The look on Kazuma's face when they returned, hugging each other, was very amusing. Though she wasn't able to stay awake for long. Almost immediately Minami was bandaged up, with a very guilty looking Kyo, and sent off to bed. But she was lucky enough to see that Kazuma was right about to leave. "I can't be who you want me to be." Was the first thing Minami said to him in the morning, as she was sending him off, not too far away from Shigure's.

"I already assumed that." Kazuma said with a distant smile on his face. "You always treated him like I did, even when you were much younger."

"It's a habit I have." Minami said with a similar smile on her face. "But I think you should tell Kyo you're leaving, he might not admit it, but I'm sure he sees you as his father."

"It would be nice to imagine that." Kazuma said. "But I have already made that mistake once. I don't know if I was right or wrong… In the beginning.. I adopted Kyo, due to a guilty conscience. My Grandfather and Kyo are both possessed by the cat. Everyone in the family stayed away from him, they saw him as a monster. And I, was one of those people. Even though I have only seen my grandfather once, when I was really young. He wanted to give me some candy. But I replied back 'I… don't want it. Because it's cursed."

He looked away ashamed. "I actually said something so cruel. His response was only 'Is that so…?' He only smiled and forgave me. He was such a kind person. My grandfather eventually passed away, and I grew up. Then Kyo was born. When I first started to see Kyo's situation from a different view point, I felt pain deep down. Foolish, Cruel. Also, They were like me from back then. Exactly alike. Therefore I adopted him to make it up to him, perhaps it is because I, myself… wanted to erase my conscience through his adoption…. But… but living together, spending every day together. Unknowingly…"

"I developed feelings. Whenever I see his smile. My love for him grew. I treasure him, I worry about him, I want him to be happy more than anyone. In my heart, I feel like a father. Just like this time, I ignored his feelings and took away his beads. I forced him to accept my views. For Kyo, my feelings are a burden to him. Therefore, I don't know if I'm right or wrong. How can I tell him about this… Forcing my feelings on him. Teeling him 'That's Great;... Is entirely too selfish and I only created this opportunity. The person who really saved Kyo.. is you. Because you're by his side.. Kyo…"

He paused. "I don't think so." Minami said and he paused. "I think he really changed the most because of you. I can tell because I can see how much he's grown up as a person. Although I couldn't be there during a hard time in his life, I like to think that the person who did the most work was you. Even if you didn't adopt Kyo with the 'purest' of intentions, but I think that it's okay. You're feelings changed for him after all, and you love him. Even if Kyo didn't feel that way before, doesn't mean that he won't feel that way about you later. There's no such thing as a 'good parent' there are only parents who try to do better but still make mistakes and parents who don't try at all and stay the same."

Is was at that moment and Kyo and his father had an amazing fight which ended up feeling more heartwarming than frightening. "I hope that you find happiness with that person." Kazuma said. "I'm sure he'll be very lucky."

"I hope you find happiness too." Minami said. They looked over at Kyo who was walking back to the house. "I'll break the curse."

"Do you believe you can?" Kazuma asked and she nodded.

"I hope I can." Minami said with a desperate look in her eyes.

"If it does break, then I believe I will truly find happiness." Kazuma said.

"I'll try my best then." She said with a bittersweet smile on her face. " So 'that person' will be able to find happiness once it breaks." They give each other sad smiles.

"Take care."

"You too." Minami began to walk back up the stairs. The pain from her recent injures hadn't subsided, so she had to take a break and sit on the stairs. "I really should've taken those pain pills."

"Yes you should have." A voice said making her jump and she looked up.

"Hatori." She said in shock. "I was just-" She paused. 'It's not like I could say I was just talking about him.'

"You were just…?" He asked and she looked away embarrassed. Luckily he noticed it. "I've heard from Shigure about what happened."

"Everything?" She asked.

"Yes." He said and held out his hand, which she took immediately. "I'm sorry you got injured because of us."

"It's fine." Minami said.

"Is it?" He asked and she leaned against him, walking up the stairs.

"It is what it is…" She said and there was a moment of slice.

"It must be difficult, being our therapist." He said with a plain tone which made her laugh.

"A therapist huh?" Minami asked with a smile on her face. "People always used to say I would make a great therapist, or teacher."

"Is that what you want to do?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, not anymore." She said, life was so different here, it was hard to imagine what her future would hold. Just thinking about it made her tense up.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I overstepped."

She shook her head. "No you didn't." She paused as he opened the door to Shigure's house. "Where's Kyo and Yuki?"

"Kyo and Yuki are brooding upstairs." Shigure said, looking between with with a smirk on his face that they ignored. "My, my, don't the two of you make a good match?" Minami rolled her eyes and Hatori and Minami went upstairs. They took a seat on the ground and she watched as he put ointment on her various wounds.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do." She said and he paused looking up at her. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm just going to disappear from here, once my job is done?"

"Why would you believe that?" He asked.

"It's hard to explain." She said and leaned her back against her bed. "If I explained everything so soon, you wouldn't believe me."

"Then what if you only explained some of it." Hatori asked and she sighed.

"It feels… As if… I'm only here to live for others. To break the curse, to help other people do and feel better… Even though it's at the expense of my own safety. I can't say that I regret helping Kyo, I don't. But sometimes I wished, that someone else would step in for me? Why is it that I'm here? That I have to be the one to fix everyone-" She paused looking at his focused face. "I can't even go back to school yet because of Kisa, now I have all these injuries." She sighed again, feeling very old. "It just feels like there's no one to hear all of my problems."

"Isn't that what I'm doing?" He asked and she laughed.

"No not really." She sent him a smile. "We hardly know each other. Heck, I hardly know the three men I'm living with and it's already been a year." He went over to her neck and they put a bandage over the claw marks.

"Do you feel lonely?" He asked and she hugged her arms to her legs.

"No? Yes? I don't know." She said angrily and scratched her head in irritation.

"What about your friends?" He asked.

"It's not like they'll disappear." She said. "Everything's set in stone, only a few things will change, but everything else will remain the same." Sometimes she wondered if she should just pretend to be the Tohru that everyone needed, make herself fall in love with Kyo and follow the script. "Maybe it's because I feel like the end is so near." She only had til graduation or else Kyo would be locked away. Just thinking about it… She felt a hand on her face and she looked up and tensed.

"You're crying." Hatori said as he wiped away her tears.

"I'm sorry." She said and Hatori took a seat beside her and after a few minutes passed, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She looked down, feeling humiliated and weak but the tears wouldn't stop following. It felt like everything was happening so fast. 'When had a year passed? Why was Akito avoiding me? Would Kyo be left all alone because of me?' These thoughts kept running through her mind and she put her hands to her face to cover her tears.

"I feel so tired." She said. "It feels like everything's slipping away from me."

"It's all apart of growing up." Hatori said and she peaked over at him. "The older we get, the more people seem to leave us. But…" He caught her eye and pulled her closer and she buried her head into his chest, still crying. "Sometimes, even after time has passed, someone new is able to come into your life. You don't know if they'll stay, or if they'll go, but just enjoying those small moments with that person. That's all you need."

A/N: Wasn't planning on having Hatori in. But he's a doctor, she was injured. Made sense? Plus I need to slowly build up their relationship. This was a short chapter, but it felt like a good moment to stop. Minami's the kind of person, who let's other people's burdens get to her, and this is one of those moments. She was injured by Kisa and Kyo, that's not okay, so I wanted to show that it has a tole on her. Though it's not like she'll mention it to either of them. I always liked how Tohru and Kyo are open about talking about their burdens, so I want Minami and Hatori to do that to. They're not in a 'relationship' because that just feels too soon. Feelings build and change.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Comments, I love nice comments.