Okay, first I'm SO SORRY I've been acting like I died and not updating. I didn't forget about this story, but school started and I never got to finish it. I wanted to make it longer, to reward you all for waiting so long, but that would've taken longer. So here's your update!

Now it school would stop being such an ass, I'd get to update more :(.

Disclaimer: if I owned FB, this would've been in the anime…

I decided to go before Kyra woke up; if Akito tired himself out trying to kill me, he wouldn't have the energy to come after her.

0-0-0-0-0

Well, that went about as well as expected.

I remember telling Akito about Kyra. I remember his face turning an odd shade of purple. I clearly remembered him leaving the room.

I can't quite recall what happened after he came back with Kyo's baseball bat.

However, when I regained consciousness, Akito was calmer. The bat was gone, and he was laying on the floor, staring out the window.

"How could this happen?" he muttered to himself. "I don't understand."

I stirred a bit and he turned around. We stared at each other until Akito sighed, thoroughly disgusted, and looked away.

"The zodiac animals are supposed to be loyal to me. Only me. You made a promise to stay by my side forever. Was that a lie, Hatori? Did you lie to me? Was it just a big joke to you? Did I make you laugh?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but my words died in my throat.

"Akito…"

He waved a hand at me. "Go away. Just get out."

I hesitated. "But what about Kyra?"

He whipped his head around to me, his eyes molten with fury. "What about her? She has to stay with you, right?"

I nodded numbly.

"Then what the hell are you asking me for? GET OUT!"

I zipped out as fast as I could. I left with all my limbs intact! I didn't expect that.

Kyra was stirring when I got back. I quickly covered my scars and sat in the chair closest to the cot she was sitting on.

A few minutes later, she woke up. Yawing, she rubbed her little fists across her eyes. She looked around, confused by her surroundings.

"Good morning," I said, grinning. She gasped and turned at the sound of my voice; then recognition flitted across her features as she remembered. She sucked her thumb and stayed silent. I guess she was still shy.

I smiled warmly and tussled her hair. "Do you remember me?"

She nodded. "You're my daddy. You're name's Hatori. Mommy talks about you a lot."

Even covered in scars, I don't think I could've been happier.

Kyra seemed to have just noticed my scars. She reached up with one adorable little hand and touched my face. "Were you attacked by an animal, or something?"

I shook my head. "No, no, I went to see… have you ever heard of Akito?"

From the mortified look on her face, I assumed she did.

"He's not coming," I reassured her quickly. "I just had to talk to him, because he's the head of our family. Everything that we do in our family has to be run past him, to make sure he approves."

She nodded softly. "Oh."

…

Well, I'm not exactly sure what to do next.

"Um…are you-are you hungry?"

She blinked up at me. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so."

"Well then, um… what would you like to eat?"

She just shrugged.

Sigh.

"Let's just go to the kitchen; I'll have the maids make something," I said, gently plucking her from the cot."

"Daddy, what's a maid?" she inquired, peering up at me.

"You'll see."

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I took Kyra into the kitchen, where all the workers turned around and bowed at me when I l walked in.

"Master Hatori, welcome. What brings you here?" one of the cooks inquired.

"Everyone," I said, turning so they could see Kyra, "this is my daughter, Kyra Sohma. She'll be staying with me for a whi-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence because soon, we were surrounded by all the women who work in the kitchen. "Oh my, what a cute little girl!" "She's adorable!" "Awww!"

Kyra's eyes widened and she turned and hid her face in my shirt. All the maids backed off.

"Sorry about that," I apologized. "She's just a little shy. Anyway, she was hungry. I was wondering what we could do to get her a snack?"

The maids sprung into action, each pulling out a variety of small snacks and holding them out for her. I looked down at Kyra.

"Go ahead, pick anything you like," I said.

She turned around and looked at all the snacks. "Uh…" Kyra glanced up at me for help.

"Surprise us," I said. Kyra seemed to like that.

0-0-0-0-0

Once she had her snack of goldfish crackers, I took her to what was to become her room. It was pretty skimpy for the moment, with nothing more than a bed and a desk, but that was because I didn't know what she liked yet. Once she told me her favorite colors, we could paint the walls, buy curtains and sheets, get her some more clothes, ect.

She sat on the bed and instantly began to sink. Horrified, she jumped off and ran back to me. "Daddy, the bed tried to eat me!"

As much as I knew it was wrong to laugh at a child when they're freaked out, I couldn't help the snort that wormed its way out.

"Kyra, it's a memory foam bed, it was not trying to eat you. Here, watch."

I stepped around her and went to sit on the bed. I went down a little, but then I stopped and settled. "See? Nothing to worry about. It's supposed to be really comfortable when you go to sleep."

I gently picked her up and placed her on the bed. She whimpered a little when it adjusted to her shape, but once it stopped, she was fine.

"Now, then. What colors would you like in your room? We can paint it any color you want."

"Green," she replied without missing a beat.

My head kind of fell off to one side. Green? I'd expected pink, or purple, but green?

"Alright," I nodded. "Then tomorrow, I'll take you to the home depot we own and get you some paint. For now, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

She looked a little confused, like she hadn't expected the topic to jump from paint to personal identity. I'm not sure I did, either; I just wanted to find a way to bring it up without her getting uncomfortable. I don't think I did such a good job.

"Um, uh…I'm 10, my favorite color's lime green, and I love puppies," she said slowly.

Great. Shigure was going to have a great time with this one.

"Oh, and seahorsies. They're really cute! But they don't look like horsies…" she added.

Huh. I smiled a little. "Nice."

…

Well, what now? I let her get a snack, I showed her the room she'd be staying in, we're going to paint it tomorrow… what else am I supposed to do?

"Maybe we ought to get you unpacked, huh?" I suggested. She nodded.

I got off the bed and went over to the corner, where I'd brought her luggage while she was asleep. I unzipped the bag on top of the suitcase and was about to unpack it when Kyra stopped me.

"Uh, can I unpack that one?"

"Why?"

She blushed and looked kind of uncomfortable as she mumbled, "That has my underwear in it…"

I handed it to her without another word. She pulled it into her lap and started going through it. She'd pulled out about 3 pairs of socks when the bag slipped off her lap. All her stuff came tumbling out. I was going to unpack her suitcase when I saw 2 ears sticking out of the pile of underwear.

I reached down and quickly pulled it out. It was a stuffed bunny, clearly made by Kana; her stitch work was lovely.

Kyra gasped when she saw it. "Bunny!" she cried, holding her arms out for it. I handed it to her and she hugged it so hard I thought all the stuffing would come out. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

I smiled and turned to pull out some of her clothes. I had a pair of jeans and some t-shirts out of her suitcase when I heard sniffling.

I turned. Kyra had begun crying big fat tears that rolled down her face and onto her bunny. I dropped all the clothes in my arms and walked over to her.

"Kyra? What's wrong?"

"I-i-I miss momma!" she sobbed, clinging to my neck.

I sighed and hugged her tight. "Me, too."

A/N: Awww, the ending is kinda sad .