A/N: Okay, this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter Gravi fic. Please be patient with me, I'm still working out the characters. Also, I don't know if some of the characters will be portrayed correctly or not, and I know for a fact that certain relationships are being changed in this fic. So, I guess this is a kind of AU type of thing. This idea came to me when I was thinking about Yuki's mother. Where is she? And was she pretty? I mean, look at her kids! Her husband's a bald old guy, so she must have been the one with the looks. Anyway, on to the story.

~

"Hi, Tatsuha. Ryuichi."

"Hey Aniki. How are you?"

"Fine. I already ordered your drinks, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Thanks." The four men were gathered in a small diner in Tokyo. The two more energetic ones were in the middle of an avid conversation concerning the merits of the color pink on various different items. The other two smiled at their lively counterparts and began their own discussion, theirs concerning more mundane topics such as the other's state of well-being since they last saw each other, and the foolish things their lovers had done in the aforementioned time period.

"Have you been to see Father lately?" The blond man asked. The black-haired one shook his head in the negative. Yuki Eiri nodded in response to his brother Tatsuha's reply. Ryuichi, the child-like man who had come in with Tatsuha looked up at the two of them, causing the pink-haired one to look up as well.

"I just noticed something," Ryuichi stated matter-of-factly. The table's other three occupants stared at him, surprised by how serious he sounded. "You two don't behave like normal brothers should." Yuki raised his eyebrows slightly at that comment, but allowed Tatsuha to question the vocalist of Nittle Grasper.

"What makes you say that?"

"You always talk to each other so formally when there are people around, but when we get you in a room together, you act like you're either friends or mortal enemies. And you talk about weird things. You sound like a father and son, not older brother and younger brother." And, having said his piece – and realizing that a large bowl of strawberry ice cream was headed towards their table – Ryuichi turned his attention from the brothers' behavior. Shuichi, however, was not so easily distracted.

"He's right, you do act a lot like you're in a parent-child relationship."

"That could be because Eiri's the one who raised me."

"What?" Yuki put his head in his hands. There was no way they would escape this outing without being told what was meant by that statement. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to tell Shuichi about how he and Tatsuha were raised, but thanks to one of Ryuichi's random spurts of perceptiveness, he had no choice.

"Can we not talk about this here?" Yuki asked before Tatsuha could explain the situation. The other two nodded, and the brothers both sighed in relief.

~

"Okay, we're home, now could one of you explain?" Shuichi asked the moment they had all entered the house. After eating, they had decided to head home. Normally, Yuki would have been glad about that, but today, he was not looking forward to the topic that was coming up. Yuki and Tatsuha exchanged looks before Tatsuha started again.

"Eiri is the one who raised me."

"You've said that. I wanna know what you mean by it." Ryuichi turned his large eyes up to Tatsuha, and even if he had wanted to the sixteen-year-old couldn't deny him what he asked.

"I don't think it's really my story to tell. Besides, Eiri knows more about it than I do." Yuki couldn't help but give his brother a dirty look. He then turned on his heel and walked to the kitchen. Shuichi watched him leave, then turned a smile onto the guests.

"You can stay the night tonight." That said, Shuichi headed after the moody novelist. "Yuki? What's wrong? It can't be something you're ashamed of, can it?"

"It's not that I'm ashamed of it, I would just rather not talk about it."

"Oh."

"Do you really want to know?" Yuki asked, sounding sincerely curious.

"Yes," Shuichi mumbled, not wanting to upset the older man.

"Then I'll tell." Yuki sounded upset about it, but resigned. He walked into the living room and saw Tatsuha and Ryuichi making themselves comfortable on the couch. "What are you two still doing here?"

"Shu-chan invited us to stay the night. Wasn't that nice of him?" Ryuichi beamed at Shuichi and Yuki, pretending to be oblivious of the anger in Yuki's eyes. Tatsuha, however, was more worried about keeping his brother happy at the moment.

"You don't mind if we stay, do you?" he asked, using the voice that had worked on his brother from the moment he had learned to ask for things. It had yet to fail him, and this was no exception. Yuki slumped onto the couch in defeat and welcomed Shuichi onto his lap.

"No, you can stay. Just keep in mind that Shuichi will be cooking tomorrow morning."

"I thought you cooked breakfast?" Ryuichi asked, remembering Tatsuha telling him how good Yuki's breakfasts were.

"I normally do, but I plan on being asleep at that time."

"What, do you plan on getting worn out tonight?" Tatsuha asked, winking suggestively at his brother. Yuki didn't rise to the bait.

"Yes. I don't particularly like the memories I'll be sharing tonight, and talking about them usually ends up wearing me out."

"I thought you'd never told anyone about it," Tatsuha commented. Yuki offered him a strained smile, proving that even Shuichi had not fully succeeded in opening the blond up.

"Mika and Tohma made me see a few psychiatrists. I had to tell them to get them to leave me alone. They wanted every detail, too. I slept for a week after each visit with them because they drained me so much."

"Is that why they haven't made you go back?" Tatsuha asked. Yuki nodded.

"Do you want to hear about it, or are we going to spend all night talking about the results of it?" Yuki asked, earning startled and shocked looks from the room's three other occupants. "I want to get it over with or not tell at all. It's your choice."

"We'll let you tell," Shuichi told him quietly. Yuki hugged him to let him know that he wasn't really angry. Shuichi squeezed Yuki back, offering support even through his curiosity.

"Our mother died when Tat was born. It was a hard birth for her, and she died less than two hours after Tat was born. We were all upset about it naturally, but we didn't know what to do. And there was a new baby in the house. When she died, I was six. Mika was about fourteen, maybe a little older. Our father kind of went into shock, and we were all grieving. Each of us buried our grief under or in something. We his from it in one way or another.

"Father buried himself in Shrine duties. He ate out of necessity, and slept only when he collapsed from exhaustion. For a long time, he started to forget he even had children. Mika started going to her friends' houses more often, until eventually she only came home if I found out which house she was at in time to ask her to come home. She was at a different person's house every day. By the time a month had gone by, all of her stuff was at someone else's house.

That left only me, by myself. Before that time, when I didn't want to think of something, I would go to Mika or my mother. Neither of them was there, and I didn't want to have to think. Even though I was six, I realized that the baby not only had to be taken care of – and named – but would take a lot of energy and attention. I thought that I could keep from thinking about things if I took care of him. No one else seemed to care about either of us, and I didn't want him to die, so I decided that I would raise him. Or, I would until Father or Mika remembered us."

()() Sixteen Years Earlier ()()

"So, the first thing to do is name you. Mommy's name is Tatsuhane [1]. I'll call you Tatsuha for her since you're the last piece of mommy we have. I made the formula stuff for you, Tat-chan, so you better eat it this time." The tiny child smiled proudly as he held his infant brother. The baby was eating what he had prepared for him, and he hadn't eaten what Oneesan had made. Maybe Tat-chan liked him?

After eating, the baby smiled up at his older brother before falling asleep. The child, Eiri Uesugi smiled back as he gently lay his baby brother in his crib. Thankfully, their mother had set up everything that was needed before she died. Eiri spent the next few minutes rubbing the baby's back before crawling into his own bed. Before he fell asleep, he looked over at the crib and the sleeping baby inside. "I promise I'll take care of you, Tat-chan. You're gonna be loved, so please don't die on me. You're all I have left. I promise I'll be good and take care of you." After promising things to the baby that no other six-year-old even thought of, the child fell asleep. He still held to that promise even when Tatsuha woke him up at two in the morning.

~ To Be Continued… ~

A/N: So, what did you think? I know I changed a lot around, and I probably put them a lot out of character, but that was how they needed to be. I don't know Mika's actual age, but this puts her a year younger than Tohma, so it still works in my mind. Tatsuhane Uesugi is my own creation even though technically she had to have existed at some point. I've never heard anything about her, though, so I'm claiming how she ends up in this story and her first name.

Please review and let me know what you think? If it's good, or if it's bad. Of course, if you flame, I'll never continue it and you'll never see what happens next, so… yeah… please be kind.

[1] – It's actually Tatsu (dragon) and Hane (feather; wing) put together. I thought it would fit.