Stay Tuned As Life Continues

Yamato stared at the bruised and bloodied face of his brother. Only earlier that day large smiles were on both of their faces, now one held a face of great sorrow and pain, while the other one was emotionless, just a cut up blank slate. Yamato gently squeezed his younger brother’s hand, and listened to the beeps of the monitor. He watched as another machine pumped oxygen into his brother’s chest, puffing it up, and then letting it out, returning his body to its small and frail image. Yamato’s eyes were red and still over flowing with tears. Occasionally a drop would roll off his chin and find its way onto the one it was cried over. Yamato wondered what was taking the doctor so long to explain to his parents, but he knew one thing for sure, only bad news could take that long. The relative silence of the room was broken when the door opened. Yamato didn’t take his eyes off of his brother however, he kept them set on body in front of him. Yamato could barely see out of the corner of his eye, a young woman looking at charts and IV bags. Having seen everything was still stable, the nurse left the room to continue her checks on other patients.

A few minutes later the door opened again, he knew right away that it was his Dad and Mom. His mother although no longer hysterically crying, was still sobbing, even more so than before she left, confirming that the doctor had given them bad news. He heard footsteps come closer, and then he felt a large hand grip his back. He didn’t need to turn his head to tell it was his father, so Yamato kept his gaze on his brother. A brother who moments before was filled with life A brother that days earlier had revealed his secret love for Yamato. A brother who had such sweet and tender kisses, that were filled with love. But now that brother was gone, in his place was one unfamiliar to Yamato. This brother was hardly recognizable as his brother at all. His head was bare, not a hat nor hair was gracing his head. His left eye was black and swollen, His face had many lacerations covering it, the larger ones now were held closed with stitches, while the smaller ones were slightly scabbed over. A new wave of guilt flushed over Yamato, he had caused Takeru to wind up here. If he had only listened to his brother, they would have stayed in the apartment. Instead Yamato being as bullheaded as he could be, didn’t listen to his brother. Now Takeru was paying for Yamato’s mistake.

“Why don’t you go lay down for while Yamato. It’s been a rough day.” Hiroaki said, squeezing his eldest son’s shoulder.

Yamato didn’t respond, he just kept gazing on the results of his mistake. His brother was laying inches from dead.

“We’ll come get you if anything happens.” Reassured Hiroaki.

Yamato heard what his father said, but he wasn’t listening. The only things he was listening to were his memories. All the words his brother and he had exchanged during their fight.

“Your mother and I will stay with him. Just please go and get some rest son. The doctor said that there’s a room down the hall for families to sleep.”

The word “Doctor” slipped into Yamato’s mind and broke his thoughts. The words crept out of Yamato’s mouth,“What did the doctor have to say about Takeru?”

No answer.

Yamato tried to force the words out a little louder, “Dad what did the doctor have to say about Otouto-chan?”

His parents looked at each other. Hiroaki pulled a chair over to his sons, while Nancy walked over to the medical supply cart and grabbed a few q-tips and began to clean up her younger son’s face of remaining blood. “The doctor had some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the damage to Takeru’s skull wasn’t as bad as originally thought, and with enough time the broken bones and cuts will heal. However, Takeru’s head injury has put him into a coma. They don’t know how long he will be in it. He said he could wake up anytime from now all the way up to never. They also said that some of their scans showed that there could be damage to Takeru’s vertebrae, and this could lead to him being partially or fully paralyzed. They’ll be coming back soon to test for that.”

Yamato didn’t know how to respond to what his father had just told him. He had just been told that his little brother may never wake up. This added more guilt on top of Yamato’s already heavy load. And just like having too many things plugged in at once can cause a circuit to trip. Too much guilt, pain, and exhaustion shut down Yamato. Yamato fainted into the back of his chair. After a nearby nurse gave Yamato the all clear, Hiroaki carried him to the family room down the hall and tucked him into a bed. He kissed his oldest son on the forehead; he then headed back to sit by his other son’s side.

When Yamato awoke he found his eyes were stinging, and his face was wet with tears. Even in his sleep he was crying, even in his sleep he couldn’t escape from the horrors of reality. Yamato flung the blanket off of him and jumped out of bed. His legs buckled under him once they hit the ground. Yamato slowly pulled himself up and made his way to where his brother was.

Yamato opened the door and saw that his Dad was sitting next to Takeru, holding his son’s hand in his. Takeru’s hand looked small cupped in his father’s larger hands, only amplifying the already frail look Takeru held. Hiroaki’s eyes were bloodshot and large black bags hung under his eyes. A rough beard was still being neglected on his chin. Hiroaki looked up from his younger son, “Good Morning Yamato. There’s a chair over here if you want it.”

Yamato walked over to his Dad and sat next to him. “Thanks. How is he?”

Hiroaki updated Yamato, “The actual doctors haven’t been by in a few hours, but the nurses stop by every so often and check on him, we get bits of information from them. Test results showed that he isn’t paralyzed, the vertebrae wasn’t broken as the doctors once thought. However he is still in a coma, and the doctors can’t do anything about that.”

Yamato looked around the room, “So where is Nancy?” Yamato asked.

Hiroaki raised an eyebrow at his son question, noticing that he called her by her name not by Mom. “She’s trying to track down a doctor, find more information out.”
Yamato and his father sat in silence. Yamato stared at his brother, the damage he saw before him made him sick, but Yamato couldn’t turn his eyes away. He felt like this sickness was deserved and was only the beginning of his punishment for doing this to his brother.

“It wasn’t your fault Yamato.” Hiroaki said.

“It was Dad, you weren’t there! If I had just listened to him he wouldn’t have tried following me across the street.”

“It was an accident Yamato.”

“No it wasn’t. He told me not to cross the street but I did. I knew he was going to follow me.” Yamato said.

“Don’t beat yourself up Yamato, as I said it was an accident.”

Yamato didn’t push the issue any further. He knew his Dad hadn’t slept at all since he got the news about Takeru being rushed to the hospital. And since Hiroaki was on a business trip up until then, he knew is father was already sleep deprived. “Dad, you need to go get some sleep. I can sit here with him.”

Hiroaki looked at his youngest son for a while, before turning to Yamato. “Okay. I’ll go sleep for a couple hours then I’ll be back. Your mother should be back soon. Find out what the doctors told her, then tell her that I’m catching some z’s.”

Yamato grunted at the thought of having to talk with mother.

That was all the evidence Hiroaki needed, “Takeru told you then?” Hiroaki concluded.

“Yeah, he did. That’s what we were arguing about. I was on my way over to her place, and he was trying to stop me.” Yamato said.

“That’s our Takeru.” Hiroaki smiled weakly and kissed his younger son’s hand, “He tried the same thing with me too.”

“So why is she here? I thought she disowned him.” Yamato asked.

“She’s still his mother, and no matter how much she tries to deny it, she still cares about him.” Hiroaki said. “I’m going to go now. Try not to kill Nancy when she comes in.” Hiroaki winked at his older son before he kissed Takeru’s hand again. Hiroaki whispered into Takeru’s ear, “I’m going to go take a quick nap Takeru. I just want to let you know that I love you. Your brother is here, he’s going to sit with you and keep you company. Be strong Takeru, and hurry and come back to us.” Hiroaki kissed his son gently on the forehead before leaving the room.

Yamato moved to the chair his father had just been occupying and took his brother’s hand and wrapped in his. The finger’s didn’t have the same heat, they lacked the same feeling as they usually did. “Hey Teeks, it’s your Onii-chan.” Yamato’s voice started to break, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I really do love you. It’s just…..you know how bull headed I can be sometimes. And now you’re paying the price for it. It’s not fair Takeru!” Yamato bent over while raising his brother’s hands until his forehead met Takeru’s hand, he began to cry. Yamato wept, his eyes burned more than they had before, his throat was dry and sore, his whole body throbbed with pain from his rather violent sobs, but he continued to cry nonetheless. It wasn’t until he heard a knock on the door that he stopped. Yamato looked up and he looked up and a familiar face appeared when the door cracked open. “Jyou? What are you doing here?” Yamato tried to dry his face with is free hand.

“I work here remember? Mind if I come in?” Jyou said from the doorway.

“Go ahead.” Sniffled Yamato. “Is he one of your patients?”

Jyou answered stepping into the room, “Actually no. I saw his name on some tests and I came up here as quickly as I could. I wasn’t interrupting anything was I?”

“No, just me crying my eyes out.” Yamato answered truthfully.

Jyou walked over to Yamato and put a hand on his shoulder, “It’s okay Yamato. Things may look bad now, but you have to have faith. There’s a great bunch of doctors here, why else would I want to intern here?”

“Thanks Jyou.” Yamato said putting his spare hand on Jyou’s.

“Have you told any of the others?” Jyou asked.

“No, I’ve never got around to it. I’ve been meaning to do it.” Yamato grumbled.

“If you want me to, I’ll gladly call them” Jyou said. He then remembered the events that occurred a few nights earlier. “Or at least…the ones you want me to.”

Yamato looked at his brother and took a deep breath, as he was about to say something he may regret, “No call them all Jyou. Please.”

“Sure thing Yamato.” Jyou started to walk to the door. “Do you need anything else?”

Yamato shook his head no, and Jyou left. Yamato then bowed his head and began praying to any God that would listen to his pleas. An hour past, and Yamato was still praying. In all his life he had never prayed as much as he had within those 24 hours.

Yamato still had his head bowed in prayer when his mother came through the door. “These doctors piss me the hell off!” Nancy screamed as quietly as she could. She then saw that it was her eldest son at Takeru’s side instead of her ex-husband as she had been expecting. “Sorry you had to hear that Yamato. Where’s your father?”

Yamato just kept his head down, and tried to draw strength from his brother,“ He went to take a nap, he’ll be back in an hour.”

“I wish I could sleep, but I still have too much to do. I’m on my way to speak with some police officers. Tell your father that I couldn’t get any new news from any of Takeru’s doctors. It took me forever to actually find one, and once I did he didn’t know much. I should get going now.”

Yamato didn’t respond to his mother and didn’t look up till he heard her leave. “Thanks for the help Takeru. If you weren’t here, she’d be in a hospital bed herself.” Yamato paused and looked at his brother, “But how do you do it Takeru? Where do you find the strength to not lash out at those that hurt you? You’ve had the roughest life out of anyone I know, but somehow you’ve turned out to be the kindest, gentlest, most forgiving person I have ever known. I hope that one day you’ll be able to forgive me for all the pain I’ve caused you. I love you Takeru.”

“He’ll forgive you Yamato, and he always will. Because he loves you too Yamato.” Said a voice from the door.

Yamato’s stomach churned at the voice. He knew he was going to regret telling Jyou to call all of their friends. He looked up at the figure in the doorway, that had entered without making a sound, “Sora.”

“I’ll go if you want me to Yamato. I know I would, after what I put you two through. But when Jyou called me and told me what happened, I felt like I had to come over.” Sora said.

“It’s fine Sora, you can stay.” Yamato said, lowing his gaze back to his brother.
Sora walked over to Takeru. She asked Yamato, “Can I talk to him? Would he even be able to hear me?”

“I don’t know, it couldn’t hurt though.” Yamato said.

“Would you excuse us for a second Yamato?” Yamato looked at Sora for a moment then looked at his brother. He then gave Takeru kiss on the forehead and then stepped outside. Once outside the door, Yamato leaned his ear against the door. He may have been asked to leave, but he sure wasn’t asked not to listen. Sora knelt next to Takeru, “Takeru, it’s Sora. I want to say I’m sorry.” Sora eyes began to water. “I shouldn’t have freaked out on you and Yamato the other night. In part it was due to me being shocked, the other part was jealousy. I was jealous that you and Yamato seemed to be so happy together, and making your relationship work despite having the world against you. Whereas my relationship with Yamato was short lived and didn’t hold as much love as your relationship with him does. I was against you two being brothers and being together. The person with the crest of love is against one of the most love filled relationships she has ever seen, what is wrong with that image huh? But recently I’ve been thinking, about what Iori, Koushiro and Ken were talking about. What does it matter that you two are brothers? I can tell that you two love each other deeply, even more than you two always have. And who am I to say yay or nay about your love.” Sora stood up, “I’m going to go now Takeru. I’m making Yamato uncomfortable, and that’s the last thing he needs right now. I’m sorry for the pain I’ve placed in your heart Takeru. Get well soon, your brother really needs you. Goodbye” Sora walked to the door and walked out, she saw Yamato standing not far away.

“Thanks for letting me talk with him Yamato.” Sora said.

Yamato nodded.

“I’m going to go now. Bye Yamato.” Sora began to walk past Yamato and down the hall.

“Please stay.” Yamato said softly as Sora walked by.

“What? No I should go Yamato.”

“If you’re afraid of making me uncomfortable, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Sora eyed Yamato suspiciously, “You didn’t happen to listen to what I said did you?”

“I’m sorry.” Yamato said.

“It’s okay Yamato, I would have done the same thing.” Sora said with a slight
smile.

The two friends then began walking back to the room when they heard a voice calling Yamato’s name. Yamato and Sora turned to see Hikari running towards them, with Taichi walking slowly behind her. Hikari paused only a moment to ask, “Where is he?” Yamato pointed to the door he was standing next to. Hikari then quickly ran through the door, Sora followed her.

Yamato stood in the hall waiting for his brown haired roommate. Yamato looked at him, Taichi had a serious expression on his face. Yamato generally had only seen that expression when Taichi was in a fight. Yamato began preparing himself to be decked, and he knew he would deserve it too. Once Taichi was within arm reach, Yamato closed his eyes and tensed up. He jumped when Taichi made the connection. Yamato opened his eyes, Taichi hadn’t punched him. Taichi was hugging him. “How is he?” Taichi asked.

“He’s stable, but he’s in a coma, but apart from that everything should heal.” Yamato squeaked out, as Taichi hug was rather tight.

“He’s going to be fine Yamato. He’s a tough kid.” Taichi said. He then squeezed Yamato even tighter for a couple seconds before releasing him. “ How are you holding up?”

“The best I can. That is until that hug, I think you broke something.” Yamato joked.

“Sorry about that. We should get in there. Hikari’s frantic.” Taichi said, he then opened the door for Yamato. The two roommates entered the hospital room where Hikari was crying over her best friend.

******************
A week had passed since the accident and Takeru was still in coma. All of the Digidestined, except Daisuke had stopped by to see how he was doing. Even Mimi had traveled halfway across the world in order to see Takeru. Not long after that Miyako briefly stopped by, sporting a large red shaped handprint on her cheek courtesy of Mimi.

Yamato had moved some of his clothes over to Jyou apartment, which was located close to the hospital. He would spend the whole day at his brother’s side. Each day hoping that, that day would be the day that he would be able to see his brother’s beautiful blue eyes again. When evening came, Yamato stayed late into the night, having bribed nurses to allow him to stay past visiting hours. He would then drag his sleep deficient body to Jyou’s couch. Where he would try to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes, he found himself on the street replaying the accident over and over again. After a couple hours of tossing and turning Yamato would take a shower and return to his brother’s side.

Hiroaki wasn’t fairing much better when it came to sleep. Hiroaki had switched to doing his work throughout the night, so when daylight shown he would be able to be with his youngest son in the hospital, but even then he was called out of the room on several occasions to handle emergency situations at the station.

Nancy came and went at random times throughout the day, and had appearing at her youngest son’s side less and less as the days went by. Yamato only talked to her when he absolutely had to. Nancy noticed the sudden increase of distance between her oldest son and her. And although she suspected why this was, she didn’t acknowledge it, for if she did, she would have to acknowledge other things. Things she wasn’t willing to deal with at that point in time.

Yamato entered his brother’s hospital room, it was empty except for the young boy on the bed. Takeru’s wounds were healing swiftly, the flesh was mending and the bones repairing. The ventilation tube had been removed days earlier once Takeru was declared stable. Yamato walked over to his brother and kissed him gently on the lips. Each time Yamato kissed his sleeping lover he wished that just once the fairy tales he always heard growing up would come true. But they never did. Yamato sat down next to his brother and picked up his hand. “Good morning Takeru. It’s really lovely outside today. I wish that you could see it, the sky is so blue and there’s not a cloud in the sky. The birds are really belting out their songs in the trees outside in the yard. I saw one of those black and red birds you like so much, I thought of you when I saw it. Dad should be getting here soon. I keep trying to tell him that he needs more sleep but he doesn’t listen to me. He’s going to keel over if he isn’t careful, you need to wake up and set him straight.”

Yamato looked at his brother, looked for any sign that he heard him. But saw nothing. Yamato continued, “Yutaka is coming by again this morning. He said that he is going to bring his drums to play for you, but I don’t think they will let him bring those in. I won’t be too surprised if he tries to smuggle them in anyways. Oh, I got another email from Wallace last night, he said that he wishes that he could come over. But until he can afford to, he wants me to tell you hi and for you to get well soon.”

Yamato paused as a nurse came in to check on Takeru, once she left Yamato continued, “I really miss you Takeru. Showers just aren’t fun anymore without you, I’m forced to actually use the shower for what it was created for. Which is good because Jyou would freak if we did it in his shower. Jyou’s couch is lumpy and rather small but it’s been decent. Sure I’m not sleeping on it long, if at all with the dreams I’ve been having. I never had a single bad dream when you were sleeping next to me Teeks. Then again I don’t think we did much sleeping, but the dreams I did have were always magical and golden. I really miss you Otouto-chan. I don’t know what I’m going to do if you stay asleep, you get to stay in your dream world, while I have to try and get by without you. It’s hard Takeru, waking up each morning without you curled up next to me.”

Yamato stood up, “I love you Takeru, please come back to me. I miss you.” Yamato then bent over and kissed his brother’s lips. Once again hoping, that for once, a fairy tale would come true.

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Author's Note: I'll try to keep this one short. Here is Chapter 16! With only slightly depressing content. YAY for reviews. I'll try to write the next chapter as fast as I can. Lastly, THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!