Chapter Four: Ayame ----------

For months I've been trying to get closer to the younger brother I had once shunned. The realizations of my past mistakes hadn't set in until long after a huge rift had formed between us; it wasn't until the damage seemed irreparable that I finally realized the terrible mistake I had made as a teenager.

As an adult, I had taken on a new sense of responsibility and felt the need to be the big brother to dear Yuki. Unfortunately, I hadn't the slightest idea how to accomplish my goal of forging a bond with him…

…until she came along, that is.

It was one Tohru Honda that explained to me how I must go about making my efforts in order to have hopes of those efforts being returned. I began to spend more and more time at Shigure's house, allowing more and more about myself to be revealed to my little brother. I believed it shocked Yuki to find that he and I so much in common…

But if my little brother is hesitant to take the time to understand me, I still care about him immensely. I feel as though I must make up for lost time, and scramble to meet all of the responsibilities of being an elder sibling while attempting to convey to him that my intentions come from the heart.

So naturally I became infinitely concerned when I heard that Yuki had left Shigure's home to take residence in the main house.

I had been diligently working on the latest request from one of my most frequent and valuable customers when I got the call.

"Ayame!" Minei, my lovely assistant, called from the front desk. "You have a telephone call!"

I had been annoyed with having my concentration broken; the piece that I had been working on was a rather complex one. "Take a message!" I replied, sewing needle held tightly between my teeth as I attempted to work a knot out from the thread.

"It's Tohru. She says it's important. She says it's about your brother," she soon informed me.

Before I realized what I was doing, the dress I had been so focused on was tossed carelessly to the floor as I nearly ran to the front desk. "Yes, Tohru?" I asked, taking the phone from Minei.

Tohru had been quick to apologize. "Ayame, I'm so sorry to disturb you at work. I'm sure you were really busy on a new outfit and—"

"Tohru," I said, gently cutting her off. "Don't worry about disturbing me. Even though I was engrossed in an important undertaking, I know you wouldn't call unless it was something serious. What's the matter?"

"Well, I, um…it's Yuki…" She seemed to hesitate. Perhaps she felt it wasn't her place to tell me?

"Go on…"

Tohru's voice was suddenly dripping with worry, and she sounded as if she were on the brink of tears. "He…he moved out. He's not living with us here in Shigure's house anymore."

"…where is he?" I took a moment to swallow. "Where did he go?"

"Kyo had said he moved to the main house. Shigure seemed a bit worried at the news," Tohru said. "Oh, Ayame, I'm so sorry! I don't know if I should have told you! Maybe you should speak to Shigure about it. He probably knows a lot more than I do about it and—"

I had felt as if I had been delivered a strong blow to the gut. My breath hitched as past conversations with Hatori and Shigure flooded my mind, past conversations of the horrors my brother had suffered in the main house. Of course, the incidents had never been proven, my brother having kept to himself during those times, but the sadness and the fear in his eyes…even though I hadn't been around much when he was growing up, it was enough for even me to notice back then.

"It's perfectly fine, Tohru," I said softly, keeping my voice a lot steadier than my nerves were. "I'll speak with Shigure. Thank you for telling me about this. I appreciate it."

"Oh, it was no trouble. I'm just…I'm just so worried! Everyone's so gloomy about it! I'm afraid something horrible is going to happen to him!" Her sobs wretched at my heart…for I nearly wished to shed tears myself.

I forced myself to smile, my usual laughter escaping my throat, even if it sounded a bit strained. "Worry not, my dear Tohru! Shigure, Hare and I will attend to this. We won't let anything bad happen to dear Yuki. You have my word on that!"

"Alright…thank you, Ayame. I'm sorry for bothering you…" She said with a sigh.

"As I said, it was no bother. You have nothing to worry about. Try to calm down, perhaps have a cup of tea," I assured her.

"I think I will."

"Take care, Tohru. Thank you for telling me this."

Once I hung up the phone with Tohru, an uncharacteristic scowl had crossed my face as I dialed Shigure' house. I didn't understand how Shigure and Hare could allow something as asinine as this to occur! We all knew of what Yuki had suffered in the main house; it was the reason he had moved out in the first place!

Shigure's voice was heard on the other end of the line after the phone had rung three or four times. "Hello?"

"Shigure! What is going on with Yuki?! Why did you let my brother leave?"

Refusing to discuss it over the phone, Shigure invited me over for tea the next day. I showed up first thing.

He was surprisingly calm, nearly as calm as Hare would have been, and it had troubled me to a great extent. I was just completely unable to fathom why this was allowed to happen. It angered me that those who were close to my baby brother would let him make such a self-destructive decision.

"How could you allow this to happen, Shigure?!" I raved. "Did you even try to stop him?! What does Hare have to say about all of this?! How can you be so calm?! You know as well as I do what is bound to happen!! We have to get him out of there as soon as possible!!"

"Aya…listen to me, alright? Just…hear me out before you wake the dead," Shigure pleaded. He then took a deep breath once I had quieted down. "This decision was made by Yuki and Yuki alone. He's been pulling farther and farther away from us for a while now, and he refuses to tell us what's bothering him. I did attempt to talk him out of moving, but he insisted it was the only way to resolve matters.

"As far as whatever danger he may or may not be putting himself in…well, Yuki's older now, and I doubt he'd let history repeat itself. Perhaps he just needs a break from everyone. This house has been rather active as of late, and he has always been a very conservative child. Whatever his reasons are, I don't believe we have anything to worry about concerning his safety until he either comes to us, or we see evidence of it."

His voice was level, nearly monotone, and his eyes deadly serious. He was so utterly unlike himself, the complete opposite of the Shigure we've all come to see every day. And as much as I didn't want to believe it, he had a point.

"I don't think we should give history the chance to repeat itself. Am I the only one looking out for my little brother?!" I snapped, frustrated with both Shigure and the situation at hand.

"Aya, please, for me," he sighed. "Let's sit back and watch. Yuki was always Akito's favorite, and you know what would happen should we interfere with the return of his favorite cousin. There's no need to start a family civil war if nothing has happened yet."

I had never thought I'd see the day when I actually loathed one of my best friends. But after what Shigure had said to me, if someone asked, I could have easily said I hated him.