Chapter 3

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Eiri's eyes flickered slightly every time a raindrop fell on his bedroom window.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Boom.

He finally sat up, thanking the storm and whatever deity had sent it. It had saved him from a nightmare that he couldn't quite escape, but couldn't remember now. He tossed his legs over the side of his bed, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. His too long blonde hair fell past his cheeks, covering his face from his chin up.

Flash. Boom. Thump. Thump. Creak.

Creak? Eiri lifted his head in confusion, but then understood when his eyes fell on his now partially opened door.

"Daddy?" came a shaky, questioning voice.

"Come on Aiden," said Eiri, patting the spot on the bed next to him.

Aiden scurried into the room like a puppy promised a bone. He jumped up onto the bed and curled neatly into his father's side. Eiri, his paternal instincts kicking in, wrapped an arm around his son.

"The storm can't hurt you," he assured.

Aiden considered this for a moment. "But that doesn't make it any less scary. It's like the boogey monster, I know he's not real, but I still have you check underneath my bed before I go to sleep every night. Someday I'll grow up and not be scared of anything, like you daddy."

Eiri shivered slightly. Yuki Kitazawa's face flashed in his mind. Now he remembered the nightmare. Not scared, huh?

He pulled Aiden closer to him. "There's no shame in being afraid," he said, though he wasn't sure if he himself truly agreed.

"Really?" questioned Aiden.

"Really," Eiri lied. "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to overcome it."

Aiden smiled, satisfied with this answer.

Boom.

He flinched. "Hey dad, can I overcome my fears of the storm tomorrow and sleep with you tonight?"

Eiri raised an eyebrow. "It's not supposed to storm tomorrow."

"Exactly," replied Aiden with a smile.

Eiri returned the smile and placed Aiden underneath the covers of his bed and curled up next to him. The boy fell asleep. Eiri didn't.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Please mommy, PLEASE?" Takara whined as she yanked on Mika's jacket sleeve. "Please, please!"

"No!" Replied Mika for the 50th time, this time a little more forceful. "You cannot go to school with Aiden, he goes to an all boys school, and you're two years older then him! If you ask me again I'm going to leave you here with Uncle Eiri!"

Takara shut her mouth quickly.

Eiri rolled his eyes as he zipped up Aiden's coat and helped the boy into the straps of his backpack. "I always said that you should never have become a mother Mika."

Mika glared at her brother, placing a hand on her trim waist that many mothers would kill for. "You're one to talk. I don't even get a thank you for coming to take Aiden to school!"

"That's because I didn't ask you," replied Eiri. "You just showed up."

"Excuse me for wanting to do something nice."

"You're excused, just don't let it happen again."

She huffed as she grabbed Aiden and Takara's hands and nudged them out the door. "Just so you know Eiri, I will be coming back in a couple of hours to have lunch with you, as your thank you to me for being such a kind, loving sister." She slammed the door shut behind her.

Eiri smirked at the spot where she had been. "I just won't be here in a couple of hours then."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aiden tried to focus on his shodo(1), he really did, but he just didn't see the point. He would never use it, not really. His dad was a famous novelist, and he never used it.

The young child dipped his brush in and out of the ink bottle absentmindedly. Boring boring boring.

Shuichi sighed when he walked up behind Aiden and viewed his blank paper. "Having trouble, Uesugi-san?"

"No," replied Aiden without even glancing up. "Arigatou nanishiro."

Shuichi stared at the boy's blonde head, slightly taken aback. Where does all this arrogance come from? He wondered in bemusement. "Then why is your paper blank?"

"Because I've chosen to not yet write anything," replied Aiden nonchalantly.

Shuichi knew that he should punish him, or at least scold him, but he just couldn't bring himself to. There was just something so…. Intriguing about this young boy.

"Does your father know that you often refuse to do schoolwork?" Shuichi asked, attempting to sound stern, but fearing that he failed.

"I'm not refusing to do anything, Shindou-sensei," replied Aiden. "I simply have not done it. Yet. That doesn't mean that I won't."

"Well why haven't you done it yet?"

"Because I haven't."

"You avoided my question earlier."

"Which was?"

"Does your father know how you act in school?"

"I don't know," said Aiden, looking at Shuichi coolly for the first time. "Why don't you call him and find out?"

It was a challenge, Shuichi knew it was, and he also knew that he shouldn't allow the boy's smartass remarks anymore then his blatant disregard of his schoolwork, but still… the kid was just so interesting.

"Maybe I will," he replied, straightening himself.

"Maybe you should," answered Aiden, once again turning his head to his inkbottle.

Shuichi turned around and went to inspect the other students' progress, but he continued to watch Aiden with interest out of the corner of his eye.

When the bell rang Aiden turned his assignment in with everyone else.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eiri unlocked the front door and shut it quickly. He had gone to the park with his laptop and written there all day in an attempt to avoid Mika, and so far it had worked, but she'll be bringing Aiden home from school in a little while and he should at least be home for that. He glanced at his watch. Any minute now…

He was so enthralled in his thoughts that he actually jumped when the phone rang. Eiri Uesugi does not jump, especially not at the phone. Slightly annoyed he snatched it up.

"Hello?" He demanded.

There was a pause, then a slightly confused sounding male voice responded with, "Uesugi-sama?"

"Yes," replied Eiri, still harsh.

"This is Shindou Shuichi, your son's teacher," the voice said cautiously.

Eiri tried to push politeness and patience into his tone, but it just came out strained. "Is there a problem?"

"A slight one, yes," replied Shuichi. "I just have some questions. Your son is rather… difficult."

Eiri smirked. He heard this same thing from Aiden's daycare teacher last year and the year before that. "And?" Asked Eiri.

"And I was kind of wondering why."

Well that's new, thought Eiri, a little surprised. All the other teachers pretty much asked him to "fix it," then hung up.

"Why is anyone like anything?" said Eiri, smirking at the confused expression that was probably on the obvious spacey teacher's face right now.

"Huh?" replied Shuichi. Eiri would have chuckled. That is, if Eiri Uesugi chuckled. Which he didn't, just like he didn't jump.

"The kid's cocky," clarified Eiri. "He'll grow out of it. Bye." With that he hung up just as the front door opened and Aiden, Takara, and Mika entered the apartment.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shuichi started at his now beeping phone like it had bit him.

That, arrogant son of a… Shuichi shoved the phone into it's cradle fuming. Well, at least now I know why Aiden's so goddamn egotistical. Like father, like son. Well, I'll show him. I can be just as irritating.

With a quick look at his student register Shindou Shuichi pulled on his coat and was out the door.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm just saying avoiding your only sister is rude!" snapped Mika. "I just wanted to talk."

"No you didn't," said Eiri, taking a huff of his cigarette. "You just wanted to fight."

Mika was about to say more, but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. "Are you expecting someone?"

"No," replied Eiri just as Aiden was yelling, "I'll get it!"

Eiri took another breath of his cigarette, but choked on the smoke when he heard Aiden's exclamation.

"Shindou-sensei!"

Mika stared at the doorway incredulous. "Isn't that your son's teacher?"

"Yes," replied Eiri, rubbing his temples and getting to his feet.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Aiden in a happy tone. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter, wanna see my room?" He grabbed his sensei by the hand and dragged him into the house.

"Wait a second!" Eiri demanded of their retreating backs.

"I get him first!" said Aiden. "Then you can talk to him."

Eiri stared as Aiden dragged Shuichi throughout the apartment, showing him everything.

What the hell is up with this guy…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Shodo involves dipping a brush in ink and using it to write kanji (characters that are used in several East Asian countries and have their own meanings) and kana (phonetic characters derived from kanji) in an artistic style. It's often taught to elementary school children.

Arigatou nanishiro – Thank you anyway.

A/N: Hey, BloodyDeadRose here, what's up guys? I hope you enjoyed the new chapters. Oh and just so you guys know I have no idea if they use daycares in Japan, and I couldn't find anything about it so we're just going to pretend like they do, K?

A/N: Let me know what you think of Aiden, Eiri4ever and I love him, but we're kind of dorks so you know ;p. And in case you don't understand why Aiden seems like he has two different personalities its just that he puts on a kind of mask when he's at school, but he opens up more at home.

A/N: I don't speak Japanese fluently, I'm still learning, so let me know if I've made a mistake with it somewhere or anything.

A/N: Sorry there wasn't much heroin reference in here, I didn't find a place for it. We'll probably get back on that with the next chappie. Also, if you have any suggestions let me know in the review or e-mail Eiri4ever or me. Thanks for reading, please review!