Broken
Major—and I do mean MAJOR spoilers for anyone who hasn't read 34...and 33 for that matter.
Now I warn you that I wrote this in under 15 minutes so its not exactly my best work—but I blame that on the fact that I don't know what happens next and I don't know how many months it'll be until 35 comes out. So I'm just writing a drabble to satisfy my rabid need for Hotaru/Shinrei. There's so little of it and quite frankly, brothers or not, they're my favorite pairing in SDK. Once I can find a situation, I'll write something a bit more...indecent. Cause trust me, I have scoured all 34 volumes so far for an appropriate time for them to get naked together and it doesn't exist so far. Maybe I'll try to overcome my aversion to writing senseless smut that doesn't fit into the story's time-frames a little later.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
He realized it the moment that the Hono-Chikewai manifested itself on his skin in the form of searing slashes of fire and pain and most of all, Hotaru. His entire body thrummed as his brother's technique burned within him, taking hold of everything that the two of them shared in common and feeding upon it, converting it into pure power. He expected it to find very little to latch onto and thus the feeling of seemingly every cell in his body pulsing in time with Hotaru's fire was breathtaking. More than breathtaking, he felt for the first time in his life as if he were a complete person, despite the fact that he'd never before felt uncomplete. Like the minuscule holes and tatters in his person that had previously simply been accepted as a part of who he was, were suddenly filled and smoothed out. It was dizzying, invigorating, frightening—and undeniably the most incredible sensation he'd ever had, all in the same breathless moment.
It wasn't enough, of course. Their auras had melded together, yes, but it was clumsy and forceful, water extinguishing fire and fire turning water to useless vapor and multitudes of energy being wasted in the process. They had fought together in the Labyrinth beneath the palace only hours before, but even that had not prepared Shinrei for the task of gaining mastery over Hotaru's fire and wrenching his own water out of Fubuki's control. He had quickly become overwhelmed, his world ending in blood and pain as his attempts to surprise Fubuki through a layer of traps and exaggerated weakness got him nothing but an even more humiliating beating at his old mentor's hands.
That humiliation was nothing to the realization later by the words from Fubuki's mouth that his precious Mibu clan were really nothing but playthings made by the true Mibu. Naturally he'd denied it, calling it a lie; the Mibu couldn't possibly be nothing but toys made on a whim with the express purpose of fighting and dying! But it was Hotaru, his clueless airhead of a brother, who had made him see it with such an uncharacteristically profound observation.
And suddenly the feeling from before, that feeling of completeness that came from his union with Hotaru, came back, but in reverse. Instead of the elation of wholeness he felt...
Broken.