"Hello, Tou-sama." Sakuno said, quietly and Kuniharu noticed her eyes were filled with sadness. The girl was standing near his bed. It was visiting hours on the ICU. He smiled kindly and offered his hand to her.

"Come here, Sakuno." The girl rushed to his side and big tears were rolling down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Tou-sama." she said, her shoulders were trembling. "I am really, really sorry."

"Do not cry." His voice was so gentle.

"Why did you put yourself in danger because of me? After I treated you so horribly."

"Because you are my child." Softly, he touched her wet face, making the teenager look at him. "It is my duty to protect you. No matter what, I will always protect you."

He showed her a small smile.

"Do not cry." He whipped away her tears with his thumb. "I am going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine from now on."

Sakuno was wearing a sling to hold her injured arm. Kuniharu looked at it, concerned.

"How is it? Are you in pain?"

"Just sometimes. But, I'm taking the medicines properly. Kaa-sama talked to the doctor today and he said it will probably take eight weeks or longer to heal." She smiled, sadly. "I was able to enter the kendo club at school, but I will need to tell them I cannot participate anymore."

"It will be temporary." He replied, seriously. "I will make sure you have the best physiotherapists. You will be able to do kendo again, you are going to study to be a sensei and have your dojo to teach children. I promise you."

"Tou-sama…"

"Sakuno, I own you an apology. You were right, it was wrong of me to not telling you about Takagi-kun sooner. But, you need to understand I had no ill intentions on doing it. Your mother was afraid his father would take you away from her. Even with the life we had, she wanted to raise you normally." His dark eyes were guilty. "It was my fault you ended up on the assassination group; I was not strong enough to defy my father."

"You should never apologize." Sakuno smiled at him. "You are the best father I could ever ask. I'm so lucky for having you." The girl held his hand and put it on her forehead, closing her eyes, making Kuniharu overwhelmed. "I'm very grateful for being your daughter."

############

Kunimitsu stopped for a while at the hospital's garden. He saw his sister sitting on one bench under the shadow of a big tree. He noticed there was a deep sadness on her eyes. She was looking at the cell phone screen.

Coming close, he sat by her side.

"Hello." There was a small smile on his features and the girl turned around, surprised, hugging him tight with her free arm. They didn't see each other since the night her father was attacked.

"Nii-sama!"

"I'm so glad to see you well." He replied, gently, kissing her forehead.

"Nii-sama, I'm sorry! Because of me, you're so busy; Syuusuke-san told me you even postponed your book again."

"You should not worry about it." Kunimitsu touched her cheek. "Family always comes first. But, tell me about you, how are you doing? What about your hand? It's been a week already, right?"

"Yes." Sakuno lowered her face, looking at her injury. "It only hurts sometimes."

"What about the kendo club? Hahaue told me you were approved."

"Kaa-sama talked to the school and told them I had an accident. I also sent a message to the captain's club. But, as soon as we return to Tokyo, I'm going there to talk to him personally. Even if it's just for him to let me go."

"I'm sorry. But, I'm sure your hand will heal properly and you can practice kendo still."

"I hope so." Her voice was heavy with sadness.

"Sakuno, Syuusuke told me your boyfriend has not come to see you. Is everything okay?"

"I think he hates me." She replied quietly, with a smile. Kunimitsu's heart was tight as seeing her like that.

"What do you mean?"

"He is not replying my messages. Not even one of them. He had never done that before."

"Maybe he is busy with something." he said, kindly.

"No, I'm sure Ryoma hates me." She grabbed the cloth of her hospital clothes, tightly. "He probably regrets knowing me by now."

"Sakuno…"

"Tell me, Nii-sama, is it normal to hurt like this?" Kunimitsu noticed her shoulders were trembling. His little sister was making a great effort to not cry. "I never liked anyone before, so I don't know. But… it is hurting so much, I feel like my chest is breaking in two."

He hugged her, unable to say anything. Her forehead was on his chest and she grabbed his shirt, looking for some comfort.

Since Sakuno was born, Kunimitsu's only wish was to be able to shield his younger sister from all the sadness of the world. He protected her when she started to walk, avoiding her to fall on the ground. He would constantly watch over her when they were playing together so she wouldn't hurt herself. Watching Sakuno so heartbroken, he felt extremely useless, unable to protect her against that deep sadness towards her first love.

############

Syuusuke took a deep breath, after hugging Kunimitsu's naked chest. The were on Kunimitsu's bed. They were finally able of having some time alone. It was night and Ayana was with her husband for dinner time. Syuusuke was taking turns with Ayana to take care of Sakuno and Kuniharu at the hospital. Since the Tezuka head was still on ICU, only the wife could visit him, so he was responsible for Sakuno. Kuniharu was recoverying properly, so it was possible he could go to a regular soon by the following week and things would be easier.

Kunimitsu's fingers caressed his light hair and he kissed his forehead.

"It's been a while." He said, looking at the blue eyes. He gently touched the scar on his face. "Your eye, the color changed."

"I know." Fuji smiled. "It's lighter now. Do you think it's weird?"

"It is beautiful." Tezuka kissed it, softly. His hand brushed his bare back, slowly. "Sakuno told me Echizen-kun is not talking to her. She is afraid he is "hating her"."

"I'm trying to avoid the topic. I sent him a message after her surgery but he didn't respond as well."

"Do you know what happened?"

"Aside from her crazy brother kidnapping him and the boy seeing his girlfriend being tortured?" he smiled, sadly. "And, also, there is the problem of her first mission."

"What do you mean?" he looked at him.

"Don't you remember? Her first kill was a pervert that attacked little boys in Kyoto and raped them."

"Ah, that horrible case. It was twisted of Oji-sama to put Sakuno on it."

"Echizen-kun was the last boy he attacked. He was spending some time in Kyoto with his parents. Sakuno-chan was the one who saved him."

"What?!' he sat down, surprised. Fuji continued to lay down, looking at him.

"All of this, adding to the fact of his kidnapping by Takagi-kun, surely is too much for someone so young to take."

"That is probably why is avoiding her, then." Kunimitsu laid again.

"Yes." Syuusuke gently caressed his face. "But, I will talk to him properly. I don't want Sakuno-chan to hurt anymore."

"Thank you, Syuusuke." He said, before kissing him, bringing his body close again in a tight embrace.