Author's Note: This is the rough draft (aka I didn't check grammar and spelling) but I don't know when I'll have time to edit so deal with it for now.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Will You Be Honest with Me if . . .

"You're jealous," Neru was smugly saying to Piko as she walked beside him in the schoolyard. The students were all wrapped up in warm winter clothes as the older students walked the younger ones to the school gates to be picked up by their parents. It was the last week of school before winter break, and everyone had started getting jumpy and excited for the relaxing days of Christmas.

"Am not," Piko mumbled with narrowed eyes. As Yuki, walking a few steps in front of them with Haku, gazed back curiously, and Piko quickly averted his gaze to the snow at his feet.

"You so are," Neru chuckled with a smirk, turning his glare back up to her.

"What's wrong, Piko?" Yuki wondered, staring at him inquisitively. His face went bright red as he flashed his gaze up to her. It flicked down to Ryuto, who held Yuki's hand as they walked and looked curiously back at Piko, too, before he scowled and stuck his nose in the air.

"Nothing's wrong," he snapped hastily, nearly growling in annoyance. "Neru's just being stupid."

In a flash, Neru had bowled Piko over into the snow, and Haku grabbed the hand of the kindergartener that had been walking between the other two to shield her from the aggressive nine-year-old. Now holding a different child's hand in each of her own, Haku invited Yuki to keep walking with a nod. With a final glance at the hopeless Piko, Yuki smiled and gave an amused sigh before returning to walking.

"And that, Yuuma, is why Neru isn't allowed to take on a little brother or sister," Haku advised the little boy she'd been walking with, one of Ryuto's classmates. While Haku may have been placed as 'big sister' to Yuuma and Piko had become Mizki's 'big brother', they were under different circumstances from Yuki and Ryuto. Ryuto still managed to get out of class sometimes to come visit Yuki since he was still having some social anxiety; the other two younger children were merely doing as all kindergarteners did and were given older role models.

"I don't think Piko's very qualified for it, either," Ryuto said quietly, only speaking to Yuki. Yuki smiled gently at him. She knew it was rude for him to say that, but Ryuto rarely spoke, so it was important to encourage him each time he did.

"I dunno, I kinda like her," Mizki said, referring to Neru and grinning back with gleaming eyes as she watched the ongoing battle. "Why should she let him call her stupid? And she's so strong! It's awesome!"

"No, Mizki, Neru's not an appropriate role model!" insisted Piko, shoving Neru away while she continued clawing at him. "I'm your role model!"

Mizki pouted and turned her head away, mumbling, "I'd rather have Neru. You're no fun, and you're a total wuss."

"That's not very nice, Mizki," Haku scolded, looking a little depressed for whatever reason. Haku could easily become gloomy, though, so Yuki knew better than to worry too much about it. The silver-haired girl looked sadly to Yuuma and wondered, "You'd probably rather have Neru too, wouldn't you?"

But Yuuma was gazing cautiously at the battling pair and murmured to Haku, "Actually, Neru kind of scares me."

"Wuss!" exclaimed Mizki, which provoked Yuuma to yell back at her. As the two began a battle that Haku tried to pull apart, Yuki looked down to Ryuto, who watched the two in silence. With a sigh that drew his attention up to her, Yuki faked a smile for the boy while acknowledging that his social behaviour still hadn't improved much. He'd spoken to Haku a couple times and had even exchanged greetings with Neru earlier that day, but he still refused to speak a single word to anyone else, not even his classmates.

"Mama's coming to pick me up today," Ryuto said in quiet voice as he looked up at Yuki. She could tell that his words were meant only for her, and, while that did make her feel a little happy and special, she knew that they wouldn't get far if he didn't try speaking to someone else. "You should come meet her. She said she really wants to meet you."

Yuki smiled politely, which Ryuto must have immediately recognized as a refusal since his eyes fell in disappointment. "I'm sorry, Ryuto," she apologized over the continuing arguments that Haku was trying to pull apart. "Kiyoteru is coming to visit. That's my grandfather," she added at his perplexed expression. "Not biologically, but he was Len's dad."

But Ryuto's head was tilted to the side still, and he mumbled, "Glasses . . . ." absently, his eyes scrunching together as though he were trying to fit in the last piece of a puzzle that simply didn't seem to be destined for that final slot.

Yuki stared at him curiously and wondered, "Do you know Kiyoteru?" One of the first things Yuki had noticed about him was his glasses, too. It seemed to be the man's most memorable feature, sadly enough.

Ryuto shook his head uncertainly.

Yuki's thoughts flew instantly elsewhere, however, when the shaking of his head slid a tiny portion of the hair flopped over Ryuto's forehead aside. Jerking swiftly toward him so that the boy couldn't react and push her away, Yuki pushed back his bangs and stared at his forehead, her stomach squeezing in discomfort when she saw a purpling bruise coupled with some tiny scratches. She stared at him in frustration and said, "What happened, Ryuto?"

He pulled back quickly, straightening his bangs back over the mark once he'd stepped back from Yuki, and averted his gaze. Yuki felt her frustration rising and wished Piko would stop fighting with Neru and get over here to help her with this. "I tripped," was his usual reply, being used once more without reason.

"Tell me the truth, Ryuto," Yuki said sternly, staring stubbornly at him even if he refused to look at her.

"I am," he insisted, a pout puckering his lips as he began to slide one hand up the opposite arm, which Yuki knew he commonly did when he was nervous.

Yuki felt her frustration rising as she pulled herself up straight, narrowing her eyes at the young boy. "There's nothing I can do to help you if you won't tell me who did this, Ryuto."

After a moment of silence from the young boy, he remarked, "I know."

She was beginning to get worried that she'd snap at him, so Yuki took a long breath and offered a hand to the boy once more. Tentatively, he accepted, looking up to her with a small amount of fright. In order to dispel his worrisome expression, yuki forced herself to offer him a small smile and told him, "I'll let it go for now, but you have to tell me eventually, okay?"

He didn't say anything, though, and Neru and Mizki had both chosen that time to abandon the boys and rush over to join Ryuto and Yuki, Mizki immediately linking her arm with Ryuto's as Neru laughed as swung an arm over Yuki's shoulders. Yuki smiled at her friend, whereas Ryuto was leaning into Yuki, trying to get as far from Mizki as possible and eyeing her like she was some dangerous predator. Mizki just smiled back, though, her eyes still glimmering with energy.

"Hurry up, you three," Neru called back to Piko, Yuuma, and Haku as she continued onward. "You're slowing the entire group down, you lazy creatures."

"Shut up," Piko replied, narrowing his eyes at her as he stood up and brushed himself off. Yuki giggled as she gazed at him. His clothes were completely covered in snow. He noticed her laughter and went bright red, looking away in embarrassment. Yuki's smile grew a little fonder, and redness touched her cheeks just a little more than what came from the cold.

"Ryuto and I are going to get married if you don't hurry up, Yuuma," Mizki called back. Ryuto's eyes widened in panic, and he looked desperately to Yuki. She refused to help him, though, knowing that he had to learn to express himself to his classmates. Mizki seemed to have a fondness for the boy, luckily, so Yuki was sure he'd open up if she kept up her persistence.

"Like I care," Yuuma sighed, though he accepted Haku's hand in walking back to the group all the same.

"Boo, you loser," Mizki whined, sticking her tongue out at the boy. "What's the point of having a childhood friend if he's not in love with you?"

"I loaned her some shoujo manga," Neru injected in explanation of the five-year-old's complaint. By then, they'd reached the school gates, so Neru proclaimed, "Okay, the lovebirds are heading home, so come here, shrimps." She was beckoning Ryuto and Mizki toward her, and, after a goodbye, Ryuto relinquished his grip on Yuki and hesitantly made his way toward Neru with Mizki still clinging to his arm. Then, she shooed Yuki and Piko away, saying, "Hurry up and leave before I have to see that awful woman." Which meant Rin.

Miki had to stay late for school today. Whenever that happened, Piko walking home with Yuki, Rin, and Iroha. Since Yuki's mothers were nowhere to be seen yet, Yuki took hold of Piko's hand and began to pull him aside. She wanted to talk about Ryuto's new mark, so she needed to get away from the group. He was gazing at her curiously, cheeks on fire, and had just opened his mouth to ask what she was doing when Rin's voice sounded.

"What do you think you're doing?" she clucked, a vague trace of irritation in her voice. When Yuki looked to her, she saw that Rin had her arms crossed over her chest, a scowl on her face, and her cheeks were red past the cold. Iroha, beside her, looked relatively relaxed, with a brighter smile on than usual. Yuki was easily able to recognize that Iroha had been teasing Rin, putting her into a slightly irritable mood.

"Nothing," Yuki excused quickly, dropping Piko's hand. "We were going to go play until you got here." She hadn't mentioned anything about Ryuto's marks to either of her mothers. Things hadn't been stable for that long at her home, and she didn't want to risk messing things up.

Rin rolled her eyes. "Well, we have to go. Kiyoteru's there already, and I don't want him snooping through my room."

Iroha was obviously in a good mood, because she teased, "I've seen everything you have in our room, Rin, so you'd better hope he doesn't go snooping."

"Shut up, you crazy kittyler. If anything, you should be embarrassed if he managed to find your collection of Hello Kitty diaries."

"Those are from high school!"

Rin was smirking at the other woman now, amused. "I bet they say stuff about your secret love for Len, huh?" It had become easier to say Len's name lately, much to Yuki's joy.

"Ew, never. He's not the one I was in love with."

Rin seemed tp think about this for a while before wondering, "Sensei, then?"

Iroha wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Okay, ew, no. Let's just go. I don't want to hear about your latent desires for that creepy old man."

Rin laughed and then asked Yuki and Piko, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Yuki quickly agreed, her mind still on the bruise and scratches on Ryuto's forehead. She'd talk to Piko later. Tomorrow, after Kiyoteru had left, she'd go to his apartment and talk to him.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry it took so long! Summer school has been much more time consuming than I thought it would be, and then I've had tons of drama in my life (family, friends, romance, you name it). My course is done on the 24th, so expect me to be back on schedule then! Thanks so much to those of you who sent me PMs asking about updates, it really made me want to write more! Check out my profile for my planned story update information.