"No."

It took Inaho five long seconds to register his sisters answer; a clear indicator that he was fatigued. It had been a long day. He looked over at her, as she sprawled herself on the couch, a bag of snacks at her side. She reached her hand down into the bag, and procured a handful of some unhealthy snack food, before popping a few into her mouth, and looking over at him.

He was too tired to fight with her. His response was to repeat the statement. "Yuki-nee, pick up Rayet and Inko tomorro-"

"No." Her answer was just as firm and dismissive as the first had been. She was not getting the gravity of his situation. Inaho could not blame her for that, because he had not informed her, and had no intentions of doing so. But he did need this done, and he needed her to understand.

"Yuki-nee, please pick up-"

"Nao-kun." She cut him off, shifting her eyes so that they were squarely on him, and the way she looked at him made him wonder if she did know. If she did understand after all. How many outward signs was he showing? Was his fatigue easy to categorize? He rarely analyzed his own responses to stress, so he didn't know. The slight puff of her lip was a clear sign that she had much more to say, and a blend of curiosity and weariness prompted him to wait. She sighed, wiping her hand off on her pajama pants, and sitting up. She placed the bag of snacks on the floor, and he was too tired to reproach her for it. "I will not pick up your friends at their hotel tomorrow, and I will not take your friends to the museum for you."

She was usually so good about these things. She always knew when he needed something. She wasn't as smart as he was, but she knew him well. She should have known what he needed from her. "Yuki-nee-"

"No." Her answer remained firm. "They came here because they were worried about you. They came here to spend time with you." She paused, and her face softened. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them again they were soft and concerned. "Now, tell me why you want me to do this for you, and why the buttons on your top are not buttoned right."

He looked down, and realized that she was exactly right. His buttons were mismatched. Quite obviously so, in fact. He supposed he had his answer of what basic outward signs of fatigue he showed. Yuki-nee would have had to be blind not to see that one.

He reached down and started rebut toning the shirt. He took his time, methodically feeling the fabric and aligning the proper buttons to the proper button holes. Different answers came to him at every hole, things he could say, things he should not say. Yuki-nee was already concerned, she had said as much. She had already established that he was likely not a proper caregiver (that was a poor choice of words, but it was what went through his head) for Slaine. Yuki-nee was of the opinion that he would be better off in someone else's care. Inaho was apt to agree with her, but that was not going to change anything. What should he tell her, and what should he omit?

"Slaine is being relocated to a military hospital." He finished the fifth of the eight buttons on his top when he said it. As with everything, he said it as abruptly and as forwardly as possible. "It is important that I be there as his representative." Representative was a good word. It was better than caregiver. Slaine was not some petulant child he'd been saddled with.

Yuki-nee did not seem shocked by this answer. In fact, Inaho was surprised to see that she almost looked pleased. Perhaps she was under the assumption that Inaho was relinquishing his duties, as she had advised. The glimmer in her eyes said she knew better, that there was more to the story that he was not sharing with her. "And why is he being relocated to a military hospital?"

"For treatment." He finished buttoning the last button, and froze. He'd messed up. He knew it five seconds after his mouth had closed. He hadn't said enough, if she was suspicious before, she absolutely knew he was up to something now. He hadn't said enough. There could have been so many other things he should have said. It was always the short statements that ruined him.

The look on her face was no longer hard, or playful, or anything he wanted to see. Concern was the dominant emotion, what else was there, he couldn't tell. He could usually read her on a good day. It had not been a good day. "What kind of treatment, Nao-kun?"

The moment of truth. The question was out there. He probably could have diverted her, and she might have let him in other circumstances, but it wasn't going to happen tonight. He thought about why he'd gotten her involved to begin with, and the answer was simple; he had no one else to rely on for this. No other pieces on his board. Just one lone Mustang Leader, who might tell him he was doing something wrong, but that he could rely on to help him regardless. Yuki-nee had always been that. "A chest x-ray, a CT scan, and if the doctors deem it necessary, a bronchoscopy."

She stared at him, unblinking, for 7 seconds."Nao-kun, what is going on?"

He took a deep breath, and looked at the floor for a few moments, before looking up at her again. "The doctor thinks he has developed pneumonia. The chest x-ray will either confirm or disprove it."

She nodded, one arm folding at her side, while she held up the other. One long digit extended from her hand. "Chest x-ray" she said, waving the one finger a little for emphasis. Then another went up. "CT scan?"

Inaho wavered for just a second, before he padded over to the sofa, and sat down next to her. From here, he looked forward, instead of directly at her, but he could see her looking at him from his peripheral vision. "It is possible that the attempted asphyxiation has led to cerebral hypoxia."

She leaned her head forward, so that her face was more obviously in his view. There was worry on her face, and for a moment, he wondered who it was for. "And that is?"

He leaned back into the couch cushions, thankful for once that Yuki-nee had won the argument about which couch to get. This one seemed to engulf a person when they lay back against it. It was normally an unnerving feeling for him to have something other than a cockpit encasing him. At that moment, he felt it was far more comforting than he would be willing to admit. "Hypoxia is a condition in which a part of the body is deprived of oxygen. Cerebral hypoxia deals specifically with the brain. It is common in cases where asphyxiation is attempted."

When he stopped, Yuki-nee waved her hand in a circular motion, and said nothing else. She wanted him to continue. "Cerebral hypoxia can lead to brain damage."

"Brain damage!?" Her surprise was instantaneous. She recoiled in shock, before leaning forward to look at him again. "Wait, wouldn't that have been a little more obvious by now!? It's been five days! The only thing you mentioned was the cold."

"The doctor didn't think it would be an issue, and I assessed that he didn't lose any motor or cognitive skills shortly after the incident. But, he has recently become highly irrational. It is a possibility we should not ignore. A CT scan will give us a better idea if damage in the brain exists."

Yuki-nee looked at him for a few minutes, and he did not look over at her to meet her gaze. He just wanted to sink into the unbelievably cushy couch and fall asleep. "Nao-kun" When she did speak, it sounded sad. She flopped back onto the couch, right next to him. He could feel her arm on his shoulder as she leaned over. "I didn't realize it was so serious. When the Princess-"

"Her Aldnoah factor is a variable we must consider in her case. Her incident seemed far more serious than Slaine's, but she recovered almost instantly with almost no noticeable repercussions. She was also shot twice in the landing castle, and survived. Those are two very serious injuries that a woman of her size has a poor chance of surviving from, yet she survived both. It is possible that her Aldnoah factor has some sort of regenerative capabilities. I was convinced she had died until I saw the broad casts of her look alike. For obvious reasons, no study will ever be conducted to prove or disprove my hypothesis. We should treat Seylum's recover as an isolated, lucky, incident." He had been thinking about her a lot, considering the angles. He was surprised to hear the explanation come out of him as seamlessly as it had. The issue had been on his mind. "It is rare for cases of attempted asphyxiation outside of well controlled environments to have no repercussions."

Yuki-nee leaned over towards him, till her head gently bumped the top of his, and her hair fell into his face. Inaho found he didn't mind. "It's possible then, but we won't know until we check. No use in being pessimistic till then." She hummed for a few seconds, a deep calming sound in the center of her throat, and he could feel the vibrations of it because of how close she was. "There was one more. Tell me you didn't save the worst one for last."

"A bronchoscopy, should it be deemed necessary, will assess any damage to the trachea, also a possible repercussion of the attempted suicide. If the trachea is injured, it is likely minor. A serious injury would have made itself known before now. Slaine has shown difficulty breathing, this could be a side effect of the pneumonia, if that is what he has, but difficulty breathing is a sign of a tracheal fracture. It is possible that if he does have a tracheal fracture, it could have led to pneumonia."

Yuki-nee nodded her head. "Can they fix that?"

Inaho closed his eye, and let himself lean just a hair closer to his sister. "Yes. A tracheal fracture can be fixed through surgery, or a minor one may heal itself with time. If surgery is necessary, we will have to wait. He hasn't eaten in five days, and his sleep patterns are sporadic at best. We also have not been able to procure medical records, though I have requested them from Mars. There could be preexisting conditions to consider. He is too weak right now, and without the proper documentation, should surgery be necessary, we are going into it blind."

"Sounds pretty hopeless." He opened his eye at that statement, and looked up at her. Her eyes were closed, and she looked like she could easily fall asleep right then and there. "Good thing he's got you on his side. You're pretty useful in hopeless situations." She reached down, and lightly grabbed his hand. "Nao-kun, I don't know why you're doing this, working so hard for that boy, but if it was anyone else, they probably would have given up today. He doesn't have any family that will care; there was no one who mourned him when he died. You might never convince me that he's a good person, and that he deserves the dedication you're giving him, but I will support your decisions."

He blinked up at her. "Does that mean you'll pick up Inko and Rayet tomorrow?"

The frown on her face was undeniable. She lifted her head and lightly thumped him with it. "Way to kill the mood, Einstein. Yes, that is what that means."

He settled back into the couch, and let his eye close. It was more comfortable than he'd given it credit in the past, but he rationalized that it was Yuki-nee's warmth that was likely far more comforting. "Yuki-nee,"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."