AN: I'm so happy! Two chapters! Again! You get see more of Shuichi's evil side and just so everyone's clear, this happens before Shuichi actually likes his mother. So of course he's gonna be mean to her. I hope you like. Chapter Three: Terrible Toddlers
A week after the little 'tussle' between the two toddlers, Asoka and Shiori decide that the two should spend some time away from each other. One problem, there is some mix up about which day-care Ruri is going to and the war begins on the first day of day-care.
~The First Day~
Ruri smiles staring wide eyed at the huge building in front of her as she grips her Asoka's hand. Asoka smiles down at Ruri as her head spins back and forth. Ruri squeals seeing all the little kids playing behind the fence. She races over and smashes against the fence. Two little girls stop and stare at Ruri. Both girls race over and smile at her. Ruri giggles and waves.
"Hi! My name's Nakamichi Ruri. I'm four years old." Ruri says. Both girls giggle.
"Hi, I'm Karin." The black haired girl says, her bright blue eyes smiling at Ruri. The much smaller strawberry blonde steps forward, her tiny frame shaking.
"H-H-He-He-Hello. I-I-I-I'm Rei-Rei-Reiko." Ruri giggles and reaches through the fence to pat little Reiko's head.
"You're cute!" Ruri she giggles. One of the teachers pulls Reiko away. Reiko blushes red and grins happily.
"Um, who are you dear?" The teacher asks laughing nervously. Ruri looks up at the teacher and grins.
"I'm Nakamichi Ruri, the most freakin' cutest thing you'll ever lay eyes on." She smiles at Reiko. "Except her." The teacher blinks at the little four years old in front of him. He had two options, tell another teacher or call the police. He jumps as a woman walks up behind the little girl. The woman smiles down at the girl before looking up at him.
"Hello. My name is Nakamichi Asoka. I'm Ruri's mother. Are you one of the teachers?" She asks. The man nods and smiles.
"Yes, my name's Komura Tohru. I'm a part time teacher here. It's very nice to meet you." Tohru says holding his hand out. Asoka smiles and shakes his hand. She gasps as Reiko peeks out from behind him. Asoka squeals.
"You're so cute!" She kneels and grins at the little girl. "You're so freakin' adorable!" Reiko blushes and dives behind Tohru's legs. Tohru smiles at Ruri. So the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Ruri giggles and grabs her mom's sleeve. Asoka looks at Ruri.
"Reiko's shy." Asoka giggles and waves at Reiko. Reiko waves shyly. Asoka looks back at Ruri and smiles. "Well you can fix that can't you, sweetheart?" Ruri puffs out her chest and grins.
"Believe it." Asoka chuckles grinning and stands up. She smiles at Tohru.
"I'll go tell them she's here. Is it ok if she just plays?" Tohru smiles and nods. He reaches down and grabs Ruri. Ruri giggles and wiggles as Tohru lifts her over the fence. Tohru chuckles as he places her one the ground and she tackles Reiko in a hug. Reiko squeaks and blushes, hiding her face in Ruri's shoulder. Karin giggles and tackles both girls in hugs, knocking the three of them to the ground. Karin, Ruri and Reiko lay on the ground in a giggling wriggling heap. Asoka smiles at the three girls. It'll be good for her to have some friends, she thinks walking towards the building. Tohru smiles at the three girls. He kneels down and rubs Ruri's head. She pauses and grins up at him, before tackling Reiko again.
Tohru watches them fondly. He'd been worried about Reiko. She'd been extremely shy and introverted when she arrived. Karin is her only friend and that took weeks. Tohru is shocked out of his thoughts by Karin's squeals. Karin runs over to the swings, Ruri and Reiko following behind. This will be good for her. Tohru turns to walk but pauses seeing Ruri freeze. His eyes widen seeing a fire alight in her eyes. He follows her gaze to a small red haired boy sitting by himself. Tohru narrows his eyes. That's the Minamino kid. Tohru leans against the fence and crosses his arms. He's antisocial, quiet and slightly…Tohru sighs. Alright the kid's a brat. Tohru jumps hearing a wail. He looks to his left and sighs as one of the boys pulls at a little girl's piggy tails. He walks over to break it up, forgetting the thoughts about Shuichi and Ruri.
Ruri races after Karin, Reiko behind her. She laughs as she grabs one of the polls and swings around it. Ruri giggles as she slides down to the ground. She looks over at Karin, who's standing in the swings, when her eyes shy past her. Ruri freezes seeing a flash of bright red. She stands up and grinds her teeth seeing emerald eyes watching the other children with coldness not associated with a child of his age. Reiko follows Ruri's gaze and freezes seeing the red haired boy. She shakes remembering his eyes. Karin had convinced her that she needed to talk more, so she'd forced her to talk to the new boy. It didn't turn out well. He'd been mean to her and made her cry. Karin had threatened to hurt him, but then he made her cry. Reiko sniffles thinking about it. Karin pauses on the swing and looks at her two friends. She blinks seeing Reiko almost in tears and Ruri practically growling, both look at the same thing. Karin freezes seeing the horror of day-care. Minamino Shuichi.
Ruri growls and steps forward, but a hand grabs a hold of her shirt. Ruri looks over her shoulder to see huge tears running down Reiko's red blotchy cheeks. Ruri looks in front of her hearing a thump. Karin stands in front of her.
"I don't like him." Karin says with a frown. Ruri puffs out her chest and grabs Reiko's hand.
"Shoe-itch-e goes down." Ruri growls glaring at him. Reiko and Karin blink at Ruri before giggling. Ruri glares at the two giggling girls, before huffing and stomping over to Shuichi. She can still hear their giggles and squeals of 'Shoe-it-e!' Shuichi looks up and smiles at Ruri.
"Hello, Ruri-chan." Ruri blinks at the sweet smile and the openness of his face. She narrows her eyes at him and steps back.
"You're the one who put those thorns in my shoes." She growls. Shuichi cocks his head to the side his eyes wide and innocent.
"And I believe you're the one who left your water hose in our yard." Ruri freezes and looks to the side.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Our yard flooded." Ruri twitches again. She'd heard about it. It took Shiori days to get it cleaned up.
"I'll admit it did offer some amusement. I actually laughed at that woman. So for that I do thank you." Ruri stares at Shuichi wide eyed and mouth agape. He'd laughed at his mother, while she cleaned up their yard.
"You didn't help her?" Ruri shouts. Shuichi chuckles and smiles crookedly.
"Why would I help that woman? I don't care for her." Ruri flops onto the ground in front of Shuichi.
"She's your mom!" Shuichi narrows his eyes. Ruri's eyes widen seeing little gold flecks in his eyes.
"That woman is by no measure of the fact my mother." Ruri flinches away from Shuichi. She grinds her teeth and narrows her eyes.
"Minamino, I-"
"Hey there." Ruri squeaks as a pair of hands grab under her arms and lift. Ruri blinks as Tohru rests her against his hip.
"Karin and Reiko came crying to me. Is everything alright?" He asks smiling at both of the toddlers. Shuichi smiles up at Tohru, a slight upturn to his smile makes it seem forced.
"Ruri and I were just speaking to one another." Tohru smiles down at him.
"Well that's nice." He says smiling at Ruri. Ruri glares at Shuichi. Tohru jostles her.
"That's not a nice face." He says narrowing his eyes at Ruri. Ruri looks down and pooches out her bottom lip.
"Sorwy." She mumbles. Tohru grins at her. His smile droops a little as he looks down at Shuichi.
"How are you?" He asks. Shuichi watches him, and then looks at the flower on the ground in front of him. Tohru waits patiently for a few minutes, but Shuichi ignores him. Tohru heaves a sigh and turns around to walk away. Ruri watches Shuichi as Tohru carries her away. Shuichi looks up and smirks. Ruri narrows her eyes at him. He will go down.
After weeks of attempting revenge, Ruri was almost out of ideas. Hot glued his hair to the ground, glued his shoes to the locker, pretty much glued everything. None of it worked, but it all changes today. She'd been thinking about this for a few days. Now it was time to put it into action. Ruri smiles as Tohru turns his back to her in order to a group of little girls. Ruri slips in quickly and grabs the bottle of glue. She slides the bottle into her huge pockets on her dress and slips back into her seat in the circle next to Karin and Reiko, who after some persuasion was beginning to come out of her shell. Karin leans closer to Ruri.
"What's that for?" She asks, Reiko peaking over her shoulder. Ruri grins but shakes her head.
"Later." She whispers as Tohru walks back to them.
"Do you girls have anything to share?" He asks leaning down to the girls' level. Ruri nods her head and pulls out a beautiful ice blue gemmed pendent. Karin and Reiko gasp as the gem shines in the fluorescent light of the room.
"That's boo-ful!" Reiko squeals. Karin nods her head in agreement. Ruri puffs out her chest and hands the necklace to Tohru. Tohru smiles at the necklace.
"This is beautiful Ruri-chan. Who gave this to you?" He asks. Ruri smiles.
"My mommy bought it for me. It's my most pwized position." Tohru chuckles and hands the necklace back, but Ruri pushes it away.
"Will Sensei keep it safe?" Ruri asks. Tohru smiles slightly and nods his head. He shows it to the other children. They ooh and aww, but one has a different reaction. Shuichi eyes light up seeing the beautiful ice blue jewel. He smirks slightly seeing the adoration in Ruri's eyes as she watches Tohru place the necklace in a drawer and lock it. Ruri turns to Karin and Reiko.
"You?" Karin grins and races over to her locker. She pulls out a shoe box and walks over to Tohru.
"I brought Herpes." Karin says grinning. Tohru's jaws drop, his eyes widen. He laughs and shakes his head nervously.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, what is his name?" Karin blinks up at Tohru.
"Herpes. Herpes, the turtle."
"Oh, that's what I thought you said." He says smiling, although a little tightly. He takes the box from Karin and takes out 'Herpes.' He hands the turtle to Karin and she shows everyone in the circle. Tohru grabs his cup of apple juice and takes a sip.
"My daddy has something called Herpes too!" Tohru inhales and chokes on the apple juice. He coughs and leans against the desk. Hearing a chuckle, he looks up through teary eyes to see the head teacher. The tall brunette woman smiles from behind her glasses and pats him on the back.
"It's alright." Tohru takes a deep breath and calms down. "How are things going?" She asks.
"Well, so far pretty well." He says. "Except that some of the children didn't bring anything, but I told them it was fine." The woman smiles.
"And the herpes. Is that clearing up?" She giggles. Tohru stares at her wide eyed.
"You heard that?" He gasps. The woman smiles and nods her head.
"It's perfectly fine. They're children and they say what they want to. It'll be fine."
"Sensei?" They both look down to see Ruri staring up at them. Tohru kneels down and smiles.
"What is it Ruri-chan?" Tohru asks. Ruri stares down and nudges the ground with the toe of her shoe.
"Can I see my necklace?" She asks. Tohru pauses seeing Ruri's blotchy cheeks and wet eyes. He smiles sadly.
"We'll get it." He says grabbing her hand. Ruri grins and they walk over to the desk. Tohru reaches for the key in the pencil case on his desk. He freezes not feeling the familiar metal. He digs around but doesn't find it. He reaches for the drawer and it opens easily. His eyes widen seeing the missing necklace. He searches through the drawer but to no avail. He looks down hearing a tiny whimper. Ruri buries her fist in her eyes and wails. Tohru kneels and drags Ruri against his chest. He squeezes her tightly. How could he have lost it?
"Where's Shuichi?" He looks up to see the head teacher scanning the children. The head teacher and Tohru's eyes meet. They'd lost a child.