Tori's team played another championship today and won! She's really good!" Meyer's ears pricked up as she heard her brothers voice wafting from one of the rooms down the corridor. Smacking her hand to her forehead, she thanked her lucky stars their mum hadn't come with her to visit him today. Meyer had been beside herself when she had entered her little brothers room to find the room absent. He wasn't meant to be walking around, but of course, he never did listen to anyone. And of course, Meyer didn't want him to get into trouble so she had walked down every corridor, listening out for the little rat's voice. That was an hour ago, and she hadn't heard him at all, and now that she was on her way to the nurses station did she. In his corridor. She was going to kill him.

She heard a mumble of a question and waited to listen for her brother again. She wasn't too keen on knocking on every door to find him and she just hoped he wasn't bothering whoever he was visiting. There was a few moments of silence before she managed to catch his voice again.

"...tain, they all listen to her as well. Well, Yuki sometimes get's grumpy but she's really cool too! She has a funny hair cut too, it's all short around her head but her fringe is really long! Oh, I told you that already? Well she always has this bandana on her wrist that she uses during games, I don't know why though! Red, I think it's her favourite colour." Meyer was ecstatic that her brother was a talkative little thing because she found the room with ease. Taking a deep breath she rapped her knuckles against the wood of the door, waiting for an answer.

"Come in!" Came the overly cheerful reply and Meyer was slightly worried about what was waiting for her inside. Sliding open the door she stepped into the room and her gaze narrowed in on her brother. He wasn't sitting in a chair like she had thought he would, but was sitting on the bed. Not the end of it either, but up near the persons knee like they were good friends. This was even worse. There was a curtain blocking Meyer from being able to see how old this guy was, but she was preparing a lecture in her mind. She wasn't going to let some old pervert talk to her brother and let him sit on the bed that close.

"Hey Tori, I didn't know you were coming in today," Jean grinned cheekily, his eyes flickering to the door behind him, checking for any parents. When he realised there were none he grinned even wide, looking to the guy behind the curtain. "She looks angry."

"You're lucky I didn't tell the nurse you were gone," Meyer snapped before she had a chance to stop herself. She growled at her brother under her breath before walking towards the bed. A large hand wrapped around the curtain, pulling it back and she hesitated. The guy couldn't have been much older than her, with soft brown eyes and messy brown hair. He smiled genuinely at her.

"I'm Kiyoshi Teppei, and it's nice to finally meet the famous oneesan I've heard so much about."

"Jean's been pretty tight lipped about you," Meyer replied as she whacked her brother on the side of his head. He let out a whine and went to grab one of his crutches, more than willing to hit her with it. Meyer was quicker, wrenching the object away from her brother and holding it out away from him.

"That's because you'd tell mum and she'd freak out and call him a pervert," Jean complained, spitting the last word out in English. Meyer looked to Kiyoshi quickly, hoping he didn't understand what Jean had just said. He was either completely unaware or a very good actor. Meyer decided to ignore her brother and turned directly to Kiyoshi.

"I'm sorry if Jean's been bothering you, a lot of the time he has no sense of..."

"It's fine, really. He is rather good company, Tori."

"It's Victor- eh whatever Tori's fine, Teppei." Kiyoshi smiled, completely unbothered by the fact she had called him by his first name and without honorifics, which irked Meyer. She had fully intended to make him uncomfortable but he didn't look like he was going to - wait did he say Kiyoshi Teppei? Why does that name seem so familiar to her?

"Hey, I'm still here too you know! Don't ignore me!" Jean started waving his arms around in the air and tried to get their attention. Kiyoshi looked back to her brother, smiling as if to say 'keep going', which made Meyer sigh. Pulling the chair over with her foot, she collapsed into the cushions. Normally she wouldn't be sitting this close to a complete stranger, but her brother was sitting on his bed and she wasn't about to sit really far away.

"Jean's been telling me about the Generation of Miracles, and only figured out today to also tell me about the rest of your team." Kiyoshi didn't look bothered as Jean 'humphed', crossing his arms over his chest and glowering at Meyer. Of course, she had interrupted time with his friend, but hell would freeze over before she just left him alone.

"Yeah, I was telling him about Yuki. She's really fast, not as fast as Tori but pretty quick. She's really weird as well, like she calls her opponents by weird little nicknames instead of just saying the numbers on their jerseys."

"Most of the time the rest of the team calls them that as well, it makes it easier," Meyer added, not wanting her friend to seem like a strange person. Jean shot her an irritated look for interrupting him before turning back to Kiyoshi.

"Oh, but she's not as weird as Miko-Chan! Miko-Chan grew really tall all of a sudden, she went to England with her mother for a holiday and was shorter than Tori, and then came back and was almost as tall as Kida!"

"Yuki was furious Tamiko was taller than her, but I think Kida was relieved that she was almost the same height..."

"Tori," Jean whined again, leaning forward and trying to swat at his sister in fast little slaps. Meyer leaned back, raised one eyebrow and shook her head at him. She loved her brother, really truly loved her brother but most of the time she wanted to stick his head in a toilet and flush multiple times. She slumped back into her chair, watching as her brother began telling Kiyoshi all about Tori's team mates, which eventually lead into their matches. Meyer zoned Jean's chattery voice out of her ears, closing her eyes and listening to the muffled sounds of her brother talking.

...

Looking into her brothers room Meyer let out sigh. Why did she even both any more? She should just start heading to Kiyoshi's room straight away, the kid was going to be there anyway. She stuck her hands deep in her pockets, staring at the grey walls as she walked down the corridor, wondering how Jean was feeling this morning. Hotaka Sensei had called Meyer and told her Jean had been rather uncooperative in his most recent physiotherapy session and that he wanted to keep Jean in hospital for another week or so.

"Thank my lucky stars for Teppei," Meyer muttered, rolling her eyes upwards before she knocked on Teppei's door. The door was wrenched open, Jean leaning against his crutch and grinning up to Meyer looking like he had just one a prize.

"I told him, I told him that you would be here in the next five minutes and you are! See I win Teppei, I win - where's mum?" Jean's voice changed from one of victory to one of confusion. He leant out of the door, searching up and down the corridor for any sign of their mother. Meyer reached out, ruffling her brothers hair gently before nodding out into the corridor.

"She was called into work," Meyer forced a smile. Jean looked up to her, blinking slowly before bowing his head. He pulled away, making his way back to Kiyoshi, who was holding a handful of cards and looking between Meyer and Jean with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"She's always called into work," Jean muttered, sniffing slightly as he collapsed onto the bed near Kiyoshi's knee. It was almost as though the preteen had decided that spot was his own. He picked up his own hand of cards but looked as though he would have preferred to be doing something productive.

"Mum can't help that she's the only one who..." Meyer trailed off as Jean made it obvious he was going to ignore her. Kiyoshi looked like he was slightly uncomfortable, well as uncomfortable as Kiyoshi could look. Jean threw a card onto the small table where the rest of the cards were lying and Meyer sighed. He wasn't going to leave this room, not until he really truly had to. "Hotaka Sensei called me, and told me you were being difficult in rehabilitation."

"I don't want to wear it. It's itchy and it hurts."

"He said that until you get used to wearing it, it's going to hurt."

"I like using my crutches."

"Frérot, please, you promised you'd try," Meyer tried again. She quickly looked to Kiyoshi, apologising deeply in her mind and hoping that he understood through her expression. He smiled back at her, nodding slightly as he folded his cards together.

"Jean-Kun, we can finish this game later, you should go talk to your..." Jean threw his handful of cards onto the table, shaking his head furiously. Kiyoshi pulled back surprised at the sudden ferocity that Jean displayed. Meyer reached towards her brother, gently rubbing the back of his head as he let out a choked sob.

"I don't want to talk to Tori, I want mum. I want mum to be coming here and telling me off for misbehaving in rehab, I want Hotaka Sensei to be calling mum to pass messages on," Jean sobbed. He grabbed his crutches and threw them to the ground, balling his hands into tight fists before rubbing his eyes. Kiyoshi's mouth was agape, one hand reaching out towards the frail boy sitting on the end of the bed. Meyer wasn't sure what to do, so she rubbed Jean's back as her little brother looked up to her with tear stained cheeks. "Soeur, why doesn't mum want to see me?"

Meyer wrapped her arms around her brothers shoulder and pulled him into a tight hug. It wasn't as though their parents hadn't come to see him while he has been in hospital, in fact their mother almost lost her job because she refused to leave his side until three weeks into his stay. Jean weakly put his arms around Meyer, burying his face in her shoulder as his body began to shake.

"Come on Jean, we'll talk in your room," Meyer smiled as she struggled to fight back tears. The last thing her brother needed was her starting to cry, considering Kiyoshi was starting to well up. She looked to him for a moment, mouthed 'I'll be back', before grabbing her brothers legs just under the thigh. He wrapped his right leg around her, his grip tightening around her as a fresh wave of sobs broke out. Meyer picked him up with a slight amount of struggle compared to usual. He wasn't as heavy as he used to be, but hanging around doing nothing in hospital was making him put on weight. She let out a sigh, knowing that they were never going to mention this again.

...

"I thought you wanted to play basketball," Kiyoshi smiled to Meyer, trying to get her to talk. Meyer simply scowled into her drink. He had mentioned everything under the sun to her during the walk to the kiosk, and only now they were sitting at the tables did he bring up why she had walked away.

"I don't mind playing basketball."

"But you don't want to play with Seirin," Kiyoshi said, his smile dropping slightly. Meyer didn't say anything, just brought the juice to her lips and tipped the glass back. He sat there, staring at her for a few minutes in the silence between them before his eyes turned sad. "No, it's not Seirin. You don't want to play me."

"You know damn well why," Meyer muttered, slumping into the seat. She looked to Kiyoshi for the first time, properly looked to him and she felt unsure all over again. She clenched her jaw, begging him in her mind to not bring up before, but she knew there was little chance.

"The doctor gave me the all clear Tori."

"No, the doctor gave you a year worth of damage to your knee because you're so stubborn."

"And you think one game in the sand is going to make that all the worse?" Kiyoshi tried to smile again but Meyer shook her head. She sipped at her drink again, looking away from him.

"I know you really want to play with your team Teppei, but is basketball really worth all this?" she asked, her breath getting caught in her throat. Kiyoshi tilted her head to the side, his brown eyes not coming off her face. She refused to look at him. This was a recycled arguement, one they'd had many times over in his hospital room after he'd told her why he wasn't having surgery.

"I want to play with Hyu..."

"I know, you want to play with Hyuuga and this is your only chance, blah blah blah, I've heard fifty times over Tep..."

"So why do you keep arguing the point?" Kiyoshi demanded. Meyer slammed her drink on the table, clutching the glass so tight she felt like she was going to crack it. Breathing through her nose deeply, she tried to force her irritated and slightly uncooperative mind to bring the reason forward. Why did she always argue the point?Because her little brother was still in that damn hospital four times a week for physical therapy, or because she was terrified that Kiyoshi was going to cause irrepairable damage? No, the reason was she didn't see basketball as something to risk so much over, but she knew that to Kiyoshi this was so much more than basketball.

"Because I checked the schools contending in the Winter Cup and Kirisaki Dai Ichi is going to be one of your opponents."

"That doesn't..."

"It worries me. I don't think you were meant to come back from that so what is that Bad Boy going to do to make sure you don't come back again at all? He could do the same thing and injure your knee even more!"

"That's a risk but not for certain," Kiyoshi agreed. Meyer released the glass and threw her hands up in the air. Why, why, why did her little brother have to go looking for a new friend while he was in hospital? And why did he have to find this optimistic teddy bear that seemed to have no sense of self preservation?

"We're talking about Hanimaya Makoto, Teppei."

"He's an opponent like any other."

"He's a sadistic bastard who also happens to be a genius!" Meyer didn't mean to be so loud, especially on that point, and she couldn't help but notice a strange few looks her way. She bowed her head, letting her hair fall in front of her face before she looked back up to Kiyoshi. He eyes were soft and attempting to comfort her and she let out a sigh. Resting her elbow on the table, she let her chin collapse onto her palm. This was her brothers fault.