This was suppose to be a love story.

Usaida had made the suggestion earlier that they spend some time outside. The weather was nice, and Ryuuichi did have some spare time, so he really couldn't see a reason to oppose to the idea. It was nice to get some sun every once in a while after all, and Kotarou did need to move around a little more, not relying on Ryuuichi to carry him everywhere.

It was almost summer break, only a few weeks away from what the middle schooler's been told, and he wanted to plan something special for his baby brother. Nothing to extravagant, something simple that the two of them could do without it being to over whelming. It was going to be their first summer without their parents around after all.

Dad wanted to take us somewhere this year, Ryuuichi thought. He was never told where they were going, just that it was a 'surprise' and to 'wait and see'. He never did find out where he was going to take them, but after some thinking it was possible that he had planned for them to go to some resort his mother had been talking about before; "A women's paradise" she had described it. Then again, the idea was a shot in the dark, but it did put his mind at ease, after all it was better then just sitting on the thought for the rest of his life.

"Ryu-niichama! You're super slow~" Calls Kirin, hiding herself behind a tree close by. They decided earlier that they were all going to play tag for a bit, and Ryuuichi was 'it'.

"Ryu, slow!" Takuma giggles, his brother meekly nodding in agreement.

"slow..."

Ryuuichi smiles at them. "Hey, I'm old. Go easy on me."

"Hmm? Did I hear you complain just now?" Usaida perks up from a bench near by, Midori reaching for a lock of his hair. "How rare. Not gonna lie, it sort of feels like it's a privilege hearing it come from you. I'm honored."

"Sorry, it's just been a long day that's all." The young babysitter did feel a slight pain in his lower neck, and putting aside the migraine he's had for the last few hours, he wasn't exactly feeling at his best at the moment.

He recently got back a test he had taken last week only to find out that he had failed, a solid 45 inking his paper in more red then he's ever seen, and during lunch that afternoon it didn't help that he not only sat in gum, but also had a hot beverage spilled all over his uniform after a female tripped and dumped her tray. She had apologized profusely, and Hayato did lend him some spare clothes in the end, but it still didn't take away the fact that Ryuuichi just felt miserable.

Usadia whistled. "That bad huh?" His smile falters a bit. "Wanna talk?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine, really." Ryuuichi says, dismissing the topic with a simple wave. "I should just go to bed early tonight and rest up a bit more."

The older man looks him over for a second before adjusting the child in his arms. "Well, ok. If that's the case why don't you head home early for the day so- ...O-oi! Ow, ow! Midori, let go!" He tries to pull her arm away again, but her hand has a tight grip around a small lock of his hair. He struggles for a moment trying to free himself. "Midori, come on, stop-"

"Uwaaugh!"

"Ow-ow-ow!"

Ryuuichi can't help but chuckle a little at the scene, and Usaida has to catch himself from cursing in front of the child. This distracts the both of them for a moment before Taka calls out to him again angrily, demanding to be chased around. Kotarou doesn't say anything, only continuing to stare at his brother expectantly, and Ryuuichi couldn't help but comply. At least one of them seemed to be having a good time.

"Ryuu!" Taka cries out again, annoyed.

The teen puts down his bag and moves forward. "Alright, I'm ready!"

They play until their mothers come to pick them up. Ryuuichi goes home that night and crashes on the couch.

*(*)*(*)*

The next morning is a drag.

His body feels heavy, and the rain outside doesn't help him with anything.

"More rice?" Saikawa offers, but Ryuuichi kindly declines and asks to take the breakfast up to his room.

Kotarou does the same, not wanting to leave his older brother's side, but for the first time in a while, Ryuuichi wants to be left a lone for the time being. Of course, he doesn't have the heart tell him that, not after the smaller asked if he could sit on his lap. They eat together in silence, getting dressed soon after and heading for school while saying their goodbyes.

The umbrella is his mothers. She bought it years ago during a storm both she and Ryuuichi got caught in while coming home from the grocery store. He was 7 at the time.

"What color do you think I should get, Ryuu-kun?" She had asked him. Her voice was soothing, calm enough to ease any worries he had felt back then. Ryuuichi tightens his hold on the handle at the memory.

"I want...the red one! No, yellow!" He told her. She picked them both up and held them out in front of him.

"I can only buy one for the both of us, ok? So, which do you think is better?"

"But I like them both..."

"I see," She hums a soft tune while thinking it over, a habit she had passed on to her son. "Tell you what. Why don't we get the orange one then? It's both red and yellow combined, right? And Orange just so happens to be mama's favorite color. So, how does that sound?"

"I like orange too!" He claimed, and that's what they got.

For years she kept that umbrella. It was pretty useful despite how old it was, but it was one of the few things she left behind that Ryuuichi felt he could use freely. A momentous.

A smile slips past him as he looks down at Kotarou, securely placed in his free arm as the safely make it through the rain.

They arrive a little earlier then the other kids. Usaida greets them as he rearranges a few books on the shelf. "You look awful." He states bluntly. It catches Ryuuichi a little off guard.

"Eh?"

"You're hair's a wreck." He points out. "Forget to dry it this morning?"

"Ah, I did!" Ryuuichi quickly puts Kotarou down and goes to fix it. "Guess I was a bit careless."

"I can see that." Usaida's grin widens. "Nice bears."

Bears? Ryuuichi looks down back at Kotarou and sees that he was still in his pajama bottoms, little blue shorts with small bear prints placed about. "K-Kotarou!?"

"Nii-chan, bed shirt."

"Wha- Bed shirt?" The child points over to his shirt, and sticking out is a piece of his own pajama top, layered underneath his school uniform.

Usaida has to convince the other children that they didn't miss out on pajama day.

*(*)*(*)*

It's lunch time when Ryuuichi finally feels it.

Hunger hits him hard, so he shyly asks Hayato if he could have some of his bread.

"You didn't eat breakfast." He deadpans. Ryuuichi feels guilty.

"I didn't have time to finish eating this morning." He nervously chuckles. It was a lie, but he was willing to play along with it as long as he got some of that bread. Truthfully he didn't exactly feel like eating that morning, so unfortunately most of his food went to waste (he was going to have to hear it from the chairwomen later), but now that he was more awake the feeling just seem to come onto him all at once.

Hayato holds out the pastry in front of him. "Fine."

"Thank's, Kamitani." He downs it in a matter of seconds, and thankfully is given another one out of pity from the other.

Class starts up again by the time he's finished eating everything he needed. Hayato had reluctantly given him his entire lunch in the end, all except for his juice box and a few spare clementines. He doesn't say anything when Ryuuichi thanks him, only grunting before taking his seat when the teacher shows up.

About twenty minutes into the lecture Ryuuichi finds it difficult to concentrate on his work. His stomach starts cramping, so he politely asks to be excused and makes his way down to the restroom. He doesn't feel sick, but it does bother him that he's eaten so much, let alone robbed his friend of his own lunch. He splashed water on his face a couple of times before drying himself off and heading back to class, unaware of the concerned glances coming from Yuki for the rest of the period.

At the end of the day he hands the lent clothing back to Hayato as the two make their way down to the daycare room.

"I have practice for a few hours, so i'll be late." Hayato says.

Ryuuichi played off a smile. "I'll tell Taka." It wasn't that he didn't mind him going off to play baseball, but it was the fact that he was pretty much left alone with the children that slightly irritated him (with Usaida always being asleep). He loved the children just as much as Kotarou, thinking of them as a part of his own family, but there were days he would like to have a little help. This day just happened to be one of them.

*(*)*(*)*

"Taka! That's Ryu-niichama's umbrella!" Kirin warns.

Taka huffs and starts carelessly swinging around the parasol. "No, this is a knights sword! One I stole from the evil witch!" He points it towards Usaida and grins. "That's right! And now I'm going to defeat him with it along with my awesome strength!"

"Actually, I would be a warlock, not a witch." He corrects, but none of them are listening.

"Rangers, attack!"

The lot comes after the man with a shout, and Usaida jokingly decides to go along with their little game. Taka starts beating him with the umbrella playfully, laughing as he did so.

"Taka, is that yours?"

"It's Ryu's!" Answers Takuma, giggling much unlike his brother.

"Oh? Did you ask to borrow it?"

Taka continues hitting him with the umbrella. "He told me I could borrow it!"

"Alright. But ya know, this actually hurts a little."

"Good!" He starts hitting him harder. "Die evil witch! Die!"

"Actually it's warlo-" Usaida's hit on the head. "Oi, oi, take it easy." He makes a move to grab the object, but Taka quickly pulls away.

"You can't defeat me that easily!"

"Taka, why don't you give that to me and use something, I don't know, less painful."

"No! Then I can't win!"

"You get a prize for this?"

Taka hits him a few more times. "I win vintory!"

"It's pronounced 'victory'. Also, that doesn't make any sense..." Usaida manages to get a hold of the base. "Ah, gotcha."

"No! This is mine!" Taka pulls away with a harsh yank.

"Come on, just give it here. I'll get you something else to play with."

"The witch is winning! Guys help!"

The kids playfully scream louder.

"Come on, you don't need to-"

Snap!

"...Hm?"

Taka suddenly stops and looks down at the umbrella, curiously flopping it around before-

"Waah!"

It opens up, but something faint 'clicks' and the entire parasol is suddenly bent upward in an unnatural way, one of the metal-quality frames giving out.

That's what Ryuuichi walks in on.

He can only helplessly stare at the broken umbrella as Usaida apologizes to him, taking the fall on himself for not keeping a better eye on the children.

"I'll lend you mine for today if you want. I can buy another one tomorrow." He offers, watching Taka drop the broken tool in front of him. He looks slightly guilty, but doesn't say anything about it, looking away and pretending as if nothing happened.

Kotarou waddles up to his brother, lifting his arms to be picked up. "Nii-chan."

"..." Ryuuichi continues to stand quietly, staring down his mothers umbrella.

Orange just so happens to be mama's favorite color.

His breath hitches, and he quickly puts a hand to his mouth when a sudden wave of nausea hits him.

Kotarou's curiosity quickly turns to concern. "Nii-chan?"

Usaida lifts a brow. "Hey, you alright?"

It's just a color. Ryuuichi tells himself. Just a color. Just an umbrella...

He takes a moment to try and collect his thoughts, and it works. Thankfully he's able to smile it off and greet them all as he usually does, throwing out the broken tool before being put to work.

The rest of the day goes by quickly, and as promised he ends up borrowing Usaida's umbrella for the trip home, a red one.

It was 3 in the morning when Ryuuichi finally threw up.

Ryuuichi needs food.