Neh, next few chapters, I'll try to focus more on other people. I'm sorry. I'm out of it right now. I caught THEE most horrible cold I've ever had. My voice was gone completely and I went to bed as soon as I got home all week, so it was almost impossible for me to update. The medicine has worn off, but I still can't talk a lot! ARGGGHHHHHH!

I WISH I could scream like that right now!

Enjoy!

Tezuka got home at about seven that night, but the house was empty. He ventured into the kitchen and on the fridge was a note. He read it over and sighed. His grandfather was out with his old geezer friends and his parents were out on a date. They were more like teens than he was.

He went up stairs to take a shower, and then take his medicine. Oh how he hated that medicine. How he hated that stupid bottle it came in that looked exactly like his mother's anti-depressants.

Yes, he accidently took his mother's pills. His pills were sleep pills because, though he hated to admit it, he was an insomniac. It just so happened to be that their pills looked alike. Damnit! It was Ryuu's fault.

If he didn't rat on Ryoma, they wouldn't have had to come to his house to get him and then go get Sakuno. No, it was never that simple. He had taken what he thought was HIS medicine, but it wasn't. So when Ryuu came, Tezuka slammed the door on him because if he went anywhere, he might've dropped asleep. But, his parents were home, tossed him the keys, and kicked him out. And then, he felt light and happy, and- though he never mentioned it to anyone- throughout the joyride, there was a blue and green dancing monkey on his shoulder with red devil horns that told him to drive faster.

On the side: His name was Baby Herman the Cow!

And then when he spoke like a fake German, Baby Herman the Cow's buddy, a little kitten with a snake tail and bat wings named Liza Miki Moo told him to do it. Yup, those pills were definitely LSD tablets.

He scowled at the affects it had on him. Honestly, why would his mother put his medicine right next to hers, which caused a hormonal imbalance in him? It was like an anti-anti-depressant that caused him to be 'happy' and little high. Just because his mother was depressed; and Tezuka doubted that those pills were even anti-depressants. He has firmly rooted the belief into his mind that those pills are LSD tablets.

He closed the door to his room, even though he was alone, and shed his clothes before going into the adjoining bathroom. Steam quickly filled the room as the shower was turned on.

--

Tezuka stepped out of the bathroom in naught but his boxers and put on his pajama pants, which were green, and a plain black t-shirt. He went downstairs and opened the little cabinet above the island. Why did his mother put a pill cabinet in the kitchen? He shook his head and his damp hair released little droplets to fall on the granite top. He never could understand her.

He looked at the innocent looking bottle of big white pills. He sighed once more. See, told you it was an anti-anti-depressant! It made him more depressed than happy! Wait, that made no sense, it made him high. Anyway, he looked to the bottle next to it and saw another bottle that had TEZUKA written on it.

He was so tired of the irregular outburst of laughter it would instill in him. Oh how he wanted to grind up those pills and put them in his parents' food and then he could watch them get an overdose…

Tezuka lightly pinched himself. It wouldn't do to have murderous thoughts about his family. The medicine must've been kicking in already.

He went toward the cool box known as the refrigerator and took out the giant container of food his mother left. That was another he never did understand. Why did she think he had some eating disorder or something? Ever since he was younger, she would always force feed him to make him plumper so he wouldn't look like a sack of bones. Even today she did that. It was just muscle he developed from playing tennis for so long.

He heated the food up and took out something to drink… or so he thought . Damnit, where were the drinks!? There was no juice in the fridge, no powder things he could mix with water. He didn't want water. No soda in the cabinet under the pantry. Nothing, there was nothing! Now he was getting tired.

Why was there nothing to drink!? He bent down on the floor to look to see if there were any drinkable substances. The chime on the microwave rung clear through the house and he cursed under his breath. He got up and the note from his mother fluttered to the ground. He picked it up and read the other side.

He'll be damned! His mother said that she didn't go shopping yet. That meant no drinks! He saw the tap. He groaned before filling up a glass of water. He hated water!

He sat down in the living room with his food and drink and ate a quiet supper while watching TV. Well, since he took the sleeping pills, the full results were showing through. His vision became slightly blurry. He chose to quickly put his food away and went to bed.

--

Tezuka awoke in the middle of the night. Baby Herman the Cow had woken him up. Tezuka looked at his reflection in the mirror across his room. What exactly were those pills his mother was on!? He was having hallucinations nearly two days afterwards! He rose out of bed and decided to get down to things.

He walked downstairs and went to the misplaced medicine cabinet. He took out the bottles and read all of the little tags on them.

CAUTION: DO NOT TAKE IF NOT PRESCRIBED! MAY CAUSE HALLUCINATIONS TO LAST UNTIL TWO TO THREE DAYS AFTER SWALLOWING!

"Son of a…", Tezuka growled under his breath. If he was any younger, he WOULD'VE taken the two pills that his doctor told him to take. But that night, he decided to take one pill.

He was glad. He might've did something he REALLY would've regretted.

He sighed. Then it finally registered in his head- the house was dead quiet. He figured they weren't home yet.

The clock read three in the morning and he wanted to go to bed. But he wasn't tired anymore. Tezuka removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He mulled over the prospect of taking two more pills. No, they led to addiction.

'To the couch I go,' Tezuka thought as he walked into the living room and turned on the TV.

Then the phone rang.

"What the heck!?" He jumped at the shrill noise. 'Who the hell calls this late at night?'

"Hello?" Tezuka kept his voice low, very, very low.

"Mitsu, is that you?"

Tezuka looked at the receiver with an incredulous look upon his matured face.

"Ryoma, do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, I know it's three in the morning. Um… I was wondering if anyone was up. I couldn't sleep and Ryuu wouldn't wake up."

"And what if I was asleep?"

"But…" Tezuka's petite girlfriend trailed off. Her voice sounded small, almost childlike. "Y-you weren't." Was her voice quivering?

"Are you crying?"

"N-no," She made a small sobbing noise.

Tezuka froze. This…was…new. He never experienced this event where he had to calm his girlfriend, or any girl for that matter, down.

"Mitsu?"

"Ah, I'm here. Don't cry Ryoma."

"But I tried going to sleep but I can't and I'm really sleepy and-" Now she was bawling quietly, if the made sensed.

"Uh, Ryoma, um…try drinking some warm milk."

"I'm not at home."

"Where are you then?"

"Look to your right." Tezuka looked right and saw Ryoma through one of the large bay windows.

She had her gray hoodie on and her cell phone to her ear. The moon, which was full that night, gave her an ethereal glow and made her gold eyes seem cat like.

Tezuka quickly got up as he saw it was pretty windy outside. He opened the door and led Ryoma inside.

"Thank you, Mitsu." Ryoma smiled a watery smile as she sat on the couch while Tezuka went to boil some water for tea. He came back fast and sat beside her.

"Why did you leave home so late?"

"I told you. I couldn't sleep so I decided to go take a walk. Just happened to come this way, I guess." She fiddled with her fingers awkwardly. Ryoma wasn't used to staying up this late. This always happened to her when she did though. She would try to wake someone else up and then put her back to sleep. But she would always be emotionally unstable. So easy was it to make her cry.

Tezuka looked at Ryoma. She had taken off her hoodie and was wearing black shirts and a large green t-shirt with tennis sneakers on with no socks.

"I love this show!" Ryoma suddenly said with excitement and Tezuka started in surprise for a second.

He turned toward the TV and saw the originally American show, South Park. Oops, Kenny got ran over by a train.

The teapot began to whistle so Tezuka left Ryoma to herself while he tended to their teas.

"Ne, Mitsu, where are your parents?"

"Out, they do this every weekend."

Ryoma hummed in understanding while taking a sip of tea, with milk in it.

--

At about six the next morning, Ayana and Kuniharu Tezuka arrived back at home. They walked through the door to hear the TV on in the living room.

The husband and wife looked at each other. They removed their shoes and walked into the room.

The scene they saw was unexpected and heart warming. But of course, unexpectedness always wins over heart warming things.

On their couch was their model son, Tezuka, who was sleeping. There was a small body cradled in his finely muscled arms. A girl, with emerald tinted raven hair, was sleeping as well. Her arms were wrapped loosely around his waist as her face was buried in his chest. Tezuka was laying on his back, his head propped against the arm of the chair and his glasses were resting on the very tip of his nose.

Ayana smiled as she pulled a blanket from the hall closet and draped it over the sleeping teens, um, teen and preteen.

--

Ryoma sniffed through her delicate nose. That was food. But, the bed was so comfy. Food or bed, Ryoma make your choice!

But the bed was so nice. Ryoma remembered something. She was at her boyfriend's house.

She opened her eyes to see black. She lifted her head and brought it back down when it met bright light. The black thing beneath her moved as they too awoke. Ryoma felt something move up her back and looked up again to see Tezuka stretching with his arms above his head.

She yawned and got up so Tezuka could rise.

"Morning Mitsu," Ryoma said groggily as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Tezuka let out a sound of agreement as he yawned.

"So you're awake?" Both minors turned towards the voice. A middle aged woman with long brown hair and kind brown eyes smiled at them while wearing an apron.

"Okaa-san, when did you and Otou-san return?"

"Earlier this morning, dear; your grandfather just came back as well." She waved her spatula at the two of them.

"You're lucky that you," She pointed to Ryoma, "Have a good nose. I heard you sniffing for food right before you woke up. I just finished cooking too. And you," A wave at Tezuka, "Have some explaining to do."

Ryoma snickered at the pointed look he got.

"And you little miss," A new voice entered the conversation. "You have a lot more explaining to do. Your parents just about called the police to look for you but they called her first after your brother said you might be here. I might be deaf in my right ear now because of how loud your mother was screaming."

Kuniharu, who was like an older version of Tezuka, walked into the room.

Ryoma smiled sheepishly. "Gomen nasai," she bowed deeply. "I'm sorry if I caused you a lot of trouble."

"They calmed down though; I told them that you were sleeping on Tezuka."

Both kids blushed.

--

Tezuka Kunikazu was a man of traditional beliefs. He believed that a man and woman- a boy and girl- should share a bed…ON THEIR WEDDING NIGHT!

So imagine his shock when he saw his grandson and some girl sleeping on the couch together. All he knew was that his daughter-in-law said that she was Tezuka's girlfriend.

He looked at the small girl across from him who…did she just eat that whole fish in three bites?

He had to admit, he could commend his grandson on his choice appearance wise.

She was small and delicate. She had pale, clear, unblemished skin with rosy cheeks and lips. Her hair was unusual, a deep black that was tinted with a rich emerald color. It was wavy and layered; unruly yet somehow neat. But her eyes were the most entrancing.

They were feline like in every aspect with long, think, curling black lashes. They were such a deep gold color that glowed with a fire underneath.

Kunikazu drank his tea silently as he observed how the couple interacted with each other.

"Ryoma, slow down," Tezuka said as he patted her back while she sputtered after choking on some rice.

Ryoma recovered before sipping some water and snorting. "No way, do you have any clue of how long it's been since I've had a Japanese breakfast!?"

"A day?" Ayana asked/answered.

"Nice try, but try about three weeks."

Ayana gasped, "What! You haven't had breakfast for three weeks!?"

"Eh…" Ryoma tried to get a word in but was unsuccessful as Ayana kept on babbling.

Tezuka cleared his throat. "Okaa-san, her mother normally fixes Western breakfasts; it's rare for Ryoma to have a Japanese breakfast."

Ryoma nodded from behind her newly filled rice bowl.

Ayana stopped and looked at Ryoma. "I don't remember handing out more rice."

"She growled at me." Kuniharu was behind her with a big spoon in his hands.

"Ryoma, that's not very nice. On Monday, run twenty laps." Tezuka admonished his girlfriend. Ryoma didn't say anything, but she sighed. She should've expected that being this close to him would only give Tezuka more chances to assign her laps.

--

After the late breakfast, which began at ten, Ryoma called home, but was told to stay over there. Apparently, Ryuu was in trouble with Ryuuzaki-sensei for 'taking Sakuno out without her permission'. So he was at their house. Rinko had a court date; Nanjiroh was in Chiba visiting his parents as his father had suddenly taken ill. And Nanako had an important project for her biology class.

"Sorry for imposing." Ryoma bowed in front of the Tezuka family.

"Oh, don't worry. But please do sit. As I recall, when you woke up I told that you all had some explaining to do." Ayana sat down on the couch, as did everyone else.

Kuniharu asked the first question. "Ryoma, how did you get here?"

"I walked."

Kuniharu sweat dropped. She was blunt.

"When did you get here?"

"Three in the morning, I think, right Mitsu?" Tezuka nodded.

"How'd you get in?"

"Mitsu opened the door."

"Kunimitsu, why would you answer the door that late at night?"

"She called me and I saw her out of the window."

A loud yawn sounded throughout the room.

Everyone turned toward Ryoma. She had tucked her legs under and managed to worm her way under Tezuka's arm and fell asleep.

"Cat…nap…just…ate." And she was out like a light.

Kunikazu rose from his old chair.

"Well, she's asleep and I'll be going. I approve of her Kunimitsu." Kunikazu nodded curtly and went upstairs.

Kuniharu looked unsure about Ryoma.

"Does she do this at school?"

"Always," Tezuka said.