One who Truly Loves
Fuuko stares at her jolly son. Riiya looks up at Fuuko and holds on to her hand.
"What are you smiling about you freaky brat!" Fuuko said.
"It's new to have –kaasan drop me off to school," he said. Fuuko is stunned at what he had said and smiled. She grips his tiny hand; Riiya looks up at her. She smiled at him warmly.
"What are you smiling at, you freaky old granny?" Riiya said.
Fuuko got enraged at his words and pulls him up to look straightly at him.
"Say that again, you brat..." Fuuko dared with eyes all fiery with anger.
Riiya sweatdropped as he stares scared at his mother.
After a small lovely, er usual bond of a mother and child, Riiya runs to the school gate to meet up his adviser. He looks back at his mother and waves cheerfully at her.
"Bye, -kaasan! Arigato!" he claimed loudly.
Fuuko smiled in acknowledge of him and waved back. Riiya's adviser smiled at Fuuko; Fuuko smiled back. When she gave out a final wave to her son, she turns and leaves the place.
Riiya's adviser got lower to adjust to Riiya's height and whispered, "So, she's your mom?"
"Hai!" Riiya answered proudly. "She's the greatest mom in the world!"
Tokiya is still preoccupied with thought of Fuuko confessing to him that Riiya is actually his archrival's child. Recca may have gotten over it, but he still hasn't, because he knows that Fuuko's first love is always Recca. She just hasn't realized it up to now.
He swore to himself that he'll take a grudge on Fuuko if ever Riiya is Recca's son but he just can't give a grudge on her. He loves her too much to hate her...so is Riiya...his heart will tear up if he gets to be apart from them.
Tokiya digs his head to his arms. He doesn't know what to believe anymore, what to do anymore. His mind is now full of hesitations.
Tokiya suddenly got lightened up and sits up straight in confidence.
"There is no proof that Fuuko had a son to Recca. No one will know. I'll forget it. Fuuko will never leave me. I trust her; she trusts me, too. If ever there is a proof, I'll destroy it. I won't let it take my family away from me," Tokiya thought and stands up from his seat. He puts on his coat and goes out of his office.
"Yuko-san," he called on to his secretary.
"Hai, Mikagami-san?" his secretary replied.
"I'll be out for today. Take care of everything for now. I'll be back tomorrow. If there are problems, call me at home. Understand?" he ordered.
"Hai," his secretary confirmed.
Tokiya completely left his office and heads home.
"Nani!" Fuuko claimed out of surprise.
"You heard me, you're fired! You're useless. You can't even cook an ordinary fried egg!" the manager said.
"I understand that you are firing me but what I didn't like to what you said is that-" Fuuko ignites a cast of whirring wind in the kitchen, almost destroying the place. "you called me 'a terrible cook'!"
The manager got scared, so is the other chefs, and screams his heart out.
Fuuko trashes out the chef hat she was wearing and looks back angrily at the restaurant.
"Darn manager. 'Terrible cook', huh? I will make your life miserable," Fuuko murmured.
Fuuko walks to her house but then, she was ceased by a newspaper boy claiming out the latest news in town. Fuuko buys one and sits on one of the benches on the park. She instantly opened the job marketing newspaper and searched for a good source of work.
Meanwhile, Tokiya is busy checking out Fuuko's personal diaries and boxes in search for any proof that Riiya is Recca's son. Unlucky for him because Fuuko is not really the kind of girl who is interested in cherishing too many memories in her place; she thinks it's insanity.
Tokiya finally gave up and sighs heavily in defeat. He laughs at himself at the thought that he is like a thief trying to steal and destroy one of Recca's property.
The doorbell suddenly alarmed the empty and quiet house. Tokiya stands up to answer the door.
It's Yanagi.
"Yanagi-san," Tokiya said. Yanagi smiled.
"Oh good, you're here. I'm just going to return Fuuko's videocam," Yanagi said.
"Ah, hai,"
"Arigato, Mikagami-kun," Yanagi said. "Well, I still have some work to do. Please tell Fuuko thanks. I'll be seeing you,"
"Uh, yeah. Sure," he said and waves at her.
As Yanagi's image disappears from his sight, he stares at Fuuko's videocam. The only thing that he hasn't checked up on.
Fuuko fell asleep at the bench she was sitting with the newspaper on her lap. The back of her head is leaned of the support of the bench. Her mouth is a bit open and anyone that passes by could hear her snore.
She didn't realize that hours and hours have passed and Riiya's class was already dismissed. Riiya always gets to pass by the park when going home; that time, he catches out his mom sleeping on the park. The pages of Fuuko's newspaper flew away piece by piece taking them to the other people on the park.
A guard approaches Fuuko and shrugs her to wake her up, but Fuuko only replied with a slap on the man's face. The guard got angry and yells on her.
Riiya sweatdropped watching his mom.
The people on the park watches the guard handles with Fuuko. As he gets angrier, Fuuko is falling asleep deeper. She even gets to kick off the guard to unconsciousness.
Riiya slaps a hand on his forehead and shakes his head. He came to the thought of approaching her and inviting her to head home with him, but he thought of it as a very bad idea. He walks home alone but gets to see a group of commoner boys of his age playing at the children's side of the park.
It's still early anyway so he approaches them.
"Can I play?" Riiya asked.
The boys look at him in a very unwelcoming manner and smiled very evilly at him.
"Sure," the biggest boy said. "But you have to do something first,"
"Sure. What is it?" Riiya said cheerfully in rejoice of having new friends.
The big boy hands out a finger pointing to the necklace he's wearing. It's the necklace Fuuko gave him on his 5th birthday.
"Give us that necklace," he said.
Riiya holds the shiny spherical pendant and looks at them.
"No. Anything but this," Riiya said.
"Anything...hmmm...buy us ice cream," he said.
Riiya got scared at the realization that he chose quite bad little boys to play with him. He hides the necklace on his shirt and stands in front of them confidently with an angry face.
"No!" he yelled.
"Why? Are you going to fight back? Huh?" the smaller boy pushes him.
Riiya got angrier and glares at him with an evil grin like they did to him earlier.
"Why not?" he said and suddenly a seed of flame suddenly ignited on the smaller boy's sleeve.
The boys panic and ran away from him. They came rushing to their parents pointing out Riiya. The parents look at him and seeing that Riiya seem to be harmless, they ignored the things that their child told them.
Riiya walks away and smiles evilly as he leaves; not knowing that there is someone who witnessed the incident. Yanagi Sakoshita. She's holding her mouth and her eyes are staring out in surprise.
Tokiya is staring at the blank opened TV. The used tapes are in front of him, disorganized and everywhere in the room. His head bowed low, staring on the floor. His mind is grieving in anger but his heart is grieving in distress.
The video is the proof he has been looking for. The proof that tells Riiya is really Recca's son.
Riiya opens the door.
"Tadai ma!" he claimed.
The empty-looking house made Tokiya hear Riiya's voice even on a sealed door. Tokiya was surprised; Riiya's voice made him form a tear at last.
Riiya felt someone is around the house and followed the noise he hears. He found himself in front of his parents' room and a dimly gash of light creeping out the door's feet. He opens it slowly and finds Tokiya sitting depressingly on the side of the bed, in front of the blank opened TV.
"Otousan?" he called weakly.
Tokiya looks at him and smiles wearily.
"Doshite, otousan?" he asked approaching him slowly.
Tokiya reaches out Riiya's small hand when he got closer. He pulls him gently to get him closer and hugs him tight.
"Otousan?" he called again.
Tokiya is sobbing silently on his foster child's shoulder, with his teeth gritted and eyes closed tightly.
That night, when Fuuko and Riiya were completely asleep, he goes out of the house and starts out a fire on a small can. He puts out the tape on flames and watches it get destroyed as the flame creeps into the film of the tape.
"I won't let you take another precious thing in my life, Hanabishi Recca..."
"He looks so much like Recca...and he could cast flames too. Could it really be possible?" Yanagi thought as she stares out on the night sky.
Her eyes become misty.
"Oh, tell me Recca-kun...what I should believe now?" she said hiding her face with her palms.
A flick on her window was suddenly heard and took her attention. Yanagi looks down and sees Recca waving below. He smiles at her cheerfully and points up to the sky. Yanagi looks up and suddenly fireworks began to show.
Yanagi's heavy heart was cheered up by Recca's little surprise. She looks down to Recca; he is holding a banner sign that says: "Happy Birthday, Princess"
She couldn't keep herself together anymore and her tears continuously fall in joy. She hurriedly went downstairs and outside to see Recca. She runs to him and hugs him.
"Hime," Recca said smiling.
"Thank you, Recca-kun," she said.
It's Saturday. Fuuko still hasn't got to get a good and permanent job. She's already been fired 3 times in a row that week. She's like a student looking for a temporary part time job.
"Darn managers...they're the reason why I look older than I age," Fuuko murmured gloomily.
Out of nowhere, she suddenly gets to see her son walking down the streets holding a paper on his hand. Fuuko approaches him and taps him on the head.
"Where are you going, little squirt?" Fuuko asked demandingly.
"To the grocery, big monster," he answered directly.
"What did you just say?" she warned.
"Come on, old lady. I'm busy right now. Go away," Riiya said and continues walking.
Stunned Fuuko hasn't seen her child talk as if he is really in an important duty. But...
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" she screamed. "Come back here you little rat!"
Riiya turns to her calmly.
"That's why you can't get a good job, because you can't even win on me. Your own son...tch!" Riiya said calmly and walks away.
"NANI!" Fuuko totally enraged, turns and holds up her head repeating out her calming ritual. "He's my son, I'm his mother...he's my son, I'm his mother..."
"Hey Fuuko, is that the latest trend right now?" Recca claimed.
Fuuko looks up with angry eyes. Recca is a few steps away from her and he's with Yanagi.
"Son gets better than mom...haha...what a total loser!" he said loudly.
"I dare you...say that again..." Fuuko warned in a low and angry voice, putting on the device on her hand.
"I'll say it as much as you want...YOU'RE A LOSER!" Recca yelled.
Fuuko curls up the wind around her and started chasing Recca who continuous bullying her.
Riiya turns to look back on his mother. He sweatdropped.
"I really can't believe she's my mother," he murmured, sighing depressingly.
Riiya finally reached his destination and took the things Tokiya had ordered him to buy. When he finished doing the grocery, he decided to go home early. On the way, he gets to encounter the group of boys he once met before. They seem to be in a commotion. He goes to them to check them up.
It turns out that one of them had an accident. One of them suddenly ran and claiming out, "Mom, that boy killed Jiro-kun. I told you...he's a devil!"
Riiya was surprised and got tenser when the other kids around him went farther from him.
"He once attempted to kill me with his evil fire," the boy said.
The mother of the one who had an accident came rushing and blames it all to Riiya. Riiya, scared and nervous, couldn't say a word.
Suddenly, a sound of a whistle took the attention of the crowd. It was Recca.
"Okay, what the heck is the commotion here?" Recca demanded.
"Hanabishi-san," Riiya called.
"Hey pip squeak," Recca replied and places a hand on his shoulder.
"So...what's the problem here?" he asked again.
"Your son killed my son!" the mother screamed. Recca sweatdropped in surprise.
"Uh...okay. If he really is the one who killed your son, what proof do you have?" he asked.
"His death is enough proof for that!" she yelled.
"Then why don't we do some testing?" he asked.
"Testing?"
"Right. I'll have to scalpel a little of his flesh to see how he really died. Are you approving of that?" Recca said.
"Scalpel? You mean like an autopsy? You'll slice down my son to every bit of his flesh!" the mother yelled.
Recca nodded.
The boy lying on the ground suddenly trembled and sits up like a normal healthy kid does. The people around him are all stunned.
"What a miracle! A true, reincarnated boy," Recca said looking straightly at the boy. "And we didn't even have to pray for him,"
The mother strikes out her son, so are the other moms of the boys who claimed that Riiya is evil. The mothers apologized and go away.
Recca is left with a smile on his face. Riiya, below him, is still all teary with the experience he had. Recca knelt to face him and places a hand on his head.
"You all right, kid?" he asked.
Riiya nodded, and then suddenly broke down in tears. Yanagi, behind them, approaches them and pats Riiya at the back for comfort.
Recca carries Riiya at his back. Yanagi helped Recca in carrying Riiya's things and she supports the back of Riiya.
Yanagi stares at Recca as he smiles happily, and gets to notice Riiya as he holds his pendant tightly.
"What's wrong, Riiya?" she asked kindly.
"I miss my mom...she's the one who strengthens at this point," he answered.
"You're mom isn't a real girl," Recca joked.
"Mom may be acting like a guy, but she does that on purpose. To think of it, she's the only child in their family. Mom helps me grow stronger...she makes me happy. I may have only a few memories about her being sweet to me, but that's the reason why I'm like this. It's all because of her..." Riiya said breaking in tears. "Many people have told me they love me while my Mom never told me those words, but I know...she's that person who truly loves me."
Recca smiled at what he just heard.
"Mom..." he called lowly but cheerfully.
He looks up front and sees Fuuko on his gate.
When Fuuko sees them arriving, she ran towards them with a heartfelt joy. She suddenly pokes Riiya on the head.
"ITAI!" he screamed.
Recca and Yanagi gasp.
"Fuuko-chan!" Yanagi claimed.
"That's for making me worry, you little pest!" Fuuko yelled.
Riiya shrugs Recca to bring him down, and he did. Riiya approaches his angry mom and hugs her.
"Aishiteru, -kaasan!" Riiya said.
Fuuko astonishes at his gesture. She smiles warmly and glides her hand in his head. Riiya takes Fuuko's hand and says, "Let's go home now, obaa-san,"
Fuuko berserks; She kicks Riiya to the ground and steps on him with her foot.
"Say that again and you won't go home alive!" she claimed.
Recca and Yanagi sweatdropped.
"Right, I was wrong," Riiya said brushing away the dirt on his shirt. "You're not a grandma, you're a witch!"
Fuuko, surprised, got angry and puts on her device starting out a deadly wind around her.
"That's it. You're dead," she said.
Riiya runs away with his things to their home. Fuuko chases him with her destructive wind.
"Yanagi-chan, thanks for taking care of my Riiya for me. I hate to say this but thanks too, Recca," Fuuko said on the answering machine.
"Haha...When we meet again, I'll demand her two tickets for the latest movie. I good treat huh, Yanagi-hime?" Recca laughed evilly.
Yanagi smiled warmly seeing his cheerful and lively behavior.
NOTE: So what do you think? Do I have what it takes to be a Recca/Fuuko fic writer. Review please...