SO. This shall be a fanfic unlike any other before! I plan to take you from Kurogane's and Fai's AU preschool days, to their graduation from high school! The way I see it, each grade, or school, I haven't quite decided yet, is going to have two, maybe more, I haven't decided yet, chapters to it. This chapter is kind of fluffy and angsty at the same. Yay for angsty preschoolers! Actually, it's kind of sad...-sniffle- Writing angsty preschoolers is very difficult. ;; Anyway, I hope that you like the first chapter!

------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked into the foreign building, clinging to my mother's dress as she led me along. She had said that coming to this place called a "preschool" would be fun experience for me, and that I would make a lot of friends. I didn't want to make friends. I wanted to stay at home with my mother and my father, and play with my action figures. When I told her that, my mother said that there was a lot more to life than GI-Joes.

I looked around the building and the hugeness of the place finally hit me. I didn't like it. There were things in rooms that I didn't know, couldn't see, and that bothered me. After walking up a set of stairs we arrived to a brightly colored door. On the door were drawings done in crayon, awkward looking blobs that made no sense to me, but probably meant a lot to their owners. There was one picture that caught my eye. It was clearly a kitten sitting on the grass, basking in sunlight. I wanted to admire the picture some more but my mother had knocked on the door and it opened almost immediately, revealing a room full of the chatter of other children. I tensed up and hid behind my mother's legs. Well, not entirely. I was brave, so I peeked out just a little to see what was going on.

A woman about as tall as my mother opened the door and began talking to my mother. I didn't really listen to them, I was trying to see around the woman to get a view of what was going on inside. There were a lot of people inside; that much I could tell. That much I didn't like. Soon enough the woman crouched down to my level, and I finally got a good look at her. She had long black hair, and a stern face that had a hidden gentility behind it.

"Good morning." She said, with a bit of a smile on her face, "You can call me Arashi." She said, pointing to herself. I stared at her blankly for a moment before she spoke again, "Do you have a name?"

I pulled myself closer to my mother and nodded.

"Do I get to know what it is?" She asked.

"Kurogane." I mumbled, not really knowing what to make of this woman.

"Well then, Kurogane-chan. How about you come inside with me? We're just finishing up watching a puppet show, and after that we were going to play with the toys in the room. Does that sound fun?" She asked as she stood back up to her full height.

I nodded a little and glanced up at my mother. She pulled me away from her leg and then bent down to talk to me as well.

"Your father will pick you up in a few hours. I'm sure that you'll have a lot of fun today, Kurogane-chan." My mother kissed my forehead and ruffled my hair before leaving the same way that we had come.

Before I knew it Arashi had ushered me inside and the door was quickly shut. When she shut the door I realized that my mother had left me here. She had brought me here, and she had left me here, and she wasn't coming back. I was going to be here all by myself forever. I clenched my little fists at my side and charged back at the door, frantically trying to reach the handle.

"Mom! Mother!" I shouted. When I found that I couldn't reach the handle I settled for banging on the door and continuing to call for my mom. The laughing and chatter from the other people in the room had stopped, but I didn't care. I didn't belong here. This wasn't my house, I didn't know this place, and I couldn't believe that my mother would just abandon me here.

It was then that I felt two strong hands lift me into the air and hold me up. I blinked a little and looked at the man who had picked me up. He had a very kind looking face, and was wearing a smile despite my angriness and struggle to break free. He lifted a puppet to my face and the puppet-man bit my nose. My eyes widened and I frowned at the puppet who said, "Don't worry, kiddo! You're going to have a lot of fun with us today!"

I stared at disbelief at the puppet and then at the man, who was still smiling at me, "I'm Sorata." The happy-man said with a laugh, "And, this is my mini-me." He added, waving the puppet about in the air, causing the other children in the room to laugh.

I had calmed down a little at that time, having my nose bitten off by a puppet kind of nullified my anger. Sorata put me down and then turned toward the group, "Everyone, this is Kurogane-chan." Sorata motioned to me and then continued, "He'll be joining our class, so be sure to make good friends with him."

The other kids all looked at me as if they were looking at something totally new and strange to them, and I guess I kind of was. Sorata then announced that they were going to have "free play time" now and that all the toys in the room were open to play with. The children scattered, but I remained in place.

I glanced around the room, still in a bit of shock that my mother had abandoned me, and when I turned around I found a short kid with blond hair staring up at me. Well, he wasn't too short; he was just shorter than me. His hair was really long, to at least his shoulders, but he was clearly a boy. The boy smiled at me and said, "Y'know what?" When I didn't respond he asked again. "Y'know what?" I just continued to look at him with confusion and so he continued, "My daddy drops me off everyday with Sorata and Arashi. And, Y'know what else?"

"What...?" I ventured, knowing that the boy was going to continue anyway.

"He always comes and picks me up when the clock looks like this." The boy clapped his palms together and raised his arms above his head, "All the mommy's and daddy's come when the clock looks like this. So, your mommy or your daddy will come and get you then too!" The boy finally lowered his arms and looked at me expectantly.

"My mother said that my father will come and get me today..."

"Well then your daddy will be here then!" The boy smiled a bit and looked around the room before looking back at me, "So, your name is Kuro-chan, right?"

"Kurogane." I said, looking strangely at the boy.

"I don't like the last part." The boy said bluntly, "So, I'm just gonna call you Kuro-chan, alright?" Without waiting for a response from me he continued, "I'm Fay." He thrust his thumb into his chest proudly, "All of my names are a lot longer than that, so I just use the first one, which is Fay. The other two are a D and a Flourite. But, I can't spell none of those, well, I can spell the D, but not the Flourite, so I just use the Fay." Fay explained in a very confusing way.

I stayed silent and wondered why this Fay was talking to me so much, and why he wasn't off playing with the other kids. He was friendly enough to have known all of them, and yet he was talking to me.

"Do you wanna come and play blocks with me?" Fay asked suddenly.

"No. I don't like blocks."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Well, I do, so you have to like them too, ok?" And with that I found myself being pulled over to the blocks.

I stood there and watched as Fay began to build something so tall that he was eventually on the tips of his toes, putting blocks one on top of the other. "Kuro-chan. You're taller than me. Can you put this last one on?"

"No."

"But you have to! Please? I can't reach, and if I try it's all gonna fall down..." Fay pouted and looked at me with his hands outstretched, a wooden block in his hand.

I snatched the block and put it on the top easily. "There."

Fay grinned and sat down on the floor and pulled the bottom block out from underneath the tower, and it came crashing to the ground creating a clamor that caused the other children to stop for a moment and look before going back to what they were doing. Fay laughed a bit and looked at me, "We should build another one. That was the loudest noise I've made ever! And, it was all because of you, Kuro-chan!" Fay smiled an impossibly big smile at me and I just kind of stared back down at him.

"If you were just going to knock it over, then why'd you build it in the first place?" I asked him as I sat down on the floor opposite the boy.

"Because you can't make the crash noise without the tower." Fay pointed out. I blinked a little bit at him before I picked up a block and set it in the upright position.

"I guess blocks are a little fun..." I muttered, and the two of us began to build a tower.

---

Soon enough the clock on the wall of the room looked like Fay's hands had earlier and Sorata and Arashi announced that the parents would be arriving soon. Everyone in the room ran to hooks on the walls and pulled off coats and backpacks from them and lined up at the door. Sorata and his puppet lead us out of the room and down the stairs toward the front door. I stood next to Fay in the line as we walked, and he chattered to me about how much fun we were going to have tomorrow, and how we could build bigger towers out of blocks. I half listened to him, but I really wanted to just see my father. When we were outside everyone was dismissed to their parents except for me and Fay.

"Sometimes my daddy is late because of his job. But, he always comes." Fay said with a smile, "And, your daddy will be here soon too." Fay looked at me with a reassuring nod.

Suddenly a phone in the area rang and I glanced around and saw Arashi produce a phone from her pocket. She held it up to her ear and nodded for a moment or two, and she said a few hushed words that I couldn't hear. She then passed the phone off to Sorata. A look of sadness crossed his face, "There are no relatives...I see...We'll take care of everything...Thank you..." Sorata hung up the phone and he and Arashi talked for a minute or two before Sorata walked over to me. He lifted me up and held me tight before speaking.

"Kurogane-chan, your father isn't coming to pick you up today..." He said.

"Is my mother coming...?"

"No. Kurogane-chan, sometimes accidents happen, and people get hurt, really bad. And they leave this world, and get to go somewhere better. Unfortunately that means that they sometimes have to leave people they love behind."

"My mother said that when that happens people go to heaven." I said, not really getting why Sorata was telling me this.

"Right. Well, heaven must be a very beautiful place, right?" He asked quietly.

"My mother said that it would have a lot of sun, and a lot of flowers, and that when people have to go there they are happy." I said again.

"That sounds like a nice place." Sorata paused, "Kurogane-chan, your mother and your father have gone to heaven."

"They have...? When are they going to come back to get me...?" I asked.

"Kurogane-chan...They can't come back. They've left here, and have gone somewhere better."

"But, what about me?" I asked, still not quite comprehending what Sorata was trying to tell me. "Aren't they going to come back and get me...?" I pushed myself away from Sorata, who still held me, and he set me on the ground and I turned to look at Fay, "You're a liar!" I pointed my finger at him, "You told me that my father would come and get me! But...but..." I stopped, what exactly had happened to them...?

They had died. They weren't ever going to come back to get me. They had to go to heaven now, and they had to leave me behind. What was death really? They couldn't come back and get me because of it. They had left me behind because of it. Death was a horrible, evil thing, and I decided then that I hated death, and that death made me angry.

I looked back at Fay, "But, they're not coming back! Ever!" I shouted as loud as I could. I stood there and cried, and wished that death didn't happen, that it didn't exist, and that my father and my mother would show up, and take me home.

It was at that time that a beat up blue car pulled up and the man inside called for Fay. Fay didn't go. He stood there and watched me cry, tears in his own eyes, probably because I yelled at him. But, I didn't care. Liars deserved to get yelled at. He gave a bit of a smile and said, "Maybe your mommy and daddy will get to meet my mommy." Fay said, "My mommy went to heaven when I was a baby. Daddy told me that she's probably really happ-" I shoved him and he fell back onto the pavement. Fay stared up at me and let his tears fall from his eyes before he stood up and ran to his car. He opened the side door and climbed in, pulling it shut with both hands behind him, and the car drove off.

Sorata picked me up again, and I didn't bother to struggle away this time. He just held me close to him and let me cry. Arashi looked from me, to the direction that Fay's car had gone, and she shook her head a little before turning back to Sorata and me. "Let's go back inside." She said.

Without another word the three of us headed back into the building, back up the stairs, and back to the room. From there we walked through a side door, which I had previously thought to be a closet, into a whole apartment. Sorata sat down with me on the couch and I cried into the adult's shoulder.

Through my choked sobs I heard a baby crying from somewhere deep in the apartment. Arashi scurried off and returned with a young child. She had short black hair and was very small. Arashi smiled a bit and cradled the child in her arms. When she noticed that I was watching her she walked over and introduced me to the child.

"Kurogane-chan, this is Tomoyo." She said, "Would you like to hold her for a bit?" When I nodded she said, "Can you stop crying for me?" I nodded my head and wiped away my tears. I was still sad, but I knew that the baby had been crying because I had been loud, and I didn't want her to be upset.

Arashi smiled a bit and I climbed off of Sorata's lap and sat down on the couch. Once I was settled Arashi handed me the child. "Be gentle." Arashi said. I looked down at the girl in my arms, and something about her made me a little happier inside, even if I was still very sad.

"She's little." I said in a quiet voice.

"Tomoyo is only a few months old." Sorata said with a sagely nod. Arashi left the room and headed for the kitchen, and soon enough the quieted clanging of pots and pans could be heard. "I think that she likes you." Sorata said, noticing that the baby had fallen asleep in my arms. I watched the child for a moment before asking something.

"If you and Arashi are in the preschool, who is here with Tomoyo?"

"That would be Souma-chan. She's probably taking a shower now. She goes to school at night, and watches Tomoyo for us during the day." Sorata explained.

"Oh." I said. I found it a little weird that this Souma person went to school at night, but I had a lot of other things on my mind.

"Kurogane-chan. Would you like to spend more time with Tomoyo-chan?" Sorata asked, the tone of his voice had gone back to the same tone he had used when we were outside. I nodded. "How about you stay with us for a while?" Sorata asked.

"What about my house?" I asked, before I remembered that there would be nobody there except for me. I took a shaky breath to stop myself from crying, for Tomoyo's sake, and I looked back down at her.

"What if we get all of your stuff from your house, and then you come and stay here with Arashi, Tomoyo and I?" Sorata asked, "It would be fun, right?"

I didn't say anything for a minute or two, and when I did I said, "I'm gonna miss living in my house with my mother and my father though..."

"Yeah." Sorata said, "Well, you kn-"

"I guess that I'll stay here..." I said slowly. I didn't really know what else I was supposed to do, "But...I'm still going to miss them..."

"Nobody said that you couldn't Kurogane-chan."

I looked up at Sorata and then down at Tomoyo and a few silent tears fell down my face.