Thank you all for your reviews and for...favoriting this story...putting it on your alert...and following it this far! We don't have much longer to go, I'm not sure if that's good or bad...

Anyway, here's Chapter 9!

Rin had been highly successful in putting it off...in avoiding the issue altogether...until now. The game was up.

Tohru had come to visit multiple times, and each time, Rin had managed to avoid her. Until now.

Tohru, whose presence was typically known the moment she entered a house, as she announced herself to the world, had snuck up on Rin.

Rin wasn't sure how she'd managed to do it. This time, she hadn't heard Tohru come in and announce herself, then blather on to Kazuma about how she was sorry for imposing on him. Rin had been caught completely unawares.

She had just innocently walked into the kitchen, the unsuspecting quarry, when Tohru ambushed her.

"ISUZU-SAN!!"

Rin twitched, and saw Tohru before her. The shorter girl's hair was in pigtails, and she had her usual stupid grin on her face.

"Isuzu-san, it's so good to see you! I've been trying to come visit, but you were never home! You must have been busy lately, Isuzu-san! Oh, but I've been busy too, so..."

She stopped talking.

She noticed Rin's distended belly.

"What are you looking at?!" Rin snapped, and immediately Tohru got frantic.

"I-I'm sorry, Isuzu-san!! I didn't mean to stare!! It's just that...you..."

She trailed off.

Rin waited.

"Isuzu-san...Isuzu-san, are you...expecting?"

"None of your business!"

"I'm sorry! I don't mean to pry! But...I...I had no idea!"

"That's because it's none of your business!"

"Oh, but don't worry, Isuzu-san. I can come by all the time and try to keep your spirits up. And I could bring things for you and the baby..."

"Don't bother!!"

"So do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl yet?"

"Why does everybody keep asking that?!"

"I-I'm sorry! I mean, I didn't know that it had been asked before..."

"Don't you have anything better to do?!"

...

"So Tohru-san came by earlier?" asked Kazuma.

"That's what Rin said. I wish I'd been around. It's rare to find someone Rin gets along so well with", Haru replied.

"Are you staying for dinner again tonight?"

"Oh...uh, I guess." He shifted. "Rin's been staying out of the hospital."

"Yes. I've noticed."

"But that's why we haven't found out its gender yet", said Haru conversationally, "Rin wants as little to do with doctors as possible."

"Well, that's understandable."

"So anyway, Shihan...that idea I had about me and Rin...you haven't gotten back to me on that yet."

"I don't have any problem with it. But the question here is whether you're willing to go through with it."

"...yeah...I think I am...I'm sure of it."

"Have you discussed it with Isuzu yet?"

"Well...no. I haven't gotten around to it yet...but I'm going to!"

"You're running out of time."

"I know...don't worry about it, Shihan. I'll talk it over with her."

Well, Tohru's back...poor Rin. First Kagura, now Tohru. She's just getting it from all sides.