Haruichi was for once glad about school, since he had an excuse to avoid his brother. Instead of making his way to the field that Ryousuke's little league team practiced, he found himself wandering around their small town. He didn't know how he was supposed to act anymore. He knew he couldn't keep copying his brother, but what else could he do?
Everything he knew how to do was through Ryousuke. Finding nothing of interest, Haruichi headed back home.
"Haruichi?" Haruna was surprised to see her youngest home so early. Normally he was watching Ryousuke practice. "You're home early. Is everything alright?"
Nodding slightly, Haruichi removed his shoes and set his bag down before joining her in the kitchen. Pulling up a chair, he climbed onto it and watched what she was doing. "What are you making?"
Smiling slightly, she glanced at him as she continued mixing the batter. "I'm making snacks for you and your brother." She was quiet for a while before asking, "Do you want to help?"
Staring at the lumpy dough, he nodded. Maybe this was something he could do that his brother wasn't. And he'd get to spend more time with mommy this way. Haruna set the bowl on the table so Haruichi could reach it and handed him the wooden spoon. "Can you keep mixing this for me? Just stir it really well, alright?"
Taking the spoon as he stood on the chair in order to see into the bowl, Haruichi started to stir the mixture. It was actually harder than it looked, and the dough was sticky. Haruna sat back and watched him for a while before taking some cookie sheets and lining them with parchment paper, taping the ends down to keep them from curling.
She brought them over to the table next to where Haruichi was still struggling with the dough, the bowl now almost tipped on its side. Shaking her head, she stood behind him and grasped the spoon with one hand, her other righting the bowl and holding it steady. She helped him stir the dough until it was ready and clapped her hands lightly. "Now for the fun part!"
Putting one tray in front of Haruichi, she grabbed a bit of the dough. "Take some of it in your hands, and roll it into a ball, alright?" She showed it how it was done and placed it in one corner of the sheet. Watching to make sure he understood, she took some more and continued filling her own sheet.
"Sticky," Haruichi said as he rolled the dough, watching it stick to his fingers and then the sheet. He made a few before looking at his mommy's work, pouting a little when he saw the difference. "Mommy's are bigger."
Haruna laughed. "Of course they are sweetie, mommy has bigger hands, see?" She held up one of her hands and Haruichi put one of his on top, seeing how much bigger they were. "But don't worry, yours will still be just as yummy."
They worked in silence for a while longer before Haruichi paused and looked back up at Haruna. "Mommy…"
"Yes Haru-chan?"
"How can I get strong?"
Haruna paused and put the dough in her hands down before turning to her baby. "What do you mean?"
Looking down in thought, Haruichi tried to think of what to say. "I don't…I don't like it when the big kids are mean. I wanna get stronger…so they stop." He looked up at his mommy who was frowning.
Now Haruna wasn't blind. She knew the older children had taken to bullying her baby, but normally Ryousuke was there to protect him. She knew if she tried to get involved it might only get worse, but she didn't realize it was this bad.
Kneeling down to his height, she smiled at him. "Mommy has a friend who teaches at a dojo where people go to get stronger. Do you want me to sign you up for classes?" She knew there wasn't much he could do at his age, but maybe just the knowledge that he was learning to defend himself would make the older kids back off a bit.
"If I go will I get strong?"
"Ah, if you work hard and keep at it, you'll get really strong."
Smiling widely, Haruichi nodded. "Wanna go!"
Laughing softly, Haruna nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to him about signing you up later tonight. Now, let's finish these cookies, alright?" Nodding happily, Haruichi went back to rolling the cookies, licking some of the dough off his fingers when he thought his mommy wasn't looking and thinking about how he'd get really strong and beat up the bullies who made fun of him and his brother for saying all those mean things. He couldn't wait.
/
When Ryousuke got home, he was a little surprised to see Haruichi was there. Well, not so much that he was home, but that he hadn't come to watch him practice like he usually did. Instead, he found his little brother sitting with their mother, who was reading to him as they munched on chocolate chip cookies.
Turning at the sound of the door opening, Haruna smiled at her eldest son. "Welcome back Ryou-chan. How was practice?"
"I'm back. It was fun." He was slightly confused at the fact Haruichi didn't run to greet him like normal, or even say hello. He set his bag down near the stairs and swiped a few cookies, glancing at the book his mother was reading.
"Do you want to read with us?" Haruna asked, seeing him glancing at the book.
Shaking his head, he finished his cookies and grabbed his bag again. "I'm going to finish my homework." He half expected Haruichi to either ask him to stay or follow him up, but the youngest Kominato simply stayed where he was and asked their mother to continue with the story.
As much as he didn't understand it, Ryousuke was happy that his little brother was finally doing his own thing, and not clinging to him as much. Walking up to their shared room, he set his baseball gear aside and plopped down in the desk chair, setting out his homework and starting on it.
He had to stop after a few minutes, not used to the silence of the room. Normally Haruichi would be there, and even if he was being quiet Ryousuke could still hear him messing around with something or humming simple tunes to himself while he played on his DS.
Humming the same tunes he'd heard his brother hum, he attempted to continue. It just wasn't the same though. Frowning to himself, he wondered why it was bothering him. He was finally getting a bit of space, and had some peace and quiet to do his homework, but now he just couldn't concentrate.
Pushing the thought aside for later, he forced himself to finish his work, and while it took longer than it usually would, he got it done. Putting it away, he grabbed his bat and decided to practice his swings some more. Anything to get out of the silence of his room. As he walked out back, he heard his little brother giggling at something their mother had said and found himself feeling a little lonely.
/
I try and write happy, it turns angst. I try and write angst, it turns out happy (somewhat). Not sure where this is going or how long it'll be, but here's hoping I'll be able to actually finish it!