Take it Back 3
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Shinobu tried to run when he saw his family
there, stooped over his ailing father. He tried to turn
and hide in the darkest corner possible.
There were too many similarities. First of all,
his mother had bought the kimono she was now wearing
only the day before he had arrived in town. He
remembered that, because his father had told them all
that it was an early anniversary gift, so she would have
something for it when he was gone.
Second, it was one of the only times he had ever
seen that portrait of Akira. His father usually had it
hidden away in a photo album, to protect it and to keep
his mother from being upset by it. It was not plausible
that they should take it out any day, nor would they
have left it there the entire time. He distinctly
remembered that after he came back, it had gone back
into the album, and he hadn't seen it since.
Third of all, Nagisa NEVER came home. This had
been the singular time since she had been seventeen
herself that she ever visited. After their father's
death, she had disappeared into the sunset. Even her
seemed stalking of him had stopped.
He stepped back, but as he did, Mitsuru put his
foot between Shinobu's and wedged the door open.
Shinobu's startled, frustrated cry held a tinge of
despair in it as he realized what Mitsuru had done.
'You've drawn up our estrangement papers, and signed
them!' he thought to the boy, who cocked his head in
confusion and guestured into the door.
Slowly, he pushed open the door. The family was
giving him the same look Mitsuru had and he squashed the
self-conscious blush that was beginning to creep into
his cheeks. "O-genki desu, " he greeted informally,
forcing a smile onto his face. It wouldn't happen
again. It couldn't happen again. Fate wasn't that
cruel.
Even his father stopped at the smile on his
face. Mitsuru simply squeezed his hand from behind and
whispered, "See? I told you it would go alright!"
His fake smile dissolved away into a real one,
and he moved to his father's bedside. "How are you?"
"I have enough time for you to brief me in your
life! It's not like, " the man coughed, " . . . I'm
going to roll over and die in the next ten minutes!"
"Yes, Shinobu! Tell us how things have been
going at school! Tell us how things have been going for
you!" his mother chirped. He nervously clasped his
hands.
"Why don't we wait and talk about that later?
Father, you seem rather tired. If you're right, I'll
see you in the morning, and we can talk about that
then, " Shinobu dodged the question.
"All right. I do have to finish dinner, and
Father hasn't had much sleep since Nagisa came in. Why
don't you take your friend to your room and get him
settled in, and then you can give him a tour around the
house?" his mother smiled, taking Nagisa's hand.
"Nagisa and I are going to make something special, just
for you, Shinobu!"
"Are you sure you want to trust Nagisa with my
life?" Shinobu asked almost cynically, but his tone and
face were light.
"Yeah! She might poison him or something!"
Mitsuru redoubled, not joking. Nagisa shot them both
looks to kill, and they burst into quiet laughter.
Shinobu gently guided Mitsuru to his door, where
they slipped on their shoes and headed into the
courtyard. When they got to the koi pond, Shinobu knelt
next to it. Mitsuru joined him, rubbing his arm gently.
"What was that back there? I've never known you to get
spooked like that. You've always done what you set out
to do!"
" 'Tsuru, that's how it was in the dream!
That's what happened! Everything, down to the picture
frame being on the right side of the bed and Nagisa on
the left!" Shinobu frantically told him.
"Come on, Shinobu! It was a dream! It's NOT
going to come true!" Mitsuru said almost sharply.
"But I don't want it to!" the silver-haired boy
half-whined, tears of frustration building in his eyes.
"And I'm . . . scared . . . that it will."
"Shinobu, it's not going to come true, "
Mitsuru softly comforted him. "Look-look at me, " he
lifted the other's chin with two fingers, "I promise
that it will not happen. I PROMISE."
"But you can't control it!" Shinobu snapped.
A quiet cough sounded from behind them. Nagisa
stood over them, an apron over her suit and her hair
tied back in a kerchief. "Dinner's ready, " she told
them, then spun on her heel and went inside.
"How long do you think she was standing there?"
Mitsuru breathed.
Dinner went remarkably well, with no fighting
between Nagisa and Shinobu. In fact, it was almost
eerie the way she didn't even attempt to start anything.
All she did was cast strange glances at the two of them.
After dinner, Shinobu and Mitsuru took a walk
around the courtyard with Nagisa. Shinobu's mother
looked on from the porch, and The four of them exchanged
cheerful, meaningless banter until nightfall, and then
went to bed.
The next morning, Shinobu woke earlier than
Mitsuru. He sat up, watching his lover sleep with a
slightly bittersweet taste. A knife turned in the pit
of his stomach. He let his eyes flicker over the softer
look of Mitsuru's golden hair in the early morning
sunlight. He could practically see his laughing violet
eyes.
He thought of how lonely he was going to be when
it happened. He distinctly remembered the pain of the
first night. It was all something he didn't want to
relive.
The beautiful boy rolled over, exposing his face
to the muted light shining through the paper screens of
Shinobu's door and smiling. He finally sat up, looking
over his shoulder at his lover. "What time is it?" he
asked sleepily.
"About eight, " Shinobu replied.
"And what time did you get up?" Mitsuru's brow
creased.
"Around six fourty-five, " the silver-haired
boy admitted that he'd been watching him for the past
hour. Mitsuru laughed at the slightly guilty look on
his face. "Come on, and let's get dressed. I think
it's time for breakfast."
They took their time while dressing, each
watching the other and catching him watching. Mitsuru
winked at Shinobu, and once even proceeded to take it
off again, but the delicious smells wafting in from the
kitchen warded them into other directions. They raced
each other to the kitchen and promptly began to torture
Nagisa.
Shinobu distinctly remembered how fun this had
been. In an attempt to please their mother, Nagisa had
made breakfast. The horribly burned food was nothing
in light of the sparkle in Mitsuru's eyes as they got
the better of her again, and the two of them had dragged
the joke out all day, until his father had made them
stop.
After breakfast, they cleaned the kitchen and
went outside again. "You sure seem to spend a lot of
time outside, ne?" Mitsuru asked as he perched himself
into one of the trees on the property.
Shinobu blinked, then vaulted himself onto the
wall at the edge of the courtyard. "I suppose I do.
There's not really much of an alternative, " he
responded coolly.
"I guess you're right. Your house is kind of
boring, " Mitsuru looked positively juvenile kicking
his legs over the ground. He beamed up at his lover and
their eyes met for an intense moment. "When are we
going to tell them?" he asked softly, his head tilting
down and his golden bangs obscuring his eyes.
"Today, " Shinobu sighed, feeling the ache
start up again. It burned and hurt as he remembered
that this was his last day with Mitsuru. "We'll tell
them today." 'Why does it have to end?' he thought
desperately, tilting his head back to look at the sun.
'Why can't it go on forever?'
"Are . . . are you really worried? I mean like,
scared?" Mitsuru looked up at him, an almost unreadable
expression on his face.
"Yeah, " Shinobu sighed, trying to hold the
moment in his mind. "I've got a really bad feeling
about it."
"And are--" Mitsuru began, only to be
interrupted.
"Father wants you inside now, Shinobu, " Nagisa
said tentatively. "I think it's about finishing the
conversation from yesterday."
The silver haired boy slithered down from the
wall fluidly, then waited for Mitsuru to join him. The
three of them walked in silence, like prisoners to an
execution. That's certainly what Shinobu felt was
happening. When they got to his father's room, his
mother was already seated at her husband's bedside, and
the photograph from the day before, as Shinobu knew, was
put back into the photo album.
Shinobu almost shyly sat at the foot of the bed,
and Mitsuru sat next to him. The tension in the room
was amazing--so delicate, and yet holding all of
Shinobu's worst fears and even his fate.
"So, how are things at school? I can ask that
now and you won't send me to bed, right?" his father
asked. Shinobu shrugged.
"I get good grades. I study a lot. All of my
teachers like me, " he stated simply.
"And what about the girls? Haven't you found a
girlfriend yet?" his mother teased gently. His father
gave her a reprimanding look, but turned an eager eye on
him, awaiting the answer.
"I haven't. I . . . " Shinobu felt his
attention irrevocably drawn to his hands, entwined in
his lap. "I don't think I'm going to."
"Oh, dear, don't be discouraged by a few
failures! Just get out there and you'll find somone to
love!" she chirped, drawing more scornful looks from
her husband.
"N-no, that's not . . . it. I've already . . .
I've already found someone to love, " Shinobu stammered
out. Mitsuru's hand wrapped firmly around his, and he
gathered his courage. "I'm already in love."
"But you said--" his mother's eyes widened in
realization and she covered her mouth with a trembling
hand. "No!"
"Ma'am, " Mitsuru began, holding out a hand as
though fending off her tears.
"Don't you 'Ma'am' me, you . . . you . . . "
her shoulders quaked under the pressure of her sobs. "I
don't want to hear it!"
"How dare you?!" his father demanded. "Shinobu
Tezuka, how dare you dishonor this family with something
so . . . perverted?! How could you do that to your
mother? How? . . . why? . . . I thought we solved this
whole mess with Akira!"
Everyone but Shinobu stopped and stared at him
at this remark. Why would he be surprised? He'd heard
it before. "Tezuka!" his mother said sharply. "You
said you would never say that!"
"What can I help it? Both of my sons are
pansies, " his father sneered. Mitsuru's eyes widened
to near impossible width.
"Now wait a minute!" he demanded, glaring at
Shinobu's father. "Where do you come off thinking you
have the right to--"
"Who are you to tell me how to raise my
children? People who raise their children correctly
don't raise fa--"
"Stop it!" Shinobu's mother cried, interrupting
the arguement.
"She's right. We haven't even heard them
explain themselves, " Nagisa offered. Shinobu threw
her the grateful look he hadn't the first time, in the
"dream." She gave him a half-smile in response.
"Thank you, " he murmured. "I want to say that
I DO love him. Mitsuru is . . . everything to me. More
than everything. I care for him so deeply that I don't
know what I'd do if I lost him, " he turned to Mitsuru,
clasping their hands tightly and looked down. "I love
you . . . so much . . . 'Tsuru . . . " he trailed off.
Mitsuru clutched his hand warmly, even as
Shinobu felt his heart breaking. His parents'
expressions hadn't changed at all, and he knew it would
be coming soon. True to the "dream," it had to.
Sure enough, Shinobu's father sat up in his bed,
his voice as turmultuous and yet cool and calm as the
lull before a storm, and said, "I won't allow this to go
on. I had hoped I would never have to give you this
same ultimatum that I had to give your brother, but I
see that you, like he, have no regard for your family's
honor, nor the respect that we have earned through
generations of hard work! Hear this: you have a
choice--stay here and forget him, or take this boy and
never set foot in our home again."
--------------------------------------------------------
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Shinobu tried to run when he saw his family
there, stooped over his ailing father. He tried to turn
and hide in the darkest corner possible.
There were too many similarities. First of all,
his mother had bought the kimono she was now wearing
only the day before he had arrived in town. He
remembered that, because his father had told them all
that it was an early anniversary gift, so she would have
something for it when he was gone.
Second, it was one of the only times he had ever
seen that portrait of Akira. His father usually had it
hidden away in a photo album, to protect it and to keep
his mother from being upset by it. It was not plausible
that they should take it out any day, nor would they
have left it there the entire time. He distinctly
remembered that after he came back, it had gone back
into the album, and he hadn't seen it since.
Third of all, Nagisa NEVER came home. This had
been the singular time since she had been seventeen
herself that she ever visited. After their father's
death, she had disappeared into the sunset. Even her
seemed stalking of him had stopped.
He stepped back, but as he did, Mitsuru put his
foot between Shinobu's and wedged the door open.
Shinobu's startled, frustrated cry held a tinge of
despair in it as he realized what Mitsuru had done.
'You've drawn up our estrangement papers, and signed
them!' he thought to the boy, who cocked his head in
confusion and guestured into the door.
Slowly, he pushed open the door. The family was
giving him the same look Mitsuru had and he squashed the
self-conscious blush that was beginning to creep into
his cheeks. "O-genki desu, " he greeted informally,
forcing a smile onto his face. It wouldn't happen
again. It couldn't happen again. Fate wasn't that
cruel.
Even his father stopped at the smile on his
face. Mitsuru simply squeezed his hand from behind and
whispered, "See? I told you it would go alright!"
His fake smile dissolved away into a real one,
and he moved to his father's bedside. "How are you?"
"I have enough time for you to brief me in your
life! It's not like, " the man coughed, " . . . I'm
going to roll over and die in the next ten minutes!"
"Yes, Shinobu! Tell us how things have been
going at school! Tell us how things have been going for
you!" his mother chirped. He nervously clasped his
hands.
"Why don't we wait and talk about that later?
Father, you seem rather tired. If you're right, I'll
see you in the morning, and we can talk about that
then, " Shinobu dodged the question.
"All right. I do have to finish dinner, and
Father hasn't had much sleep since Nagisa came in. Why
don't you take your friend to your room and get him
settled in, and then you can give him a tour around the
house?" his mother smiled, taking Nagisa's hand.
"Nagisa and I are going to make something special, just
for you, Shinobu!"
"Are you sure you want to trust Nagisa with my
life?" Shinobu asked almost cynically, but his tone and
face were light.
"Yeah! She might poison him or something!"
Mitsuru redoubled, not joking. Nagisa shot them both
looks to kill, and they burst into quiet laughter.
Shinobu gently guided Mitsuru to his door, where
they slipped on their shoes and headed into the
courtyard. When they got to the koi pond, Shinobu knelt
next to it. Mitsuru joined him, rubbing his arm gently.
"What was that back there? I've never known you to get
spooked like that. You've always done what you set out
to do!"
" 'Tsuru, that's how it was in the dream!
That's what happened! Everything, down to the picture
frame being on the right side of the bed and Nagisa on
the left!" Shinobu frantically told him.
"Come on, Shinobu! It was a dream! It's NOT
going to come true!" Mitsuru said almost sharply.
"But I don't want it to!" the silver-haired boy
half-whined, tears of frustration building in his eyes.
"And I'm . . . scared . . . that it will."
"Shinobu, it's not going to come true, "
Mitsuru softly comforted him. "Look-look at me, " he
lifted the other's chin with two fingers, "I promise
that it will not happen. I PROMISE."
"But you can't control it!" Shinobu snapped.
A quiet cough sounded from behind them. Nagisa
stood over them, an apron over her suit and her hair
tied back in a kerchief. "Dinner's ready, " she told
them, then spun on her heel and went inside.
"How long do you think she was standing there?"
Mitsuru breathed.
Dinner went remarkably well, with no fighting
between Nagisa and Shinobu. In fact, it was almost
eerie the way she didn't even attempt to start anything.
All she did was cast strange glances at the two of them.
After dinner, Shinobu and Mitsuru took a walk
around the courtyard with Nagisa. Shinobu's mother
looked on from the porch, and The four of them exchanged
cheerful, meaningless banter until nightfall, and then
went to bed.
The next morning, Shinobu woke earlier than
Mitsuru. He sat up, watching his lover sleep with a
slightly bittersweet taste. A knife turned in the pit
of his stomach. He let his eyes flicker over the softer
look of Mitsuru's golden hair in the early morning
sunlight. He could practically see his laughing violet
eyes.
He thought of how lonely he was going to be when
it happened. He distinctly remembered the pain of the
first night. It was all something he didn't want to
relive.
The beautiful boy rolled over, exposing his face
to the muted light shining through the paper screens of
Shinobu's door and smiling. He finally sat up, looking
over his shoulder at his lover. "What time is it?" he
asked sleepily.
"About eight, " Shinobu replied.
"And what time did you get up?" Mitsuru's brow
creased.
"Around six fourty-five, " the silver-haired
boy admitted that he'd been watching him for the past
hour. Mitsuru laughed at the slightly guilty look on
his face. "Come on, and let's get dressed. I think
it's time for breakfast."
They took their time while dressing, each
watching the other and catching him watching. Mitsuru
winked at Shinobu, and once even proceeded to take it
off again, but the delicious smells wafting in from the
kitchen warded them into other directions. They raced
each other to the kitchen and promptly began to torture
Nagisa.
Shinobu distinctly remembered how fun this had
been. In an attempt to please their mother, Nagisa had
made breakfast. The horribly burned food was nothing
in light of the sparkle in Mitsuru's eyes as they got
the better of her again, and the two of them had dragged
the joke out all day, until his father had made them
stop.
After breakfast, they cleaned the kitchen and
went outside again. "You sure seem to spend a lot of
time outside, ne?" Mitsuru asked as he perched himself
into one of the trees on the property.
Shinobu blinked, then vaulted himself onto the
wall at the edge of the courtyard. "I suppose I do.
There's not really much of an alternative, " he
responded coolly.
"I guess you're right. Your house is kind of
boring, " Mitsuru looked positively juvenile kicking
his legs over the ground. He beamed up at his lover and
their eyes met for an intense moment. "When are we
going to tell them?" he asked softly, his head tilting
down and his golden bangs obscuring his eyes.
"Today, " Shinobu sighed, feeling the ache
start up again. It burned and hurt as he remembered
that this was his last day with Mitsuru. "We'll tell
them today." 'Why does it have to end?' he thought
desperately, tilting his head back to look at the sun.
'Why can't it go on forever?'
"Are . . . are you really worried? I mean like,
scared?" Mitsuru looked up at him, an almost unreadable
expression on his face.
"Yeah, " Shinobu sighed, trying to hold the
moment in his mind. "I've got a really bad feeling
about it."
"And are--" Mitsuru began, only to be
interrupted.
"Father wants you inside now, Shinobu, " Nagisa
said tentatively. "I think it's about finishing the
conversation from yesterday."
The silver haired boy slithered down from the
wall fluidly, then waited for Mitsuru to join him. The
three of them walked in silence, like prisoners to an
execution. That's certainly what Shinobu felt was
happening. When they got to his father's room, his
mother was already seated at her husband's bedside, and
the photograph from the day before, as Shinobu knew, was
put back into the photo album.
Shinobu almost shyly sat at the foot of the bed,
and Mitsuru sat next to him. The tension in the room
was amazing--so delicate, and yet holding all of
Shinobu's worst fears and even his fate.
"So, how are things at school? I can ask that
now and you won't send me to bed, right?" his father
asked. Shinobu shrugged.
"I get good grades. I study a lot. All of my
teachers like me, " he stated simply.
"And what about the girls? Haven't you found a
girlfriend yet?" his mother teased gently. His father
gave her a reprimanding look, but turned an eager eye on
him, awaiting the answer.
"I haven't. I . . . " Shinobu felt his
attention irrevocably drawn to his hands, entwined in
his lap. "I don't think I'm going to."
"Oh, dear, don't be discouraged by a few
failures! Just get out there and you'll find somone to
love!" she chirped, drawing more scornful looks from
her husband.
"N-no, that's not . . . it. I've already . . .
I've already found someone to love, " Shinobu stammered
out. Mitsuru's hand wrapped firmly around his, and he
gathered his courage. "I'm already in love."
"But you said--" his mother's eyes widened in
realization and she covered her mouth with a trembling
hand. "No!"
"Ma'am, " Mitsuru began, holding out a hand as
though fending off her tears.
"Don't you 'Ma'am' me, you . . . you . . . "
her shoulders quaked under the pressure of her sobs. "I
don't want to hear it!"
"How dare you?!" his father demanded. "Shinobu
Tezuka, how dare you dishonor this family with something
so . . . perverted?! How could you do that to your
mother? How? . . . why? . . . I thought we solved this
whole mess with Akira!"
Everyone but Shinobu stopped and stared at him
at this remark. Why would he be surprised? He'd heard
it before. "Tezuka!" his mother said sharply. "You
said you would never say that!"
"What can I help it? Both of my sons are
pansies, " his father sneered. Mitsuru's eyes widened
to near impossible width.
"Now wait a minute!" he demanded, glaring at
Shinobu's father. "Where do you come off thinking you
have the right to--"
"Who are you to tell me how to raise my
children? People who raise their children correctly
don't raise fa--"
"Stop it!" Shinobu's mother cried, interrupting
the arguement.
"She's right. We haven't even heard them
explain themselves, " Nagisa offered. Shinobu threw
her the grateful look he hadn't the first time, in the
"dream." She gave him a half-smile in response.
"Thank you, " he murmured. "I want to say that
I DO love him. Mitsuru is . . . everything to me. More
than everything. I care for him so deeply that I don't
know what I'd do if I lost him, " he turned to Mitsuru,
clasping their hands tightly and looked down. "I love
you . . . so much . . . 'Tsuru . . . " he trailed off.
Mitsuru clutched his hand warmly, even as
Shinobu felt his heart breaking. His parents'
expressions hadn't changed at all, and he knew it would
be coming soon. True to the "dream," it had to.
Sure enough, Shinobu's father sat up in his bed,
his voice as turmultuous and yet cool and calm as the
lull before a storm, and said, "I won't allow this to go
on. I had hoped I would never have to give you this
same ultimatum that I had to give your brother, but I
see that you, like he, have no regard for your family's
honor, nor the respect that we have earned through
generations of hard work! Hear this: you have a
choice--stay here and forget him, or take this boy and
never set foot in our home again."
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