'My mother is home; she is finally home,' I thought internally as tears welled up in my eyes while I cried in my mother’s warm embrace.

After we had our moment of tears and embraced each other a little while longer, I looked up at my mother and asked, "Mommy?"

"Yes, what is it, sweetheart?" She looked down at me, still holding me close.

I gently took hold of one of her arms and playfully nibbled on it. She released our embrace, momentarily puzzled until she understood, and then she flashed a delighted smile.

Stepping back slightly, I beamed with the brightest smile I could muster and said, "I missed you so much. Welcome home, Mommy."

"I'm home, and I missed you a lot too, my sweet daughter," my mother replied with a radiant smile before enveloping me in another loving hug.

As we hugged, Eri approached us and looked at both my mother and a girl who I assumed was Yami-nee.

"Mistress, it's great to see you home, but I thought we were going to meet during the first school break?" Eri asked, her smile warm as she observed our reunion.

"Thank you, Eri. We were, but I was able to take care of the 'problems' that were keeping me away early. I had a lot of help from Yami over here as well," my mother explained, gesturing to Yami-nee.

"Problems?" I inquired, tilting my head in puzzlement, my ears twitching with curiosity.

"Nothing to worry about, sweetheart," my mother assured me with a warm and affectionate smile, her fingers gently stroking my ears.

"Mmnya..." I purred contentedly, leaning into my mother's hand.

"Eeek, you are so cute, Hina-chan, please come home with me!" Yami-nee squealed, running up to me and hugging me tightly.

"Nyaa!" I squealed in response to the sudden hug and then happily said, "It's good to see you haven't changed, Yami-nee."

"Yami-nee, let go of Hina, she is not going anywhere with you," Eri insisted, pulling me away from Yami-nee's embrace and holding me close.

"Your protective side is so cute too, Eri," Yami-nee teased before hugging both of us.

"Shush it, Yami-nee," Eri replied, her cheeks turning a shade of pink in embarrassment.

My mother laughed and remarked with a bright smile, "Things haven’t changed at all since you three girls were kids."

Yami-nee, Eri, and I all shared a laugh, knowing my mother's words held truth. Yami-nee then expressed with a very happy smile, "It has been a while; it is good to see my little sisters haven’t changed all these years."

"Although one thing has changed," my mother added, prompting Eri and me to look at her with curiosity.

She giggled and continued with a mischievous smile forming, "I couldn’t help but hear you call my daughter, Hina, without an honorific, yet you still call me Mistress. Shouldn't you be calling me Mom now? After all, you and Hina have promised to be together and love each other for all eternity, and that makes you my daughter as well."

My tails started swaying happily, and my ears twitched excitedly at what my mother was suggesting.

Eri blushed slightly and replied, "M..mom, I can’t do that just yet."

My mother laughed and said, "Fine, I will give up on that for now, but do call me Kyoko from now on at least. By the way, you haven’t officially proposed or anything yet, right?"

"No, Ma’am. I wanted to receive your blessing first," Eri answered honestly.

"Eri, of course you have my blessing. I have always known how much you have loved Hina, and how much she has loved you. As the Head of the Tachibana Clan, I hereby accept you as one of my daughter’s fiancés. I know it is soon, but I can’t allow my daughter to date unless she is engaged, so please continue to protect her and make her happy," my mother declared with a warm expression.

"Eri’s Fiancé," I whispered to myself, my tails swaying back and forth excitedly as I started imagining the future.

"Yes, thank you Mis...ahem...Thank you, Kyoko. I vow to continue to always put Hina’s happiness and protection first," Eri affirmed with a serious yet happy smile.

"Very good, I will hold you to that, you know," my mother laughed.

"Congratulations, Eri, Hina-chan," Yami-nee cheered, hugging both of us again.

"Hehe, thank you, Yami-nee," I giggled and hugged her back, then playfully nibbled her arm.

She let out a surprised gasp and asked, "Why did I get chomped, Hina-chan?"

"Because you worried Eri when you didn’t visit for so long," I replied, my ears twitching as I pouted at her.

"Your right, I’m sorry Hina-chan, I’m sorry Eri," Yami-nee said, looking genuinely remorseful.

"It’s okay, Yami-nee, I understand," Eri replied, giving her a warm smile.

"Sniff...I’m sorry..." I began to cry, still feeling emotional from reuniting with my mother and Yami-nee. When I saw the sadness in Yami-nee's eyes, I felt guilty for chomping her.

"It’s okay, Hina-chan, you didn’t hurt my feelings or hurt me. I have actually missed your cute chomps," Yami-nee said, hugging my head into her large chest and patting my back.

After I calmed down, we all headed to the living room to relax.

However, I didn't sit in my usual spot on Eri's lap this time; instead, I sat on my mother's lap. She enveloped me with her nine tails while I showed her all the pictures I had taken on my shopping trip with Eri, Sakura, and Sayori.

"Can you tell me more about your friends, sweetheart?"

"Sakura is really mature but also very nice, and she is very observant. Sayori is really excitable and bubbly; she loves cute things. She seems to always bring a smile to your face," I answered happily, thinking about my new friends.

"I'm glad you seemed to make such nice friends," my mother replied while rubbing my ears.

"Hehe, I like them a lot," I replied.

"What about school? I bet Aiko played a prank on your first day, didn't she?" My mother laughed after asking.

"She did. Aunty Aiko surprised me by having me improvise a speech on the spot as the transfer student representative," I pouted, recalling the experience.

My mother laughed as Eri continued, "However, Hina came up with an amazing speech that made everyone cheer."

I blushed slightly from the compliment.

After that, we continued to talk for a while. I told my mother about some of the unique teachers at school, the love letters, and about Eri helping me in the changing room, and then I started feeling tired.

"Mommy, your tails are so warm," I said while yawning, feeling as if I would fall asleep any minute from the warmth.

"I’m glad, sweetheart. You can go to sleep if you are feeling tired," my mother said as she rubbed my ears, causing me to purr and relax into her chest.

"Mmnya," I purred in comfort before I answered, shaking my head as I tried to stay awake. "I can’t sleep yet; I want to spend more time with you and Yami-nee."

"Hina-chan, I promise I will still be here tomorrow; we can play together then, okay," Yami-nee told me, making me relax a little more.

"It is getting late, Mom. Would you like for me to take Hina to her room?" Eri asked, noticing I was drifting off to sleep even more.

‘I want to sleep with my mother tonight. I know I’m too old, but I’m scared this is a dream,’ I thought to myself while looking up at my mother, my ears drooping slightly.

She gave me a warm smile while patting my head before saying, “Actually, I think Hina will sleep with me tonight. I haven’t seen my daughter in 8 years, and I don’t want to leave her side yet.”

I looked over at Eri, and she gave me a warm loving smile before replying to my mother, “Of course, I understand.”

After I received permission, I could no longer fight my drowsiness.

I whispered, “I love you, Mommy,” and then succumbed to my mother’s warmth, falling asleep while laying my head on her chest.

As the morning sun rose through the curtains, and my eyes fluttered awake, I found myself being hugged tightly and feeling a comforting warmth from something soft and fluffy covering me from head to toe.

When I peeked my head out and looked up, I saw my mother’s smiling face, her ears twitching happily. She rubbed my ears, causing me to purr softly, and said, “Good morning, sweetheart.”

‘What happened yesterday wasn’t a dream. My mother is really here.’ I thought to myself while still purring from my mother’s pets.

“Mmnya, Good morning to you too, Mommy.” I replied as I sat up and started rubbing her ears as well.

“Mmnya” she purred softly and then laughed, “Who taught you how to pet our ears so well?”

“Eri.” I replied, blushing a little before I continued, “Eri’s pets are the best.”

She laughed before saying, “You really love Eri, huh?”

“Mmh, I love her lots. She has always been by my side since we first became friends.” I answered honestly. My ears started twitching, and my tails started swaying happily.

My mother giggled before she asked, “What do you love about Eri?”

I tilted my head slightly, pondering her question, my ears twitching. ‘There is too much to name off all at once.’ I thought to myself before naming some of the first things I could think of.

“Mmm, I love her smile, I love it when she pets my ears, and when she hugs me, and kis....” I stopped myself from finishing, blushing bright red.

“Oh, I don’t think I can ignore that, you know.” My mother said with a teasing smile.

“Is it bad?” I asked, my ears twitching slightly.

“It is not a bad thing at all, but there is something I should tell you.” My mother said with loving eyes and a gentle smile before it became a look of contemplation.

“What is it?” I asked, my tails swaying from my curiosity.

“You are old enough now, and you found someone that you promised to be together forever with, so I feel it is my job as your mother to teach you about, as a fox spirit. It is said that when a fox-spirit stays up all night with someone they truly love and that loves them on a full moon, their souls will become linked with one another. It won’t share your immortality, but it will keep you two connected to one another so even when you are separated you can still feel and find each other.”

As I listened to what my mother stated, my face immediately became bright red, and I hid my in my mother's tails and yelled, “Mommy, you baakkaa!” before gently chomping her arm.

Afterwards I pouted, while I thought to myself, ‘Last time I was up late during a full moon, I did a lot of embarrassing things, you know.’

She laughed as if she could tell what I was thinking and rubbed my ears calming me down, and said, “Sweetheart, you are too innocent for your age, and I’m not telling you to do anything right away. I just wanted to teach you something that might help with your fear of being alone.”

My tails swayed happily at my mom thinking of ways to help me. I hugged her and said, “Thank you, Mommy.”

As we were enjoying our mother-daughter bonding moment, both of our stomachs growled. With our heightened senses, we could smell a very special scent from the breakfast we would eat on special days, a meal I have wanted to eat with my mother again.

“Pancakes!” My mother and I yelled in unison, our ears twitching, and tails swaying back and forth in excitement.

“Mommy, let’s go eat. Come on!” I yelled happily, standing up and pulling my mother’s hand.

“Haha, slow down, sweetheart.” She laughed before standing up as I wasn’t able to make her budge at all with my pulling.

After we left the room, we met Eri and Yami-nee who came to get us.

When I saw Eri, I immediately ran straight to her and jumped into her arms hugging her, “Good morning, Eri!”

Eri looked at me with a warm expression before rubbing my ears and replying, “Good morning to you too, Hina. You seem very happy this morning.”

As she continued to rub my ears, I purred gently leaning my head into her chest, and my tails wrapped around her waist. I replied, “Of course I am, Mommy is home, Yami-nee is here, and you officially became my fiancé yesterday.”

“Hina-chan, you are so cute.” Yami-nee laughed before joining in making a group hug.

“My, my, you girls sure are something sweet to watch first thing in the morning, but how about we go eat together.” My mother laughed and said with a teasing smile.

“Nyaah, I forgot...” I answered, letting go of Eri.

They all laughed and pet my head before Eri grabbed my hand, and we made our way to breakfast.

I looked at Eri, Yami-nee, and my mother with a warm smile and said, “We are going to have lots of fun today; our long-awaited reunion is just beginning.”