Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo and the characters in it.

A/N: A come back after 5 years. To my loyal readers (who are still reading my story, thank you for your support and thank you so much. I apologize for taking too long to update this story.) So here it is, the long awaited chapter. It's a punishment for not updating for so long.. hehe.. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Mother

Yuya carefully rinsed the plates under the gentle flow of the tap water. Hotaru leaned against the kitchen counter with his hands folded in and his eyes shut. The awkwardness of being supervised while washing the dishes made her nervous. Yuya startled when Hotaru let out a loud sigh.

"Ne... why are you washing the dishes with your hands?" he walked nearer and settled next to her.

"Why?" she asked him back, confused.

"There is an automated dishwasher in this kitchen, you know," he pointed his finger towards the machine which was built-in with the rest of the other kitchen appliances in the awfully large kitchen.

"Oh, but if you do it this way, you can be sure that the plates are squeaky clean," chirped Yuya while continuing the wash. Hotaru was staring at her intensely. Yuya stopped and turned off the tap. "Ok, I don't know how to use it," she admitted with a slight pout secretly carved on her face.

"Howh..." he said. He grabbed a clean towel and helped her wipe away the access water on the washed plates. Hotaru was feeling restless. "Ne..." he said while putting aside the ones that he wiped. "How did you know Kyo?" he asked.

"He's my boss," Yuya answered.

"Hmm... Then, why are you living with him? Are you Kyo's woman?" he continued with a straight face, showing no interest and yet, the question was such a flame.

"What?! NO! I'm.. I'm his assistant," she carefully chose her word so that it would be the truth which is not entirely true but also not a lie.

"Hmm... That's weird. Assistants don't live together with their bosses, unless they are sexually -"

"NO! That's not it!" she cut off. "I'm his... his... maid"

He stopped wiping and looked at her, "As in play-mate?"

"As in M-A-I-D. House maid. I clean, wash, cook. You know. Those things," she sighed. Is it so hard to understand? Her mind talked.

"Oh... The maid that cleans Akari-chan's place doesn't stay with us; she goes back after she finishes her work. Why are you staying with Kyo?" he continued.

This guy is troublesome. Why is he interrogating me? But I would have asked the same thing. But then again, that's none of his business. Who is he anyway?

"Ne.. ne... Are you guys playing Maid or Doctor or something like that?" he asked another ridiculous question.

"No! There's nothing like playing maid or doctors. We're just boss and employee, okay. Do you understand? Actually, he helped me. I didn't have a place to stay. He let me stay here," she finally told him. More like, he was forced to let me stay with him by his dad, she reminded herself.

Hotaru creased his forehead. He put down the plate he was holding gently on top of the rest of the dried ones. "What happened to your house?" Hotaru finally said what he really intended to ask. He needed to make sure that his guess was right.

"My apartment was burnt down," Yuya told him as she stood on her toes while carrying the plates on her hands and placing each one cautiously on the shelf. Exactly the answer that Hotaru was looking for. "This woman is Shiina Yuya! She escaped the fire and now she's living with Kyo. This is going to be difficult," Hotaru thought.

His voice suddenly changed from the foolish tone to a serious murderous one, "Ne.. Are you Shiina Yuya?"

Yuya dropped one of the plates she was carrying. She bent down to pick up the broken pieces. Hotaru bent nearer to Yuya and grabbed her arm, "Wh.. what are you doing?" Yuya almost collapsed from the animosity surrounding her.

"Are you-"

"Hotaru! What's taking you so long?! We're leaving now!" Akari barged in.

"Leaving?" his tone changed back.

"What are you doing? Hotaru you pervert! What are you doing to her?" Akari yanked his hand away from Yuya's arm. "Are you okay Yuya-chan?"

Yuya still in shocked, managed to answer, "I.. I'm fine."

"I was just helping her with the broken plate," Hotaru shrugged and walked to the door. Akari helped Yuya pick up the broken pieces. "Don't mind him Yuya-chan. He is a bit weird. Hahahaha! I'll help you with that"

"Ah, no… It's o-"

Kyo walked in and saw Yuya kneeling on the floor. "Akari, we're leaving."

"O..okay"

"And Dogface, please try not to destroy the house while I'm out," with his back facing Yuya, he walked to the door.

Yuya was still shaking on the floor from the animosity that she felt before. She got back her composure and slowly rose to clean up the mess that was on the floor. Her head was still spinning from the shocked. I seriously thought he was going to kill me. But, why did he do that? She went out of the kitchen and headed to her room. I must call Shinrei. I need to tell him that I'm okay. Right, I'll do that at Anri's Place later when I'm out for break. She changed into her pajamas and went to bed before heading to her part-time job.

A pile of dust hit Kyoshiro in the face. He spent almost 3 hours in the cellar looking for so-called clues on the thing that Shihodou and his father was talking about. Why did I even bother to look for it anyway? Knowing them, even the tiniest clue must have been incinerated. Wait... What if it's not here? "What if it's in the Mibu Main House?" he did a monologue. "Come to think about it, where are all the things that we had when we were kids. Dad said it was all burned together with our residence in the Mibu Estate. And that's when mom died. It was when we were kids. When was it? Somehow i feel like it was not too long ago. "

Kyoshiro felt a pang in his head. Why can't he remember anything from the past? Did they seal his memory too? Who exactly are they? But why? What is this thing that they must not let them know? He kept on digging all the boxes and chests in the cellar but found nothing that could trigger anything related to the past. He did find photos of his dad and his mom but none had all four of them together. "How did Dad managed to keep photos of mom and him but not of all of us together?" Kyoshiro suddenly remembered the conversation between Shihodou and his father.

"What can I do? I'm just his guardian."

"But you know, I do love him like my own son. Both of them. Sooner or later they need to know the truth and return to where they really belong."

What truth? That's right. Dad did mention to Shihodou that Kyo and I were not his sons. That hurts. Has he been lying to us all this time? Kyoshiro wondered. I need to visit the Mibu Main House one of these days and find out the truth before I tell Kyo all about these. Should I tell him now? No. No. No. I'll tell him once I get the truth out.

"Kyoshiro. Kyoshiro.." He heard his father calling him. Kyoshiro put in all the things he took out from the chests and boxes then hurried himself upstairs.

"A refill please!" Bontenmaru was chugging on his beer.

"Kyo~ Where did you find that girl?" Asked Akari.

Kyo ignored Akari's question. He stood up, looked at Hotaru who was staring

at blankness and said, "I need to talk to you outside. Alone."

"Me?" said Hotaru who never disobeyed Kyo's order and followed him out the

door. The other three just stared at each other with a blank face.

"What is up with that?" said Akari. "He ignored me and then... and then"

"Chillax dude. Here. Have some beer," Bontenmaru pushed the bottle next to

him.

"This is rather weird. Kyo hasn't said a thing since we left his loft and

then this?," Akira responded to Akari's remark. "What happened in the

kitchen Akari?" he continued.

"Umm... I saw Hotaru helping Yuya-chan with the broken dishes," Akari who

was slumped on the bar responded with a flat disinterested voice. "Wait..."

he suddenly sat straight. "Hotaru was grabbing her arm when I barged in"

"Grabbing her arm? What do u mean 'grabbing'?" Akira asked her. The

half-sobered Bontenmaru turned to Akari.

"Grabbing! Like this!" Akari demonstrated on Bon's arm and squeezed it as

tight as possible.

"Ow ow ow ow! That hurts!" screamed Bontenmaru. "Shit, that's gonna leave

a mark"

"Pfftt.. you scream like a girl Bon," said Akari, rolling his eyes.

Akira scratched his chin and creased his forehead, "Why would Hotaru do

that?"