I'm so so soooo sorry that it took so long to get this to you! It's been almost two weeks and it's been a long almost two weeks. I had my graduation party, had my friend over, went to orientation, got back home in time to got to my grandma's to help with her yard sell and moving (the internet is terrible here), and I have also become addicted to Doctor Who (which I cannot watch because of the internet). Not to mention Kathy went on her own little vacation, so it's been a bit slow on that front. But I have a small moment of steady (but still bad) internet, so I'm bringing this to you.

Here we are, my darlings!

Misaki yawned lightly as she stepped out of the front door and into the tepid sunshine of the chilled morning, and as she stood there, her face lifted to the thin light, she knew that it was going to be a beautiful day after the sun had warmed everything up. She skipped lightly down the steps of the apartment building until she got down to the street, and after a small pause for a moment of thinking she turned to head into the densest part of the village.

Even though the hour was early, a great deal of the vendors on the market street were already set up and a few early risers were drifting around the stalls. Misaki stepped up to the first one, a produce stall that was run by a thin strip of a man who had the seventy years he had been alive etched heavily into his face.

"Why," He rasped, "If it isn't the lovely young Misaki. The amount you come here, I'm starting to think that it isn't my cabbages and carrots that you come around for."

Misaki laughed and picked up one of the eggplants he had set out, checking its freshness. "It's true, you old charmer you. After all, I could get my fruits and vegetables somewhere else."

They chatted as she picked through what she wanted. About his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, some of whom helped him with his stall; about the children Misaki taught, and the possibility of her teaching his youngest great-granddaughter; about how his business and his crops were doing, and how his arthritis was interfering with everything.

"I actually have a bit of a surprise for you." He said with a crooked grin that forced his creases to deepen and hide his bright and sharp green eyes.

"Oh?" She watched as he bent leaned down from his chair to pull a crate up to his lap, pulling off the lid to reveal a bounty of ripe red berries.

"A bit of a favorite customer allowance." He said, and Misaki could only shake her head and laugh, but feel incredibly touched that he was allowing her to have first pick. Really, he was such a sweetheart.

After picking out what she wanted and probably getting way more strawberries than any normal person would, Misaki settled everything into the bag she had brought and waved goodbye to him and the children who were playing and passing the time behind him, moving on to the other stalls with a friendly smile and hello for all of the vendors she knew and the handful that she didn't.

After a few hours of shopping and conversation, Misaki made her way home to put away the groceries and set aside the trinkets and other things she had bought before grabbing the heavy bag that sat beside the door to hurry out, only having been home for maybe five minutes.

She walked down the street and to a snug little house that had a content little bunch of flowers settled in the little patch of the front lawn. She stepped up to the little door and knocked, and it was only moments before it was opened by a round little woman with slight creases at the very corners of her mouth and eyes.

"Oh, I was worried you were going to be late." The woman fretted, wringing the hand towel she held in her hands from doing her housework, and Misaki smiled as she simply shook her head.

"Of course I wouldn't be late. I know that you're really anxious for your girls to learn how to do the tea ceremony."

"Oh, yes. My mother always said that she wished I would have learned, and when the girls go old enough and after I learned that you had taught Yen's little girl before she got married, I figured it would be a good thing for them to do. And I really am so grateful for you doing this and teaching them. I know that it must take a lot from your day for the both of them."

"It isn't a big deal at all. I have the knowledge, so I might as well spread it around, and I do love teaching children." Misaki said with an easy smile as she followed the woman through the house and to the small slice of a family room where two sullen girls were sitting, one scowling at the wall while the other pouted down at the floor.

"Now girls, Rock-San is here." The mother said in her reedy voice, and the two girls stood to shuffle over to her side and purposely not look at their new teacher. "And Rock-san, this is Hama, my eldest," She placed her hand on the shoulder of the first girl, the one who was currently glaring at a vase, "And this is Rika." She placed her other hand on the shoulder of the slightly smaller girl.

Both girls had their mother's dark brown hair and matching eyes, and their thin faces were pulled into matching expressions of dislike. She supposed, from a critical standpoint, that they would be pretty enough girls when they got older, but only if they stopped making such terrible faces. They looked like they had both been shoved into a room of rotten eggs.

"It is very nice to meet you girls." Misaki said with a warm smile that didn't falter even at the two girls' unenthusiastic mutterings of what she guessed passed as a greeting. "Well, now that we've gotten to know one another a bit, let us get started. We'll go outside on the back porch so that we can have a bit more room and so we won't be in your mother's way."

After convincing the woman that it would be best if she left them alone for a bit instead of hovering, Misaki silently set up everything that she needed before starting, never saying a word as she went through the movements that had been ingrained into her during her privileged childhood.

When she was done she looked up at the girls and noted that while Hama still looked resentful, though there was a small spark of interest in her muddy eyes, and Rika was leaning forward, her eyes bright as they watched Misaki as if waiting for her to start again.

"What else can you do?" The youngest asked, and Misaki smiled. She absolutely loved it when children got enthusiastic. It made teaching them so much more fun.

"Flower arranging and calligraphy, though I'll only be teaching you this for now. Now to get started..."

Their little class ended and Misaki left after declining the mother's offer for a snack, and she quickly made her way across the village to yet another "student's" house, this one for flower arranging. After that she went to drift around the shops, picking and choosing things she really didn't need, but she thought were just too pretty to pass up.

It was dark when she got home, and she hummed as she took the bags and quickly put everything where it needed to go. The final thing was a blown glass bowl she had gotten at the last shop she had gone to, and after setting it on the coffee table she sat down in the arm chair to admire it.

And after just a moment of sitting there, her smile fell as the quiet of the apartment hit her. It wasn't silent what with the hum of the refrigerator and the ticking of the clock, but the sounds were hollow and lonely. So very, very lonely.

She lifted her legs up so that they were curled up in the chair with her and closed her eyes wearily, tilting her head back against the back of her chair as she remembered that it had been almost two months since Lee had been home, gone off on some kind of mission.

This was why she was always on the move, always going off to do something and be with someone, not wanting to come home to an empty home and be faced with the fact that no one was there and that she was alone.

Sitting in the middle of the dimly lit apartment and her misery, Misaki sat silently with all of the pretty things she had gotten and felt how empty it all was without somebody else there.

Misaki's entire life, pretty much, revolves around Lee. She does her own things, has her friends and she teaches kids her fancy lady things so that she'll have something to do that will also earn a little bit of money (not needed, but she likes to feel like she's contributing) and will allow her to be with children, but she is severely lonely whenever Lee leaves. It reminds her that she can't have children, and this alone usually makes her feel like a failure, but when she'd alone, worrying about Lee without anything to really do, it's worse.

Misaki became depressed after finding out that she couldn't have children, and this isn't something that just goes away. She's built herself up over the years with Kado and Lee, but it's always there for her, and when she's alone with nothing to distract her, all of that control breaks down and she feels little. She feels like a failure.

A hello to foraslanthelion, my newest sweety! (love your name!) Bye!