Nami shrugged at the broken remains of her spoon, tossed them away, and pulled another from a pocket of her white apron before sticking it back into her bun. She walked over to Shigure, who she embraced in a floury hug, and then turned to Hatori with a questioning look.

"What's the matter with her, Hatori?"

"The call of duty..." Hatori said simply. "Come on lets eat."

Rushing past everyone and everything Andromeda ran towards the main house.

Minouru sighed, and looked up at the moon. it was nearly full, and illuminated the empty street the silver-haired teen was walking through quite well. Quite without her meaning for it to, the she-wolf's mind flashed back to a moment from her childhood; a moment she would never have back.

"You must have a heart of ice, Minouru!" A young Ayame had laughed, whilst she sat under the cherry blossoms ignoring the others.

"I suppose that's true," a slightly older, wiser Minouru mused as she wrapped her long coat tighter around herself, "But maybe the ice is melting, maybe..."

She ran a hand through her silver and red bangs, and started walking back the way she had came.

~

"Hello." She whispered, poking her head around the door, "I just wanted to make sure Nami didn't give you food poisoning or anythin'...I mean, I may find you annoying but I don't want you to die...or whatever..." the young girl smiled weakly at the other zodiac members, silently asking for forgiveness.

((Heh, if you didn't get it, I tried to work in some symbolism, with Minouru wanting to get away from the family and not really liking people and her animal being the wolf...Lone wolf, get it? But they usually rejoin their packs in the end. Yeah, I'm lame.))

Nami grinned at Minouru. "Nah, I wouldn't poison them. No point. Love 'em all too much. You want some dinner? I've just made some." She handed Minouru a small onigiri, a taster of the meal to come, and an apology for calling her "Min-min".