He was swimming in a vast sea. It was beautiful. An odd shade of blue though. Almost metallic.

Suddenly Gatack was beside him. Or had he always been there? His mind still felt a bit muddled. And when did the little Zector become almost as large as him? Ah well. He needed a lift anyway. Sitting astride the now giant metal bug, Kagami felt like Urashimataro.

"Nii saaaaan!"

Kagami turned, almost in slow motion. Oh, it was Ryou. That's right. He was supposed to go to Sealand with him. Their father had promised to take them but his work was "important", after all. Suddenly walking, he went into the park alongside his younger brother.

It eventually became crowded. He passed by several faces he somewhat recalled. He tried not to knock into them but there were just too many. He'd even had to apologized to the small boy he had bumped into hard enough to make him drop his toy telescope.

The boy had only looked at him with a deep expression before disappearing into the crowd. Kagami tried to watch him go, felt it was important to see where he went but Ryou was already dragging him to look at exhibits.

This seemed familiar. Oh, right. The octopus exhibit. Ryou's favorite sea creature. He really didn't get why Ryou enjoyed watching the slimy little things so much. Just looking down at them in their tank, hundreds of the things, squished together; it was grossing him out. And the tentacles! Why were they in the petting tank anyway? Wait, hadn't he done this before…?

"Ah! Look, Nii-san! Ice cream!"

Filled with a sudden sense of half-remembered dread, Kagami couldn't help but turn, even as he felt Ryou shove past him in order to get to his second love: Sea creature shaped popsicles. The force of the secondary shove caused Kagami to teeter, flailing about to try and recapture his balance. But it was too late as he fell into the dark, cold tank. Thrashing to the surface he clawed at the sides trying to get out as quickly as…

He felt the slippery tentacles wrapping their cold lengths around him. Kagami squirmed, trying to escape their iron like grip but he was getting pulled into the tank. Ah! He was going to die! He couldn't escape! The squeezing was so tight it was painful! One of them had a really strong grip on his shoulder and was…

"Oi!"

The octopi were talking! AAAH! He was being assaulted by mutant mollusks! AAAH!

"Wake up, idiot!"

Kagami slowed and opened his eyes. Then grimaced. His body felt really bad, now. Where was he?? Where was Ryou?? He opened his mouth to speak but could only gasp and squirm, trying to stop his body from hurting. He couldn't seem to calm down. He could still feel the cold sensation of…

Fingers were suddenly combing briskly through his hair, the motion like one would do to forcefully calm a child or animal. Kagami stilled. He wasn't…being mauled by octopi. It had been…a dream? He froze when he felt the moist sensation trail down his cheek. A cloth? Oh, that's right. He was…sick. He knew there were other things but his head was too foggy to make sense of anything. If he was being taken care of that could only mean…

"Nnn…Ryou??" He croaked. He couldn't focus on his caretaker's face.

The fingers stilled for a moment before continuing to smooth back his bangs, gentler this time.

Instantly relaxing, Kagami gently smiled up at the blurred shape of what seemed to be his little bro. Ryou and he had always been the only ones to look out for each other like this. Mother had left years ago and Father…had other things to do. The cloth soothed its way down his forehead and Kagami tilted his head to allow the damp cloth access to his neck, enjoying the cooling sensation. Closing his eyes he felt it as Ryou lifted his other hand, which had been holding him down during his frenzied rolls; slowly shift from on top of his shoulder to behind his neck. He felt no reason to fight his head being gently tilted upward.

His eyes fluttered open again when he felt something warm press against his lips. It felt like a cup. Opening his mouth, Kagami slowly drank. It was…delicious. Ryou must have been taking cooking lessons. He felt the warm liquid flow through his body and ease his achy muscles. He was unable to finish, however, and the strong hand gently returned him to the slightly damp pillow. Kagami felt the sheets move about him, becoming untangled from his legs and arms and being moved back into their proper place on top of him. Murmuring his thanks, Kagami slipped back to sleep, completely calmed now.

Tendou pushed the chair he'd been sitting in away from Kagami's bed and, taking the almost-empty cup of tea he'd coaxed Kagami into drinking, walked out of the room silently.