Control Alt Delete (A BH6 crossover)

Chapter Ten: It wasn't your fault.

"What were you thinking, knucklehead?"

That was the first thing Hiro heard as he groggily clawed his way back to consciousness, followed by what was probably meant to be a gentle tap to the shoulder but felt more like someone had clubbed him. But it was Tadashi's voice, which was the best sound in the whole world. "Dashi," he managed to croak out, his entire body feeling rather... well, numb, if he thought about it. That and it was hard to breathe. He had to blink a few times to make his eyes work properly, but when he did, he realized what he'd heard had not been an illusion.

Tadashi leaned over his brother with an alcohol wipe, which he swiped across the younger Hamada's cheek. The motion caused Hiro to suck in his breath sharply, trying to evade the disinfecting cloth. But Tadashi wasn't having any of that and held him still with his other hand. That sharp intake of breathe hurt more than the alcohol did.

"That hurts," Hiro complained, still not quite with it. Had he just mentally clocked out? Or had he really been out of it? And if so, for how long? And had Tadashi even noticed he'd not been among the land of the living? "Why does it have to hurt so much?"

The older Hamada shook his head, a look of concentration on his face as he continued to dab at his brother's cut cheek. "If you're going to be stupid enough to pick a fight with one of the biggest back alley bot fighters in the city, the least you can do is suck it up and be a man when I clean up your mess."

Was that what had happened? Brief images of sitting down in front of a giant reddish-pink circle filled Hiro's brain. And across from him sat a giant of a man with a balding head. Who was that? Yama, right? "Oh." But still, when had Tadashi ever told him to "suck it up and be a man"? Never. At least not that he could remember.

Tadashi let out a heavy sigh. "Now it all comes back to you," he admonished. "Next time you get yourself into a scrape, don't expect me to come looking for you. In fact, next time I might not be able to. Hopefully getting beat up by that guy's men taught you a much needed lesson. Bot fighting is dangerous and I wish you'd stop doing it."

So that's what had happened. Hiro thought he vaguely remembered those chuckling voices. Only, the last time he'd encountered them, two lifetimes ago, he'd managed to escape a sound beating when Tadashi had come just in the nick of time. So why had he been late this go around?

"Why?" Hiro managed to get out as Tadashi moved to inspect some of Hiro's more colorful bruises. Well, at least the outwardly visible ones on his legs and arms. The boy had to resist the urge to cry out when his brother touched the more sensitive ones.

Somewhat distracted with his ministrations, Tadashi didn't even look up. "Why what?" His voice still reflected hints of anger and frustration.

Hiro had to choose his words carefully, but each prod from his brother's fingers only served to send stabs of fresh pain throughout his body. Man, they must have given him a real good beating to cause that kind of damage. "Why didn't you come sooner?"

Pulling back, Tadashi ran a hand through his hair, making Hiro realize, for the first time, that he wasn't wearing his customary hat. Maybe he'd lost it somewhere, or had just taken it off. Either was possible. Just how long had Hiro been out of it? "Believe me when I say I tried," Tadashi admitted, his face falling a bit, as if Hiro getting beaten to a pulp was his fault instead of Yama's men.

It cut to the quick that Tadashi thought Hiro's condition was his fault. Of course, Hiro had been taken off guard by events, now that he could think a bit about it. The memories were slowly coming back, as if integrating a different past with his present self. Was that how it had happened last time? He couldn't remember.