Prt. 7

13 had continued to play on with the small ladybug for a few minutes after 12 had given it to her and just smiled contently well he went about pulling weeds from the flower beds. They were so distracted by their separate tasks in fact that they didn't notice 10 and 11 move someways off to observe them quietly.

The taller male was watching closely and smiled to seeing 13 looking so relaxed and at home with them already; getting a very dreamlike expression on his face well sighing out in almost a purring fashion to watching her against the flowers and being so gentle with a smaller creature like that ladybug. She was so serene and breathtaking like this in his mind…

"Yeah…You soooo don't like her if you can stare at her like that," came the voice of 11 which brought 10 out of his lost thoughts and instead blushed in defensive behavior as he tried to ignore his brothers pesty behavior. "You know, with your height and hers, if you two ever got married; she'd have to rent a stepping stool for the ceremony!" he cracked up laughing after this and didn't notice was 10 suddenly shifted to angry emotions.

"Shut up 11," he warned the other, "I'm not interested like that and I'm not marring anyone so just stop it already; you're making an idiot of yourself."

11 only seemed to crack up more as he tried to catch his breathe so he could rebuttal. "Your right; you can't get married like this; your to serious! One look at you when realizing you don't have one funny bone in your body and any female is going to leave at the alter screaming, 'What was I thing?! I almost married that!'

The laughter suddenly died when something painful and solid met 11's face and he ened up skidding across the grass before coming to a stop on his back so feet from his older brother, rubbing his jaw back and forth like he testing it to make sure it wasn't dislocated. He than glared dangerously at his brother when putting two and two together. "Did you just hit me?" he challenged after getting up and marching right back up to the other much bigger than himself.

"I don't know; did it feel like this?" 10 asked in a humorless tone as he punched his brother again and this time did it right between the eyes of his smaller sibling. 11 cried out and rubbed his face franticly before scowling at the taller and wasting no time in kicking the other in his shins; rather hard to despite the height difference.

"Ah!" the taller 'punk exclaimed before growling through his pain induced hops and grapping 11 into a headlock, "You little pest! Apologize right now!"

"Never!" 11 challenged right before he bite down hard on 10's arm and pretty soon both males were in a full out sibling brawl with punches being landed here and kicks being placed there with the occasionally curse or outright swear to the pain.

12 and 13 who were busy up till now looked over to the males in different reactions; 13's being shock and surprise well 12 looked like he had seen it a hundred times before and sighed out with more of groan to it and rubbed his head in exhaustion. How many times did this two have to act like they were the younger siblings? And in front of a lady no less!

"Pardon me miss," he excused to 13 lightly as he started to head to his brothers, "Duty calls I'm afraid." The new small female watched with interest as to what 12 planned to do as he was the youngest after all; about to show that this mean nothing in the house they lived in.

"You ratty old scrap of fabric!" 11 hissed to his brother when 10 had pinned him down to the grassy ground, wiggling to get lose again.

"Ratty?! You hit every branch when you fall out of the ugly tree!" his elder rebuttal right back in anger when 11 mentioned to land a kick to his chest, hard enough to hurt but not knock him down.

"Albino weirdo!"

"Clueless flirt!"

"Dope!"

"Twit!"

Suddenly both males were pulled apart when 12 grabbed them by the scruff of the back to their necks with a unamused face. Both 10 and 11 seemed to shrink in size when facing the expression of their little brother, making 13 perk as to what was going to happen next.

"What are you two dish rags doing fighting in front of a new family member?" 12 asked in a deep scolding tone, shaking the two slightly, "A female no less! How you two no respect or common sense in those I.Q.'s of yours?"

"Sorry 12," 11 apologized with his pupils wide and very sad looking, right before going after 10 again, "But he has no I.Q; only red optics and a sour attitude that would put a lemon to shame."

"Why you little..!" 10 exclaimed before using his longer legs to his advance and kicking 11 in the backside well he cried out in shock before glaring at his brother.

"Now you gonna get it!" he declared before both 10 and 11 began to use their arms and hands to slap at eachother in the same manner that was stereotyped as girly fighting behavior; whining out 'Ouch'es or 'That hurt,' every now and again. 12 exhaled with a deep growl before he used his muscle to forcibly smack both of his older brothers heads together to silence their fighting; sitting them down in separate spaces so they could cool down.

"Now we've been over this a hundred times," 12 warned as he began the lecture that he seemed to have to use over and over again with his siblings that refused to listen, "You two are brothers; stitched of the same fabric and sparked form the same soul. Can you go one day without trying to mantle eachother?!"

"He started it!" 10 accused with a pointed finger to his smaller sibling but only added to his trouble.

"I don't care who started it!" the brown burlap male exclaimed, "I'm ending it like I always do and if I have to do it one more time today; your both getting the ultimate punishment!"

10 and 11 both winced violently at this and looked to eachother in fear of the unknown but had a pretty good guess on what it was. "You…You don't mean…?" the smaller began to ask out nervously.

"Oh I mean…"

"No! Anything but that!" the elder begged out and now 13 was very curious as to what was so bad that 10 and 11 looked like they may cry and take off running for cover.

"Yes, boys. That!"

"No! Anything but a bath from Lizzie!" the two screamed and clung to each other in terror; making 12 chuckle to they fear.

"Than no more fighting today or for another week okay?" he asked and smiled when both nodded quickly well still holding each other close. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have something's I need tending to." And with that 12 walked away and back into the home of his maker and his wife well 10 and 11 pulled apart with a look of disgust from having held onto the other so tightly.

"What's a bath?" 13 asked as she approached with a amused look to having seen the whole terrible scene unknown to her had been going on for much of the three brothers lives since being created and placed together.

"It's a evil invent of torture," 11 asked as he arose and dusted himself off lightly well 10 glared at him from the ground, "A awful, terrible thing that's warm to hot water filled to the rim with fluffy bubbles called soap designed to clean you and wash the dirt away."

13 seemed confused as to how this could be bad but than again she had never been through one before so for all she knew it was a horrible action like awaking to yelling some madman screaming his fool head off; what she had experienced with 10 that morning.

"And this is bad because…?" she asked anyways with a small roll of her hand for him to fill in the puzzle.

"Because I worked hard on my stink and I'm not about to let some female take it from me!" 11 said solidly with a finger jabbed towards the sky, "My scent is my own and I work hard to get it darn it!"

"For the love of…He just doesn't like baths because water feels weird in our joints and when done we smell of fruity soaps right before Lizzie blasts us with perfume." 10 corrected as he finally stood himself up with crossed arms. "It's a horrible experience to face when unneeded."

"What's soap and perfume?"

"Soap is a substance humans use to clean things from themselves to dirty objects around the house," 11 answered this time, "It's can come scented or unscented and there are many different types. But all make bubbles and are REALLY slippery."

"And perfume is some type of liquid that human females like to wear to smell nice," 10 grumbled out, "It comes in many different scents and looks as well but maker; it's horrible when blasted right into one's sensors like we can't smell it at all. I'm sure last time I almost choked on the fumes."

"What's choking?" 13 asked this time in deep curiosity, looking to 10 for the answer.

He sighed and rubbed his optics tiredly, "It's where you can't get a good breathing pattern going and could die from it if human and not carful."

"What does 'die' mean?"

"It's when you break or shut down and stop working," he replied simply and failed to notice the females horrified expression, "It's also called 'dying' when going through something that hurt you and your only called died once you stopped moving and take a long sleep from which there is no awakening."

"No!" 13 suddenly screamed and latched onto 10 so suddenly that he ended up falling onto his back against the grass, about to ask her why she would do that when feeling her shake like a leaf against him well clinging to him like a scared child. "No break or stop working! I don't want to see than happen to someone I care about. You helped me not be afraid anymore, 11 makes me feel happy inside, 12 made me see pretty things and Marcus and Lizzzie are so nice! I don't want anyone to go away and not move again!"

10 suddenly felt like a jerk for not realizing that his words could be very scary to a innocent newbie and gently cradled her in soft hushes to calm her down, rubbing her back softly.

"Hey, hey…" he said gently against her first time feeling fear like this, "It's okay. No one is dying around here anytime soon. I only said that as a bad joke and I'm sorry. Please don't be sad or afraid anymore 13; I swear that we'll all okay here you won't have to learn about death anymore until much later in life."

The female perked and looked to 10 with deep concern and uncertainly for one so young and so to how life worked. "Really?"

"Really; your okay and so is everyone in this house. No one is dying today or another day for a long time yet."

13 smiled and nodded in accept before nuzzling against 10's front and purring ever so softly with closed eyes; completely missing it when 10 fell a small pebble at 11 for making kissy face and 'aww'ing the scene over and over agin.

How was 10 to know that death wasn't as far from their home as he had thought. That in only a few soon months everything was going to change and that one day death would be the only thing he would know in the darkest hours of humanity. How was a innocent male trying to assure and comfort a far more innocent angel that she didn't need to worry about death to know that the first to go was in fact going to be the same brother he had just hit with the small stone in annoyance that they always shared?

How was 10 to know…that 11 was going to be the first to go in a way that no one was going to see coming?