A/N: Is one lemon made my story 'M'? I changed the rating to be safe but if you guys think that I don't need to, then please tell me and I will change it back to 'T'.
A big thanks to all of you: : babocha1314, XionNight, Straberry idol, yuki0123, Under A Cloud, chrlnntv, yaoilovekassy, VeryCoolPerson, Guest, Animewuver4ever, LuckieStarz, Helloimlxs, AcceleratorCupcake, Kamaria Jay, RockPrincess410, Angel That Cant Fly, sleepypuppy, Echizen Dyoma, kirihara, pinkus-pyon, chivini, pokemondemon369, allthingsamzing, asakociel, AnImEbLuEpRiNcEsS13.
This will going to be a short chapter, I guess. It is already late and I want to read manga. *Laughed out loud.
Disclaimer: Prince of tennis and its characters are not mine.
"Sorry for intruding, Atobe-san," Hotaru said shyly to Daisuke. Her head bowed down and cannot meet his eyes.
The older man chuckled and motioned for her to sit down, "It's okay. It's okay. We don't get visitor this early in the morning, so you are most welcome."
Her blushed spread wider, "I...I am so sorry."
"Oh, come on," Atobe said, annoyed. Hotaru threw him a dark look before looking down at her food. This does not pass in Daisuke's eyes and he chuckled more inwardly. They eat their breakfast, composed of white bread, sunny-side up eggs, and orange juice, silently.
Daisuke thought of something and he asked Hotaru, "Did you call your father yesterday? What if he's looking for you? You know that he always become anxious every time he do if he does not know where you are."
"Ahmm," she glanced at Keigo before turning to Daisuke. "I called him yesterday but he did not answer his phone. I did leave a message."
"Good. Good," Daisuke nodded. He turned to his son, "What about you? How was your game yesterday?"
"Tiring," Keigo answered which was a mistake when he saw his father's teasing smile. He reddened involuntarily but proceed with his food.
"I heard you played with the Tanaka family's second son?" Daisuke continued his ramble without waiting for either of the two to answer. "He was the captain, right? And two of his friends were also regulars. Oda Nobu and Yanagi Yuto... although I know that he might be friends with the other members of his team but these two are close to him somehow."
Hotaru took the initiative to talk to the older Atobe because he opened up the topic about her friends. "Yes. Nobu-kun and Shiro-kun are my friends' brothers. Mafuyu-chan is Nobu-kun's sister, while Reina-chan is Shiro-kun's. We always hang out together that's why I met them."
"Eh? Is that also the reason you hang out with this Haruto?" Keigo's jealousy lace with his voice. He noticed her using both boys' first name, and he hated it.
"Haruto-kun?" his father repeated. "Who's he, Hotaru-chan?"
"Ahmm, he's a friend, Atobe-jisan," she answered. To maneuver the conversation to a safer topic, she said, "And Yuto-kun is Rikkaidai's Yanagi Renji's cousin. You knew him, right, Atobe-kun?"
"Atobe-kun?" Keigo repeated. "How disgusting. Call ore-sama by ore-sama's name."
"That's true," Daisuke agreed. "I don't really care what you call my son in private but if I am with you, please call him by his name or I will make you call me by my name."
Hotaru sat there like a stone before getting the little joke. She chuckled and scratched her head at Keigo's father's silliness. "Okay."
Keigo sighed in relief. "Yes, ore-sama knew Yanagi and play with him before too. That's why ore-sama took notice with this friend of yours, Yuto or something."
"I hate how you say 'ore-sama this', 'ore-sama that'," she told Keigo. "Can you speak normal like you do this past few months?"
"Ore-sama missed calling ore-sama's self oresama," Keigo defended himself.
There was a pregnant pause, then Daisuke and Hotaru laughed out loud. Keigo glared at both of them.
"Okay! Okay!" Keigo threw his hands in the air in resignation. "And I just went back from using it."
"Hotaru-chan," Daisuke said. "About this Hamasaki girl..." There was a tension hanging around them because of the Hamasaki being mentioned. She was practically Keigo's ex, and Hotaru still see her as a threat.
"What about her?" she said bravely.
"Your father said that she was not his daughter but didn't elaborate. I don't have anything to do with this but I just want to know... why did she thought that she was your father's daughter?"
"I told myself I will not going to forgive her," she caught Keigo's blank eyes. "But when I learned what she went through, some of the hate I felt for her dissolved. By telling about her, I need to tell my story too and it may take too long."
"That's okay. Take your time," they went to the patio and sat on the chairs. They all have tea served for them.
She took a deep breath, "My grandfather own a dojo where he taught kendo. His family lived there from the time of his grandfather, my father's great-grandfather. My dad, as an heir, did kendo all his life and he love it. Then my mom came, she was a daughter of the old, traditional Kobayashi family and to protect herself from harm, her parents enrolled her to my grandfather's dojo."
"So they meet there?" Daisuke asked. And he thought his life is drama.
"Yes. My dad started dating Hamasaki's mother at that time. She confessed to my father, which was only a dare for her. Because my mother is kind of slow, she have a special training for an hour with my father. One afternoon, she waited for him until eight at night in the dojo. She called her driver and told him that she would be late because her instructor is not home yet.
"It was the day that my father caught his girlfriend for two months having..uhmm, you know... with another guy, and when he confronted her, she said that it was only a dare between her and her friends. She was cheating from the beginning and she unknowingly had an unprotected, uhmm..." she blushed as she remembered that Keigo and her didn't use any protection at all also. "She got pregnant and she decided to have my dad as the child's father."
"Is the real father the one your dad saw with her?" Daisuke's brows furrowed.
"My father located him through Red-san's network source and they asked the man to have a DNA test with Hamasaki-san. The answer is no. He's not the father. Obviously, there was another man before that guys too.
"So my dad went home drunk and saw my mom waiting for him. He cried his heart out to her and then passed out. When he woke up in the morning, both of them are naked and... all things should have been kept a secret if I wasn't conceived. The Kobayashi family practically forced him to marry my mom and he hated it. I thought he hated me too."
Keigo covered her hand with his. Her tears welled up in her eyes and it clouded her vision, she hiccupped, "I thought they both didn't love me because I am someone who ruined their future. I never feel any warmth from him, he was always cold towards me. But the truth is... he love me all this time but he does not know how to show it. He wanted to protect me by saying no to those things he thought were dangerous for me. And my mom... I found her diary and there, I read how much she love me, how much she love my father. She also wrote there what really happened that night, but it was her secret and I knew I cannot share it to anyone."
"Your father did not know about the diary?" Keigo asked, squeezing her hands.
"I showed it to him and to Ryo. Heck, he even asked me if he can keep it," she smiled at the childish way her father asked her for the diary. " I bet he was reading it over and over. He's a romantic, just stoic sometimes."
"All the times," Daisuke countered and Hotaru laughed.
They finished their tea after that. The birds are chirping in the nearby trees. The smell of spring flowers was being waft by the wind toward them. And the koi fish from the pond made a splashing sound as they jump over the water.
After some time, Hotaru stood and said her thanks and goodbyes to Daisuke. Keigo went with her to the car.
"Tell me if you feel something different, okay?" he kissed her in the mouth, full. "I love you. Take care."
"Same, I love you too," she said. She ride the car and wave one last time at him.
A/N: I told you guys. This is a short chapter! It was only a passing one, to lengthen the story, not that necessary. It was only an explanation for Hamasaki's bioloical parents, nothing else.
What I really want to write is that her mother was basically a hedonist. She seeks pleasure in doing 'it'. I guessed that's the reason she died early. Exhaustion. LOL. I wouldn't say AIDS, that was too much. But the world is very scary, we don't really know if we can avoid diseases. That's why I support sanitary and cleanliness.
I apologize for any mistakes. Please read and review. Fave and follow too.
