Chapter 3: Partial Voodooism

It was on a day that Mika had gone to the store with the director that Yu realized the younger children might not be as 'innocent' as the blonde had believed them to be. Sure, the other kids did all sorts of weird crafts to keep themselves entertained, but this one was – by far – the strangest he had ever heard of.

"You want me to do what?" he asked, not quite understanding what they wanted. Taichi stared up at him impatiently, almost like he was supposed to understand everything.

"Come on!" Instead of restating what the child had said, Taichi pulled him from the chair he had been sitting on – a considerable feat since the child was smaller than him. Yu blamed it on his surprise. He was led over to the table that was used for crafts. All of the other children were reading a story, making the black-haired boy generally confused.

No one else is doing the craft…

"Here," Taichi passed him a piece of paper and some crayons. "You use these."

"To do… what exactly?" Yu had to figure that he felt his patience running short. The younger children all expected him to know everything without explaining. It was like they were trying to turn him into another copy of Mika and Akane.

The brown-haired girl was doing laundry in one of the other rooms, most likely trying to help out. Yu wasn't sure what else to do, so he mainly sat around unless Mika pulled him into something. Since the blonde was at the store, the orphan hadn't really been doing anything.

"It's a game we play…" Taichi glanced at the other children, almost looking wary as he lowered his voice to a whisper; "called 'paper torture.'"

"That sounds stupid," the black-haired boy instantly responded, not caring what the younger child thought of it. Taichi glanced at the doorway, where Ako was seated nearby, reading a book on ponies.

"No one else will do it with me. Please, Yu-nii?" the smaller boy begged in another whisper, looking up at him with pleading eyes. Yu almost wanted to say 'no' – especially after what Taichi had called him – but he found that he couldn't.

"Fine." The black-haired boy sat down in one of the chairs with a sigh. "What do we have to do?"

"Take the crayons and draw someone…" the explanation didn't sound too bad, until the latter part was revealed. "… and then draw all the bad things you want to happen to them."

"Wha-? That's messed up. Why would you want to do that?" Yu felt slight disgust run through him. What was with this kid?

"That's why it's called 'paper torture.'" Taichi said the words like they explained everything. The child picked up a crayon and started to draw. "And besides, it makes you feel better for all of the nasty things they did to you."

The older orphan was silent in his seat, not quite sure of what to think. I don't have to draw what he says. I can just draw. The thought made him pick up a crayon and place it to the paper. However, nothing came to him.

Yu looked over at Taichi, who was busy drawing a figure being shocked by electricity. The younger boy looked happy, maybe too happy for what he was drawing. The black-haired boy's hand started to scribble on the page as he thought.

This really is stupid. I couldn't do this, even if I wanted to, because anything that I would want to happen to them… it already has.

Yu felt frustration start to become pent up inside him, so much so that the crayon he was drawing with snapped. He discarded it and grabbed another. The room was silent, other than a set of small footsteps. Green eyes searched the room, seeing that Ako had left through the doorway. He didn't think anything of it though.

"Taichi, what are you doing?!" a surprised shout came from behind them as something hit the floor. Yu was snapped out of his daze, seeing that Mika had returned with the caretaker. The blonde had dropped the bags he had been holding, instead choosing to run over to the table. One glance at the younger boy's drawing and Yu knew they were in trouble. "Taichi, what did I say about 'partial voodooism'?!"

The other boy's words caused Yu to become confused. 'Partial voodooism'? That wasn't what Taichi had called it though…

The younger boy had completely ignored Mika and instead leaned over to look at Yu's page. "What did you draw, Yu-nii?" The words made the black-haired boy look down at his page. He didn't even think that he had drawn much, but when he looked, he saw blurs of red and orange. Fire.

A feeling of nausea entered him, causing him to get up from the table. "This is stupid," he repeated, walking past Mika and out of the room. As he left, he heard Mika scolding the younger boy.

"Taichi, you made Yu-chan run to the bathroom again." Mika's words angered him, forcing him faster to the safe room.

"Shut up, Mika!"

He locked the door once he did reach the bathroom, cursing a moment later because he was pretty sure that Mika would be able to open it. He leaned against the door, breaths ragged as pain squeezed his chest. The mirror reflected his face, green eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Yu-chan, I should have explained." he wasn't even surprised when Mika's voice came from the other side of the door. The door rattled a moment later, as sigh quickly following. "You locked the door."

Yu didn't answer, instead continuing to try and calm himself. All he could think about was the flames. What had it felt like, to be burned like that? He choked on the tears, for a moment wishing that he would have burned too. He didn't even know where the notion came from.

"It's no use. Nothing's worth it," he whispered, leaning his head against the wall, feeling as though something was crushing him. More noises came from outside the door – probably Mika pick locking the door again – but he didn't care.

How much longer was it that Mika finally got the door open? Yu didn't know. The blonde seemed surprised that the dark-haired boy was so close to the door, not hiding in the bathtub like last time.

"Yu-chan…" Mika trailed off, taking a step forward hesitantly. "Taichi… he had it really hard at his old home, so he doesn't quite understand…"

Understand…?

The blonde gave another sigh before continuing. "You remember when I gave you that tour, there was a list…"

"Of things not to do," the black-haired boy murmured, remembering the list. Now that he thought about it, the words 'partial voodooism' did sound familiar. The list had been written on a piece of construction paper, with several numbers being written in different colored markers.

"Yeah, we made that list shortly after I came here. The other kids… they used to play that game, but they didn't understand that it was a wrong thing to do. They've gotten better but Taichi is a bit of a troublemaker."

"That's an understatement."

Mika's laugh sounded forced, almost like he himself was feeling lost too. "What else are we supposed to do? We all have our faults…"

Yu finally was able to look over at the other boy, seeing the strangest look in the other boy's blue eyes. It made him unable to think because of the revelation that came with it.

In another instant, the expression was gone, replaced with Mika's normal attitude. "Well, when you feel better, I can teach you how to make stew for dinner."

The bathroom door shut behind the other orphan, leaving Yu alone again. The pain hadn't gone away and Mika's strange expression still stuck in his mind. The realization came back to him, forcing his gaze to the ground.

It's not just me… everyone here… even Mika… is hurting.

Hello again! It's been awhile since the last update, but here we are. As I look back at the chapters in this fanfiction, I realize I'm hitting everyone with a lot of depressing chapters, so I apologize for that! The next few are going to be happier! I think I have around… twenty-something chapters planned for this fanfiction, which I realize timeline-wise isn't accurate with the actual source material but… I can't really help it. One-shots with this group of orphans is too much fun~! Either way, I hope everyone somehow ended up enjoying the chapter (despite the angst), and please tell me your thoughts in a review!

~AnimeWolfGirl9