Author's Note: Thanks to my readers & especially my reviewers! It's midterms week, so I'll be busy, but here's a new chapter for you all. Once again, please please review! Reviews are the currency of fanfiction.
Brother, My Brother
"Ta-ta! Ta-ta-niiiiiiii---" The wide eyed toddler gurgled at his big brother who sighed in a helpless sort of way as the plump baby he held in two hands drooled a long line of saliva down the front of his kimono. His mother turned from where she'd been sorting through the chaotic burrow of a desk his father had and smiled at the way Tetsu kept trying to hug and kiss his big brother's face even as Tatsunosuke was trying to wipe his brother's drooling mouth.
"Okasan! He won't—urgh—stop drooling long enough—stop it Tetsu!—to let me clean him—oh!" The young child was forced to place his sibling against his shoulder, holding on with one skinny arm as he picked up at the handkerchief Tetsu had pulled at and made him drop.
"Tetsu! Stop gnawing on my shoulder!"
His mother smiled her knowing smile and turned back to the organization of papers.
"Aniki!"
Tatsunosuke was exhausted, worn out to his very bones from all the carrying, heaving, screaming, and grunting that he'd gone through all day since before the morning sun had dawned, but the almost primeval fear in Tetsu's voice jolted him wide awake from his weariness-induced stupor of half-consciousness even as he stepped into the small shack they shared as a home.
The small boy grabbed onto him with a desperate grip, holding onto his brother around his waist and burying his face into the stained and dust-covered folds of Tatsu's kimono.
"Tetsu—nani? Is something wrong?" The older Ichimaru brother quickly drew the boy back as he stumbled towards a wall, eyes darting around the room. But nothing interrupted the presence of their pathetic little hovel except the sniffling sobs of the little red-head.
"I…hic…don't leave…hic….me alone…hic…okay Tatsu-nii?"
Tatsu closed his eyes at the pleading voice of his child brother, the aching pain in his chest overcoming the aches in his body. He didn't say anything else but sat down where he was, pulling Tetsu close to him, the boy still clamped on tightly, and settled back against the rough wooden planks of the wall. Tetsu fell asleep soon, exhausted by his own tears and sobs, but Tatsu, despite his exhaustive day working to feed the two of them, stayed awake, guarding his brother from his fears of an empty room.
He cried silently into the sleeve of his kimono that he'd stuffed into his mouth to prevent his cries from waking the child sleeping in his arms, chest trying to not heave as he cursed himself for not being able to guard the boy from the fears of his own mind.