The Day We Don't Talk About

Focus: Hikaru/Kaoru
One-shot
Kaoru fell back against the wall, gasping for breath and trying to wipe blood away from his nose. "Come on faggot!" one of his attackers taunted.

Any one of them he could take on, he knew that. But with all five of them attacking at once, he just couldn't do it. It didn't help that they were all older than him. The youngest looked eighteen or nineteen, three years his senior. He was good, maybe not quite as good as his brother, but he was good. But he wasn't that good, not yet. He knew this sort of confrontation was coming for a while, he only wished he had more time to practice before it happened.

He didn't want to shame himself or his brother any more than he already had. And yet he was already doing so. Beaten and bloodied, lip slowly beginning to swell. He just felt tired and distant, he only wanted this horrible little fight with these leather jacket-wearing assholes and him to end. "What's the matter, little faggot? Giving up already?" one asked.

"Hey, what's going on here?" a voice, so much like Kaoru's, yet ever so slightly different, echoed down the alley.

The reaction was immediate. The young toughs immediately straightened up, backing away from Kaoru and shuffling about, embarrassed. "Er, hey Hikaru-cha...er, sama."

"Cut the crap," Kaoru's brother, older by mere seconds, growled. Kaoru looked up in surprise, one eye already swollen shut. "Just who the hell do you, any of you, think you are?"

Kaoru watched, amazed. Hikaru was the same age he was, barely sixteen, yet he had quickly turned a group of eighteen to twenty-year old punks into shamed, compliant sheep. "Er... we..."

"Oh shut up, the lot of you," Hikaru said disdainfully, "You think you can pick on him just because he's the younger brother? Which one of you should I beat the crap out of first? Kaoru, which one?"

The younger brother made no reply. He could only stare dumbfounded, sucking in breath and trying his best not to cry. Hikaru walked nonchalantly down the alley, straight up to the embarrassed assholes who had attacked his younger brother. "Hit me," he said bluntly.

For a moment there was absolute silence. Even the traffic outside seemed muted and distant. The bastard he was talking to tried to form words, "H...hi..."

"Hit me, you fucker," Hikaru said. His voice had a menacing growl that Kaoru had never heard before. Despite the fact that his brother had just saved him from further assault, this scared him far more than the assholes that attacked him. Hikaru continued, "Come on, I won't hit back, I promise. You can obviously hit my brother, so hit me."

"I... er... look, Hikaru-sama, we didn't-"

"HIT ME!" The growl turned into a veritable roar.

The bastard, larger and thicker than Hikaru, at least three years older than him, actually flinched at this. He looked uncertainly at his companions, then delivered a soft, hesitant blow to Hikaru's cheek. Hikaru's face barely moved, his hair wasn't even ruffled. He gave a disdainful sort. "I didn't ask you to give me a gay love-tap, dickweed. I told you to hit me. Now put some real effort behind it or I'll just kick your ass right here and now."

The sound of a meaty fist striking flesh resonated through the alley. Hikaru slowly straightened back up. He wiped the tiny dribble of blood away from his nose. It wasn't broken, merely bleeding a little. He looked at his bloody finger and smiled. Even struck, his face was nothing short of stunning. The smile radiated charm, but right now it was a cold, fearsome charm, like one that would be made by some predatory beast right before it leaped.

"So did that feel good for you?" Hikaru asked, "It must obviously have felt good for you to try and beat the shit out of my brother. So what about me?"

"I... well... he-" the older kid stuttered.

"Answer me," Hikaru whispered, this sound even more frightening than the growls and roars issued a moment before.

"N...no sir," the kid stammered, his downturned face burning with embarrassment.

"Why not?" Hikaru asked, "Because I'm the 'elder' brother? We're twins you fucking dipshit. And even if we weren't, it doesn't matter, we'd still be brothers. We're connected by our blood, and what you do to one of us, you do to both. If you ever get the temptation to hit him again while I'm not around, just remember that you're not just hitting him, you're hitting me. Hikaru, eldest son of the Shibara family.

"And if you decide to try hitting him while I actually am around, I will respond as if you attacked me directly. No, I'll respond even more violently. Now get the fuck out of here, all of you, before I lose my temper."

As the last of them left, Hikaru's terrifying face, grim and merciless, underwent a transformation. Within a second he was at Kaoru's side, bending over and checking his face out, "Holy shit, what did they do to you?"

Kaoru tried to respond. His mouth opened, but his throat locked up. He knew that if he spoke, he would start crying, and he couldn't allow that shame to be piled on top of everything else that was already there. He closed his mouth.

Hikaru nodded, understanding, "Come on then, let's get you home and cleaned up before Father sees."
Kaoru sat on the toilet, looked forward with dull eyes. Hikaru had placed him there a few minutes earlier. The entire trip home was a half-remembered dream to the younger brother. He had been led robotically through the alleys and smaller streets, shuffled discreetly into the great Shibara shrine, and smuggled expertly past several house servants to the bathroom.

Water splashed industriously into the bathtub. Hikaru tested the temperature one more time before setting the plug and turning back towards his younger brother. Kaoru had not changed his position. Aside from the motions he had allowed his brother to put him through, he had not made any sort of movement or sound whatsoever. Now Hikaru slowly knelt in front of him, looking up into Kaoru's eyes. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," he said.

Kaoru's eyes shifted, briefly meeting Hikaru's before turning away again. The face kept its carefully composed dead-ness. "What?" a hoarse whisper.

"Come on," Hikaru goaded, "Let it out."

There was no response. Hikaru sighed, "Look, we got in without anyone noticing. The door is shut, and the sound of the water will cover any noise we make. I know you, Kaoru-kun. You can either let it out now, or I will make you stay sitting here, and I will remain right here in front of you, until you let it out. Got it?"

Again, no response.

"Alright then, time to make it a little tougher for you," Hikaru said. He gently, yet firmly clasped Kaoru's chin in his hand and slowly turned his younger brother's face to meet his own.

It was the eye contact that did it. Kaoru looked into his brother's eyes. Eyes that had, less than an hour ago, burned with a terrifying fury, somehow kept in check long enough to frighten a gang several years older than him and much heavier and stronger than him away. Now they were soft, open and understanding. Kaoru looked into those eyes and felt his rigidly maintained walls and defenses crumble under their passive onslaught far more effectively than anger and physical violence could have ever done.

It started with a slight quiver of the lips, then Kaoru's vision blurred, his sight impaired by a sudden stream of tears. Kaoru did more than cry, he wept. He sobbed uncontrollably and told his brother about his shame. About how he had shamefully been unable to defend himself against those assholes. About how he even more shamefully had to rely on his brother's aid to save him, rather than standing for himself. About the shame of his inability to speak, to stand and join his brother in rebuking the attackers.

It lasted nearly ten minutes, and through it all Hikaru remained. Eye-contact did not last the entire time, as about a minute into it Kaoru's sobs and confessions weakened him to the point of near collapse, and Hikaru embraced him, supporting his younger brother's head on his shoulder while the testimony continued.

Eventually the younger twin's voice stammered and stopped. For a few minutes more, the two remained in that position. One sitting on the toilet, hunched forward, the other kneeling in front of him, arms draped lovingly around him. Kaoru couldn't move, didn't want to move. For a few moments, everything felt right. The the arms that weighed so lightly physically, so heavy with love, were removed. He looked up to see Hikaru moving over gracefully and cutting the flow of water to the tub.

"Wait... what are you doing?" Kaoru asked in shock as Hikaru began running a hand up his leg, squeezing gently every few inches.

"Something I learned from sensei," Hikaru said, continuing to move upward and ignoring his brother's protests, "You were limping slightly the entire way home, I'm making sure nothing's sprained or broken."

Kaoru sat back, face burning as his brother's hand made it's way up to his inner calf. "I can't find anything wrong," Hikaru said, hand stopping mid-calf, much to Kaoru's relief.

Without warning, Hikaru's hand shot upward and gave Kaoru's crotch a lightning-quick, gentle squeeze. Kaoru gasped and looked at his brother in shock. Hikaru grinned mischievously, "Well, that seems healthy enough, now come on and get those clothes off."

Somehow Kaoru's eyes got even wider. "Wh...What?"

"So you can get into the bath and get cleaned up, doofus," Hikaru chided, "It'll look weird if I'm standing guard outside the door, so I'm staying right in here."

Kaoru was still hesitant, "Promise you won't look?"

Hikaru let loose with another of his charming smiles, "I promise I won't watch you undress. Geeze, I'm not gay, and even if I were, you're my brother, that's just weird."

There was a slight rustling as Kaoru peeled his plain black t-shirt up and off, revealing a pale body, smattered with bruises, slim to the point of exposed ribs. A few hesitant seconds later, and black jeans and boxers softly hit the floor. There was a slight shifting of hot water as the boy stepped carefully into the bath, wincing as the cuts flared in sudden renewed pain.

Hikaru turned back to see his brother huddled uncertainly in the bathtub, knees pulled up to his chest. He sighed. There was some more slight rustling noises, and then a moment of silence. Once again, Kaoru's eyes widened in shock as he saw his brother's naked leg step tenderly into the bathwater. "What are you-?!"

"You're not cleaning yourself off," Hikaru said, rolling his eyes as he climbed into the bathtub with his brother, "So I'm going to have to do it for you. Besides, I need to get cleaned off too. Come on, let go of your knees you chicken."

Kaoru felt himself slipping into some sort of numb shock. For the moment it seemed easier just to passively let his older brother dictate what was happening than continue to fight back. Warm, soapy water coursed up and down his leg and Hikaru tenderly ran a cloth over Kaoru's skin. With gentle efficiency, he continued to wash Kaoru's body off. Occasionally a brief, soft command was given to change position. Without thinking, Kaoru complied.

At the beginning of this, he told himself the numb shock was him just waiting for this ordeal to be over. But as the soft washcloth continued its work, rubbing easily and smoothly along his thin frame, he began to relax. It was a comforting sensation, almost like a massage. Hikaru continued to work on him, gently scrubbing off his hands, his underarms, then leaning close and softly wiping the towel around Kaoru's neck as Kaoru held his own hair up.

Last came the face. Hikaru ordered his younger brother to sit still and Kaoru complied. A fresh jet of hot water was run through the cloth, no soap this time. With infinite care, Hikaru dabbed the cloth around his brother's lips, leaning close enough so that the two were sharing the same air. Kaoru's eyes closed reactively to the slight stinging as the cloth brushed over the split skin. Finally, content that all the blood and grime had been cleaned away, Hikaru sat back in the tub.

"Okay, your turn."

Kaoru's eyes opened, "My turn?"

"Yeah, you slouch. I cleaned you off, now it's time to return the favour."

At first Kaoru's movements were jerky, uncertain. Part of him was screaming about how horribly wrong this all was. But he was going to have to do this anyways, he had never seen his brother in this kind of mood before, and he doubted he'd be allowed to leave before he had complied. Another part of him, the rationalizing part, insisted that this was perfectly fine. That this was no different than when he and Hikaru were babies, sharing a bath together and getting scrubbed off by mother.

Perhaps there was a good reason he couldn't remember those times, the scared part of Kaoru's mind reminded him. But by this point it had been safely drowned out by the rationalizations. A part of Kaoru's lower mind took over, allowing his confused, exhausted higher brain functions to take a brief vacation. His movements became smoother, and the washcloth quickly worked over his brother's shapely frame.

Before he knew it, Kaoru was done. With another grin, Hikaru stood up and got out of the bath, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was completely naked. He grabbed and towel of the rack and raised an eyebrow invitingly at Kaoru. For a moment Kaoru didn't understand, then with sudden comprehension he too got out of the bath and allowed himself to be wrapped in the warm towel. Hikaru carefully dried his younger brother off, slowly rubbing up and down his arms, his legs, his chest and back.

Kaoru found himself reveling in the sensation. He wasn't certain why he should be feeling this good. He felt a little lightheaded, maybe it was just from the heat of the bath. Whenever he tried to think clearly about things, his thoughts merely broke into pieces, and he found himself drifting back to the simple enjoyment of these sensations. He found himself dreamily toweling Hikaru off in the same manner that Hikaru had dried him.

Two robes were taken from the closet, and giggling like schoolgirls, the brothers left the bathroom. Kaoru yawned as they reached the doorway to his room. Outside the shrine shrouded in blankets of russet and gold, emanating from a setting sun. Perhaps it might be a good idea to take an early night, it had been an exhausting day after all. Hikaru seemed to have the same idea, idly allowing his robe to drop to the floor as he went towards his bed. With a lazy grin, the elder brother sprawled across the blankets. Even in his lethargy, he carefully composed the sprawl so that it didn't look too uncoordinated, too unattractive. It was a sexy sprawl.

Kaoru was heading towards his own bed when his brother's hand curled around his wrist. He barely had time to mutter in surprise before Hikaru had yanked him down onto the bed with him. Hikaru put a finger on Kaoru's lips, muffling his protests. "You got attacked today, little brother," he whispered confidentially, "I, as the elder brother, have to make sure you're safe."

Twice he tried to stand back up, a momentary fear and uncertainty re-asserting itself. Twice Hikaru gently guided him back onto the bed. Finally Kaoru gave in as Hikaru gently slipped the bathrobe off his shoulders. "Still so tense," Hikaru admonished as he gave his brother's pale shoulders a massage.

Kaoru muttered something incoherent as his brother's skilled hands worked their way into his lean, knotted muscles. Eventually the pressure increased slightly, guiding him slowly but irresistibly into a laying position. There was a brief gust of air as Hikaru whipped the blanket over them both. He left an arm draped casually across his brother's chest.

For a few minutes Kaoru lay there and stared at the hardwood ceiling, wondering how he got into this position. The steady breathing of Hikaru, inches away from his face, was calming. Almost hypnotic. He found his thoughts once again growing muddied. He inhaled, in tune with his brother's breath. There was a strange scent coming off Hikaru. Exotic, yet slightly familiar. Kaoru leaned in closer to his brother's face, sniffing his hair, his forehead, his cheek. Each inhalation brought more of that strange scent into his nose, his lungs. It was almost like a drug.

In reaction to Kaoru's close presence, his half-asleep brother's lips parted slightly. Completely accidentally, Kaoru's lips made a very brief contact. For a moment he was ready to back away, frightened. But something stopped. It must have been the taste. It was like the smell, but deeper, much more purely physical. For a moment Kaoru allowed himself to remain in that position, his lips just barely touching his brother's. He'd pull away in a second and go to sleep, and all of this would be forgotten.

Kaoru began to press harder against Hikaru's lips, his tongue darting out experimentally to get a better taste.
There was a distracted humming as father ambled down the hallway. Bath towel draped over one arm, bathrobe flowing luxuriously around his strong frame, he made his way towards the bathroom. There was a very slight warm humidity in the air. Someone had taken a shower or bath, father judged, about half an hour ago, and forgot to turn on the fan. He gave a glance over towards the kids' room, the door tightly shut.

He considered walking in there and demanding to know who was the irresponsible one, but decided against it. At least he knew they were home. He hadn't heard either Hikaru or Kaoru come back home, and for a while had been getting progressively more worried. Well, tomorrow they'd certainly hear an earful or three about it. Coming home late, and not even letting him know they were back, or where they'd been. Not to mention their childish forgetfulness regarding showering etiquette. He walked into the bathroom. His eyes wandered towards the tub.

Oh they would definitely be getting a reprimand for this. Perhaps even some time in the sparring room. It was small, and easily overlooked by any who weren't specifically keeping an eye out for it. A very thin trail of oil still led down the side of the tub towards the drain. A barely perceptible scent, exotic and musky, still hung in the air. Hikaru's elbow had jostled and tipped it over when he had originally started the bathwater, and he had failed to notice then. Ever since then the liquid inside had slowly been leaking out.

Angrily father righted and re-capped the remaining dribble of liquid that remained in his rather expensive bottle of condensed extract of rare, Lotus-based scented aphrodisiac massage oils.

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