.::Time Turned Fragile::.

5.14.2007

1. The Stupid Cow

Because of his mother's tendency to always, always be extremely busy on the weekends, Hatsuharu Sohma spent the majority of his school breaks being babysat by his older cousin Shigure. Well, Hatsuharu wasn't the brightest crayon in the box… Third grade was tough for him. So tough, in fact, that his teacher always assigned him an extra packet of multiplication problems to do over the weekends. Sometimes Shigure would help him with his math, but mostly he would have to struggle by himself while Shigure watched Saturday morning cartoons.

One occasion, however, stood out in Haru's dumb little mind. It was that sunny Saturday morning in which Ayame had joyously come over to accompany Shigure, and Isuzu had come to Shigure's home for an unspecified reason. And though they were "family," Hatsuharu was shy and found himself embarrassed in their very presence.

"Oh look at little Hatsuharu, doing mathematics homework!" Ayame cried overdramatically at him once he noticed Hatsuharu getting frustrated with his work. Ayame and Shigure crossed the room to where he was sitting at the dining room table and peered over his shoulder.

Haru wanted to disappear. Or crawl under the table. Or both.

Shigure stifled a chuckle at the sight of the math paper. "Oh, Haru-chan! You're so dull!" he laughed, then proceeded to read Haru's answers aloud. "I didn't know 4 x 4 equaled 14!"

"Does 2 x 2 equal 2?" Ayame giggled, and Haru could feel his face turn red. His angry eyes flickered across the room to where Rin was lounging on the couch playing her GameBoy, seemingly not noticing his suffering.

"Haha, Ayame, look! 10 x 2 equals 12?"

"That's grand! Oh, and 3 x 3 equals 3?"

Haru's eyebrow twitched as his vision blurred but returned to the paper. They were implying he was stupid, obviously. Like adults always did. Like in that stupid, stupid story.

The stupid cow…

He could feel his fist tightening around the pencil and he was about to scream… about to snap and flail out at his cousins... before…

"Shut the hell up," he heard Rin command from her place in the living room. She sighed and turned her GameBoy off before she stood up and walked up to Shigure. "Stop teasing him. It's not his fault he doesn't know math," she snapped, and though the words could have been more effective, it was the tone of the little girl's voice that caused Shigure to back off.

"Come on, Haru-chan," she said to him, extending her hand in front of his. He looked up at her for a second before shaking his head slowly. "Come on, Haru," she repeated impatiently. "I'll help you."

Haru shrugged and stood up, taking her hand before grabbing his paper. She pulled him into the guest room, where his homework was completed and he found he actually understood it.

Maybe.

Maybe he could be more than just

The stupid cow.