III. Chapter 1

SIX YEARS AGO, A MONTH AFTER PRINCE NUWEE'S BIRTH,

...

Ruth would never forget the day he had found his brother, three months ago, in this very room. It was dark, with no candles lit. Ruth had woken up suddenly and Aki hadn't been in his bed, he rose to go look for him, and find he did, curled up on the floor, clothes stained and hands covered in blood.

Aki had looked pale, paler than he usually is, even his lips gone an eerie white.

"Aki?" he had called, to which he flinched.

"No, don't, don't come close, Ruth, go away," as if he could ever do that, he had been scared out of his mind that Aki was injured.

"Brother," he didn't even remember walking, or running, across the room, but did remembered the sting of his knees hitting the floor.

"Aki, are you hurt, where is the blood coming from?" His brother flinched, again, pressing harder against the wall.

"Ruth, don't, you shouldn't..." he recoiled from his reaching hands.

"Aki!" Ruth had caught him by the biceps, forcing him to look at him.

Aki's eyes had been wet, glazed, pupils blown wide, and he was shaking.

"Not...not...my..blood.." Aki muttered.

His hands tightened on his brother, he knew, for Aki winced, slightly, but Ruth felt it.

It was that night he found out, found how Yor had trained an assassin, it was Aki's first kill. He had been gathering information, before, but from now, his hands would permanently be stained of blood.

Ruth drew him closer, wrapping him tightly in his embrace, that was the first time he had seen him cry, hiccuping sobs that wracked his frame. The crying stopped, after a while, but he kept shivering, till he either fell asleep, or passed out of grief or exhaustion.

Ruth had pulled off Aki's soaked outer layers, leaving him only in soft inner shirt and pants and gently wiped off the stains off his skin. Aki not even stirring for a moment.

He had carried him to bed, tucked the sheets around him, and walked out. Alone in the garden he had let his own tears fall, silent, but filled with pain nonetheless. It is then that he vowed, vowed that Yor will pay. Before, it had been for Justice, now, now he had a vendetta, and by heavens' witness will he make that monster pay with every single drop of blood in his body.

...

Today, Aki was dressed in soft blues, all lighter shades, smiling down at the giggling baby in his arms. He was seated on a couch, under a sunlit window in the seating area of his room.

Ruth wanted to smack himself to be the reason to make that smile disappear, but he didn't had much of a choice.

"We don't have time brother," Ruth poked a finger on a chubby cheek, taking a seat beside his brothers, trying to distract himself from the rising guilt.

"Ruth!" His brother protested, scowling at the offending hand, though the bundle in his arms only cooed in glee and reached for the finger.

The same amethyst eyes him and his twin shared were huge on the tiny face, filled with naive innocence that Ruth had sworn to protect the moment his gaze fell upon the sweet baby, in the same way his brother must have, for him.

He stared, waving the finger back and forth, absent-mindedly playing with the baby.

"I know," his brother sighed.

"I know we don't have time, he..." Aki cut himself off, holding the precious bundle with one hand and shifting the other to lay on Ruth's arm.

'S..P..I..E..S..' a familiar pattern was tapped on to his hand, their childhood creation always useful, for it was only comprehensible by them.

The patterns was created by Ruth, watching how his brother is always tap tap tapping when he's emotionally overwhelmed, anxious, sad, angry, nervous. As a child, he didn't completely understand the reason for that tapping, nor did Aki, the word he used for all those emotions were 'bad'. It is only later he grasped that the tapping gave an outlet for all the emotions he had hidden behind his serene mask.

The tapping interested Ruth, and while he was supposed to be studying, it wasn't hard to put the taps and pauses into letters and numbers. Memorizing it, had been, but they were children and children were nothing more than determined.

Aki's tapping didn't stopped, as they grew, they just became subtle, not easily visible unless you knew to look for them. More often than not, they were meaningless, but othertimes, it would be their names, Mama's, Ruth's and sometimes even father's, their real father, not the one who was pretending to be.

Now, another name is bound to join, Nuwee, their little brother, currently held in brother's arms and was blowing raspberries at them. Ruth made a face at the drool dripping down the round chin, but Aki only used a corner of his sleeve to wipe it away.

For all that they had been twins and Aki was only half an hour or less older, he had always acted mature for his age, always being a big brother for Ruth. He knew, now, that it was only due to his brother's interference that he retained even somewhat innocent and maybe quite happy childhood.

He hated himself for it, for burdening his brother. At first, he had thought his brother was just the best at everything, it was only later he found that it wasn't only talent, but dedication, training alone in the dead of the night, sacrifice his sleep for perfection, how many times had he slipped from his bed without Ruth being aware.

And that unflinching determination paid off. Ruth found what Yor wanted of Aki, found what Yor had been making him do. How Aki had been gaining all the information they now have.

"How's mother?" He asked, shifting his hand to tap back on Aki's.

'W..E..S..T..G..A..R..D..E..N..T..O..N..I..G..H..T..'

Aki nodded. His face not changing in the slightest.

"Still tired, she's...not doing good, Brother, you should go see her." Aki started the same argument they have been having for the last month, since Nuwee had been born.

"I can't.. don't tell me again Aki, you know I won't," an argument in name only, a show, for Yor's little spies, for he had been sneaking into their mother's room at every opportunity, which, isn't much, but as long as she and him knew he still loved her just the same.

"Ruth!"

"Not now Aki, I will see you later,"

He stood. It was better to keep their interactions to a minimum when they are having company, in case they were to reveal the fake tension they have been having between was just that, fake.

...

Hey,

Told u, next chap is here. And of course, today's special, pain....

Your Author is back....and author is alive, hope u didn't miss me that much

I promise not to disappear again....for that long, at least, but oh well, future isn't set in stone, let's take as it comes right?

See ya,

Aki and Nuwee

Yep, the baby is a little too big to be one month, just think it's somewhere down the line.