The Pediatrician's Closet

Protection

Ukyo's expression turned to stone the moment he saw Masaomi in his doorway. He pressed his mouth closed against the question his eyes asked.

"We've got to do something about Ema's passiveness," Masaomi said.

Ukyo took off his glasses and ran his thumb and forefinger along the corners of his eyes. Besides him, several windows of text were open on his laptop, along with a numbered list of what could have been sub-laws.

"Who was it?" he asked warily, though Masaomi didn't miss the tension in his voice. Unlike Masaomi, Ukyo had never attempted to hide his more temperamental side.

"I'm taking care of him. But I can't talk to her. We need someone who is better at explaining these things and won't make her feel intimidated or forced."

"I can think of several of our brothers who are painfully good with words, myself included."

"No. You're too severe."

Ukyo gave Masaomi a wry, dry smile. "Eek. You are mad. I haven't heard you this blunt since you told Hikaru his recorder skills were what killed his pet chicken. What was he, seven?"

Masaomi wasn't in the mood for Ukyo's dry humor.

"Well? Can I trust you to find someone?"

Ukyo raised his eyebrows. "Why me?"

"Because you've been paying more attention. You would know who she is most comfortable with. I've been...busy."

An unreadable look crossed Ukyo's eyes, but it was gone before Masaomi could name it.

"Fine." He slipped his glasses back on. "Just don't do anything you'll regret, please."

Hearing that gave him pause. Up until this point, a part of him thought his brothers were just over exaggerating. They tended to do that. But then he remembered how Hikari had taken a step back and hidden his trademark smirk. He hadn't been paying much attention at the time. Everything had been bleeding out red.

With that came an old memory.

He couldn't afford to hurt someone like that again.

"Perhaps I should stay out of this..." he said, more to himself than to his brother.

"I'd say you've stayed out of it long enough." Ukyo gave him a cryptic glance.

Masaomi didn't like what that look implied. "I'm not like the rest of you."

"So you say."

Masaomi took another cleansing breath. He was most likely blowing this out of proportion.

"I guess..." Masaomi ran his hand through his hair, wiping off the sweat that had gathered in his clenched palm. "I just expected too much of them. It's about time one of them made a more direct move."

Ukyo had glanced back to his computer screen, but on hearing that turned back to Masaomi with an incredulous look.

"What rock have you been hiding under?"

Masaomi stiffened. Hot, needle-like chills prickled his neck, and instantly his mind went to the worst scenario—his brothers taking turns pushing themselves onto her, crawling into her room, making her the family's personal whore—

He squashed that down with the hefty volume of 'they are your brothers.' They would never get THAT bad. Honestly, he should know.

Either way, for the first time, Masaomi started to doubt his self-inflicted isolation. Yes, he had tended to her when she got hurt or sick, just like he did any of the others, or stopped Wataru from taking advantage of her kind nature, but he hadn't...it wasn't like any of them talked to him about these things. He hadn't asked.

When he came out of his momentary lapse into calming his paranoia, Ukyo had that smile he hated. It was the one that reminded everyone he was related to the scheming Hikaru.

And in that moment, Masaomi felt like the worst brother ever.

Ema...I was just trying to protect you from me.

No. He had been trying to protect himself.