Title: Reverse Psychology

Summary: Uo explains to seven-year-old Emi, Yuki and Tohru's daughter, how she used reverse psychology to set Yuki and Tohru up ten years ago.

Genre: Romance/ Family

Rated: T (For Uo's language)

Word Count: 2,201

Not related to The Result. I just like the name "Emi."

Uo sat on the couch in Tohru and Yuki's living room with their seven-year-old daughter, Emi. She had come over with Hana this morning to help Tohru watch her two children since Tohru was now nearing her ninth month of pregnancy and Yuki had reluctantly left the city a few days ago on a business trip. Tonight, Yuki would return, so Tohru had decided to prepare a large feast to welcome him back and to thank her friends for all their help while her husband was away. While Tohru scurried around the kitchen to prepare the entrees and Hana kneeled in the upstairs bathroom trying to get Tohru and Yuki's three-year-old son to take his bath quietly, Uo idly flipped through the channels on the television, seeking child appropriate material as Emi impatiently swung her legs back and forth.

"Tohru, would you please not get me another drink?" Uo called towards the kitchen after she gave up on the television and turned it off.

"Of course!" Tohru chirped happily.

Tohru walked over with a glass full of water and a bowl of sliced apples, setting the former before her best friend and the latter into the awaiting arms of her daughter. Before waddling back to kitchen, Tohru leaned towards Emi, fixing a crooked pigtail and kissing her on her forehead lovingly. Emi watched as her mother awkwardly stepped away and tried to straighten her pink apron that didn't quite fit over her large, rounded abdomen. Perplexed, she tilted her head to the side and fixated her gaze back on her blonde aunt who held the cup to her lips. Noticing Emi's curious look out of the corner of her eye, Uo raised a thin eyebrow questioningly.

"Auntie Uo-chan, why do you say you don't want something to Mommy when you want something?" Emi inquired quizzically.

In response, Uo could only smile, pulling Emi onto her lap as she started, "Let me tell you a story about how your mommy and daddy met almost ten years ago…"

-Ten Years Ago-

Tohru and her friends were sitting in a café together, drinking tea at a table next to the window in the corner of the building, when the bell hanging above the entrance chimed, alerting them of the man that had just walked in. Uo and Hana wouldn't have bothered to turn around and examine the new occupant of the café had Tohru, who sat in the chair across from her friends that faced the door, not gasped and stared in shock. With near disapproving gazes, they scrutinized the silver haired male and then their blushing friend, who tried to hid behind her tiny teacup. Tohru shifted uncomfortably in her seat, failing at breaking the awkward silence that had settled among them, which grew exponentially when they all noticed that he had left the counter with a cup of coffee and had claimed the table in front of them.

Flipping through his newspaper, he didn't seem to notice them at all, which relieved and disappointed Tohru at the same time.

At this point, Uo decided to get up and walked over to his table with her hand resting angrily on her hip. Since he didn't notice her presence at first, Uo reached forward and ripped the newspaper out of his hands. To this, he turned towards her, giving her a strange look that soon faded into faint recognition. He lowered in head in a polite greeting, but Uo didn't bother to conceal her scowl as she muttered something Tohru couldn't quite make out. Tohru could get the gist of the message, however, when Uo jutted her finger towards the stools by the counter at the opposite end of the café. The brunette frowned when he obeyed and left with his paper and coffee, but Uo returned to her seat with a satisfied smile.

"What did you do that for, Uo-chan? Did you really have to make him move?" Tohru asked, appalled by her friend's actions.

"What does it matter, Tohru? It's not like you like him, do you?"

"H-How can I? This is the first time I've ever seen him! I couldn't possibly have a c-crush so soon!" Tohru denied vehemently.

"Good. Well, his name is Yuki Sohma, and he's Kyo's, my ex-boyfriend's, damned cousin. I've met him on a few occasions when I went to Kyo's house, and you know what? He's a scumbag, Tohru. Really. The lowest kind ever! Not to mention revolting. Don't be fooled by those prince-like features of his! He's a plain, disgusting jerk. Avoid him at all costs, Tohru," Uo warned her friend seriously.

"Uo-chan, how well do you even know him? He seems perfectly nice!" Tohru argued.

"He's a Sohma, Tohru. How can he be anything but a rat? Remember Kyo and his anger management issues?"

Tohru could only stare at her friend in utter shock and disbelief. Her friends had encouraged her to take an interest in the opposite sex since their first year in high school, but now Uo only seemed capable of criticizing the first man that made her heart flutter with palpitations. Taking another glance up at the young man that couldn't be more than a couple of years older than she was, Tohru couldn't help doubting Uo's claims about him. After watching him accidentally knock over his cup of coffee as he turned the page of his newspaper, she had to bite her bottom lip to hold back giggles as he frantically dropped the paper and grabbed a wad of napkins from the metal dispenser beside him to wipe the growing puddle. It shouldn't have shocked her when she found herself defending him, but it did anyways.

"You can't just judge people like that, Uo-chan. You and Kyo-kun are still friends! And besides, Kureno-san is a Sohma too. Not all Sohmas are alike, and they have such a large family that a common surname may not even mean much. I'm sure he's really kind," Tohru asserted.

"Like hell. I bet he's the type that dates a girl for a week and then dumps her ass without a second thought for no reason other than he wants to spread his seed. With his looks, I bet he can even get away with it. What a lowlife."

"Uo-chan, you don't know that. He might be in a perfect, committing relationship with a woman he loves for all you know!"

"He isn't. I asked him before. He's single, which means he's probably leaving himself open to play the field. I don't even understand what other women see in him. He's hardly attractive. I mean, what kind of hairstyle is that anyways? His barber couldn't even cut straight. And silver hair? What? Is he trying to look like a lame geezer?" Uo scoffed.

"I think he's very a-attractive," Tohru admitted meekly, averting her gaze from her friends.

"Oh my," Hana interjected, almost letting a hint of surprise break through her otherwise stoic demeanor.

"Seriously? Please, tell me what you find so attractive about this guy. Enlighten me," Uo requested in an almost mocking tone.

"Well… I think his silver hair contrasts with his pale skin quite nicely, and he doesn't look old at all, Uo-chan! He also has the most beautiful violet eyes I've ever seen…" Tohru trailed off.

Staring off into the distance, Tohru caught herself staring at the back of this Yuki Sohma, and as if he could feel her eyes boring into him, he turned around, meeting her gaze. For a minute, all he seemed to do was blink at her, and she couldn't decide whether to take his nonchalance negatively or to bask in his attention before he flashed her a warm smile that made her heart skip a beat and left a red tint to her cheeks that lasted well after he had turned back to his coffee-stained paper. Uo had to snap her fingers in front of her friend's face several times before Tohru flinched and glanced at her with a humiliated expression. Once she had her attention again, Uo shook her head with a frown, turning to Hana for support, but the black haired woman ignored the gesture.

"Tohru, don't go off falling in love with this guy. He'll just break your heart. Don't talk to him. Don't even look his way. Don't give this jerk the chance to hurt you, please," Uo pled in vain.

Frustrated with her friend's tenacity, Tohru stood up and waved at him when he peered over his shoulder at her again. She couldn't tell whether he was simply returning the gesture or signaling her to come over, but his lips curved up again. Taking this as a good sign, Tohru grabbed her cup of tea and began walking towards the empty, wooden stool to his right, trying her best to pacify the erratic thumps of her heart as it heaved itself against her ribcage. Before she could take more than three steps from the table, however, Uo's fingers had wrapped around her arm, and Tohru stopped in her tracks. Tohru turned towards her blonde friend expectantly, unaware of how she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Tohru? Where do you think you're going?" Uo questioned.

"I'm going over to introduce myself and have a cup of tea with him," Tohru responded, slipping out of Uo's grasp as she continued on her way.

"Wait! Tohru, please don't! You'll regret it!" Uo called after her friend futilely.

Once Tohru stood out of earshot, seated beside Yuki and grinning brightly, Uo and Hana turned to one another and gave each other a high five. Both smiled just as exuberantly as Tohru, whom they blatantly spied on until Tohru returned a little over an hour later, only to grab her purse and walk away again, an action which garnered her two bemused expressions.

With a flushed face, Tohru explained, "We're going out for dinner."

After another high five, Hana and Uo paid for their bill and followed their friend out.

-Present-

"And then they went on lots more dates, got married, and out you popped. They lived happily ever after. The end," Uo concluded with a wry grin.

"Auntie Uo, why didn't you just ask mommy to go talk to daddy?"

"It's called reverse psychology. Think about it, Emi sweetie. You know your mommy. If I had done that, she would have went on a rant about how she wasn't good enough for your daddy and blah blah blah, but this way, she had to defend him, so she herself was examining his positive attributes, and she herself decided to approach him. Your mommy hates judging people, so I'd knew she'd get to know him if only to prove my accusations wrong. And to this day, that's still the easiest way to get her to agree to something."

"Oh! That's so like mommy," Emi agreed with a nod.

At this moment, Hana walked in and joined them in the living room with a small boy trailing behind her. He climbed onto the couch, swinging his leg over the cushion, and rested his damp, brunette locks on Emi's lap as he rubbed his large brown eyes sleepily. Emi hugged her little brother tightly but couldn't manage to straighten his wrinkled, rat-and-cheese-print pajamas before he raced to the door at the sound of the doorbell. Tohru laughed at her son's eagerness as she shuffled over and let Yuki in, but he could hardly take one step forward before he had to stumble back as his son leapt up into his arms and his wife wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Emi soon joined them, squeezing in between her mom and brother while Uo and Hana simply waved from the sofa.

After kissing the three of them on their foreheads, Yuki queried, facing his two children, "Have you both been good for your mommy and aunts while I was away?"

"Yes, daddy," they both chimed in together.

Finding a smile of affirmation on Tohru's face, Yuki turned to her swelling belly. Patting her stomach, he felt soft kicks in return, possibly the most unique greeting he received tonight.

"And how was she?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, she was the rowdiest of the three. I haven't slept very much these past few days. She wants to come out," Tohru laughed.

Yuki frowned sympathetically as he shifted his son to one arm so he could wrap his other around Tohru's shoulders. Tohru comforted him with the notion that she'd only suffer for a few weeks more. Watching the family reunion made Uo and Hana miss their own, so they both stood to leave, not wanting to intrude despite Tohru's urges to stay for dinner. After hugging Tohru and both of her children and shaking Yuki's hand, Uo and Hana gathered their possessions and headed towards the ajar door, but before she stepped outside, Uo turned back towards Emi, placing her hand atop Emi's soft brown locks with a grin and a wink.

"Next time, I'll tell you about your dad and the direct approach I used," Uo promised her.

Emi nodded eagerly in response while Tohru and Yuki exchanged equally confused expressions that no one bothered to clarify.

I don't know whether to write "The Direct Approach" or not. Review with your opinion while you're correcting those mistakes c: