Title: Time will tell
Author: F5C
Rating: PG for now
Posted: Fanfiction.net (not yet there… my account is screwed up… that or my comp,… but as soon as it is possible it will be posted there too)
E-mail: chatterbox_shil@yahoo.com

Part 2

Hanamichi lay in bed… staring up at the ceiling… he was deep in thought
// Shit! Why the hell am I still here? I should be back but I am still here and it is all my fault// his train of thought was interrupted as a nurse came into the room and laid a tray of food next to him. At one point in time Hanamichi would have devoured the food without thinking, but not now. He eyed the food warily and after a few more minutes he went back to staring at the ceiling.

FLASHBACK

Everything was fine. His aunt was better after the operation and well his mom was a whole lot happier than she had been in a long time. It seemed that she really liked staying here… in the States with his aunt. She liked the idea so much that now she had decided that they'd migrate here. SHE HAD DECIDED. He wasn't given a chance to say no… he had been ordered to stay with her…

"We are going to live here with your aunt! This place is better… here you have a clean slate and you have the chance to enter a better school. We will move here!"

"Oh! So now I don't have a choice? This is my life after all… and yet I have not been given a choice to choose? You didn't even ask me about it? We are family… doesn't my opinion count?"

"Hana-kun… its not that… it is just that things have been so much better here and I got a good job opportunity here… better than the one I have in Japan. Of course we are family… but this is what is best" said his mother quietly.

"What about my school? My friends? Basketball? The Gundam? What about me?" he yelled back.

"As for your school you can attend one here… You'll make new friends here as well… You can join the team in your new school… and you can still keep in touch with the gundam. Lastly, about the language barrier… well... I have already hired a tuition teacher for you since your English is hopeless" before she could finish she was cut off by a raging Hanamichi.

"This was all settled! You never even once asked me or thought about my feelings. Everything had been settled right down to the school and the language! How can you do this to me? You never thought about me! Your son! Your only son! You never planned on asking me for my thoughts! This SUCKS!" and with that Hanamichi ran out off the house slamming the door shut.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Hey Hanamichi! How you doing? Any better?" asked Yohei

"Um… I am feeling better… but they won't let me out of this hospital… it sucks!"

There was a long silence which had settled between the two friends.

"I got your letter and…"

"Hey Yohei… I am sorry… I know that this sucks… you have no idea how much I hate this but I can't help it… I haven't been given the choice"

Again silence

"Hey… but I have some good news… I don't have to stay forever… I'll be back in a year… we finally made a deal"

"That's good! I guess I'll see you in a year but until then keep in touch okay? And take care of yourself!"

"Ja!" and with that a soft click was heard and Hanamichi put the phone receiver beck on the cradle and resumed staring at the ceiling.

"Hey man… thanks for saving my life."

Hanamichi looked towards the guy who had spoken and smiled. The guy lying in the bed next to his in the hospital ward was now his friend… and even though it was because of him that Hanamichi was in the hospital… they had become fast friends. With the help of the English tutor and this guy Hanamichi's English had improved very quickly, after all he is a fast learner when it is necessary and in this case it was as he hated not knowing what people said when they spoke to him in English.

"So who was that on the phone? One of your friends I take it?"

"Yohei Mito. My best friend. He was part of my group when I was in Japan. We have known each other since we were kids and he was one of the four who made up the Gundam"

"The gundam?"

"Hai! The Sakuragi Gundam when loosely translated stands for the Sakuragi army. They were always there for me and I am going to miss them so much along with the rest of my friends. But I'll be back in a year and well I can't wait!"

"You had your own army? Were you really all that notorious? At least that explains your unique fighting skills" commented the guy reflecting on Sakuragi's head butts.

"Hey… I am really sorry that you are in this mess"

"It's not your fault… I willingly took part in the fight… don't blame yourself Max!" and with that Hanamichi stopped looking back at the African American boy who lay beside him and returned to staring back at the ceiling.

FLASHBACK

He had run out of the house and well this not being Kanagawa he had got lost soon enough. He was walking past an alley when he heard screams and shouts; he turned to see a group of guys. A few of them were beating a guy while another two of them were roughly groping a teenage girl. Hanamichi would have walked away and left the guy if he hadn't seen the girl but on seeing her trashing wildly he realized that this was wrong and stepped in to help the couple.

"Mind your own business boy!"

But Hanamichi headed towards the girl.

"Let her go!" he stated firmly but effect was lost as the words didn't come out smoothly as it was a foreign tongue to him.

"Hey lookie here! Jap boy over here wants to have some fun as well" and with that the man threw his fist at Hanamichi.

Hanamichi easily eluded the punch and with lightning reflexes he grabbed the man's head and head butted him and immediately did so with the other guy who was still holding the girl.

The men were stunned but soon enough they lunged for him. He fought them easily and would have won had it not been for the leader who suddenly out of nowhere drawn out a Swiss army and slit his throat.

The group had dispersed immediately leaving the girl who was screaming hysterically, the boy who had left to get help and Hanamichi who was sprawled on the ground clutching his neck for his dear life.

END OF FLASHBACK

Max looked at his Asian friend lying next to him. He looked at the neck which was now bandaged and sighed. The guy was really nice when you got to know him. Maybe a bit too innocent and naïve but that would soon change. In fact it already had… he wasn't as naïve as he use to be.

They had lain in the hospital next to each other for two weeks and already the guy had changed. He was not as naïve as he first was and he was also an extremely fast learner… he was already fluently speaking English and people who hadn't met him before would have thought that he had been born in America.

He broke the silence

"Hey man… which school you going to?"

"West High something… I am not very sure of the name. Why?"

"I go there too… you never know we may be classmates… You going to join the basketball team?"

"Of course! After all wouldn't your team want to be blessed with the help of the Tensai!"

Max sweatdropped… he knew that Tensai meant genius and he knew that Hanamichi was a self-proclaimed one. But he also knew that Hanamichi wouldn't survive here if he went on acting like that and Hanamichi had also made that discovery. In fact Max was the only one who knew about his self-proclaimed Tensainess. With everybody else Hanamichi acted cautiously just like Max had told him too… after all it is hard to find people you can trust here. Hanamichi had earned his trust… hell… he owed him his life and that of his sister's as well… and now he promised that he'd pay Hanamichi back.

//West High here we come!//

end of part 2