4. pain

Both are bruised, both have been broken, both are tired and weary.

Him physically, her emotionally.

She's treated well, quite nicely, by that land where the sun rises. She returns his warmth. When he fights with her former guardian, she only looks up for a moment before resuming her business. Her relationship with her former guardian had not been getting any better, so she says nothing when he and her current guardian are on bad terms.

But when this land of the rising sun attacks her brother, that brother, she begins to find it hard to treat him as nice as before. That brother she loved, but had not nearly spent enough time with. A foreigner had taken that brother away when they were both young, and she had missed him.

When this land of the rising sun one day brought that brother to their residence, she felt her insides become filled with a combination of sorrow and anger. That brother was badly beaten, and from the narrow gashes on his face, it wasn't hard to tell by whom. She had to glance twice to even register it was him. The only thing keeping her from voicing her anger was the fact that she was allowed to tend to him.

She did so quietly, taking care not to cause him any more unnecessary pain. When he let out a slight, ragged cough, she bit her lip. That land of the rising sun had gone, so she talked to her brother, quietly. She said useless things, careless things, apologies. For a while, all she did was stare at him, his face partially concealed by bandages. He stared back, saying nothing. She couldn't read the look in his eyes anymore. She could before, but now... all she saw were blank circles of gold-brown, staring back at her own amber-brown eyes. She couldn't see anything in them.

But she just assumed it was her sight growing blurry, from the tears building quickly in her eyes.

She hugged him gently, yet he made no motion to return the gesture. She stroked his head and continued her saying words of nothingness, and she let him fall sleep that way. When that land of the rising sun returned, she pretended not to notice. She didn't wonder what he thought, nor did she care.

That brother she loved, that same brother she had attended to—was gone the next morning.

There was a pain inside them both, not ceasing until years later, but not ceasing nearly quickly enough.