"Ehhh~? Is Tan-kun home?" Oikawa wondered as Iwaizumi unlocked his house.

"No. Not yet anyway. Anyways," he turned around and pushed Oikawa, who was already taking off his shoes, out of the house. "And you aren't coming in. Get out!"

"Iwa-chan~!" Oikawa sobbed but relented and got out. "I'll come tomorrow morning!" With a cheerful wave, the third year brunette boy walked off into a distance. Iwaizumi Hajime sighed and closed the door. Practice had been tough, as usual, and all he wanted to do was rest. He still had a math test tomorrow.

He threw his bag on the floor and trudged to his room. Hajime briskly grabbed his towel off the floor and his clothes before advancing into his shower, longing for a hot bath.

^v^

Drying his hair with a towel, he wondered into the living room, hoping that his little brother was already home. He'd know if his bag was on the floor. Iwaizumi Tanjiro was younger than Hajime by three years and attended Kitagawa Daiichi. Unlike his brother, he didn't much like the sport that had him jumping up and down all the time. No, he liked basketball much more. It was a sport that he'd started playing two years ago, and he was already the ace of the team.

Just as Hajime was about to turn around and head back into his bedroom, he caught sight of two middle schoolers standing outside his house. His brother, standing almost ten centimeters taller than the girl in front of him, was in his school uniform with his jacket at hand. The girl's long red locks flitted in the evening zephyr.

One of the windows were open and he could hear them almost too clearly. "Ah. Iwaizumi-kun."

"Haruka-san? Are you alright? You look a bit strange-"

The girl cut him off. "I'm fine, Iwaizumi-kun! I just... Would you please go out with me? I really like you and it would mean everything if you were to be my boyfriend!" Her cheeks, smooth and red and her blue eyes were shining with hope. Hajime widened his eyes.

"Haruka-san. Isn't it usually the other way around...?"

"I don't care."

Tanjiro bit his lip and his hands touched the back of his neck. He looked away. "Sorry, Haruka-san. I can't."

^v^

Tanjiro took a deep breath and took off his shoes. That had been unnerving. He'd had a couple of girls confess to him over the years, but Haruka-san... He'd been close to her as a friend and hadn't been expecting it at all. As he straightened up to walk to his room, he saw his older brother leaning against the wall. Smirking.

"Ain't it nice to have confessions all the time?" Hajime chuckled. "The one girl who confessed to me only did it because she was dumped by Oikawa and wanted to make him feel jealous."

"It isn't that easy to have girls come up to me all the time, nii-chan," Tanjiro grumbled, throwing his cap on to the ground. "You were watching the whole thing? Damn it - that's embarrassing."

"Surprised you didn't see me," Hajime mused, "So why'd you reject her? She's pretty, cute, nice, most likely wanted by a lot of guys... Isn't she the one going to the same high school as you as well?"

His little brother groaned. "No! That's going to make it even more awkward! And I know she's cute and all that but she's not the one I want."

Hajime was silent for a minute. "Are perhaps still waiting for Kayada-chan?"

Tanjiro steeled, glaring at his brother. "Kaya-chan will get better! Don't you DARE say she won't! She promised me that she would! And I know she will! Kaya-chan isn't that weak!" He slammed his brother into a wall, gripping his collar. "She will get better!"

Hajime's heart broke at his brother's anger and frustration. He knew how Tanjiro was feeling; the agony, the impatience, the unfairness. Kayada had been in hospital for too long. Kayada's family had always been close to the Iwaizumi household - they basically grew up together. Tanjiro was especially close to Kayada-chan, the only child in the Kirishima family. And as they grew, they hadn't only grown to be friends, they were in love with each other. But then Kayada got sick. A brain tumour and a rare type of cancer as well. Hajime's brother had almost completely broke when he heard the news. But Kayada promised him that she would get better. And Tanjiro promised that he would wait for her until the end.

"She had another seizure again, last week," Hajime said quietly. He himself was loved Kayada like she were his own sister. "I don't know how long..." Hajime stopped himself, not wanting to believe it either.

"Don't say it," Tanjiro pleaded. His eyes were red and watery as his grip on Hajime loosened and his knees fell to the floor. "Kaya-chan will get better," he whispered. A tear fell on to the wooden floor and he looked up at his older brother. "Won't she?"

Hajime sat on the floor next to his brother and pulled him into a hug. Tanjiro let his tears out. For so long, he'd hoped that it was just a bad dream. For so long, he'd prayed. Tanjiro cried into his brother's arms, his tears drenching the fabric. He'd hoped until there was almost no hope left in him. And every month he went to see her, she seemed weaker, paler, skinnier. The once lively and vivacious girl he loved had almost no life left in her.

"Nii-chan," he let go of Hajime. "I just can't think of what will happen if she... left." His voice was barely above a whisper, and it felt so scared. Tanjiro's hands curled around his brother's thick muscular arms. "I don't think I can live without her."

Hajime stared at his brother sadly; Tanjiro wasn't supposed to be like that. He was supposed to grow up happy, he was never supposed to be like... this. "Tanjiro. You will survive."

"But then... it feels like I don't need her to live. That she was never meant to be in my life. But she is and I do need her to live!" Tanjiro protested.

"You will live, Tanjiro. Kayada-chan was a gift. And she's a gift that can be taken away. No matter what, the memories that you shared with her, will live. And that's what you will live with, Tanjiro. Even if it means Kayada-chan isn't by your side."

Tanjiro casted his eyes downwards. "She's a gift that I can't let go of."

^v^

The ball was set up high and Hajime ran towards him, jumping and then slamming the ball down. The echo of the thud satisfied him. The louder the thud was, the better.

"Nice one, Iwa-chan~!" Oikawa called with a grin from beside the net. Hajime simply grunted.

"Give me a break. The one before was better. I think your sets are the problem. They waver," Hajime sourly pointed out. He knew that Oikawa's sets would never even shake, but it was fun to see his tongue in a twist.

"Iwa-chan!" Hajime grinned and headed towards the bench and took a swig of his plastic water bottle. Just as he put his bottle down, there was a ring. He picked up his phone and answered.

"Hello? Iwaizumi Hajime here."

"Ha-chan. I have news."

"Okaa-san?"

"Oh, and your brother's on the line as well."

"Hello, nii-chan," came Tanjiro's voice.

"Oh, Tanjiro."

"Listen. It's Kayada-chan," her tone was grave. "She had another severe seizure again this morning. The doctor had said that she wouldn't possibly live. But they did another operation again today. She was either supposed to come out alive or dead. Hajime... Tanjiro... Kayada-chan-"

^v^

Tanjiro stopped dead. Had he heard his mum right? Kayada-chan... she was... His phone was suddenly on the ground and he stared at his feet, lost. Wh-what?

"Oi, Tanjiro. Don't go throwing your stuff on the ground. Wasn't that your mum on the line? That's pretty rude to her, you know, Tanjiro-kun," his friend as he picked up the phone and handed it to Tanjiro. But the shocked boy ignored the phone in his friend's hand.

He spun around and gripped his friend. Tears leaking from his eyes.

^v^

Hajime's phone clattered on to the ground and his eyes were wide. Kayada-chan?

"Iwa-chan? What's wrong? Is it your mom?" Oikawa rushed to his friend, slapping Hajime's lifeless face. "What happened? Tell me! Come on! Stop looking like some dumb idiot! But then again that's how you always loo-"

Hajime looked up at his friend and gripped Oikawa's shoulders.

^v^

"Kayada/Kaya-chan! She's alive!"