Tohru's memorial day, or death day as Minami liked to call it, came and went. Hatori and Momiji were there with her the entire time and though most of the time the air was filled with Arisa and Saki teasing her and by extension Hatori. They seemed to notice that she was doing better.

"Thank you, Uo, Hana." Minami said and the two girls froze. Uo was the first to cry and hug her, well more like make her fall to the ground and Hana was the second. Minami decided that she was going to be a better friend to them, that they would never forget Tohru, but would try to be better for her. They wore their school uniforms at the cemetery and Minami placed a bag that had Tohru's school uniform and identical bows inside. She had been buried in the way that Minami found her, in her pajamas. It was as those Tohru was moving up with them, they had already visited Tohru the day before the new semester began. Minami introduced Tohru to Momiji and Hatori and the trio shared stories about Tohru and the rest of Minami's deceased family. Some tears were shed, but overall it wasn't as sad as it could've been.

Though it seemed like her body didn't agree with her. She was filling mentally, physically and psychologically drained from the back and forth from the cemetery and Shigure thought it would be a good idea to head out to the Sohma Vila. Kyo and Yuki were acting even weirder than they were in the canon and were quiet around the house and didn't even argue since Kyoko's wedding. They were stoic and stiff, which wasn't a good sign. Minami could only guess Yuki saw the hat and Kyo was feeling guilt. She knew exactly why he was feeling guilty, but it's not as though she could just go out and tell him, 'Hey, I know what happened. It's okay.' But since both Yuki and Kyo 'knew' Tohru and Mina when Yuki found Tohru… both boys weren't in a good space.

Hatori was kind enough to drive them to the villa and was relaxing out there with them. Momiji wanted to come, but he had a recital to go to, since he was performing in it by playing the violin. Minami had yet to hear him play though. She thought back to when Shigure invited them out. The house was silent.

"I've come back.." Shigure said poking his head into the room.

"Welcome back." Minami said. She'd never been so happy to see him.

Shigure cleared his throat and took a seat beside her. "Do you want to go on vacation tomorrow together?"

"What for?" Minami asked.

"Because starting tomorrow, It'll be five days of continuous holiday! It's such a rare occasion, so why not go on vacation together?" Shigure asked and placed a hand around her waist.

"... Why are you suggesting such weird ideas all of a sudden?" Kyo asked, narrowing his eyes. "Are you drunk?"

"Whether I think a lot or a little, I never get drunk." Shigure said laughing. He must be drunk, which was a thought that went through the three of them.

"So, are we going or not? Why don't we go to the Sohma summer house or something like that?!" Shigure asked happily. "How about it, Mi-chan?!"

"Er.. sure... " Minami said.

"Really?" Shigure asked happily and leaned on her. She rolled her eyes. He looked over at Kyo and Yuki. "Okay, okay.. Even so, you two are coming as well, aren't you? Or are you really going to let Minami ad me go alone?" Yuki and Kyo glared at him. "Okay it's been decided! We're going to go make our way there! I can be your driver for the day!"

"Huh?" Kyo asked.

"Shigure… Do you have a license?" Shigure's smile froze for a few seconds.

"Of course I do…"

"What was that hesitation?" All of them asked. Which was how Hatori joined the group. Shigure took a seat on the couch while Kyo sat down some ways away as they walked towards the window and looked out at the beautiful lake. "It's beautiful." Minami said.

"What's so fascinating about the lake?" Hatori asked beside her.

"It's the first time I've seen a lake." Minami explained. Well in this life at least. Shigure chucked ominously.

"I wonder if Jason will swing by the vila." He said and they looked over at Kyo's confused face. "Kyo, you are too innocent! Jason is a new type of bear."

"How would anyone know these kinds of things?!" Kyo yelled annoyed, his face red.

"Jason?" Minami asked. She knew it was from a movie but couldn't tell which. "What' so important about a bear?" Hatori placed his palm on his head.

"You really don't know?" He asked and she shook her head no. "Friday the 13th's killer?"

"I don't like scary movies." Minami explained and he smiled.

"Of course." He said.

"I've never even seen a horror movie." She explained.

"Maybe one day I'll take you." Hatori said and she blinked.

"Ha-san, so smooth!" Shigure said and they blushed and Hatori walked about.

"Minami…" Yuki said and he looked down at the ground.

"What is it?" Minami asked.

"Actually… I.." He paused and clinched his arm with his hand. "... It's nothing important. Sorry."

"Okay.." Minami said and she looked over at Kyo who looked away. These two are going to give her a headache.

"Shigure.." Kyo asked. "Why did you suddenly want to come here?"

".. That was going to be my question!" Yuki said narrowing his eyes at the elder man. "What plot do you have planned?"

"You guys are really misjudging my good intension! I only honestly wanted to come on vacation with you guys.. I can't believe you guys are suspicious of me! If you guys have time to talk about other people's problems, then you might as well take Minami for a walk around the lake! Yuki, Kyo!" There was silence. "Huh? You two.. What are you looking so down for?"

"It's fine, I wasn't feeling good anyway." Minami glaring at the two of them.

"Hm… Your moods are so down.." Shigure said. "You can definitely use the presence of an optimistic person!" Shigure placed his hand on the phone. "WE SHOULD CALL AYAME OVER!"

"If you call him over, I'm going to kill you.." Yuki and Kyo said at the same time.

"There's a rare herb at the lake." Hatori said. "Since Minami isn't feeling well, you should go find it for her. I'm sure you two can get along."

Kyo and Yuki looked over at her. "Are you really not feeling well?" Yuki asked.

"Well I-" Minami said.

"Yes, yes!" Shigure said. "She's feeling horrible!" He did motioned them to leave and they glared, folded their arms and left.

"But I'm fine.." Minami said and looked at Hatori. "There's not a herb over there is there?"

"No." Hatori said and motioned to the couch where she took a seat. "But you should sleep, at least until they get back."

"If you don't smoke. I will." Minami said.

"Sounds like a plan." Hatori said, passed a pillow over and placed a blanket over her and took a seat on the other side of the couch. Minami stretched out on the couch, she was sort so she didn't take up the entire couch. She closed her eyes and listened to Shigure and Hatori's conversation until she was fell asleep.

She woke up the next day on one of the share beds they had at the vila. Once she got dressed she went downstairs and looked around. "Where's Yuki and Kyo?" She asked.

"Those two are still sleeping." Shigure said and pointed at Hatori who was asleep on the couch with a pillow behind his head and a book on his chest. "He went to sleep around the same time you did."

"Did you carry me upstairs?" Minami asked.

"No, Kyo did." Shigure explained and smiled mischievously. "You should've seen their faces when they saw the two of you on the couch."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked annoyed.

"It was too cute." Shigure said. "Both of you were sharing the couch, you wouldn't let Hatori go." She flushed red and placed a blanket around Hatori.

"Funny, not likely." Minami said and Shigure showed her a picture. Where she was taking up most the couch, though Hatori was taking up a third of it with his upper body. His head on the pillow he currently had and had her head on his lap and her arms wrapped around his waist. Minami snatch the photo from his hands.

"Wait til he wakes up and sees this." Shigure teased.

"Hatori is sleeping?" Kyo's voice said confused as he walked down the stairs.

"Kyo? Everyone sleeps, what's so strange?" Shigure asked.

"Of course I know that. What I mean is that he doesn't sleep in front of anybody." Kyo glanced over at her and glared at Hatori. "Well besides her."

"That's right, it is quite rare!" Shigure said and smiled wistfully. ".. Maybe he's too tired…. Too many things happened." Yuki walked down at the same time.

"What a cute photo." A voice said from behind her. "You're cuddling."

Everyone paused and looked at him and sound erupted from the group. Which was just Ayame making Yuki angry, Kyo yelling at him, Shigure teasing everyone and Yuki being annoyed. Minami took a seat on the ground near the couch.

"Hatori's supposed to sleeping…" Minami said and a arm passed her shoulder and lightly hit Ayame with a book on his head

"I told you for a long time not to disturb others! Ayame." Hatori scolded.

"Waah… Hatori-san!" Ayame said happily.

"You're up." Minami said and he lightly grabbed the photo from her hands. His face was red for a second but he lenaed on the side of the couch and Minami moved over so he could place his feet down.

"Good morning, Hatori-san!" Ayame said happily. "Looks like you had a lovely night with our beautiful Mi-chan!"

"Sorry we woke you up!" Shigure said and took out another picture. "I had a matching photo for you, but since you have Mi-chan's, she can have this one." Shigure said and placed it in her hands. She and Hatori glanced at each other but looked away.

"Originally I was going to keep it a bit low." Ayme said.

"Then… Why are you here? Hatori asked putting the picture away, she did the same.

"Eh?" Ayame said and Shigure tried to sneak away. "I went to the Sohma house to find you, but that 53 year old servant of yours said that Hatori-san, you, and the rest went to the cottage for a vacation. So I thought I must go and join in, so without thinking, I took a car up here - going places by cars really is inconvenient…"

"... Yuki… Kyo.. Didn't you say you had something to give Mianmi from the lakeside the other day?" Hatori asked.

"Then you better hurry! What are you doing, standing there like idiots…? If you have a gift for a girl, you must give it to her immediately! Up! Up!" Ayame said and pushed them upstairs.

"..." There was silence. It continued on like that for a while until she got fed up with it.

"If you're not going to say anything then I'm going back downstairs." She said annoyed. "You've been like this for months!" She glared at the ground. "I knew I should've gotten dressed at Hana's…. That way this wouldn't have happened…" She glared at them. "I'm sorry for making you think you should go to Kyoko's memorial. If you were going to act like this you should've just stayed home."

"Wait-" Yuki said and grabbed her arm as she was about to walk away. "I'm not angry with you. The reason why I seem upset is because… Is because… I'm.. I'm angry at myself that's all." He paused. "After we went to the cemetery, you just seemed like you needed time to yourself, I thought that if it was more relaxing around the house… You'd feel better."

"I felt the same way." Kyo said. "I'm not annoyed. It's just me I'm annoyed with."

"You finally realized your problem?" Yuki said.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Kyo yelled. "Today I'm definitely going to kill you and shred you to pieces!"

"I'm tired of listening to this attitude of yours…" Yuki said and Minami couldn't help but smile.

"It's nice to see you two back ot normal." Minami said. "All the silence in the house… was too weird." Her smile widened and she felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. "I like you two just the way you are, you don't have to push down your feelings or change yourselves, because you're trying to be considerate of me."

They blinked in surprise. "Change?" They said and pointed at each other. "The only thing that's changed is that I hate this guy more than ever." They glared at each other and took something out of their pockets.

"Here-" Yuki was about to say.

"Take mine first!" Kyo yelled and he took out a seashell. "I couldn't find that damn herb that bastard Hatori was talking about, but I knew you'd like this!"

"No, she'll like this more." Yuki said and placed some beautiful flowers he found in her hand. "Stupid cat."

"Dumb rat!" Kyo yelled. "I'll bring back a thousand seashells and she'll love all of them! She was mine first!"

"You're too incompetent for that." Yuki said. "I know where all the best flowers are. She'll love that more. You left remember? She obviously likes me better!" Kyo jumped out the window and started running while Yuki said "Goodbye." And speed walked out the door.

"Those two.." Minami said and placed the gifts on her desk. "They're going to make me go crazy…" She smile and walked down the stairs. Shigure, Ayame and Hatori were gone and she looked around and saw they were out on the veranda, she could see a sliver of Ayame's hair, she opened the door.

"I don't want… love to disappear like that. But.. I never thought about being by her side. I don't want to see her… Right now, to her…. I can only pray." Hatori said, she could hear their voices carrying from the corner.

"I don't understand." Ayame said annoyed. "I understand your personality, Hatori-san, so I'm not afraid to truthfully express my own opinion. I really don't understand. Kana is too tricky. Kana can forget the past, and find her own happiness again. I feel that you suffer too much pain and loneliness by yourself, Hatori-san. There's no reason for you alone to suffer pain and regret for your whole life!"

"... Really…?" Hatori said. "What you're saying.. It's not.. Like that."

"Hatori-san, you're too kind. This is one of your good points but it's also one of your flaws. Always pushing matters on yourself because of that kind heart!" Ayame said.

"Yeah, yeah, always pushing everything on yourself." Shigure said once Ayame told him to say something.

"I didn't mean you and Kana should get back together. I only have one wish!" Ayame stomped on the ground. I hope Hatori-san… I hope Hatori-san will be.. Two thousand times happier than Kana!"

"Two thousand times? Why's that?" Shigure asked.

"Because one thousand is not enough." Ayame said.

".. You shoud.. Use this kind of strong attitude against Yuki…" Hatori said.

"Eh? Really?" Ayame asked. "Yeah!"

"But.. No matter what.." Shigure said and paused. "This time.. You have a chance, meet a girlfriend that you'll always be with and will be happy.. That will be good. Only two people together… A girl that makes people feel happy!"

"Incredible, Shigure-san. Poetic words are so touching!" Ayame said.

"I'm a novelist." Shigure said.

"This time?" Hatori said.

"Yep, you already have a chance right now!" Shigure said.

"Playing match-maker Gure?" Ayame asked. "Yes! Those two would be good together!"

"Who-" Hatori said. "Are you talking about Minami?" She felt her heart stop.

"Yep!" Shigure said. "You already seem in love."

"It's not love." Hatori said. "It's the same as everyone else. Infatuation."

"I suppose that's true." Ayame said. "I'm sure we all fill infatuated with her because of the curse. But… when I look at you two together, I can see something beautiful about to be born…"

"Wouldn't it be nice?" Shigure asked.

"Nice…" Hatori said. "Yes.. I suppose it would…" She let them talk for a little while longer until she walked forward. Someone she was always walking into conversations she shouldn't be in.

"Mi-chan! We were just talking about you!" Ayame said happily and push her to sit with Hatori but immediately got up and looked down. "Why are they caring sea shells and flowers?" She felt eyes on her and she blushed.

"Yes.. Infatuation indeed." Shigure said he joined Ayame to greet Yuki and Kyo.

"Are you feeling better?" Hatori asked.

"Are you?" Minami asked and he paused. He passed an envelope over to her and she opened them. She saw Shiraki-sensei and Kana. They looked very happy, Kana's husband seemed very happy as well. She looked over at Hatori who was staring down at the photos with a distant look in his eyes. "Seems like you've already forgotten what I told you."

He placed elbow on the table and his hand on his head and stared at her. She blinked in confusion and he flipped the photos over. She was falling and it seemed like so was he. "I suppose it would…" He whispered and smiled at her with a peaceful look on her face that she couldn't help but return.