bones and blades

little brother

Garuru smiled as he entered the room. Giroro was sitting forlornly in the corner, trying her best not to show any sign of weakness. She knew Garuru would be able to take advantage of this if she did. 

He watched her closely, taking note that her body was tensed up and she was on alert. 

She suddenly snapped as she noticed him glaring directly into her eyes. “Whaddya want?!” she barked.

“Knew you couldn’t keep a straight face, soldier.” He smirked as he approached her.

“Shut up. You’re the one who said no cryin’.”

“That’s right, kid. No cryin’ until its your time.”

Deep down, she felt like punching Garuru straight in the eye. No crying? That was a bullshit rule, especially when your mother had just died. She knew he was taking it out on her, though. He was angered that he was always preoccupied and barely got to see her. That was his own fault and he still decided to unleash his anger on the tadpole.

“Garuru?”

He looked at her a bit confusedly. “What is it, kid?”

“…Why do you like to treat me as inferior? Is it because I’m younger? Weaker? Smaller?”

Garuru chuckled and knelt down next to her. 

“Its ‘cause no matter how hard ya try, you’ll never be able to fight beside me. And you know why…”

“W-well, that’s a lie, because you know what?! I’m not a girl!” she yelled in fury. 

“Hah! Really now? ‘Cause I thought dad woulda told me that from the start! He said I had a new baby sister, didn’t he?”

Giroro clenched her teeth and growled. Don’t let him get to you, he doesn’t understand, explain to him calmly…

“Screw that. Been meanin’ to tell ya for a while now, but I’m a boy. Doesn’t look like it, but if I say I am, that means I am! So ya better respect that, brother.”

Garuru looked at Giroro in bewilderment. She had been his little sister for as long as he could remember…to think that maybe one day she would transform into a Keronian like himself…

This sudden aura of confidence radiating from her shocked him the most. She’d never stood up to him like that, nevertheless addressed him as her brother while he was in the same room.

His intense train of thought was interrupted by her booming voice.

“Ya gotta problem? You’re lookin’ at me like I’m an alien or somethin’!”

“Er…no, I was just…thinkin’ about how I should go about this.”

He placed a hand on Giroro’s shoulder.

“Listen, I s-support ya an all, but how’s anyone gonna take ya seriously? When ya grow up, you’re gonna keep your appearance, and you’ll be regarded as a tadpole or a female…neither of which can pursue your dream…an, there’s another thing…what are we gonna tell dad? Y’know how he is about this kinda stuff! He overreacted when he found out you even had a friend!”

Giroro sighed and looked down at her feet.

“Well…I guess I could try ta hide it best I can. Survival tactics, y’know?”

Garuru laughed at this. “You’ve learned well from me, brother. Camouflaging might work.”

The two smiled at each other and shared a laugh.

“I’ll try my best with this, brother. We’ll just keep this from dad for now, I guess. Imma hit the sack.”

“Mmkay, imma stay up a while. Night.”

Garuru smiled as he crawled into bed. “Night, lil bro.”