Author's Note: Hi, again! I'm sure you all weren't expecting an update this quick, but I had nothing to do in International Studies so I began typing, and this chapter just flowed very well and didn't give me any trouble at all. Thanks for all reviews! The feedback has been awesome!

DarkAceGambit: Thank you, and is ur AIM sreen name still the same, or did u change it with ur email?

Paranoid Stalker Loves Slash: I have thought about the plot twist you mentioned, and with Tsukasa being so cute and all, but I haven't completely decided on what to do. I haven't read any Fruits Basket fan fictions actually, but the ones with the Machundari(sp. lol) in high school sound neat. I'll look into it. Thanks for the review! I love long ones. lol

Tsuki Mizuno: Thanks! Yes, Tsukasa is cute.

Lexi-Teniro: It's fine that it took you a little while to review, as long as you do. I've read some stories where I was going Aww every few seconds. lol. I didn't know I could write fluff this well... lol. Usually my stuff is darker, but I'm pleased that I can write this. Thank for the long review!

Mif-chan: Don't worry, I won't keep it to myself. lol. I'll try to update quickly. It's been flowing very smoothly and hasn't given me any problems yet, but it is only the third chapter.

Capricorn Choas: Thank! I will update, don't worry, as long as you review! Thanks again!

Six again, thanks! I did a couple more for the first chapter after I had the second chapter posted, but I didn't reply to those since I don't know if they read the second chapter.

Chapter Three: Daddy and nightmare

Tomonori sank down onto the couch, mind reeling. He did love Tsukasa, he almost always had, and he knew that the child was going to have many different feeling now that he was four... but Daddy? He never would've said that the child would've called him that.

Tsukasa had been more snuggly than normal, it was to be expected, and he assumed he would be given some nickname like uncle, or something, but not Daddy. That was such and important role in a child's life especially for someone like Tsukasa who had had such a horrible past. He needed someone who could always be there for him, take care of him, comfort him, and love him.

Could he do that for the child? Could he let him call him that? Could he live up to all the standards and responsibilities that a father would have? Was he already doing that without realizing it?

He frowned and considered that possibility. He did take care of Tsukasa, as much as the teen would let him. He had been there to comfort him when something went wrong, and he did love him. So, essentially, wasn't he already acting as the child's father? Could angels even have fathers?

Yet he still wasn't sure if he could live up to the responsibilities. Yes, he was already doing everything a father should do, but it would be different if Tsukasa actually called him Daddy. Would Tsukasa let him adopt him?

Tomonori blinked at his own thoughts. Adoption? Since was he so rash about something as important as that? He had asked himself if Tsukasa would let him, not if he wanted to.

He had been very close to his own father, and knew how much he relied on him to provide for him. Was he willing to take that responsibility and be the person the child would depend on to care for him? Now, when he was four, and later when he was back to his regular self?

Maybe he'll forget, he thought, but immediately rejected it. Tsukasa wouldn't forget, most likely though it did surprise him that the child had been so bold. Tsukasa was normally very shy and quiet, but ever since he had been turned into a four year old, he had been very loud and open. Sure, it was partially just the age, and the sugar in the ice cream, but he didn't think the child had called him Daddy simply because he had been exhausted.

He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He was more then willing to care for the child, but he had never expected. What is Tsukasa asked him to his face if it was okay to call him Daddy? Could he tell the child no?

No, you can't, his mind answered for him. You knew when he first said it that you were going to let him call you that because you thought it was sweet, and it made you feel good.

He once again blinked at his own thoughts, and shook his head. It was still the first day of four year old Tsukasa, and he was already being called Daddy! Maybe their relationship was just stronger than he had thought. They were very close, but he never would've expected that they were this close.

He looked down at this stack of papers needed to be graded, and sighed. He rubbed his eyes furiously, pushed all thoughts of being called Daddy out of his head, and began to grade the papers.

It took only an hour to grade them, and he was just about to get into bed, when he heard a scream from Tsukasa's room.

He jumped out of bed and ran to child's room down the hall. "Tsukasa!" He ran into his room, and went to the crying child's side, trying to calm his racing heart. "Tsukasa, what's wrong? Why did you scream?"

He was rocking back and forth, sobbing, and muttering to himself. He didn't seem to realize that Tomonori was in the room. Tomonori frowned, reached out and touched the child's head. Tsukasa jumped back from him and hit his head on the wall, hard, which made him cry harder.

"Shh," Tomonori soothed. "It's just me, calm down; I'm not going to hurt you. I heard you scream and came to see-"

He couldn't finish as Tsukasa launched himself at the man, and knocked the breath out of him, burying his face in the older man's shoulder. "Please, don't leave," he sobbed, almost indistinguishable. "Please, don't leave me. Don't hate me, I didn't want to hurt anyone. I didn't mean to, I didn't want to. Please, please, please don't leave me alone. Please, I..." sob, "don't..." sob, "want to be..." sob, "alone!"

Tomonori began to rock the child while rubbing small circles on his back. "I'm not going to leave you, and I could never hate you. I love with all my heart. It's okay, calm down." It took a good fifteen minutes before he had stopped sobbing, but tears were still slowly trickling down his cheeks.

Tsukasa pushed back from him, but not back so far that he was out of Tomonori's arms. "But I hurt those people, and I hurt Mana. Shouldn't I be punished for that?" Tomonori thought his heart would break and never be repaired at the child's logic and desperate tone.

"No, you should not be punished. Mana knows you didn't mean it, and she had forgiven you. Anyone who knows you knows that you would never intentionally hurt someone, especially me, and I could never hate you no matter how hard I tried."

Tsukasa looked hopefully up at him. "Really? What if I got mad, and said that I hated you? Would you hate me then?"

Tomonori shook his head. "No, my feelings would be hurt though, but I wouldn't hate you. There is nothing in the world you could do to make me hate you, okay? Do you believe me?" Tsukasa nodded his head, but Tomonori looked into the child's eyes to make sure he was telling the truth and really did believe.

"Good, because you are the most important person to me in the world, and I don't think I could live without you." The words were out of his mouth before he brain could even comprehend them. Why did he keep thinking things that he didn't even know he felt? How was that possible.

"You're the most important person to me to, and I don't think I could live without you either, Daddy." The child's eyes widened as he said daddy, and he suddenly looked scared. "I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"

Tomonori gently put a finger over the child's lips. "It's okay, Tsukasa. This is the second time you've called me that in about two hours. Did you not realize you said it earlier?" The child looked down at his lap.

"I did, but I feel asleep right after that so I didn't have time to think about it. You don't have to let me call you that. I understand if you don't want me," he said earnestly. Tomonori smiled softly, all doubts about the child calling him Daddy long forgotten.

"You can call me whatever you what, I don't mind, and that includes Daddy if that's what you like. It makes me feel kind of good when you call me that, like you're really my own and not some child that I found. It makes me feel like more of a father to you than before. Does that make any sense?" The child frowned in the dark and shook his head.

"So you really don't mind if I call you daddy?" Tomonori shook his head.

"Nope, I don't care. You can all me that, or you can't. It is your decision." Tsukasa curled back up to him, laying his head in the crook of his surrogate father's neck.

"Okay, Daddy."

Tomonori hugged him tightly and then tried to lay him back down five minutes later, but Tsukasa was having none of that. "I'm scared I'll have another nightmare? Can I sleep with you tonight?" Tomonori readjusted Tsukasa in his arms and carried him to his own room.

"Do you want me to make you another bed, or just sleep with me?" he asked the sleepy child.

"You," he mumbled into Tomonori's night shirt. The man shook his head at how quickly the child had became sleep after having been reassured that he would not be sleeping along. Tomonori climbed into bed with Tsukasa snuggled safely against his chest, and drifted off to sleep.