Author's Note: QUESTION: Do you all mind that I'm taking forever to do one day? It's still on the first day if you haven't noticed. Do any of you care? I didn't go to camp last week because my friend backed out on going with me, but I decided to take the week off I guess. I didn't feel like writing. We also had to switch out modems because the other wouldn't work hardly at all, and with out old modem, I can now do review responses since the Internet will not kick off every half hour now. Lol. FRUITS BASKET 10: You can buy the 10th volume in English from Tokyo Pop off Ebay for 6.99 plus 2.50 for shipping. Once shipped it will take 5-9 days for it to get here. TP says release date is 7-12. The seller had 26 of them, 25 now since I bought one, last night if anyone had any money to do that. Just thought you might like to now since I've been searching the whole Internet for it in English since I finished the 9th one. Anyway on to review responses, and I apologize for being a day late on updating but I got pissed yesterday because my Fruits Basket manga cd with volumes 1-13 wouldn't work, and then the internet wouldn't cooperate so it's a day late, sorry.

I HATE IT WILL NOT LET ME SEE STATS, OR ANYTHING HARDLY, AND NOW I CAN'T DO REVIEW REPONSES! I'M GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!

Chapter Five: Kisa and Hatsuharu

Yuki clutched his legs tighter to his chest. He didn't want any new people in the house. What if they were coming to take him back to the main house? Ayame had said that no one was going to take him back, but how could he be sure that was the truth? Akito wouldn't tell Ayame if he was going to send someone to take him back to the main house. What could he do to stop them? They would force him back into the deep, dark room.

"Yuki?" The child flinched, but was also slightly relieved to hear his brother's voice. He was very slowly beginning to trust his brother, but he was still extremely scared to let anyone to close. He didn't want to go back to the main house. He didn't want to see Akito. The small boy wasn't able to hold back his sobs any longer. He distantly heard his brother's voice talking to him, a little closer now, but not to close. "Yuki, it was only Kagura. She was here to see Kyo and she already left. It's okay, you're not going anywhere and no one is going to hurt you." Yuki felt the mattress go down as the man sat down. "It's going to be okay."

Ayame studied the child beside him who was still sobbing. He knew a new person would certainly scare the child, but what could he do to make it better? Holding the child came to mind, but he didn't know if that was the best course of action at the moment. He had seen the child flinch when he had first entered the room, and he didn't want to scare the poor thing anymore than he was already. He settled for carefully reaching out and placing his hand on top of the child's head. He saw Yuki cringe, but the child didn't scoot over to escape the touch of affection.

Ayame had become a source of something akin to comfort, or security for the now small child, something that he needed so badly no matter how small it was, or how reluctant he was to accept it. The man had said the right things, that everything was going to okay and that he didn't have to go back to the main house, and he hadn't hurt him. He hadn't even mentioned anything about hitting him; he had only been nice and gentle to him. He wasn't going to open up to him anytime soon, but he knew he had to be taken care of it, and it appeared that Ayame was going to be the one to care for him. If he was truthful with himself what he really wanted was exactly that: someone to care for him. Someone who would come running in the middle of the night when he had nightmares, and someone who would comfort him. He wanted someone who loved him unconditionally. He wanted to stop crying to, but couldn't seem able to do it. He was still scared that someone new was going to open the door and take him back to the main house.

"Yuki?" He didn't answer his brother. He could feel the hand on top of his head petting his hair. "I'm going to pick you up now, and take you into the rest of the house to show you that that it's just us, Kazuma, Kyo, Shigure, and Tohru here, okay?" The man knew the child wouldn't appreciate being picked up, but he didn't see any alternative to get the child to stop crying, and hoped that telling him what he was going to do would help keep down the panic. Ayame stood up from the bed, put his hand under the child's arms, and lifted him up. Yuki uncurled for a second, letting Aaya see his tear soaked face before the man had the child against his chest. Yuki curled into his brother's body, still wanting to hide from the outside world. Ayame stood there for a few moments, gently rocking the child. It seemed to calm him a little. He waited a few more minutes, stroking the child's back while swaying back and forth.

Yuki clutched at the fabric of his brother's clothes, calming down. The swaying motion was gently, lulling. It felt nice to have his back rubbed. It wasn't very comfortable to sit against the wall curled up like he was. Ayame's hand was slowly working out the ache that had formed there. After about five minutes, Yuki had stopped sobbing and there were only a few tears slipping out of his eyes. Ayame pulled open the door running into Kazuma and Kyo in the hallway. Kazuma was also holding Kyo, but the orange haired child was looking around, sitting up, not hiding like Yuki was. "See, there's Kyo-kun and Kazuma-san. No one new there, and there is no one new in the house." Ayame saw Kyo give him a dumbfounded look out of the corner of his eye.

"He's right, Yuki," Shishou spoke up. "There isn't anyone new in the house. It's the same people that were here earlier." Kyo was watching the show in front of him, amused, but getting impatient. Shishou had promised to show him some new stuff today.

"Can we go outside now? You promised to show me some new stuff," Kyo said impatiently wondering why Shishou cared anything about the stupid rat. He didn't want to see him so soon after Tohru's talk of asking him why he hated Yuki so much. Kazuma and Kyo headed outside while Ayame took Yuki into the kitchen where Tohru was busy making dinner.

"See, Yuki, there's Tohru and Shigure is around here somewhere." Tohru jumped, startled.

"Oh, Yuki-kun, Ayame-san, I didn't hear you come in. Yuki-kun are you okay?" she asked concernedly, frowning, looking to Ayame for an answer.

"Kagura scared him when she made her very loud entrance, and he's still recovering. Do you know where Shigure is?"

"I think he's in his room, writing maybe." Aaya laughed.

"He's willingly doing work. Who would've thunk it?" Yuki didn't lift his head from his brother's shoulder, but did lift his eyes to look at Tohru's back as they left, reassured. "Gure!" Aaya sang, entering his friend's room before he could get reply. Yuki simply tuned them out, his brother back to his normal self. Ayame's behavior was confusing the child to no end. He was used to his brother being, loud, arrogant, boastful, and mostly annoying. The whole day he had serious, gentle, and quiet. Was he doing that on purpose to try to make him feel better? Maybe Hatori had said something to him. It had to be Hatori since he wouldn't listen to anyone else. Yuki heard his name and snapped back to the present though neither had noticed he hadn't been listening. "Shigure, is there anyone else in the house besides us, Tohru, Kyo, and Kazuma-san?"

"Nope, that's it. Kagura left, Yuki, and she wouldn't have done anything to you anyway. She might've done something to Kyo, but not to you. You're not the one she is so devoted to," he laughed.

"See?" Ayame said rubbing the child's back again. No one new-"

The doorbell rang again as Yuki's loosened grip on his brother's shirt tightened. "Well, there wasn't anyone new," Ayame finished heavily, frowning. Shigure frowned and went to get the door. Ayame turned his attention to the once again trembling and crying child in his arms. "It's okay, no one is going to take you anywhere and no one is going to hurt you." Shigure appeared back at the door.

"It's Kisa and Haru. Akito should really send out a memo the next time he does something like this so we won't have so many visitors with two frightened children. Kyo almost screamed when he heard the doorbell. I didn't turn them away, I told them to sit down and let me explain some things to them, but it's going to be harder to make them leave then it was with Kagura. Haru's defiantly going to want to see Yuki, and Kisa is to probably since she can relate so well to Yuki. Do you want to come with me to explain, or are you going to stay here with Yuki?"

Ayame looked at the child nestled safely in his arms. The child had relaxed once he heard the names of who was there. He still seemed to be on his guard, but he wasn't clinging to his brother, petrified that someone was going to take him back to the main house. If he was his normal age Kisa and Haru would be younger than he was, and he knew Haru wouldn't hurt him. Kisa wouldn't either, knowing what it's like not to talk to anyone. He wanted to see them, sort of, but was still scared of letting anyone new in, and he was still adjusting to the switch of being so little. It had only been about nine and a half hours since Akito had given the shot and he had been changed, and a lot of happened in that short amount of time.

"Yuki, do you want to see them? You don't have to, if you don't want to, I'm not going to make you." He could almost see the child's indecision on his face, wanting to see two people who he was close to, but also not wanting to see them still feeling vulnerable and wondering what they would think of him. Yuki nodded. "You want to see them?" Ayame clarified. Yuki nodded again, more certainly this time. "Are you sure? You don't have to." Yuki nodded again, sitting up in his brother's arms, body stiff, nervous. "If you're sure…" He nodded again to reassure this brother that he was sure. In truth, he wasn't really sure, but he knew Haru would keep coming everyday until someone finally let him see Yuki. Kisa would back off for a little while, but the child knew she was going to try to get him to talk. Not to soon, but in a couple of weeks.

The trio went back in dining area where Haru and Kisa were seated talking to Tohru who had joined them when she had found out who it was. Yuki fought the urge to hide against this brother, not really wanting them to see him in his current state. Their conversation broke off as Haru and Kisa spotted Yuki in Ayame's arms. "It's true," Haru said simply locking eyes with his now small best friend.

"Kagura came back to the main house and told us what happened, but we didn't really believe her. Haru wanted to come and see for himself. I told him I thought we shouldn't in case it was true, but he insisted, and he's watching me today so I didn't have a choice," Kisa said, apologetic. "We shouldn't have come; we scared both of them. Being turned into a little kid has to be hard to cope with, and especially if Kagura was right in saying that the medicine turned them back to the age they were when the worst thing in their life happened."

"That's true," Shigure answered sitting down again, preparing to make the talk again for the third time that day. "Yuki is about six, and Kyo is about five. Kyo is at the point where his mother died and everyone blamed him for that and his father left. Yuki's is when Akito… well I'm sure you both know." Shigure and Ayame didn't seem to be paying much attention to the aforementioned child, but Haru and Kisa were. They could both tell he was attentively listening to each word everyone said. His eyebrows seemed to go up slightly when Shigure didn't finish his sentence about where Yuki was now at in his life. He was in the deep, dark room with Akito and that horrible stick like thing the child had been given. Yuki forced those thoughts from his head and focused on the conversation at hand. Haru didn't miss the sad, scared look in the boy's eyes.

Ayame had sat down across from the pair, beside Shigure on the other side of the table. Yuki had finally relaxed in his arms, now sitting up and alert unlike the hunched over, hiding act he had been doing all day. Aaya tuned his friend out, singing a little song in his head, thoughts on what he could do with Yuki in all the ample time they had to spend together in the upcoming weeks. How long would it take for the medicine to wear off anyway?

"So Yuki isn't talking again," Haru stated looking at the child, head tilted slightly. "We can always fix that in time, and Kisa can help to, but it's still to early to consider that isn't it, Yuki? You've not been little that long." Yuki wanted to answer him somehow, but simply nodding or shaking his head wouldn't do any good. It would only make everyone confused. Haru pulled something out of school bag that he had with him, placing it on the table. "Do you remember this Yuki? We used to play it when we, well I, were younger." Yuki looked at the open wooden board with small circles carved into the board with a long oval circle at either end. Yuki nodded as the name of the game came to mind.

It was Mancala, a century old stone game. He couldn't remember where it had originated, but thought it was from somewhere in Africa, or in the Middle East. There were six holes for each player on either side of the board, four stones to a hole, and each player had a bank, the long oval holes at the end of the board. The object was to get as many stones in your bank as possible. The person with the most stones in their bank won. The game was over when one player ran out of stones in their six holes. You dropped one stone in each hole going towards your bank. You could only drop one of your stones in your own bank, not the other players. If your last stone landed in the bank you got to go again. If the last stone landed in an empty hole you got the opponents pieces in the hole beside that.

"Do you want to play?" Haru asked setting up the game. Yuki nodded remembering how Haru could never win a game even if his life depended on it. Haru went first, knowing that going first sometimes meant that you had the advantage. You did, but Yuki knew how to undo Haru's carefully planned moves. Kisa got up and went into the kitchen to help Tohru prepare dinner.

"Are you to going to be staying for dinner?" Shigure asked standing. Kisa paused on her way to the kitchen, looking at Haru. They all looked to Yuki, waiting to see what he thought, hoping for the child to do something. Yuki nodded his head. He trusted both of them enough to let them stay and he wanted to beat Haru's butt before he left. Kisa continued onto the kitchen, saying she would tell Tohru that they would be staying for dinner. Shigure left to go write some more he said leaving Yuki, Ayame, and Hatsuharu at the table.

"You've not been like yourself, Ayame. You've been normal so far. How come?" Haru asked, scowling as Yuki took some of his stones that he had planned on using and almost cheerfully put them in his own bank. The child's face was still a mask of indifference, no emotions showing ever, but his eyes seemed to have a certain gleam to them, no longer dead and hollow like they had been when the child had first entered. Ayame sighed, sounding more like his 'normal' self.

"Hatori suggested that maybe if I acted more serious that I could help Yuki better, and that would be the best way to deepen my brother bond with my little brother," he said dramatically, completely back to normal for him. "Have I been acting more serious? I can't exactly ask Yuki since he won't talk…" He trailed off looking thoughtful, but shook his head lightly.

"Aha!" Haru exclaimed as he managed to finally take some of Yuki's pieces, about five or six, and deposited them in his bank. "I finally got some, and yes Ayame, you have been acting more serious."

I knew it had to Hatori you had told him to be serious, Yuki thought. Though I wouldn't have thought that he would be willing to change his whole personality just so he could help me, or deepen our brotherly bond like he is always saying. Why would anyone want to change for me? I haven't done anything to deserve it. My own parents sold me, just a simple tool, but Ayame did say that he didn't see me as a tool… I wasn't really sure if he meant it, it's so hard to take anything he says seriously since he's usually so flamboyant all the time. Could he really have been telling the truth? Has be been taking care of me this whole time because he wanted to, and not because he felt like he had to just because we're related? Does he actually care for me?

Yuki blinked as something flashed in front of his face. He looked at Haru's slightly amused expression, confused. "Yuki?" He looked up to his brother, still confused. "I've finally got your attention. I've only been calling your name for the past five minutes. Will you be okay here with Haru while I make some phone calls?" Yuki blinked, still trying to understand what had happened. He had obviously got a little to caught up in his thoughts. He nodded after figuring that out as Ayame sat him on the ground, stood, and left promising to be back in a few minutes. Yuki suddenly felt kind of alone. He realized then that ever since he had gotten home Ayame had never left his side, that he was aware of, not even for a minute.

Yuki and Haru fell into a comfortable silence as the game played on. Haru's playing abilities had improved, but Yuki was still winning by a lot. Haru was watching his friend closely for any signs of any emotion. He could only see sparks and glimmers of some things in the child's eyes, but they only stayed for the briefest second not giving the ox any time to figure out what they were.

Yuki won fifteen minutes later. He had over the half stones. Haru could see something in his eyes, maybe the slightest spark of happiness, or victory, he couldn't tell which, but it disappeared just like all the others before he had a really good chance to look at it. Haru sat it up for another game listening to the sounds of dinner being prepared and Tohru and Kisa laughing. "You know I won't let you stay mute for to long, don't you?" Yuki looked up at him, surprised, though he had thought the same thing. "I'm not going to start anytime soon, I'll give you a couple of weeks, but this if your chance to understand everything that happened and deal with it. I know it bothers you a lot as a teenager, and it has to bother you more now, obviously, but this is your chance your put it all behind you. Ayame really does care for you. It's rather hard to get that, you know how he is, but he doesn't see you as a tool, or something that can just be casually thrown away.

"I don't either, very few people do in fact. I suppose your parents, and maybe Akito, are the only ones who do. You do matter, and I know if you were talking you'd probably bite my head off right about now, but that's only because you know I'm telling the truth, but for some reason, you can't accept that fact, or won't." Haru propped his head on his hand, looking the child in the eye. "I know you don't believe me, but I'm going to keep saying it until you do, and everyone else will to if I ask them to. Also, maybe, you can finally start calling Tohru that instead of Honda-san. It's been plenty long enough for you to call her that, since she's been living and since-" He stopped his sentence, finally seeing true emotion in his eyes, surprised. Anger and fear seemed to be the most dominant. He knew the anger was directed mostly at him. He knew it wouldn't do any good to have Yuki mad at him. "Forget I mentioned that okay? I won't bring it up again though it does reassure me that you are in there since I can finally see some emotion in your eyes, and there's nothing you can do to hide that."