A/N: This is related to the last chapter, but you'll be fine reading it out of order/on its own.

"Hey, Kyo-kun?"

"Mm?" he asks, turning his eyes from the distant Tokyo skyline to her face. It's finally warm enough to sit on the roof at night again—well, sort of, since Tohru's bundled up in a coat and a fuzzy blanket—and they're taking advantage.

She scoots closer before saying anything else, and nudges at his arm until he lifts it with a chuckle and wraps it around her like she wants. "I want to see your baby pictures."

"Why?" he asks, the first reaction that comes to him.

She tilts her head and looks a little taken aback by that, like she doesn't quite know how to answer. Kyo's not really sure what he's expecting her to say, either, honestly.

Kyo's childhood is a place he tries to avoid returning to. Tohru likes pictures, though. They're important to her, have always had a big role in her life. Kyo couldn't care less about most photos. He doesn't have many fond memories of the people in them, usually. But, Tohru's seen too much death. When you lose the people you love and all you have left is pictures, it makes sense to cling to them.

Kyo clears his throat. "W-well, there probably isn't anything from before I was, like, five, since that's about when Master got me. But he probably has some from when I was a little kid."

Tohru's face brightens, and she nods. "I'd love to see them!"

"Okay. I'm sure he won't mind if we stick around after I train at the dojo tomorrow. What made you think of that all of a sudden, though?"

"Oh, well…" She picks at a loose thread on her blanket and avoids his eyes. He stares expectantly. She gives in after a minute, though her words come out as a slightly nervous, rambling mess. "Well, the other day, you mentioned that you liked to climb trees a lot when you were little, and I was just thinking about how cute you must have been, so I wanted to see."

He narrows his eyes slightly, trying to remember when the hell this apparent exchange had taken place. It clicks, and he says simply, "Oh." That's all?

"If you're not okay with it, though, I don't have to!"

He raps his knuckles against the side of her head gently. It apparently relaxes her, because she giggles and then takes the fist from her temple and fumbles with it until their fingers are locked together. "I don't mind, dummy. You just surprised me, is all. I didn't think you'd remember what I said that night."

"Why?"

Good question.

She remembers everything about him, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. Of course she would remember a late-night comment about how he liked to climb trees as a kid.

"Cause I'm dumb sometimes," he mutters. She opens her mouth to scold him for calling himself a name, but he cuts her off. "Come pick me up at the dojo tomorrow and we'll go from there, yeah?"

The smile she gives him is so bright that he can't do anything but return it.

As soon as Kyo dismisses the elementary school class he's been practicing working with, someone claps him on the back firmly. He coughs and turns around to see a grinning Kunimitsu.

"What the hell, man?"

"Kyo, you've got a visitor! Better go get her before Kazuma starts telling embarrassing stories about you."

"God damn it," Kyo mutters, lifting his arm to wipe his sweaty face on the sleeve of his gi. He makes his way into the main house to see Tohru sitting across from Kazuma and Kagura at the table in the living room. He has to bite back a groan. Kagura being added into the mix makes this worse.

"Tohru," he calls. She looks over her shoulder and her face lights up when she sees him. He doesn't think he'll ever get used to seeing that look from someone as wonderful as Tohru Honda, and doesn't think he'll ever quite earn it, either.

"Hi, Kyo-kun!" She stands and meets him halfway as he starts to head into the room. He grabs her cheeks and kisses her, hearing Master chuckle at her surprised squeak. He's sure Kagura looks less amused, but he considers that to be a very insignificant issue When he pulls back from Tohru, her cheeks are insanely red, and he brushes his thumbs over them, smiling.

"I missed you," he says.

"O-oh, I missed you too!"

They join the others at the table, Kyo hoping Tohru doesn't see the slightly miffed look on Kagura's face—that's something she would likely feel awful about, even though she has no reason to. Luckily, Kagura ends up excusing herself immediately, anyway.

"Kagura was telling me about how you used to draw fried eggs on the ground," Tohru says, her smile fond. "You could have drawn that while we were playing with chalk last month, you know."

"I'll kill her," Kyo grumbles.

Kazuma cuts his son's growing irritation off with practiced ease. "Tohru tells me she has a special reason for visiting today?"

Tohru nods enthusiastically, closely resembling a bobblehead, and Kyo briefly worries that her head might fly off. "Oh, yeah. Did she tell you?"

Tohru reaches under the table and squeezes his hand.

"I waited for you," she tells him.

Kazuma tilts his head. "Well, don't leave me in suspense."

"Ah, i-it's nothing serious! Yet…" Kyo mumbles.

He feels Tohru's gaze on him, heavy, and he avoids meeting her eyes at all cost. Kazuma watches the pair curiously.

"I was hoping that you'd consider letting me see some of Kyo's baby pictures," she says after a minute.

"Oh? What brought this about?" Master asks, but his face is bright, and Kyo can just tell that he's getting ready to brag about "how cute" his son had been as a little boy. He stands and approaches the bookshelf in the back of the room, scanning over the spines of the various albums and books.

Tohru offers something that likely sounded like an explanation in her head, but doesn't sound that way to anyone else. "While we were in bed the other night, he told me that he loved to climb trees all the time!"

At the words "in bed," Kazuma's eyebrows shoot up, and Kyo scratches at the back of his neck awkwardly, but Tohru doesn't seem to notice. She reaches for the photo album Master is now holding, and both men can't help but smile at her eagerness as he hands it over.

"Well, I have another class to prepare for. Have fun." Once Master's gone, Kyo nudges Tohru's shoulder with his own.

"Wanna go upstairs before it gets crazy around here again?"

"Oh, yes!" He smiles at her, stands, and reaches a hand out. She allows herself to get tugged up onto her feet.

Upstairs, Kyo leads her into a room near the back of the house. She looks around curiously as he closes the door behind them.

"I don't think I've ever been in here," Tohru says. She stares at the shelf on the back wall, the only contents of the room, full of manga and martial arts trophies, arranged neatly like Kyo keeps everything. "Is this your room?"

"Uh, yeah, it was. Here, the futon might still be in the closet… I can roll it out for us to sit on." He turns around and opens the closet, but Tohru tugs at the bottom of his shirt, stopping him.

"It's okay! I'm too excited to wait. Let's just sit down."

He chuckles and nods, following her lead as she plops down onto the tatami flooring. She snuggles up to his side. "H-hey! I'm all sweaty and gross. I probably smell."

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, then shoots him a playful grin. "You always smell good, Kyo-kun."

He doesn't quite know how to respond to that, so he just reaches over into her lap, opening the album to the first page.

She looks down, immediately squealing joyfully at the picture there. Kyo is probably about seven years old, wearing his first gi, a small white belt tied around his waist. This was his first day of martial arts training. "Oh my gosh! I was right—you're adorable!"

"I am not adorable."

Tohru ignores him and turns the page. "Aw…" She tilts the book towards him so he can see better. "It's labeled as your 'first day of first grade.'"

"Ah, yeah. I didn't get enrolled in a kindergarten, so that was my first real day of school. Master seemed really proud, but I still don't really get why."

"Because Master loves you so much, Kyo-kun," she says matter-of-factly, like that explains everything, and… he supposes it kind of does.

"So," he says, watching her thumb through the pages slowly as she takes in each image, her smile increasing in intensity as she goes. "Do I get to see your baby pictures after this?"

"Mm… I don't have them. Except for the one you've already seen."

"What happened to them?"

"Oh, they're probably at Grandpa's house somewhere, unless they got lost when my aunt and her family moved in." As awful as those people are, Kyo really wants to believe that they wouldn't stoop so low as to steal a baby book.

"Your grandpa probably knows where they are," he assures her. She nods, and he sees that her grin softens a bit, but she plasters it back on in an instant.

"Oh, you're in middle school now!"

"Ugh, look at how long my hair was." It's not too horrible, but definitely a bit longer than he likes to keep it now.

"It's pretty long right now, Kyo-kun," she points out, reaching up and brushing his bangs away from his eyes. "Do you want me to cut it for you?"

Tohru might seem like the kind of person you wouldn't want to trust holding scissors near your face, but she actually gives a really good haircut. "It can probably wait a little longer, at least until we're done with finals in a few weeks. We need our extra time to study."

She shrugs and smirks at him. "I think it's kind of hot, anyway."

Kyo feels his whole body stiffen. He taps his knuckles on her head. "Just look at the pictures, dummy." She giggles and complies.

"Is this from when you started going to the all-boys high school?"

"Yeah. Just, like, six months or so before I met you."

Tohru picks her head up to look at him, and they exchange a smile, and he knows they're both feeling grateful that he'd ended up not continuing at that school. Kyo kisses her forehead, then reaches out to the album again, flipping to the last page. He freezes, his fingers hovering just centimeters from the photo there.

"Kyo-kun?" Tohru asks gently. She takes his hand and moves it away, exposing the picture. She intakes a sharp breath, then clears her throat. "Is that...your mom?" He can tell that she's trying to make her voice chipper for him, but there's an edge to it.

"Y-yeah… I didn't know Master had this."

He studies the image for a minute, taking in each detail. He couldn't have been more than two at the time it was taken—before he'd really been able to understand the curse, how fucked up he truly was. He looks so happy sitting on his mom's lap, his little hands up in the air, and her arms wrapped around his middle. She doesn't look as thrilled; she's clearly avoiding looking into the camera, her eyes downcast and dull. His dad is nowhere to be seen, but that's not surprising. Kyo had always made their marriage complicated, huh? Right from the beginning.

Mom.

"She's pretty," Tohru says, touching the picture, her fingertip landing right on his mom's cheek. "You really look a lot like her." When Kyo doesn't answer, she looks up at him. He's not really sure what his expression must be, but she clearly doesn't like it—she closes the book and sets it down on the floor, then leans up and pulls his head down onto her shoulder.

"It's not your fault," she tells him, always somehow able to practically read his mind. "None of it. Not at all, Kyo-kun."

He knows that. Sort of. Sometimes it's still hard to believe.

He forces himself to respond. He doesn't want to worry her, and he knows that the longer he's quiet, the more he'll start to do just that. "Thanks," he murmurs, stiffly wrapping his arms around her. "I'm okay."

"No, I know you're not okay right now. But that's okay."

The way she can see right through him is unsettling at times, but also always fills him with an indescribable sense of love and belonging. He's not that little boy sitting in his mom's lap, causing misery to everyone, anymore. He has to learn to remember that.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you too."

He pulls back and kisses her forehead, feeling his spirit start to come back to his body. He hadn't really noticed that he'd started to dissociate in the first place, but snapping out of it brings a wave of relief over him all the same.

"So. Was this all you dreamed it would be?" he asks, tickling her ribs. She laughs lightly.

"Yes, and more. You were so precious! I can't wait to have a little boy that looks just like you."

Kyo smiles at her. "Oh yeah? What if he looks like you? Or we only have a girl?"

"I...haven't really put that much thought into it," she says slowly, her face reddening. He laughs. He knows damn well she's thought about every possible outcome for their life together, and that he has, too.

"You know what I think we should do this weekend?"

"What's that?"

"Visit your grandpa and get those photo albums. If you're okay with that."

Her eyes widen. "Oh...o-oh, yes, sure!"

He kisses her nose. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Everything," he says simply, as if that explains the overwhelming emotion he feels brewing in his chest. And he knows that, to Tohru, it does. In response, she just smiles softly and leans in, pressing her lips to his.

A/N: I had fun writing this one! I hope you enjoyed it. I don't know if anyone caught this, but I had Tohru refer to Kagura by just her name, not using "-san." i have a minor headcanon that, when Tohru starts to adjust her manner of speech, she veers away from using an honorific for Kagura, after the fights Kagura's tried to pick (sorry, Kagura stans, I still love you).

Furuba socials: riceballcatfb on Instagram, tumblr, and Twitter