Author's Note: Welcome to the "Miyako" prequel! If you haven't read Miyako, you don't have to read it first, but you have to read it after this, or if you want to go in order, before! Thanks, and enjoy this story! PLEASE REVIEW! Also, if I have time, I will update tomorrow, if not, the day after that. Then I'll get into updating every day. I just have a lot of work to do.

Chapter One- Shigure's Pov

"Hurry up Tori, Aaya's getting away!" I called to one of my best friends who was lagging behind me. We were chasing after a boy our age, whose long white hair flowed out behind him as he ran away from us, Ayame.

"I don't like tag! Can't we play something else?" Hatori begged, struggling to keep up. We were playing two against one tag, something that kept all the children in the Sohma house endlessly entertained each boring and long summer day.

"Let's finish up this game first, and then you can pick a game!" I yelled behind me, and struggled to catch up with Aaya, who was surprisingly fast even with his short nine year old legs.

I heard Hatori sigh, and then glanced behind me to see him speeding up, now having motivation to chase after the white haired of our group. We were running through the grassy sun-lit meadow that was nestled in the thick forest that surrounded the house we all lived in together. This was our favorite place to play in, not only were we hidden from the sight of our parents and the older of the zodiacs, but it was light and warm during the summer, and it always got the most snow during the winter months.

"Got you!" I cried as my hand just barely touched Ayame's back. The snake graciously stopped, as did I, causing Hatori to almost run into me.

"Alright Tori, what do you want to do?" Aaya asked, obviously a little disappointed that he had been captured. Usually our tag games lasted until our mother's called us back, Ayame always being the last one who wasn't it, unless it was his turn to start the game off.

Hatori shrugged, his breath normal, unlike Aaya's and my own, we were panting and sweating whilst the dragon just stood there, looking at us. He never really was one to get up and run like Ayame or I, he didn't have to be constantly moving. But still, he was part of our group of three, the three best friends, the three boys. Although, there was Kureno, but he seemed to keep his distance from us, from everyone, clinging to whatever grown-up was with him. But that was alright, we were all satisfied by our small group.

"What about hide and seek?" I suggested, causing Ayame's face to automatically brighten. All of us, even Hatori, liked hide and seek. There were so many places, so many secret hide outs that scattered the property, that very rarely did we ever find each other in one day, much like our tag games. When you have so little to do, nowhere to go, you have to learn to prolong whatever you do, and that we did.

"Alright." Hatori consented. Ayame consented to being it, with some begging and pleading from me, and the knowledge that if we made Hatori it, he would go back to the house instead of looking for us, a way to get us to come out, then he would win without doing any of the work.

As Ayame leaned against a tree, counting slowly to fifty two times, because none of us knew how to count to one-hundred all the way, I darted off into the brush, careful to make a noise to make Ayame the slightest bit aware of which direction I was going in, or that I was going into the brush. But instead of running far, far away from the snake, as Hatori no doubt was attempting, I simply went up. I climbed a nice, strong and tall tree that was leaning over the meadow, and shimmied up to the highest branches that were still able to support me.

By doing this, I could not only see the still counting Ayame, but the running Hatori, and everything else as well. I could even see brief glimpses of the courtyards that were scattered around inside the Sohma house.

This was a great hiding spot! I could even see my mother, who was standing on the porch, looking out towards the East, where she thought we had gone, but in fact, it was just a ploy to stop them from finding us. We would disappear into the East forest, and then quickly turn around and head west, cloaked by branches, twigs, and underbrush. I laughed quietly to myself, the simple knowledge that I had outwitted my overly-protective mother delighted me.

But then, I saw her step forward and then, hold her hands to her mouth. That could only mean one thing was going to happen. "Shigure!" I heard her voice float through the branches, and reach my ears.

I debated simply staying here, hoping that she would just give up, but when she called another two times, and made no move to retreat back inside the house, I, grudgingly, climbed down the tree and raced east, so as to emerge where I had entered.

"There you are Shigure, I called you many times, where were you?" My mother glared down at me.

"I was playing behind the bushes; they obstruct the sound a lot. But then Aaya got up to see if he could reach a lizard that was on the trunk of a tree, he heard you, and told me to go and see what you wanted." I explained quickly. I was exceptionally skilled at making up excuses for anything, and everything. I, as well as my two other friends, tended to get in trouble, generally together, but sometimes separated.

She sighed. "I need to tell you something, a surprise, and I just know you're going to be excited." My mother had a small smile on her face. Instead of making me excited, it made me nervous. She never got me presents, or gave me surprises. And she rarely smiled, especially at me.

My mother may not have asked to forget me, but she certainly didn't love me. She just felt obliged to take care of me, or that's what she had told my father. But I continued to look up at her with my brown eyes, waiting.

But I could never have been ready for what she said.

"You're going to be a big brother Shigure!" And then she went back inside, leaving me to stand alone outside. A big brother, that implied I would have a little sibling. A sibling.