Author's Note:
I apologize sincerely to those who had been looking forward to the original Thicker Than Water because at that time, I just tossed some half-hearted ideas of a happy family with an aimless plot. I'm really sorry for the wait and the next to none update, I hope this will compensate. My summer term is over so I have one week before the next semester starts ^^ I'll write all the stories I've been piling up especially for 'Come Spring, Dies Winter' or something.
Next chapter will be tomorrow and . Hope to write the other chapters since I'm having writer's block for Darker Than His Shadow. I don't know which plot I should use next T^T Really sorry for those who anticipated the story of Kuroko's twisted personality.
So anyways, this story will give a mysterious genre regarding the disappearance of Kuroko Tetsuya, who his wife was and the life of the Akashi brothers.
After the next chapter is uploaded I will delete the original Thicker than Water.
Hope you guys will enjoy this!
Tears for the Moonlight
Hot water prickled like diamonds unto bruised, pale skin but the numbness ate the pain away. The boy with lilac blue hair barely flinched at the contact, too used to the wounds he receive every night at every mark of his failure and too tired to care.
Physical wounds could never level with his mother's verbal torment and pride never allowed him to cry to his not-always-present father or his beloved older brother. They were busy, of course, and he was a thorn in a red rose bush to burden them with his shortcomings.
"An Akashi is groomed with perfections with his privileges given. For that I've already expected you to have produced results but this," Head down and the boy could already tell that her sharp, rhinestone nails had already pierced through his quiz papers. "Is mediocre. I sometimes wonder if having you is a blessing to make your brother shine brighter, or a curse since you like clinging on him like a jinx."
99 marks and one spelling error.
One mistake was all it cost before he came back from elementary school with the gorgeous Akashi Lady waiting at the front door. She had obviously found out about it already after donating a generous amount for their school just for the request of delivering each and every of his grade materials to the household.
With gifted observational skills; he could already tell that the blonde woman with a charming smile is beyond enraged. It was silence over his accomplishment or belittlement over small errors; the permanent design of his life his mother had sewn.
She would greet always greet him first, seeing as his class ends around three. "Welcome home, Tsukiya." She says with a honey-coated tone but the lilac haired boy had could tell she was beet angry because of her fingers clenched against a brown envelope or the way her cold, sapphire eyes pierced. Wordlessly she dragged him inside the red manor with such tight grip that pristine nails were digging into his skin.
Tsukiya did not let his mother have the pleasure of hearing him cry, as much as a respectable woman she is. The servants threw him a pitiful glance but a word of worry could send them out in the streets for life. However Tsukiya had no longer hoped for help in the first place and just endured as he has the moment he went to school.
This time was no difference that he had lost count of his achievements and no longer drew lines for his failures. It was just another evening where his mother had dragged him to a secluded room, slapped him and then starts to lecture Tsukiya, remind him of how he failed to live up to their name before comparing him to his older brother.
His older brother, Akashi Seiji who bore a great resemblance to their parents in physical aspects and in traits had obviously been the golden child not just in the eyes of the adult but the hearts of the children around him. Seiji was a leader of flawless authority, a role model, a prodigy and all praise he had deserve for such accomplishments for a young age.
But to Tsukiya, he was also a brother he cherished and could never have the heart to resent.
"Tsukiya?"
His daydream had been cut off by the too familiar voice. Seiji as Teiko's Student Council President had him stay longer at school and in addition to Basketball club practice. Was it really that late already?
"Tsukiya are you in there?"
He curses himself for staying too long in showers again. "W-what?" and the hoarse voice he had produced. Though separated by the bathroom door, Seiji could already sense that his younger brother was in pain. Without warning, he pushes the doors open but the steam gave enough time for Tsukiya to cover himself with a bathrobe.
Sapphire eyes hardened, trying to see past through the misty water but only to feast on the sight of his younger brother. Tsukiya's pale skin glistened with water-like crystals dripping from wet blue lilac hair to his exposed torso. His face had a blank expression but the way he slightly bit his soft lip as a sign of annoyance, a mannerism only Seiji found out, was definitely a tempting feature.
But then he mentally kicked himself for staring too much again as Tsukiya could also read his expressions which he always blamed the puberty for it.
"Pervert." He sighs. "I would appreciate it if you would knock first, Onii-sama."
Seiji snorted one hand on the hip with a smug expression on his face; a sight his mother would scold him for. "Oh I'm a pervert? Says the one who's been pinning on the new school nurse."
Tsukiya's eyes widened. "What? I do not have a crush on Sak-"
"And two," his older brother continued. "I did knock, four times and there were no answers. Kids these days going through puberty."
The blue lilac head blush beet red. "You talk like a nosy old man."
"Three," he ignores Tsukiya's protest and pulls him out of the steaming place. He knew his brother was too fragile to handle hot areas but the flinch when he caught his arm did not go unnoticed. "What did I tell you to call me?" he whispers in a sultry voice against the lilac head's ear lobe.
"That doesn't have anything to do with what you were talking about earlier, S-Sei-nii… sama."
"Good boy but drop the last honorifics and we'll make progress." He ruffles Tsukiya's damp hair but the younger brother had suffered enough humiliation to let this go. Without warning and the small strength he possessed; he pulled his brother down to the nearest bath tub, soaking Teiko's uniform and turning his brother's hair into a wet mess. "Now you've done it." Sapphire eyes glinted with terror, an expression too familiar to Teiko's basketball team.
The next minutes followed with a muffled scream, water splashing and countless bubbles into the air. And then all that noise turned to a sweet, melody of laughter; a very rare occurrence happening in the strict Akashi Manor. Though the world can see Akashi Tsukiya as a quiet and expressionless boy who grew up under the shadows of his overachieving brother; he was also a mischievous, sadistic brat yet a precious being for Akashi Seiji. As for the latter, too bad the world can never see just how much he can express as a person of emotions under the mask of perfection.
Seiji grumbled in annoyance whilst the younger Akashi presses the warm fabric against wet, crimson locks. Cherry red eyes rolled in equal annoyance, sometime wondering why he seems to be the oldest between them. "Because it's dangerous for you to catch a cold. Imagine how your school would turn into a chaos without the presence of the Almighty Akashi-sama." The lilac head says, completely reading Seiji's mind.
The crimson head whacked with him the nearest feather-pillow. "You're exaggerating as always. And I can do this myself." Seiji tried to grab the towel but with predictable movements and reflexes, Tsukiya had managed to raise the fabric into the air and out of his brother's grasp. "Last time I left you to your own devices; you slept with your hair wet and the blow dryer on."
Seiji could never understand how he does that.
"Because I was tired."
"Exactly." Tsukiya then continues. "What happens when you underestimate a cold? You die. And when you die, everyone and everything will fall out of place. Oh imagine the despair!" He hides the dark statement under an exaggerated tone but Seiji wasn't stupid enough to buy it. "So will you." He retorts and Tsukiya says no more but cherry red eyes softening in a sad feature before returning to blank one. "Then let's hope none of us dies."
Death was such a grim topic and Seiji was convinced to burn all of Tsukiya's Shakespeare collection, especially Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet. He would rather endure the lilac head making a blank and frustratingly unreadable face than to yap quotes from tragic books.
"Don't tell me your first choice of club for Middle school is the drama theatre? Teiko have it hard to find male members."
Tsukiya made an undignified snort. Oh the irony of his traits joining a club in the spotlight. "Of course not, as fun as that is." He answers sarcastically. "I'd always go for Karuta."
"You don't even like that game."
"So long as I'm good at it. Like you are in Shoji."
Seiji scoffed. "If you're up against the old man, you'd be out of practice." Once the towel was off, the older Akashi slumped against the mattress. "I'd recommend you to join the basketball club with me." The younger Akashi arched an eyebrow and gave Seiji a knowing look. He was born with a fragile body and would obviously die- or pass out before completing Teiko's regular Spartan training.
"I wouldn't want anybody thinking I got in by my name or by you." Or a ball floating in midair.
"Won't you at least believe in yourself? Remember what Midorima-sensei told us before?"
"About the Phantom player? I wouldn't know if he was lying to me because of my condition." The green head doctor had once told him during his check-ups that they had an extra player during their Teiko days who was weak and dependent yet led them to the hundred-victory title. "Even Father had mentioned it once but I think it was just a rumor."
"Or a legend."
"Or false hope."
Seiji went silent while Tsukiya calmed the frustration boiling within him. His brother meant no harm at all; trying to push him to play the game he so admired and longed to play not just between the two of them but with real players and opponents but luck was not on his side. It never was. "There are things that are too absolute to change." He whispers.
Fortunately his brother was already asleep, probably drained of his energy for the day as his breathing was a bit fast than usual. The corners of Tsukiya's lips formed a soft smile as he brushes his brother's hair before pressing his lips against the older Akashi's forehead. "I hope you are too."
They sleep in one bed, a habit their mother had scolded them to stop as they were no longer children. If only she knew that it was always Seiji who creeps into his room despite the double doors separating them. The older Akashi would always wake up to face his demons the following morning, Tsukiya knew that best, so the least he could offer Seiji was a warm bed to share for a night.
Such thoughts were considered dirty and his mother would kill him for.
So just for tonight, like every nights that followed as Tsukiya treats it like the last one; he hugs his brother dearly.
It was a wonder to how Seiji would wake up five hours before school and how Tsukiya would not wake up at all from contact or how lilac locks would stand up, creating a massive bed hair. Before the sun would be up, Seiji would treat the younger Akashi's wounds with transparent ointment and salve.
Tsukiya would sigh in relief upon the cool contact, easing the twisted knots and black bruises forming on his fore arm. The older Akashi knew Tsukiya was not at least bullied when he shamelessly sent for secret watchers to gather data of his school.
The lilac head had been born with weak presence that the kids would just bypass him or think of him as a ghost. The teachers had no qualms with him or against his grades and the PE instructor would allow him to rest half the period before it was over. The only friends he had were from the Karuta club, who treats him as their 'trump card' against junior tournaments. Rowdy as they were, Tsukiya had blended perfectly.
If dismissed early; the lilac head would eat with them at a fast food place at least two kilometers from school, namely MajiBa and that he'd ordered the same drink every now and then. For this, Seiji made it a habit to forcefully brush his brother's teeth every night before they sleep.
Other times the lilac head would go behind the school building where the guards couldn't even catch up with him to spend time at the Clinic with a busty (he did not need that description from the sources), pink-haired nurse before heading back home.
His brother was a mystery and Seiji was saddened to have been too busy to attend to his brother's need, though he seemed to be living an average school life… that was until he accidentally walked in when Tsukiya was dressing for school. The crimson head felt so sick upon seeing the bruises marred against pale skin like a decoration of pain and mockery.
The younger Akashi had never been forward with the problem so he waits patiently and hope by the time he gets to Middle school, it would stop.
Done applying the medicine, he sits beside the sleeping figure and caresses pale cheeks illuminating against the blue moonlight.
His brother had been crying again in the showers, too bad he hadn't caught him in time. This was turning into a habit that the boy would use his blank demeanor to hide his pain but Seiji was having none of that.
"I wonder if you keep crying for what others do, then who will cry for you?" Seiji whispers before withdrawing his hand. Tsukiya whimpers at the loss of contact but the older Akashi immediately held him tight to compensate, dreading for morning to come and he has to let go.
*Tsukiya- Moonlight