A.N. - Something I wrote on a whim, that I felt proud enough to post here. I hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Big Brother

It was wrapped in a bundle, swaddled with thick white silks until all that was visible was the face. He vaguely wondered if all babies looked like the one before him, bug eyed and chubby cheeked, smelling heavily of fresh washed clothes. The Woman simply eyed him in his serious considerations, the barest of smiles tugging at her lips. She adjusted the precious bundle, holding it forth.

'Enough with the perplexed faces, my son. Take him. Say hello to your little brother,'

But he didn't want to hold this new thing, this... strange little person. He made to shake his head, but the Woman had made up his mind for him, setting the baby on his waiting lap.

'Mama-'

'You must support his head, like this,' She spent a moment fussing with the arrangement, withdrawing only once she was sure her oldest would not drop her newest. The baby was awkward in his grip, much too large for his small arms and heavier than what he was lead to believe. He gazed down at the Bundle, trepidation written on his face. The Bundle stared back, strangely defiant for something so new to the world. It took one look at him, seemed to decide it liked the Woman best, and let out a ear piercing wail.

p

'Mama!'

p

'Shhhh. Like this, my child, rock him and he'll quiet-'

'No!' He protested, "He doesn't like me, Mama! And I don't like him!"

The Bundle continued to wail, adding wild wriggling to its repertoire. He wondered if the Woman had heard him. She did not react, relenting and claiming the child. All the while, she rocked, humming a gentle tune she used to hum just for /ihimi when it was bedtime in the house and there was no screaming Bundle around. As quickly as the noise started, it stopped.

'I don't like him,' He mumbled again. The quiet was so fresh, he felt the need to break it. He fixed his eyes to the floor, feeling ashamed but vindicated.

There was a soft sigh.

'And why do you dislike your brother?'

'Because...' He struggled for an answer. He couldn't think of one. The arrival of the Bundle had brought about a change in their household and he wasn't sure he liked.

Silk rustled just outside his vision. He smelled the Woman before seeing her, the scent of lotus blossoms heralding her arrival by his side.

'My silly, serious, little boy...' Without warning, he was dragged into the Woman's embrace, smothered by affection and the heavy folds of her kimono, until he had no choice but to giggle at the kisses that pecked at his eyes and nose and ears.

'He will look up to you, you know.'

The brief smile faltered on his face. 'No. He doesn't like me either. He cries when I'm around.'

"That's not true," The woman persisted. 'You are his big brother. He will always look up to you. And you must be sure to look after him. You have an important role, my child, and I know you will do it well. Now, why don't you try again?"

Cradling him, she once more guided the Bundle into his arms. He hesitated, glancing from the Woman to the defiant gaze glowering out from the face framed in silk. He might have sat there forever, at a loss of what to do, if a fat little hand hadn't shot from the wrappings, bopping him hard on the nose.

'Ow!' He said, the complaint already on his lips. 'See?' He wanted to cry to the Woman, 'Wasn't that proof enough?"- But the anger faltered into nothing as a musical sound rose from the Bundle. His baby brother was laughing. And without realizing it, he started laughing too.

'He's already strong,' He giggled, gazing shyly up at the Woman.

'Of course,' She said, matter-of-factly. 'He is already taking after you!' She smiled and hugged them all the closer. He dug himself deep in her embrace, and yet even as the glow of the moment warmed him from the inside out, a thought tickled at the back of his mind- A persistent, nagging feeling that something was very, very wrong.

'Mama?' It hit him suddenly, like a sack of bricks.

'Yes, my child?' She looked at him, but he could no longer see her face.

'You're cold...'

'I know, my child.'

He fell forward, the weight of her vanishing like a smoky apparition, intangible, gone, never there to begin with.

' I know.'

But the scene was already changing, shifting from day to night- Cries wailed in his ears, the awful keening of some wounded creature, begging, pleading, /i entreating i the long dark shadow that swallowed every bit of the room to stay back, to stay away, to do whatever they wanted to her, but to leave her sons unharmed, and there was a banging door and something was dragged out into the night and-

Leo woke with a start.