Hello guys!

It has been a while ever since I updated this fic. I was a little nervous because chapter 12 got a lot of positive reviews and I didn't want to disappoint you guys with this. Also, I graduated High School! I'm really happy but also a little sad that it's over. Well, out with the old and in with the new. And my college results come out today. Gosh, do I know how Hiro felt before his presentation now!

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Thanks for reading.


Tadashi ran so fast toward the door that when he tried to turn to enter the living room he slipped across the floor and bumped into the wall, losing his balance and falling on the floor with a thud as his cap flew away from him. He let out a cry and wrapped his arms around his head in pain. However, it soon went away when he remembered what had happened. In less than a second, Tadashi shook his head and jumped up, running downstairs.

When he got to the kitchen, Tadashi found the front door to be half-open, the wind made it swing back and forth. Only then, Tadashi noticed it was raining very hard outside; so hard that the kitchen floor was all wet. He gulped and looked around, calling Hiro's name, hoping that his brother had given up on running away when he saw that storm. He waited and panted, but there was no reply. Hiro wasn't there, which meant he had left under that rain.

The first thing that came up on Tadashi's mind was his inner big brother worrying about how Hiro could get a cold under that rain. Moreover, when a loud thunder rumbled outside, it escalated to the thought that Hiro could get hurt if he tried to walk under such storm. Not only that, he had left for a bot fight – and those were dangerous. Panic took control of Tadashi as he looked for his keys, knocking everything else that was on the table before he found them. Then he put on his jacket and rushed outside, slamming the door behind him closed.

Tadashi jumped over the stairs to get to his motorbike faster, but when he did so he slipped on the wet street. He tried to keep his balance, but the raindrops were too many and too strong and pushed his body down. Tadashi fell on the ground, his back hitting the hard concrete curb with the strength of his own weight.

He felt it burning; at first, it felt like a tiny flame that soon became a huge fire and then spread throughout his body. Tadashi's eyes clenched closed and he tried to scream, but his voice was lost in his throat, and he choked when the rain filled his mouth and made it hard to breathe. The dirty water that ran on the road soaked the back of all of Tadashi's clothes, causing him to shiver with the cold. He tried to open his eyes, but the rain got heavier and whenever he tried to do so the drops would hit his eyes painfully.

New strength Tadashi didn't even know he had suddenly came to him when he remembered what he was supposed to do. While he hoped that he hadn't broken or snapped anything, he flipped onto his stomach and rose from the ground, spitting out the water that had gotten in his mouth. His vision was blurred and he staggered around for a while, feeling like his legs were somehow lighter than the upper part of his body. He stood still and waited until he could feel his feet again. His back still hurt from his fall, but at least now, it was possible for him to stand up.

The rain fell from the sky, so heavy that when he looked ahead there didn't seem to be any space between the drops. The light that came from the few houses that still had them on and the streetlights reflected on the water and made it hard for Tadashi to see his path, and he cursed having let his cap fall in his room because it would be useful now.

He shook his head and jumped on his motorbike, inserting the key and turning it on faster than a lightning. He only had been in such hurry when he had to take Hiro to his college because of his allergy. Tadashi shook his head and concentrated on the road. It was already late, so there weren't many cars in the street, which he was thankful for.

Tadashi drove way over the speed limit and looked to the sides rather than looking ahead as he called Hiro's name. He knew that it was almost as if he was asking to have an accident, but on that moment all that mattered was finding his brother.

He drove by all the places where he had already found Hiro before, but all of them were empty; except for one or two lonely bot fighters who cursed the rain as they tried to find a place to shelter themselves. The fights had probably been cancelled because of that weather, so there was no reason at all for Hiro to be in those places.

Images of the fight they had before Hiro ran away went through Tadashi's head like a movie, Hiro's angry voice was echoing inside his mind and he felt like he was the worst older brother ever. He kept on driving as the images of the fight were replaced by images of the previous week, when Hiro was a kid. Tadashi cursed and shook his head, trying to get rid of them, but almost against his will, they kept coming back.

Afternoon, Dashi.

I need you, Dashi. Thank you.

Can you sing me a lullaby?

I'm sorry, Dashi.

I love you, T… Dashi!

Tadashi grunted, trying to keep his rational part more active than the emotional, but with all that had happened, it was nearly impossible. His hands curled around the handlebars of his motorbike until his knuckles whitened. He needed to control himself and concentrate, he had to find his brother, he had to…

A car horn brought Tadashi back to reality, but he didn't have time to think. His head shot up and his eyes widened; and then before he knew it, he was flung into the air as he heard a very loud clash. Tadashi hit the ground with a wet thud, and he rolled over until he hit several trashcans, hurting his back again.

Now not only he felt a sharp pain in his back, Tadashi's belly was stinging from being scraped against the asphalt when he fell. He also noticed that now his leg was hurting as well. In fact, his whole body seemed to hurt. He sat up on his elbows and looked around, his vision was blurry and the rain made it hard to see anything clearer, but he saw it when the car that had hit him simply turned around and drove away.

Had it been any other day, Tadashi would have run after the car and taken any measures that he found necessary. However, being hit by a car was nothing when he was still trying to find his brother – that could be in danger.

Tadashi groaned in annoyance, thinking that it was pretty much the accident he had had when he was ten, all over again. Thankfully, this time he didn't get unconscious. He looked at his leg and saw that he had a huge cut on it; his blood ran down his ankle and soaked his socks. It was stinging and burning, but not enough to keep him from walking, so he stood up and put his hands to his head, which was pounding like crazy.

Giving up was not something Tadashi did that easily, but he had to admit himself that searching for Hiro alone, in the middle of that rain and without a clue about where Hiro had gone was useless. He had to admit that, even if he was Hiro's big brother, there were things he could not do for him.

It was time to give up and go home. He would have to call the police to ask them help to find Hiro, and Aunt Cass certainly was going to find out that Tadashi let him run away. All Tadashi had to do was watch over his younger brother, and he failed. When he thought of disappointing his aunt, his heart ached. But it ached even more when he realized that Hiro was still out there, somewhere, alone; and there was nothing Tadashi could do to help.

The rain was finally starting to stop, and Tadashi thanked the skies. He looked around and searched for his motorbike. It was on the floor, a few feet away from him. As he approached it, he saw that the front had been damaged and its headlight was broken. The handlebars seemed to be fine, but the key whole had been smashed and now Tadashi couldn't introduce the key, which meant he couldn't turn on his motorbike.

With a sigh, Tadashi pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed his motorbike until it was on the sidewalk, leaving it under the awning of a store to keep it sheltered from the rain. He then reached for his phone in his pocket. The screen was cracked, but thankfully, it still worked. As he unlocked it, he saw it was almost one in the morning.

Feeling guilty, he went to his contacts and called Wasabi. It rang five times before his friend picked up.

"Hum, oh?" Wasabi said with a sleepy voice in a failed attempt to say hello.

"Hey, Wasabi." Tadashi sighed. "I'm sorry to be calling so late, but I need help and I didn't know who else to call."

"Tadashi?" Wasabi grunted.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I need help. It's ok if you can't, though…"

"What? Help? What do you need help with?" Wasabi interrupted, getting more awake when he began to get worried.

Tadashi sighed again and looked around. "I need you to come and pick me up so I can go home, please. My motorbike broke and I don't have the money for a taxi."

"Pick you up?" Wasabi sat up on his bed. "It's midnight, where are you?"

"I am…" Tadashi leaned forward so that he could see the sign that was being covered by the awning above him. "Street 48. You know, near that huge bank. I'm in front of that pet store. Do you think you can come?"

"Hum, sure, I'm going right now. But what happened? What are you doing there? We left you and Hiro a few hours ago, is he all right? Are you alright?"

"I… I'm fine; Wasabi, and well, I hope Hiro is too. Can you please come, then? I'll explain everything when you're here." Tadashi said as he pressed his back against the shop window and slid to the ground, hoping to make his leg feel better if he didn't stand up.

"Well, hum, ok. I'm on my way. Stay there!"

"Thank you." Tadashi said and hung up. The rain was now gone and everything was silent around him. He looked back at his motorbike and reached out for it, touching it on where it had been smashed. His attention went back to his phone when it beeped, warning him that the battery was low.

Before it could turn off, Tadashi dialed Hiro's number and put his phone to his ear. It began to ring, and it rang several times until a recorded message started to play.

Hey, it's Hiro Hamada, can't answer right now, blah, blah, blah. Leave a message if you want.

Tadashi didn't say anything; he just sighed and hung up. Hiro was known for never picking up his phone, but that didn't mean Tadashi wasn't worried about him. He stuck his phone down his pocket right before it turned off for low battery and then he hugged his knees, looking up at the sky.

"Please be alright." He whispered to himself, feeling some tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes.


When Wasabi parked his car in front of the store where Tadashi was, his jaw dropped in surprise, but not because he had seen something amazing.

Tadashi was just terrible. His hair was almost as messy as Hiro's; he had dark circles under his eyes, dirty brown water dripped from his clothes, he had scratches and bruises all over his body and the part of his jeans that covered his right leg was a mess of red and brown under the knee.

"Tadashi!" Wasabi exclaimed. He put his hand on the door handle so that he could leave the car and help his friend, but Tadashi shook his head as in telling him not to do so. Instead, Tadashi quickly walked up to the passenger's seat and entered Wasabi's car, closing the door without saying a word.

"Sorry, I'll probably soil your seat. I can clean it for you tomorrow." Tadashi said, looking ahead with a blank expression as if that was the most natural of all situations and being dirty was the hugest problem he had to worry about at the moment. "Can you take me home now? I need a bath."

Wasabi shook his head in disbelief.

"Tadashi, what even happened to you?" He reached for a tissue – he always had several boxes of those in his car – and handed it to Tadashi. "Are you alright? What happened with your leg? Where's Hiro? What…"

"I screwed up, Wasabi." Tadashi said as he used a tissue to wipe his face, hissing when he touched a cut on his eyebrow that he hadn't noticed before. "I screwed up really badly this time. Can you take me home now?"

Wasabi moved his head, looked at Tadashi's motorbike, and noticed it wasn't all right. "Wait, did you suffer an accident? I think it's better if I take you to a hospital. Also, is your leg bleeding?"

"I am fine." Tadashi rushed out with an angry voice. "I just need to go back home and take a shower, so please, just start driving and take me there!"

Wasabi's eyes widened. He knew that wasn't the usual Tadashi. On their group of friends, Tadashi had always been the one to keep calm through every single situation, and he was the one to come up with solutions to everything. If Tadashi was stressed and nervous, it could only mean that something really bad had happened.

"Alright." Wasabi said. If he knew Tadashi, he was going to calm himself down soon with some time to himself. After that, he started to drive and didn't say anything else, giving Tadashi some personal space.

The ride was silent for a while until Tadashi sighed and buried his face in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Wasabi. I'm so sorry."

"Hey, no need to be sorry." Wasabi replied, smiling at his predictable friend. "But would you be mad at me if I asked what happened again?"

Tadashi sighed and leaned against his seat.

"I screwed up, that's it. I told Hiro about, you know, him being a kid for the past week. He freaked out and I didn't bother to hold him back and then he ran away from home. The genius here decided to go after him under that storm and I got hurt like, three times; until a car hit me and ruined my motorbike. Now Hiro's somewhere out there, under the rain, maybe hurt, and there's nothing I can do to help."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Some older brother I turned out to be." He uttered under his breath.

Wasabi nodded and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Tadashi, you can't blame yourself for everything. Hiro's a human being, and he's bound to make bad decisions and mistakes, like everyone is. In fact, I know this isn't the first time he's run away from home, because you always talk about how he escapes all the time to go to bot-fights."

"It's different this time." Tadashi said, biting his lower lip. "I was there, Wasabi. He always escapes when I'm sleeping or busy with something else. But I was there, I was holding him…" Tadashi looked at his hands, helpless. "I was holding him, but I let him go. In fact… I sort of told him to go away, and that I didn't care for him." Tadashi felt someone had stabbed his heart with a sharp knife when he realized what he had said. "If he's in danger now, it's my fault. This is all my fault."

Wasabi stopped at a red light, even if the streets were empty. "Tadashi, you were probably just stressed like you are now. I know how much you love your brother. Especially after what you've been through last week, it's clear that he means more to you than anything else. And I know you'll hate me for saying this, but there are things you can't do for him."

Tadashi pouted and looked at Wasabi with a frown.

"I know," Wasabi continued before Tadashi could interrupt. "I know you want your brother to be alright, and you'll always take care of him, and everything else. I know it all, Tadashi; I was there by your side when you had to take care of him as a kid. But listen to me: you're only human, Tadashi. You are going to make mistakes eventually, like letting Hiro go because you two had a fight. But still, you can't blame yourself for every time he gets into trouble."

Tadashi pretended to be distracted watching the world outside his window.

"How do you know we had a fight?"

Wasabi's car began to move again when the light became green and then he raised an eyebrow at Tadashi.

"You just said you told your brother to go away and that you didn't care about him. That's not the usual you. I'm sure you only said that because you were mad at him and that usually happens when you two fight."

Tadashi smiled and nodded. Wasabi was right. Tadashi never would have told his brother to run away like that if he wasn't mad.

"How do you know so much about my relationship with Hiro?" He asked as he ran his fingers through his wet hair in an attempt to dry it.

Wasabi let out a laugh. "You may not realize it, but you talk about him all the time. Seriously, out of ten words that come out of your mouth, nine or so have to do with your brother."

Tadashi laughed as well, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"To be honest… I wasn't mad at Hiro. I just…" He forced a chuckle and shrugged. "I don't know. I think I was mad because he wasn't a kid anymore, you know? Like, it's stupid, but deep inside I was hoping we could keep him like that forever. I... I got attached to little Hiro." He sighed. "How stupid of me."

"You're not stupid. To be quite honest, we all were expecting to keep him like that, even if we knew we couldn't. Because of your Aunt Cass and because it wouldn't be right, in the end we had to bring him back. But your brother is smart. I'm sure he's fine."

Tadashi's heart slowed down as he smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Wasabi." He then looked at his leg and noticed it was still bleeding. The cut certainly was deeper than he first thought. "Uh, do you think we could stop in a drugstore or something? I might need some bandage for this thing."

Wasabi nodded and smiled as he turned right, while Tadashi looked at the sky again and hoped his friend was right about Hiro being fine.


"Thanks a lot for the ride, Wasabi. Sorry about the smudge on your seat." Tadashi said as he left Wasabi's car that was parked in front of the cafe. His leg was now wrapped around several coats of bandage to stop his bleeding.

"No problem, buddy." Wasabi replied as he yawned. "Good luck with everything."

Tadashi nodded and waved goodbye as Wasabi drove away. Then he turned around and looked for his keys in his pocket, picking them up to unlock the door. He almost fell over when he entered the kitchen, forgetting that the earlier rain had made the floor all wet. Luckily he was able to regain balance before he could fall.

"I think I've fallen enough times for the night." He giggled as he walked past the puddle. He made a mental note to clean that mess in the next day, before Aunt Cass arrived.

Tadashi slowly walked up the stairs because of his sore body. As he did so, he pondered about everything Wasabi had said on their way and about everything Tadashi had thought before the ride.

Tadashi knew he was only human, but not where his brother was concerned. For Hiro, he would do things that would be considered crazy or impossible. But his friend was right: Hiro was a human too, he was going to do things that Tadashi couldn't control, and perhaps he did need to give Hiro some more space to grow up.

But Tadashi was still going to call the police to help look for Hiro.

He stopped in the kitchen after the first flight of stairs and reached for his phone. As he did so, he tried to keep himself calm. Maybe he had been an overprotective brother. Sure, what Hiro did was wrong – and sometimes illegal – but aside from the bot-fights, he hadn't really done anything stupid or dangerous.

Hiro wasn't just a toddler who needed to be constantly watched. Not anymore, at least.

Tadashi sighed and pressed his back against the wall, rubbing his head. It was too much to think about at the same time. All he wanted to do was lay down in bed and sleep, but there was no way he was going to do that until his brother was safe, at home.

He lifted his phone to look at the screen, and then groaned when he remembered he didn't have any battery left. The black screen seemed to be mocking him, somehow, but everything around him seemed to be doing the same thing. Because Tadashi felt like a failure realizing he wasn't the perfect big brother he thought he was, or that he tried to be.

With another groan, Tadashi started to go upstairs to his room so that he could charge his phone and call for help. However, he stopped in his tracks when he heard a noise coming from above.

The surroundings were very quiet, aside from the noise that some few lonely drops made when they fell from the sky, so it was very unlikely that he would be mistaken about what he had heard. He had heard a noise, and it had come from his room.

Tadashi looked around and straightened himself up. He tried to calm down by thinking it was probably just Mochi, but that theory died right away when he looked down and saw the cat rubbing his head against his legs.

"Oh, boy." Tadashi whispered. He was all hurt, his motorbike was broken, his phone had no battery and he had lost his brother. Having someone breaking into the house was just what he needed to make that a perfect day.

Tadashi tilted his head and walked up the remaining of the flight of stairs, until he was standing on the doorstep of his room, and carefully peeked inside; trying to be as silent as possible. The room's lights were off, so all he could see were faint shadows; even if he was almost sure he had let the lights on when he left. So far, he hadn't seen anyone in his room, but that somehow only made him more nervous.

"Tadashi?"

Tadashi's heart started to beat fast; first because the sudden call in the darkness startled him, but then it sped up even more when his brain had time to process what had just happened and he recognized whose voice that was.

With a gasp, Tadashi turned around and started to grope the wall behind him, searching for the light switch. After a few failed tries, he managed to find it and soon the lights were on again.

Once the room was illuminated, Tadashi's eyes quickly wandered around until they fell upon his brother.

Hiro was sitting on the floor, with his back pressed against his bed. His clothes and hair were all soaked, and several drops of water ran down his face; but most of them were in fact his tears. He was holding Tadashi's lucky cap in his hands and panting lightly. He also had a scratch on his knee, but it wasn't bleeding or anything. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as soon as he saw his older brother.

"Hiro," Tadashi said as he let out a relieved sigh and started to walk toward his brother, "There you are. I was about to call the p..."

Tadashi was interrupted when Hiro stood up in a jump, releasing Tadashi's cap; and ran toward him, wrapping his arms around Tadashi and burying his face on Tadashi's chest. Tadashi gasped with the sudden touch, but got even more confused when he looked down and realized that Hiro was crying. And not just sobbing, he was crying out loud; with tears running down his face.

Tadashi shook his head and frowned, confused. He had many things in mind that he still needed to sort out, but all his doubts suddenly lost importance when he realized that his brother was crying.

Putting his hands on his brother's shoulders, Tadashi softly pushed Hiro away until they were no longer hugging, and then Tadashi knelt down and looked up at Hiro, who looked scared and confused. He moved one hand to wipe Hiro's tears away, but soon there were more running down his face. Hiro's chest went up and down fast because of his accelerated breath, and his big brown eyes stared right into Tadashi's.

"Hiro, what's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?" Tadashi asked, eyeing his brother quickly, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him aside from the scratch on his knee.

"I... I thought..." Hiro's lower lip quivered, a few soft noises leaving his mouth when he tried to word his thoughts but failed. He looked to the side and closed his eyes, as if he was ashamed of letting his brother see him like that.

Suddenly, Tadashi seemed to be in front of the little Hiro who couldn't speak because he had had a nightmare, scared and helpless. Tadashi looked down, thoughtful, and then sighed. Taking a deep breath, he wrapped his arms around Hiro and brought him close in a hug. Hiro stilled with the touch, and Tadashi knew he was probably going to pull away like he always did.

However, he didn't.

Hiro wrapped his arms around Tadashi's neck and buried his face on Tadashi's shoulder; kneeling down as well. He was still crying, but he had started to calm down as his heartbeat wasn't fast like before. Tadashi's eyes widened in surprise, but then he smiled and tightened the grip around his brother, slowly positioning himself better to cradle Hiro in his lap.

"It's alright, everything is fine, you're going to be ok." Tadashi didn't know how Hiro had managed to enter the house, or where Hiro had been after they had that fight, he didn't even understand why Hiro was crying so hard. But on that moment, calming him down was all that mattered. And more, Hiro was hugging him - as a fourteen year old. That was almost a historical event.

After a few minutes Hiro stopped crying, tears no longer left his eyes as he took a deep breath. Tadashi expected him to pull away, but Hiro didn't move. He kept hugging Tadashi, rubbing his face on Tadashi's neck. His heartbeat had slowed down, but it was still loud enough for Tadashi to hear it, meaning that Hiro was still not calm enough.

Tadashi wasn't going to pull away until Hiro did so.

Without ever letting Hiro go, Tadashi sat down on the floor and crossed his legs, adjusting his brother in his lap. And just like he had done a few days before, he started to rock their bodies in a comforting motion. Usually Hiro would find that silly, but that night, for some reason, he didn't seem to mind it. He just stayed there, clinging to his brother as if he was his source of life.

"Everything is alright." Tadashi assured him, tapping his back. "You're alright."

Hiro grunted, but didn't say anything.

After a deep breath, Tadashi ran his fingers through Hiro's hair and before he knew it, he was humming the lullaby his mother sang him, and that he sang to Hiro when he was afraid of the storm. If it worked then, it should work now.

Unbeknown to Tadashi, Hiro was whispering the lyrics to that song as his older brother hummed it.


Wow, Tadashi centered chapter. It's been a while since I wrote one like this. Well, he is my favorite character, so it was bound to happen.

It took me so long to get this done! Both because it was so long (5,000+ words) and because I was just extremely lazy. I mean, I started this over a month ago. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I hope you do get what that last line is suppose to imply :)

See yah next chapter!

Update: I took 700 out of 1000 on my test! Can't say I don't wish I had done better, but at least I do stand a chance of getting into the college I want. Wish me luck!