Chapter 9 – The Disappearing Act

In a week's time, both Tohru and Kyou were able to catch Momiji at a good time. In what seemed like fate, he found himself without much homework to do the very weekend the couple found staying at home with Katsuya a little too much to bear. Much to Kyou's reluctance, his desire to spend time with Tohru struck him stronger than his fear that Momiji would do something stupid with their child. And he thought to himself, perhaps this persistent worrying meant that something was starting to spark in him. That maybe a connection was forming between his him and his son after all. Whatever it was, he felt confident enough to allow himself time away.

Tohru insisted that they dress up and go to a nice restaurant, and that she pay with the bits and ends of her last paycheck. Kyou put on the fanciest clothes he could find that weren't what he wore the last time the whole family went out, and waited in Katsuya's room for Tohru to finish tidying herself up. Katsuya was rolling around on the floor throwing his toys about excitedly.

Kyou watched him, his heart tugging.

"I wish you could know how hard this is," he told Kat. "Then maybe you could give me advice."

Katsuya looked at him with a blank expression, and continued to throw his toys from side to side. Kyou continued.

"... You don't mind if I don't act like your mom do you? You know, all... cuddly and stuff... I know I'm supposed ta do that but... it's just not me. No offense, but you babies aren't my kinda thing. I rather treat ya like a pal... Is that so wrong?"

Katsuya looked into his dad's eyes and smiled, not bothering to acknowledge the drool falling off the edge of his mouth. Kyou took Kat's blanket off the floor and wiped the infant's face.

"Don't give Momiji any trouble tonight, okay?" he asked. "And make sure he doesn't cause trouble either. Don't learn stuff from him you shouldn't... if you can manage that. Promise?"

Katsuya screamed with delight, making Kyou reach up to cover his ears.

"Geez... I'm glad you're usually quiet, but when you scream you really scream," Kyou complained, chuckling as his ears throbbed in protest.

The door swung open, and in came Tohru, who was hyperventalating and shivering.

"Ah, I heard a scream!" she cried. "Is Kat okay?!"

"Tohru-" Kyou tried to butt-in.

"Did he fall? Did he hit his head?! WHY ISN'T HE CRYING?!"

"Tohru! Kat's fine, he's right here."

"... Oh, right," Tohru said as she calmed down. "Heheh... sorry about that. I really thought something was wrong. I've never heard Katsuya scream like that."

"He was just laughing."

"Oh wow... that's quite a laugh. I bet he's going to grow up to be very cheerful with a laugh like that!"

Tohru picked up her baby and hugged him tight.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're so happy tonight!" she chimed. "It makes me and Kyou so happy to see you like this! I'm so sorry we have to leave you tonight, but your dad and I haven't gone out alone together since you were born!"

Kyou looked up from where he sat and gave a tired smile. She was such a natural. As inadequate as he felt for being so emotionless at times, he made a promise to remember his master's words. He was allowed to take his time and let things develop on their own.

Tohru looked down at Kyou, scanning his face for any trace of discomfort. Likewise, she had promised to be more mindful of the transition Kyou was going through. She only wished she could truly grasp what was going on in his head. He was still so secretive about it.

"Kyou... How do-" she began. But the sound of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts. "Oh! Momiji's here."

"He's... early," Kyou said shock, checking his watch twice. "That's weird."

Kyou, Tohru, and Katsuya all went to the door together to greet the young teenager. When the opened the door, they found him carrying a large bag full of baby supplies with both hands, which seemed so heavy that Tohru was curious about how he could bear to carry it all at once.

"Hi Kyou, hi Tohru!" Momiji chimed brightly. "How's it go-"

Before he could finish, Momiji stopped himself and looked upon the three individuals in front of him. For a moment, the scene caught him off guard. Both Kyou and Tohru were dressed very formally, making them look more mature. Tohru especially looked older as she held her baby in her arms. The couple had those looks on their faces. The kind Momiji saw on his mother and father when he came to visit by accident without realizing his mother was close by. Unfamiliarity, newness... A sense that it was something he was separate from.

A feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. And as he looked upon Tohru, though she was far from his own mother's predicament, he began to remember the things he used to tuck deep down inside.

The feeling that someone was leaving him again.

Momiji shook it off, and smiled back at the couple, though his body language did not return to it's more cheerful disposition. Thinking it was just a moment of sour nostalgia, he forced himself to ignore it.

"How's it going?" he asked, trying to bring his voice back up to volume again. "Ah, I see baby Katsuya's doing well!"

"Everything's been going well, Momiji!" Tohru answered back. "It's been a while since we've seen you! Thank you so much for agreeing to watch over Katsuya while we're gone. I know Kat will appreciate it very much!"

"We left you a paper with instructions and our cell phone numbers on them," Kyou said sternly. "If anything goes wrong..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know Kyou-Kyou!" joked Momiji, allowing himself in to put down his supplies. "You've got nothing to worry about. I'm great with babies, you'll see!"

"Kat has to be in bed by 8. No later than that, or else he'll be cranky in the morning. And feed him the right amount of milk or else he won't be able to go to the bathroom right. He's been having stomach trouble. And it's Tohru's milk and not the store kind!"

"Okay! Gotcha! Geez Kyou, you're worrying more than Tohru, haha!"

"That's because I don't trust you all that much yet."

Momiji made a peace sign and winked confidently.

"No worries! You can count on me!"

"Thank you again, Momiji!" Tohru concluded. "We'll be home no later than ten. Hatori said he'll come get you after we come back."

Tohru handed Katsuya over to Momiji, took Kyou by the hand and led him out the door after they said their goodbyes.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~

"Alright Katsuya, let's listen to some music!"

Momiji put the infant in the new rocker that Shigure bought him, and went to the stereo by the television. He popped in a CD full of kid songs and turned up the volume.

"I used to listen to this when I was a baby. Dad kept it so that he could use it for my sister. Maybe it will encourage you to play an instrument one day too."

Katsuya watched with a confused look as the music blared in front of him. Momiji went up to him with a puppy shaped rattle and shook it while making cooing noises. Much to his disappointment, Momiji watched Kat steadily become more and more upset. It wasn't long until he started crying.

"Ah! You don't like that?" Momiji asked. "Okay, I'll stop. No more rattle... How abooooooout... this bunny?"

Momiji brought out his old stuffed rabbit and shook it side to side to get Kat's attention. But no matter how much he played with it, Kat continued to cry.

"'Look at me, I'm a silly rabbit! Hopping down the bunny trail! Look at me...' Ah, this isn't working either."

Momiji put away all the toys for the moment and decided on a new strategy. He asked himself, what made him happy when he was cranky?

"I know! I used to love my pacifier. It always helped me calm down as a baby. Or so my dad tells me..."

Katsuya's personal pacifier was left on the table next to the to-do list Kyou left for him. After popping it in the infant's mouth, he waited for him to simmer down. However, after but a moment, Kat's crying continued and the pacifier fell from his mouth and onto his lap.

"That didn't work either... Must be something else. Are you ready for dinner, Katsuya?"

Momiji went into the kitchen to grab the bottle labeled "Tohru milk" from the refrigerator. The instructions told him to heat it up so that it was just the way Kat liked it. After returning, he waved the bottle in front of the baby.

"Katsuya, I have your diiiiiinneeeer. You must be really hungry to be crying this much."

Momiji quickly picked up the baby and placed the bottle over his mouth. However, Katsuya refused to drink and cried even harder. Momiji dropped the bottle by accident in order to gain better support in carrying Kat, who was squirming quite vigorously.

"You're not hungry?" Momiji asked, starting to become discouraged. "What do you want, huh? What am I missing? I tried music, I tried toys... food..."

And then it hit him. The epiphany and the new smell wafting around him.

"Ohhhhh I know. Come on Katsuya, it's time for a new diaper."

Momiji soon came to find that changing Katsuya while he cried was not an easy feat. Kat insisted that his kick his legs and wiggle around during his fit while Momiji tried to clean him.

"Katsuya!" Momiji cried. "You're making this really hard... I hope I don't get anything yucky on my hands because of you!"

It took some careful maneuvering, but Momiji managed to get a clean diaper on him without getting to dirtied up himself. With a disgusted look, he threw out the old diaper, and returned to the infant, who was beginning to finally calm down.

"There... that wasn't so bad, huh? Betcha feel much better. Can you be happy now, so we can play?"

When the both of them returned to the living room, Momiji came back to find that he had spilled most of Tohru's milk onto the floor.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "It must have happened when I was trying to cheer Kat up. What do I feed him now?"

The frantic teen looked to the to-do list for back up options, but the list simply asked him to feed Katsuya the right milk and nothing else. And he didn't want to call Kyou or Tohru. Tohru would be so worried that she'd insist they come back home, and Kyou would be too angry to help him out without coming home too. If there was one thing, it was that Momiji was tired of being treated like a child. If they found out he screwed up, he'd never heard the end of it.

Momiji looked at Katsuya, who was blowing spit bubbles.

"I'll give him store milk just this once. I can't let him go to bed hungry... Katsuya, I'll be right back. I'm going to make your dinner!"

And with the turn of his heel, he dashed to the kitchen. After making sure the milk wasn't expired, Momiji cleaned out the spilled bottle and filled it with fresh, cold milk. Just for added measure, he put it in the microwave for a short while to warm it up and make it easier to drink.

But while he heated the milk, Momiji heard the most peculiar noise. From the living room, he could of sworn he heard Katsuya sneeze. But the sneeze was followed by a soft "poof." And then... silence. No cooing, no dribbling.

His heart pounding, Momiji took the milk with him and went to investigate.

"Katsuya?" he called. Upon seeing the rocker, he gasped in shock. Katsuya was nowhere to be seen. Only a dissipating light brown smoke and an empty diaper.

"Kat? Kat!"

Momiji scurried around frantically, searching everywhere he could for the infant. He check under each table and by each chair. He checked all the downstairs rooms and corners. But no matter where he searched, he could not find him. So he checked the doors and windows.

"All locked! All locked... I don't understand. Where could he have gone? I don't think he can even crawl all that well yet."

Momiji knew he'd have to call Tohru and Kyou sooner or later.
"No, no, no!" he yelled. "This isn't happening!"

He had failed. What would Tohru think of him now? Could she ever forgive him if something happened to Kat? And poor Kat! What if something terrible happened to him while he wasn't looking? And it was only for a moment.

Just as he was about to sink to the ground and cry, he heard a tiny squeak. Like the cry of a baby animal. He followed the cries until they got louder and louder, which lead him back to the rocker. Underneath it was a narrow-eyed, closed eared kitten, no bigger than palm of Momiji's hand. Barely older than a newborn. It had one shade of light brown fur from head to toe, and blue eyes. The little creature could barely lift its head, but it could crawl, albeit slowly.

Momiji stared at the kitten, unsure of what to do. But it didn't take long for him to put it all together. His eyes opened wide and he shook his head.

"No, n-not this. Not again..."

He sank to the floor and sat there staring at the kitten, who was trying to scoot over to him, squealing and crying. After what seemed like forever, the tiny kitten transformed, and weeping Katsuya appeared before his eyes. He lay on the ground, and sounded very confused and uncomfortable. Too shocked to comfort him, Momiji watched in terror, his whole body shaking.

It's starting all over again.

But if that was true... then why didn't he feel any different now?

Down the hall, he could hear the sliding doors open as Kyou and Tohru let themselves in.

They're home early, Momiji thought, sweat pouring down his face. He picked up Katsuya, put his diaper back on him, and placed him in the rocker.

"Momiji! We're back!" Tohru called out to him. "I know it's early but it started raining, so we decided to come back."

"Where is that rabbit?" Kyou scowled.

Momiji appeared around the corner, shrugged over and shaking.

"Momiji, what's wrong?" Tohru asked. "What happened? Where's Katsuya?"

Momiji crept close to Tohru and leaned in slowly towards her body. His hands gingerly wrapped around her, shaking as they pulled his body close to hers. He froze, gritting his teeth and shutting his eyes tightly, waiting for the worst to happen.

But nothing did. There was no transformation. He didn't become a rabbit. Momiji sighed a breath of relief and began to cry.

"We weren't gone THAT long," Kyou said. "Come on, enough with the mushy stuff. Where's Kat?"

"Momiji, what's going on?" Tohru asked, wiping his tears away.

"Something happened to Katsuya," Momiji answered, his voice weak and tired with worry. "He's not hurt but... something happened."

"Where is he?"

"In the living room."

Tohru and Kyou ran past to check on their son. They found him sitting in his rocker in nothing but his diaper. He was nodding off to sleep.

"He seems okay," Kyou said, looking him over. Katsuya cooed happily at the return of his parents, seemingly unaffected by what he just went through.

"Momiji," Tohru said with concern. "Did you try to feed Katsuya store milk?"

"Huh?" Momiji responded, caught off guard. "I-I... I uh..."

"Momiji, Kat can't handle cow's milk right now. His stomach is too sensitive and he could get hurt."

"Dammit, didn't you read the instructions?" Kyou yelled. "It said to feed him Tohru's milk!"

"I was going to, but I spilled the milk by accident when I was handling Kat!" Momiji cried, tears falling down his face. "I'm so sorry! I-I just didn't want him to go to bed hungry. But with what just happened, I got so scared I didn't think straight about it."

"Yeah, like what?!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

"Momiji, you can tell us," Tohru asked, trying to calm him down. "We're not mad at you. We all make mistakes."

Kyou scoffed, but tried to calm down to avoid upsetting Katsuya further, who was already crying due to his father's raised voice. Momiji looked at both Tohru and Kyou, and took a deep breath.

"I saw Kat turn into a cat!"

"What?" Kyou asked.

"I saw Kat turn into a cat. A little kitten. I was in the kitchen and I heard a weird noise. I come back and he's gone. The next thing I know I see this kitten under the rocking chair. And after a while, he turned human again."

"...That's not funny, Momiji. You and I both know that those days are over."

"But I'm telling the truth!"

"Momiji," cooed Tohru, "... I understand if you're embarrassed about the milk mistake. You don't have to lie about why it happened. We understand... Maybe it just means that you need some help in watching Katsuya? I'm not saying you can't watch him... it's just-"

"Tohru, if Momiji makes a mistake like that again, he could hurt Kat!" Kyou interrupted. "No offense Momiji, but I don't think you're ready for that kind of responsibility."

Momiji, who had become fed up with trying to explain what he saw, felt his sadness boil into a hot anger. It really was happening again. So what if he didn't turn into a rabbit anymore. His family was turning on him again.

"Who said you were ready either, Kyou?" Momiji said calmly. "I'm telling the truth. Don't turn your own problems on me just because y-you're not any better at taking care of Katsuya than I am."

Kyou blushed seven shades of red, feeling his heart skip a beat as the awful truth came out yet again.

"You take that back you little rodent."

Momiji stared him down with a look Tohru had never seen him give before.

"Please, stop fighting!" Tohru cried. "...For Kat's sake."

Momiji softened his gaze and lowered his tense shoulders. Having realized what he said, his eyes welled up with tears as he gave Kyou a defeated look.

"Hatori will be here soon, okay?" Tohru concluded. "Don't worry about the milk. We'll take care of it now that we're home... Please don't be upset. You and Katsuya are okay, and that's all that matters."

Momiji remained silent, his hand grasping the other side of his arm. He watched Katsuya warily, who watched him back with a blank and unconcerned look. Without another word, he turned around to go outside to wait for Hatori. But before he stepped out, he spoke.

"... Don't let Akito see Katsuya."

~:~:~:~:~:~:~

I have found you once again.

The now empty cast of my oldest and dearest friend,

Who I misunderstood and betrayed.

To your children's children...

Though days of past no longer repeat,

This is my lingering gift to you for your wisdom.

Kyou snapped out of his sleep that night, covered in sweat and panting. The words that haunted him in his slumber rang in his ears. That familiar, horrible yet benevolent voice...

A/N: Hey guys! FINALLY, here's my next update for this story. Just a heads up, I went through some of the previous chapters and changed some of the info. (Such as Tohru applying for college and what not - community college changed to culinary school abroad) Biggest changes are both in Learning to Cope and this story in regards to the whole "adoption" issue. Since adoption in Japan is not really a norm, I changed up that part of the story a bit to make it a little more culturally appropriate. But other than those things, the stories are the same and the already written plot is unchanged. I will alert you guys of any future changes if I feel like putting them in.

Thanks so much for reading and keeping your interest! I sat down and did some more planning for this story, and I really like where I'm going with it. I hope you guys do too! Please, as always, comment and give me your thoughts! See you at the next update.

- Dusty

1/25/14 EDIT - Messed up the last part of this chapter and corrected it. Totally forgot that when the curse broke, the god reconnected with the cat. Sorry about that. ^^