Disclaimer: I do not and will never own YnM, all the characters are the sole property of Yoko Matsushita. I'm merely borrowing them.

I've finally gotten this typed out at last! Sorry about the wait - I kept rewriting this chapter . . . I couldn't quite capture it the way I wanted it to be like but I guess this is my final version of it. This takes place many years later . . . Hope you all enjoy! Please do leave a review - perhaps you can tell me what you think or on what I should have done differently . . .? Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pieces of Me

Chapter 8: Time Flies By

By: LadyYuina

"I can't believe you're twenty-six now, time sure flies by fast, huh, Tsuzuki?" Ruka asked.

"Yeah, that was one of the best birthday parties I have ever had."

"Let me guess, you enjoyed my cake the most out of anything?" Ruka asked innocently. She flexed her fingers and waited for her younger brother to answer.

"Haha, yeah. But the party itself was nice. Your friends were really kind to me, and one of them showed me how to boil water!"

"You just learned how to do that? I thought I taught you that years ago?"

Tsuzuki shrugged his shoulders. "Guess I forgot how."

"You're hopeless," she teased.

"I know."

They both burst out laughing at the moment their father walked in on them. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Tsuzuki's cooking skills," Ruka automatically said.

"Oh, hahaha, gotten better son?"

"Maybe . . ." Tsuzuki muttered, not really wanting his father to know the exact truth.

"Keep working on it, I know you can get better," he reassured him. He disappeared around the corner when he walked out into the yard.

Sniffing the air, Ruka asked, "is something burning?"

Realization dawned on Tsuzuki, he was baking a cake! "Oh crap, I forgot about the cake that was baking!"

They rushed into the kitchen and sure enough, the oven was producing a lot of smoke. Coughing and turning off the machine, Tsuzuki pulled down on the handle. Ruka placed a hand mitten on before pulling out the smoking object.

"It's burnt," Tsuzuki whined.

"Looks more like charcoal than a cake," Ruka stated. "Why didn't you-"

"Fire! Is there a fire?" Their father burst onto the scene. To his relief it was just a burnt cake and two distraught people.

"We're fine father, don't strain yourself," Ruka said. Her brows creased in worried tension. "The doctor did order you to take it easy."

"I'm trying, honey," he replied.

Tsuzuki watched the exchanged words they shared. He knew the cause was because of him, he had been a difficult child to handle and still was . . . "It's all my fault." Ruka and his father both turned to him. Tsuzuki met their gazes, his eyes heavy with guilt.

"You're not to blame, son. I have this condition because of my job," he explained.

That didn't make Tsuzuki feel any better. "I'm sure I'm a part of it and don't go on rambling that I'm not."

"But-" Ruka started. She faltered at Tsuzuki's accusations. The cake and mitts she had were forgotten about when she placed them down by the sink.

"No more 'buts', there isn't always a way out of things and don't try to distort things from their true meaning." Tsuzuki clenched and unclenched his fists together. "All my life I've been a troubled child . . . always the one to be picked on because of my eyes. The one and only friend I ever had was Mayu but she moved away a while ago . . . the day she left something inside of me died down; flickered out. It had hurt so much, you know? I was in deep pain but I didn't show it, I wanted to be strong."

"Tsuzuki, I never knew," Ruka whispered. "You've become so good at lying . . ."

"I had to!" he snapped, rage was building up inside him as he thought of the past. Time sure went by fast. "Lying was an advantage I used to protect myself. Doing it so much in school and around other people has made it easy for me. But now I'm confessing it to the both of you . . ."

Mr. Tsuzuki nodded sagely, his brown eyes looked extremely tired. "Just let it all out, you'll feel much better."

"I can say the same thing for you. Tell me, dad, how did you really get the illness you have now?" Tsuzuki asked, almost viciously.

His father stared up at the ceiling momentarily before looking back at his son. "Yes, it's true, you had something to do with it but I wasn't lying when it had to do with my job either. I was constantly worried when you would come home crying or had a really large bruise somewhere over your body. Ruka has gone through the same ordeal as I but she is far more stronger and younger than me."

"Perhaps you should retire from working," Ruka suggested. "Tsuzuki and I can get better jobs so we can support the family."

Mr. Tsuzuki shook his head, a wan smile plastered on his thin lips. "No. Though my job is tough, I love it. And the people I work with, I can't just leave them behind. You see, building homes is my dream. Now that I have reached it, I won't let it go, not until my last breath is taken from me." A soft cough escaped from his lips which son turned into wheezing fits.

Ruka knelt down beside him and called out, "Tsuzuki, go get him some water."

Tsuzuki's hands were trembling as he handed the water over to his sister. "Is he going to be all right?"

"I'm not sure, perhaps we should take him to the hospital."

"I'll drive." They piled up in the old station wagon and drove down to the Muraki Inc. Hospital. Tsuzuki was so anxious to get there that he almost ran into a street pole but thanks to Ruka's swerve of the wheel they missed it by an inch.

"Watch how you're driving!" a man shouted from the side of the street. "Stupid moron!"

"I'll take over." Ruka and Tsuzuki traded spots. In the backseat their father breathed in and out heavily.

"Please hang in there, dad," Tsuzuki said encouragingly.

Upon their arrival at the hospital Mr. Tsuzuki was sent into the emergency room. For a few minutes, he had stopped breathing . . .

Out in the waiting room Tsuzuki watched the clock slowly tick. Making a full turn to signal a minute, starting over as seconds and then completing its role as an hour. Ruka held onto Tsuzuki for what felt like the longest time in his life.

The nurse at the desk talked over the speaker phone, saying, "will the respective relatives of Tsuzuki Etsuya please come to the front desk." Tsuzuki and Ruka both rose and walked up to the front. "And you two are?"

"Ruka and Asato Tsuzuki. How is our father doing?" Ruka choked out.

"Go on up to third floor, go into room 25," the nurse directed.

When they were inside the room they rushed to their father's side. The doctor explained the diagnosis to them. "He seemed to have suffered from a severe heart attack, we don't know it he'll be able to live much longer. He seems stable at the moment but we'll keep an eye on him to see if any changes occur."

"Thank you, doctor," Ruka said.

"Tell me, has he been stressing lately? Doing hard labor of any kind?"

Ruka shamefully nodded. The doctor mentioned to her last time that she was to keep him away from these things but she seemingly failed.

"I did warn you of what could happen." The doctor's words cut into her like a knife. "Well . . . good day. Please take care."

As soon as the doctor left the room Tsuzuki turned to Ruka. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to have to burden you with this problem. You already have enough to worry about on your own."

"How long ago has this been?" Tsuzuki asked, ignoring his sister's implications of his well-being.

"The doctor warned father and I about fourteen years ago . . ."

"That long ago? You kept this from me for fourteen years!"

"I'm sorry, but you were still very young when he was first diagnosed for a risk."

Tsuzuki listened to the soft beeping of the life support machine. He was utterly disgusted with himself. Here he had been wallowing in his own problems and not thinking about others . . .

Am I that selfish? I don't want to be that way anymore . . .

For the rest of the night Tsuzuki and Ruka stayed by their father's bedside. A boy with silver colored hair poked his head inside briefly before he left. The next day when Tsuzuki woke up Ruka was standing by the window. Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks. Looking down at the bed he saw that his father was not there.

"Where's dad?" Tsuzuki asked, he was on the brink of panicking.

"They took him away . . . he died early this morning," Ruka replied, through fitful sobs.

"Where did they take him, Ruka?" Tsuzuki's voice was merely above a whisper. "Why didn't they wake me up?"

"They woke me up but I told them to let you rest. You looked tired . . ."

"Ruka!" Tsuzuki said in an anguished voice.

"Calm down."

"Where did they take him?" he asked again.

"To the section for dead people. We need to schedule for a funeral date right away."

"Ruka, you're acting as if this isn't a big deal." Tsuzuki grabbed at his hair and yanked it out of anger.

"It is a big deal but we should remain calm. I'm sure father wouldn't want you to mope all day over him . . . he told me once before that if he died; just think of it as a passing."

"Passing my ass!" It was unlike Tsuzuki to curse but now seemed like the appropriate time to do so. "Dad, you fucking asshole! Why did you die on us and leave us alone!"

"Tsuzuki!" Ruka reprimanded.

Nurses cam in to see what all the shouting was about. "Are you two okay?"

"Yes, sorry nurse, we'll be right out soon," Ruka said.

"You sure?" She glanced over at Tsuzuki who was slumped over the bed crying his eyes out.

Time really did fly by fast . . . it seemed like his father had died in an instant - too fast for Tsuzuki's liking. Just like the day when Mayu moved away . . .