Epilogue: In which there are various plans for the future and potential engagements

It was hard to believe, Fuu thought as she packed up her book shelf, that a few short years ago she had just moved into this apartment. Now with graduation around the corner, time seemed to have gone so much faster than four years should have.

"Hey Fuu," Umi said, poking her head into the bedroom. She held up an armful of kitchen supplies. "Are any of these yours? They're not mine."

"They're not mine," Fuu said, eying the bowls, mug and miscellaneous utensils. "Although I believe the mug might be Ferio's."

"Shoot." Umi looked down at the stuff. "I hadn't even thought that it might belong to someone outside the apartment."

"Check with Hikaru," Fuu advised. "She might know if it's from Eagle's apartment or not."

"Thanks." Umi hesitated. "Hey Fuu? What are your plans after graduation? I mean, you know I'm heading with Tarta to visit her sister for a while but after?" She shrugged.

"I imagine I'll be enjoying a brief week or two before my internship, then be back at Cephiro for graduate school."

"Gonna enjoy that time with Ferio?" Umi teased.

"Maybe." Fuu smiled. They both knew she planned to live with him once graduate school started up. "Or maybe I'll spend a bit of time by myself for a change."

"Uh huh," Umi said, not buying it. "And how's your other half?"

"Still job hunting." Ferio had graduated the year before and had been doing an internship for a few months, but beyond that was still trying to find a foot in the door of the professional world. He still had his job at Escudo to fall back on at least. "He has an interview Friday."

"Nice." Umi leaned forward, grin on her face. "So…when're you gonna make your lovey dovey married couple act real, huh? Are you going to propose to him since he's holding out?"

Fuu gave Umi her best inscrutable smile. "What makes you think he hasn't proposed already?"

Umi's jaw dropped. "Fuu! You had better just be joking because that's not the kind of thing you don't tell friends!"

Fuu kept smiling.

"Hikaru!" Umi stomped away toward the kitchen. "Fuu's keeping secrets again! Fuu, are you engaged or not?"

"Ask Ferio," Fuu called back.

"Is this another thing we're supposed to tell each other about?" Hikaru said.

"Hikaru, so help me, if you turn out to be engaged too, I'm going to be really annoyed," Umi growled.

"Well, you can't marry three people legally so no? But if you could, Lantis definitely brought the topic up a while back."

"God dammit."

Fuu laughed over her box of books. Good for Hikaru. Ah. She was going to miss this. Umi had been applying for an internship with a company her family owned, Hikaru was graduating with a degree in early child education and was hoping to start a daycare with Lantis… They would all be heading to their own directions. It was a little bit lonely.

"Ah, Fuu!" Hikaru called. "Ferio's at the door!"

Fuu left her books behind, shaking her head. "You're early," she said to Ferio.

He pulled her into a hug, lingering chill from the early spring weather clinging to him giving her goosebumps. Fuu glanced down at the necklace tucked in his clothes like she wore; if Umi knew how long Fuu hadn't mentioned being engaged… "I figured I could help you pack a bit. Or we could head out early if you're getting sick of packing."

"Mm." Fuu hugged him back. "Well, I suppose I could use an extra pair of eyes to see if anything belongs to you or one of your friends. We seem to be finding a lot of things that don't belong to any of us. And maybe some help moving some stuff."

"Since some of it's moving into my apartment, I am pretty sure that's the least I can do," Ferio joked.

After a bit of going through random objects (most of which Ferio was fairly certain belonged to someone from Eagle's apartment since both Eagle and Zazu tended to be the ones to leave their belongings in random places or leave with someone else's things), they left behind Umi and Hikaru to their packing.

Fuu was glad for the break—and even more relieved to leave when she did because Umi seemed to be gearing up to talk about sex lives, and that was something Fuu always felt a little uncomfortable about. It was that or try to interrogate Ferio on Fuu's engagement status. She was more than happy to link arms with Ferio and hurry out the door.

It was a crisp spring day and Fuu felt light just breathing in the fresh air and seeing the first bright green hints of life poking out here and there. The cherry blossoms would bloom soon. She'd always liked spring.

"It feels a little unreal," Ferio said as they walked along. "It felt like that to me when I graduated."

"It does," Fuu agreed. "It's going to be a lot harder to keep in touch with everyone."

"You'll make it work." His hand squeezed hers. Their shoulders brushed with each step, comfortably in synch with each other. "You guys are too close not to."

"I hope so." It was a thing she worried about, but in truth it was a small worry compare to how she looked forward to seeing what paths they took from here. All the friends she had made here had promising paths ahead of them. It would be a privilege to watch that unfold. And she had her own life ahead of her, her own goals she was reaching and making, and she wouldn't be alone on that journey.

Impulsively, she leaned up and kissed Ferio's cheek.

He laughed. "What was that for?"

"I'm glad you're here," Fuu said.

"I don't plan on going anywhere."

"I know." She touched the chain around her neck. "So, it might be time to tell our friends we're engaged."

Ferio's face went red. "I thought we weren't officially engaged until I saved up for a ring that actually fit?"

"You gave me a ring two years ago," Fuu said, amused. "I've considered that official enough." Ferio's sister's rings had been beautiful. Unfortunately they hadn't fit either of them, something they'd both laughed over at a later date. Fuu knew how much they meant to him though. "Besides, I looked into getting rings resized…"

Ferio almost stepped out of time with her, catching himself last minute. "You mean it?"

"Of course. The rings are important. Perhaps hold off on the actual wedding until we can afford a pair of rings to compliment your sister's rings though," she said.

"I love you," Ferio said.

"I love you too."

"Caldina's going to be mad at us before crying on us in happiness."

"Umi will likely be the same." Oh well, they had expected the others to be annoyed with keeping it a secret.

"Think Lafarga will bake our wedding cake?"

Fuu giggled. "I think he would be insulted if we went to anyone else."

"How do you think your family will feel?"

"They like you," Fuu said, "so they will be glad. They're going to want to marry us off before the summer is over though." Her parents did care about propriety a bit more than she did when all was said and done.

"Is it bad that I hadn't thought about the social implications of you moving in?"

"Not at all." Fuu had thought them over and decided she didn't care. And it had felt like a perfectly natural step by this point; society could think what they wanted, Fuu knew exactly where she stood in all of it.

"Want to head to Escudo for a bit? Lantis sent some ideas for a new tea and Lafarga just made a new lemon-ginger cookie to taste test."

Fuu smiled. "That sounds lovely."

There was all the time in the world to let things fall into place. She knew what she wanted and she would make it happen. And along the way, she would enjoy every moment she could with the people she cared for by her side.

EXTRAS

Umi has Ferio's phone number too…

A week after writing his number down for Fuu, Ferio got a message from an unknown number. So on a scale of 1-10 wheres Fuu?

He stared at it for a while. Who is this?

Answer the question

Okay? What are the guidelines of the scale? I mean she's really cute? She's confident? She looks really nice when she smiles? I don't know her well enough to say. 8.5? A 9? Seriously, who is this?

Ding ding earning yourself roomie brownie points, was the response, and Ferio connected the dots. He'd given Fuu his number through her friend, who, it seemed, was also her roommate. This is Umi, came a few seconds later.

Ferio sent back Okay, for lack of a better response and hoped that would be the last of it.

It wasn't of course.

The texts came infrequently, seemingly off the top of Umi's head. One asking about the desserts at Escudo that week, an observation about Fuu's tea consumption, a complaint about a paper, or the occasional prying question that was usually followed by Umi taunting—or teasing, it was a bit unclear—him about his crush on Fuu.

He didn't reply to all of them. It was one of the weirder acquaintanceships he'd had, but Ferio replied to enough of them that he could call it something like a friendship as weeks went on.

Have you asked Fuu out yet, was a common text, to which Ferio almost always replied with stop asking that. As he got closer to Fuu, he really wasn't sure whether those questions were teasing or not. And then the pictures started.

The text So is she a 10? came with an attached picture of Fuu in an airy sundress, smiling at the camera. Ferio had to set his phone down and walk away because he hadn't been prepared for that at all. He stubbornly refused to answer the question. (He definitely saved the photo though. He felt only mildly guilty about that.)

From that point on, Umi sent a picture of Fuu every now and again. Ferio was pretty sure she was trying to set them up at that point. Funnily enough, he'd already gone on a date with Fuu by the third picture.

By the fifth one (Fuu in pajamas, clearly working on homework), Ferio went to Fuu. "Do your roommates know we're dating?" he asked.

"I haven't told them," Fuu said. "It's mostly because I'm not ready to talk about my dating life yet, but Umi's fishing for information is amusing too."

"I think Umi's trying to set us up."

Fuu laughed. "She is. Mostly so she can tease me about my romantic life like I tease her."

Ferio rubbed the back of his head. "Huh." He held out his phone. "So she might have sent me a few pictures of you."

Fuu took it, flipped through them. (He'd saved them all. He was weak.) She raised an eyebrow at them before handing the phone back. "Well, at least none of them are embarrassing photos."

"…You're not mad that I kept them?"

"I admit that I am a little annoyed that Umi sent them, but I'm not going to get upset over it since we are dating." She pursed her lips. "I will have to plan some sort of retribution for it though. I'll have to get Tarta's number and respond in kind."

Ferio laughed. (If Umi had asked him again where Fuu ranked on a scale, he'd have said a ten that day.)

The week after Ferio and Fuu finally went public with their relationship, Ferio took the first photo to send back to Umi; Fuu wearing one of his old sweatshirts over her clothes, curled up on his couch where she'd nodded off while studying.

He saved the picture on his phone along with the dozens of others.

Cute Umi sent back.

I know. Ferio added, Definitely 10/10 ;)

Brothers happen

"So, these are my boyfriends! Lantis," Hikaru waved a hand, "and Eagle."

"What." "What?!" Masaru and Kakeru said at the same time. Satoru didn't say anything at all, though he did look surprised.

"Pleasure to meet you," Eagle said, charming public face in place. "Hikaru's told us so much about you."

"She's never mentioned you!" Kakeru said, pointing rudely. "Either of you!"

"Two boyfriends, Hikaru?" Satoru said.

"Well, Eagle liked Lantis and Lantis liked me and Eagle and I liked Eagle and Lantis, and Eagle turned out to like me too, so it just made more sense this way you know?"

Lantis studied Satoru's polite expression and was quite sure that he was almost as shocked and alarmed as his brothers, just better at hiding it.

"I see." Satoru nodded to each of them before clamping hands over his younger brothers' mouths before their freak out could reach any louder volume. "Pleasure to meet you. Would you mind allowing us a moment to talk to our sister alone?"

"Go right ahead!" Eagle said, still beaming out polite cheerfulness at alarming levels. He and Lantis watched the door shut, cutting them off from Hikaru. Eagle dropped the cheer immediately as voices started exploding on the other side. "Well. That could have gone better."

"Actually, I was expecting worse. No one tried to punch us yet."

"Point."

Hikaru's voice cut over the others demanding they sit down and listen.

"Shouldn't we be there supporting her?" Eagle muttered.

The voices cut out to reasonable sound levels, words now indistinguishable. "Actually, I think she has this covered. And she's their little sister; they're not going to stay upset when it's clear that she's serious."

"Hmm, a little sibling thing then, eh? Know that from experience?" The teasing was gentle as Eagle always was more careful when skirting around Zagato's memory.

"More or less."

The door opened again to two sulking younger brothers, a still-smiling-politely older brother, and Hikaru, who looked frustrated but satisfied. "Satoru-nii is taking us out to dinner," she announced.

Her oldest brother situated himself next to Eagle even as the younger two all but closed rank around Hikaru. "So," Satoru said, "tell me about yourselves."

Lantis hoped dinner went fast.

Geo talks

It was halfway through an evening with Geo that Eagle fell asleep. It started with him leaning against Lantis's side, warm and familiar enough a thing that Lantis didn't think anything of it. It was only when Eagle's head abruptly slumped against his shoulder that Lantis even realized Eagle was asleep.

"There he goes," Geo sighed. "I thought he looked tired today."

"Does this happen often?" It never used to happen. Eagle was always the one awake and alert since he liked watching people.

"It has lately." Geo rubbed a hand through his hair. "How much has Eagle told you about the time before we moved here?"

"Not much."

Geo sighed. "Look, he doesn't really want us talking about it, but I think you should know." He met Lantis's eyes. "I'm laying it out here. After you left, Eagle's health went downhill. He was dying, actually, and the only reason Zazu and I knew anything about it was because Eagle fell asleep on top of test results." Geo sighed again. "He's better now. It's kind of a miracle; the doctors didn't think he was going to live through the year. "

"That bad..."

"Don't think he wanted ever say how bad it was. Anyway, the sleeping thing is left as a side effect. He just gets run down more."

Lantis felt a bit guilty for being angry at Eagle when they finally met up again now. "You're sure he's better?"

"Yeah. I go with him to the doctor since he finally fessed up. He just has shit health left over."

Lantis touched Eagle's face. Thank God that he had lived through that. Eagle shifted into the touch before tensing. He jerked upright.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Not even fifteen minutes," Geo said.

Eagle narrowed his eyes. Geo took a step back nervously. "You told him didn't you."

"Uh..."

"Relax," Lantis said. He tugged Eagle back against him. "You should have told me."

Eagle frowned. "It would have been better if you didn't know if I died then. And after it didn't matter. "

"I'd have cared, Eagle."

"Of course, but it hurts less when you're angry at someone."

Lantis shook his head. That would have been worse for all the regrets he would have had. "I'm glad you're here. Alive."

"Glad to be here," Eagle said leaning back against him.

"And that's my cue to leave," Geo muttered.

Eagle and Lantis glanced at each other, then at Geo. "You say that like you've ever actually walked in on something intimate with us," Eagle said laughing.

"There's a first time for everything and I am not taking chances."

Eagle laughed and kissed Lantis dramatically on the cheek as Geo hurried from the room. "We'll have to mess with him sometime," he said still snickering.

"I believe we had a similar conversation once and it ended with me saying I was not into voyeurism. "

"More's the pity," Eagle said with a sigh. He tilted his head, considering.

"What?" Lantis asked.

"Well we are in a relationship with a third person. Would you be against it if it was Hikaru?"

Lantis opened his mouth, closed it. His cheeks felt hot. "Don't. "

"That's a no!" Eagle sing songs.

"Eagle."

"So you do have a kinky side after all."

"You would know. "

Eagle laughed once more, softly, before curling back up against Lantis's side. "Yup. So, about scandalizing Geo..."

"No."

Eagle smirked, but let the subject drop.

Lantis breathed with him, enjoying the warmth that only another person could bring. "Tell me about your illness sometime?" he asked after a few moments.

"Sometime," Eagle conceded. And that was enough.

Umi. Stop.

"So who's better in bed, Lantis or Eagle?"

Fuu gave Umi a disappointed look.

"What? They're both attractive guys and I'm curious."

Hikaru, unfazed by any of Umi's lines of questions by this point, shrugged. "Dunno."

"…You're telling me you've been dating almost four years now and you haven't slept with either of them?" Umi gaped. "You've spent the night. Hell, even Fuu's spent the night with her boyfriend and you know it can't be all innocent."

Fuu whapped Umi with the nearest book. She'd appreciate not having her sex life speculated about.

"There's more to a relationship than sex, Umi," Hikaru said.

"Well yeah, but… Four years."

B-W-D

"Bed, wed, dead: Lantis, Eagle or Geo?" Tarta asked.

"Pff, that's an easy one," Umi said. "Bed Lantis because he's hot, Marry Geo because he's marry material, and kill Eagle because any other option would probably lead to wanting to kill him." She grinned. "Now you. Hmm, Fuu, Ascot or Zazu?"

"Really?" Tarta rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Fine. Marry the kid cuz he's too sweet to mess with, sleep with Fuu because she's hot, 'nd kill Zazu because he's an annoyin' pervy brat." Tarta flicked Umi's arm. "Don't think I don't notice ya pullin' weird shit on me."

"Well we have such a narrow pool of people we both know."

"Eh. Fine. Lessee…" Tarta grinned. "Okay, Fuu, Hikaru n' me."

"You didn't."

Tarta kept grinning.

"Ugh, fine. Marry Hikaru because who could go with fuck or kill with her? F you—literally and figuratively, dear—because if I chose kill, you'd kill me, and kill Fuu. Poor Fuu."

Tarta snickered. "Bitch. I'm not marry material?"

"Be glad you escaped a cruel fate." Umi stuck her tongue out, rolling onto her stomach. "Hmm. Clef, Zazu, Eagle."

"I hate ya."

"You pull an evil card, I pull one right back," Umi said gleefully.

"Fiiiine. Marry Eagle, bed Clef," she made a grossed out face, "and kill the shrimp. Cuz he's still worse n' the rest."

To be fair they'd had a pretty awful first meeting. All around, Umi wasn't too fond of the guy either. "Fair enough."

"Clef, me, and Ascot," Tarta said, looking too pleased with herself. Umi should never have admitted finding Clef hot. Or mentioned that Ascot was cute now that he wasn't a little kid anymore.

"Marry Ascot, sleep with Clef, and oops, guess you're dead."

"You shit." Tarta rolled on top of her, tickling mercilessly. Umi shrieked and flailed before trying to tickle back. They wrestled back and forth until they fell off the bed in a tangle of limbs.

"Ouch," Umi said from the bottom of the heap. They'd taken half the blankets with them at least.

"I call a truce."

"Seconded."

"Still can't believe ya'd sleep with Clef over me, what the hell."

Umi burst into giggles and didn't stop until Tarta kissed her just to make her stop.

Clef appears

"You should be right on track to graduate on time," Clef said, flipping through Umi's paperwork. "There's just one more class requirement for your major to fill next semester, and two more if you still intend to get that communications minor. And I see that you've already picked classes that fill those slots, so that isn't a problem."

"Great," Umi said across from him. She took her class registration papers back, relieved that she hadn't forgotten anything. Her fingers brushed against Clef's, but he didn't seem to notice. He never seemed to notice anything that could be less than strictly professional. If she was honest, it was something Umi liked and hated about him at the same time. Almost two and a half years of him as her advisor and he'd been supportive and given great advice and never once given any indication that he noticed or reciprocated the crush she had on him. It wasn't like she expected anything to come of it, but still… Ouch.

"Have you given any more thought about after graduation?" Clef asked, like he usually asked after she came to him for advice.

"Still considering an internship with my family's company to get a feel for things," Umi said. She shrugged. "I'll probably just work there eventually."

"So you've said." Clef frowned in that way he had that only used his eyebrows. "Is that what you want to do though?" he asked. He hadn't asked before, just accepted her vague thoughts about her future. "You said it's what your parents are expecting, but what do you want?"

"I don't know," Umi admitted. She didn't have a goal like Fuu, or idealized dreams like Hikaru did. Umi supposed she didn't even have Tarta's driving familial loyalty either. Her future, much like most of her life, was likely to be yet another transition into a role her parents expected of her and she'd never minded that. She knew they would have supported her if she did have some dream to follow, and since she didn't, it was enough to follow their dreams for her.

"Think about it," Clef said. He smiled, a smile she used to think he wasn't capable of because he was always so serious when he taught. "You have a lot of potential. You should use it on what you want from your life."

Umi felt her face go warm. He was sparing with his compliments, but always sincere when he gave them.

"I'll write you a recommendation for anywhere you choose to go; your family's company or somewhere else entirely," Clef said. "Just let me know what you end up deciding."

"…Thank you," Umi said. She was probably always going to have a crush on him. Even if he was almost twice her age and shorter than she was. He kept pictures of his cats on his desk along with pictures past students had sent along on a cork board on the wall. He had a collection of intricate metal sculptures on his bookshelf that had Presea's handiwork all over them. He'd talked Umi through her indecision over her minor and calmed her down when she had almost failed one of her general requirements her second year. He'd given her group work in every class she'd been in that he taught, but Umi felt like she might actually be able to handle a cooperative business setting because of it. It had been a stupid, foundationless crush at first, but years later Umi couldn't say she felt any self-consciousness for falling for him. The more she'd gotten to know him, the more inevitable it had felt.

"If you need to talk about anything, you know my office hours," Clef said.

Umi nodded.

She'd take him up on that. It was a one-sided crush, but she couldn't help turning to him sometimes.

Pet Sitting

There was something that didn't belong in the apartment. Umi stared down the hell rabbit where it sat on Hikaru's lap, its fuzzy nose twitching away.

"Hikaru, what the hell is this this thing doing here?" Umi asked. She mentally congratulated herself at keeping her voice level and not shrieking at the sight of Presea's pet taking up residence in Umi's refuge.

"Presea had a conference to go to for a few days, so I offered to watch Mokona." Hikaru smiled, pulling the fluff ball onto its hind legs to better get to its belly fur. Umi could swear the rabbit was grinning at her. "Normally she has a pet sitter, but her usual person's not in town this week."

"She couldn't just take it with her?" Umi grumbled.

"She's taking a plane. It would be awfully traumatic to put a rabbit on a plane for a couple days of travel," Hikaru said. She petted the monstrosity like it was the cutest thing ever. Umi glared at the rabbit.

The rabbit wiggled free of Hikaru and hopped over to flop on Umi's feet like it liked to do in Presea's office.

"Aww, he remembers you, Umi-chan," Hikaru said.

"Ugh." She nudged the rabbit off her feet and backed away toward the kitchen. "Fine, so we have the fur ball here for a few days. Just keep it away from me and it's all good."

"But Mokona likes you, Umi-chan." Hikaru bent down and made one of Mokona's paws wave in her direction. It was both disturbing and unfairly cute.

"How's Fuu taking this?"

"I have no problem with Hikaru-san pet sitting," Fuu's voice came from the other room. Umi jumped, not realizing she was home. Fuu peeked around the corner with a smile. "Besides, Sir Mokona is a nice rabbit."

"'Sir?'" Umi said skeptically.

Fuu giggled. "I think it suits him."

"Uuugh." The rabbit tried to follow her again and Umi decided the best course of action was to retreat. It was only for a few days. She could manage a few days, right?

o*o

Umi was less okay when she learned 'a few days' was a week and a half, and that Mokona had the habit of dragging papers off things and nibbling on them. He also had the really creepy habit of staring whenever she was in the room, or following her, or—as one memorable time happened—appearing right outside the bathroom door in the middle of the night with his eyes reflecting the light eerily.

Umi was calling in the towel and going back to the apartment as little as possible.

"I don't get what the problem is," Tarta said when Umi declared she was sleeping over the second night in a row. "It's a bunny."

"A bunny from hell," Umi said.

"A bunny," Tarta repeated. "How the hell're ya scared of a fluffy bunny?"

"It stares like it sees into your soul and is judging you for every time you forgot to change the toilet paper rolls or you made shit up for an essay to increase the word count. It's like it knows."

"Uh huh."

Umi pouted at Tarta until Tarta rolled her eyes and squished Umi's cheeks between her palms.

"Hon, I love you, but ya have a problem."

"Just trust me, the bunny's evil," Umi said, a little slurred from Tarta's hands.

"Need a distraction?" Tarta asked, amused.

"Please."

Tarta was still laughing at her when she kissed her, but that was okay since she was letting Umi spend the night rather than going back to have the rabbit staring at her again.

o*o

Hikaru was out, Fuu was on a date, it was just Umi stuck braving the bunny to get some of her books and a change of clothes.

She found Mokona in a shredded mess of (thankfully blank) notebook paper like a chubby white king in a mass of paper snow.

"Oh hell no. You did not just destroy one of Fuu's spare notebooks."

Mokona looked back at her, expression the picture of innocence even with all the paper around him.

"Why didn't you come with a cage," Umi muttered. She braved the rabbit, picking him up and pulling him off toward the bathroom where they'd set up his rabbit toilet equivalent—he wasn't ripping the paper and sawdust mess of that apart at least—and closed the door so he could stay out of trouble as she cleaned up the mess. Umi would have left him in the bathroom entirely except she knew Hikaru would give her the biggest kicked puppy expression if she did.

Reluctantly, she let the bunny out of the bathroom. Mokona hopped after her and flopped on her feet.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Umi muttered to herself. The rabbit twitched an ear her direction and stretched his whole body out to cover as much space as possible. Umi sighed. At least he was warm and soft. And not the sort of rabbit that liked to bite or scratch. She'd seen his claws under the fluffy fur and how long his teeth were when he munched on some of the vegetables Hikaru cut up for him.

"I still don't like you," Umi said, surrendering to having her feet claimed as bunny territory for the time being. "This doesn't mean anything."

Mokona stayed a furry white deadweight over her toes.

o*o

"This is what ya were worried about?" Tarta asked, holding up Mokona. He let himself be handled like a ragdoll, the only sign of life his ever twitching nose. "This? This ain't a hell rabbit, it's a cloud. A fat, fluffy, cuddly cloud."

"Shut up," Umi said. "You haven't seen his eyes glowing at you in the dark when you go to pee in the middle of the night."

"Aww, I'm sure he's more scare'd've ya than yer of him." She cuddled Mokona. The bunny was stealing her girlfriend and looking smug about it. What the hell. "Don't worry cutie, she's just weird," Tarta said to the ball of fur in her arms.

Umi glared at the rabbit. "I'm weird? It's the snowball that seems to love to stalk me. How is that even normal rabbit behavior?"

"Maybe he just likes ya?"

"Why?!"

Tarta shrugged, playing with Mokona's silky ears. "Dunno. Maybe he's just kinda dumb."

"Great. A stupid demon rabbit. Wonderful."

Tarta laughed at her. Umi left her to play with the hell rabbit. It meant that it would let Umi be for long enough to do things in her own apartment in peace.

o*o

"I give up."

Hikaru and Fuu were giggling as Mokona hopped between all of them before consistently coming to sit on Umi's feet. Besides being kind of creepy with the staring and following her, the rabbit hadn't actually done anything in the time it was there. Just destroy anything paper they forgot to keep out of reach, and that wasn't really demonic exactly.

Umi frowned down at her foot warmer and nudged Mokona's pudgy body. "I don't get you at all. Do you just like my feet? Because they're pretty bony. They're probably not even comfortable you weirdo creature."

Mokona's ears twitched, but he didn't move. Hikaru snapped a picture on her phone. Umi tried to melt into the sofa.

"I guess I just have to accept this. It's not cute at all. It's still weird, rabbit, you're weird and probably really dumb." Umi ignored Hikaru and Fuu laughing at her. "Yup. Really dumb. But okay. I guess I just have to accept that you have the worst self-preservation instincts of any prey animal ever."

"Aww, c'mon, Umi-chan," Hikaru said, settling on Umi's other side. "If you really minded you'd just have spent the whole week with Tarta."

"She's have kicked me out," Umi said, knowing it wasn't true. Tarta would have laughed at her the whole week and for weeks after, but she'd have let Umi stay. Mokona spread his whole body over her feet to achieve maximum furry coverage. So. Weird.

"Uh huh." Fuu sat on Umi's other side, sandwiching her onto the couch. Trapped on all sides. Yup, Umi was just going to melt here and never move again. Fuu had the tiny, smug tilt to her smile that she got when she felt she knew something before someone else and it was something really funny. "I am sure your surrender to Sir Mokona is completely unavoidable."

"It's a war of attrition. I surrender now, and I can maybe survive the rest of the pet sit."

"You like him," Hikaru insisted.

"Never."

Still, Umi didn't protest when Hikaru plopped Mokona into her lap. Mokona stretched out across all three of them. He was stupid soft was all. It felt nice. For a hell rabbit.

o*O*o

AN: That's it. That's the end. I hope that you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it ^_^ Thanks for all of you out there that left reviews! They really made my day.

For anyone who is interested, more random headcanon stream of thought sort of thing:

So, what's the backstory/life of everyone?

Hikaru, Umi and Fuu pretty much have the lives they'd have had if they never went to Cephiro (thus if Hikaru's a little too happy-happy, she never had the trauma of killing someone in this universe).

Ferio's mostly been covered in story—rich family, dissonance in values, controlling family, sister suiciding, etc. But he pretty much took a bit of time off from school after his sister died, tried to get his head together, and thus ended up with Lafarga and having Caldina big-sis adopt him. He started working at Escudo, renting from Lafarga, and put his life back in order to continue school. He'd just returned back to school the semester Fuu met him.

Lafarga's a ¼ Japanese, son of an American soldier and has a ½ Japanese mother, thus why he doesn't look very Japanese at all despite being a citizen. He almost ended up a police officer, but in the end that career wasn't working for him so he decided to make his hobbies of baking and enjoying fine coffees into a profession. He met Caldina back when he was trying the police career and is hoping to propose soon since they've been dating for years.

Caldina's from the same country as Tarta and Tatra (which in this is going to just be some teeny fictional country somewhere in the world) and spent years traveling around the world before she ended up in Japan, met Lafarga, and decided she might want to stick around this time. Unlike Lafarga (who's kind of a romantic but shy about it), she doesn't care about marriage one way or another, but she'd accept if he asked as she's committed and knows it's important to him.

The old man advisor from Fahren (Qiang Ang) is a history professor at the university. Lady Asuka is from a well to do family and is a bit of a prodigy. She's still not quite at university levels yet though. She's friends with Sang Yung whose family owns the shop next to Alcyone.

Meanwhile, you have Tarta and Tatra who are princesses (Umi flips her shit when Tarta eventually admits this) from a teeny tiny country. Tatra went to a prestigious university in America and is taking care of all the things she needs to know as the next to inherit the royal line. Which left Tarta free to choose where she wanted to go and with more leeway in her studies. Since Tarta isn't the one inheriting, no one gives a crap who she dates (though for all I know there's legal standing in her country where she and her sister could marry whomever and however many people of any gender, so long as an heir is produced at some point), so yay for Umi there. She's taking business classes and politics because even though she's not obligated to know how to rule a country as second child, she wants to do her best for her country and support her sister. The fact that Umi's a wealthy heiress herself is a lucky happenstance in Tarta's book and more likely that she'd be approved of. Tatra is amused at her sister's romantic life and liked Umi when they met.

Ascot on the other hand is an orphan and a prodigy. He has a foster family that he likes well enough, but he connects more with the menagerie of pets he's accumulated than people most of the time. He got big-sis adopted by Caldina via Ferio, since Ascot occasionally hung out with the crowd of people Ferio does sword fighting with. Ferio befriended him, Ascot started stopping by Escudo, the rest sort of just happened inevitably as it does when Caldina decides to care about someone. (She's going to adopt Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu in a heartbeat. Especially Hikaru "You have all brothers, well now ya have a sister too! Lantis shoulda brought ya by sooner.") He's not sure what he wants to do yet, but it's probably going to be something with animals. He's taking business and economics classes even though he doesn't need them because Umi mentioned she was taking him and he signed up for an excuse to keep running into her after their first class together. Life is tough the first time you fall in love. He's currently taking more classes than is advisable because of it though. His life is stress.

(As mentioned in an earlier chapter) Primera's a 3 year old because, well, she kind of acted like it in the anime and manga. _ She annoyed me a bit so she can be the small child her maturity level reflects. Mira is also someone in the campus daycare. She likes Lantis, but when Hikaru starts going to the daycare frequently, she latches onto her. All is sunshine and rainbows and kittens with those two.

Zazu, Geo, and Eagle were all good friends back in Autozam, though back then they weren't all rooming together until later. Zazu has a major in robotics and engineering, and is going for a third degree in programming, which he's decided to use in game making, which led to a fourth major in graphic design (he's kind of insane and lives off caffeine and spends every moment not working on school, personal projects, or sleeping watching anime or playing some form of video game. Often dating sims or RPGs with mecha.) Zazu intends to one day combine all his passions and create a working gundam because he is a giant nerd. Geo's been the mom friend from day one with the two of them. He hadn't intended to go on to get a masters, but in the end he tagged along and continued his studies because Eagle and Zazu would probably stop functioning if he left them alone at this point, and he supposes getting another degree isn't going to hurt his résumé any.

Presea is an art professor who specializes in metalwork. She does knife smithing as a hobby, but her art tends to be intricate metal sculptures and the like. She's head over heels for Clef and has been for years. About the only one who hasn't noticed is Clef. Everyone else caught on the second year she made him something that had to have taken weeks of work if not months two years in a row for his birthday. Which she gives him something for every year without fail and talks about how they're coworkers and all, "hahaha ^_^!" even though they aren't even in the same department and don't really have much reason to interact. She got Mokona when her twin decided to move and find her own way a few years back and alternately loves and hates him because he's so cute? But he tends to get into all her things and destroy them? She's taken to bringing him wherever she goes so she can keep an eye on him. Plus students seem to love him and he's always up for more attention.

Clef has a habit of taking strays, and also does tutoring sometimes on the side. He tutored Emeraude, and all but raised Zagato and Lantis in their teen years. Alcyone was also one of his strays, but they had a falling out over a disagreement in her business practices. Clef is a bit oblivious to how many people have crushes on him because it's not the first, second, or even third thing on his mind. He's pretty comfortable with the life he has and his cat (think the griffin). He's always glad to help students find their way though, so he'd probably take Umi on as her adviser.

Alcyone had a hard life and clawed her way to success. She prefers to project an air of wealth and success to constantly remind herself that she's overcome her past. She fell hard for Zagato back when she was around Clef and outright hated Emeraude because she could tell he was falling for Emeraude instead of her. When Emeraude and Zagato died, she didn't have much of an outlet for the emotions until she met Ferio and it was a kind of instant mutual hatred, her more because he was Emeraude's brother, him because he thought she was tacky and overcharging for crap cakes. They maintain a sort of rivalry via Escudo and The Forrest, but if she ever goes in while Lantis is working, she's actually the picture of politeness to him. Lantis never quite knows how to feel about her because on one hand, they saw each other a lot growing up and were sort of friends. On the other hand, he knows she loved his brother, hated Emeraude, got into a fight with Clef, and is projecting Zagato on him a bit more than he is comfortable with.

There's no Nova and Debonair in this, but it would be pretty fun if Hikaru eventually adopts a cat and names it Nova. Nova hates everyone. Except Hikaru and Lantis. And even then she'll attack your hands for no reason. Hikaru forgives her every time.