the years except now it was clipped a bit shorter. In the meantime, up on the roof Momiji was in his school uniform, watching warily. Now that he wore the men’s uniform, he had acquired a fan club much like Yuki had at one point, and still lingered at the high school. “Hm, are you going to stand there all day?” The sheep called up, his eyebrows rising, calling attention to the large brown eyes. “Or am I allowed to keep this ball? After all, you are a bit old to be eating suckers the way you do, or playing with these things.” He seemed to frown sympathetically for a moment. “How disgraceful.”

“I can play dirty too,” Momiji said calmly, crossing his arms. “Give it back, or I shall make you!”

“And how? I can’t think of a possible way you can force me,” Hiro asked, with a smirk slowly forming. “After all, you are merely the rabbit, I am still larger than you, though I am younger. Has Kazuma taught you all the necessary steps? Are you suddenly stronger? If not, I can-“

“Ah, shut up,” Momiji replied with a sigh. He hated to get like this, he loved to be optimistic, but sometimes Hiro pushed his buttons the wrong way. Though, he’d always known how to get it back. With a slight smile, wink with a finger up to say ‘one moment’ he disappeared over the wall to the main house.

Hiro frowned as Momiji left, shrugging and catching the ball a final time, starting to shove it in his pocket. The next day, would be new years. He didn’t look forward to dancing though, looking like a damned fool as he danced in that stupid outfit in front of everyone. He’d never live it down with Kyou and Shigure. Though the last few years had been funny. From Hatori dancing, (This was an interesting sight, quite amusing for him, until times to get any shots), then Ayame (This was much more...disgusting, with all of the jokes between Ayame and Shigure later on), then Rin, (That one was just...different. Puberty seemed closer, and felt more like a strip club in his opinion. Others insisted it wasn’t that bad.) This year though, Hiro had to dance, and he was going to live up all he could against everyone else until then! They would tease him, but he was going to tease them to death before hand.

He was so lost in his thoughts; he jumped as he heard a familiar voice softly speak up. “Hiro?” Kisa’s voice asked softly. Oh how he looked forward to watching her dance, she’d be so beautiful! Now...if only it wasn’t in nine years.

“What?” Hiro asked, looking over slowly, and guiltily if I may add. His hand was halfway to his pocket, with his glare shifting to the fence. There, of course, was the rabbit peeking around with his usual grin. It was times like this he wanted to punch the rabbit.

“Did you take Momiji’s ball?” Kisa asked, her soft voice beguiling, while Hiro frowned. He hated her when she cared for him like this! “Are you jealous again? I haven’t really been ignoring you.”

“No, I’m not jealous,” Hiro cut in, looking away uneasily. “I just...” He frowned, bouncing the ball again. He didn’t look once to what he was doing with the ball, looking away from Momiji and Kisa as well. “Well...I have to dance tomorrow night, and I don’t want to look like a idiot!”

“You won’t look stupid, you’ll look great!” Momiji cut in with a broad smile and a laugh. “We always do, it’s fun!”

“You did yours four years ago, then you were to stupid to think of it as anything else!” Hiro cried, gripping his own shirt tightly. “How disgraceful,” He whispered as he looked away. But as he did, he looked up enough to see Kisa’s pained look, worry and sadness for him. Ah, she had been around Tohru too much, he found himself thinking bitterly, letting out a gasp as he lost grip of the balls pattern as it bounced. He had utterly forgot about it truly. Gripping blindly for it, he ended up gripping another round object...larger, causing a blush to take over Kisa’s surprised expression. Turning quickly, he watched the ball bounce off of the wall and straight across the street.

“Shit!” He cried, running forward a few steps. The ball crashed through the underbrush, as he turned helplessly towards those around him...and was met by one surprised look, as she crossed her arms over her chest, and another angry one. “You don’t expect me to go get it, do you?” He asked, his eyebrows rising. “What if I twist an ankle and can’t dance tomorrow?”

“All the better for you then, hm?” Momiji asked with an unhappy look, while Kisa looked even more upset than earlier.

“Please?” Kisa asked softly. “It’s the least you can do.” With a soft growl, Hiro turned and marched across the way, starting into the underbrush. Why did he do everything she asked him to? What was he, her dog? No, he was a sheep! Part of him feared if she was ever to get angry with him. After all, she was the tiger, her anger no doubt could be fierce, and him being the sheep, he could get himself hurt in that situation.

It was funny when you thought about it, all those years of caring for her, being her prince. In fact, she had been calling him ‘Prince Hiro’ for years since he had taken that on himself, though there were a lot of girls at the high school who denied the name. He snorted at the thought as he knelt in the underbrush, looking for the palm-sized ball. The thought made him laugh, him a prince. He was still a brat and he knew it, the teachers knew it, the school knew it. It was hard to change, and truly he didn’t want to. Though he still annoyed Kyou.

Yet he changed for Kisa. Looking over his shoulder he saw her walking towards him. In her own school uniform, he had changed the second he got home, the other two on the other hand truly didn’t seem to care. Kneeling down, she helped part it and look, grinning at him. Ah, he felt his heart skip a beat at that smile. She was so lovely. She was so perfect, how had she stooped to being with him, when she deserved someone so much better? A soft ‘Ah!’ escaped her, and her hand shot out, lifting out the ball and smiling at him. “Found it,” She whispered with a grin. Reaching over, she slowly opened his hand, placing it in his palm. “Momiji won’t hold it against you. Besides, noone’ll tease you for your dance, it’ll be great.” Smiling she stood, offering her hand to him. Hiro chose to ignore the long legs in front of his face, standing and taking her hand.

Smiling, she leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek, blushing lightly and walking back towards the house. “We found it!” She cried with a laugh. Hiro smiled, jogging lightly to catch up with her. Ah, it was worth it.