'Ten years...' he thought, focusing his camera on a small brown-haired girl playing with a small kitten, 'Ten years since I've been freed of that evil curse. It's been so long since we've all been together...' His camera flashed and made a quiet snap as he took a picture. The flash of the camera caught both the girl's and the kitten's attention and they looked up, surprised. The photographer smiled and waved at the girl, standing up from his kneeling position as he watched the small kitten scamper into a nearby house.

"Mama!" squealed the young girl, running into the house, "Mama, a funny-looking man with white hair is outside! Come see! Come see! He took my picture! Mama! Come talk to him!"

"What? White hair? Eh? No, wait--" a frantic brown-haired woman was pulled out of the house by the small girl who had a tight grip on the woman's skirt, "Wait, I've got to finish the laundry and--and Dinner! We want to have dinner ready for when Daddy gets home, right? Uh, wait; hold on--" No matter what the frantic woman said, the stubborn little girl continued to pull at her skirt until the photographer found himself face-to-face with a very familiar but very grown-up face.

"But mama, he's like the man from your stories! The one with the white hair!" whined the small girl, pointing at him. The woman stopped her frantic pleas to look at the man holding the camera. She studied his features a few seconds.

"...Haru-kun?" she inquired, hesitantly.

"Tohru..." he confirmed quietly.

"Haru!" she exclaimed, swiftly embracing him, "How are you? Look at you! Your Hair! It's gotten so long since I've last seen you! Have you been eating? You look thin! Come, you'll join us for dinner!" Tohru grabbed his hand, surprising him with her force, and pulled him toward her four-year-old daughter.

"Teiya, this is my good friend, Hatsuharu. We met shortly after your daddy and I met," said Tohru, kneeling so she was at eye level with the young girl.

"Why do you have white hair?" Teiya asked Haru, who could only shrug.

"Teiya, you remember the story I told you about all the animals?" -she nodded- "Haru was the cow! The bold and strong cow! Just like how Uncle Momiji was the rabbit," Tohru explained, making her daughter giggle.

"Cows are funny," Teiya said simply.

"Guess that means I'm a funny guy then, huh?" he said optimistically.

"Mama, can Uncle Momiji come over for dinner as well? Momiji would love to see an old friend as well, right? So can I? Please?" To this Tohru nodded giving her consent. Teiya gave a shout of delight and ran off to make the phone call.

"You're still in contact with Momiji?" asked Haru, watching the energetic girl run into the house.

"Yes," she said, standing back up to face him, "and Yuki, Kagura, Rin, Hatori, Akito... Just about all of them actually. Don't you?"

"No," he paused, "none of them actually. You're the first in about six or seven years. I went off to the university – remember the one in Kyoto? – and I've been busy working since I graduated."

"Well then, we'll have to have a reunion soon!" she declared cheerily, "come, help me make dinner, they'll be here soon and it would be rude to make them wait when they will probably be starving," she started off toward the door. "Come on, Haru-kun," she paused, giving him a bright smile before continuing on inside. Haru started to head in but stopped with the feeling that he was being watched.

He looked around, curiously, only to find a dark figure hiding behind a tree a few yards away. The figure, realizing they had been caught, stepped out of the shadow of the tree. Haru was stunned to find yet another familiar face.

It was Rin.