A/N: Heeeeeey, I know it's been a while... like three months... since the last update, but whether you believe me or not with the amount of excuses I've given before, I really did have some serious shit going on lately. With failing and having to retake a required class after school to my mom kicking my older sister out just yesterday(with about three essays in between) my life has been hell. But since yesterday I've had this urge to update something so I could complain to you guys about my problems- no, not really, I just wanna finish this fic. Cuz it actually gets interesting soon and The World's Worst Babysitters(Oooh, I gotta thank Spring Zephyr for this again) are set to appear soon, so that's something I definitely wanna write.

That and my internet is giving me serious problems so I can barely watch the anime that have been distracting me this whole time. I'm also very bored and have nothing else to do besides my Economics homework, and that isn't due til Tuesday. See if you can figure out how I failed that class.

Chapter 11: Because who needs secrets, right?

Kyou wasn't nervous.

At least, that's what he'd told himself in the morning on the way to school. Before Tegami caught him halfway there and forced him by the arm to turn around. Before it registered in his mind that they were skipping school.

Not that he minded. As far as he knew, there was nothing going on today. But still...

"I thought we were going after school?" He said, attempting to steady himself on his feet as the taller boy continued to drag him. The crushing - oh how he's come to hate that word - grip on his wrist was something to worry about too.

"Change of plans." Tegami said, letting go of his arm and turning to look at him. He didn't stop walking though, and Kyou had to wonder how well he knew the road to be able to do something like that. "He didn't answer when I called this morning. He always answers, Kyou, no matter what he's doing." The tone of his voice was what made Kyou curious. He'd never heard their club president so emotional.

"I... see." Part of him wanted to say it didn't concern him, while the other was curious about what was going on between his two... friends. It might have been cruel, going along to satisfy his curiosity, but Tegami was bringing him for a reason. What it was, he'd have to find out.

That didn't mean he wanted to talk in complete silence though.

"What's going on?" He asked, having to walk faster to keep up with the taller boy's long strides. Tegami glanced at him.

"Hagane happened. That asshole is always doing this shit, scaring Yamato away from school and trying to get us in trouble for everything." He growled. "Yamato won't tell me what he said, but when I talked to him last night he was crying."

At that, Kyou narrowed his eyes.

"He threatened him again?" He asked. Though he didn't think he needed an answer, it was obvious. Tegami sighed.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. We ended up talking about some game he played the other day just to get him to stop."

Kyou wanted to sympathize with him. He did. But he couldn't. In Foo Fighters, you were on your own. Your problems were yours, your troubles were yours, your fears were yours. While it wasn't clear, he could remember his first few days at the institution being hell for him. He'd only been twelve at the time and he'd already separated from his family. Even he felt lonely, it was only normal.

But there was no one to comfort him.

Kyou shook his head, clearing it from the depressing thoughts. That was then, this is now. Even if he didn't have anyone to help him before, wasn't that why he wanted to change? A clean slate, and the first way to achieve that was to do just the opposite of Foo Fighters. Who says he couldn't help someone else?

"Kyou."

Tegami's voice broke him out of his thoughts, just as he'd steeled his resolve. He looked up at his companion, eyes widening a bit at the solemn look in his eyes.

"What do you think about liars?"

The question was unexpected.

"Depends on what they lied about and why." He said, easier than he thought. It was true though. He'd be lying himself if he said he'd never lied before. But those reasons differed from what others lied about.

"Then I should apologize now." Tegami said almost immediately. Kyou raised an eyebrow, giving him a confused look. "Yesterday, when we were talking about our families. I might have lied a little. My parents aren't office workers. At least, not both of them."

Kyou nodded, a sign to continue.

"My mom is locked up in a mental institute in Kyoto. I only live with my dad."

Oh.

Wait.

What?

His surprise must have been clear, because Tegami was sighing again.

"She snapped a few years back, in fourth grade." Fourth. Hadn't he and Madoka been friends since third? "It was in the middle of town, the four of us - me, my sister, and my mom and dad - were walking home when she just suddenly... screamed. Grabbed me and my sister by our necks and threw us over the bridge we were crossing. Dad dove in after us and I guess someone called an ambulence because next thing I know, I'm lying in the hospital and my dad is crying about my sister. She... didn't make it. Hit her head on one of the supports and drowned. Mom was hauled away to an institution and we moved here."

"Moved here?" Kyou questioned. While learning the taller boy's past hit him hard, something didn't match up. "You... moved here in fourth grade?" Tegami raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah? Why, something wrong?" Kyou paused.

"Madoka... said you guys met in third." He said. Tegami gave him his own confused look before something clicked in his head. His eyes flashed momentarily and he laughed awkwardly. Awkward, because Kyou never heard it before.

"Ah, yeah, I guess it was third. Maybe the trauma had me remembering wrong." He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry for pushing all that on you, I don't know why I told you all that. Guess Madoka likes you so much I thought I could... trust you."

Kyou blinked, something in his chest constricting.

Trust.

Someone trusted him.

Well... That made things awkward. But it was the good kind of awkward.

That's what he'd let himself believe, at least.

They arrived at Madoka's house faster than he would have liked. Not only has he never been inside before, he was an unfamiliar face to Madoka's family. He knew he wouldn't be welcome right away.

He said... he lives with his grandparents? Kyou recalled their conversation from the other day - or was it yesterday? The day before? His memories were foggy - where they were talking about their families. He'd also done that cool - in his opinion - thing with his hands, that was still fresh in his mind.

He was brought back from his thoughts as Tegami pulled out a key from his pocket, inserting it into the lock on the door. There was a click, and he turned the handle to open the door.

"His grandparents aren't home, we'll have to let ourselves in." He said. It didn't answer Kyou's silent question of why do you have the key to this house?

He didn't have time to think about it, Tegami was already walking inside and walking up he stairs. He followed quickly, shutting the door behind him and quickly slipping off his shoes. Tegami had already done so, and Kyou noticed with slight jealousy that his shoes were laceless. Lucky.

He didn't have time to straighten them at the step as Tegami made his way to the staircase, already making his way up.

"Ah - hold on!" Kyou called out, nearly tripping on the third step and he rushed to catch up. "You're going to fast!"

"You're going to slow!" Tegami snapped back. Kyou flinched, and the tanned boy froze. He sighed. "Just... hurry up. I'm worried."

If that didn't have his legs moving faster, the thought of what would happen if he wasn't there did.

So he followed, up to the top of the staircase and down the short hall. The house was small, about average sized from what he could tell outside. So it was no wonder they were in front of a pastel blue door with a sign reading 'Madoka' in a matter of seconds.

Tegami didn't even pause to knock before he threw the door open, storming inside. Kyou followed, but froze the moment the lights clicked on.

Huh. They were automatic. But that wasn't the point.

The point was that Madoka's room was filled with hundreds of stuffed animals.

Well, at least they didn't all look the same.

He turned his attention away from the many toys, walking over to the bed where a head of sandy-brown hair stuck out. Beside it was a blue and pink plaid stuffed rabbit, it's long ears falling on either side of its head. He would have laughed if not for the situation.

"Hey, Yamato." Tegami said, shaking the boy lightly. When no response came, he frowned. "Don't fucking ignore me, I know you can hear me."

There was a shift under the covers, and Madoka sat up, back to them and rubbing his eyes.

"Yoshiro-san..." He mumbled sleepily. He turned to look at the taller boy, and his eyes locked on to Kyou. "Kyou-kun..."

Kyou rubbed the back of his neck, nodding awkwardly. "Uh, hey. Creepy room you got here." He said, trying to sound cheerful.

He could have sworn he heard Tegami laugh just now.

"Creepy? How?" The light-haired boy looked around. Besides the stuffed animals, there was a bookshelf, a dresser, closet, another case with games and binders, and a small TV on a stand with a few game consoles under it. "Seriously, how?"

"If you don't see it, nothing I can say or do will help you..." Kyou mumbled. Tegami cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him.

"So? You gonna tell me what happened yesterday" He said seriously. Madoka's expression immediately fell, and he almost looked like he wanted to cry. Almost. They weren't quite there yet.

"I..." Madoka paused, shifting so that he was facing them both. He brought his knees up and rested his head on them, hands clutching the plaid pants he wore. "Hagane-kun said... the club will be shut down in two weeks."

Both Kyou and Tegami couldn't hide their surpise.

"How?" Kyou exclaimed. He didn't mean to raise his voice, but the news was too big to keep his mouth shut. "We still have five member-"

"Three." Madoka said, voice cracking slightly. "Taneshima and Sanada turned in their withdrawl forms yesterday. They said avoiding the council wasn't worth putting up with all our projects."

"Those wimps..." Tegami ground out. "It's just a little work and they go running? It's like they expect school to be easy."

Kyou was boiling on the inside. And it wasn't because the other two members of the club had left. No, it was why they left.

That guy would go that far just to ruin these guy's school life...

He didn't say anything out loud though. It would only make things worse.

He managed to calm himself down once he noticed Madoka's shoulders shaking.

"What do I do... if the club goes down, I'll... he'll..." The words were barely audible, but Kyou knew just what he was talking about.

"He'll force you to join the student council?" The answer was obvious, so clear that he didn't have to say. But they needed to hear it.

When Madoka nodded shakily, Kyou felt a light throbbing in the back of his head. Really? Now, of all times?

He ran a hand through his hair to hide his discomfort, lightly rubbing at the side of his forehead.

"So... what do we do now?" He asked, not sure if it was the right thing to say. "Madoka doesn't want to join the coincil, so we jsut gotta keep the club running, right?"

Madoka looked up at him with watery eyes, and Tegami sighed.

"It's not that easy. By school rules, a club that's about to be taken down gets a week to recruit enough members to stay active and another to show they're productive. Problem is that everyone knows what a nasty person Hagane is, so if he's got his eyes on you they usually steer clear and don't want anything to do with you." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Unless we find someone stupid or brave enough to go against Hagane's rules, there's nothing we can do."

This was the kind of scene Kyou never wanted to see.

It made him panic, for reasons he didn't know.

"We can at least try, right? I mean, sure, he's got a lot of power, but there's bound to be someone that doesn't like him enough to help us, right?" Kyou said, voice unnaturally high. Something in his mind clicked suddenly, and he found himself biting his lip.

Just who am I talking about?

Images flashed through his head. A smirking red-head, a black knight, green eyes looking down on him from atop the back of a black dragon, flames...

Everything.

Everything went to hell the moment he realized he wasn't just talking about Hagane anymore.

"Kyou-kun?"

A light voice dragged him back from his thoughts, and Kyou turned to look at Madoka, who was watching him curiously through heterochromatic eyes.

"I think... I wanna try." He said softly. Tegami looked over to the smaller boy, who had moved his right hand so that it was stroking the head of the stuffed rabbit. "I don't like that Hagane-kun is always getting in ou way, always thinks he can torment us like this. It's... not right. We're only in middle school, we shouldn't have to go through this." His left hand was clutching Tegami's sleeve. He looked shook his head, bringing the hand that was stroking the rabbit up to wipe away tears. "I don't wanna let him have his way."

Kyou watched him silently, the words going through his head in spirals. Onyly in middle school, we shouldn't have to go through this... huh.

His mind flashed back momentarily to a year ago, when he'd been in a position where he could do whatever he wanted. When he didn't care.
Well, now he cared. Whether it was for himself or for his... friends.

"You guys are fucking insane."

Both boys looked over to Tegami, who was scratching the back of his head.

"Guess that means I gotta go along with it. Can't have my club members running around kidnapping people to keep our club active."

Kyou and Madoka exchanged victorious smiles. Kyou vaguely felt the headache fade away, something else rising up inside his chest.

"Then starting tomorrow, we'll work on recruitments." He said. Tegami sent him a look, as if questioning how he got the authority to decide something like that, but shook his head, smiling sligtly.

"Hagane is definitely gonna try to stop us though. He'll probably try to enforce some stupid rule against joining our club." He said.

"I wouldn't put it against him..." Madoka mumbled, tying the rabbit's easrs into a bow. He looked up at Kyou, then to Tegami. "You know, if we're all going for this, don't you think we should drop the formalities?" When Kyou and Tegami gave him confused looks, he rolled his eyes. "Start calling each other by your first names. Yoshiro-san, we've been friends since third grade, you'd think I'd have heard you call me by my first name for once."

There was that look again, in Tegami's eyes. But it was gone as soon as it came, and replaces with a smile.

"Alright then, Madoka, why don't you get dressed so that we can get to school? We're already a half hour late as it is and you sitting on your ass isn't doing anything to get us there faster." Te- Yoshiro was smirking now, and Madoka jumped outof bed, walking over to where his uniform was hung up, shooing them out of the room.

Kyou smiled slightly at the sight of Madoka pushing Yoshiro off his bed and out the door.

Today was bound to be interesting.

The doors to the literature club room slammed open, startling the only three occupants of the room.

"Hanaori Akio, I'd like to join the literature club!"

.

xXxXxXx

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A/N: I started this at nine. It took me over three hours to write, mainly bacause I had to look up a bunch of stuff and reread previous chapters to figure out just what the hell I was doing here. But with that, we're now moving on to the interesting part filled with more OCs! Oh, and The World's Worst Babysitters, but that's not for another chapter or two. But more OCs!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a plot outline to look for...

Also, since the flashdrive I used before to keep all these story files is currently not working, I had to use a new one, so I've pretty much lost all my old drafts and files... until I can get them out.