Chapter Text
Shuu is slightly bitter about the date those letters come in. After all, it is the date of his death. He's always slightly sour about it, even to Arashi and Mitsuko. His littlest sister and her fiance could give him quite a headache sometimes. Not that it mattered that much to him. Their children and relatives are rather nice to be around though.
Those letters - however - have to be dealt with. And that's what Shuu is planning on doing. Not dealing with them as in burning them, but giving them to their respective receivers. Finding that cursed house-elf apparently takes longer than finding one of Arashi's little stray kittens (or rabbits in this case).
"Good morning, Fei."
Shuu blinks in surprise when the green-haired 6-year-old yelps in surprise before swirling around. Fei is hardly ever skittish when Shuu pops up, unlike the rest of the household. Tilting his head, the spirit blinks a couple of times as the boy breaths in deeply.
"Why did you do that?!" Fei whisper-yells at him.
Head still tilted, Shuu smiles. "Because that's what you say to someone in the morning." <Despite the fact that it's four and you shouldn't even be out of bed yet> he adds mentally.
A glare from the rabbit-loving/hating child. "Good morning," he grumbles. "Why are you here?"
Another head tilt. "I live here, Fei. Where else would I be? It is not as if I can leave this house."
That got a lowered head from the bunny. Shuu thinks that might have been a little mean and pets his hair. Well, as much of a petting a spirit can give without passing through the boy.
"Some letters arrived this morning," Shuu changes the subject and nods down the stairs. "I would have checked them, but you know," he waves a slightly transparent hand in front of himself.
That got a giggle out of Fei, to the spirit's relief. Shuu walks beside the little boy, not questioning why he's awake at this hour. 'This hour' being four in the morning. To be honest, he was expecting Lina or Kyousuke to wake up, not Fei.
"Be careful," Shuu warns after the boy almost steps on one of the squeaky boards of the house.
"Okay, okay," Fei almost seems to wave the spirit off. "Why are you so excited anyway, Shuu? It's rare."
"I am not excited, as you put it, Fei," Shuu with a smile while 'walking' on the railing (really more like gliding on it while standing). "I am simply happy for a reason or another."
That just gets the spirit a confused from the bunny-loving/hating boy. Not for the first time, he wonders if he's a little too cryptic. On the doormat, lay three envelops made from a yellowish parchment. The green-haired boy bends and picks them up.
"What do they say?"
Turning one of the envelopes to him, Shuu started reading in a low voice. "That matters very little. They are letters of acceptance at Hogwarts. Probably for Lina, Jirou and Akio. Seeing as they are the only ones of age."
"There's another one!" Fei exclaims after looking through the letterbox.
Shuu doesn't have time to react before the six-year-old opens the door and pulls in a letter before slamming the door shut. A sigh and the spirit floats over the staircases, sometimes skipping on one to give himself a little bust.
In this household, what with Lina constantly making Arashi agree to adopt stray kids, there are a lot of people. The oldest in the house is Sakuma Arashi with Mitsuko being two months younger. Other than him that is.
Between the children, Lina is the oldest, mostly the one that everyone else looks up to. If Shuu had to describe her in a way it would be dependable. Sakuma Aoi's - Arashi's twin sister's - oldest child that had moved from America to England to be closer to her cousin and relatives. Also, Shuu himself likes her because she reminds him of himself.
A hand trailing to the base of his neck, the spirit hopes that he isn't so similar to him.
Akio is the second oldest and he reminds Shuu of Mitsuko. A little cold, and somewhat comically contradictory or hypocritic. Because the boy says one thing and does the exact opposite. It's rather funny how good he is at taking care of people. The spirit pokes his head in the boy's room to find him starting to wake up.
Third oldest is Arashi's own son, Jirou. While certainly not a role model, Jirou is a good brother. And tends to worry more about others than himself. Up-tied and not raised in the way Shuu and Mitsuko were, Jirou the relatively normal person in the household.
The oldest out of the 'children' is Tsurugi Yuuichi. To Shuu's relief, he's calmer than the rest. And hardly ever gets too emotional, which is something they need. If Jirou is relatively normal, that Yuuichi is the pillar that keeps them together.
A door down from Jirou is Kurama Norihito, the oldest of the 'children'. A moody child that gets into fights occasionally and gets along with almost no one outside the household. Shuu knows that Lina's worried about him. He's also found that the boy can speak Parseltongue, Shuu just wonders in how much danger that's going to get him in.
After Norihito is Fei. 'Little Bunny' as Lina calls him. Shuu knows that the boy is going to either rule the world one day or get thrown in a maximum-security prison. When he voiced his thoughts, Lina had chuckled and agreed. 'If he's with that Saru that is'.
Next is - maybe his favorite - Hakuryuu. The white-haired boy had come into their family after Akio found him in the rain. Shuu still hasn't gotten the details of that incident, but he's patient so he is sure it will happen eventually. A front of arrogance and a class A big brother - and that's not sarcastic, just true - Hakuryuu took most of them by storm by following in Akio's footsteps.
"ANE-SAN!"
A muffled yell follows the yell from down below. Which is most likely from Fei. Shuu chuckles while walking through Hakuryuu's door and into the boy's room.
~<>~
"ANE-SAN!"
If Fei-nii had been in his vicinity, Hakuryuu would have strangled his older brother. But he isn't so Hakuryuu rips his pillow from beneath his head and covers his face with it.
And he screams, letting out all the frustration that came with being woken up at some un-Godly hour before 4:45. A soft chuckle sounds from somewhere in his room and he throws the pillow at it. Not that Hakuryuu's enough of an idiot to think that it would actually land on him and not go through him.
Hakuryuu might be six, but he's no idiot. A physical object can't hurt a spirit.
"Good morning, Hakuryuu," the spirit greets, a slightly happy tone to it.
He returns the greeting. Of course, after throwing the pillow, Hakuryuu had turned on his belly, face on the mattress. So his words still came out muffled. <I hate mornings> he mentally whines.
"You can get up now, Akio's already awake."
Groaning in the mattress, Hakuryuu regretfully pushes himself up. Arms feeling more like noodles, he growls under his breath as another chuckle comes from the ghost.
"Why's Fei-nii screaming his bloody head off?" Is the first thing that he asks, not including that muffled as hell greeting.
Finally turning to the spirit, he returns Shuu's smile with a sleepy one. "Some letters arrived for Lina, Jirou and Akio."
While getting out of bed he frowns. "Why would he yell about it?"
Hakuryuu glances at the mirror. He sees Shuu shrug. Which is weird, because most spirits can't be seen in a mirror, for some reason though... They can always see Shuu in mirrors. And not to mention that the spirit doesn't look like a spirit.
Same vibrant colors like a normal human. If it isn't for the floating, Hakuryuu might have missed that he was a ghost altogether. Of course, that's how they found out about him being a wizard in the first place.
Hakuryuu could see Shuu. Yuuichi-nii can't see him, be he can hear him. Ane-san said that Yuuichi-nii is a squib, whatever that is.
"You done?" Shuu's calm voice snapped him out of his daydreaming.
"Yeah," he sighs when the spirit turns around to face him. "Let's go down."
About fifteen minutes after - when someone finally managed to wake Kyousuke and Ryouhei - they're all in the kitchen. Nii-san is making some breakfast while Hakuryuu is simply watching him.
"Why did you yell at four in the morning, Fei?"
Count on Arashi-san to be the only calm one in the room. Maybe other than Shuu, who's floating close to the ceiling. Hakuryuu always wonders why he's so relaxed about everything. Then again, what can bother a spirit like Shuu? Apparently nothing.
"Ane-san, Nii-san and Ani-san got accepted at Hogwarts!"
Hakuryuu winces at the excitement in Fei-nii's voice. <You know that means they're leaving us right?> the bitter thought formed in his mind. <They're leaving...>
"So?" The uncaring tone from Nii-san startled the whole table. "We're going to school, yay. Not. So, what about it? What do those things say anyway?"
"Good question," he sees Ani-san nod.
The table turns to Ane-san, who had pulled out her letter and starts reading. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Headmaster: Kudou Michiya (Order of Merlin, Second Class, Grand Sorc., Cheif Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards). Dear, Sakuma-kun - wow, did I pick the right letter? - We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. The term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely, Karibe Ranko, Deputy Headmistress."
"Okay, so," Mitsuko-san. "We are going to Diagon Alley, right?"