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Holidays abroad part 3

Katie ran ahead of the group as soon as the car pulled up outside the A&E department of the hospital and the doors opened. She ran into the waiting rooms, her eyes darting around before she spotted a familiar redheaded boy sitting in one of the plastic chairs, staring at the doors that led into the patients' rooms and the operating theatres. "Hikaru!"

Hikaru didn't move, his eyes fixed on the door. He'd heard Katie call out his name, but he couldn't bring himself to move. He felt as if it would be betraying Kaoru by looking away. He continued to stare at the door.

Katie ran over to him and pulled him into a hug. "How is he?"

Hikaru pointed at the door. He couldn't bring himself to talk. He felt as if opening his mouth would lead to a river of tears. Any words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

Katie looked over at the door before turning back to Hikaru and nodding. "He's through there, getting operated on?"

Hikaru nodded numbly.

Katie smiled and sat beside him. "How was he?"

Hikaru just stayed silent. He just couldn't.

Katie took his silence as unwillingness and pulled away from him, sitting beside him instead. "Okay."

The rest of the group ran into the hospital waiting room, a lot slower than Katie had. They ran straight up to the receptionist's desk, unlike Katie had, and asked about Kaoru.

"Who?" the receptionist asked them.

"Kaoru Hitachiin! Red hair, amber eyes, brought in with a broken leg?" Andrea said.

The receptionist looked through the records. "Uh… oh, yes! He's currently in surgery."

"Is he alright?" Rebecca asked.

The receptionist gave her a look. "He's in surgery."

"…Oh."

Andrea smiled at the receptionist. "Thank you for the information!"

The receptionist nodded.

The group walked away from the desk.

"He's still in surgery?" Isaac said. "How could he still be in surgery?"

"His leg was really badly broken," Andrea answered. "It was a clean break, but there were still some chipped parts. Not only that, but they have to check his ribs as well. They're probably cracked."

Eren winced. "Poor Kaoru."

"I hope he gets better…" Eglé said.

Andrea stood near the middle of the group, thinking.

Will frowned at her. "What are you thinking about?" he asked. "It better not be anything stupid or perverted."

"It's not," Andrea muttered. "I'm just thinking… when Kaoru woke up…" She frowned. "The bruise on his forehead… and he said his head hurt…"

Rebecca frowned. "What are you thinking?"

Andrea's eyes widened slightly. "And they already know…"

"Know what?"

"Kaoru… Kaoru has a concussion."

The group's eyes widened. "What?"

Andrea nodded. "Headaches are a common symptom of concussions…" She winced. "And concussions can take days to go away…"

Hikaru continued to stare at the door. He knew Katie was sitting next to him, but… "He was sick," he muttered suddenly.

Katie frowned and turned to him. "What?"

"Kaoru… he was sick in the ambulance… all the way here…" Hikaru's voice was shaky. "He… he just couldn't stop… and his head… he kept complaining that it hurt…" His hands started to shake. "It… it scared me…" Tears formed in his eyes. "Katie, I didn't know what to do! I was so scared! And… and I'd never seen Kaoru like that before! Every time Kao was ill… I was always kept in a different room… I've never seen Kaoru look so… fragile…" He burst into tears.

Katie pulled him into a hug and started rubbing his back soothingly. "Shhh, Hikaru. He'll be alright…"

Hikaru clutched Katie's sleeves as he cried into her t-shirt. "K… K… Kao…"

"Shhh…"

Hikaru sniffed as he pulled away from her. "S-s-sorry a-about y-y-y-y-your shirt…" he muttered, embarrassed.

Katie smiled at him. "It's fine, Hika." She pulled her sleeve down slightly and used it to wipe any remaining tears off his face.

Hikaru gave a watery smile. "Thank you, Katie." He looked directly into her eyes.

Katie smiled back at him and put a hand on his cheek. "Well, I think you needed to let that out. Sometimes a person just needs to vent."

Hikaru gave her a soft smile. "Yeah…"

The two didn't notice how closely they were leaning into each other until they heard someone clear their throat beside them. They both pulled away, blushing.

"Family of Kaoru Hitachiin?" the doctor asked. She was young, maybe in her late twenties or so, with dark hair and dark eyes that matched her naturally tanned skin.

Hikaru stood up and wiped any remaining tears from his face. "Yeah?"

The doctor smiled and held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Doctor Blake, and I'll be monitoring your brother for his stay."

Hikaru hesitated before shaking her hand. "How… how is he?"

Dr Blake smiled. "Well, let's walk and talk, shall we? You must be anxious to see your brother."

Hikaru's eyes widened. "How do you…?"

"We managed to get a-hold of your medical records," she explained as she led him away from Katie. "You're from Tokyo, Japan, am I correct?"

Hikaru nodded.

The doctor smiled. "That's a very nice place. I've been there before."

I don't really care… Hikaru thought. "Yeah…"

"Now, your brother… we had a couple of… complications with him."

Hikaru's eyes widened. "What do you mean by complications?"

Dr Blake sighed as she led him through the door that led them to the patients' rooms. "Mr Hitachiin, your brother has a concussion. This meant that it would be too risky to put him under a general anaesthetic, so we had to keep him sedated instead. His leg has been operated on, and he should be back to walking in about eight weeks or so. He has a couple of cracked ribs, likely from being kicked so hard, and the amount of blood loss he suffered has made him a lot weaker than he should be. The concussion also seems to be causing problems. The EMTs said he was vomiting violently all the way here?"

Hikaru nodded. "And he kept complaining that his head hurt."

"Side effects of the concussion. He should be feeling a little better within a couple of hours or so, but we'll need to keep him monitored here for a couple of days."

Hikaru looked slightly put out, but nodded. It's to help Kao get better. "Can… can I see him?"

"Of course, but he may be a little unresponsive due to the sedation."

Hikaru nodded before realizing they were stood outside the door to one of the rooms. "Is this his room?"

"Yes."

Hikaru gave the doctor a small smile. "Thank you." He opened the door quietly. "Hey, Kao…"

Katie just stared in the direction Hikaru and the doctor had gone. We were so close… why did I want to do it? Why do I feel so rejected?

"Ginge?"

Katie looked up to see Andrea standing there with Rebecca, Eglé and Mukta. She smiled at the old nickname. "Hey." She smiled as the boys joined afterwards.

"You alright?" Rebecca asked, taking the seat that Hikaru had.

Katie shook her head. "I'm worried… for Kaoru…"

The group nodded.

"We can tell," Mukta said.

"He'll be fine," Eglé said. "He's a ginger, right? And gingers are tough."

The group laughed.

Katie smiled. "Yeah, I guess they are." She smiled sadly. "It's just… Hikaru…"

"He's just worried," Andrea said. "He's extremely terrified for his brother. He's never had to go through this before."

Katie nodded. "I know." She sniffled. "It's just… it's so scary…"

Rebecca pulled her best friend into a hug. "Don't worry, Katie. Kaoru will be fine, Hikaru will be fine, everyone is going to be perfectly fine."

Katie nodded as she leant into the hug. "I'm just really scared for Kao… I don't think he's ever been attacked before."

Eren frowned as he thought. "Am I the only person who recognized those boys who attacked Kaoru?"

Eglé frowned. "Yeah… that leader guy looked familiar…"

Mukta snapped her fingers. "It was Kevin!"

Katie frowned. "Who's Kevin?"

"The most idiotic, no good bastard we have ever met," Isaac growled. "I'm surprised he made it into college."

Andrea snorted. "I'm surprised he even got out of primary school. He's such a twat."

Eren's fists clenched. "I'm really in the mood to hurt that boy. And his twatty friends."

Joe nodded. "Those bastards are so evil…"

"They should die," Eglé suggested. "Slowly. And painfully."

"Like shotgunning them in the stomach," Will suggested. "I heard that's really painful."

"We could set them on fire," Andrea said. "Letting them suffer in agony."

"We can starve them," Joe said.

"Or just set them all on fire and shotgun the leader," Rebecca said, grinning.

Mukta grinned. "They would suffer for hours in fire…"

Katie just listened quietly to all of their ideas. Gods, my biffles can be really sinister sometimes…

"Human centipede," Eren said, causing everyone to gasp and stare at him in horror.

"Omg," Andrea muttered.

"That's just sick," Eglé said, shaking her head.

Eren grinned. "Yep."

Katie smirked. "We shall avenge Kaoru. All of us."

"We can beat the crap out of them," Will suggested.

"Or, we can make a human centipede out of them," Eglé said.

Katie paled. "That's just… sick… so sick…"

Rebecca nodded in agreement, also pale.

"Either way, we'll destroy them," Isaac said.

"Yeah."

"Death to the twats."

Kaoru took deep breaths to keep down the vomit that was threatening to surface. "Hika… I don't… feel good…"

Hikaru rubbed his brother's back soothingly, hoping to keep him calm. To see his brother going through this pain caused him pain as well. "It's okay, Kao."

Kaoru squeezed his eyes shut. The slurring had reduced significantly, but he still felt nauseous, and the headache was still persistent. His thoughts were still a little slow as well. He brought his hand up to his mouth as his face turned a pale green colour. "Hika… I think I'm going to be sick…"

Hikaru quickly grabbed the bucket from beside the bed and held it close to his brother's face. "Are you sure?"

Kaoru leaned over and threw up into the bucket, his body shaking slightly from the continuous retching. He felt beads of sweat running down his face and whimpered slightly. He hated feeling like this.

Hikaru reached over and grabbed a flannel before wiping his brother's face. He was glad the sedation had worn off, but Kaoru still felt ill… "You're gonna be fine, Kao. It's okay."

Kaoru looked up at his brother. "Hika… I just want to sleep…"

"The nurses said you couldn't sleep yet, Kao. Just a couple more hours to make sure the swelling goes down."

Kaoru pouted before leaning into the bucket and throwing up again. "Uhhh…" he groaned. He gripped his stomach in pain.

Hikaru just rubbed his brother's back. "It's alright, Kaoru."

"I've been sick… for two hours… not including the ambulance…"

Hikaru winced. The ambulance had been bad… "I know, Kao. I've been here almost the whole time." He grabbed the ice pack on the side table and put it carefully to his brother's forehead. "But the doctors say you'll be fine after a few days' rest."

"O…okay…" Kaoru moved away from the bucket and lay back on the bed, his eyes tightly closed. "I really want to sleep," he muttered as he snuggled into the crisp, clean hospital bed sheets.

Hikaru sighed. "You can't sleep, Kao. Not just yet." He sighed. "I can't even let you play any thinking games..."

Kaoru pouted. "I'm so bored that I want to sleep."

Hikaru sighed. "I'm sorry, Kao. About everything."

Kaoru frowned. "Why? What did you do?"

"It was my fault that you got hurt. If only I'd been there... I should've gone with you..."

Kaoru let out a light laugh. "That would've been awkward."

Hikaru frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If you'd gone to the toilet with me, people would've thought it as weird. We're both about five foot eleven now, both nearly seventeen. Going to the toilet together would just be considered strange."

Hikaru sighed. "That's a good point." He pouted. "But, I still feel guilty..."

There was a knock on the door, and not long afterwards Dr Blake walked in with Katie and the group. They smiled at Kaoru.

Kaoru smiled back at them. "Hey, guys."

Katie walked up to the bed. "Hey, Kao. How do you feel?"

"A little nauseous, and I have a headache, but I'll be alright." He took a deep breath and attempted to sit up properly.

Hikaru pushed him back down. "You might hurt your leg. Stop moving."

Kaoru pouted, but did as he was told. He sat boredly.

"So, you ready to go, Hikaru?" Katie asked. "We have to go out. We had a table reserved for us at King Du."

Hikaru pouted. "Do we have to leave?"

"Yeah. And we need to head back to the skating rink first."

"Why?" Hikaru asked, curious. "Didn't you bring all of our things?"

"We did, but we need to give a statement about the fight... or the attack." She looked at Kaoru. "The police said they'd come to visit you in hospital afterwards."

Kaoru nodded, but regretted it when he felt his headache get worse. He groaned slightly. "Ow…"

Hikaru's eyes widened. "Kao, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, just go…" He went slightly green. "Oh no…"

Hikaru sighed. "See? I told you not to move!" He grabbed the bucket again.

Kaoru leaned over and was sick into the bucket. "Uhhh…" He closed his eyes tightly as he felt another wave of nausea. "I hate being sick…"

Katie sighed. "I guess we're not leaving now, then."

"Why don't we ask them to come down here, then?" Andrea suggested. "I mean, going back to the rink is effort…"

"And we already have all of our stuff," Eren pointed out. "Plus, Hikaru can't leave Kaoru now."

Kaoru vomited into the bucket again, grabbing the sides of it to hold himself up. I'm feeling so weak… His hands slipped and he would've fallen into the bucket had Hikaru not caught him in time. "…Can… can I sleep yet?"

Dr Blake smiled. "Well, let's just check your vitals first. How long since you hit your head?"

Kaoru thought about it, wincing at the headache that came along with it. "I think it's been around three hours…"

Dr Blake nodded. "Let's give you another MRI scan to check on how your brain is doing before we consider letting you sleep."

"Okay." Kaoru watched as he was unhooked from all the different machines before being wheeled out of the room.

Hikaru smiled reassuringly at his brother. "I'll be here when you get back. Don't worry."

Kaoru smiled. "Okay. See you guys later!" He was wheeled out of the room by the young female doctor.

As soon as he left, Andrea pulled out her phone and made a call to the police officer that had originally decided to conduct the interviews. "Hello… hello, officer… yeah…" She walked away from the group as she continued to have the conversation.

Katie looked over at Hikaru. "Is he feeling worse?"

Hikaru nodded. "He just wants to sleep. He's so tired… the pain has really taken its toll on him."

"Ah."

Eren, Eglé, Mukta and Isaac all stood in one corner, talking as a small group, whilst Rebecca, Joe and Will started a conversation with Katie and Hikaru.

"What should we do?" Mukta asked. "That idiot needs to pay for what he did."

Eren thought about it. "Last I saw of him, some paramedics were cleaning up his nose. I think Hikaru smashed his fist into it."

Eglé smirked. "That's brilliant. So we don't need to break it, then."

"No, we just need to break every other bone," Isaac said.

Eren thought about it. "His stupid gang always hangs out at the town park…"

"Then we'll take Hikaru there tomorrow," Isaac said. "And we can all beat him up."

"But then the police could get involved…" Mukta said. "And that would mean Andrea and Rebecca won't join in."

"Let's just do it anyway. If they don't want to join in, they can stand off to the side."

The small group nodded. "Deal."

Hikaru sighed as he stood in the corridor, leaning outside the MRI scanning room as he waited for Kaoru and Dr Blake to come out. They'd been in there for a little while now, and he really wanted to speak to Kaoru before he fell asleep. Or at least before the officer got here.

About ten minutes later, the door opened and Kaoru was wheeled out into the corridor. Dr Blake smiled when she saw Hikaru standing there.

"Waiting for your brother, huh?"

Hikaru nodded. "Is he alright?"

"Swelling has gone down significantly over the past two hours, so we have allowed him to sleep." She motioned over to the redheaded twin, who had fallen asleep on the hospital bed.

Hikaru smiled at the sleeping twin. "He couldn't wait to get back to his room, could he?"

Dr Blake laughed. "No, he couldn't. We'll have to wake him up every couple of hours, though, just to give him a check up."

Hikaru nodded. "Okay. It's just that the officer will be arriving to talk to us all and get statements on what happened. He'll need to talk to Kaoru."

Dr Blake nodded. "Just wake him up, and tell one of the nurses to alert me." She started pushing the bed back into Kaoru's room.

Hikaru followed her, hands in his pocket. It was nice to finally have Kaoru resting, after everything he'd been through. He shoved his hands further into his pockets and walked into Kaoru's room behind the doctor and the bed. He frowned when he realized Andrea and Katie were gone. "Where are Andrea and Katie?"

"They went to collect our food," Rebecca explained. "We couldn't keep our reservations, so we decided to order take away instead."

"Ah." Hikaru sat on the last plastic chair left in the room and leaned back into it, sighing.

Eren looked over at the bed. "So Kaoru is finally asleep?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah…" He smiled. "He looked so exhausted. He needs to sleep."

Dr Blake hooked him up to all of the monitors. "Don't forget to alert me when you wake him up, Mr Hitachiin."

Hikaru nodded and watched as the doctor left the room. He ran a hand over his tired face. "Gosh, it's been a tiring day…"

Eren looked over at Eglé and Isaac, and they nodded. "Hikaru?"

Hikaru looked over at him. "Yeah, Eren?"

"Uh…" He looked over at Eglé and Isaac before turning back to Hikaru. "Do you want to go to the town park with us tomorrow?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, but shook his head. "No thank you. I think I'd had enough of outings for now…"

"Oh, come on!" Eglé urged him. "It'll be fun! We're just going to hang out, probably play some truth or dare."

Hikaru contemplated it. "But what about Kaoru…?"

"We can take photos for him," Isaac said. "Andrea almost always takes photos."

Hikaru thought for a little while longer. "Well…" He nodded. "Alright. I'll come with you."

"Yay!"

Katie and Andrea walked into the room, holding a few plastic bags filled with take away bowls and bottles of fizzy drinks. "We're back!"

Katie smiled when she saw Kaoru sleeping peacefully on the bed. "He was finally allowed to fall asleep?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah."

Andrea smiled. "So the swelling in his brain has gone down?"

"Significantly."

"Good." She opened up on of the bags and started handing out everyone's food.

Hikaru turned away his food. "Not very hungry."

Katie frowned. "Hika, you have to eat. You haven't eaten all day."

Hikaru shrugged. "I'm not in the mood."

"Eat. Now." Katie dropped his bowl of food on his lap. "And then you can rest."

Hikaru sighed before nodding. "Fine." He gave her a small smile. "Bon appétit."

Kaoru… Kaoru… Kaoru…! Hikaru gasped as he sat up in bed, coming out of a nightmare. He brought up a hand and wiped away tears that had formed in his eyes. He looked across the dark room over to Kaoru's bed… only to find it empty. He whimpered a little before remembering the Kaoru was still in hospital. He took deep breaths to calm himself down as he thought back over the nightmare.

Ever since Kaoru had told about what exactly had happened with the boys who had attacked him, Hikaru hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. The way that they cornered him, before pushing him harshly into the lockers and punching him repeatedly, and then letting him fall to the floor. And then kicking him in the chest repeatedly as the leader crushed his leg with his skates. This had led to the nightmare of watching his brother attacked himself, and then left to die as he was unconscious.

He rubbed a tired hand over his face. He was sweaty from the nightmare, which in turn was making him feel quite chilly. He got up and went into the bathroom, having a quick shower before returning to his bed. He looked over at the clock. 2 a.m. He turned over and closed his eyes, but he felt scared. He felt… alone. He'd never felt so alone in his life…

He wiped a stray tear from his face before sitting up and pushing back the covers, climbing out of bed and walking out of his and Kaoru's room. He headed down the corridor and knocked on one of the doors before walking in. "Katie…?"

The redheaded girl turned over in her bed to face the door. "…Huh…?" She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Hikaru…?" she asked in a sleepy voice. "What… what are you doing in here?"

Hikaru looked down to the floor, a bit nervous. "I… I felt lonely in my room… and I couldn't sleep…"

Katie frowned. "You can't sleep?"

Hikaru shook his head.

Katie sighed as she scooted over on the double bed. "You can come and sleep next to me, then."

Hikaru frowned slightly. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes. Now come and lie down before I change my mind."

Hikaru quickly walked over to the bed and climbed in beside Katie. "I... I had a nightmare too..." he admitted quietly, curling up on the bed.

Katie gave him a soft smile. "Well, how about you sleep here tonight? Then you won't have any nightmares."

Hikaru nodded and closed his eyes as he lay his head down on the spare pillow. "Katie?"

"Hmmm?" Katie looked over at him as she lay down.

"Thanks." He closed his eyes as he fell asleep.

Katie gave him a small smile as he drifted into a peaceful sleep and stroked his cheek softly with her thumb. "You're welcome, Hikaru. Good night."

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