Tajima sighed as he finished jotting down the last of his notes, letting the pen drop from his fingers before reaching up to massage the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on. While he was thankful that it was a slow day and he didn't have many patients, the doctor hated the paperwork catchup he had to do. It was as though the documents never ended. He supposed it was his fault though, for putting it all off until the last moment.
Glancing at the clock, he stretched his arms and decided a break before his next appointment arrived was in order. Before he could move, however, a knock sounded and one of the nurses voices flowed through. "Tajima-sensei, you have a patient."
Suppressing the urge to groan at the loss of his break, he sighed and called for whoever it was to enter. He couldn't exactly turn them away. The first thing he saw was the nurse's smiling face as she gently pushed the patient through the door. Raising an eyebrow, he looked down and felt a smile tugging on his own lips as he was met with the sight of Kominato Haruichi. The six year old was the youngest of two of his good friends he'd gone to school with, and one of his favorite patients.
Unlike other children, Haruichi never screamed and threw a fit when it was time to get his shots or needed a checkup. He would simply clutch onto one of his parent's clothing and hide his face while he got his shot, and he would always remember to say thank you when given a band-aid and a sucker.
Today the child was alone, which was only slightly worrying. He knew Haruna and Ryounosuke would never let Haruichi go somewhere alone and were probably hanging around somewhere. The child thanked the nurse before she left and fidgeted slightly, hiding the bottom half of his face into the stuffed rabbit he was carrying.
"Good afternoon Haru-chan." Tajima smiled and the pink haired child waved a little bit, coming forward a few steps. "Where's your mommy and daddy?"
"I…I came alone."
"Really?" Tajima would bet money that at least one of his parents were hiding somewhere in or around the building. There was simply no way that they would ever let one of their children walk all the way here alone until they were older. "Is something wrong?"
Haruichi shook his head and clutched his rabbit tighter before holding it forward. "Onii-chan gave it to me." Tajima waited but Haruichi didn't seem to have anything else to say.
"It's…a very nice bunny." The child smiled brightly and nodded, clutching it back to his chest. "Did you come all the way here by yourself to show it to me?"
The pink haired boy shook his head. "I wanna give Onii-chan the bestest gift 'cause he gave it to me."
The doctor rubbed the back of his head. He was at a loss for what to do. Why would Haruichi think he could help him pick out the 'bestest gift' for his older brother? "Really? What are you going to get him?"
"I need sensei's help."
Tajima hummed in thought. He had no idea what the elder Kominato child would want or even like. He figured he could humor the sweet child in front of him at least. "What can I do to help?"
"I wanna give Onii-chan the one thing he's always wanted."
"Oh? And what's that?"
"I wanna give him eyes."
Tajima blinked and thought about that for a moment before it clicked. "You want to give him sight?" Haruichi nodded. The doctor rubbed his chin. Ryousuke had been born blind, but as far as Tajima knew had never let that stop him from doing what he wanted. The elder Kominato child had taken after Haruna and was developing quite the sharp tongue for someone so young. As it was, he had no doubt that Ryousuke did indeed want to be able to actually see. Unfortunately it was risky for someone so young to go through surgery, especially for his eyes as children's eyes continued to change and didn't really begin to stabilize until they were around eighteen years of age.
And even if they did operate, it would take a while for them to find a set that matched with Ryousuke's genes well enough that there would be a low chance of his body rejecting them. And the chance it would work and he would truly be able to see after surgery was about 50/50 since the procedure was still fairly new and not 100% accurate.
Turning back to the child, Tajima smiled softly and did his best to explain this to him. Haruichi, for all he probably didn't understand a lot of what the doctor was telling him, seemed to be paying very close attention to the words said. Sitting back, Tajima let Haruichi think about what he'd said, amused at the utterly serious look on the six year old's face.
After a while, the child seemed to have reached a conclusion and nodded to himself. "Onii-chan can have mine." Tajima blinked before his eyes widened.
"You'd be willing to give up your sight for your big brother?" Most adults he knew would never even think about doing such a thing, but there was no doubt in Haruichi's face as he nodded.
"I want Onii-chan to see."
Kneeling in front of the pink haired angel – for in Tajima's mind Haruichi was nothing less than a little angel with his caring nature and sweet smile – the doctor slowly brushed the pink bangs to the side and saw the beautiful pink eyes. "You know if you give your brother your eyes so he can see, you won't be able to anymore, right? It'll be dark all the time."
Haruichi looked at the ground with a frown before said, "The dark is scary, but Onii-chan would get to see." He seemed highly torn about the situation as he clutched onto his stuffed bunny. Tajima felt a little bad about putting the sweet child through this decision, but Haruichi needed to know what he was saying. He smiled when Haruichi looked back up at him. "Onii-chan can have one. That way he can see and nobody will be in the scary dark all the time!" He looked so proud of himself for deciding on this.
Tajima couldn't help but shake his head. Leave it to Haruichi to find a solution that would make everyone happy.
"This is a very nice thing you want to do for your brother, but I want you to be absolutely sure you want to do it." He held up a hand when Haruichi opened his mouth. "I need time to see if you can give your eye to your brother. Was there a specific time you wanted to do it?"
"Christmas."
Tajima nodded. "Alright, but Christmas is still a long time away. How about this. Why don't you keep thinking about it and if when December rolls around you still want to do it and your mommy and daddy are okay with you doing it and if your eyes are a match, then we can do it. Does that sound fair?"
Haruichi nodded with a smile and even gave the doctor a hug, warming Tajima's heart. It was the first time the youngest Kominato had hugged him. "Thank you sensei!"
Laughing lightly, Tajima ruffled his hair and handed him a sucker. "Be careful on your way home!"
"I will! Bye bye!"
Shaking his head with a smile, the doctor felt much better than he had earlier that day. It was always nice to see someone who truly cared about another and wanted nothing but for them to be happy.
Haruna opened her mouth only to close it when no words came out. She looked from her youngest to her husband who seemed just as bewildered as she was. "I…what?"
"I wanna give Onii-chan one of my eyes so he can see. Sensei said if my eye matched then I could give it to Onii-chan, but I have to think about it until Christmas to make super sure I wanna give it to him, and mommy and daddy have to say I can."
While Haruna was happy that her baby was willing to give up one of his eyes for his big brother, she was also worried what would happen if it didn't work, or how Ryousuke would react when he found out Haruichi had been the one to give him an eye. Even though he was blind, Ryousuke was still highly protective over Haruichi. She highly doubted he would agree if it meant Haruichi lost one of his eyes.
She didn't even know where he had gotten the idea! When Ryounosuke had followed him to the hospital when he went to see Tajima, neither of them realized it was for something like this! She'd have to have a talk with the doctor to let him know exactly what she thought of him putting this idea into her babies head.
"This is a really big decision," Ryounosuke said, kneeling and putting his hands on Haruichi's shoulders. "Are you sure you want to give up one of your eyes?"
Haruichi nodded without hesitation. "I want Onii-chan to see. And when he does, I wanna show him all the funny animals at the zoo! And…And I wanna show him the foxes 'cause they look just like him! And…And we can stay up and look at all the pretty stars! And-"
Haruna couldn't help the laugh that cut her baby off. Haruichi seemed so excited to show his big brother the world. "We're going to have to talk with Tajima-sensei first. And you're going to have to get Ryousuke to agree to it. "
"But I wanna make it a surprise! For Christmas!"
Haruna and Ryounosuke sighed as Haruichi pouted. "Alright," Ryounosuke relented with a small smile, "You don't have to tell him until the day of if this winds up happening. How's that?"
Haruichi nodded with a big smile on, happily agreeing.
"Onii-chan!" Haruichi happily crawled into his big brother's bed, falling on top of him in an attempt to wake him up. "It's Christmas!" Ryousuke smiled and wrapped his arms around his giggling little brother, tickling him into full blown laughter and squeals. "S-Stop! N-n-no! Onii-chan!" Relenting, the eight year old reluctantly let Haruichi go, only for the six year old to jump from the bed and grab his hand, tugging him to get up faster. "Come on! We gotta go!"
Yawning and wondering what time it was, Ryousuke allowed himself to be pulled into a standing position. "Where are we going?"
"To get your present!"
"My present? Why do we have to go somewhere to get my present?"
Haruichi was nearly bouncing up and down, unable to contain his excitement. "It's a special present!"
"Oh? And what is this special present?"
As much as Haruichi wanted it to be a surprise, he couldn't hold himself back anymore. "It's an eye!"
"An eye?"
Haruichi nodded as fast as he could. "Onii-chan will finally be able to see!"
Ryousuke was glad the bed was behind him, because his knees suddenly gave out and had him falling back onto it again. "I….I'll be able…to see? I…really?"
Haruichi jumped back onto the bed and hugged his big brother tightly. "Merry Christmas Onii-chan!" Ryousuke felt tears in his eyes as he hugged his baby brother tightly.
Ryousuke felt his heartrate quicken as Tajima-sensei slowly started unwinding the bandages from around his left eye. "We're going to keep the lights dimmed and slowly brighten them so you can get used to the light, alright?" Unable to speak, Ryousuke simply nodded.
When the last of the bandages were off, he blinked and found a dark shape in front of him. He couldn't make out any details, and everything was kind of fuzzy, but he could see. For the first time in his life he was able to see something other than the complete darkness that had dominated his life for as long as he could remember.
"Ryou-chan?" Swallowing at his mother's voice, he slowly turned in her direction, seeing only two fuzzy shapes. "Is everything alright? Can…can you see me?"
Opening and closing his mouth, Ryousuke tried to swallow past the lump in his throat as he nodded. "I…It's…fuzzy? I can't…I can't make out any details….but…but I can see you." He didn't realize he was crying until one of the fuzzy shapes moved forward and wiped away his tears.
"Your vision should clear up with time," Tajima-sensei informed him. Ryousuke nodded and let out a mix between a sob and a laugh.
"Thank you." It was a whisper, but he hoped it conveyed how grateful he was.
"This was all Haruichi."
"W-where is Haruichi?"
Ryounosuke laughed quietly. "He's sleeping right next to you."
Reaching down, the pink haired male found his little brother's shape and smiled. He truly had the best little brother in the world. Laying back down, he wrapped his arms around the sleeping boy and held him tight. He would never be able to repay his baby brother for this. Feeling for the younger boy's head to give him a kiss, he paused when his fingers brushed the feeling of bandages wrapped around Haruichi's head. Slowly he ran his hands over his brother's face and felt his insides freeze when he realized they ran over Haruichi's left eye.
Swallowing thickly, he slowly reached up and placed his palm over his left eye and turned back towards where he'd seen the blurry shapes of his parents. "Is…is this…"
"It's Haruichi's."
Ryousuke clenched his fist in front of his new left eye and felt tears for a new reason. "Why? Why do I have Haru's…I didn't know it was going to be his! I never would have…why did you…"
"Ryou-chan," Ryousuke felt the bed dip on the opposite side of where Haruichi was sleeping and his mother gently took his fist into her hand, pulling it away. "Haruichi was the one who decided. He was the one who had the idea in the first place, and he thought long and hard about it."
"At first," Tajima-sensei added softly, "He wanted to give you both of his eyes." Ryousuke felt his breath hitch at that thought. He'd never be able to accept both his baby brother's eyes. He was having a hard enough time accepting one.
Before he could say anything, he felt his little brother shift and begin to stir. Turning from his mother, Ryousuke latched back onto Haruichi and held him tightly. "Onii-chan?"
"Idiot! Why? Why did you do this?"
"Now Onii-chan can see!"
"But this is your eye! I can't take it!"
He felt his little brother's arms wrap around him. "But now I have one of Onii-chan's eyes! So Onii-chan will always be with me!" Ryousuke felt the tears welling up again and squeezed Haruichi tighter. "Are…are you mad?"
Ryousuke shook his head. "No. I'm really, really happy. Thank you Haru-chan."
"Merry Christmas Onii-chan!"
Ryousuke let out a choked laugh. "Merry Christmas Haru-chan."
So I was looking online, and apparently the only part of the eye that's transplantable is the cornea and not the whole eye. But they're researching the possibility of transplanting an entire eye. Didn't really read it though, just saw the title. So yeah, this actually isn't possible, but it's cute.
As a side note, I wrote just about the entire second half (everything after Haruichi's talk with Tajima) half-asleep so sorry if it's not very clear or good. But it really feels like I have written anything in a long time. I don't think I've actually written for this fandom in a year or two. I really need to try and get back into writing again.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to leave a review!
