The next morning Tohru woke with a terrific headache. Wincing, she sat up in bed, and glanced around in amazement at the crowd in her bedroom.

Uo- chan and Hana- chan were on either side of her; Yuki was sleeping on the floor beside her bed and Kyou, who seemed to have sprawled himself equally on the chair and desk, was beginning to stir.

Tohru smiled gently and climbed out of bed, being careful not to wake any of the others. She had made her way downstairs and was preparing breakfast when Kyou came in.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She gave him a gentle smile that couldn't quite cover the sadness in her eyes. "Making breakfast, as you can see. Thank you for your concern, but-"

"Get out of here, I'll do it." the cat grumbled. "Go back to bed and don't get out of it until Hatori's seen to you."

"But-"

He bit off a brusque order with obvious effort. "I'll make breakfast, it'll be good for me to keep in practice. Go lie down. Hatori spent the night here, so it won't be long."

She might have protested again if she hadn't suspected he would have exploded. "All right then… arigatou, Kyou- kun. And thank you… for being so concerned about me yesterday. I'm sorry to have worried you."

"How much do you remember?"

Her eyes looked into the distance. "The wreck, of course… the rest is blurry, but you and Yuki- kun were there, and Hana- chan and Uo- chan." She brought her gaze back to him and smiled again, but he could see the strain behind it. "Arigatou gozeimasu."

"Don't worry about it." he said gruffly, cheeks turning red. "Get upstairs before they miss you and blame me."

"Hai." She nodded and made her way out of the kitchen, missing Kyou's concerned eyes following her until she was out of sight.

-

"You seem to be fine," Hatori said, putting away his things, "but take it easy for the next few days."

"Hai." Tohru affirmed, bobbing her head. "Arigatou, Hatori- san."

"It's not a problem." He stood, looking down on her. "Would it be too much if I sent Kisa over later? She was worried."

"Oh, I'd love to see Kisa- san!" Tohru enthused, giving him the first genuine smile he'd seen from her since he'd arrived.

"Just as long as you keep Momiji away." muttered Kyou.

"Momiji- kun is fine." Tohru stated, coming as close to arguing as she ever did.

"Momiji's a bit much even if you're not sick." Hatori murmured. "I'll see you later."

-

"Onee- chan!" cried Kisa, stopping just short of hugging Tohru. The older girl gathered her into her arms anyway.

"Oh, Kisa- san, it's so nice to see you!"

The tiger pulled back and looked into her friend's eyes. They were smiling- Tohru really was happy to see her, just as she always was- but there was something lurking in their depths that Kisa had never seen there before.

She didn't like it.

"Onee- chan, are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Tohru responded immediately, a bit too brightly. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Kisa- san."

"You're really fine?" she pressed, keeping an intent gaze on the other girl.

"Hai!" Tohru smiled. "Kisa- san, are you hungry?"

"Not really…"

"How is everything going at school? How is Hiro- san?"

Kisa allowed Tohru's diversion, and they slipped into their regular routine, but the tiger kept a watchful eye on the older girl's responses and didn't much like what she gathered from them. But Onee- chan will be all right. She's strong, and she has Yuki and Kyou by her side.

-

A/N: Sorry if I misspelled gozeimasu. And sorry if it's a bit choppy, I wasn't sure whether I was going to post this or not; I just wanted to get it down so it would leave me alone.