Author's Note: So, I wrote the first chapter back in 2009. Wow. Time flies. :3

I appreciate all your reviews and it makes me so happy that there are people who are as invested in the XY story as I am. :) Thank you so much – I love hearing all your thoughts! :)

But I have to take back what I said in my previous author's note: you need to read XY to even remotely find this interesting, haha. Because it's basically just 'filler' to give XY more history (. . . plus I adore little kids). ^^;

Oh, and I don't like original characters either – except my own, which I think is how every writer feels about their original characters, haha. So thanks to everyone who has enjoyed reading XY: Beginnings and XY even though they're filled with original characters. :)

(Ages in this chapter for reference: Yamato - 6. Taichi - 7. Eito - 9. Toru - 12. Hideki - 17.)

XY: Beginnings
chapter two

Taichi let out a groan as the dinosaur he was riding on was suddenly surrounded by water that seemingly came from out of nowhere.

"Great," the brunet muttered to himself as he watched the water rise higher and higher; it reached his toes, then engulfed his foot, and then his legs . . .

It occurred to him that it didn't even make sense – where had the flood come from? But he needed to get out of there – the water was up to his waist now.

"Stop!" a small voice suddenly cried out.

Taichi looked around quickly in surprise and tried to locate the source of the voice – but there was no one in sight. He frowned. But the voice had sounded familiar though . . .

Yamato?

And then Taichi opened his eyes.

"Huh . . ." came the brunet's own sleepy voice, as he tried to make sense of where he was.

It was dark. He couldn't see a thing. But – he could feel a dampness below his waist . . .

Taichi groaned loudly as his hands felt around the wet patch he was evidently lying in, realising now that he had just woken up from a dream – thanks to Yamato, who was next to him shaking and murmuring in his sleep.

The brunet sat up and leaned over across Yamato to turn on the bedside lamp, before shaking the blond awake.

"Yamato, wake up!" Taichi grumbled. He did not appreciate being peed on.

Yamato's eyes shot open in a panic, before settling on Taichi and calming down. ". . . I had a nightmare," he told Taichi, his eyes still wide.

"Yeah, and you wet my bed, you idiot!" Taichi told him, a glare fixed on his face. "And my leg!"

Yamato immediately sat up after being told this, and looked down at the sheets around his body. They were wet; Taichi was telling the truth. His face fell. "I'm sorry . . ." he said miserably. He'd been having a nightmare about their father – his eyes went wide again. "Daddy's going to be mad . . ."

Taichi knew that was true, but he chose not to comment on it for the moment, taking pity on the blond. "Come on," he said instead, pulling the covers off both of them. "Let's go get cleaned up."

He grabbed Yamato's hand and led him to the bathroom, where he and Yamato stripped and quickly washed themselves in the bathtub with just water. After that they quickly scurried back to their bedroom to get dressed in new clothes.

Once done, they both looked at the imperfect wet circle on Taichi's bed.

". . . We have to tell Daddy now," Yamato piped up sadly, not looking forward to it. "He's gonna hit me . . ."

But Taichi shook his head – he had come up with an idea. "We don't have to tell Dad," he told Yamato. "I'll wake up Hideki and say it was me."

Yamato's eyes widened. "But Taichi, you'll get into trouble . . .!"

Taichi shrugged nonchalantly. "Hideki might be a little mad at me, yeah. But I don't think he'll hit me . . ." The thought that Hideki would hit him was completely foreign to Taichi.

Yamato bit his bottom lip – he actually wouldn't mind if Taichi took the blame for him, but at the same time, he knew it was unfair. And so he voiced it. "But it wouldn't be fair for you to get in trouble for something I did . . ." His face showed worry. "And what if Daddy or Hideki find out it was really me? They'll be even more mad . . ."

"It'll be fine," Taichi insisted, brushing him off. "They're not going to find out unless you wussy out and tell them yourself, Yamato."

Yamato frowned at the insult. "I'm not a wuss!"

"Then prove it," Taichi challenged with a slight smirk on his face, because he'd just cornered Yamato into doing what he'd proposed. "I'll take the blame, OK?"

Yamato still didn't totally like the idea, but Taichi was doing him a big favour. He nodded his head in defeat. "OK . . ." he agreed.

Taichi gave him a giant grin – and in the process showed the rather large gap his two front teeth had left behind after recently falling out. "That's what big brothers are for," Taichi told him. "And you owe me, all right?"

Yamato giggled at the goofy sight of Taichi and his missing teeth, and couldn't help smiling back at him. "All right."

Taichi smiled. "OK, I'm going to wake up Hideki now. Get into your bed and look asleep."

Yamato nodded his head hesitantly and climbed onto his bed and under his covers. He looked at his brother and, softly, said, "Thanks, Taichi."

Taichi grinned before leaving their bedroom and making his way to their eldest brother's room. Once there, he knocked softly before opening the door and letting light from the hallway illuminate the way to Hideki's bed.

"Hideki," Taichi said in a whisper, as he tugged at Hideki's shoulder to wake him up.

Hideki groaned and opened a bleary eye. Upon seeing Taichi, he sat up slowly and looked at the clock on his bedside table: 4:07 am. He looked back at Taichi. "What is it?" he asked in a slightly annoyed tone – he'd had no intention of waking up at 4 am.

"I wet my bed," Taichi told him matter-of-factly.

"What?" Hideki frowned, rubbing sleep out of his eyes before his vision readjusted to his little brother again. "You wet the bed?" he asked, as if his brain was too tired to process the information. Taichi nodded. Hideki frowned again. "You haven't wet the bed in ages . . ."

"Yeah, I know," Taichi replied. "But I was dreaming about . . . swimming – and somehow I wet the bed."

". . . Right," Hideki said, yawning. He then got up and headed towards Taichi's bedroom, with the younger brunet following close behind.

Hideki turned on the bedroom lights, allowing his eyes to take in the sight of Taichi's bed with a glaring wet spot on the mattress. He then looked over at Yamato's bed and found the blond sleeping soundly in it. He sighed.

"Taichi, go sleep in my bed," Hideki directed. "I'll be there after I finish cleaning up your mess."

Taichi nodded his head. "OK."

"Oh, and Taichi," Hideki added sternly. "Please don't make this a habit, OK? I don't want to be woken up at odd hours to clean your mattress and sheets every night from now on."

"I'll try not to," Taichi told his brother, making his way out. He hoped Yamato never wet his bed again, anyway. It was weird – Yamato had stopped wetting the bed a long while ago, so he didn't understand why the blond had started bed-wetting again. Did that ever happen to him or Toru or Eito? Taichi shrugged. Maybe Yamato just drank too much the previous night.

The following morning Yamato cried out with glee as he beat Taichi again in Mortal Kombat on the Super Nintendo.

"You're cheating," Taichi grumbled, annoyed that his little brother had managed to beat him so many times on his gaming console.

"No I'm not," Yamato retorted, sticking his tongue out at him. "I'm just better than you."

"No," Taichi spat back, "you just have no idea what you're doing – you're just randomly pressing buttons like a spastic, making combos by accident." With that, he reached over and grabbed the second controller out of Yamato's hands.

"Hey!" Yamato cried out at the loss. He folded his arms with a pout. "You're just a sore loser, Taichi."

"You cheated," Taichi repeated with a glare. He turned the other way and offered the second controller to Eito. "Hey, vers' me?"

But the older brunet shook his head, thoroughly occupied with the new Game Boy he'd just gotten for his ninth birthday – which was today. "Play against the computer; maybe you'll actually win for once," Eito sniggered.

"Shut up," Taichi grumbled, placing the other controller down and proceeding to do what Eito had said anyway.

Yamato then crawled to the other side of Taichi to grab the second controller back, but Taichi snatched it up again just before he got hold of it.

"No fair!" Yamato exclaimed, pouting. "Let me play!"

"No, you'll just cheat again," Taichi told him, placing the controller in his lap.

Yamato was about to protest and continue arguing with him when Toru appeared with a bunch of his friends. The blond naturally clammed up at the presence of people – especially older boys – that he didn't know.

"Cool, a Super Nintendo!" one of the boys with Toru exclaimed, getting onto the floor to look at the console.

"It's mine," Taichi said proudly and matter-of-factly with a smug grin.

"And who are you?" the older boy asked.

"That's Taichi," Toru answered for him, then gestured at Eito as well. "And that's Eito, as some of you know. They're my puny little brothers." Eito looked up from his Game Boy just to give Toru the finger, which made Toru and his friends laugh.

"And the blond one?" another of Toru's friends asked, seeing as Toru had totally ignored the third kid's presence.

Toru looked down at Yamato with disdain. "He's just my dad's son," he told his friends flatly. Yamato shifted uncomfortably at his comment and avoided the older boys' gazes.

One of Toru's friends lifted an eyebrow. "So . . . that makes him your brother, right?"

"No, he's just my dad's son," Toru repeated coldly, confusing his friends. As an afterthought, and to change the topic, he added, "And he's a fag."

One of his friends laughed. "He's so little, how can you even tell?"

Toru smirked. "He chooses to be Princess Peach whenever he plays Mario Kart – he's such a little fag."

Yamato could feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment as Toru and his friends laughed at him, and he wanted to defend himself – but he was too intimidated to speak out to a group of older boys. And he didn't know what the word 'fag' meant anyway, so he didn't even know what he'd be defending himself from.

Apparently, Taichi was wondering the same thing.

"What's a fag?" the youngest brunet asked curiously. He wanted to know what they were calling Yamato.

"Gay, Taichi," Toru told him with an eye roll. "You know, when a boy likes a boy?"

"Oh," Taichi answered, apparently understanding. He looked over at Yamato and shrugged at him. Toru was just being an arse, as usual.

Yamato, however, did not understand. "But . . ." the blond spoke up hesitantly. "Taichi's a boy . . . and I like him . . ."

Toru and his friends burst out laughing, Eito smirked while still keeping his eyes on his Game Boy, and Taichi rolled his eyes.

"No, dipshit," Toru said. "It's when you want to be with another boy."

But Yamato was still confused. He didn't mind if he and Taichi stayed together forever . . . so how could being a 'fag' be something bad? He didn't ask, however – he didn't want them to laugh at him again.

"Anyway," Toru began, getting to the reason he and his friends had come up to the apartment in the first place. "Eito, want to play football with us? We're a man short."

Eito looked up from his Game Boy in surprise. Toru and his friends didn't usually let him play sports with them – especially football – because he was too 'small', so he jumped at the opportunity. "Yeah!"

Usually Taichi would ask if he could play too (even though he knew they'd say no), but he really didn't like football (it was too hard) so he didn't bother.

"Come on then," Toru said, already leading his friends out of the apartment. Eito quickly turned off his Game Boy and ran off after the older boys, leaving Taichi and Yamato alone in the living room.

"You're so stupid, Yamato," Taichi remarked once they were all gone. "Do you have to be so dumb?"

Yamato frowned in indignation. "You didn't know what that word meant either! Toru had to tell you."

"Yeah, but I understood his explanation," Taichi returned, his focus already back on the television screen and his game.

"Explain it to me then," Yamato told him, still frowning.

Taichi sighed, but answered him anyway. "It's like, instead of liking girls, you like boys. Get it?"

". . . Not really," Yamato said, unsure and frustrated. ". . . I don't like any girls . . ." he trailed off, thinking about the other kids in his kindergarten class. None of them liked him so he liked none of them either.

Taichi snorted – but then gave a small shrug of his shoulders, since it was no big deal. "I guess you're still too little. You'll like a girl when you get more grown up."

". . . Oh," Yamato said dumbly. Then, ". . . Do you like a girl?"

That made Taichi pause to think. Did he like any girls at school? He found all of them annoying, and . . . girly. He shrugged. "Some of them are OK, I guess." Though, really, he didn't like any of the girls in his grade . . .

He guessed he had some growing up to do, too.

"Five, four, three, two, one," Yamato counted backwards with his eyes closed. "Ready or not, here I come!" He opened his eyes just in time to see the tip of Taichi's hair disappear into . . . Toru's room.

Yamato frowned, but trudged forward towards Toru's room anyway. He stopped at his older brother's doorway, though; he wasn't allowed in Toru's room . . . and Taichi knew it.

Taichi was sat smiling smugly on top of Toru's bed.

Yamato knew he had to catch his brother to win, but the brunet was cheating. "I found you, Taichi," he declared in a slight whine.

"But you have to tag me," Taichi told him, still grinning.

"You know I'm not allowed in Toru's room," the blond glared at him. "Stop cheating, Taichi."

Taichi laughed at him. "This is payback. Why don't you stop being such a wuss and just come in and tag me? Toru's not here anyway. He won't find out."

Yamato looked down at the invisible line at his feet that signalled the beginning of Toru's bedroom. Toru wasn't here, so he was a little tempted to just walk in . . . especially seeing as Taichi had called him a wuss.

But the rule was that he wasn't allowed in Toru's room.

After it was clear Yamato wasn't going in, Taichi blew air and hopped off Toru's bed. "I knew you wouldn't, baby."

"You're no fun to play with," Yamato sulked in return, watching as Taichi began snooping around in Toru's room. The brunet had bent down to crawl under their older brother's bed.

"Too bad I'm the only friend you have," Taichi returned, grabbing a magazine before crawling back out from under Toru's bed with it in hand.

The statement was true – Taichi was Yamato's only friend and, really, since he was his brother he didn't really count – but it still hurt the blond, although Taichi didn't seem to realise it as his attention was occupied with the magazine.

"Gross!" Taichi exclaimed suddenly after opening the magazine to a page. "Yamato, come look at this – girl parts are disgusting!"

But Yamato stayed in the doorway, frowning. "I'm not going in, Taichi. And stop touching Toru's stuff, he'll notice –"

Yamato's speech was cut short and instead was replaced with the sound of choking. Taichi looked up from the magazine to find Toru behind Yamato, with an arm clenched around the blond's throat.

Taichi got to his feet at once, dropping the magazine to the ground. "Toru, let him go!" he yelled at his brother in anger.

But Toru ignored Taichi. "What the fuck are you doing in my room?" the older brunet instead growled into Yamato's ear after he lifted the blond up with the same arm that was constricting his airflow.

Taichi rushed forward and punched Toru in the leg in an attempt to make him release Yamato, but when that didn't seem to have an effect he proceeded to bite his older brother in the thigh instead.

"Fuck!" Toru yelled out, releasing his hold on Yamato and rubbing his thigh where Taichi had bit him. "Are you insane!?" he asked the younger brunet. The bite hadn't actually hurt all that much (because Taichi had the teeth of a seven-year-old – of which he was missing several of them), and had surprised him more than anything – but still.

Taichi was situated between Toru and Yamato as he patted the blond's back, who was coughing repeatedly to breathe in air. Taichi craned his neck a little to look up at Toru. "He wasn't even in your room," he glared at him.

"Uh, yeah he was," Toru snorted, narrowing his eyes at Taichi. "And so were you. What were you doing?" His eyes then landed on the porn magazine that lay open on his floor, and he promptly rushed inside to pick it up. "You're not supposed to be looking at this!" he reprimanded Taichi.

"I don't want to look at it!" Taichi retorted, as he continued rubbing Yamato's back. "It's gross!"

Toru found himself smirking as he threw the magazine back under his bed. "You won't be saying that in five or ten years, ol' little one." Taichi glared at him for calling him little.

Yamato finally stopped coughing. "Toru, I'm sorry I was in your room," the blond spoke up, a little croaky, even though he technically hadn't been in Toru's room . . . but he'd made Toru angry, so he needed to apologise.

Toru looked at him coldly. "Whatever, dipshit – but if I catch you in here again you're dead meat. Got it?"

Yamato nodded his head – he definitely knew Toru wouldn't hesitate to hurt him. That fact was becoming more and more evident . . .

A couple of hours later the entire Yagami clan were at McDonald's in the local shopping mall. They were at the mall to buy Eito's surprise birthday gift, but Eito and Taichi were quick to point out that they wanted McDonald's – so there they were.

"Boys, tell Hideki what you want," Susumu told his sons as Hideki stood in line to be served.

Yamato tugged at his father's shirt. "Me too?" he asked with hope in his voice, although he was mostly used to not being allowed to eat when they were out. Sometimes, though, their father did let him . . .

But not this time.

"No," Susumu responded flatly.

Yamato looked up at his father with a sad face. "But Daddy, I'm hungry . . ." he tried.

"You can eat when we get back home," Susumu said in a no-nonsense drone.

Yamato sadly let it go, listening enviously as his brothers rattled off what they wanted to Hideki. A short moment later, Yamato was sat in his seat in a McDonald's booth, watching dejectedly as his father and brothers ate their meals.

Taichi, who was sitting next to him, tried to offer him a chip discreetly. "Here," the brunet said.

Yamato let out a small smile and reached for the chip – before Hideki's voice cut through the air.

"What do you think you're doing?" their eldest brother asked.

Yamato slowly retracted his hand, and stared down at the empty bit of table in front of him – everyone else had plenty of food in front of them, except him. He felt so left out.

"You're not one of us you know," Toru sneered at him. "You don't belong."

Yamato lifted his head to look across the table at his brother. "What do you mean?" he asked uncertainly, feeling hurt.

Toru finished a chip then leered at Yamato, before giving him a lazy smirk. "You're adopted." Eito let out a small laugh.

Yamato didn't know what that meant, and so he asked, "What does that mean?"

Toru snorted. "It means Dad's not really your dad and you're not really a part of this family. Your real family didn't want you so they gave you up for adoption, and Dad was kind enough to take you in."

Yamato looked sad and confused. "But . . . that's not true." He looked over at their father. "Is it Daddy?"

Susumu didn't seem to be listening however – or just didn't care, and continued eating his food without looking up.

"Of course it's true," Toru carried on, smirking. "Look at you. You don't look like any of us. Your hair's freakin' blond and your eyes are freakin' blue. People stare at you because you stick out like a sore thumb when you're with us."

Yamato looked crestfallen. He looked over at Taichi for reassurance – but the brunet looked a little uncertain too, and didn't say anything. Taichi had always found it odd that Yamato didn't look like any of them . . .

Yamato looked back over at Toru. He wanted to say that his mother must've been blonde with blue eyes, but he knew from past experience that they never liked it when he brought up the topic of his mother. So he stayed silent.

"That's why Dad treats you differently," Toru went on, sneering. "You're not his real son."

Yamato didn't want to believe what Toru was saying, but everything he said actually made sense . . . He looked back over at his father worriedly. "Daddy?" his voice hitched a little, as though he was about to cry any second now.

Toru and Eito exchanged amused looks.

Hideki wasn't really big on the idea of Yamato bursting into tears in public. He rolled his eyes. "You're not adopted, Yamato," he told the youngest. "Do you really think I'd take care of you if you were? Shit, no. I'd throw you out on the streets to die."

What Hideki had said really wasn't very nice – but it at least reassured Yamato that Toru was just lying to make him upset. And didn't what Hideki said mean that his oldest brother didn't want him to die?

Yamato had the slightest of smiles on his lips.

After their McDonald's lunch Hideki led them towards the destination for Eito's surprise birthday gift. Only, just before they reached it Taichi suddenly ran towards another destination.

"I want one!" Taichi said as he came to a stop in front of rows of coin-operated capsule toy vending machines. He walked to a Dragon Ball Z machine, and turned back towards the others who had followed the couple of feet after him. "Money!" he exclaimed at Hideki, holding out an expectant hand.

Hideki sighed and automatically reached into his jeans pocket for some coins.

Yamato hesitated for a second before piping up, "I want one too, please?" He'd asked with uncertainty and without demand, as opposed to Taichi, because he knew there was a low chance Hideki would actually give in to his request.

Hideki handed Taichi the required amount, but just gave Yamato a dull disparaging look. Yamato looked away in dejection as he watched Taichi insert money into the machine's coin slot.

"Hideki, it's just 200 yen," Susumu spoke up in his usual dead drone. Yamato looked up at their father in surprise, then glanced at his eldest brother to see if he'd listen to their father.

Hideki paused, before giving Yamato the money.

Yamato grinned. "Thanks!" he said, accepting the money and walking over to stand beside Taichi who had just twisted the dial. The capsule toy came out almost immediately, and Taichi grabbed it out of the compartment as Yamato wasted no time in inserting his own coins and twisting the dial.

Taichi opened his capsule toy and groaned. "I got Master Roshi." He frowned as he watched Yamato take his own capsule toy out of the compartment.

"Yay!" Yamato exclaimed, smiling as he opened his capsule toy. "I got Trunks!"

"I want Trunks," Taichi informed him – it was just natural for him to want to get his way. "Let's swap."

"No," was Yamato's natural quick and blunt reply to Taichi – then he remembered his father and elder brothers were present. His tone changed to that of uncertainty, and he said meekly, "I got him fairly, Taichi . . ."

"If Taichi wants it give it to him," Hideki told him flatly.

Yamato looked at him with a saddened expression.

"Nah," Taichi then said, realising that it would be bullying Yamato – and he really shouldn't do that, as the blond got bullied enough by the others. "Just let me get one more, Hideki?"

Hideki sighed once again and gave Taichi more coins, where the younger brunet quickly turned the dial on the same machine again.

"Yes, Goku!" Taichi exclaimed with glee.

"Hey," Yamato said, feeling a little gipped. "I want another one too . . ." He looked hopefully at Hideki.

Hideki looked at their father, who just nodded his head. Susumu must've been in a nice mood or something. Again, Hideki sighed and gave Yamato the coins, who grinned with joy.

Yamato walked past the Dragon Ball Z machine and a few others before coming to a stop at one with pictures of planes on them. There were people in the planes too though, so he wasn't sure if the toys would be of planes or people. "What does that say?" he asked, pointing to the text.

"Famous Airplanes of the World," Eito came up from behind him to read.

"So I get a plane, right? Not little people?"

Eito snorted. "Yeah, planes."

"Good." Yamato inserted the coins, twisted the dial, and took the resulting capsule toy from the compartment. He was ridiculously happy to find that he indeed got a toy plane.

"OK, now let's go," Hideki said with an eye roll, ushering them several feet until they stopped at . . .

The pet shop.

Eito and Yamato ran with excitement to the glass windows showcasing puppies in them; out of the brothers, the two of them were really big on animals.

"Eito," Hideki smiled at his brother, a hand on his shoulder, "happy birthday."

Eito turned around and looked at his oldest brother with slight confusion in his eyes. "What?" Hideki didn't mean but he was hoping he meant . . . did he?

Hideki gestured towards the puppies with his chin. "Choose one. It's yours."

Eito's eyes lit up in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah," Hideki told him, grinning. Eito had been going on about wanting a dog for a year now, but he had always been against the idea because it would be tough having a dog in an apartment.

But the smile on his little brother's face was worth it.

All the boys got excited about the prospect of a dog, and Toru and Taichi began pointing out dogs Eito should choose. But eventually Eito settled on a tiny Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was brown and white, so Hideki got a store employee to get the dog out for Eito to hold, and then went to the counter with their father and the employee to fill out the paperwork for the dog.

"Why don't you get a bigger dog?" Toru asked Eito, with a slight smirk. "Maybe it could accidentally kill Yamato, like those freak dog accidents on the news." He sniggered.

Yamato was on his knees petting the dog with Eito. He wanted to tell Toru that was a hurtful thing to say, but as usual, kept his mouth shut.

"Nah, I like this one," Eito said, rubbing the dog's ears.

"So what are you going to name him?" Toru asked.

Eito paused, before shrugging. He didn't actually think Hideki would ever let him have a dog, so he'd never thought of a name before. "I don't know . . . I don't really have any ideas."

"You should name him Agumon!" Taichi piped up excitedly.

Eito raised an eyebrow. "What's an Agumon?"

"I don't know, but it sounds like a cool name, right?" Taichi said, grinning his toothless grin ear to ear.

"It sounds like a dumb name," Toru interjected, looking dubious. Taichi stuck his tongue out at him.

". . . How about Puppy?" Yamato offered softly, his hands still clutched around the small dog.

Toru snorted loudly. "You want to name the puppy . . . Puppy?" He looked at Yamato like he was retarded. "That's an even dumber name. What happens in a year when it grows up? Will his name change to Dog?"

Yamato just shrugged a little defensively, and focussed his attention back on rubbing the dog. He thought it was a cute name.

"It's all right, actually . . ." Eito began with a little shrug. He kind of thought it was cute, too – besides, Yamato was the only one who seemed to like animals as much as he did.

Toru snorted. "So your choices are Agumon or Puppy? Wow, tough choice, bro."

Eito just gave him a look, as if to challenge him. "Do you have a suggestion, then?"

"Yeah," Toru laughed. "Bitch."

Eito rolled his eyes, not amused at the insult towards his new dog. "It's a boy though."

"Whatever," Toru laughed. He really didn't care what Eito named his dumb dog.

Just then the dog began to lick Yamato all over his face, making the blond giggle. Eito couldn't help but smile. He'd decided on its name. It was obvious that Yamato was very taken with the canine – and also that it liked him back just as much, so . . .

"OK," Eito said, his decision made up. "His name is Puppy."

Yamato looked surprised that Eito had chosen his name for the puppy – but then smiled widely. "Yay!"

"What? No fair!" Taichi cried, a little insulted that his name wasn't chosen. "Why does Yamato get to name it?"

"It's better than Agumon and I can't think of anything else," Eito shrugged. Besides, Yamato obviously loved the dog more than Taichi did.

"Puppy's a stupid name," Taichi muttered, although he was actually kinda glad Eito had let Yamato name the dog – at least the blond could feel like he was being included in something for once.

Later that evening when they were back at home, Toru was preparing some dinner to go along with the birthday cake they had bought for Eito. Hideki was originally going to cook something, but Toru had insisted he wanted to contribute something for Eito's birthday. So there Toru was in the kitchen – but he wasn't alone.

Yamato stood next to the kitchen counter, making little engine noises as he played with his new capsule toys. Eito had wanted to be alone with Puppy in his room, so Yamato couldn't join him, and Taichi was playing Eito's Game Boy seeing as he had the chance to. So, Yamato had been left bored and alone, and decided to hang around Toru.

Though the blond didn't usually like being around Toru by himself, he figured it was 'safe' to be around him when he was busy cooking. He had always wanted to help his older brothers out in the kitchen too, so he was loitering around for the opportunity to help.

"Stop that," Toru told Yamato suddenly, obviously referring to the engine noises the blond was making. "It's annoying."

Yamato immediately did as he was told and placed the capsule toys on top of the kitchen counter. He blew up his cheeks for a few seconds – left, right, left, right – before blowing out air. "Can I help?" he spoke up quietly.

Toru quirked an eyebrow and looked at him derisively. "Like you can even reach anything, midget." Yamato looked downcast.

Then the water in the cooking pot boiled. Toru glanced at it – and grinned. He looked back over at Yamato.

"Actually, yeah, you can help me," he told the blond, holding out a wooden spoon towards him. "Here, put this in the sink for me."

Yamato eyed him a little suspiciously – because, well, Toru could just put it in the sink himself. But this was the first time Toru was letting him help in the kitchen, so he wasn't going to object – he always wanted to prove to his brothers that he could be useful, then perhaps they'd start to like him a little more.

Yamato walked over to a smirking Toru and took the wooden spoon from him, before turning on his heels to walk over to the sink.

As soon as Yamato's back was turned to him, Toru grabbed the pot of boiling water – and deliberately poured its contents down the blond's back.

Yamato's resulting cries were loud enough to make everyone (well, minus their father) rush into the kitchen.

The scene that met Taichi's eyes consisted of Yamato writhing on the floor crying uncontrollably. Toru was stood before him with a cooking pot in his hand. Taichi would've thought his older brother had hit the blond with it if not for the fact that the back of Yamato's shirt was soaked through for some reason.

Hideki had rushed from his bedroom to the kitchen thinking that Taichi, or possibly Eito, had been hurt. Upon seeing Yamato on the ground however made his pulse calm down considerably. He could also see that Taichi and Eito were all right – they were stood still and in a little shock above Yamato.

Hideki made eye contact with Toru – who just had a smug look on his face – and shook his head at him a little; not that he cared, but Toru was being a little reckless. It was easy to deduce from the scene that Toru had poured hot water on Yamato.

Hideki quickly grabbed a kitchen towel and balled it up a little before bending down and stuffing it in Yamato's mouth – to get him to shut the hell up before the neighbours thought something was going on. He then ripped Yamato's wet T-shirt off and proceeded to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom, where he ran cold water in the bathtub and placed the blond's back directly under the tap as well. Yamato didn't stop crying and sobbing throughout the whole thing.

Hideki sighed. He'd have to get their father to drive them to the hospital.

Hideki knocked on his father's door and waited a couple of seconds before opening it. He found his father in bed, silent, and looking over at his beside drawer – or, more specifically, a photo on top of it which showed his parents, Susumu and Yuuko, on their wedding day.

Hideki approached his father cautiously. "Dad . . ." When his father didn't respond, Hideki went on. "Dad, Yamato needs to go to the hospital –"

"She was a journalist."

Hideki stopped, surprised. His father wasn't talking about his mother – and he almost never spoke about the other woman . . .

"She was writing a story about the company," Susumu continued, still staring at the photo of himself and his late wife. "I showed her around and answered her questions."

Hideki swallowed a lump in his throat – full of worry . . . and anger. "Dad –" he tried again, only to be cut off once more.

"She was so gorgeous . . ."

Hideki had always known the indecency between his father and that woman to be a one night stand. But the way his father was talking . . .

"Dad, did you have an affair?" Hideki found himself asking in a low, unsteady voice.

Susumu turned his gaze away from the photo to look at his eldest son. "I loved your mother," he stated softly, as if dazed. "But I think I . . . I loved her too."

Hideki could feel his hands clench into tight fists. He did not want to hear this. "Dad," he repeated, trying to control his anger. "I need you to drive Yamato to the hospital. You know, the bastard child you made with Natsuko?" He'd only ever uttered her actual name a few times before.

Susumu seemed to come alive at that, snapping out of whatever state he was in. His face contorted into anger. "What did that fucking kid do?" he growled, getting to his feet.

Hideki knew his father wasn't . . . right, with the way he seemed to switch moods and personalities, but he liked him better when he was functioning and, well, hating Yamato. It was really the only bond he had left with his father – although he would always admire the man – the family man – his father used to be, before he met . . . her.

Toru, Eito and Taichi sat around the kitchen table eating Eito's birthday cake in silence as they waited for Hideki, Yamato and their father to come home from the hospital. The incident with Toru and Yamato seemed to be affecting both Taichi and Eito, who had both been uncharacteristically silent the whole time.

Until Taichi finally decided to say something.

"You hurt him real bad this time, Toru," Taichi told his older brother softly with a worried frown. "He's never needed to go to the hospital before." Of course, he was talking about Yamato.

But Toru merely rolled his eyes. "Relax. The only reason Dad and Hideki took him to the hospital is because the doctors are closed."

Though that did make Taichi feel a little better, he was still upset at Toru. "You should stop hurting him so much," he told his older brother. "He's only little."

Toru laughed and quirked an amused eyebrow. "It was an accident," he grinned.

Taichi's eyes narrowed at the obvious lie. "No it wasn't."

Toru shrugged nonchalantly with a smirk. "Yeah, it wasn't."

"Why do you have to be so mean to him?" Taichi raised his voice. "He doesn't do anything to you."

Eito glanced up to look at Taichi, then Toru, then returned to concentrating on eating his piece of cake.

Toru was silent for a moment, his gaze holding on Taichi for a while, before shaking his head. "You're such a fucking kid."

"Yeah? I'm seven," Taichi told him aggressively. "What's your point?"

"My point is that's why you're so fucking dumb," Toru sneered. "Why don't you grow up, Taichi? Eito has."

Taichi glanced over at Eito, but his other brother remained silent and continued eating his cake, not wanting to be involved.

"Grow up?" Taichi asked, turning his attention back to Toru.

"Yeah," Toru replied. He stared hard at Taichi. "Do you wish Mum was here?"

Taichi was caught off-guard at that question. He thought about it. Their father wasn't really . . . there, and Hideki did everything for them. And though he'd never knew their mother, he definitely thought it would've been nice if she was still around. He nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Well let me tell you something Hideki thinks you're too young to know," Toru said in a rough tone. "When Yamato's slut of a mother dropped him here, Mum told Dad to give him up for adoption. You know, so he wouldn't have any ties with us at all and we could all pretend he didn't fucking exist because he'd grow up with another family.

"But Dad refused. So Mum . . . Mum died. But the point is – if Yamato had been given up for adoption like Mum wanted, then Mum would still be here. You get it now?"

Eito got up suddenly and began clearing away some plates. Toru had such anger and pain in his eyes . . .

And, rather unfortunately for Yamato, Taichi did get it . . .

Later that night Taichi closed the door behind him as he entered his and Yamato's bedroom. The blond was home from his trip to the hospital emergency room and was now lying on his own bed, flat on his stomach. He had bandages wrapped around his back.

Taichi approached him and asked tentatively, "Did it hurt?"

Yamato gave him a look that clearly said 'well, duh'. Taichi was going to say something back as a retort, but decided to let it go. Instead, he sat down on the foot of Yamato's bed, seeing as his own bed's mattress was still drying from being cleaned of the blond's urine.

"Hideki says you're going to be all right," Taichi told him, looking at the back of Yamato's head seeing as the blond had turned his face down into his pillow. "So that's good."

Yamato didn't respond, but clutched his pillow a little tighter. What Toru did to him had really hurt . . . and Taichi had no idea what the pain felt like – or what any pain felt like, really. Yamato could feel his eyes tearing up a little again at the thought of his brothers treating him differently – and badly – for no reason.

Taichi didn't know what else to say. Before, Yamato used to cry and tell him how much it had hurt and Taichi would hug him and make things better. But nowadays, Yamato liked to go really quiet on him afterwards.

"Yamato, Toru didn't mean to hurt you so much . . ." Taichi found himself saying – or, really, lying.

Silence.

"I . . . I hate them sometimes," Yamato whispered, as though he was afraid the other three might hear him.

Taichi paused in surprise. He wasn't sure how he felt about Yamato's admission – he was talking about his brothers – and he remembered the conversation he'd had with Toru. Finally, he said, "Well you shouldn't. You're lucky Dad let you live here with us."

Yamato turned his head around a little to look at Taichi, confusion and hurt on his face. "But he's Daddy . . ." the blond said slowly. "He has to. That's what daddies do."

Taichi shook his head, feeling the need to inform Yamato of what he'd just learnt. "No, see, Toru told me," he said with an air of authority. "Dad didn't have to take you in – my mum didn't want him to. But he did anyway." He bit his lip a little, slightly hesitant. "So you owe him. And the others."

Yamato's eyebrows furrowed. He owed them? For what? He got up in a sitting position on his bed, so he could turn around and face Taichi properly. ". . . I'd rather be with my mummy anyway," he told the brunet, feeling hurt.

Taichi stared at him in surprise. Then – and he didn't know why exactly – he could feel himself get a little angry. "You don't even know who she is," he retorted jeeringly. "She could be a bad person."

"How?" Yamato's eyes were genuinely curious.

That stopped Taichi for a bit, because the only thing he could think of – well, their father and brothers were guilty of, too. ". . . She could hurt you all the time," he finally said. He avoided eye contact.

Yamato stared at his brother for a while, before lowering his gaze. "Toru and Hideki . . . and sometimes Eito . . . they hurt me," he whispered. "Are they bad people?"

Taichi found himself quick to answer this time. "No, they're not bad people," he snapped at the blond, raising his voice a little. He was suddenly feeling defensive of his brothers – and, for the first time, he realised he'd made a distinction between his brothers and his half brother. There was a strange feeling brewing in his stomach.

Yamato's eyes continued to look confused – but also accusing. ". . . But they hurt me," he said softly, with a slight bite in his voice.

Taichi didn't really know what to say. "Well," he began, "because, sometimes, you deserve it." Yeah, that was the best he could think of.

Yamato looked really hurt now. ". . . How?" he asked, his voice trembling a little.

"I don't know, you just do!" Taichi shouted at him. The conversation was getting too uncomfortable for his liking – but at the same time, he needed Yamato to understand where his brothers were coming from. "You just annoy them sometimes, OK? You should try not to."

Yamato felt attacked. Did Taichi not know that he was always thinking of how not to annoy the others? Of ways he could get the others to actually like him? To get them to love him?

"Maybe I should just run away then!" the blond shouted, getting angry himself.

"Well maybe if you did Hideki and Toru and Eito and Dad wouldn't be so upset all the time," Taichi fired back.

Yamato's mouth opened in shock. ". . . Why are you being so mean to me?" he asked, his eyes getting more and more misty.

Taichi was slightly taken aback – and surprised at himself, too. "I'm not." He paused. "I'm just saying the truth . . . Toru says that if you had been given up for adoption then my mum would still be here."

Silence.

Yamato's eyes glistened with tears and his lips quivered. ". . . Do you think I should have been?"

Taichi didn't answer – because he didn't really know what his answer would have been.

End of Chapter

Aww, poor confused Taichi and poor hurt Yamato. I want to cuddle both of them. :3

I'm so sorry it took me quite a while to actually find time to start working on this - but yay, finally done! :) There's probably only going to be two or three more chapters to this as well.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck by my stories – despite my rare updates – and still enjoy reading them. :)