Dusk was waning and night stretched her fingers over the hood of the twilit sky, slowly overtaking rich violets with a wash of deep indigo. In the distance a dog barked, children laughed, and one lonesome cricket chirped. The large house in the wealthy suburban area of Akagi was still and unlighted... except for one window on the second story.

"Ita!" Takahashi Keisuke winced, his eyes squeezing closed.

"Quiet," Takahashi Ryousuke commanded imperiously from his position above his younger brother. "You're being a baby."

Keisuke bit his lower lip. "Ita! Aniki, that stings!"

"I told you to be quiet." Ryousuke's voice was level and calm. "Hold still and let me do the work."

Keisuke squirmed. "But, aniki, it's tickling! Are you sure you're doing it right?"

Ryousuke aimed a dire glare at the back of his brother's head. "This was all your idea. It's too late to back out now. You did mine - now hold still and let me do yours."

"Hai...." Keisuke was quelled by the soft menace in his brother's deep voice. He held still as directed but was suddenly distracted from this pursuit by a slow trickle of thick liquid that was sliding down the side of his neck.

"Aniki!"

Ryousuke brushed the offending streak away with a soft cloth. "There. Done. Now let it sit for twenty minutes, then go and wash it out."

Keisuke spun in his seat, scowling up at his older brother. "You're enjoying this," he accused. "I can tell."

Ryousuke ignored Keisuke, pulling off his latex gloves and discarding them with a slight flaring of nostrils and an expression of distaste. Then he shook back still-damp bangs and gave his brother an arch look. "If I am, it's only fair. This was your idea in the first place, and I'm still not sure it was the right thing to do."

Keisuke pouted, a little too effectively for a young man of his age. "Don't say that, aniki." He straightened, sitting upright. "You look great!"

Ryousuke sighed and pinched a strand of his formerly midnight-dark bangs, lifting the hair away from his forehead so that it caught the bathroom light in a gleam of mahogany-gold. His eyes were a bit rueful, though his face remained still. "It was a nice color on you, Keisuke. I'm not sure it suits me though."

"You look great, aniki!" Keisuke avowed again, clenching a fist with fervor. Then his mouth drooped at the corners and he slumped. "Do you really hate it? It was my idea...."

Ryousuke fixed his brother with an exasperated but affectionate look. "Don't say that. I just need a moment to adjust. It's fine. And you'll look good blonde."

Keisuke brightened. "Honto ga? You're not just saying that?" An unexpected grin curved his mouth -- that smile that almost no one but his brother ever got to see. "You know the girls will squeal over you just as loudly, if not more so, with your new look!"

Ryousuke's smooth face tightened in a pained expression. "And you know that I care nothing about what the female fans think. There is only one opinion that matters to me besides my own."

Keisuke blinked, then a slow light dawned in his usually pensive face. "Aniki!" He surged up from the toilet seat.

"Get away from me!" Ryousuke snapped, fending off his overly enthusiastic brother. "Not while you reek of ammonia!"

Keisuke subsided, disappointed but not displeased. "But after I wash it out...?"

Ryousuke snorted, then checked his watch. "If you use enough shampoo, I suppose. You have ten more minutes. I'll be on the computer."

Keisuke wrinkled his nose as his older brother strode out. "Mochiron desu." He smiled warmly, his eyes sparkling. "But only for another twenty minutes or so. Then I'm coming to getcha!"

"I heard that," the deep voice slid back into the bathroom. "Be sure you wash all the bleach out, Keisuke."

"Hai, hai." Keisuke settled down to wait. He wasn't sure why he had suddenly decided the Takahashi brothers needed a new look, and he'd never thought he'd get Ryousuke to go along with him, but he was glad he'd made the effort. He really did like his aniki's new hair color.

And it was certainly an interesting way to start off the autumn. A season of change; but there were some things that would never change. Like Keisuke's unbreakable devotion to his aniki. And Ryousuke's silent but unmistakable trust and pride in his younger brother.

Not to mention--

"One minute, Keisuke," his brother's voice drifted down the hall, above the ceaseless clattering of nimble fingers over a keyboard. "Better get the shower running.

"A-aa!" Keisuke leaped to his feet. "Hai, aniki!" He hurried to do his brother's bidding.

Some things would never change.

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