Today was Seto's 12th birthday, and Mary knew she couldn't afford to mess this up.

Today was the day, Seto had promised his last visit, that he would bring Kido over with him, and they could go see the city together, and maybe, if she wanted, go visit their apartment.

"But, what about my present?" She asked desperately, her plans falling apart in her mind- the cake, and the decorations? He simply laughed and said, "Don't worry about that. I just want to spend the day with you." She must have still looked worried, because he added with that reassuring smile of his, "Think of it as your birthday present to me, ok? I want to, and you wouldn't normally do it, right? So I think it's perfect."

Of course by then she couldn't say something like, "But if it's you, I'd go everyday." Rather, more like she just couldn't refuse his bright smile at all in general.

So now, instead of busily setting up ribbons and baking Seto's favorite foods, she was sitting nervously at her table next to her window, trying to read a book she had read millions of times, craning her neck out of the window every so often, barely absorbing the next word before her fluffy white head peeped out of the window 5 seconds later.

Seto's sibling... Mary fiddled with the edge of the page, staring aimlessly at the rustling trees outside, her feet nervously tapping against the floor. She didn't know what to say, what to feel, how to feel. It was, in a way, a nerve wracking, excited, anticipating kind of feeling, a new kind of emotion she wasn't sure she was ready for.

A new kind of emotion she never would have felt if that brave boy had never knocked on the door to a strange little house in the woods.

"Think of it as my present." Mary stared at the words on the paper, her mind drifting to when he had excitedly told Mary of his grand plans to visit the city with her. He should have just finished it already, "as my present for you."

Why did he have to keep thinking about her? Why did she have to keep thinking about this? As if he were the older one rather than her.

"I promise, you'll have fun." He said that everytime, when she was afraid to walk out the door of the house she holed herself up in for at least a century, when he opened the door, and now, to the city. He couldn't keep holding her hand forever, but he did, and he promised to, until she was ready.

But how could she? What was there to even be ready for? She had finally gotten something she cared about again, and that was Seto. She had even planned out what she would do for his birthday, and the last 5 ones, every year, sitting at that table, blowing out the candles, that was her life. Now he was taking that, and giving it back. "My present for you." Today, she would be blowing out the candles, and he would be the one enjoying it more than her, like an adult watching a child progress a little more, as she bitterly counted out the years it would take for her to grow older.

12 was the first of many years. 12, 13, 14. When would he grow tired of her? When would he let go, and say, "It's time to grow older," and he would be old, so old, and her still 13?

"My present for you." It was ridiculous- he was her present. He gave her something to live for, he gave her the chance to feel more, he gave her more chances to experience more. He was the hand that she took. Could she really be the same? Grow older, and maybe, be that hand for someone else?

Someone else. In the...city?

"Mary!"

The ravenhead outside had spotted her white hair in the open window, and grinned up from the gate, a girl wearing a hoodie, strangely, in the heat, a red jacket's neck pulled up to her chin, her eyes darting up to meet Mary's figure.

Just once, this one chance Seto had given her, she could try to be her own hand.

She could make her own choice, do something new on her own. With Seto. With Kido, with Kano, everyone that Seto had told her about. She could do new things, with everyone, and they would need to grab each other's hands sometimes, but they would be moving forward. Everyone, all together.

She hurried down the stairs, hastily pulling on her hoodie, gently pulling the door shut, and prayed to see it again someday. She turned, the wind blowing her wind back, Seto and Kido waiting. Seton beamed at her, as if seeing her made him the happiest in the world, as soft yet as bright as summer.

"Ready?"

For the first time, Mary took her own step forward, gripping the jacket tighter, the wind gently ruffling her locks, framing her face, and beamed back. "Let's go."

This time, as she walked out with the two of them, she decided, then, how she could convince them to let her stay all together in a little apartment, as the 4th member of the Mekakushi Dan.

A/N: Heyo~ I'm pretty sure no one reads this part (or the story hahaha *cri*), but my chapter uploading will increase it's decreasing. Or just the time span it's uploaded. Most other SetoMary stories I'll probably make aside from this particular one. This doesn't really have much to wait for, though, just a lot of oneshots. I'll still upload on this one, just maybe really kinda really maybe not as much.