Nana's ears were ringing, and she could feel her heart steadily pounding inside her. The laughter and yells of her friends was just a muffled sound, and all she could hear was that stupid ringing. She stared at Kyo and hoped that she didn't look like a total idiot.

"What makes you think that?" she choked out. Kyo still wasn't looking at her. He flopped onto his back and laid his head in his hands as they were folded behind his head.

"I don't know. I was just thinking." He said. A blush was covering his cheeks. Nana was almost positive that her own face was flushed. It was quiet as she thought of the words that came from the Sohma boy's mouth. "So, do you?"

"Well, yeah." Nana said hesitantly. She carefully thought of her next words as she watched Kyo pink face get darker. "You're a pretty cool guy, and it's cool being able to hang out." She had no idea how he was going to interpret what she had just said, but she hoped it didn't put a strain on what strange friendship they had. For Nana, it was as close as she could get to her crush without things being awkward.

"So, you really like me." Kyo said. It wasn't a question. It was more of a statement. He sounded a little freaked out. This was definitely not the direction Nana had hoped this would go.

"Well," she almost stammered. "we are friends, right? If I didn't like you, we wouldn't be friends." Kyo looked over at Nana with a surprised look. Why was he so surprised? Was he expecting her to say something different?

"Hey Nana!!" came Kira's voice. The two looked over to see that everyone was heading back to the blanket, and they all had a slight shine on their faces from the sweat. "Tohru and Yuki just invited us to their house. You wanna come?" Thinking about the invitation, made Nana's mind wander to what her father might think, and with that she came up with an idea.

"Actually, I was just thinking that we could hang out at my house." The Higurashi girl said. "I was telling you that you had to meet my dad, and you all could. It'd be fun." Nana flashed everyone a sweet smile.

"That sounds like a good idea Miss Higurashi." Yuki said, giving off his princely smile. Kira giggled a little. Nana excused herself to call her dad, and she promptly went to dialing her home number with a smile on her face.

"But Emiko, listen-" he pled, but was interrupted.

"Jason, I told you! You don't even know the girl! You were gone her entire life; you can't just expect her to immediately call you dad." Ms. Higurashi snapped.

"That's the thing though! I want to know her! She's just as much my daughter as she is yours." Jason protested. "Besides," he continued. "I think that she is trying to. Just the other night, she called me 'dad.'" Emiko sighed into the phone.

"Jason, I really hope you don't screw this up." She said sternly. "She may be strong, but she can still break." A beeping sounded on Jason's side of the line.

"Em, do you hear that beep?" he asked.

"You might have another call." The Japanese woman said. Jason excused himself to flash to the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Dad, it's Nana." Came the voice of his daughter. "I was wondering if some friends from school could come over and hang out. Maybe some of the girls could spend the night?" she asked. Jason could hear one of Nana's friends saying that she couldn't impose and his daughter reassured her that it'd be fine if he said so.

"Uh, sure Nana. Who all is coming? I'll go to the store and pick up some more food."

"Uh, do you want a list of names now, Dad?" Nana laughed. Jason gave a chuckle of his own.

"Okay, I get it. Just introduce me when I get back from the store."

"Okay Dad." Nana replied. "See you in a bit." A click sounded from the other side and the line was dead. Jason switched back to Emiko's line.

"Em?" He called out.

"I really hate it when you call me that." Came the cold voice of Ms. Higurashi. Jason chuckled again.

"Look, I got to get to the store." He said, ignoring his old flame's comment. "Nana is having some friends over. I'll talk to you later Em." He said, putting emphasis on the pet name he gave to his ex before hanging up.

The locked clicked as she turned the key and unlocked her home. Everyone filed in. Kira let her bag fall to the floor and kicked it to the wall, having been here several times. Tohru, Arisa and the Sohmas all looked around at Nana's home. Saki looked forward towards the kitchen.

"Do you live with someone?" she asked quietly.

"Uh, yeah." Nana replied. "I live with my dad."

"I can sense his electric signals." Nana laughed nervously as Jason walked into the room.

"Was that supposed to be some kind of pick-up line?" He asked jokingly. Nana groaned at him. "Well, are these your friends Nana?"

"Yeah, this is Tohru Honda, Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima." The young Higurashi girl introduced the three girls. "This is Kira Arukawa." She pointed to her best friend. "And this is Yuki, Kyo, Haru and…uh…"

"I'm Momiji!" the blonde Sohma said.

"Right, that's Momiji. They're all from the Sohma family."

"Well, I'm Jason Bowers. I'm Nana's dad." Jason shook everyone's hand, and they headed towards the kitchen. Jason had already started to put away groceries and various snack foods were set out. "I didn't know what you guys would like, but I got a little of everything."

"Dad, did you pick up some leeks like I asked?" Nana inquired, and both Kyo and Jason cringed.

"Hun, I hate leeks." Jason said with disgust. "It was something your mother always tried to get me to eat and I just couldn't." Nana giggled a little.

"Alright then."

The night went pretty smoothly. Kira approved of Nana's dad and said he was pretty cool. Yuki beat Kyo at one of the video games Nana had gotten as a birthday gift. Laughing and yelling sounded throughout the house, and Jason was even part of it. Despite how much fun everyone was having, Kyo's mind kept wandering to what Nana had said. Did she really like him? Was he just a friend to her? Was he even dateable? So many questions swam through his head, and he even wondered why he was letting this get to him. She wasn't Tohru, and the more he saw Nana, the more he saw that she really wasn't anything like the Honda girl. Kyo sighed when he, Arisa, Yuki, Haru, Momiji and Saki left.

"By Nanan!!" the rabbit called using the new nickname he gave Nana. Kyo thought it was stupid. He ended up smacking Momiji upside the head.

"Shut up!" the cat snapped. "Do you wanna wake up the entire neighborhood?"

"WAH!!! Kyo hit me!" Momiji cried, and Kyo became more agitated. He looked over at Nana and Tohru when he heard them laughing quietly behind their hands.

"What's so damn funny?" the orange haired youth asked angrily.

"Don't worry about it, Kyo." Kira said while shooing everyone away. Kyo clicked his tongued in annoyance.

"Whatever." He said as he turned to leave with the others. "Hey Tohru, just hurry up and come straight home tomorrow. I don't want to deal with that damn Yuki and Shigure for too long."

"I could say the same about you." Yuki retorted. The two continued to bicker as they walked down the street. Upon getting home, Kyo walked up to his room and closed the door. His head was clouded with thoughts of everything he talked about with Nana. He was so curious about whether she liked him, but he didn't know what to feel about it. He loved Tohru, didn't he? Of course he did, right? Kyo still couldn't help but notice things about Nana. She did remind him of Tohru, but still she was so different, and he was okay with that. He didn't think that he had feelings for the girl, but there was something about her that made him think and question everything he ever felt.