"Ok, there's absolutely no way these teams are fair," Hiro said, crossing his arms and looking around the table with a somewhat red face. "I think we need to do a redraw, I thought we said no couples were allowed to be on the same team!"

"No, that was only for the personal questions game, Squirt," Arisa said, grinning at him as she leaned back on her arms. "Anything was fair game for Pictionary, so you're out of luck."

Hiro glowered at her, then looked across the table at where Rin was smirking at him and Haru was looking amused. "And seriously, it's Rin, too? Rin?" he repeated, looking at easily the best artist out of them. "That's not even fair!"

"Hey, we'd be happy to be the team of two, if it'd make you feel any better, Hiro," Haru said, but Hiro promptly scowled.

"No, you are not going to be the team of two," he said, looking over at Tohru who was poised to draw another name out of the large bowl. "Who's their third?"

Tohru promptly reached into the bowl and drew out one of the last slips of paper, smiling as she read aloud, "Hana-chan!"

Saki promptly got up and walked over to sit down beside Haru, looking at him and Rin as she said, "I shall do my utmost to prove myself an asset and trust that our collective artistic endeavors will prevail."

Tohru smiled shyly across the table as she lowered the paper with Saki's name on it. "I guess that makes you and I the team of two, Machi! I'm not a great artist, but I'll do my best," she said, an earnest expression on her face.

Machi looked nervous herself. "I'm not a very good artist, either, but I'll try, too."

Tohru put all the papers with names on them back in the bowl, then set the bowl aside as she walked over to sit beside Machi. "Who should start?"

"Why don't we just go in the order we were drawn?" Momiji asked, smiling brightly. "Makes it a little easier, ja?"

No one had any arguments with that, so everyone looked expectantly at Yuki, Kyo, and Kisa, aka Team One, all of whom were staring at each other.

"I'm not gonna draw first," Kyo said immediately, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll guess, but I'm not drawing this time."

Yuki rolled his eyes, then gave Kisa a little smile. "Do you have a preference, Kisa?"

She gave him a nervous smile. "Would you actually mind drawing first, Yuki? I'd rather not go first, either."

"That's fine," Yuki said, rising to his feet and walking over to the dry erase board they'd set up on an easel. "Now, actually try to do a good job, you Stupid Cat."

Kyo and Kisa both stared at him, and Yuki promptly flushed himself. "That is, Kyo. And Kisa, too; let's all just try to do our best, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kyo said, shifting awkwardly, and Kisa nodded. Then Yuki grabbed a slip of paper from the 'topics' bowl and studied it for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Ready?" asked Momiji, his finger poised to start the timer on his phone, and Yuki nodded. Then Momiji hit the button and cried out "Go!"

Yuki was immediately drawing as fast as he could, and everyone craned around to try to see what he was making.

"A boat?" Kisa said right away, then corrected herself. "A paddle? No, a fish!"

Yuki gestured with his non-drawing hand, and Kisa continued. "A salmon? A tuna?"

"A taiyaki pastry," Kyo said suddenly, and Yuki stopped drawing, capping his pen.

"A taiyaki pastry," Yuki confirmed, erasing the board and setting down the marker. "I'm impressed, Kyo."

Kisa was beaming at him. "Good job, Kyo! And you too, Yuki, that was a great picture," she said, smiling at him.

"Thank you, Kisa," Yuki said as he sat back down.

Kyo was smiling a little self-consciously. "Yeah, well, once you were on the 'fish' track, it got a little easier."

"That's one point for Team One," Momiji said, marking it down on the score sheet before smiling at Arisa and Hiro. "Alright, Team Two; do either of you want to draw first?"

"No," said Hiro at the exact same time Arisa said "Sure!"

"Alright, then you go ahead, Arisa," Momiji said, beaming at her as he passed his phone to Yuki.

Arisa strutted up to the whiteboard and grabbed a paper from the bowl. "Ok, Prince, I'm ready."

"Go," said Yuki, starting the timer, and Arisa was off as well.

Hiro and Momiji both stared as Arisa started to draw a collection of curved lines.

"A...hairball?" Momiji asked, followed by Hiro's "A mop?"

"A furry spider"

"A hay bale?"

"A tree?

"A flower?"

Arisa gestured for them to keep going, and they stared as she added on to her picture. The Hiro smacked both his hands on the table.

"A chrysanthemum?"

"Got it!" Arisa said triumphantly, just as the timer went off.

"Point for us," Momiji said happily, adding a tally mark after their name. "And you thought we weren't going to do well, Hiro," he censured, earning him a scowl from his cousin that melted away when Kisa leaned over and said,

"That was a wonderful guess, Hiro!"

Chuckling at Hiro's immediate blush, Momiji looked over at Haru, Rin, and Saki. "Alright, Team Three?"

Rin glanced at the other two. "You mind if I go first?"

Haru and Saki both shook their heads, and Rin marched over to the board. In a moment she'd studied her subject and tossed it aside, then look at Momiji. "Ready."

"Go!" said Momiji.

Rin immediately drew two lines. She'd barely started on the third when Saki's calm voice said "A torii gate," and Rin stopped, giving her an admiring look as she capped her pen.

"Was that it?" Haru asked, and Rin nodded as she erased her lines.

"That's right!"

"Damn, nice job, Hanajima," Haru said, smiling at her. "I didn't have anything yet."

"I've always found it easier to guess than to draw," Saki said serenely, but she looked pleased with herself as Rin sat back down.

Tohru and Machi exchanged a nervous look, both of them feeling the pressure after everyone else had gotten their first word.

"Machi, would you like to draw first?" Tohru asked a little anxiously. "I'm fine with either!"

Machi immediately shook her head, then froze. "That is, I don't mind drawing or guessing first, either! Whatever you want is fine by me."

"Are you sure? I really don't have a preference!"

"No, I really don't have one either!"

"Well, if you're sure-"

"Tohru, go draw," Hiro barked out, unable to sit and listen to the back and forth any longer, and after a quick look at Machi Tohru rose to her feet and hurried over to the bowl. That was the downside of playing games like this; as much as she loved the energy and watching everyone have a good time, she also had to do things like draw.

And she was admittedly nervous as she reached into the bowl, trying not to dwell on the fact that she and Machi were already at a disadvantage, given they were only a team of two and neither one of them was that great of an artist.

"You're gonna do great, Tohru," Kyo said, and she looked up from her word to meet his encouraging smile with a shy smile of her own.

Yuki promptly echoed him. "That's right, you're both going to do just fine," he said, smiling from Tohru to Machi. "And remember, it's just a game."

"You're going to be great, Tohru!"

"Just do your best, Tohru!"

"Remember, don't try to be too fancy. As few lines as you can manage to get the point across."

Tohru was beaming from ear to ear at all the encouragement, and after a moment she took a deep breath. "Ok, Momiji, you can start the timer!"

"Go!" Momiji called out, and Tohru immediately drew a sideways oval, followed by a flattened shamrock shape on top.

"A persimmon?" Machi asked, and Tohru stopped and stared at her with wide eyes before breaking into a giant smile.

"That's right, a persimmon!"

Both of them were beaming as Tohru came back to sit down, Tohru blushing slightly from the rest of the group's praise. And Momiji was grinning as he looked up from the score sheet, announcing, "Alright, so after one round, we're all tied! Team One, you're up again, whenever you're ready."


Sometime later, the atmosphere in the room was surprisingly tense as Momiji once again read off the score sheet.

"Alright, that means we're now in sudden death mode! Team Three and Team Four are both tied, so one member of each of those teams will draw at the same time. The first team to correctly guess their answer wins!" he said, smiling brightly. "Now, who's going to draw?"

"Rin," "Isuzu," "Me," came the simultaneous answers from the three players on Team Three, while Tohru and Machi both exchanged awkward back-and-forths before Machi finally said, "I am."

"Alright, Rin and Machi! Good luck, all of you," Momiji said, beaming at them all.

Tohru tried not to feel too nervous as she sat straight upright, her eyes glued to Machi as her teammate slowly pulled out a piece of paper and reviewed it. Then Machi exchanged a glance with Rin, who nodded, and they both looked at Momiji and told him they were ready.

Adrenaline was coursing through Tohru's body, and she felt as though she was going to fly into pieces. It was so silly, to be this worked up about a simple friendly game, but Tohru hadn't dreamed she and Machi would actually be in a position to win! She just needed to stay calm and focus.

Tohru clenched her hands tightly in her skirt, her gaze fixed on Machi as the other girl raised her hand. Then Momiji called out, yet again,

"Go!"

Tohru tried to ignore the way Rin's hand was off like a rocket, zeroing in on Machi and the way hers quickly drew out a triangle...a rounded-off triangle...

"An onigiri!" Tohru called out, half a second before Saki said "A fan!"

All of the group had been listening intently, and the players on Teams One and Two all looked at each other.

"Pretty sure that was Tohru, wasn't it?" Kyo asked, and Yuki nodded.

"I think so, too."

"Pretty sure you two are biased," Arisa teased, "But I think it was Tohru too, sorry, Hanajima."

"I heard Tohru," Momiji agreed, and Kisa nodded as she said "Me, too."

"Guess that settles it, then," Haru said, grinning over at Tohru. "Nice job, Honda! And you too, Kuragi."

All of the others started applauding, and Tohru and Machi both blushed as they beamed around the room. Then Tohru bounced to her feet and hurried over to hug Machi, her expression bright.

"Great job, Machi! Who would have thought we'd be so good at Pictionary?" Tohru asked, laughing.

Machi smiled shyly. "Well, you're a very good guesser, Tohru!"

"We both are, clearly!" Then Tohru turned to bow to Haru, Rin, and Saki. "And congratulations to you all, too, that was a very close match!"

Rin had a rueful look on her face. "Yes, it was."

"It was an honor to come in second place to a team as formidable as yours, dear Tohru," Saki said, smiling at her. "Your victory was well-deserved."

"Seriously, Honda, I never would have thought you'd be so competitive, or you either, Kuragi," Haru said, chuckling at them both before glancing over at Yuki and Kyo. "Either one of you two gonna claim responsibility?"

He was answered with matching snorts.

"Seriously, Haru, have you met Tohru?" Kyo asked, trying to give his cousin an annoyed look but failing as he ended up giving Tohru an affectionately teasing smile instead. "She's always had a thing for winning."

"And yet she's ended up with you," Yuki drawled, a teasing smile on his face, and Kyo straightened up, narrowing his eyes at Yuki.

"Like I said, she likes to win," he said, and Yuki chuckled.

"As long as she thinks so-"

"-And I do," Tohru said, walking over to sit next to Kyo with a big smile.

"-then that's all that really matters," Yuki finished, giving her a fond look. "Nice job, Miss Honda, and you too," he said, smiling as Machi sat down beside him.

They'd all agreed to take a break after Pictionary, and soon the room was once again filled with conversation. Tohru was smiling as she leaned against Kyo, catching little snippets all around her:

"-so good at guessing, Hanajima! You can't actually read minds or anything, can you?"

"-erful, wasn't it, Hiro? I was nervous at first that I wouldn't do well, but it was so much fun!"

"-me some more of the snacks, would you? I'm starving after all that!"

"-ame wanted to take you out for dinner tomorrow, right, Yuki?"

"-sei planning to be at the ceremony, Kyo?"

Tohru only caught the tail end of Hatsuharu's question, but she immediately focused in on the two them, particularly Kyo's smile as he answered.

"Yeah, he'd gonna be there. Kunimitsu's gonna handle class for him, so he can come."

"Do you guys have any plans afterwards?" Haru asked, and Kyo nodded.

"Master's gonna head back to the dojo shortly after the ceremony, but we're gonna meet him after we're done with everything at school. He wants to take us to lunch and hang out for a while. Then we'll head over to Tohru's grandpa's place," Kyo said, trying and almost succeeding to keep his voice neutral. "They wanna take us out, too, so we're gonna do dinner with 'em."

Haru's expression and voice were both the epitome of calm innocence as he asked, "They?"

"My aunt and uncle, along with Grandpa," Tohru said, her voice a little too cheerful as she squeezed Kyo's knee. "They all want to celebrate with us, isn't that so sweet?"

Haru looked from Tohru's smiling face to Kyo's stony expression before looking back at Tohru and smiling himself. "Sounds like it's gonna be a busy day for you, Honda!"

"Yes, it does," Tohru said, taking a deep breath as she tried to focus on the time with Kazuma and her family, rather than the reason for that time. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to cry, she wasn't going to cry-

"You know, I had no idea you were so good at Pictionary, Miss Honda!"

Yuki's pleasant voice was like a lifeline, and Tohru eagerly grabbed for it as she looked from Haru to Yuki with a smile.

"Thank you, Yuki, I didn't, either!" she said, giggling. "I've never been a very good artist, so I didn't think it was going to go nearly as well as it did. We were good partners, weren't we, Machi?" she asked, looking past Yuki.

Machi gave Tohru a little smile. "We were," she agreed. "I liked your pictures, Tohru; they were very simple and very straightforward, it made it much easier to guess what they were that way."

"Not like some people I could name," Yuki said, and Kyo bristled.

"Hey, whoever thought it'd be funny to throw 'bonsai' and 'geisha' in there can fuck right off," Kyo grumbled, looking at Yuki. "How the hell are you supposed to draw a goddamned geisha in two or three lines?"

"I thought your geisha was lovely, Kyo," Haru said serenely. "You really conveyed a sort of simplistic elegance with your drawing; I even took a picture, to record it for posterity," he continued, holding up his phone to reveal a picture of Kyo at the whiteboard in the process of drawing something that might have been a geisha while snarling out of the frame at someone that was probably Yuki.

Kyo was not impressed. "Haha, very funny. Delete it."

"But it's such a great picture!" Haru protested, a little smile playing on his lips. "Why do you think I took it?"

"I wonder," Kyo said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Delete it."

"What if I don't want to?" Haru inquired, and Kyo's eyes narrowed.

"Then I will."

"Um, Kyo," Tohru asked, her voice a little hesitant, "Do you actually know how to do that?" They'd only gotten their own cellphones earlier that week, and as excited as Tohru had been to try and figure out how to use hers, it was very much an uphill battle. She didn't recall seeing Kyo do much with his yet, but that apparently didn't mean he didn't know what he was doing!

"Nope," Kyo said, his narrowed gaze still fixed on Haru. "Which is why it's better if Haru gets rids of it himself."

Haru stared at Kyo for a long moment, then sighed. "Fine, I guess I can humor you this one time." Haru raised his phone and poked at the screen a few times, then turned it to show Kyo his gallery. "See? All gone."

Neither Kyo nor Tohru took any notice of the quiet 'ping' from Yuki's pocket just before Haru spoke, and after a moment Kyo nodded his head.

"Next time, take stupid pictures of someone else for a change."

"But your stupid pictures are always so fun," Haru said, sighing as he returned his phone to his pocket, and Kyo growled slightly.

"So you admit you take stupid pictures of me on purpose?"

"Of course!" Haru said, looking at him in surprise. "How else am I supposed to remember you all wound up, now that you're getting better and better at keeping your temper? I mean, good for you and all, but it's really kinda boring."

Kyo snorted again, but Tohru herself was beaming at Hatsuharu's words. He was right; in the months since the Curse had broken, Kyo had been working on a lot of things. There had been his work at the dojo, obviously, but he'd also been working hard to address his interpersonal issues: anger, mistrust, timidity. He had been serious, that day in front of her parents' grave, when he said he wanted to be a part of the world; he had sworn that going forward, he wanted to live in the world, not apart from it.

He wanted to be around people, and get along with them. Be part of a community. Have friends.

Be someone both he and Tohru could be proud of.

His efforts had already been paying off, Tohru knew. Since the Curse had broken, it was like Kyo had bloomed before her eyes; at school, he had found more friends, and at the dojo, he'd proven popular with his classes. When Kyo had told her that afternoon about his students' reactions to him leaving, he'd been sheepish, but proud; Tohru had been even prouder, unable to hold back her praise and excitement for him even if she'd always known he'd be a success.

The Kyo she'd be stepping with onto the train was the same Kyo she'd always known, the same Kyo she'd always loved. Now, however, his sharp edges were gone, replaced with something infinitely softer and smoother.

But when it came to his cousins, then all bets were off.

"Well, you're overdue for a new form of entertainment," Kyo said as he scowled at Haru. "I've only got a couple days left to deal with you, don't make me happy to see your back."

Haru sighed, leaning back on his arms. "And here I always thought I was your favorite."

"My favorite what?"

"Cousin, of course," Haru said. "I mean, it's not like you're gonna look me in the eyes and say it was Yuki."

Both Kyo and Yuki rolled their eyes at that, and Kyo snorted for good measure.

"I don't have a favorite cousin, and even if I did it wouldn't be you. People who enjoy pissing me off aren't in the running."

"Hmm..." Haru said thoughtfully, looking around the room. "Kisa, how does it feel to be Kyo's favorite cousin?"

Kisa, who hadn't been paying attention, promptly blushed, looking at Kyo in wide-eyed surprise. "Eh!?"

Hiro was on the defensive. "What the hell, Kyo? Don't go making Kisa uncomfortable!"

Kyo was as red as both of them, and on the defensive himself. "I'm not making anyone uncomfortable, take it up with Haru! He's the one being weird, not me. I don't have a favorite cousin," he repeated.

"Oh," Kisa said, drooping slightly, and Hiro bristled once more.

"Why wouldn't Kisa be your favorite cousin? Are you telling me you like an ass like Haru better than Kisa? Just how much brain damage have all those blows to the head actually given you?"

"There's nothing wrong with Kisa!" Kyo almost exploded. "I like her better than you, that's for damn sure," he said, scowling at Hiro. "I just don't have a favorite cousin, end of story."

Haru sighed and shook his head. "So heartless, Kyo, crushing dreams left and right. And all this time I thought I was your favorite."

"Yeah, well, keep dreaming," Kyo grumbled. And he was maybe going to say something else, too, when he caught Tohru's eye.

She had been sitting there the entire time, listening to the conversations around her. So many conversations, about many different things; just friends, sitting and talking to friends. Friends, having dinner together, playing games together, and spending time together, the way they always had.

Friends, all hanging out like this for the very last time.

And when Kyo saw her shimmering eyes, he understood.

His embrace was warm and welcome, and so was his voice as he looked around the room and asked, "So then, were we gonna do one last game? Or is that part over?"

The side conversations died down as everyone considered and responded to Kyo's question; it was quickly decided that there was time for one last game, they just had to decide what it was. That was a question that got more divisive opinions, and soon the room was once again filled with voices, arguing either for or against various choices.

In the midst of it all, Tohru simply sat in Kyo's arms, a happy smile on her face and the faintest traces of tears in her eyes as she listened to the voices of her friends. The voices...of people she loved.

"What do you think, Tohru?" Arisa's voice broke in on her musings, and Tohru blinked as she realized a few of the others were looking at her.

"Oh, I don't have any preferences!" Tohru said, quickly blinking away any tell-tale tears. "Honestly, I'm happy with anything; I'm just...happy to be here!"

Here, now, tonight; all together...for one last time.