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MY LIFE

Chapter 10: ATTORNEYS

What could be the reason when a man takes so long to pack up his things? He couldn't have had so many clothes to pack right? She didn't know any man who measures up to a woman when it comes to the amount of clothes. Maybe he just bought too many tennis equipments. That's all the more reason to let him stay at her place because the things they bought today won't exactly fit in a hotel room if he did.

Whatever the reason is, he's making her wait. That's a really bad thing. No one makes her wait. And it really irritates her senses. Enough to make her want to shoo away that disturbing feeling gnawing at her stomach. She sighed and impatiently looked at the elevator. Should she give up her pride now? Or just stay here?

'Like an obedient puppy?' Sakuno thought grimly. 'I don't think so.' She shook her head. She already got over that attitude years ago and she won't ever do it again. This man won't be the reason for her to do it again. The stares of the people around her is really disturbing her anyway. It's about time she get away from it. Standing up, she adjusted her tinted glasses and walked towards the elevator. She pressed the up button and saw that it's coming from the 20th floor. Hell. That's a lot of time to think her thoughts when all she wants to do is drag that student of hers to where her solitude is. The people around her doesn't make her feel comfortable at all. Where's the hotel hospitality they should be having?

She's hoping the elevator won't include anyone brave enough to approach her right now. She's really not in the mood. Not when Ryoma is ruining it at the moment. Without his knowledge, of course. Or maybe he did know that and is just doing it to piss her off. 'So much for letting him stay at my place.' And she can almost see him doing a lot more of pissing her off while he's staying there. Lots of surprises that man has. She noticed that it didn't stop at the 15th floor, where she was certain Ryoma was staying at. She narrowed her eyes and kept her calm.

She was thinking of a lot more convenient ways to scold and drag Ryoma away from here when the elevator doors opened. The mirror-like walls invited her in and she was thankful no one was inside. She'll have a solo flight in the elevator. Thank God! But it took only two seconds to wash the happy thoughts away. If only she pressed the closing button earlier, that part would've been a reality and a man who was speaking to someone with his phone wouldn't have been able to swiftly get in.

Hopefully, the man won't be speaking to her. And that's her only wish. If he's one of the men who hits on any damn women on the face of the planet, well, he could bet his sorry ass she can protect herself. Which she thought, surveying him at the corner of her eye, won't be necessary because he's wearing a decent business suit and he's carrying a suitcase. A lawyer maybe, or just a businessman who's wearing a black tinted shades. Combed brown hair and neatly shaved. Busy man, that's for sure. Still, it won't hurt to get your guard up.

Five more floors and she'd be able to get to the idiot that's making her wait. Then the man had to shatter the moment.

When he was finished talking on his phone about things Sakuno didn't bother to listen to, he removed his shades and placed it on his pockets. When he turned to her, he tilted his head for a better look at her face. "Hello miss, aren't you that famous Ice Princess?"

For the sake of being polite to her elders, -she was thinking the man was in his late thirties- she looked at him and nodded her head, thinking that it passed as a bow. "Yes I am, sir."

He kindly smiled. "Ah, you're a very talented musician. My daughter likes you a lot."

Sakuno almost stumbled with the words, but she still kept her cool. "Thanks, sir." It's not everyday you hear that from someone who looks like a really loving father.

"Well then, I hope you're doing well and may you have a more blessed career." She caught the color of his eyes before it narrowed again when he smiled. A rich color of brown, just like hers. Something was tugging in her memory. But she held it away for the meantime.

As the door to the 14th floor opened, she didn't even notice him pressing the button, he stepped out and looked at her. He was still wearing that smile on his face when he said, "My name's Katsuro, Miss Ryuuzaki. We'll see each other again." And then the doors were closed.

Sakuno just stared at it. He'd become polite so suddenly and the tugging in her brain was back again. Somewhere in there, she's seen him. If only she could concentrate on doing that right now. She'll do it later, maybe. Whenever she'll remember it.

'But now,' She thought arriving at the 15th floor. 'I have to drag someone out of this place.'

His oyaji got a wide skill when it comes to bothering others. When he thought he would only spend ten minutes in this hotel room, a phone call from his oyaji made it half an hour. He knows he won't stop pestering him if he just ignored the phone calls. It's really not a great idea to answer it outside because every time his oyaji calls, Ryoma's face would be really annoyed or just want to scream at his oyaji for talking to him about things.

Echizen Nanjiro was thinking that his son won't be coming back to USA for awhile because he already got the woman. And that he doesn't want to leave because of her. That's not true, of course. He hadn't met the woman. Not that he could've found one that he'll spend the rest of his life with just by going back to Japan. That's not part of the plan. Yet. Didn't his oyaji remember that it was his vacation? He's getting older all right. That's a sure sign.

But he won't be leaving Japan until he find out what has happened to Ryuuzaki Sakuno. He looked at the bedside table and saw the miniature cat his mother gave him before he boarded the plane back to Japan. He could still remember how his mother's beautiful face looked like when she gave it to him.

"You have to take care of it." She began as she gave it to him gently. Just how she's always been to him. "And it has to be the proper way, young man. Don't you ever forget to call us when you get there." Rinko gathered him close to her. "Good luck, Ryoma." And Ryoma knew it wasn't just for his flight.

He held the figurine in his right hand when he walked to his bags. 'A cat,' He thought, 'was a curious creature.' And that was so like him. It looked just like Karupin, who died months after he turned twenty. Must have been satisfied with his life there and died in his sleep. The cat wasn't sick. They knew that. It was just his time to pass away.

Ryoma placed it in his pockets. It was heavy but he didn't mind the weight of it. He picked up his luggage and the tennis bag he left in the hotel room. Good thing he left his other things on his car. He checked the room once more and made sure that he didn't leave anything. When he was sure of that. He walked to the door and was surprised by the speed when he opened it. He only applied little force after all. Added to that was a girl who was still holding to the doorknob and whose left cheek was on his chest.

The girl looked up and he realized that she wasn't a girl anymore. She was a lady, or a woman, as his oyaji would prefer to call them. It wasn't long after when he realized that her gorgeous brown eyes was making the room go colder. Which, he knew, was also his capability. (Don't take that literally.) Still, he was disappointed because it was covered with the shades that she was wearing.

"You're making me wait." Sakuno told him when she straightened and looked up at him. His height added to one of her irritations now. She looked beyond his shoulders to check if he'd been with someone. She couldn't think of anything else that made him take that long.

He followed her gaze but didn't find anything interesting. They looked at each other again. "My father called. He held me up."

The end of her left eyebrow moved up slightly. She turned around and moved away from the door, making way for him to close it. "Whatever it is, no one makes me wait."

He looked at her and wondered how the Gods can make such an amazing human being. "Sure."

He knew she was annoyed at him when she arrived at his door. But now that they're in the elevator, she doesn't seem to mind it much anymore. Instead, she was concentrated on something. On her thoughts. That's obvious, so he just left her be.

The silence was fine for him but it was better when she talked. And how grateful he was when she did.

"How are they?" When he didn't answer, she turned her head to him and added, "Your family."

His face showed that he understood. But this wasn't the topic he was particularly fond of. What was? He wouldn't even dare to start a conversation with anyone unless he needed to. "Fine."

"Expand that for me?" Sakuno told him. Thinking that the one-syllable-replying-idiot was back. When he took longer to answer the question, she faced him and leaned against the wall of the elevator. She felt the coldness as soon as it touched her back. Her shirt wasn't making any effort in keeping her warm. At least the knitted scarf she wore around her neck was making up for it. She crossed her arms and motioned for him to answer the question.

"They're living their lives the way they want it." He finally told her. 'That's the easiest way to put it.'

Sakuno nodded, "Good. You have to learn to expand or define what you say when you're around me. It's a bad habit of yours to answer people with only a sound that may be considered a word for you or just, plainly, a word."

"Why does that matter to you anyway?" He stared at her.

"You'll be staying at my house. You'll be around me most of the time, so I might as well tell you that, right?" She met his stare equally through her tinted glasses. This man wasn't doing anything. It was her own reaction to him that makes her attitude different toward him. That fact irritated her to the bones.

"Sure." He saw it as soon as it surfaced in her eyes. That mild irritation that swims in her eyes then breaks her cool for awhile. Although, right now, he doesn't know what made her feel that way anymore. His response? Or is it something else?

He took a step on her direction while she watched him. He took another and she didn't even flinch. He reached for her shades, removing it in his own time. He continued to look at her eyes, trying to find what was hidden in its depths. With his other hand, he touched her cheek when she looked away, or tried to. It's hard when the man's got you cornered.

"What happened to you?" Ryoma quietly asked and was lowering to her height. He slowly touched his forehead to hers. The instant he did, worry came as fast as a lightning.

She saw it quickly, and was relieved that they were already on the first floor. She removed his hand on her cheek briskly and told him, "Hands off, remember?"

She was off to her car by the time he went out and he was left with the burning temperature of her forehead on his.

Days passed since Ryoma moved in and he wasn't even feeling like a guest in Sakuno's house anymore. It's like he was the only one living in it. The girl was barely in the house! What happened to you'll be around me most of the time? He doesn't even know what she was doing outside of it. It was her vacation, for God's sake. Doesn't she ever rest? Although she sees to it that she leaves an exercise for his guitar lessons, it's still different when you've got your mentor with you.

Ryoma was strumming his acoustic guitar before having his lunch when Sakuno miraculously came back. She never did at the middle of the day for the past week. The house was always empty whenever he came back from the tennis courts. She comes home late at night, then leaves early again. He never got the chance to check if she was sick or not. She was really burning up when he checked out of the hotel. The girl's strict as her grandmother and she made it clear that the 'Hands Off Her And Her Personal Things' was a major rule in her house. It's highly unlikely that she would talk to him about her health.

Standing up, he walked to the sliding door and opened it. Pleased to see that he was right, that Sakuno was changing from her boots to her house slippers. "Where have you been?" He asked while watching her.

She picked up her boots and tried to walk past him. He blocked her with his arm on the door while she glared at him. "This is my house and you have no right to do that." She was tired, he knew. Her eyes looked worse. He closed the sliding door and walked to where she was going. Sakuno would always go to her piano when she comes home. Even when she didn't have any plans on playing anything. But, right now, she wanted to. Needed to. And so, she played the notes of the first song that came to her mind.

'Something's wrong.' Ryoma thought. He didn't know what it was but something was wrong. He could feel it around Sakuno. She's never gone inside her house like this.

As she tried hard not to drift away while playing, she looked at him. He was standing beside her, watching her delicately soft hands press away with the notes of Tears In Heaven. Playing the piano made her calm. She's found out too many things this past week. And it's made her a bit temperemental. She had to apologize for her behavior.

"I was out. Taking care of my," she stopped talking and saw him fully listening to her piano and her voice. "Business." She decided.

He made a sound that told her he understood. She continued playing. "I'm sure those aren't really part of yours but I feel obligated to tell you." She knew in her Obaa-chan's part, the Echizens had become part of the family.

"There was a man." Sakuno started again. Ryoma shifted, preparing himself for whatever she was going to tell him. Was she seeing someone? Going out as in dating? Why'd she have to tell him? He's just her student and an occupant in her house. He doesn't care about her personal life. Well, that's what he thought. Either way he continued listening to her.

"I've been seeing him in my dreams vividly ever since we came back from the hotel." She straightened her back more. 'It's better if you tell the people around you what's bothering you.' She remembered what Shiba-san told her. They've been working the past week, looking for the man named Katsuro at the hotel. 'To hell with my pride. He's staying at my house. It's better if he knew everything that's happened so that he won't bother me anymore.' Sakuno thought.

She looked at him. "Dreams that contained the accident Obaa-chan was in." She finished the song, and stood up. She walked to the Tennis racket that was displayed in the living room. Hanging there was the blue tennis racket her Obaa-chan was so proud of. She gripped the handle and turned back to Ryoma holding it. "This was her pride. She's gone to so many tournaments winning with it." She placed it back and lightly brushed her hands on the shelf beneath it.

"We were racing back to our house. Whoever comes home last would've prepared our dinner." She told Ryoma and he didn't say anything. It was just like the two of them to do that. He'd been hearing his coach mutter things like 'I'll prepare dinner again if I come home late' or I can't let my granddaughter beat me' when he was still a freshman in middle school.

"She used her car while I walked to our house. She gave me a headstart. She always did, saying that I already had a handicap." She saw a tennis ball on the corner of the shelf and held on it. "It was the very first time I got home ahead of her, I felt happy for the victory. She always got home first so that I'll be the one to prepare dinner. The happiness wavered and fell when she still didn't come home. I waited for an hour and called her. She wasn't answering her phone."

She threw the ball up and caught it. "The school told me she already left. No signs of her on the schoolgrounds. I waited and waited. When I went out and followed the route she always used, I saw her talking to a man on the other side of the main road. I was sure they were arguing. It took me two shouts to get her attention. There was a big and loud speaker blaring on my side of the road. I thought it was relief and surprise that made her eyes go wide and run to me."

"She was screaming, shouting at me, and I couldn't hear her. I tried to warn her that the traffic lights were still green but she couldn't hear me, either. I almost met her halfway. There were no cars when I started running. But then," She squeezed the tennis ball tightly. "This sleek and quiet car came speeding at her, the driver must've been drunk and threw her meters away from where I was supposed to be meeting her."

She threw the ball at her sofa. "The bastard hit her, made her bleed to death, and cracked almost every bone in my grandma's body. She was strong all right. But her body was as old as the date on her birth certificate." She sat on the sofa and leaned backward, looking at the ceiling. "I could still hear her screaming. I thought she was alive." She looked at Ryoma now. "But the the people who were there told me that it wasn't my grandmother screaming. It was me, begging her to open her eyes and live."

"Days after that, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even know who called for the ambulance or who arranged her funeral. Must've been me or the school." She shrugged then leaned on her knees, something in her eyes changing. "But the man I saw at the hotel you were staying at made me remember things I saw when the ambulance came to pick my grandmother up."

Ryoma could see the fury, sadness, rage, and loneliness mixing in her eyes. Changing the color of it to its darkest.

"He was the one my grandma was talking to. They were arguing, all right. But he was calm even when I saw him standing at the same place where my grandma left him. He was gone when the ambulance came by. Damn it. And I was compelled to respect old men too." She muttered the last part to herself. She looked at Ryoma and didn't notice she was still glaring. "You must be wondering why I'm telling this to you now."

Ryoma's gaze at her didn't waver a bit. "Ah. But it's better now that I know more what the hell happened to you." Now that curiosity was fed, what will he do?

"The man's name is Katsuro." Sakuno observed him.

"Did you meet him at the lobby?" Ryoma asked, thinking that he could've done something bad to her if it was somewhere private.

"I met him at the elevator when I went to your hotel room." She told him and this Katsuro was already on Ryoma's bad side. Sakuno got a folder from her bag. "I asked Shiba-san to look for the file of the man named Katsuro who was staying at that hotel. She found it for me. And he looks exactly like the man I saw." She gave the folder to Ryoma. "Ne Ryoma," She waited for him to look at her before continuing. "What was your mother's maiden name?"

"Takeuchi, why?" He was confused that Sakuno's asking that kind of question all of a sudden.

"He is Takeuchi Katsuro. A lawyer. I heard your mother was too. She wouldn't happen to be related to him, would she?" Sakuno still asked him that even when she already knew his answer. Shiba-san's resources were really deep.

Something clicked in Ryoma's brain and he paled. How the hell did he forget? He looked at the picture of the man on the file and looked up at Sakuno. "He's my uncle."

Atty. Takeuchi Katsuro is the brother of the former Atty. Takeuchi Rinko, who is now named Echizen Rinko.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I don't own Prince of Tennis and Tears in Heaven. (That song almost gets me teary-eyed every time I hear it. Even when it's just the piano or guitar version.)

There you go. Thanks for reading this chapter! You can tell me my grammar and spelling faults if you'd like. AND I wanna know what you think about this so please review. :)