The Greatest Gift
DISCLAIMER: Rawr... of course I don't own it.
Author's Notes: This is a gift for Tezuka's birthday. I will first concentrate on this because I need to finish it on his birthday. One more thing, this is the sequel to To the Friend I've Come to Love although this could be read alone. Before I forgot, I will be using some Filipino words here. The translations are at the bottom.
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It is only now that I've realized how hard this fic is to read. I really am sorry for the eyes that have bled after/during reading this. My apologies for everyone who had a hard time. This is the edited version. I have retained the italics in the Filipino words. Again, sorry.
I have changed and added a few things. Things that give away hints.
Ne, can someone beta for me? Pretty please?
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Prologue
Fuji smiled brightly as he exited the airport. He really missed this place even though it has only been two weeks. At first, he didn't understand why he liked this country. It is, after all, polluted and overcrowded. As time progressed, he realized that it was the welcome feeling. There was never a time that he felt alone in this place. He was always comfortable with his co-workers.
A gorgeous red Ferrari stopped in front of him. Fuji's smile grew wider.
"Hi Syusuke. Long time no see." a petite, slim woman greeted in perfect English. She had black hair that reached her mid back, small dark brown eyes, a little nose and light brown skin.
"Aira-chan, it's only been two weeks since I left the Philippines." Fuji said (in perfect English as well) as he entered the car.
Aira pouted childishly and replied:
"I guess you didn't miss me. By the way, please stop adding chan to my name."
She started the engine.
Fuji chuckled and said:
"Aira-chan, even though you're born here and stayed here most of your life, you're still a half-Japanese and half-Filipino who happens to be excellent at English."
Aira snorted at the last comment
"I'll be surprised if you meet a Filipino that doesn't understand English. Most of usspeak itever since we were in school although few are really fluent." she said.
"And you're one of them." Fuji added mischievously.
Aira stopped the car before a red light and glared at Fuji.
"Syusuke, naaasar na ako." she said in Filipino, irritated.
Fuji blinked once...twice...
Aira smirked and drove again when the lights turned green.
"That is so unfair. Even though I've stayed in the Philippines for nearly a year, you know that I suck at Filipino." Fuji complained.
"That's not my problem and besides, if memory serves me right, you were showing off your Filipino at the phone last time I called." Aira replied, not looking at Fuji to hide the fact that she was amused.
"True but my knowledge of your language is restricted to: "Salamat.", "Kamusta ka na?", "Mahal kita." and other common words." he said.
"Like I said, Syusuke, it's not my problem."
Fuji glared at her but Aira only smiled in return.
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Tezuka stood outside the door of Fuji's house; contemplating whether he should knock or not. He didn't know if he could face him after the letter. It has been a year since their last reunion and it has also been the last time they had contact.
'For the heck of it! I didn't come all the way to the Philippines to just stand outside his door. I have to do this sooner or later anyway.' he thought before knocking.
Aira opened the door.
"Hello. You must be Kunimitsu Tezuka." she greeted in English.
Tezuka nodded in return; wondering why it was her that opened the door and not Fuji. He could only nod for he doesn't know that much English.
She then opened the door fully for him to enter.
"My name's Aira Kirisawa, by the way." she introduced.
"Japanese?"noting her last name,he asked in Japanese.
"Half." she replied.
"You speak quite fluently." he commented.
She said:
"I was born here in the Philippines and I stayed in Japan only for High School but Syusuke and I use Japanese to annoy our co-workers. I guess that's why I'm pretty fluent."
Tezuka didn't know why but he felt as though he have known this girl for a long time already.
He was about to remove his shoes when Aira said:
"Kunimitsu, don't remove your shoes."
"Why?" he asked.
"The house is a bit dirty." she replied.
"No. I mean why call me by my given name." Tezuka said.
She blinked once and was about to answer when...
"Buchou!!!!!!!!!!" Eiji called as he glomped Tezuka.
Tezuka twitched and said:
"Kikumaru, get off."
"Mou..." Eiji pouted before reluctantly letting go.
Tezuka took a moment to scrutinize the room. All the regulars were there except for Fuji.
"Kirisawa-san, where is Fuji?" he asked.
There was no reply.
"Kirisawa-san?" he asked again.
Aira nearly dropped the glass of juice she was holding in surprise.
"Oh, I'm sorry. What was that again?" she asked.
"Where is Fuji?" he asked once more.
"Syusuke? He forgot that he has something to do. He said that he'll be back in the afternoon and you call me Aira, just Aira. I'm not used to being called by my last name or having honorifics after them. It's a custom here." she replied.
'That would explain why she called me Kunimitsu or why she calls Fuji...Syusuke.' Tezuka thought. He didn't know why but he felt somewhat jealous. Jealous of what exactly? Well, our stoic buchou doesn't have a clue.
"Would you guys like a tour of Syusuke's house?" she asked.
"Sure!!!!" Eiji and Momo exclaimed and the others nodded.
"Kiri-... I mean, Aira, how about my bags?" he asked stuttering a bit since he hasn't called anyone by their first name yet. In fact, only his family called him Kunimitsu. No one else. The first one who called him that who is outside his family is Aira. He has never been close enough to anyone as to use their first name. Only this girl.
Aira chucked and replied:
"I don't know what room you'll be sleeping in. I guess you could just leave them at a corner in the living room like everyone else."
He nodded and deposited his bag at a corner.
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"Everyone, this is the rooftop. I thought that I should let you all see this first because this is Syusuke's favorite part of the house." Aira said as they reached the topmost level of the small circular staircase outside of Fuji's house.
The place was beautiful. It was quite windy and you could see buildings on one side and a view of mountains in the other.
"Oishi, nya!!!!!!! Fujiko's really lucky to be living here." Eiji said to his partner.
"That's true, Eiji. It's beautiful here." Oishi replied as he joined the redhead that was leaning on the grilles.
Everyone nodded in agreement at the two.
"It is a bit hot though." Ryoma remarked.
Aira chuckled and said:
"Ryoma, this is Tagaytay. For us Filipinos, this is actually cold compared to the temperature in Manila."
"This is cold?" Momo asked.
"Momo, the Philippines is a tropical country. They only have two seasons, the wet and dry." Inui stated.
"Oh." Momo and Taka said at the same time.
"Fshuu... Fuji-senpai must be quite rich." Kaidoh commented.
"Not really. In fact, I think it was only a part of his inheritance that he used to buy this house." Aira said.
"Only part of his inheritance?" Taka asked.
Aira nodded.
"But Aira-chan, a wide four-story house with a tennis court must have cost millions!" Eiji said.
"True but even though the Philippine peso has a higher exchange rate than the Japanese yen, things here are much cheaper compared to things in Japan. And please stop adding chan to my name." Aira replied.
"Ii data." Inui said.
"Kunimitsu, you've been awfully quiet." Aira remarked.
Eiji, Momo and Ryoma sniggered.
"Aira, he's always like that." Oishi said.
"Oh...okay..." Aira replied.
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"Beside the living room is the kitchen and dining room." Aira said as she pointed.
"There are five rooms here; located at the second floor. Only three are available though." she said.
"Why only three?" Momo asked.
"That's because one is Syusuke's room and the other one is mine." she replied.
All of them, with the exception of Tezuka and Inui blinked.
"Fshuu... you both live in the same house?" Kaidoh asked, blushing slightly.
"Not really. I stay over sometimes when work is too much." she replied.
"Oh." everyone said with a sigh of relief.
"Aira, what's on the third floor?" Inui asked.
"The third floor is Syusuke's personal gallery. He puts his favorite pictures there. In fact, there is at least one picture of each of you there." she answered.
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"It's dark." Momo said.
"Fshuu...scared?" Kaidoh mocked.
"WHY YOU-?!!!" Momo started but Tezuka cut him off saying:
"Stop or 30 laps."
"Nya...Momo's right. It is quite dark." Eiji said.
"Hold on. I'll turn on the lights." Aira said.
A few flicks of light switches was heard and the room came to life.
Eyes opened in disbelief and jaws dropped in amazement at what they saw.
There were lots of enlarged pictures of sceneries, animals and people. All of them was absolutely gorgeous.
"Beautiful..." Ryoma remarked.
Aira nodded and said:
"Everything you see right now is the work of Syusuke Fuji."
"Everything?" Taka asked.
Aira nodded again.
Tezuka didn't know what to say. The pictures laid out before him was so breath-taking that they rendered him speechless.
They moved from room to room looking at the pictures in awe.
Aira stopped on a closed door.
"Aira, why is this door closed?" Oishi asked, asking the question that have formed on everyone's minds.
"It's because only Syusuke's closest friends can enter this. That's because this room contains Syusuke's first pictures, pictures that he took when he was still young." she answered.
"Are we allowed to go in, nya?" Eiji asked.
"I believe so." Aira replied as she took out a key from her pocket and opened the door.
She entered and turned on the lights. Apparently, it wasn't connected to the previous rooms.
"This is like looking at Syusuke's life." she started.
She walked and the rest followed.
The first three rooms contained pictures of Fuji's family and friends. There was a copy of the picture of them when they went to see the sunrise together before Tezuka left. There were also selected pictures of each regular as well as one picture of each team they had fight with during Junior High and High School. There were also pictures of their graduation and reunions.
On the next room, there were pictures of Fuji and some other people in an office.
"Nya, Aira, who are those?" Eiji asked.
"Our officemates and friends." Aira replied.
There were more pictures of the group in the room. At the center, however, was a large picture of Fuji and Aira. The shot was obviously candid since they were talking while having a meal.
"Aira, who took that?" Taka asked.
"Karl did. That's the only picture in this whole gallery that Syusuke didn't take." Aira replied.
A loud chime from the grandfather's clock was heard.
"It's already twelve." Oishi said.
Momo's stomach growled and Momo blushed in embarrassment.
Eiji laughed his heart out while the others except Tezuka laughed softly.
"I guess we should go down and grab something to eat." Aira suggested and everyone nodded.
As Aira locked the door to the special rooms, Tezuka felt jealous again. He knew why he felt jealous. He just didn't want to admit it. He refuses to believe that Fuji has trusted someone else other than him for something like the keys to his personal gallery. A gallery that contained the story of the life of Fuji Syusuke.
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"It's a bit cold." Taka said.
"It is pretty cold when it is raining. Would you like me too cook some soup for you guys?" Aira asked.
"That would be nice, Aira-chan." Momo said.
Aira glared at him before saying:
"You guys wait in the dining area. I'll serve the soup when it's done."
After that, she left stomping her feet.
"Did I say something wrong?" Momo asked, feeling somewhat uneasy.
"One hundred percent chance that it was because you added chan to her name." Inui answered.
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Everyone seated at the long dining table of Fuji's house. It was made of wood and there were five chairs on the longer sides of the table and one chair on the shorter sides.
Finally, Aira came out of the kitchen holding eight bowls of soup.
"What kind of soup is this?" Momo asked.
"Chicken macaroni soup." she replied as she placed the bowls on the table.
The phone rang.
"That must be Syusuke. I'll go get it." she stated.
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On the phone...
"Hello?"
"Aira-chan, is everything okay? I'm on my way now." Fuji asked.
"I gave them a tour of your house and served them lunch. And stop adding chan to my name." she replied.
Fuji sighed.
"Something wrong, Syusuke?" she asked worriedly.
"Not really. Just thinking of something. Aira-chan, I filed the two of us a one week leave since my friends would be staying for a week. I hope you don't mind." Fuji said.
"I don't mind. Syusuke what happened?" she asked, ignoring the chan after her name obviously concerned about Fuji.
"Nothing."
"Syusuke, do you seriously think that you can lie to me? I have been working with you for a year now. I'm pretty sure that I understand you enough to know that there's something going on."
"Aira-chan, it's nothing, I swear."
"Syusuke, do you take me as a fool?"
Aira's tone become so cold, detached, nearly poisonous.
"Sorry but it's something I have been trying to forget and don't want to talk about." he replied.
Aira sighed.
"I understand. Just remember that I'm always here for you, Syusuke." she said.
Fuji smiled a true smile and said:
"Thanks a lot Aira."
It was now Aira's turn to smile. There were only a few times that Fuji didn't add chan to her name.
"Bye, Syusuke."
"Ah. See you in a couple of hours."
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"Aira, what did Fuji-senpai say?" Ryoma asked.
"He said that he's on his way and he'll be here in a few hours." she answered.
Tezuka stiffened for a split second.
None of the regulars noticed but she did. She just knew something happened between those two. Something dead serious that even Fuji didn't want to talk about it. Now that she thought about it, Fuji never told her the reason why he moved from Japan to the Philippines. Fuji only told her that it was because he wanted to get over something. She knew that Fuji's dad died before he moved. Could that be the reason? Yes it could. But Fuji wasn't that kind of person. If someone dear to him died, surely he would do anything to keep that person's memory alive. So what was the reason behind his departure? Did it have something to do with the stoic person who had reacted quite unreasonably when he heard Fuji's arrival? She wondered.
She has no clue as to what had happened but there's no way she'll let it remain that way. She had the right to meddle, right? After all, she was Fuji's best friend. She had a right to know. She smirked inwardly. There was a hidden incident here. An incident that made Fuji move. Something that even the sadistic tensai couldn't bear.
Now, it was her duty to make that something bearable. Because if not, what kind of best friend will she be?
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Author's Notes: Nya... I hope this is better. Sorry for the bleeding eyes that this fic caused. I deleted the previous version and I hope that this is easier for you guys to read. I have made minor changes. They are, however, minuscule so you'll have to use a microscope to find them. But if I were you, find them because they contain hints.
Translations:
Syusuke, naaasar na ako. - Syusuke, I'm getting annoyed.
Salamat. - Thank you.
Kamusta ka na?- How are you?
Mahal kita. - I love you.