TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains mention of suicide. If that bothers you in any way, please read with caution. Thank-you.

Lunar Eclipse

Chapter Fourteen

Those were the last words Ukai wanted to hear. He had harbored the thought most of the night. Ever since Sugawara called him with the devastating news almost three hours ago, the coach had a thought whispering in the back of his mind, warning him that this was a scenario he may have to deal with. It was on the news almost constantly: school shootings, bank robberies. Gunshot wounds killed people all the time. And so often, the people they killed were teenagers, young kids who hadn't gotten to live their lives yet. Despite the expectation, Ukai still found himself reeling. He was completely unprepared for news of Tsukishima's death.

Hearing the anguish in Amaya's voice was like a punch to the gut; it knocked the air from his lungs and crippled him from the inside. Listening to a mother grieving the death of her son left him with a hollow emptiness deep in the pit of his stomach. Thoughts and memories of coaching Tsukishima flooded his mind, and Ukai actively suppressed them, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand: comforting Amaya, and avoiding getting lost in his own emotions.

"Amaya," he began, picking his words carefully, trying not to think about the fact that his team could probably hear him, "You need to calm down, and tell me what they told you, alright? Tsukishima was very badly hurt. We knew this could happen." Amaya paused, overcome with a sudden confusion.

"Huh? What are you - No... Ukai," she replied, still sniveling, "I haven't heard anything about Kei."

"What do you mean?"

"Ukai... It's Akiteru..."

Akiteru!? Akiteru was fine when he and Sugawara left the hospital. He hadn't shown any signs of even being ill before they left.

But wait... earlier... He'd noticed that something was off about Akiteru... If only he could remember what it was...

... He yawned! That was it! Akiteru was tired! He'd mentioned earlier that he'd fallen asleep in the police cruiser, and Ukai remembered thinking it was odd that he'd fallen asleep so soon after being so high-strung. He didn't know very much about the intricacies of the human body, but he was pretty sure that no matter how tired a person was, there was no way they'd be calm enough to fall asleep on the way to the hospital to see such a close loved one in such a critical condition. Especially if they'd just been unable to sit still less than five minutes prior. There was always an adrenaline crash, but never that fast.

Akiteru was pretty defensive about it when he brought it up, too. At the time, he figured Akiteru was probably just mentally and emotionally exhausted from everything he'd been through, and once he'd gotten in the cruiser he hit his breaking point. But now with Amaya's phone call... he knew something else was going on. The most likely culprit for putting someone to sleep like that... Shit.

"You're at the hospital, right? Stay there, I'll be right over."

Ukai hung up before Amaya could answer and stuffed his cell back into his pocket. Ukai turned around to leave the gym, and stopped when he saw the terrified and expectant faces of his team. Frozen on the court, the Karasuno boys hadn't moved since their coach's phone went off, anticipating the worst. Takeda put his hand on Ukai's shoulder, breaking the heavy silence.

"What's going on? Is there news about Tsukishima?" He asked with a note of urgency. Ukai looked at Takeda, and then looked around at the faces of his team. He knew he had to tell them something - he couldn't leave them completely in the dark - but he didn't want to put more on their plates than he had already. He already called all their parents and dragged them to the school at 4am - though it was now quickly approaching 5 - to tell them that their teammate had been injured and was barely alive. Ukai knew that if he didn't tell them something, they would undoubtedly spend the rest of the night (or rather, morning, at this point) thinking their friend had died, and that Ukai was too afraid to say so until he and the other adults figured out all the messy details. If he did tell them about Akiteru, then that would put even more stress on them, giving them someone else to worry about, especially since Ukai didn't even know all the details himself, yet. He was particularly worried about Yamaguchi, who was probably the only one of the group who knew Akiteru personally. Yamaguchi was already devastated by the news concerning Tsukishima. The last thing he wanted to do was give the poor kid another close friend to worry about losing.

He had to tell them something, though. It's not like they were toddlers (though some of them often acted that way); they were teenagers. They were old enough to understand what was happening, and it wasn't fair to keep them in the dark about such a serious turn of events. As much as it pained him to do it, he decided to tell the team about Akiteru. Breaking contact with Takeda, he turned to address the entire room.

"No, there isn't any news about Tsukishima, but that phone call was his mother. Something... happened... to his older brother, Akiteru. I don't know much else right now, but I'm going back to the hospital to see her." Uncomfortable and unable to really say anything else, Ukai turned to walk out of the gym, before he was stopped by Sugawara, who had practically materialized right in front of him.

"Let me come with you."

"Sugawara, you've been through a lot. You should really go home and get some sleep."

"Please. I need to see this through." Ukai sighed.

"It's not about Tsukishima. This isn't related to anything you did."

"I know, but... I just... I need..." He sighed, took a breath, and tried again, "I set off a bomb. I need to make sure Akiteru isn't collateral."

It took Ukai a moment to register what Sugawara was saying. He knew that Akiteru was visibly upset, especially when he found out that his brother had been conscious throughout his ordeal. Sugawara obviously felt guilty about the whole incident, and it probably didn't help that he had to deliver the news since he was directly involved in the incident. He had watched Akiteru respond to something that he already thinks is his fault. He thinks... oh, god... He thinks that Akiteru killed himself.

"Sugawara," Ukai said in a low voice, so that the others, especially Yamaguchi, couldn't hear him, "I'm sure that isn't what happened."

Except you aren't sure. Amaya just called saying that Akiteru was dead. If he was correct about his hunch as to why Akiteru had suddenly gotten so tired earlier, then Sugawara's fears could very well be exactly what happened. Shit... I can't tell him what Amaya said. If he doesn't already need therapy for the rest of his life, he will if... no... when he finds out.

But what else was he going to do about it? If Akiteru really has passed away, then the entire team would find out relatively quickly, anyway. Ultimately he decided there was no sense in keeping the details from Sugawara. He was going to find them out eventually. Besides, he told himself, You need to figure this out, too.

"Coach - "

"Fine. Come on. We need to hurry." He turned and looked back at his waiting team.

"Sugawara and I are going back to the hospital. Daichi, can you make sure everything gets cleaned and locked up here?" The captain nodded in agreement and Ukai tossed him the keys to the gym. He had one foot out the door when he heard a voice behind him.

"Wait, coach. Bring me along, too."

He turned. It was Yamaguchi.

"Yamaguchi - "

"Coach, Tsukki is my best friend, and I've known Akiteru since I was practically in elementary school. I need to support them. Let me come, too." Well, the more the merrier, Ukai supposed. It wasn't like Yamaguchi hadn't been through enough already. He looked into Yamaguchi's determined eyes and found a strength he didn't realize the first year possessed.

"Alright, come on. But call your mom and let her know where you're going. Sugawara may be eighteen, but you aren't." Yamaguchi silently agreed. The three left as Daichi and the others cleaned the gym behind them.

Ukai wasn't sure what he expected to see upon walking back into the hospital waiting room. He'd never seen a parent grieve their child before. Would she be crying? Screaming? Would Amaya be shrieking in agony or suffering quietly? Would she keep her pain silent until she was alone or brandish her fury and heartbreak with the frightening lethality of a sharpened sword? He tried not to think too hard about it as he opened the door, Sugawara and Yamaguchi at his side.

What he saw upon entering was a broken woman. For the first time that night, Ukai saw how truly exhausted she was. She was simply sitting in her chair, hands folded in her lap, fidgeting with what looked like her car keys. The fidgeting didn't seem to be helping any, because her entire body was trembling. Her head hung low, her back was hunched over her lap, hiding her face from the world. Ukai couldn't see it, but he could hear what sounded like sniffling coming from her direction. He walked over to her, knelt at her side, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She jumped in her chair as she swung her head around to face him.

"Wha - Oh, Ukai. It's you... I'm so sorry I called you back here like this."

She's definitely been crying, Ukai thought as he finally got a look at her face. Her eyes were red and there were clear tear-stained trails cutting lines into her make-up.

"Oh, Koushi," Amaya continued, "And Tadashi, honey, what are you doing here?" Yamaguchi and Sugawara both came up beside her.

"Tsukki is my best friend, and I've known Akiteru forever, of course I wanna be here for them."

"Amaya," Ukai broke in as he sat down beside her, prompting Sugawara and Yamaguchi to follow suit, "You called me saying something about Akiteru. I haven't told the team exactly what you told me, so would you mind explaining what happened?"

Amaya fell silent at Ukai's request. She closed her eyes, and the other three watched as two more trails of tears trickled down her face. When she spoke again, it was hardly above a whisper.

"Of course. I did call you here. You deserve to know." Ukai, Sugawara, and Yamaguchi leaned in as Amaya began to speak.

"This last hour has been the hardest hour of my life..."

Amaya searched her nightstand drawer for an insurance card she hadn't touched in years. Honestly, Kei was such a healthy and careful boy that she'd never needed it for anything other than filling out forms for school physicals. The worst illness he ever caught was nothing more than a cold - with the exception of the one time he got the stomach flu when he was eight - and although he'd played volleyball since he was in elementary school he never injured himself any worse than a sprained ankle. Amaya had several conversations with her husband late at night about how thankful they were that Kei never needed heavy medical attention. Not only was Amaya grateful that their little boy never had to experience anything like that, but she knew in her heart that even with her husband's generous paycheck, the medical bills for an extended hospital visit would put substantial strain on their budget.

She caught a tear as it trickled down her face as she tried not to think about how all those points of gratitude had turned to fears. She found Kei's insurance card buried under some old envelopes near the bottom of the drawer. Pulling it from the drawer, she stuck it in the side pocket of her purse, and hurried out into the kitchen.

Once inside the kitchen, Amaya spotted her car keys on the counter by the door. Despite having taken a cab to get back to her house, Amaya figured it was probably a better and easier idea to drive back to the hospital. Taking her keys from the counter, she left the house and locked the door behind her.

The first thing Amaya thought upon walking back into the waiting room that night was that her son had simply fallen asleep. Not only did he work long, early hours that day, but he'd also had a volleyball game and dealt with the insanity of his little brother's injury. Truth be told, he was most likely exhausted. That was why, when Amaya saw Akiteru sleeping in his chair, head tilted back, legs crossed, and arms folded across his stomach, she didn't think anything of it.

Crossing the room, she sat down next to her oldest son. Seeing that he was asleep, she took his arm and shook him gently.

"Honey, I'm back," she cooed. Akiteru didn't respond. She shook him harder.

"Akiteru, baby, you need to wake up now." Nothing. Amaya shook him a third time. As she relaxed her grip, she noticed his head roll to one side in what looked like a fairly uncomfortable position. He didn't wake up to re-position himself.

"Akiteru?" As concern started to set in, Amaya took a deeper look at her son and noticed the first problem: His chest wasn't rising.

As her concern skyrocketed into panic, Amaya held the back of her hand centimeters from his nose and mouth, trying to focus through her emotion on what she was looking for. Nothing. There was nothing there. Akiteru wasn't breathing. She started to scream.

The man and woman, still sitting lazily on the other side of the waiting room, jumped to attentiveness at the sound of her panicked voice. The woman ran to Amaya while the man hurried to the door. He opened it and leaned out, calling for a doctor. Within seconds both a doctor and a nurse hurried into the waiting room to see what was going on.

"What's wrong?" the woman asked as the man waved down some help. Amaya had started bawling again, hardly able to keep her composure as she answered.

"He - he's not breathing." she gasped in between sobs.

It was in that moment the doctor pushed through the two women to check Akiteru. At first, he did exactly as Amaya did less than a minute ago - checked his breathing. Secondly, he took Akiteru's wrist, checking his pulse. He waited a couple seconds before his brows furrowed, then he turned around to his nurse.

"No pulse." He turned to shout out into the hallway, "I need help in here!"

Amaya knelt on the floor next to the doctor, wanting nothing more than to cradle Akiteru in her arms. He pulled Akiteru from the chair, laid him on his back on the floor, and began CPR. As she watched the doctor try to resuscitate her son, she suddenly found the other woman beside her with her arm draped around Amaya's shoulders in an awkward attempt at comfort. As Amaya watched the doctor try again and again to recover Akiteru's pulse, she wept terribly, wondering if tonight was the night she would lose both of her children in one horrendous twist of fate.

And there was chapter fourteen. Any and all constructive criticism is greatly appreciated :)