Yes, there is some foreign language in this chapter beyond random Japanese. A friend helped me with making sure I got it right (and used it right) so a thank you to her.

Chapter 4

Missing Them

Hiro sat outside the office of his social worker, swinging his legs. He could hear snatches of conversation from inside, and knew exactly what they were talking about. His fighting. The fact that he seemed to bring trouble with him wherever he went. The stress that he had put on the foster parents he had been assigned to.

He bit his lip and dragged his legs up. They, like so many families before him, had decided to return him and were in the process of talking to Ms. Martinez to try and get him assigned elsewhere. Just another piece of discarded human wreckage. He hated considering himself that, but it was true. No one wanted him. The worst part, he had no one to blame but himself. If he was dumber, then he wouldn't be shunted off to family after family.

Wrapping his arms around his legs, he buried his face in his knees, trying to keep from crying. It hurt because no matter what he did, he always screwed it up. He was always doomed to be some big failure that no one would bother with.

He wasn't paying attention, but he felt a hand touch his arm, causing Hiro to jump. A woman was crouched over, warm brown eyes studying him framed by long, dark brown hair. Her features had a decidedly Asian cast, and she was looking worriedly at him. Only then did he realize that he'd been crying.

"Are you all right?"

The question seemed genuine, and Hiro nodded before shaking his head. "I dunno."

She tucked a piece of hair behind an ear as she studied him. "Well, if I had to guess, you're upset about something. Want to talk about it?"

"It's stupid." The woman blinked, but Hiro didn't bother stopping there. "They don't want me. No one does. I'd prolly be better if I just went to a group home."

"Why wouldn't anyone want you?"

That was all it took before the eight year old was talking about the problems he had, how he'd been to half a dozen homes already and no one wanted to keep him, that he was in fights because he was too smart or too young, that none of the adults that he was around liked it when he corrected them or knew more than they did. The woman listened patiently, her brow furrowed. Not once did she interrupt, and Hiro was worried he'd made another mistake. He trailed off, not knowing what to say.

By this point, the woman had been joined by a man who looked to be the same age, though to the young boy, that was 'old'. He had brown cropped hair, brown eyes, and a closely-trimmed beard. The man looked to Hiro and back to the woman curiously. "Hey Xiáng. Who's this?"

Xiáng looked at the man and shook her head. "I don't know. We hadn't gotten that far yet." She threw a wink toward Hiro and smiled. "Maybe we should find that out."

"Hiro. Um, Hiro Takachiho. What's your names?" The words tumbled from the boy's lips, and he glanced at the two adults curiously.

"Well, I'm Xiáng Davenport, and this is my husband, Zane." The man nodded and held out his hand after his wife introduced them which Hiro took warily. "We'd just come down to finish up some paperwork."

"Wait, you're foster parents?"

Zane nodded, Xiáng resting her elbows on her knees as she watched them both. "We just got the certification today, yeah."

A cough sounded behind the two adults, causing Hiro and the Davenports to look over and notice Ms. Martinez standing behind them, Hiro's previous family walking down the hall to the exit. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to run into you talking to strangers, Hiro."

"Oh, um…" A faint blush dusted across Hiro's face. He did have a reputation of being really quiet, didn't he? He hadn't thought that talking to strangers would be easy, not like this. He was usually a stuttering mess until he felt comfortable.

Xiáng must have noticed his discomfort but she stood, giving the young boy a smile before turning to the case worker. "I'm sorry. He just looked so sad and I figured that I could try and cheer him up. He's really sweet though." Another blush, this time stronger than the last, crossed Hiro's features at the unexpected compliment. How long had it been since he'd heard something like that?

Ms. Martinez simply shook her head. "Oh, no problem. I'm just glad he had someone to talk to out here. I was worried for a moment about him." A look crossed the woman's face as she looked at the couple. "Though, I couldn't help but overhear. You just finished your certification, right?"

Zane nodded. "Yeah. We were told that we'd be getting contacted sometime about placement sometime soon."

The case worker's face turned pensive for a moment as she considered something. "Well, I know it's short notice, but would you be willing to take Hiro in? He was just dropped off today and there's only so much we can do since it's nearly the end of the day. It'd be temporary until we find him a new place, but as long as your certification is good…"

Xiáng simply shook her head. "Oh no, we don't mind at all. We hadn't thought of having a child placed so soon, but if it's an emergency I'm sure we can help out." She glanced over to her husband, but Zane was already nodding.

"Excellent. Well, if you'll step into my office, I can get some of this squared away so that you can take him home then." Ms. Martinez smiled and gestured toward the door. Meanwhile, Hiro blinked and felt something loosen in his chest.

Although it hadn't been stated, the fact was that maybe, maybe, he had found people that actually wanted him around.

Hiro was stuck looking between Tadashi and Ethel during lunch, wondering what kind of parallel dimension he had stepped into. Literally no one but the teachers bothered to help him out ever, so it was really weird that two students, older ones that he knew from experience hated being shown up by someone younger than him (and he'd already done that with Tadashi wondering if he could just push the button already that would drive the older male away before he got hurt) would willingly help him out. He spent the rest of the lunch period wondering when the other shoe was going to drop, but it never did, and it made the boy nervous.

To his credit, Tadashi hadn't moved from his seat since Ethel had called him on being protective. There had to be a story there, but Ethel had been more interested in doing her notes than anything else, only shooting Tadashi a look every once in a while. Tadashi had taken the time to read through some of his notes and even nudged Hiro into talking about what Tadashi was studying every now and then. The older male probably realized that Hiro was bored with classes or something, because he was taking the time to explain some things that Hiro was having some difficulty understanding.

Thankfully the lunch period ended and the three went their separate ways, though Tadashi looked more reluctant to than Ethel did. She'd grabbed the teen's arm and dragged him off, popping her gum loudly and rolling her eyes at Hiro as if to say, 'See?' Hiro didn't particularly see, but he went about the rest of his school day in relative peace ignoring the looks he got from some of the other students about his appearance.

It was going home that proved to be the problem, as when he closed his locker for the day, he was confronted by the sight of Frank and Gabe, the two sophomores that had beat him up that morning. "I thought we told you not to say a word Takachiho."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "I didn't. You're the ones making it obvious you did something." He tried to move away, but found his path blocked. "Like right now. You might wanna rethink this whole terror aspect you're going for."

"Whatever brat. The hell did you tell Hamada and Yi for anyway?"

"I didn't tell them anything. I already said that." Hiro pulled a face. "What, the nerd and the girl happen to be secret badasses?" He was suddenly reminded that Ethel had mentioned Tadashi's red belt, and had stopped him from confronting Gabe and Frank.

Frank rolled his eyes and gave Gabe a look. "You're hearing this kid, right? The brat's just asking for trouble."

"Hey, I'm not the one picking on someone half my size." Hiro certainly felt braver than he was while saying that, and he was pretty sure the two guys could tell. "Look, why don't we just leave well enough alone and head home, okay? Bù zuō sǐ jiù bú huì sǐ, no zuo no die."

"What was that?" Gabe looked annoyed, which Hiro didn't necessarily blame him for.

"Figure it out yourself. I'm heading home." He tried to duck around them, only for his hoodie to be grabbed and he felt his back meet the locker instead.

"Considering you insulted me, I think I'm just gonna teach you how to speak better English."

Suddenly a pop echoed through the hallway, and the three stopped, though only Hiro relaxed slightly. "I think he was giving you advice, but I'm not that up on my Chinese." They turned to look at Tadashi, who was leaning against a wall with his hands in his pockets. Ethel was just watching silently, her arms crossed and waiting. How long they had been there, Hiro didn't know, but it was apparent that the sophomores didn't know they were there either.

Frank backed off, shooting a nasty glare at Hiro before looking at the two seniors. His eyes narrowed, he jerked his head and he and Gabe walked off, though not without Frank sending a parting remark at the group. "Still can't be everywhere Hamada."

"Well that was fun." Hiro blinked and looked back toward the pair of seniors. Ethel rolled her eyes as she watched the two walk off, her hand on Tadashi's shoulder. She pointed at Hiro. "You have a mouth though."

"Doesn't everybody?" Hiro was trying to act as nonchalant as he could while inside he was trying to calm down.

Tadashi was rubbing his forehead as he relaxed, his frown firmly in place as he replied. "Well, not everyone uses it to talk back to people like that. You know you could have been pounded, right?"

"Yeah, well this time I didn't so I call that a win. Besides, I already got pounded earlier. They had just thought that I'd said something to you." Hiro crossed his arms. "Which, by the way, with you acting like some guard dog was what they thought happened."

Ethel looked at Tadashi with exasperation. "Told you."

"Okay, I get it." Tadashi threw up his hands. "I'll try not to overreact like that again."

"Which will last until the next time those two harass him." Ethel popped her gum while studying Hiro. "So, where'd you learn Chinese?"

"Oh, I um…" Hiro winced mentally. He really didn't want to talk about that. Mrs. Davenport had been perfectly fluent, and when he'd overheard her one day on the phone with some of her relatives from Guangzhou, he couldn't help but pick up a few words. She'd been ecstatic that he seemed interested to learn and had proceeded to teach him as much Chinese as she could. He wasn't nearly fluent, but he'd learned pretty quickly. He just rarely got to use the language nowadays.

Tadashi must have sensed his unease because the teen shrugged. "Well, I think it's cool. You're probably better than I am at it. I just learned from a friend when I was helping him with his Japanese."

Ethel cocked an eyebrow before shaking her head. "Well, as lovely as this chat's turning, I have to head out. Catch you later Tadashi, kid."

She punched them both in the arm before leaving, and both males were rubbing their arms. Hiro looked over to Tadashi before looking down to the floor, scuffing his sneaker across the vinyl. "Um, thanks."

Tadashi glanced over. "Hm?"

"For, you know. Stopping that fight. Thanks."

Tadashi simply slung an arm over his shoulders and gave a small chuckle. "Hey, no problem. Besides, I figured I might as well walk home with you today so…" He gestured to the lockers. "You ready to go or do you need to grab anything?"

"Nope, I'm good." Hiro smiled a bit, readjusted his bag, and walked out with the senior.

Over the next week, he found himself being taken to and from school by Tadashi. The teen never seemed to complain, instead pointing out that he had nothing to do. His foster parents however were mad that he had gotten into a fight and had promptly grounded him. No matter what he said in his defense, they didn't believe it and Hiro found himself stuck in the same cycle of school, home, school, home that he'd despised. They'd grilled him over it, and when they discovered Tadashi was walking with him, they proceeded to blame him for Hiro's behavior. Tadashi had been confused by the accusation before Hiro pointed out that it hadn't been the first time he had been blamed for fights.

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You're telling me that you've been in fights before, but they don't believe you when you told them that you never started them?" Tadashi looked confused as he handed Hiro a small bag. Hiro had been confused the first time that it happened, up until he found out there was a muffin every morning inside.

Not like Hiro was ever one to pass up food, he dug it out and took a bite of it as they walked. "'M kinda used to i' by now." Hiro swallowed what was in his mouth before looking over to the teen. "At least this family didn't send me straight back when it happened."

Tadashi narrowed his eyes, and Hiro was suddenly reminded of the comment that Ethel had made of the teen's protective streak. "That's not right. And they're blaming me for what happened?"

"Pretty much." Hiro took another bite of his muffin, completely missing the fact that Tadashi had stopped and looked like he was considering something. He took a couple of steps before glancing back. "What?"

Tadashi shook his head. "Just thinking. Come on, we don't want to be late."

Hiro rolled his eyes but sped up a bit to match Tadashi's strides. "You know, we'd get there a lot faster if you drove us."

"I don't have my license yet, knucklehead, or did you forget that I'm fifteen?" Tadashi chuckled a bit. "Besides, walking's good for you."

"If you say so." Hiro sighed dramatically.

They got to the school quickly enough, Tadashi taking his usual seat at his table while Hiro grabbed a breakfast. They traded banter a bit before they set about their usual routine of reading up on things. Or well, Tadashi reading while Hiro flipped lazily through his schoolbooks, thoroughly bored. He then glanced over to the teen, a curious expression on his face. "You know, you would make an awesome older brother."

Tadashi stilled, making Hiro wonder if he'd said the wrong thing before he sighed. "No, I wouldn't make a good older brother."

Hiro blinked. "Why do you say that? I mean, you've got the whole thing down, all that's missing is a younger sibling."

"I used to have one." Tadashi winced, clearly not comfortable. "He died because we had an argument."

"Oh." What was he supposed to say to that? Sorry it happened? He knew that Tadashi's parents weren't around anymore considering he lived with his aunt, but that he had a brother Hiro had no clue. "I, um, I didn't mean to make you upset."

"It's okay." Tadashi shook his head, clearly trying to shake off whatever funk he had at the mention before he glanced toward Hiro. "I just don't talk about him much. It's been seven years, so it doesn't hurt talking about him, it just…"

"Makes you miss him?" Tadashi blinked toward the boy, but Hiro understood. Probably too well. "I get that. I mean, my last foster family died in an accident, and I miss them so…"

"Well, I think everyone misses their loved ones when they die. The way you talk about them makes me think they were pretty good people." Tadashi gave a small smile before he shoved his chemistry notes over. "Okay, change of topic."

"Yeah definitely." Was it his imagination, or was Tadashi trying not to cry? Hiro would have asked if he didn't think that would be prying too much. However, considering the topic had drifted to the Davenports, he was willing to change the topic just as much as Tadashi was. "So, what's with chemistry here? Anything good?"

"That all depends on your definition of good." For the rest of that morning, they happily talked about compounds and mixtures. Neither one brought up the topic of family again.

The actual saying Hiro quoted in this chapter:

不作死就不会死

Or, in other words, "If you don't do stupid things, they won't come back and bite you in the ass (but if you do, they most certainly will )." Thank you to my Chinese friend who helped me make sure I was using it correctly. Also, the characters are included for those who actually do read them instead of pinyin.

One more chapter and this fic will be caught up with the current one, and then it's back to updating when I finish a chapter. I had it at one point written ahead of time, and then Gogo happened and I had to chuck like all of the chapters after the third. Fun times there.