Disclaimer: ....Last time I'm putting this for this fic. Actually, refer to the disclaimer in the first chapter please. Otherwise, there is an obvious reason why I'm writing FANFICTION for AtoJi instead of making it officially canon.
I don't remember my second oldest brother very well. I never have. From what I remember in my childhood, Jirou was never really around much. I didn't see him often at all except at meals, and I never bothered to look for him either. I think he might've come and visited me once--I remember a blob of light blond hovering above me smiling before looking startled and running off--but he never came back afterwards. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be in my room.
My first clear memory of him was him practically dozing at the dinner table. He always sat in the same spot at every meal, so it might've actually been because I was so used to seeing him there that I remembered. I don't think I ever cared too much about whether he was around or not back then. He didn't even seem too important. Once or twice I asked mother and father about the "pretty yellow fluff" that always showed up at dinner, but they always looked annoyed and mad, replying that that "fluff" was not important. I think I even heard mother mutter about why he was even born once.
So I dropped the subject. Eventually, I didn't see the point of him being around. I never saw him playing around the house, and I only saw mother, father, and Aniki, besides the servants and maids that is. They're pretty nice people; although I think they're a little superficial. They practically dote on me even though I'm the cause of most of their problems sometimes.
Like that expensive Heian vase that fell when I was seven.
I suppose I should be glad that they took the blame for me though. Who knows what mother and father would've said to me if they knew it was me at that time.
Well, in any case, while Jirou had been sent off to a school, mother and father hired another governess for me, just like aniki. It seemed they wanted me to succeed just as much as aniki. Or maybe they just didn't want me out of the house. I didn't really like the governesses though. They were all uptight and stringent. It was VERY annoying. I probably went through a different one every eight months or so, driving each one up the wall until they left. It was fun doing that I guess.
Think mother and father were finally irritated enough to send me to a school by the time I was of age to be entered into junior high though. But then again, aniki was also entered into a junior high school when it was his time. Oh well.
But it was about this time that I actually remembered that I had another brother. I usually forgot that I even had another brother in the time before junior high. Whenever a guest came over and asked me about how my brothers were doing, I usually only answered about aniki. I don't think it even registered that they said "brotherS." Eventually though, I think they either forgot or gave up on asking about Jirou. It wasn't like I was going to answer them anyways.
But I was reminded about Jirou at school quite often. More than at home at least. When I first introduced myself, people would stare oddly at me and then either break out into whispers or ask me if I had a brother named Jirou. Half the time, I blanked out and said no. The other half, when I finally got used to the questions and remembered that I had another brother, I answered yes. By that time though, many weren't too sure if I was related or not.
What I didn't understand was why it was such a big deal whether or not I was related to Jirou. He WAS the useless one of the family after all. Mother and father repeatedly said so. Eventually, I asked a couple of my classmates--who were gossiping and from whom I had heard the name Akutagawa Jirou or Jirou-senpai or the rare Akutagawa-senpai a few times--about what the big deal was. They stared at me as if I had been living under a rock for the past few years. Well, I had been living in a large, extravagant cage, but not a rock.
After their initial shock, they dragged me into their little gossip group and I finally found out what the "big deal" was. Jirou was apparently the little sweetheart of the school, nevermind the fact that that term should have only applied to girls. (The only person that I heard more about was an Atobe-sama, who I later found out from my parents, lived in the lap of luxury and would be an ideal match for me if I could manage to get him. And apparently most if not all the girls in Hyoutei were in his fanclub. He was pretty cute though, but his attitude was a little annoying. Only girls could be considered beautiful afterall.) In any case, apparently the majority of the entire school agreed that Jirou was one of the "most adorable creatures" to have walked the earth. It was my turn to look at them as if they were crazy, but they never noticed. They just kept on going about how it was cute that he always seemed to be asleep anywhere and everywhere, and how cute some of the places he was found sleeping were, or how adorable he looked in general, or how his hair was just a perfect blend of colors to make him look like an angel. I didn't understand that last part. My own hair was about the same shade. It was perfectly blonde.
When I mentioned this fact--that it was just blond, not that it was the same color as my hair--they went nuts. They began ranting about how it was not JUST blond, but a nice shade of red-gold. I raised my eyebrow at this. No way. I was considered the beauty of the family, afterall. Why would he be considered better looking than a known beauty?
That was, until they dragged me out to the courtyard where one of them had spotted Jirou and pointed him out to me. I stared at the fuzzy blob nested in the grass in the shade of a tree in the far distance and had to agree slightly that it wasn't just blond. It didn't look like the pale, light blond color I had remembered in my childhood memories. I had to wonder where the red came from...it didn't look dyed nor like artificial highlights either...
Anyways, after that, I began to hang around them more, along with some of my other classmates who weren't as big of fans of Jirou as they were, and eventually, I think people caught onto the idea that I didn't like hearing about my brother, because most of them just stopped. The talks about Jirou would fade around me as topics would change, and it was perfectly fine with me. I didn't particularly care how he was doing. He was just another student at the school. He rarely even came home anymore, because I would more often than not, not see him at dinner. Sure he could've missed dinner because he came home late, but after a while, I didn't even hear the door opening to let someone in late. But he wasn't anyone important.
Until one morning when I was eating breakfast with mother, father, and aniki.
Jirou was mentioned as being part of Hyoutei's tennis team...the one that made it to nationals. I hadn't known that. And we were in the same school! Since when had he joined? Last I heard of him, he was still sleeping his days away in random places at school! Such I said to my parents. I think aniki had also been in shock too.
Then Jirou graduated and it quieted down at school. No more girls squealing about how cute he was or anything....until I entered high school. It had been practically a repeat of junior high. Only, now, there weren't just gossips about how adorable he was--despite the fact that he was a senior that would enter university the year afterwards--there were comments about how cute he was when he slept on the tennis captain's lap! While I didn't have anything against homosexual relationships, I hadn't thought my brother was one, and so I said to one of my classmates, who then corrected herself and said that Jirou was like the team's mascot, like a cute pet that they kept around.
Jirou was now a PET? I wasn't sure whether to be horrified or not. But at least no one connected my name to his anymore. I didn't know how I would have felt if they did. The shame.
Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even think I ever heard anyone mention his last name. It was just Jirou this or Jirou that or Jirou-senpai did this or Jirou-senpai did that. I was happy when he finally graduated, despite the big deal many people made about losing their best tennis team ever. Apparently the captain was a tactical genius. I didn't really pay attention to them though. Why would I keep track of such an unimportant thing? And just because Hyoutei was proud that its tennis team won Nationals didn't mean that none of its other clubs and departments were useless. I had been quite involved in the art club thank you very much.
Then I entered university. It was during this time that my parents pushed me to find a decent boyfriend, one was the heir of some company or another or someone who would become someone known in the upper class. It was annoying, and I had to go through several men before I found one my parents approved of and I liked. He was quite a few years older than me, about seven years actually, and a little older than aniki. We've been together for the past three years and are planning to hold the ceremony sometime this year.
But then father fell ill with that pesky disease a year ago. And for some reason, he decided he wanted to see Jirou again. Jirou, who I had once again forgotten about. Aniki was also shocked at the request, which was understandable. What was even more shocking though, was when aniki couldn't even locate Jirou. Where had Jirou gone? Sure, I had forgotten about him, especially after he had moved out--although that didn't seem to have made much of a difference anyways considering that I didn't see him around much before that either--but it didn't mean that I wanted him to disappear off the face of the earth forever.
Then a cure was found for father. It was actually quite out of nowhere. I wasn't sure what to think, considering the odds we were given only three months before. However, aniki searched and searched, and finally found that the Atobe family was most likely responsible for it. Atobe? That pompous man from school? HE helped us? That was surprising. I suppose I should be thankful in any case. He DID help us--no matter how inadvertently it was.
But aniki came back from his meeting looking perplexed. Whatever I or mother or father had expected wasn't such a reaction. Rage at the arrogance of the Atobes (me), sure. Happiness from managing to secure a contract with the Atobe Enterprises (mother and father), sure. Perplexion? Never.
Then aniki dropped the bomb on us.
Jirou was the one who helped us.
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Aniki explained everything that happened at his meeting with Atobe, from Jirou to his relationship with Atobe to the invitation next month. It was a shock. The next day, I went to my fiancee's office, walking past employees and secretaries to reach the executive office on the top floor. I entered at his 'come in' response and sat down heavily on a nearby couch, drawing his attention. I never did anything ungracefully of course, so such an unusual action caused him to question me.
"What's wrong?" He asked from his desk.
I had to collect my thoughts for a while before I could answer him. "Say...have you ever worked with the Atobes?"
He pondered. "Yes, I have actually." he answered after a while.
"Was there..." I searched for words. "Anything unusual...about your meeting with him?"
He laughed. "My dear, everything's unusual about Atobe-san."
I raised an eyebrow. "I meant besides his attitude towards everything. I know how pompous he is. I went to school with him afterall."
He chuckled. "Yes, he is quite 'pompous' at times like you say. But he's quite an able businessman. Atobe Enterprises wouldn't be as big as they are if he wasn't, and they've only expanded since he took over as head."
"Anything else that's different besides that?"
"Hmm...ah, yes. I recall seeing a pretty blond--much like yourself--lounging around on a sofa in the meeting room." He chuckled in remembrance. "It was quite amusing actually. I hadn't expected him to have a guest, much less allow him to sleep during the meeting, and I don't think the other corporation heads did either. One of them even dared to refuse to present his case with the blond sleeping in the room, saying that it was unprofessional of Atobe to let a random guest sleep in on an important meeting. What if he leaked out information to other companies, he had asked."
"So what did he do?"
He laughed. "Raised an eyebrow, snapped his fingers, and had this hulk of a bodyguard lug the man out of the room screaming. Said he didn't want trash badmouthing his guests nor contaminating his presence."
I couldn't believe it. He's laughing at such a thing?
As his laughter died down, he commented, "That guest of his wasn't quite just a guest though, from what I've heard. He sleeps anywhere he wants during those meetings, including at the foot of Atobe's chair. That one I've seen before, but others have said that he's slept in Atobe's lap before. I'd assume they're lovers if anything."
"And you're okay with that?" I asked.
He gave me an ironic and amused look. "It's not as if anyone could not be fine with it and manage to make a contract with Atobe-san. He lets that boy choose who he wants to leave the meeting and who he will sign contracts with. Many people got it into their heads that making the boy happy would be their ticket to success. Much to their disappointment of course."
That interested me. "Really? Why?"
Then my fiancee looked suspicious. "My dear, what brought up all these questions?"
I waved my hand in dismissal. "I'll tell you at the end."
He gave me a hard look. "Don't be using this for anything suspicious, alright? I don't need Atobe-san on both our necks. Anyways," he continued, "the boy chooses contracts for Atobe-san, but when people attempt to please the boy instead and shower him with gifts, Atobe-san gets rather...jealous. Although, possessive might be a better word for it.
Only thing is, the boy rarely even wakes up without prompting from Atobe-san anyways, so it's quite pointless."
"Mmm..." It seemed as if what aniki said was true. And Jirou seems to have a pretty good life.
"Now will you tell me what's gotten into you?"
"Just a moment...do you know what the boy's name is?"
At this he had to think for a while, before cautiously telling me, "...I believe his name was Jirou..."
"No last name?"
"Not that I've ever heard of."
"I see." I was silent for a long while, trying to figure out how to tell him. "What would you say," I finally said, "if I said that his last name is Akutagawa?"
He laughed. "No, seriously, what if it was?" I queried again.
He gave me a solemn look. "Either you are telling the truth and it is, or Atobe will hunt you down for daring to claim that."
I only stared at him.
He leaned back in his chair as if exhausted. "By..." He shook his head. "Seriously?"
I nodded. "Yes, and we're invited to a family gathering he's holding next month. Going?"
He shook his head in disbelief. "I never...I didn't...that's...yes, I'll go." He finally replied.
"Let's take a lunch break."
"Al..alright." He shook his head as he began to lock up. "Unbelievable." He muttered.
Yes, it was quite unbelievable that my so-called useless brother had made himself a place higher than any of us, but I suppose that it was an appropriate ending for him. He does deserve all the love and pleasures that our family had never given him when he still lived with us.
Although, I am a little jealous.
A/N: This was originally supposed to be a one-shot...until I somehow realized that I could keep going...especially with such an ambiguous ending..._...lol...of course, I also wanted to add in the good AtoJi parts...which will come later...XD
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