40 Brotherly Love VIII

Yuliang was seated on the edge of his brother's… 'well used' bed still fuming, while his brother came back with a wet rag and a basin to clean his hands of the blood.

Other than some slight redness around his eyes and the tip of his nose, Yukio looked just as disapproving as he usually did in the aftermath of Yuliang's aggression.

Yukio sighed, "Did you really have to attack Seth, brother?"

Yuliang growled, "Don't say that filthy fucker's name, Yukio. And you know I did. Did he or did he not lie to you?"

Yukio said nothing in response, choosing to gently take one of Yuliang's rough, calloused hands to begin cleaning them instead.

Yuliang's chest felt tight as the nostalgia of the moment sucker-punched him in the gut.

His brother did this all the time when they were younger. Yuliang used to get into many fights with the other kids in their town. Back then, they were easy targets and bullied often. They mostly got picked on for their unusual appearance, but they also picked on them for other stupid things kids made fun of, too, like having dead parents or having no money.

They were the reason Yuliang learned to fight. The reason Yuliang learned that the only way to shut people up was to beat them into submission.

He had thrown his first punch at 12, and now at 17, he'd only gotten better.

"I'm afraid, brother, that one day you're going to pick a fight with someone you can't beat," Yukio confessed quietly, bringing Yuliang back to the present.

Yuliang huffed, "You and me both, brother. Though it's not like I fight people for fun, they're the ones that make it necessary."

"Nothing makes violence necessary, brother," Yukio said sharply, grip on his hand tightening. "Violence is a choice you make time and time again because you're too much of a coward to find a real solution."

Yuliang shrugged, hating how being called a coward made some part deep inside of his chest ache. He ignored it. "You've always been the smart one, Yukio, not me. You always think of maybe five to ten different ways to resolve a situation peacefully. I just don't have the ability to do that. I can maybe think of one or two things at a time, but when it involves people that piss me off, it's always the one."

"That's not true. How could I possibly be the smart one when you're the one everyone calls a genius?" Yukio protested, but Yuliang could see the pleasant surprise that crossed his brother's face at the praise.

Yuliang shrugged again, "They're stupid. They think I'm a genius because I'm doing an internship at 17, but I'm pretty sure if everyone grew up the way we did; living and breathing uncorrupt Energy and being taught to manipulate Energy as soon as we could speak, they'd all be able to do the same."

Yukio snorted, "Not really. I grew up the same way you did, and I can barely Heal a cut without passing out from the Energy drain. Don't sell yourself short, brother. You are a genius."

"That's because you're lazy as fuck that never bothered to apply yourself as a kid!" Yuliang sighed. "Let's put this situation behind us. I'll deal with whatever comes up with Rydel, so don't worry about it. I came here to talk to you about something else."

Yukio happily let him change the subject with a smile. "Oh yeah. I was so shocked to see you this morning. You've never visited before, brother. What's up?"

Yuliang frowned, "I just wanted to know whether you've been ignoring me the last few weeks because you're still pissed off at me."

Yukio stared at him with wide amber eyes and blinked, "No? I mean, I was quite upset at the start. You kind of ruined the entire night, and my friends were really pissed off at me, especially Feliks, but I decided to take your suggestion and drop them after that, so it's fine. They were all elitist pricks anyways. Then I was really busy with classwork, and the last few days I started running into...that guy at the cafe I usually go to and kinda got even more distracted."

"Oh, alright. So, we're good, right?"

Yukio pulled Yuliang into a half-hug. "Yeah, brother, we're good."

Yuliang accepted it with a small relieved smile. "Good, because I brought you apple pie and some ice cream, but if you were still mad, I wasn't going to give you any."

Yukio pulled back so suddenly, the container of bloody water ended up toppling all over them, the bed and the floor.

"Oops, whatever, I'll take care of that later. You got me an apple pie, brother? Did you bake it?" Yukio asked, looking at him with big hopeful amber eyes.

Yuliang cringed at the cold, wet feeling as the bloody water seeped into his clothes and nodded, "Yeah. I baked an extra one at the store especially for you. The apples are Medinian, so it's probably not going to be as good as the ones back home, but I'm pretty sure it should taste alright other than that. The folks at the bakery like it at least."

Yukio threw his arms around him with an excited cry, "Thank you!"