"They look beutiful together."
"That's Mr. Fujima's daughter... who's the boy?"
"Rakeru got a handsome boyfriend."
Kaede was away from Japan for fourteen years but he could still comprehend the language he grew up with. The murmurs from other guests who were obviously speaking about the redheaded young man and the little brunette girl dancing together, was suffocating him.
"Sometimes you realize their importance... when they're gone."
Kaede glanced at his former mentor. Coach Anzai may be weak from old age and from his latest heart attack, but the man's wisdom had never vanished. In a stroke of the clock's hand, Kaede trotted across the tables towards the dancing figures in the dancefloor.
"We meet again, Rukawa Kaede."
Kaede stopped on his heels and met cobalt blue eyes that were becoming a midnight blue with seriousness.
Sendoh. He didn't want to utter the name he loathed so much in this world. The name of the greatest rival he ever had in this life. Sendoh Akira... the Ace player of the Ryonan High Basketball Team... the man he swore to beat in front of Sakuragi's eyes... but he failed.
There was a moment of silence... chilled sapphire blue eyes stared with the raging midnight ones. It was a moment that could build tongues of fire in a second with the high degree of intensified rage that crossed the barriers of time.
Akira had never fallen in love with his same gender... except for the self-proclaimed genius and naturally-talented Sakuragi Hanamichi... and the exemption made him love that boy even more. However, learning about Hanamichi's relationship with the coldblooded Rukawa Kaede discouraged him. He resisted all the crave and love he was having for Hanamichi in the belief that the latter had found his paraiso in the arms of another man.
"I guess fourteen years is not that long." Akira said, aggressively.
"Get off my way."
"Not until I win the case."
Kaede lowered his gaze on the spiky-haired man... sensing a hidden warning inside that sentence.
"I'm filing a case to the court." Akira glared at the eternal nemesis of his life and pointed at him. "I'm taking the legality of your adoption to Hanamichi's son."
A hard invisible wall slumped on Kaede's entire face. He was frozen for a while and the treathening words echoed around him over and over. I'm taking the legality of your adoption to Hanamichi's son. I'm taking the legality of your adoption to Hanamichi's son.
"That's impossible." Kaede murmured without losing his confidence of being the victor now and forever.
"I have evidences... witnesses and even Hana-chan himself to testify about the way you raised him... the child do not deserve YOUR selfish treatment."
"I'm not like you." Kaede didn't withdraw his stare at his greatest archenemy. "I don't give up without a fight."
Those words affected Akira's composure. Kaede was definitely talking about the past... when Akira didn't pursue his feelings for Hanamichi once he learned about the boy's relationship with Kaede. Instead, Akira just accepted the truth and surrendered the only person he ever loved so much in this world.
"We'll see..." Akira smiled mischievously... his facial expression bloomed a certainty of being the victor this time. "People learn their lessons, Rukawa Kaede."
Kaede prevented himself from jabbing the thick face he longed to vanish endlessly. He crossed the man's figure while bumping at his shoulder robustly and proceeded to his real destination and objective.
The famous sportsman went towards the dance floor and appeared beside the two figures who were dancing romantically with the sentimental tune. The scene astounded the crowd but Kaede was too occupied to get Hana-chan out of the place... that the strong gazes of the guests didn't bother him.
"We're leaving."
Hana-chan saw the sapphire blue eyes like a lion king that he had no right to disobey.
"Where we going?"
"Home."
Kaede suddenly left and Hana-chan looked at his retreating back with confusion tracing his mind. Home? His house was located in America... almost twenty-four hours away from Kanagawa, Japan?
Suddenly, Hana-chan realized the various eyes stuck at their scene. It's not merely the chismozas that brought him to shame but the presence of Rakeru... to whom he was building a good impression with. Simultaneously, he was apparently wondering about the absurdity of his foster father's behavior. Rukawa Kaede was cool... too cool that he couldn't get warm.
Hana-chan found it the right moment to confront everything. Even if Rukawa Kaede was the most unfriendly person he ever met in this life... there's no reason for him to ignore it. He is his father and he wanted to do something to melt the frozen heart lying beneath his muscled chest.
The redheaded young man walked in Kaede's shadow until the hotel lobby. He longed to engage in a deep conversation with his foster father but the man walked very fast and they rode in a different vehicle. Hana-chan asked the chaffeur of the automobile that fetched him in the hotel to drive the car faster so he could catch the quick Rukawa Kaede.
When Hana-chan reached the hotel where Kaede and he was stationed at, he immediately sprinted inside... ignoring the warm greetings from the hotel employees.
Finally, he saw the raven-haired sportsman entering the elevator. Hana-chan walked as fast as he could and he was fortunate enough to get inside the elevator where Kaede was... before it closed.
Hana-chan panted and gasped for air as the silence dominated the elevator's interior. It was only the two of them inside and the stilled sound of the entire place was clogging Hana-chan's ear. The young man glanced at his foster father and noticed that Kaede didn't even care if he was there or not.
"Dad..." Hana-chan murmured and Kaede gazed at him like nothing happened in the party only minutes ago. "Why did you want me to go home?"
The elevator's door suddenly opened and Kaede made an exit without hovering for the young man he was with. However, giving up was never present in Hana-chan's vocabulary. He followed his foster father in the fifth floor and he was surpised to know that Kaede was sojourned at Room 511... while he was at Room 510.
"I didn't know I'm staying just in front of your room."
Kaede inserted a plastic card in a certain part of the door's side and it opened automatically. Hana-chan entered the room and Kaede seemed not affected by the move.
"Dad... there are so many questions in my mind that I want answered... yet I can't... I think you can help me." Hana-chan insisted as he went closer to Kaede inside the hotel room. Bewilderment surrounded his body and his voice.
In a second that was too fast to procure... in the middle of the silent night... Kaede turned at his back and met Hana-chan with a very soft kiss of the century.
Hana-chan was more than shocked. The smooth lips that touched his was flabbergasting yet... the friction was comfortable... like he was hugging a pillow.
Kaede moved his lower lip to taste more of the young lips that belonged to Hana-chan... the son of his past boyfriend who died fourteen years ago. He closed his eyes... shutting his whole world from the reality... neglecting all the morality that society had labeled. His primary concern was the soft lips that was pinned on his... the free spirit he never had experienced for so long.