Chapter Eight

If You Care for Me, May I Call You . . .

"Why hello, Miss Rabbit," Yuki giggled at a rose-coloured rabbit that kind of reminded her of Ms. Utatane.

"Hello, Yuki," the rabbit reciprocated.

Yuki tilted her head to the side and lowered herself onto the knees to get a closer look at the rabbit. "You can talk? Then this is a dream?"

"Of course, Yuki," the rabbit said with a smile. "Now, have you seen my little brother anywhere around? I can't seem to find him."

"Well, isn't that him, up there?" Yuki wondered, pointing up to the fluffy white clouds above their heads. "He has white hair, right?"

"Yuki," came a voice behind her. Yuki turned with a smile to seen a young man with blond hair and blue eyes smiling at her.

"Len!" she cried joyfully, abandoning her teacher to run toward him. With a shriek of joy, she was lifted into the air by his strong arms as he laughed and swung her around until finally putting her back down again. She smiled brightly at him. "Len! I've missed you so much! I'm so glad your back! Rin will be, too." She giggled at reached for the cat ears on his head. "You're a kitty, Len."

"Yuki, I'm not back," Len informed her, still wearing that kind smile as Yuki's faded, her hands falling from his ears and instead onto his hands.

Tightening her grip on his hand, the young girl wondered, "Why not?"

"Oh, Yuki," he whispered, his eyes pained as he gazed at her. "I can't ever come back. I'm so sorry."

"But Rin needs you," she argued. "You have to come back, for her." She ducked her head shyly. "And for me, too."

"And what about me?"

Yuki jumped and turned to the woman who always came to visit her, just like Len did. And, like she always did, Yuki noticed him growing tense. She'd never understood why. It wasn't as though that woman was ever cruel or mean to Yuki. Sure, she didn't try to be friendly with her, either, but she'd never hurt her.

"Do you miss me at all?" the woman wondered.

Yuki had always been told never to lie, but she didn't want to be rude, either. In truth, she couldn't be all that bothered by the woman's absence, but telling her that was rude. It would probably be even worse if she pointed out that she didn't even know her name.

Yuki blinked, and, when she opened her eyes, the woman was gone. The only problem was that Len had vanished, too. And Miki. And Piko. Everyone had disappeared, leaving her staring at the ceiling in a room adorned with Hello Kitty memorabilia.

"Yuki, are you awake yet?"

Yuki turned her head toward the door to stare at the short, pink-haired woman who'd poked her head in. It took Yuki a moment to register the woman as Iroha, especially since the woman's hair was loose, fanning around her shoulders and tangling itself into more and more knots.

"'Morning," Yuki mumbled, only half-awake.

"Rin's going to walk you to school, okay?" the pinkette informed her.

"'Kay," Yuki mumbled, her eyelids drooping as the warmth of her bed begged her to slip down under the blankets. It was quite possible that she would have obliged if it weren't for the fact that Iroha still stood in the doorway, watching her. So, given no other option, Yuki pulled the blankets aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She covered her mouth as she yawned and then blearily blinked her eyes back open, shocked to see Iroha still standing in the doorway, bemused. Yuki stared back at her curiously.

"You really are adorable," Iroha informed her.

Yuki felt herself go a little red at the compliment. In a way, Iroha reminded her of Len. Something about the way she acted, her mannerisms, and even her voice triggered thoughts of him. She liked that. She missed him.

"I had a dream last night," Yuki blurted as she noticed the woman turning to leave. Iroha stopped immediately and looked back on her curiously.

"Oh? What was it about?"

Yuki furrowed her brow, deep in thought. What had it been about? She couldn't seem to remember. "I don't know."

Iroha chuckled. "You truly are adorable, Yuki. You better get up and start getting ready, though, okay? We don't want to set Rin off. She's been doing really well all week."

It was the Monday after the first day of Yuki's classes. All week, Rin would wake up, sober, and walk Yuki to school. Mind you, they were always ten minutes or so late, but Yuki didn't mind since Rin was walking her. Then, Iroha would always show up early and hang around the class for about half an hour or so before school ended, helping out Ms. Utatane. Piko and his sister always had to hang around for a while before leaving since Ms. Utatane was a teacher, so Yuki never got to walk home with him, but Iroha always took her places on the way home, like that little café where a nice teenage girl named Ring worked. Ring was always incredibly kind to Yuki and constantly asked Iroha about Rin. Iroha would mention how Rin hadn't had anything to drink since Yuki's first day of school, and very proudly at that. Ring would seem very pleased by this and would proceed to ask if there'd been any luck in getting her to properly leave the apartment. Iroha would cast her eyes downward, and the two would fall silent for a moment before Ring would begin asking Yuki about her school day. And so each day repeated.

Once Iroha disappeared, Yuki rummaged through her drawers and took out her neatly folded school uniform. After sliding her arms through the dress and straightening it out, she reached out for the bathroom, but the door was locked. Rin must've taken it. Yuki frowned a little. She usually tied her hair in front of the mirror, but she could probably do fine without it, right? Right.

"I'm going now," Iroha called out from he front door.

"Take care of yourself," Yuki called back reflexively as she grabbed her hair ties and sat on the edge of her bed, tying her brown-black hair into pigtails. When they were properly bound, she headed into the kitchen to see if Rin needed any help with the bentos.

"Ready?" Rin questioned, her back turned to Yuki, the moment the girl entered the kitchen. It startled Yuki and caused her to jump back, consequently hitting her back against the wall. She winced at the pain, embarrassed as Rin turned to look at her. The woman raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Really? You're going to school like that? Just because Miki and Piko have cowlicks doesn't mean you should have one, too."

"Cowlick?" Yuki questioned.

She gasped a little as Rin strode over to her and, from behind, undid the ties she'd put in her hair, running her hand along Yuki's head to smoothen the stray locks. Yuki stood absolutely still, afraid that any sudden movements would send Rin away. Len used to do this, all the time. After the woman who always visited her taught her how to tie her hair, she'd try again and again, but she somehow always managed to mess it up. So, each time that Len would show up, he'd tie it properly for her.

"There," Rin concluded, dragging Yuki back to reality. "That's better."

And Yuki couldn't get the smile off her face, even after arriving at school. So, when they were given a break from classes, Neru questioned, "Are you high?"

"High?" Haku proceeded to wonder, looking curiously at her friend. Piko and Yuki nodded, looking at her with that same curiosity. They had no idea what she was talking about, either.

In fact, even Neru didn't know. She shrugged and said, "My sister always says that. I don't really know what it means, but it seemed appropriate."

"My sister might know, then," Piko offered up.

"But if Lily said it, it's probably not a good thing to say!" Haku insisted. "You'll get her in trouble."

"Do you always ask your big sister when you don't know what something means?" Yuki wondered curiously. She'd never been liked much by the other kids at the orphanage, so she'd never had the experience of having an older sister, but it had to be like having a parent sort of, right?

"Of course," Neru responded, cutting off Piko as he opened his mouth to talk. "Lily knows lots of stuff. She's an adult, after all."

"So you just ask an adult?" Yuki wondered.

"Where do you live, under a rock?" Neru questioned. Yuki had grown used to Neru's sharp tongue by now, so she didn't mind it so much. That didn't stop Piko from smacking her in the arm, though. And his smack didn't stop her from hitting him back.

"I usually ask my parents," Haku offered quietly. Yuki turned her attention onto the silver-haired girl. "They always know what to do." Her eyes fell and she shyly wondered, "Do you not have parents, Yuki?"

Yuki couldn't bear those eyes on her. What would they say if they knew? Would they reject her, like everyone else had? She repeated the same words she had for over a year now. "Len and Rin are my parents." Despite the fact that Len was gone and Rin was despondent, she clung to those words. After all, Rin had done her hair up this morning, hadn't she?

"Who's the woman who comes to get you after school?" Neru proceeded to question, brave enough to ask what Yuki knew had been bothering them all week.

"Iroha," was all Yuki could say.

"Who's Iroha?"

"Rin's friend."

"You don't call Rin Mama?"

Yuki flinched, stung by those words. She didn't have any idea whatsoever how to respond to that. In fact, she could feel tears pricking her eyes. No. She didn't want to cry, not here, not now. She squeezed her eyes shut the moment she felt arms wrap around her.

"Stop that, Neru!" Piko exclaimed. "You're bullying her!"

"What?" Neru exclaimed. "I'm not bullying her! I was just asking a question!"

"It's okay," Yuki murmured. "I know she wasn't trying to be mean."

"Time to start class, everyone!" Ms. Utatane called.

"I'm sorry, Yuki," Neru whispered as they took their seats together, looking genuinely guilty. Haku and Piko were already busily listening to Ms. Utatane. "I didn't mean to be mean."

"It's okay," Yuki whispered, smiling softly for Neru, masking her pain. Neru looked satisfied and smiled apologetically before turning her eyes to the front.

. . .

When the bell rang, Yuki ran immediately to Iroha, hiding her face in the woman's shirt. Iroha seemed thrown off, probably since Yuki had been acting fine the entire day, even that last half hour when Iroha was around and helping the class. Iroha started stroking the little girl's head and wondered, "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Can I call you Mama?" Yuki requested, feeling those tears from before pooling once more in her eyes.

Iroha froze for a moment before speaking. Yuki could hear the tender smile in her voice as she replied, "Of course, Yuki. You can call me Mama or Mom or whatever you'd like."

In the end, Iroha had to carry Yuki out of the classroom and all the way home because Yuki broke out into a fit of sobs. When they arrived home, Rin was nowhere to be found, which, for the moment, was alright, because Yuki didn't want Rin to see her crying. Iroha placed Yuki on her bed and pulled the blankets over her, sitting there on the bed, stroking her hair. Yuki felt herself gently being lulled into sleep as Iroha hummed a simple lullaby of lu li la over and over again. Before the sleep took her, she whispered, "I love you, Mama."

Author's Note: Dearest Nekofan123, I promised this for Tuesday but I didn't have time, so, as an apology, I also wrote a chapter of How Long Is Forever that'll be up once I edit. In other news, I have a new laptop so we're all good now :) Thanks for sticking with me.