A/N: Still no reviews, huh? That's a little depressing… Ah well. Here's chapter five (listed as six, because the prologue counts as a chapter, too). Enjoy!

Later that night, Brad was still in Ran's room, keeping watch over the redhead. Schuldich had fallen asleep not long after Ran did, and the others were still downstairs talking. Brad looked between the two redheads before opening his mouth.

"Ran? You and Schuldich – hopefully – can't hear me, so I'm going to get some things off my chest. I still have a crush on you, Ran, but I want you to know that I won't do anything while you're with Ken. By the way, congratulations. I had a vision earlier today of the two of you getting married. I hope that works out for you. I had a few other visions, too. Schuldich and I were together, as were Yohji and Farfarello. I didn't see anything concerning the chibis, but we already know that they like each other. And I think Crashers is going to stay a very big part of your life even after this whole de-aging thing wears off.

"I'm beginning to think I'm falling for Schuldich anyway. It's not just because of the vision; I was starting to feel something awhile ago. I know you won't feel bad that I'm getting over you, but I still just can't bear to say anything when someone might actually hear me." Brad stopped, feeling a vision coming on. When it was over, he grimaced. "I had better get downstairs now. If I don't, Yuushi and Yohji are going to have a contest to see who can chug the most hot coffee the fastest. I'm really not in the mood for a trip to the hospital." Brad then stood up and headed for the door. At the last minute he turned back and picked Schuldich up. He carried the redheaded telepath across the hall and into his own room before closing both doors gently and heading downstairs. Luckily he made it before the boiling hot liquid the two Kritiker agents were chugging was spewed all over Reiichi's face.

After a few more hours of discussion, the rest of the agents decided to call it a night and they all headed to their rooms.

The next morning brought more than a few changes and surprises. The first surprise was hearing Ken scream bloody murder at four in the morning. The others rushed to the room he was sharing with Ran, and saw the soccer-playing brunette staring wide-eyed at a lump on the mattress on Ran's side of the bed. The lump was curled into a little ball and crying loudly.

Farfarello approached the bed cautiously and pulled back the covers. There, curled up in a ball and wearing a shirt at least five sizes too big, was a redheaded child. When the covers were taken away, the child raised wide purple eyes up to stare into Farfarello's yellow ones. The two continued to stare for a few minutes before the child sniffled and looked around the room. What he saw obviously wasn't comforting, because he began to cry again.

"Ran?" Schuldich asked, cautiously. The child looked over at him, curiosity replacing fear, at least for a moment.

"Who are you?" Ran asked timidly. At receiving blank looks from all of them, he decided to try again. "Where are Kaasan and Kouga?"

"Um... Ran? Do you have any idea how old you are?"

"I asked you first."

"Yeah, but I'm older. My question's bigger than yours." The child thought over Schuldich's response for a few minutes before nodding and smiling.

"I'm ten. Where are they?"

"They're… on vacation. We're going to take care of you for awhile."

"Oh… who's taking care of Aya?"

"Different friends."

"Why haven't I ever seen you before?"

"You have; you just don't remember it."

"Kaasan says I have a good memory. Who are you?"

"How many questions are you going to ask?"

"I asked first!"

"I'm still older."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four." Ran smirked at his victory while Schuldich smacked his head in annoyance. It had been a long time since he had had to go against a ten-year-old's logic. It didn't help that the ten-year-old was smart. "Fine, we're friends of yours. You got in an accident a few days ago, so now you don't remember us."

"You aren't very good at taking care of people, are you?"

"What makes you say that? I think we've done pretty good so far."

"If I was in an accident, then you weren't taking care of me."

"You're infuriating!"

"What's infur… what's that mean?"

"It means annoying."

"What's that mean?"

"It means you're getting on my nerves!"

Ran giggled at how easy it was to get to the older redhead. "Why?"

Schuldich threw his hands in the air and headed out the door. "Why don't you deal with him, Ken? You're good with kids." Ken stared back and forth at the two siblings before bursting into laughter. Ran moved so that he was sitting with his feet out in front of him. When he noticed what he was wearing, he looked up at Ken.

"Um… Ken-san?" He asked. Ken's eyes widened for a second before softening as he turned to face his – now ten-year-old – fiancé.

"Yes?"

"Um… can I change clothes?"

"Sure! I don't see why not! …Why?"

"This is too big. Why am I wearing a dress?" All of the 'adults' in the room looked to see what Ran was talking about. The T-shirt may have been a perfect fit for his as a twenty-year-old, and still wearable at eighteen, but it came down to the ten-year-old's knees. Ran had gone from 5'10" to about 4'1" literally overnight. Omi and Nagi exchanged a look before running out of the room.

They returned a few minutes later carrying boxes of clothes. Omi pulled out a shirt and held it against the air to judge its size. "Your mom didn't leave us with any of your clothes, but you might be able to fit into some of mine and Nagi's old things."

"Arigatou!" Ran chirped. He slid off the bed, grabbed the clothes from Omi and spent the next few minutes looking around the room. Finally, Naru's curiosity got the best of him.

"What are you looking for, Rannie?"

"Which door goes to the bathroom?" Ken pointed the child in the right direction, and sank to his knees when the door closed.

"I guess now we're back to the basics in logic, aren't we?"

"What makes you say that, Ken?"

"Kids have a different kind of logic. Ran's ten now, so we have to deal with his type of thought process now."

"Oh. Hey, Ken. Why'd you wake us up at four in the morning?"

"I wasn't expecting him to get so young so fast! I just got up and there was a little kid where Ran was supposed to be. It just surprised me."

"What were you doing up at four in the morning in the first place?"

"I had to go… Be right back! Ken then ran out the bedroom door and to the nearest bathroom. All eleven people left in the room shook their heads, and in unison, said, "Baka." Then Naru and Reiichi headed downstairs. Omi and Nagi went back to Omi's room, Yohji and Farfarello went back to bed, and Yuushi and Masato decided to see if there was anything good on at that hour.

As soon as the room was mostly cleared, Ran came back in, his head pulled toward his chest, and his fingers struggling with a button. Queen walked over to him and knelt down at his level. The blue-haired woman gently pulled the child's hands away from the shirt. "Let me help, okay?" Ran nodded, already fed up with the buttons on the shirt. At that moment, Schuldich and Ken walked back into the room.

"Hey Ran! Um… what are you doing, Queen?" Ken asked.

"The buttons were being mean, so she's helping to get them closed!" Once the shirt was buttoned, Ran launched himself into Schuldich's arms. Luckily for them both, Schuldich's reflexes were working.

"Are you still mad at me?" Ran asked innocently, staring innocently at his older brother.

"No… what do you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting too innocent."

"You look like Kaasan said Tousan looked like."

"I might tell you the reason for that later."

"Really?"

"Really. Now answer one more question: How can you possibly be so awake so early in the morning?" The child shrugged his tiny shoulders then sniffed at the air. Before Schuldich could even comprehend what was happening, Ran started squirming in his arms.

"Come ON! They're making pancakes!" The child shrieked in delight. He then sniffed again. "BLUEBERRY!"

"Alright, alright! Let's go." Schuldich set his younger brother on his shoulders to give the child a piggyback ride down to the table.

"So he doesn't remember anything about what's happened to him at all?" Hanae asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah," Schuldich said over the phone. "We had to tell him each of our names a few times. He can't get my name right, so I've been dubbed 'Schu'."

"That shouldn't bother you. It is your nickname, after all."

"Yeah, I don't care. Most of us are a Niichan now, too. Ken and Queen are the only ones who aren't. Queen is an Oneechan, and Ken said he'd prefer to be called just 'Ken'. Oh, and would it be okay to tell him about Lanen and Dad?"

"Go ahead. Just make it easier for him to understand. If he's only ten, he probably won't understand certain things."

"Alright. Thanks Hanae."

"Not a problem. Bye Schu."

"Bye."

"So, my tousan and your tousan are the same person?"

"That's right."

"YAY!"

"Um… why?"

"'Cause. Now Kouga can't say my real tousan was a bum!"

"Why not?"

"'Cause my real tousan was just busy with his own kids! Hey, Schu-niichan?"

"Hmm?"

"Does that make you my real Niichan?"

"Yes it does. You also have a real Neechan. She'll be coming over later."

"What's her name?"

"Hanae."

"Is she Kitada or Fujimiya?"

"Kitada. She's older than me."

"How old is she?"

"I'm not allowed to tell. She can still beat me up." Ran laughed at Schu's face as the older man said that. The two then headed back out into the living room. They had been in Ran's room while Schuldich explained the family business. Upon reaching the living room, Ran immediately grabbed the remote control and changed the channel to cartoons.

"HEY! I was watching that!"

Ran wrinkled his nose at Yohji. "What's so interesting about that?"

"It's Baywatch!"

"Boring!"

Everyone laughed at Yohji losing an argument against a ten-year-old. Ran was standing on the back of one of the downstairs couches (there were three) and Yohji was leaning against the TV, switching back to Baywatch every time Ran would use the remote to change the channel to cartoons.

Later that night, most of the agents (Hanae included) were again discussing how to keep Ran safe. The child had charmed his way into each of their hearts – and the hearts of their customers in the shop – throughout that day. They had had to say that Ran was a cousin of Schuldich's that had come to visit for awhile.

They had decided earlier that one of them would take Ran out to the park to play during the discussion. Masato had volunteered to go, and had taken his cell phone just in case anything happened or they needed to get ahold of him. An hour after arriving, Masato was grumbling half-heartedly at Ran, who was swinging happily. The boy had ruined four of Masato's cigarettes within the first ten minutes of arriving at the park.

Just as Masato was contemplating trying another cigarette, Ran bounded over holding a large ball in his arms. "Masato-niichan! The other kids said we could play with this for a while, and their moms said we could too, and could you play with me please?" Masato nodded and stood up with a smile. He had always wanted to know what the Red Rook's smile looked like. After he had returned to his childhood – at least partially – his smile had returned full-force.

Masato kneeled down to be more at Ran's level. He soon realized his mistake as the ball was kicked into his face. "Gomen, Masato-niichan! It doesn't usually go that fast when I kick it!"

"How often do you kick balls around, Rannie?"

"A lot. I play soccer, so I hafta kick the ball." [1]

"You should tell Ken that, he'd love to hear that you play soccer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He coaches little kids around here."

"Wow! Masato-niichan? How far can you kick it?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't want to chase after it if it does end up actually moving."

"I'll get it! Please kick it? I wanna see how far it'll go!"

"Fine." Masato ran up and kicked the ball as hard as he could. He and Ran both watched for a few minutes as it flew through the air. When it landed Ran flashed Masato a grin and took off after it. Masato smiled back and shook his head at the kid. He had no idea where Ran got so much energy.

Before Masato could even sit back down, though, he heard a shriek from the area Ran had run off to. Masato took off after the rejuvenating leader of Weiss. He ran through a line of trees and stopped short. Ran was in the grip of the man from all those years ago. The child's screaming was muffled by the lips pressed over his own. Ran's wide violet eyes were darting all around the area in fear, even as he fought the large arms pinning him to the man's body.

Masato's eyes narrowed, and he charged toward the man. At the last second, the man looked up, threw Ran into the air, and tried to dodge. He managed to avoid the main impact of Masato's charge, but he was still knocked to the ground. The only thing that kept Masato from finishing him off at that moment was the child in his arms. Immediately after attacking the man, Masato had turned and grabbed Ran right before the child hit the ground.

Ran was sobbing loudly and clinging tightly to Masato's shirt. Masato rubbed small circles on his back while glaring daggers at the man on the ground. Ran mumbled something, and while Masato's attention was focused elsewhere, the man slipped away, even more determined to get Ran.

A/N: That's all for now. Actually, that's all until I get a few reviews. Hope you enjoyed! Please review!

[1] – Yeah, just another thought that I thought sounded cute.