Kyodai --- Brothers --- Chapter One

With a quality of stealth he never knew he had, Outa quickly ran from one small window to another, peering carefully behind the woven grass blinds, his eyes huge in wariness and excitement.  Uki was nowhere to be found.  Out in the fields, he could see his father, back bent to the task of tending to the growing daikon.

Satisfied he would not be disturbed, he ran to the small wooden chest that held his sister's treasures.  They were pitifully few, mostly the few things their mother's death passed into Uki's possession by virtue of being the only daughter, but the fact she had been his mother, too, did not alter the wrongness of what he was about to do.  Outa carefully lifted the lid and quickly found the sole reason for his indiscretion.

Holding the tiny mirror up, he looked closely at his own reflection.  Short fingers combed through his brown hair and pulled upward, stopping just short of the strands slipping through.

Otosan had told him… about the stranger with the symbol for 'bad' loudly proclaimed on his back; his blood red headband the only color, contrasting sharply with the white of the gi and wrappings.  The tall, spike-haired fighter who had come from out of nowhere to protect them was his brother.

Sanosuke… oniisan…

Outa let the hair fall back into place and continued to gaze into the mirror.  He loved Uki.  She was more than his sister.  She was the mother he had never truly known, and with their father, he had been happy to bask in their attention.  Not so much as the teasing and jeering from the other village children could free him from his cocoon of contentment. Only the stinging words of reprisal from a hero-turned-brother had been able to shake him loose from false illusion.

A shadow fell across the floor beside Outa.

"I hate to think what onesan is going to do when she finds out you've been into her things."

Outa could not say what frightened him most… the sudden appearance of his father or the potential wrath of his elder sister.  Fear of either did not trouble him so much as what his oniisan thought of him.

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Uki stood in the doorway, drying her hands on an apron.  "What's got into Outa?  When did he decide to become a farmer?"

In the distant field beyond, Outa could be seen amidst the dark green of the daikon.  His actions were uncoordinated and graceless, mimicking what he had seen his father and the other farmers doing for longer than he could remember, but no one… certainly not his father… could fault him for his determination.

"I don't think it's a matter of deciding to become a farmer," Higashidani informed his daughter as he sat grinding the edge of his hoe.  He looked up to watch his youngest son, feeling a pang of loss.  "He wants to be stronger."

"Stronger?  But he's only six years old!"

"He's a boy.  And he's a Higashidani."

"Oh, no, otosan… no, you don't!"  Uki pulled the apron from around her waist and tossed it into the house.  She started for the field only to feel herself jerked back by the hold of her father's strong hand on her arm.

"Uki, listen… "

"No!  That's a baby out there!  He doesn't need to be wearing himself out and die young!"

"That's the point I want to make!"

"So let go of me and let me talk some sense into him!" When her arm was not released, understanding dawned as she looked at the pained look in the strong face.  "That trip you made a couple of weeks ago… this has something to do with Sanosuke, doesn't it."

Higashidani pulled on his daughter's arm, urging Uki to sit beside him.  She resisted… just like her mother, Higashidani thought to himself.  No… just like him, once he thought a little longer, and realized the girl was growing up to be nothing like Naname at all.  There was nothing reserved or withdrawn about Uki.  She was independent and tough, full of fighting spirit like her father… like the elder brother she had once adored.  He held no fears where she was concerned.

About Outa, however… his youngest had never had a chance to prove his bloodline.  He never would if Higashidani didn't do something about it now.

Uki had had no choice, forced to act as a mother and desperate to prevent the past from ever happening again.  Sanosuke had never been under her control, free to walk out of her life and break her heart.  She couldn't help being determined to make certain Outa never would.

And he wouldn't.  This time it would be her father who would break her heart and leave her bereft.

"Uki… I'm sending Outa to Sanosuke."

"Otosan!  You can't!"  Uki pulled with all her strength, reaction making her stronger.  "Sanosuke's a kenkaya!  He knows nothing about raising a child!"  She slapped at the hand grasping her tightly, pounding on the thick forearm.  "Otosan, no!  He's just a little boy!"

Prepared for her fight, Higashidani stood and picked Uki up.  He stepped into the small house, set her down roughly, and dropped the grass shade over the doorway with a quick tug.

"Yes!  He's a little boy!  Little boys need men to guide them if they're to become men themselves!"  He saw Uki valiantly struggle to keep her tears of anger from falling, wished he could just take her in his arms and comfort her, but that had never been the way to deal with her.  "Uki, I'm too busy to give him what he needs."

"That's no reason to send him to Tokyo… into a world that'll get him killed quicker than the fields!  Kami-sama, otosan!  The streets?  You're condemning Outa to misery!"

"No, Uki," Higashidani sadly replied.  "Keeping him here would be condemning him.  There's no future here if he stays."

"Where's food going to come from if not by the hands of farmers?  How can you say that?"

"Things are changing, Uki.  Outa has choices I… or even you and Sanosuke… never had.  Being a farmer may not be what's best for him.  Even if he does decide to work the land, it won't be done the same way.  He needs an education.  He needs the opportunities waiting for him in Tokyo."

"With a street fighter… a man who makes his living beating up people?"

"That's not what Sanosuke does, Uki… at least, not anymore.  He's not what you think."

Uki stared at her father, disbelieving.  Heavy tears dropped and burned a path down her cheeks.  She nodded her head with the certain thought in her head, that her father would naturally forgive the prodigal eldest son of all wrongs, proud, stupid man that he was.

"You've always been thick-headed, otosan, but I never thought you were a fool."

Higashidani watched his little girl storm out of the house.  He had been unable to prevent fate from being cruel to her or to Sanosuke.  Outa was still young… young enough for him to intervene.  There really was no other choice.

For now, it was best to let Uki run, let her cry… no choice there, either.  Eventually, she would find her way home, tears dried, heart hardened against him.  One day, she might understand.

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Footnotes:  Family relationships made even more complex:  otosan = father; oniisan = older brother; ototo = younger brother; onesan = older sister; imoto = younger sister.  Remember that?

My other story, "Seishunjidai no Tsuma," depends on information that I have to wade through and sometimes ask others for clarifications (which is what has happened with the next chapter), so this one keeps me occupied in those in-between times.  I have always wanted to write a story about Sanosuke and Outa.

Mibu no Ame