It's a Secret

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By: Ryoko

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Track 00:03:00

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"My, my. What is this? A traveling caravan of children has found their way to my doorstep!" Shigure sounded surprised, although he clearly wasn't.

"Is Yuki around? I need to talk to him, maybe the other two as well." Hatsuharu looked up from the tiny girl grasping his hand.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I think he's in his room. Want me to go get em?"

"If it wouldn't be a bother."

"Be right back then." He smiled, his usual carefree smile, and trotted off. The juunishi took a seat on the porch, removing his shoes and staring up at the sky.

"We got lucky, little one. I thought it was gonna rain today. Glad it didn't though." He sighed. Ashura looked blankly at the ground, unsure of what to do.

She was in a strange place, with strange people with strange ways. This wasn't the problem though; the problem was that felt out of place.

"Hey. If you're sad, don't be. C'mere." He smiled, helping the girl onto the porch. She sat down and wrapped her tiny arms tightly around his arm. "Possessive, aren't you?" he chuckled.

"I'm baaaaaaaaack!" Shigure sang, stopping in back of the two under the overhang. "So . . . who is this?" he tilted his head to one side, smiling as he always did.

Hatsuharu suddenly gained a more gentle tone of voice.

"Her name's Ashura. I found her yesterday."

"Found?" Yuki's voice interrupted.

"Uh huh. Poor thing was sleeping in the street. I though it'd be best to bring her home with me."

"Haru-kun. You really shouldn't have . . . "

"I know . . . but I couldn't just leave her there . . . I'd die if I let that happen." He took a quick look at the child.

"So . . . you're name's Ashura huh? That's a prefect name for you! I'm Shigure." The oldest Juunishi leaned over and pat the girl on her head softly. "You need anything . . . anything at all . . . you let me know, okay sweetie?"

She nodded, not seeming too hesitant around him.

"Alright. Why'd you wake me up this-" Kyou paused abruptly, Tohru bumping into him, before her brakes turned on. "Haru . . . ? What are . . . ? Wait . . . no . . . I already figured that one out I think . . . no . . . who's the girl?"

"Just sit down and I'll explain to all of you at once." He sighed, crawling to the table and pulling the silver-haired girl with him. "Okay. Before I start, Ashura, this is Kyou, Yuki, Shigure and Tohru." He pointed to each of them as he called them off. "Everyone, this is Ashura. Now, before I get down to why we're here, I think I'd better start from the beginning. Okay. Yesterday afternoon, for some reason I felt really ticked, and almost like I'd go black any second . . . so I decided to walk it off . . . Yes, in the storm. When I get into town, I walked in the street rather than the crowded sidewalk. And, before I knew what happened, I tripped over something. That 'something' was Ashura. She was asleep, or passed out, in the street where she easily could've been hit. So, being the kinda person I am, I brought her to Hatori as fast as I could. So . . . until we, meaning Momiji, Hatori and myself, can find her parents, Hatori thought it'd be best if she stayed here with you four."

"More babysitting? Count me out!" Kyou announced.

"I wouldn't mind at all." Yuki clasped his hand over the neko's mouth to silence him.

"Me neither." Tohru smiled at her, half wondering how long she could live with another Sohma Kisa."

"It's wouldn't be too bad, I guess. It'll be like Kisa is back with us again. I wouldn't mind either. She can stay as long as she likes." Shigure offered.

"It's just until we find her parents though . . . that might- what's wrong little one?" his sentence was cut off when the child tightened her grip on his arm. She hid her face and began trembling for some unknown reason. Alarmed, he stopped talking and turned full attention to the Ashura. "What is it? Ashura? What's wrong?" He bent over to see her face, but couldn't get down that far without falling. "Is it something I said? Your parents?"

Her eyes grew full of fear when he said that last word, signaling him to stop.

"You don't WANT us to find them . . . do you?"

She shook her head violently, silently pleading for him not to.

"Ashura . . . it's okay then. It's okay little one." He whispered, taking her into his arms.

"Should we expect her to stay longer?" Yuki interrupted, once again, softly.

"I guess so. If she doesn't want to see them, there's gotta be a good reason. I'm not gonna force her."

"That's a good idea . . . but still . . . you could get arrested for something like that . . . I believe people today refer to it as 'Kidnapping'." Shigure sighed.

"I don't care. I promised this little one I'd keep her safe. And I will."

***

"I'm going to go now, Ashura. But I'll be back tomorrow morning. Okay?" Hatsuharu whispered, freeing his arm of her grip and standing up. As he walked toward the doorway, he felt something pull against his wrist. Ashura was clinging to him like a lifeline.

"Don't . . . go!" she whimpered.

"You poor little angel. It's okay. You'll be safe here. And it'll be morning before you know it."

"Don't go!" She cried again.

"She's trying to tell you something, Haru-Kun." Yuki acknowledged softly.

"Hmm . . . Shigure?"

"Sure. I've got a spare room upstairs. Or you two could stay down here?" he answered without even being asked.

"Thanks." He sighed, picking up Ashura by her waist and holding her in his arms.

"I'll get lunch started." Tohru suggested, standing and trotting briskly out of the room. Kyou dove for dibs on the roof and Shigure went back to work annoying his editor, as he'd previously been dong before the two had come over.

Yuki shut the paper door behind the last person out, so the three of them had privacy.

"What happened? Don't you like your parents?" Yuki looked over at Ashura, who was bowing her head submissively. Slowly, she shook it 'no'.

"Did they do something to you?"

Reluctantly, the child nodded slowly.

***

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