• Have you ever felt... Like you weren't really you...? Or maybe... It's that you're not complete?

    When Takun moved to Tokyo, he didn't really care anymore. He'd moved so many times with his older brother, that he wasn't willing to make any new "friends", or at least that's what they called themselves. Every time he'd moved, his friends said goodbye and waved, and that was always the last that they'd heard from each other. He'd give them his cell number and e-mail adress, but they'd never do anything with them. They'd probably thrown out the papers that he'd writen little notes on that always ended in curly hearts. When he'd first meet people, they'd always see him as a cute kid. He was 5'6. He had black hair a little past his chin, and light blue eyes. He was 16 years old, but still had a young face. His older brother Kedo had always looked after him, ever since their mother and father died in the plane crash when he was 5. Kedo towered over Kedo at a good 6 feet. He looked a lot like Takun, though his hair was down to his shoulders, and his face of course looked older than Takun's, being 21. The two of them had always been together, but Takun still felt incomplete.

    A new school... Again. The third school Takun had changed to this year, and it was only November. This time he'd decided that he wouldn't even bother trying to make new friends, trying to be the "perfect example" of a student, or even really setting up his room this time, though Kedo said this was the last time that they'd move, he promised. But things change... With the school in plain view, he started to wonder why they'd made him wear this stupid uniform. A dark blue button up shirt with a black tie, and black pants. Wasn't there any expression threw style?... Guess not... Now inside the school's walls, he'd noticed the girls' uniforms. They wore dark blue coats over their white button up shirts with black ties, along with a blue skirt, whatever the length. The more slutty girls, he'd noticed, wore shorter skirts than the rest. He'd better not have Kedo come to pick him up anytime soon from school, he'd have a field day, trying to pick up high school girls. No doubt he'd be picked on at school, not only was he a new kid, but he was also only a first year student.

    Above a large building with a red roof, hung a sign that read "Office." in bold black letters. He'd stepped in to see no one in line at the counter where a woman sat with her hair pulled back into a bun. She wore librarian glasses with classic office attire. How routine. Not even the staff had any sense of style it seemed. He rested his head on his hand, and his elbow on the counter, waiting for the woman to acknowledge him. After two minutes had passed, he cleared his throat. The woman still didn't look up at him, she just continued to do paper work. Takun's eyebrow twitched and he cleared his throat once again before makeing his presence known. "Excuse me Miss." He asked politely, then pauseing until she looked up at him. "Could you maybe give me a print out my classes? Or even just tell me my first period class at the least?" The woman looked impatient. She sighed as if he'd just asked her to move a mountain. "Name?" Takun cringed at her short tempered voice. "Takun Nagahara." She looked down at her computer that had drink stains on it now, and typed rather slowly, his name. When the paper started printing out, the noise made Takun jump. The woman yanked the paper from the printed and nearly threw the paper at him. Takun simply nodded his head politely and walked away without looking at his paper.

    Of course, as soon as he'd walked out the door, the bell rung, and rather loudly, causing him to jump. He was always on edge it seemed. He looked down at his class list to see his home room. Class 3b. It was a geometry class. Geometry... Kedo had made him take the class. "You're far too smart to be in a simple algebra class, and you should use what you know to the best you can."... That's what he'd told him. Takun pulled his school map out from his pocket. The school was large, at least compared to the schools that he'd previously gone to. Class 3b was, conveniently, only two buildings to the right of him, and 3 stories up. Room b. Takun hated hights. Of course his class room was 3 stories up... Bad Kharma...

    Five minutes left until class was to start, Takun took an empty desk in the corner of the room. Next to a window. Perfect. It was the only empty desk though, so there wasn't much choice, unless he were to ask someone to move, but that would most likely result in him getting his internal organs knocked out threw his ear. That wasn't the first day that he wanted to have. Though he didn't really want a first day at all at this school. "Hey, new boy." A voice behind him rang. Takun turned in his desk slowly to look at his caller. He was handsom. He had shoulder length black hair pulled back into a tight pony tail with dark brown eyes, almost black. "I'm Nagato Shinji. First year class president. If you have any questions, you can ask me. It looks like you'll be sitting in front of me from now on as well. I'm sure you and I will be friends." This Nagato boy smiled politely. The last thing Takun wanted to do was to make friends. It would only lead to the words he'd heard so many times before. "Goodbye."

    An hour and a half of the Geometry class with a teacher too spontanious for her own good. She'd even made Takun stand up and introduce himself. What fun. The class was over though, so that was an upside. Both Takun and Nagato stood up at the same time. Takun flashed him a look as he realized how tall he was. A good 6 feet. Just like Kedo. Takun quickly walked out the door, trying to avoid the boy, but Nagato only caught up to him. It was bound to happen with legs as long as his. "I knew you were short, but I didn't realize I'd be standing over you this much." He said with an amused smile. Takun blushed, then turned, looking up at him with frustration. "I HARDLY think you know me well enough to be makeing SHORT jokes. And why are you following me anyway?" Nagato's face seemed shocked. Takun's heart stopped for a momment. Nagato had only tried to be nice. It was rude of him to snap at him the way he did. "You just seemed lonely... It makes me sad to see people that way." Takun only looked away. He wasn't looking for friends. "It was nice to have met you President Shinji." He said as politely as he could. "Have a nice day." And without saying another word, and without waiting for Nagato to respond, Kenji walked off to his next class.

    The rest of his day seemed boreing. Class after class, all his teachers made him stand up and introduce himself, though none were as spontanious as the Geometry teacher he'd had in his home room. He hadn't spoken to anyone else that day, the only one was Nagato Shinji, President of the first year class. He must feel special.Takun had always considered student counsil offices to be pointless. It was always the head of the school board who would make the final decisions anyway. So what was the point? He'd still felt bad about talking to Nagato the way he did. Afterall, he was only trying to be helpful. Maybe tomorrow he'd appolagize to Nagato. At least that would clear his guilt.

    Walking home would feel as if it would take forever after haveing such a long, uneventful, day. As soon as he'd walked out of the school's gates who was to walk up beside him but Mr. Nagato Shinji. Of course Nagato had a smile on his face, while Takun's face seemed plain and emotionless. "So Takun, how was your first day of school?" "Proper. These uniforms are obnoxious. Every corner I turn, it's black and blue. How annoying." Nagato grinned at him as though he were a child. "You'll get used to it in no time. Promise." "I don't believe you." "Then maybe it's just because you're short." He said with a clever smile. "More short jokes...? Really...? Why?" "Why not?" Takun looked up at Nagato's face, which was still in a clever smile. Even after Takun had been so rude to him, Nagato was still trying to be as 'helpful' as before. "It's not like I enjoy being short. Ya know, if I were tall, I wouldn't pick on YOU." "Pick on? I'm not picking, I'm fondly teasing. So where are you off to?" "Home of course." Nagato raised one eye brow at him. "More specific?" "I live on Neko Street." Nagato smiled warmly at him before announcing that he lived on the same exact street. Takun was just over joyed. The guy he'd hoped to not have another conversation with lived on the same street as him. So unless Takun were to hurry home, or have Kedo pick him up from school, he'd be forced to walk home with this guy. He'd already decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to have Kedo pick him up from school though, with all the high school skanks running around in their short skirts and top buttons left undone. "So. Question time! Who do you live with?" Takun didn't respond for a momment. Isn't that somewhat of a person question to be asking someone you've just met? Takun thought to himself. "I live with... My Older Brother. His name is Kedo, he's 21, about your hight." "What happened to your parents?" Takun took yet another pause before answering such a personal question. "Dead." He answered bluntly, as if he couldn't care less whether they were or not. "Oh... I'm sorry... Did you know them well?" "Not really. I was only 5 when they'd died. I don't remember much about them." "I'm sorry..." Takun now felt compelled to ask. "And you? Who do you live with?" "My Older Sister Neko, or Neko-ami, 20 years old, and my Younger Sister Yumiko, 6 years old." Takun hesitated to ask the next question. Nagato had asked it though, so why not repeat the question in a response? "And your parents...?" "My Father went on some big adventure when I was 7, and my Mother died from too much alcohol not even a year after Yumiko was born." Takun had now regreted asking. "I'm... Really sorry..." "Don't worry about it. I'm happy with my sisters. I kind of feel like I took over my Father's place. Even though I'm younger than Neko, I look after both Neko and Yumiko." "How noble of you." Takun wasn't quite sure what else to say, than to commend Nagato for being so strong. Takun had more questions to ask. Was his mother an abusive drunk? Does he drink? Did his Father drink? Were him and his father close? But Takun knew that the questions should wait, at least until he knew this boy a bit better. It then clicked in Takun's head that he was intrested in Nagato's life. This equalled him being drawn to friendship with Nagato, something he deffinitely hadn't planned on doing. Though maybe it was a good idea being his friend. They lived on the same street AND had the same home room.

    The entire way home, Nagato and Takun spoke about their days. The idiotic things that students had done, and how annoying the teachers were, along with Takun complaining ever now and then about his new uniform. When the two of them parted for their houses, it came to their attention that they were next door neighbors. Takun had never had neighbors that were the same age as him before. They were always an old couple, or some old woman with too many cats. This scene of change made Takun have to force back his smile. He waved goodbye to Nagato before stepping in to his new, still packed, house, already knowing that he'd be ambushed by Kedo. And knowing Kedo, he'd probably done absolutely no unpacking. Either working on his writeing all day, or introduceing himselves to the neighbors, which to Takun, seemed more like harassing, or a game for Kedo. Hopefully he hadn't harassed Nagato's older sister Neko-ami too much. Takun also hoped that Kedo hadn't frightened Yumiko, only being 6 years old, probably frightened of a strange man flirting with her older sister, which was probably the closest thing to a parent that she had. He'd have to talk to Kedo about it after he'd finished interigateing him about his first day at school. First thing on his list to tell, was how annoying his school uniform was.

    “Kedo? You home?” Takun shouted out as he walked in the door. Nothing. Not even foot steps. Takun walked into the kitchen and sighed, still with no sign of Kedo. He opened the small black fridge and pulled out a box of juice. How elementary school. As the door of the fridge closed, Takun was tackled to the ground by something larger than him. He opened his eyes to see his brother’s face in his, smileing cleverly. “Was that necessary?” His brother only grinned and said, “Of course.” Kedo lifted himself off of his younger brother before reaching his hand out to give him a lift. “Well?” Kedo asked. “Well, what?” “How was your first day, of course.” Takun shrugged. “Average. Same as any other school I’ve been to. Except for the uniforms…” Kedo raised an eye brow at him. He’d expected his younger brother to say a BIT more than that. “Make any friends?” “Sort of… Our neighbor. His name is Nagato.” Kedo smiled at his younger brother smugly. Every time they’d moved,
    Takun would get all huffy about the new school, but he’d quickly get over it. “And you, Kedo? Make any ‘friends’?” “Yes. Miss Neko-Ami and her younger sister Yumiko. They’re to our right. And our other neighbor is a man. I didn’t speak much with him though.” Takun only imagined what their new neighbors thought of the excentric Kedo. They probably though Takun would be just as bad. He’d prove different though, if he had anything to do with it. “I see you got nothing done today. Everything is still packed.” “That’s not true!” Kedo argued. “Your room is unpacked.” “Yes, but I unpacked it.” Kedo only shrugged. “It’s still unpacked, which proves that ‘everything is still packed,’ is a miss statement.” Takun rolled his eyes before heading over to
    his room. It was a relief that this house wasn’t a two story like his old house was. And of course Kedo had made Takun take the upstairs bedroom. This house was a simple one story, perhaps the only one like that in the entire neighborhood. God forbid he’d make friends in the neighborhood and have to climb STAIRS.

    Of course walking to school the next day, he’d be accompanied by Nagato. But this time with Nagato, was a little girl. She had long flowing blonde hair and blue eyes, she wore what looked like a uniform as well. Though her over coat and skirt were a light orange. She looked almost nothing like her older brother. Nagato and Yamiko approached Takun with their handsheld. “Hello Takun. This is Yamiko. Yamiko, this is Takun. He’s in my home room.” The small girl glanced up at Takun, then immediately looked back down at the ground. “Hello Mr. Takun.” She said shyly, not bothering to look back up at him as she said it. “Sorry.” Nagato appolagized. “She’s shy around strangers. She’ll get used to you in no time, I’m sure.” Takun smiled lightly. “She’s nothing like you then, is she?” Nagato looked confused for a moment. “What do you mean?” “First day you see me, you introduce yourself without hesitation. I couldn’t imagine anyone in your family would be shy.” Nagato let out a small
    laugh before his rebuttle. “And I wouldn’t imagine anyone in the family of your BROTHER’S would be as quiet as yourself on the first day.” Takun blushed and started walking away. Nagato followed, pulling Yamiko along next to him. “So you met my brother then, huh?” “No, my sister told me about him. She said he had a comforting smile. I’ll have to meet him sometime.” Takun smiled and continued to walk. “So Takun, how is unpacking comeing along?” “Not very well. As expected, I got home and Kedo had absolutely nothing unpacked.” “He probably spent most his day drinking coffee with Neko.” “Coffee? With Neko? He didn’t tell me about that part. I guess he didn’t get any of his writeing done either.” Yamiko pulled lightly on Takun’s arm, but still didn’t look up at him. “Mr. Kedo is very nice. He told me a story about a little boy, and he went swimming in a lake, but ran out yelling because he’d seen a fish!... It made me smile.” Takun blushed brightly beginning to walk faster. Kedo smiled at Takun trying to hold back an amused smile. “You were afraid of a FISH?” “Yeah.” Takun snapped back. “I was just a kid anyway…” “I’m not trying to make fun of you. It’s cute.” Takun blushed brighter but didn’t respond. “So your brother Kedo is a writer. What does he write about?” Takun thought for a moment. He didn’t always keep up with what his brother was writing. “A novel. It’s a mystery. That’s what he’s told me about it.” Nagato smiled politely at him. “I used to want to be a writer. I’d write short stories all the time when I was a kid.” Takun hesitated to ask. “… About what?” “About me!” Yamiko blurted out. “He’d read them to me before I went to bed… He reads some of the old ones to me sometimes when I can’t sleep. My favorite is about Princess Yamiko.” She smiled with glee from the thought of the story. “You wrote stories about your little sister? That’s… Really sweet actually.” It was the first time Takun had seen Nagato blush. It was a light blush, but a blush just the same. “Thank you.” He replied quickly before dropping the topic completely.

    Yamiko was dropped off at her elementary school, and Takun had waited. Would Nagato consider this friendship? Takun wasn’t sure what to think of it as, so he didn’t think of it at all. Now that Takun and Nagato were in their homeroom, He prepared himself for the extatic teacher that had so enthusiasticly introduced him yesterday. But after the class was over, he’d said his goodbyes to Nagato a bit differently. This time, he’d nodded his head politely and told him that he would see him after school, and Nagato said the same. This day had been better than the last. Though still no new friends. Kedo wouldn’t be happy to hear that. He’d expected Takun to make a new friend every day. Was that even possible? For anyone?

    As Takun and Nagato met up after school to walk home together, they greeted each other with smiles. For about the first two minutes of their walk, neither of them said anything. Until Takun started with his questions that he’d been holding since home room. “Nagato… If it’s not to rude of me to ask…” He started shyly as Nagato looked down at him from the corner of his eye. “Yes Takun?” He urged in reply. “Your sister… She doesn’t look anything like you…” Nagato smiled at him to let him know that the question was acceptable, though it didn’t make Takun feel much better. “She’s my half sister. Her and I have the same mother.” The abusive alcoholic question came into Takun’s head again, but he stopped himself from asking. He wouldn’t risk making Nagato upset from the question. “What happened to her father?” Nagato only shrugged. “When I was 10, Mother was married to a man briefly… When Yamiko was a couple of months old, he disappeared. That made Mother’s drinking worse.” Takun looked at the ground, feeling regret for asking the question. “I’m sorry to hear that… At least she has you though… Yamiko I mean.” Nagato smiled and said nothing more about it. As the two of them passed Yamiko’s elementary school, Takun wondered why they hadn’t stopped after school to retrieve her. “Does Yamiko get out of class at a different time than us?” Takun asked curiously, as if to show interest in the Shinji family now. “She gets out of class two hours before us. Neko picked her up from school. Then they go home and Yamiko reads her books while Neko picks up new recipes off of the television.” “Is your sister a cook?” Nagato shook his head. “She wants to be, but she’s never been to a culinary school or anything like that. She wants to be a cook though, I can tell. And her cooking is really good. You should come over for dinner some time. You and Kedo.” Takun wasn’t sure whether or not this was an invitation or a distant idea. “Sounds nice.” It was all he could think of to say. Nagato smiled politely at Takun, and Takun smiled shyly back. The rest of the way home was only silence, besides cars going by, and the sounds of birds, or dogs in yards. The two of them didn’t need to talk to be able to keep each other company. Their presence was enough.

    As soon as Takun walked into his house, his brother was there to greet him. No jumping out behind doors today. Thank Heavens. The first words out of Kedo’s mouth was, “Any new friends?” Of course. Takun smiled widely and leaned against the front door. “Yeah! My new best friend is captain of the football team and I’m having an affair with my blonde, 21 year old, home room teacher!” Kedo’s eyes became curious and he looked seriously at Takun. “Is your home room teacher really a blonde 21 year old?” Takun shook his head dissapointedly. “No, she’s got brown hair.”

    The next day continued and Takun walked with Yamiko and Nagato. The days continued like that. The two became like his family. Takun finally felt that he'd found a place he'd stay. Find a place he'd have friends that wouldn't just leave him. He'd felt like he was really him. Complete.