I'm sorry this chapter took a while. Tests, homework and my new puppy kept me busy for a while. Thanks heaven for a four day holiday! I couldn't wait to write more for this story; it's been so much fun. Well, here you go! Also, for everyone who's been trying to guess why Hiro's afraid of storms, I believe you'll have a surprise!
Well, hope you enjoy!
When Tadashi opened his eyes, he was sure it hadn't been that long since he had closed them. For one thing, he didn't feel like he had had more than two or three hours of sleep. For another thing, there was absolutely no source of light, the whole room was in darkness. Even if the blinds were down, the sunlight would make its way to the room and make it all clear once the sun had risen.
Then why had he woken up?
It was hard to think with his eyelids going down against his will. He was trying to concentrate when he felt something touch his arm, but it took him a while to process that information. He looked down, and after a few seconds his vision had adjusted to the darkness just enough to allow him to see a blurred silhouette in front of him. After blinking a few more times, realization finally came to Tadashi.
"Hey, Hiro." He said with the volume just above that of a whisper. He knew his little brother needed him, but his body was fighting not to let him stand up for anything. He rubbed his eyes and tried to sit up on his elbows, only to feel his weight increase when he did so. He rolled to his side and leaned on his right arm, making his best to look down at his little brother. "What's wrong? Another nightmare?"
Hiro shook his head, rubbing his hands together nervously. Tadashi frowned and rubbed his eyes once more before letting out a heavy sigh, going against his body's will to sleep. Hiro needed him more than he needed to sleep, so he didn't even have to think to decide that his rest would have to wait a little longer. Tadashi finally looked down at Hiro again and reached out to softly rub Hiro's hair, noticing that his brother gasped a little at the sudden touch. He probably didn't see it coming with that darkness around him.
"Do you want to sleep with me? You aren't sick again, are you?" The thought made Tadashi's eyes shot open as he sat up on the bed in a jump, ready to take Hiro to the bathroom if that was the case. But Tadashi's body fell back down onto the mattress with a thud when Hiro shook his head at the possibility, causing the older one to sigh in relief. He wore a comforting smile, even if he was almost sure that Hiro couldn't see him and used his sweetest voice to make his little brother feel better. "So, what's wrong?"
Hiro didn't have time to answer. He opened his mouth, but before any words could be formed a lightning stroke outside. The thunder that came along with it was so loud that Tadashi's heart started to beat faster instantly, as it startled him. Hiro gasped as he covered his ears with his hands and fell to his knees, closing his eyes and biting his lips. The few seconds that the room had been lit by the white light allowed Tadashi to see that his brother was shaking from head to toe.
"Ok, I think I get it." Tadashi hastened to say. He left his bed and knelt down by Hiro's side on the floor. He put his hands on either of Hiro's hands and held them before carefully pulling them away from Hiro's ears so that he could hear Tadashi. "It's ok, Hiro. It's just a lightning. There's not even rain outside yet. Try to calm down and take deep breaths. It helps."
Hiro was looking down the whole time, staring at the floor. He opened his mouth and took the deepest breath he could as he nodded in the process. After what felt like forever, he finally lifted his head and looked to Tadashi, who could see nothing but a pair of big brown eyes that looked at him in fear. He released Hiro's hands to stroke his hair and wrap an arm around his brother's shoulders to comfort him.
"There, there. You don't have to be afraid. Come here, you can sleep with me." Tadashi said as he stood up and sat down on his bed, patting the empty space by his side. Hiro, however, didn't show any signs to be standing up anytime soon. He remained on the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees, looking at Tadashi's eyes. The older one cocked his head, confused. He tapped his nightstand until he found his table lamp and turned it on.
"I... I can't sleep..." Hiro muttered.
"Hiro, what's wrong?" Tadashi asked, going back to the floor and sitting by Hiro's side. He held his brother's hands with his own again, trying to make Hiro release his knees and relax. It wasn't easy, for Hiro was nervous and tense. Just when Tadashi had managed to make his brother calm down a little, another thunder rumbled outside. In the blink of an eye, Hiro let out a shriek and wrapped his arms around Tadashi's waist.
Tadashi gasped at the sudden touch and at the sudden noise, but quickly straightened himself up. The thunder was still echoing outside when he took Hiro in his arms and settled him in his lap, ruffling his hair. He could both feel and hear Hiro's heart beating inside his chest as the younger one stared into Tadashi's eyes as if he wanted to be sure his brother was indeed there.
"Hiro, it's alright. Everything's fine. Nothing bad will happen to you. I know that the rain and the noises outside are scary and all, but you will be alright. There's nothing to worry about."
Tadashi smiled at his brother, but it became a frown when Hiro looked up at him with disapproving eyes and scoffed. The older one cocked his head in confusion again. "What's wrong, Hiro?"
Hiro looked down, breaking eye contact with his brother, and pressed his face against Tadashi's chest. Before the older one could question anything, Hiro mumbled a few words into Tadashi's shirt.
"Sorry, what was that?" He asked when he couldn't understand what Hiro had said. The younger one moved his face away from his brother's chest and crossed his arms, pouting. After a while, he whimpered something through his clenched teeth.
"Didn't quite catch that." Tadashi said, smiling as he tried to comfort Hiro. The younger one looked up at Tadashi and shook his head, annoyed.
"It's not about me." He said in his tiny voice; pretty audible this time. Tadashi thought that Hiro's eyes seemed to be getting teary.
"Excuse me?"
"The rain. The thunders." Hiro said though his clenched teeth again; his voice seemed to be getting weak. "It's not with me that I'm worried. And I'm not afraid of them either."
"What do you mean?" Tadashi asked as he put his hand on Hiro's chin and lifted his brother's head so that Hiro would look into his eyes again. Tadashi let out a silent gasp when he noticed that tears were beginning to form in the corner of Hiro's eyes. Hiro's eyes moved down, avoiding Tadashi's gaze.
"Hiro." Tadashi said, lifting his brother's head again to bring his attention back to him. "What do you mean?"
"You mean you d-don't rememb-ber?" Hiro stuttered, looking at his brother with pleading eyes.
"Remember what?"
Hiro pulled Tadashi's hand away from his chin and looked down again, crossing his arms. He took a deep breath and straightened himself up in Tadashi's lap before looking up at his brother. Then he sighed and started to speak.
As the words came from Hiro's mouth, Tadashi's eyes grew wild.
Hiro opened his eyes, annoyed. Like any other kid, he didn't like it when he woke up in the middle of his sleep. Rolling over, he reached for the watch on the nightstand and saw that it wasn't even 10pm yet.
"Dashi, I'm thirsty." He called from his bed. Most people would be annoyed if they had to wake up just to bring water for a five year old boy, but Tadashi didn't mind. He loved his younger brother more than anything, and Hiro knew that. He adored his older brother, but if he was willing to do things for Hiro, he wouldn't hesitate to wake Tadashi up.
Hiro waited for Tadashi to stand up and say he was going to be right back with the water he had requested, but it didn't happen. Nothing happened, only silence. Tadashi wasn't a heavy sleeper, but maybe that call wasn't enough.
"Dashi? Dashi!" He repeated. Once again, nothing happened. "If you're pretending to be asleep, I'll get mad and tell Aunt Cass!" Hiro said as he pouted and folded his arms. After more waiting, he grabbed his stuffed robot and threw it against the closed partition that separated the room in two parts. It hit the partition and fell on the floor with a thud. That was sure to wake Tadashi up if he was sleeping.
"Dashi, that's not funny. I ask you to do something and you ignore me! I'm telling Aunt Cass!" Just to show how serious he was, Hiro jumped out of his bed and walked up to Tadashi's part of the room. He pushed the partition open to call his brother, but then he realized he wasn't there.
Hiro looked around the room and even under Tadashi's bed. He surely wasn't there. There was no way he could be hiding anywhere else in that small part of the room, and why would he even hide? He would never hide from Hiro. The little boy's heart felt a little heavy.
"Dashi?" He said as he left Tadashi's part and went to his own, looking around. "I don't know if you're hiding or what, but you better not be. I will tell Aunt Cass if you try to trick me! Dashi?" Hiro turned around over and over, but his older brother was nowhere to be seen. He was starting to wonder where he could be when something caught his attention.
There were voices down the corridor. The door of his room was cracked open, and so he could see there was light outside, even if Aunt Cass should be in bed already. They all slept early. Hiro cocked his head and slowly walked up to the door, opening it and leaving his room. He went downstairs, carefully jumping over the squeaky stairs and avoiding the squeaky floorboards like he always did.
He stood there on the bottom of the staircase as he watched the scene in front of his eyes. Aunt Cass was in the kitchen sitting on a chair, and there were two men with her. They were using the same kind of clothes: blue shirts with a funny hat. Hiro had seen men like those on the TV the night before, but he had never seen them in real life. He noticed Cass seemed to be crying. Well, her body was shaking.
Hiro wanted to approach them and ask what was happening, but maybe because he was curious or afraid, he decided to stay where he was. Nobody seemed to have noticed him anyway. He sat down on the floor, being careful to hide behind the balustrade, and watched.
"Are you sure this is the most recent picture of him you have?" One of the men asked as he held a picture and showed it to Aunt Cass. Hiro tried to see what picture it was, but the man held it with its back on Hiro.
"Yes." Aunt Cass said. Her voice was raspy and weird, maybe she was really crying. "He looks exactly like that. Well, maybe his hair is a little longer right now. But that's him."
"Can you describe us how he was dressed?"
"Sure, hum..." She said as she put her hands together and looked up to think. "I think he was wearing black shoes and a green pair of pants... I don't remember the shirt, but I told him to get his jacket because it was cold outside. It's a purple jacket. And he was wearing his lucky cap. He always wears it."
Hiro gulped. The only person in the world who owned a lucky cap was Tadashi. Why was Aunt Cass describing Tadashi to those men? And where was he? That didn't make any sense.
"How is this cap?" The man asked again.
"It's a dark blue and it has a symbol in it..." She said as she tapped her foot and tried to remember.
Without thinking at all, Hiro stood up and gave a step forward, finally showing himself. "It's black."
The three adults turned their heads to look at the infant who stood near the staircase. He had a serious look in his face as he looked to the three of them. Before they could ask anything, he walked toward Aunt Cass and started to speak again. "His lucky cap is black. It only looks dark blue because of the lights. But it's black."
"Hiro." Aunt Cass said as she sighed and stood up to walk up to him. She wiped some tears away before picking him up. "What are you doing here? You should be sleeping." She said as she forced a smile. Hiro stared at her and glanced at the men in his kitchen. Her smile didn't make him smile like she wanted.
"Aunt Cass, who are those men? Where's Dashi? Why are you describing him to them?" He asked in a row. She gasped and bit her lip as she looked to the cops and nodded toward the front door.
"I think we have enough information now. We'll let you know if we find anything." One of them said as he nodded and they walked to the door. Hiro and Cass watched in silence until they were out of the house and the door was closed. Hiro could see that it was starting to rain outside when they opened the door.
"Hiro..." She started to say.
"Who were them? Where's Dashi? Why were you describing him to them?" He asked again.
"Hiro... You see..." She sighed and sat down with Hiro on her lap. Hiro looked at her as she stared at the ceiling, as if she was looking for the right words or didn't know how to say something.
"What's happening?" Hiro asked as he folded his arms and looked at her in wonder. She couldn't help but smile a little at her nephew's intelligence, but her smile soon faded when she realized she had to answer him.
"Hiro, you see... Tadashi... He left the house a few hours ago with his bike to go play with his friends. I think you were sleeping when he left." She looked down, avoiding his eyes. He raised an eyebrow.
"Ok?" Hiro said when she kept staring at the floor and didn't say anything else.
"Hiro." She held his hand with hers and sighed as she lifted her eyes from the floor to look at him. "He still hasn't come back."
Hiro blinked in surprise. He could be way too smart for his young age, but he was also too innocent to realize what that sentence could mean. "When will he return, then? It's way past bedtime. Is he in trouble?"
Cass took a deep breath and tried to hold the tears. "I don't know, Hiro. I hope he isn't in trouble. I really hope he isn't."
"What do you mean, Aunt Cass?" He asked, tilting his head. Cass knew she should come up with some kind of lie, but Hiro was way too smart to let that go. But how could she tell him the truth?
"Hiro, you see... He should be back by now. He really should be back by now. But he isn't, so I called those men to help us look for him. And they're looking for him right now, ok?"
"Hum." Hiro said as he looked down and blinked again, trying to process that new information. "I see. So... When will he return?"
She shook her head, and now she couldn't help the tears that started to run down her face. "Hiro, I don't know... I really don't know. I don't know where he is and I don't know when he will return. In fact..." She gasped and wiped the tears away. "He may never come back, Hiro. Something bad may have happened with him."
Cass didn't realize what she was saying until it was too late. She looked at his scared eyes and forced a smile, but he remained in shock. "D-Dashi may n-never c-come b-b-back? What d-do you mean b-by that, aunt C-Cass?"
She widened her eyes at Hiro's stuttering. He hadn't stuttered like that ever since he was two. "Hiro, I'll put you back in bed. Let's go..." She stood up and put him on the ground, grabbing his hand to lead him upstairs. But he refused to follow her. Outside, the rain had already started to fall and the drops hit against the glass. Hiro's heart started to beat as loud as the thunders as he pulled his hand away from Cass'.
"I don't want to sleep! I have t-to wait for D-Dashi! He always t-tucks me in. I have t-to wait for him!" He said as he sat down on the floor and folded his arms. Cass opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and sighed in defeat. She knew he wasn't going to sleep, and neither was she. They were too worried.
"Ok, Hiro." She wiped another tear. "You can wait for him. But you should try to get some rest too. I'm sure Tadashi's fine." She forced a smile and reached out for him. It took him a while to grab her hand and stand up, but he quickly released his hand from hers and ran to the bottom of the staircase.
"I'll wait for him in my room. But I won't sleep!" He stomped his foot and ran upstairs, ignoring Aunt Cass' attempts to call him. She just shook her head and tried not to think about Tadashi as she went to her own room.
'Dashi will come back. He is alright. Dashi will come back.' Hiro thought to himself as he climbed up his bed and put his head on the pillow. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew it couldn't be anything good. Whatever was happening, there was a chance Tadashi wasn't coming back.
Hiro sat up on the bed and tried to catch his breath. He couldn't sleep. But he wasn't going to sleep anyway until Tadashi came back. But what if he never came back? Hiro couldn't stay without his brother. Hiro needed Tadashi. He wanted Tadashi to be back. And soon.
"D-Dashi will b-be b-back, right? He's coming home. He's alright." Hiro said to himself as he clutched his stuffed robot. He was in complete darkness and silence, when suddenly another thunder and another lightning invaded the room. Hiro gasped and fell on the floor with fright, hitting his head.
"D-Dashi... Help..." He muttered as he rubbed the back of his head and sat up on the floor, leaning against the wall. If Tadashi was there, he would be by his side already to help him. But Tadashi wasn't there. Hiro felt tightness in his chest as his breath shortened. He tried to take deep breaths like Tadashi always told him to do when he got nervous, but that didn't seem to be working that time.
He put his hand to his chest and put some pressure where it was, trying to get that comforting feeling he had whenever Tadashi hugged him. But it wasn't working either. As if being alone wasn't scary enough, there was a small irrational part of Hiro telling him that his brother was gone forever. He didn't understand why, but Aunt Cass had told him so.
He felt the tears wanting to run down his face, but he fought against them. He held them back for quite a while, but then another thunder. It was so loud... Hiro didn't like that. The storm got heavier by the minute outside when Hiro finally started to cry. As the tears fell down his face, he begged Tadashi to come back home soon, whenever he was.
Tadashi heard everything Hiro said, but it was almost like his brain couldn't process any new information. Hiro was on his lap, facing the floor. The older one shook his head and sighed as he wrapped his arms around Hiro and gave him a hug.
"I'm sorry, Hiro. I'm so sorry." He didn't quite know why he was apologizing, but it felt the right thing to do in that moment. "I... I never imagined I could be the reason why you're afraid of storms, but... I'm sorry."
Hiro wrapped his arms around Tadashi and sighed as well. Then he quickly pulled away from the hug and folded his arms, making Tadashi confused. "Really, what were you thinking? You... You can't leave like that and... That was so... You made me mad!"
Tadashi couldn't help but smile a little. His brother sounded exactly like Aunt Cass on that stormy night, nine years before. The night Tadashi disappeared. He could remember it very well; he was going home when a someone with a motorcycle hit his bike. He fell and passed out. When the cops found him, he was still unconscious; not to mention wet because of the rain. That caused him to skip school for a whole week because of a really bad cold.
He hadn't thought about that night for a really long time. Mostly because it didn't feel important to him. He was just unlucky enough to pass out in a desert street where no one could see him - back in his childhood when San Fransokyo wasn't that big. Not to mention that whoever hit him wasn't decent enough to stop and help like they should have done.
When they found him and took him to the hospital, it wasn't even midnight. He couldn't help but think Aunt Cass had overreacted. He wasn't dead or anything. In fact, all that happened was that he had broken his left arm when he fell. Cass almost strangled him when he told her not to worry about him, but he really thought it wasn't anything worth worrying about.
"I'm sorry that I made you worried. But there was nothing to worry about."
"Would you stop doing that?" Hiro said with a serious voice. Tadashi raised an eyebrow.
"Doing… What?"
Hiro sniffed again. "You… You always say n-not to worry ab-about you, as if… As if it didn't mat… Matter when you get hurt. Aunt C-Cass said you could… You could have d-died that night! You… You can't die, Dashi!"
"Hiro, I… I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt this way, and I…" Tadashi sighed as he kissed Hiro on the forehead. The little boy sniffed and leaned his head against Tadashi's chest, trying to hear his brother's heartbeat again. It always made him feel better. Then he pulled back and placed a kiss on Tadashi's cheek, which made the older one smile and raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"It's just..." Hiro started, wiping some tears away. "I lost mom and d-dad. I thought I had lost you too, and... I can't..."
"Oh, Hiro." Tadashi said as he hugged Hiro once more. "I'm really sorry. But you don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere." He said as he hugged his brother and tapped his back. Hiro smiled, but gasped again when he heard the rain against the window and the wind whistling outside. Hiro tugged on Tadashi's shirt and rubbed his head on his brother's chest.
"What about we go to sleep now?" Tadashi whispered, smiling and looking into Hiro's eyes.
"O-Ok... Can I sleep with you?"
"Of course you can." Tadashi smiled as he stood up and placed Hiro in bed, lying down by his side soon after. Hiro waited until Tadashi was by his side and wrapped his arms around Tadashi's neck, leaning his head on the crook of his brother's neck, so that he could feel Tadashi's breath on his face. The older one smiled and hugged Hiro back after pulling up the blanket to make them warm.
"Night, Hiro."
Another thunder rumbled outside, loud and strong. But for the first time, Hiro didn't show any signs of fear. He just took a deep breath and tightened the hug he was giving his brother, who looked at him in surprise and smiled.
"Night, Dashi."
Yeah... I'm sorry.
This is actually based off something that happened with my friend when I was around nine. It was pretty much exactly how it happened here, except that he didn't get to break his arm. I considered Hiro being afraid of storms because of his parents (like having they dying on a stormy night or something) but then I thought that if Hiro doesn't remember them at all, it wouldn't make sense if they were the reason.
So of course it had to have something to do with Tadashi! Well, I hope this wasn't silly or anything. Honestly, this was hard to write because I don't know what's going on Hiro's mind! I mean, I was not really sure on whether he should question the fact that Tadashi was way younger when he disappeared than he is now (Since Hiro doesn't really understand he should be fourteen). I decided not to do it because I didn't want to break the moment. So I suppose Hiro just thinks Tadashi was already eighteen years old when he disappeared.
In case anyone is confused, Tadashi disappeared when Hiro was five for the first time and so Tadashi was around nine or ten. They never really said how old Tadashi is on the movie, but I like to think he's around five years older than Hiro.
Well, this took a while. Next chapter will take a little longer to be done because it will be long. I may have to split it up in two chapters if it gets too long.
I hope you enjoyed. Oh, thanks to everyone who reviewed! I would like to send each one of you a reply but I don't really like the replying system of this site. So I would like to thank you all here: Thank you very much for your comments :D
This note is quite long already, so see yah!
