Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ 10 Years Later ❯ Chapter 7

"10 Years Later" Chapter 7

By Andrea Readwolf [andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com]

 

Started: June 2005.

Word Count: 2900

 

 

Otori managed to get away without seeing, hearing, or speaking to Shishido's mother. The encounter had surprised him, but it had also awakened him to some subjects he'd been avoiding. He called his mother on the drive back to his apartment.

 

"Hi, mama. It's Chotaroh."

 

"Hi, baby. This is a surprise. Is everything okay?"

 

"Mmm. Everything's good. I just had some things I wanted to talk to you and Papa about. Mind if I stop by for dinner tonight?"

 

"Father's working on a big case now, but I'll call him. Should I set the table with two extra seats then?"

 

He grinned. He was looking forward to his mom meeting Karina and Marika. "Not yet, Mama, but maybe sooner than later," he hinted. "We'll talk about it tonight, okay? I'm in the car now."

 

"Okay, baby. Drive safe. See you tonight."

 

~~~****~~~

 

"Look at you," his mother exclaimed as he toed off his shoes. "Here I was worried you were wasting away in that apartment of yours, but you look healthy enough. You've been eating properly?"

 

"Yes, Mama, Marika makes sure I eat all my fruits and vegetables or I', not allowed any dessert," he teased, giving the senior woman an affectionate peck on the cheek. As he'd know she would, his mother latched onto the name.

 

"Marika?"

 

Unlike with Shishido's family, Otori had never tried to hide his feelings for, or his relationship with, Shishido. Even before Otori had even said anything to his parents, they had just known. Accepting the fact that he was in a relationship with a boy was one thing, though. His mother had always been supportive of his decisions, whether she agreed with them or not, but to try and explain the situation he currently found himself living in now...

 

His mother always said it was best to live and learn, make your decisions the best you can and live with the consequences. When his sister had dyed her hair green, his mother had merely batted an eye and then commented that the shade could have stood to be a "tad bit darker, dear. Or maybe a shade of blue next time."

 

Accepting, supportive, but still his mother.

 

"I must confess," he began with mock seriousness in an attempt to hide his trepitation. "I've fallen for a very pretty girl. Her name's Marika and she's good-natured, likes animals and is energetic. She doesn't care much for tennis, but I figure we can work around that," he added a bit wryly.

 

"I think you'll really like her, Mom," he continued, taking a deep breath. "And her mother."

 

"Her mother?"

 

"Yes, Karina's also very pretty and she's great to talk to, not to mention an excellent cook-"

 

"A woman with a baby? Oh that must be tough for her," his mother frowned thoughtfully. "You should have brought them over to visit, Chotaroh. Really! Where are your manners?"

 

"Well, I would have brought Karina over today, but her mother-in-law dropped by." He couldn't help making a face. "She doesn't like me much, so I decided it was best to get out for a while."

 

"So you've come running home, eh?" His mother shook her head. "Well, that's all right. I don't mind getting to feed my baby. So is that where you've been these past couple of weeks? I've tried calling you, but you're never home at night anymore, and I don't want to call you during the day and disturb you if you're working."

 

"You have my mobile number, Mama, you can always call me, but, yeah, I've been spending the nights there, and, well, I guess, most days, too. I never seemed to be more than a few hours at the apartment at any given time."

 

His mother gave him a knowing look, and he looked away. "So what's this about her mother-in-law? Why wouldn't she like you?"

 

Otori shrugged. "It's just a feeling I've always gotten from Shishido-san."

 

"Sh-shishido?"

 

"Ah. Karina is Ryoh's wife; Marika's their daughter."

 

"Oh, oh baby... I know you're a grown man now, and I've told you, you have to deal with the consequences of your decisions, but, baby, I hate to see you hurting. And I can't see how having anything to do with that boy now will cause you anything but hurt."

 

"I love him, mama."

 

"I know baby, that's why I'm worried you're going to get more hurt. Ryou's married. He has a family and it doesn't matter if he loves you, too. He's responsible to that woman and that little girl. He won't just leave them---"

 

"I know that! I wouldn't want him to. He's---he's a really great dad, and...a good... husband... and Karina's a good woman, and their daughter is cute, and... and I want to be mad at them, Mama. I want to hate them and scream at them and shout. If you'd really loved me, you would've waited, but I can't... I can't be angry with him or her because I love them too much to be angry.

 

"I thought... I'd thought I could, I don't know, just be friends, maybe. I thought I'd be content just seeing him occasionally, talking, catching up on old times, and then going our separate ways again... but, it's so complicated and messed up, Mama. What I want to do and what I think I should do are so different...."

 

 

~~~*****~~~

 

Shishido was grading papers in the teachers' room when his mobile phone buzzed and danced against the desktop. Behind him, kids were shouting and running about the school yard. Checking the caller ID, he grinned.

 

"Hey babe, what's up?"

 

"Your mother's here, toots," Karina ground out, and his relaxed manner quickly drained away.

 

"After being thoroughly insulted, Chotaroh bailed, and since then it's been nothing but how I'm a failure as a wife and mother and woman in general, and so help me, if you don't get here and *do* something about this, I will not be held responsible for my actions."

 

Shishido winced. His mother was always a little much to handle in the best of conditions, but from the sound of her voice, it was easy to guess Karina was experiencing another--violent--mood swing.

 

"You know it's your house," he tried. "You're allowed to tell her to get out."

 

"She's *your* mother," his wife hissed. "You tell her!"

 

"Fine. Put her on the phone."

 

"Oh no. You get your ass home and tell her to her face!"

 

The line went dead and he stared at it in a mixture of shock and dread. 'Violent' was beginning to look like an understatement. He glanced at the clock and mentally tried to calculate the probable damage the forty-five minutes' time difference between leaving now and leaving on time would've wrought. He gazed forlornly down at the math homework scores he was currently recording and the social studies papers he still needed to score, and then with a heavy sigh, pushed himself up and went off in search of the head teacher.

 

It would take him approximately twenty-five minutes to catch the bus home; eighteen if he walked; ten if he jogged.

 

He settled on a fast walk, allowing his mind to work over facts as his feet hit the pavement.

 

His mother was at his house. His mother had managed to insult Chotaroh and upset Karina. His mother now knew Chotaroh was back in Japan, and consequently, back in Ryou's life again.

 

"I'm home," he called out, wiping sweat from his face as he wrestled free from his sneakers. Quickly, he noted both Chotaroh's and Marika's house sleepers were still in their slots on the shoe caddy.

 

"Welcome home," two sets of voices called out, but it was lacking the pleasant harmony and honest pleasantry he'd grown accustomed to hearing from Karina and Chotaroh. The stony silence that followed the greeting was pregnant with hostility, and Shishido honestly debated the prudence of just heading right back out the door. Any stress that action might save him now, however, would most likely be quadrupled by the time his wife caught up with him---his mother, he was fairly sure he could avoid her at least until after the twins' arrived, and then there would be something to distract her---not to mention what Chotaroh might say or do to him if he found out Ryou had bailed.

 

It was acceptable for the younger man to bail, after all, it wasn't his mother. And it was quite possible that Chotaroh honestly had no idea just what a bad idea it was to leave Karina alone with his mother for any period of time, but then---

 

"Ryou?"

 

Shishido sighed. He was so controlled by his wife and lover, he noted affectionately.

 

"I'm here," he called back, sliding into his house slippers. "How was your day? You guys get the nursery painted?"

 

They were waiting for him in the other room. Karina tilted her cheek forward and he obediently pecked it---yes, completely whipped, he thought, running a hand absently along her shoulders. He frowned at the muscles bunched and knotted there, and tried to gently coax them into relaxing.

 

"No," Karina answered, sounding as stressed and exhausted as she looked. "We only got through one base-coat--"

 

"Ryou, are you planning on ignoring your mother all night?"

 

'The thought had crossed my mind,' he mused, but only practice allowed him to bite his tongue.

 

"Good evening, Mother. It's been a long time. If you'll excuse us a moment," he continued, leaning off the couch arm and pulling Karina up with him. "I just want to look in on the nursery and then we can visit."

 

She started to say something, but he was already leading Karina up the stairs, holding both her hands in his as he pulled her behind him. When they were safely up the stairs and right outside the nursery, he turned, pressing her up against the wall, kissing her soundly until he could feel some of the tension leak from her and she started to respond a little bit and---

 

He receive a thump against his stomach and he laughed, pulling away to rub her stomach. "You're welcome."

 

Karina exhaled a small laugh. "They've been restless all afternoon," she told him, moving his hands in position to feel the would-be soccer players disguised as tiny babies living in her belly.

 

"You need to relax is all," he pointed out the obvious, brushing his lips along her shoulder and throat. "It's not good for you or them to get worked up. So, how's the nursery look?"

 

Karina sighed and slumped against him. "Sometimes I don't think it will ever get finished in time."

 

"Well, really, as long as the basics are there, we can always add or change stuff later, right?" he reasoned.

 

"Mmm, I guess. It's just so hard to change once the babies are here. Remember how long it took to change the wallpaper in Marika's room?"

 

"Yeah, but Marika's a girl. These kids are boys," he said rubbing her tummy. "Trust me, they won't care if their walls are pink or polka-dotted until they're 7, at the very least."

 

She snorted; he grinned.

 

"I kinda wish we hadn't've given everything away after Marika had outgrown it," he went on, frowning over the mental list of things they still needed.

 

"Didn't expect to get pregnant again," Karina returned nonchalantly, "Let alone have two more."

 

"I guess I can ask my brother if he still has any stuff left over of Takumi's; and Chotaroh's sister has a couple of kids, too. We can always ask them..."

 

"Mmm."

 

"Are you okay? Really? I know my mom can be trying at the best of times, but it's not because she wants to be annoying--"

 

"I know that, but...." Karina sighed again. "She really doesn't like Chotaroh, does she?"

 

"Who? My mom?"

 

Karina nodded. "She was so mean to him, and I got angry, and..." Angry, frustrated tears began to well up in her eyes and he quickly shushed her and moved her into the bedroom.

"It's not that she doesn't like Chotaroh, baby, it's more like she never liked the idea that I might be, well, deviant from her orderly standards. She expected both her sons to graduate college, find a decent girl, find a decent job, pop out a few kids, and then die a decently normal death. Yet, there I was, with my longer than standard hair, hanging around boys all the time...

 

"Even Keigo," he added with amusement. "She thought he was so sophisticated and mature when she first met him, but when she started to suspect something going on between me and him, her attitude turned cool, real quick. He was offended at first, now he just finds it amusing."

 

He bent to kiss her neck and shoulder, pressing their bellies together and purring wickedly into her ear. "Imagine how she'd react if she found out how *un*normal and *in*decent we are... Mmmm, did you two fool around behind my back again?" he teased, running his hands down her back to her ass and up again.

 

"We were on our best behavior," she returned, leaning into his touch. "But..."

 

"But?" he asked distractedly.

 

"But maybe you should tell her," Karina suggested, and Shishido stopped and looked down at her incredulously.

 

"Well, I mean, she's going to need to get used to the idea that Chotaroh lives here now, after all, and that he's going to live here. That this is home and his family, too."

 

He didn't relish the thought of breaking that news---imagining his mother's reaction was one thing. {"Hi, Mom. Remember Chotaroh? We were lovers in high school? Well, he's back and we're lovers again, and don't worry, Karina knows. In fact, they're sleeping together, too. We're all sleeping together. Yeah, every night we make passionate love to each other. It's a lot of fun."} Having to actually deal with it, was quite another. But, his wife did have a good point.

 

"Fine," he decided with a deep breath. "I'll tell her. But *you* are going to lay down and rest for at least an hour," he directed, walking her backwards to the bed until her legs touched the mattress.

 

"You're going to tell--" she sputtered, wide-eyed.

 

He nodded. "Like you said, she's going to have to start getting used to the idea, right? Now, you just rest for a little bit. I want you to focus on you and these little guys right here, okay? And let me handle my mother."

 

He left her there and went to face the music.

 

"I heard you have a maid now," his mother spoke the second he walked back into the room. "She's obviously not doing her job properly. You should---"

 

"Mom, cut the crap already," Shishido growled, snatching up the two glasses on the coffee table. One, he noticed, was untouched. "If all you're going to do is complain, then you know where the door is."

 

She stiffened, eyes narrowing. "How dare you speak to your mother that way."

 

"No, how dare you come into my home and proceed to insult and upset the people who live here. Karina's pregnant, Mom, and she's not having an easy time of it. She doesn't need you or anyone else coming in here and stressing her out."

 

"What she doesn't need is that---that *boy* loitering around and--"

 

"If you mean Chotaroh--"

 

"You told me he was gone, Ryou. 'That's all over, Mom,' you said. Do you remember?"

 

"Yeah, it was all over. He moved away, and I stayed, and now he's back and--"

 

"You're married! Think of your wife! Think of your family!"

 

"Don't try and tell me how to live my life! Dammit, Mom. I love him!"

 

"What about Karina--"

 

"She knows! Hell, she's the one who forced us to get back together!"

 

"I refuse to believe that any woman--"

"Then don't believe. No one's telling you that you have to. But I *am* telling you this: Chotaroh is a part of this family. He lives here now; this is his home, too, and--"

 

"That is absolutely absurd!" she cut him off again. "I know you were 'friends' back in school, Ryou, but you're not a schoolboy anymore and neither is he. You are a husband and a father, and you have another baby coming, and a responsibility to them to--"

 

"Mom. Let me spell this out for you as clearly as I can," he said with little lasting patience. "Chotaroh and I are lovers. We love each other. Chotaroh and Karina are friends and lovers, too. Chotaroh lives here. He eats, sleeps, and shits here just like the rest of us. He helps Marika with her homework when she needs it, takes out the trash when I forget, and is currently working on redecorating the nursery with Karina so that it will be ready when the twins arrive--"

 

"Twins?" she finally latched on to something he was saying and mentally, he grinned.

 

"Yeah, I guess we really haven't talked too much recently. Karina's carrying twins. The doctor's pretty sure they're both boys. So you need to be gentle with her, Mom."

 

"And boys," his mother went on, completely ignoring him, and Shishido sighed wondering how long he would have to suffer before he could convince her to leave.

 

 

~~~*****~~~

 

TBC