Authors note: Happy Lunar New Year XD A lot of parent related flashbacks =) REVELATIONS and cute scenes! PLEASE REVIEW! Enjoy 3

Ch. 14 The Past

I stare at the scene in front of me, still wondering how they are so friendly with each other. I am sure my father knows my mother almost married Nanjiro, yet they still act like the best of friends. Well, the whole issue was resolved peacefully, without any hard feelings. So it makes sense. I glance at Ryoma and he gives me a puzzled look. It seems that Nanjiro has not told him about his past, I wonder if I should tell him about it later. I shake my head and turn my attention back to my parents.

Nanjiro wraps his arm around his wife's waist, "And I guess this is the first time you meet her. This is my beautiful wife, Rinko."

My mother smiles, "She's a beauty."

Rinko slightly blushes, "Oh that's not true, you are the true beauty." She smiles, "my husband constantly talks about both of you."

My father smiles, "We often reminisce on old times as well. It's been so long since we've last seen each other, twenty years is it?

My mother excitedly claps her hands, "Let's bring out my old albums! I am sure Rinko wants to see what Nanjiro was like when he was younger!"

Nanjiro shakes his head, "Can we not do this, I am sure Kuniharu also does not want to see these albums."

My father fixes his glasses, "Ayana does this all the time so I am used to seeing these albums."

Nanjiro pouts; it is interesting seeing this older man act like such a child, "Kuniharu! Now I can't refuse, it is three against one!"

Ryoma clears his throat, "It is four against one since I am also interested."

We all laugh and Nanjiro looks at me, despair in his eyes, "Tezuka-kun…you are my last hope."

I fix my glasses, "Like father like son."

He sighs loudly, "Fine."

My mother laughs, "Okay, let me go get them." She quickly leaves the room, sparkling with excitement.

My father brings out his favorite wine and pours some into four glasses. He hands Nanjiro and Rinko each a glass. Nanjiro laughs, "I guess I'll have to ask the chauffer to come drive us home."

Rinko smiles, "Yeah, you should not have given him the rest of the day off just because you wanted to drive."

Nanjiro shrugs, "A man should drive his own car occasionally."

My father smiles, "I see that you are still living in ease."

Nanjiro nods, "Yeah, it is the same as always. But it is happiness that matters and it seems that we are equally wealthy when it comes to that."

My father nods, "I agree."

My mother returns, almost tripping at the foot of the door. My father steadies her and takes one of the albums from her hands. There are two albums, each about a hundred pages long. They outline most of my mother's high school and college life, which she spent being best friends with my father and Nanjiro. My parents place the first album, the high school edition, on the coffee table so that we could all crowd around it. The album's cover is beautifully decorated, gold and silver lines curving in intricate designs on a white background. My mother carefully turns the front cover to reveal a picture of a high school, beautifully surrounded by blooming sakura trees. We can see a thin girl with shining eyes, long brown hair, and an oval shaped face in the corner of the picture. The girl was beautiful and is still beautiful.

Rinko's eyes widen, "Wow, you really were a beauty back then as well."

My mother blushes and waves her hand around, "Oh no, I was average."

My mother continues to slowly and cautiously flip through the pictures. We see pictures of an auditorium, classroom, hallways, and the tennis courts. Then the pictures start showing kids, most likely her classmates. We all laugh when we see a boy making a silly face in one of her pictures. He is tan and has short black hair; his golden eyes are squinted because of the goofy smile he is making.

Rinko laughs, "Nanjiro was so cute back then."

Nanjiro clears his throat, "Okay, so I used to fool around a lot, but I was really popular with the girls."

My mother nods, "Yes, believe it or not, most of the girls in our class liked him.

My father sighs, "I never understood what they saw in him. He was always making a fool of himself."

Nanjiro smirks, "Maybe they liked the fact that I was approachable, unlike you, who would scare them away, you iceberg."

My mother laughs, "Oh, I remember that nickname! It's been so long since I last heard it." She turns the page and we see a boy sitting at a corner desk, staring out the window. He looks almost identical to me and has a stoic expression.

My mother smiles, "Like father like son, right?"

Ryoma nods, "The resemblance is striking, even their glasses are similar."

I sigh, "Do I always look that serious?"

Ryoma smirks, "…yes, most of the time."

My father smiles, "I couldn't help it; I was a lot more mature than other kids my age. It's not like I was always stoic, I would smile and laugh from time to time."

Nanjiro grins, "Especially after we became friends."

Ryoma looks at his father, "How did that happen anyhow? Your personalities don't seem to match at all."

My mother turns the page and there is a picture of the three of them. My mother is smiling brightly in the middle, Nanjiro is holding a peace sign and my father is looking off to the side with an annoyed look on his face. They are in a classroom with 'student council meeting' written in large letters on the chalk board.

I look at my mother, "You were all in the student council?"

My nods, "Yeah, it was through the council that we all became friends. Kuniharu and I volunteered to be in the student council; Nanjiro was forced to."

Nanjiro laughs, "They thought that being in the student council would have a positive effect on me."

My father sighs, "He was so lazy and useless at the beginning. We were always quarreling…"

Ryoma smiles, "That is how Tezuka and I started out. We could barely speak without arguing and being sarcastic. "

My mother laughs, "That is exactly how Nanjiro and Kuniharu would act. Nanjiro was the only person that could make Kuniharu mad. Usually Kuniharu's patience was limitless but not when it came to Nanjiro."

My father runs his hand through his light brown hair, "I guess we were like brothers, always arguing and annoying each other, but we sincerely cared for one another."

My mother sighs, "But they seriously would never stop arguing at the beginning. I would always have to calm them down so we could actually get work done."

Nanjiro smirks, "But after a month or two, Kuniharu softened up. Before, he would purposely avoid us but after some time, he started to join us for lunch and on weekends. I still remember the first time we heard him laugh."

"Nanjiro, please don't tell that sorry", my mother says with pleading eyes.

Nanjiro laughs, his eyes becoming two crescent moons, "No Ayana, it is a memorable moment. So, we were eating at a fast food restaurant and Ayana had just come back from getting her food. When she was about to sit down I pushed her chair back. She fell to the floor with a loud bang and everyone stared at her in silence. What surprised us the most was the small chuckle we heard from Kuniharu. Ayana stood up, forgetting her embarrassment, and gave him a big smile."

"They never let me live that down, they continued to try to make me laugh", my father sips his wine.

My mother smirks, patting my father's hand, "And we succeeded, many times."

Nanjiro sighs happily, "Those were good times."

My father nods, "Yes, they were."

My mother smiles, "I miss those days."

Rinko puts down her glass, laughing, "It is good that we met up. I haven't seen my husband this happy ever since he first found out we would have a boy."

Ryoma smiles, "I am happy to know that I was wanted."

My mother looks at me, her face looking younger from all the laughter, "Kunimitsu, why don't you take Ryoma to the garden or your room? We are just going to keep babbling on about old times and it will bore you."

I glance at Ryoma and nod, "Yeah, we will leave you guys to your reminiscing."

I stand up, carefully going around the coffee table and wait by the foot of the door for Ryoma. We give our parents a small bow and walk away. I walk ahead of Ryoma, guiding him towards the garden. We walk down a long hallway, passing pictures and paintings. Ryoma stops now and then to look at a family photo or a portrait of me. His musical laugh echoes off the quiet walls. I smile to myself and grab his hand. He squeezes my hand and lets me lead him. I open the dark brown wooden door to the garden, letting Ryoma pass in front of me.

Ryoma's eyes widen, "Wow, this garden is huge."

"Yeah, my grandfather built it because he loved plants. He really treasured this garden."

He looks at me, "Did he pass it down to your father?"

I nod, "Yeah and I help my father from time to time."

Ryoma twirls around, looking up at the sky, "This is beautiful."

I take his hand again and follow the garden's wavy path. The path is a worn out gray, decorated with tiny rocks. He stops at a white rose bush, gently holding a rose in his hand and leaning in to smell it.

He sighs happily, "I love white roses."

I smile, "They were my grandfather's favorite."

He swings our arms, "What is your favorite?"

"Chrysanthemums."

I pull him further down the path towards a flowerbed full with Chrysanthemums. I bend down and pick the biggest chrysanthemum, twirling it in my hand. I push some of Ryoma's hair behind his right ear and put the flower in his hair.

He chuckles, the moonlight bouncing off his eyes, making them shine beautifully, "I'm not a girl Kunimitsu."

"Not only girls look beautiful with a flower in their hair."

Ryoma smiles, "You are turning soft on me."

I fix my glasses, "So I've become a bit of a romantic, what is so wrong with that?"

He takes the flower out of his hair and stares at it, "It's just surprising sometimes…I like this side of you."

We keep walking, eventually reaching the end of the path. It opens up to an area showered by the moonlight. A light grey stone bench rests between two post-bloom sakura trees. Memories of my childhood spent on this bench, reading or studying, flow into my mind. I sit down on one side of the bench, patting the other side to invite Ryoma.

He sits down and laughs, "This mood is too romantic, I would swear it is a scene from a movie."

I grin, "My grandfather was also a romantic as you can see."

His laugh fills the air, adding to the pleasant feeling floating around. Our hands are intertwined against the cool surface of the bench. We sit in silence for a while, taking in the scene around us.

Ryoma bites his lip, "This might kill the natural flow of things, but let's kiss."

I laugh, "Yes, road kill."

He turns towards me, smirking, "But the flow was so slow."

I inch towards his face, "You are too impatient."

Ryoma captures my lips, nipping the bottom lip gently. He licks my lips, his tongue asking for permission to enter my mouth and I allow him, enjoying his assertive attitude. His arms wrap around my neck and bring me close to him. His tongue slowly tangos with mine, perfectly matching the romantic mood. We part and stare at each other, gentle smiles gracing our faces.

"You know we can be caught at any time, right?"

"It is fine; they are busy so they won't come."

"True."

I run my hand though my hair, "… I need to tell you something Ryoma."

"Yeah?"

"It's about our parent's pasts; have you heard anything from your dad?"

Ryoma gives me a puzzled look, "No, I haven't heard anything."

I sigh, "I usually would just leave it up to your dad to tell you when he feels the time is right, but I think you deserve to know. And you are old enough already."

He gives me his full attention, "And?'

I look down at my hands, "Well, you already know that my parents and your father were best friends."

"Yeah."

"… around the time they were in college, your father confessed his love to my mother. They went out for a few years and even got engaged."

Ryoma's jaw drops and eyes widen, "Really? Are you serious?"

I nod, "Yeah…but what your father didn't know is that my father had loved my mother ever since high school. My father hadn't said anything because he didn't want to damage their friendship."

"But how did it work out to what it is today?"

"Well, my mother had also developed feelings for my father along the way. She didn't break up with your father because she feared that he would resent her. And she also didn't want to break their friendship. But luckily, your father noticed before it was too late. He ended the engagement and urged that my parents be together. My mother said that his smile was bright and sincere; he didn't show even a hint of hatred. This is why they are such good friends; each of them was willing to jeopardize their own happiness in order to maintain their friendship."

Ryoma's lips forma tiny smile, "…that's amazing, I haven't heard any of this from my father. I only knew that he met my mom a bit after college and fell in love, getting married shortly after that."

I sigh, "All of their relationships are amazing…"

He nods, "I am envious."

"Hmm."

Ryoma looks at me, "Kunimitsu?"

We make eye contact, the gold in his eyes shining brilliantly, "Yes?"

"I need to-" he cuts himself short and shakes his head, "No, nothing."

My eyes linger on his facial expression, a mix between sorrow and indecisiveness. I look down at the rocky floor, "Hnn."

He forces a laugh, "This is awkward."

"Not really, just quiet."

His hand slips into mine, "I wonder how much longer our parents are going to take."

"Weren't you going out to eat with your parents?"

"Yeah and I'm hungry…"

I let go of his hand and stand up. "Wait here, I'll ask my parents to invite you and your parents to dinner. I am sure you all will love my mother's cooking."

Ryoma nods, a bit distracted by his thoughts, "Sure, I'll wait here."

I follow the garden path back to the house and walk towards the living room. The living room light drips into the dark hallway. I can hear Ryoma's mother speaking.

I catch a few words, "There were a few girls I was considering for Ryoma."

I take a few steps back and lean against the wall, intently listening to the conversation. I hear a glass being placed on the coffee table, "But recently I finally decided on the girl who would benefit us the most if she were to get married to Ryoma."