A/N:This fic is a birthday present to my good friend Kat aka thunder-blitz/ Happy Birthday, butthead.

Summary: After the first time witnessing his little brother's power, Braz gets him a little something to say 'get well soon'. He couldn't possibly have known the massive chain reaction his one genuine gesture of kindness would spark. Pre-series.

Disclaimer: I do not own Blood Lad. This is written solely to entertain.

The Consequence of Kindness

The first time, he had thought nothing of it. At that point, he had been much more concerned with the fact that his little brother had single-handledly- no, no-handedly was more accurate- uprooted a large part of the forest around their manor.

"Braz," came the soft call, full of innocent fascination at what he had just done, unaware of his brother's bug-eyed stare at the mass of fallen flora before them, "Look, look what I just did!"

Braz wiped his glasses with a slightly trembling hand. "Y-yes, Staz. I see. How did you do it?"

The smaller vampire shrugged. "Hmm… 'Dunno. But it's cool, huh?"

Braz simply nodded silently and scooped his brother up. "Let's go back inside." He said hurriedly.

Once inside the confines of their home, Braz set the boy down to walk on his own before continuing ahead of him, walking towards his lab.

"Come with me." He said, still reeling from the shock of what he'd just seen. Staz nodded placidly, following his brother's longer strides by jumping the tiles, only landing within the lines.

"What the hell was that?" Braz said to himself quietly. Discreetly, he looked back at his younger brother. Staz had uprooted all of those trees, alone. And in the span of perhaps a minute or so, if his calculations were correct. It was worrying. That was something he and older, higher level demons would be capable of. Staz wasn't supposed to be able to pull off a feat like that, not without severe strain on his tiny body. Yet it seemed almost effortless, but he couldn't explain how he did it, only that it happened.

"Brother?"

At the small, weak voice behind him, Braz slowed his pace and turned around. Staz was standing a few feet away, eyes drooping and swaying on his feet.

Braz knelt down in front of him. "What's wrong?"

"I feel dizzy." Was all Staz had to say, before his eyes rolled back in his head and the boy tipped over and collapsed in a heap on the cold marble floor.

"Staz?"

One red eye cracked open. "Hmm…? Braz?" He mumbled, voice bleary and thick with exhaustion.

"What happened?" He asked as he sat up.

"You fainted."

"Why?"

Braz sat back in his chair, which he had pulled up alongside Staz's bed, and sighed. "I'm not sure what happened to be honest, Staz. Do you remember what you did to all of those trees?"

After a moment of thought, Staz nodded faintly.

"Well after that, you were following me to my lab, when you suddenly felt disoriented. And then you passed out."

"…Oh." Staz flopped back against his pillows. "My head hurts." He muttered, a small hand clutching at his temple.

"I imagined it would, since you hit it quite hard on the floor when you fell. Just to be safe, I'd like you to stay in bed for a few days."

Staz frowned. "Why?" He whined. But at the sharp look his older brother gave him, the smaller vampire simply huffed and rolled over onto his side, facing away from Braz.

"I hate staying in bed."

Braz could practically hear the pout in his younger brother's voice. With a soft sigh, he reached into his coat. "I got you something."

He looked up discreetly. Staz was looking over his shoulder, still upset at having been confined to his bed, but interest piqued nonetheless.

"What is it?" He asked, voice slightly muffled by the material of his nightshirt. Braz sat down at the edge of the bed.

"I'll show you if you stop pouting."

Staz's eyes narrowed a fraction. It was the same look their mother would give their father when she was suspicious of something. It was scary how much he, Staz, resembled her. But after several seconds, a child's curiosity won over suspicion and logic and Staz rolled back over to see what Braz had for him.

With a small smile, Braz pulled a DVD case out of his coat and handed it to Staz.

"Howl's Moving Castle." Staz read the title aloud before looking up at his brother. "What is this?"

"I found it in town earlier," Braz began casually, "It's from the human world. I thought you'd like it."

Staz's eyes widened at the mention of the human world. "Really?" He squeaked in excitement before shoving the movie into his brother's still open hand. "Put it on, put it on!" He shouted happily, pushing Braz off the bed and towards the large TV in front of it.

"Right now?" Braz muttered to himself, but set up the DVD player and popped the movie in regardless.

"There. Now, I've got some work to do in my lab, so-"

"Watch it with me!"

Braz withered. "Staz, I'm busy."

The smaller vampire pouted again. "But you're always busy. Just stay for a little bit."

"Five minutes."

"Ten."

"Five, Staz."

"Ten or I'm gonna go play outside."

"Don't think for a second that I won't lock you in here."

"But I have powers too. I'll just break the door down. Duh."

Braz let out a frustrated growl. Staz was not going to let him leave.

"Fine." He acquiesced after a moment and sat back down in the chair, "I'll stay for the whole movie. But only if you remain in this bed until I say you're allowed to get up. Is that clear?"

Staz was too excited about seeing his first human world movie to be upset about his forced convalescence. The little vampire nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, yeah, sure just press play already!"

"Okay then." Braz said, resigned to his fate as he pressed play on the remote.

Half way through the movie, Braz decided that it was better than he had expected, but still not worth all the time he could've been doing something more productive in his laboratory. As the movie rolled, Braz yawned as quietly as he could into his hand, mindful of his little brother.

Though, he was pretty sure he really had no need to be concerned. At that moment, he could've set off a rocket in the room and Staz wouldn't have noticed. His younger brother was sitting on the floor with his blanket wrapped around him. He was less than a foot away from the TV, eyes wide and glued to the screen, mouth hanging open slightly.

I guess he likes it. Braz thought to himself.

Though as it would soon turnout, 'liked it' was a bit of an understatement.

It was nearly two weeks after the forest incident when his little brother's new found fixation became apparent.

In that time, he had finally allowed Staz to leave the manor and play outside or whatever it was the child liked to do when left to his own devices. Obviously, said devices did not include searing a giant hole in the side of someone's house, and as Braz quickly grabbed his little brother's hand and fled the scene before anyone could see them, he figured that letting Staz run around on his own was probably not a good idea.

As they reached the front door of their home, he briefly considered keeping Staz on a leash. After all, every time the boy went off on his own, something got destroyed. Soon someone would notice, and that was trouble he neither wanted nor needed.

"Brother, my ear's bleeding."

And then once again, Staz was down for the count.

A few hours later, Braz found himself in the same position he had been in exactly two weeks prior, namely, sitting in a chair next to his little brother's bed, waiting for him to regain consciousness.

"Braz?"

The sound of Staz's tired voice to his right drew his attention away from the light novel he had been reading. He bookmarked his page and set the book aside before turning to his now conscious brother.

"How do you feel?"

Staz poked out his tongue. "Bleeghh."

Braz nodded. "Mm. That's more or less how you look."

"Can I have another Miyazaki movie now?"

Braz blanked for a moment. "…Pardon?"

"I want another Hayao Miyazaki movie." Staz repeated, coming to sit up on all fours in front of his brother, eyes aglow with childish anticipation.

"I…I'm not quite sure what that is."

"I want My Neighbor Totoro. You have to find it brother. Please. Pleeeeease."

Braz nodded faintly as he stood, still baffled by his brother's request.

How he even managed to find the movie was beyond him, but that night, Staz looked happier than Braz was sure he'd ever seen the child in all his years of living as he put the DVD in the player.

"Here." He said, tone clipped. Staz flew off the bed in a frenzy, a giant, toothy smile glued to his face as he claimed his spot directly in front of the television. Braz could hear the child chanting 'Oh boy, oh boy' to himself as he crushed his folded legs against his chest, rocking back and forth like some kind of deranged mental patient on a sugar high.

As the opening credits began to roll, Braz backed slowly towards the door while his brother's attention was on the screen. The screen went black, and then blue, and then little bubbly characters began to appear as the cheerful-sounding Japanese intro began to play.

Staz tried his best to follow along, swaying along with the tune and singing loudly in broken Japanese.

Braz concluded that this would be his sole opportunity to escape, before Staz could con him into staying and watching it with him. The older man practically ran out of the room.

It was exactly one month later when Braz realized that he might've created a monster.

"Konnichiwa, oniisan."

Braz nearly dropped the beaker he had been delicately holding between his thumb and index finger. He looked down to his left. Braz was staring up at him earnestly, a small booklet from who-knows-where clutched in his hands.

"I beg your pardon?" Braz said.

"That's Japanese for 'Good Afternoon, Brother.'"

Braz looked at the booklet. "Staz," He began seriously, "What is that?"

Staz's eyes lit up. "It's a book I ordered to learn conversational Japanese!"

The beaker clinked quietly against the table top as Braz set it down. "Conversational Japanese." It was not a question, but a statement.

"I want to move to Japan."

Braz's head fell into his open palms. The older vampire let out what was possibly the longest sigh he had ever sighed, all the while pinching the bridge of his nose. This was not ideal.

"What?" He asked quietly after a moment.

"Japan." Staz said automatically. He held up the booklet so Braz could see the cover. It was a picture of a smiling Japanese human couple walking down a busy street. "I want to live in Tokyo. I want to meet Hayao Miyazaki. I want-"

"-Staz," Braz tried to interrupt, still looking aggrieved. Of course, he was ignored.

"-to go to Ikebukuro. Did you know that there's this anime that happens there and a lot of the sights in the show are actual places in Ikebukuro? I want to take pictures and eat Russian sushi and-"

Braz pinched his eyes shut tightly, trying to ignore the headache he felt coming. "Staz, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Regardless, the younger vampire continued to gabber on and on about places and things he wanted to see, do and eat when -not if, when- he went to Japan, flipping through his booklet for the Japanese word for something.

"Hey, oniisan, from now on you should call me otouto."

"No."

"What about Liz?" Staz asked aloud as he flipped through his little book once again, completely disregarding Braz's irritated response. "What's the word for little sister?"

"How do you say 'I want to skin you alive' In Japanese?"

Staz looked up at his brother strangely. "Um...I don't think that's considered 'conversational' Japanese."

Braz just leered down at him, his eyes obscured by the ominous glare of his glasses. "Oh, I'm fairly certain that it is."

Staz backed away slowly. "Do you...want me to go find out?"

His brother nodded. "Yes. I do. And please, take your time."

"Oh, okay. Sure." Staz said with a nervous wave before running out of the lab. When he was sure that the younger vampire was gone, Braz reclined tiredly in his seat with a loud groan.

"This is what I get for trying to be nice."

Being the oldest sucked sometimes. Although, he was curious as to whether Staz would actually find the answer or not. He did actually want to know how to say it.

In case you aren't sure, the anime Staz is talking about is Durarara!

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Happy birthday Kat!