Disclaimer: Pot doesn't belong to me. Too sad, isn't it?

Rating: T

A/N: English is not my first language; feel free to point out the mistakes I made.

Feel free to review…

DAY 3

Saruwatari-san drove the children to school. Sanada took advantage of the silence to meditate in the dojo. He was soon disturbed by the noise of his vaccum cleaner. He knew it coldn't be his old neighbor as she only drove the brats to school in the morning and picked them up in the evening. Poor Sanada had forgotten everything about Ryuzaki Sakuno. It came back to his mind when the sliding door was opened.

"Good morning Sanada-san. I hope I'm not disturbing you. I thought I could help you a bit longer today and maybe cook the children dinner."

Sanada stood up and sighed. He hadn't imagined that she would still be there. He had hoped that she would leave as soon as she had eaten a little something. But no… She was wearing his mother's yellow apron and was cleaning the dojo with a vaccum cleaner. When he noticed it he began to run away looking for the damned plug. Once found he unplugged it and went back to the dojo.

Sakuno was looking at her vaccum cleaner and then at Sanada who was frowning.

"What happened?" she asked in an overly sweet voice.

As Sanada didn't answer she decided to go on with her cleaning. But she didn't expect Sanada to snatch the poor vaccum cleaner away from her.

"This wooden floor should not be cleaned with a vaccum cleaner. If you want to dust it go and take a floor cloth and scrub it with it. But to tell you the truth I really would like you to leave."

"But I want to help you."

"As I have already told you I do not need help. You have your lesson in Tokyo. You cannot play truant from university just because I have to look after my brother's children."

Sakuno was disappointed. She had hoped he would ask her to stay. After all he was single and she was pretty. So… She wanted to insist but she decided it would only go against her. She nodded and told that she would cook a little something for lunch and then leave.

It was 10 pm when she left. Sanada was relieved. He knew about the girl's feelings. Unfortunately for her she was too much like his former girlfriend. If she had a twin sister she could have been her. She was nice and loveable but suddenly she would become an attention whore.

Everything was quiet. He gave his kendo lessons, went to Rikkai to teach and chatted with his former teammates. He even invited them to have some tea with him. Truth to be told he didn't want to be alone with Kagami and Kuan Ti. Everybody was in the living room when the front door was opened. The children stormed into the room.

"Uncle Genichirou, Miss Takuma said we could bring our pet to school. Can we borrow one of your koi fishes?"

He stared at the children. That was new. It was the first time he heard something about bringing one's pet to school. He was even sure that his brother didn't mention it before leaving.

"Stop lying Kagami. You know I do not like liars."

"But it's true. It's Pet day tomorrow. Kykyo will bring her cat and Ryo his baby German Sheppard dog."

"We will be the only without a pet."

"It is not true Kuan Ti. Everybody does not have a pet. Even if you had a cat I would not allow you to bring it to school. That pet day does not exist."

Kirihara began to fidget on his armchair.

"Sanada-sempai, are the children talking about Takuma Ino-sensei?"

"Indeed. Why do you ask?"

Kirihara gulped.

"Because she is my neighbor. She organizes a pet day in her school because she wants to teach the children how to take care of their pets."

"It will not change anything. You do not have a pet so you will not bring an animal to school."

"But Uncle Genichirou you have a lot of fishes. Can we borrow one? I am sure that nobody had ever seen a real koi fish."

His friends who were still here began to feel uneasy. They stood up, bowed and told Sanada that it was getting late. He nodded and walked them to the gate leaving the children alone in the living room.

When he came back the children were flicking through the channels. They didn't say anything about the pets so he thought they had forgotten about it. He smiled and asked them what they wanted to eat before going to their neighbor's because their uncle had to go to his law lessons.

It was 8pm when he came home. He picked up the children, made them shower and go to bed. After that he decided that he could do some katas. His lessons were boring and he nearly fell asleep. Two hours later he decided it was high time for him to go to bed but before doing so he had to make sure that the house was locked. The front door was ok, so were the windows but the sliding door which was giving onto the garden was wide opened.

It was strange. He was sure that door was closed when he left for the dojo. So he went in the garden to make sure that nobody was hiding in the bushes. Once he was sure that nobody was here he began to walk back. Unfortunately for him the door had been closed and locked from the inside. He tried to enter his house. He tried to open all the windows and doors but everything was locked. He went back to the garden and noticed muddy prints on the wooden floor.

He knew who locked him out…

A/N:Sakuno left for now… Poor Sanada having to sleep in the garden without a sleeping bag. Guess who decided to make him sleep out and why…