ic; fall asleep to dreams of home

[jinxings]

( HAH NEVERMIND found a more fitting image )

Comments

Looks like someone hit growth spurts for both of them.

[vindicavi]

[ Information is a valuable commodity, but obtaining something that one considers worthwhile is no easy task. When lacking in concrete evidence beyond a few photographs or the word of an enemy, that information is not worth the effort needed to obtain it. The outcome doesn't justify the risks taken unless one is willing to take that gamble.

...and he is.

It hadn't taken much, given that he'd used Haruki just as much as he used anyone else. He knew how close Haku was to breaking, how close he was to having that chance, that one chance -and there could be no others afterward, so it had to be perfect- to have his little brother back with him, how close he is now to skirting his own death at Haku's (or one of the others') hand. Everything has to be perfect or this would all be for naught. ]

What do I want?

[ Echoing the question right back at him, the extended hand retracts, reaching into his pocket to fish out the gun, his only weapon and only line of defense save for physical combat, pointing it at Haku. ]

What... do I want...?

[ A long, pregnant pause follows, and he cocks the gun, taking careful aim... and then tosses it toward Haku, out of his own reach. It's not loaded, the magazine empty, not even a round in the chamber. The only bullet it had contained was the one that had claimed Eiri's life, and now it's useless, so it's discarded.

What does he want? What he wants is right there in front of him.

Crouching down and balancing himself on the balls of his feet, arms resting on his knees as he leans forward, watching him intently, he makes the split second decision to offer Haku a chance he hadn't intended to give when he'd initially hatched this plan...while still pushing to see just how broken he really is. ]

Mitsuni Haku, what is it you want? To return to Sakura and be reassigned again, a jinx to anyone tied to you? To be set free from it all, and leave behind the guilt, the blame, the loneliness...? Or perhaps you'd rather have revenge, despite not knowing who's at fault? It's there if you want it, though. A life for a life, that's how it goes, right? Sacrifice one to avenge or protect the other? An enemy for an ally, the guilty for the innocent ...maybe an uncle for a brother?

[ Think about it. He'll wait. He's not going anywhere, after all... not without Haku. ]

higayama's puberty all went into his voice, there was nothing left after that

[jinxings]

[ It probably says a lot that Haku doesn't even move. Not even when that gun is pointed straight at his head, when Higayama could just mow him down as well with one clean shot. He could easily go up to the other guy and try to prevent him from being able to shoot, but he doesn't.

What's the point, after all? He fights Higayama, he wins, and then.. what? He goes back to Sakura, and - just like the other man is saying - he'll just get reassigned to someone new who will only die again. Another person to try and not get close to, only to still be devastated by the loss in the end. And it'll keep going, over and over and over. Unable to graduate, unable to do anything but endure it again for the rest of his life.

He doesn't want that. He's too tired. Eiri really was the last straw, the last person he tried so desperately to just piss off as much as he could so that they could never get close, yet he still felt so entirely endeared towards the guy and how genuine he was in every single situation. He still fell for the trap, even if he should have known better as a jinx.

So Haku just sits there. He just sits there, holding the hand of Eiri's cold corpse, watching Higayama discard the gun and squat down to talk to him. He watches the other guy's lips move and hears words come out, but his brain doesn't really process any of it while it's still busy trying to cope with yet another loss--

Until there's something odd about the words. It takes Haku a moment, but then he realises what's so weird about it, and it's now that he finally seems to actually look and see Higayama instead of staring at the other guy blankly and distantly, like he's not even really there. Because the other just said something that no one should know. Not even Sakura could know what happened that night thanks to his older brother immediately taking all the blame upon himself. Let alone the Northern Union, who Higayama should be with.

No one can know what happened that night.. because there were only the three of them. Haku is one of them, but their uncle is dead, so the only other person who could've known..

That's his brother. The brother who had always been so kind to him, who had tried to protect him from how cruel their life was with their mother having died and their uncle being so abusive, with the two of them hardly even having anything. Haku still remembers that day even now - how much it had hurt to see his uncle hurting the person most important to him, how scared he had been that something bad would happen, that he'd be left all alone-- Stop, uncle, you'll kill nii-chan..!

Haku's eyes widen as he stares at the other, and suddenly something about him looks years younger than he really ought to be. ]

How...

[ He can't even force out a question beyond that one word. If there's only two people out there in this world that know about it, and Haku is one of them, then how could Higayama of all people know?

In that case, isn't the only possible solution that the crouching man in front of him is his older brother..? ]