Ichimatsu sighed as he sat down on the floor of his new bedroom, rolling out his futon as well as Jyushimatsu's.
"It's going to be very cold tonight..." Ichimatsu thought, throwing his thick purple blanket over his futon. "I guess it just seems colder than normal since I'm so chilled on the inside. This week hasn't made any sense. One minute everything is fine, and the next your entire world has been changed. It's not like I was close to my parents ever or anything...it just doesn't feel right without them here..."
Ichimatsu stood up and walked towards his parent's huge suitcase, pulling Jyushimatsu's light yellow blanket out of it.
"Jyushimatsu is all I have to cling to now," Ichimatsu thought, spreading his little brother's blanket over his futon with great care. "But he's all I need, I suppose. So long as he stays innocent and sweet, I'll be fine."
"Nii-san!" Jyushimatsu giggled, running into their bedroom, launching himself onto his futon.
Ichimatsu jumped back, shocked, but quickly smiled naturally when he saw how happy his little brother really was.
Jyushimatsu rolled around in his futon for a moment, static getting in his hair as he continued to rub his head on his blanket. Sitting up, he began to laugh, grabbing onto his two feet, immediately toppling over.
"Easy now!" Ichimatsu nearly yelled as Jyushimatsu began to jump on his futon.
Jyushimatsu stopped and stared at his brother, his mouth wide open in a smile.
"Why?" Jyushimatsu asked innocently.
"You could hurt yourself..." Ichimatsu mumbled.
"Nii-saaaaaan," Jyushimatsu dragged out, then began to laugh. "You're no fun!"
But despite how much Jyushimatsu wanted to ignore what Ichimatsu had said, he stopped jumping on his futon anyways.
Jyushimatsu then proceeded to leap at his brother, clinging to his leg, staring up at him with "puppy dog" eyes.
"Uncle Karamatsu told me we had to go to bed," Jyushimatsu said pitifully.
Ichimatsu sighed, and with great effort, pulled Jyushimatsu off of his leg, setting him down on top of his yellow blanket.
"We have to listen to him then," Ichimatsu said, rubbing Jyushimatsu's staticky black hair.
"But I don't want to go to bed," Jyushimatsu said quietly. "What if we have to go home tomorrow!"
"We're..." Ichimatsu mumbled. "We won't be going home ever again, Jyushimatsu."
Jyushimatsu's innocent eyes were suddenly filled with fear. Tears welled up in them, not understanding what Ichimatsu meant.
"What do you mean we won't be going home?" Jyushimatsu whimpered.
Ichimatsu sat down next to Jyushimatsu on his futon, still rubbing his brother's head.
Jyushimatsu crawled up into Ichimatsu's lap and hugged him, trembling just a little.
"I mean..." Ichimatsu sighed. "This is our home now. We're going to be living with our brother Karamatsu until circumstances are better. I don't know how long we'll be here. I just know this is our home"
Jyushimatsu didn't say a word, still hugging his brother.
"Hey, you two!" Karamatsu called, walking up the stairs. "Have you gotten ready for bed yet?"
"I haven't," Ichimatsu called out, "but Jyushimatsu has, I think."
"Well hurry up and get to bed," Karamatsu sighed, leaning on their bedroom doorframe. "We have things to do tomorrow."
"Jyushimatsu has school on Monday..." Ichimatsu mumbled. "Unless you pulled him out of school for tomorrow..."
Karamatsu slapped his forehead and sighed, "I'll have to call the school in the morning then. I'm still getting you two settled in. I can't have him off in school."
Ichimatsu sighed, hugged Jyushimatsu, then pushed his brother out of his lap so he could get himself ready for bed.
"I'll get us to bed in just a second then," Ichimatsu said to Karamatsu, walking out of their bedroom. "But Jyushimatsu will want a bedtime story."
"Am I supposed to tell it to him?" Karamatsu said in a hushed voice, panicking just a little.
Ichimatsu smirked then replied, "Well, unless your mind is completely blank, yes. I highly doubt that Jyushimatsu would take any kind of story you made up seriously though."
"I'll just go to bed then," Karamatsu sighed, turning around as he made his way down the stairs of his house.
A few minutes later, after Ichimatsu had brushed his teeth and had taken an actually hot shower for once, he buttoned up his blue pajamas as he walked down the hallway to his bedroom.
And though Jyushimatsu had been told to go to bed, there he lay on his futon, smiling peacefully as he pushed a plush baseball back and fourth to each hand.
"Hey," Ichimatsu said, sitting down next to his brother. "You should be in bed, you know."
"But I want a bedtime story," Jyushimatsu said, picking up his ball, squeezing it.
"What kind of story?" Ichimatsu asked, standing up again, beginning to pull the purple blanket back on his futon.
"Tell me a real story!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, then quickly lowered his voice. "What was it like when Uncle Karamatsu was at home?"
Jyushimatsu hopped up from his futon and pulled his blanket back as well.
"Lay down and I'll tell you," Ichimatsu said quietly, flicking the light off in their bedroom.
As the two brothers settled down into their futons, Ichimatsu couldn't help but wonder himself, "What had happened all those years I spent with just Karamatsu...?"
Jyushimatsu snuggled down into his futon, pulling his cozy blanket all the way up to his nose.
"Nii-san?" Jyushimatsu whispered expectantly.
"I'm thinking..." Ichimatsu whispered, trying to think of at least one happy memory he had shared with his older brother.
"Is it honestly this hard to remember one thing about Karamatsu and I...?" Ichimatsu thought. "He wasn't kind then like he is now...I don't remember ever being happy when he was around...that is until he got much older. Things changed then, but I still don't fully trust him..."
Ichimatsu glanced over at Jyushimatsu, hoping his brother had fallen asleep. But sadly, he was wide awake, staring at his brother.
"Well..." Ichimatsu mumbled, keeping his voice low. "A long time ago, when I was around your age, something terrible happened..."
Jyushimatsu gasped a little, slouching down even further into his futon because of the cold.
"What happened?" Jyushimatsu whispered excitedly.
"While I was on my way to school," Ichimatsu said, still keeping his voice low, hoping his brother couldn't possibly hear them from below. "Karamatsu and a group of his friends came up behind me and began to beat me up. Though he claimed to not have had any part in it, I knew he did. And after he had his friends had had enough fun, kicking me until I bled in various spots on my body, they left me. Only a few minutes later did Karamatsu come running back, apologizing. He helped me to my feet then walked with me to school. But I was in no condition to go to school. My clothes were torn, my books and school bag ruined with blood and mud, and I was still bleeding. I was even blinded in one eye by the blood."
Jyushimatsu whimpered, siting straight up in his futon, a look of fear falling across his entire face.
"Uncle Karamatsu hurt you...?" he asked, shocked.
Ichimatsu nodded his head, then continued, "And when I arrived at school, my entire left leg had gone numb. I was sent to the nurses office immediately, then to the nearby hospital. I had broken my leg extremely badly, and I would have to have surgery on it. And despite our parents having to spend buckets of money on me, I never once told them it was Karamatsu and his friends who beat me up. I didn't have the heart to. I'm not one for getting anyone into trouble. That is, unless I feel that it's necessary that they get punished. Yet strangely...Karamatsu began to treat me worse and worse up until the day you were born. The end."
"Nii-san was that really a true story...?" Jyushimatsu asked, settling back down under his yellow blanket, yet he scooted a bit over onto his brother's futon, shivering.
Ichimatsu shook his head, gently stroking Jyushimatsu's head to calm him down.
"Don't worry," Ichimatsu sighed, not wanting to frighten his brother. "I made it up...."
"How come you didn't tell a real story?" Jyushimatsu asked, snuggling up against Ichimatsu, breathing steadily.
"Because I can't remember any..." Ichimatsu lied, knowing the story he has just told was the one memory he could remember with Karamatsu.