Chapter Three

By
Furry Sith Lord

I made my way up the driveway towards my foster mother’s home. She kept it in the
traditional Japanese style of a pagoda. The interior had the rice paper dividers to separate the
rooms. The front entrance also had the two komainu statues standing guard with the surface of
the stone looking like there were tiny crystals that would reflect light during the day.
Now that evening had set in the tiny lamps made the lion dog statues difficult to see. The
lack of lighting always made the place seem gloomy to me. I figured they would be inside having
dinner about now so I brought a gift.
I rang the doorbell and waited patiently then finally after what felt like an eternity the
door opened and I saw a boy standing there watching me. He looked straight ahead as if he could
see through me as if I was invisible. I knew Fen Ju never kept any pictures so he probably had no
idea who I was or why I was here.
“Hi, you must be Shinto?” I said and I saw a faint flicker of recognition that I called his
name. “My name is Shion, I’m your foster brother. Your older foster brother.” He just continued
staring at me and a minute or two later, as we stood looking at each other in an uncomfortable
silence, Fen Ju came to the door.
“I wasn’t expecting you tonight. I wish you had called so I could prepare.” She said to me
callously.
“You look fine, mom.” I replied then all three of us stood there in another uncomfortable
silence. She always insisted that I call her by some parental nomenclature. I guess in her mind if
I called her ‘mom’ or ‘mother’ then it might actually make us a family.
“Well, let me introduce you to your brother Shinto.” She said and I had to stop myself
from chuckling.
“We met, or rather I said hi and he glared at me.”
“There’s a reason for that. First let me get you inside before the neighbors complain.” She
said and gestured for me to come in. I noticed that the boy remained close to her almost on her
heels and he kept his body in between the two of us. I took the subtle hint and let it go figuring
he had no idea who I was or why I was here.
She led us to the dining room and I sat opposite of Shinto as he studied me. Fen Ju went
to get some plates for us to eat. I just sat there trying to think of something to try and start a
conversation.
“So… what do you think of the place?” I asked and he just stared at me occasionally
blinking as the only evidence that he was still alive. I really started to get uncomfortable.
 “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” I asked but he still did not respond. I sighed and
tried thinking of something else as I prayed to Buddha that Fen Ju would get back here and save
me from him.
“Do you have any questions for me?” I tried again but he still just sat there silently.
“Here you go boys,” Fen Ju finally announced as she entered carrying three plates of
food. I rose and took one from her as she set the second plate in front of Shinto and finally sat at
the head of the table that was between us.
“Itadakimasu.” Both Fen Ju and myself said as we placed our hands together in a prayer
position and bowed our heads briefly. Shinto just watched us unmoving and I couldn’t help but
get aggravated considering I was taught to give thanks before and after a meal. It apparently
showed on my face then Fen Ju turned to explain.
“There’s something I need you to get straight in your head, Shion,” She said sternly,
making sure I was paying complete attention to her.
“Go on,” I replied but kept my eyes focused on the boy. I was seriously regretting letting
Jennifer talk me into coming here.
“Shinto doesn’t mean to be disrespectful. He was found naked in the woods and it is
believed he had spent some time there. We are not sure if he can talk or even understand what we
are saying. The only word that I know that he seems to know is home.” Fen Ju explained.
“Home,” Shinto said.
“Yes, honey, we are home now.” she said and I felt a bit jealous because she never used to
call m e honey when I was his age.
“No, I think he wants to go home. To his home in the woods… I bet.” I said.
“Home,” Shinto repeated again, then Fen Ju sighed and covered her face.
“We can’t send him off to run around the woods naked.” she complained.
“Do we know anything else about him?” I asked as I turned to look at her. Shinto rained
one of his feet to scratch the back of his head the way a dog does. We both turned to look at him
and Fen Ju let out a gasp.
“Seems he was raised by wolves.” she replied.
“Does he actually have fleas?” I asked .
“No, they deloused him when he first arrived at the orphanage. They had a difficult time
from what I gathered. He’s just acting the way the other wolves do.”
“I leaned over the table after moving aside the plates and used two of my fingers to touch
him on his chest.
“Shinto.” I made sure to clearly and slowly say his name hoping that he would
understand.
“Sh….Shinto.” he said, struggling to say the name properly. I smiled then I used the same
fingers to point to my chest.
“Shion… Shion” I said as I carefully pronounced my name then I used my fingers to
point to him again.
 “Shinto,” then pointed back to me. “Shion.” I pointed my fingers back at him but
remained silent to let him say his name so that I could see if he understood it.
“Shinto,” he said and Fen Ju and myself smiled while Fen Ju gave a clap to show her
delight. Then I pointed at myself but again remained silent so that Shinto could see if he had
learned my name.
“Zion.” he said and I shook my head then pronounced my name again and repeated the
lesson by tapping my chest for him to say it.
“Sh…shiy…Shion.” he struggled and I smiled and reached over to pet his head. I
deliberately did it the way I would a dog because I knew it might hold special meaning to him.
Apparently it did because he grabbed my hand and kept it placed on his head as he smiled.
“Now me,” she said as she used her fingers to point to herself.
“Mother… mom.” She said and I shook my head.
“You're gonna confuse him. Pick one. One word for him to learn then when he gets better
he can learn another way to say it.
“My, aren’t you the expert all of a sudden.” she remarked and I frowned at her.
“I’m not an expert, I just remember some things I learned from the orphanage.” I
muttered. She sniffed loudly then I waved her over to us and I pointed at her.
“Mother. Mother.” I repeated more slowly then the third time I pointed and waited for his
answer.
“Mother.” said and my hand, that he still held on his head, ran my fingers through his hair
petting him again. For a second I thought I heard a squeal of delight. I was more focused on how
greasy his hair was as my fingers went through it.
“They had difficulty trying to teach him to wash himself. Probably because he could not
understand them. Since he seems to like you, could you teach him to wash himself? I think a
male sibling may have better results than a poor old mother.” Fen Ju said as ashe saw the look on
my face as I touched his hair.
“Mother.” Shinto said again and grabbed my hand to get me to pet him again. I sighed but
not because of that. I was more upset that I was inadvertently bonding with him even though I
swore to myself I wouldn’t.
“Isn’t his mother better suited to that?” I grumbled.
“Mother.” Shinto shouted. She looked at me and began to eat. I tried to leave him but he
ran over and tried to grab my hand again. I was forced to stop him and reached and grabbed his
plate and began to feed him. Fen Ju watched me with a smirk on her face while I could guess
what she was thinking.
“If I’m forced to wash him, he might as well have a full belly.” I remarked but she just
continued eating silently.
I led my new brother into the bathroom and I sat on a stool as he regained close. I was
able to smell him and although he smelled bad he wasn’t too bad. I figured that the orphanage
probably stripped him then tossed him into the showers with the other boys. He probably stood
in there not knowing what was going on or what to do. He would probably wander out when the
other boys did.
“Wash.” I said and he looked at me. I felt a bit embarrassed but I began to take off his
clothes. He let me without protesting but his expression was unreadable again. I assumed my
hypothesis of how the orphanage had him wash was correct. He probably was thinking about
how he was made to stand in the showers not knowing what was going on.
I felt another pang of jealousy when I saw the size of his penis. He was flaccid but twice
the length of my own. I had to push the thoughts away because I knew I was being petty. It was
just embarrassing that my younger brother was bigger than I was. I had to remind myself that he
really wasn’t my brother and he just watched me, probably wondering why I was embarrassed.
I knew I was going to get wet so I stripped down to my underwear and set my clothes on
the stool as I brought him to the shower head. I turned on the water and moved him so that he
stood under the spray after I was sure that the water was warm enough but not enough to hurt
him.
The water splashed on me and I was glad I stripped down to keep my regular clothes dry.
I took a bar of soap and tried teaching him how to use it. He watched it curiously as I rubbed the
bar against him then pointed to have him repeat what I did. He picked up on it pretty quickly the
only trouble was the shampoo.
I put shampoo on my hands making sure he could see what I was doing so that he could
learn to do it himself. I rubbed my fingers through his hair and he seemed happy again. The only
trouble was when the water went ion his face he started getting upset and cried. I took a face
cloth and wiped his face and made soothing sounds to try and relax him.
“I brought a change of clothes for…” Fen Ju knocked, then entered the bathroom and we
turned to look at her.
“Mother.” Shinto shouted and we both started laughing. If it were anyone else they would
have thought he was embarrassed about his mother walking in on him. He was merely showing
that he had learned her name but it still made us laugh.
“I’ll go, I’ll go.” she replied after she put the clothes on the stool and left. I saw that he
was moving away from me and his face looked upset. The shampoo had scared him and all the
ground I made had been lost.
I pulled him near and tried to relax him by speaking softly but I gave enough room to
escape in case he wanted to. I finished up and turned off the water and showed him how to use a
towel. I held up the clothes that Fen Ju had brought and gave them to him. I wanted to see if he
understood how to put them on; on his own or did he still not understand. He hesitated at first but
once he saw that I wanted him to do it, he dressed himself. Although he put his pajama pants on
backwards. I left them like that to give him the confidence that he had done it on his own
correctly. I then got dressed feeling embarrassed that my wet underwear was soaking into my
clothes.
 I let out a huge sigh of relief after I finally put him to bed. I could finally leave and stop
playing the part of a big brother. Fen Ju met me at the door and I wondered if tonight would ever
end.
“You were amazing tonight. He took to you so well that I think he can learn a lot from
you.” she said.
“That is the first time you have ever given me a compliment. I think he’s making you
soft.” I jeered.
“Oh stop, I’ve given you lots of compliments.” She remarked.
“Like what? Name one.” I said and she waved me off dismissively.
“You’ve been working at your current job for almost 3 months?” She said and I frowned
wondering what she was getting at.
“Yeah,”
“More than likely they will lay you off again because it’s easier to hire someone new
rather than pay out benefits.”
“Meaning?” I asked as I felt my blood pressure raising.
“Why don’t you help me with Shinto… not permanently but just enough until I can get
him to go to school like a normal kid. I get an allowance to hire tutors and health care workers so
I could pay you.”
“So you want to pay me to teach him how to be a human?” I asked incredulously.
“Essentially… yes.”
“I’ll consider it.” I replied then I walked away but was unaware of her reaction to me
leaving.
To Be Continued…