Maybe this is better

 "Your mother has been diagnosed with brain cancer."

The words bounced around in Kazunari's head as tears welled in his eyes. "Excuse me, could you repeat that? I don't think I heard right, it sounded like you said my mom had brain cancer."

The doctor looked sympathetic, turning the test results toward him. "I'm afraid it's true. She has a Grade 3 brain tumor. It has been developing for far too long, but we'll see what we can do to help."

Kazumi, his little sister, tugged his shirt sleeve. "Onii-chan," (that is Japanese for "Big Brother") she tilted her head, curious. "What's a brain tumor?"

Kazunari bit his lip. "Kazumi, it means Mom is very sick. She will get better though, right?" Kazunari looked at the doctor with panic dancing in his eyes.

The doctor scratched his neck and looked away. "Well, we can't guarantee it-" Kazunari narrowed his eyes and Kazumi's eyes watered. "-but we will try our hardest to help your mother get better. However, we need to keep her here for a little bit for observation."

Kazunari nodded, satisfied, before turning back to his eight year old sister. "See, Kazumi? Mom's gonna be fine." The little girl nodded before opening her arms, wanting Kazunari to pick her up. Smiling a little bit, he picked her up and they walked to Takao Yuki's bedside. The doctor left in favor of giving them time to accept the news. Yuki, Kazunari and Kazumi's mother, had yet to wake up. So, the sibling sat there in wait, hoping she would wake up soon. In the meantime, they talked about what they wanted to do tomorrow.

Kazumi giggled. "I want to go for ice cream, Onii-chan. Can we, can we?"

Kazunari shrugged. "Well I don't see why not. I mean, you'd have to wait for me to get out of basketball practice and then we could go. But consider it done." Thinking, Kazunari pulled her closer onto his lap. "Are you fine with walking to my school after you get out of yours? It's not that far."

The child nodded. "I can get there. I know the way, Mommy showed me when we were going to pick you up because it was your birthday."

Kazunari smiled. "Well that's good. Can I trust you to go straight there after you get out?" Kazumi nodded. "Okay. What else do you want to do? I mean, Mom is still gonna be in here once we get out. Do you wanna come visit her?" Once again, Kazumi nodded, but then the person on the bed next to him stirred. Kazunari put on a smile for his mother.

Slowly, Yuki turned to them as she yawned. "Kids?" Her voice was muddled as she tried to speak over her yawn. "What are we doing here?" She sat up and stretched with another yawn.

Kazunari dropped his smile. "Mom, it's not good. It's not good at all."

Yuki stopped stretching and looked at him, sensing that this was serious. "What happened? Are you guys okay? Am I okay?"

Kazunari shook his head. "Mom, you aren't okay." He took a deep breath as tears spilled over his cheeks. "You have a Grade 3 brain tumor." Yuki gasped and bit her lip. "They're gonna try to help, but I don't know if we can pay for it, or if it will even help you!" He clutched his sister tighter, not willing to let her go.

Yuki stretched her hand out to grab his. "Kazunari, listen. I'm going to be fine. As long as we take the precautions necessary and seek out doctor's help, I'll be fine." She smiled and let go of his hand, reaching up to wipe his tears away. "I'm going to be fine, Kazunari." She looked to her most recent child. "Kazumi, don't you worry either. Everything will be okay."

Retracting her hand, she sighed. "How long am I going to be in this place?"

Kazunari shrugged. "I don't know. They said they'd like to keep you for a little longer for observation."