Hatsuharu didn't get to see his little brother until he came home from hospital and even then, it was fleeting glances as his parents cared for the crying child. He was seven, so the baby was usually asleep when he went to school and when he got home. The little baby was just... there.
The first time he really noticed his brother was when the tiny toddler had learnt how to get out of his crib and was crawling around. His father was at work and his mother was resting. "Satoshi," he whispered quietly, then a little louder. "Satoshi."
The brown haired child looked back at him, sitting on his legs. He looked confused, like it was a face he'd never seen before. Hatsuharu walked over, bending down to look at the younger version of himself; the only difference was the hair.
"Satoshi, what are you doing?" he asked quietly, trying not to disturb his mother. He heard beeping, then his mother jump out of bed quickly, running into his little brother's room. Hatsuharu picked the toddler up, carrying him to his mother.
"Hatsuharu! Did you wake your brother up?" she shouted at him, snatching the baby from his arms.
"No, he was crawling through the kitchen," Hatsuharu replied defensively.
His mother didn't believe him. "Why would you do something so foolish? Your brother needs his sleep," she scolded as she comforted Satoshi who was crying, for a completely different reason than she was ready to accept.
"But Mum!"
"Go do your homework," she scolded.
He would keep his distance, but his little brother always looking at him, wishing that he would play with him. Hatsuharu would try when his parents weren't around, but they would scold him when he got back, telling him that he had done something wrong.
"He's my little brother, I should get to play with him," Hatsuharu yelled one evening at dinner, his chopsticks in his hands, ready to be thrown at whomever dared tell him otherwise. "It's a big brother's job to take care of him."
"Not when you're such a fool," his father replied curtly. "You're always doing the wrong thing. When you become a better influence, we'll let you play with him."
Hatsuharu banged his fists against the table violently, the table beginning to crack. "I've done nothing wrong!" he shouted, then throwing his chopsticks across the room and through the paper wall. He stormed out of the room, slamming the sliding door closed as he listened to his parents tell Satoshi how stupid his older brother was before going to his room, closing his door behind himself.
He was never told he was getting a little sister. He noticed his mother's stomach getting bigger, but he refused to go near her when her little brother so he never asked. He just got so angry, everyone was calling him a fool. It was a wonder he came home anymore. He'd been going to martial arts training for years, but it didn't make his anger any better.
"Are you an idiot?" one of the children at school asked, leaning over Hatsuharu's desk. "How could you not notice that your mother was having a baby?"
Hatsuharu's fist firmly met with the other child's face, jumping over the desk. The teacher from the next room had to help his homeroom teacher pull him off. It was the first time he'd become 'black Haru' outside of the Sohma property. Master came and took him home, his parents were too busy at work or with his siblings to care about him.
"Hatsuharu, how dare you get into a fight at school," his father scolded him again. "We raised you better than that. You wonder why we keep you away from your siblings."
His mother joined in. "We've done so much. We've loved you with our whole hearts and this is how you thank us? Maybe we're the fools, to have such an ungrateful-" Hatsuharu swore he heard idiotic - " child like you."
Hatsuharu had had it. He was trying so hard and his parents wouldn't notice. Not to mention everyone called him an idiot all the time. Most of the time they were just talking about the cow of the zodiac, but that was him. They were one and the same.
His siblings had been forced to believe he was an idiot, someone they should ignore. Not to mention, he was rather frightening when he was angry all the time. By the time he started to settle again after his confrontation with Yuki, it was too late. His brother already thought he was terrifying and protected their little sister from him, as if Hatsuharu was going to hurt them. He'd offer them food or water or help, but they didn't even want to look at him. He was the one that destroyed their house and made Mummy and Daddy mad.
"Why do you even live here?" his brother asked one day, his arms folded in his brother's doorway. "You're a waste of space. An idiot with anger management issues. Mum and Dad obviously don't want you here. They talk all the time about how much of a fool you are. I hear other adults say it too. They all think you're an idiot. Why don't you just go? No body wants you."
It was the first time he'd hit his six year old sibling, but he deserved it. He was still a child, but someone had to teach him a lesson. Hatsuharu had done everything he could to be nice, it was about time he gave up. "I've done everything for you, I've tried to be nice but none of you notice," he shouted back, holding his brother by his shirt. "Satoshi, you're the idiot. You and Mum and Dad and even Kaoru, you all believe something that isn't true. I'm not a fool."
"Hatsuharu!" his mother shouted, his father tearing the two apart. He didn't speak to his brother again for a month, not that he spoke to him much more any other month. By the time he'd finished junior high school, he rarely spent nights at home anyway. He was either at Master's, visiting Rin or was lost somewhere. He'd gotten piercings and there was a rumor going around that he was planning on getting a tattoo and started smoking. There was no truth to the rumor - at least not for a few more years - but his siblings never changed. They were normal. They both had brown hair - their mother's - and the same dark eyes as Hatsuharu and their father. But never did they get along. Flesh and blood meant nothing.
Hatsuharu didn't even call them family. He went back to his 'house' after school to study, eat and sleep before returning to school the next day, where he saw his true family. His friends. The ones who knew he wasn't a fool.