Chapter 2- Growing Pains

Hatsuharu looked around the dojo with a bored expression on his face. He heard the grownups talking above his head, but he ignored them. There was nothing really interesting for him to listen to, so he settled for looking around the Spartan room. It was, to his immense boredom, the same as every dojo he had seen on television. Wide room, wooden floors, big windows that let both air and sunshine in. Nothing special. A few banners hung here and there, but that was it.

He looked up then and blinked in surprise when he saw the master of the dojo looking down at him with a kind smile on his face.

"You don't have to stay here, Haa-kun. If you want, you can look around the dojo. There is a garden outside. We will come and fetch you when the time comes. Would you like that?"

Haru blinked at the man, slightly taken aback by the kind tones in his voice. Not too many grown-ups spoke to him that way, many of them talking down to him or worse, being snide since he was the ox. The fact that he had taken the time to talk to him like a human being automatically put him on Haru's good graces. Once he had finished analyzing his motives, Haru nodded and headed out to the garden.

He had spent a few moments poking about in his absent-minded way when he was suddenly tackled from behind into a thick bunching of bushes.

He sat up slowly and felt his temper rise. Who the hell did that to him? When he found them, they were going to pay!

"What the hell!" He yelled, standing up and brushing leaves out of his hair. "When I get a hold of you, I'm going to tear you apart!"

A low, almost husky laugh was his response, making his anger level rise a couple of notches. It was bad enough that he had been knocked down and now he was getting laughed at? Oh there was going to be hell to pay for that!

"You think you can beat me?" his tormentor teased him. Scowling in fury, he rushed towards the voice and attacked.

To his surprise, his victim didn't strike back. Blinking a bit to clear his vision, he was surprised to find a girl with long, orange hair lying underneath him, a smirk on her lips as she looked at him.

"A girl!" He gasped, feeling shame wash away the anger that had recently been coursing through him. He had never meant to hit a girl! He wasn't that kind of boy! Would she get angry and tell his parents about him?

The girl watched the emotions flash through the boy's face and she laughed that husky laugh again.

"You still think you can beat me?" she asked a mortified and confused Haru before she neatly flipped him over head, causing him to land in the bushes. Again.

Haru lay there for several moments, the wind knocked out of him. As he lay there, waiting for his lungs to get more oxygen in them, he asked himself whether he was actually humiliated at being manhandled or impressed that a slip of a girl had stood her ground against him when he had charged at her in full black mode. Not even his father had had the courage to stand up to him. Most of the time his parents just let him tear up the house whenever he went into his rages. That was the main reason as to why they were taking him to Kazuma-dono. They thought that if he learned martial arts he would be able to control his inner demon a bit better, since nothing they did helped in that area.

"She got you, huh kid?" He shook his head and noticed an older guy looking down at him, a small grin on his face as he did so.

"Huh?" Haru replied, still somewhat out of it as the other guy helped him stand up.

"Kyoko." The guy replied, his grin growing wider as he brushed the leaves clinging to Haru's shirt and trousers.

"She tends to do that to everyone that first comes to the dojo. She knocked me right on my arse. I still have to think of a way to get her back." The guy scowled at the memory, making Haru look at him closely for the first time.

"Why is your hair orange?" Haru asked bluntly.

" It's natural. My mum was from England, kid. Besides, why is your hair white and black?"

Haru shrugged. He really didn't have an answer to that, since he knew that he couldn't tell an outsider of the curse. That had been drilled time and time again into his head and he had seen the consequences of disobeying when Yuki's friends had been forced to forget him at Hatori's hands and at Akito's request.

"Just came out that way, huh?" the older guy grinned again and winked at him with pale yellowish eyes that made Haru think of cats. It also made him wonder whether he was actually the cat of the zodiac that he had heard about, yet never seen in his life.

"Kyo, is Kyoko there with you?" Kazuma asked his student as he stepped out into the garden and made his way towards Kyo.

"I was looking for her, but I came across this little one first. I think Kyoko gave him her version of welcome. I found him lying in the bushes looking pretty dazed." Kyo told Kazuma, who looked down at Haru with a look of apology and amusement mixed into one.

"I do apologize for my troublesome daughter, Haa-kun. Would you like to help me find her so I can introduce you properly?" Kazuma asked Haru politely.

"I would like that." Haru replied with such gravity that Kyo raised an eyebrow to his master, who only shrugged. Haru was an unusually solemn child, that was all there was to that.

"Is there anything else you would like for me to do, Kazuma-san?" Kyo asked his master respectfully. Kazuma shook his head and bid the young man a good day before he took Haru's hand and led him off in search of his daughter.

"Is he the cat?" Haru asked once Kyo had waved them off and gone his merry way.

"No. He's a student of mine. Well, most of the time. Right now, his task seems to have him chasing after Kyoko whenever she is in one of her moods." Kazuma commented mildly as he looked high and low for his way ward daughter. He was about to give up the search and let her come out on her own, since she was technically acting on instinct at that moment.

She didn't like strangers and would often come out cautiously, attack and then run away to hide somewhere until the perceived threat was over. He suspected he was going to have to talk to her about that soon, since a few times, she had come dangerously close to transforming in front of his students due to that tendency of hers.

"He looks like a cat." Haru commented as he looked up at one of the trees in the garden. He thought he saw movement, but he wasn't sure until a flash of orange through the foliage that his suspicions were confirmed. Nudging Kazuma to get his attention, he then pointed up to the tree.

Kazuma nodded and moved quietly towards the tree. He only had to wait for a few moments before Kyoko moved again and it was then when he struck, pulling the girl out of her hiding place and setting her down on the ground lest she decide to claw his eyes out. Kyoko really didn't do too well when she was startled. Not even with him, her protector.

"You!" Kyoko yelled out, pointing at an unperturbed Hatsuharu, who was calmly watching her, wondering what she would do next.

"So you've met before?" Kazuma asked, wondering what exactly Kyoko had done to Haru.

"He's intruding." Kyoko stated flatly, her orange eyes going dark as she stared at the placid boy standing beside her beloved Kazuma.

"Kyoko…he's going to be living with us for a while. His parents want him to study martial arts with us. His name is Hatsuharu." Kazuma explained patiently to his daughter, who was glaring daggers at Haru.

"He's not stupid, is he? Cause I hate stupid boys." Kyoko growled as she went up to Haru and poked him roughly, making him lose his footing and also a bit of his temper.

"No. He's not stupid. I'm sure that you will get along fine."

"Why-poke-does-poke-he have to stay with us?" Kyoko asked, her voice going into a not quite whine as she poked Haru particularily hard, sending him stumbling and snapping the last bit of his temper.

"Shut up you conceited little witch! Who says I want to live with you either!" Haru screamed before barreling towards her, murder clear in his eyes.

Kyoko only smiled grimly before she charged at Haru while Kazuma only watched. He didn't like Kyoko picking fights, but he figured that it wouldn't hurt this time, since once they pummeled each other, they would either settle down and learn to live with each other or die trying. So he watched them warily and prepared himself to jump in just in case the fight got too dirty.

He didn't have to wait long to watch them pummel each other, since Kyoko started it by punching Haru in the face. Haru snarled and hit her back with as much force as he could muster. Kazuma could see that it was a hard hit by how Kyoko's eyes got bright, but she didn't give up and launched herself at Haru, knocking him off his feet.

"You're really going to let them go at it?" Kyo asked, appearing at Kazuma's elbow, since the sounds that Kyoko and Haru were making could be heard throughout the entire dojo.

"Kyoko needs to learn that she's not always going to get her way and Haru needs to learn he's not the only one with a bad temper."

"Ouch. Don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Kyo commented as he too watched the children leave what was a good clean fight and descend quickly into a dirty free for all that involved scratching, hair pulling, biting and eye poking.

"No. I mean look at them, besides, do you really want to get involved in the middle of that?" Kazuma asked as he pointed to Kyoko, who was gleefully scoring her nails down Haru's back while Haru yanked at her hair.

"Very true. When do you plan to stop them?" Kyo asked when Haru finally got annoyed with all the scratching and clamped his teeth down on Kyoko's arm.

Kazuma shook his head and walked off to the corner of the garden. Testing the water pressure on the hose, he let it go full blast on the children until they stopped throttling each other and sat there, dripping wet and looking up at him in both shock and annoyance.

"Aah. That was refreshing." Haru commented as he pushed his dripping hair out of his face and looked up at Kazuma.

"I'm glad you thought so. Now are you both through with your little hissy fit?" Kazuma asked both of them, despite everyone knowing that it was Kyoko who the question was aimed for.

"Yeah. He's not stupid." Kyoko conceded quietly as she got up. She looked down at Haru, who was watching her calmly and offered her hand to him.

"Come on, brat. I'll show you were the bathroom is."

Haru nodded and put his hand in hers, allowing her to lead him.

"Damn, Master." Kyo whispered in amusement as he watched the two children walk away, their animated chatter fading the further inside they got.

"How did you know?"

Kazuma shrugged. "Trial and error, I suppose. Kyoko's got to learn to share. She's been spoiled in both good and bad ways. I'm hoping that once she is with Haru she'll start learning more about caring for others rather than just herself."

Kyo nodded. "I'm sure she will. She's not a bad kid…she just doesn't know any better. Yet."

Kazuma nodded. "I hope she will learn."

Notes: Thank you for the reviews, I am glad to see that people are reading this little AU take. I will try to update as soon as I can, but I am working on this whenever I have time.

Also, I know the characters are a bit OCC, but then Kyo as a girl would be more aloof and less violent, since women tend to be internalize grief an anger. Once in a while she would let it show…I chose for her to show it right now because she feels very threatened. Once she gets over that…she will be different. Anyways, thanks and yes, Kyo does have a cameo. He he he.