Epilogue:

Kass stood in the airport lobby, surrounded by her friends. She felt tears coming up, but forced them back down. Tohru and Momiji were already sobbing and her plane wasn't leaving for three hours. She sat down next to Haru and sighed.

She suppressed a giggle as Yuki and Kyo started fighting again. What was even funnier was what they were fighting about. Tohru had sat down on the other side of Kass and they were fighting because both wanted the seat next to her. Momiji solved their problems for them by plopping down in the chair before they saw him.

Yuki took the seat by Momiji and Kyo took the one on Haru's other side. Shigure had nowhere to sit, as their little group filled every chair in that row. Kass and Tohru started talking about whatever, with Momiji butting in every now and then. Yuki just sat and listened while Kyo remained strangely silent.

Then, inevitably, Kyo leapt up and started shouting at Haru, who stood and started shouting back. Great. His black side. Kass had no idea what they were fighting about and didn't really care. She stood up and stared for a moment.

"Shut up, damn kid!"

"You shut up!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Kass screamed at the top of her lungs, whacking them both upside the head, then sitting down to continue talking to Tohru as if nothing had happened. The other people in the airport stared....

"Flight 132, departing for America is now boarding. Flight 132 to America, now boarding," the voice over the intercoms said. Kass stood stiffly.

"That's my flight." She looked around at the faces of the people around her, and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She squinted as they rolled down her cheeks. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much!"

"You can't leave, Kass-chan!" Momiji cried, hugging her arm as Kass hugged Tohru.

"I promise I'll come back over summer vacation!" Kass said through tears.

"Promise?"

"Definitely!" Momiji smiled and let go of her arm. She turned to Haru, and it was her turn to grab someone's arm, since she couldn't hug him. She stayed latched to his arm the whole walk to the boarding dock (or whatever its called). She didn't care that she was crying her eyes out in public.

She stood at the door of the boarding hall, clutching her carry-ons and letting the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Miss," the flight attendant said politely. "Miss, we must depart now. You must board the plane."

Kass nodded, and began walking down the passage. The flight attendant followed and closed the door.

The Sohmas and Tohru watched from the lobby as Kassandra Lea Herb's plane left the runway and disappeared over the horizon.

Fast forward to summer

Kass stood on the doorstep of Shigure Sohma's, suddenly becoming nervous. She slowly reached her hand out to knock when she heard Kyo's raised voice. She grinned and slammed open the door.

"Shut up, Kyo! You're givin' me a headache already and I just got here!"

"Kass-chan!" Tohru cried, rushing into the room and hugging her friend.

"Great. The American's back," Kyo said from the doorway. A small grin was on his face despite himself.

"And look who else is here!" Kass beamed as she turned around and plucked a white cat from her leg.

"Tsuki!" Tohru smiled. "She's gotten big!"

"Yup! But she's still latching onto people's legs. I walked all the way here with her stuck to my pants!"

"Kass!" Shigure beamed, as Kass and Tohru entered the living room. He greeted her and went back to a novel he was using as 'research.' Kass smiled and looked around. Something was missing.... Ah! Yuki wasn't there. She was about to ask where he was when he suddenly entered the room. He saw Kass, stopped, and... stayed there.

"Not even a 'hello?' Man, don't I feel loved," Kass muttered sarcastically, grinning. "Hey, Shigure?! Can I call Momiji and Haru?"

"Go right ahead, Kass-san!"

"Awesome!"

Within minutes Momiji and Haru arrived and Tohru cooked up a huge meal to celebrate Kass's six week return. Kass smiled when they where all stuffed to the bursting point and whispered to herself: "No way in Hell am I ever leaving here again."

"What did you say, Kass?!" Momiji said from beside her.

"I said pass me that last piece of pie! I'm still hungry!"

End epilogue.