Takeru stepped into the room, quickly closing the door behind him, hopefully in Jyou's face. He removed the anger from his face, unlike his brother who never tried, and smiled at his mother. She was sitting on the check up bed, her hair frazzled, staring blankly at the floor. "Mom."

She looked up at him and smiled, "Takeru. Who was in the hall?"

"No one."

"Your father?"

"No, but he's on his way," Takeru said, reassuring her with his hand on hers.

"...and your brother?"

"...I don't know, Mom," the son replied, sitting next to her.

A knock. Takeru looked over to see his father walk in carefully, as if he didn't want to wake them, but Natsuko never looked up. "Hey, Dad."

"Hi, Takeru. Natsuko..."

"Hiro..." she replied lifelessly.

"Natsuko, you look terrible," Hiroaki smiled, "Usually I'm the one that looks like he rolled out of a trash can."

She gave him a smile of pity. "You were always an honest man, at least."

"You're acting like it's the end already," he replied. "Natsuko, we don't even know if the cancer's back yet."

"I can feel it," she whispered, hugging herself. "This is the end of me."

Hiroaki shook his head and turned to his youngest son. "Let's give your mother a moment." He lead Takeru outside into the hall and they both breathed out into the clean air. "Takeru, you said she wasn't doing well, but..."

"I know," Takeru whispered. "What do you want me to do? I have a family now, Dad, I can't keep looking after her forever... maybe this is what she wants. Even if it isn't cancer, she's probably not going to have the strength to keep living on, Dad."

"...I can't let these two destroy each other," Hiroaki breathed. "If Yamato talks to her, you think she'll cheer up?"

"What do you think, Dad?" Takeru remarked. "After all, you never once pushed him to come by, even after he stopped showing up on Christmas and our birthdays. Just because you felt guilty for letting something happen that may not have ever happened! Did you ever wonder if Yamato made everything up just to get her attention?"

"Then why doesn't he talk to her now?" Hiroaki hissed.

"He's ashamed. His lie went too far," Takeru remarked.

"You know your mother feels guilty, too, because it did happen, Takeru. It ended the second I saw proof."

"Bullshit," Takeru spat, "I refuse to believe Mom could do that! I'm going to go talk to her. I'm going to tell her Yamato is coming here. And he will be civilized. And he will apologize. And YOU are going to get him here, damn it. Before my Oniichan regrets it, too..." Takeru returned to the room. Hiroaki sighed and mulled the entire thing over. Even if Takeru's heart wasn't in the right place, he owed Yamato a call. He stepped outside for a cigarette and noticed Jyou leaving for his car. Sora was standing not far off. Hiroaki wasn't even going to wonder what was going on there and instead called his son.

"Dad?" Yamato answered. He had just finished mixing the mocchi and was letting it set.

"Yamato, something's happened."

"...what, exactly?" the blonde wondered.

"It's your Mom," Hiroaki said.

"Oh."

"No, Yamato. She's very sick. In fact, I'm even wondering if it's all in her head. I think your divorce was the last straw, son. She just has no life left."

"So...?"

"Yamato! Come see your mother. She may not be here tomorrow," Hiroaki ordered. "I know that she hurt you, but she never had that intention. Sometimes you gotta grow up and stop whining about how things don't go your way."

"Dad, what the Hell?" he breathed. "She didn't touch you. For years. She didn't completely screw you up for the rest of your life. Fuck, the divorce is only happening because of her."

Hiroaki laughed for a minute. "You walked into that Hell all by yourself, Yamato."

"Oh? Let's see... who told Sora everything without even asking me? God, who was that?"

"She had a right to know," Hiroaki replied. "She had suspected something was wrong for awhile. You two barely had a leg to stand on in the first place and then you could barely sleep in the same bed as her without waking up screaming."

"Fuck you," Yamato hissed. "I hope Mom rots in Hell. Sora too. Bye, Dad."

Hiroaki heard the line cut out but he couldn't lower the phone. He didn't raise his son to be that way. He only had one choice: to go talk to Yamato in person. He may have despised his wife for years and still hated her not only for what she had done to their son, but he also hated her because she left him because she couldn't stand to look at herself. He never wished her to loathe her very existence- Yamato did enough of that as it was. The two were always so much alike. So stubborn. Hiroaki smiled and shed a tear or two. "Nothing's ever easy, is it? I hope... Yamato isn't too late. I don't want him to end up like me. He's got a good track record for that as it is."