Jakotsu sat in the middle of the floor in his room, well, it wasn't necessarily his, he shared it with his stupid little brother. The brother that hogged all the attention from their mother and cried about everything, the stupid three-year-old Bankotsu.

"Dumb brat…" He muttered under his breath while he quietly played with the stuffed monkey on his lap. For the past four years, his entire life, this had been Jakotsu's favorite toy.

"Ja, Ja, Ja!" Bankotsu flung the door open and Jakotsu groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ja…Jakotsu…" He panted, frantically pulling at his brother's sleeve. Jakotsu glared as he yanked it back.

"What?"

"Th-the baby. Mom came home with the baby! It's a girl!" He was loud, that was for sure, but Jakotsu couldn't tell if his little brother was happy or angry about the new arrival. Personally, he didn't really care. Their dad already hated him, even though he didn't know why other than he whines too much and didn't like rough games like football, and his mom seemed to try to shut the youngest kid up first – well, second youngest now.

"That's nice." Part of him hoped the baby and Bankotsu would just disappear, then he'd have his mom back with nobody to hog her. He wouldn't be stuck playing in his room all by himself because his other brothers were too old to play with him and his dad always made mean faces. He frowned and took the thought back. Though a nuisance, he did love Bankotsu.

"Come see it with me? Come in the room with mom…dad cant pick on us, he's busy." His brother chimed and Jakotsu cocked his head. It was very true Fernando loved his first sons the most. Renkotsu and Suikotsu were just better, he guessed. He tiptoed with his brother in the room and crawled on the bed with his mother, Akira.

"Where's the baby?" Jakotsu whispered meekly. He only seemed so to himself around her, he couldn't find it in himself to be upset with her. She held out the small bundle of blankets and let the boys get their first glimpse at their sister.

"Her name is Masumi." She smiled and they nodded. He held his arms out and she smiled knowingly. "Not today…her body is still very week. In a couple weeks she'll be easier for you to hold." She pecked both their foreheads and pulled them to her sides. Jakotsu noticed the look on Bankotsu's face as he watched their sister shift; it was the same look he gave Bankotsu. It was jealousy of not being the baby anymore. He smiled to himself; he'd talk his little brother through it later.

"What are they doing in here? What, you can't rest?" Fernando scoffed as he came in the room and sat on the end of the bed, pulling his boot off his heel.

"No, no. They're just curious about the baby." She stroked his back and he remained silent, shrugging her off. He pulled the baby in his arms and cradled. Jakotsu frowned and nuzzled his face into his mother's side.

What'd he ever do to his dad, anyway?

Jakotsu quietly walked around the ground floor, everyone had found someplace to sleep last night. Though not everyone got a bed, he made a point of doing so, gladly scaring Ryura off his. Now, he didn't really care; it was the crack of dawn and he was awake. He was not an early riser, but somehow that little piece of his childhood came back to him. It was cold and everyone seemed asleep, soft snores echoed the halls. He couldn't get back to sleep, and he tried for what seemed like forever.

"Bankotsu?" He whispered, poking his head in the rooms he hoped to find him. Then what…after he found him, what could he do? It'd upset him if anything, Bankotsu hated their father, too. What if he had a dream, one from their past? What if instead, it was a happy one?

"Lost?" He jumped and looked over. Sitting at a table was Kagura herself, alone, sipping something from a coffee cup. Coffee? He shook his head; why did that even matter? His thoughts seemed so disoriented.

"No." He shrugged and sat across from her, at least it was someone awake so he wasn't alone. She scrunched her nose but made no other protests to him keeping her company.

"You look terrible." Kagura pointed out the bags under his eyes and Jakotsu glared.

"Likewise, whore." He spat and she scoffed and rolled her eyes, keeping her gaze away from his. He did the same; he could be bitchy if she wanted to test him.

"Whatever, was just making conversation."

"Yeah, well I'm tired." He huffed and she offered the last sip of her coffee, which threw him off. Did she poison that last amount when he wasn't looking? She wasn't as dumb as he said she was, but he took it, figuring it impossible for her to make it harmful. He took it in a swig and heard her tap her nails on the flat surface of the table across from him. "…thanks." He mumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. So what, you had a nightmare or something?" She began picking at her nails, not bothering to look up at him. Jakotsu couldn't tell if she was teasing or not, he came to terms that Kagura was a hard person to read.

"Sorta." He shrugged, playing along to see how she reacted. If she didn't really care, he wouldn't either. If she did, maybe he could talk to her. Just a little. Just so it wouldn't eat at him anymore than it had to. She looked up to him and he gave her a blank stare.

"Well? Aren't you going to tell me?" She quipped. He was ready to make a snappy comment back, only Jakotsu was too fired to argue with her. He always did, and right now he just wasn't in the mood. This would probably be the only one-on-one time he had with anybody for a while, why not make use of it?

He told her.

Fernando was the most miserable at one point in his life. Sure, he was a generally frustrated man, but it only got worse with Akira's illness. He cooked and cleaned, and when he wasn't doing that he was nursing his wife. Jakotsu was around eight or nine, he remembered helping Renkotsu the best he could with Masumi, who was still too young to understand, he remembered one night when his father didn't come home right away, he wondered if he picked up drinking again.

Quietly, he snuck into his parents' room. His mother's figure was visible under the blankets, so he crawled beside her and gently stroked her back. She stirred and looked up to him, forcing a smile though he knew she felt terrible.

"How are you feeling, mum?" He asked and she nodded, pecking his palm which made him smile.

"Fine…I'll be fine, Jakotsu." She stroked his hair; she was always so affectionate, even though he could tell she didn't have the energy. He pulled the blankets over her shoulders, making sure she was warm, by now he heard Bankotsu's bare feet padding up the hall.

"Promise?" He asked, even though he knew he shouldn't.

"…I'll be alright, don't you worry." She assured and he nodded, stroking her bangs so they didn't cling to her forehead anymore. He knew she was just saying that so he wouldn't get upset. She wanted him to be happy, otherwise she would get sad, too. So Jakotsu would pretend he believed her.

She died a year later.

"Pretty weird…I mean that that'd come to you at a time like now." She said carelessly and he nodded, not really wanting to go into much else with her. He didn't really like her.

"Yeah I know…could you not tell anyone?" He felt like a child, asking for someone's permission or something. She looked away but her smirk vanished, her words were serious.

"I don't gossip like that…clearly it bothers you so just…don't piss me off and we're good." She looked back and he nodded, though he could tell she was playing a question in her mind over and over, she wanted to ask something. "Your brother…he was pulled out of the army for trauma?"

"Yep." Jakotsu waited anxiously, he wanted to know what was going on between Bankotsu and this woman.

"Does he…have any memory of the time he was at war? Like even the times he came home?" She asked and he wasn't sure what to tell, it was Bankotsu's business, but something told him she had the right to know.

"I can only tell you what I know, and I'm not the doctor in the family. He doesn't remember much, Ren says a lot of its repressed so it's blocked out. He remembers bits and pieces, but very little. I don't ask him much about when he was away or here, it gets to him." He explained and Kagura nodded, looking to her lap. "You don't seem too bothered by this place…only my brother."

"It's just a little dose of freedom for me."