Jealousy

By: Asagi Tsuki

Asagi: hiya, the next chapter is up

Byaku Ogami: and you all will have to tolerate with her screwed up mind again

Asagi: please don't mind him, he's having his period

Byaku Ogami: can I?

Asagi: why not?

Byaku Ogami: rolls eyes stupid master

Asagi: anyway, say the disclaimer Byaku!

Byaku Ogami: why do you always call me Byaku?

Asagi: because it feels like calling you Byakko

Byaku Ogami: whatever. Anyway, she doesn't own Tactics, if she does, I don't know what this world will turn into

Asagi: Byaku, I don't ask you to add that. Anyway, onto the story

Chapter Two -– It's a Brother?

Two girls were sitting on the wooden floor of the outlines of the house. They were at the back garden, staring intensely at the fish pond over because they found nothing more interesting than that. It had been a good ten minutes after they both had entered the study only to be confronted by a brooding black haired man, and they hadn't talked even once.

"Youko-san," one of the two girls, the girl with short fair brown hair, finally started, getting annoyed by the silence. "What happened to Haruka-san?" she asked, as if she didn't know the obvious. Of course she knew the aforementioned Haruka, the certain brooding black haired man, was having a bad mood, but she didn't want to admit that she knew the cause.

"Well, you know, he has been unhappy since Maki-san come here," Youko, the second girl, the girl with shoulder length dark brown hair who is actually a fox demon, answered simply. "Did you see a lady with long silver hair walking with Kan-chan on your way here, Suzu-chan?" she asked.

"Yeah, I met them," Suzu nodded her head. She remembered the way the lady smiled. It was very sweet, yet unladylike. She couldn't tell why she could tell, but she could tell. "The one with pretty face, but cool at the same time," she commented further, "She's strange, but kind enough, she even asks me to go with them to the tea shop," she finished.

"Yeah, pretty and cool," Youko nodded her head, a grin started to spread on her features, "Hey, you do know why Haruka-san is brooding, right?" she asked the little girl who merely nodded, even though involuntarily since it wasn't because of her, "Well then, let's play matchmaker, are you up to it?" she asked.

"Match…maker?" Suzu asked unsurely. Of course she knew what it meant, she wasn't dumb, but she was debating with her other self whether she should took the offer or not. Of course, it could be fun to match make other person, but not when the person is your own crush.

"Yes, if you're up to it, I'll tell you who Maki-san is and what we're up to," Youko grinned a fox-ish grin. It had been long since she last grinned like that. The thought alone already made her want to smile, or grin, or maybe smirk. She couldn't tell what the exact thing would cause her.

Suzu contemplated for a short while. Did she really love Haruka that much to the point that she would forfeit her own happiness for his happiness? She had never thought of that before, and she wasn't even recognizing those soft gazes Haruka directed at his master almost all the time.

"All right," she agreed. She decided that it will be better if Haruka is happy. Even if she forced her love to him, he wouldn't be happy, and it would make her unhappy as well. And anyway, she wanted to know how he will react when he knew it was their schemes. Not that he would get angry to the point where he would kill them.

"Okay, first, let's start with who is Maki-san," Youko started, shoving her kimono sleeve upwards a bit, "You do feel that she has boyish features in her, no?" she asked in a manner that Suzu didn't think she could. It was as if she came from the era before the Meiji restoration or something. The way she spoke was old-fashioned.

"Yes," Suzu nodded in answer. She felt that the so-called Maki looked like a boy. Her face is pretty but cool, her hair is long, but not like the other girl's. Her smile is sweet, but it doesn't look like a girl's smile. It looked more like a boy's gentle smile. "Everything she has looks like a boy's," she added.

"That's right," Youko nodded, "And that's because she's actually a guy," she started, "She, or should I say he, is born with the name Ichinomiya Makoto, does that ring a bell?" she asked the little girl who looked like she was deep in thought for some time, before realization struck her like a lightning.

"Does that mean he's Kantarou's relative?" Suzu asked. She wasn't sure yet, so she couldn't be specific. She knew that Makoto couldn't be his cousin, since they look almost alike. What with the ruby eyes and the silver hair. They got to be siblings at least. "I mean, his sibling," she added after she had come to the conclusion.

"Yes, precisely, he's Kan-chan's older brother," Youko nodded her head. She was proud of Suzu's deductive skills, but if she was given that much clue, she must know who he is, otherwise, she's dumb or something. "He's been standing up for Kan-chan and has always supported Kan-chan in his search for the demon-eater," she explained.

"Standing up?" Suzu asked. She didn't know anything about Kantarou's past, so she didn't know about this. She didn't even know that Kantarou had been searching for the demon eater for years. All she knew was Kantarou is living under the same roof with Youko and Haruka.

"Yes," Youko nodded, a serious expression crossed her face as she remembered what Kantarou had told her, "He was always bullied by the other kids because he has strong connection with the spirit world," she explained, "And that happens to Makoto-san as well, being the future successor of the shrine and all," she added with a sigh.

"And every time Kantarou gets bullied, Makoto-san will always stand up for him?" Suzu asked. She received a nod as a reply from the fox demon, and so, she continued. "And, what about the shrine? I haven't seen him in any of the shrines near here," she asked again, out of curiosity.

"I suppose you haven't," Youko said, "He had been running the shrine at the isolated part of the town, although nearby" she explained, "Though the shrine is quite famous for the shaman, I mean, Makoto-san, it's a bit too isolated –it's in the middle of a dense forest- and people don't usually go there," she finished with a sigh. "Life's harsh," she added jokingly.

"Oh, I've heard of it," Suzu exclaimed suddenly. She remembered her father telling her about a famous shrine in the forest near the mountain that is situated in the town. He had visited it regularly to pay respect to their ancestors' spirits through the shaman in the shrine. "My father often visits it," she added.

"Anyway, Makoto-san is a shaman, he can call a spirit from the dead world and bring it here," Youko explained, "He has been tending to the shrine whenever there's a festival, and he also takes care of the beings there," she stopped for a while, trying to remember what else had Makoto told her, "Oh, and he's now taking a break since the surroundings of the shrine is going to be replanted, or something," she added.

"And? Where is he going to stay at?" Suzu asked. "He can stay with me, my father won't mind," she offered, knowing full well that her father would be very happy instead at the presence of the shaman who had been helping him for these past years. "Or is he going to stay here?" she asked.

"I don't know yet, I think he's going to talk about it with Kan-chan first," Youko answered as she shrugged, "I don't think he would want to be a bother, since he told me that he would be working part time somewhere and so, he wouldn't be able to help us with the matchmaking attempts all the time," she told the young girl.

"Working part time? Where?" Suzu asked, again, out of curiosity. Maybe, just maybe, he would be working at a tea shop or something as a maid. That would be just fine. Or maybe a model? Why not? He would make a perfect model. At least in her opinion. It wasn't like he has a bad look or something.

"Well, he said something about being a fortune teller or something, but I'm not quite sure," Youko narrowed her eyes nearly into slits, "His fortune telling skill is quite formidable, is it not? I have heard that he hands out the most accurate fortune telling ever," she asked.

"Yes, my father says so," Suzu nodded, "When will he start working, and when we will start our matchmaking attempts?" she asked, a bit worked up by now. She had never been a matchmaker, and she wanted to know how does it feel to be one. Maybe it's fun.

"For that matter, we'll have to wait for further instruction from Makoto-san," Youko said, before a grin start spreading across her features once again, "Although he had given us our first mission," she said, and shoved a paper into Suzu's hand, before the little girl broke into a grin as well.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, at a certain tea shop at the heart of the small town, two guys with silver hair sat in one of the tables and were sitting in front of each other. Two cups of tea were served in front of them, but none had been touched. They were content with their conversation that they had forgotten about the tea and the two plates of cake served in front of them as well.

"And so, I decided to stay at your home," a guy with long silver hair said as he smiled widely. He batted his hair to the back and stared at his little brother. "You wouldn't mind, would you?" he asked, his elbows placed on top of the battle while his fingers were intertwined together.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't," the other guy replied with a quick shake of his head. He had silver hair, just like the first guy, but the difference is, his hair is short, unlike the first guy who has long silver hair. "I would be happy to have you in my house," he added with a smile, which looked more like a grin.

"That's good to hear," the first guy nodded, "But I won't be bothering you and your boyfriend, I'll be over there and build a fortune teller stand as a part time job while I'm staying at your house until the shrine is usable again," he said so fast that the second guy nearly missed what he said. He finally took the fork and started cutting through the cake and ate a piece of it.

A good ten seconds passed in silence, save for the clanking noise the plate made when the fork came into touch with it, before the second silver haired guy finally caught what his older brother had said and meant. "Aniki! He's not my boyfriend!" he protested as his face turned into an interesting shade of red.

"Oh really? Then why are you blushing?" Makoto, the older brother, snickered at the sight. It's so fun to tease his little brother. Though he always stood up for him whenever the other kids bullied him, it didn't mean that he didn't like to tease him. It was fun and he liked something fun.

"I'm not blushing!" Kantarou, the little brother, protested, though his attempt to protest seemed futile since his face turned into a darker shade of red. He finally decided to ignore his older brother's constant snickering and just eat the cake. He wouldn't let it go waste. Not when he had no money to buy food later.

But hey, if he didn't have any money to buy food later, what would they have for dinner? He hadn't thought of that, but maybe he could ask Makoto for help. He was always so kind anyway, helping with the groceries wouldn't make him mad, right? They could just go shopping before they went home since it was still three in the afternoon.

"Then are you having a fever?" Makoto asked as he got into a laughing fit once again, which Kantarou tried to ignore. Sure, his laughter wasn't loud and obnoxious, but he didn't like it whenever he laughed because of him. Damn. Why doesn't his brother get a crush or something so he could get revenge?

And so, he ignored the last comment and continued on eating his share of cake. He had chosen a chocolate cake with sliced cheese on top of it, but he wasn't afraid of getting fat. Not when he thought he got enough exercise and he got enough mental stress to make him lost weight.

By the time Kantarou had finished his share of cake, Makoto had –surprisingly- finished his share of cake and tea. He was a quick eater, and if memory served, Makoto had won thirty times in a row whenever Kantarou challenged him into an eating contest. He even finished the big bowl of ramen in a bloody fifteen minutes.

Kantarou was now sipping on his tea while Makoto stared at him, eyes glinting with mischief that made Kantarou felt uneasy. So he was right after all. Whenever Makoto came searching for him, he brought doom along with him. It's as if he's a doom bringer, and he wasn't far from that.

"Ne, Kan-chan," Makoto started. After getting no reply, his grin grew wider, and he continued, "Have you done that with him?" he asked innocently, as if he was asking what kind of cake he ordered.

Kantarou immediately choked on his tea. He nearly spat the tea out of his mouth when he heard the question. It was stupid. "Of course not!" he shouted at the grinning silver haired man in front of him. What was he thinking, anyway? Did he expect his little brother to lose his innocence earlier than himself?

"Oh?" Makoto looked surprised, but it wasn't pure surprise, it looked like a mock surprise, "I thought you have," he said calmly, calling for the servant to hand them their bill. "And you've stayed with him for a long time, no? You really disappoint me," he continued to ramble as he shook his head slowly.

"Disappointed of what?" Kantarou was near snapping. He looked like he was ready to snap at any second. He gripped at his tea cup's handle and nearly crushed it, if not for fear that the café would ask him to pay for the thing he broke.

"You don't even stay in the same room with him, right?" Makoto asked. "I knew it," he sighed when he received a nod as a reply. "And I thought a master-slave relationship is the most common," he said slowly as the waiter came to give them their bill.

"Most common… right, you wish," Kantarou rolled his eyes as he continued to sip on his tea that was left unfinished before. It was an earl grey tea. He didn't have anything against English tea, so he had ordered that one while his brother had ordered a cup of Chinese tea.

"Hey, I'm only stating the truth," Makoto defended himself, "If not the obvious," he added as a smirk began to grow on his face again. He stared at the bill and took out his wallet to pay for it before he shoved the wallet back to its original place, but where, Kantarou couldn't tell.

"Can't we stop talking about him?" Kantarou nearly pleaded just for his brother to stop teasing him. Once he had started, he wouldn't stop. That's just the way he is. "I want to pass my day in peace," he added as he turned tare with trails of tears running from his eyes as he closed them while he sniffed.

"Okay, okay, you look like a stuffed doll like that, you know?" Makoto said. Suddenly, he took out a camera and took a picture of bawling Kantarou, although it wouldn't be called bawling. "I bet he'll like this," he grinned as he looked at the one-time use camera in his hand.

"Where did you get that?" Kantarou was surprised, or maybe shocked. He didn't expect that. "Give me that!" he demanded as his hand reached out for the camera. He suddenly felt the sudden urge to just take it away from his brother's hand and destroy it then burn it.

"Well, I always have my source for things like this," Makoto smirked smugly as he put the camera away to keep Kantarou from taking it away from him. "Now that I've paid the bill, you should hurry up and finish that cup of tea," he said as his gaze moved to the aforementioned cup of tea that was still filled with half of the cup's content.

"You know what, I was about to finish it if you weren't disturbing me," Kantarou pouted and took the cup of tea to his lips, slowly gulping the content down contentedly. It was already cold for being left too long, but the strong taste was still there and it made his throat felt strange.

"You look so cute," Makoto mock squealed at the sight of a pouting Kantarou, "I bet he'll like this one as well," he said and took out another one-time use camera from his kimono sleeve and took a picture of Kantarou, surprising the younger man.

"Just how much cameras do you have?" he asked as he slammed the cup down, nearly cracking the handle, "Oops," he said as he put the cup down once again, gentler this time, "Anyway, do you have something like a magic pocket in there or something?" he eyed the kimono sleeve warily as if a youkai would suddenly pop out from there.

"Not too much," Makoto waved his hand as he put the camera away again, "And it's not a one-time use camera though it looked like one," he said with a laugh.

"So it seems," Kantarou sighed. He had to endure his brother's strange streaks if he wanted to be alive when his brother left for the shrine since they probably would be roommates because they are brothers. He could only hope that his sanity could stand it.

"Oh, and you don't have to worry about sharing a room with me, Youko-chan prepared another room for me," Makoto said, reading through the other's train of thoughts.

"Eh? Where will you sleep then?" Kantarou asked. He didn't remember having more than three bedrooms in his house. Youko used one, Haruka used one, and he himself used one. Does that mean his brother is going to stay in the study?

"About that," Makoto started, "It's still a secret," he said, emphasizing the word secret while his eyes glinted mischievously. It made a shiver ran down Kantarou's spine.

"Err… yeah, I guess…" he stammered.

"Anyway, let's go now, it's not good to overstay our welcome," Makoto said as he stood up from his seat, turning to face the exit door. "Where are you going after this?" he asked.

"I'm going on a shopping, we need something for dinner," Kantarou said as he stood up as well. "That okay with you?" he asked.

"Why not?" Makoto asked back, a smile on his face. "Whatever for my cute little brother with his cute youkai servant and handsome boyfriend," he hissed the last three words, and Kantarou barely caught what he said.

"I told you he's not!" Kantarou protested as a blush crept back to his face. "Damn you, aniki," he cursed slightly at the retreating figure of Makoto who was laughing.

When they were outside, they made their way to the marketplace, quickly blending in with the crowd that happened to be shopping for dinner as well.

'Now,' Makoto thought, 'I wonder if they've done what I told them to,'

End of Chapter Two

Asagi: there, four bloody pages and I finished this in a friggin' one week

Byaku: more or less

Asagi: yeah, usually, I only take several hours to finish a chapter

Byaku: she means that this is a record

Asagi: shut up, Byaku

Byaku: anyway, just humor her and leave a review okay?

Asagi: I mean, I hope you enjoyed what you have just read, and please be kind enough as to leave a review for me, okay?

Byaku: or she'll delay this project. She seems to be playing a lot and that's why this one took one week

Asagi: shut up Byaku. Oh, and thanks to Eclipsed Rose-san, for being the first reviewer, and to Tora Macaw-san. The separator you told me really works, thank you very much, and to kittykat-san as well. Thank you for reviewing