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I reached room 800 in record time, but found myself hesitating, my hand on the doorknob. Smile, I told myself. For his sake, smile. "It's okay, Yuki. You can come in." Startled, I opened the door, my gameface on, unwavering as I met Touya's eyes from across the room. Touya looked a little pale, but he didn't seem to be injured. There was an IV embedded in his arm. Touya smiled at me, albeit weakly.
The room was cheerful enough, but there was a lingering feeling of pain and sadness there that I couldn't shake.
"How are you feeling?" I asked, a little at a loss for words.
"Not too bad, considering," he replied, leaning into his pillow. He even sounded weaker. "Did they tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"What's been wrong with me." I shook my head. "At least I know why I've been feeling so sick. I thought the headaches were migraines." I shook my head again, confused. Touya had said nothing to me about headaches. "It's been happening more and more frequently during the last month," he continued.
"You never said anything, To-ya." He nodded.
"I didn't want to worry you or Sakura or Tousan with something you couldn't help me with."
"What do you mean?"
"Headaches, fainting, dizzy-spells, nausea. It's been happening a lot this last month." I looked at him critically, my eyes shifting to violet and back to cover. "I'm dying, Yuki."
He watched helplessly as my eyes filled with denial, disbelief, anguish, and fear. "How?" was the only word capable of escaping my lips right then, as all of my energy was focused on holding back the flood of tears that my deep amber eyes wanted to spill.
"Cancer," he said. "Terminal. It was never treatable. My body poisoned itself, trying to fend it off. Two days, Yuki." I could tell by the aura he exuded that he had probably overstated. Poisoned by his own body.
"Oh, god, Touya..."
"It's all right," he said, his voice wavering a bit. "Okasaa visited me. She said not to worry. That everything would work itself out." He fell silent, meeting my eyes with frightened dark orbs of his own. "I'm scared, Yuki."
I covered his hand with mine, looking at his face. I tried to say that it would be all right, but the words died on my lips. I tried to smile, but gave up when I realized that it would just look hollow. Instead, I just nodded, tightening my grip on Touya's hand.
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It took a lot of convincing to keep Touya in the hospital that night. I called Daidouji Sonomi, and explained the situation to her. She agreed to watch over Sakura until Kinomoto Fujitaka returned, and not to tell her what'd happened to her brother. The last bit was one of Touya's requests. He didn't want to worry her.
He told her that he just felt a bit under the weather, and didn't want her to catch the cold. They'd both returned home, me in tow, to pack Sakura some essentials.
"Oniichan? Are you sure you're okay?" she had asked. He simply smiled, drawing her in a hug.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." The look on his face told me that he was saying his goodbye. "Take care of yourself, kaijuu."
"Bye, Oniichan. Take care of him, Yuki." She bounded past me, and out to the waiting car. I looked over at Touya with my typical expression: cheerful and dazzling as a light bulb, but just as empty.
"Yuki, that smile hurts to look at." My expression softened at this, but the mask stayed in place. Touya always had a sixth and seventh sense about things like that. "I don't see how you can do it."
"It's either smile or cry, and this is more effective. You do it too, To-ya. Your blank faces work at least as well, but one look at your eyes, and you reveal your soul."
Oh, how I'd hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head with that one.