Italics=Flashbacks/Memories

Summary: AU—A friend other than Teddy. (Fluff and slight romance)

Characters: Cordelia, Kanato S., Ayato S., Laito S., Yui K.

Genres: Family, Friendship, slight Romance, Humor

Rated: Rated K+

I just figured out how to center stuff...Yay! Finally!


Teddy


He thought Teddy would and should always be by his side.

With Teddy by his side, it felt like Ayato and Laito were always with him.

After all, they were the ones who gave Teddy to him when he turned six-years old.

...

When they were kids, Ayato and Laito would always be surrounded with girls but not Kanato. Even though they were brothers, the other kids found Kanato weird. The bags under his eyes, the worn-out teddy bear he would always carry with him, the tantrums. Kids thought he was weird, creepy, and freaky; to them they thought Kanato was a freak.

And because of that, Kanato was left alone. His two brothers couldn't hang around him much during school since they were constantly surrounded by other students. Most of them were girls. When the trio would arrive at school, their fellow classmates would surround them and shove Kanato out of the crowd.

But Ayato and Laito didn't think their brother was weird.

"Happy birthday Kanato!"

"Happy birthday..." Ayato, blushing from his first time of giving someone a present, shoved a brand new teddy bear into Kanato's arms.

Kanato hugged the brand new toy tightly, the corners of his lips tugged into a grin.

"Thank you."

After receiving the new teddy bear, donating the old one to a toy charity, Kanato would always bring it along with him wherever he went.

...

He thought Teddy was all he needed.

Teddy was his best friend.

But then he met her.

It was the first year of middle school when he met her.

...

"Kanato, you better not dirty Teddy. After all, Ore-sama was the one who bought it for you."

Laito raised a questioning brow. "What are you taking about Ayato? It was from me as well and we used mom let us use her money to buy it."

"You're an idiot Ayato. I never once got Teddy dirty."

In the cafeteria the three brothers sat together for lunch and as always girls flocked around Ayato and Laito like humming birds attracted to the sweet scent of nectar. They didn't flock around Kanato. Their focus was solemnly on Ayato and Laito.

To other kids they thought he was weird and freaky.

Soon Kanato felt the familiar feeling of judging gazes on his back.

In grade school he would throw tantrums whenever he felt the burning looks of disgust or hear the rude whispers about him but, that was grade school. Kanato, fed up with the heated stares, abruptly stood up from his seat, which earned him a curious look from Ayato. "Kanato? Are you mad?"

"I'm full already." Kanato shook his head in denial. He took his lunchbox with him, which still had a small portion of food, and left.

Laito was to busy flirting with the girls to notice his brother's absence while Ayato shrugged it off and continued eating.

Winding up under a large cheery blossom tree, Kanato had finally escaped from the stares. He sat down on the healthy green grass, with his teddy bear seated beside him, and set his lunchbox on the grass in front of him.

Kanato was staring at Teddy when he spoke. "You're my best friend. You'll always be by side right Teddy?"

"Excuse me, who are you talking to? The teddy bear? That's a nice teddy bear you have."

Surprised with the new voice, Kanato blinked. He turned his head left and right to search for the owner of the voice.

"Up here."

Following the voice, he looked up. Perched up on a branch was a platinum-blonde haired girl; he was curious why she was up there but shooed the thought away.

The blonde greeted him with a wave as she smiled. It was genuine smile; a truly gentle smile like there was no ulterior motives in interacting with him. Despite all this, he was on his guard. After all, sometimes girls would act all polite and chummy with him just so they could get closer to his brothers. He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case with this girl.

However...She didn't seem to mind he had been speaking to the teddy bear as if it was alive. She didn't stare at him, like others would, like he was some sort of freak.

"What do you want," he curtly questioned.

Ignoring the rude tone he used towards her, the girl climbed down the tree and took her place next to the boy's teddy bear. She faced the boy, showing a wide smile, and showed him a small teddy bear. In a cheerful voice she exclaimed, "I have a teddy bear too. See."

He rudely responded,"So? Why would that matter to me."

The girl dismissed his rudeness. "I'm Yui Komori, what's yours?"

Kanato glared at her, "I don't care. You can get out of my sight now."

As if on cue the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break.

"I'll see you around." Yui had a silly smile plastered on her face as waved him good-bye and sprinted off to her classroom.

Kanato stared after her from the distance.

"Strange...She's strange..."

...

After their first encounter, she hung out around him everyday during lunch.

"I never got your name."

"You don't need to know my name, get away from me already!"

Though he had tried to distance himself from her, she would closed it right up.

"Then I'll guess until your name. Is it Arata?

"..."

"Is it?"

"..."

"How about Haru? Is it Haru?"

"How weird...I was born in spring..."

"Please stop mumbling to yourself and answer my question!"

"..."

"Then, I'll keep guessing! I'll keep guessing, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the next day and the next, until you tell me your name!"

"That would be annoying...Fine, I'll tell you my name! It's Kanato Sakamaki, there, are you happy now!"

"Yes, very happy!"

...

Sometimes, luckily for Yui, they would encounter each other in the morning.

"Kanato!"

"..."

"Hey look Kanato~ That girl is waving at you."

"Flat-chested girl…do you know her Kanato?"

"...No..."

"Kanato! Good Morning!"

"..."

...

She had spoken to Teddy, treating the stuffed teddy bear like it was alive.

"Teddy, that's the name of your teddy bear? Nice to meet you Teddy."

"Don't get all friendly with Teddy! And who said you could have a handshake with him!"

She pestered him about being friends.

"Teddy's your best friend? Then how about me, second best friend?"

"Teddy's my only best friend. Whenever did I say you were a friend."

She pestered about teddy bears.

"Look, I have my teddy bear with me today!"

"Like I care."

She pestered him about sweets.

"You like sweets? I'll bring lots of tomorrow!"

"Even if you do bring them, I won't accept any of your sweets or anything that you offer me."

She pestered him.

"Did you forget your lunch today Kanato? Here, have mine."

"..Thank you..."


"Hey Kanato, where are you going?" Laito peeped into his brother's bedroom.

Dressed in black pants, a dark violet hoodie jacket worn over a simple black shirt was Kanato. Though it was summer, the weather was rather windy. The news had predicted a twenty-five percent chance of light rain around noon. After this summer Kanato and his brothers would be starting his first year of high school.

"..." The purple-haired teen didn't answer.

Kanato lied on his bed with his back facing the comfy feeling of the mattress. His hands were occuppied with his phone, holding it above himself and staring at a text message on the screen.

"Hey Kanato~ did you hear me~" Laito tried once more in getting his brother's attention.

A few seconds later, Ayato barged into Kanato's room and snatched the phone away from his purple-haired teen.

Kanato wasn't fazed and kept on staring, this time, into space.

Laito appeared behind Ayato, both was curious to who Kanato was texting to, reading the name on the top-center of the screen. "Yui...Komori?"

"Why do you two have my phone! Give it back!" Snapping back to life, Kanato tackled them both down to the floor and snatched the phone back before his brothers could start reading the text messages. Ayato was lying on top of Laito while Kanato was sitting on Ayato.

"Is that your girlfriend Kanato? I'll give lessons on f—"

"Shut your damn mouth Laito! Ore-sama doesn't want to listen to your crap and neither does Kanato!"

Unfortunately Laito blabbered on.

"—beep—then, you should—beep—"

"Seriously, shut your mouth Laito—What the hell Kanato! Why are you stomping on me for?"

"Since I can't reach him this will do—Shut up Laito! I don't want to listen!" Shivers went down down Kanato's spine as Laito continued speaking with vulgar vocabulary.

Ding.

A text message from Yui saved Ayato from getting his back cracked.

"Don't you usually bring your teddy bear with you? You haven't been doing that for awhile now," Ayato commented as he watched his brother tie his shoe.

Laito nodded in agreement.

Ever since middle school, Kanato started bringing Teddy along with him less and less. They didn't know whether it was a bad or good sign.

"Teddy just doesn't want to go out today."

"Really? What if Teddy feels lonely," Laito commented.

"I said Teddy doesn't want to go outside! He won't be lonely!"

With that said, Kanato rushed out the door.

"Hey Laito, let's—"

"Kanato went out? Hm, I bet he's with that girl again." Cordelia, the triplet's mother, appeared behind her two sons.

"That girl? Yui Komori? Is she his girlfriend, I bet she is," Laito interrogated his mother.

"My future daughter-in-law." She smiled pridefully, despite not actually knowing whether the girl was his girlfriend or not, claiming a false statement.

"Eh...I've brought tons of girls home but, you don't approve of them."

"You're terrible at picking girls, stick with one girl. Honestly, why can't you be like Kanato," the mother sighed disappointment.

"The old hag is right, stick with one girl Laito."

Cordelia wanted to strangle her son but coincidentally a policeman was patrolling around the area. "You little brat. You're one to talk, you stick with one girl too."

"Anyways, let's go spy on them Laito."

"Okay~"

"You two brats better not ruin it."


"Kanato! Over here!" Yui was adorned in a white blouse, blue jeans and light-brown sandals. She waved at Kanato to get his attention.

Kanato considered her weird; a good kind of weird.

She didn't mind the fact that he had tantrums in the past.

"I'm sure everyone has had a tantrum before."

She didn't mind he had bags under his eyes.

"Are you getting enough sleep Kanato?"

"The bags under my eyes are natural."

"That's cool!"

"You weird…."

"Huh?"

She didn't care if others thought he was creepy and weird; she stuck to him like super-glue.

"People think you're weird? I think you're weird in good kind of way."

"I think you're weird too, in a bad kind of way."

"How mean Kanato! Hey, you're joking with me right?"

"..."

"Right, Kanato? Kanato!"

With a grin, Yui excitedly grabbed Kanato by the arm and dragged him along with her.

"Why are you so excited? It's only a sweet shop." Despite saying this, he really enjoyed sweets. Yui had texted him that there was a new sweets shop and invited him to check it out with her.

"This is their first day of opening and they're letting customers eat as much as they want for free today!"

After hearing that, Kanato picked up his paced. Now it was him who was dragging her. "Let's go, hurry! Why are you so slow!"

Yui giggled. "Yes!"

"She looks familiar."

"Hey Ayato, isn't that the girl who always hangs around him since the first year of middle school? Fufu~ You know Ayato, you're such—"

...

Laito and Ayato was not oblivious to the disgusted stares Kanato would get from the other students, so they would tried to stick as close their sibling as possible. But since they would always be surrounded by girls, it was impossible.

Though, on rare occasions they weren't constantly being harassed by girls.

Ayato and Laito barged into an empty classroom, breathless from all the running. Trying to search for Kanato as well as escaping from girls that were infatuated with them exhausted the two siblings. Ayato, with his hands on the floor supporting his upper body weight and legs sprawled out in a V-shaped form, collapsed on the floor facing the ceiling in exhaustion. "Geez...Where the hell is he!"

Laito looked through the clear glass window, spotting Kanato with an unfamiliar blonde girl. "Come here, I found him."

Ayato, forcing himself off the floor, headed for the windows and looked at the direction Laito was staring at. "He's smiling...and laughing too..."

Laito noticed Ayato glaring at the blonde girl, not missing the opportunity of teasing him."Eh~ Are you, perhaps, jealous of that girl?"

Ayato really did tried his best to not blush or stutter. "Ore-sama is not j-jealous! It's just t-that if h-he was lonely or something h-he could have come to u-us instead!"

"What a caring brother you are~"

"S-Shut up!"

"He finally made a friend, that's good right? You should be happy for him Ayato."

"I am!"

"What a—"A black-board eraser was thrown his way but to Ayato's disappointment he skillfully dodged it. "...caring brother you are. Fufu~"

In response, Ayato's cheeks burned bright red. "Ugh! S-Stop it!"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

"...a caring brother~"

"..."

Ayato and Laito spied on Kanato and his companion, trailing closely behind them without being too suspicious to the people around them. They followed Kanato and Yui all the way to a sweets shop, sitting in a table in front of them. Ensuring they wouldn't get caught, they're backs were faced away from the two teens they were spying on. Being served free sweets, they closely listened to Kanato's and Yui's conversation.

"It's delicious and sweet, right Kanato!" Yui stuffed her mouth with strawberry cake.

Kanato animatedly nodded, stuffing his mouth with molten chocolate cake.

Ayato peeked behind him, at the table where Kanato and Yui occupied, and caught sight of, who he assumed to be, Kanato's girlfriend. "Hey Laito, you think that's his girlfriend? I think she's just a friend...Hey are you listening—"Ayato turned to face Laito in irritation, only to see Laito flirting with a female waiter.

Laito clearly wasn't listening.

"Tch, why'd I even invite you..." Ayato sighed in annoyance and turned his attention back to the duo's conversation.

"You've been bringing Teddy along with you less and less Kanato. Is Teddy alright?"

"Of course he is."

"Don't you think Teddy would get lonely...Oh I know, how about I give you my teddy bear. You can sew their hands together so they won't get lonely! Is that alright with you and Teddy?"

"Teddy and I would love that."


"They're heading somewhere, let's go Laito—"

Ayato turned to see Laito surrounded by females.

"To hell with this, I'm going by myself."

Ayato got up from his seat and trailed after his targets. He, crouching behind trees and bushes, stared at what he assumed to be the girl's house from across the streets. From his view, he saw Kanato waiting outside on the lawn for the girl. A few seconds later he saw the girl come out of the house with a small teddy bear adorned with a ribbon on one ear.

"Hey Ayato, why did you leave me." Laito appeared beside his brother, in a crouching position, staring off into the same direction where Ayato was looking. "Oh, is he doing what I taught him? Is he—beep—and how about—beep—"

"Shut your mouth!" Ayato ripped up a handful of grass, with remnants of dirt on them, shoving them into Laito's mouth.

But that didn't stop the flow of perverted words spilling from Laito's mouth.

"—beep—"

"Why...Why did I bring you along!"

"—beep—Oh look, they're heading back to the shop."


"Teddy is really going to be happy!"

Kanato nodded in agreement, reloading his mouth with more sweets.

"But, it's really surprising not seeing Teddy with you."

Kanato would always have Teddy by his side. But after meeting Yui and becoming best friends with her, he suddenly began to bring Teddy along with him less and less. After filling up their stomachs up with nothing but sweets, they headed to his home. Standing in front of the door, Kanato fetched out the keys. He was about to unlocked the door when his mother flung the doors wide open like she was expecting he brought someone over.

"Welcome home, I see that you brought finally invited Yui over. It's nice to see you again Yui." Cordelia grinned. This was the first time her son brought Yui over.

"Nice to meet you again Ms Cordelia." Yui smiled cheerfully.

"Ah...what a sweet angel,"Cordelia murmured, being soothed by Yui's voice and smile.

"...Again? You two met before?"

"Indeed we did. I last visited her a few days ago," Cordelia smiled pridefully.

Ever since his son had been going out somewhere, which she deemed odd, she would follow him which resulted in finding out about Yui. Cordelia had gotten cozy with the blonde girl, without Kanato knowing, and would visit her from time to time.

"She's annoying as Ayato and Laito are." Kanato muttered as he dragged Yui towards his room.

"How rude Kanato—I'm sure he didn't mean that Ms Cordelia, you're a wonderful mother!" At Yui's words, Cordelia crossed her fingers in wishing that Yui would become her future-daughter-in-law.

"...An annoying mother."

"Kanato!"

As Cordelia watched her son drag the girl, she smiled.

"A friend other than a stuffed toy...I'm glad."


"I'll sew."

Kanato took the teddy bear with the ribbon from the blonde's hands and began sewing. Out of the blue, he announced,"I won't be bringing Teddy with me anymore."

"Why is that?" The blonde furrowed her brows and frowned. "Isn't Teddy your best friend?"

"Do my actions really need to be explained? Besides, constantly holding Teddy around is getting tiring."

He wouldn't tell her his real reason.

"I hope Teddy doesn't get too lonely."

"Of course he won't..." After he finished sewing, he showed her his masterpiece. "…He has someone else by his side now."

Like Teddy, he also had someone else by his side.

"How cute, I'm taking a picture."

Outside the closed doors of Kanato's room, Ayato and Laito eavesdropped.

"Tch, I don't approve of their friendship."

"Whats wrong with you, you approved of Kanato's friendship with Teddy."

"That's because Teddy was a birthday present from me!"

"Teddy was a birthday present from me and mom too."