Shion really did not know what to expect when he knocked on Jiro's bedroom.

"Go away!" came the demanding—trembling?—voice of the boy behind the wooden barrier. Well, he could have predicted that response, at least.

"Jiro? Are you all right?" Shion asked, purposefully making his voice as inviting and sweet as the coo of a dove. That usually worked on both of the children, like a magic spell to open up to him, whether confessing for something they even knew they would probably get in trouble for, or otherwise.

"I—I'm studying, don't bother me!" Jiro fretted. Shion tilted his head at the door, raising one eyebrow in both inquisition and suspicion.

"I'm coming in," Shion announced, despite the boy's protests. He turned the knob, silently remarking to himself that it was good there wasn't a lock, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten anywhere. When he stepped slowly into the room, his deep-red eyes landed on the curled up form of Jiro sitting at his desk, his knees tucked up into him all the way to his nose, one arm tucked in between said legs and his chest, and the other outstretched with a pencil in his grip, twirling it around his fingers defiantly atop his homework. It would have almost fooled Shion to believe that he really was trying to study. However, the deep pink shade that was coating his cheeks and the tips of his ears was screaming otherwise.

Shion approached him casually, kneeling down beside him so he was having to lift his gaze up to see the boy from a side angle now. "What's the matter, Jiro? You seem pretty upset, did something happen at school today?" the man inquired softly. "You didn't get in another fight, did you?"

Jiro looked like he was about to explode any second with how red his face was progressively getting. It was starting to worry the man. Before his son could answer, he asked another question, "Are you getting a fever? You're very red." Ah, but he knew he had to stop the questioning there. Nezumi always told him how annoying his questions were. He was always asking questions, always wanting answers to everything, it seemed—never giving the person on the receiving end the time to answer before they were presented with yet another question. Adopting children had been his first lesson to acquire more patience. He thought he'd always been a patient person back in the day, until Nezumi scolded him about his complete lack of it so many years ago.

And so Shion sat there on the balls of his feet, his arms crossed over his knees in a similar fashion to his son, and waited patiently until the boy was ready to explain, like any good parent should.

His patience was rewarded after not too long.

"I… there's… there's a girl." Jiro began with a stammer. Shion tilted his head and nodded, smiling a little as an invitation to continue. Jiro saw this reaction in his peripheral, and somehow blushed even more furiously, if Shion had ever thought that possible. "We… I was picking fun at her for a while, but she never seemed bothered by me somehow. It always confused me, she confuses me… and… during recess today, she…" he ducked his head. "Kissed my cheek and smiled at me like I hadn't done or said a single thing wrong to her, even though the teachers always scolded me for it. She said she liked me! I just kept thinking, 'What the hell, what the hell?! Why?'" Jiro was becoming more animated as he spoke, shaking his head over and over and clenching a fist into his short, dark-brown hair.

"Language," Shion half-sighed, half-chuckled. The 8-year-old boy seemed to act more and more like Nezumi with each day that passed, shamelessly cursing right and left. But back to the matter at hand. Honestly, Shion felt an incredible wave of relief wash over him. So it was just a girl; a little crush that was so unexpected that Jiro's world was starting to turn upside-down. Shion understood that feeling. He understood it too well. He was just so glad that it wasn't because of a serious fight or anything.

"She just thinks you're very handsome!" Shion teased with a happy smile.

"No! Why does that matter to any girl? I'm a bad kid, Daddy. I tease people smaller than me. That's just what I do. I get a weird satisfaction from it. Why would any girl like me? I'm awful…"

Shion stared up at the boy for a moment, astonished. "Well, at least you admit to your bad attitude…" he mumbled under his breath with another small chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?!" Jiro whirled, still blushing all kinds of shades of red. Shion continued laughing, though, reaching up and caressing his fingers through his hair. "You best calm your blush down, you're getting too hot." He smiled as Jiro paused and slightly relaxed under his careful touch. Shion brushed his thumb over Jiro's cheek, just as Nezumi sometimes does over his 'snake' scar. "Look, Jiro, does there really need to be a reason that a girl likes you? Sometimes, things happen unexpectedly in life and we can't really think of a reason why we really like a person, we just know the feeling is there, and we know we want to be around them all the time. Even if they have a bad attitude a good portion of the time." Shion grinned, earning a small smack on his hand to keep Shion from petting him any more, and a deep pout over Jiro's lips. At least the blush was lessening.

Shion continued, "The fact is, Jiro, you're not an awful person. This girl obviously sees something special in you, and it's not just her. If anyone looks closely enough, anyone could tell that you really are a very kind and considerate person. Nezumi and I would still very much prefer that you stop teasing people smaller than you, though. And I'm sure that you will eventually, a lot of boys your age go through this phase where you feel like you need to be the boss of everyone around you to give yourself confidence, which is why you feel that 'weird satisfaction' from it, as you put it. I know the concept of anyone, much less a girl, liking you is a little frightening to you at first, but you're still young. You have lots of time to gain experience and discover things about yourself and what you feel for others. This girl likes you for who you are, and maybe because at some point in time, she saw you let your defenses down when you thought no one was noticing, and she saw the real you, and she liked what she saw. Do you think you like her, too?"

Jiro shook his head, clenching the ends of his forest-green sweater. "I don't know… this is all new to me."

Shion smiled. "Of course. But I assure you, Jiro, instead of bullying others around you, you can feel equally as 'high and mighty' if you act more like the caring big brother that I know you really are. Help others. Express your kindness and your hand to those younger than you, and you'll be looked up to. I think, when you really get to the root of your feelings, that's what you want more than anything, right? To be a leader, or a role model."

Jiro contemplated this. He finally didn't look shamed to exile anymore as he thought over Shiro's words with genuine interest. That was what he really wanted, now that he thought about it more deeply…

"And Jiro," Shion called his attention back to him, still smiling that everlasting, warm smile that brought just as much comfort to him as his words. "Once you do open up your true self like that, maybe you'll find that being admired by someone or being liked is not really a bad thing at all. Consider this girl as the first step." With that, Shion stood from his place on the floor and ran a hand through the boy's hair again. "Nezumi and I are with you every step of the way, we love you very much."

"Mm…" Jiro nodded slightly, shifting his gaze away, slightly bashful. "Uhm… thanks. A lot, daddy. Really."

Hooooo, this one turned out longer than expected, aha. I hope it was worth the wait. The relationships between this family kills me, I love writing out character-developing conversations like this. Until next update!