Brothers

Seishiro and Fuuma had always been good brothers. They were good to the point where their parents worried about them sometimes because they were too good—they never argued, never disagreed, never disputed, never even annoyed one another as all siblings were expected to. And it extended beyond their parents and relatives—everyone was starting to feel a little strange watching such good brothers together.

When Fuuma had been born, Seishiro was almost seven, and he'd crept into the nursery, carrying a heavy book that contained the second volume of the hunter's code, and teetered it on the edge of Fuuma's cradle. He'd peered at the tiny baby with tufts of black hair and smiled deliciously down. The book—the enormously heavy book—teetered back and forth and back and forth. The day before, Seishiro had just learned how to hunt for little magical beings called faeries—and he quickly learned in an hour that certain kinds of faeries (if tricked) would give you certain abilities for a certain amount of time.

And Seishiro chose invisibility. Seishiro had smiled one more time at his new baby brother, before pushing the book right off the edge of the crib, but angling it so that it'd hit the baby's foot. As soon as Fuuma had begun bawling, Seishiro snapped himself into nothingness and watched as his parents came rushing in and his father immediately conjured one of the genies he'd hunted and wished to assure that Fuuma grow with a lame foot.

When Fuuma was old enough to go to hunters' school like every other child in the vicinity, he was about six, and Seishiro was thirteen. The day before, Seishiro had walked home with a pretty girl from his class, and Fuuma had watched them kiss—like, on the mouth. It'd been pretty intense for the six-year-old. And when Fuuma had asked about it, Seishiro simply shoved him into a wall and set a gnome he'd hunted upon his younger brother. Fuuma had told his mother that the gnome was his own fault, because tattletale-ing was bad.

So the next day, after Fuuma had done some research with a few faeries—certain kinds of faeries—he'd gone to school, walked down early to Seishiro's class, and requested a quick talk with the girl. In short, he'd told the girl that he'd witnessed his older brother masturbating—whatever that meant—with a picture of her at least five times a day, and that his older brother had also been reading up plenty articles of S&M—whatever that meant, too.

When Seishiro came up the hall, smiled, and had asked the girl why she was talking with his dearest baby brother, the girl had promptly kneed Seishiro in a certain area, slapped him on both cheeks, pulled his collar and kneed him again—in the same place—and shoved him into a wall in a similar manner that Seishiro had done to Fuuma.

And when their parents had asked why Seishiro had bruises on his face, and had to walk around bent like a hunchback, Seishiro had merely smiled and said that he'd gotten hurt protecting Fuuma from a wayward wood sprite that they'd been hunting for brotherly bonding purposes.

When Fuuma was fourteen, Seishiro was twenty-one. Fuuma had seen his brother coming home for a visit from the hunter academy in a car that certainly wasn't Seishiro's own. And when he'd gotten out of the car, along with the driver—the male driver—they'd leaned against the vehicle and kissed. With tongue. Not that Fuuma had cared much. He had, though, cared about the fact that he couldn't sleep that night because in the room next to him, the springs were creaking, and the headboard was colliding, and Seishiro was making sounds that Fuuma really didn't want to hear come out of his older brother. The male driver wasn't fully innocent either, however.

When Seishiro was thirty-two, Fuuma was twenty-five. They were both hunters, and they were both full-grown men. What they hunted was different. What worlds they were in were different. But when Fuuma had gotten news of the fact that his brother was no longer fully his brother—because brother's were of the same species, and Fuuma was human and Seishiro…had been human—via a certain Dimensional Witch of sorts, he'd scoured through the worlds until he finally found his one-eyed older brother.

His one-eyed older brother, who was still alive because the prey he'd hunted had fallen in love with him and thought to save his life. His one-eyed brother who was now one-eyed because he was now hunting for the most elusive prey of all—love.

When Fuuma was twenty-six, Seishiro was thirty-three and it had been a full twenty years since Fuuma had first warded off that one girl from being with Seishiro. And for the first time in a decade—which still wasn't long enough—Fuuma and Seishiro were coincidentally in the same world, standing side-by-side, talking civilly.

"It wasn't easy at all," Seishiro sighed, observing his broken glasses with mild interest before tucking them in his pocket. He closed his eyes.

Fuuma looked down at him with a look that clearly said, "Really, you think?" He appraised his older brother with the same indifference. "You see, I agree with you this time." He watched the play of a knowing, sly smile cross Seishiro's face, and smiled in return—a smile of realization…or perhaps he knew all along as well. "In the end, you meant to give the feather to that boy anyway, didn't you?"

But Seishiro, being Seishiro, merely closed his eyes up into another smiled and said quietly, "Who knows?"

Fuuma let out a gusty sigh—an exaggerated sigh—and folded his arms. "You're one screwed up guy," he snorted, knowing fully that if Seishiro was screwed up, so was Fuuma—they were brothers after all, weren't they? "Right after you find someone interesting, you start teasing him." He rolled his eyes to the sky as he heard Seishiro's feet shift at the jab. "That's why those twins are running from you, y'know." His golden eyes glanced sideways. "Although, you didn't have to make Kamui hate me, too." But from the way he heard the ghost of a laugh grace Seishiro's lips, he knew that his brother knew exactly what Kamui felt for Fuuma.

Seishiro turned, and tipped his head up. "But you deserved it, huh?"

Fuuma merely closed his own eyes up into a smile behind the orange sunglasses and peered down at his older brother. "Who knows?"

Seishiro and Fuuma were good brothers. They'd always been good brothers. And now, more than ever, it was time they realized how alike they really were. After all, Fuuma thought as he smiled to himself and looked up at the cherry tree, they could be of great help to each other in the near future. For instance, it would take a lot of rope and energy to hold a pair of young vampire twins down, and even more rope and energy to capture them.

But they'd manage. They were hunters, after all. Better yet—

They were brothers.

A/N: I was watching the second Shunraiki OVA, and saw this little scene and I'd almost forgot how adorable these two were as brothers. Plus, I'd always found guybestfriendships adorable--even more so if they're gay, and even MORE so if they're brothers. And after watching the guys who sit in front of and behind me interact today--as the epitome of guybestfriendship--I couldn't resist writing this. I sort of get irritated whenever there's the tiniest implication of brother/bestfriends closeness between guys, it seems like it's hinted for them to be gay and to be together. Girls can hug and swoon over each other and be totally straight. Because that's what we girls do. Guys, by all means damn it, should be able to pat each other on the back and slap each other's butts idiotically without being gay--I'm actually being serious here, as that's what the guys in my class do. And again, I love brothers, especially Fuuma and Seishiro. Making them a couple just because they're close irritates me. Anyway, pushing my mini-rant to the side--I seriously think those two should team up and capture Subaru and Kamui together. They'd save money on rope.

And forgive me, but I don't really think Subaru and Kamui are apt for my brothers/bestfriendship rampage. Kamui and Subaru act like me and my sister. Fuuma and Seishiro are brothers. Kamui and Subaru are sisters. 'Nough said.

Still, I love all four of them.