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By this point in his life, when Shigure Sohma heard the very familiar sound of glass shattering coming from his beloved kitchen, he didn’t even bother taking a second to consider giving the little bratlings living under his roof the benefit of the doubt. He headed straight downstairs, grabbed the sturdiest wooden brush he owned from one of the drawers of the console table he’d very strategically placed down the hallway, and walked into the crime scene
The kids all gave one step back as soon as they saw him, the clever little things. Tohru, bless her sweet soul, opened her mouth to try and defend what was indefensible; but Shigure didn’t give her the chance. When his eyes landed on Kyo, he took two strides and snatched the boy’s wrist before he could even dream of squirreling away.
“Feeling like going to sleep with a warm bottom tonight, aren’t we?”
Kyo squirmed and yelled, trying to break free, but Shigure remained as he pulled out a chair and lowered himself onto it almost ceremoniously. The boy went over his knee with a small push and a shriek, and Shigure was so used to all of this that he didn’t even need to pay full attention to what he was doing. Instead, as he readjusted Kyo on his lap and pinned his legs down with his own, he took that chance to assess the damage around him.
His lips thinned when he saw a new hole in one of the panes of his window. The size of a brat’s fist.
His hand lifted on his own, delivering one sharp smack to the naughty rear over his knee.
Kyo yelped.
“S-Shigure-san! Wait, please! Wait!”
It wasn’t until then, just as he was about to bring the brush down on Kyo’s other cheek, that Shigure realized that sweet Tohru had been calling his name desperately. Ang, given the soft spot he had for her, he couldn’t help but grant Kyo some mercy he didn’t deserve for the moment as he glanced to the side to listen to what she had to say.
“Shigure-san,” Tohru said, waving her hands in front of her and shaking her head. “It wasn’t Kyo-kun! It wasn’t Kyo-kun, it wasn’t him, it was…uh, it was…”
She clearly hadn’t been prepared to get this far, because as soon as she was done declaring Kyo innocent, she started panicking all over again. She looked at everywhere in the room but at him, visibly conflicted, probably trying to come up with a plan that wouldn’t involve getting someone else in trouble, but it was already too late for that.
Shigure didn’t miss how her gaze lingered by her right for a few seconds longer than it had in the rest of empty places in the kitchen.
“Oh?” Shigure tilted his head to the side, a small, amused smile spreading on his lips. “Yuki-kun, why are you hiding your hand behind your back, hm?”
But what an unexpected turn of events.
Yuki stiffened under his gaze, but he seemed to be too busy glaring stubbornly at nothing to his left to provide an answer. It was cute, in the way some things could only be cute when Yuki was the one doing them. It made Shigure’s smile grow bigger.
“Now, now, sweetheart, if I have to find out by myself you won’t like it. I’ll give you until three to come here and show me. One…”
Shigure knew he wasn’t playing entirely fair. He knew calling Yuki pet names and giving him the chance to make things worse for himself was the exact opposite of what one should do to ensure his cooperativeness, but this was the treatment he always gave to sulking children. He wasn’t doing it for the sake of being mean.
“…Two…”
Yuki chose that very moment to lift his head and glare directly at him, and Shigure realized that peace had never been an option in the first place.
“Three.”
Kyo started cussing him out as soon as he was helped onto his feet, as expected, but Shigure put an end to it placing a well-deserved smack on his thigh. Kyo was left hissing and whimpering while he tried to rub the sting away, and in two strides more Shigure was already standing by Yuki’s side and closing his hand around his wrist.
Yuki tried to resist, but he didn’t put a lot of enthusiasm into it, so it wasn’t too hard to get him to finally show him his hand.
His very hurt hand, with bloodied, bruised knuckles and two deep cuts.
Shigure hissed.
“Yuki-kun,” he chided. “What is the meaning of this?”
“He was provoking me,” Yuki responded, with his usual cold calm, still glaring at him like he’d just personally offended him. “He was standing outside when I did it. He climbed in right after.”
Shigure arched an eyebrow, and Yuki looked away once more, clearly aware of how ridiculous his explanation had just been. Very unlike him, for sure. Very unreasonable. He usually was the expert at getting in trouble without taking the worst part of it, dancing around the rules and making sure Kyo was the one to make the many mistakes there were to be made.
Something was odd.
Shigure brought his hand up to rest the back of it on Yuki’s cheek, then on his forehead. Yuki bristled, but Shigure tutted at him and that was enough to keep him from digging himself a deeper hole.
“Not a fever, no,” he mumbled to himself. “What could possibly be wrong with him?”
Yuki did slap his hand away this time.
“Nothing is wrong with me!”
That would have earned anyone some good three, four or five well-placed smacks on the spot. Shigure’s hand itched for a second to do so, in all truth, but he still managed to take a deep breath and remind himself that Yuki wasn’t usually this fussy. He normally took his punishments with grace, without giving Shigure too much of an attitude.
“You might want to have your tone fixed by the time Haa-chan gets here,” Shigure warned, softly, “unless you’d like to take two trips over someone’s knee tonight, little mister.”
Yuki stayed quiet this time, staring at him with his large eyes, resenting him in silence. Shigure smiled in sympathy, knowing very well that dealing with Hatori’s displeasure was one of Yuki’s least favorite things in the world, and decided that the most merciful thing he could do for him was to deal with him himself and let him ride out his tantrum before Hatori could get there.
“Come here, Yuki-kun,” Shigure said, extending his hand. “Let’s get this over with, and then we can talk about what’s bothering you, hm?”
Yuki looked away again, but he still gave Shigure his uninjured hand, and Shigure had to bite his lips to refrain from praising him. Unlike it happened with Kyo, praising Yuki for small tasks generally resulted more detrimental than good. So, instead, Shigure walked him to the dining room in silence with a hand on the small of his back and guided him to his knees as he sat down cross-legged in one of the cushions around the table.
Kyo was a kicker, so disciplining him while sitting on the floor was out of the question, but Yuki was much more cooperative—on the good days, at least. He would never do something as undignified as squirming or trying to kick the person punishing him. At most he would drum the tips of his toes against the tatami, in the bad days.
Today, it looked like it would be a bad day.
“Tohru-kun, Kyo-kun,” Shigure said. “Please give Haa-chan a call, okay? Tell him there was a minor accident—I’ll give him the details later. Then come back here, please. I’m sure Yuki-kun could use your moral support.”
Shigure was gentle while tugging Yuki closer so he could lay himself across his lap, pretending not to pay him too much attention so he would feel more encouraged to obey. Once Yuki was settled and Kyo and Tohru were gone—Kyo still hissing threats under his breath—Shigure raised his right leg a little and helped Yuki find a position that was more comfortable for him.
He set the brush aside for the time being, and patted Yuki’s bottom warningly.
“I can tell you’re not having a good day. But we’ll get this attitude sorted out, hm? I know you’re already upset that Hatori has to come all the way here, so I won’t go too hard on you, but you’re still getting a bite or two from the brush. Is that okay, honey?”
“Of course it’s not okay,” Yuki huffed, squirming a little bit before settling down again. “It’s not my fault.”
Shigure sighed.
“I see how things are, then.”
Yuki was not fragile at all, but Shigure always found himself going easier on him that he would on anyone else. Today was not the exception. He started slow and calm, laying only a couple of overlapped smacks, stopping to rub some of the sting away whenever a gasp left Yuki’s lips. This didn’t make Yuki happy in the slightest, but Shigure didn’t mind.
He’d learned to read the three children living in his home very well. While Kyo needed things to be fast paced and to go straight to the point, Yuki needed things to take time they needed. Kyo needed to be reassured, Yuki needed to be scolded, if that made any sense. Kyo always had trouble figuring out his feelings, Yuki always got stuck in his own mind.
“Feeling the sting, aren’t we?” Shigure chuckled, resting his hand on Yuki’s thigh when the boy gave a small kick. “You’re usually so good staying still, Yuki-kun. What’s going on tonight?”
He made a break to run his hand down Yuki’s back, listening to each of his breaths carefully, trying to make out any signs of wetness. Yuki did sniffle once, although he seemed quite composed still. While he didn’t reply to him, Shigure could tell that he wasn’t happy about the observation.
The skin of his backside had to be colored a nice shade of pink by this point. His trousers were probably already doing him less of a favor than one would expect, the fabric rubbing his sore skin whenever he moved slightly. The brush would only add enough of a sting to it so Yuki would have trouble sitting still while Hatori checked on him.
“Whatever will you do if Haa-chan gives you a shot tonight, Yuki-kun?” Shigure cooed, patting the curve of his rear. “How embarrassing…”
He didn’t scold Yuki for the elbow he got jabbed into his stomach for that. He deserved it.
“He won’t give me a shot because of a few cuts,” Yuki hissed, but Shigure could still hear the small, fearful trace of doubt that hid in his voice. “It doesn’t even hurt that much…”
“It doesn’t make it any less naughty, though,” Shigure said, “I would definitely give you a shot.”
He resumed his task, this time being a bit meaner, targeting the softest part of Yuki’s bottom and adding a bit more of energy to his swing. Yuki visibly felt the change: he started squirming involuntarily, yelping whenever Shigure’s palm connected with his rear, trying to move away but having nowhere to go.
“In all seriousness, though, Yuki-kun,” Shigure said, lowering his tone to match the displeasure of his hand. “You could have broken your knuckles. You might have broken your knuckles. Do you understand how dangerous that is? What if the glass had gotten in your eyes, or in Kyo’s, huh? Do you understand how serious that is?”
“It didn’t happen!” Yuki huffed, kicking the floor softly with his socked foot, so softly that Shigure didn’t "feel the need to hold him down. “It didn’t happen, so, why…”
Shigure raised his left knee a little more, and when he brought his hand down again it made Yuki let out a little whimper.
“Because the fact it didn’t happen this time doesn’t mean it won’t happen another time if this behavior keeps repeating, sweetheart. I can’t have that.”
Another two swats, and Yuki pounded the floor softly with his fist, his injured one, which earned him another five swats without a single chance to breath in between.
“And to ensure that,” Shigure said, adding one swat more, “I need to make sure you understand that when, we’re feeling upset, we tell someone instead of letting it consume us from the inside to the point it makes us do silly things.”
A sniffle.
“Do you understand, Yuki-kun?”
A small shake of the head, and Shigure sighed.
“Sweetheart.”
He rested his already stinging hand on Yuki’s back and started rubbing it, which only prompted the boy to start hiccupping and shaking slightly. He granted Yuki a few minutes to take a few deep breaths and attempt to compose himself, but then he wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him up.
He guided him to sit in seiza, despite Yuki’s protests, and hushed him gently when he made a small sound of discomfort. Then he wiped away the few tears that had rolled down Yuki’s cheeks and brushed his hair out of his eyes, whispering soothing words.
He had to give Yuki a few minutes more, in which he kept hiccupping and shaking his head to himself, but then he finally was rewarded with an answer:
“I failed a test,” Yuki said, calmly. “This morning. I failed a test.”
He had his eyes closed. Shigure rested a hand on his knee and gave him a few pats, waiting patiently.
“But the thing is—” Yuki said. “The thing is…I did study for it. I studied for it like usual, like I always do. I would understand it if I hadn’t studied at all, but why…”
His eyebrows knitted together, like he were annoyed about it, but then a small sob left his lips and more tears made their way down his chest. Shigure felt his heart squeeze.
“And—and I know I can make up for it, but…”
Shigure shook his head and, before Yuki could open his eyes, he pulled him into his arms. The boy stiffened like he always did at first when he was embraced, but then when Shigure only held him closer he melted and started crying a bit more eagerly. He was unsettlingly silent, his warm face pressed into the crook of Shigure’s neck, but he was still weeping.
“Hush, hush,” Shigure whispered, patting his back. “It’s all okay now. I know it was scary, but it’s okay now. That test can no longer harm you—I’ll be the one to harm it. Where is it.”
He got a punch to his arm for that, but at least it made the crying start slowing down. Little by little, with the help of soft words of coaxing, Yuki finally allowed Shigure to see his face again, his eyebrows drawn together, his cheeks pink and damp and some of his eyelashes clumped together. Shigure, once more, took his time to dry his face clean patiently with his own sleeves.
“You’re spared from the brush for today,” he announced, solemnly, which only made Yuki’s frown deepen. “Don’t look at me like that. You’ve already cried an awful lot—I know you get bad headaches when you cry too much. Maybe if you’re still feeling naughty enough tomorrow morning, I can give you your swats before school. How does that sound”?
Yuki, bless his soul, was already too worn out to even protest. He only closed his eyes and rested his temple against Shigure’s shoulder, sniffling and shifting a little in his arms. They still had to have dinner before he could go to bed, but there would be no harm in letting him stay here for a few minutes more.
“You’re very smart,” Shigure reminds him, tucking Yuki’s hair behind his ear to place a small kiss on his temple. “I know you already know it, but a test doesn’t define you. You don’t need to act up because you’re feeling upset, you can come to me, and we’ll talk about it next time. It’s okay.”
He realized only then that Kyo and Tohru hadn’t come back yet and smiled to himself. They were probably waiting until Yuki’s punishment was over to call Hatori, or he would be able to hear what was going on.
“Come up, now,” Shigure said. “Let’s see what those two are up to.”