Wow, two chapters within a few days of each other? Can it be? Yes! Rejoice!

I was in a writing mood, plus, I had pretty much this whole chapter planned out in my head. Just to let you know, anything from here on out is going to be pretty spontaneous. You have been warned. I'm glad Rinji has gathered some admiration from all y'all.

Chibi Strawberry Neko- Yes, actually, 'Rinji' does have a meaning. It means "Special' in Japanese. So basically her full name means 'Special Platinum'. Hope that answers your question

I don't own any TMM characters, but Rinji is mine, blah blah you know the drill. OK, let's go.

Ichigo let out a long breath as she finished folding up her work uniform, pulling at her skirt in annoyance. Another work day was finally finished. Humming, the Mew threw her uniform carelessly to the side as she peered out the open door expectantly.

"Hi, Mama."

Ichigo screeched and turned sharply, startled as Rinji seemed to pop up out of nowhere behind her. "Rinji!" She scolded, "You shouldn't sneak up on me."

"Sorry, Mama." The eight-year-old lowered her head and rocked back and forth on her heels, giving Ichigo one of those 'I'm too cute to yell at' looks.

Almost in a panic stricken way, Ichigo stuck her head out the door and looked around. No one was there. 'Good.' She sighed. "Please don't call me Mama, especially not right now."

"Why?"

"Masaya is coming, and we're going on a date." She explained, "He doesn't know your…well, here. And I'd like to keep it that way."

The offended look the came to Rinji's face sent a pang of regret through Ichigo, but she did her best to dismiss it. Even though she wouldn't admit it, Ichigo was pretty selfish when it came to Masaya.

However, Rinji studied the ground, shrugging. "OK, Mama." She ignored Ichigo's first complaint, "Do you know where Daddy is?"

Ichigo turned her back to the girl. "Um, that lab of his, I think."

"Mmkay."

The sadness in Rinji's voice had a strange strangle hold on Ichigo's heart. 'Snap out of it.' She chided herself, 'Your faithful to Masaya, right?'

'Right?'

I sat under the florescent lights of my lab, staring at the pretty much unusable shell of the time machine I had started. I defiantly couldn't consider sending a defenseless girl through it.

My attention was caught as I heard the door creak open. I didn't look up, since I knew only one person seemed to come down here. "Come down, Keiichiro."

"Mr. Keiichiro isn't here." The high-pitched voice surprised me for a second, "He said he had to go to the store for food."

This time I actually turned to see Rinji standing unsurely at the top of the stairs, peering down. "Oh, hello, Rin-chan."

"Hello." She tilted her head to the side so one of her pointed brown cat ears brushed against her shoulder. "Can…I come down?"

I looked around the random inventions I had sprawled out. "Um…" I looked up, "I guess. But you need to be careful. And you can't come down unless I'm here."

"I know." She carefully skipped down the steps and weaved in between wires and other obstacles to reach me. "I learned that in my place."

I couldn't help but smile a little, but my smile faded as I looked at the girl. "Something wrong, Rin-rin?"

"Yeah…I guess…kind of…" She sat down on the floor at my feet, looking up. "Mama said she was going on a date with Mr. Masaya."

I smiled gently, patting the girl on the head. "Sorry to tell you, Rinji, but your Mama does that a lot in our time."

"Yeah, that's what Mr. Keiichiro said." She studied the tile floor, "It makes me sad though."

"Why is that?" It seemed like a silly question after I said it. As far as she was concerned, Rinji knew Ichigo as her mother. Seeing her go out with another guy probably confused the girl.

"Mama-" She cut herself off, pausing. "Things are different in my time."

I couldn't help but notice the way she said that. The way 'different' came out almost sent a chill up my spine. 'Did something happen in her time?'

"And Mama said I shouldn't call her Mama in front of Mr. Masaya or anyone."

I could tell that pried on the child's mind. "Well, Rin," I tried to think of a good way to explain, "Your Mama in this time is pretty much obsessed with Mr. Masaya. She wouldn't be to thrilled if he thought she had a daughter with me."

Rinji folded her arms across her chest, her brow furrowing in thought. "Oh…" She looked up at me, "But don't you like Mama?"

My mind flashed back to the countless spats me and the strawberry had gotten into. "At times, it's debatable."

The cat girl popped up from the floor to her feet. "But sometimes people fight because they think they like someone else, and don't want to admit they like the person they fight with!" She frowned, "That's what Mama said in my place…"

It took a few seconds for my mind to sort out the meaning of her jumbled eight-year-old explanation. When I finally was able to understand, roughly, what she was trying to say, I frowned. "Rinji…maybe things are different here." That was all I could say. In truth, I didn't really understand Ichigo, or how I felt about her. But part of me refused to admit that this little girl knew more about these matters then I did.

Her mouth screwed to the side a little. "I…guess." She straightened, "I wish Mama liked me more here."

I looked at my daughter's face. This really seemed to bother her. "…was she still upstairs when you came down?"

Her head bobbed. I stood up. "I'll be right back, Rinji. You can stay here, if you want. Just don't touch anything." I pat her head and quickly walked up the steps.

I almost felt relieved when I saw Ichigo still standing in the doorway, waiting for her beloved Masaya. I didn't see why she liked him so much. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way.

"Ichigo!"

She looked at me in obvious annoyance, as if my presence had spoiled her entire evening. "Shirogane? I'm done working for the day! What do you want?"

"I want to talk about Rinji."

It was easy to see her tense up. "What about her?"

I found myself talking through my teeth. "You can't keep rejecting her, you know."

She cast one more glance outside. "What do you mean?"

"Listen, as far as she's concerned, we're her parents." Ichigo looked outside fretfully. I gave her time to turn back to me before I continued, "And as long as we are somewhat her parents that means she our responsibility. Our."

Ichigo frowned at me. "Shirogane, I don't need this right now." She hissed, "I'm just getting to know Masaya, and I don't need someone parading around as our daughter!"

I couldn't help but scowl. Already, I had become rather defensive of Rinji. "Just think about how you would feel if your mother wanted nothing to do with you. Maybe that will help you imagine what she feels like." I paused, "She really loves you, Ichigo, and she isn't going away any time soon." With an odd sort of triumph, I turned and left, just as Masaya came into view.

"Rinji?"

"I'm still down here, Daddy!"

I re-entered my lab to see Rinji sitting on one of the swivel chairs. "I didn't touch anything." She reported cheerfully.

"Good girl." I scratched her cat ear as if she had been a real cat, almost as if it had been habit.

"Is Mama gone?"

"Probably." I nodded. There was a short pause. "Don't take it personally, Rin-rin."

The girl thought for a second. "Um…OK. I won't." She hopped off the chair and smiled. "Can I go back upstairs?"

"Sure." I took her place as I sat down once more.

She began to jump up the stairs. About half way, she stopped. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me stay."

I smiled a little. "My pleasure, Rin-Rin."

Yay. End with a sweet little Father-Daughter fluff
Rin-Rin is a nickname given by Ryou Shirogane from Kokoro. I had to use it because its so cute.
I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as my miniscule brain can handle more writing