"I knew you'd be here."

He looked up, hands fingering the already warm metal of his Device. The man who stood before him smiled pleasantly. "May I sit, Kaoru?"

"What do you want?" he asked instead, harshly.

Kurei shrugged. He smiled again. "I missed you."

"What do you want?" Kaoru repeated.

Kurei stepped forward and turned to sit beside the boy. Kaoru neither shifted nor acknowledged him again. Instead, he looked down at his hands, spread across his lap. He laid his weapon beside him and stared forward, unseeing.

"Why?" Kurei finally asked him.

"I've been asking myself the same question," Kaoru replied softly. "Why, Kurei? Why?"

There was a swing in creaking lightly at the blow of the wind. Brown leaves swirled softly against their feet before transferring to another place across the large yard. The trees' branches were bare and cold. Soon, there would be snow.

They sat on the cemented porch. Beside them stood great marble pillars where three kanji characters were engraved.

"Kaoru..."

A hand reached out to touch Kaoru's chin, forcing the younger boy to look into the man's face.

"...I miss you." Kurei's eyes behind his mask spoke of the truth. There was no malice in his eyes.

Kaoru swallowed. "Me, too," he whispered.

"Why?"

Kaoru pulled away. "Why? Why did you try to kill Yanagi? Why did you have to fight your brother? Why do you hate him so much?" His voice shook with silent anger. "We treated each other as we would have brothers and yet you hate your biological one."

"What does Recca have anything to do with this?"

"Everything!" he burst out. "Don't you understand? Kurei, it hurts so much to think you can actually hate me as much as you do your own brother!"

"I could never hate you," Kurei told him slowly.

"You can't promise me that."

"Will you side with Recca?"

Kaoru turned away. "I don't know," he replied.

Kurei shifted, staring forward with his hands clenched on his lap. "I see." His voice was tight. His knuckles were white but Kaoru did not notice. "You would rather side with them than you would with me."

"Kurei..."

Kurei turned to him.

They stared at each other before the masked man lifted a hand to touch Kaoru's cheek. "I will have to learn how to hate you," he whispered.

Kaoru reached out and between his fingers, he took the man's mask. It pulled off immediately and fell unseen unto the marble floor, falling to the steps, to the ground where it stirred with the leaves. The boy touched Kurei's cheeks, holding them in a caress before he leaned forward and kissed the scar that ran over the man's left forehead and eye. Kurei's breath let go in one motion and he pulled Kaoru closer.

"It hurts," Kaoru choked out.

"My God, I know," Kurei replied painfully. "I know it all too much." He rested his chin on the younger boy's shoulder. "God knows you're too young to experience all that I did. I will never let that happen to you."

The wind picked up speed, bringing the leaves swirling not only on the ground but also to the air where it rose higher and going farther and farther out of the yard. The swing creaked and moved frantically, trying to keep up with the wind's demands.

"I won't fight you," Kaoru promised him softly.

Kurei's arms around him tightened. "I won't let you."

"Do you think...we could stay here tonight? Just the...two of us?"

The older man smiled. "What do you want to do?"

"Just keep it like this for a while," Kaoru replied quietly. "I just don't want to sleep here alone for a while. I want to remember, maybe..."

"I wish you wouldn't dwell in the past."

"Isn't that all we have?"

"Not for you," Kurei told him. "Never for you." He looked down. "It wouldn't be like this forever, Kaoru."

"Start hating me tomorrow," Kaoru whispered back, resting his cheek against Kurei's chest and leaning on the man. "Don't hate me now. Today, just pretend I'm your brother you love."

"I love you."

Kaoru did not answer. Kurei's right hand began to stroke his back, rubbing in soothing and comforting circles. Then, the boy whispered a muffled, "Thank you."

*

Many years ago, a family lived in the mansion: a couple and their two children.

But one day, this family assassinated by mysterious people. People only saw one child and never recognized him again. The child watched his little sister and parents die as he hid like a coward.

The house had been locked up ever since. Only the child survivor had the key.

Now, a figure camped always at the front porch, surrounded by marbles and coldness even though he could have easily entered and stayed there. But he wouldn't. He didn't think he would survive. He was afraid of his house, was afraid of its ability to bring back old memories still capable of beating him.

He just didn't care anymore.

*

They might have stayed that way the whole night, Kurei leaning against the doorframe and Kaoru lying on him. It was Kurei who looked up first and he smiled and leaned forward to kiss Kaoru's forehead. "I love you," he whispered again.

Kaoru shifted and smiled. "Kurei..."

Kurei waited. Maybe...just maybe he'll agree...

There was little chance of that, but it was his only hope.

When Kurei opened his eyes, his first words were: "Come home, Kaoru."

The look in the boy's eyes told him his answer.

"I can't."

*

"Do you hate me now?" Kaoru asked, frowning down at his feet.

"I should." Kurei's voice was soft and disappointed with himself. "I should kill you now. But I can't. Not now. Not for a long time."

"I'm sorry." Kaoru looked up. "It's just that...we believe differently--"

Kurei knelt beside him. "Goodbye, brother."

And he leaned forward to press his lips against Kaoru's forehead. Kaoru's eyes closed and he held his breath until it was finished. It was only for a light second.

The light was gone. Kurei had already put on his mask. Behind that, he would be soulless again, lifeless. But Kaoru knew it hurt. He knew Kurei. Because they were the same. Kurei stood and looked down at him, still sitting. He smiled softly.

"I tried."

"You failed."

"I hate you."

There were words harsher than death itself.

Kaoru calmly pointed the sharper end of his scalpel at the smooth line of Kurei's neck. "I don't want to see your face again." Then, softly, he went on with remorse, "You never answered my question."

"What?"

"Why?"

There were tears in Kurei's eyes but the mask hid its trickles. "Because you are my brother. Because I am no one in this world but a mask who dares try to defeat someone who took his rightful place. Because I am from Hokage. Because my real brother is alive."

And he turned and left, leaving a pile of swirling brown leaves at his wake.

*

Because I love you.

And, Kaoru, because you remind me of who I might have become.

Because...You're my brother. And I owe my life to you.

*

"Goodbye, Kurei," Kaoru whispered to the blowing wind.