A/N: I had imagined that this story could branch out in many more directions, and honestly I had thought about new storylines/ a sequel, where Jaguara and Darcia are prominent villains for our boys, however, I'm aware that this wonderful, beautiful anime is not very momentous right now, and that's OKAY! It is what it is. I will always love the wolves, and this is just...my thank you. I ended up squishing chapters together for a timely ending, though I did have to end up dropping a few storylines. Apologies.
There were so many feelings when I finally wrote the words "The End",all positive. Thank you, eternally, for all of the support.
Our conclusion...
Chapter 16
A few Days Later…
Hige opened the door to the apartment, not knowing if anyone would be home,but also contrite enough to follow the rules of his grounding. He was supposed to head straight home from school.
Kiba had been the one to tell him, that he was grounded for a week, but the young teenager knew that the order had come from Tsume. He wasn't angry, no, even though maybe he should have been. After all, Tsume had hit him, and he wasn't about to justify his brother, but he did understand that loving Blue, the daughter of the police commissioner, was a tricky and delicate situation.
Hige opened the door to the apartment and quickly frowned. Kiba had used too much cologne, again, and it was already making him feel nauseous. He constantly told his older brother to tone it down, but the older boy didn't really concern himself with 'people with a sensitive sense of smell."
"Gross, Kiba!" He yelled angrily toward the boy's room, though the only reply came from the kitchen, a plate crashing, and an annoyed older brother muttering . Oh.
The 14 year old tried to escape the clutches of evil and head straight to his room, but from the kitchen came the annoyed and strict order to 'come, here!'
"Yeah?"
"Don't yell. You startled me and I dropped a plate...clean it up." Tsume ordered, and went to sit down at the table, coke in hand. Hige bristled, wanting to point out that Tsume yelled all the time, wanting to say that Hige didn't 'make' him do anything, but instead, he went and yanked the broom from the corner and started sweeping.
His backpack was still on, but he didn't want to take the time to take it off, that would only mean he'd have to spend a few more seconds with he who was 'never wrong'.
The boy cleaned in silence, hyper aware that two eyeballs were on him, and making a superhuman effort to ignore them.
"We should talk." Tsume finally said, as Hige finished cleaning up. "Sit down." Orders, always orders. Hige wanted to protest,really, he did, but his body went and sat at the table instead. He looked at it with newfound interest, and almost smiled. The tabletop was blue. He had to talk to her again, he had to tell her about Hamona, about how she was going to help him make things right. He wanted Blue to know about his past, and he wanted her to be part of his future.
Tsume looked at his younger brother, he was wearing a white t-shirt and black sweatpants, looking like he'd gained 5 pounds, and sporting a dull purple bruise by his mouth. The 19 year old did feel bad, he hadn't handled the situation the best way, but he didn't know what the best way was.
In many ways he, and Kiba to some extent, had always been 'in charge', he'd always been able to tell his brothers off, and he'd always worried about them. Things had changed though. 2 years and 5 months ago, granny had died, and he was it. Kiba helped, a lot, but in the end, whether the family survived or not was not on Kiba, it was his sole responsibility. Tsume felt the weight of that more often than he cared to admit.
"You've gained weight." He started, and mentally rolled his eyes at himself-he really was going to give the boy a complex. "You should start running with us again." He finished lamely, knowing that Hige didn't enjoy running as much as the rest of them.
"...Is that part of my punishment or something?" The teenager asked, finally looking up at him, and Tsume had to actually roll his eyes at the comment.
"No, I just think it'd be good for you. It's an option…"
"Blue and I had been playing soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and now that I don't get to do that, I probably did gain weight. I'll have to find another group to play with…"
Of course. It didn't matter that Hige had only stopped seeing Blue a few days ago, and when had he ever asked permission to play soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
"Is this when you were supposedly studying?" The question was met with silence, and Tsume knew that it meant 'yes'. It didn't really matter now, but he was still disappointed. What would he do if they were separated? He wouldn't be able to cope.
"Right. Hige,please understand that the reason you shouldn't be around Blue is-"
"That you hate her, and you want to control everyone and everything around you." The young man blurted out, half angry, half hurt.
"-because her father knows us. He doesn't and never thought I'd make a good guardian. He does have connections, and he can, easier than he should be able to, tear us apart."
"Yeah, I know, that's why I stopped talking to her."
"You can do whatever you want when you turn 18, I can't stop you, and despite what you may think, I don't want to, and...I'm sorry that I hit you. It wasn't my finest moment."
Tsume watched as surprise washed over his brother's face, as if he'd never heard Tsume apologize-maybe he hadn't. The 19 year old didn't make it a habit. He'd been Hige's age when his parents had died, and he'd become cold. He envied the way Hige still had an air of carelessness about him, a desire to love and be loved.
"Oh... I don't know what I'm supposed to say here, Tsume." Hige admitted, he felt guilty, he felt like he had been in the wrong and that he deserved his brother's anger, but now his brother was apologizing.
"You don't have to say anything, I just...wanted to..." Tell you I love you. To tell you I'm sorry. Tsume groaned, he could never say those words.
"Tsume." He was serious. He wasn't going to back down.
"Tsume, I need Blue. Maybe you don't understand, and you don't have to, but she makes me feel alive, and happy-like I've never felt before."
The older boy wanted to make fun of him, to tell him that he was too young for these feelings, he wanted to laugh or get mad, but for whatever reason, he believed the younger boy, instead.
"Hm. We'll probably have to talk with her father, then."
"And-wait...really?"
"...Yeah." An awkward laugh. "yeah..."
"...and that's what happened" Hamona finished awkwardly. Hige had asked her to talk with Tsume about their connection, and while she'd preferred to run away, she knew it was the right thing to do. She, Hige and Toboe had been trying to track Jaguara down. They were determined to seek justice, but it hadn't been right to keep Tsume in the dark, so she had asked him to her hotel room to tell him the truth.
Seeing the his face, full of anger and shock, she wished she'd talked to him at his place. His brothers could probably help to calm him down.
"I know that was a lot to take in, Tsume, and...I'm angry too-"
"Don't." He struggled to get out, his eyes were on her in an instant, and she was momentarily startled into complete silence. He looked ready to murder somebody, and she happened to be the only one in the room.
"Don't tell me that you're angry. I can't even-"
A knock on the door saved her from having to decipher his cold words, and she was grateful that to see Toboe. He had been so angry with her at first, just for the fact that she had her sister's face. She hadn't blamed him, and Toboe had slowly understood that she wasn't to blame. He had suspected that Tsume would be angry with her too, they usually shared opinions, and that's why he'd let impulse drive his brain, as he ran over to Hamona's. The beautiful woman just let him in, and he made his way to Tsume, who was still just sitting on her white couch, clutching his hands too tightly.
The 12 year old sat next to him, saying nothing. What was there to say? Tsume was blaming himself, because that's what he did best. No words were going to make it better, one of his brothers had been hurt. He hadn't been able to stop it. That's what the world was, wasn't it? Just bad, awful things happening to everyone.
They stayed there, for almost 30 minutes, with Hamona retreating to the kitchen, though it was silly. To think, or hope that baking cookies would make anything better, still, it was how she coped. Toboe looked over at Tsume, when the older man finally made a sound. It was garbled emotion.
"...Tsume..."
"Toboe. Tell me, did anything like that- like...please tell me, did bad things happen to you?" He wasn't prepared for the answer, it would break his heart to know that his baby brother had suffered. This reality was already bad enough.
"No, Tsume." Toboe whispered, daring to put his hand on Tsume's, which allowed the older boy to relax a tiny bit, but that brought more garbled emotions, and he couldn't handle it. His younger brother could be a pain, he was scrawny, and whiny, but also brave and kind, and when Toboe hugged him, all the bottled up feelings spilled out, in the form of quiet sobs.
When the two boys were finally ready to leave, ready to go home and support their brother, Hamona sheepishly handed them a plate of cookies. Toboe laughed, hugged her, and took them with him. The older boy, the boy with piercing eyes, lingered.
Hamona stood in front of him, feeling awkward, as she almost always did, but also confident in her spirit and motivations. It didn't matter if Tsume hated her. She knew that she had done the best she could in the situation, she had regrets, but she was actively trying to make things better for Hige. He was the one that had been hurt, and he was the one that mattered.
When Tsume kept quiet, searching for words, she took a breath and decided to be brave. "I hate what she did, Tsume. I'm angry that my parents defended her, and I will make this better. I don't how yet, but I know I will."
"You're so stupid." He said, matter of factly, but there was some sort of humor, hidden very deep in his voice.
"Oh?"
"You really think you can make things better. You actually do...I don't get it. Do you live on a different planet?" The 20 year old didn't wait for a response, which was fine, because she didn't know have one. "The planet I live on is filled with misery, poverty, addictions, death" He was going there. The thing that had really broken him was death. "Things don't get better, Hamona."
Her heart filled with the quiet and cold of his words, but when he turned to leave, she rushed to grab his arm and pulled him back, so that he was facing her. There was so much emptiness in him, but she also saw this desire in him for the world to be different then he'd known it, if not for him, at least for his younger brothers.
"I have known darkness, Tsume. I'm not blind to the horrifying things on this planet, I promise you that." Oh no, she was cursing the tears that were running down her face; he simply stared. He refused to feel sorry for her. He negated that she might have things in common with him.
"but despite of that awareness of darkness, I will not give up on happiness. I will not give up on myself, or anyone around me. I'm going to fight for the beautiful things in the world, and maybe you don't get that. I don't care. I will make things better for Hige!"
He wanted to argue with her, to tell her that she was ridiculous, and wrong, but the fierce look in her eyes made his heart beat faster, and instead of yelling, he pulled his arm away, the one that she was holding, and rushed to her, she let him.
In an instant, his mouth found hers, her arms wrapped around him, and for an instant, for a small, almost insignificant second, he believed her.
3 months later
"I can't believe I'm officially dating a 15 year old. Thank goodness, it was really embarrassing having to tell people that my boyfriend is younger than me."
"I'm still younger than you" Hige laughed, as he grabbed on to Blue, who was on his bed, and poked her sides, making her squeal. It was still the most amazing thing ever, the fact that her father had managed to calm down about the whole thing. It was Blue's moping that had finally gotten to the old man. He couldn't bear to see his only daughter so unhappy. There were rules of course, so many rules, but the two teenagers had agreed to every single one. Being in bed together was probably against one of them, Hige thought, as he gave her a lopsided grin.
"True, but it's less embarrassing now that you're 15."
"Haha, whatever you say, Blue." He was about to kiss her, when the door opened and Kiba stood by the doorway, with a judging quirk of the brow.
"Um...hello, you didn't knock" Hige tried, laughing, which made Blue giggle, and Kiba shake his head. Blue was always at the apartment nowadays; Tsume and Kiba were both in constant worry that the teenagers spent too much time together. Hamona and Toboe thought it was 'so adorable'.
"'Mona made dinner, is Blue staying?"
"I should probably go check on Pops..."
"Blue, you said he's working late tonight. Just stay. It'll be a party. Is Cheza coming, Kibs?"
"Uh, yeah, actually." At that, the two younger teenagers smiled, and excitedly walked out, talking about all the things they had to tell Cheza. Kiba could only shake his head and smile, they all loved his girlfriend so much, it was odd, but also perfect. He was starting to feel like maybe he could stay in Freeze city, and make a life for himself and for the woman he loved. He could make a life with her, and still have time and room in his heart for his brothers. It felt right.
Tsume looked at his brothers; they were watching a movie after dinner, but the oldest boy couldn't focus on the screen. Toboe and Hige were on either side of him, and Kiba had thrown himself on the smaller gray couch. Dinner had gone as 'smoothly' as expected, which meant, not at all. It had been wild and full of laughter, with his three brothers, and three of the women in their lives. Things had changed so much, but it had all been for the better. Just like Hamona had predicted.
Life was not perfect, he still worried about bills, and his future, his brothers and their futures, but there was a quiet comfort now. Maybe it had started when he realized how strong they all were, how they had gotten through so much. Maybe it was Hamona, who had snuck into his heart with the ferocity of lightning. The beautiful girl filled with courage and hope. She made him appreciate this time of life, his time of living.
He thought of all the things they still had to go through, knowing they'd have to be brave. With that thought, and as the end credits started to play, he turned off the TV, and placed his arms around his two youngest brothers, trying to say half of what he felt.
"Guys, I just..." All three younger brothers turned to him, confusion clear.
"I was just thinking...that, no matter what, you're my brothers, and we're family, forever. You...you can count on me." It was awkward, it was embarrassing, but it had to be said.
"Why are you being so weird?" Hige piped up, rolling his eyes, and pulling away from Tsume.
"He's trying to say he loves us!" The youngest boy defended, and that made Kiba laugh. Why was his family so uncomfortable?
"Yeah, okay, love everywhere, nowadays." He said, aware that he too had trouble with the words.
"You two are way too troublesome. Just say it, 'I. Love. You'" There was definitely a mocking tone to Hige's words, but he meant it. He loved them.
"Aw, I love all of you!" Toboe spoke up, never afraid to admit it.
The End
