The Funeral ~ Part One
Category: Stories

Kat stared down at his phone at what he'd just typed but not yet sent:

'Emiri passed away…'

Shaking his head he frowned. He couldn’t send that. He would get back some variation of who was Emiri? Sighing he pressed the backspace key and started again coming up with:

'My ex-girlfriend Emiri passed away and today is her funeral. I'm about to go now.'

Again he frowned and stared at the message. Likely that would put tremendous doubt in the other's head. What if he still loved her and couldn't get past it? He didn't love her. Her passing didn't make him sad because it meant they could never reunite. That was never going to happen anyway. No, he was sad for his friend who lost his sister. Sad because he'd viewed her as a friend even now. Sad because she was gone and there was nothing he could do to help her anymore.

Sighing he looked up as he heard a sound across the room. The door slid open and a young boy stood there looking at him but just as quickly as their eyes met his friend blocked the boy from his view.

He looked down again at his phone then erased what he wrote. The new message read: 

'An old friend passed away and I have to go to her funeral today. And I have a son.' 

Immediately he erased the message glancing up to where he could see the boy now sitting on the couch with his friend Masahiko talking quietly. His words had been he might be your son but Kat already knew. He remembered his sister Rei at that age. He could see his baby sister in that boy. The child was his, Hikaru. He couldn’t be more certain, that was the name they’d agreed to name their first born, male or female. Again he couldn’t break this revelation that way. With another sigh and a shake of his head he typed something short, from the heart and to the point:

'I miss you.'

With a nod he pressed send then locked the screen and slid the phone into his pocket just as he heard a sound in the doorway as the last two members of their little party emerged from their room. He smiled as little Isabella, not so little anymore, waved with a big smile from her mother’s side. He waved back and slid the chair back from the table before standing. 

He’d gotten in late last night. The moments before he met up with Hiko he was happy to see his friend. Happy to be in Japan even for a short while but there wasn’t that big welcoming smile on his friend’s face. Yes there was that friendly smile but it was half-hearted and he looked sad and worn like a battered old trunk. He hadn't noticed in New Orleans if he’d been so tired. Was he really so self-involved to not see this man was in, well it was another moment before learning what, but he was clearly going through something? It was possible. Things could be going great in life only to fall apart in the next second. Men were such selfish creatures and he was no exception.

 He slid the chair back and paused before standing. It was almost time to go. All morning, ever since he heard the news he was remembering everything. Flashes of the past. Not the bad ones, the bad feelings, they came but he repressed them. He wanted to ignore those, wanted to live in the happy moments while he could. Now he couldn’t deny it as memories flashed through his mind. Stronger and then stronger still. Some of them were too strong. 

Emiri smiling at him… Emiri crying, begging him to indulge her final wish. That look on her face as he said goodbye, her expression as he looked back at her as he walked away and out of her life. Maybe once or twice he saw her after before she left their college. Always that same look of utter devastation, abandonment.

Lost in thought as always he hadn’t heard the boy approach. Not until he took his hand did he realize. Looking down he gently gripped the small hand taking his and offered him a smile. 

'My son, this is my son.'

He couldn't help thinking it, and though he had so many thoughts and feelings surrounding this he tried not to let it show. Whatever he felt , it wasn't this child's fault and now he was alone in the world. Hikaru smiled, giving his hand a squeeze. With a nod Katsurō looked up, catching his friends watching them but remained silent.

Gesturing to the door Masahiko joined them as Wren advanced to his side before placing her hand on the raven-haired man's shoulder, comforting. "We uh… we should go."