Okay, this chapter will address the nature of the siblings' relationship but not in graphic detail. Just enough to let you know it wasn't as innocent as the movie; sorry. As well as how people feel about the truth about Tadashi. The whole murdering people thing. Bring on the creepy.
Also the original title of this was "The Crow and the Butterfly" a song by Shinedown. The story was meant to be told in reverse order under that title but I found a better fitting song thanks to Pandora then changed the chapter sequence and the story around a bit. However, "Say You'll Haunt Me" is by Stone Sour. I realized I forgot to change the band name too before posting. Oops. But that also means this chapter was meant to be first.
*SYHM*
When Tadashi told him he'd have a friendly chat with Jimbo and Jumbo, the resulting panic that set in was justified. The titanic twosome ran one of many bot fighting rings in the area and began hassling Hiro for scoring such big wins on their circuit. While short on brains the twins had more than enough brawn apiece to deadlift the lanky teen before turning him into dead meat. They didn't care that Hiro was only twelve, he was cutting into their profit. Their idea of a warning happened to be breaking his left arm three days ago and telling him that they had ideas for how he would pay back what he'd already cost them. Why would they listen to his scrawny sibling?
"Open the door Hiro."
It never in his wildest dreams (or nightmares) occurred to the youngest Hamada that his awesomely dorky, big hearted niisan was a god damned murderer.
"Hiro..."
Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was Jumbo lying next Jimbo both stone cold dead. Both their faces pale and twisted in agony covered in some kinda gross rash. His big brother casually stepping over the bodies to tinker with one of their scrapped bots. After a second, the battery began to spark. Only a bit at first, then more frequent and erratically. Tadashi seemed content with the impending disaster; walking away as if nothing was wrong while the sparks began lighting the bot, work area around it and the twins' clothing on fire. The two caught each other's eye...before Hiro bolted.
What the fuck was he gonna do?! That was just- just too deliberate, too methodical to have been a one time thing. Those idiots were not the first people to meet their demise at Tadashi's hands. So now here he was, back pressed to their locked bedroom door. Heart beating at Mach 2 and shaking like a wet chihuahua. Tadashi on the other side. Aunt Cass was at a baker's convention in LA. Christ, he was all alone with a killer.
"Open the door. Do you want Aunt Cass to come home and see it broken?"
He...he wouldn't. He wouldn't hurt her! Would he? It had been subtle but a threat shaking, the small boy unlatched the deadbolt.
"I'm sorry I scared you." He whispered pulling him close. Frowning when Hiro went rigid in his grasp. Then he sighed. "I had hoped to be done before you caught up."
"Done? You killed them!"
"Of course I did."
"A-are you gonna kill me?" He gulped. That's how it always went in movies. The killer would be willing to butcher loved ones if it meant keeping his grisly secret. It surprised him when his brother flinched back, letting go as if struck. Hurt etched across his face as he turned his brother to face him.
"I'd never hurt you knucklehead. Can't believe you'd even think that." He sighed again while entering the room fully. No evidence of having just committed a double murder. Then again it's been about 30 minutes.
"But what about Aunt Cass?"
"I really don't feel like explaining this to her when she gets home. It's none of her business. But you have a right to know. Just didn't quite figure out how to tell you."
"Tell me what?! That you just killed two guys?!" He couldn't hold it in. "Jesus Christ! Do you realize how much trouble you'll be in if the police find out?!"
"Keep your voice down." His brother rolled his eyes. "If they couldn't figure it out 9 years ago, I doubt they could now. For all anyone knows, an unstable battery cell in one of their bots exploded releasing toxic fumes that suffocated them and set the warehouse on fire."
Nine...
Wait. Tadashi's 16 now. Nine years ago he was 7. When their parents...
"Mom and dad..." he gasped.
"I didn't kill our parents Hiro. A drunk driver did. The same is not true of said driver."
"Y-you were seven! Just a little kid!"
"Actually I succeeded 3 years after that. Amazing what poisons don't have a taste when added to foods. Like sweets and tea handed over by adorable little boys." Tadashi smiled gently running a hand through the younger boy's hair, trailing down his neck.
So began his explanation.
Before their folks died, Dashi had straight up murdered two people. Their first nanny;a happy accident as it showed him he could get rid of problems for good this way. His second botched attempt at getting her canned also taught him that chemistry could be very, very useful. Before that he'd really only considered the biological side of the medical field. Perhaps if that weren't the case, he'd have thought to poison the witch first. But as he looked back on it her having a reaction to pure peanut oil mislabeled as canola oil got her family a tidy sum once they sued the Umimimi Corporation. Also, he wasn't so sure he could have gotten away with that at the time.
The second, a colleague of their mother's. To be fair, he threatened to call social services because he found Tadashi alone with Hiro on several occasions. The guy was just hard up for their mother's research grant. Which she could lose if she did something criminal. Reckless endangerment of a child counted as criminal. So he'd bent over backwards to spy on the family every chance he got and tried to be slick in questioning their eldest child to gather evidence of something neglectful.
Unfortunately for him, ladders can be quite unsafe. Especially if someone is able to push it out from under your dumb ass because you don't understand simple physics. He also wasn't bright enough to tell anyone what he was doing. So his 2 swan dive into their neighbor's empty pool resulted in 'death by misadventure' on the coroner's report. Which is actually a cute legal and clinical way to say 'it's the putz's own fault'. What the hell was he doing on their property anyhow?
Another insult to injury? The entire family was home. The budding serial killer just happened to be the one to call attention to the strange noise and the broken mess he could see through the chain link fence.
Samuel Davis, who turned their folks' car into an accordion, got off with a fine and some community service. Even though his breath at the time could have gotten another person drunk by inhaling it. Even though the lives of two great scientific minds, two parents, two human beings were wiped out in a blink because he just HAD to empty x number of bottles of Fireball before getting behind the wheel. Having connections must be nice.
Which also made him easy to find 3 years late; comfortable enough in his untouchability to be living it up and sponging off his folks. And one rainy Sunday in March, he rang the man's doorbell.
"Whatdya want kid?" Davis growled obviously having been asleep before somebody persistently buzzed him 15 times in a row.
"Sorry to bother you mister but this is for you." Ten year old Tadashi produced a white wicker basket swaddled in matching lace and a ribbon from under his bright yellow rain poncho. Then held it up expectantly.
It turned out to be beautiful gift basket filled with a love letter and all sorts of goodies from a secret admirer. Such as matcha brownies and chocolate hearts, sweet smelling herbal tea bags and a rather expensive bottle of wine. Something obviously put together with a lot of thought, care and a tidy sum of cash.
"Really who's it from? Your sister?" He smirked at the lavish gift. Taking a deep whiff of the wonderful smells it gave off.
"Um no sir. That really pretty lady over-" The child turned to point then blinked as if confused. "-there? She's gone...But she gave me $10 to give this to you a second ago."
Now this made perfect sense. The present reminded him it was indeed White Day. A shy woman who wanted to give him honmei choco, among other things, might be too embarrassed to give it herself or hire a delivery company because it wasn't Valentine's Day. Why not pay some random clueless brat to do it instead of leaving it on the porch where it could get stolen or ruined? So he accepted it. Not thinking anything of the fact that the child wore mittens when it was spring.
"Too bad she left. Such a nice set up must have taken time. Thanks squirt." With that Sam snatched the basket and slammed the door in his face.
"Your welcome." He skipped down the steps muttering under his breath. "Hope you choke."
About a week later, the news reported a man had been discovered in his home. Dead from a tainted gift basket containing arsenic laced sweets, tea bags that were 75% belladonna and an expensive sherry with enough dissolved thallium to kill a horse.
"They were quite set on making sure Mr. Davis consumed enough to die leaving nothing to chance." An investigator remarked. A neighbor told police he remembered seeing a red headed woman talking to a little boy in the rain that weekend. The same kid then delivered the basket to Davis.
By the time the story was done, Tadashi held him in his lap. Frozen in horror, Hiro clutched his brother's shirt unable to do much more.
"Are you scared of me Hiro?"
"I...ngh..." The younger whimpered. What the hell was he supposed to say to that? Lie, which he is stunningly bad at for someone of his intellect, and possibly piss him off? Or be truthful and definitely piss him off? What kind of game is he playing?
"It's alright if you are." A gentle hand returned to stroking his head. You're young. You just don't understand I'm only doing what's best, protecting you."
Really? Hiro could think of a million other ways to do that. NONE of them were nearly this psychotic. Psychotic. His brother was a fucking psycho. Who just admitted to killing 3 people before he was old enough to create a Facebook page. Who felt no remorse about his actions which were all in the name of protecting his precious baby brother. Something he's kept doing right up to this very day...
That weird guy that was always trying to show him something 'back in his car" who ODed one night after shooting up in his pedowagon. His councillor who ran off with some guy leaving her husband with their kids. Now the twins. Who were probably going to be written off as having set the fire themselves by accident when one of their robots shorted out.
And just like that he couldn't breath. His lungs began gulping in air but it wasn't enough. The mental picture of the goofy, kind older brother he adored and whoever the fuck was holding him right now did not mesh. At. All. His heart was doing it's best to imitate a jackhammer, threatening to burst out of his chest.
No...no...no...no.. -
"Ow!" His inner mantra broke when something sharp poked into the side of his neck. Almost instantly, the number of stick figures on Tadashi's shirt multiplied. "Wha...a?"
"Shhh. Don't fight it touto. Relax." Why did Tadashi sound so far away? And muffled?
*SYHM*
He supposed it was a bit of irony that he died in a fire. The method he sometimes used to cover his tracks used to cover someone else's crime. Contrary to popular belief, Tadashi hadn't gone in to save Callahan but for Hiro's invention. He'd worked too hard on it. The fact that the man was still in the building only gave him a better excuse. The young genius didn't even look all that hard. He managed to catch his professor in the act (by complete accident) just before the explosion incinerated his body.
But his spirit refused to move on. Not out of anger or a drive for vengeance but to still be with his otouto no matter what. Protect him. Love him. Make sure the world knew Hiro was his and the younger Hamada wasn't suddenly up for grabs because Tadashi came down with a slight case of death. Bearing his mark for years now, Hiro was his and no one else's. And for a reason no one else knew...
Tadashi had always known his feelings for his little brother were not generally considered normal by society. That his own behavior wasn't 'right'. Why else would he go through such great lengths to hide it? He feared being separated from Hiro.
As best he could tell, his specific set of psychological symptoms did not have a name, only falling under 'psychosis' of the obsessive variety. Much the way stalkers and serial killers view targets as possessions, things that belong to them, it generally doesn't end well for the object of their desire. Particularly if they were rejected.
That was just ridiculous.
He loved Hiro and vice versa. He wanted him safe and happy, he just needed to see that. It's the fuckers who can't keep their hands to themselves that should worry.
He cried when Tadashi cut his name in his thigh for the world to see. Asked him why he'd drugged and MUTILATED him. And in response, the elder held the preteen year old down and manipulated his virgin body to orgasm.
"That's why. You're so beautiful Hiro and others see it." He whispered to the sobbing and shaking child who lay naked in his arms. Tadashi hadn't disrobed at all. "They want to use your body, take pleasure from you. All I want is to protect you. Give you pleasure. Don't tell me that didn't feel good."
Hiro didn't answer. Too shocked that his brother had just...raped him. Sort of. Tadashi's penis hadn't been inside him but his fingers had. All over him actually. Touching him more intimately than he ever thought possible. His body wasn't mature enough to produce sperm yet but the young genius knew what that button buried deep within that made him see stars was. He flushed a fiery red at the realization that no, it wasn't good. It was utterly amazing.
If someone had told him right then and there that he'd be savagely plowed into the bed and eventually eagerly bouncing on his brother's cock with his aunt sleeping in the next room each night after...he'd have no trouble believing it. Not one bit.
Good thing too. Even after passing, Tadashi found he could still make his brother scream his name in sheer ecstasy. Best part was it involved no actual touching. Though it did weird Aunt Cass (and anyone who happened to be within hearing range) out. So what?
The Hamadas tried to go back to life as usual. As usual as possible with the ghost of your dead nephew or brother hanging around. The media sensation eventually died down, the sightings of Tadashi dismissed as a cruel, elaborate hoax at the family's expense.
"Aunt Cass? I don't feel so good." Hiro looked up from the hand drawn schematic of Wasabi's newest laser prototype, sniffed and wiped his nose one evening. Only to smear blood across his face.
"Oh! Hiro your nose!" Cass snatched a handful of napkins from the counter and put them to his nose, tilting his head back. Precisely the wrong thing to do as the teen's eyes rolled up in his head and lights out.
This was the real reason Tadashi's soul would not rest. The one thing he couldn't protect his sweet sibling from, his own body. He was rushed to Sanfransokyo Regional Hospital were a devastating discovery was made; an aggressive, inoperable tumor developing in Hiro's brain. It had been there for some time causing him great pain that he had merely attributed to stress headaches. The prognosis? He'd be dead before his 15th birthday. A slow painful slip into oblivion.
Big brother was having none of it.
*SYHM*
The Lucky Cat Cafe was full but not of customers. For the second time in a year, well wishers filed in to pay their respects at the passing of one of the Hamada siblings. This time the visitors included the media and several curious paranormal researchers and true believers. There were also those who felt their disturbing relationship meant the pair were doomed to hell or wander the earth for eternity.
The SFIT crew all found out about Tadashi and his...issues. He'd told them as he no longer had a reason to hide it anymore. What would be the point? If they hung around Hiro, they were bound to notice something anyway. They all had different reactions to the news. To say the least.
Fred couldn't decide if the whole thing was more scary or awesome. His good pal was a vigilante. Granted he was more Ghost Rider than Spiderman and had the dubious moral compass of The Punisher with a dash of the arguably broken psyche of Deadpool but still. He hung around even after he passed on. Ghosts were real but also had the power to kill. Something the elder Hamada clearly felt no shame about exercising even before he died.
Wasabi felt a bit betrayed, like he hadn't really known Tadashi at all. Knowing his kind demeanor had been a mask to conceal something much darker didn't sit well with him. But he also felt Hiro deserved to be honored in death. That he at least had been his friend.
Honey Lemon had mixed feelings too. The crush she had on Tadashi was short lived once she realized he wasn't interested. His obsession with his little brother eventually made her uncomfortable. But she also found it kind of sweet in a weird way. She preferred to think of it as the power of love that brought him back from the grave. Less creepy that way.
Gogo on the other hand, repulsed by what she saw drifted away. She couldn't see something cool but scary, something understandable but uncomfortable or delude herself with sappy notions of love. Whenever she looked at Tadashi now, all she saw was a psychopath. He used their friendship and trust to help himself seem normal and sane. As fucking character witnesses and alibis for his whereabouts when out offing some poor son of a bitch. Everything he ever told them was probably a lie. Except for how deeply he 'cared' for his dear brother.
She felt so sorry for Hiro and that's the only reason she came to his funeral. Obviously a victim of a some sexually perverted type of Stockholm. Who couldn't escape his abuser even after said abuser bit the dust. She couldn't imagine being raped by someone she trusted and looked up to. Being told is was love therefore perfectly alright. Then eventually being tricked into wanting it. Hearing him describe what he'd done and why. Seeing that he regret NONE of it was too much for her to handle. Kami-sama, she's heard him defiling Hiro in the lab once and it took her a week to muster up the courage to go back in there again!
"Gogo, I wasn't sure you'd come." Cass smiled weakly.
"Hiro was my friend. I thought Tadashi was too." she muttered.
"Gogo...I can't say I blame you for how you reacted to all this. It feels like you were let down-" Honey tried.
"Let down?! Kami-sama Tadashi was mother fucking twisted! He used his brother like a sex toy and got off on killing people!" She couldn't hold it in anymore. So what if everyone was staring now. "All the sick things did to Hiro. An innocent kid brainwashed by a brother who happened to like little boys. How could you just feel let down?!"
"Not cool. This is a funeral." Honey Lemon stage whispered.
"Gogo you're making a scene!" Wasabi hissed.
"So what?! What is wrong with you guys? Why doesn't anyone see how messed up this is? For crying out loud the tumor didn't even kill Hiro! TADASHI DID!" she screamed causing everyone to halt. "That's right. Saint Tadashi, not a medical mix up took Hiro's life."
To pretty much everyone present, an unforeseen reaction to one of the medications caused Hiro to go into tachycardia then flat line. Doctors unable to restart his heart. Simply put the meds to treat the tumor slowed his heart rate too much. The meds to speed it up sped it up too much causing it to give out. It was a small risk but a risk all the same. Now, thanks to Tomago, that lie fell apart the instant Cass locked eyes with her. She couldn't keep up the charade.
"He couldn't, he couldn't watch him die. Not like that." Cass sobbed, tears streaking her face. "We didn't know before but...after the fire..."
"So you let him murder Hiro too." The purple haired woman seethed. "You let him kill his baby brother. After all the unspeakable shit he's already done, why not?"
"What was I supposed to do Tomago? You saw him in the hospital. So frail and weak, in such pain. It's what Hiro wanted."
"Gogo you realize it has to happen like this right? All intense stories have intense endings." Fred popped a chip in his mouth. So at easy with the whole situation it made her sick.
"Life isn't fucking a comic book you dork!" She wanted to strangle him. Obsessing over make believe all the god damned time!
"Except now it sort of is. Look, what do you think would have happened if there was no fire? If Dashi lived only to watch Hiro die later? Slowly and painfully?" he countered. "Dashi would have gone off the rails, full on nuts. We get it, we do Gogo. You feel like your trust was misplaced. We ALL feel kinda odd about this. But shouting about it isn't going to change anything."
"I just cannot just pretend like you guys. I can't forgive that monster for everything he's done. This is all so wrong-"
"SHUT UP YOU BITCH!"
The small asian woman was knocked on her back and forced along the floor by an unseen but definitely heard force. It slammed her head first into a wall then proceeded to beat her with unbridled fury. The weight suddenly lifted and Tadashi was there above her. Holding a furious Hiro raging against his arms and trying to lunge at her. His expression that of someone ready to tear her apart. The guests parted like the Red Sea. It's not everyday the guest of honor shows up to their own funeral hopping mad. Unfortunately for the media a true believers alike, everything electronic (that wasn't Baymax) chose that moment to basically short out.
"You should calm down. What tied me to the living world is no longer a part of it." Tadashi spoke, looking almost bored. Showing no strain from the burden he was holding at bay.
"So why are you still here?" She bit out through ground teeth and a bloody lip.
"I could always let him go." He smiled brightly and nodded to Hiro who had just barely settled down in his grip. "Hiro's dead but his love for this world isn't. So long as he wants to be apart of it, so will I."
"Don't talk like I'm not here." The smaller entity huffed. "Let's just go."
And with that they were. The their sudden departure prompting whispers that grew to full blown panic. Someone, later revealed to be Fred, yelled 'fire' and the place cleared out faster than if he's announced the latest smart phone was being give away across the street. Cass retreated to her residence above, the SFIT group (dragging a bruised and in need of first aid Gogo behind them) followed.
Her boys were gone.
Leaving behind so many burning questions.
*SYHM*
Yes.
Don't look at me like that.
I am done with this. I ended it like that on purpose. To leave literally leave questions unanswered. For once I am attempting NOT to fully explain. That's what took me so long. I was originally going to go into all sorts of detail that I promised myself I wasn't to begin with; for some reason I don't know how to stop writing. This was NOT going to balloon up to 20 something chapters against my god damn will people.
Hooo...deep breath.
Firstly this final chapter is based on studies that indicate how some serial killers evolve. Their first few times might be crimes of opportunity or flat out accidents that have no premeditation. Getting away with those can lead to more thought out killings that involve covering up evidence and a pattern of behavior. Tadashi favors toxic substances as his weapon and has a very good understanding of biochemical reactions.
White Day, March 14th, is a real holiday in parts of Asia and just as big a deal if not bigger than it's February counterpart. It's the 'answer day' for males to give gifts to females who gave them things on Valentine's Day. Usually said gifts are chocolates, are often white in some way and as a whole twice as expensive as their original gift to you. Honmei choco (written in katakana) is given to someone you have a romantic interest in and is exactly what it sounds like; homemade chocolate. Giri choco is "obligation" chocolate given to people you know or want to show respect for often because they gave you something on valentine's day and you don't want to be seen as an ungrateful jerk. These on the other hand are cheaper and store bought.
Matcha is the STRONG powdered green tea used in tea ceremonies. When mixed with hot water it is an opaque green and sorta looks like algae water. It's also a popular flavoring for sweets and tones down the taste of sugar. I like matcha brownies but not the KitKats, ice cream or most other things it's in.
The poisons Tadashi uses on Davis are kinda antiquated murder weapons by modern standards but surprisingly easier to get a hold of than other chemicals or prescription drugs. Arsenic is sometimes used in taxidermy. Belladona is an herb often added in very small amounts to other teas to help people relax like chamomile does but the added taste isn't quite as strong. Thallium used to be widely used in pest control. Though banned for such use because it's toxic as all fuck to ANYTHING that breathes it can still be found in the States for commercial use in electroplating and in certain medical settings.
So, that's it. Love it? Ready to throw stones at me? Let me know. Reviews are like hugs! Sirensoundwave out!
Oh, shameless self promotion: Check out my Five Nights At Freddy's fics Animal I Have Become and Meet the Family