Chapter 2: The past
(A/n: This message is especially to Jen. Jen, if you are reading this, I hope that you can give me your email address so that I can personally mail you and answer your questions. Thank you and I look forward to mailing you.)
Recess time, on the rooftop of Shohoku High School...
Hanayuki was quietly picking at her food, while Rukawa was lying on the floor, catching up on his never-seem-to-be-enough sleep. Or so it seemed. The truth was he had been watching Hanayuki since they got there; he only pretended to be asleep to avoid being asked questions.
A couple of weeks had passed since the first day of school. For some reason, Hanayuki had missed the first whole week of classes. And for some reason, she seemed to have changed a little ever since she came back. For one thing, she was not as energetic as she used to be.
Rukawa would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about it or anything else that had got to do with her. In fact, he was dying to know. He wanted to know what it was that was so important she had to miss a whole week of school. He wanted to know what it was that was so secret she wouldn't even tell her brother. He wanted to know all about her trip to America and what she did there.
Most of all, he wanted to know if she had managed to sort out her problems, and if everything was alright now.
"How long are you going to pretend to be asleep, Kaede?"
What the...?
Hoping that she was only testing him, Rukawa didn't move a muscle.
"If you think that by not moving I'll be convinced you're asleep, you're wrong."
What is she, a psychic?
Rukawa still didn't move from his position.
"By the way, Kaede, I was wondering-" she looked over at him, "-if you could give me back the set of keys to my house that you're holding on to."
His eyes flew open.
"Don't think that I didn't know you made a set of my house keys without my permission. How else did you get into my house that night last year, when I was very sure I had locked the door properly before running off to my room?"
You forgot to lock the door, that's how.
"And let's not forget that Ayako-san just walked into my house that memorable day, before I could even touch the door. I saw the keys, so don't bother telling me that they don't exist."
They are not supposed to.
"If otousan and okaasan hadn't come back, I would've just pretended that I didn't know about it. Now that they're here, I don't think it would be appropriate for you to keep them. You understand, don't you, Kaede?"
Yes and no.
Hanayuki set down her bento and walked over to where Rukawa was. "Say something, Kaede," she said, poking him hard in the ribs.
Rukawa grunted and sat up, scowling at her. Hanayuki just looked back him nonchalantly. "You have the keys with you now, right?"
"..."
Hanayuki sighed. "Kaede, my parents are staying with me at home now. I cannot let you keep them. It's just not right. What would they say if they find out about it?"
"They won't, if you don't tell and I don't use it."
"Well, I'm sure I won't tell, but are you sure you won't use it? I mean, if you won't be using it, why do you still want to keep it?"
"Emergency purposes."
"Emergency purposes? Care to explain to me your definition of emergency purposes?" asked Hanayuki, slightly amused.
"You lose your keys."
"Um, okaasan will be home to let me in," she pointed out.
"Nobody's at home."
Hanayuki opened her mouth, and closed it again. He has a point...
"I promise I won't use them," said Rukawa. That is, until I have to.
Hanayuki regarded him for a moment, before finally relenting. "Fine. I'll hold on to the fact that you've never broken your promise to me before and let you keep them."
Yosh!
"But if I ever find out that you've been using them, whatever the reasons or excuses are, I'm going to make sure you regret having the keys in the first place."
Rukawa just shrugged. I'm willing to take the risk...
---
Later that evening...
"Okaasan!"
"Yes, Hana-chan, I'm in the kitchen," came Mrs Anzai's voice.
Hanayuki turned to Rukawa. "Kaede, why don't you have a sit? I'll go get something for you to drink. What would you like?"
Rukawa shook his head. "It's ok. I don't need anything."
"I'll get you something anyway." Lowering her voice, she continued, "If I don't, okaasan's going to kill me." With that, she bounded into the kitchen, leaving Rukawa alone in the living room.
As he sat down on one of the sofas, Anzai-sensei came into the room. Rukawa quickly stood up and bowed in greeting. "Konbanwa, Anzai-sensei."
"Hohoho! Rukawa-kun, please, have a seat," said Anzai-sensei, motioning for Rukawa to sit down.
Rukawa waited for the older man to sit down first before sitting down himself. "Sumi masen, sensei, for coming unannounced."
"Hohoho! It's ok, Rukawa-kun. Don't worry about it."
They lapsed into a moment of silence, and Rukawa was getting more and more uncomfortable by the second. Luckily, Hanayuki came out just in time, holding a tray of drinks and cookies.
"Here you are. Help yourself, Kaede," said Hanayuki, handing him the can of drink and setting down the plate of cookies in front of him on the coffee table, before sitting down beside him.
Instead of drinking, he put the can on the table, and leaning closer to Hanayuki, said softly, "I think I'd better go."
"So soon?" Hanayuki asked, surprised.
Rukawa nodded, before standing up and bowing to Anzai-sensei, again. "Gomen, sensei, but I think I'd better take leave now."
"So soon, Rukawa-kun? Why not stay for dinner?" asked Anzai-sensei, also standing up.
"Arigatou, sensei, but maybe next time. Gomen," Rukawa apologised and bowed even lower.
"Hohoho! Very well, then."
Hanayuki stood up. "I'll walk you to the gate," she said, and led Rukawa to the door.
Outside the house...
"I'll see you tomorrow, ne, Kaede?" said Hanayuki.
"Hai," Rukawa replied. "Tell your okaasan that I'm sorry I couldn't meet her."
"I will. Be careful on your way back, and don't fall asleep," Hanayuki reminded him.
She waited for him to get on his bike and cycle away, before closing the gate and walked back into the house.
---
Ok, so things didn't go exactly the way I planned it, thought Rukawa, as he made his way back to his own house.
He had been planning to ask Hanayuki about some things, mainly about herself, at her house, but somehow, it had completely slipped out of his mind that her parents were at home.
I'll just have to call her later and ask... zzzz...
CRASH!!!
Yeah, that's what I'll do...
---
Later, at his own house in his own room...
Rukawa looked at the phone he was holding in his hand, contemplating on whether he should make the call or not.
Should I, or should I not? Her parents are at home. What if they're already asleep?
He stood up and paced the room, and then sat down on the bed.
I'll call.
He punched in the numbers, and waited patiently as the phone on the other side of the line starting ringing.
---
Hanayuki was humming along to the song which was being played on the car stereo when her phone began to ring. When she saw the number flashing on the LCD screen, she motioned to the driver to pull over to the side of the road and turned off the stereo.
Taking a deep breath, she answered the phone.
---
Rukawa was about to hang up when somebody finally picked up the call.
"Moshi moshi?" It was Hanayuki.
"Yuki."
"Yes, Kaede?"
Why did you take so long to answer the phone? "Where are you?"
---
Hanayuki knew he was going to ask that question. Choosing her words carefully, she answered him, but in the form of a question. "Where do you think I am?"
"..."
"Kaede?"
"Are you alright?"
"Of course I am," said Hanayuki. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Just then, a huge truck passed by the car and honked. Hanayuki held her breath. He didn't hear that... he didn't hear that... he didn't hear-
"Something's wrong."
Shoot! Damn that stupid truck! "What is?"
"You."
"I'm fine, really. There's nothing wrong with me." Hanayuki tried to inject a smile into her words, despite her nervousness. "You just saw me a while ago, remember?"
"..."
"Kaede, I'm sorry, but I'm taking this call with my hand phone, and the battery is running low. Can I call you back later or something?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"You don't have to call back."
"Are you sure? I can always call you back-"
"I'll see you tomorrow," Rukawa cut her off.
Hanayuki was silent for a while, before she said, "Ok. See you tomorrow then."
"Good night."
"Good night." Slowly, Hanayuki put down the phone and heaved a deep sigh.
"Are you alright?"
Hanayuki turned to look at the only other person in the car besides her. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Rukawa?"
Hanayuki nodded her head.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again.
"Yes, I'm totally fine," she said, managing a small smile. "We'd better get going. It's getting late."
"Hai."
---
Rukawa put the phone back into its cradle and laid down on his bed.
Something's wrong...
He stared at the ceiling, recalling the sound of the truck he was sure he had heard in the background.
She wasn't at home...
---
Rukawa never asked Hanayuki where she really was that night when he called her. He knew her well enough to know that if she had wanted to tell him, she would've told him that night itself on the phone. However, she didn't, so, he acted as if it never happened.
Also, he decided not to ask her about her week-long absence from school and her 4-month-long vacation in America. He figured that she wouldn't tell him about those anyway, so there really was no point in asking.
Some nights later, Rukawa again went to Hanayuki's house. This time, both Anzai-sensei and his wife were not at home, prompting him to agree when Hanayuki asked him if he would like to stay for dinner.
"Where are they?" Rukawa asked.
"Dinner, at a relative's house. They asked me to go as well, but I told them I wouldn't be able to reach home in time, so they went without me," Hanayuki explained.
After they had finished their dinner, she stood up and started clearing the table. "It's ok. I'll clear up everything," she said, when Rukawa made a move to help her.
"Are you sure?"
"Just make yourself at home," said Hanayuki, disappearing into the kitchen with the stack of dirty plates, forks and spoons.
Rukawa went into the living room and turned on the stereo, before sitting down on the sofa. He let his eyes wander around the room, until they fell on the stairway.
It only took him about a second of hesitation before he got up and walked up the stairs, heading towards the room at the end of the corridor. He opened the door and stepped inside, breathing in the familiar scent of the room he had gotten himself acquainted with since the past year. He looked around the room. Nothing seems to have changed in here.
He cast a glance at the dressing table, and his lips curved into the tiniest of smiles when he caught sight of the music box and the bottle containing the little slips of messages he had given Hanayuki for her birthday the year before.
Next, he looked over at the study table, where a huge box was placed on it. This one looks new though. He moved towards the table, stopping right in front of the box. I wonder if it would be alright to have a look inside.
"Ahem."
He turned around to see Hanayuki leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on her face.
"Gomen," he said quietly, taking a step back from the box.
"It's ok. You didn't open it anyway," said Hanayuki, as she walked across the room to the table and picked up the box. "Unfortunately, this box is off-limits, so I cannot let you see what's inside," she continued, and proceeded to put the box in the closet. "However..."
She took out a few photo albums and handed them to Rukawa. "These aren't, so help yourself."
Rukawa placed them on the table and sat down on the chair, while Hanayuki crawled onto the bed and laid down on her stomach, her head propped up on her elbows. She watched as Rukawa leafed through the pages slowly.
The albums contained pictures from Hanayuki's younger days, starting from when she was still a baby to the time when she was in junior high school. It also contained pictures of Anzai-sensei and his wife with some other people, all of whom Rukawa assumed to be Hanayuki's adoptive siblings.
"Don't you have anything to ask me?" came Hanayuki's voice from the bed. "I mean, you can't possibly tell who's who in some of the pictures."
Rukawa chose to keep quiet, and Hanayuki let him. He's bound to ask eventually, she thought.
As if on cue, he swivelled around in the chair, held up the album and pointed to one picture. "Is this who I think it is?"
Hanayuki squinted at the picture, and smiled. "Yup. That's oniichan."
Rukawa looked at the picture again. If it weren't for the red hair, I would never have thought that this unbelievably innocent-and-harmless-looking kid was that do'aho.
"He's really cute, isn't he?" asked Hanayuki, who was looking at him closely, trying to catch his expression, which was not easy to begin with, since it's Rukawa we're talking about.
Rukawa snorted. "You know, the definition of 'cute' is ugly but adorable."
"Uh-huh, I see."
Rukawa ignored the hint of amusement in Hanayuki's voice and turned to the next page. There were more pictures of Sakuragi and Hanayuki together, taken back in America when they were 7 years old. Hanayuki looked visibly pale but radiant, while Sakuragi looked bubbly and energetic.
"You know, oniichan is really a very nice guy. True, he may be a little violent-"
Rukawa snorted again. A little? That's probably the understatement of the century.
"-and always acts impulsively, but deep down inside, he really is an all-around nice guy. He is kind and gentle, in a rough sort of way. You just have to get to know him better to find out, that's all."
Right, as if I want to.
Hanayuki rolled onto her back. "Can't you like, make peace with oniichan, Kaede? Put aside your differences and shake hands. You know that it will only benefit the two of you."
"Why should I?"
"Because, like I said, it will only benefit the two of you. Of course, that shouldn't be the only reason why you should make peace with oniichan. Isn't it better to have one more friend than one more enemy?"
"As if I care."
"Well, I do," said Hanayuki. "Really. Sometimes you guys can be so childish."
"You mean he can be so childish."
"You are too, though oniichan may be the more childish one between the two of you."
Rukawa was about to say something when a picture fell out from between the pages. He picked it up, and his eyes widened in surprise. Looking back at him from the picture was a smiling Hanayuki in the arms of a rather good-looking man.
Rukawa immediately felt the very familiar tinge of anger and jealousy welling up inside of him. Who the hell is this guy? What is his relationship with Yuki? When was this picture taken in the first place?
He looked at the bottom right-hand corner of the picture and saw the date. His eyes widened in surprise again. What the-? This picture was taken 18 years ago? How can it be? Yuki wasn't even born yet.
He scrutinised the picture closely, and realised that the Hanayuki in the picture looked older and somewhat different from the Hanayuki he knew.
Holding up the picture, he asked her, "Who's this?"
Hanayuki rolled back onto her stomach to see what he was talking about. She broke into a soft smile. "Who do you think it is?"
When Rukawa didn't answer, she said, "That's my mother. My real mother. The man with her was my real father."
I should have guessed. "I see."
"You thought it was me, didn't you?" asked Hanayuki teasingly.
"No," Rukawa denied, though he was sure that Hanayuki didn't believe him. To his relief, she didn't press him to tell the truth, but started talking about her birth parents instead.
"Not including otousan and okaasan and a few other people, you're only the second person to have seen my birth parents. Even if it's only through a picture. The first was oniichan. Anyway, if you want to see more, it's in the blue album. This one must've slipped out from there without my noticing."
Rukawa reached for the album and flipped to the first page. Sure enough, there were more pictures of Hanayuki's birth parents, and starting from the 10th page or so, there were pictures of them with baby Hanayuki.
"They died in a car accident when I was 5," said Hanayuki. She was lying on her back again, hugging a pillow to her chest. "Because both of them were the only child in their families, and my grandparents were long dead, I had nobody to take me in. Otousan, who was a good friend of my father, decided to adopt me so that I didn't have to go the orphanage."
Rukawa closed the album and put it aside. Hanayuki almost never spoke to him about her past, and he was determined to find out as much as possible from this very rare chance. "What are their names?"
"My father was Tsukino Takehito, while my mother was Hara Eriko. She's half-Chinese, though; my maternal grandmother's a Chinese. My mother was very proud of her Chinese roots, and was determined that I at least know the language, so she started speaking to me in Chinese right after I was born, while my father stuck to Japanese." Hanayuki chuckled a little. "It's quite a burden for a baby, don't you think?"
"After she died, I didn't have anyone to learn Chinese from, so I took Chinese lessons, learning both Cantonese and Mandarin. To me, it was a way to keep myself connected to her, to always remind myself of her. Despite having only spent 5 years with her, 6 if you include the 9 months of pregnancy, I was very close to my mother."
"As for my father, I was never really close to him. Maybe it's because he was always busy with his work and was seldom at home. The truth is, I don't remember anymore. I was only a few years old then. All I knew was that my father had been sent to America to manage the American branch of the Japanese company he was working for. At least, that was what otousan had told me when I was older."
"Anyway, since I was born in America, according to their laws of citizenship, I became an American citizen by default. Therefore, I was able to stay on legally. Apart from needing to receive treatment for my heart problems, otousan thought that it would be better if I stayed there, so I did. For the next 6 to 7 years, I stayed with my adoptive brother, Tomo-niichan, who had been living there for quite some time."
"You came to Japan when you were 12," said Rukawa, in a question-like manner.
Hanayuki sat up, still hugging the pillow and facing Rukawa. "Yes. I wanted to come to Japan and see what it's like, so I pestered otousan to let me start my high school education here, and after a lot of begging, he finally agreed, and I came. Although I was born in America, my father and my mother were Japanese citizens. As such, I was conferred the Japanese citizenship by descent, and therefore could come and study here without much hassle, though I still had to apply for a visa."
"I guess you already knew what happened next. My first year of junior high school, I went to Negishi. Then, something... unexpected, came up, and I had to return to America the year after that, before coming back to continue my third year of junior high school in Tomigaoka."
She smiled, as she recalled something. "I still remember seeing you for the first time. It was during a basketball practice in the gym. Of course, I already knew who you were before that. Rukawa Kaede, the star and captain of the basketball team. You, on the other hand, never knew I existed."
The expression on Rukawa's face softened. "I do now," he said softly.
Just then, the grandfather clock downstairs began to chime. Hanayuki glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Well, it's getting late," she announced. "I think you'd better go home now, it would be too dangerous if you went later." Getting up from the bed, she made her way downstairs, followed by Rukawa.
As usual, Hanayuki walked him to the gate. Before he got on his bicycle, he asked Hanayuki one last question.
"What is your real name?"
Hanayuki looked surprised at the question. "You mean, the one before it changed to Hanayuki?"
Rukawa nodded his head.
"It's Aoi. Tsukino Aoi." She gave him a small smile. "You know, they used to call me 'blue moon', back when I was studying in America. Kinda cute, actually, don't you think?"
Rukawa shrugged in answer. "I still prefer Hanayuki."
"Of course you do. After all, I did say the name is cute, meaning that in truth it's really an ugly but adorable name."
"That's not what I meant."
Hanayuki laughed. "I know. Now get going already. Be careful on your way back, and-"
"Don't fall asleep," Rukawa finished for her.
"Just be careful alright. Don't go knocking things all over the place." Muttering under her breath, she continued, "Though I doubt that you wouldn't."
"Nani?"
"Nothing," said Hanayuki, in a singsong tone. She raised her hand and fluttered her fingers in a little wave, smiling. "See you tomorrow, ne."
"Hai," said Rukawa, as he cycled away. "Blue moon."
"I heard that, Rukawa Kaede!" Hanayuki shouted after him, laughing.
What she didn't hear though, was Rukawa's own soft laughter.
---
Author's notes: Hora! 2nd chapter done! Thank you so much to all who read and reviewed: Jen, fdf, Hikaru Itsuko and Kiku Rukawa. Thank you!!! By the way, just a bit of information, Hara Eriko is the seiyuu for Ayako. And, um, if there are any grammatical errors, do tell me. I do the beta-reading myself, you see, and my English isn't that good. I keep wondering if this is correct or if that is wrong. Arigatou gozaimashita. By the way, about the citizenship thingy, it's actually like this: The US citizenship system is jus soli, meaning that anybody born in the country is automatically a US citizen. As for Japan, if the father is a Japanese citizen, then the child itself becomes one too by descent. In this case, Hanayuki has dual citizenship. However, because Japan does not recognise dual citizenships, she has to choose by the age of 22 whether to retain her US citizenship, or her Japanese citizenship. I got this information from the Net. Oh, and before I forget, for anonymous reviewers, please leave your email add so that I can contact you and answer whatever questions you have. Thank you!!!