The party was in full swing now, and had been for a couple of hours. Everyone had gotten food, and Tohru and Kyo had cut into the rather flamboyantly decorated cake. They had opened even more presents (Tohru protesting the entire time about how everyone was being far too generous), and now everyone had spread out again to talk more. Although everyone's focus was primarily Tohru and Kyo, it wasn't often that so many of the formerly Cursed Sohmas were together anymore, and everyone was glad for the opportunity to catch up with one another.

Kagura and Kisa were perched on chairs next to Tohru, listening with interest to everything Tohru had been telling the, about the pregnancy thus far. Tohru still felt a little strange talking to Kagura about Kyo's baby; even though Kagura and Ichiro had been together for two years and Tohru was positive that Kagura was long over Kyo, it still felt...weird. But she was happy that Kagura didn't seem to think so, and Tohru was more than happy to talk about the baby!

And Kagura was genuinely happy to listen. "So, do you have any hopes or guesses whether it's a boy or girl, Tohru?"

"Not really, no. As long as it's healthy, I'd be happy to have either a boy or a girl! Can you imagine how sweet Kyo would be with a little girl? Though the idea of him with a little boy, getting to raise him like Master Kazuma raised him...it's so hard to say what would be cuter!" And she hoped she'd get her girl someday, but she was honestly ecstatic that their first baby was going to be a son. Of the two images, the idea of Kyo and his mini-me was far more darling.

Especially if it was truly a mini-Kyo.

"Though there is one thing I kind of hope for, and I know it's a pretty silly wish. But the idea of Kyo cuddling a baby that looks like him, with the same orange hair, is just so..." Tohru let out a happy little sigh, then blushed as she noticed the look Kisa and Kagura were exchanging. "I do know it's silly, I really do. But it would be so cute!"

Neither Kagura nor Kisa wanted to rain on Tohru's parade, but both of them immediately saw a problem that hadn't occurred to Tohru. "Well, not silly, really," Kagura said cautiously. "It's more like it's..."

"Impossible, isn't it?" Kisa's voice was thoughtful as she pulled at a strand of her own pale orange hair. "Because Kyo's hair is from the Curse, not genetics, so that should mean it can't be passed down. Right?" She looked at Kagura, who shrugged.

"You know, I'm not sure. I don't think any child of any former Zodiac member has ever had the Curse-specific traits, but I don't actually know." Kagura thought for a moment, then waved and called out "Hey, Hatori?"

Hatori stepped out of the group he was talking to and joined the three women. "Yes? Is everything alright, Tohru?"

"She's fine, Hatori," Kagura said quickly. "We just had a question and I was wondering if you knew the answer." Hatori looked at her curiously, and Kagura asked, "Is it possible for Tohru's baby to have orange hair?"

Kisa nodded. "I didn't think it could, since Kyo's hair is because he was the Cat. But I don't actually know, and Kagura doesn't either."

It was a question Hatori hadn't considered before, not even when his own daughter was due. But his hair was black, so it wasn't quite as much of a question in his case. His knee-jerk reaction was to say that Kisa was right; he had known one prior member of the zodiac in his lifetime, the former tiger before her. And though he'd had three children, none of them had orange hair.

Still...

Hatori looked thoughtfully at Tohru, who was waiting for his answer with every bit as much interest as Kisa and Kagura. He knew it didn't matter, ultimately; genetics were a strange thing, and traits could manifest in all sorts of strange ways even outside of the supernatural. But.

His voice was slow as he responded, weighing out his words carefully. "You know, I'm genuinely not sure. I would have agreed with you, Kisa, based on my previous understanding of the Curse. I don't know if any former Zodiac members ever passed on their physical traits. Obviously Hibika takes strongly after Mine, so there's no help there, and Kinu has brown hair like Mayu. But," he said thoughtfully, "Kinu also has my eyes." His icy pale eyes.

The eyes of the dragon.

He could see all three of their eyes widen as they processed that information, and he could see the flicker of excitement in Tohru's. "Obviously this doesn't mean anything else," he began, "But it might be possible. You'll have to wait and see when the baby is born," he finished with a smile.

"I guess we will! Thanks, Hatori," Tohru said with a smile.

As he walked away, Kagura and Kisa were oddly silent for a moment, then Kisa sighed. "I don't...actually know what I think about that. The possibility of being able to pass on remnants of the Curse, even if the Curse itself is broken and gone. Wouldn't it be better if everything connected to the Curse ended with us, too?"

Tohru was caught up short, both by Kisa's words and her obvious sadness at the idea. Tohru hadn't even considered the Curse and its role in Kyo's appearance, which, now that she did, seemed impossibly short-sighted. What would Kyo feel if he saw his orange hair on his child? Would it be a constant, painful reminder of his past? She had been so charmed with the idea of having a little mini-Kyo running around that she hadn't thought about how that very resemblance might cause him pain.

Or anyone else, for that matter.

Tohru was immediately contrite "Oh Kisa, I'm so sorry. I was just being silly, I didn't mean to be so thoughtless!"

Kisa looked up, surprised, then realized Tohru was looking at her with tears in her eyes. Kisa might have meant what she'd said, but she'd never intended to hurt Tohru or make her feel guilty. Especially not at her own party!

"No, I'm sorry, Tohru! You shouldn't apologize to me, I was just being a buzzkill. No matter what, I know the baby will be adorable." Kisa was almost convincing; almost. But she could tell that the mood had been broken, and she felt awful. "But now, um...excuse me, I have to go." Kisa was tearing up herself as she rose, and she hurried away before Tohru could say anything else.

Now Tohru felt even worse, but there was no way she could chase after Kisa right now. "Kagura, could you-"

Kagura was already getting up. "Don't worry about it, Tohru, I'll go talk to her."

Tohru sighed, wishing she could take back her stupid, thoughtless words. Why hadn't it actually occurred to her just where Kyo's hair and eyes had come from? She'd always loved how he looked; loved the way his orange hair set off his perpetually tan skin, loved the way his amber eyes sparkled whenever he smiled. But those features were also link to his horrifying past, a real-world scarlet letter than had marked him out for scorn and mistreatment from his very own family from birth.

Tohru knew that Kisa had struggled with her own hair and eyes, which could maybe explain why she felt so very strongly about the chances of them being passed on. And so had Kyo, and Hatsuharu, and even Yuki and Ayame. The Curse was broken, but their hair and eyes would be a perpetual reminder of what they had once been. They couldn't do a lot about what they saw in the mirror, but how would it feel to be reflected back in another person?

"Hey, are you feeling ok, Tohru? Do you need to take a break for a little while? It's ok if you need to rest, no one will mind."

Suddenly Kyo was beside her, his hand resting on her knee. How had he noticed so quickly that she was upset? She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but she could feel the tears coming on in spite of herself.

"I'm such an idiot sometimes, Kyo!"

Now he was frowning. He'd happened to be looking over at her when he saw Kagura get up and run off, though he'd missed the original departure of Kisa. And he'd seen the look on Tohru's face, and the way she'd slumped down in her chair. He'd hoped exhaustion was just catching up to her, but clearly that was a fool's hope.

But whatever the problem was, he'd help her through it.

"Hey, none of that. You're not an idiot, not ever, but why'd you even think you were? Kagura wasn't messing with you or anything, was she?"

"No, nothing like that, not at all. She was being very sweet. It was just me, being dumb and hurting Kisa's feelings," Tohru said in a small voice.

Now Kyo was even more lost, but he was determined to understand. "I'm sure you didn't mean to, whatever you did. And I know Kisa knows that, too."

"Just because I didn't mean to doesn't mean I didn't do it, though, Kyo."

He couldn't argue with that possibility.

"And I guess I didn't think about how...it could hurt you, too."

"Ok, Tohru, now you really have to tell me what you said."

Tohru sighed and fidgeted a little bit, debating how best to phrase it. Then all at once, she burst out, "Kyo, how would you feel if the baby had orange hair?"

It was such an unexpected question after all the buildup that Kyo was honestly bewildered. How had that made them all so upset?

"Huh? Well...it's not really possible, so I guess I don't know why it matters." Neither of his parents had had orange hair; no one else in his gene pool, as far as he knew, had orange hair. There was not a single reason he had it, not one biological connection to orange hair. Nothing except for the Cat spirit.

But Tohru was shaking her head. "See, that's what Kisa and Kagura both thought too, but we asked Hatori, and he pointed out that Kinu has the same eyes he does. And so that makes him wonder if maybe...maybe it is possible, now."

Kyo slowly sat back on his heels, processing what Tohru was telling him. Not once in his life had he considered that he might pass on his hair or eye color; first, because they were products of the Curse; second, because he hadn't expected he'd ever have the chance to actually have kids. Even after Tohru had come along and the Curse had broken, he had still figured that his hair and eye color would die with him.

But Tohru was right; Kinu had Hatori's eyes.

What would it feel like, if one of his kids had orange hair or amber eyes? Or all of his kids? He thought back to his own childhood, the jeers and the taunts and the comments about his unnatural hair and eye colors. Involuntarily, his hands flexed into fists. How much of his response had been due to his shame and anger about being the Cat? Would it have bothered him even nearly as much if he didn't have that baggage?

He realized Tohru was waiting for him to respond, and he let out a slow breath. "I...don't know, Tohru. I honestly don't know. I never thought it could happen, so I just...didn't think about it." He shook his head in amazed disbelief at the very idea; he'd never been one to think much about hypotheticals, especially improbable ones. But was it really that improbable now?

And did it really matter?

He looked at Tohru and smiled. "Hey...don't worry about me, ok? Whatever color the kid's hair, whatever color the eyes, none of that matters. Because it's our kid, and it's going be loved so damn much, whatever it looks like. If it looks exactly like me, then I might be a little bit sad-" He heard Tohru's breath catch there, and he hurried to finish "-because I want so much to see both of us in our kids. Or maybe even just you, because you're so much cuter than I am." She laughed there, a teary laugh, but a laugh.

Trust Tohru to decide to panic about something so...uncontrollable. He didn't really get why the idea had set Kisa off, but if he could calm Tohru's fears about himself, then that was enough.

And her tears were starting to dry, which was a good sign. He stood up again, pressing a kiss against her cheek. "Feeling better?"

And Tohru nodded, smiling back at him. "Enough."

It was difficult to say how long the festivities might have lasted, if Tohru hadn't started to nod off right in the middle of a conversation. But that was the hint that everyone still there needed to clear out. Those with small children had left a few hours prior, but the non-parents had been enjoying themselves too much to leave any earlier than they had to.

Kyo had tried to send Tohru to bed, but she was determined to stay and say goodbye to everyone. Naturally, that meant Kyo became a little aggressive in sending people away, much to the amusement of all. It wasn't all that often that 'grumpy Kyo' came out any more; time and Tohru had done an amazing job in smoothing down the sharp edges of Kyo's temper. But he didn't mess around when it came to Tohru's comfort; even Ayame would have nothing to fault him with, if he'd still been there.

Eventually, though, everyone had left except for Yuki and Machi, who were taking the world's slowest time putting on their outerwear. Yuki had brushed off offers from Momiji and Haru to wait for them, thankfully, but it was getting increasingly hard for Kyo to hide his impatience.

He was polite about it, at least.

Mostly.

"Do you really need to fasten every button? I know it's cold, but it's not really that cold, and you're just walking over to the train station, right?" Kyo stood with his arm around Tohru's shoulders, keeping her firmly anchored against him as she swayed tiredly. He didn't know what was more frustrating right now; the fact that Tohru refused to sleep or even sit down right until they left, or the fact that they still wouldn't leave. It had been nearly five minutes since the others had gone; just how much more small talk did they need?

Tohru gave Kyo a reproachful look. She understood he was just trying to be considerate of her, but she hated that he was chasing everyone away. After all her fears about not getting to spend enough time with everyone, their surprise baby shower had been wonderful. She only wished she'd had enough energy to keep going longer!

And it was nice, getting the time to talk to Yuki and Machi. Tohru and Kyo lived in Aomori prefecture, on the northern tip of Honshu. Yuki and Machi were still in Kyoto for at least another year while Machi finished her degree, and that meant that the distance between them was formidable. And while the relationship she had with Yuki had necessarily shifted and changed over time, she still considered him one of her dearest friends and was happy to spend any extra time with him.

Yuki was completely aware that Kyo was trying to hustle them along. He also didn't care, and might even have slowed his buttoning pace even more at Kyo's protests. He did feel bad he was keeping Tohru awake, but he and Machi just couldn't think of a better or easier way to get a chance to talk to the two of them alone.

Yuki glanced at Machi, who had been nervously looking at the dojo door, then back at Tohru and Kyo. It was kind of funny, he thought; out of all the ways they'd imagined this going, having Tohru half asleep and Kyo glaring at them was not quite the beginning they'd hoped for. But that's what life was, right? Completely unexpected.

Completely.

Machi had been watching the door to make sure that none one had decided to double back for anything, or to linger and wait. But after five minutes of waiting, she was feeling confident they were all gone. Looking up at Yuki, she gave him a small nervous smile, then a nod in response to his questioning look. And then Yuki smiled too, abandoning his buttons completely and looking at Tohru and Kyo.

"I'm sorry we've been keeping you up, Tohru, but there was something important we wanted to talk to you about, without anyone else hearing."

Yuki's voice was so serious that Tohru perked up immediately. "Really? Well, it's no trouble at all, Yuki, I don't mind waiting up a little longer. But I wish you'd told me you wanted to talk earlier, I'm sure we could have managed to get away at more convenient time! I know you two still have to get back to your hotel, you didn't have to stay out so late just for me!"

Machi was smiling now, and she shook her head at Tohru. "That's sweet, Tohru, but we thought...well, Yuki thought...that it would probably be best not to mention anything when there were still other people here. That it might be too hard for you to keep quiet."

Now Tohru was protesting. "That's not fair, Yuki! You know I'd never share a secret, especially one that wasn't mine! Anything you tell me, my lips are sealed until and unless you say otherwise!"

She was so indignant that Yuki had to laugh, and he shook his head at Tohru. "No, that's not it, Tohru. Believe me, I've always known you were a good secret-keeper. Just look at how quiet you kept the Curse!" As soon as he mentioned that he regretted it; bringing up the Curse was hardly in keeping with the tone he wanted to set. "That is, it's not your ability to keep a secret, it was literally the worry you wouldn't be able to be quiet. You've always had a way of making your excitement heard," he added with a smile.

Kyo had been grouchy about Yuki and Machi's dawdling, and hearing they had a 'big important secret' hadn't initially changed his mind. But as they'd been talking, he'd suddenly been struck with an idea. And the more they talked, the more confident he'd gotten, and a slow smile spread over his face as he looked from Yuki to Machi. "Don't tell me, are you guys actually..."

Yuki could see the moment Kyo guessed, and he smiled ruefully. "Life has a funny way of making its own plans sometimes, doesn't it?"

Tohru looked from Kyo to Yuki in confusion. She was pretty sure her exhaustion was to blame, because clearly she's missed something. "I don't understand, what's making plans? Who's making plans? When?"

Kyo laughed and hugged her against him, kissing the top of her head. "You're adorable when you're tired, Tohru. And you," he said, looking at Yuki and Machi, "had better spell it out if you want her to get it tonight."

Machi and Yuki both laughed, taking each other's hands. Then Yuki took a deep breath and smiled. "Tohru...Machi is pregnant!"

Tohru was stunned, but only for a moment. Then her hands were up covering her mouth, and she was squealing in excitement. "Oh my gosh, you're pregnant? You two are having a baby? Oh my gosh that's so amazing, so wonderful, I'm so happy for you both!" She pushed away from Kyo to grab Machi in a tight hug, which Machi didn't quite know how to take at first. Machi had never been much of a hugger, and Tohru's body was currently very...awkward. But after a moment, Machi tentatively put her arms around Tohru and returned the hug, genuinely pleased with Tohru's heartfelt reaction.

"Thank you, Tohru."

Kyo looked over at Yuki and made a show of cleaning out his ears. "Yeah, probably the right call not to try to tell her earlier. I'm pretty sure Dad might have heard her clean over in his house after that screech."

"Yes, well, she's always been very genuine in her feelings."

"For sure. And hey...congratulations, Yuki." Kyo started to hold out his hand to shake Yuki's, then paused, looking at Tohru and Machi. Then he looked back at Yuki. "Would it be too weird if I hugged you?"

Yuki didn't know how it wouldn't be weird, especially after Kyo actually asked about it. But right now, he didn't mind. "Just give me a hug already, you Stupid Cat."

Kyo laughed and stepped forward, hugging Yuki soundly. "Seriously, congratulations. I've gotta tell you...feeling your baby kick...knowing you're really gonna be a dad...it's one of the absolute best feelings in the world!"

Yuki smiled as they let go of each other. "I'm looking forward to it. Though it's not quite the way we'd imagined things happening, we're both very happy. Nervous. Scared. But happy."

Kyo nodded, relating completely to that feeling. "Sounds about right. How far along is she?"

"Eight weeks. That's why we didn't want to tell anyone else just yet, but we wanted to tell Tohru in person."

"Yeah, I can understand that. And this probably made her night," Kyo said, smiling at where Tohru and Machi were still hugging. "When's the due date?

Now it was Yuki's turn to grin. "Actually, the baby is due August 9th," he said with an amused shake of his head.

Kyo let out a low whistle, then chuckled. "Man, she's gonna be so happy if that kid makes it on time."

"On time when?" Tohru's voice broke in, and two men looked to see Tohru and Machi both looking at them. Kyo grinned, and gestured to Yuki.

"I was just telling Kyo that Machi's due date is August 9th, Tohru," Yuki said with a smile. "Do you think you'd be alright having a birthday buddy?"

As if he even needed to ask.

And in spite of how eager Kyo had been to chase them away, the four of them ended up standing together, talking even later into the night. It was all so very unbelievable, but in the best possible way.

That night, when Tohru finally fell asleep, she was smiling. And in her dreams, she saw a little boy with Kyo's orange hair, happily playing with a boy with hair of silvery grey.

Author's Note: Yes, I am taking liberties with Tohru's birthday. But since Takaya herself has said she intentionally kept the character's birthdays vague, I decided to just make some myself for the purposes of my own timeline. Sorry not sorry!