[Prince of Tennis] [Oshitari/Mukahi] [#2 Along the Moonlit Bay]
Title: Tsuki to Houshi
Author: samurai_jun
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Oshitari/Mukahi
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: AU, possible OOC
Disclaimer: Not mine
Chapter 9- Moonlight
“Stay away from me, Oshitari, I don’t want to hear it,” Mukahi said coldly before leaving the silent tensai behind. The redhead was sure that if Oshitari didn’t stop trying to talk to him, he would punch him hard in the face.
He deserves it, especially for what he did to me.
In classes, he sat as far away from Oshitari as he could, and at lunch, he ate alone, which seemed to have also applied to Oshitari. The silent tensai would eat at a table alone without anyone near him with a downcast look. Mukahi also noticed that Oshitari was back to eating those horrible school lunches, and he almost felt guilty for not making him lunch, but he shook it off and continued on with life.
Mukahi couldn’t understand why Oshitari would be upset when he was the one that hurt him. He was acting like Kurotori during the two weeks that he moved into the apartment, except that he couldn’t speak, but the desperation in his eyes were telling him that he was begging.
“Hey, Mukahi.” The said redhead turned to see Jirou standing next to where he was sitting.
“Oh, Jirou,” Mukahi replied.
“Did something happen between you and Oshitari?” Jirou asked with a grim look on his normally cheerful or sleepy face.
Mukahi glared at Jirou. “Why?”
“Because Oshitari’s been moping for a week now, and as his friend, I want to help him,” Jirou replied.
“Don’t bother trying to help him, he isn’t worth it,” the redhead spat.
“What? Why?”
“Because he cheated on him in junior high when he knew that I was in love with him,” Mukahi growled staring at the ground. “Nobody like that is worth pitying.”
Jirou suddenly gave Mukahi a hard slap across the face. The redhead winced at the sudden pain in his face. “What was that for you idiot!?”
“Oshitari didn’t cheat on you,” Jirou said with a firm tone. “How can you say that when he practically lost almost everything in one night?”
What?
“He told me that on the night he lost his hearing, a guy had knocked him out and raped him in his dorm. His boyfriend took it the wrong way and committed suicide by jumping in the harbor knowing that he couldn’t swim. Oshitari had managed to get him, but the boyfriend was dead. His rapist, who had followed him, threw him in the middle of the street where a car hit him. His eardrums were badly damaged and beyond repaired and poor Oshitari was torn up for days because of his boyfriend’s death. I knew that you were his “Houshi” right away, but I decided not to say anything since I wanted you two to start over. Oshitari was happy with you, and still is, so don’t you dare say that he’s not worth it!”
Mukahi remained silent as he began processing the loads of information that were just thrown at him. He… was raped? So, he wasn’t cheating on me? I can’t believe it! I bailed out on him when he needed me the most! I’m such an idiot!
“Jirou, I don’t know how I’m going to make up with him,” Mukahi said quietly. “I mean, what if he doesn't like me anymore because I was being a jerk? If he does, I guess I deserve it-”
“Mukahi,” Jirou interrupted, “From what I hear, you love someone even when they hate your guts. You’re lucky, Mukahi. You at least have someone who loves you for who you are.”
“Jirou…”
“I’ve known about Atobe’s infatuation with Shishido for a while, but I didn’t say anything about it and kept being with him. Then one night, things got too far. I got into an argument with him, and…” Jirou broke down and the tears began to flow.
“Did he… hit you?” the redhead asked in a quiet voice. A small nod was what followed. “Jirou, now that’s someone who’s not worth any pity, you hear? Trust me, I know.”
“I know, but…”
Mukahi put an arm around Jirou’s shoulders and just waited as the sleepy student weeped on his shoulder. He would help him get through, but for now, he had to fix his own issues first.
-X-
Oshitari dropped the form off at the post office and left. He would be leaving at the end of the week. It was going to be hard leaving Tokyo, especially since he still hadn’t made up with Mukahi yet. He wanted to keep trying, but he was starting to give up. The redhead had been acting so coldly around him and avoided him as much as possible. The silent tensai looked up at the sky.
Houshi… Gakuto…
Stopping at his apartment building, Oshitari silently marched up the stairs and to his apartment where he tried his best to study the diagrams in his textbook, but failed to concentrate as well as he normally did, so he tried to take a nap, but that didn’t work out either. In the end, he was on his laptop typing more of his story.
I’ll track him down tomorrow.
-X-
Mukahi once again sat alone in the cafeteria during lunch trying to comprehend everything that he had learned. It was hard to believe that after thinking that he was cheated on, he wasn’t, and the person who had thought didn’t love him, loved him more than anything in the world. Within a week, things had started to spiral out of control.
Spotting Oshitari at another table across the cafeteria, Mukahi picked up his bento box and headed over. He had to fix things before Oshitari did move on.
Tapping the silent tensai on the shoulder, Mukahi said, “Hey.” Oshitari was surprised by the redhead’s appearance and the fact that Mukahi was giving him a sushi roll. “Take it. I don’t want it.” The silent tensai hesitated for a moment before taking the roll and popping it into his mouth. Mukahi gave a small smile as he dropped his bag on the bench. “Look, I found out what really happened. You didn’t cheat on me, did you?”
The silent tensai shook his head and wrote on a notepad, “Jirou must have told you, right?”
“Yeah, he asked me why I was avoiding you, so I told him, and he spilled everything. Sorry if it’s too much, but do you know who raped you?”
Oshitari suddenly found his food tray interesting. Mukahi started to think that maybe he wasn’t willing to tell, but then Oshitari made two signs.
“Huh? Sorry, you never showed me those,” Mukahi said. Oshitari started finger spelling slowly enough for the redhead to read. “Ku… ro… to…” Then the name flashed in his head. “No way…”
Oshitari nodded. “Kurotori.” Then he wrote, “That’s why I was angry when I found out that he was raping you.”
Mukahi took a deep breath and said, “We both have been used, huh?” Then a thought popped in his head. “How come you never told me I was Houshi?”
Oshitari wrote slowly, “After I thought you died, I decided to try forget about you. It was painful because it felt like I was throwing you away, but I knew that if I didn’t, I’d be wallowing in misery forever. I never forgot about you completely; I just forgot your real name and your face. My father must have wanted me to forget about you as well because he moved all my junior high yearbooks and pictures somewhere where I couldn’t find them. I guess he never enjoyed his son being gay.”
“In high school, I used to have dreams that were actual memories of us, but I could never see our faces or hear us call each other by our real names.”
“That’s weird, I can recall that we only called each other by our pet names when we were teasing each other,” Mukahi said placing his elbow on the table. “I guess it came from the results of you trying to forget.”
“Probably, after a while they started to go away, but recently, they started coming up again. I guess it was fate.”
Then he wrote, “Will you meet me at the empty dock?”
“Why?”
“I have to talk to you about something.”
-X-
Oshitari continued typing at a fast pace on his laptop. There were so many thoughts to put in and so little time. He had notified the school about his decision and agreed to continue classes next term. He left his father a message saying that he will take the rehab. All was left was to break the news to Mukahi. It wasn’t going to be easy now because of the fact that Mukahi knew the truth, but he couldn’t leave without telling.
He checked his watch and noticed that he should head over to the empty dock. I have to tell him now. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he locked up his apartment and left.
-X-
Mukahi checked his watch noting that it was close to his meeting time with Oshitari. Locking up the dorm, he left for the empty dock. I wonder what he has to say…
-X-
The two met at the dock on time. Both of them were feeling anxious at the thoughts of what the response would be from the other. Oshitari gripped onto his notepad as he saw the redhead in the distance. It was going to be hard, but he had to try.
“So Yuushi, what do you have to tell me?” Mukahi asked.
The silent tensai slowly wrote what he had to say his hand shaking and showed it to Mukahi. “I’m leaving for Nagasaki at the end of the week.”
The redhead read the note his blue eyes widening. Yuushi… was going away? A million questions started popping in Mukahi’s head, but all he could say was, “Why?”
Oshitari put away the notepad and made two signs. “I’m going to be a normal person.”
“What do you mean?” the redhead asked still confused. The silent tensai put his hands to his ears and shook his head. The answer came rushing at Mukahi like a gust of wind. “You mean that you’re going to Nagasaki to regain your hearing? Is that even possible? Wait, you said “normal person”. So that means that you’re also going to regain your voice too?”
Oshitari nodded.
“How long will you be gone?” Mukahi asked knowing that maybe he’ll finally get to see Oshitari again as he was in junior high.
“Several months,” the silent tensai fingerspelled slowly.
“How did you get the money for this? I mean, don't those rehabs cost a fortune?” Oshitari stuck up a thumb. “Your father? How come? I thought your father hated you.”
Pulling out his notepad, Oshitari wrote, “I called him yesterday. He said that my mother was planning on sending me the request, but she died before she could, so he delivered it.”
“I see…”
There was a long silent as the two stared at each other. It was hard on both of them, but somehow, the end seemed like it was going to be good. Suddenly, Oshitari spotted something in the sky. He tapped Mukahi on the shoulder and pointed. That was when the redhead saw it for the first time.
It was a crescent moon radiating light on the empty dock, and next to it was a single star. This time, there were no other stars in the sky, just the moon and one star next to it.
Mukahi smiled as he saw the sight. “Didn’t we use to call each other “Tsuki” and “Houshi”?” Oshitari nodded. “Anou, what’s “Tsuki” and “Houshi”?” Oshitari performed the signs, and this time, Mukahi got them on his first try.
-X-
The rest of the week passed by so quickly that it was the end of the week before they knew it. During that time, they spent a lot of time together to make up for the week they were fighting. Mukahi continued to learn sign language and moved back into the apartment while Oshitari got good lunches ever lunchtime. Those times were good, but time flies quickly when you’re having fun.
The ride to the airport was silent. Mukahi promised to accompany Oshitari to the airport, but it was going to be hard once he got on the plane. The same went for Oshitari who wasn’t going to looking forward to imagining how Mukahi will feel about having the apartment alone.
As they got past the gates, Mukahi said, “Yuushi, before you go, can you try say something?” Oshitari made a sign. “No, not in sign language. I mean talking. Can you try say something with your mouth?”
Oshitari was shocked by the request, but he nodded his head and started thinking of what to say. He wanted to try only saying one word, but in the end, he said a whole sentence before getting on the plane.
“Omae wa… ore no… tokusei… houshi da.” You are my special star.
That was the first time Mukahi heard Oshitari speak since junior high. He wasn’t one for sap, but this sappy quote had touched his heart. It was Yuushi’s way of saying, “I love you.”
Yuushi, omae wa ore no tsuki da. You are my moon.
Owari
Don’t stop reading! There’s still the epilogue!
Author: samurai_jun
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Oshitari/Mukahi
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: AU, possible OOC
Disclaimer: Not mine
Chapter 9- Moonlight
“Stay away from me, Oshitari, I don’t want to hear it,” Mukahi said coldly before leaving the silent tensai behind. The redhead was sure that if Oshitari didn’t stop trying to talk to him, he would punch him hard in the face.
He deserves it, especially for what he did to me.
In classes, he sat as far away from Oshitari as he could, and at lunch, he ate alone, which seemed to have also applied to Oshitari. The silent tensai would eat at a table alone without anyone near him with a downcast look. Mukahi also noticed that Oshitari was back to eating those horrible school lunches, and he almost felt guilty for not making him lunch, but he shook it off and continued on with life.
Mukahi couldn’t understand why Oshitari would be upset when he was the one that hurt him. He was acting like Kurotori during the two weeks that he moved into the apartment, except that he couldn’t speak, but the desperation in his eyes were telling him that he was begging.
“Hey, Mukahi.” The said redhead turned to see Jirou standing next to where he was sitting.
“Oh, Jirou,” Mukahi replied.
“Did something happen between you and Oshitari?” Jirou asked with a grim look on his normally cheerful or sleepy face.
Mukahi glared at Jirou. “Why?”
“Because Oshitari’s been moping for a week now, and as his friend, I want to help him,” Jirou replied.
“Don’t bother trying to help him, he isn’t worth it,” the redhead spat.
“What? Why?”
“Because he cheated on him in junior high when he knew that I was in love with him,” Mukahi growled staring at the ground. “Nobody like that is worth pitying.”
Jirou suddenly gave Mukahi a hard slap across the face. The redhead winced at the sudden pain in his face. “What was that for you idiot!?”
“Oshitari didn’t cheat on you,” Jirou said with a firm tone. “How can you say that when he practically lost almost everything in one night?”
What?
“He told me that on the night he lost his hearing, a guy had knocked him out and raped him in his dorm. His boyfriend took it the wrong way and committed suicide by jumping in the harbor knowing that he couldn’t swim. Oshitari had managed to get him, but the boyfriend was dead. His rapist, who had followed him, threw him in the middle of the street where a car hit him. His eardrums were badly damaged and beyond repaired and poor Oshitari was torn up for days because of his boyfriend’s death. I knew that you were his “Houshi” right away, but I decided not to say anything since I wanted you two to start over. Oshitari was happy with you, and still is, so don’t you dare say that he’s not worth it!”
Mukahi remained silent as he began processing the loads of information that were just thrown at him. He… was raped? So, he wasn’t cheating on me? I can’t believe it! I bailed out on him when he needed me the most! I’m such an idiot!
“Jirou, I don’t know how I’m going to make up with him,” Mukahi said quietly. “I mean, what if he doesn't like me anymore because I was being a jerk? If he does, I guess I deserve it-”
“Mukahi,” Jirou interrupted, “From what I hear, you love someone even when they hate your guts. You’re lucky, Mukahi. You at least have someone who loves you for who you are.”
“Jirou…”
“I’ve known about Atobe’s infatuation with Shishido for a while, but I didn’t say anything about it and kept being with him. Then one night, things got too far. I got into an argument with him, and…” Jirou broke down and the tears began to flow.
“Did he… hit you?” the redhead asked in a quiet voice. A small nod was what followed. “Jirou, now that’s someone who’s not worth any pity, you hear? Trust me, I know.”
“I know, but…”
Mukahi put an arm around Jirou’s shoulders and just waited as the sleepy student weeped on his shoulder. He would help him get through, but for now, he had to fix his own issues first.
-X-
Oshitari dropped the form off at the post office and left. He would be leaving at the end of the week. It was going to be hard leaving Tokyo, especially since he still hadn’t made up with Mukahi yet. He wanted to keep trying, but he was starting to give up. The redhead had been acting so coldly around him and avoided him as much as possible. The silent tensai looked up at the sky.
Houshi… Gakuto…
Stopping at his apartment building, Oshitari silently marched up the stairs and to his apartment where he tried his best to study the diagrams in his textbook, but failed to concentrate as well as he normally did, so he tried to take a nap, but that didn’t work out either. In the end, he was on his laptop typing more of his story.
I’ll track him down tomorrow.
-X-
Mukahi once again sat alone in the cafeteria during lunch trying to comprehend everything that he had learned. It was hard to believe that after thinking that he was cheated on, he wasn’t, and the person who had thought didn’t love him, loved him more than anything in the world. Within a week, things had started to spiral out of control.
Spotting Oshitari at another table across the cafeteria, Mukahi picked up his bento box and headed over. He had to fix things before Oshitari did move on.
Tapping the silent tensai on the shoulder, Mukahi said, “Hey.” Oshitari was surprised by the redhead’s appearance and the fact that Mukahi was giving him a sushi roll. “Take it. I don’t want it.” The silent tensai hesitated for a moment before taking the roll and popping it into his mouth. Mukahi gave a small smile as he dropped his bag on the bench. “Look, I found out what really happened. You didn’t cheat on me, did you?”
The silent tensai shook his head and wrote on a notepad, “Jirou must have told you, right?”
“Yeah, he asked me why I was avoiding you, so I told him, and he spilled everything. Sorry if it’s too much, but do you know who raped you?”
Oshitari suddenly found his food tray interesting. Mukahi started to think that maybe he wasn’t willing to tell, but then Oshitari made two signs.
“Huh? Sorry, you never showed me those,” Mukahi said. Oshitari started finger spelling slowly enough for the redhead to read. “Ku… ro… to…” Then the name flashed in his head. “No way…”
Oshitari nodded. “Kurotori.” Then he wrote, “That’s why I was angry when I found out that he was raping you.”
Mukahi took a deep breath and said, “We both have been used, huh?” Then a thought popped in his head. “How come you never told me I was Houshi?”
Oshitari wrote slowly, “After I thought you died, I decided to try forget about you. It was painful because it felt like I was throwing you away, but I knew that if I didn’t, I’d be wallowing in misery forever. I never forgot about you completely; I just forgot your real name and your face. My father must have wanted me to forget about you as well because he moved all my junior high yearbooks and pictures somewhere where I couldn’t find them. I guess he never enjoyed his son being gay.”
“In high school, I used to have dreams that were actual memories of us, but I could never see our faces or hear us call each other by our real names.”
“That’s weird, I can recall that we only called each other by our pet names when we were teasing each other,” Mukahi said placing his elbow on the table. “I guess it came from the results of you trying to forget.”
“Probably, after a while they started to go away, but recently, they started coming up again. I guess it was fate.”
Then he wrote, “Will you meet me at the empty dock?”
“Why?”
“I have to talk to you about something.”
-X-
Oshitari continued typing at a fast pace on his laptop. There were so many thoughts to put in and so little time. He had notified the school about his decision and agreed to continue classes next term. He left his father a message saying that he will take the rehab. All was left was to break the news to Mukahi. It wasn’t going to be easy now because of the fact that Mukahi knew the truth, but he couldn’t leave without telling.
He checked his watch and noticed that he should head over to the empty dock. I have to tell him now. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he locked up his apartment and left.
-X-
Mukahi checked his watch noting that it was close to his meeting time with Oshitari. Locking up the dorm, he left for the empty dock. I wonder what he has to say…
-X-
The two met at the dock on time. Both of them were feeling anxious at the thoughts of what the response would be from the other. Oshitari gripped onto his notepad as he saw the redhead in the distance. It was going to be hard, but he had to try.
“So Yuushi, what do you have to tell me?” Mukahi asked.
The silent tensai slowly wrote what he had to say his hand shaking and showed it to Mukahi. “I’m leaving for Nagasaki at the end of the week.”
The redhead read the note his blue eyes widening. Yuushi… was going away? A million questions started popping in Mukahi’s head, but all he could say was, “Why?”
Oshitari put away the notepad and made two signs. “I’m going to be a normal person.”
“What do you mean?” the redhead asked still confused. The silent tensai put his hands to his ears and shook his head. The answer came rushing at Mukahi like a gust of wind. “You mean that you’re going to Nagasaki to regain your hearing? Is that even possible? Wait, you said “normal person”. So that means that you’re also going to regain your voice too?”
Oshitari nodded.
“How long will you be gone?” Mukahi asked knowing that maybe he’ll finally get to see Oshitari again as he was in junior high.
“Several months,” the silent tensai fingerspelled slowly.
“How did you get the money for this? I mean, don't those rehabs cost a fortune?” Oshitari stuck up a thumb. “Your father? How come? I thought your father hated you.”
Pulling out his notepad, Oshitari wrote, “I called him yesterday. He said that my mother was planning on sending me the request, but she died before she could, so he delivered it.”
“I see…”
There was a long silent as the two stared at each other. It was hard on both of them, but somehow, the end seemed like it was going to be good. Suddenly, Oshitari spotted something in the sky. He tapped Mukahi on the shoulder and pointed. That was when the redhead saw it for the first time.
It was a crescent moon radiating light on the empty dock, and next to it was a single star. This time, there were no other stars in the sky, just the moon and one star next to it.
Mukahi smiled as he saw the sight. “Didn’t we use to call each other “Tsuki” and “Houshi”?” Oshitari nodded. “Anou, what’s “Tsuki” and “Houshi”?” Oshitari performed the signs, and this time, Mukahi got them on his first try.
-X-
The rest of the week passed by so quickly that it was the end of the week before they knew it. During that time, they spent a lot of time together to make up for the week they were fighting. Mukahi continued to learn sign language and moved back into the apartment while Oshitari got good lunches ever lunchtime. Those times were good, but time flies quickly when you’re having fun.
The ride to the airport was silent. Mukahi promised to accompany Oshitari to the airport, but it was going to be hard once he got on the plane. The same went for Oshitari who wasn’t going to looking forward to imagining how Mukahi will feel about having the apartment alone.
As they got past the gates, Mukahi said, “Yuushi, before you go, can you try say something?” Oshitari made a sign. “No, not in sign language. I mean talking. Can you try say something with your mouth?”
Oshitari was shocked by the request, but he nodded his head and started thinking of what to say. He wanted to try only saying one word, but in the end, he said a whole sentence before getting on the plane.
“Omae wa… ore no… tokusei… houshi da.” You are my special star.
That was the first time Mukahi heard Oshitari speak since junior high. He wasn’t one for sap, but this sappy quote had touched his heart. It was Yuushi’s way of saying, “I love you.”
Yuushi, omae wa ore no tsuki da. You are my moon.
Owari
Don’t stop reading! There’s still the epilogue!