"You all right?"

The voice snapped Amiboshi back to reality and brought his gaze from his 
water glass to the person standing beside his bed.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I...I'm fine, just...a little tired," he said. Suboshi 
looked quizically at his brother.

"You sure?" He'd been like this for the last several days, actually. Even 
for someone as quiet and introspective as Amiboshi, this didn't seem...
right. At least to Suboshi.  You seemed pretty out of it there, aniki," he 
said.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Amiboshi looked down and resumed staring into his 
half-empty glass of water. He wasn't all right, actually, but he didn't 
feel like boring Suboshi with his troubles. They'd managed to escape the 
war and find a safe place to stay north of Konan, but there was still 
danger of being discovered by spies. Suboshi was constantly worrying about 
this danger, and Amiboshi didn't want to add more to his worries. "Yeah, 
I'm just tired, that's all," he sighed. Suboshi frowned.

"You've been like this for days, aniki..." He thought for a moment, then 
pressed a hand to his brother's forehead. "Hmm...you don't feel warm." 
Amiboshi blinked.

"What did you do that for?"

"I thought maybe you were so quiet because you're coming down with 
something," Suboshi said. "But obviously you're not, so...what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Amiboshi tore his gaze away from the glass and picked up a 
book. Suboshi snatched it away, looking annoyed.

"Don't give me that, aniki!" he yelled. Amiboshi flinched at the harshness 
in his brother's tone, and Suboshi softened immediately. "I'm sorry, I 
didn't mean to yell at you...I'm just worried. You've been acting so...
morose lately, Amiboshi. You're way too quiet, you hardly eat anything, 
and you obviously aren't sleeping well...are you even sleeping at all?" 
He stared at the dark circles under his twin's eyes. "I can't stand to see 
you like this, aniki...please, tell me what's wrong. Amiboshi squeezed his 
eyes shut to keep the forming tears from spilling over.

"You wouldn't understand, otouto," he choked. Suboshi blinked.

"Aniki?"

"Please...I-I don't want to talk about it, it hurts too much..." Suboshi 
closed his eyes momentarily.

"All right..." he sighed. "But I'm here whenever you want to tell me 
what's wrong, aniki. I'm always here," he said, giving his twin's 
shoulders a gentle squeeze. Amiboshi just nodded. "I'll leave you alone 
for now." As Suboshi walked slowly out of the room, Amiboshi picked up his 
flute and began to play.

"I always did love his music," Suboshi said softly to himself as the slow, 
sad melody filled the house.



"Damn it!"

Suboshi couldn't sleep. It was well past midnight and he'd been tossing 
and turning for an hour, unable to get someone off of his mind.

"Yui-sama..."

They hadn't spoken for more than a week. Suboshi was still mad at himself 
for what he had done that night.

"How could I kiss her like that? Completely out of nowhere?"

She'd been angry at him, understandably. Who wouldn't be angry if some 
violent teenage boy planted a kiss on them out of nowhere? Idiot, he 
thought.

"Damn it, I miss her so much," he sighed, his eyes stinging with tears. 
And adding insult to injury he know he didn't have a chance with her. Not 
after he'd seen her and Soi the other night.

"Stop thinking about her." Why was he depressing himself like this anyway? 
He looked across the room at the sleeping form of his twin, watching his 
shoulders move gently up and down as he breathed...his thoughts suddenly 
drifted to Amiboshi. He was as sweet and gentle as Suboshi was violent, 
but that didn't stop them from being closer than anything. Amiboshi was 
so wonderful...'I'm so lucky to have him as my brother. I dunno how I 
would've gotten through everything without him,' Suboshi thought.

Suddenly, a feeling of emptiness overwhelmed him. Yui-sama...aniki...

Fighting back tears, he slipped out of his bed and lay down next to his 
brother's. He just needed to be close to him...Suboshi tried not to cry as 
he lay there, not wanting to wake up Amiboshi.

He almost succeeded.

"Huh..." Blinking his eyes open, Amiboshi looked around the room...he 
could've sworn he heard Suboshi crying. He looked next to him-sure enough, 
Suboshi's shoulders were shaking with muffled sobs. Amiboshi's heart 
nearly broke at the sight.

"Otouto?" he yawned sleepily.

'Damn it!' Suboshi didn't answer and tried not to move...maybe if he was 
perfectly still Amiboshi would just go back to sleep...

Then he felt himself being pulled into the bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked, pulling his brother into a warm embrace. Suboshi 
only clutched the fabric of Amiboshi's shirt and buried his face against 
his chest. Amiboshi could feel his twin's shoulders and back rise and fall 
quickly with every shaking breath.

"It's okay...I'm here," he whispered, rubbing Suboshi's back. The younger 
twin began to calm down a little, feeling safe nestled in Amiboshi's arms. 
Amiboshi sighed softly, closing his eyes and pulling the blankets tightly 
around them.

Eventually, Suboshi's tears stopped as he fell asleep. Amiboshi gently 
kissed the top of Suboshi's head, blinking away tears of his own.

"Goodnight, Shun-chan...sleep well." Nestling his cheek against Suboshi's 
hair, he closed his eyes. "I love you," he whispered, his voice breaking a 
little. He fell asleep within seconds.