Hi everyone! Expect ffluff. Please forgive me if I have typos, this was kinda rushed. XD Please enjoy and give this fanfic a chance! I have so many things in line for this...

Chapter 1.

Rin opened the door of his apartment, mumbling, "I'm home," a bit softly. As usual, nobody greeted him back a warm, "Welcome back, Rin!" No one rushed to him excitedly to get a glimpse of his face, no one asked him how his day was or if he needed anything. He's lived alone for more or less a year now, after graduating college and immediately getting a job as a swimming coach in a university. It's never been warm and cozy in this apartment. Then again, even when he was still living with his mother and sister, their house was also always lonely after his father died. Warmth, it was one thing he knew he never had.

Rin removed his shoes and put them aside, and then wore a pair of slippers afterwards. He immediately headed to the long couch in his receiving area, slumped himself there, and just threw his backpack behind him. He stripped himself off of his jacket and just sat down for a while. After getting enough rest so he could move again, he went for his medium-sized refrigerator to grab some food for his empty stomach. It was just as how his everyday life is. Dull. Today, he found not a single item in his fridge that was nice enough for him to eat after a stressful day. He'd just have to buy from the convenience store nearby again.

...

Drinking three cans of beer last night was perhaps Rin's worst decision this whole month of November. A contemptible idea as it is, he slept in because of it. The bad thing about that was that it was his first and most important rule in trainings and lectures to be early.

Rin ran to the train station and got aboard just before the train could leave. He had about forty-five minutes to get to the university, and the train took thirty minutes of it. And when he got off and went outside the station, heavy traffic greeted him. He'd be much later if he rode on any vehicle so instead he ran, because walking will take twenty minutes.

Rin reached the university. He stopped running and just walked when he was already near the gate. He looked at his wristwatch and was relieved that he was just on time, but then that relief was immediately replaced with something else, something indescribable, when he saw a mother hugging her son as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. They were just beside the gate.

The raven-haired boy strangely had no emotion in his face, even as he watched his mother walk away. Somehow, Rin felt his chest constrict painfully at the sight.

Unfortunately, he also had other things to worry about. Like going to work. So just so he could stop worrying, he asked the guard just by the gate to watch over the child while he's alone. And then Rin went on with his day. He went to classes and conducted lectures as usual; he organized his paperwork and checked his students' works as usual. The only thing strange today was the feeling in his chest and gut, the feeling of his heartbeat stopping and jumping, and the feeling of butterflies in his stomach. And as he sat behind his desk in the faculty room, he can't help but turn to the gate every now and then even though the boy, if still there, was out of sight from where he was. Rin did not know why, but he was troubled with the way the mother cried in front of her child. The scene he saw, it was as if the mother just said her last goodbye to her son. For a person like Rin, that was just confusing.

During lunch break, food was not the thought that occupied his mind. He hurried to the gate, only to find out from the guard that the child was still there. Rin hurried to the other side of the university's wall. And yes, the boy was still standing on where he has been since this morning.

Rin paused to think, but then he knew he needed not to think anymore. He walked slowly towards the boy, whose blank eyes watched as cars passed by. Rin was careful in approaching, and thank goodness, the boy did not seem threatened when he noticed.

"Hi there." Rin greeted softly as he stopped just beside the boy. Now that he was near, he noticed that the boy was probably just six years old. The boy carried a full backpack and wore a jacket that was not even thick enough for the season, but looked up at Rin with eyes blue and calm as a lake, with no fear or coldness evident.

"Why are you all alone?" Rin felt his heart skip a beat as he said the words and kneeled down. "Are you waiting for someone?"

The boy nodded once. "My father," he answered before watching the cars again as they passed by.

"Is that so?" Rin mumbled, uncomfortable at the idea of a father making his son wait like this. "But weren't you here since this morning? Aren't you tired or hungry?"

The boy only shook his head.

"Aren't you cold?"

This time, the boy flinched and froze. For a second, his eyes widened before they relaxed again and the boy shook his head for the second time. Of course Rin knew that that was a lie.

"What's your name?" he asked before removing his own jacket.

"Haruka," the boy replied and turned just in time to see Rin put another jacket on him. He stared in confusion. "Nii-san?"

"My name is Rin, Haruka." Rin did his best to smile. "You keep my jacket, alright? You need it more than I do."

Haruka looked at the black-white-and-red jacket that covered his shoulders and back, and the bag he carried there. "Thank you," he said, turning to Rin again.

"You know, Haruka, it's dangerous to stay here all alone," Rin said. "Won't you at least stay with the guard until your father picks you up?"

"Mother said I have to stay here," Haruka replied firmly.

"But you're too young to stay alone outside, and for hours at that. How old are you, six?"

"Five."

Rin felt the air knocked out of him. He stared wide-eyed, his lips parted, his whole body tensed. All the while, the little boy named Haruka was just as calm as he was since moments ago. "No way, really?"

"Do I look older, Nii-san?"

"No." Absolutely not. Haruka was small, his legs and arms were still short, his fingers were a bit chubby, his face was quite rosy; his skin looked so young and sensitive. But... "But you sure do speak like you're not five."

When little Haruka did not respond, Rin was not able to help but sigh all the air he held in unconsciously. He turned around towards the university gate where the guard watched them with concerned eyes. Then he turned back to Haruka when he noticed people starting to fill the street a bit. "You can't stay here, Haruka. It's dangerous." But then Rin felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the guard.

"I'll watch over the child, Sensei. You have to get yourself something to eat. I believe you have trainings this afternoon?"

"Ah yes. Thank you."

Rin went to the cafeteria to buy bread. He went back to the gate to give one to the guard, and one to Haruka. He left the child with assurance from the guard, but not without patting Haruka's head. Rin's father used to do that to him to comfort him when he was still a child, and he hoped it would have the same effect on the little boy now.

The afternoon went on. Rin had two classes in the afternoon, an hour of free time in between, and after those classes he also had a swimming team to supervise for two hours in training. His day in the university ended at six in the evening, and he meant to go home immediately. When he reached the gate, Haruka was still there.

"H-Haruka?"

The boy flinched at hearing his name, but he refused to raise his bowed head. Rin walked closer, and when he did, noticed the jolting movement of the boy's shoulders under his jacket.

"Haruka?"

Haruka was crying.

He was trying his best to hold it back, but Rin already saw the tears that stained his soft cheeks.

"Nii-san..." The boy whispered between sobs he tried so hard to suppress. He held onto Rin's shirt without turning and without moving anything else but his hand. "Nii-san... Father did not come..."

Rin took that small cold hand in his warm ones before kneeling down again. The pain in his chest worsened with only one thought in mind: Why did they leave you alone here?

He turned Haruka to him, putting a hand on each of the boy's shoulders. "Perhaps something important came up, Haruka," he said, even though he loathed the idea of Haruka's father not showing up because of something else. What could be more important than your own child?

"Nii-san..." Haruka tried to wipe his tears but Rin was quick to do that for him "Nii-san... Please take me with you instead."

Rin was certain his heart jumped at the thought. It felt like his breath was taken away again, but this time in a good way. But Rin knew better than to take this child away without thinking things through. Then again, the evening darkness was already devouring the last remaining rays the sun has for today. He can't leave Haruka here either.

Well there's the police... Maybe he can leave Haruka with them...

"Haruka, I can't just take you with me."

"Please, Nii-san. Even just... just this once... I... I..."

A hand travelled to pat Haruka's head and ruffle his hair. With that plea, Rin was already certain he wouldn't be able to find it in his heart to leave this boy, even under the police's care. "Okay," he said, smiling. "But Haruka, why not go back to your mother instead?"

The boy shook his head. He seemed to have stopped crying after Rin finally agreed. "Mother is sick. She's confined in a hospital. She said it's dangerous because I'll get sick, too."

"Alright. But we'll have to contact her, okay?" Haruka nodded. "You know how?" The boy nodded again, finally raising his head. The small smile on Haruka's face, and the tiny shimmering beads of tears in the corners of his eyes kept Rin drawn in and distracted, until he stood up and found a small hand clinging on the hem of his shirt again.

"Haruka," Rin called, earning the boy's attention. "Didn't your mother teach you to not go with strangers?"

Haruka's eyes widened before he bowed his head again. By now, Rin thought that that was the boy's way to hide his reaction. "Nii-san is kind. I..." Haruka mumbled, "I like Nii-san."

"You like me already?" Rin laughed, bewildered, and, the tiniest bit flattered. "That's nice. Thank you for trusting me, Haruka."

To be continued...