The Neglected Garden

By: HiroAngelLight

Summary: Thirteen years ago, after the death of their parents, Tadashi blamed Hiro as the cause of their parents' deaths and left Hiro alone in the orphanage. Not only it broke Hiro's heart, but their relationship as well. But when Hiro needs to stay in Tadashi's house to avoid the juvenile prison, can they fix their broken relationship after years of losing contact to each other?

Adopted from Adazula.

Female!Hiro

Hiro is 16. Tadashi and Honey are 27.

Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6.

Warning: Beware of typos and bad grammar. English is NOT my main language. I have this bad habit of not realizing my mistakes in my stories until days or even months after publishing the story.

-oOo-

Chapter 13

Everything was a blur to Hiro. Mostly. She remembered Tadashi didn't come into her room until the time he must signed her discharge form and told her that she could finally go back home. Hiro was forever grateful for that. Yes, she hated their bland and mushy food. But there was another reason why she always hated hospitals.

She shook her head, not wanting to remember all those painful memories. She saw Tadashi walking beside her while holding a bag where her clothes were stored. Their way back was full of silence. Tadashi had his eyes on the road, while Hiro was avoiding his eyes. She knew Tadashi was holding back. She just didn't want to hear anything from him for the moment.

He reminded her how much he had hurt her in the past.

Even though just verbally, but it still hurt.

On their way back, she was wondering about something. Should she give him a chance? She gave him so many chances in the past. But, Tadashi spitted them back right to her face. Even told her he didn't want chances from her when all he wanted was a life away from her.

'What makes you think I want us to live together with you again? I'm already happy with my new family, and it's not my problem if nobody wants to adopt you. You're a bad luck after all. So, stop dreaming and don't ever try to contact me again! I don't want to have a sibling who caused my parents' death! You hear me?! You're not my sister anymore!'

Those words stung. It wasn't her fault that their parents died in that accident. True that she asked them to buy some ice cream before they went home. Every little kid did that at least once in their lives. The accident happened that night, it was the drunk youngsters' fault, not her! Tadashi was old enough to remember.

And yet, he still blamed her for that.

-oOo-

It surprised her when she decided to check what Tadashi had at the back of his house. There was a garden, divided into two sides. The right side had different kinds of flowers planted, while the left side were some kinds of vegetables. In the middle, there was a fish pond where she could see koi fish swam around. To top it all, there was a wooden swing bench with a roof on top of it not far from the pond, probably to avoid the burning sunlight.

'It must be Honey's idea,' Hiro thought to herself.

She approached the swing bench and sat on it. Through her hand, she knew it was made from a fine wood material, polished with a golden-brown paint. When she took a look on what she could see from where she sat, there was a beautiful sight. She could see the lake from there. And the view looked spectacular!

The cool breeze was soothing. It calmed what was inside her right now. Maybe it was the anger from last night, when Tadashi said bad things about Moru-nii. Moru-nii, the person who helped her a lot to overcome the obstacles in her life that tried to take her down. The person who gave her support.

And the very same person who told her to never hate Tadashi and give him a chance when he came back to her.

But, Tadashi hurt her a lot with his words. He told her that he didn't want her. If Tadashi really meant those words, then why did he decide to help her now? Why bother doing that if he didn't want to have a sister like her? She just couldn't understand anymore.

Hiro then heard someone coming from behind. "Mind if I sit here?" Tadashi asked. She just shrugged without taking her eyes from the view. Tadashi sat beside her and stared at the view ahead. No one said a word for a moment. As if they were enjoying the view in their silence.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Tadashi started. "This house was once owned by an old couple. The house was old, too. The wife died when I was 23 from a chronic illness. I used to come here to check on him. Listened to his stories. Helped him around the house. Accompanied him. Before he died, he told me that after he died, this house would be mine. He gave it to me, he said as a thank you for not letting him feel lonely and listened to his stories."

Hiro listened to Tadashi's story, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. "He just had one last wish. For me to keep this garden alive. He made it for his wife who liked gardening. They used to watch this view together. Had a romantic date under the starry sky. Of course, I promised him that. He smiled at me, and then died peacefully from old age two years later."

"Must be nice couple," Hiro mumbled.

"Yeah. To be honest, when first looked at this view, it reminded me of you." Hiro raised her eyebrow. Tadashi shifted and looked at Hiro, "You used to like places with beautiful view since you were a baby. At that time, I wondered if you would like to enjoy this view with me. When I got this house, I was 25, already had a job and money, I decided to do some renovation. To make this house more liveable and cozy. And of course, I cleaned and tidied up this garden, too. While doing all that, I always thought about inviting you here. Honey was thrilled when I mentioned about that. She even squealed happily, saying you would be happy with this place."

Tadashi gave her a sad look, "But that made me sad. With all the things I had done to you, I doubted you would want to come to see me. Furthermore, enjoying this view with me. She told me, to never lose hope. That one day, we can be siblings again. So, I kept hoping that would come true."

At this, Hiro averted her eyes away, looking down at her feet. Maybe, it was time to listen to what he wanted to say. Gave him a chance to explain himself. And maybe, after listening to everything Tadashi wanted her to listen, she could think over whether Tadashi deserved another chance or not.

"Why changed? You always told me you hated me, blamed me for everything. And you made it very clear that you didn't want a sister like me? Why?"

It was very clear to her how the look he gave her was genuinely full of sadness. Tadashi sighed, "It was hard. I admit, it didn't bother me a single bit at first. But as time passed, I was starting to miss you. Always felt like something, rather someone, was missing. I didn't know why, because that time, I still thought that way. Thought that I hated you and blamed you for everything."

Closing his eyes, Tadashi paused for a second. "I told the old man about it. I knew he was a wise person. Even wiser than Raymond, Lisa's husband. The old man told me, it was because deep down, I never blamed nor hated you to begin with. My anger blinded my judgement and rationality. And because you were there, I lashed it out on you. Even though I was older than you, but I was still considered as young. That's why the anger and hatred stayed longer until I could start thinking clearly again. Trust me, I know it wasn't right of me to treat you that way, even if I realized it too late.

"I was 24 when I started feeling that way. And I was 25 when some sense finally knocked me up. Of course, it was all thanks to the advice of the wise old man. I was terrified. I thought about a lot of 'what ifs' that time. He assured me that as long as I'm being patient, everything will be fine someday. I believed him."

Hiro, who had been listening, asked quietly, "Then you decided to contact Aunt Cass?"

Tadashi nodded weakly, "Yeah. Let's just say, I wasn't brave enough to contact you all of sudden. I didn't think you would want to talk or meet me after all the bad things I'd done to you. So, I got most of the info I wanted to know about you from her. Though I'm pretty sure she didn't tell me about some things. I didn't push her to tell me things she didn't want me to know, and told her to contact me if you need my help. I'll try to help with anything."

"Can you imagine how shocked I was when almost two months ago she called me, telling me you've been sent to juvie, 'again', and she needed to send you somewhere else far away until summer ends?" He chuckled. "Then she asked me if I would let you live with me until for a while until she got a place somewhere to send you. Of course, I wouldn't let that opportunity got slipped from my hands. So, I told her you can stay with me as long as you want."

Hiro didn't say anything. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the scenery ahead. Tadashi pursed his lips, then stared at the pond, "I'm sorry, Hiro. I really am. I promise you, I'll do anything until you can forgive me and trust me again. I'm not forcing you to forgive me right here and right now, but please, give me a chance to mend the mistakes I had done to you. To us. From there, I'll let you decide whether I deserve your forgiveness or not."

Even after hearing Tadashi's story, Hiro still didn't know what to feel about him. Touched, but just a tiny bit. He didn't force her to forgive him, either. That was a good thing, because if he had forced her, oh Tadashi would never be forgiven. Not even in the afterlife.

But, didn't Moru-nii asked her to give Tadashi a chance if he came to her? Perhaps, another chance wouldn't hurt. Just one last chance. And no more. Just one, and then she could decide.

"Okay."

Tadashi snapped his head and turned his eyes over her, "Okay?" He sounded in disbelief.

"Just one last chance. No more," Hiro said, firmly.

Joy filled Tadashi's heart. His eyes became glassy. He gave Hiro a wide happy smile, "Okay. Thank you, Hiro!"

Tadashi suddenly pulled Hiro into a hug. Hiro squeaked, surprised at his sudden act. Truthfully, Hiro didn't know what to do. So, she just let Tadashi hugged her. Until Tadashi pulled away.

His smile didn't leave his face.

"By the way," he said. "I've been wanting to introduce you to someone."

"Introduce me to someone?" Hiro frowned. She kinda hated this whole introduction thing. Based on her past experience, they never ended well. Well, usually.

"Don't worry, don't worry! Trust me. He never judges people. And, he's also really friendly," Tadashi said, trying to assure his sister.

Hiro narrowed her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. "If you're trying to do something funny, and shady, I'll let you know. My fist is ready to punch you senseless. And I'll take back that last chance from you, then act like I never have a brother."

Hearing that, Tadashi gasped, "What? No! Well, it's not like you can punch me. I'm a black belt in karate, you know." He sounded annoying much to Hiro's patience.

"I literally slapped your face last night," Hiro pointed it out dangerously.

"….."

"….."

"Okay, noted."

"Good."

Tadashi stood on his feet and motioned her to follow him, "Come on. He's in my personal lab, right now. I'll introduce him to you there."

"I didn't know you have a personal lab here," Hiro said, eyebrow raised.

Tadashi hummed, "Well, I guess you have never really explored the house then."

Tadashi walked around the house with Hiro trailing him behind. True that while she explored the area around, she didn't take time to explore the house itself. No wonder she had no idea Tadashi had a personal lab there. After walking not long from the swing bench, she saw something that looked like a shack. Not that kind of old and rusty shack like what she saw in horror movies years ago. By the look at it, Tadashi probably had renovated it, too, along with the house.

When they finally reached the shack, Tadashi opened the wooden door and walked in. "Welcome back, Tadashi," someone said from inside the shack. "Hey, buddy!" Tadashi smiled as he replied. "I want to introduce you to my sister. Come on in, Hiro!"

Hiro raised her eyebrow in confusion. There was someone else living there and she didn't know? And Tadashi just told her now? Unbelievable! Hiro was ready to meet the person, until she walked in and saw who that was inside other than Tadashi.

"WHAT ON EARTH?!"

-oOo-

Author's Note: Fastest update I've done in the last 2 years, I guess? I will probably go hiatus again after this. My new semester will begin real soon, and I need to pass all the classes in order to be able to do the internship in several months. So, yeah. I'm going to be REALLY BUSY until next year. I'll try to post one more chapter before that, or maybe update a chapter when I have free time around May or June.

((I do wish I could update regularly. But, you know, real life happens..))

Also, I just did minor editing for this chapter, so there might be some errors left. And guess who will make an appearance next chapter? I'm gonna leave some excitement around here.. lmao! XD

Until next time~!