Paradise We have Yet to See

Tiger & Bunny © Sunrise

Fanfiction © Anime-Twin27135 (Deviant Art) Kiora Iwa ()

MyNotes-Hi everyone! I'm user Kiora Iwa! I'm new to FanfFiction and trying to get used to the controls here...

Just to say, I recently found out about the Tiger & Bunny series and fell in love with it! So... I wanted to try my hand at fan fiction!

So I hope you enjoy my first fanfiction and feedback is welcome!-

CH1

3 weeks after the battle with Maverick

"That stupid old man."

Barnaby sighed as he flipped his phone shut. He had just gotten a call from Kotetsu saying that he needed help with the old wounds he had gotten from the H-01 Wild Tiger. Even though it had been just 3 weeks since Wild Tiger retired, Kotetsu just had to play "hero" one more time when a burglar snatched an elderly woman's purse near a plaza. Kotetsu did apprehend the burglar, but the man didn't go down without a fight. Apparently Tiger did not use his hero power and the burglar was able to land a few hard hits to his chest and shoulder. As a result, he ended up re-opening his cuts, bruised his healing burns, and re-injuring his bad shoulder. Then he decided after that to not go to the hospital; Kotetsu tried to remedy his injuries on his own. Now, the burn scabs and cuts were infected along with painful swelling and he could not move his shoulder very much. Barnaby was muttering under his breath as he was thinking back to what his partner had told him on the phone.

"He never thinks before he acts. Seriously, he's like a child... AND WHY DID I BECOME THE BABYSITTER?" With that, he took his frustration out on the road as he sped down the highway to get to Kotetsu's apartment.

:Kotetsu's apartment:

"Open the door old man! Don't tell me you dragged me out here for nothing!"

Barnaby was now super pissed. Speeding down the highway to this apartment only took 30 minutes from the 1 hour ride back from where he was originally coming from and now he had been waiting outside Tiger's door for fifteen minutes. Barnaby scoffed and turned to leave when he heard a faint voice from door.

"Hold on, hold on... There in a sec..." It was Kotetsu alright... But he sounded a little different from the earlier phone call. He sounded... weak.. Like he had very little energy left in him. A few seconds later, a click from the lock and a slow turn of the knob, the door creaked open slowly to reveal a flushed faced Tiger, who was only wearing pants, leaning against the door frame.

"Hey there Bunny... Sorry it took me so long," said Kotetsu, smiling weakly.

Barnaby rolled his eyes and was about to say something when he spotted his partner's chest through the door. The reopened cuts and burn scabs were an angry red color, swollen, and his shoulder had a dark reddish-purple bruise coming from underneath the bandages wrapped around the area. He just stared in shock for a few seconds until he noticed the bandaged shoulder was sinking down. It only took him a split second to push through the door and catch Kotetsu before he fell to the ground. "Kotetsu!" Putting his left arm around his partner's body and closing the door with his right, Barnaby held the limp Tiger close to his body. Through his red leather jacket, he could feel that Kotetsu's body was burning up. Placing his forehead on the crook of Barnaby's neck, Kotetsu muttered, "You feel so nice, Bunny..."

Breathing a deep sigh, Barnaby put his free arm under Kotetsu's legs and carried him bridal-style to the couch. At that moment, he remembered the first time he met Wild Tiger before they became official partners. Wild Tiger's power ran out after the 5 minute mark and Barnaby came to the rescue and caught Tiger. That brought a soft smile to his face, but then a worried look ruined that smile. It was hard to see his partner in such a condition when he usually was the childish one. Making sure that Kotetsu was comfortable, Barnaby looked around the apartment until he found a thermometer and some alcohol pads in the bathroom and went back downstairs. Taking an alcohol pad and dis-infecting the thermometer, he stuck it gently in Kotetsu's mouth and waited a few seconds until it beeped. Taking it out as gently, he saw that the temperature was 102 degrees. Shaking his head, he dis-infected it again and placed it on the coffee table.

"Kotetsu, do you know that you are running a 102 degree fever? And not only that, your wounds are infected? You need to go to the hospital now."

Barnaby was reaching in his pocket for his phone when Kotetsu grabbed his arm and tried to pull himself up. This was so sudden that Barnaby stumbled to one knee and his face was very close to Kotetsu's. That pained look on his face... He knew what his partner was going to say.

"Please... I don't need to go to the hospital... It's just a little thing I just need to get over..."

Kotetsu smiled weakly as he tried to make a joke.

"Besides, that kind elderly nurse told me not to come back to the hospital or she'd tan my hide."

He laughed a little which turned into a small fit of coughs. Laughing has caused his chest to hurt and that made Barnaby have a pained look. He didn't like this at all. If this kept up, Kotetsu would get worse. He needed a hospital right away... But the sincere look in his partner's eyes kept him from trying to persuade him otherwise. He closed his eyes in frustration not knowing what to do.

"Please... Barnaby..."

The use of his real name made Barnaby open his eyes and look at Kotetsu. This was serious if Kotetsu didn't use "Bunny." Sighing, he gave a surrender filled shrug and gently pushed the older man back. Getting back to his feet, Barnaby walked over to a corner and called the hospital to send a doctor over to the apartment. After explaining the situation and with some successful persuasion and flirting with the nurse at the other end of the phone, the doctor was going to get to the apartment in about 15 minutes. Satisfied, he flipped his phone shut and walked past the confused Kotetsu to go upstairs and grab a spare blanket from the bedroom. It was a very simple and clean designed room and Barnaby was interested in looking around, but at the moment that was not important. After searching through the drawers, he found what he was looking for, closed everything, and walked back downstairs to a curious Tiger. Flipping the blanket and covering Kotetsu, Barnaby smiled, tucked him in, and said, "No worries now old man. I just called the hospital and pulled a favor with one of the lady doctor to come over and check you out. So you won't be going there..."

After check to see that everything was in order, Barnaby was heading to the kitchen to boil some hot water to make tea. As he went in, Kotetsu peeked over the couch to say, " Thanks Bunny... I-I'm sorry I had to trouble you with this." 'Bunny' smiled and waved his hand, saying,

"Don't worry about it. That's what partners are for."

10-15 Minutes later

The doorbell rang just as the kettle was whistling. If it wasn't for Kotetsu yelling, "Oi! … Bunny-chan!" Barnaby would have never known it rang. Quickly turning off the kettle, he rushed to the door and opened it to see Dr. Ruki Hath. She was actually an old high school upper classmate he had not seen for many years. She was a hugger and the moment she saw Barnaby, she gave him a great big hug. He went a little stiff, but remembered that this was just how his classmate was and gave in to hug her back.

Kotetsu on the other hand was a little curious and jealous at the same time as he strained his neck to see what was going on. Even though he had seen Barnaby smile, this was the most genuine smile he had seen his partner give ever. He wondered what relation this woman had with his Bunny. But the moment he had thought "his Bunny," he scrunched his eyebrows and shook his head. His Bunny? Barnaby was not a possession, nor did he believe he was. Also.. Why was he feeling suddenly jealous of this doctor? Shaking his head again, he laid his head back down on the pillow and just rubbed his face with his hand. He concluded that this was the fever's effect on him and that once it was gone, he'd be fine. And he was glad he finished that thought because the doctor was walking over to him to check to see what was going on.

As Dr. Hath was checking up on Kotetsu, Barnaby was back in the kitchen steeping tea. She has said green tea would be fine and luckily Kotetsu did have some in his cabinets. There was enough for three, so he poured the tea into three miss-matched cups and head out to the living room where Dr. Hath was laughing and Kotetsu looking sheepish. Barnaby tilted his head to the side wondering what was going on when the doctor cleared her throat, and snorted a little.

"Your littleTiger is going to be fine. The wounds, although swollen and infected, are a healthy color so you don't need to worry... But you need to make sure he doesn't put foot cream on cuts anymore and needs to clean them properly..."

"Foot cream?" asked Barnaby. The doctor held up the little white and pink squeeze container that had the logo of a paw print with wings and halo. He wasn't getting it until he realized that Kotetsu had confused foot cream with Neosporin, the antibacterial healing cream. Suddenly, everything made so much more sense now. At this point it should have not come as a surprise that Kotetsu would do this... He was just that kind of guy. Rolling his eyes and trying to hide his smirk, he placed the tray of cups on the table and offered a cup to the doctor and the "little Tiger" before taking his own and sipping the bitter, but delicious tea. After that hilarity, Dr. Hath showed Barnaby how to treat the wounds and change the bandages and also how to deal with Kotetsu's bad shoulder. She had recommended that each night Kotetsu should have a hot water bottle on his bad shoulder to help with the muscle pain and also some slow, but steady arm stretches to keep the muscles use to some motion. She was also kind enough to leave some of her supplies with them since she always carried extra first aid kits in her large purse. Last, she gave fever pills to Barnaby and said they needed to be take twice a day until the fever was gone and that he need to eat clean like clear broths and porridge and that he should have a nice hot bath either tonight or tomorrow. With everything done, she talked with Barnaby for a bit about old times and her current life happenings before hugging her classmate, waving to Kotetsu, and left.

With the door closed, Barnaby turned back to the living room to find that Kotetsu had fallen asleep, snoring loudly. He guessed that today's events probably wore him out. Looking at the digital clock, it was only 5 PM. It looked like Barnaby was going to have to spend a night or two taking care of the old man. He sat carefully near Kotetsu and observed his sleeping friend. With the blanket covering him up to his neck, it would have looked like Kotetsu had nothing wrong with him. And strangely enough, when Barnaby looked up to his partner's face, he could not help but laugh a little. Kotetsu's face kept scrunching up and making weird sleeping expressions because one of his longer bangs was irritating his nose. He definitely was a child. Smiling, he reached over with his left hand to move the bangs back when Kotetsu leaned his cheek against his palm and began to nuzzle it. It was something like what a big cat would do if he wanted a head rub. This was... Really cute actually. Barnaby couldn't take his eyes off this scene... It was... It was just too cute. But when he looked at the clock, it was 5:15. He needed to get home to grab some clothes, his toothbrush, and other stuff he needed for the next few days. As he was about to get up, Kotetsu's lips pressed against his palm. "Tomoe..." Barnaby froze mid-way waiting to see if anything else happened. But his partner just turned the other way and began to snore again. Getting up quickly, he grabbed his keys and the apartment key and went to the door. As he reached the knob, he stopped one more time to look back at Kotetsu before opening and closing the door.

But he didn't immediately leave. Barnaby leaned against the door and let out a deep breath. What was going on? He had enjoyed the moment until Kotetsu said his wife's name. And it bothered Barnaby that this bothered him. Why was he feeling a little jealous over Tomoe, his partner's deceased wife? And why did he enjoy Kotetesu's nuzzling? He looked down to his left palm and closed it. The warmth he felt from Kotetsu was still there but starting to fade. And to add on to his conflict, he had liked the feeling of that warmth and wanted more of it. Gripping his hand tight, he pushed the thought back and moved from the wall to head to the parking lot. This was going to be a long few days.