Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Title: Marigold
Author/Artist: MoonlitAffairs (Kyoka)
Theme(s): #7- Flowers
Characters: Tezuka Kunimitsu, Tezuka Ayana
Rating: G
Warnings: Character death
Disclaimer/claimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to the manga-ka, Konomi Takeshi. All characters are otherwise disclaimed. This fiction is written for purely entertainment. It will not be used in any other way. Thank you, Konomi Takeshi!
Summary: A mother mourns the death of her son. Written for livejournal 30 deathfics.
Word count: 381
Marigold
Flowers had always been signs of mourning, but they had also been a sign of love, and a sign of friendship. Flowers were left at graves in mourning, and in America given to an important person during a special ceremony. In ways, it was sensible. Flowers are and always have been beautifully tragic things. A young French maiden would pick off the petals of flowers, playing an innocent game of "He loves me, he loves me not." Flowers were used for anything and everything. They were beautiful, desirable, and delicate.
Tezuka Ayana never imagined that she would have to witness the death of her son, Tezuka Kunimitsu. A mother could only bare so much before snapping. At her son's wake, she'd sat at the door with the rest of her family as the guests entering bowed and gave her their condolences, small offerings of money in an envelope. She'd been wearing a black kimono that day, nothing else. Some of the women coming had chosen a more modern approach, a black dress and pearls.
"I am very sorry for your loss." A boy who Ayana recognized as one of the friends of her son knelt and bowed low to the ground. She didn't bother to place a face with a name; it hurt too much.
Things passed as usual. The ceremony for the wake commenced. She held prayer beads lightly in her grasp and felt tears press her eyes, and she was crying uncontrollably, though in silence. She attended the cremation with the rest of her family as well. They decided that Kunimitsu would be honored at the family grave, but they decided to scatter his ashes where he had always loved to go camping. After all, their son had always loved the outdoors.
The next week, Ayana went to the family grave without Kuniharu or father.
There were foreign flowers placed at the gravesite when she got there, marigolds. Tezuka had never been really fond of flowers, but Ayana thought that it would be nice to put some down. They were so lovely after all. Breathing in the deep scent of incense, she closed her eyes in prayer.
Nothing could ever really head the wounds of a mother who suffered the death of her eldest, not to mention only son.