My Brother's Keeper

AU, TezukaFuji. As brothers, their bond was unbreakable, and as lovers, their passion was unending. But when a ghost of the past shows up to haunt Syusuke's perfect life, Tezuka realizes that he cannot protect his little brother from everything.

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A/N: Yay! Another update, go me! Nah, I'm kidding, but I am glad I got this chapter up. It was a biznatch to write, but I'm for the most part, happy with it. This is where we get into the meat of the story and things get interesting! (At least I think it's interesting...feel free to correct me if you feel otherwise.) Please tell me some of you were expecting the twist? xD I wasn't entirely subtle, after all. As always, HUGE THANK YOUS to all reviewers, I want to cyber-glomp you all! Really, I do. You guys really honestly make my world go around.

And as a side note, as of chapter 4, the next chapter after this one, the rating will be upped to M. I will attempt my first -posted- lemon (ish much embarrassed. Yeah, but just to let you guys know.)

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Chapter Two

Catalyst

-

Eighteen.

It was year in his life that would change everything. It was also the year that held the second longest phase of his life. Although of course, Tezuka didn't know that yet. In fact, he thought that this year was really starting off rather well. And Tezuka considered himself somewhat of a grounded realist and it was hard for him to see anything positively, so that was saying a lot.

Somehow, the new turn in his relationship with Syusuke hadn't seemed to bother his mother that much. They had always been close, since the day Syusuke came, and her reasoning was that Tezuka would always build his brother a shrine whenever he asked. And Syusuke would continue to be Tezuka's sunshine.

And for other people, they'd expected it. Atobe had even started a betting pool on the subject, much to Tezuka's dismay and Syusuke's delight. Why Syusuke was delighted, well...that was a mystery in itself.

"Niisan, turn your head towards me a little."

They had found an apartment not far from their actual house and being the artiste, yes, Syusuke had taken up French as a major along with art conservation, but because he was an artist, he insisted on bestowing art everywhere in their apartment. Which was why he was currently lying on the couch shirtless while Syusuke sketched.

"Syusuke, this is embarrassing." But he did as he was told.

"Why? It's only you. And it's only me."

Well, yes, Syusuke had a point, but there was no telling where his sketches actually ended up.

"Yes but..."

"But?"

"Your sketches..."

Syusuke laughed at him, "I keep them all. It's not like I like to advertise you naked. Someone might steal you from me, if that happens."

Tezuka was left to wonder how he was supposed to react to something like that. But Syusuke didn't seem to be expecting an answer, so he was spared.

-

It was an hour later, that Tezuka finally voiced a complaint. "Syusuke, can you stop a moment? I feel like my neck is about to break."

The look Syusuke gave him a supremely amused one, "You're just lying there. I'm the one doing all the work."

"Yes, well. For the sake of your sketch, I haven't moved for an hour."

Syusuke blinked. He put down his sketch and stuck his pencil behind his ear, "I forgot." He said, sounding rather sheepish. With that, he crossed over to the couch where Tezuka lay. "Where does it hurt?"

Tezuka caught one of Syusuke's hands by the wrist and guided it to the back of his neck, "Around here."

He knew his brother was smirking. "...Nowhere else? I'm disappointed, niisan."

Tezuka rolled his eyes, "You pervert."

-

But in the end, Syusuke always did get what he wanted.

Not that Tezuka particularly minded. He now lay on the couch with his boxers half on and half off. The gentle hum of the shower running told him that Syusuke was probably washing off and laughing at him in the shower, as he liked to do. Not that he minded that either. It was hard for him to mind anything while his mind was sated and hazy.

At last, he roused himself enough to put his boxers on properly and walked over to where his brother had left his sketchpad. Without thinking, Tezuka picked it up, and flipped it over to the most recent drawing – today. It looked as if Syusuke hadn't gotten much done. Well, of course, if his younger brother was always thinking about violating him on the couch...that came as little surprise.

Tezuka shook the thought away. Far away. Going around with Syusuke meant that indecent thoughts popped up when he least expected them to.

And the couch coverlet needed changing...again.

A sigh escaped Tezuka's lips, he was sticky. He wanted a shower, but somewhere along the line, it became a given that Syusuke laid claims to the shower first. Maybe it was time he tried not to spoil Syusuke too much.

But there was nothing he could do now. Tezuka put down the sketchpad and turned his attention back to the couch. Being a neat and meticulous person by nature, Tezuka folded up the stained coverlet before slinging it over one arm.

A faint buzzing made him jump.

The doorbell.

Tezuka panicked. He was in no state to receive visitors, even casual ones. And not only that, after every one of Syusuke's sketching sessions, the living room floor was always littered with crumpled paper. And the shower was still running. Tezuka wished Syusuke would hurry up. Syusuke was the one that knew how to deal with visitors.

But after a few long moments, the shower continued running, and the doorbell didn't stop ringing.

Tezuka put down the coverlet and pulled on his wrinkled shirt. He would just have to remind his unexpected guests not to sit on the couch near the coverlet. His eyesight was of course, a little blurry without his glasses, but Tezuka could manage. He just hoped whoever was on the other side of that door didn't mind that he looked disheveled. It was one of those very rare weekdays off.

He opened the door, and paused for a long minute.

A beautiful woman stood on the other side of the door. She looked very put together and decidedly European with her blonde hair done up, and wearing a white business suit. She wasn't the only one, there was a boy at her side, the boy looked younger than Tezuka, but nevertheless, very well put together.

It made him ashamed of his own mussed appearance. "...May I...help you?"

The woman gave him a strange, suspicious look. "...Eigo ga wakarimasuka?" Did he understand English? Spoken in a strange lilt that was just a little familiar.

"...Yes." Granted, Tezuka didn't think he could speak it well. At least, compared to Syusuke and Atobe, he knew very well that his English was atrocious. But still, he could hold his own in relatively simple conversations, so therefore the 'yes' was not a lie. "A little...may I help you?"

In the woman's eyes, there was relief. "Then, does a Fuji Syusuke live here?"

Fuji Syusuke. Tezuka's throat turned to ice. Syusuke was Tezuka Syusuke, he had been Tezuka Syusuke for almost thirteen years now. And yes, Tezuka knew that Syuske's former surname had been Fuji, but not many people did.

He didn't answer the woman's question, but what he did say was, "Would you like to come in?" and opened the door wider.

She stepped in at his invitation and the boy beside her quickly followed. Tezuka studied him briefly. Mother and son? No, of course not, the boy seemed too old, the woman too young, but still...

"He is here, isn't he?"

Tezuka opened his mouth to reply, "Well--"

The shower had stopped running. Tezuka heard soft steps approaching and didn't know whether or not to be relieved.

"Niisan, you can go take a shower now."

Tezuka turned, finally deciding that he was grateful for a distraction from the strange woman and the silent boy who were very present in the room. Syusuke was wearing a towel on his head, no shirt and sweats. He stopped short, surveying the scene.

"...We have guests?"

Tezuka mentally kicked himself. This was getting to be fifteen tons of awkward. Why couldn't he just leave the door well alone? "...They're...unexpected." He said lamely, "...And they speak English." As if that explained everything.

"Oh?" The blue eyes blinked. Obviously Syusuke was confused, Tezuka didn't blame him. He was too.

And they know your name.

At the very least, the woman did. That alone, was cause for reasonable alarm. Tezuka narrowed his eyes when Syusuke turned away from him to offer his usual light smile to the visitors. "I'm sorry, you must forgive my niisan. He tends to be insociable and cranky." Perfect London lilted English. Exactly like the woman's. And then he glanced at Tezuka again, "Niisan, you can go, I can handle this."

Tezuka retreated into the hallway, both anxious and relieved. But the former emotion completely took over when he heard a soft gasp.

"Syusuke...it is you."

"I'm sorry?" If he closed his eyes, he could see Syusuke confused, but smiling. Tezuka couldn't bring himself to step the few steps that would lead him back into the living room. Instead, he stopped, leaned against the wall, and listened.

"It is you. Yuuta, don't you remember? This is Syusuke. Your brother Syusuke." The woman's voice cracked with obvious emotion. "We've found you. We've been looking so long, Syusuke." A slight pause, as she did need to pause sometime to catch her breath, "...I'm your sister, Syusuke. I'm Yumiko. It's been so long...and I don't expect you to remember me, but..."

"You're my...sister."

Tezuka felt his throat constricting. Syusuke hadn't sounded surprised, in fact, he hadn't sounded like much of anything. Does that mean that Syusuke had known all along? And neglected to tell him?

"Yes," The woman, Yumiko was speaking again, "I am."

There stretched a long silence. Syusuke was thinking over. Tezuka realized that he was holding his breath and let it out, slowly.

Then Syusuke said, "Please leave." Two simple, shattering words.

"...Syusuke..."

"I don't know how you found me and I don't care either. Just leave. Don't come back."

"--Syusuke!" Distress, bewilderment, as if Yumiko really hadn't expected that reaction. "Please, be--"

"Leave." Tezuka winced to himself as his brother's voice rose to a strange note of hysteria. "Leave, and just leave me alone. All of you. Leave. If you don't leave—I'll..." Noisy breathing, something that Syusuke did often to calm himself down. "Leave, just leave." He repeated.

Tezuka forced his legs to move until he was back in the living room. Everyone looked rather bewildered and confused, himself included. Yumiko and the boy that had come with her were still standing, not moving. Syusuke sat on the couch and buried his head in his hands. Tezuka touched his brother's shoulder, "Syusuke...?"

"Niisan." Syusuke looked at him. Tezuka felt Yumiko glaring into his back. "Make them go away. I don't want to see them."

He was really spoiling Syusuke too much. Spoiling Syusuke often landed him somewhere between a rock and hard place..like now. Tezuka turned to face his visitors, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said firmly.

The boy piped up for the first time, quite daring of him, Tezuka thought. "Who are you?"

Tezuka gave both of them a hard look. He opened his mouth, but it was Syusuke's voice that spoke for him.

"He's my brother." He whispered fiercely, "My only brother."

-

Both the woman and the boy were gone. And with them, went the suffocating atmosphere of the room, everything returned to normal, for Tezuka, at least. Syusuke still refused to move from his position on the couch. Tezuka touched his shoulder again and found that they were shaking.

"...They found me."

They found him. Tezuka didn't have a clue who 'they' were. But they had found him. Wordlessly, he sank down on the couch and opened his arms. Without any hesitation, Syusuke buried his face into his chest. Syusuke's hair smelled of fresh shampoo.

"Niisan."

"Yes?"

There was a deep, careful intake of breath again. "Do you love me?"

Why now, of all times? And why love, of all things? But Tezuka nodded, and tipped the other's face up towards him for a kiss, just in case his words alone weren't enough. "I love you."

Syusuke returned the kiss with such force that Tezuka almost toppled backwards. They kissed until they ran out of air and then Syusuke lay still on top of him, except that one of his hands was rubbing Tezuka's bare stomach. "Can I be selfish?" Syusuke said after a brief silence.

Tezuka wondered what he meant, "...Selfish?"

Syusuke swallowed. "I want you." For the first time, he sounded vulnerable asking for something he usually had no trouble asking for, and even his voice trembled. He raised a hand to trace Tezuka's bottom lip, "...Help me forget about them. Would you?"

Tezuka hesitated, but then nodded. "Come to bed."

-

That night, Tezuka still ended up cradling a trembling, sobbing Syusuke in his arms, despite his best efforts. It wasn't really his fault, he knew, but he couldn't help but wonder what imprints that the visitors had left on his brother that...

His brother.

For the first time in thirteen years, Tezuka was forced to put reality into consideration. Syusuke wasn't really his brother. He had known it at the tender age of five, and he knew it now, at the not so tender age of eighteen. But...that had never been a problem.

Until now. Tezuka stroked Syusuke's hair absently. The younger didn't seem to notice, his breathing shallow, eyes closed.

Tezuka wondered what was happening. Slowly, he unwrapped his arms around Syusuke and edged the other away, bit by bit, until his arms and legs were both free. Even more slowly, he sat up, trying not to disturb the mattress, which tended to squeak in epic volumes.

The mattress stayed silent. Tezuka let out a sigh of relief. He got up and reached for his glasses that sat on the end table.

He dug out his cell phone from his jacket pocket and stole out of the room to stand on the balcony. At 11 pm, the street below was still bustling with activity. He punched speed dial two and held the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" A woman's voice. Warm, rather hoarse, but familiar.

"Mother, it's me, Kunimitsu."

"Kunimitsu!" He imagined her eyebrows shooting up. It wasn't like her very considerate eldest son to call her so late. "What's wrong? Are you all right? Is Syusuke all right?"

"I'm fine. And Syusuke's...fine." There was that abrupt pause, but Syusuke was fine. He was sleeping, he was safe. He wasn't lying to his mother. "I'm sorry to disturb you so late...but..." Maybe it was better to come out and say it instead of weaseling the truth out of his mother, he'd never been good at that, that tactic was more or less up Syusuke's alley. "I have a question for you. I...I ask you to be honest with me."

"Ask." He saw her brows furrowing in worry.

"Syusuke. His real name is Fuji Syusuke."

"Yes. I thought you knew that."

Tezuka leaned one elbow on the balcony, "...In London, did he have family?"

There was a long pause, "Kunimitsu, what's going on?"

It was Tezuka's turn to pause, "It's...actually..."

"Niisan?"

In a moment of panic, Tezuka snapped his phone shut. He would owe his mother a hefty explanation later, that he knew very well. But that would come later. Taking a moment to collect himself, Tezuka turned around, keeping his voice neutral. "...What're you doing up?"

"Mou...it's barely eleven. I don't want to go to bed yet." Syusuke stepped out barefoot onto the balcony and wrapped his arms snugly around Tezuka's waist and pressed his face warmly into his back. "What are you doing out here?"

"Air." Tezuka said, an excuse he'd often used. The one hand that wasn't gripping the phone moved to cover Syusuke's knotted fingers around his stomach. "It's nice out."

"You were calling somebody." Syusuke said quietly after a moment. "I heard you talking. Who?"

Tezuka mentally cursed. Syusuke was supposed to be asleep, he wondered if his brother had been asleep after all. "...I...well, I was calling Atobe." He said lamely, grabbing the first name he came up with.

"Why?"

"Well..." Tezuka grabbed for words again, this was a little bit trickier. "...Nothing really, he and I were talking about...this weekend." He was weaving quite a complicated web, hopefully Atobe would be all right with it. "...Since you know, it's a long weekend, and no one has finals or anything, Atobe thought it would be relaxing for everyone to go on his yacht and get away...for a little while. Maybe we'll sail to Hakkaido."

Syusuke seemed to consider this, "...Who is 'everyone?'"

"You, me, Atobe, and Oshitari." Now Tezuka just crossed his fingers and hoped that everything would turn out the way he (accidentally) planned it.

He felt Syusuke smile against him, "...That sounds fun. I'd love to go."

-

That morning when he woke up, Tezuka took advantage of Syusuke's morning shower and ducked away to make two phone calls while he was brewing coffee. He took the easy way out and called Atobe first. He was vague on the details because he didn't want his friend harping on about things he knew nothing about.

But Atobe seemed perfectly ready to accept that Syusuke was just a little off and needed a healthy distraction. "...Spending time in Hakkaido shouldn't be a problem. Ore-sama is even glad you asked."

Tezuka poured coffee into two mugs and put down the coffee pot, "Why?"

"Yuushi's been stuck on this research project as of late. There's this girl that he's been working with that I hate."

Tezuka was amused, despite his current mood, "...I didn't think you'd be the type to get jealous, Atobe."

Atobe made an elegantly rude sound, "Whatever. Anyway, yeah. The yacht though...I'm not sure if that's doable, I think my old man might need the yacht for his friends...some are coming over from Singapore this week. I'll get a yacht, but it won't be mine."

"Aren't you supposed to be there, then?"

"I suspect they won't miss me." Atobe's tone was strangely subdued. "Besides, I have my own life now, don't I?"

Tezuka knew his friend well enough not to push the issue. "...I appreciate it."

"No problem." Atobe hung up.

Tezuka put the phone down and took a sip of coffee. He was biding his time, although he knew that he didn't have much of it. After a pause, he picked up the phone and hit speed dial two. And waited.

His mother picked up on the second ring, "Kunimitsu?"

"Yes, mother." He braced himself. "About last night...I'm sorry. Something came up. But did Syusuke have family in London?" Perhaps if he charged ahead, he'd have a chance. "I really need to know, it's...it's...urgent."

His mother hesitated, "...I'll tell you." She said finally, "As long as you tell me why you want to know."

Tezuka swallowed. Somehow, he'd expected this. She was a mother, his mother. "...We had some unexpected visitors yesterday." He said, selecting the right words to downplay the situation just so. It wouldn't do well to worry his mother when she was no longer young and seemed to know nothing at all. "...They said...they said they were Syusuke's siblings." He held his breath.

"They did?" Good, his mother sounded calm. "That's...strange. He shouldn't have any siblings. At least...I don't know of any."

"What?"

His mother continued musing as if she hadn't heard him, "...Syusuke lived with an aunt, I think, before he came to us. I talked to the aunt once or twice on the phone, she was a nice lady, but she was elderly. Syusuke is an only child, Kunimitsu."

"Oh."

Now, that, he wasn't expecting. Tezuka drank more coffee,

"Mother, are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Is there something else, Kunimitsu? You sound distracted."

Tezuka was distracted. Currently, he was burning holes through his watch, trying to estimate how much time he had left. Syusuke took his time in the shower, but Tezuka had taken his time on the phone with Atobe because he dreaded this phone call with his mother.

"Nothing. I guess everything will sort itself out eventually. Also, Syusuke and I aren't coming back to dinner this weekend. We're going to Hakkaido. Atobe's borrowing a yacht."

She sounded amused, "Atobe-kun is very generous, isn't he? Well, have fun. The two of you work too hard."

Tezuka hung up, and not a minute too soon. Syusuke appeared a moment later, fresh from his morning shower. Eyes sparkling, as if nothing was wrong. "Niisan, did you really make me breakfast?" He grinned. "You're a sweetheart, you really are."

"It's just coffee." But Tezuka's lips betrayed him as Syusuke pecked him sweetly on the cheek.

"I can't love you for it?" Syusuke pouted.

Tezuka relented. Perhaps, like everything else, he over thought things. "Of course you can." He wound a damp strand of hair around his fingers and watched it curl against one pale cheek. "You're beautiful this morning."

Maybe everything was all right, after all.