A/N: I wrote this just for you! (um, the whole, what, four people who read this?!) I glad at least you like it and don't hate me for making the characters go through all of the horrible things I make them go through and my infrequent updates. Hehehehehe. Just to note, the Sailor Moon theme song does NOT help you concentrate. It just pisses you off after listening to it too many times. Yep, I was listening to random anime music while I wrote this. You gotta find your mood music!

Disclaimer: If I owned Fruits Basket, Tohru would have died in the first episode. Evil, I know.

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~~Days that Dance By~~

A few days after the visit to the grave, everything started to set in place once again. Kyou still picked fights with Yuki, Tohru smiled naively towards everyone, Shigure still had his editor on the run, and Mari was acting cheerful. Everything was the way that it was suppose to be.

Kyou found a picture one morning, hidden deep in one of his boxes. It was a picture of him and his master when Kyou was about nine. Kyou smiled to himself.

"Someday," he said softy, "I'll be able to call you father."

"Call who father?"

Kyou turned around to see Mari standing behind him in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes. She yawned slightly before mumbling, "Ohayo."

"Ohayo."

"So who can do you want to call father?"

"The man who took me in when no one else would. he also taught me about martial arts."

"So why can't you call him father?"

"I really don't know how to explain it."

"Well," Mari sat down next to him, "you can always call my daddy your daddy if you ever wanted. I'm sure daddy won't minded very much. He already looks after you and Yuki and Tohru."

Kyou laughed before shaking his head at the girl. "I don't think that Shigure would like it very much if I suddenly started calling him my father."

Mari shrugged her shoulders before holding up a small, stuffed orange cat towards Kyou.

"Look. Daddy boughted me an orange cat to go with Kyuri so she had someone to play with. But I don't know what to name the cat. Do you?"

"I've never been great at giving things names."

"What if I call her Kagura so then Kagura can be with an orange cat all the time."

"Mari," Kyou started saying, flinching slightly, "are you seriously gonna call her Kagura?"

"Hmmm. " Mari pondered the idea for a few moments. "YEP!" Mari then got up to tell her father the good news and possibly call Kagura.

"Great. Kagura got an orange cat named after her. Now she's gonna use that as an excuse to start poking around here again."

Kyou got up and slipped his uniform on before heading down the stairs. Somehow, in the minutes that it took Kyou to put his uniform on, Mari had managed to fully awake, put on her mini uniform, have Tohru help her pull her hair back, announce the name of her orange cat toy, and sit at the table waiting for breakfast.

"Kyou-kun, Mari told of us the name she picked for her cat toy. Did you hear it already?" Shigure asked cheerfully.

"Yes. Yes I did." Kyou sat down at the table.

"I think it's a lovely name," Tohru said as she came in with breakfast. "It's been quite awhile since Kagura has come to visit."

"We should ask her to come here soon," Shigure nodded. "Mari, how would you like to see your cousin Kagura soon?"

"Oh! I would like it very much and I can show her the cat in person."

During this entire conversation, nobody but Kyou noticed that every time Kagura's name was mentioned that Yuki's face started to blush.

"The rat is starting to form this thing for Kagura?" Kyou thought to himself. "I can't believe it! Two of the people that I can't stand. together! I think I'll keep this to myself for awhile until I'm sure of it." Kyou started smirking. This little secret would keep him entertained for the rest of the day.

"Oh, Kyou-kun. Would you mind dropping Mari off today? The editor's coming today and I need to double-check all my work again."

"In other words, you've got to plan how you're gonna drive her crazy."

"Kyou-kun! How could you ever suggest a thing like that!" Shigure let comic tears flow from his face.

"Sure. I'll drop the squirt off," he said motioning towards Mari. "You gonna pick her up or do you need me to do that too?"

"I'll pick her up. You don't need to miss anymore class time."

Mari's school was just a few minutes away from the high school, so the walk wasn't that big of a deal. Kyou walked Mari in and as he was turning away, Mikki Hakuu, Mari's teacher came up to him.

"Um, excuse me? Could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Yeah?"

"First I wanted to apologize for mistaking you for Mari's father. Luckily, her father didn't mind. But if I may ask, how are you related to Mari?"

"Oh, it's no problem and I'm her cousin."

"Also, is Shig- I mean Sohma-san coming to pick her up today."

"Yeah. Why? Is Mari getting into trouble again?"

"Well. " Mikki started before motioned to Kyou to step outside. Once they were outside, Mikki continued. "Mari's finally got fed up with everyone making fun of her and is picking on the other students too often. She's made three kids cry, given one kid a bruise, and tried to push someone off the slide. It's starting to get out of hand. I really need to talk to her father about this." Mikki frowned and noticed the bracelet on Kyou's wrist. "So you have one of those too."

"One of what?"

"Those bracelets. Does it hold any importance to your family?"

"It's more important to some than others. Why?"

"Anytime someone asks Mari to try her bracelet on or ask her questions about it, she gets all angry and starts going on about how they should never ask her to share the bracelet or ask her about it. And this has to do with your family?"

Kyou felt his face growing hot and tried to think of a quick cover up. "You know how little kids are. They over-react to everything. She's just always been attached to the bracelet because I have one and it reminds her of her father's side of the family when she was with her mother." Kyou stopped talking. "I better get goin'. I don't want to be too late to class. Bye."

When Kyou got to class (he actually made it on time), he kept thinking about that teacher. She just kept on bothering him. "She wants to know too much," Kyou thought. "She won't stop until she knows everything."

"Carrothead! What's wrong with you?"

Kyou looked over to see Uo-chan looking at him suspiciously.

"Nothing. Why do you care you damn Yankee?"

"Can't I be bit concerned for a friend? Come on you can tell ol' Arisa Uotani anything." She stuck her face up next to his.

Afraid she may try to touch him if he didn't talk, Kyou pulled his face away and looked foreword as he talked. "You remember Mari right?"

"Yea."

"Well, she's been getting in trouble again at school. Picking fights with the kids who make fun of her. I just don't want her to end up with the same horrible life that I have been living with."

Uo-chan sat on top of Kyou's desk before starting. "Come on. You're life can't be all that horrible."

"You don't even know the half of it."

"But you're there for her right? You listen to her and spend time with her right?"

"Yea. But what's that got to do with anyth--"

"You care for her like she was your own don't you?"

Kyou looked up at Uo-chan with raised eyebrows. "Why do you say that?"

Uo-chan leaned back. "You don't have to pretend to be all tough. I've seen you with that kid, whenever you're watching him for your cousin or uncle or whatever. Tohru's mother always had on the same look whenever she was Tohru. sometimes, even when Hanajima or I was with her. It's perfectly normal for you to be concerned about her. You care about her." She slid off the desk and turned towards Kyou. "Just let her know that you're there for her. She's bright for being only three. She'll be able to figure out that you care, if she already hasn't."

Kyou watched Uo-chan walk over towards Hana-chan and Tohru before slamming his face into his desk. "Damn Yankee."

~~Later that Day~~

Shigure showed up at Mari's school, only to find that Kyou was already sitting there waiting.

"Kyou-kun, I thought I said you didn't have to come here to pick her up today."

"I thought I had to be here. For her."

"But the school will complain about you missing class again."

"They understand. I explained everything to them."

Shigure raised his eyebrow at Kyou, but knew he wasn't going to get any more information from the cat.

Just then, a middle-aged pair of parents ran up towards Kyou.

"You must be Mari's father. Did you know that your girl just gave our precious Taichi a black eye? I'm so glad you're here right now so I can give you a piece of my mi--"

"Please excuse my wife. She's just over-reacting, like usual."

"Actually, I'm not Mari's father. He is." Kyou pointed towards Shigure who was standing beside him, giving a small wave.

Before any more words could be exchanged, Mikki came through the door. "Oh that's great. Sohma-san, pleasure to see you again. And you must be Taichi's parents. Lovely to see you too. Please, if you would." Mikki pointed towards the door she just came through.

Kyou cleared his throat slightly before he talked. "I can take Mari home, if you want."

Mikki looked at the boy and nodded and then Shigure nodded at Kyou. "Mari," Mikki called, "Your cousin's here to take you home."

Mari stepped out from behind the door and avoided eye contact with her father as she took Kyou's hand.

"You mean that little girl gave our Taichi that huge black eye?" his mother stuttered.

"I told you we should have singed him up for martial arts," muttered his father.

Shigure nodded again at Kyou who understood the look in his eye. _Get Mari to talk. It'll help figure this all out if she does._ Mikki motioned for the parents to join her in the room as Kyou and Mari walked off.

Outside of her school, Kyou started talking to Mari. "Hey, would you mind if we stopped by my school? I left my stuff there. It'll only take a moment."

"'K." Mari didn't want to talk; she just hung her head and kept her hand grasped around Kyou's.

When they got to his classroom, Mari let go of Kyou's hand as he picked up his stuff and some of the notes he missed off the teacher desk in front of the room. She wandered around the huge desks and tried to climb up one. After a few unsuccessful tried, she finally made it up one.

"This is sooooooooo high up."

"I think you need a few more years before you fit into one of those desks."

"Kyou, do you get into trouble at school?"

"No, not often. Just every now and then I'll get in a fight. But usually I try to stay clear of most of them. Why?"

"I guess cuz I get into fights a lot at school."

"How come?"

"Cuz they make fun of me since I'm different. They don't like the ways I look, what mommy did, and my bracelet since I don't shareded it with them."

"And you beat them up because of this?"

"Yea. I gave a kid a black eye today. He was trying to pull off my bracelet."

"But did you really have to give him a black eye?"

"No. I guess I just got really mad at him. I said I was sorrwee after he started crying."

"Mari. You know you shouldn't be picking on people. Shigure's taught you better than that."

"I know. And now daddy is going to be so mad at me! What if he doesn't want me anymore? What if he goes away just like mommy did? Where can I go then?"

Kyou looked at the sobbing girl sitting in front of him. He placed all of his stuff down and picked up the girl and let her sobbing slowly turn into hiccups and then eventually disappear.

"Shigure will never get rid of you. I know that. He loves you too much. And if for some reason you can't go to him, you can always come to me."

Mari rubbed her eyes, much like she did in the morning, before whispering, "Arigato."

Kyou was still holding Mari when Yuki walked into the classroom.

"Kyou. ?"

"Shhh. She fell asleep."

"But didn't Shigure say that he was going to pick her up today?"

"Yeah, but he had to stay and talk to her teacher."

"I see. You heading home?"

"Yeah. I think I better. You?"

"Hai. The student committee work just finished."

Kyou shifted Mari to one arm and attempted to pick up his bag.

"Here. I'll get that for you." Yuki walked over and picked up Kyou's bag, much to his surprise.

"Hey. I don't want you to get the idea that I need help or anything."

"Don't worry. I think I can let this one time slip."

So then, the two natural enemies smiled to one another and walked home side by side.

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A/N: So here you go. Can't you just imagine Kyou and Yuki walking home together? How kawaii! Kyou carrying Mari in his arms and Yuki carrying his bag along with Kyou's?! I think I'm gonna go draw that right now. Yes. That is what I'm gonna do. Or at least attempt it. Hehehehehe. So I hoped you liked this little (longer than usual) chapter. I felt guilty about not updating for such a long time so I sat my little butt, took only the really important calls, and wrote for who knows how many hours until I was satisfied with this section. I will update soon since I'm going on vacation for a week in about a week (ha). I am dying to figure out how Shigure reacts to Mari picking fights at school! And I know I need to throw Kagura in here and bring the other characters in here more. So much to think about! Until later, ~D-Yai~