A/N: I AM BACK I'm sorry for the delay! I had to take a break from the fandom. Updates will resume as usual. Thank you for your patience!

July 1999

After she and her old friend journeyed back to camp and returned to their respective cabins, Sora went looking for someone. She found Yamato playing harmonica beneath a shady tree. His little brother Takeru napped on his lap. She would have found the scene adorable if she didn't feel so raw.

Her head was spinning. She was thrilled to see Jyou again. He seemed well, though tightly wound and stressed as usual. She had tried to get as much information as she could without prying into his life, but she knew him. There were things he was leaving out - he had edited his story so she wouldn't worry. He had always been like that, always looking out for her. He didn't want her to worry about him.

But she couldn't help it. The whole thing made her feel itchy. It just seemed unlikely likely his father had taken such a sudden interest in his education. His father, who mocked his anxiety and exacerbated it. His father, who once destroyed an ikebana arrangement Sora gave him because Jyou had stammered in front of guests. His father, who forced Jyou to switch his bedroom to Shin's tiny office because his brother was in England and Katashi wanted turn Jyou's room into a study space for Shuu.

No, Katashi Kido suddenly deciding he would spend time and money on Jyou's future just didn't make any sense. She didn't like this at all.

Yamato saw her approach and lowered the harmonica. Without Jyou to connect them, they saw each other rarely these days. His style had changed a bit, Sora noted distantly; he had styled his hair into something ridiculous that fell into his eyes and his clothes were tight-fitting. His shirt had some band logo on it.

He looked ridiculous. He was trying too hard.

Still, at least he had put effort into his clothes, and it made her feel self-conscious about her own fashion choices. She spared a look at her boyish outfit, her plain t-shirt and jeans. Should she try to find her own style too? Where in the world would she start?

Those thoughts vanished from her mind when Yamato smiled at her, but his face fell at her expression. "Hey. What's wrong?"

She took a breath and got right to the point. "Did you know Jyou's here?"

Yamato's eyes widened. He grimaced and placed the harmonica in its case, snapping it shut. Sora and Yamato weren't as close as either of them were to Jyou - mostly they acted as Jyou's support group over the years, helping his daily life where they could with visits, outings, and anything else they could do to get him out of his house. They rarely spent time together, just the two of them.

But she knew him well enough to sense when he was projecting a cool, detached persona. He used it whenever something made him feel vulnerable. It was better than when he lashed out, like he used to. "I thought I saw him in the lunch room," he said after a pause. She was right; his face looked carefully indifferent.

Well, she wasn't going to let him get away with blowing off their friend. "You didn't talk to him?" Her voice sharpened.

Yamato hesitated. His icy eyes were fixed on Takeru, snoozing against his legs. It was a good thing his brother was there. Yamato always seemed nicer around him. "No," he said at last. "Was I supposed to? I thought he didn't want to see us anymore."

"Jyou never said that," she insisted. Sora took a breath. She recognized what Yamato was doing, placing the blame elsewhere so he wouldn't feel so guilty. The best thing to do was to try and identify with his feelings. "I understand, though. I got the impression he didn't want us around, either, at least until I talked with him today."

His expression sharpened with interest, but the sliver of emotion was gone in an instant. "I bet he told you he's more interested in doing school stuff now. Right?"

She refused to let him rile her, even when he slighted her best friend. A hurt Yamato could be very vindictive. "I know you took it hard when he started to distance himself. It wasn't easy for me, either. But we're going to be friends again, and I bet if you talked with him, you could be, too."

"Until school is more important."

"It shouldn't be a problem again," she told him. "He said he would do better."

Takeru stirred, but merely rolled over and continued his nap. Yamato patted his brother's head and said carefully, "It sounds like you guys really reconnected. That's great. I'm happy for you. But if it went well, why do you look so upset?"

Sora's face flushed at once. She hated that her emotions were so readable, but Yamato had always been empathetic.

"It's his father," she began.

"Of course it is," he muttered, and as she expected, a frightening scowl twisting his handsome features before he smoothed it out. "All right, what did he do?"

Feeling as though they were in for a long discussion, Sora made herself comfortable on the grass, one leg up with her knee under her chin. "Well, it's weird. All of a sudden his dad is making Jyou do all those crazy school things Shin and Shuu had to do. You know, like tutoring sessions, cram school, extra lessons or whatever - the works."

Yamato watched her intently.

She swallowed hard, uncomfortable under the weight of his gaze. "He's never done that before."

He looked away and she saw a muscle tick in his jaw. "No. It was always Shin, Shin, Shin. He only cared about Shin."

"That's what I thought. And when Shin-san left, he just cared about Shuu-san. He became the heir or whatever it is - I don't know how it works." The inner workings of the supremely wealthy families remained a mystery to her, despite her closeness with Jyou. He didn't talk about his family much. Her fingers curled into fists. "I wouldn't want to do all that extra learning, but it was obvious Kido-san was showing favoritism."

"And it's not like Jyou couldn't do it," Yamato agreed. He seemed to be speaking through gritted teeth.

She nodded. "So why now?"

"He's up to something," he said simply.

Sora steeled herself. She was about to state a wildly unpopular opinion with Yamato and while she wasn't scared of his snarling, she wanted him in high spirits for his turn to visit Jyou. "I, um. I sort of hoped this meant Kido-san was changing."

His eyes flashed. He had been toying with his harmonica case, but his fingers froze, as did the rest of him. "That's not happening."

"Well, what if it was?" She raised her voice and Takeru mumbled in his sleep. She composed herself and whispered, "Maybe losing Shin-san really slapped him in the face. Just imagine learning that your son just ran away with hardly any warning. Maybe it helped him realize how terrible he's been to Jyou and he's trying to treat Jyou the same way he's treated Shin-san. You know, make it up to him after all these years."

Even as she pleaded her case, she could see it hadn't reached him. He just shook his head. "I don't believe it."

"It could happen."

"Not with him," he growled.

Sora grit her teeth. "Look, Yama-kun, I know adults have let you down in the past…"

"This isn't about me not trusting adults," he snapped. "His dad's just not a nice person. I don't believe he's changed. I think Shin leaving has made him worse than ever."

"You don't know why he's doing the school stuff for Jyou, so -"

"Neither do you," Yamato threw back. "Look, you're pretty quick to trust adults because your parents are amazing. I know this might be hard to believe, but adults aren't always out for our best interest."

She clenched her fists and tried to match the ferocity in his gaze. "I know that. I've known Jyou longer than you. I've been there for him every time he wandered over to my apartment because his father did something awful."

The muscles in Yamato's jaw clenched. "You were there and yet you're trying to defend Kido-san."

"People can change," she said firmly. "I just want to hope for the best, okay? Would that really be so terrible?"

He took a shaky breath. "It's not that I don't want you to be right…"

"Let's hope for the best," she said again.

After a long pause, he looked away. When his indifferent mask settled over his face again, Sora knew she had won. "I'll talk to him and try to figure out what's going on."

Sora forced a smile. "Good. He'll be so happy to see you again."

"If he's not mad at me for not speaking to him in the lunch room," Yamato muttered.

"No, he'll still be friends with you. He always keeps his promises."

He exhaled sharply. "Yeah, that might just be his problem."

Sora didn't quite understand, but she let him stew in his thoughts. Yamato was the sort of person who liked to think before he acted, and despite his arrogance, she liked that about him.

—

His bullies caught up to him at his favorite spot by the lake this time. They didn't believe he didn't have anything of value in his bag, so they emptied it out and threw everything in the lake out of frustration. Jyou watched a first aid kit sink and vanish.

"Now you're boring and useless," the rat-faced boy muttered. "Sunscreen and first aid kits? Really?"

Jyou just sighed. The rat-faced boy's two minions held him tightly by the arms. "Well, I tried to tell you. There's nothing interesting in my bag. I mean, what, did you think I was carrying gold bars and dollar bills in my emergency supply bag?"

The boy scowled. Jyou didn't know what to tell him. Sorry he wasn't a more interesting victim? Sorry he didn't stupidly bring his money to camp? He tended to babble when he was afraid, so Jyou went on: "So, um, what are you hoping to accomplish here? Maybe - maybe you could just let me go? I'm not going to tell on you. I swear. You can trust me. Um, we can put all of this behind us. I'll give you my lunch tomorrow if it makes you feel better? So you don't have to -"

"Oh my God, shut up." The rat-faced boy turned to him, exasperation on his face. Jyou's mouth snapped shut. The boy cracked his knuckles. "I guess we'll just have to show you what happens to boring geeks like you."

His minions laughed when Jyou tried to back up, his body tense with fear, but of course he had nowhere to go. "Uh - wait - do we really have to -"

"What's wrong? Gonna pee your pants?"

They snatched his glasses off his face. Suddenly blinded, Jyou heard a plop, and his heart sank. The boys laughed. "Wow, you threw them pretty far," one of the bodyguards said.

Then the rat-faced boy shoved him into the shallow, reedy part of the lake. Water splashed around him. He landed on all fours and managed to keep most of his clothes dry, but now he was blind and soggy.

The boys left him kneeling there in the water, laughing as they strode away.

He had to listen hard to make sure they were gone. Jyou had never hated his brother more in his life. "This will be good for you," he muttered, mimicking Shin's cheerful cadence as he swept his hands blindly around the reeds. "Just give it a chance, Jyou. You might enjoy it. Is this what he was talking about? Is he serious? I wanted to go to summer school - "

He yelped when he grabbed something in the water; all he knew was that it had an unknown squishy, gross mass, and he wanted it nowhere near him. Shuddering, Jyou squinted badly, hoping the boys hadn't thrown his glasses too deep in the lake. If he was lucky he could spot them reflecting off the sun, but he knew there was no chance of that. His eyesight was simply too poor. And the sun had begun its descent in the sky.

As he searched, growing colder and soggier by the second, he heard footsteps approaching. His heart sank. Great - it was probably one of the counselors there to offer way too much sympathy and demand to know what had happened. He did not want to explain. They might set up some asinine counseling session between him and his bullies, and wouldn't that be just what he needed?

But maybe it wasn't a counselor at all. He heard water sloshing around and realized the newcomer had gotten in the lake, too. They were going to help him, so maybe it was… "Sora?" Jyou guessed, hoping his pseudo-sister had come to his rescue. He squinted badly, trying to make out the blurry shape as it moved closer to him. It was no good; the lighting was too dim.

He heard a chuckle. "Nope. Good guess, though."

He nearly fell over in his shock, but the newcomer seized his arm. "Yamato!" he exclaimed. He would have recognized his voice anywhere. The blurry shape had a mess of blond hair.

Yamato grunted. "Yep. So, here's what we're going to do. You're getting out of the lake and getting dry. Then I'll find your glasses and all of your stuff. And then we'll track down those little dunces and throw them in the lake."

He was with him until the last part. Jyou grimaced. "Uh, we don't have to get back at them. And you don't have to help me. I'll find everything eventually."

"Uh huh." The blond mass in front of him moved to the side and pulled him to his feet, leading him to a blissfully dry rock. Dry and warm, which was especially nice when his clothes were wet. Jyou grimaced as he took off his shoes and socks. They were soggy and gross and probably wouldn't be dry by the time they had to leave, which was simply perfect.

Jyou sat shivering and hugging his knees as Yamato returned to the water. This was so humiliating. Definitely not the way he wanted to reunite with an old friend, and Yamato likely only helped him because he felt sorry for him. As he struggled to see even a foot beyond his warm rocky sanctuary, Jyou tried to find words. "Um…thanks. I'm sorry this is really inconvenient. Like I said, you don't have to do this. Now you're going to get all wet too, and it's all my -"

The blond blob stiffened. "Relax," Yamato growled, and Jyou fell silent at once. He had forgotten Yamato tolerated his nervous rants much less gracefully than Sora. He wasn't afraid to tell Jyou when he was being ridiculous. "Look, I don't mind. I can't believe those little idiots even did this. Has this happened before?"

"A few times," he admitted.

Yamato made a disgusted noise. Jyou heard splashing. "Well, it stops now. Did they expect you to walk back to your cabin without being able to see? That sounds dangerous."

Despite everything, Jyou managed a chuckle. "Hmm. I don't think they considered that."

"You could have been seriously hurt."

"Huh, you sound a bit like me."

Now Yamato had to laugh. "I can do a better impression." He strained his voice and spoke quickly: "Did you remember your water bottle, and don't forget a jacket! It could get really cold out! Oh man, it's five in the morning, time to wake up and review bio-engineering or whatever the hell -"

Jyou grinned. "Thanks a lot. And I never took bio-engineering. And I don't always wake up at five AM."

"Uh, yes you do. Hey, look at what I found." Even though of course he couldn't see, Jyou raised his head. Yamato laughed. "I realize asking you that may have been a bit tactless. You don't have to look. I'll bring them to you."

"You found my glasses?" Jyou asked, sitting up a bit straighter. He followed the sound of Yamato sloshing toward him and reached out a hand.

Yamato placed them, folded, in his palm. "Ha, it's a trick. Now that you can see, you have to help me find the rest of your stuff."

Jyou laughed, setting the slick, cold frames on his face. The world snapped into focus. His old friend Yamato stood in the lake, sleeves rolled up, boots left on the edge of the water, wearing his signature arrogant smirk. He hadn't changed at all, save for a bit more hair gel. "No problem. I'll help you look."

Taking extra care in his steps, he rejoined Yamato in the water as his old friend retrieved a sopping first aid kit with a scowl on his face. "What absolute little jerks. I hope someone shoves them in a lake tomorrow. Doesn't have to be you or me, I just hope someone does it."

Jyou found a bottle of sunscreen. "You've never been very forgiving," he said, shaking the water off.

"No, but you have, and I hope you'll also forgive me for not saying hi to you when I saw you in the lunch room."

There was a beat of silence. Jyou blinked and straightened up, unsure how to react. "Wait, you…saw me?"

Yamato grunted. "Yeah. I didn't think you noticed me, so…I was an idiot. Sora was even mad at me for that. I should have asked you to join our table. It's been months and I didn't even want to say hi."

More silence. So Sora and Yamato had been talking about him, probably analyzing his withdrawal and trying to figure out if his promise to do better was sincere. Jyou rubbed his upper arm. Yamato watched him do this, his eyes narrowed. "Um…it's okay…"

"No it's not," his old friend snapped. "I shouldn't have dissed you just because I was upset you haven't spoken to either me or Sora in months. If you had someone to hang out with, maybe whatever happened here wouldn't have happened. Maybe these dumb jerks wouldn't have thrown your stuff in the lake."

Jyou couldn't see how that mattered. "You're here with your brother. I know you don't get to see him a lot, so he should be your priority." In fact, Yamato was wasting time he could have been spending with Takeru. His insides curled up with guilt.

Yamato gave him one of his are you serious looks. "Dude. That doesn't mean I don't want to hang out at all. I am glad you reconnected with Sora, though," he added as an afterthought. "She was always better than me at looking out for you."

He opened his mouth to retort that he didn't need looking after, that his friends didn't need to waste their time worrying about him when they had their own problems, that he didn't mean to be such a burden. But none of those responses would put Yamato in a good mood. "That's just how she is," Jyou said at last.

"In fact, I should have realized something was wrong and stepped up."

Jyou blinked at him. He fussed with his hands. "Wrong? Nothing's wrong. Things have been - okay."

"Okay?"

Jyou scanned the water for more missing items to give himself something to do. He knew where Yamato was going with this, and he wanted no part of it. "Yep. Peachy. Just great. Better than usual."

"After Shin left…" Yamato hesitated. Jyou grimaced; great, so they were diving into discussing his family, just like that. He hated these talks. "We were really worried."

The reminder of Shin's departure carved a hole in his chest. It had been almost two years since his oldest brother had left, and he spoke to him almost weekly - why did it still hurt so much?

Of course he knew why. Because his brother had left him there alone. Because Shin had acted irresponsibly for once in his life. Because now there was no one to be a buffer between Jyou and his father, who of course took his son's disappearance the hardest. His father, who ranted and raged one moment only to shift to silent and somber the next, ignoring Jyou if he needed something. If he did speak to him, it was only to ask nostalgic questions about his brother. Reminiscing. It was almost as painful as being ignored.

He remembered he hadn't slept well. His father's tantrums made him jumpier than ever. He never knew what mood he'd find him in, so he tried to avoid him as much as possible. But his father would find some innocuous thing he had done incorrectly, some small indiscretion he had to critique and correct, and he would track Jyou down and shout at him, bursting into his room and scaring him.

He had known his friends had been worried. But Jyou had been around twelve at the time and if even Shin thought it was high time Jyou was better off on his own, then well, maybe he was. If even Shin thought he was a burden, what did his friends think of him? Their parents must have been so tired of having him visit all the time.

Of course he couldn't say any of that.

He could feel Yamato's eyes boring into his back. Jyou swallowed hard. "Um. I was fine. Yep, just fine. There was no reason to worry."

Yamato snorted inelegantly. "You can't expect me to believe that."

Jyou fidgeted with his fingers. Of course he was a terrible liar, and Yamato had seen right through his attempt. He didn't want to dwell on the grim months after Shin had left, though, so he changed the subject. "Things are looking up. My dad has shown an interest in my education. He's never done that before. He signed me up for a bunch of extra school stuff. There was a huge test I took before I came here and we're waiting on the results. It's been really tough sometimes, but I've improved a lot through hard work."

He expected Yamato to look relieved. Perhaps a bit surprised. But his pale eyebrows pressed together and he gave him a hard look, one of deep suspicion. "He's just signed you up for those things - like out of nowhere?"

Jyou shrugged. "I guess? I don't know. I can't keep up with him. I just try to do whatever he expects of me. If he wants me to do more school, I'll do more school. I don't mind."

Yamato fished a bottle of sunscreen out of the lake and shook the water from it, deep in thought. Jyou watched him nervously. He wished he would just come out and say what he was thinking right away. It used to lead to a lot of arguments in their past. Yamato would stew over something while Jyou waited anxiously for the explosion, convinced his friend was mad at him. "I don't like this," he said at last. "He's never done anything for you before. He doesn't care." He spat out the word with such vehemence Jyou grimaced. "I don't believe that, after thirteen years of treating you like dirt, he's suddenly turned over a new leaf."

In truth, Jyou could scarcely believe it either. "Look, I don't know! I'm just doing what's expected of me." He rubbed his upper arms as Yamato eyed him. Jyou understood his skepticism. He really did.

He was just as skeptical when his father first surprised him with a new desk. Then a new pencil set. Then a new bookcase. Each time, his father gave him compliments, and even more unbelievable, apologies. He would say things like, "I know you haven't gotten much in the past. Well, I'm here to change that!" And deliver his gifts with a huge smile that didn't quite reach his eyes while Jyou stumbled over his thanks.

Jyou took a breath. "I've always wanted things to be better," he continued softly. "I thought…maybe if I studied hard and did as well as Shin, my dad would at least sort of like me. But he's never acknowledged anything I did - until now."

Yamato gazed into the water, storms of emotion in his eyes. A muscle twitched in his cheek. "Just be careful," he said at last. "I really, really don't like this, Jyou."

"This is what I've always wanted," Jyou pointed out, an uncharacteristic edge to his voice. He left his next words unsaid. Why are you trying to ruin this for me?

"I think that's the problem." Yamato wiped his wet hands on his pants and shoved them into his pockets. "I'm hoping for the best, but…"

"Maybe he really has changed," he said.

"I hope you're right."

Jyou sent him a sardonic grin. "You're just skeptical because I'm the one being positive for once."

His friend scoffed and a soft smile played on his lips. Some of the tension had eased. "Can you blame me? You've been a rainy storm cloud of a downer since the day we met."

"Gee, thanks." Jyou found one last mini first-aid kit in the rocky, weedy depths and decided to call it quits. "I think that's the best we're going to do. Let's go get dry, okay? I really appreciate your help.

Yamato acknowledged his thanks with a grunt. He was once again deep in thought, which of course made Jyou nervous but he managed to keep a lid on voicing his worries until his friend sorted through his words. It wasn't until they had returned to the shore and were placing their shoes and socks back on that his friend spoke. "I guess that's not true."

"Huh?" Jyou grimaced as he put his socks on. Even in the direct sunlight, they hadn't dried much. He wished those boys would have asked him to take off his shoes and socks before they threw him in the lake. That would have been kind of them.

His friend shrugged. "When we met, I mean. You weren't as negative back then. You just talked a lot."

"Oh. Yeah. I was really annoying."

"You're still annoying," Yamato said easily, and Jyou threw him a look, but didn't have the heart to be truly offended. He ended up laughing. "I just meant you didn't used to be such a bundle of nerves."

"Thanks a lot." He shrugged and his sarcasm reflex, deeply ingrained in him by his equally sarcastic brother, responded in kind. "This might be hard to believe, but elementary school kids haven't quite realized how terrifying the world is yet. They haven't heard of things like exploding head syndrome or an arrhythmic death or Japanese hornets - "

Yamato sighed, muttered something Jyou didn't catch, and stuffed his hands in his pockets again. "Yeah, yeah. Ready to go?"

After Jyou placed the waterlogged supplies back into his bag, he slung it on his shoulder and noticed Yamato had brought out his harmonica. "Yep, I'm - oh, hey. You still have that thing."

His friend tapped the instrument against his palm. Jyou didn't understand the details, but apparently that was a method of cleaning it after each use. "Of course I do."

"Know any new songs?"

Yamato gave it some thought, and as they began their steady descent toward the campgrounds, he began to play. Jyou recognized the song at once and was transported back in time. It was one of those pop punk bands they used to listen to after school. They would arrive in the dark apartment Yamato shared with his father, and Jyou always wanted to jump right into his homework, but Yamato wanted to recharge and absorb some music for a while. They had compromised and made a rule: they would listen to one album and Jyou would do all the work he wanted while it played, but they weren't allowed to speak, and Jyou had to stop doing schoolwork once it ended. He ended up broadening his musical tastes exponentially with Yamato's help. Shin and Yamato had similar tastes, so Jyou was always excited to tell his brother about the new album he had heard at his friend's apartment.

He hadn't listened to much music after distancing himself from his friends. His father didn't like music all that much.

Yamato finished the song and lowered the harmonica. "I think you've gotten better," Jyou said, blinking away past memories.

"I spent a lot of time alone in the apartment, so I had a lot of time to practice."

Jyou wasn't sure if this was a dig at him for not being there. Both hands clenched the shoulder strap of his bag and he couldn't bring himself to meet his eyes. "Um, well, you sound really good. I thought you would have gotten a better harmonica by now, though. That one has to be pretty old."

"Nah, it still works just fine." He did the tapping thing again. "Besides, you sifted through trash to find it for me, so I'm not just going to throw it out."

He felt himself redden. "Oh yeah…I did do that…" Jyou rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't know what his nine-year-old self had been thinking. Sorting through all that gross leftover food, mashing together into disgusting colors that had no place on earth - it was something he never wanted to do again.

But he probably would if he had to. He knew how much Yamato loved that harmonica.

"Damned kids," Yamato muttered.

Jyou hesitated. There was something he needed to get off his chest. "Yamato?"

"Yeah?"

"Those kids really did throw me in the dumpster. That's how I found your harmonica."

Yamato stared at him. He was so dumbstruck he missed a step and stumbled. Jyou actually laughed; his friend's cool persona had been utterly shattered. "Are you serious!" he cried. "Oh my God! Those little shits -"

"It's not a big deal," he said, trying to reign in his laughter.

"You should have told me! I can't believe you didn't say anything!"

Jyou shrugged, still grinning. "You were a lot more temperamental back then. I didn't want to get you in trouble because you were trying to rally to my defense."

The idea of anyone doing that for him was laughable. Yamato scowled at him as his face cycled through emotions too quickly for Jyou to keep up with; annoyed, amused, angry, ashamed. "Maybe I would have done something stupid," he muttered at last.

"Well, in the end, it worked out. I wouldn't have found your harmonica unless I was literally inside the dumpster. Those kids helped in a weird way."

"You should have at least told a teacher…"

But he shook his head. "Those kids didn't come after me again once you and me were friends. So it worked out in that way, too."

They arrived at the campgrounds, but neither felt like returning to their cabins yet. The two friends found a picnic table in the sunlight and Jyou set his bag on it, looking over the water-damaged supplies. "I know we didn't get everything, but I really appreciate your help."

"Hey, no problem." Yamato sat on the bench and wrung the water from the edges of his pantlegs. Jyou hoped they hadn't been one of his expensive jeans; he always seemed to care a lot about his appearance and took great care of his clothes. "So…now that I know what's going on and that you're okay, would you want to be friends again?"

Jyou gaped at him and blurted, "Um? Of course!"

"You can't blame me for asking," Yamato said, his gaze sliding away. "I just assumed you were too busy with school and stuff. You always seemed to like school more than you liked us."

Jyou boggled at him. He opened and closed his mouth, giving his words some thought. At last, he scratched the back of his head and said, "I didn't mean to make you think that, but I can see why you would think that. Sometimes I get really caught up in my goals and just forget everything else. School is really important to me, but…it isn't worth losing friends over."

Yamato looked at him, eyebrows raised. "I never thought you of all people would say that."

"Don't tell anyone," he said with a small smile.

"So if I call, or Sora does, you'll answer?"

"Yes!" he said stiffly. Did he really think him so untrustworthy he wouldn't answer the phone? It hurt his character that Yamato thought so little of him.

When Yamato narrowed his eyes, Jyou reconsidered. He had buried himself in his work when Shin left, perhaps to distract himself from his chaotic home. It was what his father valued, so Jyou tried to keep up with his brothers. But his marks were nowhere near what Shin and Shuu's had been at his age, so he would only work harder. Would he answer the phone in the middle of a study frenzy? Jyou didn't know. He didn't know, but he had to promise Yamato something. "I'll do better," he amended.

Yamato's face clouded, and he just nodded.

Jyou could sense another lecture coming, so he targeted a subject he knew Yamato couldn't resist in a desperate attempt to distract him. "Oh hey, how's Takeru-kun?"

As he expected, Yamato's face lit up. "He's great! He's here at camp, so you guys can catch up, too."

Jyou smiled. He liked Takeru, although Yamato was better at dealing with his crying fits. Maybe he had grown out of that. "I haven't seen him in so long. He probably doesn't even remember me."

"Nah, I'm sure he remembers you. You were the only person he could beat at SNES." He smirked. "He's not gonna forget that, because he could never beat me."

"I hated that thing," Jyou muttered.

"So do you know which cabin those asshats are in? The ones that pushed you in the lake?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Your vocabulary gets more colorful every time you talk about them. We're not doing anything to those guys, no matter how much they deserve it. Okay?"

Yamato sighed. "You are absolutely no fun."

A/N: Next time - a flashback from Shin's POV. Thank you for reading!