If it wasn't for you.

Chapter Two: Living happily

Sakuragi slowly opened his eyes and glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was 6 o'clock already. He yawned and got up to wash up himself. When he was done, he walked quietly so as not to wake up Rukawa but the guy was known to be such a sleepy head, it would be impossible to wake him up unless you shout really loud. He strode out of the house to the rising sun.

--~-- "Master." A happy and cheery voice said. "I see you are a little bit cheery compared to your usual moody self. Did something happen?"

"Iie." /It's probably that do'aho making me annoyed all the time and Shiori thinks I'm cheery./ He snorted. /Yeah, right. Cheery? No way..by the way..where did that do'aho go? When I woke up, he wasn't even anywhere./

Shiori smiled. "You can deny if you want, master, but I know you better than yourself. I can tell whether you are or you aren't cheery compared to the dull you." She took off the shirt she was ironing from the iron board and went in Rukawa's room. "Hora. I finished ironing it."

"You don't have to do it, Shiori."

"Master, how many times have I told you? I have been working for your family for such a long time and even though I'm to work for those despicable couple, my heart still belongs to your family and not them."

"And, how many times have I told you not to call me master?"

"Datte, master-" She was cut short by a glare from Rukawa. She smiled sheepishly. "Hai, hai, Rukawa-san." Then she looked out through the window and saw a certain redhead passing by the fence of the house and was heading towards the walk to the house. "Here comes your friendly friend."

He looked at where she was looking and then said. "Aichi ore wa tomodachi janai." He looked at the clock on his bedside table then declared. "I need to change, Shiori." He opened the door wide, indicating that she had to go out of his room.

She chuckled. "Rukawa-san, I bathe you when you were young. What's there so shy about?"

Rukawa started to blush a little which was so unlikely of him then he regained his composure and glared at her threateningly. "Shiori."

"Myokaisu, Rukawa-san." She shook her head in amusement with a smile on her face. As soon as she was out of the room, he locked the door. She chortled and called to her master. "Rukawa-san, I'll be going now in case those two wake up by now already." She walked out of the house and met up with Sakuragi. She smiled politely at him. "Anata wa master..ettou, anata wa Rukawa-san tomodachi deska?"

/Are? Kitsune tomodachi?/ He shook his head vigorously. "Iya, chigau desu. You got it wrong. I'm just a teammate of his from the basketball team who is forced to take care of him while he's sick." He emphasized the word 'forced'.

"Souka.well, I gotta get going now. Mattane." She walked away then she glanced back, suddenly remembering something. "Sakuragi-san, arigatoo."

Puzzled, Sakuragi asked. "Eh?" But Shiori had walked away, leaving him standing there with puzzlement. Then shrugging, he walked into the house. He headed towards the kitchen, then opened the refrigerator and started putting the supplies he had bought into the refrigerator. When he was done, he was about to get up and close the door when he heard a voice behind him.

"Oi."

Startled, he accidentally knocked his head on the refrigerator door which was behind his head. "Ittai. " He said, rubbing his head then turned towards Rukawa who was leaning on the frame of the door. "What did you do that for? Suddenly coming here without any sound and then startled me."

"Do'aho. You should have known I was here."

"Teme kitsune, how am I supposed to when I'm so preoccupied with packing the supplies that I bought into the refrigerator?"

"Hn."

Sakuragi glanced at him and then turned away and took a pot. "You better go out now. I need to cook breakfast. I can't cook with a feeling that someone's boring their eyes into me."

"Who's looking at you, do'aho?" With that, he walked away from the kitchen.

When Sakuragi finished cooking his porridge, he spooned the porridge into two bowls and brought them out, putting them on the dining table.

Rukawa saw what was for breakfast and stared at it for a long time. /Doesn't he ever get sick of cooking porridge?/ He looked up at Sakuragi blankly.

Noticing his stare, Sakuragi looked at him and asked. "Nandeste? You're not fully recovered so congee's the best. Atchoo. It's already nice of me to eat congee with you."

"That's because you are sick yourself." Rukawa murmured softly.

Sakuragi sneezed again. "Atchoo. Wonder who's cursing me." He glimpsed at Rukawa who was eating his porridge slowly, he got up and went into the kitchen and brought out a bottle of pepper. "Here. Add this to your porridge; it will make your porridge taste better."

Rukawa glanced at it for a while before adding it to his porridge then he mixed them with his porridge with his spoon. Tasting it, he thought it tasted quite good with the pepper. /That do'aho is not that stupid./ He quickly finished his porridge before Sakuragi and brought his bowl into the kitchen.

After Sakuragi finished eating, he too brought his bowl into the kitchen and saw that Rukawa was about to wash his bowl then he took the bowl and sponge away from Rukawa's hands. "I'll wash, kitsune. You better go and take a little rest before you collapse."

Rukawa was looking at him then Sakuragi spoke again. "I'm not doing this for you. I just don't want you to get worse and then I need to spend more time, taking care of you again."

"There's no need for you to help me. I'm not paralyzed, I can wash it myself." Trying to get the bowl and sponge away from Sakuragi's hands but Sakuragi was holding on it too tightly. Luckily, the bowl was plastic if it was made of glass or some other fragile material, the bowl would probably have broken by now.

"You better go out before I headbutt you, kitsune."

Rukawa looked at Sakuragi for a while then without another word, he walked out, leaving Sakuragi all alone with the dishes to wash.

Finished washing all the dishes, Sakuragi came out of the kitchen and saw that Rukawa was holding his basketball. "Wanna go for pratice, huh?"

Rukawa looked at him then nodded slightly.

"Well, then let's go." He walked out of the house, leading the way towards the basketball court. Reaching their destination, Sakuragi walked into the court framed with the fence of wires around. "Koi. Let's have a match, kitsune."

He lifted his hands in the air in defeat. "Yare yare." The ball in his hands were then swiftly stolen away by Sakuragi and then the challenge were seen in his eyes. He ran after Sakuragi and blocked him tightly while Sakuragi was trying so hard to aim and shoot.

He acted so fast that Sakuragi didn't even get to see what happened but the ball was certainly gone from his hands then he looked up and saw that Rukawa had made a dunk.

"Ah, teme kitsune, you cheated."

"I didn't, do'aho."

"Hmf. I don't believe you." Then the look of seriousness came back to him. "I challenged you this match and I will beat you."

A silent melody of anticipation played in the background which was then interrupted by a cute feminine voice. "Oniichan."

Both of them fell to the ground with sweatdrops on their heads.

Sakuragi growled. "Dare ka? Baka yarou. How dare you interrupt?"

For a while there was silence then it was broken with a bawl.

"Ahh, you are so scary and strict." She sniffed.

Both of them glanced at the girl and then recalled that it was the girl that they saw in the court yesterday. Rukawa walked over to her and tried to stop her crying.

"Gomen. We didn't mean to scare you."

Sakuragi rubbed his head. "Ah, yeah." He smiled sheepishly. "Gomen nasai."

The girl glanced up at Rukawa. "We? It was him who scared me." She pointed towards Sakuragi who pointed to himself dumbly.

"Ore ka?"

"Hai." She nodded then she turned her attention back towards Rukawa. "Oniichan." She leaped into his arms and hugged her hands around his neck. "You are the kind oniichan who gave me back the ball."

Rukawa smiled and patted her back. "Hai." When she let go, he remembered that she had a brother and so he asked. "Doko e omae wa oniichan?"

"Oniichan? Koko ni." She smiled at him.

Rukawa sweatdropped. "Not me. Your own real brother who played basketball yesterday."

"Oh." Then she broke into tears again. "Oniichan..oniichan shinda.."

Rukawa's eyes widened at the news. "Eh? Gomen nasai." He wiped her tears away and smiled at her. "Wanna tell me about it?"

She nodded. Rukawa carried her in his arms and brought her to the bench.

Surprised at the scene, Sakuragi stood there, frozen.

Rukawa then glanced back at him and asked. "Are you coming or not, do'aho?"

Back to reality, Sakuragi followed them.

As soon as she was seated on Rukawa's lap, she sniffed and told the whole story. "Oniichan has leukemia..there was no suitable donor around or better to say, there wasn't anybody who was willing to try the test to see if their bone marrow suits because they are afraid to do the operation. Even though it was clear that oniichan would not be cured, he still lived confidently, comforting and consoling me so I wouldn't be sad. So, I smiled, not wanting oniichan to feel bad but deep down, I was so sad. I couldn't tell anyone, not even okaasan, she's already so sad herself. It was so painful just keeping all them inside me without anyone to talk to." She cried harder. "Oniichan!! I would have donated my bone marrow but it wasn't suitable. It's all my fault. If only oniichan is still alive, I rather be the one who's suffering from leukemia and not him. Oniichan!!!"

She got up and hugged Rukawa again, with her arms around his neck. "Okaasan's always crying softly in her room so I couldn't hear her because she doesn't want me to be sad. She doesn't wanna lose me, knowing that I would be her only child when oniichan dies. But I really just wanna die, now that oniichan's no longer here. Oniichan was my closest friend in the world..he died before achieving his dream..he wanted to be the best basketball player in Japan. Eghekhehe." She bawled.

Rukawa patted her on the back. "I understand how you feel. Losing someone so close to you, it's really painful." He glanced up at the bright sky then looked back at the girl. "But, you still have your mother. For your brother, why don't you live happily for him and develop a close relationship with your mother then?"

Her eyes widened at his words then pulled back, looking up at him. "Oniichan."

"Your brother wouldn't have wished you were the one who's suffering from leukemia. He wants you to be safe and sound, living happily with your mother. He wasn't able to accomplish his dream but he wants you to accomplish his dream by being happy everyday and accomplish your own dream. Not wanting to lose you or your mother, he rather be the one who has to die." He smiled at her. "Even though he's not in this world anymore, he'll still remain in everyone's hearts, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Hai." She leaped back into his arms. "Arigatoo."

In a near distance, they heard a woman's voice calling out. "Yukino, doko e omae wa? Yukino!"

The girl heard the voice and got up from Rukawa's arms and headed towards the voice. Then founding the owner of the voice, she leaped into the woman's arms when the woman saw her and opened her arms.

"Yukino. I thought I lost you. Please don't leave me again. I already lost Kashi, I don't want to lose you too." The mother broke into tears.

"I won't, okasan. I promise you. Gomen." She got down from her mother's arms and looked back at Rukawa. "Oniichan." Her mother's eyes widened at the word then she too turned back and knew that Rukawa must be the one who had been with her daughter when she was gone, she smiled politely and bowed at him.

Rukawa bowed back.

"Oniichan, omae namae wa?"

"Ore wa Rukawa Kaede."

"Watashi Yukino. Can I call you Kaede, oniichan?"

"Of course." Rukawa smiled at her.

"Arigatoo, Kaede nichan." She walked away with her mother holding onto her hand and waving with her another free hand at Rukawa.

Rukawa waved back. Sakuragi who was left ignored the whole time, smiled at how close Rukawa and the little girl can get.

They then headed back towards Rukawa's house. They were almost at Rukawa's house when Sakuragi suddenly remembered. "Oh, I forgot. I need to go back to my house. You go back yourself, ok?" Without waiting for a response, he ran in the opposite way.

Looking at Sakuragi's back, he too followed him, not knowing why but he just felt like following Sakuragi.

They finally reached Sakuragi's house.

Rukawa spoke. "Your house is so far away."

"Kitsune, I didn't ask you to follow me, you are the one who wanted to follow me, it's your own fault."

"Yare yare."

When they went in the house, they saw that everything was a mess. It was like there was somebody who came and ransacked the whole place.

"What is this? It wasn't like this when I left the house that day. There must be someone who had been here."

Rukawa looking at the condition of the house reminded him of that certain day when he came back home to the same condition like it was now in Sakuragi's home.

"It's not Yohei and they all. They don't even have my keys to get in here but even if they used something to open the door and gate, they won't even make the whole place a mess. What's going on here? Kuso. Whoever did this, you are gonna get it from me when I found out who you are."

Outside of the house, a car parked in front of the gate of Sakuragi's house, the window rolled down, revealing a woman inside. The woman smiled. "This is just the beginning, Sakuragi-san." Turning her head away, she asked the driver to drive away. The window was then rolled up.

The car drove away, leaving the place in mysteriousness.

Back inside the house, Rukawa asked. "So, now what?"

"Clean the place, of course, kitsune." He started taking stuff and placed them in their original place.

Rukawa too helped him, putting away his basketball. He started arranging the magazines and papers on the coffee table then he passed by the television which had a photo frame on top of it. He turned his head and looked at the photo frame which was lying on top of the television with the glass frame broken into pieces. Taking it, he walked to Sakuragi and showed it to him.

"Oi do'aho, this frame has broken into pieces."

Sakuragi turned towards him and his eyes widened when he saw the picture. He took it roughly and glanced at the picture of the young him with his father. "Otousan." A few drops of tears fell onto the picture, wetting the picture.

Rukawa who was used to see the annoying and cheery side of Sakuragi was surprised to see him in tears.

Whatever happens we should try to smile and think positively as we are humans and can't understand the meaning of life. Life is always leaving us unexpected...

Author's note: Yo minna-san ^^ Sorry for not updating so long. Been busy with my life and schoolwork. I planned to stop my hiatus when I received 2 recent reviews ^^ you know who you are. Thanks. I really appreciate everyone's reviews. They really mean a lot to me and I will try to update as soon as possible, ok? For now, sorry if there are any grammar mistakes and um..this chapter is supposed to be chapter two and the previous one chapter one and the previous previous one prologue. Do any of you know how I can change the text in my previous chapter which said 'Chapter Two: Opening Up"? But, I guess if I want to change I have to upload my document again to replace is it? But does replacing a document means I lose the reviews for the chapter that I replaced? I sure don't wanna lose all of your nice reviews ^_^ but we'll see. Minna-san, genki dashitte especially with the SARS going around.

Matane.