A/N: Well, that took longer than I anticipated to post a new chapter. I do have a few chapters almost done however, so updates should be a lot more frequent. As always reviews and criticism is always welcome and I hope you enjoy!

7:30 PM

Still no call or even a lousy text message.

A sigh heavily tinged in loneliness echoed throughout the lifeless apartment. Shuichi put his cell phone back in his pocket, trying to retain his attention back to the Sherlock Holmes novel in his lap. Shuichi was used to his father being late, but the patriarch had promised to be home by 5 pm today. Broken promises like this were all too common for the young boy, today being the third time this week alone that father has been late like this without warning. Shuichi tried not to get distraught over it however. He understood that being a sheriff was an important and difficult job to have. Perhaps his father had a lot of paperwork to do before he could leave? That was his most used excuse at least. Shuichi just wished father could keep his promises. If not that, at least have the decency to let his son know when he's running late.

Shuichi was prepared for what appeared to be another night by himself, getting up and making his way to the refrigerator in the small kitchen. Pulling a chair from the table over to reach the freezer on top, Shuichi was greeted by the frozen dinners and bottles of vodka that occupied the frozen space. He had stolen a sip of the alcohol once, curious as to why his father mixed this stuff with juice after work. That curiosity turned to disgust when the burning liquor's taste caused him to spit it right back out on the floor. Shuichi shuddered at the memory and pointed his gaze back at the TV Dinners, the fried rice in particular catching the boy's eye. The boy wasn't a big fan of the cheap frozen food his father would buy on his weekly grocery trips, but there was only so much the younger Siahara could do to feed himself. It's not like the elder could cook for himself either. Shuichi moved the chair over by the microwave and began preparing his dinner when a sudden knock on the door took Shuichi by surprise.

"Father? No he wouldn't knock. He has his key." Shuichi thought to himself once his nerves calmed down. Mr. Saihara had taught the boy to be quiet and pretend to not be home if he was home alone, something the boy complied with even if he didn't fully understand why. "Maybe it's that funny Mr. Hagakure down the hall?"

Knock knock

Another knock on the door, this one a little louder. Panic began to creep on the boy, as irrational as it might be. "Maybe it's robbers trying to break in?" The boy found himself thinking. "I should yell at them to go away, when they hear that someone is home that may scare them off? But that goes against what father sai-"

Knock Knock

More irrational panic came from the boy, as he found himself hiding behind the counters in the kitchen. "Oh what am I thinking, a kid like me couldn't scare a rabbit if I wanted t-" The boys inner monologue was cut off by a familiar voice following the last knocking.

"Shuichi, it's your Uncle Makoto and Aunt Kyoko. We need to talk to you buddy, are you there?"

That voice certainly belonged to Uncle Makoto, but why was he here? Why was his Aunt also here as well? Was his aunt even really there and was Makoto lying? The child brought the chair over to the door as quietly as he could, taking a look through the peephole and saw the two young adults at the other end of the door, just like Makoto said. Both of them looked visibly upset, causing immediate anxiety due to Kyoko's usual stoic demeanor being forgotten. Her eyes and entire face were red like she was crying recently. Makoto himself looked distraught, more nervous than sad though. Shuichi had no idea what could cause his aunt to get this upset, but he knew he couldn't ignore them and wait for his father to return home. He also couldn't ignore the rapid anxiety overtaking his young heart. The boy clumsily jumped off the chair, haphazardly pushing it aside as he hurriedly unlocked and opened the door for his Aunt and Uncle.

The door crept open, Shuichi half sticking his head out of the door as he made eye contact with his uncle. Standing in the hallway, Makoto and his nephew maintained an uncomfortable silence for what seemed like eternity before the man managed a friendly smile at Shuichi in an attempt to break the tension.

"Hey buddy, could we come in please?" Makoto sounded as happy as ever, but even the boy could tell he was forcing the emotion in his voice. "You're not in any trouble, we just… have bad news." That last sentence broke the man's illusion, as unintentional as it be. Kyoko finally faced her nephew and forced a depressed smile at him. The normally stoic woman wore both fear and sadness despite her efforts to save face, a poor attempt to not worry her nephew. Seeing his aunt like this was very alarming to Shuichi, who's rapid heartbeat began overtaking his hearing. He still stepped aside, letting the two adults into the apartment.

Shuichi made his way over to the couch where his Aunt sat next to him, while Makoto stood in front of the boy. The elders in the room looked at one another, until the woman took a deep breath.

"You're a bright kid Shuichi, so I'm not going to beat around the bush with you." The purple-haired woman spoke, meeting the nervous eyes of Shuichi. Kyoko lightly grabbed his hand, who gripped her own gloved hand tight in response.

"Your father was arrested earlier today. He was caught working with... bad people." A tone of anger was apparent in Kyoko's voice. "It's too early to say for sure but it doesn't look good for him, he's likely looking at long term prison time." The woman shifted her gaze away from the child as she spoke, feeling displaced shame at her half-brother's actions. "I'm sorry." Kyoko brought her nephew into a hug, an action the boy would normally cherish but his body couldn't move even if his brain told him to.

Shuichi was frozen. The sinking feeling in his chest turned into a storm of confusion and disbelief. Noise became muffled as he just sat on the couch, unable to look up at all. He didn't know what to think. He wanted this to be a cruel joke by his family members but the solemn look on their faces and the fact Kyoko hadn't let go of him yet told him otherwise. This couldn't be real. Overwhelmed, Shuichi wiggled himself out of his aunt's embrace and jumped off the furniture.

"You're lying!" the boy screamed at his Aunt, her face unchanged at the boy's outburst. Shuichi didn't even know what he was saying, his brain melting down into full on denial mode.

"Where's my father?!" The boy demanded, tears already pouring down his face. He looked at Makoto, who looked both sympathetic if unsure how to handle the situation. The young man tried to reach out towards Shuichi but the boy turned around and ran into his room, slamming the door and locking behind him. The boy succumbed to the despair within the situation, his tears turning into confused weeps. He hears light knocking on the door, likely from his Aunt but he tunes out whatever words were wasted on him at the moment. The boy felt like he was in the midst of a nightmare at the moment, and he was ready to wake up at any second now. The child's tears failed to let up, as all he could muster himself to do was sit on his floor and cry. In an act of what some would call mercy for the boy, these tears didn't take long to tire the boy out, as he passed out not long before the door to his room was carefully forced open by his deeply concerned aunt.

The faint sound of an engine purring woke up the boy, discovering himself not in his room, but in the backseat of a car in a booster seat. He quickly realized that he was in his Uncle Makoto's car, the young man driving slowly through dimly lit streets. Shuichi's covered up in his favorite blanket and holding his trusty stuffed tiger, one of the few gifts he ever received from his father. The boy groggily stared out the window, the street lamps and buildings outside blurring by.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" The feminine voice of his Aunt Kyoko calls to him from the passenger seat in the front. There was a level of warmness in her voice that she only rarely expressed, not even to her own partner who was driving. Shuichi was almost unnerved by the emotion but he couldn't deny his appreciation for it either.

"… Sad". Shuichi meekly replied after a long pause. "How did I even get here?"

Kyoko closed her eyes and took a deep breath, keeping her uncharacteristic gentleness. She understood her nephew not being able to recall what lead to him being driven back home with them.

"You fell asleep in your room after your outburst. We packed up some clothes for you and we're taking you back home with us for now." Kyoko explained. Shuichi had a million questions right now.

How did she get in his room? Well, the lock on the door was simple and even he had figured out how to unlock it with anything strong and small enough. No doubt someone smart like his detective aunt would know how to unlock the door.
When will he see his father again? He wanted to ask his aunt again but his gut was telling him it would be pointless, a thought that upset the child but he forced himself to move along.
How long am I going to be staying with them? His aunt didn't clarify that exactly, perhaps she didn't know herself.

"How long am I going to be staying with you, Auntie?" the child asked. Kyoko's face dropped.

"I don't know. It might be awhile."

Shuichi wanted to cry again, but the tears wouldn't fall this time. All that came out was a defeated sigh as he turned his gaze back out the window.

"I don't know what's going to happen next." Kyoko admitted "But what I can promise you is that you are going to be okay. Me and your uncle love you. We aren't going to let anything bad happen to you." Shuichi didn't look back, his eyes glued to the window but a small smile did break through. He couldn't see the almost sickening amount of stress that was weighing Kyoko down. The stress of her half-brother being a dirty cop and potentially tainting the Kirigiri name by association. The stress of not knowing what to actually do with her nephew was the most overwhelming though.

The car fell silent and stayed that way for five minutes that felt eternal for everybody in the sedan. Makoto turned the radio on to break the silence, settling on a top 40 station much to Kyoko's chagrin. Shuichi was still trying to process everything that was going on, grasping his stuffed animal in a near death grip. What was going to happen to his home? Was he even going to go back? His thoughts quickly shifted to his books back home, sure he had already read most of the interesting ones already but what about his unfinished novels! A small tragedy when compared to the rest of his new situation, but a tragedy nonetheless.

As Shuichi was pondering about the rest of The Hound of Baskervilles, he noticed the car was pulling into a familiar golden arched drive-through. Shuichi remembered the fried rice he was preparing before being interrupted. He felt bad for wasting food, something his father pushed on him to not do. He wondered if his aunt also cleaned that up before they left. Makoto looked back at his nephew, his usual cheerful demeanor out in full force. "Feel free to get anything you want Shuichi" The heavy emphasis on "anything" was not missed by the child, who took advantage of the offer in the form of those tasty apple pies with his favorite chicken nuggets. If anything else, the fast food provided a much needed if unhealthy distraction from the surreality the past few hours have been.

After receiving their food, the sedan continued further into town. After an uneventful five minutes of driving, the smell of the food became more and more tantalizing to the child, Makoto pulled into the parking lot outside the apartment complex where he and Kyoko lived. Kyoko helped Shuichi out of the car seat as Makoto grabbed a small silver duffel bag out from the trunk, the one belonging to the child. Kyoko held her nephew's hand again, leading the boy slowly to their humble apartment as they entered the modern lobby of their building and went up the elevator.

The claustrophobic box moved at what seemed like a glacier pace to the twelfth floor, no one daring to break the silence as both adults checked their phones as Shuichi glanced back and forth at his aunt and uncle. The opening of the doors and the subsequent ding announced that the three were at their destination. It was only another thirty feet or so before Kyoko found the door to hers and Makoto's apartment, a cozy and sleek one bedroom with a grand view of the city and riverfront from their floor. Shuichi had been here a few times before, most times with his father while they visited. Once the door was opened, Shuichi wasted no time in claiming a spot on the couch with his dinner. Makoto turned on the TV to one of his streaming apps, handing the boy the remote as he playfully ruffled the younger male's head. "Feel free to watch anything you want Shuichi" Makoto paused. "As long as it's appropriate." The blue haired child nodded in agreement as he shoved another chicken nugget into his mouth, flipping through the different animated shows at his disposal. He normally didn't watch much television, but Shuichi was frankly too tired to really care as he yearned for a well deserved mental break as he wrapped himself up in his trusty blanket, pushing back the pressing question of if this couch was where we was going to be his bed for the foreseeable future.

The distraction Makoto gave to his nephew worked as Shuichi didn't notice his aunt go straight for her bedroom, closing the door behind her so as not to worry the boy as she finally broke down from the weight of the day. Makoto turns and follows his fiancé into the bedroom once Shuichi was fully enveloped on what was happening on screen. The short man was shocked to his lover face down on their bed, muffled cries barely escaping from the pillow. The man sits down gently beside her, placing a comforting hand on her head. The silver-haired woman looks up with tear stained eyes, a sight Makoto can't recall seeing before. Kyoko herself can't even remember the last time she cried, high school perhaps? Makoto keeps strong as he gives Kyoko a soft smile.

"You're not weak for crying, Kyoko" Makoto says with equal softness to his expression. "This situation is unthinkable. I won't pretend that this will just blow over but we'll make it through it together. You'll still be able to talk to your brother at least" Kyoko smiled briefly before her face fell again.

"What are we going to do with Shuichi though?"

Makoto paused, not sure what to say if he was being honest. He didn't mind the thought of just having him stay with them, but their lease kept them in their one bedroom for another year. That'd be a long time for a kid to have to sleep on a couch in a living room.
"… We'll figure that out." The woman won't deny that her fiancé's answer wasn't very comforting, her scowl making that thought more than clear enough.

Makoto flinched, but wasn't going to give up. "Neither of us have the capacity to find a solution right now, so it may be best if we try to sleep on it tonight and come back to this in the morning." Makoto got up and kissed Kyoko on the forehead, the woman blushing at the affection. "Let's eat and try to take our minds off today, we both need it."

Kyoko got off of the bed, giving Makoto a small kiss of her own. "You're right, a mental recharge may just be what we need right now. I'm sorry I lost my composure." Kyoko looked down in unnecessary embarrassment.

Makoto flashed his usual dopey smile, "You're more than justified honey, there's no need for you to apologize, okay?"

The silver haired woman didn't vocalize a response, only embracing her fiancé as he rubbed her back in small circles. The couple stood in place for a solid minute before letting go, opting to return back to the living room to check on their nephew. What they returned to was a pleasant surprise, the meek child curled up in his blanket fast asleep on the couch, fast food wrappers scattered all around the coffee table without a care in the world. While Kyoko could do without the mess, the sight of her normally anxious nephew peacefully sleeping did tug at her heart.

The woman knelt down and gave the boy a small kiss on the forehead, stirring the boy in his sleep slightly but welcomed the affection as he kept snoozing away. It was then and there where Kyoko promised herself she'll do whatever she can to make sure this child is safe and in good care, even if that may not come from her.