Chapter Text
Tsukasa Tenma often visits the hospital, one large and grand, though had its downsides. It was whatever their parents could afford to sustain, after all. It wasn’t unseemly for Tsukasa to be holding bouquets, chocolates, hair pins, or -worst of all- nothing. Saki seemed to enjoy Tsukasa’s small gifts, coming atop him juggling performing, school, and visiting. To know her brother was keeping her in mind, was to give Saki direct hope for her condition.
When there were moments where she steadily began thinking too hard, too far, too intensely.. When she’d begin wondering, will i ever recover? Will i ever be able to experience high school like anybody my age? When she’d glance out of the window and fight back tears at the thought of this becoming her regular. Tsukasa would always show up just in time, carrying something silly, seeing her expression and swiftly, boisterously clamoring around to cheer her up on instinct. And that’s just how it is now, Tsukasa had began to get into the habit of coming almost every day, worried he was leaving his sister to think too hard.
Therefore, his shoes clicked and tapped against the waxed flooring; a delicate, pink infused bouquet of carnations in his grasp. Wrapped delicately beneath white parchment and a eloquent red bow, Saki always loved how she could tell Tsukasa tied the bow. Something about him still going about tying with the bunny ear method… he simply couldn’t wrap his head around the premise, however, anything to keep his sister cheery. The atmosphere was.. less than inviting, Tsukasa hadn’t seen much of.. well, anything. Only one nurse passing him with a wheelchair-bound patient, and that was it. It made him wonder if something was going on somewhere.. though that was none of his worry.
He passed a great many hallways and corridors, looking down each and every one of the white tile and marble with interest. Each time his expression managed to fall short, due to not seeing any sort of life form. It was a hospital! Where were the employees?! Saki probably would’ve plugged her ears.. that’s his definite cue to calm himself. However, his face peached right up; alas, life! He felt like the pirate in his recent play.. finally spotting land after years on the tide. Except, this “land” wore the patient’s gown. He seemed disinterested with whatever was around him, crouched meekly down, staring into his own knees.
Tsukasa, admittedly, was miffed. The male’s expression was oh so dim, light fleeting from his irises, his lips forming a small scowl as he looked into nothing. Even if he wasn’t focused on anything, he was perceiving.. everything. His purple head of hair swished as he craned his head up to glance back at the looming eyes, just a glance. Nothing too intense, nothing too casual. But a glance.. Yet, Tsukasa felt.. mildly uncomfortable. The look in his face was just like Saki’s. When she was feeling down, upset, frustrated with her own body. It always looked as if she was about to.. crumble. Like her body weight was too much for her, and she’d succumb to it any second. It was bewildering to catch this same, intricate, unique look in a complete stranger. Tsukasa found himself -instinctively- raising his hand, waving almost awkwardly. He was met with a perplexed look, and that’s when Tsukasa recalled. The blond shuffled to the side and resumed his walk toward Saki’s room.
He had seen that boy around, every other day, every day. Always in the hospital when he was. From the looks of it, he was a patient. But.. Tsukasa had never truly seen anybody accompanying him. Honestly, Tsukasa doesn’t think they’ve ever interacted before. Agh! Their first exchange was him catching Tsukasa staring?! How embarrassing! It's far too embarrassing to remotely think of, not that Tsukasa minded being outwardly.. "unique". The interaction was shoved right to the back of his mind as he stared at the numbers detailing doors, the bouquet in his hand mildly uncomfortable to hold now that his palms had began clamming up. However, he ignored it as he arrived at Saki's door; a grand smile overlapping his lips, orange irises pepping with a joyous feeling.
"Tsukasa! Gosh, I thought you didn't have time to come today!" His sister greeted him happily, sat haphazardly in the hospice bed. Her room was decorated, since she had been in this place for so long.. a cute vase of Transvaal daisies on the nightstand. Some sort of ribbon tying bows and pins to the sheer curtains against the window. "Sorry! I got caught up in the halls. Luckily I'm so quick, otherwise I would not have made it!" The blond professed immensely confidently, running a dramatic hand through his hair and laughed boisterously at himself. His sister, however, giggled lightly; a somewhat.. concerned expression over her delicate face. "Well, I'm here now so it doesn't really matter.." Tsukasa muttered, his mind flashing back to that odd patient in the halls. A shiver descended down his spine, shaking his head in involuntary reaction. "Is something wrong?" Saki asked, an eyebrow piqued in interest toward his strange physical actions.
It wasn't everyday Saki saw Tsukasa with something bugging him. Her brother was clearly debating spilling it as he set his flowery gift down on a nearby surface, his eyes narrowed and eyebrows strewn down. "Whenever I'm here, I always see this other patient. And today, we interacted! But, that isn't the bad part.." Tsukasa began, sighing out heartily; shoulders deflating in defeat upon thinking about his discrepancies again. "I guess I was sort of staring.. and he saw. It was so awkward! Aghh.." Saki watched as he visibly grew uncomfortable; was that really so bad? She let out a pitiful chortle, though disturbed by how Tsukasa seemed so irked by something so silly. "So.. what's the bad part? Did he like tell you off or something?" The blonde asked, eyeing the bouquet abandoned in his stead. "What's the bad part?! That's the bad part! He SAW! And he didn't look too happy.." Well, leave it to Tsukasa to begin shouting, laughing, and sobbing in the same sentence. This weird amalgamation of tears, joy, and terror creeped Saki out.. "So.. why not just apologize or something? I'm like.. totally sure he wasn't mad. Unless you're scared of him or something." Toward the end of her silly criticism, his sister rolled her eyes at the mere thought.
Through a back and forth of Tsukasa arguing his point, and Saki saying his point was inane, a sheepish knock at the door came. The two siblings stared at each other doe-faced, Saki's aide had already dropped by an hour ago.. "Open it!" Saki shooed, shaking her pig-tailed face. His expression dropped into a deadpanned worry, though against better judgement, he turned and swiftly pulled the door back. A lady dressed in nurse scrubs stood behind it, clipboard to her chest with an apprehensive look. "I'm going to need you two to keep it down, or your brother will have to be escorted out, Saki." The brunette nurse spoke, pushing the door just so much further open to give Saki a demanding glance.
"Ha ha ha! Not to worry! One of my many performances require moments of silence, I am more than capable of your requests!" The eccentric blond professed with a hand on his chest, face gleaming. Saki snickered beneath her hand cheerfully, the nurse giving him a weird look for his weirder act. "Just.. keep it down. Some patients are trying to wind down around now." That was all was said before the woman turned and left, muttering something unintelligible about the siblings as she went. "Oh, that reminds me. Don't you have an audition in half an hour? I was totally sure you weren't gonna come today because of it." Saki watched the life drain from his face in a similar fashion that it had drained from hers among the years, just.. much faster. "Aghh! You're right! You're a life saver!" Her older brother nearly scrambled trying to recover his beige coat from a chair, Saki humming a joyous tune as he rushed out of the door. That was right, why DID Tsukasa come today? It was an interesting thought to ponder, indeed.
Speed-walking through hospital halls.. all it did for Tsukasa was breathe the scent of sterile equipment and medication into his nose. It was a scent he had come to long recognize and adapt to, but it was always unpleasant. All the times he had been sat in the halls, half asleep at 2 in the morning awaiting details about Saki's state. All the times she had worn herself out and hospitalized herself, all the times Tsukasa heard her weeping because she couldn't live life like others.. It was just a burst of reverie. He sighed heavily, blowing hair out of his face; he had been planning to dye his hair with Saki in honor of her. Since she liked pink, and all. Phew.. whenever he gets the time to, that is. His remembrance of certain plans were washed away upon a.. certainly stunning scene; again, it seems fate brought Tsukasa and that purple patient together. Except, for the first time in months, Tsukasa finally spotted him with somebody. Not alone, not sitting in corners, playing with odd machinations, and certainly not taking doses of medicine in the halls for any odd reason.
From what Tsukasa could see from his halted position, the patient was speaking to two children within a crouch. One of them looked to have been crying, and Tsukasa heard his smooth voice for the first time. "Look, it looks like Nene, doesn't it?" His voice chimed, in a clear attempt to distract said child from whatever upset them in the first place. The male seemed to hand the child some sort of toy, of which began buzzing and making sounds when said child squeezed its body. The pair of children seemed to be cheered, the suspected siblings glancing between each other before giddily scurrying off. The whole scenario raised Tsukasa's eyebrow.. Nene? What happened to begin with? Though, he couldn't deny that the situation was dealt with smoothly. He watched as the stranger stood up, chuckling to himself as the two left rapidly. Once again, the two's clashing eye colors met. Tsukasa was staring again. Why is it always like this!?! "What was that about?" Yes, Tsukasa.. say anything to ease the tension, the lord begs! His words seemed to be reciprocated pretty well, the patient ahead shrugging his shoulder lazily.
"Those two are normally here once a week. Something about their dad being hospitalized. I think they lost their mother, is all." It was curt, though not too offensively so.. Tsukasa nodded with a hum, a hand resting on his chin in thought. "And that doll? It looked pretty crafty." Tsukasa, in an attempt to seem more friendly -perhaps more appealing..- smiled gently, as if testing the waters. "I made it, as a replica of one of my friends. I was going to practice voodoo with it, but I thought those two would appreciate it more than I. Haha.." The Cheshire grin that formed as he spoke of Voodoo and replicas.. certainly was.. a sight. It was something. And, with that something, came a realization. Was that the first time Tsukasa has spotted him seeming to enjoy himself? Even if he spoke of frightening things, with a frightening look, was it? For some reason, it brought a heartfelt look of happiness to Tsukasa's face.
Even if he didn't know him, even if he didn't know Tsukasa.. It felt so nice to know that this hospital-bound teenager has something in his life he could enjoy. But, then came the realization, voodoo?!? He could do something like that?! The blond's face visibly dropped, into something fearful... "Oh ho, are you scared?.. I'm only kidding. I made it to practice voice boxes, functioning ones at least." He supposes that's much better than voodoo.. sigh. "I see you here often, you're one of those Tenma ones, right? I see that other one of you in the food court sometimes. My names Rui, yours?" Wow.. spectacular subject changes; Tsukasa almost didn't even notice. "Heh heh, I'm flattered you can recognize me. My name is Tsukasa Tenma, and I am going to... oh, oh no! The audition!" His sudden loud tones were met with a small chuckle on the side; Tsukasa's hands firmly planted in his hair in a panic. "Argh! I'm so sorry, this is so unbefitting of a first meeting! I have an audition waiting for me, I'm going to be late!!" He exclaimed, drawing the eyes of many bystanders before he sped off. "Audition, huh?"