On the first morning inside Noa's home, Yuki rubbed his sleepy eyes as he came downstairs. Upon awakening, it had taken him a good several minutes to realize that he wasn't on Sohma property and Akito wasn't the one to quite roughly wake him up.
He walked into the kitchen to find the table set and Noa and Yuta placing various dishes on it.
"Good morning, Yuki!" Noa smiled. "How did you sleep?"
No one had ever greeted him in the morning before. "Um, I slept fine."
"Come on in and eat some breakfast!"
Yuki had never eaten breakfast with anyone except Akito. Was this what normal families did?
He politely sat at one of the place settings and waited for Yuta and Noa to sit down.
They all blessed the food and then began eating.
"Yuki, you're going to walk to school with Yuta since your school is right next to his and he'll make sure you get there safely."
"Thank you," Yuki answered shyly.
"No problem," Yuta smiled. "It'll be nice to not make that short walk all by myself."
"All right, hurry and finish up," Noa told them. "You both better get going. Don't forget your lunches!"
The two boys quickly finished their remaining food and then grabbed their backpacks.
Yuta gave his mother a peck on the cheek as he grabbed his lunch. "Bye, Mom."
"Bye." She grabbed a paper bag from the counter. "Here, Yuki, this is for you."
Yuki carefully took the paper bag from her, surprised she had gone to such lengths for him. "Bye, Miss Kaneko."
"Noa. Bye, Yuki. I'll see you both after school!"
They both left the house, and Noa smiled fondly. It was about time Yuki felt a real, regular family morning.
After classes were done for the day, Yuta went to Yuki's school and waited for the young boy. Yuki smiled shyly as he exited the building and saw the teenager who was smiling at him.
Usually, it was his mother who picked him up from school, but she barely said two words to him the entire drive much less him give him such a bright smile upon seeing him.
"Hey, how was school?" Yuta asked.
"It was good."
"Any homework?"
"Um, yeah, a little bit. I have some for math and some writing practice."
"Not too hard then, right?" He slung an arm around the boy's shoulder. "Come on, let's get home. Mom probably made some food for us."
When the two boys came home from school, they headed for the kitchen.
"Welcome home!" Noa smiled.
Yuki felt his heart flutter. It was the first time he had ever actually been welcomed home upon returning.
"I was just making some snacks for you two."
"Ooh, castella!" Yuta beamed. "My favorite!"
"Yuki, you can help yourself."
"Thank you," Yuki said quietly.
He started towards the cake but stopped when he saw a picture of man he didn't know sitting on a shelf next to some candles and plants.
Noa came up behind him. "That's my late husband, Kei," she told him. "He fell very sick five years ago and passed away. He would've loved you, you know."
"Really?" Yuki asked.
"Really. He had a heart for kids, especially kids your age. And he always knew just what to say to get them to trust him and open up to him."
"Do you miss him?"
"…Every single day. But I still have Yuta. And even though we're a small family, we both get by. We're happy." She put her arm around his shoulder, being extra careful not to let their torsos touch. "Come on, let's have some cake. Then the both of you need to go and do your homework."
"Oh, Mom!" Yuta groaned. "We've been home for five minutes!"
"And you'll get five more minutes, and then it's homework time. Yuki, if you have any questions, just ask me or Yuta for help, okay? And if you both finish by tonight, I'll let you watch TV and I'll even go out and buy some ice cream for you."
"TV and ice cream? Yuki, can you come over more often?"
For the first time since Noa had met the young boy, he gave them a genuine smile.
The next few days proved to be the happiest of Yuki's life. For the first time that he could remember, there was someone who cared about him. Someone who made sure he was well taken care of, someone who was happy just to have him around.
It was the first time he didn't absolutely dread school being over.
Not that school was any picnic either. Ever since his old friends had had their memories of him erased, he hadn't been able to make any new friends.
Yet that began to change when Yuta dropped him off on his way to the high school. The teenager politely greeted some of the other kids and made conversation with them. This in turn caused some of them to speak to Yuki, wondering if Yuta was his brother or a mentor. Some of the girls asked if the attractive older male had a girlfriend.
He finally started to have friends again.
When he had helped that young girl find her mother two years ago just before meeting Noa, that had been the first time he felt needed.
This past week was the first time he felt wanted.
When he explored the second level of the house while Noa took care of some cleaning downstairs, he opened the door to what appeared to be a small walk-in closet. He tried to find the light, but it wasn't on the wall next to the door.
In the darkness, he tripped on something and fell forward. The door slammed shut behind him. He tried the knob and it wouldn't open.
Panic rose up inside his chest.
This darkness…this isolation…
He began banging on the door, pleading to be let out. What if Noa didn't hear him? What if he would be stuck inside this room for hours?
Noa paused sweeping when she heard muffled bangs from upstairs. She dropped the broom and quickly climbed the steps. The bangs came from the hall closet, and Yuki's panicked shouts from inside reached her ears.
She rushed over to the door and pulled it open. Yuki tumbled out onto the floor.
"Yuki, what were you doing in there?"
The only response that she got was a combination of cries, gasps, and hiccups from the panicking boy.
Noa quickly got down on her knees and took Yuki's head in her hands so she could force him to look at her.
"Yuki, it's all right. You're okay."
Tears streamed from his eyes as he continued gasping for breath.
"Yuki, Yuki, look at me. Hey. Look at me. Take some deep breaths. Breathe in." She inhaled deeply for him to see. "Breathe out." She slowly released her breath. "Breathe in. Breathe out."
Slowly, Yuki began to copy her and took some deep breaths with her.
"Good. In. Out. In. Out."
She wiped the tears from his eyes with her thumbs.
"You're okay." She stood up and closed the closet door. "Are you claustrophobic?"
"What does that mean?" Yuki sniffled.
"It means that you're afraid of tightly closed spaces."
"No. I'm afraid of being alone in the dark."
While that was a normal child's fear, she couldn't help but feel that there was some other reason it terrified him. Most children didn't have panic attacks that severe when alone in the dark like he had been. She was fairly certain he hadn't even been in there for very long and it was enough to send him into complete hysterics.
She gently ruffled his hair. "Come on, let's get you some water."
A couple nights later, Noa was asleep when she heard someone quietly whisper, "Noa?"
Noa opened her eyes and it took a second for her to realize that Yuki was standing next to her bed.
She sat up a little bit. "Yuki, are you okay?"
"I…I had a bad dream."
Yuki didn't really know what he expected Noa to do. At Sohma house, when he went to his mother telling her he had a nightmare, she got up and irritably took him back to his room, telling him that only weak children were afraid of bad dreams. When he had told Akito, he just told him to go back to his room before turning over and returning to sleep.
Noa smiled sympathetically. "Go on the other side of the bed."
Yuki slowly did so.
When Noa saw he wasn't moving anymore, she smiled again. "Go on, get in."
Yuki's eyes grew big again.
"It's okay."
She pulled back the blanket for him. Yuki hesitantly climbed up next to her.
"Whenever Yuta had a bad dream, he'd coming running in here to sleep right in between me and Kei. There's nothing quite like that kind of comfort when you're afraid."
Normally, Noa would pull Yuki close to her so that he could feel protected inside her arms. Unfortunately, she knew doing so would just cause him to transform.
So instead, she put her arm around his torso without directly hugging him. It was the best she could do.
It looked like Yuki was about to start crying, and she wondered if this was the first time he had ever received comfort from anyone after having a nightmare.
Just what kind of life did he live at the Sohma house?
Much too soon for all three of them, the dreaded day had come.
It was time for Yuki to return to Sohma house.
Noa packed up his things for him and put them in her car.
Yuta hugged the small boy. "It was really fun having another guy around," he smiled. "Take care of yourself."
"Thank you," Yuki replied trying his hardest not to look upset. "You're fun to be around."
"Thanks. Come by again soon, okay?"
Yuki slowly nodded.
Noa sighed as she got into the car followed by Yuki.
She drove slowly to the house, willing the seconds to pass by slower. She was sure Yuki felt the same way.
When they arrived, Noa pulled his belongings out of the car and walked him to the large doors.
"Yuta and I thoroughly enjoyed having you around," she told him. "My door is always open to you. You can stop by anytime you want. And if you want to come home with Yuta one day after school, that's perfectly fine."
"Thank you for everything, Noa. I had a really, really good time."
Noa desperately wished she could hug him. Instead, she knelt down and pressed a light kiss to his forehead.
"This isn't good-bye. Just…see you later."
Yuki smiled. "Right. See you later."
Noa opened one of the doors for him, and Yuki stepped through. Just before the door closed, he turned and waved to her.
She smiled as she waved back.
Noa released a large breath of air. She didn't know what exactly went on in Sohma house, but she hoped that with Yuki now knowing someone wanted him, it would make the hard times a little more bearable.