Left Side

Chapter 8

A finger poked at Shoto's shoulder.

Squirming from being disturbed, he peeped an eye open. His brother was knelt by his bed, a sorrowful expression written on his face.
"Hey, Shoto," He smiled slightly but the room was dark so he couldn't really see. It must've been late at night.

Shoto didn't know Touya very well, having been shielded off from his siblings, so he didn't really know what to say. Instead, he just stared at his big brothers face, noticing a couple of burns that looked sensitive.

One of his hands reached up to stroke his own burn over his left eye, the other hand brushing against the under-eye of his brother's.

The older boy frowned. He wanted to hate his brother for even existing, but that one caring part of him left didn't want to. He was looking forward to the day where that caring part didn't exist anymore.

Back then, Touya's hair was in the final process of turning from red to white, only a few tufts of that warm colour peaking through the snow. Most of his heart had turned cold, his passion from a short few years ago now seized by a mix of jealousy and pain. And those blue eyes looked so suffocatingly dim, almost like drowning in the depths of the Red Sea.

"I'm going to disappear," He stated, Shoto's eyes opening a bit more from waking up.
His voice was a little croaky "Why?"
"I don't feel very happy here," He whispered, running his fingers over his little brothers bandaged arm. Even his father's favourite child couldn't catch a break, huh?

"Where are you going?" The 7 year old boy shifted to face his brother. Once he was settled and staring directly at Touya, he felt a small pinch on his arm but was too tired to acknowledge it.
"I don't know, yet," He shrugged "But i have heard of a good place i can stay where i will be safe and looked after,"
Shoto yawned before replying "That's good..."

He was already about to drift off to sleep again so Touya rose from his crouched position on the floor. Making his way towards the door, he was interrupted and paused in his steps by another question.

"Will you ever come back?" The dual haired boy was half asleep, eyes almost closed and voice quiet.
Touya thought to himself. His eyes glued to the floor before flickering up to look at his brother again "Maybe one day, but until then, you don't have to worry, okay? You'll think i'm dead."
"Why? You just told me where..." He was struggling more and more to keep his eyes open "you are going.."

Touya tucked away the needle back into his pocket "Because i made sure you're gonna forget this conversation."

"Oh..." Shoto mumbled, eyes shutting "I'll miss you,"

After a while of fighting the injection, he finally knocked out, body going limp and breathing falling into a steady rhythm.

Touya huffed a sigh out of his nose "You don't even know me..."

Shoto gasped as he sat up, drenched in a cold sweat and panting heavily. It wasn't a nightmare - he couldn't say it was - but it had disturbed him nonetheless.

Staring into the darkness of his bedroom, he rubbed his hands over his face as he readjusted to reality.

Why would he suddenly remember it now? Maybe it was due to his son doing the exact same thing-

"Oh fuck," Shoto muttered.
Kimiko shifted beside him "Are you ok, Sho?"
"He's gone to see Touya." He was about to get out of bed but she held onto his wrist, making him stop and look back at her.

"Shoto, what's happening?" Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes.
"My brother might know where he is- If i go to Tartarus and ask-"
"Do you really think he'd give that information away? If it's true - that Kaji has gone to him - i don't think he'd tell us..." She mentioned, still half-asleep.