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

"10 Years Later" Chapter 10

By Andrea Readwolf [andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com]

 

Started: July 2005.

Word Count: 710

 

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Karina sighed and turned off the TV in disgust. It had been bad being stuck in bed in her own home, but a hospital--any hospital--was worse. Her body hurt and it didn't matter what position she turned to, and she was surrounded by hospital smell. Even closing her eyes and trying to pretend she was still home didn't help. There was a constant flow of people walking outside her room, and paging systems calling for doctors and nurses, and it was too noisy.

 

It was worse because she was surrounded by people and all alone in this place. She missed her bed; she missed her room; she missed her evening chats with her daughter; she missed the solid warmth of Ryoh and Chotaroh; she missed Chotaroh's snores and Ryoh's sleepy grumblings; she missed the sounds of Chotaroh's music and the maid humming as she went about her work.

 

Karina missed her home--and she'd only been away for a day.

 

"Knock, knock, anyone home?" a cheerful voice whispered and a fiery golden head peeped in the semi-open door.

 

Karina brightened visibly. "Hi, Jiroh! Come on in," she greeted. "I could use a good distraction from depressing thoughts."

 

"Aun. I'm surprised Chotaroh's not here with you."

 

"I sent him home," she confessed as her visitor found a comfortable spot in the waiting chair. "There was nothing he could do here." She sighed and reached for the pile of envelopes she'd left on the roller tray last night.

 

"He and Ryoh will be okay, don't you think?" she couldn't help but asked, fingering the envelopes.

 

"There was never a doubt in my mind that they would be," Jiroh answered firmly and she nodded. "After all, platinum is stronger than gold, right?" he tried teasing, and although the joke was not lost on her she didn't feel very humorous at the moment.

 

Karina studied her wedding band for a moment and then slipped the golden band off her finger and into one of the envelopes. She sealed it and then looked at the name scrolled across its face.

 

Marika.

 

"I guess that's everything then," she said, handing him the envelopes.

 

"Karina," he said as gently and delicately as possible as he took the envelopes from her. "There is still a possibility--"

 

"Then we can all laugh at how melodramatic I'm being afterwards, right?" she cut him off quickly, tired of contradicting everyone who suggested a different outcome than the one she knew would happen.

 

He smiled, but there was no light in it. "You're right. I'll be sure to tease you mercilessly, so you'd better be prepared."

 

"I will be, Jiroh," she promised. "I will be."

 

 

~~~*****~~~

 

 

If you were to ask Chotaroh about any detail of those forty-eight hours, he wouldn't be able to tell you anything other than the overwhelming sense of hopelessness and despair and the crazy sense of wonder that consumed him.

 

If you asked Ryoh, he would only answer specific questions, but he could tell you the exact time he received the phone call from the hospital; that there was a water splotch on the permission papers he signed; that at 4:16 on Friday November 16th, his first son was delivered by Cesarean section; that his second son arrived six minutes later.

 

If you asked, Ryoh could tell you the look on the doctors' and nurses' faces as they wheeled Karina from the delivery operating room and into the emergency operating room; he could tell you that Miya-san and Yumi were the names of the two nurses who took charge over the infants, carefully cleaning both boys and testing and measuring them before taking them to the nursery ward.

 

Chotaroh would tell you how impossibly small both boys looked, but Ryou could tell you that Hiroshi was six pounds two ounces and Akito was five pounds six ounces

 

It was Chotaroh who asked Ryoh's mother to take Marika home that night; it was Ryoh who promised to call with news.

 

Chotaroh would say it seemed like the doctors were in the emergency room forever; Ryoh could tell you it was exactly eight hours and forty-eight minutes.

 

 

~~~*****~~~

 

 

Four minutes past one on the morning of November 17th, Shishido Karina, age 30, passed away.

 

 

~~~****~~~

 

TBC