A Lost Boy

A cold wind grazed the night sky.

For anyone having the fortune of walking outside, all they had to do was stand still and admire the stars above. The weather was the only audible ambience, everything else was as solemn as could be.

Kagami and Tsukasa lived in this peaceful town. The town had everything they needed, and the shops that opened nearly all day were a godsend. When the twins were a lot younger, they also visited the playground after school. Kagami would try to beat her world record on the swings, and Tsukasa would repeatedly climb up and descend down the large slide. During the present time, whenever the twins walked back home, they would always catch a glimpse of the playground; the bright red swings, the slide, the multicoloured climbing frame and the sandpit, with a bucket and spade someone accidentally left behind. It was difficult for them to avert their eyes from such an attraction. After all, the playground was a huge part of their childhood life; memories which they would never forget.

However, for one boy, the playground was a memory best forgotten.

He had been sitting on the swings for some time, and hadn't moved from that spot. Though the air was quiet, the boy found himself shivering to the core. His white t-shirt, red shorts and navy trainers did nothing to repel the weather. He heard the faraway howl of a stray dog, the noise making him swallow a lump in his throat. He was afraid. He hated this place and he was afraid.

"Two bags of white rice?"

"Check."

"Turkey mince?"

"Check."

"Mixed frozen vegetables?"

"Check."

"Ketchup?"

Kagami stood still for a moment as she thoroughly checked inside her shopping bag. "Ketchup?" she asked in surprise.

Tsukasa faced her sister and gave her an eyesmile. "Just kidding!" she said, bringing out the cheeky side of her.

Kagami sagged her shoulders. "Don't worry me like that sis!"

"Sorry!" Tsukasa said, still smiling.

With their parents away on an outing, the Hiiragi twins had the responsibility of getting the groceries for tonight. The twins continued walking down the pathway, and their heads instinctively turned to the right. The playground still looked the same as it did all those years ago. That's what they liked about this town; some things changed, and some things remained the same. To make sure they wouldn't catch a cold, Kagami wore a pink t-shirt, a blue pair of jeans and a blue denim jacket, whereas Tsukasa wore matching jeans and a light blue woolly jumper. They also wore sporty looking white trainers.

Their feet stopped moving.

"Who's that?" asked Tsukasa.

Kagami paused for a moment. "No idea," she replied.

The twins looked at each other, appearing to be on the same wave length. The playground was only a dozen or so steps away, so they both jogged over to the swings to where the boy sat. Judging from his small height, he looked like he could be eight, maybe nine years old. The boy looked at the two girls, uncertain as to what they might do to him. Were they going to make fun of him? Laugh at his misfortune? Regardless, he felt scared, scared enough not to move.

"Hi kid, are you lost?" Kagami asked, trying her best to sound pleasant.

Unfortunately her body language made her appear too imposing, although Kagami didn't realise this at the time. The boy didn't react to her body language very well, and he clenched tightly on the chains.

Kagami frowned and tried another question. "So, um, do you have a name or something?"

He remained silent.

Tsukasa gently placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Let me talk to him," she whispered to Kagami.

Kagami took a small step back and allowed Tsukasa to handle the situation... but she doubted Tsukasa would fare any better. She thought it was pretty clear the boy didn't want to talk to anyone.

Tsukasa lowered herself to one knee, so she could make eye contact with him. The two features she immediately caught are his bright blue eyes and scruffy short beige hair. Judging from the tear stains on his cheeks, Tsukasa gathered the boy had been crying for a while.

"I'm Tsukasa, and the girl next to me is my twin sister, Kagami," Tsukasa introduced.

The boy looked at her with a mixture of surprise and worry. Why is she being so nice to me, he thought, she doesn't even know me. He lowered his head and found his feet to be the most interesting parts of his body.

"I'm Shiro," he mumbled.

Kagami felt surprised. "Eh?! Why didn't he reply to me when I spoke to him?!"

Tsukasa risked another question. "Are you lost?"

Still facing the ground, the boy weakly nodded.

"I already asked him that!" Kagami protested in thought.

Carefully, Tsukasa stretched out her hand to the boy known as Shiro.

"Would you like to come with us, so we can contact your family from our place?"

He looked at her and blinked. Why is she willing to do all this for somebody she doesn't even know? That thought stirred around his mind. His mother always said never talk to strangers... but she didn't seem like an ordinary stranger. Rather, she seemed... nice.

With a muddled expression, the boy weakly offered his hand. Tsukasa's hand felt really warm.

As the three made their way to the Hiiragi house, Shiro quietly explained to Tsukasa that he tried to impress his mother by taking the bus home. After realising he hopped into the wrong bus, Shiro had spent a long time walking around, trying to make light of the predicament he got himself into. At the moment he felt confused, tired and a little distressed. The twins were saddened after hearing his story. It must be terrible, not to mention frightening to wander into an unknown location.

The door was already unlocked, so Kagami had no trouble pushing it open. "We're home!" she called out, "Sorry we're late!"

Of course, before the twins (and Shiro) walked inside, Matsuri and Inori were the only girls in the house. They were both dressed casually, much like the twins.

Matsuri walked into the main room to greet them. "Hiya," she said, her hand covering her yawning mouth.

Matsuri's mind froze. Who on earth is that little guy doing sandwiched between the twins?! Shiro immediately felt nervous again, so he leaned closer towards Tsukasa for protection.

"Gee, I don't remember putting 'little kid' on the shopping list," Matsuri said, ruffling her short brown hair.

From the kitchen, Inori also walked into the room, and had now stood alongside Matsuri. She was getting the plates and cutlery ready for dinner.

"Hmm? What's going on? Who is this?" Inori asked, sounding polite but at the same time, concerned.

Matsuri placed her hands on her hips. "That's what I'd like to kn-"

"Look! He's lost, okay?!" Kagami interrupted, cutting off her older sister, "We found him alone in the playground and we couldn't just let him freeze to death! I mean, you two would do the same thing, right?!"

Shiro looked at Kagami with surprise. Why did she suddenly become all nice as well?

"It was my idea really!" added Tsukasa, her voice sounding almost as passionate, "I told him we would contact his family as soon as we got back!"

Inori placed a finger on her lips. "Well... I guess for the time being, we need to make our little guest feel at home," she concluded.

"What?! Come on Inori, you can't be serious!" Matsuri protested, "I mean it's hard enough babysitting Kagami!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Kagami retorted, "You're the one that needs babysitting, not me!"

"Please stop arguing..." thought Tsukasa.

"I-I'm Shiro," Shiro introduced, which in turn caused Kagami and Matsuri to cease their argument, "S-Shiro Masu."

The girls listened when Shiro told them the details of his address. It turned out Shiro lived further away than anyone hoped for. Muchfurther.

"Well then Shiro," Inori said, "Why don't you go upstairs with Kagami, so she can show you around the place? Meanwhile, Tsukasa, you get the bath ready and then help me with the cooking... and Matsuri, you see if you can get hold of their parents."

Tsukasa nodded straight away. She gently took away the shopping bag from Kagami, and placed it in the kitchen before returning to the main room. Having received the most unexciting task there was on offer, Matsuri sighed as she went to another room to look for the telephone directory.

Shiro stood there and place a finger on his lip. He had forgotten; was Kagami the cute one or the uppity one?

"Come on Shiro, what are you waiting for?" Kagami called out from the bottom of the stairs.

Shiro swallowed a lump in his throat.

"It's okay," Tsukasa said in a relaxing tone, "My sister won't bite your head off!"

Shiro nodded, smiled and followed Kagami upstairs. Kagami felt amazed from the confidence Tsukasa possessed. Where did the real Tsukasa go, and who is this android that replaced her?

"Well... here we are." Kagami said when the two of them stepped into her room, "It's a tad messy, but I wasn't really expecting guests."

Shiro looked around the room with amazement. In his opinion, it didn't look untidy at all; a few bits and pieces here and there, but hardly a major crisis. However, his eyes captured something that really did stand out; a tight pair of glossy pink-

"Ahem!" Kagami coughed, pressing her foot down to conceal that certain area. She dragged them underneath the bed with her feet, to stop Shiro's perverted little eyes from being fixated to that spot.

"I didn't see anything!" Shiro said frantically, waving his hands over his face.

"Whatever," Kagami muttered.

Kagami's room was certainly very pretty, Shiro thought to himself... but there were three things that caught his attention the most. First there were the comic books on the bookshelf. It wasn't a huge collection, but there were enough to hold ones attention for at least a week. Some of the books were action orientated, others were more of a romantic nature. That's odd, thought Shiro, he didn't know some girls were into action books as well. The other attractions stood out like a pair of sore thumbs; a PC which stood on top of a desk in the corner, and a Playstation 2 displayed near the north-most centre of the room. Neatly piled next to the console are a small selection of games; Tekken, a driving simulator, but mostly shoot 'em ups.

Shiro widened his eyes. He immediately recognised the game on top of the pile. It is titled Raiden Project, which essentially compiled the games Raiden 1 and 2 into one CD. Raiden 1 and 2 are retro styled vertical shooters where one controlled a spaceship to fight hordes of airborne and ground based enemies. For a moment, Shiro forgot about his troubles altogether.

"Woah! You have this game?!" he asked.

Kagami nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty hard to get, considering its rarity an' all. One of my friends persuaded me to get it... and I'm kinda glad I did."

Shiro continued looking at the case. He remembered the text, the art, even the screenshots at the back.

"My brother used to have this," he explained, "before he sold it to one of his friends."

Kagami closed her eyes. "You wanna game?" she asked.

Shiro's jaw hung open. He thought she would never ask.

Kagami set up the console and inserted the game. Raiden Project didn't take long to load up at all. Shiro hopped on the bed and waited with anticipation. Kagami selected to play Raiden 2, and then sat next to the quiet boy. Both of them had their controllers at the ready.

"I've never played the second one before," Shiro said. Kagami didn't reply as she got ready to play.

The game began and a wave of nostalgia engulfed him. The arcade styled music demanded his ears to listen; it blended into the game flawlessly. Kagami played the red ship and Shiro controlled the blue one. Shiro's eyes were so glued with fascination that he failed to acknowledge the first wave of enemies coming his way; a group of planes that flew in an easy-to-follow pattern. Luckily for him, Kagami swiftly took control of the situation as she blasted the bad guys away without breaking a sweat. Although it was only the first level, it didn't take long for the difficulty to pick up. A multitude of enemies had already filled the screen; tanks, missile buggies and menacing helicopters were already making their presence known. Having already lost two of his lives, Shiro tried to concentrate more so he wouldn't be a burden to the other player. Raiden 2 definitely had a steeper learning curve than its prequel, and played at a much faster pace as well.

As she played, Kagami tried to retain a neutral expression, but this proved difficult, for little Shiro had a tendency to steal all of the weapon power ups. It was like she did all the hard work and he took all the credit. Still, at least he was able to hold his own. She remembered playing this game with Misao and Tsukasa. It took Misao two minutes to figure out that 'x' enabled her to fire... whereas Tsukasa didn't enjoy all of the explosions the game made, so she played the game with her eyes closed. Thank goodness Shiro is better than those two. What's more, it certainly made a nice change for her to play a cooperative game rather than a competitive one.

After some progression, the two players encountered the first end of level boss; a giant four legged walker that unleashed rockets and lasers like they were going out of fashion. Having memorised its attack pattern, Kagami concentrated all of her fire-power into the mechanical monster, whilst all Shiro could do was dodge all the enemy projectiles. Kagami made short work of the boss, but to Shiro's surprise, another walker appeared, this one showing up from the left side of the screen. Its attack pattern also slightly differed from the first, so Shiro had to find a another method to dodge this beast as well. Fortunately Kagami had a few smart bombs saved up, so she reduced the second walker to rubble quicker than the first. Shiro truly fell in love with Kagami's no nonsense gameplay style. He didn't think girls could be so good at games.

Kagami's bedroom door opened. Kagami instinctively pressed the start button to pause the game.

"Shiro, your bath is ready!" Tsukasa stepped in and said.

"Oh, okay," replied Shiro. He forgot a bath was being prepared for him, and judging from her face, so did Kagami.

"Don't worry," Kagami said, smiling, "we'll continue this afterwards!"

"Cool!" Shiro said happily, before leaving the bedroom with Tsukasa.

Tsukasa gave her twin sister a brief but warm smile before closing the door.

"Cool," Kagami whispered to herself, "what a boyish thing to say."

Shiro slowly and nervously took off all his clothes and left them in a neat pile. It was perfectly alright for him to feel such nervousness. After all, he was now completely naked inside a house full of girls, and at such an age, who wouldn't feel embarrassed? He gave the bubble bath the tootsie check to see if it was too hot enough. The temperature was just right, and the bubbles were inviting.

A thought occurred Shiro when he sat into the bath; would he become a sissy for liking bubble baths? There is also this girly fragrance rising from the water. He better not tell his friends about this, otherwise they would call him Sissy Shiro all the way through to his adulthood.

The bathroom door opened and Tsukasa stepped in. Tsukasa tilted her head and made an eyesmile. "I'm just going to help Inori with the cooking! I'll join you in five minutes!"

With that, she walked away and closed the door before Shiro had a chance to reply.

Shiro twiddled his thumbs. Despite feeling warm and relaxed, there was not a lot one could do in a bath. When he was five, Shiro had a yellow rubber duck and a toy submarine to play with, but of course, he grew out of that phase by now. That's right, he thought to himself, he named the duck Cho-cho, a strange if somewhat funny...

...wait a second. Did she just say she would join him in five minutes... as in join him join him?!

Join him... as in... join him... in the bath?!

Shiro blushed profusely and looked as though his kittens were about to have kittens. He had never been in a bath with a girl before... well, he went in a few times with his mother, but he was a baby then! What's more, this cute girl, Tsukasa would be completely nude. Her pure, sacred body would be pressed gently against his back. There would be those... pink things attached to her... lighter pink things... not to mention... that thing between her legs.

"Okay! I'm ready!" Tsukasa called out before opening the door.

The moment Tsukasa stepped into the bathroom, Shiro reacted in a way Tsukasa never expected him to.

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! I'M NOT READY! I DON'T WANNA DO THIS! I'M NOT READY! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEEEAASE!! WAAAAGGGH!!!" Shiro shouted, flapping his arms and splashing water everywhere.

Tsukasa tilted her head and continued to watch Shiro's forever transforming expression. His beetroot face twisted and distorted into every type of shape imaginable.

"Don't you want me to wash your hair?" Tsukasa asked softly.

After hearing that, Shiro quickly regained his normal composure. Ooooh, so that's what she meant, he thought, the burden of unlimited weight releasing from his shoulders. Never had the boy felt so relieved in all his life.

"Oh... okay..." he replied, feeling a complete idiot from what he said before.

Even though the situation wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be, Shiro still felt embarrassed at having a girl wash his own hair. Tsukasa however, was very gentle with her hands. She used a sponge and just the right amount of shampoo. Shiro stared at the water as a faint redness appeared on his cheeks.

"Tsukasa is such a nice person," Shiro thought, slowly beginning to relax, "she reminds me of my mother."

After Shiro properly washed, dried and clothed himself, he watched an anime downstairs with the twins. The anime was about a boy who for some reason became a foreign teacher in a class full of girls, not to mention he can cast magic to boot. He found it rather funny, especially the part where the boy cast a spell to make a girl's breasts grow ten times her original size. Afterwards, he joined the four girls around the table for dinner. Matsuri, after many attempted phone calls, was successfully able to get hold of Shiro's mother. Matsuri told everyone that she would get there as quickly as possible. Everyone was relieved to hear that, although Shiro seemed to be having mixed thoughts. What would his mother think of him when they would meet? All this time she had been worried sick about him... he wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to speak to him again.

Shiro looked around the table. Inori and Tsukasa were eating their food in a normal manner, whilst Matsuri and Kagami were having an argument over something really silly. It was totally the opposite of Shiro's family. Shiro's brother had developed this teenager hormone stage where he would take his food upstairs and listen to his really depressing music. This left only Shiro and his mother at the table, and they would eat their dinner as quietly as mice. He didn't know girls were capable of talking for such lengthy periods. Shiro stole a glimpse at Tsukasa who was sitting opposite him... but didn't look at her for too long in case she noticed. He then looked at the food in front of him; a ring of rice and vegetables with turkey mince in the middle. Using a spoon, he scooped up a small mouthful and ate it slowly. There was no doubt in his mind; it was really, really tasty.

Shiro had nearly finished his meal when the door bell rang. He felt an immediate chill all over. Inori promptly finished her mouthful before making her way to the main door. Shiro got out of his chair and followed her... and then the other girls followed suit as well.

Inori opened the door, and came face to face with Shiro's mother and her older brother. Shiro's mother is in her late thirties and is about as tall as Inori. She had long beige hair tied with a ponytail, and wore a jumper, a pair of jeans, ordinary shoes and large circular glasses. Shiro's brother is fifteen and is quite tall for his age. He had short, beige spiky hair, and judging from his choice of wardrobe, it looked as though he is going through an emo-gothic-zombie like phase.

With a cry of relief, Shiro's mother rushed over and embraced her younger son. Shiro's worry had been put to rest; his mother... is just so happy to see him safe and sound. Shiro's brother sighed through his nose. He is relieved having seen him at last, but there is no chance he would show his emotions. That would be, like, embarrassing.

"Thank you for looking after my Shiro!" mother thanked as she wiped away a tear, "I hope he wasn't a burden to you all!"

Inori shook her head. "Not at all! It was a pleasure, if anything!"

"He certainly made the place more interesting," remarked Matsuri, who rubbed the back of her head.

Kagami crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Now don't do anything daft, okay?" she told Shiro, "You don't want your family getting worried again, do you?"

Shiro nodded. "I won't Kagami! I promise!"

Tsukasa suddenly remembered something. She rushed to the refrigerator, grabbed a plate of small cakes and put them inside a paper bag. She walked back to the main room and gave the bag to Shiro.

"For... me?" asked Shiro.

Tsukasa nodded. "Me and Kagami made these! We were going to have them for dessert, but I'd thought it would be better if you had them instead!"

"Th-thanks. That's really kind of you," Shiro said. The poor guy felt overwhelmed with all the kindness around him.

He bowed lowly, showing his utmost appreciation.

"Thank you for looking after me everyone! Thank you so much!"

With that, the Masu family turned around and left, with Shiro and his mother saying their goodbyes beforehand. His older brother placed a hand on top of Shiro's head and did nothing more.

Kagami walked up the stairs and into her bedroom, since she had some spare homework to sort out before tomorrow. She rearranged some of her school books on the bookshelf... before realising the television is still switched on. Oh yeah, she remembered, Shiro and herself were just about to start the second level of Raiden 2. The way the game paused when Kagami and Shiro were in mid-fire... it kind of saddened her a little.

Shiro and his brother are at the back of their mother's car. As she drove home, mother hummed a happy song to herself, delighted that things were finally back to normal.

Shiro took a bite out of a cherry flavoured cake. It tasted delicious!

"Hey bro! Want to try one?" he asked his brother.

His brother shrugged and picked a cake for himself. He looked at the cake; it is covered with vanilla frosting and had hundreds and thousands sprinkled on top. He took a bite out of it and savoured the flavour every time he chewed.

"Well? What do you think?" Shiro asked again.

Shiro's brother looked as though he had swallowed some rat poison.

Author: Shiro and his family are original characters I made specifically for this story.

I hope everyone continues to enjoy reading this collection of one shots. Thanks for the reviews.

~Rdz