Late the next morning, Sachiko was lying on her stomach on the living room rug, swinging her heels in the air as she worked on her history homework. Kyo was lounging on the couch, reading glasses on as he perused a magazine, and Tohru was snuggled up against his side, a novel in her hands. It was quiet, and companionable; Sundays in the Sohma house always meant being together, often meant doing something together, and sometimes meant doing nothing, together.

It was nice.

They were all engrossed in what they were reading, so much so that when Sachiko's cell phone alarm went off all three of them jumped.

"Sorry!" Sachiko immediately exclaimed, reaching into her pocket and turning off her alarm before rising to her feet. "I'm gonna run into Hibe really quick, ok?"

"Why?" Tohru asked as she and Kyo both looked at their daughter in surprise.

"'Cause I wanna catch Takashi before he gets on the bus," Sachiko said, already heading across the living room. "Remember how I didn't have my wallet yesterday when I went out with everyone? I wanna give him what I owe."

"Oh, that's right," Tohru said, smiling. "It's very responsible of you to be so prompt, Sachiko, I'm sure Takashi will appreciate it."

"I hope so," she said, grinning as she slipped on her shoes. "You two behave yourselves while I'm out, ok? I'm trusting you by leaving you alone, don't make me regret it."

"We'll be good," Tohru said with a giggle, and Kyo looked over his glasses before chuckling.

"Get going, smartass, we'll be right here when you get back."

"With your hands where I can see them?" she teased, and Kyo called out,

"You know I could just lock the door, right? It's September, it's nice out, you'll be fine."

"Sounds like something a man with impure thoughts'd say, Daddy. I'm trusting you to be a gentleman."

"You gonna stand here and lecture me, or you gonna go beat that bus?"


As the door closed behind Sachiko, Kyo let out a deep sigh, then glanced at Tohru's laughing face with an amused smile of his own. "She does this 'cause you laugh at it, you know."

"I think she does it because she thinks you're funny," Tohru said, giggling. "And she's right, it is really cute," she admitted.

"You've gotten as bad as her," Kyo said, straightening up and setting his magazine on the arm of the couch. "I never should've let you around her," he teased, "you're way too impressionable."

"I am not!" Tohru protested, still giggling. "I'm her mother, Kyo!"

"Yeah, and you were as sweet, innocent, and pure as fresh-driven snow before that girl turned twelve," he said, trying and failing to keep a straight face.

Tohru's own mouth twitched. "Do I need to remind you why we have three children Kyo?"

Kyo wrapped his arms around her with a grin. "Can the reminder be a demonstration?"

Tohru laughed as he fell back on the couch and pulled her with him. "Sachiko's not going to be that long, Kyo."

"Never said it had to be right now," he teased, looking up at her. "You heard Sachi, I'm supposed be a gentleman while she's gone," he said, grinning.

"And I'm sure you will be; you always are," Tohru said, giggling before leaning down and kissing him.


As Sachiko made her way up the road into Hibe, she felt nervous but incredibly determined. She hadn't known what to say to Takashi when he initially asked her out, that much was true. But her brothers had been immensely helpful, and by the time she'd hung up with Hajime and Mutsuki she was confident in her answer.

She didn't love Takashi, admittedly, except for as a friend. But she did like him, quite a lot, and he clearly liked her, too. Love might be the easiest thing to start a relationship with, but like wasn't bad, either, and it wasn't like she was even committing to an actual relationship just yet, anyway. They were talking a date; one single them-and-no-one-else date; no strings, no other commitments. Easy. No problem.

But she was still feeling surprisingly nervous as she approached the bus station and looked around for Takashi.

She was early; she'd wanted to make sure she had no chance of missing him, so she'd given herself extra time. And after assuring herself he was nowhere to be seen, she started up the road to the dojo.

About a quarter of the way to the dojo, she started to encounter students heading down to the bus, and her heart started to pound a little more energetically. That was the problem of dating a friend, she supposed, and of needing to get back to him after the initial ask. If she'd just had an answer yesterday, she could have spared herself the nerves...

And as she walked along, she couldn't help but wonder if this was at all what Takashi had felt like, just before he'd asked her.

It was a foreign feeling, being nervous, and she didn't like it.


She was almost to the dojo gates when she finally saw Takashi, and she could tell from his expression he hadn't expected to see her in the slightest.

"Hey, Sachi," he said, sounding mostly normal but also, she could tell, a little nervous. "How come you're going to the dojo on a Sunday?"

She took a deep breath and fell into step beside him, heading back towards town. "I'm not," she admitted. "I just figured it'd be a good chance to talk to you, just us," she said, her voice quiet. Sunday mornings were a less busy time at the dojo, but there were still enough other people leaving that she didn't want to run the risk of being overheard.

He definitely looked nervous now, she observed; nervous, wary...but a little hopeful, too.

It was strangely endearing.

"Yeah, well, that was probably smart," he agreed after a moment, then looked sideways at her. "So does that mean you're done thinking, then?"

"Mmm-hmm," she said, nodding. "I think...it could be fun," she admitted, giving him a smile. "You're right; we do always fun together so...why not?" she asked.

His return smile lit up his whole face, and Sachiko suddenly wondered how she'd never noticed how cute he was before. He was her friend, yes, but he was cute.

Especially when he was smiling at her like that.

"Yeah, that's what I figured, too," he said, beaming. "So...when do you wanna do it? Go out, I mean," he said, promptly darkening.

Sachiko might have been nervous, but not enough to let that one pass. "I promise, Taka, no matter what you've heard, 'doing it' isn't a normal first date activity," she teased, and Takashi groaned as he darkened further.

"Can you cut me like...an ounce of slack, Sachi? Just forget I said that, you know what I meant!"

"Yeah, but come on, Taka, you really expect me to let something like that go?" she asked, still grinning. But she did take a little pity on him, answering after a moment,

"Weeknights aren't great; I've got about an hour and a half between karate and homework, but that doesn't leave much time."

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, I pretty much get home from karate, eat, and do homework." He thought for a moment, then looked at her. "How about...Friday? After karate? You could come back to Nigeyashi after karate and we could get food, and..." he considered, apparently drawing a blank for after that, then gave her a sheepish look. "Anyway, would that work? Otherwise there's Saturday, too."

"Friday oughtta work," she said, beaming. "And we don't have to do anything fancy, I'm up for whatever. Except for your first suggestion," she teased, provoking another furious blush from Takashi. Considering he didn't typically blush, she was admittedly reveling in his embarrassment, perhaps a little more than she should have.

But the idea of her heading back to Nigeyashi after karate raised another point. "So...you think we oughtta mention to the others we're going on a date?" she asked, a little hesitantly. "I mean, it's just a first date, it's not like it's something we'd have to tell them or anything," she said quickly, "but they'll probably wonder why I'm getting on the bus with you guys."

He considered that. "Could we just...not mention anything until Friday? I'm sure, yeah, they'll ask, and you can say whatever then," he said, hiking his bag up his shoulder. "But I'd just...rather not have it be a thing all week," he admitted, and Sachiko could understand that completely.

"Alright. So...Friday," she said, giving him a smile, and he grinned back.

"Friday."

They'd reached Hibe and the bus station, and both of them stopped just before the platform.

"So, um...thanks for coming to tell me," he said, grinning at her. "It would've been fine if you'd called, or texted..."

She stared at him for a moment, then swore. He blinked at her, then laughed.

"You even think of that?" he asked, and she shook her head. "Well, thanks," he repeated, and she gave him a little smile. "I know you guys usually do family stuff on Sundays, so...thanks for coming to meet me, and tell me," he said, smiling back.

"Yeah, well, guess I can be as bad as Hajime at overthinking stuff sometimes," she said ruefully. "But yeah...I'm glad I told you in person, too. You asked me in person, after all," she said.

They both glanced up as the bus approached, and Takashi adjusted his bag one last time. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yup," Sachiko agreed, smiling at him. "See you tomorrow!"


When Sachiko opened the front door, she loudly called out, "Impressionable minor entering the premises! You two better not be indecent!"

"Haha; get your smart-ass in here and either finish your homework or help with lunch," Kyo said, chuckling, from the kitchen. Tohru gave him an amusedly exasperated look from where she was working beside him, then smiled over at their daughter.

"Welcome home, Sachiko! Did you catch Takashi?"

"Sure did," Sachiko said, taking off her shoes and walking into the kitchen.

"Well, good," Tohru said, looking at her cheerfully. "It's nice to get things taken care of right away, isn't it?"

As Sachiko started to pull the lunch dishes out of the cupboard, she couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, it's not half bad."


School the next day went about as normally as any other day...for the most part. Before class started for the day, Sachiko told Miki and Rieko the results of her conversation with Rei.

"Oh no, Sachi, that sucks!"

"That's too bad, do you think there's any chance you two can work it out?"

Sachiko had shaken her head. "Nope, there's not really anything to work out. We didn't want the same stuff outta the relationship, so," she shrugged her shoulders. "We both just gotta move on. And hopefully next time, we'll both have better luck."


She didn't see Takashi at all during the school day, which wasn't at all surprising; she was in 2-A, he was in 2-C, and their paths rarely crossed. Each of them had their own friends in their own classes; she hadn't expected him to stop by at all, and he didn't. Neither of them saw the other until the end of the day, when they all always met up at the bus stop after school.

"Hey, Sachi," Emi said, greeting her with a playfully scolding expression. "I was just telling these guys," she said, nudging Kaede, "how unfair that little stunt of yours from Saturday was. I can't believe you all went out together and didn't tell me!"

"You had a date, remember? And it was spontaneous, doofus," Sachiko teased back. "Shota didn't even suggest it until we were leaving class, and you'd left an hour and a half earlier!"

"So? Isao and I could've come bowling with you, or I even could have ditched him," Emi said grinning. "He would've understood, I'm sure."

"Hey, don't try to get us in trouble with Isao," Shota said. "He's got a hard enough life right now anyway."

"He does?" Kaede asked, blinking at Shota worriedly. "Emi, is everything ok with him?"

"I meant his life's hard because he's gotta put up with Emi," Shota amended, earning him a punch from Emi that he barely managed to block.

"You're lucky Kameko's not a karateka," Emi grumbled, "otherwise I feel like you'd be getting punched a lot."

"Hey, a girl doesn't have to know karate to be able to punch," Sachi said with a grin. "Though honestly, I bet you're the type who'd let Kameko actually land a punch on you just to try'n soothe her ego, aren't you, Shota?" she teased. "Not 'cause she's mad, necessarily, but just 'cause she wants to feel like she can pull one over on you."

"Have you been spying on us, Sachi?" Shota asked, and they all laughed. Then Emi sighed.

"Well anyway, the next time you guys all decide to do something after karate, you should actually tell me. It takes half an hour to get from Hibe to the Nigeyashi station, I could easily have met you guys if you'd just, I don't know, told me?"

"Damn, Emi, why so salty?" Takashi asked, joining the group. Almost immediately Sachiko's eyes went to him, and she hoped she looked natural as she gave him a smile and joined the chorus of greetings.

"I'm not salty," Emi corrected him at once. "I'm just saying that when you're going out after karate, it'd be nice to be included, that's all."

"Tell you what, next time we all decide to do that, we'll definitely call you, got it?" Takashi asked, and Emi smiled, then sighed.

"What're the odds it's going to be any time within the next month?" she asked, and they all shrugged.

"Don't forget, Culture Fest stuff starts in the next couple weeks," Kaede reminded them. "My class is deciding on our theme next week."

"Mine too," Sachiko admitted with a sigh. "None of the suggestions sound that interesting yet, but at least none of 'em sounds that hard or prep-intensive, either."

"Your class put in for the plays, Sachi?" Takashi asked, and she shook her head.

"That, at least, is a no, thankfully. Yeah, it'd mean we were done faster during the actual Fest, but we'd have a shit-ton more prep to do," she said, making a face before giggling. "My mom was a little disappointed when I told her, though, I think she was really hoping we would and I'd have a part. She and Daddy were both in their class play back in their second-year Culture Fest," she explained with a grin.

"Sensei Sohma in a class play?" Shota asked, grinning as well. "What was it?"

Sachiko's grin was wicked now. "Cinderella-ish."

That earned her some blank stares. "Cinderella...ish?" asked Kaede, and and Sachiko nodded.

"Apparently the class got to vote on who got all the roles, instead of people actually signing up for roles they wanted. And the people they picked for the roles ended up being pretty messed up, so they ended up just rewriting the story so no one struggled as much. Like, Mom was supposed to be the Wicked Stepsister," she said, giggling.

That earned her four blank stares. Although Sachiko's dojo friends never came by the house, all of them were familiar enough with Tohru to find that casting...unusual.

"Well, that must've been a tough sell," Emi said at last. "Can your mom even pretend to be mean, Sachi?"

"Not really, no," Sachiko said, giggling. "Guess who Daddy was."

All of them immediately wracked their brains, trying to think.

"The narrator?"

"The king."

"The guy who carries the slipper on the pillow?"

"Cinderella's father before he dies."

"Nope. He was the prince," Sachiko said, her grin rivalling the Cheshire cat.

"No way!"

"Sensei Sohma was a fairytale prince?"

"Oh damn, that must have been hilarious!"

"He's a better sport than I'd've been, there's no way you could get me to take a role that big."

They were all trying to imagine it and utterly failing.

"That's so cute, though, that your mom and dad got to be in their play together," Kaede said, smiling at her. "I didn't realize they were in the same class and everything!"

"Yeah, that's right," Sachiko said, smiling. "They started dating just before summer vacation their third year."

The bus pulled up to the bus stop, and they, along with the rest of the waiting students, climbed aboard. And as they settled into their seats, Emi looked around and asked with a grin,

"So, who's going to be the one to ask Sensei Sohma for details about his second-year class play?"


On the bus ride to Hibe, they sat in the same way they usually did: Shota and Takashi together on one side of the aisle, two of the girls in the seat opposite them, and the third girl, Kaede today, in the seat behind. Overall, Sachiko was pleased with both herself and Takashi; as far as she could tell, both of them were acting totally normal, which was a huge relief.

At least the act of making a date hadn't made anything weird.

If anything, Takashi was acting more like himself than he'd been on Saturday; he was actually talking, for starters, and not just zoning out. It was maybe possible they were smiling at each other just a little bit more than usual, though.


Classes also went about the same as they ever did...for the most part. But Sachiko found herself watching perhaps a bit more intently when Takashi was sparring, and putting a lot more energy into her own matches. When it was finally time for the two of them to go up against each other, she had a brief moment where she wondered if things would seem different, but the challenging smile he gave her as they both stepped into their ready positions was all too familiar, as was the punishing pace that had both of them panting by the time they were done.

They were grinning as they bowed to each other after the match, and Sachiko let out a soft sigh of relief as they both stepped back to make room for the next pair. At least at this point, there was absolutely nothing for her to worry about.


"Later guys! Have a good night," Sachiko said, waving off her friends as they left for the bus station after class. "See you all tomorrow!"

"Later, Sachiko!"

"Bye Sachi."

"Have a good night!"

"See you tomorrow." Once again, there'd been a tiny bit of lingering in Takashi's smile; there might have been an equal amount of lingering in Sachiko's own. And that smile hung on as she leaned back against the wall, her phone in her hand to keep herself busy as she waited for Kyo. But at the same time...

Everything had been the same that day, she had to say. Nothing had been remotely weird between Takashi and herself, and neither one of them had acted any differently; she was reasonably sure about that. None of their friends had given them any weird looks that she'd seen; nothing seemed to have struck anyone else as out of the ordinary. In terms of keeping things under wraps, she felt confident they'd done a stellar job.

And yet...

Sachiko smiled when she thought of the way he'd looked at her when he first arrived at the bus stop. It had just been a smile, but a smile laced with a little bit of awkwardness and nerves, both which had melted away as soon as she'd smiled back at him.

Every smile had been equally warming, from when they were all talking about the Culture Fest to just now when they'd all said goodnight. On the bus, on the walk to the dojo, when they were breaking during kata, and even facing each other over the tatami.

Her smile became a grin as she thought about their sparring match; she always tended to give sparring her all, but she felt like she'd brought extra fire today, fire that he'd matched. He was taller than her and had longer reach, but she was more flexible, faster, and slightly more precise; it had always been a toss-up who would win when they fought, and it was satisfying to know that that hadn't changed.

Whatever happened on Friday, she hoped it never would.

She tilted her head to the side as she thought about watching Takashi during his other sparring matches. Mutsuki had asked her on Saturday if she found Takashi attractive, and she'd blushed and hesitated to answer. Today, she couldn't believe she'd need to think at all. Yes, he was attractive; honestly, objectively attractive. Especially when he was wearing a gi, and in the middle of a sparring match.

As she leaned back against the wall, she had to shake her head at herself; this is how she always got when she was getting invested in a new relationship, suddenly fixating on every little smile and gesture, every little look and word. Usually it took a lot longer to reach this stage, but usually she didn't know her dates half this well before they even got to go out.

Hopefully this was a good sign. She wanted this to be a good sign; she wanted things to work out with Takashi, or at least not to go badly. She still had no idea how things would go when they were actually on their date, but at least she didn't have to worry about viewing him as 'brotherly,' which would have been almost mind-blowingly terrible.

She really wished she'd actually looked at him on Saturday, when Emi had asked their classmates about the idea of dating her. She hadn't looked at him or Shota, figuring they were likely to just be rolling their eyes or something, but instead...

"You look happy. Good afternoon?"

At the sound of Kyo's voice, Sachiko straightened up and put away the phone she'd never focused on, smiling up at her father as she adjusted her bag.

"Yeah...it really was!"