Wow, so many people like this story O^O

Thank you all for reading my story!

I hope you guys continue to read it!~

Also, note: The birthdays are NOT real! They are just random days I thought of, but I needed a date cuz it would be important in the story later :)

Chapter 3: Happy Birthday!

Tadashi stared blankly at his baby brother. Shoot. "Ugh…"

Before Tadashi could think of an excuse on why he forgot his own birthday, Hiro giggled. "You did this last year too, nii-chan!"

It was true. Tadashi had made Hiro his first priority after his parent's accident. Anything else, even if it was himself, could wait until after Hiro was safe.

Tadashi gave a weak laugh. "Haha, yea I guess I did!" He lightly hit his hand on his own head and tackled his baby brother back onto the couch. Hiro squeaked as his heavy older brother landed on him. Making sure Hiro was pinned to the cushions, Tadashi started to tickle the younger child. Hiro laughed, and struggled to break free.

"Hey, cut it out!" he said between laughs.

"You better have gotten me a good present!" Tadashi said with his lowest possible grumbling voice as he lightly rolled off of his baby brother.

At the mention of a present, Hiro's eyes shot open and he broke into his adorable gapped toothed grin. "Hang on, Dashi! I'll be right back!" The child shot up and zoomed back up the stairs.

Chuckling, Tadashi slowly stood up and walked towards the kitchen. As expected, Aunt Cass was already there, making the forgetful birthday boy his special breakfast, consisting of mountains of blueberry pancakes, topped with maple syrup, whipped cream and strawberries. She also made him a bowl of oatmeal with a smiley face drawn in it, using raisins and brown sugar.

"Morning Aunt Cass!" Tadashi walked into the kitchen, breathing in deeply and enjoying the smell of his beloved breakfast.

"Tadashi! Oh, there's my birthday boy!" Aunt Cass dropped the bowl she was holding to mix the pancake batter and gave her oldest nephew a big hug. Tadashi smiled and hugged her back. After his parents' deaths, she had immediately signed the adoption papers to avoid seeing her nephews being forcefully separated in the hands of foster care. She could see that if Hiro were ever to separate from Tadashi, the child would die of heartbreak. He had lost his parents already, and losing his brother would truly be too much. It was the same vice versa. Tadashi would be lost without Hiro in his life.

Tadashi was surprised to feel his Aunt's shoulders shaking from silent sobs. "What's wrong, Aunt Cass?"

His Aunt sniffed and stared up at the young man. "Your parent's would be so proud of you if they could see you now." Tadashi's heart clenched. After the accident, Tadashi became Hiro's father as well as brother. He always made sure his kid brother was safe and out of trouble. It was the least he could do to help his parents rest peacefully. Besides, what kind of big brother would he be if he couldn't take care of his younger brother?

"Oh… my little boy is my little man now!" Aunt Cass squeaked in excitement.

Tadashi groaned. "Come on Aunt Cass, stop calling me little! I'm almost a whole two heads taller than you!" He pulled out his chair and sat down.

"It doesn't matter how tall or how old you are. You and Hiro will always be little to me." Aunt Cass said as she pulled his head over and kissed his forehead. She set down a plate of freshly made pancakes in front of the birthday boy. The smell made Tadashi's mouth water. He carefully poured maple syrup over the strawberries that covered the surface of the pancakes. Aunt Cass helped top it off with a mountain of whipped cream. After making sure her oldest nephew was happy with his breakfast set up, Aunt Cass hugged him and told him she had to go down to the restaurant. As she was leaving, he grabbed her arm and pulled her in for another hug. "Last hug," he murmured. Aunt Cass smiled, fresh tears forming in her eyes. She loved her nephews to death, and she would always be there to protect them. After Aunt Cass walked downstairs to start working, Tadashi turned his eyes to the pancakes that were begging him to eat them. Licking his lips, Tadashi grabbed his fork and knife, ready to dig in.

Just as he was about to take his first bite, Tadashi froze. How could he forget his most important thing in the world?

"Hiro! Come on buddy, you're missing Aunt Cass's killer pancakes!"

He heard a rush of movement from upstairs and a soft ow. A little worried, Tadashi started to stand up to go check on his brother. Suddenly, he saw Hiro flying down the stairs to stand in front of Tadashi, grinning and holding something behind his back. Giving his baby brother a quick look, Tadashi noticed a small bump on Hiro's forehead and his brown eyes slowly tearing up. Sighing, Tadashi slapped his hand to his face. Hiro probably tripped and landed on his face in his rush down to eat. Why does my baby brother have to be such a knuckleheaded klutz?

Kneeling down and pulling Hiro closer, Tadashi moved aside the younger Hamada's messy hair to examine the injury. It was a small bump, slowly turning red, but there wasn't any swelling. Lightly, Tadashi flicked Hiro's nose and stood up to get him some ice for his head. Hiro crinkled his small nose in response to the flick, and quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve as Tadashi walked back with the ice in hand. Smiling sheepishly, Hiro took the ice pack with one hand, while still holding his present behind his back with his other hand.

"Well then, show me what you got. And it better be great. I don't want you tripping for no reason," Tadashi said sternly (jokingly).

Holding the ice pack to his head, Hiro quickly bobbed his head up and down. "It's great, big brother! I swear!" The excitement too much, Hiro pulled out the thing hidden behind his back.

Obviously, the child had tried to wrap it when Tadashi called him down to eat. Tadashi suspected the child had probably slipped on excess wrapping paper littered around the floor, the "wrapping paper" being newspapers. The present was sloppily wrapped with tape sticking out everywhere. It was small and light, fitting nicely in Tadashi's hand.

"Open it, Dashi!" Hiro cried out excitedly. The child was practically bouncing with excitement.

Carefully working around the tape, Tadashi ripped the newspaper off of his gift. Why did Hiro have to layer it with so many pages? One page would've been enough… Finally, after a few minutes of tearing, Tadashi ripped off the final layer of his present.

…

To be honest, Tadashi had no idea what it was supposed to be. It was made of metal parts that were polished to shine brightly, but that's all it looked like. A pile of shiny metal scrap pieces of the same size. Not wanting to hurt his brother's feeling, Tadashi said, "Gee buddy… thanks for the… ugh…" Hiro giggled and took out a necklace. It was made of the same shiny metal, but Tadashi could see a small button in the center. Hiro pressed the button, and with a whir, Tadashi's pile of metal moved into action. The metal pieces rearranged themselves to form words. Right now, they were squirming on the floor, spelling out: Happy Birthday Dashi!

"They're microbots! You can control them to do anything you want! All you need to do is imagine it!" Hiro giggled, obviously proud of his invention. Amazed, Tadashi stared at the small pieces of metal. Looking closer, he could see the small robots linking together to form the message. "You just have to have this button. When you press it, the microbots will react to your commands only!" Hiro was practically jumping with joy while he explained his creation to his big brother.

Tadashi was speechless. He stared at the microbots in silent awe. Pride blossomed in his chest as the thought occurred to him. His brother, at 7 years of age, had worked to create such a great birthday present just for him. The new 18 year old could not be any happier.

Unfortunately, Hiro mistook the silence for disappointment. His face fell and tears started to form in his big brown eyes again. "Do you not like it?" he whispered quietly.

Tadashi practically tackled Hiro as he gave his baby brother a big bear hug. "Not like it? I love it Hiro! Oh my god, how did you even make this?!" Tadashi threw Hiro into the air, the child squealing in delight. Catching his baby brother, Tadashi enclosed Hiro in another deep hug, pressing his face against the younger child's. Happy that his brother liked the gift, Hiro smiled a gapped tooth smile and hugged him back. He loved his brother, and he hoped they would never have to part.

A dark figure watched the Hamada home from afar. He watched as Cass busied herself with her customers. The open window on the second story revealed the Hamada brothers, happily enjoying their breakfast together. The younger child had whipped cream on his nose, and was trying to reach it with just his tongue. The older one was laughing at how ridiculous his brother was acting.

Sneering, the figure pulled out his phone. Dialing a number, he pressed the phone to his ear and waited. A few seconds later, a click on the other end signaled the figure to start speaking.

"Sir, it's me… I found them."

A chill went down Tadashi's spine. Confused, Tadashi looked out the window. All he saw was a busy street full of bustling city life. Shrugging, he went back to helping Hiro cut his pancakes. The younger brother was sitting in Tadashi's lap, playing with the syrup in his plate. As he bent over, the younger Hamada looped the necklace around the older Hamada's neck. The microbots had been put into a small jar to ensure that Tadashi could have them with him at all times. Looking at the control, Tadashi noticed it was actually a locket. "Open the back of the control, Dashi," Hiro giggled. Tadashi slowly opened the locket, and felt his breath catch in his throat.

There were two pictures. The first was the first family picture Tadashi and Hiro took with Aunt Cass. It was after the boys had gotten over the initial shock that their parents were gone, and when Aunt Cass had finally gotten comfortable with being a parent. Their earlier pictures had all been awkward and tense, but this was the first picture that actually made it look like they were a family. Hiro was riding on Tadashi's strong shoulders, and Aunt Cass was clinging onto his left arm. They were smiling with all the joy in the world.

The second picture was just Tadashi and Hiro. Tadashi was hugging the child from behind, and Hiro was laughing at the camera. This picture was taken a year after their parents death. It was the fist time both of them actually smiled since the accident.

Hands shaking, Tadashi turned the locket to see a small inscription carved into the back. It read: Love you big brother, from Hiro.

He couldn't take it anymore. Tears of joy ran down Tadashi's face and fell onto Hiro's head. Surprised that his brother was crying, Hiro frowned and said, "Why are you crying, Dashi?" He placed a hand on his big brother's face, trying to figure out why his favorite person was shedding tears.

Tadashi laughed shakily. He brought a hand up to hold Hiro's hand to his face. "I'm crying cuz I'm happy, knucklehead." He leaned down and planted a kiss on the younger child's head. Making a face, Hiro used his free hand to wipe the area Tadashi had kissed, but inside, he was happy his brother was happy.

"They should've died 4 years ago!"

The floor shook as the figure slammed his hands down on the table. His employee flinched, but stayed firm. "I'm sorry, sir, but it seems as though our source was correct. The Hamada brothers are indeed still alive."

The figure narrowed his eyes. "Well, we can't have that, now can we?" he hissed mercilessly. "You know what to do! And get it right this time!" he snapped to his employee.

The employee bowed deeply before retreating out of the room. He would do anything to avoid his employer's wrath.

Even if it meant ending two innocent lives.

Finally, the bad guys are in the story :O

Hehe, I had to get the microbots in somehow ;)

Please continue leaving comments or suggestions!~