AN: I hope you all enjoy this chapter and thanks to all of you who have reviewed. Your suggestions and critics were very helpful.
I also did some research on the Japanese schools system and when holidays/vacations are, so based on that info I'm probably going to go back and edit anything that might contradict what's in this chapter. I was going to go back and edit the first two chapters anyway so I might as well do a full sweep.
Update 8-25-12: Alright, this chapter has been revised now as well. I'm honestly surprised I've been keeping a steady schedule of revising. Well, on to chapter 4!
Home Is Where The Rozens Are
Ch3 Thank You
Sunrise brought forth another beautiful day. The sun was bright, birds were singing and not a cloud dotted the sky. This new day ushered in many things. One thing in particular this day brought was the last day of summer vacation. It was with this knowledge that Jun laid in bed staring blankly at the ceiling. School. Soon he would have to go back. He felt his heart ache a bit in pain. This would have been his sister's senior year of school. She would have graduated from high school. She would have gone to college to study to become a nurse. She would have done a lot, but life didn't allow her to fulfill her dreams. Instead, it took everything from her in a single instant. Rolling to his side, he looked at the picture that sat on his nightstand.
It was that of his family. It didn't take long for his eyes to begin to sting with unshed tears.
Every morning it was like this. He would wake up with the realization that his loved ones were gone. That he was the only one left and before he knew it, he was a crying mess. He rolled over again and pulled the covers over his head. He suddenly didn't feel like getting up from bed today or leaving his room. Ever.
His plans to isolate himself from society were brought to a halt when his door was suddenly thrown open. This action, in turn, caused him to fall out of bed in fright. With the covers still wrapped around his body, he attempted to sit up and looked around for the intruder. He could barely make out a blurry figure standing in his door way. He struggled out of the covers and reached over to his nightstand where his glasses sat. He slipped his glasses on and looked at the person again. It was Kirakishou.
"What is it?" he asked the youngest Rozen.
"Play with me." was her simple reply.
Jun sighed. For some reason, Kirakishou had taken a liking to him. It had been a few weeks now since he moved in and so far he had been able to live civilly with the Rozen sisters. After the little mishap on his first day, the sisters had apologized, well some of them anyway, and soon he found himself being split up between the sisters for some quality time. Every day, he spent at least an hour with each of them. Their time spread throughout the day. Kirakishou however, seemed to spend the majority of her day with him. The whole thing seemed kind of odd to him. Not just Kirakishou's strange attachment to him, but the sister's insistence to spend time with him. As strange as it was though, he never once questioned them about it.
"What do you want to play?" He asked her as he got up from the floor and searched his closet for an outfit. He silently thanked his luck that he hadn't slept in just boxers the night before. It would have been an even more embarrassing morning. He didn't want to add something else to his list.
"I want to go to the park."
Jun raised an eyebrow. That was unexpected. Normally all she wanted to do was play tea party, hide and seek, or play house. He guessed she just wanted to get out of the mansion. Not that he blamed her for wanting to do so. Being the youngest, she didn't get out as much as her sisters. After all, Kirakishou was only eight and so of course she couldn't go out with friends as she pleased. Jun nodded at her request.
"I'll get dressed and we'll ask your dad for permission to go out after breakfast."
"Okay."
Kirakishou walked over to Jun's unmade bed and sat. Jun then proceeded to the bathroom and performed his morning rituals. Once done, he stepped out and made his bed. Kirakishou lent a hand. Jun smiled slightly as the little girl helped him. She had to be the most independent eight-year-old he'd ever met. He guessed that was a result of being left alone a lot. They both walked out of his room and headed to the dining room for breakfast. Kirakishou grabbed a hand full of Jun's shirt as they walked down the halls. Jun had noticed that Kirakishou had a habit of holding someone's hand when going places. He wasn't sure why, but guessed it was just out of habit, however, he realized that she had yet to attempt to hold his. He figured it was because he was still like a stranger to her which made sense. He wasn't expecting her to completely trust him after only a few weeks after all. Trust took time to build. For the mean time though, he didn't mind her grabbing onto his shirt. They entered the dining room and went to their respective seats. Shinku and Suigintou were already seated.
"Morning." Jun said.
"Good morning." They chorused.
Jun glanced at the sister's way. Shinku was busy reading yet another book. He had begun to wonder if reading was all she did. When they spent time together, it was always in his room and all they did was read. During this time he kept noticing her glancing at the manga he had in his room. He had been tempted to ask whether she wanted to borrow one, but Shinku had glared at him when she realized she had been caught staring. He glanced over at Suigintou but quickly averted his gaze elsewhere when she met his stare. Suigintou always made him feel...uncomfortable. When they were alone she wouldn't really talk to him, but she never tried to get him to leave her alone. Sometimes it made him wonder why she even bothered to spend that time with him.
"Morning!" an exuberant voice called out.
That voice could only belong to Hinaichigo. Souseiseki, Suiseiseki, and Kanaria trailed behind her. Jun and the others responded to Hinaichigo's vibrant greeting. Hinaichigo always seemed to be happy. At least that's what it seemed like to Jun. She was also a very enthusiastic teacher when it came to art. He learned this the first day they hung out together. He had to admit, she was a pretty good teacher and definitely a good artist for someone so young. She was only going to get better as she grew older.
Souseiseki and Suiseiseki would almost always be together so he had the opportunity to be with both of them most of the time. Souseiseki would be the one to talk to him with Suiseiseki providing commentary. Not nice commentary, but it was something at least. It was better than the silence he shared with Suigintou although on certain days he'd rather be in Suigintou's presence than Suiseiseki's.
Kanaria, much like Hinaichigo, was actually trying to teach him something as well. In her case she was attempting to teach him how to play the violin like her. However, Jun didn't quite have the talent for playing instruments, but Kanaria vowed to never give up her quest to teach him. Jun wondered how much longer she would last. He was pretty terrible at it which is why he never bothered to learn how to play one.
Breakfast began once Rozen joined everyone in the dining room. They ate and talked to one another about many things. Jun for the most part, kept silent unless someone addressed him. He was still a bit uncomfortable with speaking out too much at the table. After all, he still felt like a stranger in this family.
"Father?" Kirakishou questioned.
"Yes?"
"May I go to the park with Jun-nii."
"Of course, but make sure you're back by lunch time."
"Thank you father." Kirakishou smile happily.
"Why didn't you tell us you wanted to go to the park?" Kanaria questioned her sister. "We could have all gone yesterday. ~kashira."
True, had Kirakishou asked the day before, they would have all been able to take a trip to the park. Today, however, the girls were all going out with friends. It was the last day of summer after all.
"I wanted to go with just Jun-nii."
All the girls looked over at Jun who was finishing up his breakfast. He suddenly felt a cold chill go down his spine. He nervously glanced at the girls. They were all giving him the look. The one that said you-better-take-care-of-our-sister-or-you're-dead-meat look. Jun smiled back weakly. The girls returned to their breakfast without any further threatening. Kirakishou finished and hopped out of her seat. She went to Jun's side and grabbed his hand. Jun was surprised she did so. This was the first time.
"Can we go now Jun-nii?"
Jun glanced at Rozen who nodded his head.
"Okay."
Kirakishou smiled as she led Jun out of the room. Jun suddenly felt this unfamiliar giddiness bubbling within him. Maybe it was because it'd been it'd been awhile since he left the mansion that he was suddenly looking forward to going out. Shirosaki waited for them at the car that would escort them to the park. Jun was grateful that they did not take the limo. It attracted too much attention to them and he personally did not like it.
Back at the Rozen mansion, the girls were all getting ready to leave. They were gathered at the door, some with worried looks.
"Can we really trust him to look after her? ~kashira." Kanaria asked.
"It'll be fine. I think he got the message at the table." Suigintou reassured them.
"Actually, Kira-chan saved us the trouble of trying to figure out how we were going to keep him from being alone today." Souseiseki commented.
"True. If we did leave him alone, he'd probably just stay in his room all day and sulk." Shinku added.
"Do you think he'll notice what we're doing? ~Na no." Hinaichigo questioned.
"I highly doubt it. It's been a few weeks already. ~desu." Suiseiseki answered.
With that the sisters each exited the house. Though in the back of their minds, they were still slightly worried about their sister. They just hoped she wouldn't blow their cover. It wasn't that they were embarrassed to admit that they were beginning to get attached to the boy that was living with them, for some of them anyway, but they were worried as to how Jun would take it if he found out that they were basically babysitting him.
They hoped that when he did, he wouldn't take it the wrong way.
xxx
Jun watched Kirakishou as she played on the swings. He had had a hard time persuading her from playing in the sandbox. The dress she was wearing was not made for playing, much less in the sand. In retrospect he should have had her change her clothes. Some regular clothes like a shirt and shorts would have been a better outfit than her expensive dress. He hadn't really thought about it before, but now that he was thinking about the Rozen sister's choice of clothing, he wondered whether they owned any street clothes. So far, all he'd seen them in were dresses. It was just one of the many things he never really bothered to ask about.
Jun shook the thoughts away. It wasn't his place to question them about trivial things like that. They could wear whatever they wanted. He sighed and looked up at the sky. It had been quite a long time since he'd been to a park. The last time he came was with Nori when he was still a little boy. A sad smile graced his lips. That pain in his chest was returning.
Kirakishou noticed Jun was just staring off into the sky. She could tell he was in pain. Determined not to let him suffer alone she jumped off the swing and walked towards Jun. Said boy was brought out of his revere by a tug on his shirt. He looked down at Kirakishou who looked at him expectantly. He wasn't sure what she wanted. Did she want to go home? Or perhaps she wanted to go somewhere else.
"Come play with me."
Jun thought for a moment before standing up. It wouldn't hurt to play with her for a little while. It'd been a while since he played in a park anyway. Kirakishou sat on the swings and asked Jun to push her. As they continued to play, Jun eventually joined in and swung with her. They then proceeded to the slides and did a variety of other things. All the while, Jun made sure to keep her as clean as possible. That dress not only looked expensive but it looked like it would also be a pain to get stains out of.
They continued their fun with a walk around the park, enjoying some of the sights and feeding some birds. Jun found it to be quite enjoyable and felt quite at peace. Something he hadn't felt since the accident.
"Ice cream."
"Huh?"
"Ice cream." Kirakishou stated again this time pointing towards an ice cream cart.
"Do you want some?"
Kirakishou nodded. Jun lead her to the ice cream cart. He got her a vanilla cone and chocolate for himself. They sat on a park bench enjoying their treat. After their cone, they headed back home. Lunch time was upon them. When they arrived, they discovered that the sisters were still out and probably wouldn't be back till evening. After having lunch with Rozen and Kirakishou, Jun decided to head to his room. As he walked down the hall, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Kirakishou following him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Can I stay with Jun-nii?"
Jun began to suspect there was more to Kirakishou than he thought. He nodded and held out his hand. He had a sneaking suspicion she hated being left alone. They entered his room and she sat on the bed while Jun set up his video game system. Kirakishou stared at the mechanism with fascination. She had never seen one before, which was surprising in Jun's opinion. After watching Jun play a fighting game, she wanted to try it out as well. Jun did his best to teach her, but it wasn't working out so well. The computer would beat her every time. Feeling sorry for her, he took control of the second player and let her beat him. The smile she gave for him made it all worthwhile.
Jun realized something as he played his games with Kirakishou. This realization made him smile and also feel a little foolish for not noticing earlier. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep on his bed with Kirakishou snuggled up beside him. He was rudely awakened by Suiseiseki as she yelled at him for something he couldn't quite make out. He wondered if maybe Suiseiseki was bipolar. She could be quite nice one moment and next thing you knew she was trying to gut you for something you didn't even know you did.
"Jun-nii didn't do anything." Kirakishou said. "Stop being mean to him Sui-nee!"
By then, the sisters had all entered the room and stared at Kirakishou with amazement. They had never seen her angry before. Suiseiseki was equally stunned. Since when had their little sister had a side like this? Kirakishou turned to Jun and threw her arms around him.
"Thank you Jun-nii."
Jun smiled softly and hugged back. "No, thank you for keeping me company."
Kirakishou pulled back and looked at him a bit confused.
"I woke up this morning; no actually, I've been waking up every morning thinking about how alone I was going to be. However, you've made sure I wasn't since the day I came here. Thank you for that." He then looked at the rest of the Rozen sisters. "And you guys too. This entire time, you've all been keeping me company so I wouldn't feel alone right?"
The sisters all blushed at being discovered but said nothing to confirm or deny the fact.
"Thank you." Jun told them with a smile.
xxx
The residents of the Rozen mansion woke up to another beautiful morning. Jun slammed his hand upon a clock. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Today was his first day of class. It was going to be tough, but he resolved to try his best so as to not worry his new found friends. Jun smiled at the memory from the night before.
After thanking them, Suiseiseki went into a rage from who knows what and stormed out of the room. Shinku assured him it was because she was embarrassed and didn't know how to handle herself. At dinner she seemed calmer and was a little nicer to him. Actually all the sisters seemed to be talking with him more at the table. Even Suigintou made an attempt to talk. Though it wasn't much since all she asked him was what his favorite color was. Still, this was an improvement over what their meals had been like. It felt more natural and any awkwardness that was there before seemed to disappear. He felt like he belonged there.
Jun jumped out of bed and grabbed his uniform from his closet. It was just a plain white collared shirt with black pants and he also grabbed a light blue t-shirt to go underneath. Looking at his uniform, he remembered something Rozen brought up after dinner. He had asked Jun whether he would consider transferring to the girl's school. Jun wasn't sure how he felt about that. The girls more than likely attended a private school and he felt he'd be out of place in a place like that. He decided to dwell on the matter later since Rozen wasn't pushing him to make up his mind so soon. He quickly set to get his morning things done and headed to the dining room for breakfast.
The girls were already seated with their father. Jun took his seat and glanced at the uniform the girls wore. He was surprised to see they all had almost identical uniforms. They, for the most part, wore a plain white collared shirt with a black vest over the shirt and a tie. A red plaid skirt completed the outfit. However, each of the girls added their own bit of flair to their uniforms. Suigintou wore a black choker around her neck and a black belt lined with three rows of silver pyramid studs. Shinku on the other hand, had red ribbons holding her hair in two pigtails and a rose pins on the collar of her shirt. Her tie had embroidered light red, almost pink, roses.
Suiseiseki and Souseiseki each had a green and blue ties, respectively. They also each wore a green and blue arm band. Kanaria's vest had some light yellow notes scattered all around and her black tie had a single bright yellow music note near the end. Hinaichigo wore a light pink vest with a red tie and finally Kirakishou seemed to be the only one wearing the standard school uniform, however, she did have a single white rose embroidered to the bottom of her red tie.
"Morning." Jun said.
"Good morning." they answered back.
They were soon served their meal and began to eat.
"So, uh, do you all go to the same school?" Jun asked. His curiosity had gotten the better of him. He still knew next to nothing about them, but he was going to change that.
"Yes." Shinku answered.
"The private school we go to is an elevator school. ~desu." Suiseiseki elaborated.
"Oh." was all Jun could respond. He wasn't really all that surprised that it was an elevator school. From what he knew, most private schools had a similar system.
The girls all looked at Jun's uniform. They wondered if it would be a good idea if Jun attended their school instead of returning to his old one. Jun's school was further away now that he lived with them making his commute a bit of a hassle in their opinion. Jun at his breakfast as fast as he could, but made sure he didn't look like a complete slob. With his school being farther away, he needed to leave the mansion earlier than the girls had to.
"I'm off."
"See you tonight Jun-kun and please think about what I said."
Jun nodded and waved good-bye.
"What did you mean by that father?" Kanaria asked.
"I asked Jun last night whether he would consider transferring to your school instead. I figured it would give him less stressful mornings."
The girls all wondered whether he would take the offer. They silently hoped he would.
Jun waved to Shirosaki as he dropped him off in front of the train station. He sighed in relief as he looked at his watch. He still had plenty of time to get to school. He walked into the station and waited on the platform for the train to arrive. His wait wasn't long and soon he was on his way. At each stop, more students began to board the train. Jun didn't recognize anyone, yet. He hoped he wouldn't have to meet anyone he knew until he reached his class. By now, he was sure that his class was made aware of his situation in order to make his life a little easier, at school at least.
His stop finally came. Pushing through the crowd, he reached the door of the train and followed the crowed of people out of the station. The closer he got to his school, the more people he began to recognize. Some looked at him and whispered to the friends they were walking with. Jun ignored them and continued on his way. He arrived and went straight to his class room in hopes of avoiding any unnecessary questioning. Before he knew it, his classmates began to fill the room. He could feel his heartbeat quicken as some people approached them.
"Sakurada-kun?"
Jun looked up at the speaker. It was one of the girls in his class along with a group of her friends.
"I heard about what happened to your family. I'm sorry you had to go through all that."
Jun could feel his throat begin to tighten, but he pushed himself to respond to them.
"It's okay...I-I'm working through it."
"If you need anything let us know."
Jun nodded no longer trusting his voice. His attention was then brought to the door. There he recognized some of Nori's friends. Suddenly, he felt it was harder to breathe as they got closer to him.
"Is what happened true?" One of the girls asked. "I-I saw it on the news, b-but I couldn't..."
"I-Is she really...gone?" another asked.
Jun lowered his head and stared at his desk almost in a panic. He couldn't talk. He couldn't breathe. Why was confirming his sister's death so hard? Why were they asking him this? How could he answer? Why couldn't he answer!
He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when someone grabbed his hand and pulled him away from his desk. Jun didn't even bother to try to stop the person and let them lead him away. When they finally stopped, he realized he was on the schools roof.
"Jun-kun?"
Jun looked at the speaker. It was his childhood friend, Kashiwaba Tomoe. He couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears began to pour down his face. Tomoe did the only thing she could; she pulled Jun close into a tender embrace, allowing him his moment to grieve.
Tomoe talked with Jun for a few minutes, before she returned to their class room. Jun waited a bit before returning himself. Upon entering the room, no one questioned him and for that, he was grateful. The rest of the day proceeded as normal as possible. Lunch was, for the most part, uneventful. There were some people that asked him about the accident but they didn't pry father than wanting to know if it had happened. Nori's friends returned around lunch time to once again confirm what they feared. This time Jun answered them with a yes. They of course broke down and cried. Jun did his best to hold back the tears as well. It was still too fresh in his mind. The accident, the funeral, everything associated with his family left him feeling so hurt. He didn't want to always feel like this about them. He wanted to be able to think about on them and smile at the happy memories they'd made.
For now though, all he could do was try not to cry at their memories.
The girls apologized afterwards for asking, but they wanted to hear it from Jun himself. He was thankful that Tomoe had been with him the entire time. He wasn't sure how else he would have gotten through the day. When it was time to finally go home, he and Tomoe walked down to the station together. It was a complete coincidence that they needed to get off at the same stop. During the ride they chatted and Tomoe apologized for not being there for Jun when he most needed it. Jun in turn reassured her that he was fine and that he was being cared for.
"You are? Is that why you're taking a different way home?"
"Yeah, I don't live where I use to."
They reached their stop and got off the train.
"I'm living with a friend of my dad's. He promised my parents he'd take care of me if something ever happened to them."
"So where are you living?"
"In the suburbs. I really can't give out the address though."
Jun stopped walking and looked around in front of the station for his ride.
"Why is that?"
Jun scratched the back of his head. He supposed it wouldn't hurt if he told her who he was living with. If anyone had a right to know it was his childhood friend. He trusted she wouldn't go around telling people sensitive information.
"I can't tell you where I live, but you'll understand why if I tell you who I'm living with. Just promise not to tell anyone else okay?"
Tomoe nodded. He leaned closer to Tomoe and whispered in her ear. It was around this time that Shirosaki pulled up with the girls in the car. They had all been worried and wanted to greet Jun after his first day of school. Not that they would all admit they had been concerned. When they rolled down the window to call out to Jun, they were greeted by the sight of Jun leaning close to a girl. From their angle, it looked like he was kissing her. For some reason, the thought made some of the Rozen sisters feel like murdering the unknown girl, though they weren't sure themselves why they felt that way.
They continued to observe Jun and the girl. Jun pulled away and the girl's eyes widened. She said something to him, but they couldn't tell what it was. Jun turned around and spotted them. He turned back to the girl, probably to say good-bye. The girl then took out a pen and wrote something on Jun's hand. She then hugged him and went on her way. Jun smiled at her as she departed and waved good-bye. He then turned and walked towards them.
The girls did their best, well some of them, to feign ignorance/ anger. Some of these girls included, Suigintou, Suiseiseki, Souseiseki and Shinku. Jun opened the door to the car and hopped inside with the rest of the girls. He immediately sensed something was wrong. He smiled at them almost apologetically, though he wasn't sure why.
"So..." Suigintou began.
"How was your day?" Shinku finished.
"Uh, well, it wasn't as bad as I expected. There was only one instance where I lost it, but Tomoe was there to help me."
The name piqued their interest. It was also interesting to know that he was on a first name basis with a girl.
"Who is this Tomoe? ~ desu."
"She's my childhood friend. We've known each other since elementary school."
"I see..."Souseiseki said.
Nothing more was asked and the rest of the ride was silent. It made Jun uncomfortable and, for some reason, feeling like he did something wrong. Kanaria could only shake her head while Hinaichigo and Kirakishou were confused as to what exactly was going on. Suigintou, Shinku, Suiseiseki, and Souseiseki, on the other hand, began to wonder how to get Jun to transfer schools...and far away from that girl.
AN: And that's it for the chapter. I hope you liked it. Also as a reference, I modeled the Rozen sister's school uniforms after Amu's from Shugo Chara. I couldn't really think of anything good so I was like, hey, what the heck. So yeah, reviews are greatly appreciated. Until next time!