Author's Notes: Another celebration, another chapter revisited. Happy New Year, everybody.
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Satoshi groaned slightly, as Taiga messed with his shirt. Junji had already put on his shoes. Taiga pulled back, admiring her handiwork with a smile. She was a natural. Her boys were ready to go, now where was-"Mommy, look!" Minori approached, smiling brightly, a red bow in her hair. "Do I look pretty, mommy?"
Taiga smiled. "You look beautiful, Minori."
"Can we get lots of food from the stalls?"
"Yep."
"YAY!"
Taiga's eyes turned to the source of chuckling, seeing Ryuuji entering the room, already fully ready to go. He approached Inko-chan's cage, letting him know they'd be gone a while.
"B-bring back. Bring back, food!"
The children raced past Taiga, eager to get out and get on with the yearly new years tradition, visiting the shrine. A full list of Satoshi's wishes (with accompanying offerings) would bankrupt the family at least twice over, so they'd forced him to keep it short. Taiga watched them with a smile, recalling she hadn't really started going to these things since...she smiled, sadly, ah, memories. Back when she'd vowed to herself to let him go, to let Ryuuji be with Minori, and herself...
"Hey." Ryuuji put his arms around her. "What's wrong?"
She put her arms over his, for a moment as she realized what she almost gave away, and what she ignored for a long time before that. In retrospect, it was obvious from the first day (well, maybe she was biased there), that this was going to happen eventually. She'd curse Ryuuji's kindness, if she still wasn't benefiting from it. She watched as the children eagerly opened the door, leaving. "Nothing."
He kissed her hair softly. "Any new resolutions this year?"
She smiled.
"Nope."
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End
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Author's notes: And next time, something actually original. (and not short as hell) Should set up some kind of routine between Toradora Time-line scenes and the future Takasu family scenes...