Wow. You guys, this is my baby. Practically what I've been working up toward. It is still very much in progress and will probably have edits interjected into the chapters at irregular intervals. It's just going to happen XD So bear with me.
For now, the fiction will be rated PG-13 thanks to Gojyo's mouth and the existing violent undertones. The rating will be upped to R later, but I think I may rate each chapter.
I have a grammar beta for the first eight pages. She's not gotten back to me yet, but I promised Wednesday. Sorry if it's raw.
The update schedule runs as such: bimonthly. Every other Wednesday. Because I'll interject so many things I'd like to have things semi-polished by the time they go up on eff eff dot net. It'll speed up if I'm happy with it.
Anyway. Onward! Enjoy this alternate universe. Everything is the same. Except for Gojyo's blood, and all the consequences that follow.
Sha Jien is very skilled at wrapping wounds. He has to be, with his younger brother around. A scraped knee here, a sprained wrist there, and any number of bruises from schoolyard fights. Jien has learned not to ask who started it, because the fight is inevitably the other party's fault. His younger brother is no scholar, preferring to roughhouse with the boys and chase the girls. He has treed nearly twenty-five different skirts, as the tally marks on the floor under his bed testify. He thinks Jien doesn't know about it.
It's good to let a kid think he has secrets sometimes. It gives them that extra impetus to be trusting when things really matter, to ensure that they never feel they have given all of themselves away. So Jien keeps his mouth shut when the bruises appear more often, preferring to bide his time. At least in front of his brother.
Sha Jien attends parent-teacher conferences when he can. Early on Sunday mornings are best; he cares little for God and the teacher cares little for the confines of church. The conferences are always the same. There is so much potential in him, but he never applies himself. He is a distraction in class. Oh, no, it's not that he means to do it. Often he's staring out the window. But the girls won't stop looking at him. The only writing he does is in response to the love notes dropped on his desk. And when he does feel like turning an assignment in, it's so frustrating to see his mind sit in squalor on every other day. Because now I know what he can do.
This conference, though, is different. Sha Jien strolls into the schoolhouse, bowing respectfully to the teacher, and greets, "Good morning, Ito-sensei."
"Take a seat, take a seat," she responds, bowing back before reseating herself at her desk and trying to straighten out some of the permeating mess. "I'm sorry I can't be available for you any other time…"
Jien smiles into the sun-streaked single-room school. The desks are tables arranged in front of backless benches, the epitome of discomfort in a hall of learning. Jien seats himself at the bench closest to the front, although not directly before the teacher's desk. "I should say the same thing to you. Such are the vagaries of working six days a week, eh? So, has he broken something again? If so, I might need to get back to work to help pay for it."
She spares him a laugh, swiping an errant strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I think the surprise is that he has done nothing of the sort." She looks straight into Jien's face and says, "The fights are increasing, both in frequency and intensity. I know it's out of my hands, but don't you think…" she trails off, looking away with some measure of modesty. "You are his guardian, but it's becoming harder and harder to separate the boys when he's involved. I have had to call in extra help twice already, and he never seems to want to settle down. None of my usual disciplinary measures are working on him any more."
Jien's smile remains, although it is strained. "He's nearly fourteen. After his mother's death he never fully recovered. A boy like him is sensitive to things like that. It's probably raging hormones."
She turns on him, anger in her eyes. "Do you think I don't notice? How long do you think you can possibly hide it from anybody? The long hair hardly hides his ears when he's fighting, and twice his shirt's been ripped open. I've seen the birthmark. A few other adults have, too. It's fine with us, really. I believe youkai and humans can live together peaceably, and that includes an education. But only if he can control himself." She pauses, rubbing her ink-stained fingers over the bridge of her nose. "I won't pry into how he got the scars, Jien, but…a teacher ought to have some feeling of control over her students, shouldn't she? The schoolyard should be a safe place. He's getting to the point where he invites conflict."
Jien sighs, rubbing the blotch over the bridge of his own nose. Then, with slow, calm, deliberate motions, he unlaces the bound bracelet around his left wrist. He does not look at the teacher while his ears lengthen, his claws grow, the blotch over his nose becomes distinctly geometric and ever-damning. A freckle on his forehead grows, completing the beastly visage. He hears her try to stifle a shriek of surprise at his actions, his transformation.
"We can keep control of ourselves," he says, twirling the limiter in his fingers. "You should at least know me better than that, Terue." Her first name hisses through his teeth and Jien immediately dislikes the sound of it with fangs. "This isn't a cure-all, you know. If Gojyo is having a hard time with his anger or violence or anything like that, don't expect it to change just because he's got one." He smiles faintly, not parting his lips. "He hates them anyway."
Behind her desk, the teacher is shaking. "Sha-san…Jien…please, put it back on."
Jien is tempted to refuse her, to continue the discussion in his natural form to stubbornly prove his point. He sighs a bit and relents to her request nevertheless, knowing compliance is the best tool to soothe the frightened. He slips the limiter back on over his wrist, carefully using his teeth to pull the knots tight without severing the leather. "I just wanted you to know." He smiles gently, shrugging one shoulder. "I know youkai aren't common here, but you might be surprised at how many of us there are, hiding under limiters. We're subject to reason, able to understand and appreciate art and music, capable of even becoming scholars and scientists. After all, I'm sure we managed to fool you for at least some of the time, didn't we? The rumors and prejudices you know about aren't really the truth. Well," he amends with a chuckle, "not necessarily. But I understand your concerns. We deal with it everywhere. I'll have a talk with Gojyo, both about his behavior and getting his limiter on. Is there anything el se you would like to talk to me about?"
A stunned silence follows, but soon the teacher regains her footing and passes a slip of paper to him. "This is Gojyo's last test. I usually have the students peer-grade on such assignments, but as you can see…"
Jien tries very hard not to laugh. In the allotted spaces for what should be simple answers, Gojyo has doodled extensively and graphically. While the kid's motor skills are severely lacking, the subject of his artwork is blatantly obvious. "Ah. This is not the sort of material to be passed around the classroom. I did mention that he is nearly fourteen."
"That being as it may, it's no excuse for that sort of behavior. Please include it in your talk with him." She turns her face away, hiding a blush and dismissing him in the movement.
He smiles at the paper, folding it and depositing it in the breast pocket of his shirt. "Yes, ma'am."
Jien tries not to think as he walks home, deep through the heart of town, past merchant stalls and shops. The small house is little more than a shack set near the outskirts of town, with one large room as a den connected to a kitchen, two small bedrooms, and a bathroom with heated water on lucky days. It has been enough for the two of them for years, and it will be enough for years more. Out of a better sense, Jien locks the door when he leaves, and he trusts Gojyo to lock the door as well. In one of the better gestures from younger brother to elder, Gojyo always makes sure that particular duty is upheld. Jien unlocks the door and comes inside with little ceremony.
Gojyo greets him from his place on the floor, curled lazily against the wall with a book propped against his knees. His hair is tied back in a low ponytail, swept over his ears to hide the pointed tips. There are grass, dirt, and bloodstains on his torn jeans, and he has discarded his shirt and shoes. "Heya, Jien. Did you know the thinnest skin on your body's your eyelid?"
"Oh, really?" Jien asks, humoring him. "What's the second-thinnest?"
Gojyo grins, baring sharp incisors. "Your ass."
Jien kicks the door shut and locks it behind him, laughing. "Damn the idiot who ever thought it was a good idea to teach you how to read."
Gojyo wrinkles his nose, and the twin scars crinkle with the movement. "Aw, man, that'd leave me without steady child-support."
Time to be serious. "You do well enough boxing," Jien comments, shooting a pointed glance to the kid on the floor. "Your teacher's getting worried."
Gojyo huffs, turning away and smoothing his hair over his cheek. "It's always them gangin' up on me. Can't help it if they can't hold on to their girlfriends." While Gojyo has the tact to hide his most recent injury from Jien, he can't help but smirk.
Jien frowns, plopping down on the floor next to Gojyo and closing the book in his brother's lap. Gojyo gives a noise of protest, but Jien drops the book and nudges it away with the toe of his boot. "I'm serious, Gojyo. I've asked you before and you've never managed it. I can't hold a steady job if I can't count on you to do your part, too. You know? It's already hard enough."
Big, pale blue eyes focus on Jien for a moment, and then Gojyo angrily turns his face away both out of humiliation and the realization that he's revealed his injury to Jien. "Lay the guilt on me, wouldja? I don't think it's thick enough yet," he mumbles into his dirty knees.
"It's not like I like it any more than you do," Jien mutters, feeling like pouting himself. "Having to be heavy-handed with my little bro. Lemme see your face."
Gojyo shakes his head, keeping himself turned away. Jien yanks on the string holding Gojyo's ponytail back and ink-black hair springs loose over his shoulders. In one swift, practiced movement he's got Gojyo's hair tied in a topknot and the rest of the lanky teen dragged into a headlock. "I said, 'lemme see'." He probes at the beginnings of what will later be a beautiful shiner, a battle scar worthy of a warrior. "Damn, and you've been sitting here reading? How do you see?"
"One eye is fine enough," Gojyo mutters, struggling to get out of Jien's grip. Just as he is making a little headway, Jien drops him and gets up to go to the freezer. A package of frozen peas wrapped in a towel, a remedy over five years old, is nestled beside the ice tray. Jien grabs it and returns to the floor, holding it over Gojyo's eye and forcing Gojyo's head to remain on the floor next to him despite the struggles from the other parts of Gojyo's body.
"All right," Jien says when Gojyo finally relents and relaxes. "Remember something for me." At Gojyo's derisive snort, Jien uses his free hand to thump him on the top of the head. "Play along. Remember back when you were five or six? And how there was a river real close to our place? The summers were always really hot, and everybody used to go swimming. A bunch of kids from all around, d'you remember?"
Gojyo huffs. "Yeah. Ma wouldn't let me go. Man, I hadn't thought about that in a long time."
Jien smiles a bit. "Well, you know how it was always me that told you to stay in?"
"Yeah?" Jien does not answer, waiting for the gears to shift. Heavy silence falls, and then Gojyo cries out, "Fuck you! Why couldn't I go, huh? Those were the worst summers ever!" He kicks his legs, flailing and punching at the antagonist he can't reach or see.
Jien waits, keeping his hand over the bag of frozen peas and thus maintaining some semblance of a hold on his younger brother. "If you want to play the blame game, it was really your fault. You refused, even then, to wear your limiter."
"Ma said we shouldn't have to!" Gojyo snarls, blindly striking out. "Ma said we should be proud of who we are! There's nothing wrong with us!"
"You think I don't know that?" Jien replies, nearly growling himself. "But your friends didn't. Yeah, there were a few proud youkai in the old neighborhood but do you remember how they were all treated? There was always that general feeling of distrust. They were the ones people gossiped about. Especially when they spent too much time with humans. I didn't want that to happen to you. That's why I wouldn't let you go. Because your hair would come loose and show your ears. Because people could see the mark on your back."
Gojyo crosses his arms, bends his legs, crosses his feet. Jien is sure he is giving the floor a hell of a death-glare. "I know," Gojyo grumbles, the sound muffled by the bag of peas in the way. "My hair's not long just 'cause of the stupid scars. I got used to 'em. And I kinda figured it out. But I hate that stupid thing."
Jien leans his head back against the wall. "Why?" he asks without a trace of condescension.
Gojyo rolls over, taking the towel and bag with him. He speaks into it, kicking his feet like a little child. "It makes me look all girly!"
Silence, stunned and manic, forces Gojyo to look up at his brother. Jien has bitten down so hard on his bottom lip the skin is whiter than his teeth. Gojyo frowns. "That's not the only thing!" he cries, indignation making him blush. "I can't fight as good with it on! Everything slows down and then I'm just like the other guy!"
So he's worn it recently? Jien logs Gojyo's inadvertent admission away, choosing wisely not to comment on it. He picks up the bag of peas and hefts it in his hands. "Well, if he's knocking you around so much already I wouldn't call what you've got much of an advantage."
"That's not fair!" Gojyo retorts, hauling himself up on his knees. "There were like five of 'em!"
Jien stops moving. "Really?" he asks softly, staring only at the bag of frozen peas in his hands.
"Yeah," Gojyo replies, settling down a little. "Jiayi got mad at me 'cause he caught me with Aiko inna stock room and his friends ganged up on me. I'd of beaten 'em all but Nori snuck up from behind with a rock." He points to his face. "I didn't catch the rock."
"That's an understatement," Jien comments, and pulls Gojyo into his lap again, examining the bruise. This time, Gojyo does not struggle even as Jien's cold fingers prod heavily at the tender skin. "What were you doing with Aiko?"
Gojyo grins, pale blue eyes sparkling. "Running bases."
"Knowing full well that Jiayi obviously has some attachment to Aiko?" Jien quirks an eyebrow, tightening his grip on Gojyo's head.
Gojyo wrinkles his nose, curling his lip in disgust. "They've only been goin' out a month or so. It's no big deal, and Aiko said she liked it." He cries out in pain when Jien twists one of his ears. "What?"
"You know better," Jien chides, not letting go. "Here I'm called in to talk to your teacher for, what is it?" He wrenches Gojyo's ear just a little bit more for effect and Gojyo winces, baring his teeth. "The tenth time? And I've got to explain to her why you can't control yourself. Guilt's not working. Maybe this will."
Gojyo's features contort into a scowl and he pulls away from Jien. He takes off at a dead run down the hallway into the small back room across from the bathroom usually used as a broom closet. Jien hears digging and sees a discarded soccer ball rolling down the hallway preceding Gojyo's entrance. When his younger brother does return, his hair is untied, his eyes are defiant, and his ears are rounded. Around his neck is a thick strip of silver, just tight enough to rest an inch above his collar, but loose enough to allow breath, speech, and nourishment to pass.
"Now you can't twist my ear!" he cries, hands on his hips.
Jien grins. Point big brother. "Okay. But you better leave that limiter on or I'll do it again. And behave yourself."
"Yeah, yeah," Gojyo grumbles. "I'm behaving."
"Like a brat," Jien retorts, getting to his feet and passing the peas back to Gojyo. "Put it back on for a while. That's going to swell just like the others all did. D'you have homework?"
Gojyo bends down to retrieve his book, trying with one hand to both juggle the text and find his original page. "No, mum."
"No shitting?" Jien asks, walking into the kitchen for a glass of water. "I've got a geometry quiz in my pocket that says you've not been studying as hard as you'd like me to think."
"Depends on what you want me to study," Gojyo replies, earning him a thump to the back of the head. "Aah, fine. But I'm not kidding; I didn't have homework."
He sits down at the small table outside of the kitchen and Jien does the same. There are two chairs and two chairs only, as they are not expecting any visitors, now or ever. Gojyo drops the book on the table, flipping through the pages with one hand while the other holds the bag of peas to his eye. And then he tugs on the limiter.
"Geez, Jien, do I have to wear this? Can't we at least paint it black or something?" Gojyo tries to look at the adornment with distaste, but his eyes do not reach so far. "It's so girly!"
Jien smiles. "Nah. You're gonna have to live with it."
