Tsuna Is Eight
"Tsuna! Please wake up!" yelled Hiro's, a white hand that connects to an equally unhealthy-looking body.
While Hiro had focused all his attention on Tsuna, he didn't' notice the conversation between the doctor and Nana on the other side of the room.
"I'm sorry Sawada-san, but we don't know what is wrong with your son," explained one anxious doctor; parents were unpredictable when their child was brought into the emergency room.
"Do you know if he will wake up?" she asked in an uninterested voice that left the doctor stunned. Her reaction was as far as could be from his expectations. Her face was so blank and uncaring you would think she was asking something from an everyday conversation.
"No, we don't. At the moment, we are trying to find out what made him go into a coma. It's difficult to figure out how to help him or get an estimate of when he would wake up as we have nothing to go on for why he is like this. It could be a bug, head trauma, or something else entirely," replied the doctor.
"Mm, whatever," she said while walking out of the hospital room, leaving her sons without a backwards glance. The doctor was in shock from what he witnessed and was about to go let the crying boy know that his Mama left but decided against it when he saw that the boy wouldn't care. Instead he left the boy in peace, before walking to the front desk to see if he could get ahold of the boy's father.
And the doctor would be correct; Hiro was so lost in regrets and memories of that morning he wouldn't have heard anything said to him.
()()()
"Tuna, I won't be picking you up from school today because I'm going to do some extra training with Takeshi after school," said Hiro as he finished eating breakfast.
"It's fine Aniki, I can walk home by myself," said Tsuna happily, making Hiro a little less worried about letting his brother walk on his own. He had never walked home on his own before but he really wanted to practice with Takeshi for the upcoming baseball finales.
He didn't know that in Tsuna's old world, in elementary he had to rely on his Mama to remember to pick him up and sometimes she forgot to come at all, and he would have to walk home alone. He really did love her but her air-headedness could be a little annoying.
"Are you sure? Mama hasn't been coming home till really late and she left early again today," replied Hiro worried about Tsuna being home alone and walking home on his own; I mean what if he got lost, bullied by some of the older students, or even got kidnapped! His Ototo was too kind sometimes for his own good.
"I'm sure Aniki, you worry too much," replied Tsuna playfully.
"Okay," agreed Hiro as he started walking Tsuna's to his school to drop him off and ran to his own school so that he wouldn't be late for his fight with Kyoya. He didn't want to get hurt on top of doing extra training.
(::)(::)(::)
"Tuna, I'm home!" yelled Hiro as he took off his shoes.
Getting no reply, Hiro started to worry a little about Tsuna; he should have answered back if he was home. Before panicking too much he started looking for Tsuna, hoping that he was just lost in his own little world and didn't hear him, like he sometimes got. So, he went to the places he would normally; first the kitchen, and after seeing he wasn't there, went to the living room.
When he did find Tsuna he wished that he wrong because on the living room floor, with a little blood trail from his mouth, was Tsuna, his Ototo, his little brother.
"Tsuna!" Hiro yelled as he ran to him. Only saying the shorter version of his brother's name, in his distress.
"Tsuna! Tsuna! Tsuna wake up!" screamed Hiro at his Ototo who wasn't waking up no matter how much he shook him.
Tsuna was light sleeper, a testament that Hiro can attest to because of the few times he woke up before him and when he went to wake his brother he would always shoot out of bed just opening his door as if he was running from the devil. So, him not responding to him yelling and shaking him was very unnerving.
After a moment of getting his thoughts together, Hiro called the ambulance, before calling his Mama, using the cell phone his Papa gave him for his first year of middle school. After three rings, he finally heard her voice, but for some reason it didn't sound like her either; her voice was more deep and scratchy it seemed, like she was sick or something, but that was a passing thought before he heard her on the other line say, "What do you want Hiro?"
"Mama, Tsuna isn't waking up and he has a trail of blood coming from his mouth, I called for an ambulance and they said they are on the way," Hiro asked in panic.
"I know Tsuna won't wake up. He wouldn't wake up for me when I shook him, when I came an hour ago to get a change of clothes since I'm staying at a friend's tonight," she explained as if Hiro was a slow child.
"Mama, what is wrong with yo-" yelled Hiro, not believing that his Mama would leave Tsuna on the floor for at least an hour unconscious, but was interrupted by Nana.
"Fine, I'll meet you at the hospital soon," Nana said as she hung up.
Hiro still trying to get over his Mama attitude and actions, called for an ambulance. As he waited for them to come he called his Papa, who took a few rings to answer which is the fastest he had ever answered his phone; usually you had to call once or twice before he answered or leave a message for him to call you back later.
"Hey Hir-" Iemitsu said but Hiro interrupted before he could start on his tangent about how handsome he is and cute Tuna's is; now was not the time for that.
"Papa can you come home?" asked Hiro in a pleading voice, something unusual for him and words that were usually said by Tsuna or (less recently) Mama.
"Hiro, we've been over this; I can't just leave work without a good reason or if I ask in advance. The only exception to that was a few times Tuna asked me. I couldn't resist little Tuna you understand," answered Iemitsu in a happy voice.
"Papa, Tsuna isn't waking up and he has a blood trail from his mouth," said Hiro hastily as he was starting to hear sirens in the distance and he wanted his Papa to know the situation before he went to the hospital.
There was a pause from the other side of the phone but then Iemitsu said in a serious voice, "I'll be there tomorrow morning," and hung up before Hiro could say anything else.
After his Papa hung up it was only a minute before the paramedics were in the house and wheeling Tsuna on a stretcher to an ambulance with Hiro being ushered into the back with him.
()()()
"Come on Tuna, you have to wake up. It's not normal seeing you like this," whispered Hiro as he stayed with Tsuna for the rest of the day just talking. Eventually, he ended up falling asleep in the chair next to Tsuna's bed. Never, not even in his sleep, did he let go of Tsuna's hand.
(::)(::)(::)
Iemitsu was having a good day, by mafia standards; no enemy famiglia plotting to attack, no one died, no fights, he finished his paperwork that got tired of reproducing, gloated to all his subordinates about his lovely wife, popular, athletic son Hiro, and sweet, cute Tuna.
He got to annoy Lal when she came to him to say that she felt different. She talked with Colonello, who also said he felt different, but in a good way. However, after a while she got annoyed with him and left halfway through what she was saying. She gave him a slap before leaving, which wasn't that bad, but he was able to get rid of her. Yup, he was having a good day. It was going to turn into an even greater day when his Hiro called him.
"Hey Hiro-" he began to say.
"Papa can you come home?" begged Hiro in a pleading voice.
'Ah, my little Hiro misses me, he just acts like a big boy but he's still my little Hiro,' thought Iemitsu before saying in a happy voice, "Hiro, we've been over this; I can't just leave work without a good reason or if I ask in advance. The only exception to that was a few times Tuna asked me. I couldn't resist little Tuna you understand."
"Papa, Tsuna isn't waking up and he has a blood trail from his mouth," said Hiro and he could now hear sirens in the background; it didn't take a genius to guess that his little boy called for an ambulance, but he didn't hear his wife in the background. So, where was she? Those were his immediate thoughts.
Not even thinking about what he was doing Iemitsu said in a serious voice that matched his face, "I'll be there tomorrow morning," and hung up before Hiro could say anything else. And just like that the good day just became bad and the goofy smile on his face fell to be replaced with a rarely seen serious face.
Getting out of his office chair he had been leaning back in, he got up and started walking to the CEDEF private jet while calling Nono.
On the first ring Nono answered and asked, "What's wrong Iemitsu?" knowing that for the CEDEF to be calling, it was an emergency.
"I'm going to Japan to see my family, Tsuna is going to the hospital," said Iemitsu as he thought back to the sirens he heard, "I'll have Lal take care of everything while I'm gone," he continued.
"Alright, thank you for letting me know," answered Nono in a grandfatherly voice, not saying anything else because he knew how much Tsuna meant to Iemitsu.
"I'll keep you posted," said Iemitsu as he hung up as he had arrived at the jet.
What Iemitsu didn't know was that his little Tuna, would be going to the hospital a lot the next coming years, and there was nothing he could do to help him.
(::)(::)(::)
When Iemitsu got to the hospital at seven in the morning he expected to see his lovely wife and Hiro sleeping next to a bed that would hold his youngest only looking a little ill. It was now that he realized that that was wishful thinking.
On a hospital bed was his Tuna that looked as pale as a ghost and looked so small covered in white sheets, with an oxygen mask on his face, and his hair laying limp on the pillow. There were two machines hooked up to his right arm while his left hand covered by his oldest son's. And yet, no Nana, his lovely, sweet, caring wife was to be seen.
Not wanting to disturb Hiro, since he had bags under his eyes and looked like he had only fell asleep a couple of hours ago, Iemitsu took a seat in the chair on the other side of Tsuna. He took his large hand and cupped his face, and against his tan healthy skin, Tsuna looked even worse.
He stayed like that for days it seemed, but was most likely only an hour before his oldest woke up. There was no grand reunion, only the silent comfort of each other, and through small looks they pass each other. They never strayed from the bedside of their world, the one who kept them grounded.
Through the week and a half that Tsuna was in a coma, Kyoya came and visited every day after he did his patrol. Takeshi came everyday with his father coming almost as often. Takeshi had taken it upon himself to get Hiro out of the hospital after each visit, whether it be played catch in the garden or taking a walk. During this time Yamamoto-san talked with Iemitsu and brought sushi for the father and son to eat since neither had eaten much when food wasn't forcefully put down their throats. Something both the Yamamoto's thought was a bad idea, because Tsuna would give them an ear full of not eating right, and a lecturing Tsuna is a scary Tsuna.
But when Tsuna woke up at around noon, after almost two weeks they couldn't help but hug him and not let go for hours.
They thought 'Tuna can finally get better now,' but they didn't know that Tsuna wouldn't be healthy for many years to come and his unnatural white skin would remain that way for a very long time.
