~An American Miko~
Chapter Twenty-Five
Family, Love, & Closure
"Are you nervous?"
Nuriko looked over at her as they rode through the streets of the city in the fancy carriage. "Yes. I haven't seen my family for many years and we didn't part under the best terms."
Myst, who was sitting regally as she always did when she was being formal, smiled and nodded. "Yes I know. Perhaps today will help heal some of those wounds, or at least begin to heal them. I want to see you truly happy."
Nuriko closed his eyes and smiled slightly, not caring that the handmaidens were listening too. "Myst, since I've met you, I've been happy. Finally, I'm loved for all of me. My past, present, and even my future are highly valued and loved by you, His Majesty, and the other seishi. Not even my blood family can touch on that. There will always be that shadow around me in their eyes. The knowledge that at one point in time, I caused them dishonor. I am happy. With you, I will always be happy. You love so much, and you always see the good in people. I look up to you for that and I thank you for it."
Myst smiled and brushed her knuckles gently along his cheek. "Thank you for such kind words Nuriko. I love you. Always."
The carriage suddenly pulled to a stop. Myst pulled the curtain back a fraction to peak out. "We're here. Are you ready?"
Nuriko took a deep breath and nodded. He popped his head out the window and yelled, "My name is Chou Ryuen! I wish to have speech of my parents! Open the gate!"
The gate opened and the carriage crept in as Nuriko pulled his head back inside. They pulled to a stop and Nuriko opened the door to let the handmaidens out. He then stepped down the two steps to the ground just as an older man and woman came out of the main area of the house.
The man stepped forward almost aggressively. "Ryuen! What are you doing here? Are you here to dishonor us again?! Leave!"
Nuriko stood his ground. "No."
His mother spoke next. "How dare you disobey us again! I."
"Silence!" All eyes turned to the carriage door. "It is I who dare! Will you question me as well?!"
Nuriko held his hand up to her and she took it, looking at him with a smile as he helped her down the steps. He kissed her hand gently and knelt at her side.
She caressed his smooth cheek, then folded her hand into her sleeves in front of her and looked back at his gaping parents. She said quietly and in full Empress mode, "Do you know who I am?"
His parents and everyone else in the courtyard, including her own party, bowed. She nodded satisfied. "Nuriko."
"Yes my Empress?"
"Show me into your house to a place where we might sit my friend."
"Yes Empress." He stood and lead the way into the house.
She followed him past his parents and into the luxurious house. His parents rose and followed them as well. His father was the one that spoke. "Empress. To what do we own this unexpected honor? If. if you had wanted one of our sons to serve you, perhaps you would like our other son Rouko better. Ryuen has."
"Enough. Did I ask you to speak? And how dare you slander a chosen Seishi of Suzaku! He by far outranks you and you will give him the proper respect. Further more he is you son, and one of the most honorable men I know!"
Nuriko had shown her to the most comfortable cushion in the house and helped her to sit. He sat on the cushion to the right of her and her handmaidens stood behind them. Two of the guards stood behind them in the corners of the room while the other too stood on either side if the doorway.
Nuriko's mother spoke up. "Empress, if I may ask an impertinent question," Myst nodded. "why don't you have more guards with you? We had heard about the attempt on your life and that one of the seishi had been badly wounded and was close to death. Is that seishi all right?"
Myst nodded. "He is fully recovered now, and thank you for asking."
The woman beamed at the thanks and stuck her chest out in a decidedly snobbish manner. "That is good to hear. We can only hope that our wayward son my someday prove half that honorable."
Myst burst out into a scoffing laugh while the parents looked at her oddly. Myst settled down again and gave cold smile to them. "You must forgive me but I must laugh or I feel I shall vomit. My dear lady, your cynicism makes me sick. It is your son here who almost lost his life. Nuriko, please show them the scars if you wish."
Nuriko unhooked the collar of his robes and pulled the fabric down to show the two scars, so close to his heart, where the arrows had deeply pierced his chest.
Myst went on as she gently reached over and touched the scars with her fingertips and a haunted look in her eyes as she remembered his screams of pain. "He is my best friend, greatest confidant to both me and His Majesty, and is more than sufficient protection for me."
She took her hand back and allowed him to close the collar again as she looked back at his parents. "However, I do wish to speak with Rouko. The only reason I am here after all is so that Nuriko can see his beloved brother and ask him to live with us at the palace for a time. Please send for him immediately."
Nuriko mother began to stand. "I will get him myself."
"Please sit!" It was obviously an order despite the please.
The woman sat back down and Myst went on, still sitting strait and regally and speaking with a calm voice. "You have to understand, knowing about your past does not exactly make me trust you. I wish Rouko to choose on his own without your coercion."
The woman nodded and waved to one of the servants who scuttled off.
While they were waiting Nuriko and Myst spoke together softly. Nuriko leaned over and whispered something in Myst ear that made her burst out laughing. "Oh my! What did you do? They weren't going away so how did you get them off your tail?"
Nuriko smirked. "I threw a tree at them."
Nuriko's father spoke up at hearing this. "Ryuen! Forgive his lies Empress. He always told them when he was little and even lead his brother to believe it. I'm shocked that he would even utter these lies about this so called immense strength to someone such as you."
The Empress's eyes widened a little and looked at the father as she shook her head. "Lies? I'm shocked and dismayed at hear this."
The parents looked smug but Nuriko didn't even flinch as she continued. "Shocked and dismayed that you would not even believe your children, your own flesh and blood, even when it happened so much. Why would your children lie to you about something like that? Did he ever show you the mark that appears on his chest? Why would you not even believe your god Suzaku?"
"But, that is just a birthmark. It."
"Wrong!" She turned to Nuriko and caressed his cheek lovingly. "Nuriko, would you please demonstrate Little Love?"
Nuriko smiled at her and nodded. He got to his feet, looked around for a moment, then walked to a huge, carved, marble desk, grasped the corner with one hand and lifted it over his head as easily as if he were lifting a small plate.
His parents gaped at him as he put the desk gently back down and turned to them. Before Nuriko could speak a word though, another voice broke through the silence.
"Ryuen? Ryuen?! It is you! Ryuen!"
Nuriko looked up and met his brother halfway across the room in a hug. "Aniki! It's so good to see you! I've missed you."
Rouko, who was a darker-haired, bigger, blue-eyed, more masculine version of Nuriko, leaned back and looked down at his younger brother with tears in his expressive eyes. "I've missed you too. You look wonderful! Are you not cross-dressing any more?"
"Well, yes and no. Not much, but once in a while just for fun. Myst likes to dress me up like a doll sometimes, and then some times lets me pick out her clothes too. She's great at doing hair."
Rouko laughed but looked a little confused. "Myst? Who's Myst?"
Myst who had stood by now, walked over to the two. Rouko looked at her garb and immediately knew she was the Empress. He knelt swiftly, lowering his eyes respectfully.
Nuriko stood beside Myst with his small hand on her shoulder. "Aniki, this is Myst. The Empress Mistyc, my Miko, and my best friend."
Myst touched Rouko's head and fingered the covered bun he had his hair in. "I have heard much about you Rouko-San. I like what I have heard. Anyone who Nuriko loves so much, is a friend of mine as well. As Suzaku no Miko, I bless you. As Empress of all of Konan and as a friend, I ask you, for your brother's sake, to consider coming with us to live at the palace for as long as you'd like. You may come whenever you wish. Simply present this seal to the guards at the gate and tell them that you are the brother of Seishi Nuriko and that the Empress has asked you there." She handed him a gold and jade seal with carving of a ruby-eyed Suzaku in it. "Rise Rouko, and be welcome in my presence.
Rouko rose and looked at his Empress. "Empress, I. thank you. Thank you so much! I will come live with you! Thank you for taking care of my brother and for bringing him to see me. He was always so much stronger than myself. Even after Kourin, I never stopped loving him or believing in him. Even when my family beat him I believed in him, though I never had the strength to say it."
"Rouko!"
Myst flung an arm out at his parents and raised her voice a little. "Silence! How many times will you interrupt? They are both grown men and have full permission to say what they will to me. It matters not anyway. I know already how you beat him. How at times it was so bad that he could not even open his swollen eyes. How he could not lay down from the wounds on his back and chest, yet could not stand or kneel from where you took a lash to his legs."
The parents objected. "No Majesty!" "He has lied to you!"
Myst's voice finally rose to a full throated yell and the guards even took at step forward. "He has not! He has never once lied to me! Not once!"
Two of the guards stepped behind the parents and had them kneel, then moved back to their posts.
For once Myst said nothing about the guards forcefulness. "You show dishonor to yourself and your house. Your children however are not touched by this honor for I have seen the truth of their words and the strength of their hearts. Nuriko has never told me the details about it, but Suzaku had shown me everything about his past before Nuriko had ever spoken of it. I know personally of every single bruise and lash and open wound that you have ever put on his body. I have felt the pain as if it were my own."
Nuriko's quiet voice sounded from behind her. "M. Myst? He did? Why. why didn't you ever tell me? You. you saw all of it?" His voice cracked and shook as tears finally broke free from his eyes.
Myst turned and immediately took him into her arms. He leaned against her, held tightly in her arms to her, his face buried in her chest.
She rocked him slowly, not caring who saw or heard them. She spoke to him softly as she caressed the back of his head with one hand. "Shh. Yes Little Love. I saw. I know everything. You needed to talk about it freely though. Don't worry. I will never let anyone hurt you again. You are so special to me. You always have been and always will. Both Saihitei and I need you in every way. Even he says so with his own lips. You have filled our hearts and lives with such joy. You brought us new meaning. Your past has no influence on how we see you. We love you. I love you."
Nuriko sniffled and pulled back to look at her. "I love you too, Myst. Thank you. You have made me whole as well."
Myst smiled and gently wiped the tears from his pale cheeks. "Better now?"
Nuriko nodded and kissed her palm as it caressed his cheek.
She kissed his forehead then straitened back up. She turned and smiled at Rouko, who had a huge smile on his own face and happy tears in his eyes for his brothers happiness. "Well then Rouko-san, are you sure you want to come live with us? The decision is yours and yours alone. I.Aaahh!" She grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees.
Nuriko was on his own knees in front of her in less than a second. The guards and handmaidens closed around her as well.
Myst moaned and whimpered as she writhed in Nuriko's arms. Nuriko called out to her as he held her. "Myst! Mistyc! Empress! What is it? What's wrong?!"
Myst stiffened and gave one last cry, then went limp against his chest, in the circle of his arms.
"Myst!" Nuriko nearly panicked until he saw the feather in her hand. He sighed and shifted her so she was laying across his lap, but was still held against his chest. "She's all right. She just had a vision. A powerful one I would guess. They've never been this violent. Give her a few minuets." He brushed the beads of her headdress away from her face and caressed her cheek.
Rouko knelt in front of them and timidly took the Empress's hand into his. Nuriko looked up at his brother and smiled to show that it was okay and Myst would approve.
However their father suddenly stepped forward. "Rouko! You forget your place! How dare you touch the Empress when she is not aware!" His closed fist came down and he backhanded Rouko.
The young man was thrown back onto the floor with a small cry, where he lay moaning. His father towered over him to strike again, to take his frustration out on this excuse. He kicked Rouko hard in his exposed stomach. His hand was raised to strike again. He cried out though as his hand was grabbed roughly and twisted around behind his back. His eyes widened as he heard his youngest son effeminate voice behind him.
"Stop it now! He is favored by the Empress. You forget your place father!" He let go of him and the man swung around and landed a hard punch on Nuriko's pretty cheek.
The guards jumped to action and grabbed a hold of the enraged man. "How dare you lay a hand on Suzaku Seishi Nuriko-sama! Kneel! You too woman!" They forced the father to kneel and the mother knelt as well.
Nuriko stood above his father holding a hand to his swelling, red, and swiftly bruising cheek. "Yes father. You have forgotten your place." With that he turned away from him and went to his brother who was still laying as he had fallen. He reached down and pulled the shivering man into his arms. "Aniki, are you all right?"
Rouko opened his eyes and licked the blood from his split lip. "Yes. I just. just." He started crying again and Nuriko pulled him into a hug.
"It's all right Aniki. How often does he hit you?" He dabbed at his brother's bleeding lip with his silk sleeve.
Rouko wouldn't meet his eyes. "Often enough. It's gotten a lot worse over the past year before. This is nothing."
It was then that Nuriko noticed the feel of bandages under Rouko's robes and the bandages on his arms under his sleeves as well. The thin red stain that ran on the underneath side from wrist to elbow. 'Suzaku! He's tried to kill himself. Has it been that bad? Is father really that far gone? After I left, he must have turned on Aniki. My brother's not strong enough to deal with that! What was father thinking?!' Nuriko scowled. "Come live with us today Aniki. As soon as you get your things packed. We'll leave a guard here with you. Please Aniki. You can stay as long as you'd like. I've missed you my brother."
Rouko sat up, smiled and nodded. He put a hand to his little brother's shoulder. "I will. Thank you Ototo."
Nuriko smiled and nodded.
**********
A.N.: Yeah, yeah... I know I really bastardized Nuriko's parents, and they most likely really aren't that cruel or stupid, but they did try to beat him when he was little to make him stop cross-dressing. In that culture if someone cross-dressed, they would be killed, so it was better to beat them as see if they wake up, than to kill them. *shrugs* Eh. oh well. Next chapter's coming soon! Be ready na no da!!!!!
~Celesta Hellewise Harman
"Are you nervous?"
Nuriko looked over at her as they rode through the streets of the city in the fancy carriage. "Yes. I haven't seen my family for many years and we didn't part under the best terms."
Myst, who was sitting regally as she always did when she was being formal, smiled and nodded. "Yes I know. Perhaps today will help heal some of those wounds, or at least begin to heal them. I want to see you truly happy."
Nuriko closed his eyes and smiled slightly, not caring that the handmaidens were listening too. "Myst, since I've met you, I've been happy. Finally, I'm loved for all of me. My past, present, and even my future are highly valued and loved by you, His Majesty, and the other seishi. Not even my blood family can touch on that. There will always be that shadow around me in their eyes. The knowledge that at one point in time, I caused them dishonor. I am happy. With you, I will always be happy. You love so much, and you always see the good in people. I look up to you for that and I thank you for it."
Myst smiled and brushed her knuckles gently along his cheek. "Thank you for such kind words Nuriko. I love you. Always."
The carriage suddenly pulled to a stop. Myst pulled the curtain back a fraction to peak out. "We're here. Are you ready?"
Nuriko took a deep breath and nodded. He popped his head out the window and yelled, "My name is Chou Ryuen! I wish to have speech of my parents! Open the gate!"
The gate opened and the carriage crept in as Nuriko pulled his head back inside. They pulled to a stop and Nuriko opened the door to let the handmaidens out. He then stepped down the two steps to the ground just as an older man and woman came out of the main area of the house.
The man stepped forward almost aggressively. "Ryuen! What are you doing here? Are you here to dishonor us again?! Leave!"
Nuriko stood his ground. "No."
His mother spoke next. "How dare you disobey us again! I."
"Silence!" All eyes turned to the carriage door. "It is I who dare! Will you question me as well?!"
Nuriko held his hand up to her and she took it, looking at him with a smile as he helped her down the steps. He kissed her hand gently and knelt at her side.
She caressed his smooth cheek, then folded her hand into her sleeves in front of her and looked back at his gaping parents. She said quietly and in full Empress mode, "Do you know who I am?"
His parents and everyone else in the courtyard, including her own party, bowed. She nodded satisfied. "Nuriko."
"Yes my Empress?"
"Show me into your house to a place where we might sit my friend."
"Yes Empress." He stood and lead the way into the house.
She followed him past his parents and into the luxurious house. His parents rose and followed them as well. His father was the one that spoke. "Empress. To what do we own this unexpected honor? If. if you had wanted one of our sons to serve you, perhaps you would like our other son Rouko better. Ryuen has."
"Enough. Did I ask you to speak? And how dare you slander a chosen Seishi of Suzaku! He by far outranks you and you will give him the proper respect. Further more he is you son, and one of the most honorable men I know!"
Nuriko had shown her to the most comfortable cushion in the house and helped her to sit. He sat on the cushion to the right of her and her handmaidens stood behind them. Two of the guards stood behind them in the corners of the room while the other too stood on either side if the doorway.
Nuriko's mother spoke up. "Empress, if I may ask an impertinent question," Myst nodded. "why don't you have more guards with you? We had heard about the attempt on your life and that one of the seishi had been badly wounded and was close to death. Is that seishi all right?"
Myst nodded. "He is fully recovered now, and thank you for asking."
The woman beamed at the thanks and stuck her chest out in a decidedly snobbish manner. "That is good to hear. We can only hope that our wayward son my someday prove half that honorable."
Myst burst out into a scoffing laugh while the parents looked at her oddly. Myst settled down again and gave cold smile to them. "You must forgive me but I must laugh or I feel I shall vomit. My dear lady, your cynicism makes me sick. It is your son here who almost lost his life. Nuriko, please show them the scars if you wish."
Nuriko unhooked the collar of his robes and pulled the fabric down to show the two scars, so close to his heart, where the arrows had deeply pierced his chest.
Myst went on as she gently reached over and touched the scars with her fingertips and a haunted look in her eyes as she remembered his screams of pain. "He is my best friend, greatest confidant to both me and His Majesty, and is more than sufficient protection for me."
She took her hand back and allowed him to close the collar again as she looked back at his parents. "However, I do wish to speak with Rouko. The only reason I am here after all is so that Nuriko can see his beloved brother and ask him to live with us at the palace for a time. Please send for him immediately."
Nuriko mother began to stand. "I will get him myself."
"Please sit!" It was obviously an order despite the please.
The woman sat back down and Myst went on, still sitting strait and regally and speaking with a calm voice. "You have to understand, knowing about your past does not exactly make me trust you. I wish Rouko to choose on his own without your coercion."
The woman nodded and waved to one of the servants who scuttled off.
While they were waiting Nuriko and Myst spoke together softly. Nuriko leaned over and whispered something in Myst ear that made her burst out laughing. "Oh my! What did you do? They weren't going away so how did you get them off your tail?"
Nuriko smirked. "I threw a tree at them."
Nuriko's father spoke up at hearing this. "Ryuen! Forgive his lies Empress. He always told them when he was little and even lead his brother to believe it. I'm shocked that he would even utter these lies about this so called immense strength to someone such as you."
The Empress's eyes widened a little and looked at the father as she shook her head. "Lies? I'm shocked and dismayed at hear this."
The parents looked smug but Nuriko didn't even flinch as she continued. "Shocked and dismayed that you would not even believe your children, your own flesh and blood, even when it happened so much. Why would your children lie to you about something like that? Did he ever show you the mark that appears on his chest? Why would you not even believe your god Suzaku?"
"But, that is just a birthmark. It."
"Wrong!" She turned to Nuriko and caressed his cheek lovingly. "Nuriko, would you please demonstrate Little Love?"
Nuriko smiled at her and nodded. He got to his feet, looked around for a moment, then walked to a huge, carved, marble desk, grasped the corner with one hand and lifted it over his head as easily as if he were lifting a small plate.
His parents gaped at him as he put the desk gently back down and turned to them. Before Nuriko could speak a word though, another voice broke through the silence.
"Ryuen? Ryuen?! It is you! Ryuen!"
Nuriko looked up and met his brother halfway across the room in a hug. "Aniki! It's so good to see you! I've missed you."
Rouko, who was a darker-haired, bigger, blue-eyed, more masculine version of Nuriko, leaned back and looked down at his younger brother with tears in his expressive eyes. "I've missed you too. You look wonderful! Are you not cross-dressing any more?"
"Well, yes and no. Not much, but once in a while just for fun. Myst likes to dress me up like a doll sometimes, and then some times lets me pick out her clothes too. She's great at doing hair."
Rouko laughed but looked a little confused. "Myst? Who's Myst?"
Myst who had stood by now, walked over to the two. Rouko looked at her garb and immediately knew she was the Empress. He knelt swiftly, lowering his eyes respectfully.
Nuriko stood beside Myst with his small hand on her shoulder. "Aniki, this is Myst. The Empress Mistyc, my Miko, and my best friend."
Myst touched Rouko's head and fingered the covered bun he had his hair in. "I have heard much about you Rouko-San. I like what I have heard. Anyone who Nuriko loves so much, is a friend of mine as well. As Suzaku no Miko, I bless you. As Empress of all of Konan and as a friend, I ask you, for your brother's sake, to consider coming with us to live at the palace for as long as you'd like. You may come whenever you wish. Simply present this seal to the guards at the gate and tell them that you are the brother of Seishi Nuriko and that the Empress has asked you there." She handed him a gold and jade seal with carving of a ruby-eyed Suzaku in it. "Rise Rouko, and be welcome in my presence.
Rouko rose and looked at his Empress. "Empress, I. thank you. Thank you so much! I will come live with you! Thank you for taking care of my brother and for bringing him to see me. He was always so much stronger than myself. Even after Kourin, I never stopped loving him or believing in him. Even when my family beat him I believed in him, though I never had the strength to say it."
"Rouko!"
Myst flung an arm out at his parents and raised her voice a little. "Silence! How many times will you interrupt? They are both grown men and have full permission to say what they will to me. It matters not anyway. I know already how you beat him. How at times it was so bad that he could not even open his swollen eyes. How he could not lay down from the wounds on his back and chest, yet could not stand or kneel from where you took a lash to his legs."
The parents objected. "No Majesty!" "He has lied to you!"
Myst's voice finally rose to a full throated yell and the guards even took at step forward. "He has not! He has never once lied to me! Not once!"
Two of the guards stepped behind the parents and had them kneel, then moved back to their posts.
For once Myst said nothing about the guards forcefulness. "You show dishonor to yourself and your house. Your children however are not touched by this honor for I have seen the truth of their words and the strength of their hearts. Nuriko has never told me the details about it, but Suzaku had shown me everything about his past before Nuriko had ever spoken of it. I know personally of every single bruise and lash and open wound that you have ever put on his body. I have felt the pain as if it were my own."
Nuriko's quiet voice sounded from behind her. "M. Myst? He did? Why. why didn't you ever tell me? You. you saw all of it?" His voice cracked and shook as tears finally broke free from his eyes.
Myst turned and immediately took him into her arms. He leaned against her, held tightly in her arms to her, his face buried in her chest.
She rocked him slowly, not caring who saw or heard them. She spoke to him softly as she caressed the back of his head with one hand. "Shh. Yes Little Love. I saw. I know everything. You needed to talk about it freely though. Don't worry. I will never let anyone hurt you again. You are so special to me. You always have been and always will. Both Saihitei and I need you in every way. Even he says so with his own lips. You have filled our hearts and lives with such joy. You brought us new meaning. Your past has no influence on how we see you. We love you. I love you."
Nuriko sniffled and pulled back to look at her. "I love you too, Myst. Thank you. You have made me whole as well."
Myst smiled and gently wiped the tears from his pale cheeks. "Better now?"
Nuriko nodded and kissed her palm as it caressed his cheek.
She kissed his forehead then straitened back up. She turned and smiled at Rouko, who had a huge smile on his own face and happy tears in his eyes for his brothers happiness. "Well then Rouko-san, are you sure you want to come live with us? The decision is yours and yours alone. I.Aaahh!" She grabbed her head and collapsed to her knees.
Nuriko was on his own knees in front of her in less than a second. The guards and handmaidens closed around her as well.
Myst moaned and whimpered as she writhed in Nuriko's arms. Nuriko called out to her as he held her. "Myst! Mistyc! Empress! What is it? What's wrong?!"
Myst stiffened and gave one last cry, then went limp against his chest, in the circle of his arms.
"Myst!" Nuriko nearly panicked until he saw the feather in her hand. He sighed and shifted her so she was laying across his lap, but was still held against his chest. "She's all right. She just had a vision. A powerful one I would guess. They've never been this violent. Give her a few minuets." He brushed the beads of her headdress away from her face and caressed her cheek.
Rouko knelt in front of them and timidly took the Empress's hand into his. Nuriko looked up at his brother and smiled to show that it was okay and Myst would approve.
However their father suddenly stepped forward. "Rouko! You forget your place! How dare you touch the Empress when she is not aware!" His closed fist came down and he backhanded Rouko.
The young man was thrown back onto the floor with a small cry, where he lay moaning. His father towered over him to strike again, to take his frustration out on this excuse. He kicked Rouko hard in his exposed stomach. His hand was raised to strike again. He cried out though as his hand was grabbed roughly and twisted around behind his back. His eyes widened as he heard his youngest son effeminate voice behind him.
"Stop it now! He is favored by the Empress. You forget your place father!" He let go of him and the man swung around and landed a hard punch on Nuriko's pretty cheek.
The guards jumped to action and grabbed a hold of the enraged man. "How dare you lay a hand on Suzaku Seishi Nuriko-sama! Kneel! You too woman!" They forced the father to kneel and the mother knelt as well.
Nuriko stood above his father holding a hand to his swelling, red, and swiftly bruising cheek. "Yes father. You have forgotten your place." With that he turned away from him and went to his brother who was still laying as he had fallen. He reached down and pulled the shivering man into his arms. "Aniki, are you all right?"
Rouko opened his eyes and licked the blood from his split lip. "Yes. I just. just." He started crying again and Nuriko pulled him into a hug.
"It's all right Aniki. How often does he hit you?" He dabbed at his brother's bleeding lip with his silk sleeve.
Rouko wouldn't meet his eyes. "Often enough. It's gotten a lot worse over the past year before. This is nothing."
It was then that Nuriko noticed the feel of bandages under Rouko's robes and the bandages on his arms under his sleeves as well. The thin red stain that ran on the underneath side from wrist to elbow. 'Suzaku! He's tried to kill himself. Has it been that bad? Is father really that far gone? After I left, he must have turned on Aniki. My brother's not strong enough to deal with that! What was father thinking?!' Nuriko scowled. "Come live with us today Aniki. As soon as you get your things packed. We'll leave a guard here with you. Please Aniki. You can stay as long as you'd like. I've missed you my brother."
Rouko sat up, smiled and nodded. He put a hand to his little brother's shoulder. "I will. Thank you Ototo."
Nuriko smiled and nodded.
**********
A.N.: Yeah, yeah... I know I really bastardized Nuriko's parents, and they most likely really aren't that cruel or stupid, but they did try to beat him when he was little to make him stop cross-dressing. In that culture if someone cross-dressed, they would be killed, so it was better to beat them as see if they wake up, than to kill them. *shrugs* Eh. oh well. Next chapter's coming soon! Be ready na no da!!!!!
~Celesta Hellewise Harman