A/N. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
P.s. Am I the only one who thought Shun'ō was a girl? I'm starting to feel like that time when I discovered Blue from Blue's Clues was a girl and not a guy (and no, that's not because of her name or the color, it was how Blue's bark sounded.).
Anyways, hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Fever Dreams?...
Everything was sluggish and heavy. Like water…
"Tensa…"
Water… He felt like he was drowning… Like he was in water and couldn't swim…
"Do you hear me, Tensa?"
And there was that voice, the one from his childhood. The one that had both soothed and frightened him in his nightmares as a child, the one that called to him endlessly…
"Tensa-k…"
He needed to get out, needed to find the voice, needed to-
"Tensa-kun!"
His brain was slow to catch up to his surroundings, pale blue eyes staring dazedly up at the not-so-unfamiliar face of whoever had woken him up. There was recognition somewhere in the still sluggish reaches of his mind, muddled and confused as he was, and the feeling that he was still somewhere in a dream wouldn't leave him, but a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table told him all that he needed to know that he was just five minutes shy of being late to school.
"Tensa-kun, now, now. I went to all the effort of getting you up in Shi-kun's stead! Don't go back to sleep you'll be late!"
"Inoue-san?" The final pieces of recognition clicking into place as he finally matched a name to the brilliant blond hair and surprisingly boyish face that belonged solely to the younger fraternal twin of the Inoue siblings.
"Hey now, I told you to call me Shun'ō, remember? None of that 'Inoue-san' stuff now!" the intruder scolded lightly as he took several steps back to give the younger room to get out of bed, far too cherry this early in the morning in Tensa's opinion, but he held himself back from saying as such. As pleasant as Shun'ō was to be around, the youngest of the Kurosaki siblings would never hear the end of it.
"What are you doing up here?"
"Didn't I just say that? I came up in Shi-kun's stead to get you up! You're older brother was plotting dumping ice cold water on you and everything." He explained, holding up a finger as if to emphasize his point. "It didn't help at all that Tsubaki-nii-kun was encouraging him…" Tensa couldn't hold a chuckle at that, especially with being as early as it was and with the lack of sleep he'd been getting for the past few weeks due to the incident. The elder of the twins was just as bad as his older brother, and both were as incorrigible as three year olds in a toy store. He was certain that there was no helping those two in the least.
"Where's Onii-san?"
"Well, as you can probably guess. Shi-kun and Tsubaki-nii are downstairs waiting for the two of us. As for your eldest brother… I'm not entirely sure, but I think your father might've mentioned something about meeting a family friend…?" He paused in thought, as if trying to remember what exactly his father had told him. "I couldn't honestly tell amidst the hysterical crying after Shi-kun used him to all but put a hole in the wall. But he was long gone before we showed up."
"Ah…" It wasn't much in all honesty, but it was the best reply he could give considering how exhausted he felt. He hadn't completely made it out of the bed yet, and it was starting to look more and more tempting the longer he sat here talking with the older teen.
"Tensa-kun? Are you ok?" His thoughts were interrupted, and his attention thankfully drawn away from the bed and the comfort it offered by the question, but it took a bit for him to completely focus. He felt so slow… "Tensa-kun?"
"Hm? Yeah, just a little sleepy…"
"Are you sure? No offense, but you're acting a little strange, and also…"
"I said I'm fine!" He hadn't meant to snap at the other, honest. Shun'ō had just been showing his concern after all. But he wasn't up for being put under interrogation by his brother's friends, and besides he was just a little tired, nothing that a cup of coffee and breakfast wouldn't fix. "Sorry…"
"It's fine." Shun'ō replied, not looking the least bit bothered by outburst. At least, not on the outside he didn't. That was one thing about his brother's friend that he found somewhere disconcerting. Tsubaki, the elder of the twins, was expressive, even if overly violent and temperamental most of the time. But Shun'ō was comparatively different, deceptive and good at keeping his emotions hidden. It didn't help that Tensa couldn't see his eyes, what with them always being shut. He could never tell what the other was thinking no matter how hard or for how long he tried. "Ah, your brother was telling me about you seeing masked monsters?"
"It was nothing, me just making a mountain out of nothing." Tensa dismissed quickly, he wasn't up for explaining what he'd seen. Even if Shun'ō had been willing to entertain what he was sure both of his brother's passed off as the horror movie-fueled nightmares of a child, he wasn't about to give anyone else reasons to think he was just as crazy as Shiro or their father.
"Alright, you know you can talk to your brother, right? Shi-kun may be mean and loves to pick on others, but if it's something important, even if it's really nothing at all, he'll listen." Shun'ō had that strange tone again, the serious one that always made Tensa doubt whatever decision he had made. "You're family after all."
"Mmh…" He made a non-committal noise, finally rising from the bed to get ready for school.
"Well, best to get ready now, otherwise you'll really be late!"
"Well?"
The question came just as Shun'ō entered the kitchen, expression serious despite almost automatically being met with the scene of his brother being held in a headlock by the elder Kurosaki sibling, expression gleeful and merciless before his presence had been fully registered.
"He wouldn't talk to me about it, but then again I'm not you or Zangetsu-san." He answered, walking over to the table that sat in the center of the room and dutifully ignoring the poster that his friend's father had plastered onto the wall when they were younger and he just getting to know the siblings whose lives had been torn apart so quickly. He still sometimes couldn't believe that the seemingly crazed Shiro was the same lonely, overprotective child that had refused to let his baby brother more than five feet away from him at any given time, and wouldn't walk five inches from the side of his mother. The changes had been so drastic it almost didn't seem real, and it definitely did not make any sense.
"Shit…"
"Let go already, damn it! I can't breathe!"
"Hmm…? You say somethin', sorry couldn't hear ya over your own whining!"
"Why you little…"
"That's enough!" The two stopped just short of starting a brawl in the middle of the kitchen that would've surely left the room in ruins and made for a very difficult explanation to give the eldest sibling. "Shiro, let go of Tsubaki now."
"Aye-aye Captain." Tsubaki snorted at the comment, cut short from whatever sarcastic remark would've left his mouth as Shiro released his grip without warning, allowing the other to land on the floor in a reckless heap.
"Shiro…"
"What? I let him go!" The albino raised his hands, as if to say he was innocent of any and all wrong doings, and it was no fault of his if the elder twin got hurt. His expression mischievous in a way that only the owner could truly pull off, before it turned dead serious. "So he really didn't say anything?"
"No… And he wasn't willing to talk to me about the incident… Are you sure it was-?"
"How many creatures do you know of that wear bone white masks with holes in the center of their chests?"
"But still… We haven't had…"
"Are you both so sure it's a good idea to talk about this kind of stuff with Shiro's baby brother just up the stairs?" Said albino sighed at that, not able to deny or object with the amount of sense the comment made.
"Tsubaki's right. Now's not the time to be chattin' 'bout stuff like that." He conceded, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned into the fridge. "'Sides, right now we've got more stuff to worry 'bout. Zan-nii's not gonna be showin' up till the day after tomorrow and that's if we're lucky. I can tell ya right now Tensa's gonna notice his absence."
"No worries."
"Shun, what'd you tell 'em?"
"Nothing, but the truth."
"And that truth is?"
"That Zan-zan's out visiting a family friend. Of course I didn't say how long he'd be gone…" Shiro sighed, about to say more when they cut their were all forced to cut the conversation short as his younger brother finally joined them.
"Oh, good morning Inoue-san, Nii-san."
"Hmph...-Ow!"
"Be nice Tsubaki-nii…"
"'Mornin' squirt. Still dreamin' of masked monsters and ghost women?" The mentioning of the instant seemed to kill whatever good mood the youngest of the group might've been able to drag out between Shun'ō leaving him to get ready and him finally making it down the stairs, clad in the gray uniform of Mashiba Junior High. Shiro and his friends attended the local high school, but they would probably be adding the younger into their midst in a year or so if he so chose. It mattered very little at the moment though.
Now, Tensa looked angry, in that subtle way that his brothers and anyone else who knew him well enough could tell, and swore that only he could pull off. Shiro had liked to tease that he had inherited the expression from their stone-faced, aloof elder brother, but not even he could pull off the look. Now was not the time for teasing his brother about his varying expressions, or lack there might be of, they were all just short a few minutes of really needing to book it, and unfortunately Tensa would have to skip breakfast if they wanted to make it to class on time.
Regardless of how he might have acted towards the youngest sibling, he didn't like his baby brother skipping meals if it could be helped, and if Zangetsu had been present right at that moment, he'd be able to make them all sit down and have a proper breakfast. But their father had vanished sometime between his friends' first arrival and Shun'ō finally getting Tensa up for school, and the eldest sibling had made himself scarce sometime during the night. None of them could cook save for the eldest and youngest of the Kurosaki siblings, and Shun'ō if he ever felt up to the task or at the very least in the mood.
"I'm leaving." Tensa called from the door, voice strangely monotone as he fought with his own shoes to get them on his feet before he all but stumbled out of the front door and into the street. Shiro would've dismissed the lack of balance normally, if his little brother hadn't almost tripped and sent himself sprawling across the pavement. The pale eyed youth normally had more grace and balance than that.
"Whoa… Slow down there Ten… You ok?" Shiro called as he and his friends followed the other out the door, watching clear bewilderment as the younger stumbled to his feet.
"Yes… Why?"
"Well, normally you don't forget your jacket for one thing." Tensa looked back at him, clearly confused as Shiro held up the aforementioned article of clothing, a hooded, zipper-less jacket the color of a moonless night the younger had come home with one late afternoon out of the blue. For a few seconds there didn't seem to be any recognition in his younger brother's eyes, and Shiro was ready to drag him back inside and call their elder brother home from his little trip, when Tensa finally walked over to him and took the jacket from his hand, pulling it on before resuming his walk to school. "Are ya sure you're ok?"
"Mmh…" Tensa didn't respond immediately, giving him a noncommittal noise of sorts, before mumbling a response just loud enough for him to hear. "I'm fine… Just a little tired…"
"Tensa…"
"I said I'm fine!" Shiro visibly recoiled at the other snapping at him, expression clearly shocked at the sudden show of anger. If the albino bothered to look, he'd have seen both of his friend's with similar expressions.
"Little shit… I was just trying to be nice…"
"C'mon, we're gonna be late!" The three friends stared off at the suddenly volatile and bossy fourteen year old, expressions clearly confused and worried about the sudden shift in behavior.
"Shiro… What's gotten into your brother?"
"Yeah, he's not normally that pissy…"
"I'm not sure… But… I think Nii-san might have to come back early from that little visit of his…"
A/N. Well, that's that.
For those of you who are confused. I kind of traded Orihime out for two of her Shun Shun Rikka. I'll be honest with you guys. I thought long and hard about this. But the only way I could see this working is if I replaced Orihime with both Tsubaki and Shun'ō. Tsubaki's overly violent, and put that with Shiro, and I could only see it ending in disaster. And fire, lots of fire…
But if I only used Shun'ō, well it might've worked, but it just didn't seem like enough. And in my opinion the two make for the best character interactions when they're together, and add Shiro into the mix and magic.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again for reading. Please leave a review and tell me what you guys think! See ya!
Or something like that…
