A/N: Sorry for the lateness. Completely forgot about last weeks update and was busy with Death Note this week.

At this rate I'm going to run out of backlogs. *sigh*.

Oh yes, for those of who who haven't seen this before, it was moved over from the crossover section from the suggestion of a few reviewers.

The Curse of the Cat

061. Sigh

Tommy was surprised when his brother offered to take him out for ice-cream on their day off, but did not refuse. But when Yutaka brought him his favourite (honeycomb and chocolate chip), he was starting to wonder why.

Normally, Yutaka refrained from hanging out with him, not insisting.

Yutaka just licked away at his own green tea cone as Tommy stared at him, but when all he had all but polished off his cone and his little brother's was melting over his fingers, he sighed.

'You do have to ask questions to get answers.'

062. Fingertips

Now that was more like the Yutaka Tommy was used to.

'Why did you bring me out for ice cream?' Tommy asked.

'It's hot,' the elder brother responded, taking a drink of water to wash down the sweetness. That was a disadvantage of ice cream; they had the unfortunate nature of making their enjoyer thirsty as well as cool.

Tommy licked at his fingertips before the honey dribbled onto his shirt and the bees followed him home. After all, it was bad enough with flies buzzing about the place and being attracted to any hot and sweaty body outdoors. 'You know that's not what I mean,' he grumbled finally. 'You normally don't like going places wit me.'

'That's because you're normally acting bratty,' Yutaka responded calmly. 'And don't look at me like that. You know it's true…and I'm well aware "bratty" is not a real word.'

Tommy shut his mouth and looked away for a moment.

'So what changed?' he asked quietly.

Yutaka just shrugged. 'Beats me. You're the one who should have the answer to that.'

He started off, and Tommy jumped up to follow.

'What do you mean?'

Yutaka shrugged again. 'You just look different is all. I don't know why.'

063. Waiting

Katsuharu crossed his arms impatiently. Teppei was late, as usual, and so he was left waiting under the burning sun for him.

Not that home was any better, with his siblings running around like they owned the place and his mother never noticing whenever he walked in or out of the place.

Tap, tap – his foot mirrored his impatience, even as sweat trickled down the back of his neck.

064. Playboy

Ten minutes later, Katsuharu was redder than he should have been, even with the weather. He decided Teppei had been surprisingly clever in his little prank; how could he not even realise where he was standing?

And what store owner put magazines for teens at the very worst out where kids could see them anyway?

Grumbling, he continued along. Forget Teppei; it was his fault anyway.

In the next street, he spied somebody who could vastly improve his mood.

065. Revenge

Tommy was surprised, to say the least, when Katsuharu suddenly popped up in front of him. Actually, he was more than surprised; a mix of shocked, frightened and somehow with jelly courage would have been a more accurate description for him.

Yutaka was also surprised, but it was mostly because of the falsetto friendliness the newcomer projected.

'So, who's this?' the boy asked. 'Your big brother?'

'Y-yes.' Tommy didn't quite succeed in keeping the stutter out of his voice.

Yutaka said nothing.

'How about you hang out with me some?'

The underlining tone was unmistakable, but Tommy gulped a little and shook his head. 'No thanks.'

'No?' the other repeated. 'I thought you'd love to hang out with me?'

'I'm hanging out with my brother,' the younger Himi pointed out reasonably, a little calmer now that he had gotten the hard bit out of the way. Of course, his knees disagreed and he was sure both Katsuharu and Yutaka could see them shaking. Then, before his tongue decided to follow suit, he asked a question the other's words piqued. 'Why do you need to ask?'

Before the other could come up with a suitable answer, Yutaka's hand was firmly on his little brother's shoulder. 'If you force people to do things,' he explained. 'Whether by frightening them or by any other means, it has no value in the end.'

And then he was leading Tommy away, towards the direction of home and away from the boy which could only be a poor bully.