Sorry ya'll! I've been a little MIA, but we've been finishing the preschool year and its been crazy! My little kids are off to kindergarten next year and I'll miss them, but I know they will do so well!:) Now I get to spend my summer chilling!:) and planning next years curriculum… and creating activities…. But at least I can stay in my pjs with my son if I want LOL. I wonder how the beach house visit will go for Kyomi… hmmmm… also, found the soundtrack for season one of Fruits Basket and it's the best music of the series so far in my personal opinion😊 also also the final season of Fruits basket is tearing my heart out! I can't wait to get there in this story! AAHH! Also also also, I swear I'm in my late twenties even if it doesn't look like it LOL

Chapter 13

Kyomi drove her car up to Shigure's house still annoyed at her friend for calling her for a ride as she was locking her door to leave. Always so scatterbrained… He'd forget his head if it wasn't attached. The big dummy. She pulled up in front and got out to let Luc have one last stretch of his legs before getting back in the car for the few hours drive. Kyomi unbuckled Luc and as soon as his feet hit the ground, he ran up to the door to the living room and nearly broke the screen with the force he used to grab it and yank it open.

"SHI!" Luc ran into the house, Kyomi grinning and giggling behind him. Luc continued his search for the older man and yanked open Shigure's bedroom door. Shigure was very poorly hidden, crouching behind his small desk chair waiting for the toddler to find him.

"Shi gu Hiding! Hi!" Luc said as he threw his arms around the man's neck from behind. Shigure stood up so that the child was riding on his back, eliciting squeals of laughter from the boy.

"You two having fun over there?" Kyomi said amusedly leaning against the door frame. Shigure walked up to her and stroked her chin with a fingertip.

"Would you like to join me?" He said suggestively with laughter in his eyes. Kyomi couldn't help herself and bent over from laughing so hard.

"Oh, I forgot how good you are at teasing. It makes me laugh so much!" Kyomi said regaining a little composure and wiping tears from her eyes. Shigure had his fake comical tears running down his face.

"Shi gu hhhad… (sad)" Luc said with a sad face, then he smiled as big as he could and said, "Shi gu, HAPPY!" He raised his little fists in the air as he said that and giggled.

"Hold on Luc, you're going to fall backwards if you don't." Shigure admonished leaning forward slightly so the toddler wouldn't fall backwards. Luc obediently replaced his arms around the older man's neck and said, "Ready, set…. GO!" kicking his feet into Shigure's sides trying to get Shigure to run.

"No go right now Luc. Play with trains, okay? Mama and Shigure need to do something right now alright?" Kyomi interrupted the two so they could pack up the car.

Shigure knelt down to let Luc off his back and as soon as his feet hit the floor, he was off to play with trains.

"He likes you a lot you know. I would guess based on how he acts with you all, you and Ayame might be his favorite guys to play with." Kyomi smiled at the boy as he ran his trains around the living room and out onto the porch.

"More than Kyo?" Shigure asked unable to hold back his curiosity.

Kyomi smiled wider and turned to look at her friend. "Actually, no! He's gotten more relaxed around him since Luc started at the dojo. Kunimitsu has a toddler class that is more or less just exercises, but they let the kids move and strengthen their bodies and have some fun pretending to be ninjas which is just as fun for us to watch as it is for them to do." Kyomi laughed, remembering the class just from the night before where the class had been playing and jumping out from hiding places and striking ninja poses.

Shigure bent to put his face right in front of hers.

"What about Kazuma?" Kyomi jumped seeing Shigure's face so close to her own.

"What about Kazuma?" Kyomi asked, her face turning slightly pink.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. I haven't seen you blush like that since we were in elementary school." Shigure said, his voice dropping quieter and quieter as he spoke. He ran a finger lightly along her cheekbone that had only gotten pinker.

Kyomi froze, unable to move as he stared into her eyes and touched her cheek. It had been along time since he had been so forward with her. "He's great with Luc, but nothing else is going on you know." She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head looking at him before her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing Shi? I feel you planning something…" She glared at him as he stepped away from her and grabbed his bags to put in her car.

"My dear, I'm not planning anything! But Kazuma should watch out or he will have more competition than he will know what to do with…" He said as he glanced over his shoulder and winked at her.

The glare didn't leave her face as she turned to get Luc back into the car. "Damn puppy…"

The car ride was pretty uneventful since her adult traveling companion napped the whole way and the younger one listened to baby shark and VeggieTales the whole way, happily playing with the train from Shigure's house he didn't want to part with.

Kyomi was left with nothing else but her thoughts and the steering wheel to occupy herself. She thought back to the most recent conversation she had with Kazuma since Shigure had been talking about him so much. She truthfully only considered him a good friend and an important part of their odd little family. Luc had taken to calling Kazuma Shisho like his uncle did, and Kyo was now Oji although neither name was ever pronounced correctly. For a little boy who was still learning English, the Japanese was taking longer for him to grasp. However, he was learning since he was smart and now had more people to practice with him. They visited with Kyo, Yuki and Tohru as much as they could, and even had seen Momiji at the estate a few times. The two blonde headed boys had taken to each other immediately and loved to play together. Kyomi smiled to herself as she remembered the pure joy and excitement on Momiji's face when she had told him what her major had been in college. She had told him she had accompanied a few of her classmates for recitals and performances and he had begged her to work on a piece with him. She had warned him she was severely out of practice and didn't have much time to practice, but that she would love to try. She did wonder if he would bring his violin to the beach house since there was a grand piano there. It had been since her senior recital in college around seven years prior that she had played a piano like that and she was beside herself with excitement. She had made sure to pack her favorite pieces and a few finger exercises to warm up with. A piano feels very different than the keyboard she had at her apartment no matter that it was a high end one. She wanted to make sure she didn't overtax her wrists or fingers.

Her mind was jerked back to the present as Luc yelled from the back seat, "CRACKERS! MAMA! CRACKERS!"

"Luc, shhhhhh. Too loud. What do you say?" Kyomi said quickly shushing him so he wouldn't wake up the giant puppy next to her. "Peas Mama, crackers." Luc responded much quieter this time and she handed him back a snack cup of little golden cheese fish she had filled before they had left.

Once Luc was happy again and Shigure was still napping, Kyomi's mind wandered back to her original thought of a few weeks previous when she and Luc had been walking back from Hatori's clinic. He had needed to ask her a few questions for a patient about the preschool where she worked.

As they had walked, she felt Luc tugging on her hand to run forward. He normally only does that when there is something in his sights, he wants to get to so she looked up to see Kazuma walking towards them. He didn't seem like he was actually seeing them yet until Luc yelled, "Shisho!" as loud as he could, earning a few reprimanding glances and unsavory comments from a few of the maids walking nearby. Kyomi ignored them and let go of Luc's hand so he could run to the dojo master now that he saw them. Kazuma patted the small boy's head whose arms were tight around his legs, then took his hand to wait for his mother. Kyomi walked up to them with a smile, but Kazuma saw the irritation behind her eyes. Kyomi took Luc's other hand and the boy immediately jumped so he could swing by the hands of the adults holding him.

"They are just set in their ways. And unfortunately, they know who you are and who you are related to. They feel that gives them even more of a right to comment. I had to deal with the same things when Kyo lived here." He said almost under his breath so no one else could overhear, his face set in a grim, sad smile as he spoke. That only made Kyomi's face go red with anger and she slammed her jaw shut so she wouldn't say anything she wouldn't want her son repeating. As glad as she was that he was speaking well, she did miss not having to watch her words so carefully.

They walked awhile in silence, swinging Luc every once in awhile when he asked nicely, Kyomi encouraging him to say please when he didn't remember. When they reached the gates, Kazuma's face told Kyomi that there was something on his mind. She looked at him questioningly, "Something happened earlier today didn't it. Park?" She asked, referencing the small park between the estate and her apartment that she and Luc frequented regularly. Small apartments just did not have enough space for small growing boys to use their energy!

Kazuma nodded and they walked there again in silence. Once inside the playground gate, Luc pulled his hands out of theirs and he ran towards the toddler sized slide. Kyomi and Kazuma stood hopefully out of earshot of the playing boy, but still close enough in case he got too daring on the playset.

"Was it about Kyo?" Kyomi asked. That was the only topic she knew of that would elicit such a reaction from him.

"His father. Wanting to remind me of my duty to the family and the family head." Kazuma said with more quiet anger in his voice than she had ever heard before.

Kyomi walked away from him so she wouldn't say something stupid loudly in front of her son and instead began to forcefully nudge a weed out of the ground with the toe of her shoe. She successfully uprooted it, or at least detached the plant from its roots before bending down to pick it up and launching it over the fence as far as she could. She rubbed the dirt from her hands, and then rubbed her neck as she walked back to Kazuma who was just watching her son play.

"Sorry." She said as she came back next to him. He nodded in understanding, thinking not for the first time that the siblings were very much alike although the older had gotten much better at dealing with her temper.

"I'm not even going to ask what exactly he said because I'd rather my son not hear certain words that I would say. But I assume he was talking about that cage." She all but hissed through her teeth. Kazuma nodded before continuing.

"He was. Their third year is approaching, but they still have over a year and a half before graduation. There's still time for things to change and like I promised, I will never see my son in that prison." Kazuma said absolute confidence that he was right. Somehow, he had faith and he knew that would not be the life his son was destined to.

"I believe you and I agree. My offer still does and will always stand as well." She commented quietly making sure no one else was within earshot. She rubbed her face with her hands this time trying to rub some of the tension out of her face and temples. "Arg…. Why do I feel like I'm in some secret spy espionage movie? I feel like I should be in all black and sitting on a bench with a newspaper and sunglasses…" Kazuma laughed under his breath at her and silently agreed. She looked at him, "How have you lived like this, this whole time? I don't know how you can live on the estate with that constant scrutiny and denigration." Kyomi stopped for a moment, her eyes widening. "I think I understand my mother a little better though. Having to live with that…" she said as she pointed back towards the estate, "every day, would drive me batty. All she wanted to do was protect Kyo, maybe she thought her death would help him more than her life would. Who knows? Maybe she was actually right…" She thought sadly as she considered the house Kyo had left after her death and then the home he entered as a result. She couldn't say that she agreed with her mother's choice, but she did understand it a little better. "I still wish she had continued to try. I wish I could have seen her again, told her everything that had happened to me after I left and been able to hear her story. I feel like there is so much more to it all that no one will ever know." Kyomi said sadly, tears pricking her eyes as she watched her own son play.

"I think she would have loved Luc. I also think she would have been proud of both of her children." Kazuma said as he walked over to help Luc slide down the larger slide.

"I hope so…" Kyomi muttered to herself before she walked over to join them and suggest dinner. Learning that Kazuma had Tohru and Kyo over she all but yelled at him to go home and pushed him out of the playground, the infernal man's shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter under her hands as they went. He waved goodbye to them as he walked back home and Luc yelled, "Bye Shisho! Bye!" As they turned towards home themselves.

Kyomi realized she was almost missing the turn to the beach house, so she had to hit the brakes a little harder than she wanted which woke up her sleeping driving companion.

"You're not as good a driver as Tori you know." He whined as he woke himself up.

"Well, have him drive you next time." She responded distractedly as she guided her car up the narrow hilly driveway.

Once the car was stopped in front of the beautiful house, Shigure got out. "I'll get all our bags so you can get Luc. I'll show you your room. You'll have to be in the boy's wing since that's where the extra room is, but I figure that should be fine." Kyomi rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't worry, I'll keep them all in line. Although, I know they can do that themselves. They live with you after all." She shot back at him with a smile quirking one side of her mouth up, and a twinkle in her eyes.

"I'm hurt! You don't think me a proper chaperon to our fair youth?" He said dropping the bag in his hand to place it dramatically over his heart.

"Nope!" She said with a laugh and whacked his hand away from his chest as she was pulled past by Luc who couldn't wait to investigate the house.

Shigure was left watching them go and he smiled to himself contentedly. He was happy that she was there and was actually beginning to regret a little that he had all but goaded Akito into making an appearance. Only time will tell if it was the right decision and if it had the outcome he was hoping for.