Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing related to FF7. She and her characters belong to Square Enix.
-----
---
-
Warning and so on: There will be OC's in this story! Quite a few of them. They will not be overly important, except from in our dearest Tseng's past. Oh, and of course is family. There may or may not be Yaoi, I have not made my mind up, however, there will most certainly be heavy angst, drug abuse, disturbing memories and the like. Get ready for an angst-fest!!! XD
-----
---
-
Chapter One: Remember
-----
---
-
Tseng flopped down on the bed in the guestroom of his older brother's house in Kalm. He was exhausted after a long day of doing absolutely nothing. He had a vacation of sorts, to recover, as the President so nicely put it and had gone to visit with his relatives. Relatives that he had not seen in years. His brothers.
Tseng had quite a few of those, actually. As a matter of fact, the particular brother he was visiting had more or less raised him from age 6 and up. Until Ryu left to join SOLDIER, that is. Then, Ryu's twin, Tomohiro had taken over. Tseng had been happy with that, but also kind of disappointed. He had adored his oldest brother. So Tseng had decided to join ShinRa as well, when he grew up.
He sighed and wriggled around a bit to find a more comfortable position on the soft mattress. Settling on his side he let his thoughts drift to that day so long ago, when he and his brothers had huddled in the basement, seeking comfort in each other as they listened to their parents' screaming. Tseng had been 6 years of age and the middle child. Afraid, he had clung to one of his older brothers, the one who was considered third because of the first-born twins. His name was Riku and he was a safe haven for the youngsters. Tseng had held onto him as if his life had depended on it while Riku had sung soft words to him and stroked his back. The boy had been thirteen himself and quite frightened, but he still managed to set his own feelings aside for his little brothers. After all, most of them had held on to Riku that night.
The two eldest, Ryu and Tomohiro had been standing closer to the door in case their father, who'd been tossed completely off his rocker, should come in. Tseng hadn't understood why they must hide from Daddy, because Daddy loved his little boys. When he had asked Ryu about it though, the tall and gangly 14-year old boy had looked at him as if he was sad. Why would strong and awesome Ryu be sad? Was it because mother always called him her little dragon? Or was it because at times he had blue rings around his eyes because Daddy had been angry?
In later years Tseng had come to understand what had happened that night. Ryu had promptly sat him down and told him about it in his own straight forward and rather blunt way.
"Tseng," his oldest and toughest brother had said, "dad went loony on us and killed mum. He then proceeded to kick his own arse into the afterlife, if I can say so and it would do you no fucking good to hero worship him!"
Tseng had stared blankly at his oldest brother, looking at him up and down and studying his grey eyes and every line of his face. "It figures." Tseng had said and there had been no more discussions about it.
Tomohiro had, of course, gotten a bit hotheaded (as was his want) about the whole business and got into a heavy melee with Ryu. 'Fortunately they didn't use swords this time,' Tseng had thought as he watched the twins bang each other up rather badly. He had broken them up before Ryu had managed to kill Tomo. Ryu, being an elite SOLDIER, often forgot to measure his strength. It came from only sparring with other SOLDIER 1st class.
Letting his thoughts slide back to the present, Tseng picked at the comforter he had laid down on. It was pitch black, as was most of the room. The walls had a delicate beige colour, ornamented with various Wutainese markings, bidding a good night to those who honoured this house by sleeping in their guestroom.
Ryu had certainly changed a lot since he had last seen him. Matured, in a way.
'No, scratch that,' he thought as he heard the pounding of feet running up the stairs, 'Ryu will never grow up. At least he is not as immature as Reno. That boisterous prat could have gotten me killed.'
There, he had come back to the reason for his little 'vacation'. Tseng and Reno had been on a mission, as usual, when something not according to plan had happened. They had been ready to secure the entire building, where a mob of sorts had their not-so-secret headquarters. Suddenly there had been unexpected firing from the roof of the building across the street. Reno had engaged in the shooting at once, rookie as he was and hadn't thought about his partners or superiors at all. When he had taken a particularly nasty hit to his shoulder, Tseng had been forced to step in front of him and shield him with his own body. That had landed them both in the hospital, but no lives had been lost.
He mulled the happenings over as he heard his brother shuffle about in an adjoining room. Just as he was prepared to take another stroll down memory lane, a heavy knock sounded at his door and his oldest brother poked his head in. "Oy, kiddo, there's food if you are hungry. I suggest you eat a bit, even if you're not hungry. You look like a sack of bones," Ryu stated bluntly.
Tseng sighed. SOLDIERs were so unrefined in their manners. Except Sephiroth of course, but he was a different matter all together. Ryu was elegant in every way possible, despite having the manners of a SOLDIER. Bad manners at that. He smiled a little at his brother's perfectly hidden concern though. Ryu had never been a guy for nagging. He simply stated his opinions and let people deal with it. This also extended to everyday happenings and traditions, even with something as simple as eating. You'd never get any bullshit from Ryu. He didn't play like that.
Tseng made to roll over on his other side when Ryu poked his head inside again. "Your food's getting cold. I could of course, bring it up here and force-feed you, but I can't seem to think you're a little baby who needs to be forced to eat his peas and potatoes, so I'd suggest you move your ass downstairs right fucking quick, 'cause I'm bloody tired of your moping, Tseng."
Tseng sighed again, but stood up. Ryu never was a guy for bullshit, but he sure took care of his brothers. That was why Tseng had decided to visit him for his vacation and not one of the others. Ryu was simply so grounded. Oh, and he'd have ties to ShinRa there.
He followed the elegantly clad form of his older brother down the equally elegant stairway and through the delicately furnished house he lived in with a couple of his friends. Tseng never really got used to seeing Ryu in anything but his SOLDIER-garb and had therefore been shocked when he had opened the door wearing a lovely black woollen sweater and formfitting blue jeans.
Now he had been there a couple of days, mostly couped up in his room, when Ryu hadn't forced him out. He had gotten used to seeing a slightly more cultivated form of his brother, rather than the sword-wielding lunatic he was known as at ShinRa.
Tseng remembered one day, he had seen the highest ranked SOLDIERs training outside, and Ryu had been among them. He was sparring with a huge, burly guy everyone called Bear. Bear had been weilding a heavier version of the Buster Sword, because of his amazing size and Ryu had been weilding his trademark greatswords. They had been going at it for more than five minutes and not one of them ever seemed to get the upper hand. Suddenly Ryu had lunged forwards and crossed his blades, twisting his body around and kicking Bear in the face, succeding in disarming him and throwing the weapon, known as The Bearbuster, into the earth some hundred feet away.
Tseng could remember he had been mightily impressed, that is, until Sephiroth had made his appearance behind Ryu and lightly cuffed the back of his head, reprimanding him for some lapse or the other. The SOLDIERs were a tightly knit group, yes, especially the Elite, also known as SOLDIER 1st class. None of them were as close to the General as Zack though. Not one.
Tseng blinked his eyes as Ryu poked him in the ribs once again. He batted at his brother's hand, annoyed that he had been yanked out of his thoughts.
Ryu threw his hands up in the air, sighing exasperatedly. "What does a guy have to do in order to get your attention, huh?"
Tseng frowned slightly. "For starters you could try speaking to me."
Ryu raised his eyebrow at that. "You know, I was practically screaming in your ear and you didn't even blink." He gestured towards the table that was heavily loaded with all kinds of delicious Wutainese dishes. "Dinner, my lord," he said with an exaggerated bow, his long braid falling to the floor.
Tseng rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and sat down to eat, placing the napkin in his lap with delicate movements.
Ryu merely plopped down on his chair, crossed his feet and told Tseng to toss down his food, because Ryu might just eat it for him. He was starved.
And with that the SOLDIER and the TURK sat down together, both digging into their food with great gusto and practised elegance.