Red Roses

hey guys... :D hehehe... :D it's been a while... um... three days was it? well... enough of your waiting... hehehe... here's the next chapter to my best story (yet) :D hehehehe... :D I'm really happy from the feedbacks of my readers... :D you don't know how happy I am about it... :D hehehe... :D

so this chapter takes over at the time Yumiko finishes her conversation with Nanako on the phone (refer to previous chapter) :D also... the previous chapter ended with a sulking Ryoma... but here, Ryoma's mood has been lifted by Nanako already... I don't know how she would do it... I hope you'd still continue reading even though I have told you about that... :D hehehe... :D

Please do support this story... :D hehehe... :D reading and reviewing will make me feel the warmth of your support... :D hehehe... :D

Disclaimer: PoT isn't mine... all the characters belong to someone else... I hold no rights about them...

Chapter 14: Finding Syusuke

"Marriott Hotel." Nanako said as she boarded the car that Ryoma owned. "Let's go." She signalled as Ryoma roared the engine into life. It's a very good thing Nanako had imprinted on Ryoma's mind that there is no point in sulking over what had happened and that they needed action. She has reinforced Ryoma with a determined attitude.

They skimmed through the streets of L.A. at top speed. Pedestrians jumped for their life away from the path that the car is going to take. Not one word was spoken between the two cousins; only the sound of the engine could be heard inside the shiny Mercedes.

Ryoma put the car into a sudden stop that could've made Nanako fly forward, if not for the seatbelt. The two quickly unstrapped their seatbelts and bolted out of the car in a flash. Nanako approached the police officers that followed them through the prestigious hotel as Ryoma dashed towards the main desk. "Syusuke Fuji." He said as he panted for air.

The receptionist typed Syusuke's name on the computer, half a minute passed and still no results of any Syusuke Fuji. "No one has checked in with the name Fuji, Syusuke yet, sir." He said.

"That can't be possible!" Ryoma ranted out loud, still trying to catch his breath. "I'm pretty sure that…" Ryoma didn't finish as he remembered very vital information. "Try Kunimitsu Tezuka." He said quickly.

The receptionist, who was shocked by Ryoma's sudden outburst, typed Tezuka's name quickly. He scanned through the entries that resulted on the search. "Checked out, sir, 15 minutes ago." He reported, looking at Ryoma in the eyes.

"Shit!" Ryoma hissed as he made a quick dash towards the commotion that Nanako's taking care of. He faced the officers. "We are quite busy now." He said seriously. "One of you can ticket me on the way to the airport." He then faced Nanako. "Has Tezuka been answering the calls?"

Nanako shook her head in denial. "He put off his phone a while ago."

"Excuse me, sir. I need your license." One of the two policemen said. "We can't go to the airport; we were assigned inside this vicinity."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "There's nothing that money can't handle." He said as he grabbed his wallet from his pocket. He pulled a large amount of bill from it and handed it to the police. "I'll give you this if we'll just forget about it, what do you think?" Ryoma asked in an intimidating manner.

"I-I don't know, sir..." The policeman that once had spoken to Ryoma said. "We have a code to…"

"Done!" The other policeman said as he grabbed the bill from Ryoma. "I'm sure you're quite busy, so get on your way." He said as he pulled his partner towards their car.

Ryoma drove to the airport faster, he wanted to catch Syusuke before he flies back home. "When will the next flight to Japan be?" He asked without removing his eyes from the road their taking.

"Give me a minute." Nanako said as she scanned through the search results her wi-fi enabled phone gave her. "It says here that the next scheduled flight will be in five minutes time. Let's just hope that the rain has stalled the flight." She said, putting her phone back to her pocket.

A few minutes later, Ryoma pulled over in front of the departure area. They stepped out of the car and noticed that there is no hint of rain on the concrete streets of the airport. "Nanako, I thought there was a heavy rain a while ago?" He asked, walking in a fast pace.

"Looks like the rain opt not to pour on this part of the town." Nanako answered jokingly, trying to catch up with Ryoma's fast paced walking.

Ryoma didn't reply; he scanned through the huge digital board for any flight to Japan. He spots the entry that he was looking for, changing its status from 'Boarding' to 'Departed'. He glanced through the glass wall on the right side of him and saw a plane lifting off of the ground. He cringed at the spot he was standing. Tears began pouring once again on his face. Loud roars are heard from the outside, raindrops instantly followed the banging of thunders. "Syusuke…" He whispered as Nanako grabbed his hand for support.

"We'll follow him to Japan, Ryoma. Let's go home and pack. I'll find the earliest flight to Japan." Nanako said as she tugged Ryoma away from his trance. "Everything's going to be alright, Ryoma. I'll tell Yumiko to expect us."

Ryoma didn't say a word; he just let the tears flow from his eyes. He blamed himself for having Syusuke leave him. If not because of his indignant behaviour against Tezuka, Syusuke wouldn't leave him for good. 'I have trained all these time to forget my love for Syusuke for that situation, but the hurt in his eyes… I have inflicted those hurt in his eyes…' He thought as he sank to the floor, sitting helplessly at the glass tiled flooring.

"Ryoma! Stand up!" She said in a low voice as she grabbed Ryoma's hand and pulling the genius tennis player upward. "Don't let Syusuke wait for you at Japan!" She said, finally having Ryoma pulled upward. She dragged Ryoma gently to their car, which Ryoma didn't oppose. "I'm driving." She said as she placed Ryoma to the passenger seat.

"Do you think Syusuke would want to see me again after hearing the things that I have said?" Ryoma asked, still weeping.

"I know he wants to see you again. You only have to explain why you have said those things." She answered truthfully. "Don't worry about it. I'll find a way so that you and Syusuke could talk things through. All you have to do is take care of yourself and be prepared for your confrontation with Syusuke." Nanako smiled and drove the car at a slow pace.

Throughout the whole duration of the trip, not one word escaped from Ryoma's mouth. Nanako would every now and then try to start a conversation, but Ryoma would just nod and look at the window. He felt extremely down; not even Nanako, who's a professional in lightening the mood of Ryoma, could do anything at the current situation of his cousin. 'What am I going to do with him? He's pulling himself down.' She thought as she made a sharp turn on a silent street.

A few minutes later, Nanako stopped and looked at Ryoma, who was still looking blankly out the window. "We're here." She said, noticing that Ryoma didn't move an inch. Ryoma just nodded and opened his door. He walked lifelessly to the porch. Nanako placed a hand on his shoulders. "Everything will be alright, Ryoma. I'm pretty sure of it." She smiled.

Ryoma smiled back sweetly, and after a very long time, he finally spoke. "I believe in what you can do, Nanako. I believe that you can do everything you said you would." He smiled and went inside the house. "I won't ever doubt your abilities again. I'll pack my things, just like what you told me to do." He said as he walked towards his room.

Nanako smiled at the optimism of her cousin. She grabbed her phone and dialled a travel agency. "Hello, when will be the next flight to Japan?" She asked happily. "Tonight? 8 PM? Can you still book two people on that flight? The names are Nanako Mieno and Ryoma Echizen. I'll come by later for the tickets. Thank you." She hung up walked towards her room. "It's a very good thing that Ryoma's finally looking at the bright side."

"Ryoma! Are you ready?" Nanako shouted as she pulled her luggage bag out of her room. "We have to go, or we'll miss the flight."

"I'm coming!" He replied back as he strapped his backpack on his back. He didn't bring many shirts and pants; he just packed enough set of clothing for approximately three days. "Have you called a cab already?" He asked as he slipped on his shoes.

"He's waiting outside, already." Nanako said as she pulled her huge, rolling luggage bag out of the door. The taxi driver promptly helped Nanako with her bag. "Thank you." She said sweetly at the kind driver before turning to Ryoma.

"Let's go." Ryoma said, carrying his backpack. "Have you contacted nee-san again?"

"Thanks for reminding me!" Nanako said happily. "I haven't informed her yet that we're coming." She smiled and dialled Yumiko's number on her phone as they walked towards the cab. The call wasn't answered; it just went dead. Nanako dialled again, but still, it wasn't answered. 'That's weird… Yumiko doesn't answer my call.' She thought, carefully not saying it out loud because it might trigger Ryoma to emotionally break again.

"What's wrong, Nanako?" Ryoma asked, noticing the worried look on Nanako's face.

"Oh nothing… It's just; Yumiko's busy to answer her phone. I guess we can't tell her anything about our surprise trip to Japan." Nanako covered up.

A few minutes later, the driver pulled over. He glanced at Ryoma who was pulling out his wallet. "Here you go. Just keep the change." Ryoma said, handing over 70 to the driver.

The driver smiled and stepped out of his cab. He lifted Nanako's rolling travel bag out of the luggage compartment and handed it Nanako, who was at his side. He then grabbed Ryoma's light bag and handed it to the green-haired man. "Thank you very much, sir. I hope you'll have a wonderful trip ahead of you." He kindly said.

Nanako replied with a thank you while Ryoma just smiled and turned away, pulling Nanako's bag. He let Nanako do all of the transactions as he placed the bags on the X-ray machines for inspections. "Where's your passport, sir?" The kind lady asked Ryoma who was patiently waiting for the inspection to finish.

Ryoma handed the lady his passport. Nanako sprang up from behind him and gave her passport to the lady. "I'm with him." She said to the lady, who was about to tell Nanako to move to the back of the line. The lady continued her work on inspecting the two people's luggage. After a few moments, they were asked to proceed to the waiting area for the plane to position itself.

"Is everything alright, Nanako?" Ryoma asked as they walked towards two vacant seats.

"Everything's running smoothly. I didn't contact Yumiko anymore; the airport management asked to put off my phone because it was making some slight interference on their navigation system." Nanako reported in detail. "Turn your phone off, too."

"Ok." Ryoma complied with Nanako's demands and placed the phone back to his pocket. "Nanako, what time will we arrive in Japan?"

"Hmm… If we'll leave at 8, and if the travelling time is only 5 hours, then we'll most likely arrive at 5 in the afternoon. We'll inform them that we're in Japan when we've already arrived." Nanako said with a slight smile.

Ryoma, too, smiled.

Ryoma and Nanako arrived at the airport earlier by an hour. The feeling of nostalgia came into their senses as they streamed through the busy streets of the city they once called their home. They had discussed and decided that they wouldn't call anyone yet. They'll just make a surprise visit to everybody.

Ryoma couldn't contain himself on his seat; he twitches in any random direction, watching the people as they pass by his window. Nanako notices his slight movements, and it made her chuckle. "Excited?" She asked.

Ryoma looked at his cousin and smiled. "More of nervous…" He admitted and continued looking outside of the car. "I feel very anxious, Nanako. I don't know why." He expounded in a worried tone.

Nanako chuckled harder. "You are excited." She started, but then she cleared her throat to make things more serious. "Everything's going to be alright, Ryoma. No need to worry." She smiled to show her full, undiminished support to Ryoma.

Ryoma glanced again at his cousin with a sweet smile. "I believe in your ways." He looked out of the window again. "We're near." He said, noticing the familiarity of the village. "Turn left at the intersection, fourth house to the left." He said, referring to the driver.

"Hai!" The driver answered with a smile before he made a turn where Ryoma had instructed to do so. They stopped a few moments later. "We've arrived, sir, ma'am." The driver informed politely.

Ryoma grabbed his pocket and pulled out 500 yen that he changed at the airport. "Keep the change." He said while handing over their payment to the driver.

"Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu!" The gratified driver politely said. He smiled very nicely at the excess income he has earned. He stepped out of the cab and assisted Nanako and Ryoma with their luggage.

"Arigatou." Nanako said as the driver handed over her huge travelling bag.

Ryoma grabbed his backpack and swung it across his bag. "Ne, Nanako…" Ryoma said as soon as he spun around.

"Yes?" Nanako asked, checking if her things have carefully been taken care of.

"Why does the house seem so lonely?" Ryoma asked, stepping closer to inspect the gate. Ryoma paused when he notices that the gate is padlocked. "Maybe they decided to go and spend some time to relax out." He said with a smile. "I know Oishi and Eiji-senpai have a duplicate key to the house. Syusuke would always think of handing them a duplicate."

"Then let's go there." Nanako said, as she pulled her huge and heavy luggage up the sidewalk.

Ryoma smirked. "You should just stay here. I'll go alone." He said as he started walking to his senpai's house. He observed the community that he once lived in. 'Nothing much has changed here. The same beautiful estates stand in these streets.' He thought as he passed the empty lots that separated his house with his senpai's. He rang the doorbell and instantly, Eiji opened the gate.

"O-CHIBI!" Eiji exclaimed as he grabbed Ryoma into his arms. For the first time ever, Ryoma didn't struggle against his senpai's welcome greeting. "We missed you so much! Why did you leave? Wait 'til Oishi learns that you're here!" He dropped Ryoma and spun around. "Oishi! O-Chibi's here!" He shouted loudly before looking back at Ryoma. "Come in!" He invited, pulling Ryoma by the wrist.

Ryoma put down his senpai's invitation. "I only came to borrow the duplicate keys to the house. Nanako's waiting for me." He explained as Oishi went out of their house. "Konbanwa, Oishi-senpai!" He greeted cheerfully.

"Konbanwa, Echizen!" Oishi greeted back, walking to the green-haired prodigy. "How have you been?"

"Hardly happy, not seeing Syusuke for a very long time." Ryoma said with a light attitude, suppressing the sadness inside him.

Oishi looked at Eiji in a worried manner. Eiji just nodded in return. "Get the keys to their house, Oishi. I'll tell him everything." Eiji said.

"Tell me what, Kikumaru-senpai?" Ryoma asked, looking quite worried and nervous at the information that his senpai's are about to share to him.

Oishi walked towards their house to grab the keys that Ryoma needed. "O-chibi…" Eiji started to grab Ryoma's attention.

"Yes, Kikumaru-senpai?" Ryoma asked nervously.

"O-chibi, Fujiko left earlier with Yumiko-san and buchou." Eiji said in a low voice. "They left everything here, just in case you'll ever come back. I'm afraid they'll never come back again."

OMG!! Syusuke left for good?! WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO RYOMA NOW?! ehem I've decided to add a final twist before the story ends... but yes... it's coming to an end... hehehe... just wait carefully how it will end... :D

Did you like it? I mean... like like it? hehehhe... :D send in your reviews to show your support! :D hehehe... :D thank you... :D

all the while... :D

-kitoyisme