A/N: Not as long as I like my chapters, but the ending seemed suiting, besides, you guys have been waiting a long time for this chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Earlier that day

Eri

I burrowed deeper into my covers, hoping that I could simply fall back asleep. No one would bother me if I stayed like this. Everyone in the house was used to it- I’m sure Emi had already told the cooks that I’d be taking my meal in my room today.

Not that I felt like eating. To be honest, my stomach hadn’t really been asking for a lot of food recently. It wasn’t that I felt sick or anything, I just wasn’t hungry.

With that thought, I buried my head in my pillow, as if that could push the knowledge out of my head. It was another thing on a list of things that meant I needed to talk to someone. I remembered once hearing that going untreated for a certain amount of time could easily kill you. How long had it been since I’d first noticed the blood?

Did it matter? I hadn’t given up on the idea that I was wrong. It wasn’t impossible.

Just highly unlikely.

What was Emi going to do?

Last time almost killed her.

__________________________

“Eri-chan, Eri-chan… are you awake? You have a visitor.”

My eyes flickered open and for a moment I tried to focus. The shapes around me were blurred slightly, but I could make out the face of the person tightly gripping the nurses hand. A small smile reached my lips and I focused, forcing my own hand to move so that instead of the nurse’s, she could hold mine.

“Emi…”

Her eyes were so red, yet she wore a smile. Was she trying to comfort me?

“Otousan and the doctors are talking,” she began, her falsely bright expression failing to completely wipe away the tremble in her voice. “They said they might try something else. Since we’re twins, there’s a chance I can help. They haven’t finished talking, yet, so I don’t know what will happen. It’ll work out, though, just you see.”

I kept my smile in place, hoping she couldn’t see through it.

How many different things had we tried over the years? They’d made it go away once. Now it was back and worse than before. If they made it go away this time, wouldn’t that only mean we’d face it again in the future? What would we do then? Would whatever they were planning on using Emi for work then? Would I want it to?

All of this was so tiring.

I just wanted to sleep.

_________________________

My eyes snapped open when someone knocked on my door. I must have fallen asleep again, something that I would rather avoid doing if that would be the result. I hadn’t had that dream in years. The image of Emi’s tear-stained, frightened face flashed through my mind.

I didn’t want to see that again.

“Come in,” I called out, rolling over in my covers.

The door swung open and I stiffened. Hiroshi had appeared in the doorway, his usual cold eyes and slightly mocking smile in place. Without waiting for a reaction from me, he stepped forward and let the door fall shut behind him.

“Emi’s gone out, right?” he asked cheerfully. “That means you’re free today.”

As he crossed the room, his grin turned into a frown. I could feel myself growing even tenser than before as he studied me critically. A second later he seized one of the chairs littered around my room and dragged it over by the bed, plopping himself in it without asking if he was allowed to stay.

“I was planning on making you show Kitaru around town today…” he commented slowly. “But… you look like you got hit by a truck, so that’s off the table. It’d be horrible if he got sick because of you.”

Despite his harsh words, Hiroshi’s brow was furrowed, his fingers lightly tapping his leg. A habit of his since we were younger, whenever he was thinking about something, his fingers would tap. It was something Emi had picked up from him, not that she’d ever admit it. She tapped pencils, her fingers, her notebooks, whatever she got ahold of.

“You’ve been sick a lot recently.”

“I’m fine.”

His fingers stopped tapping, something almost like hesitation crossing his expression then being pushed away in an instant.

“Of course you are. You probably just need a bit of food in you. Can’t let my precious imouto starve, now can I?” he questioned cheekily.

I sighed, dropping my head back in my pillow and closing my eyes.

“Can we just… not pretend to like each other today? I’m not in the mood.”

Silence fell between us and for a moment I thought that he might actually leave. At the same time, I wasn’t surprised when he reached forward and placed the back of his hand against my forehead. I simply sighed and slipped my eyes back open.

“What?”

His lips were twisted up in an amused smile, but no part of him seemed to be laughing. He’d leaned forward in his chair, sticking his face right above mine.

“You really must have a bad fever,” he quipped. “Otherwise, you’d never dream of talking back to me.”

With that, he pulled his hand away and simply flicked my forehead. Annoyed, I frowned and dug one of my hands out of my blankets to rub the spot.

“Come on, no choice,” he ordered. “You’re eating. Up and at'em.”

Seemingly satisfied with himself, Hiroshi seized my blankets and tore them away from my bed. I immediately sat up, then grimaced as my head spun at the sudden movement. He furrowed his brow once again as he discarded the blankets on the floor, but didn’t question it.

“Come on. No sister of mine is allowed to waste away,” Hiroshi continued, that familiar, self-satisfied look on his face. “Besides, would you really make me eat alone?”

My reluctance died away a little.

“Kitaru won’t be there?”

Hiroshi grinned.

“No, he’ll be there. He’s been constantly on the phone with his parents, though, so it’s like he isn’t! I’m lonely! Be a good sister.”

I sighed, laying one hand over my face.

“How do you get off being such a needy baby?” I wondered aloud. “Also, why not try being like this with Emi sometimes? She might not hate you as much. Instead you’re always such a jerk.”

He snorted and headed for the door.

“Please, it’s not like I want her to like me,” he retorted. “I don’t need either of you to like me.”

“Then can I hate you?”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“We have a deal, that’s why. I’ll wait outside, get dressed.”

Not giving me a chance to protest, he stepped into the hall and shut the door behind him.

With a small sigh, I slid my legs over the side of my bed and simply sat there for a moment. Getting up sounded like a horrible idea- I was tired enough I could probably fall back asleep if left alone. Although, considering that dream earlier perhaps avoiding that was a good idea.

Encountering Kitaru seemed like an equally horrible idea.

At the same time, Hiroshi said it was like he wasn’t there…

With a shake of my head, I went about changing, pulling on a pair of baggy sweats and an over-sized tee-shirt, seeing as I had no intentions of going anywhere today. When Emi wasn’t around for him to torture, Hiroshi wouldn’t bother being as harsh as he usually was. I’d probably be fine.

With this thought in mind, I started for the door, ignoring how tired I felt. Upon pulling it open, I discovered that Hiroshi had planted himself across the hall, arms crossed over his chest, eyes focused on my door. His brow was furrowed thoughtfully and it was rather obvious he was thinking deeply about something, seeing as he didn’t even notice I’d walked out for a full minute. When he did, his expression twisted into that usual, smug smile of his that appeared whenever he got his way. As usual, however, his eyes didn’t warm up with it, they looked just as cold as when I’d first walked out of my room.

“See, was that so hard?” he asked. “Come on, the food will get cold if you keep stalling.”

Without further ado, he gripped my arm and pulled me along towards the stairs. My head swam as we walked, but I did my best not to show it. He’d already begun paying too much attention, I could afford for him to actually start questioning things. I wasn’t prepared yet to face the consequences of what the answers to those questions might be.

The moment I took a step down, however, was when it happened. The dizziness made me stumble slightly, his hand tightened on my arm in an attempt to steady me which in turn caused his thumb to hit a bruise I must not have noticed. Perhaps it’s color wasn’t that dark just yet. Either way, I flinched. Hiroshi froze, eyes narrowed, before he seized the end of my sleeve and tugged it upwards.

Instantly I tore my arm away- but not before he caught sight of the darkened skin.

“Eri-” he began.

He couldn’t know. He couldn’t.

No one could know. If they didn’t know, then I didn’t have to go to the doctor. If I didn’t have to go to the doctor, I didn’t have to hear those words. My heart raced as I moved my foot backwards, the tip just barely brushing the edge of the step beneath me.

Perhaps if I hadn’t been so light-headed I’d have managed to catch myself.

“Eri!”

________________________________

Emi

The second the car stopped outside the hospital doors I was out the door. Without a word, Kitaru tailed behind me. Any other time I would have snapped at him to stay away- that Eri would be better off if he wasn’t here- but as it was I couldn’t summon the anger. He’d filled me in on what had happened during the ride, and to be honest there was only two things I could manage to feel at the moment- panic and fear.

I was scared.

Kitaru took the lead the moment we’d made it past the lobby. The panic within me only grew the further we moved through the twisting halls. I’d never been comfortable in hospitals. Too many bad memories. When that was combined with the news… I doubt anything but panic would have made sense.

The moment we made it into the waiting room my eyes landed on Hiroshi. He was on the further side of the room, talking to a doctor with furrowed brows. His usual smugness was gone, replaced by something that any other time would have made me pause and stare- fear.

He was scared as well.

“I told you, without your parents’ permission, I can’t-”

“I don’t give a damn!” Hiroshi snapped, his fist slamming into the wall next to him as he narrowed his eyes in the doctor’s direction as I joined them. “Those asses don’t give a shit, so why should they have a say?”

The doctor- to his credit- didn’t react other than with a weary, but patient nod.

“I understand, but-”

“Dammit,” Hiroshi cursed again, spinning away from the doctor and digging his hand into his pocket. “I get it, I get it, I’ll call them again. Dammit.”

“Eri,” I demanded, pulling the doctor’s attention to me. “Where is she?”

His eyes widened a fraction, then realization crossed his gaze. A second later he shook his head, putting up his hands in what I assumed was supposed to be a calming gesture.

“She’s unconscious, but otherwise stable. The blow to the head wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

I narrowed my eyes, picking up on Hiroshi’s irritated phone-call.

“But?” I prompted.

The doctor hesitated.

“It’s…”

“Dammit!” Hiroshi cut in, snapping his phone shut with enough force that I wouldn’t have been surprised if the screen had shattered. “They’re not answering!”

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

He spun to face me, not an ounce of hesitation in his gaze as he shared the one sentence I’d never wanted to hear.

“Because of Eri’s medical history they decided to run tests. They won’t tell me the result, but the symptoms are all there, Mi-”

“No.”

I shook my head.

It wasn’t possible.

“Emi.”

At the stony tone of Hiroshi’s voice, I found my attention focused on him despite myself.

“The cancer’s probably back.”