Just a warning I am Dyslexic so my stories will not be perfect but I now have one Beta reader to help me along the way :D

Thank you so much to Roshelle Diall for offering to work with me :D

Hello my sweeties,

As always you guys are amazing :D

Big BIG thanks to Kaito-neechan who answered my questions!

and as typical of me I must have skipped the first 5 chapters thinking she was introduced later on hehe

(Oh! And I found the name of the caretaker - it's in the first chapter - Yoshizawa Haruko. But I don't think anyone would mind her being "Tanaka Chieko" XD I don't think anyone remembers her real name anyway. I know *I* did not lol)

and thank you also for the information about Shiharu i never realised she had grown so much (teary eyed as she watches the wonderful girl grow)

(By the way I'm not sure what's the timing of your story but Shiharu's almost 18 now. In the start of the manga she had already turned 16. )

Me and Roshelle will be working to rectify the mistakes we made :D

Well onwards with the story shall we :D

Enjoy.

Neh xxx

I do not own Love so Life.

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Shiharu's world was black as she forced her way through what felt like infinite cobwebs in her mind. She felt like she was swimming in sand as she strove to push herself out of the darkness. The sound of a beeping noise aroused her slightly as she wondered if it was her phone? It wasn't the message tone and it definitely wasn't ringing. Maybe the battery's running out she mused as the smell of strong cleaning fluids hit her. This smell was new and yet not so new as her fuzzy mind tried to decipher the smells into some logical format in her mind.

Shiharu wondered why the beeping wasn't ending, surely the battery wouldn't last that long if it was close enough to dying it was calling her to charge it? But it was in that moment that her brain suddenly seemed to power up. She remembered being with the twins, cooking them lunch and then going into the garden to bring the washing in. She had been feeling off all day and thought the slight temperature she had woken with was just because of how warm she had been in bed. The aching and headache had come on later, but by this time Shiharu was already alone with the twins...The twins!

"Aoi!...Akane!" She tried to shout as she tried to force her eyes to obey her. But her voice even to herself was little more than a whisper, weak and broken. as she tried to move...to sit up anything... Akane had asked her if she was alright... What had happened then? She was panicking now as Shiharu realised she didn't know where she was or where the twins were. Her instinct for their safety outweighed her own as the fear reflex made her body react. Her eyes shot open just as a soft hand and voice rang out from beside her.

"Shhh, it's ok Nakahara-san. The twins are fine...Calm yourself." the cold wet flannel that was pressed to her head in that moment helped with the blinding pain her head was feeling after forcing her eyes open. The soft and gentle voice calmed her spirit as she tried to understand why that voice was here, and just where she was.

"Matsunaga-san?" Shiharu asked hardly daring to breathe. Her voice again was painful, raspy and quiet.

"It's OK Nakamura-san, I'm here." Shiharu felt herself lifted slightly from the bed along with a warm arm behind her shoulders supporting her gently.

"Here have a drink." Seiji said as he lifted the cup of water and moved the straw gently to her mouth. Shiharu's weakness pained him. Still, when her lips finally wrapped around the tube of plastic and sucked Seiji's eyes were fixated on them, wondering what it would be like to kiss them? No Seiji get a grip of yourself! he scolded in his own mind as he turned away blushing slightly, glad that the lights were off.

When Shiharu had her fill of the cool water Seiji lowered her gently back onto the bed. Shiharu was shocked at how weak she felt. Sitting up even with Seiji's help had sapped all of her strength and left her physically trembling with fatigue. Needing to say something, anything, Seiji answered Shiharu's unasked question.

"You're in the hospital. You collapsed at home and were brought her by ambulance for treatment. The doctor has said you are going to be fine, but you have to stay here until he releases you to my care." Seiji waited wondering just how Shiharu would react to that statement. It wasn't like he had thought about having Shiharu come and stay with them before he had spoken. It had been instinctive, offering to care for the young woman who had become such a large part of his life. Even if it terrified him with his feelings for the young girl growing daily, how was he to cope when she came home and had to rely on him completely?

The reaction never came as Seiji watched Shiharu's breathing became shallow and even as she drifted away again into sleep. He watched her for a few moments wondering when she had become so beautiful? Or had she always been this way. Had he just failed to notice? How could this girl completely invade his senses? How had she come to be something in his life that he doubted he could live without? To him she was a puzzle and enigma that he just had to solve...to understand something that he never wanted to let go. But still he knew when the twins finally left to live with their grandparents, she would leave him!

He would be losing a really important part of his life...And in this moment he realised it wouldn't only be Shiharu... Pulling out his wallet Seiji got the few pictures he kept there: The twins and Shiharu with Mana and Takeru in the garden with fireworks, Shiharu and the twins at the zoo and then again recently at the twins Shichi-go-san. They had been there...all of them, for some of his happiest memories. He remembered running round Shiharu's school festival in a panda head! The look on Shiharu's face when he had given her the mug to use at home...their home...

Seiji leaned against the bed, dropping the pictures down onto the coverlet as he rested his head in his hands looking at each picture, each precious memory. That's right... it was no longer his old family home, where he had grown up through a rather unconventional childhood. He no longer thought about these times at all unless provoked... Now he saw Shiharu and the twins welcoming him home. Shiharu making dinner, drinking from her cup, using her own key to let herself into her home... The fact was even before the offer to nurse Shiharu back to health... his home...the twins home... had all along been their home. Shiharu, himself and the twins...It had been unconventional, inconceivable and utterly astounding to think about it, but it had been their home.

"What's going to be my home now?" Seiji wondered out loud, as looking at the pictures before him he finally allowed himself to think about the twins departure and in that moment he finally realised that without the twins or Shiharu...It would no longer be home!

"Where Shiharu? How is she? Is she OK? Does she need anything?" Nao began as soon as Haruko entered the door. She smiled at the young man who she guessed had been waiting there for just this reason. She wondered if Nao had ever told Shiharu just how he felt about the girl? If he had ever considered telling her his feelings? Though maybe he already had? She pondered as she remembered the short period of time where the relationship between the two had seemed tired and strained. It seemed as if it had been pushed to some invisible breaking point only they themselves could see or rectify in some way.

"If I were to tell you she is fine I would be lying, but she will get better." Nao looked around Haruko as if expecting to see Shiharu behind her. "She will need to stay in the hospital until discharged then she will need a lot of care to regain her strength. Viral meningitis though not deadly takes time to get over." Nao's gasp at the word meningitis and his obvious relief at hearing the words 'non-deadly' made her smile though she wondered just how well Nao would take the rest of her news.

"So when discharged Shiharu will be going to stay with Matsunaga-san until she is well enough to return to us..." Haruko watched as Nao's face seemed to turn the entire red spectrum of colours on his face as his anger grew.

"WHAT?!" he screamed staring at Haruko with unbelieving eyes as she calmly repeated the message. Lucky for them, none of the younger children had come to welcome her home, though she wondered if this too wasn't Nao's doing as he burst into explicit cursing.

It was the next day when Seiji finally got to tell Shiharu about the plans for her recovery as she sat propped up in the bed. Haruko and Seiji were there as Shiharu's jaw dropped.

"But you can't! Matsunaga-san, what about your job?" she cried out shocked by the plan they had come up with.

"It's fine. My boss has given me some time off for family matters." Seiji answered simply, not wanting her to question her role in his life.

"BUT?! But... I'm not family! What about the twins? What if I make you all sick?" Seiji almost cringed at her words, but it was now or never...wasn't it? From the look on Haruko's face she believed this was his problem to sort.

"Nakamura-san, you have been a member of this family now for a very long time. Even if we are not related in any way, you have still been very important to the twins and you have always been very helpful. I need your help with the twins" he wanted to tell her just how much she really did mean to him! How much he cared for her! How much he needed, wanted her beside him. But as much as he wanted to he just couldn't speak the words, he couldn't say it out loud to her.

"And the twins and I will be fine, we just want you better. With baby Toru at the orphanage it is safer for you to stay with us." Shiharu just stared as Haruko nodded solemnly. It was in her eyes. She was sorry, she wanted Shiharu home but she also knew she needed to protect Toru... So if that meant living with Matsunaga-san?...Hell...NO! She just couldn't do it...she couldn't think of living with the man she had recently realised she had feelings for! The man who only had to walk into the same room to have her heart fluttering! The man she had secretly watched that morning as he slept resting on the side of her bed! How could she control herself and hide her feelings if she was with Seiji all the time! And he was going to be looking after her!

This was a big problem, and the fact was both of them knew it!

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Hey guys sorry the update has been so long in coming and is a little short,

but life has been hectic of late and my health has been poor :(

been in hospital and then needed rest so not done much at all tbh, but this will be the first chapter i have released since being better :P so waiting for all my Skip Beat fans to kill me XD

For those who don't know i now have a Blog, which keeps you updated on important things about me:) such as why I have been A.W.O.L hehe the links in my profile :D

and feel free to add me on Google+ if anyone wishes, as It is where I work on my stories for if any of you want to come take a look at how I write and how me and my friends chat and have fun together with y stories :)

Thank you for reading :)

Neh xxx

Comments and reviews please, I will happily reply to PM's and questions.