:Cowers beneath the wrath of reviewers: I-I'm sorry! H-Here's your next chapter! I'm so sorry it took TWO YEARS. WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I don't deserve your reviews:wallows:

Disclaimer: ….:still wallowing: No… I don't own Furuba…:wallow:

Hatori woke up to the sound of grunting through the door. He had looked at his alarm clock, where the red digital numbers told him it was 8:07 AM. He stared groggily at the door, curled up beneath his mountain of blankets and wondered why he'd slept in until eight o'clock, why it was so damn cold and what those noises were. Suddenly the black haired man shot up and undressed in a panic.

'Why is it eight already? Why the hell didn't my alarm go off? And why the hell is it so goddamned cold in my room?' Hatori threw on his suit while mentally swearing: just goes to show that like everyone else, even he swears when he freaks out. However, he skillfully hides the freaking-outness and swearing behind his cool façade, something he learned in high school from Ayame and Shigure teasing him every time something unexpected happened (the worst perhaps being when that upper-classman guy tried to kiss him underneath the mistletoe in their senior year…).

Well anyway, his belt was undone as was his long-sleeved shirt and tie when he slammed his bedroom door open. He got halfway down the hallway when he realized he wasn't wearing any socks and had to race back to get them. He shoved the socks in his pocket, planning to put them on while the coffee was on. And so Hatori continued his frantic pursuit of punctuality when he stumbled in on Haru and Kyo in the living room.

"Ow! Get off, you stupid fat cow!"

"You're the one who told me to get on you."

"Yeah, but not like that! I didn't want you sprawled out all over me, just right there—"

"Ohhhhh…."

"Do you see now?"

"Yeah. Oh, and Kyo-kun…"

"What… is going on in here?" Hatori asked, eyes wide. Before him were his two teenaged cousins, the orange-haired laying on his back and the black-and-white-haired boy sitting on top of a pile of cushions on top of the other's chest. They were such an odd position Hatori couldn't stop himself from gaping at them.

"I told this one over here—" Haru scratched at his fingernail, "that he could help me with my morning workout because he wouldn't shut up about how lonely he was and he asked me what I wanted him to do and I said he could grab some cushions and put them over my feet and stand on them or something while I did crunches but the stupid oaf put them on top of my chest and now I can't breathe," Kyo gasped. Between the fact that Haru hadn't moved from his chest and that he'd just used a tremendously long run-on sentence to explain to Hatori didn't help the already depleting oxygen level in his lungs.

"Get off already!" Kyo pushed his cousin's back and he slumped to the floor, his head now laying on the cushions on Kyo's chest. Haru rolled his eyes up at Kyo.

"As I was about to say Kyo-kun, you sound really dirty," he commented dryly.

"If anything you're the one who always sounds dirty!" Kyo's violent retort didn't hide the pink in his cheeks.

Hatori sighed.

He'd woken up for nothing. He'd panicked for nothing. And now… now he had to play babysitter.

Why was his internal clock so acutely wired? Why, goddammit, why? If he'd slept in he could've avoided this for a couple more hours, not to mention catch up on some sorely missed sleep. But since you could never change the past, Hatori figured he'd might as well deal with it.

"Listen here." Kyo and Haru stopped bickering and looked up at the sound of Hatori's deep, commanding voice. "Since I'm up already I'm going to go get some paperwork done. I'll be in my office if you need me although I don't expect you to. You are, after all, 16 and 17 years old, I'm quite assured you can take care of yourselves. Of course, I also expect you to behave yourselves and remain quiet. The temperature of my room has indicated is that there is still a blizzard outside, and as a doctor and a sensible human being I will advise you not to go outside unless you want to die of hypothermia. Now that that's all out of the way, do either of you drink coffee?"

Kyo's 'no' was silenced by Haru's unusually enthusiastic voice crying, "Yes!"

"You do not, you stinkin' liar!" Kyo elbowed Haru in the gut.

"So what if I don't, that doesn't mean I don't want to try it," he replied.

"Well Haru, how do you like your coffee?" Hatori pretended not to hear Kyo in order to avoid another fight.

Haru was silent for a few moments.

"There's different ways?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course there is, you idiot! It's not a 'one way suits all' sort of deal! Just how retarded are you?" Kyo snapped.

"Kyo, calm down," Already Hatori's nerves were ticking, but he maintained a calm voice, "Haru, come with me and we'll figure things out," Hatori gestured for Haru to follow him and he did as was told.

"Stupid cow… what a retard… geez, I mean come on, I knew he was dumb but not that dumb…" Kyo muttered to himself as he tucked his feet underneath the couch and began to do his crunches.

"You don't think black will be a little strong for your first try?" Hatori asked his younger cousin skeptically as he poured the coffee into a pale blue ceramic mug.

"I don't know," Haru truthfully replied.

"Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything," Hatori handed Haru the steaming mug.

"Thanks." Hau gratefully accepted it and was about to put his lips to it when Hatori warned, "I just poured it so you might want to let it cool. It's not much fun when you burn your tongue." Haru wisely placed his coffee back on the kitchen table.

"Well, I'll be in my office," Hatori set off at a brisk pace, clutching his coffee.

"Later," Haru waved.

"Ugh… those kids… so troublesome..." Hatori mumbled as he walked into his office. 'Should I lock it…?' he wondered, looking at the door, '…Nah.' He sat down in his extremely comfortable spinney chair and extracted a thick folder of paperwork from a desk drawer. He'd been saving all those papers up for a crappy day like this one. As he flipped open the folder Hatori thought how he was going crazy and beginning to talk to himself.

Back in the kitchen, Haru was bored. He had been poking the side of his mug ever since Hatori left, pushing his fingertip on the surface gently, then pulling it away when it started to burn. Sighing, he grabbed his still-undrank black coffee and ambled into the living room.

He could at least entertain himself by messing with Kyo.

I'M SORRY IT'S SO SHORT BUT IF I'D TRIED TO WRITE ANYMORE IT WOULD'VE TAKEN LONGER. So yeah. I apologize for the wait and I hope you'll take my sorry, lazy ass back.:bows until head touches floor: Thanks for jumpstarting me, guys. I'd actually totally forgotten about this fanficcy and lost all inspiration for it… until Fire-Metal-Horse17 threw a few swear words out at me and got me moving! (Remember this kiddies: if you're mad, toss out a couple swear words at me and I should get moving.:P) Someone else got me moving Fire-Metal-Horse17's spark fizzed out… I can't remember who you are, but you got me moving again too, thanks. AND THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR READING AND REVIEWING THIS. I'M SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT BUT I'M WRITING AGAIN AND YOU SHOULD ALL EXPECT REGULAR UPDATES (by 'regular' I don't mean every week… sorry, but I'm not that type of person. I mean 'not once every two years xx) AND IF I DON'T, FEEL FREE TO RESORT TO M-RATED LANGUAGE AND MAKE ME FEEL LIKE TOTAL CRAP… because I am. Thanks again guys, and I hope you enjoy!

P.S. – I don't didn't even notice the 'black' pun when I was writing this.:P