Two weeks later…
Radiating sun light care freely made its way into the ward through the wide opened window, waking up the comfortably slept family in their own beds—Nobuyuki on his bed, Ina on the other, while Yukimura on the couch—The first one to respond was obviously Nobuyuki who fluttered his eyelids to adjust the darkness in his eyes to the overwhelming orange light.
He put light glimpses on his still sleeping brother and wife, then to the clock in front of him.
'Eleven a.m. What?!' He quickly glanced to the calendar below the clock and slapped his forehead, releasing subtle hiss that fogged his green oxygen mask. It still hadn't clicked that his arm MOVED on his command.
'Sunday.' He glanced back to the left and smiled briefly. I suppose I should leave them be. Proper sleep is their first priority.
The oldest Sanada brother peevishly grimaced and hissed as his body rejected his desire to get up. His heart and head throbbed like hell.(1)くそう。。。Well, what do you expect? He had just joined the world of living after fourteen months of total sleep. Moving around freely was like he wanted to lay his foot on the moon without a rocket.
Flashes of physical therapy, sitting on a wheelchair—not permanently, probably for few weeks which irritates him—dozens of pills he had to drink every morning, hours of resting—which feels like ages and booooring!—, restrains of working, and his super strict surrogate father mother hen mode—that could be so strict and cruel when it comes to his loved ones— flying in his head. Not to mention his brother that despite being 23, he still has his pleading puppy eyes that would made anybody does everything he asked and Ina with her convincing smooth and clear voice. Actually, Nobuyuki was the only one that could resist them, but when it calls for it, both of them could be very irresistible. Even for him.
Before all of that, he had to face the surgery.
Oh, he had to face their frantic face when he FINALLY endures his heart transplanting surgery, the fear and anxiety of losing him in their eyes. He just can't take this anymore. Silently, he hoped that his father and mother 'kidnapped' him to the white space again and returned him once Shingen DISCHARGES him from the hospital. Sadly, he couldn't. And even if he could, Ina, Yukimura, Shingen, Takatora*, and Yoshitsugu* would drag him out to the living and kill him again. Personally. And they're going to enjoy it till his very last drop of blood.
'Wait a second.' Nobuyuki gingerly moves his arms up straight and reflexes his fingers. They MOVED! Finally! Some progress! Yukimura, Ina, and Shingen would be so delighted!
The door creaked to reveal his father's lab robed figure.
Speak of the devil.
Good morning, Father. He fixed his gaze to be warm enough so he wouldn't startle his surrogate father.
Nobuyuki! You're awake! Within his mind, Nobuyuki was so grateful his vocal cord remained silent, had he didn't greet with his eyes, Shingen would have surely shook the entire ward with his over loud shout.
—Okay, add Shingen to eye reader list—
Shingen sat next to him, giving his hand a tight grip, staring his silvery grey beads warmly.
I'm sorry for burdening you, Father.
Oh you selfless boy. Just what expected from a selfless man such as his eldest son. He had nearly lost his life to save his brother's life, he didn't blame Yukimura for being so brick headed to deliberately disobey him, and instead, he blamed himself. His hand brushed Nobuyuki's hairline to his cheek.
Why you silly. There's nothing to be sorry for. You have never burdened me, son. I'm your father and I'll be blaming myself I I hadn't done this.
It's quite hard to see his genuine smile behind the stupid oxygen mask and the tube. Shingen silently cursed those devices. He missed his son very much. He missed every part of him. His genuine smile, his voice, his immense charisma, his serene persona, and most of all, he missed having his son around in HEALTHY state.
All of a sudden, he remembered when he was operating Nobuyuki. This was something he had asked each and every medic team NOT to tell either Yukimura or Ina about. Having known about this would only pour salt water upon their already wounded hearts.
His eldest son had three heart seizures; and few minutes before the surgery finished, his heart stopped beating, and it required more than three compressions to reawake it. He recalled perfectly the strangling fear within his body. Back then, he was nearly convinced by his subordinates that his beloved son had truly gone, considering the severity of the damages his heart scored. Even if he survived, he would spent the rest of his life bed ridden, unless that he found a matching heart donor—which was a very difficult task since he has negative 0 blood type, and his heart size matched neither western nor eastern people—
'No matter what may happen we must live…' Nobuyuki often spoke that to his younger brother when they were younger, and somehow it gave him courage to summon the last defibrillator to action. The whole team—regarding the delicate machines near them—jumped in joy as the line in EKG zigzagged again.
I thought I had lost you. He breaks the silence as both of them were equally too relieved for surviving this nightmare.
Nobuyuki merely gripped back and stared convincingly.
Father, you know I will never yield to such illnesses. This life is something too valuable to left behind.
Shingen couldn't retreat from his urge to pour out his emotions on his son's wise statement. He quickly and warily embraced his son, allowing tears to freely escape his eyes. Like Yukimura and Ina, he couldn't sleep properly for the last fourteen months, especially when NOT a single doctor he had contacted across the globe for Nobuyuki's specified heart donor had contacted him. Even until now.
Nobuyuki was totally shocked on his father's action. But his instinct ordered him to return the embrace he had so long not experienced. To be honest, Nobuyuki truly missed being hugged by his old man. It's somehow comforting, giving him sense of secure, and assurance that he was loved, wanted, and needed. Last time they were embracing each other was four years ago, when he and Yukimura decided to resident in their childhood house. Both of them had looked forward on seeing each other in persons again. Their wish had been granted, in the way they had never ever, ever wanted to.
They stuck in such manner until every single lump saturated his heart vaporizes away. When it does, Shingen released his arms and returned to his authentic purpose.
He cheerfully clapped and stood on his feet.
"Well, let's see how are you truly going, shall we?" And the examination begins.
Few minutes later…
"Well, it seemed that your lungs has reached 85% recovery, we'll remove the annoying tube now, two more days for the mask, your brain is starting to gain full control of your body, with full and routine physical therapy for five months, you should be moving around freely, if you are able to restrain overworking your mind and body, three weeks should be sufficient," the speech was yet to finish since Shingen hadn't reported his heart status. He was confused how to compose the right word.
Nobuyuki had been prepared to hear 'donor is yet to be found', realizing how Shingen acted. However, the frantic knocks on his door stopped Shingen from his speech.
"Come in,"
"SHINGEN-SAMA!" another white clad doctor was revealed by the door. His body seeks for support towards the door frame. He was so sweaty and panting heavily like he had just run across the Sahara Desert with a bunch of hungry tigers on chase, yet, his facial expressed that he was so relieved, happy like a frog that was finally stomped to the moon.
Nobuyuki recognized the tall mid-forty doctor as Aomori Nagano, Shingen's vice president.
"They… they… found it!" Nagano declared firmly and happily.
Those three words—repetition doesn't count—confuse Nobuyuki, Yukimura, and Ina—the two of them woke up shortly after Shingen began his examination—and grappled Shingen into whooping… childishly.
Shingen danced across the room merrily and soo-not-like-almost-sixty-years-old-men should be acting. The sight confuses the three even more. A brief glimpse of the whole hullabaloo was about Nobuyuki's heart passed their heads. But, it was SHINGEN! One of the best cardiac doctors in the world! Who has many people varied in needs he had been taken care. There's a possibility currently he has patients with Nobuyuki's issues whom also has difficulty on finding the right donor. So they decided to lay low.
Regardless, as Shingen began to shake each of their shoulders, and shout like a child who had just won a ton of Cadbury of, (2) "良かった！良かった！信之！お前の心臓を見つけた！！！"
And it clicked.
It was all along about Nobuyuki's heart donor. Of course! Hello! What was more important than Nobuyuki to Shingen? Obviously he had prioritized him above everyone else. Plus, it took him fourteen months to find a matching donor!
When it does, Yukimura followed his father's unbelievably celebration. He even danced with him. Ina was merely coming to her husband's side and embraced him.
Nobuyuki simply mirrored his wife and shook his head with a grin towards the heartwarming sight his brother and father presented. To Nagano, he smiled and gave a courtly nod, expressing his deepest gratitude. The older man simply bowed back and replied, "It is my duty to serve," as he watched his boss acts like children. Shingen is always cheerful. But he had never seen him this cheerful. So he decided to stay and watched the heartwarming view for a while before returns to Shingen's office to notify the caller.
The hosting hospital agreed and right now the precious organ is on its way from Budapest.
Few days later...
Quite... so quite... too quite even for a hospital!
Dang, such silence sickens him!
Yukimura tapped his fingers on his thighs anxiously. His eyes flexed impatiently to the innocent door across from him.
His eyes took a tentative glance on his crimson watch on his left wrist and glanced back to the door.
It's been five hours but they haven't finished yet! Jeez, it felt like ages!
His body was so tense until a pressure fell on his shoulder.
"It's alright to be worry. But we have to trust them and Nobuyuki-sama."
Yukimura rested his back to the chair. Arms plopped on his body's sides, head tilted up.
"Sister, I know that. I tried to kick that thought away; many times. But..." His body hunched, heads in arms, "I just can't..."
"Is it because that incident*?"
Bull's-eye.
Yukimura exhaled. "Yes,"
Ina constantly gave him a hug.
"Hey, it's alright. I know how you actually feel about it. Nobuyuki-sama is a very strong person. He survived an ancient illness that has no cure before he was even twelve and three lethal heart disorders just six days ago, I'm sure he can make this surgery."
Yukimura buried his left cheek to her head. It feels so good to have someone to comfort within the absence of his older brother. It ALWAYS feels so good. Ina understands her fear of losing his only brother. Ina understands how attached he truly is to his only brother. Ina understands that Nobuyuki is his heart, and without his heart, he will surely die.
The younger brunette could feel her fears as well. Her fear of losing the person destined to paddle the boat of life with her. Fear of losing the man who had won her heart with his indefinably fine nature and loves her sincerely. Fear of losing the man who had colored her life with nothing but happiness, smiles, and laughs. And most of all, her fear of losing of her heart and soul.
Although there's still a lump within his heart, but her sister managed to eases his heart. At least he didn't feel as worry-wart as before. They released their arms to return to each other's seat.
Thirty minutes later, the surgery's finally finished.
"He's alright. The surgery was a success. Nobuyuki will be discharged two weeks from now to endure physical. He still needs a lot of sleep, so don't let him touch any bit of work."
"Can we see him?" Yukimura and Ina gleefully asked in chorus.
"Of course, he's being moved to his ward as we speak. But he's still under sedatives so you can't talk to him yet. Oh, please remain really quite will ya? His new heart needs every second to adapt in Nobuyuki's body. Just a second disturbance, it will be recognized as an antigen and we'll have to start all over again." The last warning was made Ina and Yukimura silently gulped the lump in their throats.
"Thank you!" Both of them hugged Shingen briefly then ran to the nearest lift—Nobuyuki's ward is in the third floor while the surgery ward is in the fourth floor—
Shingen himself merely chuckled merrily. The three of them are really something when it comes about each other.
Nobuyuki's ward, three days later…
For the first time in eons! He's finally going to see the world! (Okay, now I'm exaggerating)
Well, the hospital world. That is.
It was broad day light and it's SPRING! Especially on cherry blossoms' peak season! Now this is sooo click!
Nobuyuki got 'two-sides-of-a-coin' feeling. Good news is he's FINALLY going to spend some quality times with his family on his most favored occasion. And the bad news is, he's on a wheelchair. Mobility limitation, just as he despised, thank you!
Right now, Yukimura and Shingen were helping the older Sanada to get on his despised chair, while Ina was occupying herself with mats and stuffs just behind them.
Few minutes later, they're finished and rolled out to the hospital's huge garden. It's the best place around, where sick people—who qualified doctor's conditions—could enjoy themselves and forgot how they could get in there. Children laughed chasing one another, spouses chit-chatting, and families bonding, there were so many happy smiles. Nobuyuki mentally smiled at the sight.
The garden had been much more beautiful than he remembered. Shingen had added new playground swings and stuffs, new cherry trees, two medium sized extra fountains, and dinning counters. The air felt heaven for his lungs.
He just sat on his chair, pushed by his younger brother to an unoccupied cherry tree. It was the same tree both of them had spent when Nobuyuki was recovering from his illness. Along the paved ground, he closed his eyes as he let the breezing wind gently giving him gentle and cooling touches into his face and hair. When it's finished, he opened his eyes to enjoy the beautiful clear blue sky, decorated with randomly ascending and descending cherry petals like they were dancing along the wind. Sun was radiating its comfortable warm light. Children's merry laughter, spouses' playful teases, siblings' loving bickers, gave the spring another point of being his favored season.
Ah, such peaceful day. Too bad he's casted on his wheelchair. But well, fate can sometimes be quite merciful on their pawns.
When the three arrived at the destined tree, Ina floored the mat while Yukimura and Shingen assisted Nobuyuki to straighten his legs on the mat, and then leaned his back to the sturdy black trunk. Few seconds later, his brother's and wife's heads weighed his shoulders; Shingen laid before his family to rest his cricked back.
"Brother," Yukimura called.
"Yes?" The weight on his left shoulder gently left.
"I think it's time to open your birthday present I got?" he shyly whispered at me.
Ina handed her husband the medium blue box before she was asked, and was thanked for it.
Nobuyuki carefully unwrap the papers, giving his younger brother the aster of waiting. Once it's done, it revealed a beautiful silver Victorinox Swiss-Army watch. The newest Maverick Sport Chronograph model!
Awestruck; Nobuyuki was definitely caught in awestruck. He never followed style or tempted to buy expensive accessories—even when he has the power of buying them as many as he wants—but he knew that this watch could cost a good amount of cash.
Yukimura groggily scratched his head. "Well, I decided to buy you that because your old one was lost in the ocean on that day, and I want you to be more time-conscious, take proper rest, work properly, you know…" Nobuyuki grinned and pulled his brother into a tight hug, cutting the younger brunette from his speech. He couldn't be more prouder to him. He appreciates Yukimura's love for him. The younger brother didn't need to speak it out loud, Nobuyuki's older-brother-instinct has always sucessfully read his feelings. Added the fact that Yukimura had bought the super expensive watch from his own sweats. Since his first semester, Yukimura had won many competitions that flooded him with cash to save. He just wanted to impress him, he wanted to par his older brother's achievements.
"Thank you, Yukimura. I love it. And I appreciate everything."
Yukimura returned the embrace and sunk his head into his brother's shoulder.
"And I'm proud of you. I couldn't ask for a better little brother," with that, Yukimura strenghten his killer hug. He was too happy he got speechless!
After the brothers satisfied, Shingen croaked out some of their embarrasing moments during childhood. When it goes too embarassing, Yukimura would deny it had happened and covered his ears while sing-sung 'I don't hear it!'. Nobuyuki? He was simply grinned and let his father do his humor side.
After some crazy laughs, silence caught them for a while.
"After all these years, I thought we're never going to be together again, Father," Yukimura cracked the silence between us.
Shingen blew out his cackled laugh that—Nobuyuki swore—could resemble Masayuki's insane version. "And I never thought I'd be seeing my sons grow up into handsome gentlemen! And my oldest son has finally wed a fine lady! Oh, what an indefinably happy day!" he faked a cry in Masayuki's manner.
All of them laughed freely, Ina having her cheeks blushed, and Nobuyuki added a sigh. (3)やはり'兄弟'だな・
The laughs were still echoing his ears. He gathered a quick attention to the fountain before him, and put a wide smile at the sight he alone could see.
It was Masayuki and Yamanote, white clad as he had seen them during his coma. They just stood there, Yamanote leaned her head to Masayuki's shoulder, hand placed on her husband's broad chest. Masayuki draped his arm across Yamanote's shoulders. On their faces he saw the brightest; the most genuine, happiest, and the best smile he had ever seen.
His father mischievously winked at him. "I told you so."
Nobuyuki courtly nodded to his parents. His father cheerfully waved goodbye at him and vanished within seconds.
Well, who knew a disastrous incident could bring his family together?
The older Sanada mentally shook his head. All of his sufferings back there on the ocean has been paid off with today's ending. With the best (4) 花見 they had in years, after the death of his parents.
Nobuyuki inclined his head up at the cooling gentle breeze that swept his face and hair.
"Thank you, for attending with us, Father, Mother, I love you,"
(5) 終わり
The end
Translations:
(1) Kusou (swearing)
(2) Yokatta! Yokatta! Nobuyuki! Omae no shinzou wo mitsuketa! (Thank goodness! Thank goodness! They found your heart donor, Nobuyuki!)
(3) Yahari 'kyoudai' dana (They're 'brothers' afterall)
(4) Hanami
(5) Owari (The end)
A/N:
Nobuyuki has short hair in my modern AU fics.
* On Yoshitsugu's and Takatora's I decided to have them as Nobuyuki's close friends, since I haven't seen him interact with others in SW4 movie clips and anime. I didn't mention their visit because… I dunno how?
* It's the Snow Fever I mentioned on the previous chapter which I'd like to make a fic!
And by the way, I'm really sorry about this,
Updating almost a month later -_-
Well, since I have entered academic holidays, I'll try to update or post faster.
Anyways, thank you for your time! I LOVE YOU ALL!
Thank you so much for the favs, follows, and reviews!
Once again, I'm no perfect! Write anything in your mind and tell me how do you think about this, okay? *puppy eyes*
Review Reply time! (Not all reviews are repliable)
Zhohar: really? thanks, bro!
Dlkg: thank you, bro! About Yukimura's girl, I guess I'm gonna write one about that too, but I still haven't have any ideas for it, till now, that is.