Kobayashi shifted and stirred in bed. She pulled her blanket back up over her shoulder and nestled her head further into her pillow. She might have been able to doze back off if not for the barely conscious thought that she didn't usually get this much rest and it was a tad suspicious. With reluctance, she lifted herself up from the soft embrace of her mattress and turned over to check her phone. The room was still dark. Only strangling rays of sunlight forced their way in through the blinds covering her window. She forced her eyes to stay open long enough to read the time. It was well past when she typically got up, even for the weekend. Before she could wonder skeptically what price she'd have to pay for such a blessing, her bedroom door softly crept open.

Peeking through a small opening was the draconic eye of a young child. Upon seeing that Kobayashi was awake, the girl gasped excitedly and skipped away. She returned in a few moments, pushing through the door carrying a tray full of food. She held it out precariously, concentrating intensely on the balance of everything. She was determined to make it over without spilling a little thing, drop of juice or elsewise. She came to the side of Kobayashi's bed and reached up to deliver the tray. Unfortunately, her arms weren't quite long enough. Kobayashi ended up needing to assist, but so long as it was received, Kanna seemed happy.

Sitting in her lap was a spread of scrambled eggs, a couple slices of bacon, slightly burnt toast, and a warm cup of coffee. She wanted to ask what was going on, but by the time she looked up, Kanna had run out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. It was a bit perplexing, but sweet all the same. Honestly she was still half asleep, so she supposed she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Laying back down, she picked up her phone and scrolled through her notifications while enjoying breakfast in bed. It was nice actually.

Around the time she finished her coffee, her body started to ache from sitting in one place too long. Setting the tray of leftovers aside, she rose out of bed for good this time. Her brain slowly turned the caffeine into conscious thought as she picked through her closet and threw on a comfy T-shirt and pants. She pulled her hair back out of her face with a yawn and took the tray with her as she stepped out into the living room.

The morning had a different feeling about it than usual. A quiet anticipating air hung around the apartment until Kobayashi finally emerged from her room. Immediately all eyes were on her in an almost intimidating way.

Tohru was the first to approach. She took the dirty plates off of her mistress's hands with a "good morning" and a smile.

"Oh, thanks. Good mor-" she began to reply but was interrupted by her second dragon crashing into her leg.

Kanna pulled on her clothes, eager to get her attention. "Miss Kobayashi! Miss Kobayashi!"

The human hardly had a choice but to give her the attention she so desperately craved. With a delighted chuckle, Kobayashi crouched down to Kanna's level and dropped a hand onto her head. "Good morning to you too, Kanna."

Kanna ducked and squirmed away from the head pat. Today she was far too busy for such pleasantries. This was very serious! "Miss Kobayashi, look!" She took her guardian's hand and tried to lead her away, pointing at their dining table.

Kobayashi allowed herself to be taken away, purposefully dragging her feet so that Kanna would have to tug at her arm. "Alright, alright, what am I looking at?" The table was topped with a pink flower in a small vase and a paper card colored with a variety of crayons. "What's all this?"

"In school, they taught us about a day called Mother's day!" she chattered with enthusiasm. "My teacher had us make cards for our moms that we're supposed to give them today." She took hers from the table and showed it off. It had an expert drawing of three figures playing together. Two of them had horns and tails. The last had a bored expression and appeared to be holding her lower back in pain. It made Kobayashi smile.

She took the card delicately, sitting down to look it over. "Oh wow!" she complimented in an exaggerated tone. "This looks great! And you did it yourself?"

Kanna nodded vigorously with stars in her eyes.

The inside of the card had a messily written letter inside. Kanna hadn't known much about what cards typically said. But she did her best to follow her teacher's instructions and put down things she appreciated about her favorite human:

Dear Miss Kobayashi,

Thank you for taking good care of me and letting me stay with you. You are very nice and you help me fit in the human world even though it is strange. I like it when we go places together and when we sit under the kotatsu. Sometimes I miss you when you are at work but you always come home and play with me. Kobayashi tells me when I do good at school and gives me lots of praise. She even fought really hard against Hades to see me at the sports festival. I love Miss Kobayashi very much. I hope she has a good Mother's Day.

Love, Kanna

There were sparse spelling mistakes and areas where faded erasings could still be seen. And yet, it made Kobayashi's heart ache all the same. It was terribly, painfully sweet. "You made it for me?"

Kanna's full attention was on her guardian as she read. "Yeah, Miss Kobayashi is like a mom!"

It wasn't surprising to hear her say. It was a sentiment she had expressed before and aside from the implications it had on her age, it made her happy. But something about seeing it written in a Mother's Day card made it all the more palpable to her. It was just too cute. Kobayashi didn't know if she could take it. Her heart might burst.

She leaned forward and scooped Kanna into her lap. The young girl settled against her chest and asked impatiently, "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" her mom immediately answered back. "This is so nice of you, Kanna. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take this to the office with me and put it at my desk. Then everytime I look at it at work, I'll think of you!" She squeezed the child in emphasis. The feeling made Kanna giggle and squirm happily before hugging her back.

"I'm really glad that you like it here so much."

"I like any place with Kobayashi in it. Kobayashi feels like home."

"Ah, well, I like having you here as well. Kanna makes my days brighter." She held onto the girl tightly, just the way she liked, and rubbed little circles into her back. They stayed like that for a moment, simply enjoying each other's presence and the comfort it brought.

Suddenly, there came a sniffle from the kitchen. Tohru was watching them from the kitchen and getting emotional. Kobayashi had been making jokes to herself about starting to cry, but it looked like Tohru actually might. She gave the sentimental reptile a mocking smirk. Tohru hurriedly wiped her eyes and turned away. Dragons did not shed tears.

With a sly chuckle, she turned her attention back to the child in her lap. Kanna was nuzzled into the crook of her neck, her tail swishing back and forth affectionately. It really hadn't been that long since Kanna arrived on Kobayashi's doorstep. It didn't seem like much had happened since then. The extent of Kobayashi's kindness seemed to be expected and polite at the most, at least to her. She didn't remember doing anything so special as to win over the heart of an adorable little girl and yet here she was cast into a maternal role without realizing it. She didn't mind of course. She was content to be whatever Kanna needed her to be: a home, a guardian, a role model, a guide, a supporter at her sports festival. It was clear that Kanna hadn't been granted such attentiveness before. It was just a bit hard to understand how she got here sometimes. But seeing the love and attachment with which Kanna held onto her with, she supposed that she didn't really need to. She was here now and so long as Kanna was happy, that was all that mattered.

Eventually, they pulled apart. "So, what do you think we should do to celebrate Mother's Day today?"

The dragonling paused and thought for a moment before answering decisively. "I think we should do whatever Kobayashi wants to do!"

"Whatever I want to do, huh?" Well, what she wanted to do most was lay on the couch all day and maybe take a nap. However, she didn't think that would satisfy her little girl. She'd have to think of something they could both enjoy together. "I think I waaaaaant…" she strung out her words to keep Kanna at the edge of her seat. "To watch the new episode of Magical Girl Lilie with someone."

Kanna lit up at the mention of her favorite show. "Me! Me! I'll watch it with you, Miss Kobayashi!" she chanted, waving her hands excitedly.

"Oh, you? I mean you don't have to. I could always ask Tohru." She pointed to the dragon maid, still in the kitchen fighting a losing battle against her emotions.

"No, Me! Pick me! I want to watch!" She pulled on Kobayashi's shirt with insistence. "It's Mother's Day! We have to do things together!"

It was a compelling argument for which Kobayashi had no counter. "Well alright then, if you say so."

They began migrating to the couch as Kanna threw up her arms and cheered. Kobayashi had planned on just using a distraction so she could laze around on her phone. Instead, she ended up getting pulled into the show by Kanna's passionate chattering. It was all for the better though. She found herself having more fun that way, sitting on the floor watching Sunday morning cartoons, just spending time with her kid. It ended up being her nicest Mother's Day yet.


A few hours later, Kobayashi wandered into the kitchen for something to eat. She picked out a small snack to tide her over until the next meal and leaned over the counter to munch. Tohru stood by, going over her shopping list for the coming week. The two looked on at the dragonling sitting upside down on the couch, reading a childish-looking book. Kanna was taking a break from mother-daughter bonding to work on the homework she hadn't yet finished. It went without saying, but it was terribly cute.

Tohru suddenly chimed in, "You know, she was so excited for today." She turned to smile at her softly. "She insisted on making your breakfast herself and stared at your door, waiting for it to open all morning. She wanted to let you sleep in but she was almost too impatient for it." She chuckled.

"Oh yeah?" She smiled back. She could imagine the scene of Tohru gently negotiating with Kanna not to bust down her bedroom door. "It definitely sounds like her."

Tohru hummed in agreement. "She came home from school with the card in hand and it took all her determination to keep it to herself until today."

"That's really sweet." She'd have to show it off to Takiya. He'd appreciate the sentiment and he'd take her boasting light-heartedly.

"And you knoooooow" Tohru starts suspiciously, "if you wanted, I could also write you a card. That way you could take it to work and have something to remember me with too."

Kobayashi watched her twiddle her fingers together, her tail twitching anxiously as she tried and failed to seem nonchalant. She considered it and responded with a thoughtful sigh. "That might not be a bad idea." Plenty of her coworkers had family mementos on their desks. She might as well have a couple too. Although, something besides a card might be better; Tohru's letters tended to be a bit mushy. "I'm feeling sentimental today, so maybe."

"Really!" The dragoness perked up. She studied her mistress's face for any sign of sarcasm or jest. When she didn't find anything, she wondered if she might be able to push her luck a bit more. Stealthily, she slid a little closer, put on her best puppy dog eyes, and wiggled her tail suggestively. "Perhaps even sentimental enough for other things too?"

Without so much as looking in her direction, Kobayashi deadpanned an "Absolutely not."

Tohru cursed and sank down disappointedly. Puppy dog eyes didn't work as well with slit pupils.

"But," Kobayashi continued on. "We can do this." Tohru looked up only to see Kobayashi pointing her phone at her as it made a soft click. The dragoness watched curiously as Kobayashi fiddled with something busily before holding up the screen for her to see. "Here." Behind all the strange icons and writings, Tohru stared back at the image of her own lovable face set as the device's background. "Now I can carry you around whenever I go." She would probably take a better picture later, maybe with Kanna in it, but she thought this would be clever for now. Like she said, she was feeling sentimental.

And seeing Tohru's flustered expression as she turned away bashfully told her that she hit her mark. Who knew giant fire-breathing monsters could be so adorable. "Well!" she finally blurted out. "You just wait until Maid's Day! Or Master's Day! Girlfriend's day?"

"Girlfriends?"

"Whatever holiday applies, I'll make sure it's the best one you've ever had!" She promised, striking her best power pose and ultimately looking a little silly.

Kobayashi snorted, lamenting internally that there wasn't such a holiday as "Maid's Day" in Japan, though she'd love if there was. She might have argued on if not for the small hand pulling timidly on her pant leg to call her attention back to the holiday currently in celebration. Instead, she ceded the point and simply stated, "I'll look forward to it" before being stolen away once again by Kanna.


Notes:

I needed something simple and cute to work on inbetween other projects. Although, it was a bit hard because the Kanna spin off manga actually already has a chapter about Mother's Day. Riko tells Kanna how you get your mom a carnation and immediately she's like "oh hella yeah I'm gonna get my mom a carnation". Unfortunately they get lost and Tohru and Riko's mom have to go find them. Kanna is worried Kobayashi will be mad, but it's ok because we all know that would never happen. It's really sweet you all should look it up. Point being I didn't want to copy it but also, I have never celebrated Mother's Day so I had to ask other people because idk what tf you're supposed to do. I hope it came out well. There's never enough family fluff for this series anyways, nor enough of Kanna and Kobayashi being cute together

Also, as it has been pointed out to me, there is in fact both a Girlfriend's Day in American and a Maid's Day in Japan. So if this gets enough attention, then I'll write a chapter 2 about one of those