Reina opened the door to find Serenity sitting on the floor, on her knees with her head in her arms on a bed; she was sleeping.
The person in the bed was an older male with nape-length strawberry-blonde hair; roughly eighty percent of his body was wrapped in bandages.
"Have you come for my Serenity?" The male asked in a raspy tone.
"Your Serenity? What does that mean?" Reina demanded.
"She's my baby sister." The male answered in that same raspy tone.
"Why would we come for your sister?" Mamoru asked, watching the man.
"You've come from Foster Care to take my sister." The man spoke.
"Where are your parents?" Haku asked, slightly annoyed.
"They are dead; they were killed along with our brother and sister. My name is Sota; I was the oldest at twenty-seven. Sakura was next at twenty-three. Seji was next at nineteen. We all had the same mother but different fathers. My father died when I was a year old; I watched our mother kill him in my nursery. I was only a year old, but I still knew and remember what I saw. When I was three, Mom met Sakura's father; she killed him when Sakura was a year, and I was five. When Sakura was three and I was seven, Mom met Seji's mother. Unfortunately, for Mom, Seji's mother died in a freak car accident when we were two, six, and ten. Then at three, seven, and eleven, Mom met Serenity's father. But he was different; Mom was in it for the long haul and didn't even think about killing him. None of us could figure it out—not until two years ago when Sakura overheard her talking to someone. Mom was considered a Black Widow and killed her husbands for their money. Serenity's father never married Mom—well, he did. But it wasn't until two years ago. However, unlike us, what Mother didn't realize, was that Serenity's father left everything to Serenity if anything were to happen to him, not her. She was pissed and had to come up with a new plan. She was going to kill Serenity; Sakura, Seji, and I knew that. We tried telling Serenity's father: he said he knew—and he was ok with that. He loved our mother more than anything, but by law or whatever; he had to leave everything to any child he may have had. Serenity's not very bright; Mother and Father abused and neglected the crap out of her, and she still loved them. Serenity did anything they asked of her because if she were good, they were nice to her. She learned that if she did whatever they asked; she was rewarded. But if she "misbehaved," she was severely beaten. Serenity doesn't understand that that's not how it's supposed to work. I don't know what she saw because she was supposed to be asleep; we even gave her a hefty dose of sleeping pills to keep her asleep. Still, she woke up anyway; I know she saw things. I killed mom: it was my job as the oldest to make sure she was delt with. It was my job to make sure I protected my siblings. Unfortunately, I didn't see him; and Serenity's dad killed Sakura. It took Seji and me to kill him. There: we avenged our fathers and Sakura. But in his dying breath, Serenity's father killed Seji and stabbed me—and started a fire. Serenity was weak from the sleeping pills, but I got her out of there. I think Mother manipulated Serenity's father just enough to keep her under his thumb; she was good at that. He was a good man before. Mother's parents don't want anything to do with any of us—and we don't know Serenity's father's family. We have no one—she has no one. I called and told police and Social Services everything. You finally showed up to take her: better late than never, I suppose. I don't care what happens to me; I just want Serenity to be safe. I'm dying; Serenity shouldn't see that. She shouldn't be living here like she has been. Find her a safe home so she won't be tortured—please. I love her more than anything in this entire world. And no matter what you think—or how you view me; I did everything I could to protect her. Forget about me and everything you've seen, Serenity: start a new life. You may not be the healthiest but stay strong. And for the love of God: stay safe." The man, Serenity's older brother, Sota, emotionally told Reina, Haku, and Mamoru in that raspy tone before taking one final breath.
And with that, Sota was gone.
Serenity was up, and nurses were in within seconds, trying to revive him.
"Sota? Sota!" Serenity frantically cried.
"Ma'am, you need to step back. Actually, you need to leave; this is no place for you." A nurse harshly told Serenity.
"No! Sota!" Serenity screamed, defying the nurse, holding her ground.
"Someone get her out of here-NOW!" A nurse instructed.
"No! Sota! Sota! Sota, please!" Serenity screamed and cried, struggling against a janitor.
"I'm sorry, Miss. But you can't be in there right now." The janitor calmly told Serenity, carrying her into the hall where Mamoru, Reina, and Haku stood, shocked.
"Are you happy now?" Haku asked, watching Reina.
"Sota…" Serenity cried, sinking to her knees, leaning against the door.
"Now what happens?" Reina asked, concerned, watching Serenity.
"I suppose she goes into the Foster system or whatever." Haku answered, watching Serenity.
"That just doesn't seem fair." Reina sadly spoke.
"Maybe so, but what can we do? Hey, where'd our responsible guardian go?" Haku replied before realizing Mamoru was nowhere in sight.
With Mamoru:
"Hello? Who may I ask is calling?" A man asked on the other end of Mamoru's phone call.
"It's Mamoru; I need to speak with Kotaro—immediately. It's of the utmost importance." Mamoru firmly answered.
"I will see if he's busy." The man replied.
"No: I don't care if he's busy right now, or not; I need to speak to him NOW." Mamoru strictly answered, not taking "no" for an answer.
"Who is it?" A female voice asked, annoyed.
"The dog; he wishes to speak with his master. He's also being very disobedient—demanding and such." The man replied, annoying Mamoru.
"Mamoru, huh? He's being aggressive, you say? That's very unlike him. Let me speak with him." The female ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am." The man replied, handing the phone over.
"Mamoru, it's nice to hear from you. You wish to speak with Kotaro, I hear. What is it you need to speak with him about that you cannot come speak to him in person?" The woman calmly asked.
"Yes. I am at a hospital—with who I suspect is the family's missing psychic. I'm not a hundred percent sure on that, no. But I did not transform when she accidentally bumped into me earlier. And talking to a nurse and listening to others here, this child has the gift of "Knowing," at least. I think it's imperative that Kotaro knows, don't you agree?" Mamoru explained over the phone, watching to make sure he didn't have any listeners.
"Yes, of course. Hold on a minute or so while I locate him." The woman insisted.
"Yes, of course." Mamoru replied, waiting.
Three Minutes Later:
"Mamoru, I hear you've found a treasure. Is this true?" A male voice asked, picking up.
"Yes, Kotaro: I believe so." Mamoru replied.
"Tell me about this girl. How old is she? What is she like? Who is she?" Kotaro eagerly asked.
"Yes, of course. Obviously, you've been told she's female. Her name is Serenity Tsukimomo, and I think she's fifteen; she's no younger than fourteen, as she goes to school with Reina and Haku. In fact, Reina tutors her. From what I've been told, she's slower than her peers and struggles in math and science but does ok in history. She excels in reading, writing, and art. Reina was told she did ok in science, but that doesn't seem to be the case—unless it revolves around space. She's very shy—or as Haku puts it: downright skittish. I found out she had two older brothers and an older sister—all dead. They all have different fathers, but the same mother. Their mother killed all their fathers except Serenity's. The brothers and sister killed their mother and Serenity's father: the oldest just died while the others died when they killed their parents. From the brother's account, Serenity was severely abused and neglected unless she was perfectly behaved. And now, she has nobody. I was hoping to get your permission to take her in, under my care until she can go out on her own—or whatever. As the prophecy says: she most likely doesn't know she's a Sohma, but I feel very strongly that she is. It seems that Reina and even Haku are strongly attached to Serenity as well. We were told that we'd be drawn to the psychic, did we not?" Mamoru calmly explained before asking.
"Yes, this is true. Well, if you strongly feel this girl is who you say she is, take her in—and keep a close eye on her. Let me know of any updates. When I'm ready to meet her, I will." Kotaro calmly informed Mamoru.
"Of course." Mamoru calmly replied.
"And Mamoru. If this girl isn't who you think she is, you'll have to take responsibility—especially if she finds out what we are." Kotaro strictly warned Mamoru.
"Yes, of course; I understand." Mamoru calmly replied.
"Bye. Have a splendid night." Kotaro bid farewell.
"You as well." Mamoru replied before the two hung up.
"Well—this will be interesting." Mamoru sighed, running his hand through his hair.
"There you are. Where have you been?! We've been looking all over for you. Or at least I have." Haku snapped at Mamoru while Reina helplessly stood there, watching Serenity.
"*Sigh…* She really got to you, didn't she?" Mamoru asked Reina, watching her.
"What are you doing?" Reina asked, watching Mamoru walk over to Serenity and knelt next to her.
"Serenity?" Mamoru gently asked, watching Serenity.
"Huh?" Serenity softly and absentmindedly asked, not looking up.
"I'm sorry about your brother—and the rest of your family. While we were in the room with you, your brother thought we were Protective Services come to take you away. We heard what happened with your family. From what I could tell; your brother didn't want you going into the Foster system. So, with that in mind—and I know it's not exactly ideal or whatever: but what would you say about coming to live with us?" Mamoru calmly spoke to Serenity, getting everyone's attention.
"What?" Serenity asked, confused.
"Are you freaking crazy?!" Haku snapped, stunned.
"It's just me, Reina, and Haku; so, you won't be the only girl." Mamoru calmly explained.
"Why would you want someone like me to live with you?" Serenity softly asked, watching Mamoru, confusing Reina and Haku.
"What do you mean?" Mamoru asked, already knowing the answer. Just looking in her eyes, Mamoru could tell she knew who they were—meaning he was right about her. Serenity was their family psychic.
"You know what I mean. Why would you want a complete stranger living with you when you have such a huge secret?" Serenity asked, shocking Reina and Haku; Mamoru just smiled at her.
"Because whether you know or it or not; you're part of our family as well. You have secrets too, yes? You have psychic abilities; very few know this, correct? Our secret: we turn into the twelve animals, plus the cat of the Zodiac. We also have our God. And then there's you: you, whether or not you believe it, are our family psychic. That's why I'd like to invite you to live with us. Well, it's one of the reasons: the other being you deserve safety." Mamoru explained, watching Serenity; he whispered some parts in her ear so that nobody else could hear.
"What the hell is going on?" Haku demanded, annoyed.
"Let's head home. Serenity?" Mamoru insisted before asking, holding his hand out to Serenity.
"Ok." Serenity softly spoke, giving in.
"Shall we get your things? We can get her things she has, yes?" Mamoru calmly asked, helping Serenity up before asking a nurse.
"Yes, of course; just head on in." The nurse replied, sounding like she was in a trance.
"Come on, you three." Mamoru happily instructed, walking into the room.
"Is anyone going to explain to me what's going on?" Haku asked, becoming more annoyed by the second.
"In due time." Mamoru replied, packing Serenity's things with Reina while Serenity stared at her brother's dead body.
"Sulking around like that won't do you any good. Come help pack things up. Serenity, when we're done here—if you have any other things you might like to get back, please let us know where we need to go. We'll grab anything you need." Mamoru told Haku, noticing him just standing around. He then, once again, spoke directly to Serenity.
"Umm… Everything I have—that survived the fire is here." Serenity softly spoke, embarrassed as they packed her things into the three suitcases, two backpacks, and four bags.
"Oh. Well, we'll just have to figure some things out then, won't we? Eh! No arguing. Come on; I believe this is everything." Mamoru replied with a sad smile.
"Have you had anything to eat?" Reina asked, concerned.
"I had a sandwich and some chips. I'm ok." Serenity responded.
"Ok. Enough of that. Let's head home." Mamoru once again instructed.
"Ok." Serenity softly agreed before giving Sota one final look.
Half an Hour Later:
The walk back to the house was silent except for Mamoru babbling on and on.
Ordinarily, Haku would be yelling at Mamoru to shut up or demanding to know what was going on—still. However, he was trying to keep calm because he didn't want to upset Serenity anymore than she already was.
Reina wanted to talk to Serenity, but she didn't know what to say to her.
Reina didn't have any friends outside of her family. And she didn't care for most of the guys outside of the family. She had family members die before—but she was never really close to any of them like it seemed Serenity was with Sota.
"Home sweet home!" Mamoru happily announced, stepping in front of the house.
"Great. Now, let us in, so we can do whatever." Haku grumbled, annoyed.
"Right." Mamoru agreed, walking up to the door. However, when he got there, Mamoru nervously turned back to everyone.
"You forgot your damn keys again, didn't you?!" Haku snapped.
"Uh-hahaha." Mamoru nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his head.
"*Sigh…* I knew this would happen." Reina sighed, walking up to the door; she unlocked it with her key and walked inside.
"Well, come in; don't be shy." Mamoru told Serenity after noticing her just standing there, looking down.
Slowly, Serenity followed everyone into the house.
"Ok. Let's give you the grand tour. Haku, come be a good kitty and show Serenity around while I take a bath." Mamoru happily instructed, watching the teens.
"You bastard!" Haku yelled, ready to attack Mamoru, eyes twitching.
"Don't mind them; I'll show you around. As I'm sure you've figured out; this is the main entryway. As I'm also sure you know; this is where shoes are taken off—and coats are hung here. This here, is our half bathroom; it's just big enough to do your business and wash your hands. This way, please." Reina started before leading Serenity—and Haku into the house.
"Now, this is our living room; this is where Mamoru makes us do family movie/game nights on Friday nights—every Friday. Generally, we just watch TV or spend some time together in here. This house has been in our family for generations—and when Mamoru inherited it or whatever, he had it redesigned, claiming he needed a bigger kitchen. Though, I don't know why because he's rarely ever in the kitchen; he only cooks twice a week. This is that kitchen—and dining room." Reina explained, showing Serenity the living room, a small dining room, and the large kitchen.
"At least he knows how to cook. You can't even boil water without burning the water." Haku grumbled.
"Shut up, you damn cat." Reina growled, watching Haku.
"Do you cook?" Haku asked, watching Serenity, noticing her reaction to the kitchen.
"Some." Serenity softly admitted.
"You're welcome to use the kitchen whenever you need. Oh, and for earning your keep here; you can make food and clean around the house." Mamoru announced, popping up out of nowhere.
"You damn bastard; leave her alone!" Haku yelled, annoyed.
"I normally don't agree with Haku, but he's right. Serenity's entire life is changing in one night; let her be. Give her a few days to adjust—to let us all adjust. I mean, come on; you just sprung her moving in on all of us like it was nothing." Reina scolded Mamoru.
"Don't worry about any of that; she's perfectly ok here. And don't worry about Kotaro; I already told him. Well, enjoy the tour." Mamoru replied before skipping away.
'I hate him." Reina and Haku thought to themselves, watching Mamoru.
"Anyway, moving on. This is Mamoru's room." "If you value your life; stay out of there. His room is a disaster zone. Reina may have organization issues, but at least she doesn't have unknown creatures in there." Reina started before Haku interrupted her, rolling his eyes.
"Would you stop interrupting me?! And thanks—I think. And Haku's right; stay out of Mamoru's room—unless you have a hazmat suit or something." Reina added, watching Serenity.
"That hurts." Mamoru whined, walking out of his room; Serenity immediately did her best not to gag.
"What died in there?" Serenity softly asked once Mamoru was in the bathroom. It was supposed to be to herself, but it came out of her mouth.
"We don't know. But whatever it is, Mamoru's immune to it. Don't worry about it; everyone who's been in there, wonders how he does it." Haku and Reina answered, watching Serenity.
"Anyway: this is a spare room. Right now, Mamoru uses it as his work area, but if this is where you wanted your room to be, he'd move somewhere else. Hahaha. Don't worry; the smell doesn't travel through the walls—surprisingly enough. Also surprisingly enough, this room isn't a disaster zone and smells like pine. At the end of the hall, is our first full bathroom: it has a toilet, tub, shower, and sink." Reina explained; she ended up laughing because Serenity made a face when they showed her the spare room.
"Upstairs is a safe zone: Mamoru doesn't typically come up there—unless he wants to piss us off." Haku stated, leading the way to the stairs.
"Which is at least twice a week: Monday and Wednesday—Friday if we're not downstairs fast enough for him." Reina added as they headed upstairs.
"So, like downstairs, the bathroom is at the end of the hall; it has a toilet, sink, tub, and shower. Oh, and both bathrooms have a closet for towels and such in them. This door leads into the attic—which is just storage for whatever. The attic has a door that leads out to the roof. A little advice: if you ever can't find Haku; he's usually on the roof, staring at the sky. From what I understand; it's a cat thing. Anyway: so, the room next to the attic door is Haku's. My room is across from the attic door, leaving the room across from Haku; I apologize for that." Reina explained, pointing to each door as she told Serenity which room was which.
"Hahaha! Very funny. At least my room is clean." Haku immediately argued.
"Never mind him. Let me show you to your room. I also apologize because I think this is one of the smallest rooms in the entire house." Reina decided to ignore Haku and showed Serenity to her room, apologizing for the size.
"Mamoru's work room is the smallest room in the house. And that's because he had to increase the size of the kitchen." Haku started, watching Reina show Serenity her room.
"It's perfectly ok. The size of the room doesn't matter, so long as I have enough room to sle—ep. This is small?" Serenity assured them before asking in shock, looking around.
"It's smaller than our rooms." Reina stated, looking around.
"How small was your previous room?" Haku asked, curious.
"Just enough to sleep." Serenity answered, causing Reina and Haku to understand Serenity's earlier statement and reaction.
Serenity was fifteen and tiny. Haku and Reina guessed she was maybe 5'0 and 100lbs, soaking wet.
The room Serenity was given was 7'L x 7'W x 8.5'H.
The room size Serenity was used to was 5.5'L x 3'W x 5.5'H.
"Excuse me, I'm going to go for walk. You just get settled in." Reina told Serenity, holding back her tears.
'How could they treat her like that? How can she not understand that that wasn't right?' Reina asked herself, making her way downstairs.
"Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry." Serenity apologized after asking, confused.
"No. You're fine. Do what Reina says, and get settled in. I'll go find out where the spare futons are. And don't you dare argue that, damnit. I'll be back as soon as I can." Haku sternly told Serenity before heading downstairs.
"Is everything ok? Reina just stormed outside. You two didn't get into another argument, did you?" Mamoru asked as soon as he saw Haku.
"No, we didn't get into another argument; we found out that Serenity's bedroom used to be a closet or something along those lines. Speaking of Serenity; she needs a futon." Haku answered, clenching and unclenching his hands.
"Ah. I see. Well, you go and relax a little; I'll take Serenity a futon before I have to go to work." Mamoru insisted, watching a very angry Haku.
"Fine." Haku agreed before taking off.
"Yep; she's definitely our family—for them to have that reaction. Hmmm… A closet, huh?" 'I will say, I had my reservations about bringing her into the family, but it's got to be better here than before. Kotaro's an ass, but at least he gives the family their freedoms as long as they promise never to leave and do whatever he asks. However, I don't think Serenity's going to be the great pawn he wants her to be. A closet? Really?' Mamoru spoke out loud before thinking to himself, trying not to let his anger get to him as he went to get a spare futon.
Five Minutes Later:
Knock. Knock.
"Serenity, I have a futon for you." Mamoru informed after knocking on Serenity's door.
Nothing but soft music playing.
"Serenity?" Mamoru asked, confused before opening the door.
When he opened the door to check on her, Mamoru found Serenity asleep under the window with her MP3 player plugged in and playing music. She had changed into a pair of pajamas. Otherwise, nothing changed; she hadn't unpacked or anything.
Mamoru let out a sigh of relief before walking in. He then proceeded to get the futon set up before carefully placing Serenity on it and covered her with one of her blankets.
"Goodnight, Sweet Psychic Child of ours." Mamoru quietly spoke before turning the light off and shutting her door…