@Ichiruu: Until the Very End.
Ichiru had felt himself go numb as Mugetsu was taken away from him. He had to be helped into the back of the ambulance and back out again. Mocha eyes were wide with shock, his hands trembling as he held the limp hand of Mugetsu. He kept whispering no over and over again. This couldn’t be it. There was still so much more that they had to do together, so much more that they had to see and accomplish. A dry whisper left his even drier throat.
He had to be helped from the back of the ambulance and into the hospital. Ichiru finally broke into tears as they forced him to let go of his brother, falling onto his knees in the lobby, sobbing his heart out. Someone came by, took him away, let him lay down for a while. But the tears seemed never ending, until they came to fetch him an hour or so later to enter the room in which Mugetsu had been placed in.
Ichiru felt more tears rise in his throat as he seen all of the tubes and wires rising from his brother’s body, seen how pale the raven looked. He sat numbly in the chair next to the hospital bed, the overwhelming smell of sterile needles and death in the air. No, please no. Please tell me that this is all a horrible nightmare.
Trembling fingers rose to twine in the limp ones of Mugetsu. The heart monitor beeped at an incredibly slow rate, and Ichiru wondered if the man would wake up long enough for him to talk to him in his final moments. With that in mind, their other brothers suddenly ran through his head, and he rose on shaking legs.
A few minutes later, a cold phone was pressed to his ear. “Yes, this is Ichiru,” he whispered, voice quiet and cracking. “No, don’t hang up. I … I have some bad news. Mugetsu collapsed, and they … t-they don’t think he’s gonna make it.” Ichiru fought to control the tears. “P-please, come to the hospital, and g-get here quickly.”
It was the first time Rei had ever heard him cry.
"...severe heart attack...surgery...heart failure...No transplant."
Mugetsu couldn't get the full story as he drifted in and out of consciousness. When he first became fully aware, Mugetsu only saw passing of fluorescent lights as he was rushed somewhere he didn't know. The next time he came aware, he was stationed in some medicinal smelling room with bright lights and strange beeping noises. The third time he became aware, his body was on fire and the pain...the pain, it was enough to make him writhe and gasp with what little breath he had. He begged to go back to the senseless darkness and almost shed a single tear when someone stabbed his arm with something and the blackness returned.
The fourth time Mugetsu woke up, he heard Ichiru's voice and then his crying...he wanted to reach out to him and let him know it would be alright, but his fading consciousness prevented him from saying any more lies. It was the final time that Mugetsu awoke, that he heard the hushed voice of who he presumed to be the doctor. He wanted to open his eyes and look, but his body was still numb and lethargic.
"...liver damage...Kidney failure...the left atrium of the heart...right ventricular..not much time."
The raven's weak heart jumped at those last three words. 'not much time' Of course, Mugetsu is amazed that he made it this far. But still...he's about to die. The revelation was enough to give him the minor strength to open his eyes and take in the white hospital room. Mugetsu turned his head to the side and focused his hazy wine eyes on the two men that were standing just in the doorway of his room. He opened his mouth to say something, but only a wheezy like sound escaped his dry lips. Mugetsu tried once more, putting his all into getting his voice out and only getting a light whisper as a reward.
"Ichiru..."
