A/N: WooooHooo another chapter done! Sorry for the long wait. Actually, I wanted to finish this story a little bit earlier but I was too engrossed on fixing the plot on the my other Kurei/Recca story that I anted to write. Actually I was planning to load it the same time I load this chapter but I was so mixed up with the two that every time I try to do that I ended up with a migraine. o.O Also is it me or is ffnet a bit slow these day.

A Brown Haired Gaki

A week has passed and Christmas s just around the corner.

Yanagi stood right in front of her protector's desk. Five minutes have passed and the usually attentive ninja gave no indication that he had noticed her presence.

A week ago, Recca assured them that he was fine. But seeing the flame caster now…Oh! How she wanted to bombard him with questions. Recca became more distant in fact he was totally depress contrast to what he felt a couple of weeks ago.

'Recca' she thought. Her handed wanted to reach out the unresponsive teen but halted as the school bell rang, signaling the fist class of the day. The chocolate haired girl released a sigh as she proceeded to her class.

Recca knew that Yanagi was there but he could not bring himself to look up and face her. Exactly eight days have passed (and yes he had been counting) since Kurei 'strongly suggested' that they should cease contact for a while. He said that he did not want Recca to suffer any more that he has. Ha! If his brother could see him now. No doubt, that Kurei would flick him on the forehead while using a politically correct term to describe how stupid he was acting…stupid…. He did not even try that hard to convince his brother otherwise.

"Hanabishi-san?" startled by the teacher calling his name, he stood up immediately, almost knocking the chair down.

"Hai. Sensei?"

"The answer?" Recca glanced at the board in hopes of finding a clue as to what their teacher is discussing. He recognized the subject and the blank formula the teacher pointed.

"Uh…total q is equal to the Cp total temperature?"

"Correct." It was obvious that the teacher did not expect him to know the answer. He mentally thanked Kurei for practically forcing him to study a week ahead…'niisan'…again the flash of that cold late afternoon. Recca felt horrible again. He sat down, resumed his earlier position, and mentally prayed for the day to be over.

White walls.

White floors.

White dressed people…

…and a funny smell in the air.

Kurei was again, reminded why he did not fancy hospitals.

He stood near the reception desk while Takehiko sat on the lobby couch reading yesterday's newspaper. "It's been a week. I'm sure tat he is free to go this morning." The older man tried to start a conversation to ease the obvious tension Kurei seems to radiate. "He is still a child. I wonder why he was found almost half dead with those drug smugglers." The pale man just shut his eyes.

"Are you acquainted with him?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation in the other's voice. It was a fast and simple confirmation. " He won't tell us if he had any guardians we could contact so…"

"Can I take responsibility for him?" the older man scratched his chin in thought. "Perhaps…tell me one thing though."

"hn."

"Is he by any chance related to Kouran?" Kurei's dark purple hues turned directly at the chief detective. He did not say anything but the chief understood perfectly.

"Then this case is not a simple drug trafficking one as we thought."

"Excuse me." Both men turned towards the source of the voice. A nurse in her late twenties stood there. "He is ready to leave." She gestured to the young preteen currently covered n bandages. She was a sweet and caring nurse. During the past week, she took it upon herself to take extra care of her ward. She actually had gotten a soft sot for the teen. "Now Kaoru. You don't need to be shy come on out now dear. These are the people that saved your life." She gently grabbed the arm of the boy who was hiding behind her and pulled him to her side. "Go on introduce yourself." She encouraged. Kaoru just stood there eyes wide n shock.

Takehiko decided to break the silence by introducing them first. "Hello. My name is detective Takehiko Asato and this..." He gestured to Kurei. "…is my colleague as well as my nephew Takehiko, Hitori. We found you injured and…"

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaHHH!

Takehiko was cut my a laud cry and a distress boy running towards the pale dark haired man's chest. "Oniisan, oniisan!"

Kaoru did not want to meet the police. He did not like to be questioned. He was walking home from school that day with a friend when some guys dressed in black with masks on took his friend and told him that they would slit his friends throat if he did not come to them willingly. He quickly agreed. They blind folded him and beat the crap out of him. It was like a kill now and ask questions later situation. They wanted to know about Kurei's whereabouts and they figured that he would know.

Ha! As if, he would know. Kurei abandoned him at Kouran's mansion. The man he looked up to. The one he dreamed that someday he would be considered his brother but it never happened. His supposedly older brother never came back. He hated him.

And when he saw the dark flame caster that stood there. He barely recognized the man. He did not wear the usual make up, he had no earrings and his trademark scar on his eye was gone. He looked at him with not the cold eyes but the concerned ones he only wished he could see but never got. He wanted to get angry but all he could do is run straight into the pale one's arms calling him the title he longed to say to him.

"Oniisan." He choked back a sob. He held on tight to the front of Kurei's shirt not daring too look up. He was afraid that at any moment Kurei would push him away. Kaoru felt him move and he prepared himself to be pushed away but it never came. He opened his eyes to look up and feel warm hands wipe the tears away from his cheek.

"Don't cry Kaoru." Kaoru had to bit his lip to keep the 'who are you and what have you done to Kurei' to come out of his mouth. If he did not know any better, he would say that this was a clone but then again if this were one, he would probably be licking Kouran's boots with pleasure.

Kurei sighed. "No I am not a clone and yes I am the real Kurei." He read his thoughts. Kurei always did seem to know what he was thinking. He laughed and with it, he emptied all the anxiety he felt and suddenly his wounds did not hurt as much.

"So I guess you'll be taking this Gaki home then." Takehiko made a move to light his cigarette but stopped when he saw the death glare the nurse gave him (they sure can be scary trust me on this.)

"Yes I believe I will. That is if he would like…"

"I do." The boy replied with much enthusiasm and they chuckled at this. "You have the day off Hitori. Make sure this brat eats and get him settled."

Kaoru dragged Kurei to the familiar red and Yellow M fast food outlet. (McDo. Anyone know a country without them?). He happily ordered a bigmac; large fries and a coke while Kurei ordered a simple fish fillet and ice tea.

He was starving. He gobbled the food as fast as possible. " Neh Oniisan. How came the old man calls you Hitori?"

"It's my name now." Was the curt reply.

"Is it something to do with…"

"Do you have your things with you or I should buy you one?" Kurei had change the subject and his tone indicated that he did not want to talk about it.

"Nope, my stuffs with Yanagi. They practically adopted me" Kurei arched an eyebrow at this. "Recca's girlfriend? You have been missing for a week and she was not concerned of your whereabouts?" his voice turned cold. "Hehe. We'll I usually go on my own for about weeks so they were used to it. And frankly speaking I would call Recca her boyfriend they haven't so much as held each others hands." Kurei suddenly felt relieved at this although he had no idea why.

"And the friend you were with?"

"I guess he was too scared to say anything. He was threatened you know." The younger defended. Kurei nodded.

"Neh Oniisan? Is it really ok for me to stay with you?" Kaoru was looking at him with hopeful eyes that reminded him of a certain raven-haired teen that did the same move when he wanted something from him. With that thought, he felt his chest constrict but decided to push it aside as he ruffled the brunette's hair.

"It is fine but I am afraid that I do not accept an M.I.A. kid for weeks and you will find me strict with this." The boy agreed happily.

"Now that is settled you shall go and pick your things later this afternoon."

That afternoon Recca accompanied his princess home. She approached him after school and asked him if she could walk him home. She assured Recca that it was only her that he needed to keep company and the others were not coming. Recca agreed.

The walk to Yanagi's house was silent except for the rustle of dried leaves here and there until the healer softly spoke.

"Recca is everything alright?" she saw the boy stiffen.

"I'm sorry Recca I know you told me that you could handle pretty well on your own but…" She stopped to look at her companion and saw the grief stricken face. "He left." He said quietly. She almost did not hear it.

"He left and I did not try to stop him." He made a move to rest his head on the girl's shoulder. "Who left Recca." The boy did not respond. "Well Recca." She suddenly slapped the boy's shoulders. He gasped at her sudden aggressive behavior. "That's not right! Your suppose to be the one protecting me not the other way around." She smiled and her ninja's dumbfounded expression. "And here you are sulking on my shoulder. What happened to my determined I can do anything warrior hm?" She crossed her arms to add effect to the annoyed look.

"Hime I…" he started

"You tamed eight Karyus on your own right? How can this be anymore difficult? If you really wanted to see him again I know you'll cut of one of your arms just to see this person again right? And besides…" She gently smiled at the flame caster. "You also have us as your special persons right?"

"I'm sorry" How could he be so insensitive? He did not realize how he made his friends feel abandoned the same way Kurei did. He looked directly at Yanagi the determined flames in his eyes present. The girl chuckled. "Now that's the Recca I know."

"I'm sorry Hime. I know I'll remember that." They were about a block away from her house when Recca a blushing Recca grabbed Yanagi's hand as they playfully ran towards her home. They did not notice the figure on the corner opposite the street who was trying to control his seething though he did not know why.

"Yanagi-oneesan." Kaoru greeted. "Kaoru-kun what happened?" she gasped when she saw the bandages that covered the boy. "It's nothing. I'm already quite healed." She then noticed the duffle bag the boy was carrying.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah well I found some of my relatives and they decided to take me in." he beamed. "Oh that's wonderful! We should get to meet them sometime."

"um…yeah…ok." he adjusted his bag. "Listen I got to go so I'll see later. Bye Recca." He quickly made a dash towards the other block. "Something's not right."

"Hmm.."

"That brat didn't even make an effort to insult me."

"Well isn't that a good thing? Maybe he's starting to like you."

"Maybe…I'll go follow him to make sure he is safe. Have a safe night hime." He waved goodbye as he proceeded to where Kaoru had ran off.

He turned around the corner only to stop short. He saw Kurei grab Kaoru's bag and slung it on his shoulder while the younger latched onto the older one's arm. They did not notice Recca. Their backs were facing him. Recca wanted to run towards his brother but stop in mid step when he saw Kurei grab Kaoru's head and ruffled his hair. He heard a rather laud "Oniisan!" by Kaoru as the other smirked for successfully teasing the younger.

Recca felt something in him shatter as he made a mad dash in the other direction.

TBC….

I would like to thank the following people. You are the one who encourage me to write

Eli

You have no idea how happy you make me with your reviews. You are one of my first readers and I was actually surprise that you still read this fic considering my poor excuse of how much of a lazy ass I am. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Silent Sage

I read your fic can you make more (puppy dog eyes) there aren't many Kurei/Recca fics out there and they need all the support we can give (raises Kurei/Recca banner) still thank you for reading!

Makkura Arashi

I are try to improve grammar. Thank you for pointing it out. Actually Engish isn't my first language not even second o.O so I have a friend that edits my works. Unfortunately he is busy with his fics since he is after all an English studies students. Damn him he completely forgot about me (cries) but I don't blame him its me who needs to study this language better.

Kag321

I will I think…I just need to fix the plot usually when I think of story plots I have an idea of an opening then and ending an I fill in the middle. However my new fic kinda just started with one idea…AU…lol so me need to fill in the blanks so it would not come out stupid. I may not write good English but I would never right a plot less story or no solid body unless I am high on sugar, which my brother keeps away from me o.O

Chibi

Thank you for telling me. You know my brother and me read the whole story again because of your comment and we came up with one conclusion. You were right RECCA is OOC Damn it! I was banging my head n the desk when my brother told me that maybe it was a natural reaction between siblings like me. He said that I act as if I can take on anything and when he is there I tend to hide behind his back as if I was saying 'ha my big bro is here and he's going to beat the crap out of you' like seven year old boy(WHICH IS NOT TRUE. Seph's Oniue: yeah right) though I am in my late teens o.O. ok maybe it's just my bro trying to stop me from banging my head on the table (seph's Oniue; snickers)

Tsuzuki Yuki

I don't know why you reviewed in chapter 2 but I thank you anyway

And last but not the least…

My Oniue

You are one of my inspirations and if you haven't notice I based Kurei's brotherly character on you! Ur the best big brother anyone could ever hove love ya lots! Though most little bro's are always ashamed to admit that… Thanks bro and thought we both share some serious twisted sense of humor…. HOW COME THEY ALL SAY YOU'RE MORE COOL! (Kurei is more cool then Recca) oh yeah…

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!