Title: The Sun in the Clouds
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Yanagi Renji, Sanada Genichirou, Yukimura Seiichi
Prompt: 030. Death
Word Count: 2,168
Rating: PG-13
Summary: A death in the family
Author's Notes: This was something to lay an OC muse of mine to rest. This is totally unrelated to any of my previous fics. It’s a stand alone work.
My LDT found
here ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That atmosphere was somber. It was so quiet, a feather could be heard to drop. The air was heavy with grief.
No one was expecting a funeral at this point of the girl’s life.
She was only sixteen. She was a happy, cheerful person that several people loved and cared for deeply. It wasn’t just her family, there were her friends from school, her boyfriend who had already asked her to marry him, despite only still being in high school.
Of course, the most devastated was her family.
Her mother cried almost for three days straight. She had been the eldest child, and that was what hurt most. Her husband cried along with her, despite trying to be strong for his wife. It had affected him just as much as it had her.
Then, there was her brother. On the outside, he didn’t show any sign of grief. He was stronger than his parents were, though he wasn’t sure why. He greeted the people that had come to pay their respects to his sister.
His friends were concerned about him. They knew that he wasn’t unaffected. They saw what everyone else didn’t see. They squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. He gave them a small smile trying to reassure them that he was alright, despite it not being true.
The darker haired of the two told the other that they should leave him be. It was hard to leave his side, especially since they weren’t just friends, they were lovers as well.
The other nodded, giving their shared lover a last glance before they left.
He knew they meant well, but he was dealing with this on his own, in his own way.
The day her ashes were buried wasn’t quite as emotional as the day the night mare began. Her parents had calmed down from the initial grief. The ashes were committed, and his parents started walking off. His father turned to his son.
“Are you coming, Renji?” He asked.
Renji shook his head no. “I’ll be home when I’m ready.” He said quietly. His father nodded in understanding. His parents walked off without him.
He stood there for a while, his mind blank, staring at the marker of the family grave. Finally, he sat down on the cold ground.
“Hitomi...” He breathed out. It was his turn to grieve. She had died from an aneurysm It was so sudden, there wasn’t anything the doctors could have done to save her. It really wasn’t fair. She had been the elder sibling. Despite his feelings of annoyance and things that little brothers usually thought, he did appreciate and love her.
He sat as still as the cement marker for a while.
He was joined by an unfamiliar presence not too long after he’d sat down. Renji looked up and saw Hitomi’s boyfriend, Sanada Nobuyuki, his best friend’s older brother. He had proposed to her not too long ago.
Nobuyuki reached down and put a hand on Renji’s shoulder.
They stayed like that in a silent understanding. Nobuyuki had also annoyed Renji as well, but right now the presence was comforting. It wasn’t so much that it was that he had been his sister’s boyfriend, but the fact that he was his friend’s brother.
“I’m sorry.” Nobuyuki said quietly. Renji looked up at him. He nodded in answer. He didn’t trust his voice just yet. Nobuyuki set a flower down in front of the grave - a single red rose. He squeezed Renji’s shoulder again as he walked off.
Renji just sat there, his mind disbelieving that his sister had died before she’d really had a chance to do things that she’d wanted to do. He knew she was looking forward to marrying Nobuyuki and wanted to have children. It almost disappointed him that he wouldn’t have any nieces or nephews now.
That also meant that his parents would be expecting grandchildren from him. That was too much pressure at the moment, and it wouldn’t matter until he graduated from high school, and hopefully not until graduating from university. So maybe there wouldn’t be (much) pressure until those days occurred.
It was depressing for Renji to think about. His mother had a tubal ligation after he was born, so his parents couldn’t have another child. That left him. There had been days he had wished he was an only child, but he didn’t think it would actually happen before either of them were twenty.
”Hold still!” Hitomi said, trying to put make up on her little brother. “I’m trying to make you pretty.”
“I’m a boy! I’m not supposed to look pretty!” He protested as a mark of lipstick went across his cheek. “Mom!!” He yelled from across the house. “Nee-san’s being mean and using up your make up!”
Their mother just smiled, and took the make up away. “I think you both need a bath.” Hitomi had managed to make herself look like a clown with the make up she’d managed to get on her own face.
“I just wanted to make Renji pretty!” Hitomi protested. Their mother just pointed to the bathroom.
The memory of that torture brought a small smile to his lips. It was a mostly normal sibling relationship. He enjoyed it when he had met Inui Sadaharu. He was an only child, and it made Renji slightly jealous that he didn’t have anyone to do those sorts of things to him. It was one of many reasons he had enjoyed his visits to his friend’s home.
Renji didn’t notice when the clouds, heavy with rain, had moved In and darkened the sky. He finally noticed that a tear had made it’s way through his closed eyelid, and down his cheek. He also didn’t notice the rain that started out as a sprinkle. He just sat there in the rain, letting it conceal his tears from any passing strangers.
Renji’s parents were worried that their son hadn’t come home yet. His father called the younger of the two Sanada brothers, the one that was Renji’s friend. What Sanada was told by his best friend’s father worried him, and he promised to bring Renji home.
Renji was still sitting in the rain, having stopped caring about much of anything. It was too depressing, even though he knew if he caught pneumonia or something similar it would lead to the possibility of joining Hitomi.
Two hands landed on his shoulders this time. Renji looked up to find his best friends. The two people he loved most in the worst, next to his family.
“It’s late.” Yukimura Seiichi said quietly.
“You need to go home.” Sanada Genichirou said.
Renji looked back down. His voice broke as he replied to them. “I don’t want to.”
“We know.” Seiichi said as Genichirou pulled him up, taking his coat off and draping it over Renji’s shoulders. He wrapped his arm around Renji’s waist, and Seiichi did the same from the other side.
The problem was that the other two had siblings of their own, and they didn’t want to make their friend’s suffering even worse. As hard as it was, the only place they really had to take him was home.
“We’ll stay with you.” Genichirou promised. He didn’t want to be around Nobuyuki with his grieving. As much as he understood, this was a time where Renji needed him and Seiichi. It was chance to let Nobuyuki grieve on his own.
Renji nodded, allowing them to lead him home.
Thankfully the other two boys were quite familiar with the Yanagi household. Being the driest of the boys at the moment, Seiichi removed his coat and shoes, and went to get a couple of towels for the other.
Gratefully taking the towels, the other two dried themselves as best they could. Genichirou went to inform Renji’s parents that they had brought him home, while Seiichi went upstairs and ran a hot bath while Renji sat on his bed, still numb from the day’s events.
Seiichi came back a few minutes later, lifting Renji’s chin so he could meet his eyes. “Come on, a hot bath will do some good. At least it should at least get the chill out of your bones.” Seiichi looked down for a moment, then kissed Renji’s forehead, then helped him up.
Renji blinked as he realized he was being led to the bathroom. He undressed quietly and slid into the bath. It was relaxing and warm. It almost made him feel better. “Thank you.” He said quietly.
“That’s what we’re here for.” Seiichi told him, and heard the door click as Genichirou joined them. He nodded up at the other teen.
Renji looked up as well, smiling just a little. “Sorry.” He said quietly. “I didn’t mean to make everyone worry. I assume my parents called you.”
Genichirou nodded. “And where to find you.” He knelt down by the bath tub. “We know, it hurts.”
Renji nodded. “It will for a while, but life goes on.” He said quietly. “I know this probably sounds like a bad idea, but...I think I’m going to spend the night in her room.”
The other two looked at each other, then at him. “Are you sure you want to?” Seiichi asked, trying to make sure that Renji understood how much of a bad idea they thought it was.
“I’m sure.” Renji said, taking a deep breath and rose out of the water. The water had helped to clear his mind and warm his body. He pulled a robe around himself. “I know what you’re thinking. I have my reasons.”
Genichirou nodded, understanding. “Do you want us to stay with you?”
“Normally I would say yes, but...not tonight. Feel free to stay in my room.” He offered. “I’ll join you in the morning.”
The two nodded. “Good night then.” Genichirou told Renji.
“Good night.”
Outside the window, a thunderstorm raged though the area. The flashes of lightning were pretty, but frightening. Every time one flashed, Renji hid his head under his blanket, pretending it wasn’t there until the next strike reminded him that it was there.
He wasn’t going to run to his parents though. They’d tell him to go back to bed and that it would be over soon. Renji just wanted to stick close to someone. So he trudged through the old house to his sister’s room.
“Hitomi-nee-san?” He asked quietly, knocking on her door. She got up and opened the door, and looked at her little brother questioningly. “Can I stay with you? The storms is a bit....umm...”
Hitomi smiled and motioned for him to come in. She crawled back into bed, and patted the room next to her. “Come on, Ren. You can stay until the storm is over...or longer if you want.” Big sister instinct had kicked in, and she was glad to take care of him for the night.
Renji curled up in the blanket on the bed. It was like yesterday he remembered being held by Hitomi through storms that had scared him when he was younger. He buried his face into the pillows. “Why couldn’t It have been me?” He asked whatever divinities were listening. “She was normal. I’m not....I don’t know what I’m going to do....” He said quietly, the implied “without you.” Never came out from his lips.
Renji laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Eventually he fell asleep.
It was late in the morning when Renji woke up. He was glad it was Saturday, or all of them would have been late for school. He took another look at his sister’s room. He knew they would be cleaning it out eventually...or perhaps they’d leave it as is, only with some minor cleaning of things that didn’t need to be there. He supposed it was a conversation he’d be having with his parents soon.
His bare feet padded across to his own room, where Seiichi and Genichirou were lying together in his bed. It was a sight, as Genichirou took up more room that Seiichi, but it worked out, since they were holding each other. Renji smiled at this. He knew they meant well.
Renji grabbed his clothes and got dressed before shaking the two gently to wake them up. “Good morning.” He greeted them as they opened their eyes.
“How are you doing?” Seiichi asked.
“Better.” He answered. It had helped that he finally had let out some of the other feelings he had bottled up during the process of the last week, from the shock of the news to the funeral, it had finally came out in an outpouring on his sister’s pillows. “Thank you.” He said, referring to them letting him stay alone in her room.
“It’s fine.” Seiichi told him, sitting up. “I understand.” He paused. “Should Gen and I leave?”
Renji shook his head. He wanted to avoid the awkward conversations he knew the family would be having soon enough. For right now, he wanted his friends to comfort him for a while longer.