"Put me down or you'll regret it," Fuu warned his brother, stretching his arms out. If only he could reach one of the sticks they left on the ground, he would show Sou that he wasn't to be messed with.
Sou huffed out a laugh.
Fuu gave up on a weapon when Sou stepped off the grass and moved onto a dirt road. "I'll put bugs in your pillow," he threatened.
"Thanks for the warning," Sou said pleasantly.
Fuu clenched his fists. He kicked and punched at Sou's legs. When that didn't work, he decided to play dead. If Sou thought something was wrong, he would put him down. Then he could make his escape.
He counted to sixty. Fuu peeked, but Sou wasn't even looking at him. "I'm dying, Sou! Do something!" he choked, grabbing at his throat.
"You know, dying people don't usually announce that they're dying," Sou said.
Fuu dropped his hands. He sighed loudly, but Sou still didn't look at him. He glanced down, searching for the weapons pouch strapped to his side. It was just his luck that it wasn't there. He glanced at the tear in Sou's pants, right over his knee.
"What was your mission like?" he asked.
Sou sucked in. "Why?" he asked, glancing down at him. He raised an eyebrow. "Worried about me?"
Fuu looked away. "Never!"
"Well, it was…" Sou stopped walking, and Fuu watched him shake his head hard. "I just got back," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "I'll tell you about it later, okay?"
Sou stared off to the side, avoiding his gaze. Fuu knew he wouldn't. He looked at the hole in his pants again and decided to drop it. Sou started walking again.
"I'll call in backup if you don't let go," Fuu warned him, trying to get back to before he asked about the mission.
"I'm waiting," Sou said, looking down at him.
Fuu looked away from him, fighting off a smile. He could hear whispers of conversation rising around him as they entered the market. Stalls lined the road, some covered with cloth or tarps protecting fruits from the heat, while others were selling small bones that were supposed to bring good luck or twine bracelets with charms on them, brought from other villages. Fuu recognized most of the people gathered to look at what was being offered, but a few men with brown or black hair mingled around, standing out among all the red.
Foreigners. Sou didn't like him calling them that, but all the other kids at the Academy did. They weren't really foreigners. Uzu rarely got visitors from across the water. The whirlpools were too dangerous to cross if one didn't know how to navigate them and not worth the effort. They lived on the other side of the island. His clan was the biggest, but not the only ones in Uzu. Every once in a while the smaller clans came out of their pocket of the island to look at what vendors brought from overseas, or talk to Elder Hama.
But mostly, they kept to themselves.
Fuu wanted to stare at a dark-haired man hovering in front of a stand with fresh tomatoes, but if Sou caught him he would tell, and he already knew the lecture he would get from that by heart. He released a long breath, but of course was ignored.
Craning his neck, Fuu caught a glimpse of Ki on Sou's other side. Sou's hand was on his shoulder, keeping him close as he navigated around the small crowd. Ki's eyes were still closed, one hand clinging to Sou's jacket. Ki was his best friend, but he was hard to understand sometimes. Like earlier. He seemed sad, but Fuu couldn't figure out why.
Fuu stroked his chin. "Why does chakra bother Ki so much?"
"I'm right here," Ki muttered.
Sou paused. "It's complicated."
"I know the pathways in his eyes are overdeveloped, but how did they get that way-" He stopped at Sou's look.
"And how do you know that?" his brother asked carefully.
Fuu swallowed. "It was an accident!" He pressed his hands together, bowing his head. "You and Ma were talking about it when you thought I was asleep and I thought I heard something downstairs and I had to check it out in case someone was breaking in and-"
"You mean you got out of bed to listen in?"
Fuu shook his head back and forth. "No, that's not what happened at all!"
Sou ducked under the curtain of a shop, his sandals clicking against the tile. Part of a light brown table came into view before Fuu was unceremoniously tossed onto a seat. He grunted as he landed stomach first, wrapping his arms around himself. "I thought we were brothers," he wheezed as Ki took a seat next to him.
Sou waved this away. "Brothers don't spy on brothers."
"Maybe if you were a better shinobi, you would've noticed."
Halfway across the room, Sou stopped. Ki was already scooting away when Sou pounced on Fuu, forcing him onto his back so he could be tickled to death. He laughed until he couldn't breathe, but Sou didn't let up.
"What was that?"
Fuu gasped for air, shoving at the fingers against his side. "I take it back!" he yelped, squirming. "You're the best shinobi on the island. Just stop!"
"Aww, look at my boys!"
Sou glanced back and quickly got off. Fuu sucked in sweet oxygen, groaning. He glared at Ki. "Why didn't you help me?"
"Help you what?" Ki asked innocently.
Fuu pushed himself up, clutching his stomach. "We could've taken him together," he insisted.
Ki eyed Sou's back. He shook his head. "You should've called your backup for help," he said, propping an elbow on the table. "I wasn't going down with you."
Fuu shook his fist at Sou's back. "Vengeance will be swift," he whispered.
"You closed the shop?" Sou asked.
"Course I did!" Ma said, squeezing his arms. "I haven't seen you in three months, Sou. I think our customers can understand wanting a little family time. And if they can't? Too bad. They'll survive a day without me."
"When's Pa supposed to come back?"
Ma's grip tightened on him, even as she smiled. "Soon, I hope," she let go, patting him. "Go get changed, Sou. We'll talk later,"
Fuu frowned when she shot them a brief glance. "We're old enough to hear this stuff," he muttered.
Ki shrugged. "Ask one of your Academy friends if they know what's going on."
Fuu slammed his fist against his palm. "Great idea! Someone has to know, right?"
Ki yawned in response.
"Sleepy?" Fuu asked him.
Ki shook his head, "Watching you makes me tired."
Fuu blinked, not sure what he meant. Before he could ask, Ma was there, standing over them with her hands on her hip. "And what do we have here?" She grinned. "Does Utsumi know you're here, little Ki?"
Ki closed his eyes and didn't answer.
Her grin widened. She bent to ruffle his hair, ignoring his noises of complaint and half-hearted swats. "You're as much of a rebel as I was at your age," she winked. "Don't ever change." She straightened, and Fuu held up his hands when she turned to him.
"Ma, wait-!"
She kissed both his cheeks. "You're never too old to be loved by your mother, sweet boy."
Fuu flushed as she pulled away, wiping his cheeks with his sleeve. "Not in front of my friends," he mumbled. He was too embarrassed to look at Ki.
She laughed. "Ki's family. He doesn't count." She smiled and turned away, whistling as she disappeared behind the back counter. "So, what do you boys want for dinner? Grilled mackerel, or yakisoba chicken?"
Fuu leaned over the table, eyes wide. "Mackerel?"
"Why not? It's a special occasion!" She poked her head out. "What do you say, Ki?"
Fuu grabbed him by the shoulders. "I'll do anything," he said seriously. "Anything you want, Ki."
Ki pushed him away. He closed his eyes again. "Mackerel."
Fuu cheered.
. . .
Fuu groaned. "It's so good. But I don't think I can eat anymore," he said, reluctantly putting his chopsticks down next to his half-finished plate. His third plate. He fell back, spreading his arms out.
He could hear Sou laughing. His brother hadn't eaten much. Fuu tried not to pay attention to it, but it was hard when even Ki ate more than him. Whatever happened on that mission, it ruined his appetite.
"You plan on hiding out here for the night, Ki?" Ma asked. "I won't kick you out if you don't want to go, but you know Utsumi will tear Uzu apart looking for you."
Fuu could see her pointing a pair of chopsticks at him. He turned his head. Ki was curled up next to him, his eyes squeezed shut. For all the begging Fuu had to do to get him to agree, he sure ate a lot of it.
He glanced over as Sou stood up. A good chunk of mackerel was still on his plate. "I brought him here, so I'll take him back," he announced.
Ma glanced at his plate, lips curling into a frown.
Fuu made himself sit up, holding onto the table. "I'm coming," he said, even as his stomach gurgled in disagreement.
"I didn't cook all that for you to go and make yourself sick. You can either stay right there or go up to your room, but you're not leaving this shop."
"But Ki ate as much as I did!" Fuu protested.
"If he vomits, that's Utsumi's problem. If you vomit, it's my problem." Ma said, snapping her chopsticks at him.
"Don't want to go," Ki spoke up, his voice barely above a mumble.
Ma paused, looking at him. "If he wants to stay, he stays." She stood and cleared the plates. Her fingers hovered over Sou's for a few seconds before she picked it up. "If I'm not here in the morning, assume your Aunt fed my body to the whirlpools."
A/N: I have no real excuse for why I was gone for so long. But I'm not abandoning this.
Fate-Breaker by Face The Stars