Author's note: I'm looking for a Beta Reader.

POV Takao

When I came to breakfast that morning, there was a note on top of my plate. Kaori stared at me from across the table as she watched me see it and lift it to read. I took a sip of my tea and tried to ignore her intensity which mirrored Shin-chan's in almost every way. The inside of the note was a series of very pedestrian questions: name, birth date, parent's names, blood type, but they went on in her perfect penmanship for the entire page.

"It's for a homework assignment, please answer the questions thoughtfully and completely," Kaori said, barely raising her voice enough to be heard. She handed me a pencil and I guessed that meant I was supposed to do it now.

Full Name: 高尾 和成
Age: 17
Birthday: November 21
Blood Type: O

I only got half way through before Shin-chan breezed in and joined us at the table. He saw me writing and I nodded toward his sister, indicating it was her fault. He rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything as he switched on the morning broadcast for Oha Asa.

"Today's forecast looks good for Leos. Make sure you have the proper equipment and you can't go wrong. Libras will be at an all-time high in creativity. Gemini..."

I went back to work on the questionnaire, answering questions about my family, favorite color, foods, books, movies, sports until I'd finally finished it up. I doubled-checked my answers when she gave me a suspicious glare and then handed it to her. She immediately read them and then nodded once as she folded it into her notebook and left the table.

"What was that about?" I asked Shin-chan, but he wasn't paying attention. "Shin-chan?"

"Ah, you weren't paying attention, were you?" he asked as if I hadn't just been trying to get his attention.

"No, I sure wasn't. I was doing your sister's homework."

"I will procure our lucky items. We're going to need them today."

Kaori sat at the table doing her homework while I washed the dishes and Shin-chan dried them. Once the last soapy dish was handed over, I dried my hands and wandered over to the table, where Kaori was drawing so furiously, she didn't even notice me standing over her shoulder to watch.

"Is that me?" I asked. Her cellphone was open to the photo app and she was sketching from a photo she had taken without my knowledge. In it I was sitting with my legs drawn up with a book resting on my knees. She finished a few more sweeps of her pencil, then looked up at me.

"Yes."

"Oh, ok. You're pretty good. Do you want to be a manga-ka someday?"

"Yes."

"Ah, that's really cool. What's the story about?" I asked, pointing at her notebook.

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Why me?"

Her mouth turned down in a frown as she realized she would have to use more than one complete sentence to answer me. She sighed and put down her pencil as if resigning herself to the fact that I was use to bad Midorima behavior and was unlikely to relent.

"The assignment was to write about something life-changing that happened in our family in the last year. I did not want to re-hash my time in the hospital, so you moving in with us what the next biggest thing to happen. Thus the story is about you."

"You have a pretty voice," I told her, having never heard her say so many things at once. She glared at me in response. "Can I see it, once you're done?"

"Yes."

Now that I was paying attention, I caught Kaori snapping pictures of me on the sly all week.

"You know, you could just ask if you need me to pose for you or something."

"Candid pictures are better," she said and I went back to my homework, wondering if that was how Kise felt all the time. I sent him a text, asking how he was doing, since I was thinking of him.

[Takaoicchi! aww thanx for asking. i'm ok. PT is going well & fan girls keep bringing me food and presents.]

[lol, you'll get fat if you eat all that crap]

[i don't eat any of it. i get the nurses to take it down to the ward and give it out to people who don't have visitors]

[that's nice of you]

When there was no reply for fifteen minutes, I put my phone away.

I was sitting in the kitchen, enjoying the sun coming through the open window and working on Coach's new training menu form with my lucky item of the day - a blue-ink fountain pen - when Kaori appeared at my elbow.

"It's done...my manga," Kaori told me clutching the notebook to her chest.

"Cool, can I see it?" I asked, holding out my hand.

"Do you like manga?" she ignored me.

"I do."

"Are you going to be judgmental?" When I looked at her, into her eyes, I saw a little something of what Shin-chan had hinted to in his younger days. He said I wouldn't have wanted to know him like that, and I thought I finally understood why when I saw the suspicion and distrust in her green eyes.

"I hadn't planned on being. Why?"

"I'm worried you won't like the subject matter."

"Ah, well as long as it's not a yaoi story about me and your brother, I think it will be fine."

Her eyes got very wide and my heart raced as I thought about what could be in that book.

"I would never..." she whispered.

"I was just kidding," I said, relieved. "May I see it?"

She nodded and handed me the book. I sat down at the table and she sat so close to me that I could feel her breath rustle my hair.

The first page had text across the top. It said: "My new brother Kazu use to live with his family."

Under the caption, the drawing was of me with my knees drawn up and my arms wrapped around them. I was alone in a smoky room. Behind me was an ominous darkened doorway with a single mote of light and I was surrounded by broken bottles, empty food containers, and a sad-looking teddy bear, leaking stuffing. From off scene, in the margins, was a line of text that said: "Where are you hiding it, you little..."

I'd never told her, nor her brother, nor their parents about the accusations my father would make when he was drunk and out of booze, but I'd heard those words before. I repressed a shiver and flipped to the second page.

"In the beginning," the narration continued on the first page of the two-page spread, "Kazu is as like a broken toy." The figure in the panel that fills the space was me drawn like a marionette. My strings were loose and broken or snarled and tangled. My shoulder was disjointed from the rest of me and she showed that it spun freely with a motions lines beneath it.

"But he doesn't fight us when we try to fix him," said the second panel's blurb. I was still a marionette, but now the family surrounded me and my strings were all straight and whole. My eyes were vacant. Otousan was dressed in his doctor scrubs, an old-fashion reflector on his head and a stethoscope in his ears, the other end was pressed against my chest. "His pulse is good," it said in the balloon coming from his mouth. Okasan had a bowl of water and a cloth and she was moping my head and face clean. "See, he cleans up well," her dialogue read. Shin-chan was there at my hand, wrapping each finger with bandages like his own. My other hand was charred, as if burned. "Even this will heal," were his words.

I turned the page and the next spread was broken into smaller panels. There we were, at the kitchen table that first night eating rice. There were still strings on my arms, but the handle above my head was gone. Then there was me and Otousan as he handed me a present. There was a look of surprise on my face and for the first time I had dialogue. "I don't deserve -" but my words were cut off. "You are our son now," the Otousan character scolded me. The next frame was me, eyes comically manga large, with a glint of light reflecting off the tears collecting on my cheek. I had to admit, if I wasn't the subject of this work, I'd be gushing about how good it was, but I found it difficult to praise my pain.

The next page was a series of drawings where the strings dissolved away and the look in my eyes became more animated, less doll-like, until I became a real person. On the last page was Shin-chan and me, together in the garden. We were leaning against each other, my head was on his shoulder and our fingers were laced together. He was drinking a can of red bean soup while I was tossing pellets to the koi. My smile was timid, but I looked happy for the first time in the manga's pages.

"My new brother Kazu lives with us now and he is safe," it said underneath us. I closed the notebook and took a few seconds to compose my thoughts.

"I didn't realize you knew so much about what happened to me," I said finally, amazed at how composed my voice sounded.

"I didn't until I started researching you. Mom said your dad was an alcoholic and I read about what other people said that was like. I've seen your scars," she put her hand on my back on top of my shirt, just above where those marks she spoke of lived, "but I wanted to show your face, so I changed it to be your hands. I hope you don't mind."

"No," I whispered. The only time she'd touched me in these short months living with the Midorima family was when she was in the hospital, so the gesture was strange and alien.

"Should I change anything? I won't ask you if you liked it, but is it ok?"

"Yeah," I turned and smiled at her. "It's good. You did a great job and when you start publishing manga, I hope you'll publish this one too."

"Really?"

"Yes. It's amazing, you are amazing."

"Ok," she said and took the close notebook from between my hands.

"May I have a copy of the reference photo you took for that last page?"

"I'll email it to you now," she said and left the room.

"It was good, wasn't it?" Shin-chan said from where he stood, hovering in the kitchen door. "She showed me first. She was afraid that it would upset you."

"Yeah, I was surprised at how good she was at capturing that whole time."

"She's very talented," he said. "How about I get a basketball and we go play some one-on-one?"

"That sounds like a good idea," I said and stood and as I did, my legs gave out and I tumbled back down to my knees, tears streaming down my face.