Hello just to let you know this is my first fan-fiction so please try to be nice. I would appreciate creative criticism instead of just plain mean criticism :p Also this is going to be a very long chapter. I don't know if all the chapters will be this long or not. I didn't realize how long I had made this chapter so sorry for that. This is an AU story and it starts out a little depressing but I promise it will get lighter as the story go's on. And of course I do not own Koukou Debut Manga /Highschool Debut Kawahara Kazune is the author. Okay thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you like the story.
The soft grey of pre-dawn was one of her favorite times of day. Just before the world begins to stir the moment were the sun is still resting before she wakes and shakes her golden locks of light on the cool earth and gently nudges sleeping forms to rise and great her. This was the time of day that Haruna loved the most she thought that her morning runs were the best. And she couldn't help but to appreciate the cool crisp air and how it felt on her flushed skin. The only sound in the lush forest was the rhythmic pounding of her sneaker clad feet hitting the rich dark earth of the lake trail that she was on. Coming to the crest of the hill she paused to catch her breath and to take a drink of her water. Leaning against the sturdy wood railing that separated her from a rocky cliff and the lake she closed her eyes and let the first rays of sunshine brush her rosy cheeks.
As she took slow deep breaths of the sweet-smelling air Haruna could feel some of the stress she had carried with her start to unravel from around her. She had been apprehensive about moving here, this place had bitter-sweet memories now. As a child she had looked forward to summer break so that she could come and visit with her grandparents and see the friends that she had come to form a close bond with, even if it did seem a tad bit competitive with Leona Matsuzaka sometimes. She had stress over leaving her old job and even though she had strongly disliked working at the hospital with its endless shifts and odd hours it had been a well-paying job and she had fretted endlessly about leaving it. She was sad about leaving her friends and starting over in a new place but most of all she was worried about taking Nao away from her family. They loved him so much and showered him with so much love and affection. Enough to maybe soften the fact that he received none from his father and his father's family.
Asaoka and his family acted as if Nao and Haruna were a dirty shameful secret that they wished they could lock away in a dark tower and never let see the light of day. And in a way they had been locked away from them. Nao's other grandparents had never seen him had not even wanted to see him. In fact they had offered Haruna a lot of money to, "Take care of the problem." as they had so delicately put it. The anger she felt towards those people and there were words still burned hot in her chest and she felt her fingers curl a little tighter around the water bottle that she held. She knew that they had disliked her the moment that they meet her. It had been very obvious by the look on their faces that she was not what they had pictured for their son; she was not rich, quiet or meek. She was just the opposite poor, headstrong, and out spoken. They had hated her and they made no effort to hide their dissatisfaction for her. But she had felt protected and loved when Asaoka had taken her hand in his and look at his parents and very calmly told them, "that he loved her and that he was going to marry her with or with out there permission." Then they turned to leave. In that instance she had nearly burst with the warm glow of love that she felt welling up inside her. It proved how much he loved her because he had stood up to his parents on her behalf. This was true love and she couldn't stop the dopey grin that spread across her face. They had left his parents in the living room with their mouths twisted with the sour bitter taste of hate on their lips. As they had slipped through the doors Haruna could not hold back the giggle that bubbled out of her mouth.
They had the wedding in a small village that her grandparents on her mother's side had lived in; it had been beautiful. Everything had been in full bloom and the gently breeze had pushed lazy blossoms through the air. Haruna had worn a simple cream colored dress that her grandmother had sewn for her it had lovely scallop sleeves and a bow in the back. She had wished that it could have been bigger but she didn't mind too much, she had prince charming she didn't need a ball gown to make her happy. Asaoka had worn a plain grey suit with a dark blue button down shirt under his jacket. He looked so handsome sitting next to her a small smile on his lip as he gently ran his hand up her arm making her shiver with happiness. She was practically sparkling with all the love that was cascading through her she was radiating with pure joy. Almost the entire village had come it was a festival just for there love. Everyone was so happy and she thought that it would be like that forever... She was young and stupid.
For two years the illusion of their love carried her on. She was blinded by a mist of lie's that she mistook for truth and love. And then her world turned upside down and she wasn't sure how she survived. It had started out as a wonderful day; a slightly scary, joyous, wonderful day all because of two pink lines on a stick instead of one. Haruna had a slight suspicion that she was pregnant but she didn't want to jump to conclusions like she was always doing. So she had waited for Asaoka to go to work then she had run to the nearest convenient store and bought an arm full of tests and several water bottles. Then she sprinted home as fast as she could nearly slamming into several people on her way home. Stammering out apologies she finally made it home and drank as much water as she could. Ten test and twenty pink lines later she was positive that she was pregnant. She was happy; caffeine high jitter shakes happy but still happy with this news. They had not been planning to have children yet but everything would be okay. She just knew that Asaoka would be just as happy as she was. In six-weeks she would be done with her undergraduates degree then she would take a few classes to work towards her doctorates degree but only one or to classes nothing to strenuous. Then she would take some time from school to be with the baby. She would get her doctorates it might take an extra year but that would be okay everything would be fine. After that she would find a great job as a physical therapist and they would be such a loving happy family.
She could feel her excitement start to grow and she knew that she would not be able to wait for Asaoka to get home to tell him the good news. Haruna grabbed her purse and a soft brown cotton jacket that had a cream hood sewn on the back of it then started to make her way to Asaoka's work. She never went to see him at work they would meet sometimes but she never felt like she belonged in the building. Everyone look so glamorous in there. All the men with their dark suits and women with pencil skirts and soft wispy silk blouses. And there she would be with her faded jeans and plain t-shirts standing out like a neon sign. It wasn't that she didn't have nice things to wear Asaoka bought her lovely things but all the clothes just never seemed to look good on her they always seemed a little to low or high not quite right for her. Like a little girl playing dress up in her mothers clothes, they looked stunning in the closet but not on her. None of that mattered to her now she just wanted to see Asaoka and if she hurried she would get there just before his lunch hour then she could share this joy with him.
It was about a fifteen minute ride on the bus from their apartment to his office but to Haruna it felt like an eternity she could hardly wait for it to be over. Stepping off of the bus she set off in a brisk walk. Asaoka's office was only a block away from the bus stop and she was right on time for his lunch she would call him when she got to the front of his building. When she rounded the corner she could see the building up ahead it was very impressive from the outside. A rounded steel building with thirty foot windows all around it look professional and slightly cold. She assumed that was the look they had gone for. Something that would draw in rich men and women to spend their money. The company did claim to have some of the best architect's that money could buy so they needed to live up to those standards. Asaoka was only twenty-three but he was already make a name in the company as one of the top architect designers it wouldn't be long before he was at the top.
Just then she caught a glimpse of strawberry blond hair in the crowd and she knew that it was him. She was getting ready to shout out his name when she saw another figure next to him and the second person was holding his arm in a distinctly not business like manner. The woman was very attractive with dark chocolate hair that curled up into a cute bob around her petite pixie like face. Here and there she could catch glimpses of large brown eyes and red heart lips. The more she saw of this mystery women the more she began to despair.
It wasn't that Haruna was ugly she was pretty in her own way with more of an athletic build then petite. And while her lips weren't flat or to thin they were not nearly as round and plump as the other women's were. Haruna felt her cheeks puff out in anger and she had the feeling she resembled a puffer fish more than an elegant beauty.
Who does that women think she is putting her hands on my husband! How dare she! How could he let her touch him like that! She was going to find out what was going on this instance. Haruna could feel her muscles tightening up and she felt as if she were a cat ready to pounce on a foolish mouse. She just managed to hold herself back from yelling. What if it were just a misunderstanding; maybe she was very weak and needed Asaoka to flag down a taxi for her. Perhaps a diabetic who had not taken her insulin shot. No...she was blind that's why she needed to hold on so tightly. A million reasons ran threw her mind and she knew that there was a perfectly good reason this person was holding on so tightly to her husband's arm. Dipping and weaving through the crowd Haruna tried to stay far enough away from them that she wouldn't be seen but close enough to see them. They were about ten yards ahead of her when she saw Asaoka put his arm up to hail a taxi and a little bubble of hope sprang up in her chest. A taxi pulled up alongside them and Asaoka opened the door for the women and this is where her world had shattered because as he was holding the door open he placed his hand on the small of this other woman's back and leaned in to kiss her. Haruna had unknowingly crept closer to them and found herself not even eight feet from them. Hood drawn up around her face to try to hide from view. The women seemed a bit taken aback by the kiss but she didn't pull away.
When they had pulled apart Haruna had thought she heard the women gently say, "what's the matter couldn't wait untill we got back to my place? Usually your pretty good about keeping your hands to yourself." Then they both slide into the back seat and the taxi drove away. All she could do was to stare blankly at the back of the taxi until it was out of sight.
Haruna had been right there was a perfectly good reason that Asaoka had that women on his arm. It was because he was having an affair. She couldn't believe it; her husband had just kissed another women in a very public place less than a block from his work. How could he do this to her? How long had he been doing this to her? Questions swarmed in her mind spinning and twirling around in her head blocking out every thing else. Until she found herself screaming and yelling inside her head about her no good lying, cheating husband. Then opening her eyes she tried to take deep calming breaths and realized that she was in a park and maybe all the screaming that she had done had not been an inner dialogue. Some of it must have been verbal because she saw mothers wide-eyed with worry quickly picking up their children and walking swiftly away from the crazy screaming women standing in the middle of the park. All that red-hot anger that had come crashing out of her left her feeling drained and sad as she started to make her way home. She didn't know how she was going to act when she saw Asaoka she just hoped that it would be with some shred of dignity that she confronted him. Some how she made it home unlocked the door and stumbled over to the couch. Laying there she could feel the hot sting of tears in the corner of her eyes and with one shaky breath she opened the flood gates of her tears. They were so hot on her cheeks that they felt like they were scalding her and as she turned over and cried into the couch all she could think is, how did this day turn out to be so horrid?
It was dark outside when she heard Asaoka's key in the lock. She didn't want to talk to him yet. Didn't know how she was going to talk to him so she rolled over and hide her face in the couch and hoped that he would walk by her without saying anything. She heard him flick the light on then put something on the table. The floor creaked and she thought she could hear him making his way to the hall closet. Then she heard him come into the living room then it was quiet. She was trying hard to keep her breathing even and deep. The back of her neck begin to itch and her lip begin to quiver.
Please just go away, she silently begged in her head. But luck was not with her that night and she heard Asaoka say her name quietly. Then there was a rustling of cloth and she felt the heat from his hand on her shoulder. She was relived her face was hidden because she couldn't stop her face from flinching at his touch. Were his hand was resting on her it felt like a searing hot poker and she desperately wanted him to stop touching her. Twisting her shoulder away from his hand she pushed her arms up into a stretch and pushed herself into a sitting position. Looking up she was glad that he had not turned on the lights in the living room and only a soft yellow glow from the dinning room illuminated the space. The soft lighting cast their faces in indigo shadows wich she was grateful for. Maybe he wouldn't be able to see that she had been crying. Her eye's felt gritty when she blinked and she was sure they were swollen and a little blood shot.
"Hey," her voice cracked a bit and she hoped he would think it was because she was still half asleep. "Your home late. Was there a lot of traffic tonight?"
"No, I stopped by the store and bought some onigiri for you. The one with the umeboshi I know that's your favorite."
His voice sounded the same as always there was no waiver or crack in it and she couldn't detect any trace of guilt. Her stomach clenched and she felt nauseous. How could he be so calm? How could he look her in the eye when no more than five hours ago he was with another women. She could feel the anger start to well up in her and her fist start to clench. She faintly heard him say that he was leaving the onigiri on the table and he would be right back then she heard the click of the bathroom door. Fine let him use the bathroom when he got out she was going to rip him a new one. When she was done with him he was going to wish...
Then in mid thought her mind suddenly screamed out, "crap the bathroom! crap oh crap!"Maybe he wouldn't notice all those pregnancy test in the waste basket or all the tests on the counter. She had completely forgot about being pregnant. With every thing that had happened today it had slipped her mind when she had woken up. And now she didn't want him to know at least not yet. The erratic pounding in her chest was driving her crazy and she could feel a tight knot in her throat. On the edge of the couch now she waited tensely for any sound from the bathroom. It was silent and for a split second she thought, "may be he didn't see anything." Then a muffled curse came from the other side of the door and she knew that he had seen. And so she waited for the storm to hit.
The door clicked open and heavy footsteps came at a quick pace towards the living room then stopped in front of her. She caught a flash of a pink box and a white tab. Then all that could be heard was heavy breathing. When he spoke she almost jumped from the sudden noise. His voice was strained and his words were spoken in almost a plea.
"Please tell me that two lines mean that you're not pregnant."
Haruna rubbed the sides of her face before answering. "Is the thought of me being pregnant really that terrible to you?" The strain was evident in her voice and she didn't care that a stream of tears were starting to fall down her cheeks. Once she started she couldn't stop. I was so excited when I found out, scared but excited and I couldn't wait to tell you. The words were coming out faster now more angry. I thought that you would be a little more happy to hear the news. But instead you look like I just sucker punched you in the gut. Whats wrong did I ruin your plans of leaving me? The last part all but burned her mouth on the way out.
"Yes this did ruin my plans!" Asaoka's hands were shaking and the pink box crumpled in his hand.
The shock of his word was like a kick in the teeth and she took in a sharp breath.
"I saw you today." The words were spoken softer and not directed towards her but at the lamp to her left. "You weren't very stealthy and when I saw you I thought, now's my chance. I can end this now; stop this game and move on with my life. I knew that we were going to have a fight; scream at one another. Then I would probably walk out and that would be the end of it. I would be the jerk and you would be the poor girl who was fooled by someone she loved. We would get a divorce and never see each other again. There was a long pause then he asked, "any chance that it's not mine?" There was a slight smile on his lips when he said it..
The loud cracking sound filled the room and Haruna's hand stung were it had made contact with his smug smiling face. She felt some satisfaction at the red welt that was forming over the side of his face and she hoped that it left an ugly mark for tomorrow. Gently touching the side of his face he took a careful step back and calmly said, "well we'll get a paternity test just to be on the safe side."
She wanted to hit him again wanted to smash his mouth in and make his lips ooze red ribbons down his chin and permanently wipe that smirk off of his face. But she didn't. Instead she held on to the front of her shirt hoping that it would help calm her down. "Why? Why would you do this?" Her words were soft and heavy with sadness. "We were happy and in love. What would make you want to do this?"
Still rubbing the side of his face he looked at her. "You were happy and I was bored, and that is all to it." As the words left his mouth he brushed past her grabbing his wallet and keys on the way to the door. When he reached it he looked back at her. "It wasn't all bad you know. I really did love you at the start of it all. It just faded over time for some reason."
Something similar to regret filtered across his face but it was quickly replaced with that damn smug smile of his
"I'll have my parents attorney get every thing ready for us then we can figure out what to do about...you know." As he said this he made a one handed jester towards her he turned and walked out the door leaving her standing alone in the living room clutching her shirt close to her body.
The next few weeks had turned into a living hell. She had tried to talk to Asaoka again but he had ignored her. Then the phone calls from his parents had started. She didn't know if he had asked them to call her but she had a feeling that they would have done it with out him asking them to. They had been relents in there calls threatening even.
They had not wanted her to have the baby and they thought that if they offered her enough money that she would cave to what they wanted her to do. But she was appalled by what they wanted how could they think for even a second that she would kill her baby for them. She didn't care how much they offered she would never do what they wanted.
Asaoka had decided that he didn't need her to get a paternity test but his parents kept insisting that she did. By the end of her second trimester she turned her old phone off and bought a new one so she didn't have to talk to them any more. As much as she disliked Asaoka and his family right now she loved the unborn child that was growing in her belly.
She knew that is was a boy and she wished that he would grow up to be honest so she choose the name Nao for him to remind him to always be honest. She hoped that he took it to heart. She had gotten into the habit of talking to the round bump that was her night she would tell him of all the wonderful things that had happened or acts of kindness that she had seen or experienced. Some days it was a struggle to find good things to say but she would think of something whether it be the way the sun shone through the curtains making lovely patterns on the wall or a cute little girl she had seen in the park with her parents.
The delivery had been hard especially with her mothers snide remarks about , "when she had been in labor she never threw up or yelled out. And she didn't even think about having any pain medication."
Face twisted with pain she calmly said, "that's fine mother and I'm sure you did wonderful but I am getting an epidural and that is how I am going to have my baby."
She heard her mother huff and mumble something like, "young people these days. No respect for their parents how dare she."
Haruna had wanted to ask her mom to sit outside for a while but she held her tongue and instead asked if she could get her some juice to drink. Luckily Leona was in the bathroom so she couldn't pawn it of on her to do. She left the room a bit grudgingly but Haruna was thankful that she would have a least a few minutes of quiet.
Leona had come back into the room glanced over at Haruna saw she wasn't going to have the baby at that moment then picked up a magazine and started to flip through it.
After Nao had been born and placed into her arms it was if everything but that little bundle in her arms melted away. He was so little and perfect she just wanted to protect him from all the bad things that she knew he was going to experience. He was a perfect mixture of Asaoka and her. He had his fathers eyes and chin and she swore that he raised his eyebrow just like his father. To her Nao was perfect and she would love him unconditionally no matter who he looked like or what happened.
She had wished that Asaoka's parents would come to see him but they had said that they wanted nothing to do with him and had hung up on Leona when she had called to tell them.
Asaoka had shown up he had crept into the room when Haruna was sleeping. She woke partially when she heard the rustle of cloth as someone picked up Nao and turning her head she had seen Asaoka. He stood with his back to the bed and he was whispering something into Nao's ear. She wasn't able to hear what he was saying over the hum of the fan and when she saw that he was turning around she closed her eyes but before they shut completely she thought she saw a shimmer in Asaoka's eye but she couldn't be sure.
Asaoka was not a good father, Nao hardly ever saw him he was practically a complete stranger to him. When ever Haruna would try to hand him over to his father he would cling tighter to her like a small monkey and scream for her to hold him once the time Nao was four he only say his father once or twice a year. Asaoka didn't even try to write to him. The child support check was deposited directly into their bank account each month and that was the extent of interaction that they had with him now. Haruna was positive that if Nao ran into his father on the street he wouldn't even recognize him. It had been over a year since Nao had seen his father and it seemed like Asaoka had no intention of ever seeing his son again.
Thinking about what a terrible husband and father Asaoka had been made her burn with anger. Shaking herself out of her depressing trip down memory lane she started to jog back to the house.
Her parents would be leaving today to go back home. They had come with her to help clear some of grandma's things.
Grandma had passed away six months ago and no one had been to the house in four. Her parents had not known what to do with property had been in her father's family for generations and he wasn't sure if he wanted to sell it but he was unable to care for two houses and Haruna's mother had not wanted to move away from the city. It was then that Haruna had decided that a change in her and Nao's life would be good for them. Nao never saw his father so it wasn't like she was taking him away from Asaoka. And if he did want to see Nao they could meet up half way it was only five hours away by car and two by train. Everything would be fine and when she had gotten the job offer to be a private physical therapist at an office that was only twenty minutes away she couldn't belive it, luck was finally shining down on her. She had asked her parents if they would let her buy the property from them. Her dad had wanted to give it to her and her mother had wanted to charge her rent. Her parents finally worked out something that made them both happy and Haruna bought her first house. It had been very dusty and stale when they had arrived but they had simply thrown open all the windows and doors in the house and cleaned it from ceiling to floor it needed a few touch-ups here and there but all together it was a very cute house. She had decided to rent out the lake guest house so she could get some extra money.
She had given all the information to a property management company and let them handle all the paper work for it. The new tenant would be arriving tomorrow and her brother Kentarou was staying an extra night to help great them and see if they needed any help moving their things in. Haruna thought the only reason he was staying was to see if there was a hot girl he could try to pick up. He insisted it was because he wanted to make sure it wasn't a serial killer that was moving in next to his big sister. Haruna had just rolled her eye's at him and had told him that it was very unlikely that the company had picked a serial killer to move in.
Actually the paper work that she had gotten in the mail had said very little about her new tenant. She knew that they were male, had good credit, and worked in something called cultural resource manegment...whatever that was. There had been more on the paper work but she had accidentally dropped the papers into the lake and by the time she had fished them all out they were a soggy mess and almost all the ink had bled out of the paper. She had tried to dry the paper out but it was no good. She thought that she could just make out that their name was Yoh Komi... something. She hope that they were nice and paid the rent on time. Other then that she wasn't really concerned about who they were or what they did.
Coming around the bend she saw that some of the lights were on in the house and assumed her parents were getting ready for the trip home. She was sad to see them go but at the same time she was relived to get her own routine back.
She went into the house through the back sliding door that connected her room to the back deck. She loved the room she had chosen to be hers it had a great view of the lake and dock. Just to the left of the dock was the guest house and seeing it reminded her that she had a few finishing touches to clean in it so that it would be ready for the tenant. Inside her room she washed her face and neck and took out some clean faded blue jeans and a soft white cotton shirt to wear while she was cleaning. There was no point in taking a shower when she still had so much cleaning to do. She quietly made her way to the dinning room were she saw her father with a cup of tea in his hand.
"I thought I would take Nao to the island today before your mother and I head home. I promised him that I would and today is the last day that I can do it." Her father said over the top of the Sunday paper.
"That's fine we took the boat out yesterday and it seemed fine; no leaks or anything in it so you should be good to go. Want me to pack you guys a snack?"
"No that's okay. I have my own snacks that I'm bringing." He replied with a slight grin.
Haruna filled a small bowl with rice and looked at her father. "So that means you two will be having red vines and Twinkies on this expedition of yours? She told him a bit knowingly. "It's fine. Just don't give him more than two Twinkies I need him to not be all wound up after you guys leave.
From down the hall she could hear the tromping of small feet coming towards them. Nao came flying into the dining room crooked grin on his small oval face. Strawberry hair sticking up like a wing in mid-flight. He had so much energy he looked like a large humming-bird darting around the dinning room.
"Okay, okay settle down a little. I don't think this old house can handle all that energy this early in the day. Sit down at the table and I'll get you something to eat. I hear you have a big day of going to the island today."
"Yes! You didn't forget. Do you think we can bring the fishing polls with us?"
"I don't see why not. Your grandma and I don't have to leave untill this evening so we should have plenty of time to fish."
After breakfast they set of in the small metal row-boat. Fishing polls in hand and slathered in sun screen. It was hard to tell who the bigger kid was between the two of them. Haruna smiled and waved them off from the end of the dock. Then heading back to the guest house she grabbed her bucket off the dock and headed towards the guest house.
It was just past noon before she had done everything she had wanted to do. It had been advertised as partially furnished and she wanted to make sure it had every thing that the tenant would need. The bathroom sink was now leak free and the touch-up paint from yesterday had dried nicely. She had put freshly washed sheets and pillow cases in the shelves. Placed fresh towels in the bathroom. Washed all the dishes and pan's to make sure there wasn't any dirt on them. Dusted all the shelves, tables, wooden chairs and swept and moped the floors. Polished anything that could shine and washed all the windows inside and out untill the place shined and there was not one speck of dirt.
Rubbing her shoulders she stepped back and looked at her work. Not bad if I do say so my self. Then she headed back to the house to make herself a sandwich and maybe a snack for her family to take with them when they left.
The boy's were back by three and they had a string of trout with them. Nao was grinning from ear to ear.
"Look mom. Look what I got and grandpa only helped a little." He shouted. Waving the fishes around in the air almost smacking his grandma with one.
"I see. Those are really big but no match to you and your muscles I see. We'll grill some up tonight. I bet they taste delicious."
"Well I think you and your mother can handle it from here. Your grandma and I are heading out so come over here and give me a hug goodbye."
"You are not sneaking away and getting out of helping clean these things. You need to show your young grandson the proper way of gutting a fish." Haruna threw a cheeky grin in her father's direction. "I'll go help mom load the last of your guy's things into the car then get the snacks I made for you while you help Nao clean these up." Haruna quickly jogged up to the house and behind her she could hear the faint whining protests of her father.
After a very long goodbye to her parents they were finally in the car and on their way home.
Nao was standing at the end of the driveway enthusiastically waving to the small dot of a car. She had to marvel at all that energy. She was glad that he seemed to be enjoying his new home. Tomorrow would be a new day and she was glad for it. Things just felt right here and maybe this ment that good things were in store for them. A little less heartache and a lot more happiness that's all that she asked for.