AN: For dedication and disclaimers, see first two chapters.

Character:

Childhood is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief… To know not yet that you are under sentence of life, nor petition that it be commuted to death.

Chapter:

- Francis Thompson

Chastity is God's rarest blessing.

-George Meredith

Chapter Seven

Present

The music ends. The spell ends, but doesn't break.

In fact, not so much ends as goes to sleep.

I blink, sway a little, and get my balance back. I bow to Akito-san, like I'm supposed to, and he smiles.

For a second the smile's kind of scary, and I blink nervously. Then it widens and he lifts his head, turning it into a smile just like Yuki-nii's. "That was beautiful, Kisa, Hatsuharu," he says, and we can relax.

His smile stays on Haru-nii, but he beckons to me and I feel more and more at ease as he wraps his cold arms around my waist and tugs me into his lap. "Exquisite," he murmurs in my ear.

I smile and blush, because it couldn't have been all that good but it's nice to hear it, especially from him. "Thank you," I whisper.

I snuggle into place as the conversation starts in earnest, running around me without demanding my attention. It's very late. Normally I'd have been in bed for ages. I don't feel tired – I never do, on banquet nights – but part of me still knows I should be asleep, so it's nice to just lie there and not have to do or say anything while Akito-san traces thoughtless patterns on my arms and through my hair.

He can be mean sometimes, I guess, but he never has been around me. And he's always so cold… it makes me want to hold onto him until he's warm, like Mommy does for me.

"Very well…" he says after a while, lifting me to my feet and planting a kiss on my cheek. "I shall call for the food. Take your seat."

He holds onto my hand until the last minute, when I'm too far around Yunnii-chan, and all the rest of the banquet I feel relaxed inside, like something that was wrong has been fixed.

Only… only Hiro seems grumpy.

And every time Akito smiles at me I think of what those grown-ups were saying in the hall, and it's like biting into an orange and finding a slice of lemon inside.

Hours Earlier

I cling to Mommy's hand, nervous with so many people around, but she keeps smiling down at me every once in a while and it makes everything seem a little bit more okay. I smile back.

As if happiness summons him, Momiji-kun bounces up out of nowhere, grinning merrily. "Hey, hi, Kisa-chan!" He cries, grabbing my free hand. "Come on, okay? Let's get you fitted out, I want to see you in your dress!"

"Oh, um… can I, Mom?"

"Yes, of course." She smoothes my hair, looking a little worried. "Just stay where I'll be able to find you, all right?"

"I will!" I call back as Momiji bows to her with another grin and pulls me away, calling over his shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll take care of her!"

"I can't wait," he adds to me once we come away from the grown-ups. "You're gonna be so pretty dancing! Hiro's gonna flip."

"Flip?" I repeat, but then Haru-nii shows up and with all the other things, I get distracted.

It's after I get dressed up, and Momiji insists that Mom should see, that I hear them.

I'm alone and sort of sneaking, because I don't want anyone else to see if I can help it and it'll be easier alone. Which, with the sneaking, is why they don't hear me.

It's a small group of adults from what I can hear, talking quietly, and I do sort of stop to listen because I want to see if they might leave soon and leave this path clear.

That's what I get for eavesdropping.

"… -sama seems very fond of Kisa-san," a man is saying. I frown, because Akito does like me (and he has to be talking about Akito - he's the only one who merits a "sama" usually), but this man makes it sound like a bad thing.

"You know, she even looks like Yuki-san a bit?"

"Don't be ridiculous. They don't resemble each other in the slightest."

Two women. And now a new man picks up with, "Except in one thing."

"Oh, really. He doesn't fixate on her like that."

"He doesn't need to." It's the first man again. "She's an adorable girl." His voice sounds like Shigure oji-chan's right before Hatori oji-chan smacks his head, only meaner. "She'll end up the same as Yuki-san, mark my words."

I don't understand what he means, not really, but I think of how Yuki-nii looks sometimes, when Akito-san is talking to just him, and… it's always just been how things are.

But why are they this way?

I turn and walk away quickly, before I can hear anymore. My dress snags on a splinter along the wall and I tug it free without looking to hurry, not paying attention to the tiny ripping sound.

I've only gone a little ways when I bump into something tall and solid.

"Kisa-chan," Haru-nii says in his immovable, dazed way. "What's up?"

I look around a minute, but no one's nearby. "Um… Haru-nii… can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah." He hunkers down to meet my eyes, still reassuringly calm. He's always so calm, so sure.

"I heard some people talking just now… and, I wondered… what would it mean to 'end up like Yuki-nii?'"

"…"

"They said that Akito-san liked me like it was a bad thing. Is it bad?"

Haru-nii raises an eyebrow, thinking, and then stands, scooping me up onto his hip. "It's never bad for someone to like you as long as they don't hurt you," he says. "Akito likes all of us, even Yuki and Hatori, and he still hurt them. But that's not something you can control, so just… be careful and don't worry about it, 'kay?"

I nod uncertainly. Akito wouldn't hurt me, would he? He wouldn't hit me…

"And, ending up like Yuki…" Haru-nii grins. "Well, Yuki's pretty cool, don't you think?"

He hugs me a little tighter. This time I nod more assuredly, and I can smile.

AN: You all know what I'm gonna say/plead/demand/beg for on bended knees, so what say you just review and save me the trouble? Please?

Wow, that was short. Two pages on here. Jeezum crow. Ah well, Kisa's kinda short too. God, she is cute...

Oh, and canonically, I realize Akito probably doesn't like Satchan too much aside from the whole bondedness of them, but since my In-verse sort of removes the reason for Akito's hating women so much – and, okay, because I find misogyny boring – I get to mess with that.