“Shigure-san” Tohru smiled as she entered the dog's office with a handful of letters, “I just noticed that we haven't updated our story in nearly three months, isn't that a long time.”

“It would have been a long time if not for you Tohru” Shigure winked, “And if we're talking about our sto--”

“Well no, it's not really our story, I'm not in this chapter. Which, is a little sad but, but I don't mind!” she panicked waving her hands side to side as she spoke before smiling, “But it's yours and your mother's story.”

“Sounds a little like incest...” Shigure grinned as Tohru turned pale.

She stared at the letters before pulling out the first one, “Ano...Ano this one is from...loretta537

i love this story, i get to see what shigure might have been like when he was young. although i think he's a little old if hiro is 1 then he should be 16 right? he's 10 years older than yuki, kyo and tohru and 11 years older than haru and momiji who are 3 years older than kisa who's one year older than hiro.

“Is this true Shigure-san?” Tohru blinked before counting it up on her fingers, “But, this all adds up, umm, I'm glad that you edited the last chapter, but why were you the wrong age.”

Shigure smiled at this, “Do you really have to ask my precious flower, if I were younger then perhaps you would love me all so much more,” he leaned towards her, stroking her nose as he teased her. “Also it's not the most outrageous thing I've seen, why there was a story circulating this site about me being a superhero, now isn't that a little hard to believe.”

Tohru stared at Shigure in a daze, “You're a superhero? Really? But that's am--”

“Another letter,” the dog chuckled selecting one from her hand, “Ah loritakitochan”

"maybe we should just say bluntly that we're not a couple in this fic" Yuhuu! I can't wait for the next chapter!

“Well isn't that a little saddening,” Shigure whispered with fake tears in his eyes as Tohru stared at him, she didn't want him to cry but she wasn't very sure on what she could do. “I doubt that Tohru even loves me.”

“That's not true!” the riceball piped up, “I mean, I love Shigure-san very much but like a father or an older brother and umm...umm...”

“PurpleHime!” Shigure called out selecting the third letter

kisho? who's that? omg! o... this is getting exciting!! haha! shigure was probably a cute kid! update soon! tohru... i are VERY sweet! Haha!

“Well of course I was an adorable child,” Shigure laughed, “I have the most touching stories of things I did with Ha'ri and Aya in our young boy years and Kisho is my abusive, cruel, cold hearted father.'

“But he seems pretty kind to me,” Tohru chirped in as Shigure looked aside

“Well Tohru you really do see the best in everyone don't you, and as for excitement well I'm quite a player in my younger years, my life has as many twists as a daytime soap opera. So the next letter my flower...” Shigure held his hand out hoping to be passed one but Tohru decided to read it herself.

Aw, but yaoi's awesome Kaorin! (Yes, sorry, sometimes I talk to fanfic characters. Don't know why.) Nice work on the chapter! I'm interested to know what's up with 'Gure's mother.

Shigure laughed to himself, “I'll have to tell my mother the next time i see her, and it's as if we're speaking right back, joined together heart to heart, hand to hand oh so many wonderful things that I could mention and...” he stared down, “You will learn my mother's unfortunate past soon enough.” He plucked another letter from the pile now only one was left after this. “This is from Lilyoda” he announced.

That was really good. I can't wait to here more about Shigure's past. I hope you update soon cause I will be looking out for it. Thanks again.

“I agree, I can't wait to hear more about your past either Shigure-san! I bet there will be so many wonderful things to come...”

“Yes,” Shigure whispered unenthusiastically, “Wonderful, and now we're down to our last...two part letter from Sanrio-chan”.

Hehe, Tohru does look at people in the best light possible. I think that it's a good trait to have...except when people are actually really bad, but I'm sure that we all know that, right? Anyway, this is starting out good and makes perfect sense. Good work. sanrio-chan

I love the line, "I could never stand the poor thing Mii up." Hehe, what a compulsive liar. The author note at the top was cute! I really liked it. I've never seen someone do that before; it's rather interesting! You might want to do it again sanrio-chan

“I never stand her up!” Shigure spoke up, his fingers crossed behind his back, “And I'm glad that you like it, our flower is so good at that,” Tohru blushed and hung her head, “And we have taken the note and done it again. And now,” he stood up and stretched his arms out, “We'll start Chapter Three!”

“And...please review,” Tohru bowed from behind him.

Chapter Three

“Kisho!”

Shigure took a deep breath in as he sat in the living room, Tohru was showing his mother around and Kyo had decided that this weekend would be a great time to retreat to the dojo, Shigure was enough he didn't even want to know what kind of parents he had. That left him, Yuki and his father watching the news together. His father seemed to have taken more interest in Yuki though.

“So, you must take after your brother in some ways,” Kisho, Shigure's father, asked sliding his glasses up his nose, he shook his head and moved his finger back and forth. “It would be too insulting to call him useless but, he really wasn't as good as Hatori I'm afraid.”

Shigure rolled his eyes at this, his father had always adored Hatori due to his common sense and high intelligence, he also had a type of restraint that Shigure and Ayame didn't have. Growing up he was almost always compared to Hatori so he was used to it. At first he had some small untold grudge against Ha'ri but then, after a while he had come to love him like a brother.

“My brother and I...” Yuki replied, placing a hand on his forehead, “We are very different I'm afraid, he was raised by our parents whereas I was raised by Akito. My mother and father...”

Shigure stared at the ground thinking about this, he wanted to yell out, to curse Yuki a little and state that his mother had been a witch and that his father was nothing more than a tool. His mother hadn't worked and instead sold her son but even before that she was relying on her husband for money whereas Shigure's parents had met each other in highschool.

“They're quite close to us,” Kisho gave a somewhat false smile although only Shigure could tell, calling them friends had only happened when they decided to change, when his world had broken and fallen apart. “In fact, your mother and Kaorin, my wife, hang out a lot of the time, with Hatsuharu's mother as well I believe.”

Yuki nodded as he listened, “I would have thought that more of the family would be friends with Satsuki-san, I've only met her a couple of times but--”

“She's a waste of space,” Kisho breathed staring at his fingers as if finding his nails incredibly interesting, “A woman like that...a woman like that is just a waste of air, she contributes almost nothing to our society.”

Shigure sighed remembering when Satsuki was one of his mother's best friend when the two of them would do anything together, when he would take care of Hiro whilst they were chatting. His father never had anything against her then but now, now things were somehow different. “Please don't talk about Aunt Satsuki like that...” the dog sighed pushing a hand to his eyes, “You know that she was mother's only friend for a--”

“Those times,” Kisho laughed coldly, “Let me tell you that I'm glad those times are over, that we have now gotten into the inner ring and surpassed Hiromi, a woman like that was holding her back. She was punishing her, she--”

Shigure laughed slightly as if he were breaking, Yuki was used to this, the dog would usually laugh at nothing but right now he seemed somewhat fearful as another memory fled through his mind.

Memory

Shigure tossed his bag down on the stairs as he tilted his head up, how had he had that fight with Aya? It was just one girl, one girl who was stupid enough to write them both the same love letter, he should have just let Aya win for a change but he felt he had to protect the girl a bit. She had come here and given them both these letters, sure he hadn't had a dream about her but, it was still for him right? Aya had hundreds more than him anyway.

“Mother!” he called, “I'm home!”

Silence..

Shigure stared at his bare feet, having left his shoes outside, “Father?” he asked again before detecting a sobbing from the living room, it scared him slightly and he followed the sound. Opening the door softly he hoped to locate something other than his mother crying, unfortunately that was not the only thing he found.

Kaorin Sohma was wearing a white blouse and pink skirt with a white headband, she looked extremely young and if it wasn't for the smudged makeup and the condition she was in she would have seemed beautiful. Yet, covering her arms, her legs and her face were these heavy black bruises and scratches. What had happened? She couldn't have joined a gang could she? No, she was too innocent for that.

“Mother?” he asked coming to sit next to her, he wanted to help her because she seemed so sick, so helpless, “What's wrong? How did you get these bruis--?” he choked on the last word, it was wrong to ask her about that, she would probably feel worse but he had just let it come out, stupid.

“Where's Kisho?” Kaorin questioned, her voice breaking due to her tears, her arm reached out and grabbed Shigure's wrist, “Kisho do you still love me?”

“Mother-” the teenager whispered, rubbing his mother's back, “Father's not here, it's me, Shigure.”

“Oh,” his mother whispered wiping her eyes and stood up, “I-- I'm sorry dear, I'll go make dinner now.” She turned to him and Shigure felt a cold chill brush against him, the way that she looked right there told him something was wrong. She wasn't looking at him instead she was looking through him, “Kisho, put your feet up you must be so tired from work.”

Shigure's stomach lurched again, he stood up and put two hands to his chest, “No mother, it's Shigure, I'm your son.”

Kaorin laughed again as she stumbled to the kitchen, falling over on her way, “Kisho, how was work dear?” Shigure knew it was a family trait not to worry anyone with their own problems, thus they would all bottle it up getting angry with the world but showing it externally with pointless laughter.

Shigure ran to his mother and before he knew what was happening found himself to transform, so he was in his dog form, he couldn't help all that much. He followed Kaorin to the kitchen glancing up at her as she started chopping vegetables. He watched her for a while until his attention was dragged back to the jangle of keys in the door. He bolted over there.

Kisho blinked as this dog greeted him and locked the door under him, he was slightly surprised to find his son in his Zodiac form and without a second thought placed a hand on his head attempting to test for a fever or any sickness. Testing was going on right now so it would make sense that Shigure might get stressed.

“It's mother...” Shigure growled pulling his father's trouser leg, “She's in the kitchen...someone hurt her.”

Kisho looked at Shigure, putting a hand on his head to try and push him away and walked into the kitchen shutting the door behind him as Shigure transformed. He knocked shyly on the door and gritted his teeth together as his father called him in, “Forgot my clothes were in here,” he whispered as Kaorin turned to him.

“Did you transform again Shigure-wure?” she asked as if mothering a child and Shigure looked to his father, something was wrong.

“Mother, what are these bruises?” he finally asked hoping to god she'd tell him.

“There are none,” she commented turning her back to them and then looked down.

“Alright,” Kisho nodded and came next to her, kissing her neck he leant in to her and whispered, “But you have to promise to tell me later.”