It was right there. Nek reached for it, fingers alternating between spreading wide and clenching
shut as if that would make a difference. The brightly colored fruit was his favorite, and it
seemed that way because they grew so far out of reach.
"Almost, Shi!" He half giggled and half made an over-exaggerated straining sound. "Higher!"
His legs were already held tight to his brother's chest. They had grown like weeds in his fourth
winter, a gap of pale skin between the bottom of his pants and the tops of his shoes. His
brother lifted him further, shin to his face as he lifted him a few more inches. Shi was the
bigger brother, he kept reminding him. So of course he was the one to lift and not the one to be
lifted.
"'Member the deal, Nek!" Shi strained under the weight, wobbly legs trying to correct as Nek
reached ever further.
"I 'member, I 'member!" They'd share the fruit, then go spit the seeds at the fish. It was
Nek's favorite, watching the wide mouthed creatures, always hungry enough to thrash about the
water over each other at whatever they would throw at them. Seeds, bread, grains, even bugs.
They'd swarm the spot and writhe beneath the surface, mouths working the air. If they had a
voice, Shi imagined they'd be screaming 'more!'. Father would come and grab them out of the lake
with a net. He remembered him lifting one out of the net, it's mouth caught on his finger as he
howled in mock agony that the fish was eating him. They laughed until their ears went red, until
they coughed so hard that mother told him to stop.
"Quit wobbling!" Shi groaned, trying to lift him ever higher, pulling Nek's shoes to his
shoulders. "I'll drop you!"
"You won't let me fall." Nek bit his lip and lunged an arm forward. Fingers closed around the
bottom of the crimson shape, the cool skin twisting in his grasp as he twisted it, trying to pick
it from the branch that held it. With a snap it came loose, and he dropped it, watching it
bounce on the green grass below. "Got it!"
Shi reached up to grab his legs, half toppling over as he dragged his little brother down to his
level. They fell to their backsides in the grass, breathing heavy for a moment as they felt the
sunshine. Nek scrambled over on all fours, grabbing the fruit and taking a big bite. Clear
juice ran down his chin as he chewed and smiled at the same time. "See?" He handed the fruit to
Shi. "You didn't drop."
"I know." Shi took a bite, then wiped his lips with his sleeve. "Mother would be mad." It was
sweet, the first of the season. He let the sun warm his face, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the
taste. He could feel little fingers grabbing the fruit away from him, the wet crunch of his next
bite. He forgot what Father called these, but he'd cut slices off and eat them, and sometimes,
mother would bake them for putting on rice. There were so many names to remember. Everything
had one. The river, the fish, the singing birds and the mountain. Even the big old house had a
name. Father worked there with hammers and other tools. He said his father, and even his father
had lived there so very long ago. Someday they would live there. And even have their own rooms.
He lay back, smiling as he reclined. He wasn't sure that he wanted his own room. It would be too
far away from Nek, from Mother and Father.
Nek laughed, and Shi opened his eyes, seeing one of the brown tree-mice scamper down, chattering
at them. Nek cackled back, then laughed even louder as the tree-mouse tilted it's head and
scratched its chest. The snap of another bite flitted through the laughter, then a weird noise,
like the fish when they spat the seeds at them.
The laughter stopped.
Shi turned to look, saw his brother looking at him with a weird expression. It was like he was
hurt. He scrambled to his knees, turning over and making the grass stain his pants as he moved
over to his little brother, the fruit still clutched in his hands. "Nek!" His eyes went wide,
wet along the edges. Shi's mind froze, watching Nek's face change color. "Nek, what's wrong?"
He worked his mouth like the fish, but no sound came out, just the strange smacking of lips
coated in sticky juice. "Say something!" Nek flailed his arms, the fruit going sailing as the
color in his skin deepened. He pointed at his mouth, fingers reaching in frantically, clasping
like he was reaching for the fruit.
"Mother!" Shi batted his brother's hands away, reaching in with his own fingers, trying to see
past the teeth, the tongue that twitched as it tried to help. A few fingers went in , reaching
past the slimy back of the tongue and his brother twisted below him, convulsing in a soundless
wretch. He drew fingers back, teeth scraping against flesh as he did. He tried smacking him on
the back, like Mother did when he was a baby, trying to make him burp. Nothing changed, Nek's
silence making his own eyes water.
He went to Nek's side again, sliding fingers into his mouth, trying in vain to reach the chunk as
he screamed for Mother again. He felt his own ears grow hot, his heart racing. It was out of
his reach, fingers searching. The birds seemed to stop chirping as he saw his mother running
toward them in slow motion, the hem of her dress torn by her movement. He could hear his own
breathing louder than what she screamed, ragged as he strained. It was probably for Father.
"You won't let me fall."
Nek's words echoed from recent memory. He felt something snap in the back of his head, pain
blossoming like he had just taken a fall as he felt the edges of the fruit. He closed his
fingers and felt only flesh, but pulled back anyway. The air was thick around him as he yanked,
the white flesh of the fruit following a few moments after, wreathed in quiet thunder.
"Nekura!" She wailed as she slid into him, grabbing Nek up and clutching him to her as she turned
his face to look at him, fear on her face as plain as the tears. Ragged breaths flew from him,
hoarse coughs and cries as he grabbed onto his mother. She drew him in closer, nestling him
against her as she looked at Shi, sitting in the grass, violet eyes locked on a piece of fruit as
it hovered above his fingertips.
"Musashi?"