(OC Alert!)

Brothers

Two – Mistakes

What does it mean to be a brother?

I thought I knew, once, but just wanting someone to be your brother doesn't make it true.

When we were kids, we didn't get to spend all that much time together, since we lived in different cities. The only time we had was during school breaks – but we made it count. We did everything together, from board games to hide-and-seek to telling scary stories. He always had the best stories – the only ones that could make me really, truly scared – but I made up for it by finding the best hiding places.

Even when we hung out with our friends, it was always the two of us together – inseparable. The twins, everyone called us.

And I believed it.

Now…I don't know. I hardly know him anymore. He changed when Grandma died, withdrew into himself; stopped laughing the way he used to.

He stopped being my brother.

Maybe he never was. Being a brother for two or three weeks out of the year is one thing, but being a brother full-time…I don't know if that's possible. Maybe it's something you just have to be born to.

That's the worst part, I guess – not knowing why he changed, or whether he was pretending from the beginning. There was a time where I would have sworn on my life what we shared was real.

Maybe I've changed, too.

Sometimes I wish I had a brother – a real brother – someone who couldn't up and decide to turn his back on me. Sometimes I think I would be happier that way, if I could have enjoyed his company every day instead of just occasionally.

But if I had a brother, would I have been as close to my cousin as I was? We may have lost what we had, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. To wish that we'd never been that close would be a betrayal, and I can't betray him, even if he already betrayed me.

It's been three years now, and it still hurts when he ignores me. I avoid him when I can, spend all my time with my other friends, but my dad doesn't approve, and sometimes I get stuck with my cousin. I don't know why our parents bother anymore. Neither of us wants to be together, and if they keep trying to force it, we're only going to get into a fight.

But you can bet I won't be the one to start it. Let Naoko stoop to speaking to me. Let him be the one to disappoint his parents. Let him be the one who finally kills whatever remains of our former friendship. I'm not letting him blame me for what he did.

After all, I didn't choose to stop being his brother.

You asked me what it means to be a brother, and I'm not sure I can answer. Maybe there's nothing special about a brother. Maybe all it is, is a definition, a word to describe the blood you share. Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with a bond.

Or maybe I just don't understand.

Jomei Minamoto, 12 years old

(Another OC from ATTWT: Redux, and the Warrior of Earth.)