(Let Me Show You) How to Wobble like a Penguin

Chapter Summary: The last chapter for Kaoru...

Chapter 10: Don't Forget Me

~Hikaru~

10 years later...

Bunkyo Hospital, Kaoru's room, 9:01pm

It was not secret. Kaoru was dying, he had been since his diagnosis 17 years ago. The only difference now was that his long battle was coming to an end.

"I' sca-ared Hi-karu." Kaoru whispered with his slurred speech, though he tried harder than imaginable to keep it steady. But working the tongue so hard caused his speech to also slow intensely, his body no longer obeyed Kaoru's mind as it commanded his tongue to move. Although it didn't bug Hikaru, if Kaoru wanted to talk- no matter how slow- he would listen, and he would always understand. Kaoru was his other half after all, so how could he not?

"It's okay, everything will be okay... Just promise me to keep your promise."

"Prom-mise me-e."

"Promise what?"

"Don' eve-er for-get me an' I prom-mise I'- be the-re ever-y-ytime yo' th-ink of mee."

"So always?" Hikaru quietly joked and Kaoru responded with a mumbled little giggle, "I'll never be able to forget you. Ever."

"Don' for-get, I-I 'ove 'ou."

Hikaru smiled,

"I love you too Kaoru..." Hikaru looked at his brother who was drifting off to sleep now,

'I love you so much it hurts.'

2 months later...

Kaoru had died exactly 4 weeks later, on December 13th. It happened in his sleep, and Hikaru had bawled his eyes out when he heard the news, it had been, by far, the worst night of his life.

Flashback; 6 weeks earlier,

"Oh Hikaru..." Mai, Hikaru's wife burst into their bedroom, waking her husband. It was just past midnight but since she was working night shifts at the hospital it didn't surprise him,

"Let me sleep Mai, I want to wake up early to see Kaoru before work tomorrow..." Hikaru said as he laid back onto his pillow. Just as Kaoru had always wanted, he lived a normal life. He was married, had a three year old son, named Rin, and was CEO of their parent's company. And he was happy, as long as he was able to visit Kaoru at least once a day, his smiled never died.

Hikaru looked up to see Mai's silhouette in their bedroom door frame; the hallway light was on behind her, and he could just barely see their sleeping son in the room across the hall. Rin's face was turned toward the door, so Hikaru was able to see the upper half of his son's face and the left half of the closed door that lead to Kaoru's room. He looked at Mai again, she was in the exact same spot and Hikaru sat up to turn on the night table's lamp. Mai was crying...

"Hikaru..." And in that second Hikaru's throat closed, his eyes started to feel wet, and with the next word he felt his whole life fall apart,

"Kao- oru... He-" That was the coherent word Hikaru recognized that night.

End of Flashback

One of the strangest things about life is that it will chug on, blind and oblivious, even as your private world - your little carved-out sphere - is twisting and morphing, even breaking apart. One day you have parents; the next day you're an orphan. One day you have a place and a path. The next day you're lost in the wilderness. And still the sun rises and clouds mass and drift and people shop for groceries and toilets flush and blinds go up and down. That's when you realize that most of it - life, the relentless mechanism of existing - isn't about you. It doesn't include you at all. It will thrust onward even after you've jumped the edge. Even after you're dead. (― Lauren Oliver, Delirium)

It was the one thing that baffled Hikaru most. Even after Kaoru was gone life continued, day by day, it was the same. Hikaru lost a part of his world but they were millions of people around him who didn't even notice anything different. Hikaru didn't leave his bed until the funeral, and it took the help of the host club, his wife, and son to get him up. He didn't know how to keep living without his brother, and it pained him to blink and see everything that happened was real and not a nightmare.

"You know Kaoru would hate to see you like this... Haruhi had said the same thing to me when she and Tamaki had come over after the funeral." Mai said as she help her husband take off his black outfit so he could sleep. She was pulling off his dress shoes as he turned to look into her eyes,

"He broke his promise."

Mai didn't answer, she just continued to work on taking her husband's shoes off, she got the first one-off after some time, the next was much easier though. Mai pulled off his other shoe and sock, and then she headed to place his belt, jacket, shoes and socks in their closet. Hikaru began to pull the covers back and crawl into bed. Shortly after Mai was beside him, crawling into bed to his left.

"Hmmm, did he? Because I don't he did. Though you might've." Mai said as she turned off the light and closed her eyes. Hikaru never answered, he just stared at the ceiling. The bedroom was only semi-dark, the bedroom door stayed open so they could hear their Rin, they left the hallway light on too for Rin. Hikaru sighed as he began to relax his heavy eyelids, so that darkness overlapped him...

That night Hikaru dreamt of Kaoru, he was with him and they were laughing at something,

"It's ok, you know? I'll never leave you, never completely, as long as you remember me I can come into your dreams through your heart. Now... Let's see...I guess I'll teach you my strength that got me through my disease. I think you need it now more then me."

Kaoru got up, it was then that Hikaru realized they were sitting on the floor. Kaoru walked, the way he did a long long time ago, before his disease, and picked up something from the ground. He turned around and sat in front of Hikaru again.

"Give me your hand" Kaoru asked with a peaceful smile. And before he could question why he held out his hand to his brother. Kaoru gently grabbed his hand and placed something on his palm and closed his fingers around it. Hikaru looked at his closed hand silently for a minute before opening it,

A pebble.

"Did you know that when a male penguin wants to show another penguin he loves them he'll search for the perfect pebble to present to her and if she accepts the pebble it means she accept his love?"

"Are you proposing to me Kaoru?"

Kaoru laughed at that, "This is how I want to teach you. Now, Hikaru, will you let me show you how to wobble like a penguin?"

AN: I want to give everyone who read this story a HUGE THANK YOU! If you Fav'ed, thanks x2; reviewed, thanks x5; looked up Friedreich's Ataxia, thanks x100! But remember you can still do all those things; Favorite, Review, and look up Friedreich's Ataxia!

PS: I Love you all~ And I really really REALLY hope you enjoyed my story! I had a great time writing it~

FIN