Sano was about to ask another question when he saw Kaida's eyes brighten. Then he heard a childlike voice squeel, "Auntie!"
He turned in time to see a little girl with long, cinnamon colored hair come running up and throw her arms around Kaida's neck. The young, red headed girl smiled and reached out in time to catch the little girl. Keiji and a woman who also had cinnamon hair sat down at the table. Then Keiji turned to Sano and said, "This is my wife Naomi and my daughter Kira."
He pointed first to the woman and then to the child. Kira was already settled in Kaida's lap when her father had made the introduction. She snuggled against the merchant girl and hid her face in the folds of the girl's kimono.
Naomi laughed at her daughter's antics before nodding in greeting to Sano. "It's nice to meet you...," she said, pausing a moment to recall if she knew his name or not.
"Sanosuke Sagara," Sano finished. Naomi's eyes widened in surprise.
"Sagara, did you say?"
"Yeah."
"By any chance, do you know a Kaoru Kamiya?"
Sano stared. "Uh...yeah. How'd you know?" he replied, confused to the point of annoyance.
"Ms. Kaoru is a good friend of mine. She often stops by my silk shop to visit. I've heard quite the story or two about Sanosuke Sagara and the rest of you. You sound like a very interesting bunch," Naomi said. She smiled broadly at Sano's shock but could say nothing more before they all realized that Kira had crawled out of Kaida's lap and was kneeling next to Sano. She stared up at him, her curious, dark brown eyes twinkling with childish awe. Sano looked back down at her, smiling softly. Seeing his friendly smile, Kira grinned and reached up toward him.
"Rooster," she said in her childish voice, taking a handful of Sano's shirt. She then crawled into his lap and, leaning back against his chest, said, "Pretty rooster."
Sano wasn't sure what to say, but the others were laughing heartily.
"Uh, oh, Daddy," Kaida said through her spasms of giggles. "You're gonna have to start watching those boys even earlier than you thought."
"Nah," Keiji replied. "Looks more like we'll need to put a leash on her."
This statement caused the three to laugh even harder. Even Sano was laughing. Kira didn't seem to mind, however, for she only snuggled deeper against Sano's chest.
Sano wrapped a strong arm around the little girl and gently hugged her. He laughed when she wrapped her free arm around his.
"She feels safe around you," Naomi said with a smile, her laughter fading into irregular bursts of giggles. Sano smiled. This group was a fun group to be with, he decided. However, he still wondered about some things. Especially about Kaida. He finally decided that he would ask those questions later.