Sign of Broken Things

Prologue

"You're my home, Toya." He whispered, eyes scanning the thin pink cherry blossom flowers above their heads.

The wind picked up and rustled through the seven year old's bright red head of hair, the locks brushed his forehead, a small splash of color that seemed to lick at the drab shadows casted by the tree. His gray eyes were sunken into his face and hid themselves in a snowy mound. There couldn't have been a moment he didn't seem to be on the verge of tears, water that caused his eyes to appear glassy even when he complained over dry eyes.

He pulled his jacket closer to his body as the cold spring breeze sent a shiver down the back of his neck and arms. Welts formed on his forearms that soon became itchy.

Through the blossoms, an afternoon sun blazed down to the two children in the center of a tall grass field. Irises, tsubakis, lilies, peonies, and many other flowers popped their colorful buds over the sea of welcoming green. Overhead, wisps of silvery clouds danced gracefully across the large expanse of light blue skies almost like swans on a lake. Springtime had come swiftly that year and brought with it vibrant hues of life which teased the young boys' eyes with pleasure and astoundment.

"What?"

Beside the child was his older twin brother.

At one point in their lives, they had been completely identical twins. That was before the first kid's eyes went gray and the hair on the second boy's head had gone white. Even still, both boys retained the same face of thick eyelashes and pale skin. This twin had deep, bright, turquoise eyes. His, however, appeared more sharp and rigid but always softened at the mere sight of his brother. They were half-hidden behind choppily cut bangs swept in the opposite direction of his twin.

This boy wore a long sleeved T-shirt that still couldn't hide the bandages he'd messily wrapped around his own arms. Burn marks revealed themselves from between the wrappings, red flesh that clearly irritated the young child.

"I'm serious, Toya!" The red haired boy giggled.

Toya, his twin brother, began to shake his head with a smile on his face. "But I'm not a house, Tokei?"

Tokei immediately narrowed his eyes, still grinning, and stared at Toya in disbelief. "I know that!" He lowered his gaze. "And that's not even what I meant." Seemingly dazed, Tokei looked out across the flowery field and over to a wooden fence that separated the two boys from the rest of the city of Musutafu, Japan. The small child mumbled, "And Yumi says I'm the stupid one . . ."

The older twin gasped, "Hey!" He lightly, and carefully, pushed Tokei's shoulder and chuckled. "Okay, then, what did you mean?"

Still refusing to look up at Toya, he dug his old and mangled sneakers into the soft soil that surrounded the somewhat exposed roots of the Sakura tree. His eyebrows were slanted and his eyes themselves were narrowed.

But, despite his annoyance, Tokei relaxed his face.

"What I meant was that I think 'home' is where you feel at peace." He raised his eyes to the boy with white hair. "It doesn't need to be a place, To, it can also be a person." Tokei couldn't help but smile. "You know how much I dislike looking people in the eyes but you make looking at yours so easy, it's peaceful. You make me feel like I belong somewhere even though I'm . . . you know." He felt awkward. "If you're not home then I don't want to find it."

Toya threw his arm over Tokei's shoulder and pulled him close. The redhead burst into laughter as he toppled over onto his brother's chest. The two children were hysterical in their shared joy.

"Be mine too, Kei? And I'll swear to protect you until the day you die."

"You think I'll die first? Ouch!" He fell to Toya's lap where his giggles made his stomach hurt. "Have some faith in me, will you?"