Chapter Text
Katsuya let out a long breath, stretching his arms above his head, and standing up from his desk chair. It was starting to get kind of late, so it was probably about time to get started on dinner. Both of their parents were out of town for the next week or so, so the duty fell on him.
He walked out into the living room, glancing outside. It really was late. Normally, he would start cooking whenever Tatsuya got home, complaining about being hungry, but he hadn’t heard him come back today.
He paused. If he hadn’t heard him, was he actually home?
He walked over to his bedroom, knocking on the door. “Tatsuya?”
There was no response.
He frowned, pushing the door open. He wasn’t inside either.
So, had he not come home at all?
He definitely knew to be home before it got dark. Uneasiness was working its way into his gut. Had something happened? Was he okay?
He should probably go try to find him, but where would he be? The only place that really came to mind was the Alaya shrine. He had friends that he would go play with there most days after school - or most of the day now that it was summer break. That seemed like a good place to start.
He headed to the door, put on his shoes, and walked outside.
It wasn’t that far of a walk to the shrine, but, even still, with all the anxiety he was feeling, the time seemed to drag out forever.
As he was nearing the shrine, he started to smell something - smoke. He looked up in the direction he was heading, and through the trees, there was a flickering orange light. It was a light that was unmistakable in what it was attached to - fire.
His breath caught in his throat. The shrine was on fire. He broke out into a run, his feet pounding on the pavement of the sidewalk.
When he reached the entrance to the shrine, his gaze immediately locked onto two figures on the ground several yards away. He recognized one of them right away - Tatsuya. He looked to be unconscious, being held up by a girl. It took him a few seconds to place her. Maya Amano. She was one of the friends Tatsuya would play with at the shrine.
The shrine building itself was ablaze, casting the whole area in an almost hellish glare. Embers drifted up, slowly floating away from the popping and crackling of the fire. The flames were going to spread to the trees soon. Intense heat radiated out toward him, making his whole body uncomfortably warm.
There were more important matters to attend to though.
He rushed toward Tatsuya and Maya, kneeling down beside them, the coppery smell of blood hitting his nose.
“Tatsuya!”
Maya started speaking, tears falling down her cheeks. “He’s not waking up.”
He could see a slight rise and fall to his chest as he breathed - he was still alive at least. That settled some of his anxieties, but things weren’t quite okay yet.
Now that he was closer to him, he could see that the back of his shirt was ripped, deep crimson discoloring the fabric.
He gently lifted him up, examining a wound on his back. His throat constricted as he looked at it. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. It was deep and ragged, running almost the whole width of his back. Blood was gushing out of it, staining his skin red.
He felt nauseous looking at it, his heart pounding in fear and anxiety. He forced himself to take a breath - he needed to help him before it was too late.
He knew he needed to stop the bleeding, but wasn’t sure what to do beyond that.
He looked over to Maya, who was still sitting there, staring down at Tatsuya, tears continuing to drip down her cheeks.
“Are you hurt at all?”
She looked up at him, shaking her head. Her voice was shaking as she spoke. “No.”
That was something at least.
“Good. Go run and get help. I’ll take care of him.”
She slowly nodded, trembling as she got to her feet. She took one last, long look at Tatsuya before turning toward the entrance of the shrine, breaking into a run.
He felt bad making her do that, but she seemed too shaken to be able to help stop the bleeding of the wound, and he wanted to get her away from here as soon as possible. Someone had clearly done this on purpose - set the shrine on fire and injure Tatsuya. He didn’t know if they were still around and he didn’t want anything to happen to her. That being said, who could have done this? Who would injure a nine year old child like this?
He forced himself to stop thinking about that. He needed to focus on Tatsuya.
He turned him completely over so that he was laying on his stomach - gravity would stop the blood flow at least a little bit, right? He then shrugged off the jacket he had been wearing, moving the fabric over the wound, and pressing firmly down on it.
He didn’t really know what else to do - just apply pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. He was bleeding so much though. Was there something else he should be doing? Was something going to happen to him because there was something else that he was missing?
He couldn’t lose him - he just couldn’t. This was his little brother. What would he do if he…?
He took a deep breath - it wasn’t going to help to think like that. He was going to be fine. Maya was going to find someone to call for help and then he was going to be all right.
He kept pressing down on the wound with one hand while he repositioned Tatsuya’s head with the other, moving it into his lap. It would probably be more comfortable like that.
He started running gentle fingers through his hair - a comforting gesture, if not for Tatsuya, for himself.
All of a sudden, he made a small groaning noise, moving his head, staring up at him with unfocused eyes.
“Tatsuya?”
His voice was weak, laced with pain. “Nii-san?”
“I’m here. You’re going to be okay, all right?”
“Where’s Maya-nee?”
“She went to go get help. Someone will be here soon.”
He wasn’t sure if he heard his response as his eyes fluttered shut again.
He took a deep breath. Waking up and talking, if only for a few seconds was a good sign, right? It meant that he was going to be okay?
In the distance, there was suddenly the very distinct sound of sirens, coming toward them. They weren’t quite out of the woods yet, but that was still very good. It meant that help was almost there and someone who knew more than he did could help.
He waited there with him for a few minutes, the smoke from the fire making his eyes water. The whole shrine building was going to have to be replaced at this rate.
Finally, the sirens got closer and closer until they reached them. Out on the road, there were two fire trucks and an ambulance.
A couple of paramedics got out of the ambulance, getting a stretcher out of the back before rushing toward them. One of them crouched down next to them as he got there, immediately going to check out the wound.
Katsuya moved his hand away as he peeled back the now blood stained jacket, examining the cut for just a few seconds.
“What happened?”
He shook his head. There were tears in his voice as he spoke, but he was trying desperately to keep it to a minimum. “He was like this when I got here.” He hesitated. “Is he going to be all right?”
“It’s a pretty bad cut, but he should still be okay.”
He nodded, relief instantly flooding through his body. This was someone who knew what they were talking about and they said that he was going to be okay.
They had the stretcher over near them. “I’m going to lift him up so we can take him to the hospital, all right?”
“Can I come too? I’m his older brother.”
He nodded as he lifted him up off his lap - he immediately missed the comfort of his presence there with him - laying him down on the stretcher. “Yes, of course.”
Katsuya got to his feet, following them as they wheeled him over toward the ambulance, getting inside with him.
He sat near his head, continuing to move his fingers through his hair. They were covered in blood, but he had an intense need to keep his hand on him - to have a reminder that he was solid and in front of him.
While they were headed to the hospital, the paramedics asked him questions about his name and medical history - basic things that they needed to know.
He was allowed to come with them into the hospital itself, but was quickly separated from him, getting led away by a nurse to get cleaned up while they did what they needed to do for Tatsuya.
He got taken to a bathroom and he went over to the sink, turning the tap on. His hands were shaking as he moved them into the water, turning it pink.
He stared at it.
This was blood.
His little brother’s blood.
Why had he gotten hurt? Who had done this to him? Why had they done this to him? Why had they decided to hurt a child? There was no excuse for that. What would have happened if the injury had been worse? Had something happened that made him stop hurting him? Would he have gone so far as to kill him?
Nausea began building in his stomach. He closed his eyes, letting the sensation of the water hitting his skin distract him. It was pleasantly warm, nothing like the intense heat of the fire.
He stood there for a few minutes before opening his eyes, staring down at his hands. The water had turned clear, the blood gone from his hands.
He took a breath, looking down at himself. There was still a little bit on his shirt and pants, but he grabbed a paper towel and wet it, dabbing at the stains. He wasn’t able to get all of it, but what was left was so minor that no one would notice it was there unless they were explicitly looking for it.
That done, he walked out of the bathroom.
There was a nurse waiting for him who led him to a waiting room, telling him that they would come and get him as soon as he could go see Tatsuya.
He sat down in a chair. He wasn’t sure when he was going to be able to get back up again. All the fear and anxiety he had been experiencing over the past while had made him absolutely exhausted.
He still needed to call their parents and tell them what had happened. He knew that his father, in particular, would drop everything and come back. He didn’t know if he would be allowed to be put on the case to find out who exactly had done this, but he would definitely try to figure it out regardless.
Katsuya wanted to know too. He wanted to know who was sick enough to do this.
He wanted to make sure that no one would ever hurt his brother ever again.
- - -
Katsuya woke up some amount of time later to someone shaking his arm.
He sat up in the chair, looking bleary-eyed around the room. He was still in the hospital waiting area. He figured that he must have fallen asleep while sitting in the chair. The person who had woken him up was a nurse who was currently standing next to him, a small smile on her face.
“Suou-san, Tatsuya-kun just woke up if you want to go see him.”
He stood up quickly. “Yes, please.”
“Follow me.”
She led him through the hospital and to a room, opening the door, and heading inside. Katsuya eagerly followed after her, intent on seeing Tatsuya.
The hospital room was fairly standard - a bed on one side surrounded by medical equipment, a chair right beside it. Across from it was a TV sitting on a TV stand.
Tatsuya was laying in the bed, an IV attached to his arm. His eyes were open, but he still seemed pretty out of it.
Katsuya walked over to the bed, sitting down in the chair. “Tatsuya.”
He furrowed his brow, turning his head to look at him. “Oh, Nii-san.”
Just seeing him like this was enough to put him at ease. He really was okay - a little worse for wear it seemed, but still okay.
“How are you feeling?” He reached over, grasping onto his hand, gently squeezing it.
He paused for a few seconds as if he had to consider the answer to that question. “Not the best.”
“A lot did happen to you.”
Tatsuya turned his gaze down, looking at the bedsheets. “What about…”
Katsuya waited for him to finish his question, but he didn’t say anything else, just stopping. “What about what?”
“I…” He shook his head.
What was he trying to ask about? He decided not to push it though. If he wanted to ask whatever it was, he would do it later.
“All right. You can ask later if you don’t want to ask now.”
He just nodded, still staring down at the blankets. “Hey, Nii-san?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you stay here with me?”
He smiled. “Of course. I’m not going to leave you alone.”
He would stay with him as long as he needed to.