-Izumi's POV-
"Izumi… wake up, Izumi…"
The soft crooning voice drifted through the veils of Izumi's slumber and he began to stretch languidly upon wakening. When the owner of the voice finally registered in his narcosis state, a result apparently due to his late outings the past couple of nights, Izumi cringed at the sound and he quickly rolled away from the voice and pulled the covers over his head to help stifle the noise.
"Izumi, come on. Wake up!"
This time, the voice became louder and more insistent as the speaker nudged his shoulders to get him to wake up. Izumi only rolled into a ball and pressed both hands to cover his ears, hoping the annoying person would get the hint and just go on his merry way. But no such luck. Said person somehow had managed to pull his covers up from the side and had dive beneath it in order to reach him.
He felt small hands groped his covered upper torso until they found his underarms. The digits dug into his tender flesh and begun tickling him. This only managed to annoy Izumi even further. With a small growl he grabbed both wrists of the offending hands and flipped both of them over.
A shrill of bubbly laughter escaped from the person pinned beneath him. "Yea, you're up."
Izumi rolled his eyes then peered down at the person and groused, "Why are you doing here so early for?"
Another peel of laughter erupted. "I knew you would forget. You're giving me swimming lessons today, remember? You promised, Izumi."
Feigning ignorance, Izumi cocked a brow way up and replied sarcastically, "I did?"
"Yup. So let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Izumi merely rolled his eyes again then plastered on a stern face as he tried not to give into the infectious smile from the glowing cherub beneath him. "First of all Katsumi, its big brother to you, not Izumi; and secondly, I need to wash up before we go. So stay put and don't touch anything."
He pointedly ignored the raspberry that was blown at him and released the little tyke. Izumi threw the covers off the both of them and got out of bed. He then went to grab a change of clothes from his wardrobe and headed for the bathroom. Before he closed the door though, he sternly reminded his little brother again. "Don't touch anything brat. Got that?"
Unrelenting his glare until he got an answer, Izumi waited.
"Okaaay. Yes I won't touch anything, big brother."
Satisfied with his little brother's whiny answer, Izumi closed the bathroom door and locked it.
-Katsumi's POV-
As soon as the shower spray could be heard, Katsumi quietly got off the bed and immediately located the remote control. He turned on the television located at the corner of the room then punched the channel to his favorite network. With his alibi all setup, the little boy turned his attention back to the cozy studio apartment. He briefly wondered where he should start before his curiosity settled on the wardrobe first.
Katsumi rarely had a chance to visit his older brother. As long as he could remember, he could count on two hands the number of times Izumi had visited him and his parents before he moved overseas. Most of the time when he did came over, a tall man —he couldn't remember his name— would always be there with his brother and they would only stay for an hour or two. Katsumi hadn't liked that and would always cry when they'd left. Now though, with his brother living nearby but now minus the tall man, he couldn't be happier. He briefly wondered where that tall man went to though. He was the nice uncle type who would bring him candy despite what his mother says. But it doesn't matter he thought, ever since his brother have been back, Katsumi had been ecstatic to see him almost everyday. He'd smiled cheerily as he carefully rifled through his brother's things. Finding nothing unusual, he moved on to his brother's desk.
Finding nothing particularly interesting there either, Katsumi absently picked up one of the hard cover books near his brother's computer and started flipping through the pages. He wondered if it was like the picture books his mother would read to him before he goes to bed. Finding only a few pictures he didn't care for, he quickly closed the book and recognized the picture of a person on the back cover.
It was that tall man. Katsumi remembered he had liked the uncle's smile; it had always made him smile too. He wondered again where the nice man had gone to when he heard the shower spray had stopped. Frantic in trying not to get caught, Katsumi placed the book back in its proper location and went to sit in front of the television just as his brother opened the bathroom door. He snuck a peek at his brother who was dressed in a white graphic T-shirt and a pair of black windbreakers. Katsumi quickly turned his attention back towards the television wondering if his brother caught him this time.
"Hey, I thought I told you to not touch anything?" Admonish Izumi knowingly as he toweled his hair dry. Katsumi blushed in guilt then turn to face his brother, pulled his left eyelid down and snuck a tongue out. Izumi walked up to the little tyke and threw the wet used towel on the boy's head in retribution.
Katsumi struggled to get the thing off and he heard his brother laugh at his trouble. He smiled at that. When he finally had gotten it off, his brother had already grabbed his sports bag and was in the middle of putting on his sneakers. Katsumi quickly turned the television off, got up and went to grab his backpack too. When he turned around, his brother was already out the door. Katsumi quickly slipped on his own shoes and slammed the front door behind him. He ran quickly to keep in step with Izumi. His older brother slowed his stride then took his smaller hand in his as they descended the stairs, out the apartment building and headed towards the bus stop.
-Izumi's POV-
"Alright Katsumi, don't be afraid. I'm right here. My hands are going to be on your back the whole time okay. Even if you begin to not feel them, they're still going to be there for you, alright. So, are you ready to try floating again?"
Izumi looked at his younger brother straight in the eyes as he stood in the less than half a meter deep kiddy pool. They had done their usual stretching warm ups and water games to get the boy comfortable within the water. Now it was time for the next lesson.
He waited patiently until the fear faded from Katsumi's eyes and the boy gave a firm nod of affirmation. Suddenly feeling proud of his little brother, Izumi grinned at Katsumi before he plucked the boy off the edge of the pool and plump him into the water.
"Now remember, whenever you feel panicky, you just have to stand up and reach your feet down to touch the ground, okay?"
Katsumi nodded again. Izumi then lift his brother up and place him into position.
"Good. Now I'm going to place you on your back. Just relax your body and keep your neck back. You're doing great. Now close your eyes. Good. Now spread your arms out like I taught you and start circling slowly. Good, good."
Izumi slowly moved his hands a few centimeters away from his brother's back. Katsumi stayed afloat for a minute or two before he soon realized that the comforting hands were missing and he started to panic. Izumi waited to see if he needed to intervene or not when his brother seem to remember what he had said and reached his small feet down towards the ground.
When the boy turned to look at his older brother with wide surprised eyes, Izumi left out a bark of laughter that caught the attention of several women and men's eyes. Izumi hardly noticed them though. He went over to pick up his brother again and set him into position. "You did great. Now, try that again; this time start kicking your feet as I taught you, okay?"
Seeing the joy of accomplishment spreading across the cherub's face, Izumi's smile grew even wider. It seems his little brother's boast about being a fast learner wasn't a lie after all. The kid was a natural.
Twenty minutes later, Izumi had signed the little tyke up for his first official lessons –upon the boy's insistence— which began five minutes ago. He dropped the boy off at his designated group and waved the boy goodbye as he promised to pick him up half an hour later. Suddenly finding himself with nothing else to do, Izumi decided to swim a few laps at the aquatic center's Olympic size swimming pool located in the east wing of the building.
Glad that there were only a handful of people using the pool today, he walked over to the men's locker room and stripped down to his black swim trunks. Izumi had been uncomfortable in the revealing attire at first, but soon got accustomed to them since almost all the men wore such similar items to the pool.
After locking his sports bag away, Izumi threw a towel over one shoulder and walked back out to the main pool room. He placed the towel on a side bench and began to do a few stretching exercises. Satisfied with his routine, he then walked over to the side of the pool then dived in gracefully without preamble as he proceeded to swim freestyle across the expanse.
After his fourth lap, Izumi stopped at the edge of the pool and tried to catch his breath. He braced both arms around the lane guides and lean back against them. Water dripped from his face, but he didn't care. His eyes went unfocused as he stared up at the high vaulted ceiling. It was during idle times like these that he just wanted to tire his self out and fall into a dead sleep when his head hit the pillow at night.