12

During the school day Yuki and Tohru were in much better spirits, although Kyo was not. He hardly said anything to anyone, even when provoked by Uo. After school he mumbled something to Tohru about going to the dojo and not worrying about his dinner (which he knew she would do anyway) and then hurried off. Yuki had a student council meeting so he left Tohru as well. Uo and Hana asked her if she'd like to go play cards and get a soda since she didn't have to work that night but she shook her head. She didn't want to tell them about how upset she had been and worry them. 'I think I will make a really special dinner to thank everyone for being so kind and helping me,' she thought as she set out. She was so deep in thought that she walked right by a familiar face.

"Hey" it called out, but not with a happy tone.

"Eh? Oh! Hiro!" she said brightly as she turned. "What are you doing here?"

"Just walk with me for a while."

"Oh, ok!" Hiro walked a little ahead of her for about a mile, then he stopped at an empty street corner.

"Kisa's birthday is on Sunday and I want to do something really nice for her, but I can't do it alone. Even if I could, Hatori said that she's going to stay with us for a while, I heard him talking and I think something is wrong with Aunt." This surprised Tohru. She had only known about trouble in school but something was wrong with Kisa's mom too? 'Oh no! What if the same thing happens to Kisa as Momiji!' she was about to cry again but Hiro noticed.

"I don't think it's really serious she's probably just worn out and needs a vacation." This cheered Tohru up a bit. 'Yes, surely Shigure and Hatori would be doing something if it was very serious' she thought, forgetting that having Kisa stay with another family for a while wasn't a usual thing to do.

"Anyway, she and everyone else loves you so much I thought you would be the best person to plan it for me."

"Oh Hiro this is perfect! I'd love too! She likes strawberries right? We'll have a big party and I'll make her a strawberry short cake and everyone will be invited!" Tohru was so happy. This was the perfect way to help Kisa and reassure her that she was loved.

"Yeah, all that sounds good. Just don't mess it up ok? I want her to have the best party ever."

"Right!"

"Well, I'm leaving now…thanks."

"You're welcome!" Tohru said as he walked away. "Thank you to!" She hurried back to the house- she would make this party unforgettable.

13

"Hello Shigure! I'm home!"

"Hello, Tohru! You're home earlier than I had expected."

"Shigure, would it be ok to have a birthday party for Kisa here on Sunday?"

"Of course! That's a wonderful idea!"

"Oh thank you so much Shigure! All the Shomas are invited! Oh, is that ok?" she noticed a little wince when she said 'all'

"Yes of course. I'm sure Yuki and Kyo will manage to stay out of trouble for one afternoon and Haru knows that it upsets Kisa when he turns black so I know he'll be on his best behavior."

"Oh thank you so much Shigure!"

"You're wel-" POOF! Shigure suddenly found himself being knocked over by Tohru's enthusiastic hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you! Oh! I'm sorry I turned you into a dog! I was just so happy that I couldn't help it! I'll make you something special tonight, ok?" She removed her arms from the dog's neck and bounced into the kitchen. 'You're welcome. Thank you for helping her.' He whispered after she left. Then he picked up his robs and trotted into the bathroom- he had wanted to take a bath then anyway.

Tohru took out her cookbooks and began leafing through. She found several special dishes and began to work at once.

"Hello, Miss Honda," Yuki said, entering the kitchen while she had her back turned.

"Oh hello, Yuki! How was your meeting?"

"It was fine. Something smells delicious in here!" Tohru smiled and replied,

"Yes I'm making everyone's favorites and some new things- to thank all of you for being so kind and helping me through last night and this morning." Yuki's smiled faded and was replaced with an expression of concern.

"We are always here to help you, T-T-Tohru," he stuttered on her name because it was so unfamiliar to his lips. "We all care about you so much and while I and I'm sure the others appreciate this, you don't have to."

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry." Tohru was very sad that her meal would not be well received. Yuki saw this though and realized that he had made a mistake,

"I didn't mean to upset you, Miss Honda. This meal is wonderful. I only meant that I don't want our helping you to be thought of as such an extraordinary thing- you help us so much every day," he smiled at her and she returned it. "Like last night when you helped me save the secret base."

"Oh Yuki! I wanted to ask you…"

"Yes?"

"Well, I was wondering when the strawberries would be ripe. I know it's a little early for them…"

"Probably two weeks at the earliest. Why?"

"Well, Hiro asked me to plan a birthday party for Kisa, a surprise party this Sunday and I know she loves strawberries so I wanted to make her a cake but they're you're strawberries and it's too early anyway."

"Perhaps if I made them a special kind of green house they would ripen by Sunday."

"Really!"

"I'll do my best, for you, Tohru."

"Oh Yuki thank you so much!" she nearly threw her arms around him but remembering how her excitement had made her transform Shigure she stopped. He laughed and said,

"I'll get to work on that right away." She thanked him again and he hurried out to find supplies.

Kyo came home a little while later and also fund himself in the kitchen.

"Hey" he said, walking over to one of the pots. "Something smells good." He took a lid off and put a spoon in to retrieve some of the stew inside.

"Hello, Kyo! How was the Dojo? Oh, Kyo, not that one!" But it was too late,

"Eehyuk!" he exclaimed in disgust, spitting into the sink. "What was that?"

"Stewed leeks with a new seasoning," Tohru said.

"Why did you let me eat that?" he asked, very angry.

"Oh well, I didn't mean to it's just that…"

"Don't apologize to him, Tohru he's probably just in one of his moods." Shigure said, walking into the kitchen while drying his hair with a little towel.

"What did you say?" Kyo said, holding his fists up. Shigure cowered in the corner mumbling about how he hadn't meant it and that there was no need to be angry.

"Honestly can't this house ever stay calm?" Yuki asked, coming in to get some twine and scissors. Leave him alone, you stupid cat."

"Why don't you make me, damn rat!" Suddenly, they both noticed Tohru standing away from them. She looked so shaken and nervous that they both dropped their fists.

"I'm sorry, Miss Honda. We didn't mean to upset you."

"Yeah I didn't mean to get mad about the leeks…"

"Oh now isn't that cute! The two young boys are in love with our dear little Tohru! But she can only choose one. Oh its just like one of my stories, one of you will have to steal the beautiful little housewife away from the other's grasp." He would have loved to continue teasing them but he suddenly found himself looking up at two very angry teenagers.

"What did you say?"

"Let's get him!"

"Umm… dinner is ready!" Tohru said, finally pulling herself together. They looked back at her and dropped their fists as they sat down. She had placed each person's favorite dish in front of where they usually sat and put everything else directly in the center (except for the stewed leeks, which she placed as far away from Kyo as was possible). Everyone was very content once the started eating and continuously thanked and complimented Tohru. Even Kyo said something once or twice.

The next week flew by for everyone after the eventful first couple of days they had had. Tohru was busy planning the party and writing out invitations. Each one was customized for the member of the family she was inviting.

"There" she said, smiling at the invitations. Ten for the zodiac members (since she still hadn't meet two of them yet and Kisa didn't need one), one for Hiro's family, one for Kazuma, and one blank. She didn't know what to do about Akito. She knew how frightened Yuki, Kisa, and Hiro were of him, but she didn't want to anger him by leaving him off of the guest list. She picked up Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame's invitations and walked to Shigure's study.

"Shigure, may I come in?" she said quietly so as not to interrupt his thought process.

"Of course, Tohru!" he said, picking up his pen so it would look like he had been doing something.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything that's very important, I could come back another time if you'd like…" she said, sliding the door open.

"Not at all Tohru! Please, please come on in."

"Thank you. I was wondering if you could give these to Ayame and Hatori since you're going to see them tonight; they're invitations to Kisa's party on Sunday."

"No problem!" he said, taking them and inspecting his own. "Why Tohru this charming! It even has a dog! Thank you." She smiled.

"You're welcome, Shigure! I'm so glad you like it! I hope the other's will too! Umm… there was something I wanted to ask you."

"Yes?"

"Well, I' not sure if I should invite Akito or not. I know how much he upsets some of the Shoma family and I don't want them to be uncomfortable but I don't want to exclude him, and its not that I don't want him to come… oh… what do I do?"

"Yes… this is a problem," he said, wrinkling his brow, "I think he would cause more trouble if not invited… ever since you went to visit him he had seemed a little calmer, it would be nice to keep that…"

"Ok. I'll invite him. Thank you! Oh! Could you ask Hatori to give him the invitation for me?" she said, handing it to Shigure.

"Yes, no trouble."

"Thank you for you help!" she said, and she walked out.

Later on at breakfast (she had gotten up very early), she had another little stack of invitations.

"Yuki this one is yours," she said, handing him a grayish card with a rat in the background.

"Thank you, Miss Honda," he said with the little smile that was now so often on his lips when he spoke to her.

" And Kyo, this is for you. And could you please give this one to Kazuma?"

"Yeah sure… hey why are you giving me an invitation? I live here! What a s…" Yuki's hand clapped across his cousin's mouth so that the rest of his sentence was an unintelligible mumble. Kyo was furious and ready to challenge Yuki to a fight when he saw the disappointment in Tohru's eyes.

"What I was going to say was… what a silly, but nice, idea." He said rather dejectedly. Tohru didn't care though. Her face lit up.

"Miss Honda, what were you planning to do about Kagura and Ritsu's invitations?" Yuki asked, assuming that every Shoma she knew wold be invited.

"Oh no! I hadn't thought of that. Do you think if I mail them this morning they will reach their university before Sunday?"

"Yes there will be plenty of time. If you'd like, I could drop them off in the school's mailbox. The student council members have access to it."

"Oh thank you! That would be such a help!"

"Then it's done. And Shigure, you could call them couldn't you?"

"Yes I suppose. But I'll wait to call Kagura until tonight- I'm sure she'll be very anxious to speak with Kyo!" he said, giving Kyo a teasing glance.

"Well I won't be here!"

"Then I'll wait until you're back!" They continued fighting but Tohru was so happy she didn't even listen. At school she could give Momiji and Haru their invitations and ask one of them to deliver Hiro's and his and Kisa families since they all lived in the main complex 

14

It was much later that day when Hatori finally returned home. Ayame and Shigure had both been especially talkative that evening. He parked the car and walked to his porch where he lit a cigarette. He put his hand back into his jacket pocket to replace the lighter and cigarette case to their usual locations but his hand brushed against something. He pulled it out. 'Oh yes, the invitation from Miss Honda,' he thought. He hadn't given it much noticed until now. He untied the sea-green ribbon and read the message in the black ink on the inside. 'Just as I thought,' he congratulated himself on his suspicions that one of the children would help Kisa and that it was Tohru. And then, 'Thank god,' he sighed in relief. His eyes now poured over the invitation, curious about what other special details where there. He saw a faint dragon in the background, which was dwarfed by a much larger and bolder seahorse. He laughed at this, and for a few moments, as he held the little greenish-brown card in his hard, he smiled. Then he remembered the Akito also was in store for one of these invitations. He sighed, and put out his cigarette. Then he grabbed his black leather bag and headed over for Akito's room- he needed a check up anyway.

"How are you feeling?" Hatori asked without any warmth in his voice.

"Where have you been?" Akito demanded. "I've been asking for you for hours."

"I'm sorry, Ayame and Shigure kept me out late."

"Don't let it happen again." He said, he back still turned to the doctor.

"Shigure gave me something for you from Miss Honda."

"I don't want whatever silly thing she's done."

"It's an invitation, she made it just for you, you know. I'll leave it on your table, just so you know what's going on." He said, setting the fancy card down on his bedside table. You're lungs sound ok tonight, so I'll return home now." He turned at left. Akito stayed at his window until he was sure the doctor was gone.

He slowly advanced to the table and sat down on his bed before picking it up. He lit a candle, preferring it's soft light to that of a lamp and examined the colorful bit of paper. It was decorated to look like the robe he had worn when she went to see him. 'That looks just like my favorite robe,' he thought, intrigued by her memory and how personalized it was. He untied the lacy red ribbon to see what was contained in the remarkable note. Inside, where she had put zodiac forms of the others, was a bright star. And there was a faded image of a bird in the background. He read the invitation and then blew out the candle. He sat in the dark- stunned .