"Taki, get up. Someone's at the door for you." Aki poked at my side. "Come on, get up."

I groaned and rolled to my knees. It was kind of like the thing a secret agent would do. I then slid up against the door, singing secret agent music. Aki laughed and joined in, saying, "The name's Sohma. Aki Sohma."

I laughed too. It felt good to laugh like this. "Gah, I was trying to sleep. Who came for us?"

He sat still for a second. "Not us. You." Oh. Now I knew what it was about. Dad.

I smiled at him. His eyes were flaming with anger, but he kept his mouth shut. "Come on, I'm not going down the stairs alone at least." He smiled superficially and got up. I knew he didn't like this. He didn't like it when I had to go and talk with older men. He worries about me, but I wish he realized I was perfectly safe with these people. They wouldn't hurt me. Then he could relax more.

I jumped down the stairs two at a time. I flashed a wave and smile to Aika, who was sitting on the bottom stair. She was lucky I didn't trip over her. I had to jump-stumble around her. She wasn't as lucky with Aki though.

POOF! Usually Aki was careful, but right then he was too stressed out. He gathered up the clothes and carried the blonde rabbit back up the stairs, so she couldn't cause any trouble. He spared me one last look before heading back into our room.

I opened the door and stepped outside. A man in a black suit holding an expensive-looking tan hat in one hand. He smiled at me when he saw me, but it was a very false smile. A smile that said he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Hello. Are you Taki Sohma?" He looked surprised when I nodded. He must have expected I was older.

"What's the issue this round about?" I said in a serious fashion, but I could hear the boredom leaking out of my voice. He fake smiled again.

"Oh, not an issue. There's someone who I'm sure would like to see you, though." Oh great. Another fake rich businessman to ruin my day. I followed him back to his car. He opened the passenger seat door.

And out stepped a man I thought I would never see in daylight again.

"F-father?!" I cried out. I was left...speechless, really. He smiled his lustful smile with its missing teeth.

"My little girl! Oh, my little girl!" The suited man's expression could only be described as disgust as my father ran over to hug me. "I thought I'd never see you again!" I kissed his neck absentmindedly. My thoughts were focused on one thing; Aki. He was going to be furious when he learns about this.

"Ah, Sachio-San. It's been long, how are you?" Minoru whispered to my father, but his eyes were focused on some distant thought. My father smiled and slapped him on the back though.

"Good, good, good Hor-!" He glanced to the man in the suit. "-um, Minoru. And how are you?"

"Fine. Well, don't let me stop you up. Continue with your buisness." We kept walking to the empty room we'd be speaking in. The suited man sat down on the couch. My dad followed him, sitting besides him. I took the swivel chair directly across from the couch. It was more buisness-like to sit facing people, instead of next to them. It was also impolite to be spinning as fast as you can while you talk.

"What do you need?" I asked the man blatantly. I was already sick of this conversation. Why he brought my father here made little difference. It always ended the same.

My father knew about the curse. That's why he was crazy.

I was born, of course, before Miki was. And the old dragon had already died, the details weren't worth getting into unless I wanted to cry. The point is we had no one to wipe memories. My father didn't take it welyou're could say.

But I didn't care. He loved me, like no one ever loved me before.

He tried to expose us. He had a bunch of people hug me. Unfortunately for him, he told them I was a girl. So of course, being told that when hugged by the opposite gender we transform, I was hugged by a bunch of guys, which did nothing.

So he was thought of as crazy. He got locked up in a place to make him "better." But you can't lie a real insane man out of the truth. That's because he really was crazy, our god said. He was crazy, but the curse gave him a reason to be locked up.

"Well, your father has shown improvement," I was about ready to punch that plastic smile off his face. "And with an, erm, trustable," He was avoiding the word "adult." "family member we may just be able to set him back into the world. Tonight." I let a smile escape. Tonight. Father would be free. No more meetings, no more struggles.

The only problem was Aki.

I didn't let that affect my expression. "Fantastic! Let's begin, shall we?" I sat back and listened to him go on and on, responding occasionally with a "of course," "much better," and "right." It was tedious, but I survived for at least twenty minutes before something went bad.

"Taki..." Aki's voice trailed off. His head poked through the door. His loose smile disintegrated.

He ran at father, with all the hate in the world.

But I blocked him with my body, my eyes shut tight and my arms spread wide. I pressed myself against his wildfire movements. "Let me at 'em! Let me go! Don't protect that monster!" He kept yelling. I was yelling too though.

"No! Don't! Stop it!" We just kept yelling and side-stepping and stumbling. The buisnessman cleared his throat and we froze where we were. He smiled uncertainly. "Uh, this is um, Aki." I mumbled, pulling away, but keeping a steady arm in front of him. He kept his eyes averted.

"Aki...This is your...brother?" He stuttered a bit. I must've shown that I realized he was confused and nervous because he apologized. "Forgive me, I was just told you were the only family he had left."

I looked at Aki with ice in my soul. "I am."

"Right, then, Aki," He spoke to my brother for the first time. "Would you like to add any comments before we finish here?"

"That man is messed up beyond help. He deserves to be dead. He...he...he...!" Aki's voice trembled. He shouted to make sure he could get it out. "He took everything my brother had!"

"Aki, sweet, tempermental Aki," Father smiled at him. "Always like a fire, aren't you? You never change, do you? It's almost irresistable. But, of course, not as irresistable as the innocent taste of my little girl..."

That pushed Aki over the edge.

Before we could react, Aki had my father by his collar, shaking him, screaming, "Take it back! Take it back!" He just kept smiling at Aki, until the vigor in Aki boiled down, leaving him sobbing with a loose grip on my father.

"Well," the buisnessman broke the silence. "I need to take your father back for more checks and tests, but maybe this time, if he can pass positively, I'll bring him back for good." He gestured for my father, who hugged me one last time before leaving.

I tackled Aki, laying on top of him, trying to comfort him. I rubbed his back and shushed him gently.

"BWAAAHHH!" Aika wailed and ran in. She jumped on top of me, and then we laid there for a second, Aika crying into my shirt and Aki wiping his eyes. "D-d-don't c-c-cry." She finally managed to stutter out while wiping her nose on her arm, big fat tears still coating her face.

POOF! We all wiped our heads up. It came from the door, which meant it was my father or the suit man, I calculated quickly. Which means...

"Haruka!" Aki and I gasped at the same time.

"Haruka-neesama!" Aika cheered. But Aki knew what this meant. So did I. And it wasn't worth cheering about.

The cat had found the rat.