The Neglected Garden
By: HiroAngelLight
Summary: Thirteen years ago, after the death of their parents, Tadashi blamed Hiro as the cause of their parents' deaths and left Hiro alone in the orphanage. Not only it broke Hiro's heart, but their relationship as well. But when Hiro needs to stay in Tadashi's house to avoid the juvenile prison, can they fix their broken relationship after years of losing contact to each other?
Adopted from Adazula.
Female!Hiro
Hiro is 16. Tadashi and Honey are 27.
Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6.
Warning: Beware of typos and bad grammar. English is NOT my main language. I have this bad habit of not realizing my mistakes in my stories until days or even months after publishing the story.
Additional Warning: This chapter contains a slight dark plot and part one of the two dark chapters. You may leave if you don't like dark plots, and if you choose to read, you've been warned.
-oOo-
Chapter 10
Since the day where Hiro heard the rumour spread about her, she stopped going outside. She even barely went out of her room, except for meals, baths, and laundry days. She didn't even sit on the balcony that connected to the back garden anymore. Words coming out from her mouth were limited to none. This made the couple, especially Tadashi, worried.
It had been a little over two weeks. They felt like Hiro was pulling away again. Making the distance between them seemed more noticeable than before. They were sure they had some good progress two weeks ago, but then suddenly, Hiro just pulled away. Something wrong must had happened.
"I'm going to mom's place," Tadashi said one day on Saturday, where he didn't have to go to work.
That statement earned Honey's attention, "To Lisa's house? Why?"
"I'm sure she knows something."
"Are you sure? Lisa hasn't come to this house since that night. I doubt she knows something. Especially when we know how she doesn't like Hiro."
Tadashi looked at his wife. "I know. But there has to be something she knows. We don't know if she had done something behind our back while Hiro went outside. Hiro seemed to like it here when she started going outside to who-knows-where. But if something changes her like, I'm sure there was something wrong happened."
As he finished putting on his shoes, he opened the door. "You know I'm never going to back out from helping her. She's my sister. And I'll find out about what made her like that." Honey smiled at what he said. "Then go. Just promise me to be careful, okay?"
Tadashi smiled back in relief. "Thanks, Honey. I will." With that, Tadashi closed the door behind him.
He walked down the path with his hand on his chin. Thinking about every possibility. If Hiro was still the same like the little sister he knew, that meant something bad had happened. Something that could hurt her, internally. But, what?
Just when he was about to turn around the corner, he saw some women from his neighbourhood ahead of him. He planned to just ignore them and walk pass through them. Until he heard something that caught his ears.
"I still don't get it. How come we haven't had any encounter with a stranger here? This town is small. Surely a criminal can't go unseen like that forever!"
"Yeah. I'm sure they went out here at least a few times already to get something they need."
"I don't feel safe knowing there's a criminal in our town. I wouldn't want to let a criminal hanging around here and disturb the peace we have here."
"Shouldn't we do something already?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Maybe asking the people around here if they've seen someone unfamiliar?"
"I don't know about that. Some of them don't pay too much attention to something like that these days."
From where he stood, Tadashi surely knew who they were talking about. Rage was boiling up in his chest. It felt as if he was ready to blow up and yell at them for talking bad about her sister they didn't even know. But he tried to control his rage, reminding himself that those women didn't even know what they were talking about. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he walked toward the women in front of him.
"Hey, there , ladies," Tadashi greeted the with a smile, that if someone took a close look, it didn't reach his eyes. "Nice weather today, isn't it?"
"Ah, hi, Tadashi! Yes, it certainly is. The weather is rather cool today despite being in the summer for two months already," one of them said.
"I think today's weather is good for a picnic, don't you think?" the other one said.
They talked a small talk for a while. Until Tadashi decided it was time to go to the point.
"Please forgive me if I sound rude for overhearing stuff. But, I heard you ladies talked about something like a criminal if I'm not mistaken. Can I ask what that was about?"
-oOo-
Tadashi was back to his house, face dark. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't understand on why Lisa did that. Hiro had never done anything bad on her stay here. And Hiro certainly had never ever done anything bad to her in their days in the Child Welfare Department either. Just, why did she hate his sister so much?
His thought was disturbed by Honey who came to greet him, "Tadashi, you're back."
"Yeah," he replied quietly.
Concern was written on Honey's face, "What's wrong? Did you find something?" He nodded, "Yeah. I found something that I can't even believe my own ears for hearing that." Tadashi clenched his fists, teeth gritted.
Honey put her hands on his left shoulder and hand. Tadashi looked up to see her face. "Let's go to the living room first. After that, I want to hear everything you've found while you were out."
Soon, they were sitting in the living room. "Now, spill," Honey demanded him gently.
Tadashi sighed before he told her, "My mom spread a rumour about her. A really bad rumour. Hiro must have heard it the last time she went out. There's a rumour going on, about a criminal who's staying here and can wander around so freely. And it makes the people feel uneasy and unsafe. Gladly, because they haven't encountered the one they suspect as a criminal, they still can remain calm."
Honey gasped, "She.., she really did that? To Hiro? Oh my God. No wonder Hiro is pulling away from us again. Even for someone like her, that kind of rumour does hurt a lot."
"It hurts me, too. I just can't understand why she hates Hiro so much when she had done nothing but behave well while staying with us."
"What are you going to do now? Did you meet Lisa?"
"No. I'm planning to call her here and confront her. And make her apologize to Hiro. I hope it's going to go well, though. Knowing the last time they met, mom didn't say nice things toward her."
"Don't worry. It's going to be okay. Just.., make sure you can control your anger too, so it wouldn't fuel the fire more. We want things to get better, and not the other way around."
Tadashi held Honey's hand tightly and smiled at her, "Thanks. I really need that." Honey smiled back at him. After that, they planned on how to get Lisa admit her doing and apologize to Hiro.
-oOo-
A knock woke Hiro up from her nap. She groaned and got up, walking toward the door. When she opened it, Honey was there. Hiro grumbled, "What?"
"Please come down to the living room in five minutes. There's something we want to talk about," she said. Without waiting for Hiro's answer, Honey turned around and walked down the stairs.
"What do they want now?" she grumbled as she made way to the bath room to wash her sleepy face. When she was done, she headed downstairs lazily, where Tadashi and Honey were waiting for her.
And she was right. Both Tadashi and Honey were there already, sitting on the other side of the table. Hiro grudgingly sat at the opposite, facing them. "Now, what?" she asked to them.
Before they could answer, they heard the front door closed and footsteps in the hallway. Not even a minute later, Lisa appeared. "Tadashi, dear, why did you c-," she stopped when her eyes caught the sight of Hiro in the room. Hiro and Lisa threw a glare toward each other.
"Tadashi, what is she doing here?!" Hiro asked Tadashi. He could hear the harsh tone from her.
"Yes, Tadashi. I came here to meet you and Honey, without a criminal in the room!" Lisa added angrily.
"Mom," Tadashi started. "You were the one who spread about that rumour, weren't you?"
Dread was shown on her face on a split second, but then she snapped back at him, "How could you accuse me like that, Tadashi! Your own mother!"
"No one but the three of us here who know about Hiro staying here and why. But for some reason, a bad rumour is lingering outside about her. Who else here calling her a criminal, except you?" Tadashi added, voice sounded sterner.
"I didn't do such a thing!" Lisa tried to defend herself. "Honey dear, please tell him that I didn't do that!"
"Mom, please just admit it. No one here except you would do something like that to her. Admit it, and apologize to Hiro," Tadashi told her.
"Tadashi, stop accusing me! I-"
Hiro who couldn't hold her anger anymore, stood up and snapped at her, "Just admit it, you old bitch! They're right! No one but you call me a criminal here!"
"What did you just call me?!"
"Old bitch! That's what I call you! What did I do to you that made you spread that rumour, huh?! Don't say you just simply hate me for no reason and decided to spread a bad rumour about me as if I'm going to do a serial murder here, or worst, genocide!"
"Oh, so that's what you want, now?! Fine! Yes, I was the one who told them to stay away from you! A criminal who will do nothing but bring danger to everyone! I didn't spread a rumour, I warned them! They're two different things!"
"There's no difference if what you said was not even true! I might be arrested for bot fighting, but that doesn't make me a criminal like those serial murderers or drug dealers out there!"
Things were getting heated between Lisa and Hiro. Tadashi and Honey decided to stand up and try to separate them. Tadashi was behind Lisa, trying to pull her away before she tried to harm Hiro. While Honey went to Hiro's side, trying to calm her down. Both Hiro and Lisa were still arguing and yelling toward each other.
"You, little bitch! You really are a mannerless kid! It was a right decision for me to never adopt you back then!"
"Oh, you really think I wanted someone like you to adopt me?! Heh! Don't make me puke! I feel pity for Tadashi to have such a villain of a adoptive mother like you! I'm sure no one liked you back then in that department! Who would want someone like you as a parent, huh?! An old woman who can hate someone for no reason doesn't deserve to be called a mother!"
What Hiro yelled at her took its toll. Lisa gritted her teeth hard as rage washed over her. "Why you, lil!" Lisa tried to shake Tadashi's hands off of her. And when she was free from his hands, she pushed Hiro roughly. Hiro could prevent herself from falling.
Unfortunately, Honey, who was standing behind her couldn't.
And she fell.
Tadashi who saw this, shouted in horror, "Honey!" He rushed to Honey's side. Hiro and Lisa were shocked when they heard Tadashi shouted and rushed to Honey. Cold emitted the room as they saw how Honey's face was full of pain with her arms hugging her belly.
The baby!
Tadashi immediately carried her and rushed to his car. He put Honey as gently as possible on the seat next to the driver's seat.
"Honey…," Hiro called her quietly. Fear and worry were shown on her face. She tried to reach her, but Tadashi snapped at her, "Stay away from her!" Hiro flinched and backed away after she heard that. Tadashi ran inside to take his keys, ran back into his car, and drove away to the nearest hospital.
Hiro and Lisa could only stand there and watched in silence until the car was out of sight. Hiro was still staring worriedly to the road where the car went. And Lisa, she turned her gaze toward Hiro. Rage made her vision red. She saw a wooden plank not far from where she stood. She walked to it, took it with her, and then walked to where Hiro stood.
Hiro heard footsteps behind her, and when she turned around, Lisa already held the wooden plank high in her hand. Ready to hit her. Hiro immediately protected herself with her arms a second before the wooden plank hit her. She cried out in pain as Lisa hit her numerous times with the wooden plank she had. Hiro cried and cried, begging Lisa to stop hitting her. But Lisa didn't listen.
She kept on hitting Hiro. She kept on hitting her with the wooden plank. She yelled at her. Blaming her that it was her fault Tadashi changed, how Honey was hurt now, and how she might lose her future grandchild. She also yelled at Hiro that she should never come back to Tadashi's life. Yelling it would be all Hiro's fault if anything bad happened to her family.
Hiro crouched down, still protecting her body from the hits she was receiving. She tried to bear the pain, hoping Lisa would stop soon and leave her alone. But Lisa kept on hitting her without mercy. And she didn't notice there was a rusty nail on the wooden plank. She also didn't notice how the nail cut the teen's skin and bleed.
By the time Lisa realized what she had done and saw the blood, she was terrified. Her body was shaking so hard in fear. The wooden plank slipped off from her hand and fell down to the ground. And then, she ran away.
Leaving the injured teen alone. Bleeding on the ground, as the dark clouds hovered above her and rain poured all night.
-oOo-
Author's Note: Hiiyyaaaa.. sorry for the late update! College has been nothing but exhausting me. Free times were always used to sleep all day and recharged my battery to live. Lol. But now I'm already on break and can write an update or two if I'm not busy with anything else. Though, I hold no promise since I don't know how long it would take me to finish one chapter with life going on.
This chapter is the first part of two dark chapters I've planned for so long. But it could change to three if I feel the need to expand? I dunno. And this chapter is unedited. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share with me in the comment section! I would love to hear it!
Also, I'll be officially twenty five on July 17th! Hope I'm not too old for still fan-girling on Big Hero 6, lol.
Give me a shout-out on my Instagram /lilykeitha since I'm mostly there~
Until next time~