Author: Hey all! Here I am, back again with another fic. Even though only one chapter is complete, I hope that this story will have a better update record than Brought Together. The plot concept was born through an Adoption AU created by JoKay, the author of the fantastic AU fic Swing For The Fences over on AO3. It's quite intense and I recommend it for the read! I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I am writing it.
Chapter One: Life As We Have Known It
Elise didn't consider herself a neat freak, per se. She wasn't sloppy, either. She always kept up with her own laundry, although sometimes she did take a day off when feeling particularly unwell. She even knew how to clean the dust away when needed, and where to keep her books and collectibles.
In short, everything had it's place; a habit she had inherited.
"...But how could she possibly let things get like this!?"
Currently, her irritation was directed at her mother, who'd asked her to clean up the house while she was away on a business trip. It was no big deal, really. With her father now gone, there was no one around often enough to keep the place up.
"Should just sell it and get a smaller place…" The girl huffed, preparing a mental checklist as she peered about the den. The first floor would probably need more than the second, so. Taking her phone out, she tapped through her apps until she found what she was looking for. "...Alright! Time to put on some music and get to work!"
Two hours later she had breezed through the downstairs, and the first place she intended to do upstairs was her mother's room. Not much, really; changing the linens, and maybe pick up the laundry. She respected her mother's space enough to know what was off limits versus what wasn't.
Searching for said linens after removing the bed sheets however, proved to be a tad more difficult than she'd originally thought. Usually kept in the top of the closet, Elise found herself searching the bottom of the space upon discovering the usual absence of sheets. She picked through suitcases and boxes, moving the items out one by one with a later intention to organize them.
And that is when she found it.
It could have easily been glossed over or dismissed on any other day. Pausing in her search, Elise reached to retrieve the old shoe box from the back of the closet. It was indeed worse for wear, and the top had long since torn at the corners and served more as a lid than a properly-fitted cover.
Dumping out the contents, she was faced with a compilation of letters and pictures; most of them in an obviously Asian language. "What are…?" She was aware of her mother having visited Japan long ago, but couldn't recall her mentioning knowing anyone who actually lived there. Picking up one of the photos, a small frown touched her features. The boy in the picture…
Turning it over, she noted the numbers scrawled out and calculated the current date in her head. Currently, the boy pictured would be a teenager; he wasn't much younger than her.
"Huh. Alright, mom…" She sat down next to the pile, pulling her phone out to make a call.
"Elise, is that you? How is the cleaning coming along?"
"Mom, I found this old shoe box in your closet," Elise decided to forego any greetings and got straight to the point, "there are old letters here that may be in Japanese, and pictures of a boy? Who is this?" She picked up another photo, studying the child pictured along with two girls who looked identical.
There was a brief moment of silence before the woman answered.
"Oh, that? It's, uh-well, I'm actually a little busy right now. The chairman is coming in, so we can talk about this when I get home."
"I don't believe that, mother." Elise's tone changed. "That kind of excuse might have worked when I was younger, but it isn't going to, now. Why don't you want to talk about it? What did you do? I know when your lunch time is."
"You don't understand, I'll be in-,"
"Mom." Elise interjected. "This boy looks a lot like you. Your hair, your eyes. You didn't...you didn't cheat on dad, did you?"
The accusation turned the atmosphere tense, and Elise could hear her mother move to another room over the phone.
"So what if I did?" Lilana's voice turned angry. "He didn't ever find out about it, right!? That boy in the picture is why I was in Japan for so long. I couldn't just come home after finding out I was pregnant! He would have known, especially when the child is obviously half Japanese!"
"So, what? You left that child with his father? You can't just have a child and dump it on the other parent because you made a mistake! Why would you do this? Why didn't you just tell dad?"
"Elisabeth, listen to me! I didn't-!" The exclamation was shortly followed by a heavy sigh. "I didn't dump him on his father. His father was not an option, so I...I gave him to a man I met at an art convention."
"You what!? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds!?"
"But he wanted the child! Maybe not at first, but by the time I considered going back to get him...I didn't have the nerve to do it."
"I can't believe this. Out of everything you've done, this has got to be the most horrible-," Elise stopped herself, a hand coming to cover her mouth for a few moments, "where is he now? Is this address right?"
She had to know everything.
"Kouta, stop hopping. You're not gonna catch that frog, y'know." By the time the two boys had made it to the neighborhood, the sun was already setting. Yukine stepped two paces behind the child, hands tucked into his pockets as he walked.
"Ai-chan-Ai-chan said, if you kiss a frog, it'll turn into a prince! I wanna get 'er the frog so she can be my frien'!" The little boy hopped forwards, focusing on the toad hopping along several feet ahead of them. "That, or mama can put him in the mo'sunabi and we can eat him for dinner!"
"Gross." Yukine rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Ai-chan already is your friend, isn't she? Plus, frogs don't go in Motsunabe. Mom so wouldn't go for that." Stepping up behind the boy, Yukine lifted him up to sit on his shoulders. "I bet you didn't know how the actual story goes, though. In the real frog prince, the princess actually throws the frog against the wall, and that's all it takes for him to turn back."
"Nuh-uh! I never hearded that one!" Kouta frowned, looking down at Yukine with a pout.
"Hey, who reads the most books here?" Yukine kept walking, not looking up towards the boy. "I've read at least three times what you have. I've read all the fairy tales there are, including the real ones."
"All of them are real, dummy." Kouta's lower lip jutted out. "S'not my fault you don't be-beli… know!" To such a young child, saying one didn't believe in fairy tales was blasphemous. Though, years of reading and common sense under his belt allowed Yukine to know the difference between fact and fiction.
"Sure, sure." Yukine waved the child off with a laugh as he turned onto the gravel path. "I guess you're right. I should try believing in them, huh?" He lowered himself down to a crouch, allowing Kouta to slip off of his shoulders and run up towards the house. "Be careful opening that door! Dad hasn't gotten around to fixing the hinge on it."
"I got it!" Kouta yelled back, ignoring the deafening creak the door made as he opened it. "Mama, we're home!" He called out, looking up as Yukine stepped in behind him.
"...so, you're lying! You stole it. You're just not telling me where it is!" Akemi and Hanami were fighting back and forth in the front room, something pretty common to witness on a daily basis. Hanami had a handful of Akemi's hair, her foot pressed firmly against her twin's side.
"Owww, I didn't take it! You're the one who's obsessed with your looks! What would I need with a stupid hair brush, anyw-mama!"
"You two, stop it." Yukine spoke over the twins as he shut the door back. "Where's dad at?" Taking a quick look around to ensure the man's absence, he turned his attention back to the girls. After being initially ignored, he stepped forward to physically separate them. "I said stop it ."
"Dad went to the convenience store." Hanami adopted a calm demeanor for all of five seconds, just to respond. "But she started it!" She yelled, reaching out over Yukine's arm to pop Akemi on the arm.
"No I didn't, you-owww!"
"Girls, stop fighting." Hiyori appeared in the doorway after that, wiping her hands off on her apron. "I have an early shift in the morning and you still have homework to do. Hanami, your brush is in the bathroom. Daddy put it on top of the medicine cabinet. So stop going after your sister. Now, both of you-homework. Now." Hiyori pointed towards the stairs, not taking her eyes off the twins until they had disappeared up to their room. "Thank you for the help, Yukine." She gave the boy a tired smile and placed her hand on top of Kouta's head as he came up to give her a hug. "It's like a zoo here, sometimes."
"Not 'cause of me! I'm a good boy!" Kouta piped up. "Mama, I found a frog today! Yuki wouldn't let me bring it home." The boy's enthusiasm dropped just a tiny bit. "But, but we did finger paints today! Mine was the bestest."
"I'm sure it was, honey. But I'm going to tell you like I told nii-chan when he was little: no frogs in the house." Hiyori gave the child a wider smile before looking back to Yukine. "Since we're on the topic of homework, don't you have some to do as well? I don't want to be called in by Kinuha-sensei, again."
"I did have some," Yukine admitted, looking away, "but I did most of it during clean-up period."
"Yukine!" Hiyori frowned. "That's irresponsible-we've talked about this! You're part of the class, so you have to contribute. If one student isn't doing their part, it brings a bad rep for the entire class! A clean homeroom is a happy homeroom."
"Tch, I know that! I'm not the only one who does their homework during that time…Daigo-kun does his during that time, too." Yukine didn't look at her, crossing his arms. "But, whatever. I'll do it here. It's not a big deal, so…"
"Good. I'm glad, Yukine. You're a smart kid...I just don't want you adopting a bad attitude over this. I'm going to be calling Kofuku-san about Daigo-kun's behavior, as well." Hiyori moved to turn back to the kitchen, but stopped herself "Oh! Yukine. You also received a letter today. It's on the kitchen counter next to the sink." She patted Kouta on the back, ushering the boy to go play.
Moving out of the way so Kouta could get past him, Yukine frowned in thought. "A letter? Who is it from?" He couldn't even think of who would be writing him, honestly…
"I have no idea, actually. Yato will have to read it to you since it's in English." Due to helping Yato babysit Yukine at the time, Hiyori had cut corners on her classes to be around at the times that Yato needed her. Unfortunately, that had led her to foregoing any special classes-including English.
English? Who would be writing me in English , no less? Maher-san? No… she usually writes back in Japanese, too…
Yukine's expression had turned even more complex.
As if on cue, Yato's voice called out through the silence. "Hiyori! I'm back!"
"Yato, please take some time to fix that door today. It's driving me crazy." Hiyori accepted the bag of ingredients once the man came around the corner, giving him a quick kiss before turning back into the kitchen.
"I'll get to it before bed." Yato promised her. "Yukine, do you mind giving me a hand with that after dinner? Last time I let Akemi help me, my drill went missing for almost two weeks."
"I will if you read me my letter." Yukine responded immediately, going to fetch the envelope from off the counter. "Mom said it's in English, so she can't read it. Doesn't Maher-san only write you guys back in Japanese?"
"Mostly, yeah." Yato took the envelope, reading the name off the front. "No, this isn't from her… but whoever it is, she's got her surname. Could be… ah! I think I know who this is from." Though, why would she be contacting Yukine? As far as Yato could recall, Liliana never told her husband or her daughter about him. ...Hell, her husband went to the grave, never knowing a thing.
Taking the letter out of the envelope, he took a seat on the couch and unfolded it to read.
"Yukine,
My name is Elise, and I am your half sister.
I am writing you today because I found out about you two weeks ago. My mother has been keeping it a secret from me ever since you were born, it seems. I'm a bit worried that you might not be able to read this, so I hope you or someone in your family can read English. I can speak it due to having picked it up from my mother, but my ability to write or read it is very poor.
The main reason I'm reaching out to you, is because I would like to meet you. I'm including my number and email, so let's set up a date for me to visit if you and your parents are okay with it. If you would rather not, I completely understand!
Please let me know,
Elise,"
"How about that? What do you think, Yato?" Having been listening, Hiyori moved to drape herself over the raven's shoulders. "I think it's a good idea, for him to meet his other family. You've asked us so many questions we've been unable to answer, Yukine. This might be a good chance for you to find those answers!"
"I agree." Yato nodded. "I mean, those answers will obviously not replace what you have in us, but it'll give you some closure and an opportunity to meet the other side of your family...it's up to you, though." Both he and Hiyori turned to look at Yukine, who hunched his shoulders a bit awkwardly.
"I dunno," he mumbled, "It'd be different if I knew her, but...well, what if we run into like, a language barrier or something? It'd be kind of embarrassing." As curious as he was, he didn't like the idea of making a fool of himself in front of someone he didn't really know. Even if they were technically family.
"We'll be here though, right? If you two run into an issue regarding that, I can help." Yato nodded. "Not the first time I've had to translate for a foreigner. It's a perk of your grandmother Iza having taught me the language when I was so young. Tried to teach me Spanish, too, but since she didn't actually know that one herself...it never stuck." He laughed.
"Well…alright, fine. I'll give it a chance, at least." It was only one visit; if he decided he didn't really get along with her, he would figure out what to do from there. It was only right to give her a chance. "Send her an email, dad."
Besides, there was no harm in getting to know her, right?