title: Heaven -- Prologue - "Ending"
author: Ginnie
genre: Angst? Romance? Drama? Tragedy?... General? I dunno.
rating: could be G... or PG...
notes: Obviously the plot of this is pretty much the same as Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". I just decided to put a SenRu touch on the plot. Pretty much.


How strange it must be, to begin a story with the ending. Yet, this is where this one begins -- at the end of Sendoh Akira's days on earth.

He was a fine man -- handsome, smart, idolized, adored, young and in perfect health... Who would have guessed that his life would come to a tragic, early close? No one, thought the bystanders and the curious and horrified onlookers of a bloody wreck in the middle of Kanagawa.

Close by, ambulance sirens ripped through the unnerving silence. Police taped off the area. News reporters blabbed rapidly infront of cameras, gesturing frantically toward the ruin and pulling shocked witnesses into sight of the televiewing public. Paramedics rushed to haul two battered bodies onto stretchers and into the waiting vehicles. Other people -- ordinary citizens, if you will -- surveyed the mess that the accident had wreaked.

Amidst this chaos were two other stretchers, each carrying bulk covered entirely with a white sheet. Two other victims who lost their lives in the crash.

Yes, this is the ending, but it makes no sense. What happened, you may ask?

This is where our story truly begins...

===========

"Akira, you moron, you're taking too much time. What the hell are you looking for, anyway?" Koshino complained, fuming as he watched his friend rummage in his closet.

Too busy with searching to formulate a concrete answer, Sendoh decided instead to ignore his friend. I know I put them in this drawer... Where the hell did they disappear to? He had something more important to concentrate on, anyway.

No, not there. Nope, not in here either... Where the hell -- "OW!"

He had attempted to straighten up, and subsequently bonked his head hard under one of the open drawers which he oh-so-intelligently forgot to close before leaning over the muddle of brightly colored socks at the bottom of the cabinet.

"That's it, Akira, I'm leaving. We were supposed to meet Hikoichi nearly an hour ago, and thanks to your perpetual untidiness, we are running EXTREMELY late."

A Winnie the Pooh t-shirt suddenly flew in Koshino's direction, and he was hard put to ignore the various pieces of Mickey Mouse underwear and other character clothes being carelessly tossed over Sendoh's shoulder.

"Waitwaitwait, Hiro-kun, just let me find my keys," Sendoh called from somewhere behind the polos and black uniform pants hanging inside.

A chinkling sound made Sendoh look up (and hit his head again on the hanger bar) and turn around. Rubbing furiously at the sore spot on his head which he swore was growing a bump -- "Hell, how am I supposed to comb my hair properly with such a big lump?!" -- he smiled sheepishly at Koshino, from whose finger dangled a ring of keys.

"Where'd you find it?"

Koshino glared. "Idiot. They were right here on your dresser, in plain sight. If you'd told me earlier what you were looking for, we would've saved a LOT of time and gotten out of here so much earlier." Sendoh just kept smiling. "And that doesn't work on me, Sendoh Akira. It may with the women -- though I have no idea in hell why -- but certainly not on me."

"Ok, ok... Now, where's my jacket?" He made as if to turn back and search inside his closet, when Koshino grabbed it from his bed and threw it at him.

"There. Can we go? NOW?!"

----------------------

"Oh, oh, wait a sec..."

Koshino growled in frustration as Sendoh suddenly stopped the car in front of a store displaying exquisite crystal figurines in its window. Aida grunted in the backseat as the seatbelt dug into his torso, having been thrown forward by the unexpected halt. "Oof! Na, Sendoh-senpai, where did you learn to drive? I don't --"

"Shut up, Hikoichi, you're making my headache worse."

Sendoh cheerfully unbuckled his seatbelt and grinned at Koshino. "If you weren't so tense, you wouldn't have a headache in the first place, Hiro-kun," he chirped happily as he climbed out of the car. "Don't lock the doors before I get back!"

Koshino lunged for Sendoh -- but, having forgotten that he had the seatbelt strapped across his chest, was kept against the seatback. "Damn you, perky hedgehog!"

Sendoh smiled yet again -- "One of these days I am going to punch his teeth out. Maybe he won't be so keen to smile then." -- and made his way inside the store.

Koshino pouted and crossed his arms in front of him. "For Kami's sake, he's bouncing! Oh, for crying out loud..."

Sendoh, meanwhile, was examining a shelf full of animal figurines, looking for one in particular. I swear, I saw it here just last week...

"Can I help you, sir?"

Mindful of the two bonks he received in the span of less than ten minutes earlier, Sendoh oh-so-carefully stood properly and turned to face the attendant, who was blushing furiously. "Uh, yeah, actually... Last week there was this little fox figurine over here, and I can't seem to find it..."

"Down here, sir." The attendant crouched down and retrieved a delicate crystal piece from a much lower shelf.

"Hey, thanks..." He ran a hand through his spiked hair and smiled at the attendant -- poor girl, her face probably couldn't get any redder.

The girl stared down at her scuffling feet. "Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?"

"What? Uh, no, this'll be fine, thanks." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a display case full of silver accessories and walked over to it.

Hm... Would he wear this if I gave it to him? "Excuse me, sir? Could I get this one? No, no, not that. The one to the left. No, your other left. Okay, above -- sorry, below that. There, that one."

The attendant handed him a link bracelet -- plain, absolutely no design whatsoever. Yeah, he probably would. Nothing fancy. Hopefully, he'll like this.

Sendoh paid for his purchases and left the store -- much to the disappointment of the counter girls. He climbed into his car and gently settled the wrapped crystal article into the compartment by the gear stick. I don't want this to break before I give it to Kaede... Not like what happened with the others... He winced inwardly as the memory of shattered porcelain figures surfaced in his mind.

"Finally. Now, can we go home?"

"Uh-huh, yeah, sure. Do I drop Hikoichi off first, or would you pref --"

"Just go, Akira. The sooner I get back home, the sooner I can take my aspirin and sleep off this headache."

Aida chuckled. Sendoh put the car into gear and faced the fuming Koshino. "It's not just those dangerous drugs that can be overdone, Hiro-kun. You'd better go easy on those tablets."

Needless to say, Koshino retaliated with a blow to Sendoh's head.

Sendoh merely laughed it off. He couldn't help but feel excited. He hadn't seen Rukawa in four days. Four long days... And Rukawa didn't know that Sendoh intended to head over. He's not really fond of surprises... But I do hope this'll be okay with him, just dropping in for a quick hello... Maybe a kiss or two... Then... He shook his head, wondering why he couldn't think about Rukawa without going there. Gods, I love him.

"Akira, you dolt, keep your focus on driving!" Koshino exclaimed as Sendoh brought the car a little too close to the sidewalk for the nth time. Sendoh swerved a little too quickly leftwards to return the car to the middle of the right lane, and Koshino cursed. Aida merely swayed in the backseat.

----------------------

I wish I could say that the next 30 minutes were uneventful. But if I do that, there'd be no story. And we can't have that -- after all, the story's just begun.

As usual, Sendoh was whistling along with the song on the radio, Aida was blabbering about the song's history, and Koshino was feeling quite pissed at Sendoh and muttering about stupid hedgehogs who couldn't keep their attention on more pressing matters like driving safely.

"Quit playing with that. You're going to drop it. Not like I care, but you probably would. And knowing you, you're bound to start complaining. Then I'd hit you, and you'd complain even more, and we'll never get home."

Sendoh made that no-expression expression he usually wore when he was pretending to be innocent. He was listening to the song and absently fiddling with the bracelet in his right hand... He had to admit that Koshino had a point. But as he moved his hand to shift the car into fifth gear, the bracelet slipped from his fingers.

Mindlessly, he dove down to catch it.

By the time he recovered...

A red Mazda was in front of his car.

Headed right toward them.

Frantically, he slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the right...

The opposing driver had done the same... Tires squealed, both cars skidded... The hood of each met with lampposts on opposite sides of the street. The passengers and drivers jolted forward, heads slamming into the steering wheel and dashboard... The back of the cars whipped around and met... There was a sickening sound of metal kissing metal...

Then came the pain. The immense, blinding, wrenching pain, searing through Sendoh's body. He forced himself to open his eyes and look over at his passengers. Both were unconscious. Koshino's head was leaning against the window, a steady but small trickle of blood running down the glass surface. Aida's cheek and temple bore witness to a collision with the window.

Desperately trying to stay awake, Sendoh attempted to climb out of his car. Dimly, he wondered why he couldn't move his leg, and looked down at it.

"Oh, shit..." The crash into the lamppost had severly damaged the front of the car, and the force had been strong enough to deform the inside and pin Sendoh's leg to the chair. Random pieces of torn plastic and glass from the dashboard and windshield stood out against his skin, drawing blood.

Dizzy... He put his left hand to his head and felt a sticky substance covering his forehead. He didn't need to pull his hand away to know what it was. Fuck. I'm bleeding.

The red liquid dripped down over his eyebrows and over his eyes, blurring his vision. He felt a strong urge to close his eyes, to just sit back and wait for whatever rescue team might pull them out... NO! I have to get Hiro and Hikoichi out of here now. Who knows how long it will take them... Through his red-tinted vision, he managed to catch sight of the opposite driver. He was leaning against the seatback, head tilted to one side at an uncomfortable angle. The Mazda's windshield had shattered, and shards of glass were partially burrowed into the other driver's skin -- his face, neck, arms... The sight of so much blood made Sendoh nauseous. He wondered about the other driver and who of the two of them might be in a better condition.

He was obviously unconscious. Sendoh didn't bother trying to call out to the other driver, see if he was otherwise alright -- it would just be a waste of breath and energy, he told himself. Through hastily dimming eyes he tried to make out the face of the other driver, tried to see who it was...

Oblivious to the fact that the lamppost he had rammed into was headed downward...

Red. That was Shohoku's color.

He said that it was his favorite color other than blue...

The first gift he gave me was red...

...

Kaede...

"Aishiteru, koi..."

And the falling lamppost slammed onto the roof of Sendoh's car, digging in, forcing the thin metal of the roof down...

Onto Sendoh's head...

Killing him on the spot.

--tsuzuku--


Waaaaaaaaah!!! Ok, this may not exactly be the best thing I've ever written. Actually, this is the first time I've written something that isn't entirely sap. And this is the first chapter fic that I actually have intentions of finishing. Ok, just let me clear something up. I never said anything about the other driver being Kaede. Sensen's just too busy thinking of him. All that red thing? The blood's in his eyes, remember? Rose-tinted and all that.

Anyway, tell me what you think about it!... Oh, yeah, NO FLAMING PLEASE! =Þ