Dealing with little siblings is tough. You have to recognize their body language so you know when they're sad or angry, and you have to know what makes them happy again. Even though Shu has a surplus of little siblings, he was particularly gifted at this.

One thing that Shu knew was that if one of his brothers were crying, they probably aren't upset for the reason they say they are, but for some other reason. For example, when Ayato was upset, he would always run to Shu and complain about how his head hurt, his eyes hurt, his neck hurt, and he wanted it to stop hurting. And Ayato wasn't exactly lying when he said that he was in pain, but Shu could tell that Ayato was only really upset because he had been studying for hours and hours and he needed some kind of human contact.

But Ayato was relatively easy to figure out. Reiji was not so easy. He was extremely difficult to deal with for Shu especially. Reiji didn't cry so much, but he did have intense panic attacks, and Shu had no clue how to stop them. It seemed like they only got worse when he tried.

When around their mother, Shu could tell when Reiji was about to have an attack, but their mother couldn't tell at all. Shu could see Reiji's jaw clamp shut, and his fingers curl into tight fists and shake, and every once in a while Reiji would shudder and he would face away from his mother in a desperate attempt to hide his symptoms and recompose himself. Once they were away from their mother, though, Reiji would quit trying to hide it. He would have trouble breathing and tears would leak from his eyes.

And for the life of him, Shu couldn't figure out how to fix it. Everything he said or did just made Reiji angry.

"The problem isn't him, it's you," Edgar would tell him smartly. He took the stick he had picked up on their walk in the woods, and he pointed it at Shu. "You're only making him nervouser when you pay so much attention to him."

Shu ignored "nervouser," since he could forgive Edgar for not being as educated as he was. "But I can't just leave him alone. He's my brother."

Edgar marched ahead, kicking up dirt and swinging the stick like a baton. "I don't know nothing about brothers," he admitted. "Since all I got's a baby sister. But I know some stuff about dogs."

"Dogs?"

"My dogs Bear and Pig just had puppies. You ever seen German Shepherd puppies?"

Shu was impressed by Edgar's unusual dog-naming skills. He couldn't tell which was the male name and which was the female name. "No, never."

"Well, when puppies are born, they can't open their eyes. So they just crawl around each other, squealing a bunch."

"Yeah." Shu already knew that, but he didn't interrupt him.

"And when the first pup gets his eyes opened, he wants to play with the other ones. But they can't because their eyes are still closed. So the first pup steps all over them 'cause it's trying to play, but it scares the others 'cause they don't know what's stepping on them."

Shu was getting a bit confused.

Edgar turned and fixed his excited eyes on him. "So you're like a German Shepherd puppy with open eyes," he started with a big smile. "And you want your brothers to play with you, but they can't see anything yet. And if you don't stop stepping all over them then you're gonna hurt them." Edgar put his hands on his hips and grinned. He was apparently pretty proud of his metaphor.

Shu didn't exactly understand. "…So you're saying I should leave my brother alone until he "opens his eyes?'"

"Right! See, I can give pretty good advice," he laughed. Shu smiled shyly back at him and nodded his head.

So he made up his mind to leave Reiji alone when he was having panic attacks, but he couldn't bear to avoid him all the time. That would just be ridiculous. Imagine, never talking to your own brother!

Later that day, when Shu returned from his walk with Edgar, Reiji was in their room studying at his desk as per usual. Shu came in and sat down on the floor with a tired sigh. He kicked off his shoes, which were full of dirt. "You'll never guess what happened to me today."

"Hm." Reiji put his pen down and started flipping through his dictionary.

"Edgar said his dogs had puppies. Do you know what his dogs' names are? Listen to this, it's hilarious."

"Hm."

"Bear and Pig. I get the feeling Pig is the girl, but that seems kind of rude."

Reiji didn't answer. He flipped the pages of his dictionary in a slightly irritated fashion. Suddenly he asked, "Did you rip a page out of this?" as he held up the dictionary.

"Huh? Maybe. I might have." Shu moved a bit closer and leaned against the legs of Reiji's chair. "Anyway, I wonder what he'll name all the puppies. I wonder how many there are."

"You can't just rip pages out of books. This book is mine. And now I can't find a word because of you."

Shu flinched. "Well, I don't think I ripped a page out. I don't remember ripping a page out. But we can get you another dictionary."

Reiji huffed and tossed the dictionary aside angrily. Things were quiet for a little while.

Shu started to talk again. "I hope he names one of them Cat. I think that would be pretty funny. But then again, maybe he won't name them at all, since they're probably going to sell them. They're sheep dogs, after all, so they usually sell them-"

Reiji got sick of Shu distracting him, and the fact that he was leaning on his chair really bothered him, so he suddenly scooted his chair backwards forcefully. The corner of the seat of the chair hit the back of Shu's head hard, and Shu whimpered in pain and started to rub his head.

"That hurt! What was that for?"

"You're distracting me. And you tore a page out of my book."

Shu's heart sank. "I'm sorry about your book. But all I was doing was talking. You never talk to me anymore. If I was bothering you then you could have just said so instead of hurting me." His voice cracked.

Reiji was quiet for a second, and then he turned and looked at Shu. "Did it hurt?"

"Yes, it did." Shu sounded really upset. The back of his head was stinging, but he was hurt even more by the fact that Reiji would do such a thing in the first place. His stomach was aching. "It really did hurt."

To Shu's surprise, Reiji hesitated and mumbled, "I'm sorry…" and his eyes started watering.

Shu stared at him wide-eyed. He was sorry. Immediately Shu's head stopped hurting, and the sick feeling in his stomach felt better too. He quickly assured him, "Oh, it's okay, Reiji. I'm not mad."

Reiji had started tearing up badly. He looked like he was about to start bawling any second. He shut his eyes tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Shu got to his feet. "Reiji, it's okay. I shouldn't have bothered you. And it doesn't hurt that badly." Shu really did feel a lot better, even though he didn't like seeing Reiji cry. He was happy to hear him apologize, and he was sort of glad to see that Reiji felt bad for hurting him. However, Reiji's next sentence completely ruined that:

"Please don't tell Mother."

Shu's face went blank. So that's what he was so upset about.

"Please, please don't tell Mother. I'm sorry," Reiji sniffled.

Shu smiled, but it wasn't a genuine smile at all. "I'm not going to tell her," he assured him softly. So Reiji wasn't sorry at all. He was just afraid of what would happen if their mother found out. Well, Shu didn't really blame him. But it still felt awful.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please don't tell."

"I won't tell."

Shu didn't talk with Reiji too much after that.

So Edgar's metaphor still made sense, but he might have gotten a few things backwards. Maybe Reiji was the puppy that opened his eyes first, and he was walking all over Shu, and Shu was the one who was blind and confused. And maybe, years in the future when Reiji and Shu grew up (and after Edgar was long gone), Shu never opened his eyes. He just learned to accept it when Reiji walked all over him.

xxx

After the secret was out about their little sister, Subaru was bombarded with questions, most of which were from Laito. And most of which he couldn't answer.

"You really saw her? What was she like?"

"Like a baby," Subaru responded plainly.

"Did she look healthy?"

"I don't know. I didn't get close."

"How old is she now?"

"Haven't been keeping track."

"When can we see her?"

"Don't know." Hopefully never.

The answer to that last question, though Subaru didn't know it at the time, turned out to be "in over a decade." For over ten years Subaru was the only one to ever see this girl, though only about once a month. For some reason, Christa didn't need him as often now that she had another baby to take care of. But still, she was constantly inviting him over to visit. It was her way of attempting to bring the "family" together, which Subaru thought was stupidly sentimental, but he didn't want to ruin her happiness.

Every month it would be, "Subaru, Subaru, come a bit closer and hold up your hand. Don't be shy. Look how tiny her hand is compared to yours!" It was indeed a very tiny hand. A very tiny, fragile hand with breakable bones. Subaru kept a large distance away from her for her own safety.

In a matter of time, Ruri learned how to walk and her hair grew out long. Christa kept her hair in two neat braids. Subaru started to suspect that Christa had always wanted to do her daughter's hair, because she looked at her hair lovingly and touched it frequently. It was a smoky white color. And Ruri's face was rounded and her eyes large and a much duller red than Subaru's, and her nose was all dotted with dark freckles that stood out against her fair skin. Christa laughed and said while staring admiringly at her face that her own mother used to have freckles when she was young, but she grew out of them.

So Ruri resembled her grandmother. But that didn't mean a thing to Subaru because he had never been allowed to meet his grandmother.

One thing that Subaru had noticed (that he neglected to tell his brothers) was that he had seen her walk and even attempt to communicate with him, but he had never heard her talk. The only time he had ever heard her was when she was an infant, and she cried whenever she saw him because he was a stranger. Other than that, Ruri had mastered the art of keeping quiet.

Over the years, Subaru's brothers gradually stopped asking him questions, because he never had answers. Laito periodically asked how she was doing (Subaru noticed that Laito always referred to her vaguely and he never used her name) but that was it. The unrest that was created after Ruri's birth gradually started to settle down.

Until, that is, Reiji called a family meeting to discuss some news. Usually he held those meetings in the living room, since Shu never moved from there, but for this particular occasion he called everyone to the game room. He was still resentful that Shu had not told him about their sister, so he wanted to get back at him by keeping him in the dark.

"Is everybody present?" Reiji didn't wait for anybody to answer. "Then we can begin."

Ayato did a double-take and then he started mouthing numbers to himself. "There's five of us," he announced. "But…I can't figure out who we're missing."

Laito hadn't noticed. "Did you count yourself?"

"Of course he counted himself," Kanato commented. "How could he forget himself? This is Ayato we're talking about."

"Is Subaru here?"

"Subaru's here."

"Oh, I almost didn't notice him. His presence is so thin. But that still makes five."

Subaru glared at Ayato. "We're missing Shu," he muttered. He suddenly looked at Reiji.

"Oh! I forgot all about Shu." Ayato looked at Reiji too. So did Laito and Kanato.

Reiji didn't meet any of their eyes. He ignored the mention of Shu's name and went on. "I've called you all here to talk about something concerning our sister."

Their eyes widened in surprise. They hadn't heard about her in so long. Reiji's tone suggested that the news was unfortunate.

Laito was holding his breath without realizing it. He felt sick hearing that. He was terrified that his sister was going to die. He could already hear Reiji's voice: "She died of an unknown illness", "She was malnourished and starved to death", "She rolled over in her sleep and suffocated"…

Reiji went on. "I recently spoke to Father about her. He told me that it was a shame that we never met her."

"She choked to death the first time she tried solid food", "The mansion suddenly went up in flames", "Everything was fine and then her heart just stopped"…

"So, since he and Christa are appearing at a party in Holland, he said this was the perfect opportunity for us to get to know her, as well as to learn some responsibility, which I have to agree with. Long story short, Ruri will be staying at our house for a few weeks."

Laito thought he might faint. "Oh, my God," he cried out.

Subaru looked startled, but he didn't want to object in front of everyone, so he grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and forced himself to be quiet. It was harder than it looked. He was shaking with rage. This was absolutely unacceptable. Ruri would die here. What would happen to his mother then?

Kanato was the first to voice his disapproval. "No way! She'll be so dreadfully annoying! I don't have time to take care of babies!"

"She's not a baby anymore," Reiji reminded him calmly. "She's about eleven now." Eleven years old, that is, but in terms of her growth (because she's a vampire), she was about five. This is the same reason none of the brothers changed at all in that decade.

"This sounds dumb," Ayato commented. "I don't want any little girls in the house."

"You'll have to deal with it. It's an order from our father." Reiji wasn't willing to budge on this because this was one of the very few times that his father gave orders to him and not Shu. Reiji didn't want to disappoint him.

"If she goes in my room then I'll kill her," Ayato swore. Laito and Subaru both looked at Ayato like they wanted to kill him.

"I'll keep her out of trouble," Reiji told him. "So that won't be necessary."

"We can't," Subaru spoke up at last. He sounded desperate. "We can't-"

"Please stop complaining," Reiji cut him off sharply. "She won't bother you. She'll be spending most of her time studying anyway. Besides, we don't have a choice."

Subaru gripped tighter onto his shirt. Reiji wasn't going to listen to him after all. In order to suppress his anger, he bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood, and he stormed away from them.

Once Subaru left, everyone else followed his lead and broke off in different directions, complaining loudly. They were all bothered by Reiji's announcements, for multiple different reasons. Shu remained ignorant, just like Reiji wanted him to.

A few days later, Reiji actually spoke to Shu while he was lying on the couch, which was incredibly unusual. Shu couldn't even remember the last time Reiji willingly spoke to him. "I would suggest you tidy yourself up a bit."

Shu stared at the ceiling. "Why?" he asked lethargically.

Reiji was smiling. "Maybe the queen of England is coming to visit. You never know."

Shu glanced at him suspiciously. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Out to do a few errands. Pick up a few things." Reiji left the house without another word. Shu chose to ignore him and went back to sleep.

He was awoken a few hours later by a small finger prodding at his side.

When he opened his eyes he saw a very familiar face on a little girl with her hair in two braids. She was staring at him with a concerned expression, and when he showed signs of being alive, she was transfixed with fear.

Shu sat up immediately, confused as to why there was a little girl in the house. The sudden movement caused the girl to step backwards, and she bumped into the coffee table and squeaked in surprise.

Shu looked around and saw Reiji, who was locking the door with a satisfied expression. "Who is she?" Shu asked.

"The queen of England," Reiji responded sarcastically.

Shu looked back down at the girl. She was staring at him curiously, as if he were a corpse that had just come back to life. Shu was able to recognize who she resembled right away. And he realized that Reiji had caught him off guard on purpose. He covered his face with his hand and started to laugh. The little girl looked at him in wonder, her eyes brightening a bit when she saw him laugh.

"What are you laughing about?" Reiji asked with a frown.

"The queen of England," Shu laughed. "That's funny."

The sound of Reiji coming home plus the scent of some new feminine presence in the house attracted Kanato and Ayato.

"Did you bring food?" Ayato asked excitedly, looking around for a girl. "Did you get a good-looking one?"

Kanato spotted the girl first when she peeked out at them from the other side of the couch. "Ah! It's only a child. Reiji, this isn't funny."

"She's not food," Reiji said sternly. "This is Ruri." Ruri wasn't paying any attention to their words at all; she was only staring blankly at Kanato and Ayato.

"Ruri? Oh! Subaru's sister." Ayato turned away, heading back upstairs. "Got my hopes up for nothing."

Kanato stared right back at Ruri. He didn't know why, but he felt jealous already. "Why is this little vermin here? We don't have room for her. How are we going to feed her?"

Shu flinched at the word "vermin." He took another long stare at Ruri, who did not seem bothered by it at all. In fact, she was bored of Kanato now. She was more interested in the couch that Shu was sitting on. She was touching it with both hands, feeling the texture of the fabric. Shu asked very quietly if she wanted to sit down, but she looked at him without answering. Shu patted the seat next to him to silently convey that she had permission to sit there, and she climbed up and settled down. She smoothed out her dress with her hands and then went right back to touching the fabric.

Reiji went on, "Don't concern yourself with how we're going to feed her. I've got that covered. I've also prepared one of the guest rooms for her."

"Agh! She'll be so loud," Kanato groaned. "She'll bother all of us. I wish you had prepared a dog house instead."

Kanato's words seemed to be hurting Shu much more than they were hurting Ruri. Either Ruri was blocking out the sound of his voice, or she just didn't understand what Kanato was saying. She started to swing her legs and Shu noticed she was still wearing her shoes. He mumbled, "Here, let's take your shoes off…" and he unbuckled them and took them off for her. Her shoes were shiny and black, and Shu thought that they must be her best pair.

Meanwhile, Reiji had to admit to Kanato that Ruri was an inconvenience. "It was an order from our father. There's nothing we can do."

"I think there's plenty of things I could do," Kanato grumbled, glancing at Ruri again.

Ruri had started to occupy herself by playing with her braids. Shu looked at Kanato. "Shut up."

"Why are you telling me to shut up?!" Kanato demanded. His voice got much higher in pitch.

"You keep saying that girl is going to be annoying, but she hasn't said a word this whole time while you've been going on and on about it."

"I'm going on about it because I know she's going to be annoying!"

"All right!" Reiji cut in, glaring at Shu. "Shu, stop trying to make it worse. Honestly."

Shu did not meet his eye. Ruri was looking at him with her lips parted, wondering why he looked so angry.

Reiji approached and touched Ruri on the shoulder. "Come on. I'll show you to your room." Ruri blinked her eyes at him, and when Reiji started to walk away, she hopped down from the couch and followed him like a duckling.

Shu leaned back and looked up at the ceiling again. He was already exhausted, even though he had only interacted with Ruri a little. Not that she came off as a troublesome kid by any means - no, Shu was actually impressed with her ability to keep her mouth shut. That would prove to be a useful skill in this household. No, she wasn't troublesome at all, but Shu was still exhausted. He was exhausted because he suddenly remembered what it was like to have a younger sibling.

And he remembered that you have to pay attention to their body language, and look out for anything that might be wrong, and you have to figure out what to do in order to cheer them up when they're sad. Having younger siblings was complicated. Shu had to wonder how he ever had the energy to look after all of them.

As Reiji led Ruri away, he said in a voice loud enough for Shu to hear, "Ruri, you should stay away from that person in the living room. He's a bad influence." And Ruri nodded at him.

He really did have to wonder how he did it.