30 Kisses fic #5 - Brother, whereart thou?
By Nori
Pairing: Niou Masaharu/Niou Hatsuharu (OC) + Kirihara
Rating: PG 13 for language
Theme: #25 - Fence
Disclaimer: If I owned them, they would so be doing this in the series.
Notes: This is based off of tenipuri yaoirp, so don't expect super manga or anime canon. Hatsuharu is Niou's 7 year old brother in said RP. Kirihara & the Niou brothers have a very close relationship and thus, it works. Also, the beginning is more or less a summary of a few rp logs. Also, this is part one of 2 (possibly 3).

For Roll, my wonderful Niou.

There were very few things in life that Niou Masaharu truely loved, and only one that he held above everything else: his younger brother Hatsuharu, probably the only reason he could bear living life itself anymore. Sure, he had a handful of good friends, a great boyfriend, but the most important thing in his life was the small, almost spitting image of his younger self. Dark brown eyes, jet black hair and even a pretty good imitation of Masaharu's trademark grin.

Hatsuharu was everything he generally wasn't -- quiet, somewhat shy and a very sweet kid; always well behaved and staying out of any form of trouble. With his sister gone and off to college Hatsuharu was the only constant he had, the only reason he could return home from school everyday and not run away from somewhat oppressive parents.

That was, until one night when his parents had gotten into another one of their fights; about how Masaharu was a horrible child, always getting into trouble and never being responsible for his own actions. This fight however, had gone a lot farther than the previous ones. Normally when he listened from his room he'd just kind of brush it off, at least his parents were actually paying attention to him; but something about the loud screams, crashing of something downstairs and shattering glass had set him off. Up and out he'd went, collecting his frightened brother and just getting the fuck out of there. If it had just been him, he wouldn't have cared; but someone so sweet and innocent as his brother didn't need to go through this and he was damn well going to make sure he didn't. Out the window and down the street they'd went -- Niou wasn't so sure where he was going to go but anywhere was better than there.

Kirihara'd been surprised and somewhat annoyed by the incessant plinking of rocks against his window during the wee hours of the morning; however he was soon enough down the stairs and opening the door to a set of Niou brothers. Something was wrong, definately -- he'd expect Niou to be the type of person for random middle of the night escapades (it wasn't like he himself wasn't, what with sneaking in through Bunta's window and vice versa on more than one occasion) but not with a sobbing, sleepy brother in tow.

It'd taken a few days for his parents to track him down (while he was thankful Kirihara-san hadn't called them immediately against her better judgement and at the cost of lowering himself enough to actually beg she didn't; he was annoyed that they'd waited that long to find their sons; it wasn't like Masaharu had that many people he fully trusted to begin with and where else would one go in a time of need?) . Only through a phone call, but that had been enough to throw him into a world of rage; smashing things and throwing Kirihara against a wall in a nearly choking hold in anger.

"We want Hatsuharu back. Bring him home and take your things. We can't deal with you anymore, Masaharu; get out."

Disowned by his own fucking parents. Knowing he had to leave without his brother. He fucking hated it, no way did he want to leave the only thing he loved in their care. He wanted to scream, wanted to yell and smash things, but most of all he wanted to cry. He wouldn't be anything without his brother.

Hatsuharu hadn't really understood what was going on, all he really knew was that his brother, as much as he obviously didn't want to was leaving him. He'd bawled when Masaharu broke the news, clinging tightly to his brother's shirt and face buried against his chest as strong arms held him tightly. Who was gonna play with him now? Whose bed would he crawl into in the middle of the night when he'd had a scary dream, who was going to make him feel better when he was sick or bake cookies with him after school? He didn't like it, not at all.

It'd been hard for Masaharu to leave the house, kicking himself mentally while forcing himself to ignore the sad face and distressed cries of his brother. He hated to see the smaller boy cry, wanting to scoop him up and comfort him with tight hugs, soft kisses and soothing words; wanted to tell him everything would be fine even though he knew damn well everything wasn't fine. He didn't like this barrier that had been thrown up between himself and his brother; he didn't like the fact he couldn't see him whenever he wanted or to just hold him close. His parents didn't want him around for Hatsuharu's sake? Bullshit, he'd taken better care of him than they had since he was no more than ten years old. Most everything Hatsuharu knew he'd taught him, he'd been the one protecting the smaller boy from bullies and making sure he was properly fed. He was the one reading bedtime stories, he was the one chasing away nightmares and HE was the one making fucking sure Hatsuharu didn't turn out like himself.

Kirihara didn't like how his friend was acting -- he hadn't done much more than mope for days and refused to even go outside. He knew for damn certain he couldn't replace Hatsuharu (not that he wanted to, he loved the kid too -- one of very few people under the age of 13 he actually adored) but he did what he could to provide at least some comfort. Some nights as he lay awake, curled against the older teen's side he swore he could hear Niou crying but the other boy denied it.

He didn't like this Niou -- this wasn't the person who'd been more or less his human teddybear more than once ; staying with him in the hospital when his appendix had attacked and he'd had surgery (he'd gotten a pretty cool lava lamp out of that one, it grossed his cousin Hajime out so that made it all the better) , hanging out with him those long days of boredom and itching while the stupid thing healed, offered a shoulder and lazy advice when he and Bunta were having their problems. There were a lot of things Kirihara Akaya wanted but right now, most of all he wanted his friend back. If that meant finding a way to get the brothers back together, then so be it.

"It'll work out, somehow. You'll get Hatsu back." Kirihara'd said, but Niou wasn't so sure he wanted to believe him as much as he wanted to. He was out on his ass here; no money and no place to live, he couldn't very well stay with the Kirihara's, especially considering he had the distinct feeling Kirihara-san was still a little miffed about her phone being smashed to pieces and was quite ready to give him the boot. He'd eventually find a job and solace in Yagyuu, whose family had offered their spare bedroom. It was a bit weird, really; Hiroshi reminded him far too much of his brother in that sort of quiet, careful way while the youngest Yagyuu, Etsu, reminded him far too much of himself -- she was antsy and had quite the temper, even enjoying a good prank or five. Niou swore if she hadn't been born a year earlier, their younger siblings had been switched at birth.

And so it went from there -- Niou working himself to the bone in a lame attempt at forgetting about his brother (though not so much of forgetting as trying to not think about him constantly -- what he was doing, if he was okay, how much he wanted to see him) ; and Hatsuharu wiling his days away, varying between quiet and withdrawn, not leaving his room for days to something of a problem child, throwing tantrums and screaming for his brother.

Hatsuharu hadn't dealt with the whole situation well, he'd woken up screaming or crying nearly every night for weeks after his big brother left. He'd been something of rebellious against his parents and was going through babysitter after babysitter until his parents had finally given up and called on Kirihara. No way they were letting their son back in this house.

The times Elfie-niichan came to watch him were the best -- those were the times he'd revert back to his former self, still a little shy but all for having fun. They'd play games and chat up a storm, laughing until they couldn't breathe anymore and the both of them would need to take a nap. Every so often Akaya brought with him presents from Masaharu; a small teddybear, a small picture of the three of them, a walkie talkie ("Your niichan has the other one, the range is pretty wide so if he can talk to you from my house. Keep it hidden though, kay?" Akaya'd said.). In return he'd bring bring Niou small presents from Hatsuharu -- various drawings, a small dinosaur eraser, a small bag of cookies his sister'd helped him make when she'd come home one weekend. That was how it worked, that was how it had to.

It wasn't until one day when Hatsuharu really began to wonder -- the minute his parents had left Elfie-niichan had went through his room, stuffing a few essentials like a jacket and Hatsuharu's watch into a small backpack and strapping it on the small boy before telling him to get his shoes.

"Where we goin'?" Hatsuharu asked as shoes were tugged on (he still had trouble tying his shoes but Elfie-niichan helped him with that) and a hand slid easily into Kirihara's much larger one.

"We're gonna go see Masa-niichan. He's waiting for us, so let's go!" Akaya replied with a grin.

Hatsuharu didn't know if he'd ever been happier in his entire, albeit short, life. So it really wasn't any wonder when he'd started sniffling, short, stubby fingers curling tightly around Kirihara's hand.