DISCLAIMER: It's a shame I don't own SKU, or else I would be promoting it to the world.
and without further ado, I present
When Walls Tumble Down-Touga and Saionji at thirteen
He sat cradling his hand, fingering the bandage that Touga had gently tied around it. It was just like Touga to be so condescending, to act so grown up. His attitude irked Kyouichi. In all respects, he should be exactly like Touga. Their families were of equal standing, their fathers equally as famous.
But Kyouichi was starting to learn that the world was not based on equality. It was about influence. That's why the first girl he had liked, Nanami Kiryuu, was taken away from him so easily. She was Touga's sister, yet that didn't stop her from admiring Touga ten hundred times more than she did Kyouichi. It was Kyouichi who buried Touga's birthday kitten, and his affection for the girl along with it.
The girl in the coffin wasn't even an exception. Even she was charmed by Touga. Shown eternity.
The "friendship" that he and Touga shared was no more than his imagination. He knew that, but Kyouichi couldn't help but hang on to it. Touga was in a different world. He knew better. He knew the secrets of eternity. Their fathers were business partners. Touga and Kyouichi were not partners. Not even allies. Still the heady, intoxicating idea of becoming an adult, of exercising power, drew him in.
It was a few weeks until Kyouichi's hand had healed, and another until he discarded the lassitude that had come upon him. When he walked into the dojo, Touga was practicing, sweat beading at his brow. His hair was long now, almost to his waist. If it hadn't been Touga, Kyouichi would have thought he looked like a girl.
"Should I grow my hair long, too, Touga?" Kyouichi asked scathingly. Touga froze, dropping his bamboo practice sword. There was a shame in his eye that had not been there a month before. He bent down carefully, brilliant red locks swishing to hide his face as he picked his sword back up again.
"No. Don't, Kyoichi." He gave no reason, only swung the bamboo sword into the starting position for a duel. "Fight me." He smirked, but Kyouichi noticed the dullness in his eyes where there should be sparks of mirth. That hidden mirth that hinted at knowledge had disappeared, leaving Kyouichi with an odd feeling. He beat Touga in a kendo match for the first time that morning.
Kyouichi couldn't go to the dojo the next day. Instead, his father was bringing him along on a business trip in Tokyo. Kyouichi liked the feeling of the city. Modern and new, refreshing. He hated the conversations of the people his father talked to. "You know that Kiryuu boy? Yes, that's the one. Touga Kiryuu. Such and handsome young boy, and smart as well. His father's so lucky to have such a wonderful heir to the Kiryuu corporation. Oh, your son is friends with him? What a lucky boy."
He didn't smile the entire trip, which took longer than the two weeks his father had planned. Fourteen days turned into fifteen, two weeks turned into four. When Kyouichi's father asked if he wanted to get his hair cut, Kyouichi answered no. His green locks tumbled ruthlessly down his back. It felt powerful.
When Kyouichi finally came home, he went to the dojo first thing in the morning. His swings felt assured and forceful, brimming as he was with confidence. He would show Touga that he, too, knew what it meant to have power.
The rice paper screen door slid open with a rustle and Touga stepped inside, his face troubled. His and Kyouichi's eyes met at the exact same time, cobalt and violet. Touga's face fell when his gaze ran over Kyoichi's emerald curls; the hurt was evident in his eyes. Kyouichi almost reeled back in shock. He had not expected such a reaction. Touga blinked slowly, quietly excused himself, then left the practice room.
Kyouichi stood still as the notes of the traditional biwa lute used in storytelling filled the room. "I have a secret, a secret to tell," a shadow girl sang, prancing across the paper screen dividing the practice room.
"Ooh, do tell me your secret!" another pleaded, kneeling at the feet of the first.
"Secrets, secrets, are no fun, unless you share with everyone," a third added. "May I ask, may I know, of whom will this secret soon be told?"
"You should have long hair, my heir. Long hair is the fashion!" the first boomed in a deep voice.
"For a boy?" the second asked incredulously. "How can this be?"
"Well, you see, I like a boy with long hair," the first said, rubbing her hands together. "It makes them so much more… attractive."
"But isn't he your son?" the third tried to reason.
"Hardly! I adopted him and have the right to do as I please with him."
"As you please…" the other two shivered in unison. "But what does that mean?"
"Do you know, do you know, do you know what it means?" the three chorused. The music ended on a dissonant chord, resounding throughout the room as the shadow girls danced off.
Kyouichi trembled. It couldn't be! But wait, no. There was no way! And yet he couldn't discount the pain Touga was in. It filled him with rage and disgust. Rage at Touga's so-called father. Disgust with Touga for letting himself be exploited like that. He drew his katana and was about to shear off the two feet of green locks when his hands faltered.
Kyouichi couldn't do it. He could only think of Touga's loneliness. He couldn't even scoff for the fact that he should worry about himself and not Touga. His friend and rival. The attitude he had so long confused for arrogance and superiority was nothing but a defense mechanism. The hair was not power. It was subjugation.
He really should cut it off, but for some indeterminable reason, decided to keep the long hair. Maybe to show Touga that he wasn't alone. Maybe because the injury he had done to Touga that had felt so sadistically satisfying, if only for a second.
The next day, Touga greeted Kyouichi in the dojo with that signature smile. The walls were back up. Kyouichi knew he might never see them lowered again.