The Life of a Dead Man

Five

A couple days had passed, maybe even a week or two, since that day that Kaname invited Zero to lunch and the man had come to visit every day since. It was strange to both Yuki and Zero for him to be there because for Yuki, Kaname was never home. And for Zero, no one ever visited more than once every year or so. Usually the only person that ever visited was his adoptive father and that was only ever on his birthday since he lived a ways away. It was an extraordinary thing for Yuki to see two of her closest guys being so different with one another. Of course she knew that both of them cared for her, but she had never seen them act affectionate with her. She was fine with that. It made her heart flutter when she walked in and seen that Kaname was asleep in one of the reclining hospital chairs that they had for patients that had relatives or friends to stay over.

Both of them were asleep, Kaname asleep with his hand propping his head up and his breath coming out long and slow. Zero was on his side facing Kaname with a small lazy smile on his face that Yuki had never seen from him. In the other hand of her brother, was a book that was open to a page near the back of the long novel. If Yuki could guess, she would think that Kaname was reading the book aloud to Zero since he never did have enough of an attention span to read himself. It was nice to see the picture in front of her, but it was also bittersweet to know that it would never happen again once Kaname went back to work. Even Yuki couldn't figure out why he kept coming back to visit the sick man.

She sighed and walked over to the side of the bed in which the grey haired man was sleeping peacefully and began checking his vitals. Today would be his CT scan to check the progression, or hopefully the lack thereof, of the cancer. She had always gotten a sense of dread during the days when she knew this scan was going to occur. She always feared for him since he hadn't had much luck. She tried to be quiet for the sake of waking either one of them up, but with Zero being a light sleeper that was near impossible. His eyes cracked open and he blinked sleepily for a moment before stretching in the bed. He remained on his side but was now looking at Yuki with a sleepy, happy smile.

"Good morning." he said to her as she wrote down information from the machine onto a clipboard. She raised an eyebrow to him but didn't look up from what she was doing.

"Someone's in a good mood I presume?" she stated and he shrugged with another small smile still playing at his lips. Yuki glanced over at her brother when he shuffled around and attempted to get comfortable on the small chair. "That chair is not big enough for a man his size." Yuki informed with a small laugh and Zero looked over.

"I tried to get him to go home last night, but he would say that he didn't want to hit traffic and then he said that he wanted to watch the news for any wrecks, and then he told me it was too late for him to drive so he just slept in that chair after I fell asleep. He was reading the Hobbit or some bullshit to me since I never cared to read it. It's funny when he's making fun of everything in the damn book. He would just diss the fuck out of everything in it and it was hilarious. I can see why you enjoy being around him." he told her with a fond smile while looking over at the dark haired man. Yuki's smile faltered a bit.

"I actually don't get to be around him very often. He isn't the most affectionate person around." she said sadly. She loved her brother a lot and she always looked up to him growing up. Yuki felt bad when Zero's beautiful smile went away and formed into a frown. "It's okay though, he was always there for me when I was growing up and I owe him for that. He made me who I am today."

"Is it CT day?" he asked to change the subject. She just nodded in response, and he sighed. "I can't wait. That's the one where they put that weird shit in my IV, right? The stuff that makes you feel like you gotta piss?" Zero questioned and she giggled.

"I guess so, I've never heard it put that way before. I guess it's different for everyone. They'll be in here soon to get you and take you to the room." she informed him and he groaned loudly. "Shhh, you'll wake him up." Yuki whispered yelled and he rolled his eyes.

"I don't give a fuck, I just hate those guys. I feel like they're going to judge me for being weak and useless when they are all buff and shit." he said quietly and Yuki frowned.

"Those guys would never, they are the sweetest people ever. And you aren't weak or useless so just get that out of your head too." she demanded and he rolled his eyes once more. "You do about a hundred eye rolls a minute so you've got to have good eyes." Yuki joked. Soon enough, the men did come in and roll Zero out of his room and towards the part of the hospital that held the large machine that would tell if he could be saved or not. In the process of them collecting Zero, Kaname was woken up. He waited until they were gone before he spoke.

"Where are they taking him?" he asked his sister as she fixed the bed.

"CT scan. It's going to tell the doctor what he needs to know about his disease. I was about to walk down there if you'd like to come." she offered and he just shrugged before standing up and allowing his stiff muscles and joints to stretch, his bones popping in random places before he sighed in relief. Yuki walked out of the room and allowed her brother to follow her, using her card to get through certain doors. The two entered a room with a one way glass that allowed them to see Zero. Kaname stared at him as he went through the motions as if it were scripted and drilled into his brain. Like he had done it tons of times before, and he had.

"I've never had one of those." was what he said to Yuki as they began the machine. Everyone in the room looked to him as if he were crazy.

"Really? I guess that's cool." she said even though she didn't really know how to respond to what he was saying.

"It's fucked up." Kaname spat violently, shocking his sister at his small outburst. "It's bullshit that some people are healthy as an ox, and then others are barely even living day to day. It isn't fair. How can God put people on this earth and give some the shitty treatment while others get all the luck in the world? I'd do anything to give him a good day for once." he said stiffly before walking out of the room and down to the ground floor. He exited the hospital and went to his car where he sat in the drivers' seat in silence for a good twenty minutes. He wanted to know why the best people got treated like shit, but no one could give him an answer.