Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Seraph of the End and everything belongs to its respective owners.

'F' is for Family

It was another sunny day in the orphanage, despite the weather outside being cold. Yu had only been there for two weeks, but he hadn't gotten accustomed to it. The caretaker and children were nice enough, but that was the problem: Yu didn't want to get close with any of them. He'd already had a 'family,' but the effects of his last one didn't necessarily make him want another one.

Speaking of which, the child closest to his age, Mikaela, was the one most persistent about him joining their 'family'. Said boy always wanted to include him in any and all activities whenever possible. It was supposed to make the black-haired boy feel welcome, but all he felt like doing was being alone.

"We're all family here, Yu-chan, and you're a part of that family now."

Mika's words echoed through his mind, making him want to hide. His last 'family' hadn't been pleasant, so what would make this one any different? Of course, the blonde had reminded him of that fact this morning too.

A voice startled him out of his thoughts just as he was rounding the corner in the hallway, half-way to the main room the children normally hung out in.

"Hey, Yu!" the voice was friendly and, as he looked up, he saw long brown hair in a braid. The owner of the voice, Akane, walked towards him with a wave. He instantly wanted to turn around or head to another room, but knew it was already too late. "We're using foam to make shapes. Want to come watch?"

The boy turned the question over in his mind, realizing that she hadn't necessarily asked if he wanted to join in the activity, just if he wanted to watch. "Uh…" he didn't get much of a chance to answer since she grabbed his hand, dragging him to the room he had just been trying to avoid.

"Come on, you'll like it!" her excited exclamation made him almost as annoyed as Mika's persistence that they were a family. He guessed that there was just something about overly positive people that got on his nerves.

When he did enter the large room and sit down in one of the empty chairs, he found that she had been telling the truth: the other children were using foam to create bizarre shapes. Not that he had thought she had any reason to lie, but something in him had remained doubtful.

After a short while of sitting silent in the chairs, half paying attention and half daydreaming, Akane sat down in the chair next to his. The black-haired boy scooted a bit further away from the girl, hoping that she would get the hint to leave him alone. From what she said next, apparently she didn't.

"You seem kind of upset today," her words were laced with concern as she watched the other children, "anything wrong? You know that you can talk to me."

I don't really want to talk to anyone, he mentally answered, wondering if he should actually tell someone what was bothering him. Some part of him thought it would help, but the other part thought it was kind of stupid.

"Mika keeps using the 'f' word," his answer came out louder than intended, causing the rest of the children to stop their crafts and stare at him. "It sort of bothers me."

"The 'f' word?" all the children were instantly interested in the conversation and Yu regretted the fact that he said anything. Innocence and curiosity stared back at him in the form of six pairs of eyes. Even Akane seemed slightly confused.

"He's been… saying things that bother you?" her confusion was even more evident and he knew what she would say next. "That doesn't sound like Mika."

Of course they all knew the blonde-haired boy better than him, but he was just telling the truth. If they wanted to believe that their friend was blameless, then he couldn't argue. So he did the only thing he could think of at the moment: stand up and walk out of the room. The rest of the day was spent sitting on one of the small cots they slept in at night.

Mika thought that Yu was settling in pretty well with their family. He would have liked to think that the boy would open up to them at some point and stop hurting so much, but it would be a slow process. That's alright. It took me a while to adjust too.

However, he hadn't expected Akane to come up to him with a very worried expression on her face. Something about the scene let him know that something had to be wrong. But what?
"Mika, could I have a word with you?" Akane's usually uplifting tone was downcast. Her hands were clasped in front of her as she shifted on her feet occasionally. He nodded, coming closer.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" he briefly thought about their newest addition to the family, if something the boy could have said made her upset, but he didn't like to think that Yu would hurt Akane's feelings.

"Yu…" she took a breath, making his fears become more real, but what she said next stumped him; "said that you used the 'f' word."

The blonde stayed silent for a moment, finding that he had no idea what she was referring to. "The 'f' word?"

"I was hoping that you could… tell us what he meant." Her worry was suddenly very real. Yu was talking about things they didn't understand, which either meant that something was wrong or, if they couldn't figure it out, then they couldn't help him.

"I… have no idea," he shook his head, feeling bad when the worry in her eyes increased; "I can try and talk to him. Maybe he could explain what he meant."

"Yeah, that might be good," she nodded once, still seeming a bit out of it. "I think he went in the direction of the bedroom, but I'm not sure."

Mika thanked her and headed in that direction, getting a glimpse of the other orphans putting their creations on one of the shelves to dry. The sight was a contrast of happiness to what he was feeling. If Yu needed help, would they be able to figure out what was wrong? Would they try and transfer him to another orphanage, or would he simply disappear?
Mika didn't want to think about the last possibility. The story was just rumors from many years ago, almost considered a fairytale turned nightmare by now. It had given him quite a few nightmares before he was able to convince himself that his new family was going nowhere.

He didn't have time to dwell on the past though; his footsteps easily guided him towards the bedroom that they shared. Yu was seated on one of the cots as he seemed to stare at the wall. The other orphan's attention was briefly drawn towards him when he entered, but it quickly went back to the wall.

"Hi, Yu-chan. Mind if I ask you something?" Yu didn't answer the question, so Mika walked over to the other boy, sitting on the opposite cot. The other boy avoided his gaze for the time being, seeming to not want to talk. Maybe he's worried about what I'll ask.

"Akane told me that… you that said I've using the… 'f' word," he trailed off a bit, trying to find the right words, "but we don't know what that means."

Might as well be honest, he thought as Yu's eyes met his with the most disbelieving stare. Mika wondered what he had done wrong. Maybe Yu didn't remember the exchange, or maybe he didn't know what he had meant.

"How is that…?" Mika picked up surprise in the other orphan's voice, "how can you not know, when you say it all the time?"

"I… do?" the blonde's confusion grew. I say the 'f' word all the time… what word does he mean? He wracked his brain for a moment, thinking about what word that he mentioned a lot. It had to have been around Yu, if the other boy could remember it so clearly in the short amount of time he had been here.

"Oh…" it hit him suddenly as he remembered what Yu had told him when he had first arrived, "do you mean that I talk about our family a lot?"

Yu made a frustrated noise as his gaze traveled away from Mika. "Yes, that word! The 'f' word!"

Mika suddenly realized how obvious it had been; Yu had a hard time with his family, so of course he would feel strange when the blonde repeated the word so many times. But, maybe it would help him a bit…

"That makes sense now," he smiled, feeling relieved that the problem was nothing serious. Yu still seemed annoyed though, so he knew he would have to do something to cheer the other boy up. "Yu, come with me."

He held out his hand to the sitting boy, not wanting to startle him too much. Yu didn't take the hand, but he did follow the orphan back to the 'craft' room, where Mika promptly made an announcement to clear things up, as well as what the mysterious 'f' word had been: 'f' meant family.

Now, I'm expecting the characters to be a bit OOC in this one, considering the fact that they are in some… strange circumstances. I know that the title kind of gave it away, but I really didn't mean any bad language by this. This was based off of AnimeWolfGirl16 and I always explaining certain words as the first letter (hence Yu explaining family as the 'f' word) so I figured it would be interesting since Yu doesn't seem to accept the idea of family at first. I'm going to be doing another fanfiction, a semi-sequel, to this one titled "'F' is for Friend" which is set during the school period of the anime, so keep an eye out for that too. Hope everyone enjoyed it!

-AnimeWolfGirl9