First of all, yes, there IS a reason Kouji switched from Nii-san to Nii-chan when talking to Kouichi. From what I've figured out, -chan is very affectionate, at least when using it about a teenage boy. You wouldn't just use it with just any peer you knew. And from the vibes I get in the show, the Minamoto/Kimura twins have a very sweet, very close, very loving bond, as is reflected in my fics. But I don't think either of them, especially Kouji, wants to broadcast that, so he doesn't use the affectionate nickname in public. If you noticed, he only used the -chan ending when they were alone. So he uses -san around the others, and -chan when its just the two of them.

Also, both Onii-san (nii-san) and Aniki mean 'Older Brother'. However, Nii-san is how you address your own sibling, while Aniki is used when talking about the person in question. "Aniki desu?" basically means, "Is that your older brother?" And when Kouji calls Kouichi "Nii-san" or "Nii-chan", he's just using a sweet nickname. It's the same in this chapter, when Kouichi calls him "'Touto-chan." or Younger Brother. Complicated, yes, but it suits them both.

Note: This is not just some random thing for chapter's sake, all of these animals will play some sort of part in the story to come! I swear, I've planned this all out, so they will make a difference!

Disclaimer: Don't own either one, don't sue either way.

Chapter 6: Pets

Tom woke the transfers up about seven in the morning, rapping his sharp knuckles on the doors to jar them from sleep. None of them were really willing to be up, except for Kenkyo, who made this kind of travel on a regular basis.

The warm breakfast provided downstairs woke them up quite a bit, even if they weren't used to the bacon, fried eggs and 'pancakes' that were served. Junpei sat back after his third helping of pancakes and rubbing his stomach.

"Ooh…that was good."

"Junpei, you are such a pig!" Izumi chastised, pushing a half-eaten plate of eggs away. "I'm already full…"

Kouji wiped his fingers on a napkin, the pulled his bandana out of his pocket and tied it back around his head. Kouichi, Tomoki and Takuya finished theirs as well, in the next few minutes.

Takuya leaned back in his chair, looking at their teacher. "So, Kenkyo-sensei… what're we doing today? We don't have any more school things to get, so…"

Kenkyo chuckled, producing several small, different-colored leather bags from the sleeves of her robe. "This would be your spending money for the rest of the semester." she said brightly. "Make it last, we'll send more along at Christmastime."

She passed the bags out to their respective owners. They were all rather impressed with the amount of money they were allowed for four months, there was at least twenty-five galleons in here…Somewhere around ninety pounds, a hundred US dollars, about ten thousand Yen.

Kouichi felt the contents through the bag's cloth, then looked up at Kenkyo. "Sensei, where did this all come from?" He was pretty sure his mother didn't provide this…it was about the equivalent of the rent on their apartment.

"It's a gift…from the Shibuya shrine." Kenkyo smiled. "Everyone's excited about this transfer program, and we wanted to make the most of it. But your parents did throw in a little for a going-away present. How does a nice pet sound?"

Next thing they knew, they were scatted around the Magical Menagerie pet store, examining the various things that caught their eye.

Kenkyo was showing Izumi a big terrarium of Puffskins, large, friendly, peach-colored furballs which were blowing air up into the women's faces. Tomoki seamed to be enjoying himself, playing around with a litter of Crups, small creatures that looked rather like terriers, but with forked tails. They were climbing all over him and nipping playfully at his ears. Kouji was examining what looked like a large turtle with a jewel-incrusted shell, until it turned around and spat fire at the glass he was looking through. And Takuya hadn't wasted any time find what he was after.

"Why did you get a frog?" Izumi asked, looking at the squat, green thing in his hands. It was a bright forest green with large blue eyes, set in a big, round face that looked to be smiling. It was large enough that Takuya held it in two hands.

"Hey, I like frogs!" Takuya said. "Besides, he reminded me of Ranamon, in a way…"

"I wish I could get one." Tomoki mentioned from his spot with the Crup puppies. "But mom hates slimy stuff like frogs and lizards…and dad won't allow birds in the house, and my brother's allergic to anything with fur…"

"That's okay, Tomoki." Takuya grinned. "You can take care of Janpu with me."

"Janpu?" The frog looked up at Izumi and gave a happy croak. The girl gave it a weird look and shrugged. "Whatever. It's your frog."

She disappeared back into the store, and Takuya and Tommy exited to wait outside of all the squawking. Junpei was already there, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Junpei." Takuya called. "Not getting a pet?"

"Nah." the older teen rolled his eyes. "I'm not an animal sort of guy. I could never have something crawling all over me for attention…"

"…And food." Takuya added, and Junpei shot him a look.

The door opened again. Kenkyo exited, looking quite content with her excursion, and Izumi was right behind her, carrying a large cage with a tawny brown owl inside.

"Isn't she just gorgeous?" the blonde girl smiled. "I'm gonna call her Tobu!"

"Nice." Takuya agreed, looking in at the new owl. "She can make it back home, right?"

"With a day's rest between each journey, sure she can." Izumi produced small, brown pallets of Owl Treats and fed them to her owl inside, who snapped them up and gave a hoot of glee.

Back inside, Kouji was finishing up his purchase…A large, majestic-looking gray owl, its black eyes blinking around lazily.

"So whattya gonna call that thing, 'Touto-chan?" Kouichi asked. He was examining a large raven perched in the corner, stroking its feathers.

"I was thinking…Yurei." the younger brother said, paying the woman for the pet, the cage, and the food. "What do you think, huh?"

He spoke to the owl when he said that. The bird ruffled its feathers and gave a slight hoot, nipping his finger in a way that could have been affection, then turned its head and blinked up at him contently.

"Fine, then. Yurei it is." Kouji looked back up at his brother. "What about you? Are you gonna get anything?"

"I don't know." Kouichi was still petting the raven, examining his wings gently. "This guy reminds me of Hakaishi-san's. He used to let me take care of them, when they weren't out-"

He was cut off in mid-sentence as something large and black leapt over the top of the counter. It landed with the grace of a decent-sized hunter, smack in the middle of Kouichi's chest, and knocked the boy to the ground.

Kouichi looked up to find himself staring into two large, bright green eyes. A bit of focus, and he realized that there was a very large black cat sitting on his chest, staring down at him…and purring, as though it'd finally found something it liked.

"Kouichi, are you okay?" Kouji's worried voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Y-Yeah…I'm fine." Kouichi sat up. The cat promptly re-located itself to his lap, curling up and purring contently.

The witch from the counter came by to survey the damage, and smiled. "Well, isn't that something? That cat's been in here almost a year, and you're the first she's taken a liking to."

Kouichi gathered the cat up so he could stand, intending to put her back down on the counter. But the cat sensed that and had other ideas, tangling her claws into the fabric of his clothes and, accidentally-on-purpose, his skin.

"I don't think she'll let you go." the witch smiled as the boy grimaced. "I believe that particular cat is part Kneazle. They're quite useful, you know, and very protective, at least of the ones they like."

Kouichi looked rather blankly at the purring creature attached to his shirt. The cat looked up at him with large, blinking green eyes and meowed innocently. He sighed. "How much?"

Five minutes later, the twins came out of the shop, Kouji with his owl and Kouichi still cradling the large, purring mass of black fur.

"Kouichi-kun, you got a cat?" Izumi remarked. She ran her fingers down between the kitty's ears, who purred in response and butted against her hand. "Funny, I never pinned you as a cat person."

"She…kinda chose me." Kouichi shrugged. The cat licked his hand and settled back in with a content purr.

"So? Whattya gonna call her?" Takuya asked. He was brushing his fingers along Yurei's wing appraisingly, until the bird got annoyed and snapped at his nose. "Your cat, I mean. She can't go around without a name."

Kouichi was quiet, looking down at the animal in his arms. "…Yugure." he finally decided, after about five minutes.

"Good name." Kenkyo agreed, smiling. "You're all free for the rest of the day, go explore a bit. Just be back at the Leaky Cauldron by about 7 for dinner, don't spend all your money, and stay away from Knockturn Alley."

The cab ride to London went well enough, all things considered. It was at least partially sunny this time around, and those with owls decided to send them off with messages and tell them to return post to the Leaky Cauldron. Crookshanks, though rather disgruntled about not getting to take along a Gnome as a souvenir, was bundled into his basket and carried like any normal cat. To the cab drivers, they merely looked like a rather large family going for some start-of-term shopping and staying in London until school began.

They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron some time around 3 in the afternoon. It was crowded, as usual, though not as much as it would probably be later. Mrs. Weasley lead the path through to the desk.

"Hello, Tom." she said brightly.

"Ah, Mrs. Weasley." The toothless old man check his register. "Got your reservations, right here…It may be just a bit more crowded than usual. We've got a large group up there this week."

"Ours is smaller than usual anyway…We should be able to fit." Mrs. Weasly nodded. Tom took a couple off keys off his rack and started up the stairs, motioning for them to follow.

"Your boys who've set up shop in the Alley? They're a real lot to have around." he chuckled. "Come in here sometimes just to buy a round of Butterbeers for the whole house. Then they charm half of 'em so that their drinkers turn purple…great for a laugh, those two."

Harry cracked a smile, and to his surprise, so did Mrs. Weasly. "Yes…They have been doing quite well, haven't they?"

Tom pointed out a few rooms and handed out the keys. Mrs. Weasly gave one room to Harry and Ron, and disappeared into the other with the girls.

Ron shoved his trunk under the second bed and plopped down with a sigh. "It'll be good to be back at school again." he sighed, stretching. "Since Fred and George left home, life's been boring."

Harry pushed his trunk into place and sat down as well, stretching his limbs after the long car ride. "Who do you think the group is that Tom mention?"

"Who knows?" Ron lay back and stretched from his fingers down to his toes. "My guess is that they're foreigners…The kitchen smelled awfully spicy as we went past."

Harry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, sitting back up. He checked his watching momentarily, then stood. "We still have some time before dinner. Want to grab Hermione and look around a bit?"

Ron shrugged, setting up as well. "Sounds good to me." he yawned a bit. "Let's get going."

TBC…

Janpu = Jump

Tobu = Fly

Yurei = Ghost

Yugure = Nightfall

Kneazle- According to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Kneazle is a small, cat-like creature that is very intelligent, cunning, independent, occasionally aggressive, and has the uncanny ability to detect unsavory or suspicious characters. They are known to interbreed with cats. In fact, according to , Hermione's cat Crookshanks is part Kneazle, though his heritage isn't know, like Yugure's.

The Galleon figures I got from the back of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.