Disclaimer: I still don't own Nabari No Ou. If I did then Yoite wouldn't have disappeared and blah blah blah!
The ending may be a bit rushed but it can't be helped. XP
Yukimi quickly glanced at the watch on his wrist, silently cursing under his breath as he drove quickly down the street. Today he had to start on a new article and had scheduled an appointment with his editor to get the materials to write it. First though, he had to drop the seven children in the backseat off at his sister's house or place. He inwardly cringed as he remembered how that conversation had started off. He had called her when he found out both Tobari and Hanabusa were busy as a last resort, and had to explain how these children happened to intrude upon (in) his life.
It had not been an easy conversation.
At least Kazuho had managed to calm down, and listen to him. She had then agreed to play babysitter for the afternoon.
Yukimi knew that he owed his sister for this.
He pulled up to the sushi restaurant, which doubled as the home of his sister and her husband. It was a pretty nice place to eat, even if it was a bit small. Luckily, it was closed for the day. All seven kids got out of the car, looking around at their surroundings as they followed Yukimi to the door.
The inside was nice, the wooden floors were clean and the wallpaper gave the place an open atmosphere.
"Finally, I've been waiting for almost half an hour." Yukimi turned towards his sister, Kazuho, as she came from the kitchen.
Kazuho looked over at the seven children in the room and, in turn, they looked at her. A smile slid onto the woman's face. "You all must be the children who Yukimi spoke of."
They all stared at her curiously as she walked closer. Yukimi also watched her, for, he knew his sister didn't show it in front of others, but there was a…quirk in her personality.
"You're all so adorable!" And there it was. Yukimi watched with a face palm as she attempted to pull all the children to her in a large hug.
As Kazuho babbled on, most of them were becoming uncomfortable and Kiku looked a bit…
"Ah, Kazuho, I think you're suffocating Kiku," Yukimi stated with a sigh.
"No, Kiku's just clause-o-phoric," Kiko said, pronouncing the word the best she could. "This happens sometimes."
"Oh, you're twins?" Kazuho asked after releasing Kiku, who was then led by Hydrangea to a booth to lie down.
"Yep!" Kiko stated proudly.
Yukimi decided now was the time to escape and he was almost at the door when Kazuho called to him, "Yukimi, you better be back by seven. Good luck!"
Yukimi responded with a muttered response and left.
"Ka-nee what are we going to do?" Shi asked as she looked at Kazuho.
"Well, have you eaten lunch yet?" Kazuho asked. She hadn't thought about what they could do until right then. A restaurant really wasn't a place that would be suitable for their attention span.
"No, man, I'm starving!" Noriyuki declared and picked up Shi. Spinning around in circles, he chanted, "Food, food, food!"
"You'll make yourself and Shi sick if you keep spinning like that." Yuu warned but Noriyuki only laughed as he stopped spinning and clumsily teetered from side to side with Shi still in his arms.
"How does sushi and some ramen sound?" Kazuho asked and was surprised by the confused looks she received.
"Sushi?"
"Y-you've never heard of sushi?"
"Oh, it's that fish stuff, right?" Noriyuki asked, "I had it once before."
"Fish?" Yuu asked, trying to recall if he had ever had the food before.
"It's settled then," Kazuho stated. She sat the children at a booth, then she went to prepare the restaurants most popular food. These kids were missing out if they never had sushi before. Just what had Yukimi been feeding them if not sushi?
After preparing them, Kazuho placed the rice bowls and sushi platters before their designated person. They thanked her right before she went back to get drinks.
"W-what is this?" Yuu asked, examining the sushi roll on his plate before poking it with his chopsticks.
"She already said: sushi, duh!" Kiko stated as she ate her second piece of sushi.
Yuu glanced at the food again but didn't touch it. "I'm not sure about this," he said, still skeptical.
Noriyuki laughed before he stuffed another piece into his mouth. "It's not fishy, Yuu." He laughed at his own pun as the others tried to ignore it, when Shi spit back out her first bite onto her plate. Hydrangea handed her a napkin and the younger took it, and then tried to wipe the taste from her mouth.
"You see, even Shi does not like it," Yuu pointed out.
"That lady made this for us. It doesn't matter if you don't like it." Akiyo said with a sigh as he ate another piece of sushi. In truth, he wasn't a big fan. Yuu inwardly groaned as Akiyo and Hydrangea gave him the stare, a familiar one that meant 'set-an-example-and-deal-with-it', which they had long ago established because Kiko, Kiku, and Shi were younger than them and looked up to them, so they'd probably learn habits from them.
He hesitantly lifted up the sushi and brought it to his mouth, but made the mistake of inhaling the scent. The chopsticks clattered onto the table as the sushi fell. Yuu tightly held his nose as he tried not to be sick. That smell, oh it was so gross! His whole nose burn burned as the smell crawled through his nostrils; he could even taste it in his mouth.
"He's gonna hurl!" Noriyuki cried as he evacuated from his spot next to him. Yuu stood and bolted past him toward the bathroom.
"What's going on in here?" Kazuho asked as she rushed in at the noise.
"Yuu threw up," Akiyo stated.
"If he didn't feel well, he should have told me." Kazuho said as she looked at the bathroom door with concern.
"No, he and Shi-chi don't like sushi! Shi-chi spit up hers," Kiko corrected, but it wasn't in a mean way.
"What?" Kazuho asked in shock. How could those two not like sushi?
"Sorry Ka-nee," Shi said as she looked at the floor.
"No, it's alright. Sushi, I guess, just isn't for everyone."
At that moment Yuu wobbled out of the bathroom. "Do you have any mouthwash?"
"Yes, there should be some in the bathroom upstairs," Kazuho led Yuu out of the room, leaving the others alone.
"Can Yuu really not handle sushi?" Noriyuki asked with a questioning look.
"I think it was the smell that got to him," Akiyo answered, but if he'd known that it wasn't Yuu just being picky, Hydrangea and he wouldn't have given him that stare.
"Kiku, are you finished?" Hydrangea asked the only one still seated at the table. He nodded and picked up his dishes, the others soon followed suit and headed towards the kitchen. They split the task of cleaning the dishes; Noriyuki and Hydrangea would wash them, the three youngest would dry, and since Akiyo was the tallest he put the clean dishes away.
As Shi finished drying a bowl she looked towards the hallway when she heard a door open and close. Curiously she wondered out of the room and down the hallway. Peering around the corner she spotted someone whose back was facing her. He had really dark hair and his clothes were also dark in colour.
Yuu had finally gotten the taste out of his mouth and had headed back downstairs when he spotted a shadow of a person. Thinking it may have been one of the others, he moved to look, but something moved past him, the movement had wind whistling in his ear before it disappeared altogether. The shadow was no longer there.
He saw Shi, who stood in the other door way, looking at him. "Did you see it too?"
He nodded but before he could do anything Kazuho walked over to them. "There you two are-what's wrong, you both look a little pale." She placed her palms on their foreheads for a moment.
"When is Yuki-nii coming back?" Shi asked as Kazuho removed her palm.
"In about an hour," Kazuho answered as she stood and led them back to the others.
After a few minutes, Kazuho managed to locate her old dollhouse and Barbie's for the girls to play with. For the others she dug up some of Yukimi's old things. She sat down with a small smile, and watched them as they played. When she had first heard Yukimi mention that he had seven children staying with him, she'd jumped to conclusions because, seriously, who wouldn't have? Seven kids don't just show up at the door for Buddha's sake! When he had finished explaining things, she had been unsure if she wanted to watch them. They sounded suspicious and like a load of trouble. She wasn't sure how her brother could just get sucked into these things and, as his younger sister, she decided to help him. But, as she watched them, Kazuho found herself growing to like them, even if two of them didn't like sushi.
"I said I wanted it!" Noriyuki whined as he tugged on the fake light saber. Yuu tugged back, "No, you'll just hit me with it!" The two continued to argue, but before she could say anything, the front door opened and Miharu walked in.
"Miharu, what a surprise." Kazuho was shocked to see Miharu standing there but from the look he was giving her, she understood. "Follow me into the back and I'll get you something."
The two disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes before Kazuho walked out in a hurry. "Everyone there's been a change of plans. Miharu here is going to watch you while I'm gone."
"When shall you be back?" Yuu asked with a small frown. Kazuho only sadly smiled, "As soon as I am able to. Now you all better behave for Miharu." With that she was out the door.
"Did something bad happen?" Yuu asked, but Miharu only faintly frowned before the expression quickly disappeared.
"Don't worry about it," Miharu stated, "Unless you have a problem with Kazuho being gone."
Yuu tsk'd and turned away from him, "I was only concerned that what has happened would affect us, nothing more."
The others didn't reply; going back to their previous activities as Miharu gazed out the window, lost in his thoughts.
All was fine for awhile, but, as time wore on, the kids grew anxious. "Miharu, you should play dolls with us!" Kiko suggested all of a sudden. She tugged on the boy's shirt vigorously until he gave in.
Miharu was made to hold a Ken doll, renamed Toko, and follow Kiko's story line, which was everywhere, but Hydrangea and Shi didn't seem to have any problems with it. The boys had even tried to help him when Kiko started to talk about playing dress up. This led to him watching Noriyuki perform some magic tricks, watch Yuu and Noriyuki fight, have Akiyo split the two up, and return to square one.
Miharu was moving 'Toko' up the doll house stairs with 'Ai' following, when the doll stopped as the front door opened.
"Oi, what are you doing here brat?" Yukimi asked tiredly.
"Kazuho left something in the kitchen," Miharu lied and the two disappeared into the aforementioned room for a few minutes before finally emerging.
"Are we going yet?" Kiko asked tiredly, and was pouting by the time Yukimi shook his head no.
"Ah, man!" Noriyuki groaned; he was tired of being here with absolutely nothing to do.
"Quiet brat," Yukimi snapped and began walking towards the door. "I'll be back."
When the door closed Miharu's ears filled with complaints.
"Miharu, why did Yukimi leave us here?" Kiku asked, calmly, but he was clearly upset.
"Someone he's close to was hurt very badly," Miharu replied and the upset looks died away, replaced with stoic ones, worried ones, and even ones he knew all too well: the mask of indifference. "Don't worry he'll be back soon."
It was nearly three in the morning when Yukimi returned looking weary and worn out. All the children were scattered across the floor, asleep. He walked towards were Miharu lay on the booth and woke him up. "He'll be fine."
Miharu let out a sigh in relief.
The two loaded the kids into the car and drove, first dropping off Miharu, before returning to Yukimi's apartment and he placed the children in their beds. With a sigh, Yukimi returned to his own bed, but could not fall asleep. All the information he'd received was circling vigorously 'round in his head. There was no way that was happening, right?
A/N: So…Hello? –Hides behind Yukimi as rotten vegetables are thrown-
Yeah, I missed you too! It's been maybe a month or so but I CAN EXPLAIN-ish…
I have a Beta, a friend of mine from school which we shall call Supermegafoxyawesomehot or just debb for short. Only bad part is that she doesn't know the series and is a slow Beta. This means I have to explain a lot of things and threaten her with pipes because rocks are just not available during a school day.
Well, the '-ish' part comes from the fact that this has been done for awhile but I just hadn't gone through and fixed up some things. BUT, they're done now so, we cool?
-Runs away from giant boulder-
Anyway, starting next chapter I'll be including little facts in the author's note. Just some things like where the inspiration for the chapter came from, things my Beta pointed out, and about the seven children.
Hope to see ya'll next chapter!