Chapter Seventeen

Do You Remember That Time When . . . .

Since she'd received a call from Miki saying that Yuki was going to be with Piko afterschool and she'd take care of them, Iroha had stayed late at work, arriving home far past her usual time. Upon stepping out of the elevator, she realized that her house key wasn't clipped on to her waist as she'd though it was, and she started rummaging desperately through her bag. Rin had said she'd be staying late at work, so, if Iroha was locked out, that was the end of it.

"Dammit, Iroha, you moron," Iroha muttered after her first fruitless attempt, stopping in her tracks to search through once more. Sure enough, she'd forgotten a key. Of course. Just her luck. She had an extra key stored at her own home, but that meant she'd have to go all the way downtown. She was better to just sit here and wait for Rin to arrive home, as irritating as that was. In a fit of frustration, she let loose a string of unconnected curse words.

"Well now, Iroha, that's quite a mouth you've got there."

Iroha felt a jolt of shock run through her body and looked up from her purse to meet the kind brown eyes of a certain black-haired man. She froze, unsure what to make of that man and his familiar smile. He stared at her for a moment before chuckling softly.

"I'm sorry, Iroha dear. I didn't mean to startle you."

Iroha blinked in shock at the man before, finally, the shock wore off and whole-hearted joy took its place. Her mouth stretched into a large smile as she cried out, "Kiyoteru!" and dashed toward him, wrapping his arms around the man. "I haven't seen you in months!"

"I meant to come visit you, dear, but you haven't been answering your home phone, and I can't seem to get in contact with Aria."

Iroha laughed sheepishly, pulling back to stare up into the older man's warm brown eyes. That gaze was so comforting. She'd known it since she was little. "Well, Rin and Aria got into some spat, and Aria ended up moving out to England with that boy, Leon. Then I haven't really been home." She shook her head, not wanting to get into serious things right now, and wondered, "How have you been lately? Okay? Well, I know there's no way you could really be okay after everything, but are you at least. . . ." Well, she'd killed it. Way to keep things light, Iroha.

Kiyoteru's smile and gaze turned a little mournful as he mused, "No, of course not. I'm holding up fine, though. How about you, my dear?" His eyes were so full of sympathy that Iroha's heart ached. She immediately wanted to cry, but she stopped herself and kept that smile up. "You and Len have been best friends ever since childhood."

She couldn't cry, couldn't cry, couldn't cry. Swiftly, she countered with, "I'm more worried about you, Kiyoteru. He was your son, after all."

Kiyoteru smiled at Iroha and patted her on the head. That was where Len had gotten it from, after all. Iroha closed her eyes, so close to tears by the familiar feel of Kiyoteru's big hand on her head. But other people needed to cry more than she did, so she didn't cry. She'd cried plenty in her life. It was time to allow other people to cry. "Iroha, you're still just a little girl, aren't you?"

She gave him the tiniest of glares and a cute little pout before replying, "I'm twenty-six years old, Kiyoteru."

He then laughed the laugh she'd heard so much during her childhood. "Don't say that, dear. You'll make me feel old."

She flashed him a feline smile and remarked, "You are old, old man."

He laughed again and pulled her back into his warm hug. He was wearing a suit like he always did, and it crinkled softly against her skin as she breathed in that familiar scent. "Shush, you."

Iroha laughed at him and wondered, "So you've come to see Rin, I assume?"

"Her and the little girl." Iroha was a little startled. Kiyoteru knew about Yuki? So Len had told his father that he was planning on adopting, then. He hadn't told Iroha or Rin, though. Was his father the only person he'd told, or had there been others? "Have you met her before? The little one, I mean. Yuki."

Iroha smiled nervously as she pulled back a little to look at him, unsure if it was inappropriate when she said, "Actually, I live with Rin and Yuki."

Kiyoteru looked a little surprised, but then he laughed. "You always did have a special attachment to Rin, I suppose. She's been avoiding contact with me. How is she doing?"

Iroha didn't want to say how Rin had truly been: submerged in alcohol, verbally and physically abusive, passively suicidal in her darkest moments. So, instead, she focused on, "She brings Yuki to school each morning and picks her up after school sometimes. Yuki really likes her."

Kiyoteru paused for a moment before wondering, "Say, Iroha dear, did Len ever mention anything about Yuki to you before?"

Iroha stared at him curiously before stating, "No, never. Did he tell you a lot about her?"

Kiyoteru's eyes crinkled to crows' feet as he smiled. "Yes, quite a lot. I suppose in some ways I know more about her than you and Rin."

That knowing look in Kiyoteru's eyes really got Iroha wondering. It was almost a smug look, as though there was some great secret about Yuki that he felt blessed that he was the only one to know about. "Well, we've been living with her for a while, Kiyoteru. I think we know more than you do."

"Yes, I suppose so," the older man repented. "Well, dear, do you have any idea when Rin and Yuki will be home?"

Iroha pulled away from the man to slump against her door and fall to the ground with a sigh. "No idea, and I forgot the key."

Kiyoteru laughed at her, so she cast a glare at him as he took a seat next to her. She was wearing a suit just as he was, so they both look equally laughable as they sat, unrefined, on the hallway's carpet. "You're normally more responsible than that, dear. That's why I always trusted you to take care of Len."

"Maybe if you'd raised him with better values, I wouldn't have had to take care of him all the time," she bantered with a teasing grin.

Kiyoteru raised his hands in surrender. "That was all Ann's work. I had nothing to do with his values."

Iroha stuck her tongue out playfully. "No, I'm pretty sure that was all you considering how quick you were to pass the blame onto your wife."

With a soft chuckle, Kiyoteru smiled, wearing an expression that was both fond and grief-stricken. "At least she and Len are together now."

Iroha stared at the carpet, smiling fondly. Kiyoteru's wife, Ann, had passed away the summer before high school had started. Len had been in a disconsolate state that entire summer. Iroha had stuck around him, trying her best to cheer him up, but the most he could ever give her was fake smiles. The first time she'd seen him genuinely smile was that first day of school when she'd stormed in and yelled at him, when he'd been sitting beside Rin. It was Rin that had pulled him out of it, Rin that had made him smile. For Len, it had been love at first sight. Rin hadn't thought of him in the same way until months later, but, after that, they'd stuck together like glue.

Kiyoteru's voice tore through her thoughts. "I haven't seen Rin since the funeral. I was really worried that she'd always be like she was on that day." She looked to him to see him smiling fondly at her. "I'm glad Len got to know someone like you, Iroha. The way you and Aria cared for Rin at the funeral, the way you're still with her now. I couldn't have asked for a better friend for my son."

Iroha looked away, feeling completely unworthy of Kiyoteru's praise. "I'm here because she needs me, just like I was there for Len when he needed me. It's nothing worth praise. I'm just being a good friend."

It was like a shadow had fallen over them when Kiyoteru wondered, "Have you heard from—"

Knowing who he was talking about, Iroha quickly cut him off and said, "No, and I hope we never do." She felt anger coursing through her veins as she thought of the nights Rin had awoken screaming that unspoken name, the pain of those memories intermingling with thoughts of her deceased beloved. She'd cried her brother's name, too, the one that had never been born, followed by that horrid name.

"I'm glad," said the man before silence fell.

After a moment, Iroha decided to tell the father figure of her childhood, "I'm kind of jealous of Len, you know."

Kiyoteru crunched his eyebrows together, probably misinterpreting her words. Len was dead, after all. That wasn't what she meant, of course, but it could be taken that way. "What specifically, dear?"

"Rin loved him so much. I wonder what it's like to have someone love you that much." She looked up to the ceiling and remarked, "My only love has always been unrequited. I've always been jealous of how much she loves him and he loves her. I wish I could have that."

Kiyoteru cast her a sympathetic gaze and replied, "You could always have that if you tried."

Iroha smiled sadly. "No, it's okay. I'm satisfied with my love never being requited, at least a little. It's better than not being in love at all."

"May I ask who it is?"

She just shook her head before casting him a sidelong look and a grin. "It's not Len, if that's what you're thinking."

He laughed again. "While we'd considered that while you were younger, your mother once told us something that made us dismiss the idea entirely."

Iroha's cheeks went bright red and she quickly leaped on the man, exclaiming, "What did that woman tell you?"

Kiyoteru started laughing, but before he could respond, Rin's voice rang through the air.

"What are you doing here?"

Author's Note: By the by, in case anybody starts feeling that the chapters are filler-y, they definitely aren't. I'm placing hints in each chapter as to where the plot's going to go, and each character and chapter is necessary and will play a part later on. Right, and Len is called Len Hiyama in the first chapter. Also, sorry I didn't post yesterday, I wasn't at home. Please review if you have the chance!