CHAPTER 1: GIRORO TO GARIRI

"What are you telling me?"

The doctor simply shook his head. "I'm sorry…."

Gariri resisted correcting his choice of words, and only watched him walk away. He slipped into his son's room and sat quietly at his bedside with his hands folded and head hanging low.

"Wish I had the words, my boy…." His voice was shaky, but he continued. "But I don't…" He shook his head, and soon fixated his eyes on Giroro's lifeless frame. "I only wish that you knew what I don't have the words to say…."

He placed a soft kiss on Giroro's forehead and swallowed hard. "I'm proud of you…." He looked up right then to see Garuru, the remainder of his family, piling on Giroro with tears choking his throat.

He couldn't stop him.

"No, no, no, no…. Not you…. Not you too, please…. Giroro, don't…." He rested his hands on his chest and curled up beside him. "You're not leaving me…. You're not."

Gariri didn't try to pull him away. They both needed this….

"I'll miss you too much…. You can't go…. Who am I gonna watch old movies with? You just can't go… I love you…. You know that… I know you know that… please don't…"

Gariri fought back tears as he listened to his elder son say everything he wished he himself could. It wasn't long before they were prying him away from Giroro, and goodbyes were futile.

"Dad… he can't leave us, he isn't allowed. Order him to live, dad, do it." Gariri could see the reflection of his fear and pain in his elder son's eyes.

"He's gone, Garuru, he is gone already…. But he fought very hard - don't forget that." He held him close, once again at a loss for words.

"No…." He continued to deny what he knew in his heart was true.

"He knew you loved him, Garuru…"

He pulled away and in a moment of clarity offered him comfort. "He knew you loved him too…"

Gariri continued to hold him as he let the words sink in…. Remembering his little boy's final words to him, just before he hit the ground…

"Proud… of me, Sir?"

Those words would haunt him the rest off his life. He knew that he wasn't always the most talkative person, but had he never told his little boy he was proud of him? Had he really made him feel less than he was…?

A/N:THEY ARE NOT MINE...AND REVIEWS ARE TOTALLY WELCOME.