Reposting. FF is acting up on me. I don't know about anyone else. Anyway. :)

This chapter... yah. Took me longer to write than any of the others, but that's only because Megami kept stealing my Muse! (shakes fist) LOL However, I stole her back long enough last night to get this finished and roll out Chapter 6. So, here they are for your enjoyment.

Happy reading!

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A Lesson in Understanding

Five

Son sat in the park, watching the sun set through the tree. He was glad for the solitude for the moment. It gave him a chance to think, to reflect.

It was hard to believe that two weeks had passed since his sister's death, and only one since he'd met Kei, Sho, and Toshi. It was harder still to believe just how quickly the trio had taken him in and how comfortable they'd already gotten around one another.

All, that was, except Kei.

Son shifted, sinking into his thoughts completely, leaning his head back to look up through the interlacing branches of the tree above him. There was something about Kei that Son couldn't quite put his finger one. The man was withdrawn, introverted. He had a strange habit of just disappearing when you weren't paying attention, then reappearing just as suddenly as if nothing had happened. Son thought taht he could get used to it, just asn Sho and Toshi seemed to be have done, but he still wasn't sure.

The other thing about Kei that made his skin goosebump were the expressions. Son had noticed early on that Kei had very specific facial expressions for everyone. Normally, his brown-green eyes held a neutral, almost unphased look, but when he looked at any one of them, the look suddenly changed.

For Toshi, Son mused, the look was that of an accepting big brother who had finally realized that the loveable idiot was, in fact, a blood relative, and that he loved him anyway. Toshi's childlike behavior often times left Son bewildered and off-balance, but he was thoroughly impressed by his quick and unwavering loyalty. Son found himself liking the man and was pretty sure that he would end up with an expression much like Kei's sooner or later.

Son shifted himself again, moving on in his thoughts. Kei already had a look for him, though it was gradually changing. The look expressed a wide range of emotions. Concern, curiosity, and maybe a touch of... what? There was something in the look that Son couldn't yet identify. It wasn't sinister or anything of that sort. It was just... different.

Different.

That brought Son to Sho. And the way Kei looked at him. How could no one else see the unbridled emotion in the man's face when he looked at Sho? The pure, untainted love that Kei harbored for his young companion? Son tried to remember any time in the past week when Kei's smile had reached his eyes when he wasn't with Sho. It was impossible. Sho seemed to bring out the best in Kei, and the small man knew it. So did Son. Kei's look for Sho was that of looking at a blue-eyed deity.

Toshi had briefly explained their meeting of Kei nearly eleven years prior, but Son could tell that some of the details had been left out. Toshi was a poor liar, but Son would let them have their secrets.

For now.

Son watched darkness fall as a revelation washed over him. Kei's expression was that of a man so numbed by the world that he had closed his heart to it. It was that of a man who'd suddenly found simple treasures in that world, treasures in the form of a few good friends, and he almost couldn't believe it. Kei's expressions toward each of them always held a sense of awe.

Son stood and stretched. Time to go. Sho had invited him to the apartment for dinner and Son was glad for it. The house he'd shared with his sister was too empty now. Pushing his hands into his pockets, Son started off.

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Sho opened the door and let Son in. Son's first impression of the apartment was that it was very dark. All the lights were low, but artfully placed to maximize the glow. Soft music played from a stereo system hidden in a cabinet in the living room.

Taking a seat on the couch, Sho chanced a glance around and spotted Kei. The small man was on his side on his bed, one arm stretched out into the air, fingers curled slightly. His eyes were closes and a thin film of sweat covered his body, causing the white shirt he wore to cling to him in places. Son watched Kei mouth wordlessly, a low moan escaping him.

"He okay?" Son asked Sho, motioning to the figure through the bars.

Sho glanced at Kei, emotions playing across his features for an instant.

"He's okay," Sho said, handing Son a drink and settling into a nearby chair. "Food poisoning."

Son looked at Kei again, noting the way the sleeping man's face twitched as he panted in his sleep.

"He'll wake up in a while," Sho said. "Once Toshi gets here with the food."

"Not pizza, I hope, " Son joked, ripping his gaze away from Kei's strained face.

"No," Sho smiled. "Not pizza."

They shared a few quiet moments, neither man speaking as they drank. Son looked around, taking in the furnishings and decor of the apartment.

"You've done well for yourselves," he remarked, looking at a rather expensive piece of abstract art. "You and Kei."

"I suppose," Sho replied, going into the kitchen to refill his glass. "We're been working at it for a few years."

"How long?"

Sho thought about it, settling back into this chair and lighting a cigarette.

"Since he was sixteen."

Son looked up to see Kei leaning against the wall behind Sho's chair. When had he moved?

"Only five years?" Son was mildly impressed. "And you've managed all of this? Seems I got into this business a little too late."

"Maybe," Kei said softly on his way to the kitchen. "Maybe not."

Son shot a questioning glance at Sho, who merely shrugged.

"Toshi should be here soon," Sho said. "We'll be able to eat then.

Kei nodded from the doorway Son didn't like the way his shoulders sagged slightly, the worn and pale look of his face, or the way Kei's skin seemed to have shrunk close against his frame. Still, Kei kept his head up when he came back to the couch, glass of water in hand.

"We have done well," he said, settling back with a soft sigh. "But sometimes I wonder if things shouldn't be different."

"Kei, not this again," Sho groaned, standing up and pacing roughly across the room to the cabinet. Pulling it open, he dug around inside.

"Sho doesn't realize," Kei said just loud enough for Son to hear, his eyes never leaving Sho's back, "is that, if it weren't for me, his life might be easier. He might not be so reckless."

"Why?" Son couldn't help but ask, curiosity getting the best of him.

"Because Kei blames himself for all of my problems," Sho said, not turning from the stereo as he worked to change the music. "I've lost count of how many time we've had this argument."

"Twenty-nine," Kei said, a smirk playing at his lips.

"Well, this makes thirty," Sho wasn't easily baited as he slammed the cabinet shut. "And I'm tired of having it."

"I was joking," Kei returned, his voice even. "I don't know either."

Further arguement was cut off by Toshi banging on the door. It was Kei who answered it, as Sho was busy sulking over his drink. He pulled the door open to allow a bag-laden Toshi entrance. The man grunted as he maneuvered food and drink through the door, smiling his gratitude as Kei pulled a few of the bags from him. The two went into the kitchen and made quick work of laying the food out on the table. Kei leaned around the corner to call Sho and Son in to eat.

Sho perked up increasingly as they ate, quickly coming back to his normal self. Even Kei seemed to forget their earlier arguement as he sat and watched, talking but not taking any food for himself.

Dinner complete, the quartet moved to the roof. Kei perched himself on the edge of the building, dangling one foot over the side. Sho sat in a chair not too far from him, smoking contentedly as the other two settled against a couple of crumbling smokestacks. A happy silence fell over them, broken only by the occasional night sound: car horns, yells from the street below them, and music filtering from the bar a few blocks away.

"Hey, Sho?" Son said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"How did you really meet Kei?"

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