Ryoga

As they approach us, I call out, "Mom!" and go up to hug her.

"Hey sweetie," she says, giving me a kiss on the head.

I then look down at Ryoma who's staring up at me with wide, timid eyes.

I smile widely at him and he smiles shyly back. I can't believe how much he's changed.

"Hey Ryoma," I say brightly. "Do you remember me?"

He shakes his head a little, looking apologetic and I smile to reassure him that it's okay.

"Well, let me reintroduce myself. I'm your older brother, Ryoga. I'm 18."


Ryoma

I stare up at the guy calling himself my older brother and my smile widens a little. I remember Michael, who had been there on the night of my rescue, and I remember thinking he seemed familiar. Now I know he had reminded me of Ryoga.

Slowly, hesitantly, I approach Ryoga and he looks at me questioningly. Then, I throw my arms around his waist in a gentle hug and he smiles widely, hugging me tightly back.

"Welcome home, chibisuke," he says and I feel tears well up in my eyes.

When he lets go, another man comes up to me. He is wearing a brown monk robe and his messy brown hair and golden eyes are familiar.

Smiling, he ruffles my hair gently and plants a kiss on my head. "Long time no see, brat. Welcome home."

He has a gentle face, and I know I can trust him, but suddenly, a long buried memory rushes into my mind and I flinch away on reflex. I berate myself for repeating my earlier mistake.

The expression on my father's face is like an arrow piercing through my heart, and I begin to apologize but he waves it off.

"It's not your fault, Ryoma. Anyways, let's go home, ne?"

I nod meekly and follow him as he leads us to the car.

The whole trip, Ryoga keeps up a steady stream of chatter, telling me about our home and friends and the school that I'll be going to. It turns out that his high school and the junior high school that I will be going to are attached. The high schoolers are in one half of the building while the junior high schoolers are in the other half. I feel a little safer knowing that my brother will be in the same school as me.

Then, halfway through a description of the school grounds, he suddenly perks up and looks at me curiously.

"Do you still know how to play tennis?"

I shake my head. "I don't play any sports, but I do like to paint."

He looks a little deflated. "Aw, that sucks. I was hoping to have someone worthy to play against. You use to love tennis when you were younger…" and he trails off.

I smile a little; he's just like a little kid.

"Well, I have always thought it was a pretty cool sport. Would you mind teaching it to me…again?" I ask, trying to cheer him up.

It works and he immediately cheers up. "We'll get started right away! But you have to be serious about it, okay? I'm not going to be soft on you just because you're my little brother. I'm a strict coach!"

"Hai," I say and my dad interrupts us from the front seat.

"So the gaki is going to re-learn tennis? Let's hope his skills haven't eroded too much, ne? I mean, he didn't have too much to begin with."

At this, I feel a little irritation flare up inside me and I blurt out, "Urusai, oyaji!"

Then, there's a stunned silence in the car and I realize what I've just done.

I'm about to apologize but there's a soft chuckle from my father and he says, "Looks like you haven't changed too much. I'm sure the cocky, arrogant brat in you is just dying to get out."

I stare at him uncomprehendingly. Cocky? Arrogant? Was there ever really a time when I was like that?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the car finally stopped moving and I looked out to see that we had arrived in front of an old temple.

Looking out, images flashed through my mind. Memories of days I had spent rolling around in the grass and playing around with my brother and his friends. And memories of others, too. Others who look about my age, or possibly a year or two older than me.

As I step out of the car, still trying to remember these strangers, a small shape jumps gracefully off the roof of the temple and begins approaching us.

It's a pretty cat. Her long silky fur is a pretty cream colour and covers most of her body except her tail, paws, face, and ears, which are the very shade of dark chocolate. Her eyes are a beautiful, intelligent blue, and are staring straight at me.

Seeing her, I am quiet for a moment, then say in a quiet, uncertain voice, "Karu…pin…?"


Karupin

I am awoken from my sleep by the sound of a car motor. I am sorely tempted to just lie back down and return to my dreams, dreams of a long ago time and a little boy with bright amber eyes and unruly green/black hair, but I get up anyway. A few days ago, I had woken up to a Rinko rushing out the door, seeming excited. For the next days, Ryoga and his father had been strangely excited and this morning, they had left for the airport, to pick up Rinko. Now, they are back, and I know that I will finally find out what has gotten them so excited.

Stretching languidly, I jump lightly onto the ground and head towards the car.

What I see is that Ryoga and his parents are already out, but there's yet another person stepping out of the car now.

Curious, I walk closer and suddenly, his scent reaches.

It's so different from whatever and yet, it's still the same. I know who he is, but I can't believe it's him, it's impossible. He disappeared long ago. Then, he looks up at me with warm, golden eyes and I am immediately convinced.

He stares at me and I stare back. Then, his mouth opens and he calls my name.

"Karu…pin…?"

His voice, though a bit uncertain, is warm, and kind, and the sound I love most in this world.

Running up, I jump into his arms, purring loudly.

He laughs and strokes my back.

Though his touch is gentle and I know he's happy, I sense something else, something dark.

In the time he's been away, my Ryoma-sama has been through terrible, terrible things. The scars he carries, both visible and not, I can see clearly, and they hurt me deeply.

I lick his cheek to say that I'll always stay with him from now and he smiles back, kissing me gently on the forehead.

His wounds are deep, but I will help heal them and, if one day I meet the people who did this to him, so help them god, they will wish they had never been born.


SkyGem: Wah, Karupin is so cool! Haha XD. I was happy I could include a bit of her pov in this too. See, that's something that kinda bugs me. Even though Karupin is so close to Ryoma and she's such an important part of PoT (in my opinion) no one ever does povs for her unless it's a oneshot and it's based on her, so I try to include her in as much of my fics as possible (and yes, I do know that Karupin is really a guy).