Okay, so, do me a favor; please play the sound track to the movie Wolf Children by Masakatsu Takagi in another window. I listened to this lovely, lovely, lovely track while I was writing and the experience was breath taking. ;_;

(Also please watch that adorable movie!)

-Chapter 11-

- 一瞬 -

- Isshun -

[11:30 AM]

[Hiro]

Scritch.

Swich-itch.

Scratch.

Hiro crinkled his nose at the soft sounds that filled the room around him, turning his head against the pillows and swallowing. He realized the upper part of the mattress was elevated when he twisted his shoulders slightly back.

Fwip.

A gust of air signaled a sigh. The shift of clothing and the creak of a chair beside him determined the presences of two separate people.

Tic,tic,tic,tic.

Was it raining? Something was pattering against the window.

Someone sniffed and suddenly something warm wrapped around his wrist in a motion that was so absentminded he almost felt like a cat. Hiro let himself indulge in the gentle massage for a few drowsy moments as larger fingers working little circles against the skin. He found that he wouldn't mind at all if he drifted off again.

A clicking sound brought him back, however, and he listened to the soft footsteps of an approaching nurse.

"Hello," she whispered sweetly and Hiro immediately recognized Susan's voice. Apparently mother to three little boys, the early-thirty-year-old woman knew just what do to. In his short periods of consciousness he'd grown to appreciate her soft tone, witty remarks, and teasing smirk. She didn't treat him like he was broken, seeming to know that doing so would only make him more uncomfortable. She was kind and experienced in her field- absolutely right where she needed to be. "How's our sleepy genius holding up?"

As though on cue, a soft cough shuddered through Hiro's frame and he scrunched up his face with distaste. The fingers against his wrist gently petted his flesh in commiseration.

"He's sounding a little better," he heard Tadashi report from beside him, leading the young Hamada to the realization that it was his brother's reassuring touch on his wrist, "and his fever has gone down."

The shuffle of feet stopped at the end of the bed and there was a click as the clipboard was taken from its hook.

"Yes," the nurse cried in hushed victory, "that is what we want to see!" There was the sound of flipping paper followed by a few hushed remarks he couldn't quite make out. "His blood pressure is beginning to get better, fever is steadily dropping, coughing up less phlegm- is it still bloody when it comes out?"

"Sometimes, but much less than before," Aunt Cass announced.

"Very good," the brunette said and scribbled something down, "How's his breathing? Are we still getting those kitten wheezes?"

"Almost not at all," Hiro could've touched the delight in Tadashi's voice it was so thick.

"Awesome-sauce~" she crooned, sounding just as happy about his improvement as his family, "it doesn't look like he needs any additional help from me, then. As always, feel free to call for any of us if you need anything."

"Thank you very much!" Aunt Cass whispered as her footsteps receded.

"Oh, not at all- it's my pleasure…." The voices trailed out from Hiro's groggy hearing. For a few moments he was aware only of the burn he got when people stared at his face too long and the strokes of Tadashi's fingers across his wrist.

Then he was once again swallowed up by blackness.

[12:04 PM]

[Hiro]

Oh, he thought somewhat dizzily, here we go with this again. The warmth of Tadashi's hand around his wrist remained but his elder had ceased his ministrations since, seemingly focused on something else. Every now and then his thumb would twitch and Hiro would listen to the soothing sound of pages turning before silence dominated again. Taking a little too deep of a breath he coughed quietly, automatically swallowing the mucus that rose into his throat.

Tap, taptap..taptaptaptap- click.

The sound of pen on paper from another part of the room signaled what he thought was probably Aunt Cass going over last week's earnings. The howling of the wind outside then caught his attention and he furrowed his brow with confusion.

The blizzard was supposed to break on Sunday. He remembered it was Friday when he'd last woken up at home- at least that's what he thought. He must have been brought in on Saturday so that meant he'd been in the hospital for two days?

That conclusion didn't feel right, somehow. His bones ached like he'd been lying in bed for much longer than that…

There was the sound of a chair screeching across the floor suddenly.

"Mmmm!" Aunt Cass gasped, the pop of bone following her vocalization, "Alright, I'm going to hop down to the cafeteria and fetch us all something to eat. Tadashi, will you watch for the caterer for Hiro? They should bring something in for him at the same time they did yesterday."

His big brother's much larger hand squeezed his wrist, "yeah, sure."

"Do you want a salad or a chicken sandwich?" she asked, shuffling about in search of something. "Oh, and I need to call Joseph and check up on Mochi, too," she muttered to herself.

The disgust in Tadashi's voice made Hiro's lips perk just a tiny bit, "Let's go with the salad. I'm not sure what you gave me last time but there was definitely no chicken involved."

A soft chuff of amusement rolled out of their aunt and she clopped towards the door, "Alright, I'll be back in a bit."

"Thanks!"

Then the door shut and the two brothers were left in the relative silence of Hiro's hospital room. Braving a deep breath, his nose twitched, by now accustomed to the presence of the nasal cannula wrapped around his face. On the exhale a small, burning pain struck through his chest and he grimaced suddenly, bringing a hand up to the sore area. By the responding ache in his bicep he determined that it was his right.

"Hiro?"

He wasn't even 50% awake when a yawn broke his sleepy exterior, stretching his throat and sending odd little tingles from his tongue to the end of his esophagus. A large hand landed on his shoulder and a chair screeched across the floor. Recovering from the abrupt ache in his chest and trying to shake off his exhaustion, Hiro rubbed a hand over his right eye.

"Tadashi?" he muttered huskily.

"Yeah, I'm right here, buddy," the hand on his shoulder gave a gentle squeeze, "how do you feel?"

"Mm," he coughed, chest jerking with the movement, and yawned again, "less like warm death," he replied thoughtlessly. His vision was a little blurry at first and, confused by the strange burn in his eyes he squinted at his big brother- who appeared as a colorful blob in front of his face.

Hiro was pleased to hear a light chuckle bubble out of Tadashi, watching as he shrugged one shoulder. He blinked with surprise as the older gently began wiping his sibling's eyes with his sleeve and inclined his head back with his lips pursed into something that was definitely not a pout.

"You're still stuck in your infamous loading mode, aren't you?" Tadashi commented, moving the soft cashmere fabric across Hiro's heavy lashes. From childhood he'd been known as the family sloth not because he slept more than anyone else but because of the amount of time it took him to wake up. When Hiro was younger he could get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, drink some milk, and then go back to bed with absolutely no foreseeable thought or awareness to what he was doing. They knew he wasn't sleep walking because he responded to conversation, however drowsily. With age this had lessened considerably- now it only happened if he pulled a few too many all-nighters. It occured when he got sick as well but since that was such a rare thing they didn't include it in their statistics.

He hummed and nodded as his brother moved to cleaning his other eye, sitting somewhat awkwardly on the mattress to do so. Another yawn broke free and Hiro scrunched up his nose when the nasal prongs jabbed against more sensitive regions.

Tadashi abruptly pulled his hand away and pointed firmly at him, "don't you dare!"

Sniffling and desperately fighting against a sneeze Hiro slapped both hands over his nose. He ended up losing his battle and jerked off the bed momentarily with the force of the ejective motion.

"Why do I even still need this?" he asked gruffly once he'd recovered, going cross-eyed as he attempted to glare at the intrusion.

"Because you're still not breathing properly," Tadashi informed him deadpan, examining his brother carefully.

"That is totally subjective-" Hiro began to protest, steadily waking up.

"-Yeah, no it's not, Bonehead." He scowled darkly at his elder, crossing his arms and wincing when the back of his IV poked against his bruised bicep. Tadashi just smiled and stood up, returning to his chair at his brother's bedside and picking up a book about medical programming.

Curious, the younger Hamada peered over at it, "You giving Baymax some upgrades?"

"Oh yeah," his brother nodded as he stuffed his bookmark into place, "he's getting some new tech all right." Setting the book on the table he navigated around the bed and headed to the bathroom with his little brother frowning after him.

"Are you finally going to give him those capacitors I told you about?" he called as Tadashi strolled in and fiddled around a little bit before turning on the tap.

"Sure!" His voice echoed around the tiled, peach-colored room.

"Heeehhh?" Hiro hummed, disbelievingly, clenching his jaw against another yawn and scrubbing his palm against his eye. He ended up yawing anyway.

Tadashi was smiling when he came back with a plastic cup of water and Hiro's vision had cleared again. He held it out for the younger to take but stopped when no movement was made towards it.

"Giiiiiii," his little brother said, squinting suspiciously at him.

"Oh come on, we both know I should have done that ages ago," Tadashi sighed, "now drink this before I force it down your throat."

Begrudgingly Hiro took the offered cup, if only because he was actually thirsty, "Right. And I remember you saying that Baymax was your robotics project and that you're not allowed to accept any outside help." He took a long draught from the cup while his big brother lifted a bag from off the couch at the end of the bed.

"Yeah, well," he muttered, searching through his stuff until he was pulling out a 'history of robotics engineering' textbook lined with dog-eared pages, bits of paper sticking out in all directions, and various sticky notes, "Baymax can't really help anyone if his battery takes days to recharge." Grabbing a pen he returned to his seat, glancing at his brother to make sure he finished drinking. Hiro chose not to provide a response, instead stewing in his own thoughts. He wanted to ask his brother if these changes were influenced by his own bout of sickness but wasn't really sure how he should phrase himself. Ultimately he decided it didn't really matter and crumpled the cup in his hand. He was disturbed by the brief burn of protest that ran up his arm and the weakness that followed it.

There'd be a lot of physical therapy in the dojo after this. Though he knew it would be brutal, Hiro found he missed the feel of the tatami mats beneath his feet and accepted the inevitable journey back to being healthy again.

Using his arms he pushed himself into a more vertical position and peered over the side of the bed to see what his brother was working on. It seemed that Tadashi was expecting him to pass out again because a good chunk of his focus had landed on his notes. For several moments Hiro satisfied himself simply by watching his big brother work, trying unsuccessfully to quit his restless squirming.

"You're wrong," he suddenly blurted, eyeing the answer his brother had begun scribbling in.

Surprised to see Hiro still active, Tadashi looked up and met his eyes. Then he tilted his head and furrowed his brow just the slightest bit, pressing his lips together, "how do you mean?"

"The bypass air moves through the fan blades, which moves this-" he pointed to the center of the jet engine fan drawn across the pages, "which then moves the fan shaft at the center. The bypass air keeps going through the engine, moving through the compressors and into the combustor- right around here-" at that he pointed to another part of the diagram and his brother leaned around his arm to get a good look at what he was jabbing his finger at, "then it weaves through the compressor turbines and comes out the exhaust as heated air. But there's still bypass air that comes out around the exhaust. Between the engine cowling and the interior there is space for the excess bypass to move through.

After a moment, Tadashi smacked a hand against his head, "Of course! There are bypass ducts for that to make it more aerodynamic."

"That's a pretty rudimentary mistake for you, Tadashi," Hiro commented, eyeing his brother, "you sure you're not getting what I've got?"

But the elder just smiled and shook his head, "I'm fine, I'm just not very focused." Seeming to know there was more to it than that but unwilling to press the matter, Hiro nodded, never taking his eyes away from his sibling's face. "Anyway, you should go back to sleep, you need all the rest you can get."

Crinkling his nose a little and leaning back in the sheets, he refuted, "I don't need it."

"Uhuh," his brother replied, unconvinced, "sure. Is that why you keep blinking?"

Finally noticing the action Hiro grumbled and rubbed at his eyes, fighting off another yawn, "geeze."

Smiling Tadashi returned to his notes, "go back to sleep, Bonehead. I'm not going anywhere."

Puffing out his cheeks Hiro leaned back into his assortment of pillows, crossing his arms and looking away from his big brother. There was an aching need in his bones, a desperate tingling in his muscles that begged to feel movement and kept him awake even as his eyes grew heavy. He'd deny it vehemently but he was tired again- at least, in that familiar, caffeinated way. His body ached to move, his heartrate picked up, but he didn't feel any more awake than he had before. Actually, he was starting to run down after his momentary bout of wakefulness.

And yet he couldn't sleep.

It was maybe ten minutes of his heartrate picking up and then slowing down. Ten minutes of Hiro shifting this way and that. Ten minutes of stretching and squirming and just being restless in general before Tadashi closed his book with a snap.

"Okay," he said and turned to face his little brother completely, "what's wrong?"

Hiro's answer was immediate, "nothing."

Tadashi raised a disbelieving eyebrow, "Hiro..." The younger grimaced but bit his tongue for a moment, deliberating on his reply.

"Fine, whatever; I wanna get up," he grumbled, "I'm tired of being in bed all the time, I need to go for a walk or something." His muscles tightened and loosened repeatedly until the effort became too strenuous. Swallowing he shifted and glanced at his brother to find him lost in thought. "Forget it, Tadashi," he sighed wearily, "there isn't a solution to this one."

His big brother frowned at the defeat in Hiro's voice but the younger wasn't expecting him to push it. As a guy with a tendency for overstressing when it came to family he didn't spare a moment nursing any hope that his brother would let him escape the confines of his medical prison.

Shuddering and flexing his toes Hiro tried to suppress the physical need to move. Meanwhile, Tadashi got up and with a brief word to his brother left the room. Surprised when he reentered a moment later with a pair of turquoise hospital pants under his arm, Hiro gave him a confused look. Glancing over his shoulder as he pulled the sheets off his little brother's skinny frame Tadashi handed him the pants.

"Put these on," he instructed before turning to the monitors and stripping off a piece of the protective paneling.

For a moment Hiro just held the pants in his grip, "You're not actually-"

"Sh," his brother interrupted, fingers dipped into the mechanics as he busied himself with rewiring the machines.

A sleepy grin caught somewhere between pride and hope lit up Hiro's young face and he worked on pulling the pants on over his boxers. By the time he'd completed the task Tadashi had finished rerouting the heart monitor and was reaching for his brother's smaller hand. Hiro let him take off the clip on his index finger and rubbed it with his other hand as he observed the monitors.

No alarms went off.

The two of them smiled.

"Okay," Tadashi reached up and grabbed the IV bag, removing it from its hook and handing it to his little brother, "make sure you hold it-"

"I know, Tadashi," Hiro was grinning ear to ear now, sleep seemingly forgotten as he practically buzzed in his bed.

His brother looked him over and for a heart stopping moment he thought the elder was going to change his mind. Then he shook himself and turned around, dropping into a crouch with his arms behind him, palms facing upwards.

"Hop on," he said.

Hiro blinked, "Wait, really?"

"Yep," Tadashi nodded, "Hurry up, would you? Lunch is coming up and when the nurses find you gone they aren't going to be happy." Unsure if he should be ecstatic or mortified Hiro shuffled forwards and slid into his brother's grip. It took a bit of situating but when they were ready the younger Hamada was settled on his elder's back with an IV bag in one hand and both arms cross over Tadashi's throat.

Then they were off.

His big brother was surprisingly dainty on his feet as he slipped quietly into the corridor outside. Hiro let his brother take him down the hall, away from the receptionist's desk by the elevators. The scenery wasn't terribly interesting, being only one white wall after another, door after door. But if you know teenagers like him then you also know it doesn't take too much to interest one- especially when they've been bedridden for days.

He peered through open doors and past small windows to see the patients inside, some looking a little worse for wear and others upright and speaking to family. Tadashi didn't say a word as he walked, carrying his brother's weight and wishing that he was heavier. Meanwhile, Hiro leaned forwards on his back to get a better look at a patient through a closed door. She was sitting up and looked to be several years older than himself but, from the looks of things, she wasn't all there. He frowned, hoping that he hadn't been that doped up during his stay. Come to think of it…

"Hey, Tadashi?"

"Hmm?"

"What day is it?"

His big brother's shoulders shifted beneath him as they reached the end of the hall and turned down the corner, "Today's Monday, why?" He could feel his younger brother's heart pick up speed against his back and turned his head to look at him, "Hiro?"

His sibling blinked a few times, trying to grasp the information he'd been given, "really? Shouldn't you be in school then?"

Tadashi smiled sympathetically, "Nah, no-one can get into SFIT right now with this storm so we're on break until Wednesday."

Hiro hummed, soothed by the motion of his brother's steps. He hadn't been held piggyback like this for years- maybe. It was difficult to remember right now. They were walking down a corridor that had a line of windows on one side and doors on the other now, giving Hiro his first good look at the blazing storm outside.

"Woah," he murmured, taking in the white curtains of snow just beyond the panes of glass. The driving winds pulled streaming flecks of white this way and that in a crazed frenzy, dancing one way and then yanking off in another seconds later. Sensing his awe, Tadashi paused beside one of the windows and watched as well. In a deadly manner it was both beautiful and mesmerizing. The might of nature was always such an incredible thing to Hiro- it could be as catastrophic as it was stunning in less than a heartbeat. In forms both big and small it could tear him and others apart with hardly any effort at all. The strength of storms, the stubbornness of cancer, the endless supply of turbine energy- it was all devastating in its own right.

A deep sigh heaved successfully from Hiro's lungs, eyes locked on the thick snowflakes plowing down from the skies. Suddenly and quite inexplicably a rather personal thought intruded on his mind's peaceful meanderings. Tadashi had started walking again and Hiro's head had fallen where it rested between his big brother's shoulders.

He could taste embers and smoke on his tongue.

He could hear car horns and the panicked sound of tires fighting for purchase over wet pavement.

He could feel terror strike a quick, clipped chord in his chest.

"Ne," he mumbled tiredly, tongue becoming loose in his drowsiness, "Tadashi?"

"What's up?" his brother hummed.

"Our family's cursed isn't it," Hiro stated more than asked. Beneath him his brother stiffened but kept up his soothing pace.

"I don't think so. What makes you say that?" he questioned, keeping his eyes forward as he tried to anticipate his younger brother's reply.

"It's just," the small voice was quiet and thoughtful, "Mom-" Tadashi stiffened, "Dad. You…" he trailed off.

"Hiro," his big brother swallowed thickly, "What are you getting at?"

There was a thoughtful pause before his sibling slowly continued, "What drives people like us to be willing to sacrifice our own happiness for the sake of others?" he sighed, closing his eyes, "it's not normal. What kind of people even do that? Without even a second thought?"

Memories of his near brush with death played through Tadashi's thoughts. He could feel Hiro's grip tighten around his neck and he remembered the iron vice his little brother had had on his wrist that night. Thinking on it now, what he'd almost done really hadn't been that smart. You didn't jump in to help someone unless you were certain that you could- otherwise you'd end up in the same situation yourself and things would only get worse from there.

His brother had known that and he'd been more prepared for a rescue attempt than Tadashi would have expected. Hiro had put a backup program into his phone so, if anything happened, he could remotely control the microbots without the neurotransmitter. Using that he had somehow managed to find Professor Callaghan, wrap him in a ball of metal, and roll him through the wreckage. They had the professor out of there even before the fire department could arrive. Ultimately it had been waiting for the ambulance that had worsened Callaghan's wounds and threatened permanent damage to his leg...

Hiro, meanwhile, had been sure to lecture Tadashi on his foolish unpreparedness a few dozen times after. Even while paramedics had treated his burn wounds he'd ripped right into his older brother.

People said that his actions had been selfless but- "Dummy! Don't you ever be so selfish ever again!"

"Hey," he reached back and flicked his little brother's nose, "what are you talking about- I'm right here, Knucklehead."

But he didn't respond to his tease, "You almost weren't."

"Hiro-"

"And sometimes I wonder if its gunna happen to me too." A cold chill struck through Tadashi's heart at that and tightened his hold around his brother's legs, fighting to keep his voice even.

"Nothing's going to happen to you, Hiro," he vowed thickly, "I promise."

Opening his eyes the younger stared at the back of Tadashi's head for a moment, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you, either. No matter what, baka-nii. Hiro clenched his fist in Tadashi's shirt and pressed his forehead into his back, You, me, and Aunt Cass. We're all we've got left.

"I'm never going to let anything hurt you," his brother announced, this time more to himself than to Hiro. A small, tired smile grew on his little brother's face and his grip on the IV bag loosened. Bobbing up and down on Tadashi's back, breathing in the scent of mint and fabric softener, face pressed into warm cashmere- Hiro couldn't imagine being more content than he was right then.

"Sorry," he muttered before he could be sure what of.

"For what?" Tadashi asked. Prophetic pain in his heart, Hiro struggled to find some kind of adequate reply.

Finally he managed, "For bringing that whole thing up." He drunkenly waved his free hand in a circular gesture. As they turned the corner Hiro lifted his heavy eyelids and caught sight of a gnarled figure standing at the top of the stairwell with a crimson bag hanging from its grasp and a colorful blanket draped over one shoulderjust before Tadashi turned in the opposite direction. He caught sight of brown eyes and thought, What a strange world this is…

"Okay, Hiro," his brother shifted him further up into his arms, "What do you say to a bag of gummy bears? It'll be on me."

"Dummy," Hiro mumbled, even more muffled with his face buried into Tadashi's back, "They're…always…'on you'."

Approaching the vending machine, the elder didn't notice his brother slip away and kept talking, "heh, well you know; it's the thought that counts. And anyway, finding gummy bears in a hospital is hard so consider yourself lucky you got put on the floor with the only vending machine that probably has the good kind…"

It wasn't until he'd bought his brother the candy that he noticed Hiro was fast asleep on his back, completely unresponsive. He caught the IV bag just before it could fall from his little brother's hand.

Swallowing thickly he stood there in the hall with his one and only sibling latched to his back, thinking heatedly of all the things that wouldn't happen to his baby bro, "I'll always be here for you, Hiro." He tried not to think about the cuts under Hiro's arms, "Always."

Okay- now I get to make things more exciting. [But, what direction do I go? I'm at a fork in the road. Either I can end all of you with one crushing blow or I can drag it out…]

O if you liked. X if you didn't.

Endnote: SHOUTOUT to every nurse ever. You people are friggn' fabulous, honestly. :')