Author's Note: This is a prologue to XY. I've always wanted to write flashbacks in XY - but that would disturb the flow of the story and make it clunky. I already think XY is clunky enough as it is with the "memories". But I can't help adoring – and wanting to write – chibi Taichi and chibi Yamato interacting as brothers. XD

Thus we have this! :D

It's not necessary to read XY or vice versa, but I guess it would help. XY – horrific sibling abuse and ultimately sexual relations between Taichi and Yamato. XY: Beginnings – innocent Taichi and Yamato with "lesser" child/sibling abuse. There's also no sexual abuse – yet.

This is set in 1994, ten years prior to XY – at least, this chapter is. This might be a one-shot, or I might add chapters up until Taichi turns on Yamato, or until their father dies . . . but don't worry, XY 5 will come out before any future chapters (let's hope I don't have to rewrite what I've already written, otherwise it'll be a lot longer until its release). :p

XY: Beginnings
chapter one

"Taichiii," Yamato whined from the doorway of their bedroom. "I want cookies."

"Well get them yourself," Taichi returned in irritation, distracted. He was attempting to transform a Gundam figure a friend had given him for his seventh birthday – which was actually in a couple of days, so said friend had given it to him early.

Yamato watched as Taichi's tongue poked out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on his toy. He stayed idling in the doorway a little while longer, until it was clear his brother wasn't going to get the cookies for him. He scowled and left to the kitchen by himself.

The cookie jar was atop the kitchen counter, but was too high for him to reach, so he pulled a chair over and climbed on top of it. He steadied himself then carefully reached out and grasped the desired glass object, before opening it up – which took a while with his small hands – and reaching a hand into the jar. He had just grabbed hold of a cookie, when the appearance of his eldest brother made him freeze.

"What are you doing?" Hideki asked. His tone was never friendly with Yamato and, quite frankly, Yamato was scared of him. He was so big and tall – even taller than their father – and made Yamato feel a lot tinier than he actually was. To be fair, though, Hideki was almost eleven years older than him.

"I'm hungry," Yamato replied quietly, but dropped the cookie back down and retrieved his empty hand from the jar anyway. Then he told a little lie, "Taichi said I could have some." Well, Taichi had just told him to get them himself – but that was kind of permission, right?

"And is Taichi the boss?" Hideki asked, voice steady, yet always laced with intimidation. He crossed his arms over his chest. "It's dinner soon. No snacks at this time of the evening."

Yamato diverted his eyes and looked down at his hands, then began to climb down off of the chair. "I'm sorry . . ." he murmured, head low.

Then Taichi entered the kitchen. "What's for dinner?" he asked Hideki. His easy tone was certainly a contrast to the way Yamato spoke with their eldest brother.

"What do you care? Stuff that you're going to eat regardless of what it is," Hideki replied, ruffling Taichi's hair. He chuckled as Taichi knocked his hand away in irritation.

Taichi looked over at Yamato standing next to the chair directly below the jar of cookies. He wasn't stupid; he knew from the scene what had transpired. "Hideki, give me some cookies," he commanded.

Hideki snorted at Taichi's bossy tone. But he wasn't stupid either; Taichi obviously wanted them for Yamato – only this wasn't a situation where he'd normally say 'no' to Taichi. He reached over and took a cookie out of the jar. "You can have one."

"I want two," Taichi told him pointedly, sounding like a spoiled child.

"One," Hideki returned firmly. Hopefully Taichi would eat it himself and not give it to Yamato. Sometimes he did wish Taichi would grow up faster, because he was obviously still too young to fully understand what Yamato's existence had done to their family – otherwise he'd stop being silly and hate Yamato, too.

"Fine," Taichi grumbled, accepting the cookie. He looked over at Yamato. "Let's go play with my Gundam."

Yamato nodded eagerly for an excuse to leave Hideki's presence. Taichi turned around and walked out of the kitchen, and Yamato made to follow him – only to be stopped when heavy hands fell upon his shoulders.

"If I find cookie crumbs anywhere on you, your face is going to meet my fist, you understand?" Hideki threatened in a low voice. It was just for show and to keep Yamato on his toes, really. He didn't yet feel like he could beat a barely six-year-old into a bloody pulp.

Yamato nodded his head furiously, and Hideki pushed him forward onto the ground, where he got up quickly and scampered away. Hideki watched him go with a smirk, then turned to prepare dinner.

Yamato nearly crashed into Taichi in the hallway, who had been there waiting for him and had heard what Hideki had said. Taichi still didn't really get why Hideki – and Toru and Eito – bullied Yamato so much. Well, he knew it was because of their mother . . . but it wasn't like it was Yamato's fault she hadn't liked him. Right?

"Here," Taichi said, pressing the large chocolate chip cookie into Yamato's hands. "You're such a baby. You made Hideki mad 'cause of a cookie."

Yamato frowned at him a little. "But . . . he didn't have to get mad . . ." he returned uncertainly, voice just above a whisper in case someone – namely Hideki – heard him. "And I'm not a baby."

"You are," Taichi snorted. "Baby." He received an annoyed look in return. "Ooh," he said mockingly. "Look it's pissed off baby Yamato." He let out a laugh, then ran.

Yamato chased after him into their room. Sometimes Taichi annoyed him greatly. But, tracing the cookie in his hands, he really was glad to have him as a brother. And not just for the cookie.

After dinner, all six occupants of the Yagami household sat around the living room watching a movie. Yamato sat in-between their father's legs on the couch, whilst Taichi sat next to them. Hideki, Toru and Eito were sprawled out on the floor; Hideki was reading an issue of Men's Health, whilst Toru and Eito were arm wrestling – with Eito losing every time, unsurprisingly.

Yamato leaned back against his father's embrace. It gave him a sense of security – that is, when his father wasn't being not-very-nice to him. He liked it because it made him feel kind of special; their father didn't normally embrace the others like he did him. Taichi told him it was because he was a baby and so liked being treated as one – but he chose to ignore him.

"Daddy," Yamato said, as the movie they were watching went to a commercial break. He pointed at the screen. "Can you buy me that, please?"

Toru guffawed when he glanced at the screen. He gently nudged Hideki with his foot, who had been too engrossed in his magazine to listen in on anything. "Look what the little turd wants – an Easy-Bake Oven." Toru resumed laughing, with Eito joining in.

Hideki looked up from his reading material and looked at the screen, then back towards the occupants of the couch with a snigger. "Dad? Say something."

Susumu looked half-asleep or half-bored; maybe both. "You're not a little girl, are you Yamato?"

"No . . ." Yamato trailed off, not liking their responses. He regretted asking for it.

"It's for girls, Yamato," Taichi inputted from the side, rolling his eyes. Jeez, maybe the others would like him more if he didn't act like such a girl sometimes.

"But I always watch that man on TV cook," Yamato couldn't help arguing. "And he's not a girl."

"Little boys don't play with ovens, Yamato," Susumu told him, voice monotone. "Little girls do."

Yamato folded his arms defensively, feeling attacked. "But Hideki cooks all the time. Is he a girl?"

He thought it was an innocent question – but realised it wasn't, a little too late. Toru and Eito were both looking at Hideki with slight smirks on their faces, waiting for him to erupt. And he did.

Hideki was off the floor in a flash, his left hand lifting Yamato up into the air by the front of his shirt, and his right hand clenching around Yamato's crotch. Susumu barely seemed to notice that Hideki had snatched Yamato away from him – or barely seemed to care.

"Who's the girl?" Hideki growled, gripping his hand tighter around the blond's genitals. Yamato let out a high-pitched cry. "Who's the girl?" Hideki repeated, so close Yamato could feel his breath on his skin.

"N-not y-y-you-uu . . ." Yamato managed to let out next to whimpered sounds of anguish.

Taichi cringed from his seat on the couch. "Hideki, let him go. He's not gonna be able to pee –" That made Toru and Eito burst into laughter. Taichi threw them dirty looks.

"Who's the girl?" Hideki repeated coldly, ignoring Taichi.

". . . M-me-ee . . .?" Yamato asked, letting out another cry as Hideki squeezed his crotch once more, before letting go of him completely. Yamato dropped onto the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"Aahhh . . ." Yamato said at the impact, with one hand over his groin.

Taichi just looked helplessly at Yamato laying there on the floor, whimpering. Somehow, it just didn't feel right to help him up or anything – not with their father and brothers not caring . . .

"Toru, get me a beer," Susumu's voice cut through the air amidst Yamato's soft cries. Toru got up and disappeared into the kitchen to do as told. "Hideki, give Taichi and Yamato a bath, then put them to bed. Eito too, if he wants."

"I can bathe myself," Eito retorted. "Dad, I'm eight. Nine, this year."

"Such a big man," Hideki sniggered, receiving a kick to the legs by Eito. He picked Yamato up from the ground, holding him against his frame, and Yamato wrapped himself around him. "Taichi, come on," he motioned for him to follow.

Taichi got up and trailed behind. Yamato was looking down at him with a slightly reddish face. He looked sad – well, duh. Taichi would have to console him later – away from Hideki.

"Take your clothes off," Hideki instructed as they entered the bathroom. He placed Yamato down on his feet on the tiled floor, and plugged up the bathtub. Running hot and cold water as Taichi and Yamato stripped, he added bubble bath liquid, then turned the taps off. "OK, in," he lifted Yamato up and into the tub, whilst Taichi climbed in himself.

"What are you getting me for my birthday?" Taichi asked Hideki. He always tried to forget things that happened to Yamato as quickly as possible; like brushing them over made it easier to think less of. "You are getting me something, right?" he frowned.

Hideki chuckled, crouching down and putting some bubbles on Taichi's head. "Of course, sport. I just got another job, so I can get you something a little pricey, too."

"Cool," Taichi returned with a grin. Hideki placed some bubbles onto his nose.

What about me? Yamato couldn't help thinking. His sixth birthday had passed almost a month ago and all he'd gotten was a 'happy birthday' from Taichi, and one from their father as an afterthought. Yamato had to admit he got a little jealous of his brother sometimes – that's when he'd get all moody and maybe have a few arguments with him.

Hideki got up and walked to the toilet to urinate. Taichi waved his hands in front of him in the water to clear away the bubbles, then looked at his own penis.

"Hideki?" Taichi asked, intrigued. "Is mine gonna get as big as yours?"

Hideki laughed. "Yeah."

"Cool," Taichi smirked, then glanced at Yamato. "What about him?"

Hideki snorted. "Yeah, him too. Unfortunately."

"Really?" Taichi questioned, using his fingers to flick Yamato's penis under the water. "But it's so tiny."

"You shut up," Yamato told him with a sour face, pushing his hand away.

"Hey," Hideki warned him, in what he took as disrespect towards Taichi.

"Sorry," Yamato said automatically, lowering his eyes. He idly played with the bubbles around him for a while as Hideki and Taichi conversed, but then grabbed some rubber ducks from the side of the tub and placed them in the water. He always wanted to be included, and there was no safer time to talk to Hideki than when Taichi was there too, so when his brothers' conversation came to a lull, he announced, "This is Mr and Mrs Ducky, and this is their baby. But what's his name, can you guess?"

". . . Baby Ducky?" Hideki replied, eyebrow raised. Taichi looked amused.

Yamato's mouth formed an 'o'."How'd you know?"

Hideki dunked him under the water. If it had been Taichi who had said it, he might've thought it was cute.

"Taichi?" Yamato's voice spoke through the darkness.

"Go to sleep."

Yamato frowned, shifting on his bed. "But I still don't get the oven thing . . ."

"Drop it. Dad's not gonna get it for you, so forget about it."

"But I want it," Yamato complained. "I can help Hideki cook dinner and stuff, then maybe he'll like me . . ."

"He's never gonna like you."

That made Yamato grow silent.

Taichi sighed after a while. He knew he was too blunt sometimes, but sometimes Yamato was too sensitive. "I didn't mean it." Though it's probably true.

He didn't hear anything in return, but soon found that Yamato had made his way across to him when his bed shifted a little at the added weight, and sure enough a warm body pressed up against him. He naturally placed an arm around Yamato's body when the blond attached himself to him. They lay in silence for a while, and Taichi finally thought Yamato had gone to sleep – when his voice cut through the air.

"Taichi, your mummy went to heaven because she didn't like me?"

Taichi rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"Is my mummy in heaven, too?"

"I don't think so . . . she went somewhere else, I think."

"Because she didn't like me?"

"I don't know."

". . . If she still likes me, maybe she can come back and we can share her. She can be my mummy and your mummy. Like how we share Daddy."

". . . I guess," Taichi replied half-heartedly. He didn't think it was that easy – and if he were to have a mother, he'd want his own. "Yamato, go to sleep."

Yamato snuggled closer to Taichi – if that were possible.

Taichi held onto Hideki's hand with his right hand, and Yamato's hand with his left, as they walked to school. Hideki was walking them all – Toru and Eito included, of course – to their elementary school, en route to his own high school. Well, he'd actually have to double back to his own high school, since the establishments forked off in different directions at a certain junction.

"Eito, keep on the left side away from the road, will you?" Hideki admonished sternly. Why did he have such little brats for brothers?

"There aren't even that many cars," Eito muttered, but nevertheless did as told. Toru pushed him a little, and the two began a small shoving battle. Hideki watched them in exasperation.

They continued walking for a little while longer until Toru grabbed Eito and careened him over to the right side, where he teetered on the edge of the footpath.

"Toru!" Hideki yelled, letting go of Taichi's hand to grab hold of Eito.

"You worry too much," Toru returned, a smirk on his face.

"I just don't want to waste my time by scraping any of you off the side of the road," Hideki replied dryly, pushing Eito to the left side of the footpath. "Stop it, OK?" He got tongues stuck out at him in return.

Yamato squeezed Taichi's palm in the meantime. "Your shoelaces aren't tied," he whispered.

Taichi looked at him, then down at his shoes. He was right. "At least I have shoelaces, velcro boy," he returned a little spitefully, letting go of Yamato's hand to bend down and tie his shoes. Hideki noticed and knelt down to help him.

Yamato nudged the toe of said velcro shoes into the ground as he waited for them to finish. It wasn't his fault no one taught him how to tie shoelaces. (Plus he liked his velcro shoes; they had Spider-Man on them.) Eito had taught Taichi, and Taichi . . . well, he wasn't very good at teaching things. And no one else had bothered. But then, he had only started kindergarten less than two weeks ago – and wasn't yet used to all the walking.

"My feet hurt," he said quietly, when Hideki got back up from Taichi's feet.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Hideki asked offhandedly. His tone had shifted from that of which he used on the others – it was certainly quite a change.

Yamato shrugged his shoulders a little, uncertain. "Carry me? Please . . ."

Toru and Eito snorted, and Hideki stared Yamato down, as if contemplating whether he could be fucked to say something mean, or just do as Yamato wanted. After a pause, he chose the latter; they'd get to the school quicker without Yamato's short legs slowing them down, anyway.

For a split second Yamato thought Hideki was going to hit him, until he felt himself being lifted into the air and pressed against Hideki's muscled torso. He smiled as he wrapped himself around his eldest brother, who grabbed hold of Taichi's hand again and started walking. Yamato looked down at Taichi and gave him a victorious smirk.

Taichi rolled his eyes.

Taichi normally spent recess and lunch out on the grassy field, to eat his food and play soccer with his friends, so it wasn't often he saw Yamato. But he'd just gone to the boys' toilets when, walking up some stairs to the asphalt, he saw some kid knock Yamato's pie right from his hands and onto the ground.

He charged at the boy.

"What'd you do that for?" he asked angrily, pushing the younger boy a little as a warning. But then he felt someone tugging at his shirt.

"Taichi, leave it . . ." Yamato said quietly, looking worried.

Taichi looked at Yamato, but then shook him off, turning back around to the other kid and catching him off-guard with a direct punch to the gut. The kid stumbled and fell to the ground – only to have Taichi hammer his face a few times with his fist.

Yamato backed away a little; he didn't like violence, and even though the biggest kid in his class had been bullying him since practically the first day of school, he didn't want Taichi to beat him up. He knew all too well how much it hurt.

"You don't pick on my little brother, you got that?" Taichi threatened, kicking the kid who was now down full-body on the ground. He couldn't stop his father or brothers from picking on Yamato, but he sure as hell could stop some shitty little kid. He picked up Yamato's ruined pie off the ground – which was still hot – and smashed it into the boy's face, who cried out in pain. "Do it again and I'll gouge your eyes out."

And then, "Young man!" a teacher's voice interrupted.

Crap.

Taichi and Yamato sat next to each other in the school's office as the teacher – Miss Matsumoto – took care of the injured boy, first. Taichi was in a foul mood, while Yamato had been silent the whole time, a worried expression on his face. It was just like Yamato to be scared of "authorities"; Taichi couldn't care less.

"You're not gonna get into trouble," Taichi told him, "so don't worry."

Yamato looked at him, but his expression didn't lessen. "Maybe not from them . . . but what about Daddy?"

Oh. Taichi hadn't thought of that; he'd been so fired up over that stupid kid that negative repercussions escaped his mind. But Yamato was right. "Don't worry," he lied, "I won't tell him. So as long as you don't either, he won't know."

"The teacher will tell him," Yamato replied dubiously, crestfallen.

Taichi didn't know how to counter that. "Don't worry," he repeated, at a loss. "It'll be fine." But then he changed the subject – and his tone. "You should've told me that kid was picking on you from the start, though. Then he wouldn't have done what he did and I wouldn't have had to beat him up."

Yamato gave him a sour look in return at the blame. "But I told you not to! And I can take care of him –"

"Yeah, letting him continue to pick on you is 'taking care of him'," Taichi retorted, shaking his head. "All you're good at is crying."

"Take that back!" Yamato yelled at him. "Hideki and Toru and Eito said that I should deal with things on my own, and learn to put up with things by myself; that when I do, I won't be so weak anymore. Then maybe they'll like me, like they like you." He didn't want Taichi's help because he wanted to prove to the others that he could take care of himself.

Taichi snorted. "They just say that as an excuse for when they hurt you. Get it? They're telling you to put up with them and to not cry when they hurt you, dumbarse."

"No . . ." Yamato disagreed, not wanting to believe him. He had a chance to change himself into someone the others would actually like – why was Taichi trying to take that away from him? He looked at the brunet with upset eyes before turning away. "I don't like you anymore," he told him quietly.

Taichi just rolled his eyes.

Taichi and Yamato didn't utter a word to Hideki about Taichi's fight when he picked them up from school. However, when Hideki picked up the phone an hour after school had ended, they both sat up on the couch attentively.

"My father's . . . busy," Hideki said into the phone. Well, if 'busy' was him being in his room, either dead asleep from alcohol or currently consuming alcohol. "But I'll pass the message on."

"Well, OK. I'm Miss Matsumoto, a teacher from Odaiba Elementary. I couldn't reach your father during school hours, so I hope it's OK that I'm calling during this time?"

"No worries," Hideki replied, turning around to glance at Taichi and Yamato on the couch. He put the phone on speaker, so that the boys could hear; he was pretty sure it was about them and not Toru or Eito, what with the way they were perched on the edge of their seats.

"Excellent. It's about your brothers, Taichi and Yamato?"

Hideki shook his head at them at the confirmation. "Yes?"

"Taichi attacked a boy, Ueda Tomohisa, for dropping Yamato's lunch at school today. The boy is fine, thank goodness, but he did have quite a few injuries to his face and stomach. I even heard Taichi threaten to gauge the poor boy's eyes out – I certainly don't know how a first grader could learn such threats."

"Not from home, I can assure you of that," Hideki replied – a lie. He'd overheard Toru say it to Yamato a few times; Taichi must've overheard, too. "I'm really sorry, I'll make sure to let my father know. He'll have a firm word with Taichi." And an even firmer word with Yamato.

"Thank you. Well, we've decided a three-day suspension for Taichi would be appropriate. Tomorrow's a Friday, so he can continue the suspension onto next Monday and Tuesday, and resume school the following Wednesday. An apology to both Tomohisa and his parents would be appreciated too, of course."

"Of course," Hideki agreed. He then finished off the phone call in a few short minutes – something about Yamato and his teacher's expressed concern over his lack of sociability – and turned to Taichi and Yamato. "Dad's room, now."

They both got up obediently, and Yamato made an instinctive grab for Taichi's hand. Despite their earlier argument at school, Taichi didn't disallow him the comfort; after all, he was going to get out of this unharmed – Yamato wasn't. They followed Hideki to their father's room, holding hands.

It only took a minute for Hideki to inform their father of the details upon their arrival.

Susumu's eyes narrowed at Taichi. "Great, I have another Toru. Do I need two Torus, Taichi? Hmm, do I?" Toru easily got into the most fights out of all of them.

"No," Taichi replied, keeping eye contact with their father. "I'm sorry, Dad. I won't do it again." Automatic lines copied from Toru.

"Yeah," their father nodded, taking a swig of whatever the hell he was drinking. "Think you're a big man, do you? Turning seven. Maybe I shouldn't reward you on your birthday, huh?"

Taichi frowned. "That's not fair Dad, you never do that to Toru."

"Toru doesn't get into fights two days before his birthday," Susumu returned. Taichi's frown deepened, and he looked at Hideki for help.

"Dad, he was just protecting Yamato," Hideki spoke up in Taichi's defence. "It's not his fault; if Yamato wasn't such an annoyance, Taichi wouldn't have gotten involved."

"Hmm," Susumu murmured, then turned his gaze onto Yamato, who shrunk back a little. "Hideki, Taichi – leave."

Taichi was glad that was the end of it for him, but now he was concerned over Yamato. He didn't want to leave, but obviously he couldn't stay; his dad wanted him out, and Hideki was already ushering him towards the door. He couldn't do anything if he stayed, anyway. He glanced one last time at Yamato's small frightened face, before Hideki closed the door to their father's bedroom.

Inside the room, Susumu was staring intently at his youngest, while Yamato squirmed under his steel gaze. "You like getting your brothers into trouble, do you?" he asked in a calm voice.

Yamato shook his head. "No, sir." He always dropped 'Daddy' for 'sir' when he knew he was in trouble. His father had told him to a while back – beaten him for calling him 'Daddy' at an inappropriate time, once.

"Taichi's been suspended for three days. That's going to stay on his school record, Yamato," Susumu informed him. Yamato didn't know what to say. "Your fault, right?" he asked. When Yamato didn't reply, Susumu asked again – only in an angrier tone. "Your fault, right?"

Yamato half-shrugged helplessly, looking down at the floor instead of at his father. He wanted to say 'no', that it wasn't his fault – but obviously his father was expecting a positive answer.

"Of course it's your fault!" Susumu roared at him. Yamato wanted to cover his ears, but instead stood as obediently still as he could, so as not to further anger his father. "Why did you get Taichi involved, leaving a blemish on his school record? You can fight your own fights, can't you boy?"

"I didn't . . ." Yamato began, in the tiniest voice. He forced himself to look up at his father. "I didn't make him . . ."

A hard, forceful slap landed across his left cheek. He brought a hand up over his face in shock, until the pain impacted and he crumbled a second later – tiny drops of tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes.

Susumu leaned forward onto the edge of his bed so that he was directly in front of Yamato. He grabbed both his son's wrists together, securing them with his left hand, before sneering into his face. "Tell the truth, Yamato."

"I-it was . . . m-my f-fault . . ." Yamato replied obediently, voice laced with tears. He looked down at his increasingly hurt wrists as his father tightened his grip. Then, what he should have expected – another strike to the face. This time his father had brought a closed fist down hard onto his left eye socket, also simultaneously letting go of his wrists, so that his hands were now free to cover his hurt eye.

"That's what happens when you're bad, Yamato," Susumu told him in a frighteningly calm, cold voice. He then ripped Yamato's hands away from his injured eye and struck him again on almost the same spot.

Yamato cried out and fell to the ground this time. "Daddy – s-sir, stop . . . please . . ."

Susumu struck him once more on the ground with a kick, before diverting his gaze towards his television screen, apparently bored with hurting his son. He reached for his remote control and turned the volume up. Yamato was left curled into a ball on the ground before his feet, soft cries drowned out by the sound of the television.

Finally, after half an hour, Susumu acknowledged his hurt son by lifting him up into his bed with him. Yamato sniffled a little as his father brushed his hair back away from his face, and inspected the bruise left on his eye. Well, it was more like a merger of two bruises – and they were more swollen lumps than bruises.

Susumu kissed his swollen eye softly. "You're going to miss school tomorrow," he murmured, running a hand through Yamato's blond locks. He pressed Yamato's face into his chest, and smelled his hair. "I only hurt you because I love you," Susumu whispered. "You know that, right son?"

Yamato whimpered lightly, nodding his head and wrapping his arms around his father's torso. He didn't really understand – why didn't his father hurt the others? – but he liked his father like this, telling him he loved him. He only wished he was like this all the time . . .

The next day, Taichi was of course absent from school because he was suspended. But it was already midday and Yamato still wasn't speaking to him; though the blond didn't have to tell him why he was absent today – the shiner of his left eye was telling enough. Taichi cringed a little as he glanced at it again.

Yamato hadn't returned from their father's room at all the afternoon or evening before; he'd ended up sleeping in there, which was what usually happened after a beating by their father. Taichi had always found that a little odd, but Yamato had told him he liked it – something about their father being really nice to him then.

Whatever.

Taichi knew he wouldn't be so quick to forgive a man who made an eye close shut. OK – he was being a little bitter towards Yamato, what with his moodiness and silent treatment and all. He knew it was his fault Yamato had been hit, and he understood why Yamato was angry – but he just didn't . . . care?

No, he cared. He did. He just thought Yamato should get over it and forgive him, too. After all, he'd had his best interest in mind. He had protected him from that dumb kid – Yamato could've at least thanked him for it.

Taichi then watched as Yamato got up from his bed and made his way to the foot of his bed, where he kept his toys and stuff in a wooden box. Taichi sat up in his bed a little. "What are you doing in my stuff for?" he asked, a little annoyed.

Yamato didn't reply.

Taichi rolled his eyes; the idiot was still keeping up the silent charade whilst looking through his stuff. He got up out of bed to approach Yamato and see what he was doing. Yamato spread himself out in the space between their beds, laying down on his stomach with a packet of crayons in one hand, and a few sheets of paper in the other.

Drawing. Taichi shrugged, rolled his eyes, then plopped down next to Yamato. He took a sheet from the blond, who apparently just didn't want to speak to him so much that he let it go without so much as a glare. Taichi snorted a little; he could get used to Yamato not whining all the time.

They drew in silence for a while until Taichi needed the green crayon – which Yamato was taking ages with to colour in grass. He decided he'd waited long enough for it.

"Yamato," he said, "give me the green."

Yamato glanced at him, but then simply resumed colouring in with it.

"Yamato," Taichi repeated in a commanding tone, "give me the green now."

When Yamato didn't obey, Taichi reached a hand out and grabbed his right wrist, tightening his hold to loosen Yamato's grip on the crayon. He then used his left hand to pry Yamato's fingers open manually.

"Hey!" Yamato cried out, as Taichi tore the crayon out of his hand. "That's not fair!"

"Oh, you're speaking to me now?" Taichi asked, shooting him a cold look.

Yamato glared at him in return, which he held until it was pretty obvious he wasn't doing any damage; Taichi was ignoring him and using the green crayon to his heart's content. He made an irritated noise, then grabbed the blue crayon to colour in the sky instead. But apparently Taichi was just intent on annoying him.

"Give me that, too," Taichi told him. "I need it."

"You're using the green," Yamato replied crabbily, defusing his silent war on Taichi.

"Yeah, but I need the blue, too. At the same time," Taichi informed, reaching a hand out towards him.

"No!" Yamato shouted, rolling away from Taichi.

"Yes," Taichi demanded, voice stone. "Or do you want two blind eyes?"

He did regret saying that a little as Yamato's open eye expressed hurt.

"It's mine, Taichi," Yamato whined quietly, stamping his foot a little. "I'm using it."

"No." Taichi never liked to lose. "It's my crayon so hand it over."

"No –"

But Yamato was silenced when their bedroom door opened, and Hideki stepped in.

"Hey," Taichi greeted, a little confused. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Lunch break," Hideki returned, sitting down onto the floor. "I sometimes come by to check on Dad anyway, to see that he's functional, or at least . . ." Alive. "But anyway, since you're absent today I thought I'd check up on you, too."

"We're fine," Taichi replied, even though he'd noted the singular in Hideki's speech; he obviously wasn't there for Yamato. "We're just drawing . . ." He glanced over at Yamato, and looked at the blue crayon clamped in his right hand.

"Is something wrong?" Hideki asked, glancing from Taichi to Yamato. An evil eye was aimed at the latter.

Yamato – very reluctantly – shuffled back over to Taichi, and slowly handed him the blue crayon.

"Nope, like I said, we're fine," Taichi told him, as he secured the blue crayon in his hand.

Yamato gave him a subdued look; he hated it when Taichi used dirty tactics. It didn't just annoy him, but reminded him of how much his elder brothers preferred Taichi over him. It really wasn't the best feeling in the world; unfortunately, it was something he felt often.

Taichi went back to working on his drawing, so Hideki took a crayon and a sheet of paper, and began doodling on it, too. He soon noticed that Yamato was watching him draw, sitting there with his arms around his knees, looking glum. It struck him again – as it always did – how much Yamato looked like that woman; the woman who had the nerve to knock on their door six years ago, the woman who had the audacity to shove her misdeeds with their father into their mother's face, the woman who had made his entire fucking world crumble.

Looking at Yamato always made his blood boil.

Their eyes, especially, were the same; he almost wanted to finish what their father had started, and force Yamato's other eye shut, too.

Get a grip, Hideki, he's just a kid.

He really didn't think he hated anyone more than that woman.

Well, perhaps her child.

It was much easier to tolerate Yamato when he was sad, upset, miserable. It was kind of a comfort to him, really; the fact that that woman had wanted Yamato to grow up amongst his 'brothers', all smiley and happy – and he just wasn't going to get that.

Hideki was sure as hell going to make fucking sure of that.

"Give me some," Taichi told Toru when he found his brother in the kitchen getting ice-cream for himself. It was a pretty hot afternoon.

"Get me a bowl then," Toru returned, placing another scoop of vanilla ice-cream into his own bowl. Taichi opened a cupboard and did as instructed, grabbing a bowl and handing it to his brother. "Say stop," Toru told him, beginning to fill it up with ice-cream.

Yamato wandered past then and, seeing the tub of ice-cream out, stopped and entered the kitchen, too. Toru and Taichi glanced at him, but neither acknowledged him.

"Stop," Taichi said after a moment, and Toru did as told, handing him his bowl of ice-cream.

Yamato looked over at the cupboard Taichi had left open, and proceeded towards it, grabbing a bowl for himself. He approached Toru and lifted his bowl up towards him. "Toru, I want some ice-cream too, please," he said politely.

Toru snorted, looking down at him condescendingly. "Too bad."

Yamato bit his lip. "But Taichi –"

"You're not Taichi," Toru retorted flatly, turning away to put the lid back on the tub of ice-cream.

That did sting. Yamato slowly lowered his arm, then looked over at Taichi, who stared back at him impassively. Normally, Taichi would at least speak up for him . . . Yamato found himself reaching up to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Shit, you're crying over ice-cream . . ." Toru shook his head in amusement, placing the ice-cream back in the freezer.

But it was much more than that to Yamato.

At night, Taichi snuck into Hideki's room to snoop for his birthday present. His birthday was only a day away, so he'd find out tomorrow what he was getting, but a friend of Hideki's had just come over, and so said brother was busy entertaining in the living room.

A perfect opportunity to snoop, thought Taichi – only he hadn't counted on Hideki and his friend heading to Hideki's room (which maybe he should've, to be honest). He quickly dove under the bed as he heard their voices approaching.

"You could dump your lame jobs and just make a lot of cash by renting your li'l bro out – the blond one, I mean," Taichi heard the voice of Hideki's friend say. "And he's a good-looking kid – despite what your dad did to him."

"Dude, he's six," Taichi heard Hideki return.

"Yeah, but he's cute. There are tonnes of pedos out there man, they'd pay big bucks for him. And I just got a job at GB – I could probably set something up there."

"Nah," Hideki declined, skeptical. "I'm not interested in going there, man . . . it's just not something I want to be looking into. Plus, the old man would never allow it."

"You sure? There's a tonne of cash in it, man."

"He's still just a baby, Yuya."

"OK, OK. Well, the offer's always open – hit me up if you ever change your mind."

Taichi tuned them out as their conversation turned to other things. He was puzzled; what did renting Yamato out mean? Was it like letting someone . . . borrow him for a day, like a video rental? That sounded weird . . . but, well, if it helped clear up Hideki's timetable so that he didn't have to work so much or so hard all the time – well . . . maybe it was a good thing, then?

And at this point, he wouldn't exactly mind if Yamato were given to someone else to deal with for a day or something. He made a mental note to bring it up with Hideki later.

Taichi woke up early for once on a Saturday. The reason? His birthday, of course.

He'd actually first opened his eyes when it was still dark, but forced himself to try and go back to sleep until everyone else woke up. At the first ray of sunshine, though, he found that his body was just too excited to stay asleep any longer. He sat up in bed with a huge grin on his face – which then faltered a little as his eyes landed on Yamato, who was across the room in his own bed.

He got out of bed and approached Yamato, who was still asleep. He observed that Yamato did look really cute when sleeping (ignoring his damaged eye). He kind of wondered how their father and brothers could hurt Yamato after seeing him sleep – he himself was already feeling bad for being not even half as mean to Yamato as they often were. Should he even disturb Yamato?

He poked Yamato gently in the face; his desire for someone to celebrate his birthday with him winning out. "I'm seven – wake up and say 'happy birthday' to me." Yamato stirred a little, letting out a few sleepy groans and slapping once at Taichi's hand. "That wasn't a 'happy birthday'," Taichi told him with another poke to the face.

Yamato gave a long groan this time, before both his eyes opened and blinked rapidly in succession, due to the new day's light. By now the swelling of his left eye had gone down, leaving some bruising around the surrounding area instead.

"Come on," Taichi said impatiently, "sing 'happy birthday' to me or something."

Yamato finally seemed to be fully conscious as he looked at Taichi – before abruptly turning his back on the brunet.

The thought of hitting Yamato actually flashed across Taichi's mind. He shook his head, then headed towards their bedroom door – he had to get out of there before he did something he'd later regret.

"Hey, Eito, let's play catch –" Toru stopped mid-sentence as he opened Eito's bedroom door to find him with Yamato. He lifted an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

Eito shrugged. "Playing a game."

"Guess Who?," Yamato piped up, supplying the name of the game.

"I didn't ask you," Toru returned coldly. He flicked nicer eyes onto Eito. "What are you doing playing with him?"

Eito shrugged again. "I dunno. Passing time?"

Toru snorted a little, walking into the room and placing the football in his hands onto Eito's bed. "Having fun?" he asked sarcastically, sitting down next to his younger brothers on the floor.

"Of course not," Eito grinned at him, and the two shared a laugh.

Yamato pouted a little. "Yes you were," he said quietly, as though he didn't actually want them to hear. He didn't like how Eito played with Toru all the time now. Before, he didn't used to so much – he used to play with him and Taichi all the time. And he was a lot nicer back then.

Toru reached a hand out towards Yamato and ran a hand through his hair – before grabbing hold of his bangs and pulling, hard. He laughed as Yamato cried out in pain.

"You're mean," Yamato told him, holding the front of his head.

"You're mean," Toru mimicked in a baby voice, letting out a laugh. His face then turned serious. "Now get lost before I really hurt you."

Yamato turned hurt eyes towards Eito, who looked back at him with no emotions or sympathy. He really didn't like the new Eito. He slowly got up and headed towards the door – with the back of his mind hoping that Taichi wasn't going to turn into the new Eito.

Taichi felt like he was on top of the world on his father's shoulders as they rode the elevator to their apartment floor. He'd just spent several hours with his father at an actual soccer match in an actual soccer stadium that his father had purchased tickets to for the occasion. He'd thought he'd only get to see matches on TV, so he was ecstatic – and his favourite team had won: 3-1.

He'd gotten a new soccer ball from Yamato (purchased by their father, of course); a remote controlled car from Eito (ditto on their father purchasing); a new soccer uniform of aforementioned favourite team from Toru (he claimed to have used his allowance, with some help from Hideki); and a Super Nintendo Entertainment System complete with controllers and games from Hideki.

It had been one awesome, awesome birthday.

His father helped him onto the ground when they reached their destination. "We'll have to do this again sometime," Susumu said, as they walked the short distance to their apartment door.

"Yeah, totally," Taichi replied, eyes still shining with excitement as his father unlocked the door.

As soon as it was open he ran in past his father to tell Yamato or Hideki – he didn't care which – about the soccer match, and how much cooler it was to witness in person. Toru and Eito ragged on him all the time about soccer, so he knew they wouldn't care – but Yamato always listened, and Hideki did too, just because he was an attentive and awesome big brother like that. It did hit him that Yamato was still angry at him, but he didn't care – not at the moment.

"Yamato?" he called, running into the living room. Empty. Huh; Hideki was supposed to be babysitting the others. "Hideki?" he shouted, running into the hallway. He then ran towards Hideki's room and knocked on the door. "Hideki?" he repeated, twisting the doorknob. It opened, and he found his three older brothers sitting on Hideki's bed playing cards.

"Hey, sport. Did you have a good time?" Hideki enquired with a smile.

Taichi nodded, but now his mind just wondered where Yamato was. And so he asked, "Where's Yamato?"

"In the laundry room," Toru let out a snort, giving Taichi a smirk. "You should go check on him. He might be crying himself to death."

Taichi frowned a little, and turned on his heels and out of the room. He headed into the kitchen and towards the laundry room, and as he got closer to the door, he could make out faint, erratic banging noises. He quickened his pace and approached the door, twisting it open.

There, beyond the door and directly in his line of vision, was Yamato – banging his little fists against the inside of the dryer.

Taichi immediately stepped forward and opened it, helping Yamato – face red from crying, and cheeks streaked with half-dried tears – out and up onto his feet. Yamato clung onto him like a second skin, as if their fight was forgotten.

"What did you do?" Taichi asked softly, wrapping his arms around Yamato's small, quivering frame. He obviously must've been really scared and claustrophobic in the small, confined space.

"Nothing," Yamato sniffled. "I didn't do anything . . ."

"You existed," a new voice said. Toru was leaning against the doorframe. "And we were bored and thought it'd be fun to watch you panic – and no doubt burst into tears – in the dryer. You didn't disappoint."

Taichi disentangled himself from Yamato a little, just so he could turn and look at Toru. He gave him the best evil eye he could muster. "You shouldn't have done that," he told him, point blank.

Toru snorted. "Like you haven't made him cry – but don't worry, it'd be difficult not to. He cries at the drop of a freakin' hat."

Taichi just continued glaring at him – even though it was kinda, well . . . true. Not that Yamato didn't have good reason to, but . . .

"What's happening?" another voice asked – a lot deeper, this time. It was their father.

"Yamato was annoying us so we put him in the dryer for a timeout," Toru replied. A different story.

Susumu walked past Toru and entered the laundry room – before backhanding Yamato across the face; namely his already injured eye. "The dryer's not a toy you little bitch," he spat, as Yamato started crying again.

Even Taichi had jumped a little in surprise at their father's strike – he hadn't seen that coming. The man standing before him was an entirely different person to the father who had taken him to the soccer match. He was actually a little stunned at the change – and a little scared, too.

"Don't annoy your brothers," Susumu spoke darkly, before turning on his heels and leaving. Even Toru looked a little ruffled; he glanced over at Taichi and gave him a half-shrug before leaving, too.

Taichi's attention then immediately turned to Yamato. He embraced him and stroked his back. "He's a jerk. Dad, I mean. No, both Dad and Toru. And the others. They're all jerks." Then he realised he hadn't been acting so hot towards him, either. He sighed. "And I'm a jerk, too. I'm sorry."

It took a while for Yamato's tears to stop flowing. When they did, he pushed himself away from Taichi's chest a little and looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. "Taichi," he sniffled. "Do you . . . do you love me?"

"What?" Taichi asked, a little uncomfortable with the question. Yamato was looking at him intently with wide, enquiring eyes. He touched Yamato's bottom lip with his finger. "Yeah, of course," he murmured. Then he figured Yamato would actually want to hear him say it. "I love you, Yamato."

Yamato's lips curved into a small smile, and he laid his head against Taichi's chest. They elapsed into comfortable silence for a little while. Then, Yamato spoke up and said what he really wanted to say; what he really wanted Taichi to hear and understand.

"I'm not a toy, Taichi."

Taichi didn't answer; just looked confused as he waited for Yamato to continue.

"They hurt me . . . you hurt me. I don't . . . I'm not a toy. OK?"

Taichi nodded, tightening his hold around Yamato. He liked having him in his arms.

"I'm a person . . . OK? I'm a person . . ."

What could he say?

"You're a person, Yamato."

He didn't realise he'd soon forget those words.

End of Chapter

. . . This was a lot easier to write than XY for some reason. Perhaps it's the "sexing up" of XY that makes it harder for me to write? (Taichi: homgiwannabangyamatonosebleed.) XD;

Susumu is, like, deranged. XD; (Well, he's actually schizophrenic – but undiagnosed.) And Taichi was a bit of an arse in some parts – but he is a bit of an arse so it's OK! :D XD; Well, he's not super nice to Yamato because he's already seven – in about a year and a half/two years, he'll have turned on him (almost) completely. D:

This was more a collection of flashbacks that I tried to make feasible as an actual story, haha. And it skips around a bit towards the end because I didn't have the patience to write it out s-l-o-w-l-y like with XY (where only four days have passed in four chapters? XD). But this is more like an add-on to XY so I guess that's OK. And at least it gets Hideki's character across better, I think? And WOW, Yamato actually has a personality! :3 (Which of course disappears as he gets beaten and raped into submission throughout the years. Yamato quite obviously has a severe personality change/block.)

Well . . . make chibi Taichi and chibi Yamato happy and review, please? :3

Notes on their characters:

I think Taichi's passable as a little rough and tumble kid who's a little confused with how Yamato is treated. I basically wanted to get across that he regards Yamato mostly like how any big brother would regard his little brother; a playmate whom he finds a little annoying at times. But added to the mix is of course the evident abuse – the power. It's commonplace to him, and as he's the bossy type anyway, he's a little prone to exercise power over Yamato or bend certain situations to his liking (because what he does isn't as bad as what the others do).

Yamato was a little harder to write. I've always thought he would've been a sociable and well-liked kid (because he was given the Crest of Friendship), but the divorce made him withdraw into himself (luckily he gets some of his old self back; almost every Japanese description of Yamato notes how popular and well-liked by girls he is ^^;). I'm playing the same card here – only his life starts off right away with mental and physical abuse. What that leaves is his being social around Taichi – and withdrawn and mostly silent and/or hesitant around everyone else (schoolkids included). But seeing as he's just barely six, he still tries to attempt to "please" the rest of the brothers (to get them to like him).

If I do write more chapters, hopefully Yamato's transformation into a mute, selfless teenager will make sense. Taichi is his ONLY form of confidence; when he loses Taichi, he basically has nothing. And once the sexual abuse starts (and as he ages), he "realises" what his brothers see him as – and takes what they see as truth; like he's been living in a world of delusions, and then BAM, it hits him that he's this dreadful person (though we know he's not).

Well, that's the way I see it, anyway. D: