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Chapter Ten

If It Was Her, then . . .

"Yuki-chan, how are you?" Ring cheered as Yuki and Iroha entered the little café after school that day. Yuki smiled up at the friendly teenager, who paused the moment she saw those harsh scratches on Yuki's face and cried, "Oh dear, Yuki-chan, what happened?"

Yuki fell silent, unsure what to say as her smile fell. She looked to Iroha for help, and the woman promptly told the teenager, "She got caught up in a fight with that little friend of hers, Piko, and some boys." Yuki's eyes widened a little, startled by Iroha's lie. Len had always told her to never, ever lie. Iroha cast her a brief look of apology before smiling once more at their server.

"Poor Yuki-chan," crooned Ring, falling forward into Yuki's face to examine the child's wounds. Guilt wove its way around Yuki's heart as she saw that concern in Ring's eyes. How much worse would it be if she knew that it was a result of Rin's rage? Still, despite Rin's explosion, Yuki didn't want to leave her. She had to take care of her, for Len and for herself. Rin was her mother, too, even if she wasn't allowed to call her that. "You poor little sweetheart. This is what you get when you make friends with boys, you know? They don't get any wiser once you reach high school, either." The waitress giggled lightly and winked at Yuki as though she was sharing top-secret information or a joke only the two of them understood.

"I'm okay," Yuki insisted, smiling sweetly for the girl. Ring was so nice to her. It reminded Yuki a lot of Len. He did that winking thing, too, all the time, especially when talking about Rin. Those were the times when he lit up the most. "I wasn't supposed to get hurt. It wasn't on purpose." The lie felt rotten on her tongue, and she almost wanted to retract it. But she could never tell Ring, she simply couldn't She couldn't tell that girl of the look she'd seen in Rin's eyes and how she knew she was meant to be hurt far worse than this. She couldn't burden Ring with that, and, even more, she knew better than to risk letting anyone find out. She knew how easily her custody could be taken from Rin, and she knew that, even if Iroha adopted her, it would take so long for that to happen.

"Well, why don't you take a seat and we'll get you something sweet so that the scratches don't seem so bad, huh?" Ring wondered, smiling so cheerfully and she herded both Iroha and Yuki to the table where they usually sat, the one all the way in the back corner, beside the window on the right wall of the building. "We actually came up with a couple new recipes that we haven't added to the menu yet if you want to be our guinea pig." Ring's breezy giggle was interrupted by the shout of a young boy.

"Yuki!"

The three gathered around the table stopped to look toward the door, where Yuki's teacher stood with her brother by her side. Piko beamed at Yuki and broke his sister's hold on his hand, running over to the table and smiling as Yuki, who turned faintly pink in the cheeks. She could feel the waitress's smile as the older girl took note of this reaction and felt more blood flow to her cheeks.

"Hi, Piko," she said quietly, smiling at him but too busy worrying about being caught in the lie to return his joy properly. Still, having him with her helped her feel a little more at ease.

"Piko?" Ring wondered. Yuki flinched. Darn it, this wasn't going to go well. The bluette smiled from ear to ear at the young boy. "So you're her little friend?"

Piko smiled brightly at the teenager and stated, "Yeah, Yuki's my best friend!"

The pink was steadily turning into a red as Yuki's eyes fell to her lap. "N-no, Neru's his best friend. We haven't known each other as long as he's known her."

Piko scowled at that and wondered, "Do you not like me or something?"

Her brown eyes flashed up to his face and she exclaimed vehemently, "That's not it at all! It's just that you and Neru and Haku know each other so well and you only just met me and—"

The white-haired boy wasn't listening to her, embarrassingly enough, so she shut up and stared at his contemplative look. However, she could only take the intensity of his heterochromic gaze for so long, and she soon looked back down to her dress. She jumped when his voice sounded once more.

"You're hurt."

"That's your own fault for getting her involved in your fights, you silly little boy," Ring chided with a gentle grin before Yuki could speak. As redness flood Yuki's cheeks and her heart skipped a beat, Ring cast her eyes back to the kitchen, hearing something that Yuki didn't, and called, "Yeah yeah, I'm coming!" She laughed a little and said to her customers, "Sorry, I've got to get back to work. I'll be back in a couple minutes for your order, Yuki-chan, okay?"

By this point, Ring didn't have to ask for Iroha's order. They came in so often that she had it memorized. However, Yuki had a habit of ordering something different each time. There were so many options on the menu, and she knew she'd regret it if she just stuck with one. She'd never been given options for food before, except for those times when Len or that other visitor would come by and take her out somewhere to eat. The other kids always got jealous, she remembered, and, though she knew she was lucky to have them taking care of her, she couldn't help but be stung by the fact that neither had offered until her eighth year to adopt her. The other visitor had only brought it up when Yuki mentioned Len's offer. She'd never thought about adopting Yuki before then, Yuki realized.

"Would you like to join us?" Iroha invited Miki.

"Mama," Yuki mumbled embarrassedly, swiftly cutting herself off when she realized that Piko might misunderstand. It wasn't that she didn't want Piko or Miki here – she was merely worried that questions of the cuts would come up. That, and that they'd discover Iroha's lie.

"If you wouldn't mind too terribly, we'd love to," Miki agreed with a wholehearted smile. "Piko hasn't shut up about Yuki all day, and I was hoping to speak to you for a little."

Piko jumped into the seat beside Yuki's without a second thought and grinned at her. "I was worried when you didn't come to school today."

Yuki smiled fragilely, grateful that he'd overlooked the obvious lie she'd told Ring. "Mama kept me home today. We went for walks and stuff. She said that I should take a break every once in a while." While that was all true, Yuki knew that the underlying reason was too allow the panic of the morning some time to settle before Yuki returned to school.

"Mama?" Miki wondered curiously, looking to Iroha for explanation. Yuki burned red again. Had she done something wrong? There was a trace of accusation in Miki's voice that she wasn't used to, and it frightened her a little.

"Miki," Piko hissed in warning. Yuki turned her gazed onto him, startled by the seriousness in his gaze as he glared at his sister.

Iroha tensed and gazed coolly back at Miki. "I'm her caretaker, as well."

"She doesn't refer to Rin that way too, does she?" Miki didn't seem threatening now, luckily enough, so Yuki had no idea why Iroha was bristling. She seemed merely curious, a thin trail of concern interweaving with that wonder.

"Rin's not much of a caretaker," Iroha said, careful now. She seemed to be stepping across a field of hidden mines, knowing one wrong, blind step would cost not only her life, but that of the people around her, as well. Yuki furrowed her brow, seeing no reason for Iroha to be so cautious. Miki was a kind woman; she'd never do anything that could hurt anyone.

Miki looked away and murmured, "I just don't want you to get any misconceptions. Please remember that Yuki is not and never will be your daughter."

"Miki!" exclaimed Piko, his eyes on Yuki as the young girl flinched, stunned. How could Miki be so cruel? Besides, Iroha could be her mother too, right? What was wrong with that?

Iroha glanced down at Yuki, eyes glinting in anger that the girl knew wasn't directed toward her. Still, her voice was sharp as a knife when she snapped, "Iroha, Piko, could you please leave us alone for a moment?"

"Yes, please," requested Miki painfully, still with a lifeless smile and hard eyes trained on Iroha.

"Miki, I told you not to!" Piko hissed once more, staring again at his sister while his hand held Yuki's.

"Piko," Miki snapped, her coolness dropping for that moment as she whipped her infuriated gaze to him. "Get. Out."

"Okay, kiddies, come with me."

With a gasp of shock from Yuki and an exclamation of protest from Piko, the children found themselves hoisted into the air by the surprisingly strong Ring, who ignored their wishes and carried them outside. She placed them on the bench that sat in from of the large window looking into the café. Piko glared viciously at her and exclaimed, "I need to stop her!"

"I'm sure she knows what she's doing," Ring said with an easy, patronizing smile. Yuki's eyes fell, awaiting Piko's anger to fade and for him to rat her out for lying earlier. "Your sister probably knows a lot more than you do, little guy." She said it kindly, but the way she had blocked him from passing back into the café made Yuki feel a tad threatened.

"Is Mama going to be okay?" Yuki heard herself whispering. Miki must have been doing something horrible for Piko to act out like that. Piko was a good boy. Miki had said it herself on many occasions, just as Iroha had.

"Do you know what she wanted to talk about?" Ring questioned Piko.

The boy's frown deepened pettily this time, his arms crossing over his chest as he stared stubbornly back and replied, "No, I don't, but I know someone came to our house to ask about Yuki and Rin."

Yuki jumped at the sound of her name and stared imploringly at Piko, barely able to find the words to form the question she desperately needed an answer for. "She asked about me? Why? Who was she?"

Piko tilted his head to the side, falling into deep concentration as he tried to recall. "I think her hair was green . . . ."

Yuki's heart skipped a beat and she pressed onward, "Green or teal?"

Piko thought more and then stated, "I think teal. Two long pieces."

Yuki slumped in her seat, closing her eyes and breathing out a weary sigh. "That's Miku then. She's the one who brought me here."

"Is that bad?" Piko wondered.

"I dunno," Yuki mumbled, disheartened and subconsciously reaching for the cuts left in Rin's rage. "I just know that she might take me back."