Brother, My Brother » ohshc | k.hitachiin

Chapter One

THE THING ABOUT TIME

28 September 2007

Everything about the rain was calming; the soft pitter-patter sound it made as it landed on anything in its path, the oceans of puddles it created on the ground, the races each individual droplet would have down the windowpane, it was just relaxing.

Or at least it would have been relaxing if the tension between them wasn't so thick it could be sliced with a knife.

One teen's forehead leaned against the cooling glass of the window as an attempt to calm himself; the only thing blocking his skin from the glass was the trapped, thin curtain of bangs.

In his entire life, he'd never ridden in a limo, let alone even thought of being in one. But there he was, leaving the Bunkyo airport, sitting next to his older brother, who he hadn't seen since he was twelve.

The last three years for him had been quite a handful of an adventure, on the downside, so he wondered, had things been okay for his brother? Was he doing alright? How had their father and grandmother been treating him?

Irritation flooded his mind with thoughts of his father. The man was nothing more than someone who had left them behind when they were young, even though he came back long enough to claim his brother in his teen years.

Forgiving him was the last thing on his mind

"Ya know, Yuukou---" He had been in Japan so long, he had developed a bit of an accent. "you've really changed a lot since I last saw you." The words echoed through the back end of the limo, interrupting their silence.

His eyes met almost identical violet irises---one had a slightly more blueish hue than the other---as a signal for him to continue. "You look completely different. 'Ve'really grown. And you're acting completely different, too."

Was this conversation going anywhere, Yuukou wasn't sure, so he just shrugged in response.

"And what happened to your beautiful blond hair?" Slender fingers reached for a strand of semi-long dark hair, only to stop when his hand is slapped away.

"I dyed it." Yuukou shook his head to allow his bangs to fall over his eyes, a tactic he used often to avoid eye contact. "Blond is such a boring color."

"Boring?!" the elder half questioned, half exclaimed over-dramatically as if his beliefs had just been insulted, or something like that. "How can blond be boring?! My hair is blond, and I like it just fine!"

"I don't, Tamaki." He said it in a stern voice, silencing the other.

Yuukou rested his hands in his lap, moving his head from the window to leaning against the back of the seat, closing his eyes and releasing a long sigh.

He could've avoided the whole social situation and taken out his headphones to ignore the world for the realm of music, but unfortunately, they recently broke, and he'd yet to get a new pair.

Music had been an escape of his for as long as he could remember. His mother was a brilliant pianist and taught both everything she knew. Yuukou had even picked up some skills of his own in different types of instruments---such as the cello, guitar, drums, and even the violin---over the years.

He kind of wondered what his brother had done with his musical talent lately.

It didn't take long for the blond to speak again.

"Hey, Yuukou---"

"I prefer Yuu." He didn't realize he'd said the words until he was called the name he had asked for.