***** A/N: The first scene is set on episode 14 (I think). The episode where Takano takes Onodera on a date for his birthday and towards the end, Takano is seen kissing Onodera. *****

Just Another Daddy's Girl

Chapter 2: Goodbye, Ricchan

The next morning, a Sunday, Onodera woke up and found no one beside him. He looked at the clock on the bedside table.

"8:45AM." Onodera mumbled.

He stood up and walked over to the bathroom in An's room. He took a spare toothbrush in the cabinet below the sink and he remembered what happened last night. They kissed. They got carried away. An was right. He didn't have the guts to go any further.

He changed into the spare dress shirt and jeans that An prepared for him in the closet where he left his clothes and brief case the previous night. He buttoned the last button.

Erika slowly opened the door to see if Onodera was still sleeping. When she didn't see him on the bed, she came barging in and yelled out, "Daddy!"

Onodera lifted her as high up as he could and twirled her. He put her closer to his chest. "Hi, baby! Give daddy a kiss?"

Erika gave her a quick and sound one.

"What time did you get up?" Onodera asked.

"7:30, sir." Erika's nanny said.

"That's really early, huh?" Onodera said and tickled her a bit.

"That's how early she usually gets up. If you were here, you'd know that." An sarcastically said as she was approaching the door.

"You always pick on me because of that." Onodera said.

An took Erika and put her down. "Go to nanny Keiko, okay?"

"Let's go, Eri-chan." Keiko (the nanny) said as she held out her hand and Erika took it."

An closed the door. "Now..." She sat on her vanity chair. "Let's talk." She crossed her legs and leaned her back on her vanity table.

"O~kay..." Onodera had a bad feeling about this.

"Do you... have any plans... of marrying me, officially?" An asked bluntly.

Onodera was speechless.

"I guess not." An answered for him. "Well... I called off the engagement between us."

"Wh-What? Why?" Onodera asked angrily. "You can't just decide matters like that on your own! I'm your fiance and Erika's father!"

"No, Ritsu. You're not really her father. In fact, you have nothing to do with her. She's not related to you. But she's my cousin... and now she's my daughter. I'll decide what's best for her." An explained.

This hurt Onodera. An was right. Onodera has nothing to do with Erika.

Onodera paused for a while. Then he calmly said, "But still... in the past five years that I spent as a father to her, I loved her. I loved her as my own."

"You were just obliged to."

"No! No, An-chan!"

"You just felt bad that she lost her family when she was just a few months old. Nothing more... and nothing less."

"No... You're wrong." Onodera clenched his fists and looked up with a determined face. "I won't let you take her away from me."

"Ritsu... I'm already letting you go. Now, you're free as bird. You can still visit her. I'm not forbidding you the right to see her. You're the only father she knew... and you can't half-ass the task of being a father." An gently said.

"I'm not half-assing it. I just... I just-"

"You're in love with somebody else right? Mr. Neighbor?" An asked.

"N-No. Whatever would give you that idea?" Onodera denied as he chuckled.

"I saw him kiss you last night. You barely resisted." An said.

"Th-That was!" Onodera tried to reason.

"It's okay. I told you, I will not take away your fatherhood to Erika. But... you have to understand. Someday, somewhere, somehow... she will understand that she is not mine, nor yours. When that time comes, will you still be there for her as a father?"

Onodera did not speak but his face was painted with pain.

"She's not... just something that you come back for when she needs you. Then after wards, you leave her again. That's not the kind of father that I want for her." An sat upright. "She needs a father every minute, every hour, and everyday of her life. A father who will walk right behind her and pick her up when she falls, hold her hand when she's scared, wipe her tears when she cries, carry her when she can't take it anymore. That's what a real father is... and that's... not you, Ritsu." She walked up to him. "She needs to move forward. Will you be there every step of the way?"

Onodera put his palms on his face and started crying. He sat on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know... I don't know, An-chan. I don't know..." He cried and cried.

An stood in front of him and hugged him. Onodera pulled her in and hugged her waist. He cried and cried. She hugged him tighter and ran her fingers through the hair on the back of Onodera's head and An embraced him entirely.

She continued to hug him and she suggested, "Why don't you talk to that neighbor guy?"

He stopped crying, pulled away and wiped his tears with the back of his hands. "What does he have to do with anything?"

"You're in love with him. That's all he needs to confuse you." An replied. She put her palms on his cheeks. "Just try, babe, okay? Just try..." She kissed him on the lips gently again. He closed his eyes. "Just try."

Onodera let his arms drop on its own. An still held his cheeks as he nodded.

Onodera was at the doorstep, ready to leave. An and Erika were waving goodbye. He walked a couple of steps. Then he stopped, dropped his briefcase and his coat on the ground. He ran towards An and gave her a passionate kiss. Erika playfully covered her eyes. Onodera pressed his forehead against An's.

"I'll be back..."

"I'll see you later."

An and Erika watched him drive away in one of the Kinohatas' cars.

An closed her eyes. "Goodbye... Ricchan." She smiled slightly.