The next week with Akito proved to be less terrible and difficult than the first. Akito had somewhat adjusted to Noa's way of living, even wearing the clothes she had bought for her, and she had stopped having violent outbursts all the time. While she still yelled at Noa frequently, her tantrums had gradually become shorter and shorter since she now knew that Noa rarely budged on anything when her mind was set.

The longer Akito stayed at her house, Noa felt as if Akito wanted to let her in but refused to do it. After years of being told it was not possible for anyone to form a bond with her, Noa did not expect Akito to suddenly accept her with open arms no matter how nice she had been to her. It was going to take a lot more time before Akito stopped being afraid that Noa would just up and leave her if things got difficult.

Since Akito never handled fear very well, her overall frustration to her fears caused her to continue to lash out at her.

But contrary to what Ren had said, Noa dealt with Akito patiently and warmly every day. She reprimanded Akito when she lashed out or got angry over nothing, but all of her actions were done with nothing but love.

What Akito would never admit, and certainly not to Noa, was that she kind of liked being able to be herself around her. With Noa, she didn't have to pretend or lie or make sure she didn't slip about her gender or anything like that. She could do the same with Hatori, Shigure, and Kureno (and Ayame too, but Akito despised the man so much that she never came in contact with him), but with Noa, it was different. Around her, not only did Akito not have to pretend but she also didn't have to face the pressure of being the head of the household and the god of the zodiac.

One day, Noa decided to travel to a dojo Yuki had told her about.

Once she arrived, she gently knocked on the sliding door.

It slid open, and for a brief second, Noa found herself lost in the kind eyes belonging to the person who had answered.

"Um, hi," she finally said when she found her voice. "I was looking for, um, Kazuma Sohma."

The silver-haired man smiled kindly. "You found him."

"Oh, um, I'm Noa Kaneko. It's nice to meet you."

"So you're the famous Noa. You've caused quite a stir at the main house."

Noa laughed lightly. "Yeah, that's me."

"Please come in."

"Thank you."

Noa removed her shoes and stepped inside the dojo. Kazuma led her to the large main room.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

"I wanted some advice."

"Oh? About what?"

"Yuki told me that you took in Kyo when he was a child. Something I wish I could have done with Yuki himself."

Kazuma nodded a little, knowing that the small child suffered during his childhood just as much as Kyo had.

"I've yet to meet Kyo, but I hear that he has got quite the temper."

"You haven't met Kyo?"

"Our paths have just never ended up crossing."

"Well, he's here right now. I can introduce you." Kazuma stepped away and entered one of the training areas. "Kyo, come here for a moment. There's someone you need to meet."

An orange-haired boy stepped out of the room and came into the main room where Noa was waiting.

"Kyo, this is Noa Kaneko. I'm sure you've heard of her."

"It's so nice to finally meet you after all this time," Noa smiled.

"You're that friend of Yuki's, right?" Kyo said.

"Yes. I've been wanting to meet you for so long, but you were never around when I visited."

Kyo decided not to tell her that was because he didn't really care about any of Yuki's friends (if Yuki was his enemy then any friend was an enemy too) and didn't feel like she was important enough to meet. It was the truth, but Kazuma would be pretty angry if he actually said it out loud.

"I'm aware you and Yuki don't get along, so you probably dislike me just by association, right?"

Kyo's eyes grew large in embarrassment, wondering if she could read minds. "No, it's…not that."

Noa laughed. "That sounds very convincing. Well, regardless, it's better late than never. I know Tohru absolutely adores you, so I at least want to make sure you're worthy of that girl."

Kyo's face turned bright scarlet. "I gotta get back to training."

Kazuma and Noa chuckled as he quickly left the room.

"Um, I never got to the real reason I came here," Noa said.

"Ah, yes, forgive me, I interrupted."

"No, it's fine."

"You wanted advice, yes?"

"Yeah, it actually has to do with Kyo. Uh…you raised him from a young age, and I just wanted to know if you had any advice for taking care of someone who not only is extremely temperamental but also suffers from a lot of emotional pain."

"Surely this all doesn't have to do with Yuki."

"Uh, no. I'm actually…looking after Akito."

Kazuma raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Akito is living with you right now?"

"Yes, and I know…he doesn't really like it, but I think he's warming up to me just a little bit."

Noa decided to keep Akito's true gender a secret. Hatori hadn't told her which of the four Sohmas knew her secret, but she had a feeling those four were members of the zodiac. She could tell Yuta because he was her own son and they were living in the same house so it was bound to come up sooner or later.

But telling a Sohma was a different story. When it came to her own family, it should be Akito's decision who knew and who didn't. And if they ever did find out, they should find out from her, not from Noa.

"How did you deal with Kyo's temper and all of the pain he felt?"

Kazuma sighed. "It wasn't always easy. Kyo was always surrounded by people giving him a hard time because of his mother's death and how he was burdening me. Things calmed down a little when I took him away from all of the talk, so you're probably on the right track there by getting Akito out of the main house. After that, I just always made sure to smile at him and show him how much I cared. I'm generally a pretty quiet person by nature, so I never really got angry with him. I think he got angry enough for the both of us."

"But didn't you ever have to discipline him?"

"Of course I did. And he didn't listen at first, but he eventually grew to respect me and then followed my rules."

"How long did that take?"

"Several months. Akito will probably take even longer since he's an adult."

Noa nodded. She had known that, but it was hard to hear.

"From what little I know about you, I think you're already doing a great job. The fact that you came here for advice proves how much you care about him. I guess the only thing I can really offer is to take things slowly. Don't try to change too much for him all at once. And accept the little things. Don't get frustrated when you don't make the progress you want to make."

Noa smiled a little. "Thank you, that's…very helpful."

"I'm glad I could be of service after you made the trip all the way out here."

"It wasn't too long. It's been a while since I've been to a dojo."

"You used to attend frequently?"

"Just to learn some self-defense so I could help my son."

"You have a son?"

"Yuta. He's a senior in college now. He's…everything to me."

"I know how that feels. He's very lucky to have you as a mother."

Noa smiled again. "Kyo is lucky to have you as a father."

The two adults smiled for a moment and Noa once again found herself getting lost in his kind eyes.

She laughed nervously. "I should get going."

"Miss Kaneko," Kazuma called before she left.

Noa turned back to face him. "Please, call me Noa."

"Noa…if you'd like, I could continue to teach you self-defense here every once in a while. Unless of course, your husband objects."

"Unfortunately, my husband passed away several years ago."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry to hear that."

"Thank you. And…I would really like to take you up on that offer."

"Akito, come on, we're going shopping."

Akito didn't look up from the book she was reading. "Shopping is a waste of time."

"It's not if you want to have dinner on the table. And I want you to help me make it tonight."

"I have no business making meals. I have servants and chefs to do that for me."

"Maybe at Sohma house you do, but we're not at Sohma house right now. Besides, if you learn how to cook, you'll be able to tell your cooks exactly how you like your dishes prepared once you return home."

Akito rolled her eyes. Noa had an extremely annoying way of saying things that made her end up agreeing to her demands. It infuriated her to no end.

Nevertheless, Akito put her book down and stood up. "Let's just get this over with."

Noa just chuckled to herself. She had learned to put up with Akito's complaints, knowing she had not yet learned any other way to express herself.

The two women traveled down the street to the shops.

Akito reluctantly followed her into one of the local markets where Noa showed her which foods would make the best dinner for them.

Everything was so overwhelming to her. She had only been out into town a handful of times in her life and even when she did, she rarely stopped to go into stores and buy things.

On the way to another shop, Noa slowed when she realized Akito had stopped in front of a bookstore. She gazed at the many books inside with the most interest she had shown in anything for the entirety of her stay.

Noa wondered if Akito had ever seen a bookstore before. While staying with her, the young woman had read through several books in just a couple weeks. For someone who enjoyed reading, a bookstore was a small slice of heaven.

Noa smiled a little. "Akito, if you want to look around the bookstore while I finish shopping, that's fine with me."

Akito looked back at her in surprise. "I thought you said I had to shop with you."

"Well, we went to one place, and the rest isn't anything I can't handle. You'll learn plenty when we cook tonight. I'll just be a little while, so go ahead and see if you want anything."

Before Akito could say anything more, Noa had disappeared into one of the other shops. Hesitantly, Akito entered the bookstore.

About 45 minutes later, Noa finished all of her shopping and headed back to the bookstore.

The place was very small, so it wasn't hard for Noa to quickly learn that Akito wasn't inside.

Her heart thumping in her chest, Noa exited the store and walked down the street looking for the young woman.

Had she really taken so long that Akito got bored and wandered off on her own? Had she attempted to return back home? What if she was hopelessly lost by now?

The Sohma family was going to kill her.

"Man, she's so tiny," Noa heard someone laugh. "Good thing for me I like tiny girls."

"Hold her down," someone else said.

Noa followed the voices coming from the completely deserted back entrance of the bookstore.

Her stomach lurched when she came across the disturbing scene.

Three men she assumed to be in their late 20s had shoved Akito into the corner of the alleyway. Dirt smudged her clothing, and the top three buttons of her shirt were missing to reveal the white camisole she wore underneath.

She had her head down and didn't respond to anything the men were doing. It looked like she had lost the will to fight.

The bags fell from Noa's hand onto the ground. Some of the groceries spilled out but she didn't notice nor did she care.

"What do you want?" one of the men growled at her when he noticed her presence. "Can't you see we're a bit busy?"

Noa smirked a little. "Have any of you boys ever heard that you shouldn't mess with a Daddy's Girl? Clearly, you haven't heard what happens when you mess with a Mama's Girl."

Her smirk disappeared, but none of the men seemed too perturbed.

"Hey, jus' get rid of her, will ya?" another of the men said to his friends.

One of the men walked up to her, but before he could do absolutely anything, Noa struck him in the throat, elbowed him in the midsection, then kneed him twice in the groin.

She pushed the side of his head and sent him to the ground and out of her way.

The other two remaining men looked at her in shock.

The next one came up to her much faster than the previous one and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Noa grabbed his hand and twisted him around until he was on the ground. From there, she kicked him in the face which caused him to let go of her hair and hold his broken nose.

The last man came at her from behind and wrapped his arms around her. Noa held onto his arms and lifted herself up enough for her foot to kick behind her right between his legs. It loosened his hold just enough for her to hit his chest and stomach in quick succession and then knock his head to the ground.

The second man knocked her feet out from under her which sent her flying to the hard ground. He immediately got up and pinned her down.

She could see the first man getting back up.

She rammed her knee into the one pinning her. When he lurched forward, she rolled over so that he was beneath her and punched his already broken nose.

Noa then took a small black object out of her pocket and turned just in time to jab it into the first man's stomach, sending jolts of electricity throughout his body.

She stood up, breathing heavily and looked at the taser in her hand. "Best ¥3000 I ever spent."

Noa quickly went over to Akito in the corner and gently pressed her hand to her arm.

Akito flinched at her touch.

"It's okay," she said tenderly. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

Akito finally looked up and saw the aftermath of Noa's fight with the three men. "You…you fought all of them?"

"Yes."

"How…?"

"When Yuta was very young, he got lost in the mall. And when I couldn't find him, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to protect him if someone took him. So I started taking self-defense lessons just in case anything like that ever happened. I recently picked it back up."

"Why…why would you do that for me?"

"Akito, I was not going to let them hurt you."

"Did you…call me a…'Mama's Girl'?

Noa laughed lightly. "I did. I may not be your mother, but I am a mother and since I'm looking after you, that kind of makes you my girl." She gently put her hand beneath Akito's chin and forced her to look up. "When something like this happens to you, do not ever give up. Do not stop fighting. Because I will find you, and I will protect you."

Akito felt like crying.

But she refused to do so in front of Noa. There was no way she was telling the truth. Once things got too difficult, she would stop looking for her. She would never stay by her side.

And yet…the injured men who now lay unconscious said a lot about how far Noa was willing to go to protect those she cared about.

Could Akito really trust Noa to keep her promise and always be around to protect her?

Noa stood up and extended her hand. "Come on. Let's go home."

Akito did not take her hand and stood up on her own. She slowly walked to the entrance of the alleyway and picked up one of the fallen bags.

It was a gesture that ultimately didn't mean much, but to Noa, it was a show that Akito was finally beginning to accept her.

One of the men stirred. Noa kneeled down and roughly took a fistful of his hair in her hand. "If you ever so much as think of her again, a broken nose will be the least of your problems. Do I make myself clear?"

The man vigorously nodded his head in fear.

She released his head and stood back up before retrieving the rest of her groceries.

"Come on."

Akito stared at the man for a moment, slightly amused at the petrified look on his face and stunned that Noa wasn't afraid to threaten them in order to make sure they never hurt her again.