hey, I get married in 19 days. still haven't graduated from college. not a whole lot say really. I think my writing style may have changed, but then i was never much of writer to begin with. this fic in my head is much better, but it likes to change itself around so much, that it will never be written down the way it's supposed to be. more at the bottom. hopefully this chapter makes sense.

thanks to the person that replied about Hatori's father last time, i had a feeling i'd read that somewhere but i couldn't remember where and really thought i was just making it up. Actually, thanks to everyone that's reviewed, i didn't reply back to all of you, but i did read what you had to say, no matter how short it was.

Chapter 2

Sitting on the porch of a smallish "outside" house watching the snow falling was not a part of the exciting morning that Hatori had envisioned. The father of the soon-to-be-born child did not appreciate a twelve year old helping in the birthing room, and so he had been turned out to wait.

At least I like watching it snow...but it's not like I've never assisted in a birth before, I've been training as a doctor since I was five. Hatori would probably never admit it, but he was in a bit of a huff about being kicked out.

It seemed that the baby was still a little ways off from being born, everything was going well, but the mother still wasn't dilated enough and the contractions weren't happening with quite enough frequency. The whole process would probably take the rest of the day, which meant that any excitement was still a long ways off.

Hatori sighed again and looked out at the snow piling up along the small road between the houses. He was curious to see the Cat of the zodiac; the last one had died when he was little and so he only had a vague memory of an old man sitting in one of the older houses in the back of the family compound. The Cat had always been detested by the rest of the family, and he wanted to know why. Even if he did think of a million better things to do today, there wasn't anything that could possibly make him want to leave that spot.

Except for maybe Shigure, who'd grown bored of having the family head's young child hanging on him while he tried to read and was currently looking for someone to take part in his current scheme. What that scheme was hadn't been determined yet, but he wasn't above making things up as he went along.

Since Ayame didn't like this sort of weather, Kureno was too boring, and Ritsu too young to be much fun, that left Hatori as a potential partner in crime. So it happened that at that moment, Shigure was roaming the streets of the family compound like a stray dog looking for a fight, or something interesting to sniff at anyway.

It was a fortuitous turn that brought him right to the very house which Hatori was sitting outside of. Shigure brightened at the sight of his friend and made a bee-line for him.

"Haa-kun! I've been looking everywhere for you! It's been so cold witho-"Hatori clamped one gloved hand over his friend's mouth. His other arm was wrapped around Shigure's neck in a choke hold.

"Shut up", he hissed while giving the house a wary look. His father would not be pleased if they started making a racket outside.

Shigure frowned and gave Hatori a sharp elbow in the stomach. The resulting scuffle ended with the two of them rolling in the snow while trying to shove each other's faces into some of the deeper drifts.

In the end, the doctor had come out and reprimanded both of them for making such a racket. The two boys had been told to go somewhere else until Hatori was needed at which time he, Shigure had been given a hard look here, would be called back alone to help.

"What's up with your old man, Haa-kun? He seems like he has a bigger stick up his ass than normal" Shigure asked from his position curled under the warmth of the kotatsu at his parent's house.

Hatori took a drink of the hot chocolate they'd been given by the maid while stalling for time. He wasn't sure if he should tell Shigure about the whole thing with the cat. Shigure was always snooping around, trying to find out what was going on. He's probably sensed something was up today too…

"Hatori? Earth to Hatori?" Hatori blinked at the hand waving just inches from his face, he'd zoned out completely.

"Gee, Mr. Serious is turning into a space cadet" Shigure teased.

Hatori swatted the hand away. "You wanna find out what's going on or not?"

"Tell me please!" Shigure whined, "I know something's up! First I wake up with this weird feeling and then your dad is a bigger prick than normal, something's up! I know it!"

Hatori sighed and related that morning's events to his cousin. When he was done, Shigure looked thoughtful.

"So, the cat of the zodiac…that makes nine out of the thirteen from the story…interesting…" Hatori couldn't help but note that his cousin's face had gone from goofy to totally serious in a matter of seconds. It was one of the things he'd noticed about his friend recently, as they got older, he seemed to scheme even more. He shuddered to think how much more proficient Shigure would probably end up getting at manipulation of others.

Hatori shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. "Anyway, I'd be there to see if it you hadn't dropped by" he said, knowing what Shigure's reaction would be.

Shigure looked predictably hurt "You mean you don't want me around? But then you'll become horrible and boring just like your old man! You don't want that for you! I don't want that for you! But don't worry; I'll save you from that fate!"

Hatori just sighed and picked up one of the oranges from their plate in the middle of the table. A familiar silence stretched out between them. Silences like this had grown more and more common too, just like Shigure's manipulative ways.

"You know the cat is always locked away from everyone else," Shigure commented as he lounged against the low table, "you could almost feel sorry for the kid, for as long as the curse is around, the cat will never be a part of the family. It will always be hated and shunned. Makes our part of the curse look like a cake walk."

The thoughtful look on Shigure's face disturbed Hatori.

"Do you find it comforting to know that no matter how bad it might be for us, someone has it worse?"

Shigure did not respond. He didn't have to. They both knew that it was the truth.

Hatori watched Shigure bounce the orange in his hand a few times before starting to unpeel his own. They sat in the silence wrapped up in their own thoughts and waited for something to happen.

well, it's only been over a year since my last update...i still remember that morning, it was a friday and i was supposed to be getting ready to meet with a group for my spanish lit class so we could go over our presentation on Argentina. instead, i was busy trying to write down this strange little fic about Hatori and his Father that had just popped into my head without any warning. this past year this story has been rolling around in my head, continually brought back to mind by the various people that have reviewed it. I've been wondering where to take this, i see that i originally thought it would only be 2 or 3 chapters. i still don't know for sure. a part of me wants to expand it and make it a deeper sort of fic about all the zodiacs and their fathers. since a good deal of the father's in this are noticably absent. But I'm fairly certain that i don't have the writing chops to pull that one off. Really though, this fic has been trying to get me to hook it up with this other fic that hasn't actually been written but lives in my head along with a bunch of other fics. The fic that that would create is really complicated beyond everything i have ever tried to write. but only time will tell.

i'm not sure what will happen, and it may take me another year to get out another chapter. but still, at long last, here is the promised shigure at least.

oh, and in case i never do update this, the ages are: Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame are all 12 or thereabouts. Hatori has been learning about medicine (and super cool secret mind wiping techinques) since he was 5. Shigure spends a lot of time with Akito who is 3, and Akito's dad is very very close to the end of his life span. all the zodiac kids act far far older than they actually are. childhood is rough practically nonexistant when one of your parents can't hug you and the other probably doesn't care to.

6/18/07

p.s. don't you hate it when authors don't update? geez, i know, it's such a pain.