Author's Note: HELP ME! Okay, I need your opinions on something. If you've read the 9th one there was a scene in it with Yuki in Tohru's room helping her study. There was a hat behind her, and she questioned her about it. I know the hat, Yuki's is mentioned in another book, but I only have the 5th,8th, and 9th and I don't remember what happened. Should Yuki tell her that the hat is his? Also, I have some theories about why he won't call her Tohru, keeps calling her Honda-san. Also, what does Kyo does for showers/baths? Water makes him tired; does that apply to baths as well? I've only thought of this stuff recently. Please reply in a review, or email me. My email is in my profile.
Thanks for all the reviews! I wish I could reply to each individually, but my internet does not like me a whole lot, and I don't the reviews saves so I wouldn't have time to write a reply for reach one. By the way, I have the Author Alert thingy, so you can add me however you do it with the new systems to get alerts when I update. Anyway, on with the story!
Chapter Three: Eight Hours Later
The next eight hours were very stressful on them all. Both children almost woke up when a glass broke, but they both slept on. Ayame and Shishou had left their posts beside the children's beds and were now back in the dining area sitting at the table. Both Shishou and Ayame seemed to be on pins and needles. "At least there's only another half hour left," Shigure commented hoping to cheer Ayame up who looked like he was to loose it. "Aaya, how's Yuki? He's still asleep right? You look really stressed out," he said for once serious in his life, concern lacing his voice. Aaya nodded tiredly.
"Yes, he's sleeping somehow. He keep tossing and turning making me think he's going to wake up every time he moves, moaning and groaning in his sleep. That couldn't give him brain damage could it?" Hatori shook his head.
"No, it won't. I didn't say they wouldn't have side effects. I just said it would be better for them both to sleep through it. Did I not mention that to you?" he remarked idly, sipping at his tea.
"You left that out on purpose, didn't you? You're so mean." Aaya huffed and drank his tea, shooting Hatori glares.
"Maybe it will help you realize that if you acted serious once in a while, Yuki would take you more seriously. Even though you mean everything you say, when say it the way you do it looses some of the meaning, and I know it drives Yuki crazy. If you really want to deepen your brotherly bond, like you're always saying, talk to him like a normal person, not um… like yourself." Aaya seemed to consider this. He was about to answer, but the door opened and Tohru walked in with Uo-chan and Hana-chan right behind her.
"Oh, hello everyone. I didn't know everyone was going to be here. Hana-chan and Uo-chan walked me home since Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun never showed up. Are they okay?" Hana and Uo were looking at them all suspiciously, wondering who these new occupants were in their best friend's current place of residence, and if they were suitable enough to leave their best friend with.
"Tohru, call us if you need anything, or if anything happens, okay?" Tohru smiled at them and nodded as they left. Tohru asked them all if they were doing well before getting back to her main question.
"It depends on your definition of okay," Shigure answered. "They're umm… well they're different than you remember. Tohru frowned. How could they be different? "Akito decided to punish them I guess," Shigure continued, "or test something on them, I don't know, but they are both now small children. Kyo-kun is…" he looked to the others for help.
"I think he's five. He was about that age when his mother died, and I think Yuki's six?" Shishou looked to Hatori. The doctor nodded. Tohru was gaping at them.
"Th- th- they're little?" All four men nodded. "Oh, so they're here? Are they sleeping?" She asked still trying to get her mind around the fact her two house mates were now small children.
"Shishou and Ayame are going to be moving in with us for a little while until Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun are back to their normal selves," Shigure answered again. "We have to make sure that they sleep until four. Until then we all have to be really quiet." Tohru nodded understandably, still trying to grasp the fact that Yuki-kun and Kyo-kun were little.
"What happens if they wake up before four?" Tohru ask as she sat down at the table. The men looked at each other. Hatori then explained more about what had been done to the boys, and all the possible side effects. The explanation, along with Tohru's questions, took almost the rest of the half hour. Once he was finished it was five till four.
"Do want us to let them sleep, or wake them up?" Ayame asked, stretching as he stood up.
"Wake them up, please. I want to give them an examination before I leave to make sure they're okay." Ayame and Shishou nodded the latter standing up also.
"Good," Aaya sighed, "it will give me more time to get to know my little brother and for us to learn new things about each other," he said back to his normal self. "Isn't it so exciting?" Hatori sadly shook his head. Ayame had obviously not listened to a thing he had said earlier about needing to be serious with Yuki at the moment.
Ayame opened the door to Yuki's room, and frowned looking at the bed. Yuki wasn't in it. He was on the floor, curled into a ball with the covers bunched up around him. Aaya looked the clock and sighed, one past four, time to wake him up. He bent down on the floor and gently shook his shoulder. Yuki's eyes immediately popped open, full of fear and terror. He quickly scuttled away from his older brother, breathing heavily. Ayame was surprised at this. Why had he done to scare the child? Yuki was trembling, tears in his eyes. "Its okay, Yuki," he said gently deciding that his normal demeanor would not be the best way to go about this. "I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to come forward again, but Yuki scooted farther back, tears now leaking out of his eyes.
Aaya sighed. This was obviously going to be harder than he thought. The child was now against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest with his arms around his legs, and his face buried in his arms. Ayame sat down Indian style trying to think what to do. Yuki was going to freak out if he tried to get any nearer so he obviously had to get the child to come to him, but how?
He heard Yuki whimper as the child laid down on the floor curling into a ball again. Ayame, an idea popping into his had, laid down on his stomach on the floor so that his face was level with Yuki's. "Yuki?" he spoke quietly, trying to get a reaction from the child. He got a reaction, but not that one he was hoping for. The child whimpered again, and seemed to curl into a tighter ball. "Its okay, Yuki, I'm not going to hurt you. I won't even look at you if you don't want me to, okay?" This finally had a positive reaction. Yuki very slowly raised his head just enough to peek at his older brother through his arms. Ayame could only see his eyes, but it was better than just the top of his head. He smiled warmly at the scared child. He could still see the raw terror in the child's eyes, but at least he was looking at him.
"See? I can't reach you? Here are my hands," he lifted his chin off his hands and waved them at Yuki, "and I'm going to put them at my sides okay?" He placed his hands behind him awkwardly and rested his chin on the floor. "Do you feel safer now?" He kept his voice quiet, gentle so he wouldn't scare the child. He had saw some of the fear in the child's eyes fade, just a little of it. Yuki gave a very small almost undetectable nod in answer to the man's question.
Ayame was very slowly scooting forward, not enough for Yuki to notice anytime soon. He was still curled into a ball, but had lifted his head a little more and was now peering at his brother curiously. "You know who I am, don't you?" Ayame stopped his slow, meticulous crawl forward to stare at his younger brother. What if he didn't remember him for some reason despite what had happened earlier? Yuki bobbed his head up and down, lifting it a little more. Ayame smiled at the child again, and began crawling forward again. The child looked away from him, staring off into space. Ayame took his chance and crawled forward a couple of inches. If he stretched his arms out in front of his he could easily pick the child up to take him to Hatori.
"Yuki?" The child looked back at him. "I'm going to put my arms back out in front in okay? The floor's starting to hurt my chin." Yuki pulled his head back farther down, but nodded anyway. At least that's some progress, he thought. He simply laid there looking at Yuki waiting for him to do something. Some of the fear that had left the child's eyes came back as Ayame hands went back in front him. Okay, so he's scared of hands?
After a few minutes Yuki had lifted his head out again, completely this time, and was now laying on his side with his knees drawn up, arms loose around them. He was beginning to trust his brother, but still didn't know if he was going to get taken back to the main house. He shuddered as he thought about that.
"Are you cold? I can get you some covers, or simply fix those that are twisted around you if you want," Ayame offered, inching forward again, as the child shuddered. Yuki shook his had no, but Ayame had no idea what he was answering no to. "Are you hungry?" He waited for Yuki to do something, but he didn't. He seemed like he was considering the question, but didn't move. "Tohru would probably be willing to make you something, if you would prefer that." Again he seemed to consider it, but still didn't move. Aaya sighed, at a lost of what to do. Deciding there was nothing else to do but get Hatori he stood up to leave, but heard Yuki whimper. He turned sharply to see that he had uncurled himself and was sitting up.
Yuki looked at him thinking, please don't leave. I don't want to be alone. I don't want you to touch me, but I don't want to be alone. The child could feel tears forming in his eyes, desperate to keep human contact. Part of him felt like he shouldn't be getting upset about this, but a bigger, stronger overruled it as he started crying again.
Ayame looked at the six year old confusedly. He wouldn't talk to him, wouldn't let him touch him, but he was going to cry because he was going to leave the room? He suppressed a sighed and went back to where the child was, this time sitting down. "Do you want me to leave?" Yuki immediately shook his head, tears slowing some, but still made no move over to let Ayame touch him. "Do you want me to stay?" Yuki nodded his head again, but still didn't move toward his older brother. "Do you want to come with me? Hatori's here and he needs to make sure you're okay before going back to the main house." Ayame immediately realize he had made a mistake in saying that.
As he said the main house, the raw fear returned to the child's eyes and he began shaking his head. No, no, no, I can't go back. I can't. I can't go back to that room.
Ayame, realizing his mistake, quickly said, "You're not going back to the main house. You don't have to ever go back there, okay? No one is going to send you back there, okay? You don't ever have to go back there, I promise." Yuki didn't seem to believe him, still shaking his head lightly. Ayame was about to pull out his hair with frustration. He understood that the child had been through a lot and was currently experiencing the worst time in his life, but if he would only talk, or let him pick him up. He knew just simply picking the child up wouldn't solve anything, but as the minutes passed and Yuki's sobs increased, he began breathing heavily, too heavily.
"Yuki, I'm going to pick you up, okay? You're breathing to heavy, and you need to calm down. Everything's going to be fine, I promise." He gently scooped the child into his arms, murmuring what he hoped were words of comfort to the distressed child.
Yuki trembled in his brother's arms; mind once again in turmoil, scared at the sudden human contact, someone holding him. After a few minutes of nothing happening but his back being rubbed, and Ayame trying to tell him something, he gradually calmed down as his brother's words reached his ears.
"It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you, no one if going to hurt you. No one if going to take you back the main house, you never have to go back there. Everything is going to fine."
He wanted to believe those words, but didn't know if he could. Even if it was a lie, it felt nice to be told that everything would fine, that it would all turn out okay. Yuki, sensing that Ayame was telling the truth, that he wasn't going to be sent back to the main house anytime soon, relaxed in his arms. Ayame smiled, relieved as he felt the tension leave Yuki's small body. "Can I take you to Hatori now so he can examine you?" Yuki nodded again sitting up straighter in his arms.
Hatori, Shishou and Kyo were still sitting at the table, talking when the pair entered. Hatori looked up and smiled at them, noting Yuki's wet cheeks and red eyes. Ayame set Yuki down beside Hatori and placed himself beside Yuki with Shishou and Kyo across from them. Kyo's eyes looked a little puffy, and he was holding his arm. Shishou was gently rubbing a spot on the child's upper arm. Ayame wondered if Hatori had given him a shot. He turned his attention to Yuki as the child whimpered. Hatori was swabbing the child's upper arm. Yuki unconsciously scooted closer to Ayame as Hatori brought the shot out. "It's an immunization," he said to Ayame's questioning look. "Are you ready?" he asked the child gently Yuki shook his head quickly. Hatori sighed. Aaya smiled at his friend's frustration. "Is it going to take a long time to get ready?" Yuki shook his head again. "Hurry up then," the doctor replied heavily. "It's only going to hurt a few seconds, I promise.
"How come you let him get ready and you just jabbed me?" Kyo spoke up angrily.
"Because you never would have been ready, Kyo," Shishou answered. "You simply didn't want the shot and weren't ever going to be ready. Yuki's loosening the muscles in his arms so it won't hurt so much. You were planning on jumping up and running away." The child pouted at him, huffed, crossed his arms, and scowled at the table knowing his surrogate father was right, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Shishou chuckled lightly at his behavior, but said nothing.
"Are you ready now?" Hatori asked again. Yuki gave a small nod. Ayame gently took the child's hand remembering something his parents had done with him when he had been a child and had to get shots.
"Just squeeze as hard as it hurts, okay?" Yuki nodded again as Hatori pierced his skin with needle. Yuki flinched slightly, but didn't squeeze Ayame's hand until the medicine started going in, and then he squeezed, hard. Ayame's eyes widened slightly at how strong the six year old was. In a few seconds it was over, and Hatori was packing his things away. Yuki had tears on his cheeks, and Aaya's hand was now stinging where Yuki had squeezed it so hard.
"They're as healthy as they can be at least physically. You're both just going to help them through the mental part. Aaya, do you remember what I told you earlier? About how to really help Yuki, and about the way you act?" Ayame sighed dramatically.
"Of course I remember, Tori, and I think you are right at some point, but that doesn't mean I have to act like that all the time. Just go and have fun," he smiled widely at his lifetime friend, waving him off dramatically.
Hatori left leaving the two small children and their current guardians at the table.