Chapter Eleven: Surprise Visit

Yuki peeked through the crack in Kyo's door. He hadn't came out all day and neither had Kazuma. Tohru had gone in several times to check on him and offer something to eat, but he wouldn't take it. Earlier, he had heard the child sobbing. He didn't know what was wrong, but assumed it had something do to with his mother. He tip-toed away from the door and went downstairs. It was Tuesday and Tohru had alredy left for school. Shigure was still sleeping, which left him alone with Ayame. He didn't know why this scared him. Nii-san had done nothing bad to him so far; he had only cared him. But other people were around then. Everyone acts nicer if other people are around. I could go to Kazuma if he hurts me...but what would he do? He's taking care of Kyo. I shouldn't bother him.

He went into the kitchen and began looking for some cereal to eat. He dragged a chair over from the table and climbed on top of it. He was still to short to reach the cabinet with the cereal. The child scowled. How in the world was he going to reach the cereal? They had brought him cereal, and anything else that he wanted, at Akito's request when he had been at the main house.

"Yuki? What are you doing?" Yuki nearly off the chair as Ayame spoke. He hadn't heard anyone enter the kitchen. "You shouldn't be climbing on chairs, it's dangerous. You could fall and hurt yourself." Yuki was almost eye level with Nii-san standing on the chair. He briefly looked him in the eyes before he looked at his feet. He was still surprised to see such genuine care and worry in his eyes. He jumped as Ayame put an arm on his back in case he lost his balance. "What were you trying to get?" Yuki looked up now. He had though Nii-san was going to lecture and scold him, not ask him what he wanted. He pointed above his head at the cabinet. Ayame easily reached up and opened it. Yuki pointed to the cereal box that he wanted.

It had been almost a week since the change and he was still surprised when Nii-san carried him through the house. He couldn't remember anyone really picking him up and holding him. His mother had when he was really little, but once he started staying at the main house that had become almost inexistent. Ayame balanced Yuki one hip as he poured the milk into the bowl. I never knew you were this little and light. I guess being sick all the time really did take a toll on you. Kyo's probably a year younger than you and he's bigger.

Yuki ate his cereal while Ayame made himself some toast. Yuki looked up as the doorbell rang. "I wonder who that could be?" Ayame muttered. Yuki turned his attention back to his cereal. Nii-san had left the cereal box on the table for him in case he wanted a second bell. He was pouring himself some more when Nii-san's voice reached. Mother. Father. He immediately set the box down as panic seized him. What were his parents doing here? They weren't supposed to be here. What if he did something bad and they hurt him? Father had never hit him much, he had never been a big part of his life, but Mom had never hesitated to hit him. What if she was displeased by the fact that he wasn't talking? Did she prefer him not to talk? His panic escaleted as he heard their footsteps come closer and his own name mentioned. He was starting to have trouble breathing.

Ayame opened the door and froze, his mind immediately turing to Yuki. Why in the world had their parents shown up so unexpectantly? He knew they would come eventually, but he had hoped it would be when Yuki was asleep. The only person that would scare the child more was Akito."Mother, Father," he said pleasantly, "what are youdoing here? This is really unexpected. If you had called we could've cleaned the house a little better." Just be polite. Maybe they'll leave soon.

"We don't care about what shape the house is in," his mother said,"and we have a right to be here. You and Yuki are both our sons. We have a right to see you both especially since Yuki is so little again. He needs to be taken care of, and I don't think you are up to the task of caring for him."

Ayame glared darkly at her. "I'm up to the task of caring for him? I've gotten him to laugh in less than a week when he won't talk and is scared almost all the time. You had your chance to take care of him, to love him, and screwed it up. You sold him to Akito, and I was stupid enough then not to care, but now I care. Even before the switch he was giving me a second chance. I am no longer going to trample on what is most precious." His parents looked at him, shocked.

"Both of you are horrible children. You disobey me at every chance you get. You don't realize that what I'm doing for you is in your best interest.," she spat. Ayame glared back, anger rising.

"What's in our best interest? How was it in Yuki's best interest that he be sold to Akito and suffer the abuse from you and Akito? How is that in his BEST INTEREST?" Ayame took a deep breath and bereated himself for yelling. He knew yelling would only upset Yuki. He had to have heard them talking which meant that he was probably in a state of panic. "What can I do to get you to leave as quickly as possible?" His mother met his fiery gaze.

"Let us see Yuki. I simply want to make sure that he is being taken care of and is not being neglected." Ayame turned, smoldering, and walked toward the kitchen.

Yuki's breath was still coming in shallow gasps. He had to escape. He had to get out of here, but where could he go? He couldn't go outside; outside was worse than facing his mother. He searched for a hiding spot. He ran over to the cabinets, yanked one open, and tried to squeeze in but there wasn't enough space. He heard Ayame yell something about best interests from the other room. He froze and listened intently. Maybe they wouldn't even want to see him, maybe they only wanted to see Ayame.

"Let us see Yuki."

The six-year-old's mind froze, panicking even more. They were going to come in here. They were going to yell at him and hit him. He had to leave, no matter where it was, or how. Even going outside was safer than being in same room as his mother.

He ran out of the room and then outside not even slowing down as he jumped off the porch. He was still in sight. He could hear their footsteps in the house and Nii-san's voice. He drove under the porch getting mud and cobwes all over him. He was sobbing uncontrolablly and gasping for air. He knew he needed to calm down. If he didn't they would hear him. He could remember Hatori-san saying that if he had ever had a attack and didn't have his inhaler to slow, deep breaths. Yuki did several of these, blocking out all the noise around him. It helped only slightly. He was still sobbing, quietly now, and was still having trouble breathing, but he didn't think they could hear him. He focused on one thought: breathing normally. If he hadn't done that he would've had a major from hiding outside covered with cobwebs.

Ayame walked into the kitchen and stopped. He had left Yuki there eating at the table they had set up in there a couple of nights ago to play a game along with a few chairs that had been needed for tha game. He went into the next room expecting to see Yuki sitting there. The room was empty. "Yuki?" He looked around searching for any sign of movement.

"At least I never lost him when he was in my care," his mother said haughitly. Ayame turned swiftly, glare back in place.

"I didn't loose him. He's probably hiding somewhere because he heard you come in the house." He turned away from here suveying the room. The door was open. He knew it had been closed earlier because of the rain the night before. But Yuki surely wouldn't go out there. He was terrified of the outside. Yes, but I've under estimated his fear of our mother. He went outside and stood on the proch. "Yuki?" he yelled. He stayed silent, listening intently. He could a very sound coming from somewhere beneath him. He walked to the edge of the porch, still listening, and spotted to small footprints in the mud. He stepped off and crouched down. There was a long straight patch of mud where someone had slid down it. Ayame peered under the porch. Relieve flooded him as he saw Yuki hulded at the back, knees to his chest, arms wrapped around them. "Yuki, it's okay. Come on you from under there."

Yuki shook his head and Ayame could hear him sobbing. My clothes are going to be ruined, but he is more important than my clothes. With that thought he thrust his upper body under the porch, arms outstretched, and grabbed Yuki under the armpits and pulled him out. Yuki couldn't help resisting a little. His parents, his mother, were still there. He would rather stay trapped under the porch forever than face her. After realizing that he wasn't going to get out of Nii-san's grasp he curled against him, wrapping his arms around the man's neck holding on for dear life.

Ayame held him close and rubbed his back. "I know you're scared, but she said she only wanted to see you. I won't let her do anything to you, I promise." Yuki was sobbing as hard as he had been earlier and his breathing was just as bad again. "You're not breathing good are you?" Ayame said almost more to himself than the child. Yuki shook his head against the crook of Nii-san's neck. "Let's go get you inhaler," he said into the child's ear.

"You've seen him Mother, now leave. I need to get his inhaler from our room. You've made him so panicked that he's having an asthma attack." Yuki kept his head buried in Ayame's neck trying to calm his breathing and nerves. He could hear footsteps behind them.

"I want to see his face and his eyes," she said following the pair. Ayame growled quietly. Why didn't she ever give up?

"You can see him when he takes his inhaler." Ayame grabbed the silver-haired child's inhaler and sat down on thebed with him."Come on, turn around. You need to take your inhaler. She isn't going to do anything to you, I promise." Yuki desperately wanted to stay hidden against his brother, but he also wanted to breath, and he knew their mother wouldn't leave until she had gotten what she wanted. He turned around and grabbed the inhaler from Ayame's hands. He took two puffs from the inhaler. His breathing immediately got better and he manged to slow his crying. After a few minutes he was breathing normal against and was almost completely not crying. "You've seen him now. Leave, please. He's had an asthma attack, needs to rest, and needs to take a bath. He's not going to be able to do any of that with you here."

She glared at them while their father stood to the side, impassive. Ayame glared at him for not doing anything."Fine,we'll be leaving now." Their father gave them both a small smile with an apologetic look in his eyes. Yuki limply collasped against Nii-san and heaved a huge sigh.

"Exactly," Ayame agreed. "Let me change clothes and then we'll get you in the bath." Yuki layed back on the back and closed his eyes, exhausted. Asthma attacks had always left him weak and tired and his parent's terrifying visit on top of that he was ready to collaspe. He didn't think he would be able to make it through the bath without falling asleep. Maybe he would drown. Nii-san should really stay with him in case he fell asleep. He opened his eyes as someone knocked on the door. Shigure-san's voice come through the door.

"I heard yelling earlier. Is everyone okay? Kazuma-dono was asking me if I knew, and I'm quite interested to know myself." Yuki rolled over to his side and looked over at Ayame who was in fresh, clean clothes. Ayame opened the door and then went back to the bed andpulled Yuki up off the bed.

"Our parentsheard about Yuki-kun being little again and decided they wanted to see him. Motherand I got into an argument, Yuki ran outside and hid under the porch to escape them, and he had an asthma attack. Now he's filthy, and I'm going to give him a bath." Shigure's expression was of shock, but he quickly recovered and smiled down at Yuki.

"I guess that was a traumatizing event, and you're right. He is filthy." Shigure surveyed his best friend. He had been so serious since the switch. He wondered what Ayame would do as a father? He would be more flamboyant with his own children than he had been with Yuki. Yuki needed security, stability, and someone to lean on. With Ayame's normal personality his meaning often got lost in his wild antics. Shigure nodded to himself. "Okay, I'll go to tell Kazuma-dono." Shigure left and Ayame and Yuki headed toward the bathroom. Ayame started the water while Yuki sat down in the floor. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Ayame turned around and smiled. Yuki was so adorable. Why had he not seen his adorableness the first time around? He had missed out on all the adorableness when he had been younger because of his own stupidity, but it was all better now. Yuki had allowed him a second chance, and was even little again so he could catch up on everything that he had missed. He crawled on his knees over to the child making faces as he went. He could see amusement in the child's eyes. When he was only a foot away he pounced like a cat making Yuki laugh. Ayame smiled widely. That was the second time he had suceeded in getting the six-year-old to laugh. He hoped Yuki would start talking within the next couple of weeks.

Yuki smiled at his big brother's antics perking up a little. Nii-san pretended to growl and snarl at him. He laughed again as Nii-san rolled onto his back and acted as if he wanted to get his stomach scratched. Ayame continued the act until the tub was almost full and then preceeded to help Yuki out of his clothes. A small part of Yuki told him that he should be embarassed adn uncomforable that Nii-san was taking off his clothes, but a much bigger part told him that it was fine, that this was what he was supposed to be doing.

Yuki stepped into the tub and sat down, yawning. He was surprised to see all the bubles in the bath; he couldn't remember seeing Nii-san pouring any bubbles, or for that matter he hadn't even known they had any bubble bath."You're exhausted, aren't you?" Nii-san stroked his hair asYuki nodded. Yuki grabbed the washcloth and soap and began washing himself with Ayame's help. Ayame shampooed his hair. Yuki stood up in the tub as Nii-san turned to get some towels. Yuki could feel his foot slipping out from under. He tried to regain his footing, but before he could his foot slipped out from under and he slid under the water. His head exploded in pain as he hit the bottom of the bathtub.

Ayame turned around as he heard a splash. He ran over to the tub, panicking over his little brother for the second time that day. He grabbed Yuki's arms and lifted out from under the water. Yuki was spluttering having take several mouthfuls of water. Ayame reached adn grabbed a towel. He wrapped around the child and picked him up before sitting on the floor. Yuki's face was scrunched up in pain, hands on his head. Ayame rubbed his back while looking him over. He had stopped coughing and was breathing normally, but he noticed the child holding his head. "Did you hit your head when you fell?" Yuki nodded, tears mingling with the water already on his face. "Let me see." Ayame had pull the child's hands off to look at his head. There was no blood, but as he gently touched it there was already a knot. Ayame hugged him tightly and began drying him off before carrying him into their room and dressing him.

Yuki walked over to his bed and laid down. He was not getting up again until he had a nice, long nap. Ayame placed a light blanket over him and sat down beside. He began petting the child's hair as Yuki closed his eyes and went to sleep.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yay! This is so much longer than the last one! And two updates in one week! I started this on last Thursday, but with my limited time to write it's taken this long to finish it, but since I have no homework you all get an update! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! I got 7 for the last chapter and that was after months of not updating. Also, I apologize for grammatic/spelling errors. I have no spell check and I types my chapters on the site because I no longer have Microsoft Word. Anyway, thanks again for the reviews and PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU'RE REDING THIS! I got over 80 hits and 7 reviews... doesn't really add up, but I'm not really complaining. 7 is a lot for one chapter for me. So... PLEASE REVIEW!