Chapter 1: Fate

The phone on his nightstand started vibrating waking Kanata from the dead sleep he had fallen into after his 12 hour shift at the hospital. A viral fever was running through the neighborhood leaving the only hospital in the small town of Heiomachi overflowing and its staff overworked. Thankfully the fever had run its course so hopefully by next week, everyone could go back to their normal schedules.

Kanata rolled over in his futon and tried to ignore the buzzing in his ear. He squinted his eyes at the nightstand. The digital clock showed it was 3 minutes past 1 o'clock in the morning. Sighing he got up and picked up his phone. Perhaps one of his patients had gotten worse and considering all of them were below 1 year it was imperative attending the call.

"Being a pediatrician is a lot of work." He grumbled to himself as he clicked on the answer button.

"Hello?" Kanata yawned as he walked to the kitchen to get a glass of cold milk. He figured his dreams of a nice long sleep were shot anyway.

"Is this Dr. Kanata Saionji?" asked a disembodied voice. From the statics coming from the line, Kanata figured it was a long distance call and confirmed it by looking at the long and unfamiliar number.

A nameless dread began at the pit of his stomach as he asked, "yes…who is this?"

"Sir, I am calling on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Hikarigoaka. I'm afraid it's bad news…"

The glass in his hand fell to the floor and shattered. Kanata found himself sinking onto one of the kitchen chairs in shock as the man at the other end continued to explain the situation.

He was in a state of shock. He could not believe it.

Nozumo Hikarigoaka and his wife Christine were his two best friends. Their friendship dated back to middle school. It had started out with Chris having a huge crush on him, but later she fell deeply in love with one of his best friends, Nozumo. Their love had withstood the test of time and the opposition of Christine's family. They had married soon after they graduated from college and Kanata and his other best friend Santa had stood as best men for Nozumo. That had been 3 years ago now. Christine had given birth to a beautiful baby boy 5 months ago. They had named Kanata as his guardian if anything happened to them. He had thought it quite unnecessary at the time.

But now, it seemed as if it was fate. When he had sent the happy family for Baby Ruu's first vacation to the States, he had no idea that he was sending them to their deaths. A moment of carelessness by a bunch of drunk teenagers had cost him his best friends and Ruu his parents. In fact it was a miracle that Ruu had escaped the crash without serious injuries.

Kanata sat still in the darkness gripping the phone in one hand too shocked to realize that he was now the official guardian of a 5 month old baby.

The sun was slowly beginning to rise by the time Kanata stirred from his stupor and decided to call Santa.