I smiled at Miu as she twirled around in the dress she had seen in the window. It was pale blue with a pink flower pattern, falling to her knees with flared sleeves that went to her elbows. She admired her reflection in the mirror, sighing wistfully when she glanced at the price tag. I looked around her hand and saw it wasn't that much.

"Get it," I said.

"I shouldn't," she said. I rolled my eyes and reached over, snapping the tag off the dress. I walked to the register and handed them the tag, pointing out that Miu was still wearing the dress. The clerk nodded in understanding and I swiped my debit card. I walked back, smiling at Miu.

"Are you going to wear it out?" I asked.

"Yes!" she said. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome," I replied. "Go get your clothes so we can leave.

Miu ran back to the fitting room to gather her things.

"That was very kind of you," Akisame said. I looked up at him and smiled.

"She looked too cute," I said. "Plus, the shopping trip was my idea, as was the one for her to try it on."

"You still didn't have to," he said. I shrugged and smiled at Miu as she ran to join us. I linked my arm with Akisame's as we strolled down the street, stopping at the various vender's to look at food. Anytime Miu tried to pay, I swatted her away and handed over my debit card.

"Let Onee-san pay," I said. She eventually stopped arguing with me, though she did insist that I not carry too much, which I agreed.

"What do you do for a living?" she asked.

"I work as a receptionist for a very well-known company," I said.

"Do you like your job?" Akisame asked.

"I love it," I replied. "I love the people I work with, my boss is a really great guy and tells me I'm the best receptionist he's ever had. I always get a nice raise when the time comes and a fat bonus check around the holidays. Plus, my boss lets me tell rude people to 'fuck off' and every Friday, we close up early and do karaoke in the office. It really couldn't be better."

"Why are you on vacation for a whole month?" Miu asked.

"Well, I really never take my vacation, so I kind of accumulated it over the year. I needed to take it or I would lose it, so I just took the whole month off," I explained. "My boss wasn't happy since he doesn't really like the back-up receptionist, but I told him I didn't want to lose it so he approved it."

"What were you planning on doing?" she questioned.

"I was going to go to the beach, but other than that, just relax," I said. "We should come back with Sakaki and Apachai so we could get more."

"How much more did you plan to get?" Miu asked. I shrugged.

"The cupboards seemed kind of bare, so I was just going to fill them," I said.

"I really couldn't let you do that," Akisame said.

"Why not?" I asked. "Consider it payment for taking care of me if it bothers you."

"But it's an awful lot of money," Akisame said. I shrugged.

"I told you I get paid well," I said. "It all just sits in my bank account since I don't have many bills. I don't spend it on anything besides food and a few trinkets once in a while.

"You don't spend it on a doctor?" Akisame asked. "I noticed you had knee trouble."

"How did you notice that?" I asked. "I'm not limping."

"I'm a doctor," he replied, stroking his mustache.

"I've seen many doctors," I said. "They don't know what's wrong. It's not broken and I don't have arthritis. The only thing they can think is that I sprained it and never stay off it long enough for it to heal."

"I'll look at it when we get back," Akisame said.

"Well if you can fix it, I'll give you a kiss," I sighed. Miu giggled.

"I'll hold you to that," she said. I smiled down at her, wandering at what point being with this 'family' got to be such a natural thing.