Disclaimer: Warui Koto Shitai (c) Sakuraga Mei. I own nothing but this story.

Rating: PG-15

Genre: AU.

Warning: mentions of child abuse

A/N: For #SeasonsChallenge by Chilla (Prompt: Autumn – Catch You if You Fall). Companion ficlet (can be read as a stand-alone) for 'Smile for Me, Little Brother'. Unbeta'd, sorry. Hope you enjoy!

The Leaves

Seer M. Anno

Towa sneaked into his brothers' bedroom and sat next to Hisa-nii's sleeping form, looking at the bruises near his neck. Towa pulled out a tube of salve he'd bought and rubbed it gently.

"Towa, wake up! It's holiday!"

Towa woke up groggily, blinking sleep out his eyes. He couldn't sleep well last night, he'd had a nightmare—

—and he saw Hisa-nii, his oldest brother, with a huge smile on his face. "C'mon, rise and shine! We're going to The Leaves!"

All Towa wanted was to sleep all day, but then he saw Ku-nii, his second older brother, his palm bandaged. That was when he jumped awake, forcing a smile his brothers always loved on his lips.

"Okay!"

Hisa-nii had wrapped Towa in thick scarves and Ku-nii had lent him his warmest jacket for the autumn breeze, which he detested. But a glance at Ku-nii's bandaged hand silenced him, and he ran before them to the park. Despite his earlier mood, he was always happy to go to the park, especially in autumns, because he could see The Leaves.

The Leaves was actually a pile of fallen leaves, collected on the exact same spot every autumn. When he was little, the sight of it would give him an overjoyed feeling, and Ku-nii would let him jump and sink into the brown leaves. He still liked doing it, though, when nobody saw him.

Hisa-nii brought a picnic basket, which made Towa leap cheerfully. "Autumn picnic!" he cheered and almost stumbled on the basket. Ku-nii caught his body before he could ruin their outdoor breakfast.

"Careful," he chided, and Towa laughed.

"Okay, Ku-nii! Can I... y'know?"

Ku-nii eyed The Leaves and sighed. "You'll ruin people's work," he complained. "But go on."

Towa guffawed and ran towards The Leaves, jumping into it. He could hear Hisa-nii's chuckle from their picnic spot, and Ku-nii mutters 'he never changes' and it gave him even more joy.

Because it was so rare hearing them happy like that.

Towa continued to roll in the sea of brown leaves, clearly enjoying himself. He could smell a faint scent of curry, his favourite food, made by the hands of Nagahisa Aikawa. He could hear his oldest brother's laugh again, and the words came back to him.

Because it was so rare hearing them happy like that.

Towa stopped moving, the words completely took away the previous bliss. As if wanting to torture him further, his mind flashed an image of Ku-nii's bandaged hand. He knew exactly why his hand was bandaged up like that.

"I wanna see him... your little brother..."

The thirteen-year-old boy flinched; his hand gripped a handful of leaves. He remembered the incident last night which had given him a nightmare. It happened a while after Ku-nii tucked him to bed and locked his bedroom from outside.

"Go back to sleep, Papa, you're still drunk. You can't touch Towa."

It was Ku-nii's voice, firm and cold. Then he remembered several loud, banging noises outside. Towa had needed a while to realize it was his door that was banged. He started to shiver, not because of the autumn breeze. He remembered hearing Hisa-nii's panicked voice.

"Papa! Stop that, please! You'll wake Towa!"

"I WANNA SEE HIM! NOW!"

Towa jumped into a sitting position on The Leaves as he remembered when he heard something crashed. He knew it was Papa's bottle, and a "Shut up, you brat!" suddenly echoed in his hearing, making him shiver. He heard something big colliding against the floor—Papa hit Hisa-nii again!—and then Papa's footsteps were fading away, heavy and full with anger.

Towa hugged himself, shaking with fear. Why does Papa always manage to ruin his beautiful day?

He was so occupied with his mind he didn't realize he was losing his seat when The Leaves beneath him started to crumble. When he did, it was a bit too late.

"Careful, I said!"

Towa blinked and saw Ku-nii's face above his, his hands—his bandaged one—holding his back. He covered his uneasiness with a laugh. "Sorry again, Ku-nii!"

Ku-nii sighed again and pulled him out The Leaves. Towa knew he'd been watching him playing earlier, as usual. If he noticed how unhappy Towa was in The Leaves, he didn't say anything about it.

"C'mon, breakfast's ready."

Towa followed, his eyes fixed on Ku-nii's hand. "Ku-nii, can I change that?" he suddenly blurted, pointing at the bandage. He knew shards of glass had got themselves into Ku-nii's palm, and it'd surely leave scars.

Ku-nii looked back at him, frowning. It took him a while before Towa got a nod as his answer.

They didn't talk about it as they enjoyed their autumn picnic. Hisa-nii laughed, Towa joked around, and even Ku-nii smiled. Towa noticed a bruise near Hisa-nii's neck when he adjusted his scarf and he felt a pang of pain. He quickly shooed the feeling away, leaving it to the back of his mind.

As he changed the bandage on the sleeping Ku-nii's palm hours later, Towa swore to be the healer for his brothers, the one who would catch them if they fell even deeper within the abuse, protecting him.

Because it was the least he could do for them.

FIN.

A/N: Done. 873 words in Word. Wow, this is such a challenge, since I don't like writing short things. Hope 'ya like! ^^