Hello readers! Sorry about the delay in the update, I was going to do it Thursday like I said, but I had some…let's say issues, and wasn't really allowed on the computer…but now I am, yah!

I was so happy to see all the reviews waiting for me! It was so exciting!

Thanks to:

Shuichi Shindou-Usegi: hehe your questions will all be answered in due time…and I know what you mean about Tai! I didn't really want to kill him off, but someone needed to go…

DeMoN4EvA: lol here's your update, thanks for reviewing again!

Kemet: I reviewed as soon as possible don't hurt me! Haha Yuki's suffering has only begun..muahaha

Rujutoshi: ORginally, I was going to have Yuki see Shu on tv…but then I realized that it would be a short, pointless fic, so I changed it…lol I hope you like my new character

Tiassale: lol lemon soon, hopefully!

GoTrinba: haha two reviews! Wow, lol thanks so much! I'm glad you like it.

Animelover231: thanks for telling me, it's a relief! Here's your weekly update

magdareihainteria.pl: I can't reveal my secrets! You must read on to find out :D

girlo: ok, I"ll keep it to myself! Thanks for reviewing!

Xazenru: You figured it out! (looks around suspiciously) Who told you!

Japanese

English

Chapter Four

Dear diary,

It seems weird doing this, talking to myself, or someone who isn't even there. But a lot of weird things happened lately. I guess I better explain everything, assuming you don't already know.( I don't know how this diary thing works) I woke up a week ago from a coma. Well, that's what they told me. They also said I was in a plane crash, and I'm lucky to be alive, but I don't remember any of it. In fact, I don't even remember who I am. Sure, I know my name, but I don't know anything else. I don't know how I think, how I act, how I talk, anything. I don't remember who my friends are, who my parents were, school, favourite music, my house, street name, phone number, anything. All I know is that my name is Tai, my parents are dead, and I have to go live in an orphanage until I'm 18. The doctor said that keeping a diary might be a good way to record my feelings, and it might spark a memory. But I still feel weird doing this, so I doubt I ever did it before.

I hate it here in America. They told me that I was born in Japan. I wish I knew what it looked like there…

No one understands me…in the most literal way. It's not that often you find a New Yorker fluent in English and Japanese, well, I guess I wouldn't know, seeing as I've never left this hospital, but if there are any, they don't come visit me.

But why would anyone visit me? I have no living relatives, no friends here (if I even had any in Japan).

I should stop feeling sorry for myself. It's not really getting me anywhere, so I might as well tell you about the good things too!

Ok, I went down to the cafeteria today, and I ate a full meal! The doctor was so proud of me that he bought me ice cream, and I ate all of it! It felt so good to be full after a full week of soup, crackers and I.V.

Dr. James told me that it was very possible for me to recover my memories, if I saw something that was familiar to me, but I think it's completely different here from Japan…but I don't know, because I don't remember Japan!

Sorry, I know, happy things, happy things…the nurse brought me a Japan-English translator. It's so handy, I love it so much, and it makes life so much easier! I was so happy that I gave her a big hug. When I held it in my hands, it felt really…familiar or something. It felt like something was pressing at the back of my head, but the harder I thought about it, the harder the feeling was to bring back. Eventually I gave up, but I took it as a sign that the computer was something I had seen before.

Christ, I can't believe how easy it is to talk to a book…I should do this every day…maybe I will.

But I have to go now, Dr. James is standing in the door. I forgot all about our appointment today, I've been so distracted writing! Goodbye diary!

Tai finished his last sentence and put down his pen.

"Are you writing your diary?" A pause, and then a nod.

"Can I see it?" A shrug.

The doctor picked it up, flipped through the pages, and frowned.

"It's in Japanese."

"Yes…I cannot write in English." Disappointment crossed the doctor's face. A student of psychology as well as general medicine, he had been looking forwards to the opportunity to analyze the boy's work. He had been so quiet. (Although it wasn't as if they could hold a normal conversation, but still he could at least try a little harder.)

Dr. James looked up just in time to see the smirk slip off of Tai's face. Hmm…there was more to this boy than frequent mood swings. And he only had so much time before Ms. Hift came to claim him.

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Unfortunately, by the time she came to "claim" him, which actually turned out to be a month later (Tai had a brutal fall down the stairs after a dizzy spell, and although he didn't break any bones, it was decided that he needed to be in the hospital a bit longer) Dr. James was merely much more frustrated with Tai, who seemed to be cheery and bubbly on the outside, and just when he would start thinking the boy was some ditz, Tai would make a particularly insightful observation, or clever comment, or just have such an all-knowing smirk on his face, that he knew this boy was accustomed to hiding behind masks. By this time, Tai had certainly learned a sufficient amount of English to survive, which he learned from watching TV all day for a lack of anything better to do. One could even hold a conversation with him…not that it ever happened.

As he stood outside the hospital doors, watching Ms. Hift put a possessive hand on Tai's shoulder, and guide him into the car, he wished that he could have kept the boy for a few more weeks.

Tai, on the other hand, was glad to finally leave the depressing building, even if he was headed somewhere that was unlikely to be…fun to say the least.

The tall buildings flew by in rapid succession, but Tai couldn't be bothered to notice. He was more preoccupied trying to imagine a short, easy but thorough introduction to give to the other children at the orphanage. Would they like him? Or would they ignore him because he was so different? Tai started getting a sick feeling in his stomach from all of the worrying.

"Tai? Tai? Mr. Retsuri? We're here." A voice penetrated his thoughts.

"Oh."

"Grab you bags please." Tai would have liked for Ms. Hift to be a little nicer to him, but what could he do? She obviously didn't want to become to close to him, he had even caught her looking at him with a weird expression on her face, when she thought he wasn't paying attention. Nonetheless, he continued to try and make her happy."

"Yes Ms. Hift."

The orphanage was a very old building, which looked as though it had been around for a long time. It was surprisingly well taken care of, at least from what Tai could see of the outside, with neat, clean windows and walls. He smiled; maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

After dragging his suitcase up the stairs (it had been recovered from the crash; thanks to a steel-enforced interior, everything inside had survived) he stopped for a breath and saw two little blue eyes peeking out from behind a curtain. He smiled shyly, but the eyes disappeared.

The inside of the house was a lot like the outside. Neat, and clean, and well-taken care of. It looked more like a hotel, now that he was in it, as a hallway with doors on both sides stretched down to the other end of the building.

"The youngest children stay on the bottom floor; generally age's five to ten. Next floor is eleven to fourteen, then fifteen to seventeen. The oldest, eighteen-years-old have the top floor to themselves. You will be on the third floor. Room 7. Why don't you go meet with your roommates?" It wasn't a really a question, more like an order, so Tai grabbed his bags and hauled them up a couple of flights. Each floor was identical to the first one, except the walls were a different colour.

Tai stopped climbing the stairs at the third floor; the walls were a nice shade of blue.

"Room 7, room 7, where are you room 7." Tai muttered under his breath as he searched the hallways for the elusive room 7. A face popped up in front of him.

"What are you looking for? You sound funny. You look funny. Are you even American?

Tai jumped back and stared at the little person who was currently also staring at him. It was a small, blond kid, with big blue eyes and rosy cheeks.

"My name's Alin, who are you?"

"…Tai."

"You have a funny accent. Where are you from." The poor boy stared at Alin, his head spinning from the fast chatter.

"Uh…I am from Japan. Do you know where is room 7?

Alin giggled and pointed down the corridor.

"Come with me, I'll show you! My room is right next door!" A hesitant Tai followed the hyper young boy, trying to remember what Ms. Hift had said about the younger children…didn't they live below? This kid definitely wasn't even fifteen.

Alin turned around. "You're probably wondering why I live on this floor, right?" He grinned at the shocked look on the older boy's face. "Ya, I could tell you wanted to ask. You shouldn't hold questions in, I won't think you're impolite if you ask, in fact, I'll be offended if you don't ask. Anyways, my older brother lives on this floor, so I'm allowed to share a room with him. Anything else you want to know?"

"Oh! No, it's ok." He gave the younger boy a shy smile.

"Alright then, here we go!"

The hallways were lined with random bits of things, magazines, shoes, and clothes, basically anything you'd find on the floor of a messy bedroom. And it did seem like a bedroom. Kids, well, teenagers, were lying on the carpet listening to music, talking to each other, running around. All of the doors were propped open, and everyone freely walked in and out of everyone else's room. The whole place had a really friendly atmosphere.

Alin skipped through everything, avoiding debris, people and doors, amoung other things. Tai was a little more cautious carefully picking his way through the mess, trying not to step on anyone or anything. Calls rang out after the small boy leading him, some of them not so nice.

"Hey asshole, watch where you're skipping!"

"Slow down kid, do you want your ass kicked!"

"Hey faggot, watch out, you've attracted a follower!" This last one was spoken with a great deal of affection, and Alin whirled around.

"Colin!"

"Hey, what's up little bro? Who's this?"

"It's the new kid, he's rooming next door."

The boy, who currently had his arm casually wrapped around Alin, peered out from under his long messy hair at Tai.

"Hi, I'm Colin, Alin's big brother."

"Hello, my name is Tai."

"Wow, no need to be so formal man, it's not like that here…hey, you look kinda…I dunno…where are you from?" Alin jumped in.

"He's from Japan! He doesn't really talk so much…"

"Hmm…really?" Tai nodded shyly.

"Can I hear something in Japanese?"

"Uh…I'm sixteen years old, I just woke up from a coma, stayed in the hospital for two weeks, got released into the care of possibly the most emotionless person I've ever met, not that I'd know, because I have amnesia, I'm in an orphanage, unable to speak proper English, and everyone asks me where I'm from because apparently I look different or sound different or something."

Alin and Colin stared at him.

"Wow! That was so cool! What did you say?"

"Uhh…nice to meet you?"

Colin studied him suspiciously, but didn't say anything. Instead, he directed him to his new room, and watched him unpack. Although he didn't want to say anything, Tai preferred to be alone while he unpacked, so he could have a chance to go through everything in his suitcase again, and see if there was anything he could remember. But Colin didn't seem to want to leave, so Tai turned his back to the boy sitting on the bed and started taking things out of the suitcase.

The first thing, or group of things, was his clothes. Weird clothes…a gray, boring school uniform, long baggy shorts, t-shirts, socks, but nothing out of the ordinary, and certainly nothing that he would ever want to wear. Maybe someone else picked out his clothes for him…

Next were a few books, most in Japanese, but one of them obviously in English. This book in particular was bothering Tai, because the lady had said that he spoke fluent English, but he had tried reading the book and didn't even get past the first page. He had clearly had some schooling in English, because he could translate some words, and put phrases together, but nothing more than that. Colin, who had crept up beside him grabbed the book.

"Hey, I've read that book! We had to do it for a novel study in school last year, the Chrysalids! I thought you weren't good at English!"

"I can't read it…"

"Ok, well why do you have it?"

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember…?" Colin looked at him skeptically. "How can you not remember why you have a book?"

Tai ignored him, digging back into his suitcase for the next thing. His CDs. As he pulled out the cases, he smiled, glad to finally have the opportunity to listen to his own language, after hours of translating everything in his head, and on his pocket translator. The last thing, at the bottom of the suitcase, was a bag of small things. A locket, a ring, and some marbles. The boy picked up each of these items and rolled them around in his hand, but despite trying hard, he couldn't remember what significance they had. Tears began welling up in his eyes, and a big knot formed in the back of his throat as the frustration built up.

"Why can't I remember!" Colin picked up the locket and fiddled around with it, while the older boy, embarrassed by his outburst busied him packing two small drawers full of his boring clothes.

CLICK!

The doors of the locket flew open against Colin's thumbs, making Tai jump.

"Hey, look at this, are those your parents?"

"Um…" Tai studied the tiny pictures in the locket, "I think so…"

"You don't know? How can you not know who your parents are?"

"I don't remember."

"What? What is your problem man? Are you like, one of those crazy amnesia patients from the soap operas?"

Tai gave him a pained look. "Yes."

It took a few minutes of laughing before Colin realized the other boy was telling the truth.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know."

"No, it's ok." But it wasn't really, and an awkward silence formed between the boys. It didn't last too long though, they were in a teenage boy's dormitory. Alin burst through the door, followed closely by another young boy, who was then being chased by an older girl.

"Get back here! Save me Tai!" Alin ducked behind Tai's back and made rude gestures at the girl. The other boy dove into the bathroom and a distinct click was heard as he locked the door behind him.

"Alin Horatio Edwinds! Come here this instant!"

"Don't leave me Tai! Please protect me from her, she's gonna KILL me!"

The girl in question stopped directly in front of Tai, with her hands firmly planted on her hips, and smiled sweetly at him.

"Hey, are you the new boy? Ooohh you're a cutie!" She winked at him, "Can you please step aside?"

Not having any idea what to do, Tai held out his hand.

"My name is Tai, who are you?"

"Um… Katie, but can you please move?"

"I haven't seen any other girls here, are they in a different section?"

"No, this is an all boys orphanage, but I'm the caretaker's daughter, so I live here too. Now can you move? Please?"

Consenting, Tai stepped aside, but Alin had already made his escape. He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Sorry."

Just as she stalked out of the room, more people came walking in. This time, it was two big guys, about sixteen. They were quite a bit bigger than poor Tai, and feeling intimidated, he shrunk away.

"Hey Greg, hey Dan," Colin warily greeted them, and then ran out the door. At the door he paused to let another boy go by.

"Hey Reid."

Reid immediately drew Tai's attention. He wasn't as big as Tai, maybe a few inches shorter, and he had a slight figure, but that wasn't what caught his eye. This boy was so pretty; he had chin length, straight brown hair that swung down nicely around his ears, big, beautiful hazel eyes, and delicate features, that made him hard to not stare at. But his admiration was rudely interrupted by the other people in the room.

"Are you the new kid?" Tai winced, wondering how many times he was going to hear that in the next little while.

"Yes."

"Cool."

"Ms. Hift said to tell you that Reid was gonna tutor you in English 'til you can read good."

"Oh, okay." Tai felt a blush creep up his cheeks, and he snuck a peek at Reid. Who was looking directly at him with an undeterminable expression on his face. He felt his blush darken. Hopefully this boy would like him; maybe they could be friends…

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Don't worry! I wouldn't put the poor boy with this character I just introduced! (he's much too young…Tai (a.k.a Shuichi) can do better!...and he will…next chapter…if you review, you'll find out…)

You know, I really miss writing Shuichi's name…I got so good at it too, I can do it really fast…but my skills are useless now. Bah! The story of my life…