Hitachiin Triplets (COMPLETED)

Chapter 21: Part 5

Third Person P. O. V.

"He's stable. He has a breathing mask on now and he is awake. We just started his chemotherapy session so he might be a bit uncomfortable, but that's it. He's responsive and has a clear state of mind as well.

You three may come visit him but please limit physical contact and wear these surgical masks. The incident has rendered his immune system rather weak and we don't want to risk any infections."

They nodded and put on the masks he handed them and followed him past the double doors and took a right, then a left, and then another right, until they reached a set of doors that said Intensive Care Unit on the door.

They had to wash their hands and put gloves on before entering the room that had the words Hitachiin, Kuro on it. There was a list of instructions of what to do and what precautions to take on the door. What they saw was heart wrenching.

There, Kuro lay, pale and smiling at them through his oxygen mask. But that wasn’t what hurt their hearts.

It was the sheer amount of tubes and machines he was hooked up to: the EKG wires all on his head, IVs in his hand and arms that hooked him up to antibiotics, blood, chemo, anticonvulsants, and pain medicine, the large oxygen mask covering his gaunt face while you could hear the whirring of the machine pumping oxygen into his lungs, the heart monitor pads all on his small chest, and the pulse oximeter on his tiny pointer finger.

They all smiled sadly at the sick child and sat down in the two chairs next to his bed, Kaoru and Hikaru sharing a seat.

“Hey, Bubby,” Hikaru and Kaoru whispered lowly, almost afraid that if they made a noise any louder, their younger brother would shatter and fade away.

Kuro grinned at his older brothers, trying to comfort them.

“H-hi, Bubbi-bies!” He stuttered, smiling at his two look-alikes.

They fell into an awkward silence, not knowing what to say to each other.

Kuro spoke up hesitantly, "I'm s-sorry i-if I sc-scared you g-g-guys."

They nodded at him and fell back into silence until the distraught voice of Kaoru broke through it.

"W-why did y-you c-come outs-side, O-otouto? Y-you know M-mama doesn't a-a-allow you o-outside, e-especially s-since it's w-winter."

Kuro stared at his older brother in slight shock before turning his gaze down to the thin, itchy, white blanket covering his skinny, bruised legs and small feet.

Kuro took a deep, but shaky breath before answering, "I just wanted to play with you, to have fun, be a child. Be normal. I wanted to go outside and play in the snow without having to worry about getting sick with anything worse than a slight cold. But now I know that I'll never be normal. I'll always have to worry about getting infections and illnesses that could kill me easily. I'll never be able to just be a child. Wild, carefree.

I'm sorry, Kaoru, Hikaru, that you had to see me like that. If I could erase those memories from your minds, believe me, I would do it in a heartbeat. I'm so sorry I scared you but I won't take back today's events. I had a lot of fun playing with you guys, and that is something I'll never apologize for."

The two boys ran up to him, fresh tears in their eyes after hearing his confession, and held his small, pallid hands in their slightly larger, tan ones, remembering about having to limit physical contact with him.