"Rain and Little Blessings"

Rating: PG-13 (shonen-ai)
Genre: Romance, fluff, introspection.
Characters: The Fuji siblings, Kunimitsu Tezuka, and light allusions to Hajime Mizuki.
Pairings: Fuji/Tezuka, slight Yuuta/Mizuki.


As a little girl, Yumiko Fuji was told by her mother that rain was a blessing for people. It was a gift from the Heavens for the ones down on Earth, since without the watery droplets falling from the clouds, there would be no change for any kind of life that tried to develop in the planet...

Some of the happiest moments in her life also were associated to the rain. Like those summer rainy afternoons where, when their parents were not at home, she allowed her brothers to play outdoors. The boys would freely run on the damp grass, play hide-and-seek behind the trees and plants, or jump over the pools trying not to get their pants drenched... and they'd always fail, since the mischievous Syuusuke loved to get himself and the more naïve Yuuta soaked, by jumping in a pool and splashing both of them. However, as a sort of punishment, every time he did so - she would call out for the kids and get them inside, just in time to make them change their clothes.

Even in the hard times, when Yuuta's conflicted thoughts about Syuusuke almost drove them apart, Yumiko kinda held onto those memories. She would frequently close her eyes, sit down, and let her mind wander. Soon, those happier times would be back, and she'd see herself as a teen playing guardian angel to the boys.

Currently, things were flowing smoother. Though not all the wounds were healed, they were now closer than they were for such a long time. Yuuta, now a senior in a presitigious Kyoto high school, never ever forgot to ask about Syuusuke whenever he wasn't there when he called home from the dorms; and if Syuusuke was the one who caught the call, he'd happily tell him all that was going on in his life, even kinda torturing his brother (what a way to have his... "payback" for all) with the details of the long-distance friendship ("or more?", she often wondered) he kept with his former team manager, Mizuki, who was attending university in Nagasaki.

And Syuusuke himself... well...

In the last rainy afternoon, while sitting by the window with her Tarot deck on her lap, she saw him standing on the doorstep and talking to Tezuka, his ex-captain in Seigaku and his closest friend along with Eiji. Knowing that they were so absorbed in their conversation that they forgot even about the possibility of being observed, she quietly watched them speaking about God-knows-what under a big black umbrella, Syuusuke talking animatedly while Tezuka either nodded or listened -and smiled once or twice...

And just after the talk was over, when Tezuka was getting ready to say good-bye, Syuusuke made a daring move. He quickly grabbed his ex-captain by the collar of his jacket, pulled him closer (making him drop the umbrella in the process), and kissed him fully on the mouth.

Yumiko herself was not surprised. Not at all. Deducing from the way he always talked about Tezuka and two or three things she got from her Tarot sessions, she already knew that her brother had feelings for the handsome, serious man...

After they parted, Tezuka whispered something to Syuusuke, then picked up his umbrella and left. She could clearly see his face, and noticed that his cheeks were red... but he did not look as disturbed or disgusted as she thought he'd be. Syuusuke, then, opened the door and got in, and when she greeted him, he immediately asked something.

"Sis...", he said happily. "Did you add my first kiss with Kunimitsu to your list of happy rainy moments?"

And Yumiko's kind smile was the best answer she could give to him.