Written by: Hajimeru Rinko
Summary:
Inspired by 1 Litre of Tears, this is a story of a sportsman who lost the ability to walk and attempts in regaining her limbs back. A tragedy story, it shows the suffering of Haruka, Yamamoto's daughter, who was paralyzed after an accident.
One more note: I do not own KHR and its characters. I own the story only. No one can use the contents of the story without my permission.
A Path without Footsteps – An Accident
"I'm home!" Yamamoto's daughter, Haruka, walked into her home and sat on one of the chairs to remove her shoes.
"Oh, Haruka, you're home already? How's school?" Yamamoto asked his daughter nicely.
"It was great! I'm selected as one of the regulars for the team and we're going to compete with Furisoka Elementary School four weeks from now!" Haruka replied cheerfully.
She puts her lucky basketball on the table and went up to her room. Yamamoto smiled, since he had a happy lifestyle despite hiding the fact he is in the Mafia too. Haruka came down in a red T-Shirt and shorts. She picked up her basketball and ran out of the house after she said goodbye to her father.
Haruka is a twelve year old girl who attends Namimori Elementary School. She is a regular member of her basketball team and is good at it. She was popular and is the star of the team. She always played at the neighbourhood basketball courts and honed her skills.
"Haruka-chan! Hurry up!" Haruka's best friend, Shizuka called out for her at the crossing road junction.
Haruka caught up with her friend and started walking.
"Jeez, Haruka, next time please hurry up." Shizuka lamented and Haruka frowned.
"Well, it took me 98 seconds this time." Haruka calculated.
"Yeah right, as if you could count." Shizuka pushed Haruka's head and Haruka tapped her on the hand.
"Hey!" Haruka angrily called on Shizuka.
"Joking!" Shizuka joked and ran ahead of Haruka.
"Ahh, wait! Shizuka-chan!" Haruka yelled and chased after Shizuka.
The two arrived at the basketball court and some girls were playing without them. They opened the gate and left their bags nearby before closing the gate.
"Hey, what are you guys doing without us!?" Shizuka shouted as the pair ran towards the girls.
"We got bored since you two seemed like you flunked out on us!" One of the girls replied and Shizuka chased after her around the courts.
Haruka joined the other girls in laughing at the scene. Haruka hoped that these peaceful days will go on. After the two finished chasing each other, the girls played a game until a group of boys came into the court. They were rowdy and rude, and they even kicked the girls' basketball.
"Hey! Why did you kick our ball away?" Shizuka demanded.
"Huh? Maybe you got the wrong person." The boy ignorantly answered and looked in another direction.
"No! I clearly saw with my very own eyes that you kicked our ball!" Shizuka started picking up a fight with the boys.
The boy pushed Shizuka. "What!? Got a problem with that?!" He retorted rudely.
Soon, both genders started bickering angrily and almost became a street brawl. Haruka stopped the fight and suggested a basketball match.
"Oh yeah! We'll see which one is the best team! First team to get 10 points wins!"
"Oh! I can't wait for the boys to cry out loud!" Shizuka insulted the boys.
"Damn you! We'll show you that girls are horrible at basketball!" The boy retorted and kicked the basketball.
The two teams started their basketball match. The ball soon flew, and the girls' teammate, Miruka, caught it and landed. She analyzed her surroundings. All the boys were blocking her routes when Shizuka came from the boys' blindspot and signalled Miruka to pass it to her. Playing mind games, Miruka pretended to throw in the other direction and threw it to Shizuka, who ran forward to the other hoop. She passed it to Sayuna, who attempted throwing it into the hoop.
It missed and jumped off the hoop. One of the boys caught it and sped away. Haruka then snatched the boy from him and threw the ball successfully into the hoop. The girls cheered that they scored a point.
"Yay! 1-0!"
"Show-offs!"
"Yeah right!" Shizuka passed the ball to a boy and they rudely started the next round without waiting.
Surprised, the girls took up a defensive position, and the rude boy over took them and scored a goal. After a while, the girls scored 6 more points while the boys got 4 points. Angered, the boys tripped one of the girls, kicked them and denied doing anything. This made Shizuka furious and she almost beat someone up.
"Shizuka! Calm down!" Haruka pulled Shizuka from approaching the boys, who were laughing happily at her childishness.
"We'll definitely beat them. Just calm down." Haruka whispered, and Shizuka did as she was ordered to.
Despite the antics made by the boys, the girls won in the end and the boys were ashamed that they ran off. After playing for a while, the girls went home. Haruka stretched herself, since she played basketball for over four hours and her father expects her to be home by dinner, which is her curfew.
"I'm home!" Haruka opened the door and saw many patrons.
Her father was preparing sushi when she entered.
"Oh, you're home, Haruka. Go and change, and help with your dad with this."
"Okay!" Haruka obediently did as she was told.
Haruka took a shower and changed into her home clothes. Her clothes were mainly of a blue shirt and a denim skirt. She came out and helped her father run the restaurant. One of the usual patrons, Shiroyama, was chatting happily with Yamamoto.
"Wow, what a cute daughter you have, Yamamoto-san. She plays basketball, gets average scores and always help you all the time!"
"You're flattering me, Shiroyama-san." Yamamoto blushed while Haruka felt shy.
"I wish my son would do the same. Now all he do is just play and stare at the computer!" Shiroyama lamented.
The father and daughter laughed while Shiroyama drank her tea. After the peak hours, the family were having dinner.
"How was your day, Haruka?" Haruka's grandfather asked.
"It was great! The girls and I beat some boys to a basketball match!" Haruka exclaimed happliy
"I see. How energetic you are!" Tsuyoshi told Haruka and ruffled her hair.
Yamamoto giggled and the three started laughing. 'If peaceful days would always be like this…I am happy.' Haruka thought and smiled. After cleaning up, Haruka washed the dishes while Yamamoto was on the phone talking to someone. Haruka was curious and wanted to eavesdrop.
"You're coming to Japan? That's great! I'll prepare a welcome back party for you!" Yamamoto cheered.
'Who's this person father's talking to?' Haruka bent closer to where Yamamoto was.
"You don't need to, Yamamoto. I'm fine by myself." The person over the phone told Yamamoto.
"I see. You're bringing your kids along?" Yamamoto queried.
"Well, only I'm coming. But if you like, I'd bring my children too." The person cheerfully answered and giggled.
"That's great! Maybe they will like to play with my daughter Haruka to- Haruka, stop eavesdropping." Yamamoto had noticed Haruka trying to eavesdrop.
'Crap. I was looking forward to the best part…' Haruka frowned and continued washing the dishes. The person over the phone was laughing at the scene, and made Haruka unhappy. Yamamoto went up the stairs, and Haruka couldn't eavesdrop anymore.
"Oi, Haruka, are you done washing the dishes? You have school tomorrow!" Tsuyoshi mentioned, and Haruka hurried.
Haruka hated her father for the 'to be on time for bed or sleep with the fishes' rule and obeyed him silently. After washing the dishes, she went up to her room and did her homework. Whilst doing her homework, Haruka heard someone practicing kendo in the house, but shook it off that Tsuyoshi is whipping the 'dog'.
The 'dog' was a little doll that resembled a dog itself. It was picked up from the streets and seemed to be a good punching bag. Haruka ignorantly finished her work and stood up to pull them in her school bag before going to bed. After turning off the lights, Haruka turned over her bed.
'I wonder…Who was that person father was talking to… Was it a she or a he? Hmm…it sounded more like a woman but still manly…Is it a she male?' Haruka thought, staring at the ceiling.
"Well, I guess that person is a male who is girly…Can't wait to meet him, or her on the contrary."Haruka said before tucking herself to bed.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto, still on the phone, heard his friend sneeze.
"What just happened, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked.
"No, I just sneezed. Someone is talking behind my back, that's all, Yamamoto." Tsuna replied.
"Do you think someone just called you a she male?" Yamamoto joked and smiled.
"I'd not go over on who that person is, Yamamoto." Tsuna told him. "You'll be surprised."
"Oh, really?" Yamamoto curiously wanted to know.
"Yeah you would. It's late there in Japan now, right? I'll hang up now." Tsuna said and hung up.
The next day, Haruka got up and stretched. She got to the bathroom, cleaned her face and brushed her teeth. After that, she got dressed in the Namimori Elementary School uniform and sat at the table. She sees her father putting the notice that the shop would be closed for a while.
"Otou-san. Where are you going to? Not opening the shop today?" Haruka curiously asked.
"Well, my friend is arriving here soon so I'm going to pick him up. Be a good girl at school, okay?" Yamamoto replied and Haruka stopped eating.
She then asked, "Is it the one you were talking with yesterday?"
"Yup! Now hurry up and finish your food." Yamamoto told his daughter.
"Okay." Haruka rushed through her food and headed for school.
After his daughter left, Yamamoto took his Shigure Kintoki and puts it in a bag. Tsuyoshi saw it when he came down the stairs.
"You're going to meet him, are you?"
"Yes I am. I got to go now." Yamamoto told him and left for the airport.
Haruka arrived at her school a few minutes later, having sprinted from her home at high speed. The students that were walking were overrun by Haruka, and this proved when a gust of wind blew hard at them.
"When the wind blows, Haruka went past us. Whoever coined this is so right." A student joked with his girlfriend as they see Haruka's back facing them and running off.
"I agree. Haruka has been the top student in athletics and never lost a match in basketball." The girlfriend replied.
Haruka arrived at school and the students greeted her happily.
"Looks like the Spring Wind have exhausted herself…" Haruka's classmate, Risu commented as she walked towards Haruka, who is panting heavily.
Haruka smiled and pushed her friend into the school.
"Oi! Stop it already!" Risu shouted as Haruka pushed her into the school.
Haruka replied that she does not want to, and they stopped. They changed their shoes before Haruka pushed Risu again, who led her guard down, to the 6-A classroom.
"Kora! Stop pushing me!"
"Yadaa yo!(Don't want to!)" Haruka cheered as Risu is pushed into the classroom.
Class started and everything went as the usual routine. For literature class, the teacher showed the class the book 1 Litre of Tears and told them to review the book for their assignment over the weekend. Haruka was snoozing off and did not listen to what the teacher had said and woke up after the teacher had said everything.
"What happened?"
"Doofus!" Risu bellowed and hit Haruka's head.
"Hey! What did you do that for!?"
"Payback for pushing me!" Risu said and the two were playing with each other.
After a while, the two walked out of school and went on their ways home. Meanwhile, Yamamoto was walking with Tsuna on the street. Tsuna's family had went home first, so Tsuna spent his time taking a stroll with Yamamoto around town.
"It's has been a long time since I've last visited Namimori." Tsuna stretched as he said that.
"Yeah. So when do you want the welcome-back party?"
"Not today, Yamamoto. I still have to visit some other parts of Namimori too."
"I see. I better go back now. See you later, Tsuna." Yamamoto bade good bye and ran off.
Tsuna then turned left and kept on walking. 'How nostalgic.' Tsuna thought as he arrived at the area where he first met the Varia. At this moment, Haruka was waiting by the junction. She had bought some things earlier at the shopping district and now heading home. The weather started raining cats and dogs.
Haruka covered herself with her bag and was checking her things when she saw a toddler carelessly crossing the road. A truck was heading for the toddler, who was clueless of his surroundings and not alarmed by the truck. Haruka was shocked, and without thinking, she ran onto the road, pushing the toddler out of the truck's range.
She fell and tried to stand up and escape, but the truck knocked her down. Haruka flew 3 metres away from impact, and landed with a thud. Haruka was lying on a puddle of blood, and Tsuna, who was looking for shelter, saw the incident. He ran towards the immobile girl, whose eyes went blank.
"Oi! Are you okay? Oi! Hang in there!" Tsuna tried to wake the girl up, and called the ambulance. The toddler nearby was fine and still walked around.
As Haruka tried to see the passer by who had helped her, the sounds of the ambulance's sirens rang in the background and Haruka slowly passed out.
End of Chapter 1
Unexpectedly, Tsuna saves Yamamoto's daughter after the accident. To tell you the truth, he had never met Haruka before.