Title: Dear Father

Author: Wara Ningyo

Warning: hinted MPREG

*coughs* Let's just imagine that in this fic, men can give birth. If you don't like it, see the [x] button at the top right side? click that.

This fic is dedicated to my dear friend Tacuma as a little present (for her graduation ages ago, and also for willing to cross the continent and come to see me). Thank you for all the support and friendship you have given me. -cheers!-

~Fate

Dear Tezuka Kunimitsu-sama,

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I hope you are well and always in success; which I know you always have because I've been watching you play in every tennis tournament since I was four years old.

The contents of this letter may sound weird to you as you do not know my identity. For that, I would like to introduce a little bit about myself. My name is Kunichika. Yes, the character for my name is derived from the first kanji of your given name; 'Kuni' and 'Chika' is written with the character 'Shuu', which was derived from the name of the person who gave birth to me. Some people couldn't really read my name properly because it's quite rare. You don't have that problem do you? I was told that you were the top student in every subject in school.

I am thirteen years old and just started my first year in middle school. I'm planning to join the tennis club just like you did back when you were my age and maybe someday I would be a professional tennis player like you too.

Right now I'm living with the person who gave birth to me, my sweet and gentle mama. He's the same age as you are. It's hard to believe, right? He had me when he was fifteen years old, right after he graduated middle school. As for my biological father…I never knew I had one until I turned thirteen a couple of months ago.

Mama avoids the 'father' topic whenever I ask him about it. He would smile and say 'Am I alone not good enough?'. He has been raising me by himself since the day I was born. I could never ask for a better parent, but sometimes it's a little sad seeing my friends having two parents while I only have one.

Although mama hardly tells me about my father, he always talks about you. He was the one who made me watch the tennis matches you were in since I was an infant. He praises your skills a lot and never fails to miss every move you make. He even knows what kind of trick you're up to even before you're pulling it. It was as if he had known you for a very long time.

Even though mama loves watching you whenever you appear on the television, there are times when he looked very lonely and upset. Sometimes when the TV is on and you appear, he would make his way to the kitchen and stays there for a while. There was one time when I quietly peeked to see what he was doing in there and I was surprised to find out that he was wiping the tears from his eyes. It happened more frequent lately since you appeared many times after winning the Grand Slam.

You must wonder why I mentioned tennis so much. I started playing tennis since I was a young kid, much like you did. Perhaps it's in my blood. My mama used to be very good at tennis too. In school, he was called 'tensai' in the tennis club he was in. I think he's very good even till this day, but of course, he couldn't continue playing after he quit the first month of high school and started working for the sake of raising me.

Until I was five years old, we lived at my grandparents' house. They wanted to support mama and I, but mama refused to let them pay for anything except for providing us food and shelter. My aunt and uncle were around sometimes, they adore me very much. They said that I bear no resemblance to mama, except for the really deep blue eyes we have. I know they have been talking behind my back about me being the clone of my father, but I have no idea whether we really have the same features. Mama always smiles when they said that, but mama smiles all the time, even when he's hurt. Ne, Tezuka Kunimitsu-sama, do you look a lot like your father?

By the way, how does it feel like being a professional tennis player? I bet it must be a wonderful feeling for someone who loves tennis so much. Does it pay well? Compared to being a florist or a cameraman assistant, I guess the differences are too big. Anyway, it doesn't matter what job people do as long as they really like their job, right? Mama tells me that all the time. He's very happy when customers buy cacti from the flower shop he works at on weekdays. He adores cacti as much as he fancies taking pictures. He has a collection of photos of me since I was a baby. I hope I could show them to you but it is rather impossible given the far distance between us, so along with this letter, I attached a recent photo of me and my mama. Do take a look at it later!

Tezuka Kunimitsu-sama, do you like spicy food? My mama loves them a lot, especially Cajun cuisine. I'm used to them by now, so I can handle the spiciness as well and the taste of wasabi! Mama don't only cook such food, he's a very good cook despite having weird taste, so I eat healthy food every day. He told me if I want to be a sportsman like you, I need to follow strict diet and train my body well. I jog every morning while delivering newspapers around the neighborhood. Do you jog in the morning as well?

What season is it now there? I guess it is also autumn at the moment. It's getting colder by the day here. Mama and I planned to go collecting chestnut on the weekend. What do you do on the weekends? More tennis practice, I guess.

I think I have written such a long letter. I must have bore you with these trivial stories. It's getting late at night right now. Mama might come and check on me. It's a small house you see, a 2LDK. It's just the two of us now, so we don't need a big house.

Thank you again for reading my letter. You don't have to reply if you don't want to. It's not like I'm hoping for something in return, so don't worry about it. Nonetheless, have a wonderful day and take care!

P/s: Please don't use your 'Zero Shiki Serve' too much, it would be bad if you injure your elbow and have to get into rehab again; or, do you prefer to stay there forever? I guess that's fine then.

Yours truthfully,

Fuji Kunichika

It was the third time Tezuka read the letter he received two days ago within the couple of hours of his flight back to Japan. He folded it and inserted it back inside the white envelope with his name and address on it. The letter came along with dozens of other fan-letters. Usually he would send thank you cards as a response to them but the contents of this particular letter are not something he could easily ignore with just a simple message of gratitude.

He held on to the Polaroid picture that was attached along with the letter. The memories from when he was fifteen flashed into his mind. Now at the age of twenty-eight, the bespectacled man spent more than a decade living abroad to chase his dreams of becoming a professional tennis player. Never once did he look back to the things he left behind in his home country. He never thought as a person who always quotes 'yudan sezu ni ikou'; he would be the one to break it and didn't even notice. His one-time negligence might have resulted in a misery for someone—or worse, two of them.

The famous star of the tennis world read again the letter in his keeping once he got inside the cab at Narita Airport. The taxi driver tried to make small conversation once he noticed who the passenger is, yet Tezuka could only focus on getting to the destination. The only information he could rely on is the address written by the sender at the back of the envelope. Whether he would find what he came for, is another story.

The quiet neighborhood at the end of the town greeted him as the cab drove by. There was an old apartment building ahead, not too bad as to be called rundown, but the humility of the architecture cuts deeper into the guilt that has already been building inside him. He was raised in a rather fortunate surrounding, so seeing a house about the size his bedroom of the place he currently owns abroad is a little overwhelming.

Climbing the staircase to the second floor, his palms turned cold and sweaty as his steps drew closer to the door of the last apartment unit. The name plate above the doorbell is written with a familiar kanji, and of course, below it is the name of the young boy who sent him the letter.

Tezuka drew in a deep breath and pressed the bell.

A brunette in apron answered the door.

Tezuka dropped his bag off his shoulder.

From the living room, a voice of a young teenager echoed.

"Mama, who's at the door?"

No reply could be heard, except for the beautiful silence when two lovers met and fall in love with each other again.

Dear father,

Thank you for coming home to mama.

Love,

Your son.

~Owari~

A/N: Crappy ending, I know. Maybe I need to write something else to explain what actually happen...gahhh...please don't expect anything, that might not even happen. Btw, explanation will follow, so if there's anything unclear from the fic, refer below.

1. Kunichika: I spent days thinking about what name to give to TeFu's son. All the men in Tezuka family has 'Kuni' in their name, so if Tezuka has a son, it should start with 'Kuni' as well. So I tried a lot of varieties (even the cliche of 'Kunisuke'). I know that Japanese kanji can be read in different ways, so I combined 'Kuni' and 'Suke' together if it would make sense. Out of luck, I tried 'Kuni' '国' and 'Shuu' '周' together and it seems that the Japanese dictionary define it as 'Kunichika' and said that its a given name. I even asked a Japanese person to confirm it, but it is indeed an unusual name. But still, better than nothing, right? So Kunichika [国周] it is.

2. 2LDK: means 2 bedrooms, living room and kitchen. I think that includes bathroom as well. I read a lot of mangas using this acronym before to refer for the types of apartment house.

3. 'Sama': Just like 'san' or 'chan' suffix to a person's name; 'sama' is used to show higher respect. In this case Tezuka is a famous person so it is expected from a 'fan' to show high degree of respect to him. In my case, I made Kunichika used 'sama' to address Tezuka on purpose as an act of being cold to him for being the father who never exist.