For: JoyFullSong/ TheCresantMoonWolf on FF. net

Prompt: Gareki is Hirato's younger brother and he grew up on second ship with Hirato

Hirato looked at the small black haired boy looking at the flickering television. Tokitatsu looked at him and the smaller boy with concerned eyes.

"Did he… see anything?" Hirato asked gently, hoping not to disturb his little brother. Hoping not to let him hear anything that could rip open wounds.

Tokitatsu wore a tormented expression for a moment before his face slid back into his careful worn happy seeming poker face. "I am afraid so, but he hasn't talked…"

Hirato's eyes narrowed when he stepped closer to Gareki and sat down on the couch next to him. Tokitatsu watched them for a moment, but knowing Gareki wouldn't be left alone, he left to finish up the work he had neglected for far too long. Maybe Hirato had better chances to coerce gentle words from their little baby brother.

He did have a brat on his Ship after all…

Gareki didn't really say a word to him for a while. "Oni-chan…" Gareki mumbled when he met his eyes. Hirato just knew that his baby brother had seen the murder of his parents with his own eyes, otherwise they wouldn't be that haunted.

The first time Yogi met Gareki he was overjoyed to have such an adorable playmate. That Gareki protested on. He was not cute. But this denial only lead to Yogi pulling him into a tight hug.

Hirato smiled gently while he watched them, carrying Gareki's bag with the few possessions the small boy still had. "Don't antagonize Gareki to much, Yogi", he told the blond prince without memories, "He's going to live with us from now on."

This cleared Yogi's joy slightly up. "But… But Hirato-san!" He exclaimed, "We can't let Gareki get in danger!"

Hirato shook his head. "Gareki will live with us, not fight with us. As if I'd let my little brother even go near danger", he answered the prince's protest with agreement.

"I want to fight with you two too!" Gareki exclaimed, surprising Yogi who had worked on his report on the couch, next to him.

Yogi's eyes widened with shock and fear. "You don't want that! Don't you understand what that would mean?!" His stomach twisted in fear and terror.

Gareki stood up, not looking at Yogi when he answered. "Can't you understand me at all, Yogi?" he asked the older youth. "I'm living here, seeing the ones I've come to call my family being in life threatening situations on a daily basis, but I can't help at all. I'm just here being a burden for the two of you."

He didn't look up when he left the room and Yogi let him. Too used to this kind of behaviour by now to lose anything more than a gently, "Gareki…" over it. Gareki would calm down on his own after all. Besides, Hirato would never allow Gareki that, Yogi knew that, and he also knew, that Tokitatsu wouldn't allow anything that dangerous for Gareki as well.

Gareki was thirteen when he got lost at the worst place he could have gotten lost at. Karasuna.

There were tears in Yogi's eyes, threatening to be spilled. "It won't solve anything if you start crying now, Yogi." Hirato reprimanded him, strictly and Yogi swallowed. If he was already feeling that worried how worried must Hirato feel? Gareki was merely his best and only friend, but Hirato was related by blood to the raven haired teen.

"I know, Hirato-san…" Yogi mumbled, guilty. "I'm just worried about Gareki…"

Hirato nodded. "We both are. Which is why we will be finding him. Alright?"

Yogi nodded immediately. "I will do my best, Hirato-san!"

When Yogi had found Gareki, the younger one was fighting off a thug while protecting a small, young girl who hid behind him.

There was blood and Yogi prayed that it was Gareki's. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.

His eyes narrowed dangerously when he shot down from the sky, determined to protect Gareki and his new friend.

The thug would pray he had never even tried to raise a hand against Gareki.

Gareki took a deep breath. "Oni-chan, please", he begged his older brother with an urgency in his voice, Hirato didn't know, hadn't heard before.

"No", he answered him with narrowed eyes. "You can muster any pretty nice words you know and my answer will not change. I will not let you visit Kuronomei. I will not let you chose the decision that was forced on me, I will not let you let go of the past you have."

The younger one took a deep breath. "It doesn't have to be Kuronomei", he told his brother with a calm voice. "Any school with teachers is fine. Any. I just want to learn in a school."

Hirato seemed surprised by that answer and he didn't let his surprise show very often. In any other situation Gareki would call it an accomplishment, but not now. "Any other school?" Hirato asked him slightly confused. "Didn't you always want to become a fighter like Yogi and I?"

Gareki shook his head. "I changed my mind. I want to visit a normal school like everybody else, I want to be able to get the same certifications."

For a moment there was no answer. "I don't see why", Hirato then mentioned absentminded. "There is nothing wrong with the education you receive right now, it's way beyond the ones of your contemporaries."

An almost shaky breath was drawn by Gareki. "I wanted to become a fighter to help the two of you, to be of use, but I learned that I could help more if I chose to be a doctor. I don't need to go to Kuronomei to become a doctor and maybe I won't ever be on the field with the two of you and if I'd ever be I'd be in a safe distance. But I would still be able to help. So please, let me visit any school of your liking as long as it's a school. Please let me be able to get the certificates I need to be able to become a doctor."

Hirato nodded. "I shall talk about your wish with Tokitatsu, but I believe you can expect a quick department." With that Hirato turned his back to him.

Gareki put the yellow soft toy Yogi had given him when he left next to his pillow and for a bit longer than needed his hand rested on the toy.

He would learn as much as he could as quickly as possible without looking at the others. This was his life and he would do his best to reach his goals.

He swore that to himself.

He would be able to return home soon enough.

He was mere fifteen when he was able to return to the Research Tower, his studies all finished, the only thing missing was the practical training and he was sure he would be able to do well in this too. Akari looked at him, eyebrows slightly pulled together, seemingly assessing him. "If you're anything like your older brother, you can leave right now."

Gareki raised his eyebrows. "I'm here to learn not to aide you nor Oni-chan in your petty dispute." He answered, well aware that Tokitatsu must have helped him in, that it probably had nothing to do with his skills or his grades, but he wouldn't let this chance for naught even with this outside help.

Akari shrugged slightly. "Bring your bag in your room then, I expect you in my office in fifteen minutes. You've been assigned room 5.20." Then Akari left him alone, standing in the entrance room like an idiot.

Gareki sneered slightly before making his way upstairs, when he remembered right the 5th floor was the one Tokitatsu had a room for the bit of time he actually stayed in the Research Tower.

Gareki was somewhat disappointed.

And worried.

He had been here for a grand total of two months already and he had never once met Hirato nor Yogi.

Tokitatsu had just rarely been in the Research Tower as well and when he was, Gareki hadn't really known how to strike the subject.

He sat down on the soft armchair in the library with the newest medical journal and tried to keep himself occupied, but he couldn't help to remember how two years ago the Second Ship had been regularly at the Research Tower either for Yogi's medical check-ups or for Gareki's psychological appointments and tests. Normally they had at least been there every two weeks.

Gareki bit on his bottom lip, it wouldn't be of any use to worry.

Not even a week later when Gareki headed down to the library again, Akari stopped him.

"Are you busy, Gareki?" he asked him seriously.

Gareki shrugged. "Right now? No."

Akari nodded and pushed a file in his hands. "Your patient is in room 2.25. If you don't hurry, you will probably have to look for him. I expect excellent work. Go." And just like that Akari let him alone and headed for another patient or a research, Gareki wasn't sure.

He sighed and turned around before heading up.

In front of the door he straightened his collar and took a deep calming breath. He would do his best, especially because he was left to his own devices, he would make Akari believe he was good at this. He promised that to himself.

And then he opened the door and stepped in. The door fell shut on its own. "Y—Yogi?" he exclaimed surprised.

Yogi's gaze snapped up and met Gareki's, then he jumped up on his feet and was almost immediately in front of Gareki to pull him into a tight hug. "Gareki! How have you been?"

A small smile appeared on Gareki's lips when he gently hugged back for a short moment. "I've been well, even though I was busy. But I'm back at the Research Tower now. How are you?" he asked carefully pushing Yogi a bit away and sitting down at the desk. He opened the file and flipping through it while Yogi started talking about the newest additions to the Second Ship, Iva and Tsukumo, who seemed to have brought fresh air into the Second Ship. Then Yogi told him about their last mission, putting special emphasis on the length and the boredom he had felt in it.

Gareki nodded and made agreeing sounds whenever it was appropriate and looked though the file. It seemed like Yogi was just here for a normal check-up. He stood up and went to the shelf to pull out everything he needed.

Then he went over to the hospital bed, pulled out the stool and sat down in front of Yogi. Suddenly all colour disappeared from Yogi's face. Gareki's eyebrow rose slightly. "Right, you never liked your appointments", he stated the obvious, but then bumped his fist lightly against Yogi's shoulder. "Don't worry, Yogi, I won't hurt you if you relax for me."

Yogi nodded. "I won't be afraid of Gareki. You're my best friend after all."

Gareki smiled and made sure to keep Yogi distracted whenever a needle sunk into his flesh so he didn't feel the pain.

"Pack your things. Your apprenticeship is over", Akari told him when he saw him again. Slowly there was angst settling into Gareki's bones. "Report to my office in 30 minutes sharp." And then, just like that, Akari went away, leaving Gareki to his own devices.

Gareki bit on his lip. What had he done wrong? He had spent his evening with Yogi and Tsukumo, playing around like normal teenagers, talking about things that maybe weren't that typical, but… He wasn't aware he had made a mistake.

His hand wandered to his pocket and he pulled out his mobile. He had a grand total of no missed calls and not a single message which itself was odd. Normally at least Tokitatsu made sure to inquire how he was.

His steps were heavy when he made his way up to the fifth floor.

Gareki sat in front of his bed, leaning against it, starring at his half-packed bag. His breath was swallow and he was cold, his stomach twisting with every breath. He looked at his mobile's flickering screen for a long time before he dialled a number.

"I messed up", he said, his eyes felt wetter than normal.

"Gareki?" Yogi answered him confused. "What did you do?" And for a moment there was just breathing.

He wiped over his eyes even though there weren't any tears. "I don't know. I just messed up. I won't be able to come back home…"

"Gareki… Don't destroy the strong picture I have of you, keep calm. I'll see what I can do!" Yogi exclaimed and terminated the call.

Somehow Gareki appreciated Yogi's try, but somehow he didn't want him to. He had messed up. He had failed. Not Yogi.

He pressed his face into his legs when he pulled them close.

When Gareki could have heard the door open, he already wasn't in his main room anymore, but instead in the small bathroom that belong to his room. And so he didn't even realize someone had stepped in.

He did realize though that his body wouldn't stop shaking. The knowledge of being a failure, weighting heavily on his mind as his body gave in to the pressure of the stress.

Careful steps could be heard walking though the small room, Gareki had called his, but Gareki didn't hear him, his ears were buzzing. Then the bathroom door was opened. "Gareki…" Hirato mumbled gently and kneeled down on the clean, cold floor next to his younger brother.

"…Oni-chan?" Gareki asked, breath still heavy.

Hirato put his hand on Gareki's back and carefully stroked up and down. "Yes, it's me. Why didn't you tell anybody you were sick, little one?" His voice was gentle as if he was talking to a small child.

Gareki's gaze dropped to the ground again. "I just wanna go home…" he mumbled, "But I can't. I'm a failure. I… I failed…"

It hurt Hirato to see Gareki like this, he had been aware that there had always been guilt lingering in Gareki's eyes whenever there was something that reminded him of their parents, but he had thought Gareki had been over it. "Shh… It's not your fault. Nothing is your fault. Everything will be alright…." With that said, he lifted Gareki up and brought him to his neatly made bed to put him down on it. His gloved hand caressed the silken raven hair slightly when he materialized his mobile with his other hand. The soft tone of the dialling didn't reach Gareki's ears, but Hirato's voice did. "Akari? Listen, please. Something is wrong with Gareki, could you come to his room and check him?"

Gareki's hand pulled slightly on Hirato's sleeve when he requested so softly that it was barely heard by Hirato, "Not 'kari…"

But Hirato wouldn't have that. "I don't think it's a good idea to move him too much to be ho—" Slowly Gareki lost track of Hirato's voice as if there was a blanket pulled over his ears.

"—othing wrong with him", Gareki heard a familiar voice speak. Akari. And there was it again the churning and twisting feeling in his stomach.

The edgy response came from Hirato, "Don't you have eyes? He passed out and is in pain and you tell me there is nothing wrong with Gareki?!"

"Hirato!" Tokitatsu reprimanded him sharply. "Akari will have a very good reason for his condition."

It was odd to see… or hear his older brothers so out of character for once.

Akari sighed gently. "It's my fault. I wasn't aware I put too much pressure on him."

"…Come again? Is that why Gareki called himself a 'failure' and asked me not to get you?" Hirato asked, voice low again, but on almost dangerous levels.

"It—"

"Oni-chan…", Gareki called gently out for Hirato, reaching his hand out for the black cloak.

Immediately Hirato turned around and took Gareki's hand in his. "How are you?"

And for a moment Gareki didn't know how to respond. "Fine", he then answered shortly and regretted it immediately when he heard a displeased sound from Akari. Without wanting to, he flinched.

Hirato's eyes narrowed. "What happened, Gareki?" he asked concerned.

"I failed…" he mumbled, not looking at his older sibling.

This wasn't enough for Hirato nor for the other adults in the room. "What did you fail at?" he asked him.

"I won't be able to return home anymore." There was a resolution in his voice that Hirato found odd.

But it wasn't him but Tokitatsu who questioned his answer. "Where are you talking about when you talk about home?" Hirato threw him a slightly irritated look.

Though he was greatly surprised by Gareki's answer. "Second Ship of course…"

It was then when Tokitatsu's gaze snapped to Akari. "Now you've got to explain something to me. Why does Gareki believe he won't be able to return to the Second Ship?"

"Because I failed Sensei…" Gareki mumbled.

Akari seemed pensive and sat down on the end of the bed. "How exactly did you fail me, Gareki?" he asked, "You're a fast learner, independent and knowledgeable. I never had to tell or show you something twice. If I requested you to, you gave up your breaks for work; you had an internal drive to learn. So I will ask again: How did you fail me? What did you do?"

"I don't know!" Gareki exclaimed clearly upset. "I just spend a nice afternoon with Yogi and Tsukumo-san and then you tell me my apprenticeship is over and I should pack my bags. And I don't even know why. I just know that if you throw me out I will be throw out of Circus and that means that I won't be able to complete my training here and because of that even if I would be able to get back after a finished training elsewhere I still wouldn't be able to return to the Second Ship and I just want to go home."

"And then you panicked. You fear to lose your home more like you fear for your life", Akari thought out aloud, "Which lead to your body not being able to cope with the emotional distress and thus you turned ill." He shook his head. "I forgot I talked to a teenager in his angsty years who already felt powerless and suffered a loss that lead to psychological counselling, I apologize for that." Akari didn't offer any unnecessary explanations. "I meant to tell you: Congratulations, your apprenticeship is over. Please report to my office to receive information about your new duties and assignment."

Gareki's eyes widened. "I can stay in Circus?" His stomach suddenly stopped twisting as hope spread in his body. It felt as if the problems that weighted down his mind just disappeared.

Tokitatsu seemed amused. "It's more than that." Gareki's gaze wandered to him. "It's actually Akari's duty to tell you, but you'll be assigned to the Second Ship. We were planning on giving you a toughly education of everything Circus knew of Yogi's condition beforehand, so that you would become the main researcher on his condition because you are one of the only doctors he trusts."

Akari looked at him pointedly, "I for my part still want to assign Gareki to the Second Ship. He might have panicked which frankly isn't good for a medic who works close to the field, but Gareki never panics in emergencies. He is merely a bit exhausted after them. I also believe that this panic attack had something to do with the fact that it had to do something with losing his home once more."

"Thank you, Sensei, Nii-san," Gareki told them honest.

This was the time Akari shook his head. "It's not 'Sensei' anymore, it's 'Sempai', Gareki."

Gareki's cheeks were slightly tainted from an odd mixture of embarrassment and proudness at the same time when he nodded.

Yogi had been overjoyed when Gareki arrived at the Second Ship and actually jumped at him to greet him.

"You're heavy", Gareki complained, "And I'm hungry."

Yogi laughed a bit embarrassed. "But you're back. Welcome home, Gareki! With you on Ship the cuteness level rose a lot!"

And that was it. Gareki kicked him as hard as he could. "Watch who you call cute! Won't you ever grow up?"

The prince without his memories shook his head. "Nah, growing up isn't something for me."

Hirato had watched their actions amused when he decided to pull Yogi off Gareki. "Be nice to each other, you'll be working together from now on too."

"Wha—No, Hirato-san! Gareki is—he isn't—!"

Hirato smiled amused. "He's from tomorrow onwards the doctor assigned to the Second Ship and with that takes over your check-ups. Don't worry, we won't let him get close to the field."

There was clear joy showing on Yogi's features. "Yes!" he exclaimed happily.

At the breakfast table, Gareki watched them with a happy sparkle in his eyes. He didn't know when he felt so at peace with himself the last time.

This was a life he'd try to keep with all his power.

A.N. I don't think Gareki would develop quite the same if he'd have a home he could depend on. Also I believe one could see in the manga that Gareki didn't want charity, even when it came from a place he called his home. He wants to deserve it. I worked with this idea and played a bit.

I was actually happy with the version I wrote before, but my laptop deleted it, so have the shorter version in which I tried to reconstruct it, but some parts aren't that good anymore. It's horrible OoC in some places, I apologize for that. The new version is also completely without a spell check, so it would be nice if anybody would read over it, I don't want the requester wait any longer and I actually have no time to read it over until Thursday…

Sincerely, Mal