A/N: Hello again, I guess. Things are coming to settle a little more in RL, so I've crapped out another chapter :D Hope you guys enjoy~

Yuuki's still the teacher, though in this one, Ichiru takes on a bigger role compared to Zero and Kaname.

Disclaimer: Same as first chapter :)

Cross Academy Elementary 2

Yuuki hummed to herself as she finished knitting another row to the scarf she planned to give her father at the end of the year. It wasn't anything fancy, just simple patterns against a rich creamy yellow. The color reminded her of her father's favorite custard filled cream puffs he could never seem to get enough of.

Starting on another row, she blinked when small hands pulled her in-progress scarf down and a pair of sullen eyes peered over them.

Awkward silence.

"…Yes, Ichiru-kun?"

"Be my pet."

Pardon? She blinked again. "…Your pet…?"

"Yeah. We should have a dog, but we don't have a real dog, so you have to be our dog."

Looking behind him, she caught sight of Zero idly fingering Kaname's hair, who had his head on Zero's lap, eyes closed in a doze. Scattered around them were toy versions of various household tools and objects, all ranging from a small table to cups and plates, chopsticks and knives as well as a teapot.

Ah. So that was it.

Smiling amusedly, she nodded. "Okay, I can be your dog. What's my name?" She set aside her scarf and went on her hands and knees.

"Yuuki-sensei." Ichiru said matter-of-factly.

Oh. "All right. Are you going to walk me?"

"No, we're going to play fetch." Ichiru already had a ball in hand. The lime green tinge to it was on the verge of fading and there were numerous scuffmarks from long-term use.

Eying the ball warily, Yuuki hoped Ichiru didn't expect her to actually fetch like a dog.

"Make sure you don't hit anything," she cautioned, seeing him pull his arm back for a healthy throw, "not too strong, okay?"

"Yeah."

And Ichiru promptly turned around for a scarily accurate shot at Kaname, who yelped and immediately sat up as the ball bounced cleanly off his head.

"Ow." Kaname rubbed at his forehead, hurt and confused.

Zero gently pushed Kaname's hand aside to replace with his own. "Shh. Go back to sleep." He didn't bother to look to see where the ball came from, his attention completely set on keeping Kaname comfortable.

The smug satisfaction on Ichiru's face suddenly dropped and the sullen glare was back.

"Stupid Kaname."

"Ichiru-kun, that wasn't very nice." Yuuki frowned. "You shouldn't throw things at other people."

"I wanted to." Ichiru crossed his arm obstinately. "It's his fault he made me mad."

Oh dear. "Why do you think he made you mad?" Did she have an oncoming tantrum on her hands?

The sullen glare turned fierce. "He's not letting Zero play. He can sleep on the mats but he sleeps on Zero!"

Yuuki tilted her head, taking another look at the rest of the two-thirds of the usual troublemaking trio.

Ichiru could be right; Zero did seem to have his hands full keeping Kaname accommodated, but he didn't look bothered by the task, more worried than anything else. Kaname was surprisingly subdued since this morning, she remembered, quiet in a way that was different from his characteristic politeness. He still did his work, handed in all of his homework, answered questions properly in every class, but he was working on autopilot.

She hadn't a clue how or why, or if she should even be overly concerned by it, and knew if she took Kaname aside to ask, she would only get gentle deflections.

"Does Zero-kun not like it? Is he sad he can't play?"

Here, Ichiru's folded arms grew tighter, his small shoulders tense, but his fierce expression toned down to a mere pout. "No," he grumbled. "Zero said he was fine."

"Then that's not what you're mad about, is it? What about Kaname-kun is making you mad?" She had a fair idea, but she needed Ichiru himself to fully recognize the source of his anger.

"He's, Kaname's… Zero didn't say…" Ichiru roughly shook his head. "Zero likes Kaname better! That's why he's not playing! I want him to play with me, but he won't!"

The actual pain he was feeling was starting to show in his eyes. Yuuki patted his back and silently invited him to sit with her.

"You know he likes both of you, very much, Ichiru-kun. Remember the other day, when Hanabusa-kun came? I think he told you he likes you then, right? You all kissed and made up."

"But he won't play with me."

She could tell he was trying to hold out on his gradually unconvincing argument for the sake of holding out, and prodded, "Should he have to play with you even when he doesn't want to? There're times you don't want to play and times you do. I've seen you and Zero-kun sit and read without any toys at break."

"…Zero listens to him more."

"But he listens to you over Kaname-kun too, right? Like when you wanted to play tag and Kaname-kun wanted to read, he chose to play tag with you." That had been another epic fight between the two, which Zero had quickly solved without bloodshed.

"Kaname-kun was a little different today," she tried to sound casual. "He looked sad."

Ichiru visibly twitched and his pout became less pronounced.

"Do you think something happened to him over the weekend?"

It was a while before Ichiru spoke up. "…He never says anything when he comes to us. He just sits there and feels bad until we come. Everybody says he's smart, but he's dumb sometimes.

"He didn't say anything this time either. He feels bad but he doesn't. His mom and dad know, but they always make it worse."

He was trembling, face set in a bemused scowl.

Yuuki nodded encouragingly. "You're worried, too, just like Zero-kun." If anyone were to notice on the changes, it would be Zero and Ichiru. But it was easier to channel the worry into anger, which was what Ichiru was more prone to dealing with in himself, and the surefire way to find excuse to keep the anger burning was to somehow pin it down on not being able to play with Zero, to replace his concerns for Kaname into 'anger' and blame him for taking Zero's attention away.

It was one of the strange quirks she had come to see in him since becoming his teacher. With Zero, there were no roundabout ways of showing his feelings, he said them and recognized them straight out, but when it came to expressing those same exact feelings to someone else, a block automatically came into place to prevent him from facing them head on.

She half suspected it was the absolute trust Ichiru had in Zero to accept whatever he threw at him, physically and emotionally, that allowed for his honesty. The same couldn't said for anyone else, which in turn made him twist his feelings into something else altogether to deal with them in a more familiar way.

"It's okay to say you're worried, Ichiru-kun. You can tell them that."

He scowled again. "Only to Zero. I'm not telling Kaname." Huffing, he planted his elbows at his knees and his chin in his hands. "Zero knows already anyway."

Yuuki smiled. So he did. Maybe that was why he didn't react to the ball throwing. He didn't even send a remotely disapproving look their way, focused on settling Kaname down.

She playfully poked at his round cheek. "Just because he knows, doesn't mean you don't have to tell him."

Ichiru shrugged, swiping her hand away from his face. "Kaname got to sleep with Zero. That makes up for everything."

"You should still apologize for throwing the ball at him," Yuuki said wryly, knowing exactly what Ichiru was referring to when he mentioned 'makes up'. "He couldn't even defend himself."

Ichiru shot her an annoyed glare, one she was fairly used to. Unless he was able to associate things (and people) with Zero or Kaname, he often found them irritating and not worth dealing with. It wouldn't matter if he were facing the prime minister; the man wouldn't matter a wit if he had no connections to Zero or Kaname.

Staring at his young profile, she suddenly had a vague, strange thought pass through her mind and snapped her gaze to the door, now realizing… "Hanabusa-kun hasn't come in today…"

Looking back at him, she leaned down until she could get a full view of his face, making him lean back in obvious discomfort. "Was it you, Ichiru-kun? Did you keep Hanabusa-kun away because Kaname-kun wasn't feeling well?"

Ichiru sent her another glare that was highly unimpressed. "So?"

Her eyes widened. Then she beamed, feeling a powerful surge of unbridled affection for the distrustful little boy in front of her. He did the darnedest things that tugged almost painfully at her heart. "Oh, Ichiru-kun! You're just a little softy on the inside, huh? Like my Dad's favorite cream puffs! Soft, tasty custard!" She poked at his cheek again.

"I can see why Zero-kun loves you so much," she laughed as he tried to fend her away, though he stopped dead at her words. "You really understand him, don't you? He's very lucky to have a brother like you."

He averted his eyes, cheeks flushed. "I…I know that, stupid."

"It's good that you do." She nodded. Too many people had no idea just how much they were needed, loved, or thought of. It was especially tragic to see it in children.

"Well." She clapped her hands. "Do you want me to go back to being the dog or should we play something else?" She paused and tilted her head. "Wait, who was who when you were playing House, Ichiru-kun?" Now that they were on the subject, she couldn't contain her curiosity. "I can see Kaname-kun as the Husband, but what about you and Zero-kun?" They couldn't both have been Wives, could they?

Ichiru snorted out a dry, 'Ha!' and replied, "You got it all wrong. Kaname's the Wife. Zero's the Husband. I'm the other Husband."

Oh.

"Kaname said the Wife always takes care of the Husband so he wanted to be Zero's Wife. I didn't want the same thing as Kaname, so I was the other Husband."

Ah. She nodded politely. Such sweet simplicity… Children really were amazing.

"That sounds dynamic."

He frowned. "I don't know what that means. But anyway, Zero said the Husband protects the Wife and takes care of him too, so he got Kaname to sleep. The Wife can't take care of the Husband if he's tired. I told you Kaname's dumb sometimes."

"He tends to push himself." Yuuki agreed.

"And you're a boring dog. I'm going to go read." Just like that, Ichiru was off to a new conquest.

She made sure he was far enough into the reading area before curling in on herself to let out silent gales of laughter. Shoulders shaking, she gasped quietly, desperately holding in her giggles.

They ended up erupting despite her efforts when Sayori tapped her arm, looking bemused. "What's wrong with you?"

Catching her breath, she whispered out, "Just kid drama, the usual. You know how it is."

And no, I wasn't making digs at Yuuki by having Ichiru demand her as his 'dog' XD I hope it didn't seem that way. I've done my fair share of riding animals for kids, so I know it's not uncommon. Painful on the knees after a while, but some of the little ones love it (when you can move fast enough). I think if Yuuki were a teacher and one of her students wanted her to be an animal, she would try her best to emulate :D The imagery is definitely amusing.

"A rooster, Yuuki-sensei! Do a rooster!" Or "How bout a giraffe? Can you do a giraffe, Yuuki-sensei?"

Ah, bundles of cute XD