Disclaimer: Do. Not. Own.
Warnings: Nothing much right now, but it's going to get creepy soon. AU, drastically different course of events.
Emptied, the playroom was a new room entirely, with a new bed and a new desk and a new chair. There were drawers full of new clothes, all slightly too big, and a bookcase full of new books, all too difficult for Sena. The sheets and blankets were white, like Unsui's, and most of the clothes were blue. There was a brand new black coat that looked exactly like Unsui's.
Sena recognized nothing in the room. It was like a stranger's. There was nothing of his from before. Even the clothes he'd arrived in were taken from him, and he didn't know what happened to them.
"You're a Kongo," said Father. "Put those things out of your mind."
Sena didn't want to put anything out of his mind. He wanted his small room down the hall from Mommy and Daddy. He wanted his old hand-me-down desk that Granny said Daddy had used when he was little. He wanted his old clothes, the things Mommy had picked out for him from the department store. He wanted the wooden toys Grandad made for him. He wanted his new kitten, the one Daddy had brought home on Sena's birthday after he'd begged for months and months.
He wanted to go home.
"You are home," said Unsui, not unkindly. "Those weren't your real grandparents, and your old house is probably sold already. This is home."
"But if you want to live on the street," said Agon, "or go to an orphanage, just keep it up, beggar."
Sena stopped crying where anyone could see him. Father didn't like it, and got angry and loud. Agon didn't like it, and would hit him or pinch him or say awful things or all of them at once. Unsui didn't seem to know what to do and would put his hand on Sena's arm and wait for him to stop, looking very uncomfortable.
So Sena cried at night, when he was in the new bed with the new pillow over his face, trying to be quiet and wishing very hard that Granny would come and get him soon, or maybe even Mommy and Daddy, when they finally got back from wherever they'd gone. He didn't like his stiff new clothes, he didn't like his new, unfamiliar room, and he didn't want new brothers, especially if one of them was Agon.
"Tomorrow, we'll go and enroll you at the elementary school here," said Father. "The same one your brothers go to."
Agon's eyes on him made Sena feel cold. Unsui looked at him, but with something like a frown.
"You know how to introduce yourself, don't you? Let's hear it."
Sena put down his chopsticks and tried to straighten his back. "Um, h-hello, I'm Koba-Kobayakawa—"
Father's open hand hitting the table almost split Sena's tongue down the middle. He went absolutely still, face almost white, clutching at his knees with terror.
Agon's eyes were on him, but Sena couldn't understand the expression on his face. Unsui looked at the table.
"You are a Kongo," said Father, his voice cold, cold, cold. "I don't want to hear that name again."
Sena wanted to say he was sorry, but nothing came out. An urge to cry made the back of his throat hot but he swallowed hard and didn't.
They looked at him from across the table, that tall man with such black hair and black eyes and Agon and Unsui with their matching faces. Sena could feel their eyes on him even with his head lowered, and he wished he could ask someone how his name could be Kongo now when he'd been born a Kobayakawa, his parents' name was Kobayakawa, but something about those eyes made him stay quiet, something made him bite his tongue and look at no one.