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It was a sunny day at the Sakamaki Castle, and Shuu had just gotten away from his studies again. He was as relieved as ever to get away from the seemingly endless papers, and possibly get to have some free time for once. The pressures were truly too much. The promise of being able to sneak away for a while and just be the person he was, rather than what his mother was molding him into, was something keeping him going. Edgar and his little brother were what he had to get him through piles of paper and stress ever since he could remember.
Speaking of Reiji, Shuu was sure he had been studying for too long yet again. The last he saw of him, he had his nose stuck in a book about the thickness of his head. His little brother never knew when to take breaks, so normally Shuu was the one to push him away from the desk. The blond boy found him in his room, writing down various notes ranging from psychology to basic human anatomy. Shuu, being careful not to step on any creaking floorboards, crept up behind him, his hands held out to gently rest on the younger boy's shoulders. Reiji jumped, the book falling out of his small hands as he turned around as quickly as he could to meet Shuu. “You are too easy to scare when you're focused!” Shuu giggled, wrapping his arms fully around his still-shaken young brother.
“Well, you should not be doing that to me! You're so mean sometimes!” Reiji retorted, unable to keep the large grin off his face. He pushed his glasses up with his whole hand, then hugged his brother with both arms, abandoning the heavy book completely. “Did mother let you go?”
Shuu grinned at him and helped him off the chair, Reiji's feet didn't even fully touch the ground yet, each time he had tried to get off a higher chair, he always needed someone's help. “Finally. Wanna play?” Reiji grinned and nodded, a gleeful look curling his lips and bringing light to his dark eyes. Shuu grasped his hand in his and led him outside. “How about tag?”
The ravenette thought for a second or two, his hair covering his eyes. “Tag? Okay, fine. But you always beat me, you’re too fast!”
The oldest brother giggled, letting go of Reiji’s hand as the sunlight hit them and they both hurried over to the iron gate. “Only because I have more practice! You will get there!” He reassured, smiling at the shorter of the two.
“If we’re going to play this, can I have an advantage?”
Shuu raised a light eyebrow, still having one side of his mouth perked up in a lopsided grin. “What kind?”
Reiji smiled, his gums showing. “We can teleport during this.”
The blond became skeptical. They were explicitly warned not to use this particular power, as it was considered dangerous to use teleportation as young as they were whilst not in a safe place. They didn’t exactly have full control as to where they could end up, and they could reappear anywhere. “Rei, I don’t know if that's a good idea…”
Reiji pouted, “Oh Shuu, you know I’m good at it.” He decided to prove this by disappearing before Shuu’s eyes and sneaking behind him, scaring his older brother. Shuu yelped as Reiji tapped his shoulder, turning around. “See? I have good control over it, and so do you! We’ll be fine! And look at that, I got back at you for scaring me earlier. Fufu~!”
Shuu tilted his head, looking at him with slight worry in his eyes. “Well, what happens if one of us shows up in some place dangerous? I don’t want us to get hurt.”
The younger boy blinked, even at this age, was Reiji rational and most times listened to warnings. But the desire to win against his older brother was strong enough this time to make him ignore Shuu’s prediction. “If you’re not going to use it, I still will. You will be giving yourself a disadvantage.” Reiji tapped the side of his arm and bolted, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. “You choose, but you’re it!”
Shuu scoffed, unable to hold back a laugh as Reiji ran away from him. “Fine, you win,” he muttered. The blond started running, searching for his little brother behind bushes and the castle walls until he spotted a hint of dark fabric behind the edge of the castle corner. The boy smirked and carefully visualized where he wanted to be transported, before using the skills he had to appear in front of Reiji.
Reiji squealed, laughing as Shuu tapped his shoulder and ran away. The small boy ran for a bit but quickly came to be out of breath. He had to resort to a brisk walk to properly breathe. “Where did you even go?” He asked aloud, his sharp hearing picked up a stifled chuckle from behind a bush. Reiji smirked and quickly materialized behind Shuu, touching his shoulder before teleporting away again.
Shuu’s features twisted into surprise and then worry. “Reiji, not so much at once. You could end up somewhere you don’t want to be.” He warned yet again, knowing what could happen. Here, Reiji was still so naive in so many ways, he didn’t have that constant worry of what could go wrong yet. That was instilled in him much later. “Reiji! Where did you go!?” Shuu yelled, a feeling of dread starting to creep up his spine.
Reiji appeared before him, giggling again. “I’m right here.” Shuu felt a tap on his shoulder and spun around. “I’m also here.”
“You’re making me worried, Rei.” Shuu said, his voice taking on a more stern tone. “If you get hurt, you kno-”
“Oh, shut up, we’ll be okay.” Reiji dismissed, teleporting away once more. Shuu sighed and made his own decision to stop using his power, in hopes that Reiji would maybe follow his example. He ran around the garden, searching until he caught sight of him. Shuu sprinted up to him, panting as he reached out to touch him only for him to be gone before he could make contact.
That’s when the ear-piercing shriek hit his ears.
Only it wasn’t Reiji’s voice, it was
Subaru’s
.
Shuu didn’t pause. He ran again, even faster than he did before. It didn’t take him long to reach the source of the sound, the albino boy was staring up with wide, watery eyes and a dropped jaw.
Reiji was on top of the gate, the highest iron spike pierced straight through his stomach. Blood was everywhere, dripping down to the ground as Reiji stayed, suspended in midair. Shuu couldn't tear his eyes away from the bloody and messy sight, his chest pounded in shock and horror. Little, strangled gasping noises reached his ears, his little brother struggling to breathe through the pain. The sound brought him back to the present, Shuu took Subaru by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. “Run, go find an adult, right now! Hurry!” He said, watching as Subaru's eyes failed to withhold his tears. “Go, quick!!” As the younger ran off, Shuu's eyes darted back up to his blood brother. The scene was too messy to stare at, but his blue eyes fixated on the gory display. Shuu swallowed the large lump in his throat and tried to breathe normally, keeping fear out of his voice as he spoke louder. “Reiji? Can you hear me?”
His injured brother didn't respond, his eyes shut tightly as he was stuck frozen. “S-shuu…?”
Shuu reluctantly walked closer to the gate. “It's me. It's okay, this shouldn't kill you according to our studies.” He tried to reassure, hearing Reiji's labored breaths. “You're gonna be okay, just breathe slowly. Subaru ran to get an adult.”
“I didn't… I didn't look at it.” His voice wavered.
“Don't. You'll just freak out.” Shuu responded as quickly as Reiji finished, leaving him no room to protest. “Just focus on breathing. Help will be here soon.”
“I should have listened to you.” The blonde could tell his little brother was on the edge of crying because of the way his voice quivered, Shuu kissed his teeth and closed his eyes for a moment.
Reiji looked down, hearing his brother clear his throat to keep anxiety out of his voice. “You really should have.” He said, looking back up at Reiji to meet his terrified eyes. “But there's nothing you can do about it right now, so remain calm. Alright? You're not gonna die.”
Male and female voices were heard clamoring, coming towards them slowly only to speed up when they saw Reiji's condition -the rest of the next few minutes had been a blur to Shuu. He remembered how much pain showed on his brother's face as the servants removed the spike from his stomach, simply causing more blood to gush out. His flesh was torn apart, his insides completely visible as the woman put pressure on the wound, desperate to get it to stop its seemingly endless bleeding. Shuu recalled the way Reiji's dark eyes caught sight of the graphic imagery and widened in horror at the state his stomach was in. His lips parted and the bottom one quivered as he saw his intestines in disarray, spread out in front of him. The male butler forced his chin back up so he couldn't see, but Shuu knew from the way he was hyperventilating he had seen too much.
The oldest’s instincts told him to step in, and so he did. Shuu stepped forward, ignoring the butler's silent gesture to leave the premises as he knelt next to the boy quite literally on the verge of tears, and grasped his hand in his. Reiji held onto him like Shuu was his own life. “Don't focus on it, alright? Focus on me. Why don't you tell me about what you were reading earlier?”
The younger boy looked down at Shuu's hand in his, tears of pain in his eyes. “I'm so scared, I'm
so
scared, Shuu… It's bad, It's really bad.”
“I know it is, but do you think you're helping yourself by panicking? No, so be calm. Breathe for me, in and out. You're gonna be fine, okay? Perfect as always.” He smiled, putting on a good face for his little brother as the maid communicated with the butler. The blond squeezed the noirette’s hand, trying his best to be comforting and to keep together his stability. Shuu led Reiji in his breathing, guiding him as the two adults tried to make sense of what to do in the situation. Eventually, the woman left and fetched a medical expert who then moved Reiji to his room. The doctor stayed for a long time before he said nothing had to be done at the moment but to give the seven-year-old strong medicine for the pain. He would eventually regenerate the flesh, although it would scar. A wound like this, had he been human, would have been fatal. Shuu had never felt more grateful for a vampire's regeneration abilities.
A couple of days passed by, and Reiji was on bed rest while Shuu fought to stay by his side at all times. He even opted to do assignments near him just to stay within his reach, which Reiji had fought against, even weakly trying to sit up. But the moment Shuu saw the expression of agony on his face he only fought harder, the two were inseparable at the moment. Shuu silently vowed to protect him as well as he could, even if it was something he couldn't exactly defend him from.
One night, four days after the incident, Shuu was awakened by heavy gasping and sobbing. His eyes shot open immediately, his eyes quickly landing on the boy next to him. The younger’s knees were to his chest, curled into himself as he panted, tears falling from his closed eyes. “Reiji…?” Shuu rested a hand on his shoulder, shaking him softly. “Reiji, wake up.” The boy woke with a scream, so piercing that Shuu flinched back. Reiji was trembling as he sat up as quickly as he could and started patting down his abdomen rather roughly as if checking for damage again. Shuu frowned, scared that he would cause more damage in his frantic state, he grabbed his wrists pulling them away from the bandages. “Calm down!! You're gonna hurt yourself again!” He shouted, fighting against Reiji's little strength. “It was a dream! That's it! Calm down!!”
Once Reiji had worn himself out-or realized what was going on, Shuu didn't know which-he slumped against his older brother, his head on Shuu's shoulder. “I… I'm sorry, I wasn't-”
“Don't apologize. You didn't hurt me.” He cut him off, running a hand through his hair. “I'm not mad, not at all, Rei.”
“...You don’t really get mad at me…”
“I don’t…”
There was a comfortable silence for a while, nothing but the wind blowing gently outside and the sound of Shuu quietly humming a violin melody to Reiji as he brushed back his hair with his hand. Reiji found himself unable to be lulled back to sleep this time, so Shuu asked: “Would you like me to stay up with you…?”
Reiji thought, his eyes tired but haunting and disgusting images flashing across his vision each time he closed them. “...You like sleep, so no.”
“I can stay awake if you want me to, I’m serious…”
“No, it’s okay…”
Shuu frowned but accepted his little brother's choice. “Alright, but if you want me awake, say something, shake me or anything. Okay?”
“Okay…”
Another comfortable silence blanketed over them, causing warmth to reign. But soon, Reiji sat up and reached for his glasses on the nightstand. Shuu had his blue eyes closed, his eyelashes brushing against his cheekbones in a sensory-pleasing manner. “Shuu?”
“Yes, Rei?” He opened his eyes, catching sight of Reiji immediately. “Are you okay?”
“No… I want to know something.”
Shuu sat up too, with a slight groan of exhaustion. “What?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
Suddenly, every nerve in Shuu’s body pitched causing his eyes to widen and even his jaw to go slack. Did he hear him right? Where could those words have spawned from? Nothing but a blank slate came to Shuu’s mind, this isn’t something his own little brother should be thinking at any time. “What…?”
“I asked: what’s wrong with me?”
Shuu still couldn’t speak, like his lungs were frozen, he could barely even breathe. “
Why
are you asking me that?”
“There has to be something…” Shuu tilted Reiji’s chin up, so he could look straight into his eyes. Magenta eyes filled with pure innocence as he kept saying things that made Shuus's heart wretch. “Why else would mother hate me…?”
“Mother does not hate you.” Shuu tried to say, knowing it wasn’t altogether true. And Reiji could tell. He was too smart to believe it.
“Am I not smart enough?” He asked again, this time the question made the shell of Shuu’s ears burn.
“
Stop
. You are perfect, like I always tell you. Perfect.”
“Then why does she never care…?” Reiji asked, a frown on his face as he blinked back the salty shine of tears. “I got hurt, and when she came to see me… She barely acknowledged me… She looked a me with no concern. Nothing. So what did I do to make her not care?”
Shuu could hear it in the way his brother's voice shook, the pain and suffering. So he took him in a tight hug, holding him close to his chest without irritating the wound. “Mother is just… Focused on other things.” He whispered to him softly, rubbing his back.
“You?”
Without knowing what seed Shuu would be planting, he nodded and pulled away, holding his shoulders in his arms. “Only to get me ready for king… She can be mean, I know. But it’ll change… She’s just stressed.”
“It will…? Really?”
“Of course it will. You’re amazing, Reiji. You’re so smart, and talented, and kind. Once she’s not busy anymore, she’s going to give you attention, I promise.” Shuu said. “And if she doesn’t, and fails to recognize you, I will. I always will.”
Reiji smiled, a nice, not offputting expression to see on his face after the tough conversation. “Okay… Thank you, Shuu.”
“Of course, anytime you need my reassurance,” Shuu spoke. “I’ll give it to you.”
“Anytime?”
“
Anytime.”
And Reiji healed a little. The scars from that day, on his stomach never faded, just like predicted. But the promises Shuu had made him, most were never fulfilled. Not to his own fault of course.
Nothing had hurt more though for Reiji when he saw the same dead look he once saw Beatrix give to him, given to him by his big brother after he had lost his lust for life. That’s when the seed Shuu had accidentally helped to plant years and years ago started to sprout. A seed of envy, and hatred had grown and consumed the good heart Shuu once knew Reiji to have.
Both of them have wounds, both of them dipped in the other's salt.