Eh heh heh...I guess it's really dumb for me to apologize, huh? I guess if someone's read ten chapters of a story, they're not going to stop reading suddenly because of one chapter they don't like.

Anyway, I truly hope I'm doing a good job of keeping our lovely cast in character. Haru is the main one who worries me. He's the hardest for me to write, I think. After Akito. I think that's the main reason I apologized in Chapter 10. I was afraid he might seem OoC.

Anyway, thank you for your reviews and for following this story! As of Chapter 10, this story now has more reviews than any story I've written before! So I thank you all for that.


A couple weeks later, Rin and Haru returned to Kazuma's house after a day out together.

They thought something strange was going on. The house was quiet. Too quiet. Kazuma was supposed to be home...

Haru took the daring first step. He searched every room in the house while Rin waited.

"Rin!" he called from the far side of the house, "Come here, Rin!"

She came...

...and tried to go, as soon as she saw Tohru and Kagura. Since when had they teamed up?

"Ah! Y-you should be careful! Isuzu-san is very delicate!" cried Tohru, as Kagura tried to pull Rin out the back door. Rin was resisting.

"I am not delicate!" said Rin angrily, as Kagura finally managed to pull her out.

Rin and Kagura met eye-to-eye. Kagura was about to say something, but Rin cut her off curtly. "No. Don't say anything. You've already blabbed enough to the other members of the Zodiac, don't you think?"

"You said specifically not to tell Tohru. And I didn't. I didn't defy your wishes", Kagura replied.

"You. Told. Everyone."

"Ah! Isuzu-san!" Tohru cried, "Where did you get that chair?!"

When Rin had been somewhat calmed (thanks to Haru's intervention), he said, "Look at all the food Tohru cooked."

Rin's eyes were on Tohru. "You didn't need to--Haru!!"

Haru was already helping himself.

"Oh, Isuzu-san! Kisa-san had something for you!" said Tohru.

Kisa was standing off to the side shyly, holding something behind her back.

"Go on! Give it to her!" said Kagura more forcefully.

Kisa held out a bag, blushing. Rin took it from her.

"Go on! See what's inside!" said Kagura.

"Shut up!! God, you're annoying!"

"Well, can you move any slower?!"

"Shut up!!"

Furiously, Rin opened the bag...and took out a CD.

Rin looked at the CD, then at Kisa, who was still standing there, shuffling her feet nervously.

"Oh...er...thanks", said Rin, putting the CD back in the bag.

"She liked it! Good work, Kisa-san!" said Tohru.

"Oh, but, I couldn't get you what I wanted!" said Kagura, "Because you don't know what gender it is yet! But I'd personally like it to be a girl, because then we could put her in adorable dresses! But if it's a boy, that's okay, too."

"I think it will be very cute either way", said Tohru.

"But I feel kind of bad for Shihan", said Kagura, "His house is normally so quiet, and there'll be a baby coming. He doesn't have any experience with babies, does he?"

"But...but I'm sure Shishou-san won't mind too much..." said Tohru.

"Nah, he's pretty good with kids. He'll be all right", Kagura replied, "But have you even thought of any names, Isuzu?"

Rin, who was feeling overwhelmed, hadn't said anything. "...names?"

"For your kid! Even if you don't know whether it's a boy or a girl, you should still have an idea what you want to name it!"

"I...haven't really thought about it."

"Oh! But I got you some things too, Isuzu-san!" said Tohru. She held out a bag of her own. "It has baby things..."

Rin didn't even open it. "I didn't ask for this! I can afford baby things, you know! You don't have to spend your money on me! You're the charity case here, not me!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Isuzu-san!"

Rin scowled. "Never mind...you didn't have to give me a baby shower...! You're all...stupid..."

...

Rin made like she was relieved when Tohru, Kagura, and Kisa finally left, but as soon as they were gone, she looked through the bag Tohru had given her.

"...so what's inside?" Haru asked from the doorway. Rin immediately whipped around.

"What are you doing sneaking up on me?!"

"I wasn't 'sneaking'. I just came to see what you were doing." Haru was carrying a plate of food. "And to give you this. You must be hungry. It's no wonder you were rushing those three out as quickly as possible." He gave her the food, then rummaged through the bag.

"Isn't this some of the food she cooked?"

"Yeah. Does that bother you?"

"...no, I guess not. She makes good food. I guess."

"...she really went all out, didn't she?" asked Haru, amused, as he pulled out the items in the bag one by one. "I think this baby thing has excited her more than anybody."

"Well, it's not hard to excite her", Rin replied, "That girl is so emotional. She gets frantic over every little thing."

"Still, it was nice of her to do all this."

Rin didn't reply.


It's probably pretty obvious by now, but we're getting into the home stretch. It won't be many more chapters now.