Ultra Violet Black

Old Fiat

Chapter 4- Happiness Eclipsed

Coach Ryuzaki read the letter with a worried expression on her face. This was a very strange affair. "Oishi."

Oishi had been standing there while she read. "Yes Ryuzaki-sensei?"

"I'd like you to be captain for today. Stay in here, I'll be right back."

She set down the letter and left her office.

He did it without thinking— Oishi picked up the letter and read Kunimitsu's neat handwriting;

Coach Ryuzaki-

I'm afraid that I will not be at practice tomorrow for I am attending a funeral. I will return to practice tomorrow. I apologize for unconvincing you. Please make Sadaharu and Oishi give them the usual drills.

I apologize once again.

-Tezuka Kunimitsu

Oishi set down the letter. A funeral? Whose? This gave him a new piece of puzzle to fit, but it was like trying to fit a puzzle piece your little sister had drooled on. Nearly impossible.

If only Kunimitsu wasn't such a closed book. If only he could read minds.

Coach Ryuzaki returned. "Come on Oishi, I just had to grab some practice menus Sadaharu wanted to look at."

"And alter?" asked Oishi, giving her a half smile.

"And alter," she shrugged. "Let's go."

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Momo and Ryoma yawned as they walked into the club house. They had stayed up almost all of the previous night playing video games and watching X-Files reruns on Sci-

Fi. It had been a marathon you know!

Despite his puffy eyes, Ryoma looked much better than he had the day before. He walked in his usual way and his eyes didn't look so blank.

The night before he had felt a twang of guilt when Momo took out his copy of the video game Tennis Master IV; Nanjiro had gotten him the same game for his birthday the previous year. He saw Momo look at him for a second when he pulled it out. He knew he could tell what Ryoma was thinking.

"It's alright to smile you know," he said half-jokingly as he pointed to the bruise on left cheek from his Grandmother's shoes. "It's alright to laugh too."

Even though he was just talking about the bruise it made Ryoma feel less guilty.

Eiji bounced up to them as the walked up to the club house. "Oh ho ho! Tezuka buchou is gonna be so mad! I bet you'll get ten laps for being late!"

"No way," said Momo, looking at his watch. "We get a lap for every minute we're late, we'll only get five."

"Yeah," Eiji wrapped his arm around Ryoma and tugged him closer. "I s'pose you guys are right.

"Come to think of it— Where is Kuni-san? He didn't turn up with Fuji-chan like he usually does."

Taka jogged over. "Eiji, why aren't you warming up with me?"

"Oh yeah!" Eiji ran off. "SORRY GUYS!"

Shuichiro came out of the club house. His eyebrows were knitted (but when aren't they?) and he looked kind of sick. Not like ill-sick, like worried-sick. "Hey guys, go get dressed so you can warm up. Hey Fuji! You want to warm up with me?"

"Sure!" said Fuji coming over. He whispered something in Oishi's ear.

"I found out what's been going on."

"What?" whispered back Shuichiro. "I found out he's at a funeral, but that's all."

"Not just any funeral it's his mother, younger brother and baby sister's."

"What?"

"His little brother contracted leukemia last year and died three days ago. His mother died in child birth four days ago and the baby she gave birth to got sick and perished two days ago."

"Oh my God… And I was so rude…" Oishi felt his hands begin to shake. "How did you find out?"

"His dad and my dad are super close friends."

Practice continued— almost— as usual.

(A note from OFnFR I got while writing this: Omg omg omg anna! Not leukemia! Make it be like his cousin who he was really close to or something, that's too much sadness at once… please?)

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------One Week Later------

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Ryoma walked into his house. They were all starting to get back into routine. Nanjiro's funeral had been five days previous. He popped off his shoes and headed into the living room.

"Hey Mom…" he heard his voice trail off.

His mother was lying on the couch her hair rumpled. Her breasts looked slightly bigger because she was pregnant and there was a hand on one of them. A hand belonging to the same male body that had their lips pressed against his mother's.

He stood there. Feeling like the mountain he had almost gotten to the top of had grown a million miles higher. His breath caught every time his inhaled or exhaled. He felt like throwing up and crying. He— he didn't know want he felt as he stood there watching his mother kiss this man all over.

Finally he screamed the thought that had been running though his brain the moment he walked in on the scene.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

His mother pulled away. "Ryoma—" she started, but he was already out the door.

Everything was getting better, he thought as he ran. He wasn't wearing shoes and the concrete sidewalks felt funny under his feet. Why did that have to happen? Mom's pregnant. She shouldn't be doing stuff like that. Not to mention dad— He cut off his own thoughts.

He didn't even know where he was running. He eventually stopped, looked around and realized he'd only been to this spot once or twice. Tezuka and Fuji both lived on this block. He sighed and sat down the curb. A pair of tennis shoes approached him.

"Echizen-kun."

He looked up and saw Tezuka Kunimitsu standing in front of him. His glasses slightly reflected the pink-orange sky. He was holding several bags of groceries.

"Tezuka-bochou."

"Why are you running around with out shoes?"

Ryoma felt a strong desire to just burry his head in his knees but he stared up at Tezuka.

Kunimitsu still felt guilty about yelling at Oishi. He had had just felt at that time his pain was much greater. Half of his family dying. It was like he had an infernal piece of luck— all the time. Especially Kyusuke, his little brother, bothered him. He had wanted to play tennis at Seishun when he was older but he had been taken away at ten.

He looked at Ryoma. Oishi still wasn't talking to him in the same way as before, only now it wasn't really the stiffness that had been in between them before. It seemed more like…

Like pity.

"I'm sorry about your father."

What is this feeling?

"Thank you."

Why do I want to cry?

"Echizen— the reason I didn't say it to you before was—"

What are you doing?

"—because—"

Shut up! Shut your huge mouth before you do something stupid!

"—I felt—"

He just stopped talking. He finally obeyed his mind.

"You felt what?" asked Ryoma.

"I must be going. I have to prepare dinner for my Oto-sama and Grandfather," he turned on his heel and headed towards a larger white western-style house with a black tile roof. Ryoma looked back down at his knees and found tears dribbling down his face.

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"Oto-sama?" Kunimitsu opened the door. "Grandfather?" He slipped off his shoes and set down the groceries in the kitchen. "Oto-sama?"

He wondered where they were. "GRANDFATHER!"

Still no one came.

"OTO-SAMA!"

No one.

Kunimitsu walked up the steps. Perhaps they were upstairs.

He pushed open the door to his father's room. "Ot-Oto-sama?"

His father was lying on his bed and had surrounded himself with what looked like all the photos he had of his mother and all the photos he had of Kyusuke. There were also a few books there. He knew his mother had kept journals. He was always seeing her paste things into them. But he never knew there were this many.

His father was lying in the center of the bed with all these things around him. He looked like he hadn't slept in days; Kunimitsu didn't think anyone in this house had anyway. He walked over to the bad, sat down on the corner and picked up one of the photos of Kyusuke and his father.

"Oto-sama," Kunmitsu set it back down. "You have to get up; you've been in here for days." He looked at his father's legs. His left leg stopped right below the knee because he had gotten cancer in it and had to get the cancerous area amputated. His father had a prosthetic but he had taken it off to lie down.

"Kunimitsu," he turned towards him. "She's not coming back ever— that's my fault. I murdered her with that baby. I failed with Kyusuke. And the baby…"

Kunmitsu got up. "I'm going to start dinner."

He ran into his Grandfather on the stairs. "Hello Grandfather. I've been speaking to Oto-sama."

His Grandfather sighed. He wasn't the father of Kunimitsu mother but he was sad because he missed her and because what this was doing to his son and his grandson. He was also sad because of Kyusuke and the baby… The only little girl. "I'm very worried about Kuniharu. I really wish all this hadn't happened…"

Kunimitsu went back downstairs and began to make dinner for his family.

Don't cry.

If you cry you'll be letting your guard down.

What you doing? Continue chopping those vegetables!

I want to cry.

I want to just scream at everyone.

I wish all this had never happened. I wish that I could rewrite the last week and a half.

Don't think such stupid thoughts. You're exactly where you wanted to be in life.

Emotionless.

Do you think anyone would care if you died?

I won't die.

It's not fair that Echizen is aloud to cry, but I'm too… too…

Too old.

Kunimitsu stared at the zucchini. He knew many people said he was very mature, some people thought he was older than he was, but he always would have to let the insult slide off his back. He wasn't aloud to show emotion, there was a part of his mind that wouldn't let him.

A light rain began to fall, but it fell only on the cutting board. They fell from Tezuka's eyes.

He was crying.

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