It's A Secret

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By: Ryoko

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Track 00:01:00

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"Hatsuharu! Where on earth have you BEEN?! I've been worried sick! What-?"

"I found her in the street . . . she looks pretty sickly, can you help her?"

The tiny bundle of child lay, unmoving, in the teenager's arms, wrapped tightly in his trench coat.

"Bring her inside." Hatori instructed, sliding the door open for the two to come in.

Gently, Hatsuharu placed the girl down on the floor near the heater and pulled the coat over her again.

"Hatsuharu. You go get dried off and changed, I'll take care of the little one."

"Nuh-uh." He shook his head, slipping off his muddy shoes and leaving them by the door, hidden so nobody could see them. "I'm gonna stay here with her. No offense . . . but YOU'LL probably give her a heart attack if she woke up to you staring at her."

"Don't worry." He chuckled. "None taken. I know what you mean." He smiled, reaching into a drawer in his desk and pulling out a first aid kid. He briefly checked the girl's pulse, and then went through the routine procedure with her. "Well, you'll be glad to know that she's okay. And it seems she's only asleep. But she IS okay." The doctor sighed, placing the kit back into his desk.

"How did you find her?"

"I was just out for a walk . . . then I kinda . . . yeah . . . I kinda tripped over her . . . "

"Out for a walk? In THIS storm?"

"Yeah, I know it's weird . . . but I really felt like I needed it."

"Hn. Well, you ARE one to do something like that." He laughed, stopping when he heard footsteps coming toward his door. The same hyper footsteps that belonged to the one and only- Sohma Momiji.

The door to the man's office slid open faster than lightning and in bounced the usagi, only pausing to stare at the child Haru had brought home.

"How CUTE!!! Who is she? She looks SO much like Kisa! Wow! Who is she?!" he asked, sitting on the bookcase.

"Dunno. I found her like that . . . asleep and all . . . and she looked cold . . . so I couldn't just let her freeze . . . " Hatsuharu explained.

"OOOH!" the blonde nodded, suddenly jumping from his seat. "Hey! She's waking up!" he announced, trotting over to the child.

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"Hey! Welcome back!" Momiji's genki voice startled the girl, making her jump a little as she opened her eyes.

"God Momiji! Be a little quieter! You'll scare her!" Hatsuharu snapped in a whisper, crawling over to the child while Hatori backed up and took a seat in his rolling chair.

She whimpered softly, hiding under the teenager's coat once again.

"Hey! Hey! It's okay! We won't hurt you!" the blonde finally sat down, explaining in a gentle voice that they only wanted to help her. "So . . . what's your name?"

She looked away, whimpering again.

"Can you speak?" Haru interrupted, wanting desperately to just wrap his arms around the child.

She nodded slowly in response, gaining enough courage to look at the two boys.

"Hmn." He smiled. "You just don't WANT to yet, do you, little one?"

Her eyes widened slightly at the name 'little one'. It'd been such a long time since anyone had called her that. She squeaked a little when the blonde's hand, interrupted her thoughts, and pat her on the head.

"That's okay. You don't have to if you don't want to." He smiled reassuringly. "But I WOULD like to at least know what to call you . . . "

"A . . . shu . . . ra . . . "

"Hmm? Ashura? Is that your name; Ashura?" The usagi leaned over, resting his palms on his knees. "That's a pretty name! Ashura . . . I like it! I'm Momiji and this is Hatsuharu. He found you. And that scary guy over there," he pointed to Hatori. "He's Hatori, he's also our family doctor. But don't be freaked out by him, he's harmless. Promise!"

The girl couldn't help but giggle at the boy's attitude and view of things. The way he knew exactly that Hatori was creepy: it just seemed funny.

"Hey! I made you laugh! That's a step in the right direction! Now I just need to strike up a conversation with you and we'll be all set! Yay!" he cheered.

Hatsuharu, forgotten in the background like Hatori, blinked dumbly.

"Ohhhhh! I just wanna HUG you!" The blonde announced.

"Momiji NO!" Hatori and Hatsuharu yelped in unison, reaching out to stop him, but not reaching him in time.

"Oh god . . . WHY?!" The teenager fell back onto the floor in defeat, in total disbelief that, once again, Momiji screwed something ELSE up.

"I'm sorry . . . but she's so CUTE! I couldn't help myself!"

"Wait . . . Momiji . . . you didn't . . . " Hatori's mouth dropped open in shock.

"He . . . didn't . . . transform . . . ?" The oushi mumbled, moving closer to the blonde. "You didn't . . . transform . . . but . . . how . . . ?"

"I knew she was special! She's GOT to be related to us!" he laughed, glancing down at the child with her eyes wide in surprise. "Are you a Sohma? Huh? Are you?"

She tilted her head a little to the side, only to shake it 'no'.

"You're not?" The three juunishi half gasped.

"Whoa! Something's wrong with this picture . . . any explanation coming to mind, Doc?" Haru looked up, seeing Hatori's mouth still hanging open slightly. "Hatori. You're starting to drool." He whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Huh? Oh . . . oh . . . OH! I'm up!" he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

This WAS strange . . . supposedly . . . anyone outside of the family couldn't come in contact with any of the juunishi without them transforming . . . but this girl clearly wasn't living up to that statistic.

Ashura looked away from all of their gazes, staring blankly at the floor underneath her.

"Hey! Don't feel sad! It's okay! This means I can hug you all I want! Yay!" He jumped toward her again, but was pulled back just in time by the white- haired teenager.

"Quit hugging her bunny-boy. There'll be plenty of time for that later. Right now, just let her relax, OKAY?!"

"Oh . . . you're no fun . . . " the usagi sighed, sitting down quietly.

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