Tamao opened her eyes and lay still.

Nothing moved.

Slowly, she peeled off her blanket.

Nothing moved.

She got up slo-o-owly and halted just as she brought herself to a sitting position.

Still, nothing moved.

Heart beating fast, she crawled to her cupboard.

Satisfied that nothing was moving (at least, nothing out of the ordinary), she retrieved a small kit and, quietly as possible, stood up.

It was dark, but she could see some what, thanks to the very bright moon light that shone through the paper doors.

She slowly slid open the doors and left the guest suite. Luckily Anna-sama had ordered her to sleep in the guest suite on the first floor, declaring her room (and the second floor) off limits. Tamao didn't care. Actually she preferred it that way. Anna-sama was scary enough. Tamao didn't think she could take Anna-sama even at night.

She padded to the edge of the wooden corridor. It was a moonlit night, and the lake was bathed in a soft glow. Nothing was moving.

Feeling quite confident that only she was awake at that unearthly hour in the morning, Tamao slid open the doors, sat down at the stone step at the edge of the corridor and happily opened her little kit.

She lifted out a half finished wooden carving. Just a few more nights, she thought, and it would be ready for Yoh-sama's birthday.

She set to work diligently, letting the moonlight guide her careful fingers.

She had been doing this for several nights. She knew that in between Anna-sama's slavery and…well, Anna-sama's slavery, she would never get the time to complete her little present in the day. So she had decided that if she couldn't do it in the day, she could do it at night.

Also, night meant complete secrecy, and she would not have to answer any questions as to what she was-

"What're you doing?"

Tamao nearly screamed in fright and dropped her carving knife and wooden carving, but the other person was faster. In a swift movement, he had covered her mouth and saved her knife and wooden carving.

A second later, Bason appeared, and Tamao regained her senses. It was just Ren-sama. No one else. Tamao thought fleetingly of how much more difficult it was to escape from Yoh-sama's second floor room without getting disturbing anyone, before remembering that it was Tao Ren, master of stealth, in front of her.

And before remembering that it was Asakura Yoh, Japan's heaviest sleeper, rooming with him.

She took a deep breath and Ren, sensing that she was not going to scream anymore, released her.

"Gomen nasai!" was the first thing she said, bowing deep.

Ren gave her a Look. "What for?"

"Ano…" Right. Why was she apologizing? "For…disrupting your…training…" Wait a minute. Who trained in the middle of the night? Baka Tamao! She scolded herself.

"It's okay."

Tamao tried not to face fault or sweat drop. Right. It was Tao Ren, after all. He WOULD be practicing in the middle of the night.

Feeling uncomfortable and not really knowing what she was supposed to do, Tamao scrabbled around for her tools and wooden block, and sat down. Ren left her alone, and practiced with his spear. Indeed he was a master of stealth, for if it had been Yoh practicing, the whole house would have been awake by then. (Which was why Anna-sama never permitted him to do so. Not that he wanted to.)

Numbly, Tamao watched Ren practice for a while, idly scrabbling away at a piece of scrap wood. When she saw that he was deeply engrossed in his training, she shook herself to reality and tore her gaze away from him. It was just that Tao Ren was so graceful with his spear.

Get a grip, Tamao! You gotta finish this on time!

And so she carved, and Ren trained – for about five minutes.

Then Ren stopped. And tucking his spear away, he sat down next to Tamao.

Almost as if was a reflex, Tamao stopped her work.

"Why're you stopping?"

"Ah…gomen!" Tamao turned her attention back to her work, but found it extremely hard to concentrate, now that one Tao Ren was watching her.

"What's that?" Ren asked after a few minutes of watching in silence.

"Umm…it's an amulet," Tamao answered, suddenly feeling a bit stupid.

"Sou ka." Ren watched her for a while. And then he promptly got up, fetched his spear, and began practicing again.

For a while, Tamao was distracted as she carved. Occasionally she wondered random things, like did Ren-sama just begin training in the middle of the night, to whether he thought her amulet was ugly, to when he was returning to the Tao ancestral home.

Then as time passed, her focus grew sharper, and suddenly it was time to stop working. Tamao hadn't even noticed that Tao Ren had left her by herself carving on the veranda.

Tamao put away her kit, and got ready for yet another day at the household.

xxxxxx

The next night, Tamao could not help but wonder if Tao Ren would be around to train again.

She wasn't sure whether she wanted him to be around. But considering that she was more distracted if he was, she decided that not having him around was better. She couldn't afford to finish late! Yoh-sama's birthday was less than a week away.

No one was there when Tamao made her way to her usual spot facing the lake. Feeling grateful for the lack of distraction, she set to work quickly, and was quite engrossed when Tao Ren, master of stealth, surprised her again.

"Why are you making that?"

Tamao was surprised, but unconsciously she had prepared herself for the possibility of Ren being present, and she did not scream out in terror as she almost did the previous night. She just blushed at his question, and mumbled a soft, "It's for Yoh-sama."

"Ch'," the Chinese boy said lengthily.

"It's his birthday soon," Tamao reminded him.

"Oh. Really." Tao Ren shrugged, and Tamao was not surprised, because she had expected that Tao Ren couldn't care less about birthdays, much less Yoh-sama's.

She was thankful when he stopped watching her and continued with his training.

xxxxxxx

By the time the next night came around, Tamao was not surprised when the Chinese boy suddenly popped out beside her and commented, "Aren't you wasting your time?"

Tamao was aghast.

"I…I don't think it's a waste of time," she demurred. After all, anything and everything for Yoh-sama was not a waste of time.

This time, the Chinese boy was not so fast to leave her alone.

"Why not?" he asked, almost as if challenging her to prove to him that it wasn't indeed a waste of time.

"Because…" Tamao paused and struggled for the right words to express it, "because it's for Yoh-sama," was the best she could come up with. But it was the simple truth for her.

Tao Ren did not agree. "Exactly. Why do you waste time doing things for him when you know he isn't going to do the same for you?"

The question hurt.

But it wasn't an unfamiliar question. Because it was a question that Tamao herself had asked so many times.

Which was why she knew the answer. She had found it quite a long time ago.

But it was phrasing it that was the problem.

"Even if he isn't," Tamao began quietly. "I…don't care. It makes me happy to be able to do things for him. That's what matters to me, anyway."

She knew it must have sounded stupid to Ren. Maybe that was why she pushed on.

"It's just like what Yoh-sama said. Taking pays for a while, but giving pays forever. And there's no one else I want to give to but Yoh-sama."

She wanted to say more to convince the Chinese boy. But she didn't know what else to say.

Ren kept quiet. In fact, so quiet was he that Tamao didn't dare sneak a peek to see what his face looked like after her stumbling, faltering explanation. She could imagine it though – golden eyes laced with coldness and a lack of understanding, or confusion, or refusal to comprehend, or –

The cold wind grazed her cheek, and Tamao realized that Ren was gone.

xxxxxxx

Tamao was almost done now. It seemed to take her faster than expected, so she might even be able to squeeze in polishing or a birthday card. Although she wouldn't have any idea what she could write in it.

When she got to the sliding doors, she could see Tao Ren already there, practicing by the lake. It was the first time Tamao had spotted him before she began working on her little project. Usually it was he who always appeared after she had settled down. Oh well. It didn't really mean anything.

She nodded imperceptibly to acknowledge his presence, thinking that he probably would not notice. It was just out of politeness on her part.

She sat down and carved, and he trained.

Tamao couldn't help thinking, for a fleeting moment, that it was almost nice to have someone around, instead of having to sit alone on a cold night.

The thought passed, and Tamao worked fast. So intent was she on her work, that she did not stop to ponder the fact that for once, Tao Ren had not stopped to ask her any question at all.

The pink haired girl made a cute noise of satisfaction and dusted her hands on the seat of her pants. Finally, it was done! Now just some last minute changes-

"Done?"

Tamao jumped a little, she was not expecting Tao Ren to talk to her again in her moment of satisfaction. "Uhn. Kind of."

"I see." The Chinese boy paused, as if hesitating, and sat down next to her.

The air grew thick with tension, for Tamao was not used to being around Tao Ren, even if he had been hanging around the household for some time. Tamao thought of saying something to break the silence – anything! – but nothing sensible came to her mind. Just as she thought she couldn't stand the awkwardness and opened her mouth to blurt a good night, Tao Ren beat her to it. "Here."

Tamao blinked. "Huh?"

Undaunted, Tao Ren held out something to her. "Here."

Tamao took the thing he was holding out to her as if in a daze, wondering what in the world was going on.

It was a maroon scarf. Plain but nice and soft to hold.

"This is nice," Tamao commented awkwardly. Then a thought hit her – could he have..knitted it? She would have laughed at the mental picture of Tao Ren messing about with knitting needles if she wasn't so distressed as to why she was sitting next to Tao Ren, looking at a maroon scarf, of all things.

"Do you like it?" the raven-haired boy asked solemnly.

"Umm…uhn." Tamao nodded. "It's nice and soft. I like the colour too."

"Take it."

Startled, Tamao looked up from the scarf and at him in surprise, but he was not looking at her. He was gazing somewhere vaguely in the direction of the pond.

"Ano….." Tamao ventured, "..is there any particular…reason?"

Ren did not say anything for a while. Then he spoke. "Same reason as to why you're giving that thing to Yoh."

Tamao was startled.

No wait. She was beyond startled.

She was giving the amulet to Yoh because it was his birthday! But it wasn't her birthday. And other than his birthday, she was giving it to Yoh because…..

Tamao felt a blush spreading onto her cheeks, but before she had to respond, Tao Ren was gone.

An embarrassed yet happy smile broke out onto her dainty features, and she allowed herself a small giggle as she fingered the maroon scarf.

Then she frowned as she wondered what would happen in the morning when they saw each other at breakfast.

Oh well. It would work out somehow.

owari.

A/N: Okay. I'm sort of…crazy, I think. But I adore TamaoXRen and I don't see why they're not that popular…pink and black looks good! And their personalities put together make for an interestingly sweet match…oh well.