The keys jingled as JongUp held them out to the door to unlock it. After sitting for a while alone after YoungJae and JunHong left, he thought his mind would clear up. However, as the sun ended its descend and the streetlights began to come alive, his mind was as fuzzed up as before. So, he left his untouched drink on the breakwater and headed straight home. He heaved the old door inwards and the smell of home hit his nostrils- the familiar, comforting smell of his and his brothers’ haven.

                Closing the door behind him, he realized that there was a pair of shoes by the door. Usually, this meant that DaeHyun is home. However, the dark house made it seem unlikely. Just to make sure, he called out for his brother.

                “Hyun-AHHHH”

                With quick reflexes, JongUp managed to avoid a flying throwing knife that had impaled itself on the door, passing mere centimeters from his face. Paranoid from the incident before, he had leaped and rolled on his back to hide behind the sofa in the living room, pulling out his own throwing knife from under the cushions. Seconds past as JongUp searched the source of the knife with wild eyes. He slowly removed his school bag and pulled out more weapons for use. A shadow past the window across the living room and JongUp knew he had spotted his target.

               He sprung from his spot, out of the window and followed the shadow up to the rooftop above. Standing up at the roof made him vulnerable but the many things used by his brother for training were all up there, making it easier for him to find cover. However, just as he was going to run behind a crate, a kunai landed by his feet, forcing him to turn back to the open. Planting both feet firmly on the ground, he willed himself to calm down. It was useless to fight if he was not calm enough, it would only result in his own downfall. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and slowly breathed out through his mouth. His senses automatically became sharper and he could make out the footsteps of his attacker on his left. Mentally visualizing where and what his attacker is going to do next, he reached to his pocket and pulled out a shuriken. When he opened his eyes next, his eyes reflected determination and immediately, he launched the shuriken towards his attacker. 

               If JongUp was fast, his attacker was faster. He managed to hit the shuriken away with what seemed to be a katana. Before JongUp could dash for cover, the same attacker seemed to teleport behind him and locked his arms behind his back. JongUp only managed to gasp in shock before landing on this knees with his hand held tight in a lock behind him by his attacker.

               “Welcome home, JongUp,” the familiar voice greeted him.

               JongUp groaned in pain, “I’m home, thanks hyung. Now can you let go of me?”

               JongUp’s earlier attacker who turned out to be DaeHyun let go of JongUp’s arm. JongUp glared at DaeHyun as he rolled his shoulders to ease the discomfort. DaeHyun raised his arms in a shrug as a response to his brother’s obvious displeasure. “Training time, right?”

               “Yeah yeah, at least you could warn me beforehand,” JongUp complained. “I swear if it wasn’t for my awesome skills I would have lost a finger today… or even get a scar on my beautiful face!” JongUp dramatically gestured to the two precious parts of his body.

               DaeHyun chuckled at his little brother’s antics, “Speak some more and the entire neighbourhood would come up. Come on, I want to teach you something new today, I think it is time.”

               JongUp’s eyes gleamed at the word “something new”. He had always been eager to learn the arts of defense and he knew there was more to learn and develop to fully be able to protect himself and not rely on his brother too much. DaeHyun ushered JongUp to the foldable table by the side. Now that JongUp’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, seemingly DaeHyun had been training since earlier because usually, the roof wouldn’t be this messy- with crates lying here and there and cardboard so badly stabbed.

               DaeHyun picked up an small palm-sized object from the table and showed it to Jongup. “This is a grenade,” DaeHyun explained. JongUp carefully picked up the oblong shaped weapon from his brother’s palm, afraid if it would suddenly go off.  “Well, not a real one, just a similar one. I mean the police would go after me if I had the real one but you know. This is what you will be learning today- how to throw a grenade,” DaeHyun continued.

               JongUp lifted his eyes from examining the grenade in fascination to glance at his brother in glee. Grenade, Finally! Of all the skills he had learnt, he had always wanted to learn how to handle a grenade. He was quite sick of punching and slashing and throwing knifes that did not have a high percentage kill if he was not precise enough. With the grenade, a whole group of clustered ninja can be killed immediately. Imagine how much less effort is needed than to kill them one by one!

               Seeing the excitement in JongUp’s eyes, DaeHyun almost wanted to smile back but handling a grenade is a serious matter. Instead, Daehyun turned his head pointedly to his right where there were two towers of three crates, parallel to each other, forming an alley in between them. “There, try throwing it in between the crates,” DaeHyun instructed.

               Assessing the distance, it was not a far throw, about 5 metres away. Smirking, JongUp easily threw the grenade and it landed itself about three times than where it was supposed to land. Impressed, he nodded to himself. All of a sudden, a strong arm grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down to a crouch. On crouch, he was on eye-level with DaeHyun who was also in a crouched position.

               “Good strength but everything else, nope,” DaeHyun commented, still in crouched position. “First of all, after throwing the grenade, duck or run away. For two reasons. One, to avoid being detected by the enemy. Two, to avoid the debris that would potentially fly to hit you or make you blind.” Getting up, DaeHyun walked to shift the two towers further away. He continued from the distance, “Next, that was only five metres so I guess throwing like that is okay but at a distance more than 10 metres, that throwing position and arm of yours won’t even make it so accurately. Now try throwing it through here, a good 10 metres.”

               DaeHyun threw the grenade from where the grenade landed to JongUp who caught it easily. JongUp frowned, trying to take in all the information from his brother at once. Once he felt like he got it, he raised his arm to throw the grenade as he did before. He pulled back his right throwing arm and-

               “Your legs,” DaeHyun materialized beside him and kicked JongUp’s legs apart. “Keep them apart and stay low. It gives you more power to throw further and a bounce to throw more accurately. Your arms,” DaeHyun bent JongUp’s right arm a bit and pulled his left straight in front of him. “keep the throwing one bent and the other one pointed to where you want it to fly. Got it?” JongUp nodded. “Now, go.”

               Taking a deep breath, JongUp pulled back once again and pelted the grenade to its target. The grenade almost slipped from his fingers but it still flew to its target. Remembering what DaeHyun said, JongUp crouched behind the table but he could not help but peep to look at where the grenade went. The grenade flew, missing the left tower by a fraction of an inch and landed itself further than expected. Whistling, he beamed and turned to his brother who was looking at the grenade as well.

               When DaeHyun shifted his head to JongUp, his eyes were almost grave and the edges of JongUp’s smile twitched. DaeHyun held their gaze for a fraction of a second before sighing. “Okay, that’s for today. Let’s clean this place up and head inside. Dinner’s getting cold.”

               JongUp’s eyes followed DaeHyun as he went to pick up the grenade from where he had thrown them and as JongUp got up to help him clear the roof, he could not help but notice the unfocusing eyes of DaeHyun, as if his mind was wondering far into a thought, or a memory.

~~~

               Utensils clink against one another as the two brothers ate their dinner in their usual light. JongUp was asking DaeHyun about the different weapons that he would learn in the future and suggesting more weapons he was interested in.

               “I want to learn how to use a Chigiriki… and the fan but then again I have no idea how vicious a fan can actually look to an enemy,” JongUp happily chirped to his brother across the table who was laughing at his younger brother’s analogy.

               “Right, how can a fan be so vicious eh?” DaeHyun smirked knowingly. DaeHyun scooped the soup from the bowl before shifting the topic, “Oh ya, how was the test earlier?”

               JongUp scoffed, “Test, as usual, I cannot seem to understand half what the paper is saying. Anyway,  JunHong also said the test was a killer! Just YoungJae though, he said the test was fine. Of course it is fine to him, he is smart.”

               DaeHyun’s eyebrows lifted at the mention of his younger brother’s close friends whom he knew were part of JongUp’s personal family. “Really? Speaking of them, how are the two doing?”

               “They’re doing great! Only that just now after I saved JunHong from falling from his chair, he would not look me in the eye. He even paid attention in Geography class after that! Weird. Also, he was really red when we were by the waters earlier after YoungJae left. He must not be feeling well,” JongUp naively described part of his day.

               “What happened today?” DaeHyun asked, his tone too serious for JongUp’s liking. “Did he hurt himself in any way to make him sick?”

               JongUp shifted his gaze away from his brother to his soup. He was trying his best to keep the atmosphere away from serious, even though he really had so many questions to ask Daehyun about the earlier incident that day with the ninjas. “Maybe…”

               “… Or maybe he likes you.” DaeHyun said with a note of amusement in his voice.

               “Of course he likes me, I am like his other brother!” JongUp said nonchalantly, scooping his soup and slurping from it.

               Seconds past with only the sound of slurping and utensils clicking against one another. JongUp glanced sweepingly over his brother’s bowl. It was close to being finished. JongUp  was getting uncomfortable but he had to make a move and ask his brother the questions he had from today.

               “Hyung,” JongUp began. “ I told YoungJae and JunHong that you were a ninja.”

               Soup practically blew from DaeHyun’s nose as he choked on his soup. JongUp was too fascinated at the soup that flew from his brother’s nose to move a muscle and help him. JongUp just watched as DaeHyun grabbed the towel and coughed a few times on the towel before calming down and looking at his brother weird. “Sorry for that,” DaeHyun said sheepishly. “What was their response?”

               “Hmm? Strangely, YoungJae’s response was exactly like yours, only that there was JunHong to help him un-choke him,” JongUp said indifferently.

               “Well,” DaeHyun cleared his throat, changing his voice to a more serious one. “Why did you tell them?”

               This is it, JongUp said to himself. He straightened from his seat and started, “It is because… Something… bad… happened today and I had placed their lives on the line. Hyung,” JongUp looked directly into DaeHyun’s eyes, his tone almost pleading. “Do you have a brother that I do not know of? And what did you guys leave uncompleted?”

               A shadow past Daehyun’s eyes. The almost empty bowl was long forgotten. “Who was it?”

               “There… there was a group of ninjas and this one guy with a scar on his left eye, they followed us halfway from school. I realized it and left the JunHong and YoungJae hoping that they would follow me, but when they cornered me, they have already caught them and used them to threaten me,” JongUp shared.

               DaeHyun’s eyes widen, “Were you hurt? Was anyone hurt?”

               “Not me, YoungJae got a shallow cut on his throat,” JongUp spotted the alarm in DaeHyun’s expression and continued, “don’t worry, we managed to patch it up at the clinic. They asked me to tell you this:  hyung is to appear next week Thursday 2345 hours at base and as promised, a handsome sum of money will be waiting. If we don't…” JongUp struggle to find words to say, “they will find JunHong and YoungJae and kill them in front of me.”

               The seconds passing after that seemed like hours to JongUp as he waited for his brother’s response with tears pooling on his eyes. Finally, DaeHyun looked up from the table of which he had been contemplating his answer. However, the next few words that left DaeHyun’s lips was not what he had hoped for.

               “Leave it”

               Like a crystal statue being pelted onto a cliff, JongUp’s heart crushed upon hearing his brother’s response. The tears broke from the pool on his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. “But… hyung, they are… JunHong and Y-YoungJae are…” JongUp stuttered, not believing what he just heard.

               “I said leave it,” DaeHyun was persistent but not without reason. “They are dangerous men, JongUp. Don’t you ever be involved with them again. Got that?” DaeHyun leaned forward to get JongUp’s full comprehension.

               However, JongUp did NOT understand why would his brother not help his friends. JongUp shook his head roughly.

               DaeHyun sighed and stood up, clearing the table. “Just leave it okay,” DaeHyun asserted before bringing the pile of utensils into the kitchen.

~~

               Carefully placing the last bowl on the dryer, DaeHyun’s shaky hands signaled that he was going to lose it soon. He gripped both his hands on the edge of the sink and took a deep breath.

               It is all in a mess, he thought. He lifted his right hand to pull his fringe back but he stopped because he saw his hands were still wet. Reaching for the towel, he dried his hands clumsily.

               It was a crazy mission, he knew because he had been there and done that, and lost his brother who DaeHyun suspect JongUp did not know was HimChan. But if he did not do it, JongUp’s friends would be in danger. JongUp would never forgive him if his friends got injured or worse, die. DaeHyun would never forgive himself. He had sworn to protect JongUp and he would never want JongUp to experience the pain of losing a family member. If JongUp hadn’t cried back then when their parents died, to see JongUp cry at just the thought of loosing JunHong and YoungJae, they must mean a lot to him, DaeHyun knew it. Just by YongNam's appearance in front of JongUp, DaeHyun knew he is close to failing his own promise to protect JongUp.

               Unconsciously, DaeHyun had gripped the towel so tight that holes were forming on it. At the corner of his vision, he saw the many letters of overdue taxes he had yet to pay. Gritting his teeth, DaeHyun slammed the towel on the counter in frustration.

               Earlier, he had observed the way JongUp had thrown the grenade. Frustratingly, it reminded him of the way HimChan had thrown the grenade. It was almost exactly the same. The power, the strength, but everything else… However, JongUp still had a lot to learn and currently, there was only one person capable of the task.

               Looks like there is no other way but to do it.

               After making sure that the kitchen was in order, Daehyun went for a quick shower before heading to the shared bedroom with JongUp. He tiptoed to the bunk bed above to make sure that JongUp was indeed asleep. He his beloved brother’s hair once and whispered, “Goodnight, Uppie.”

               The bed creaked as DaeHyun laid down on the bed below. Above, JongUp’s eyelid opened. He had felt his brother’s warm hand on his hair, just like every other night since forever. He knew it was part of his brother’s way of showing his affection to him and he does love DaeHyun so very much. DaeHyun had raised him and protected him ever since he was young . JongUp felt that it was time he man up because now, he had people whom he want to protect. YoungJae and JunHong- JongUp will protect them, even if DaeHyun did not approve of it.

               That night, both brothers had decided on the same choice, of which the other was unaware of.

Tadahhh~ I am not sure when i will update the next chapter but please do look forward to it! We are nearing the and i hope you'ld stay with me~ ^_^

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