FUJI
Almost fifteen years later, neither of us had lost that particular challenge yet. I was a high-level executive in the Fujifilm photography and camera company; Tsuki was a successful surgeon and ran a small modeling organization called 'Silver', endorsed by Yukimi, the capable head of the Koori empire with Seichii ruling beside her.
We didn't boast of our affluence, despite the fact that we were practically rolling in cash. We acted like normal people – we invested in stocks and shares; watched our expenditure, etc. But when it came to our children… if something was really required, meaning that it was essential, we didn't mind forking out. And maybe it was because of that that they turned out the way they did. There were four of them, and we were proud of all.
The eldest, Ryou, had been named a music tensai this year, at the age of eight, the same age as Tsuki had been. We'd paid for all the tuition, the instruments, the competitions – it had been worth it. The small boy, who was a silver-haired version of myself excluding the smile – he was much more serious, rather Tezuka-like; where he'd got that from neither of us knew – had a name for himself already. He was Fuji Ryou, the music tensai who could kill us with the beauty of his playing, whether it was a violin, piano, flute, harp, or the old, traditional Japanese koto.
After Ryou were the twins, Haruzuki and Akizuki, just a year younger than him. Looks-wise, they were female versions of their older brother, but nowhere near as serious Unlike Ryou, they decided that the outdoors were much more interesting than being cooped up inside, and naturally we taught them how to play tennis and badminton in summer and how to ski and skate in winter. In all four sports, they were good enough to be entered for competitions in the under-ten category at least. They still hadn't been officially called tensais, but once they started entering competitions, the world would know them as the twin genii.
Two years after them was our youngest, Yutarou. He was different from the first three. They were small and delicate; he was painfully scrawny and undersized. It wasn't due to a gene mutation, but because he'd been born prematurely – in the seventh month instead of the ninth. He'd had to go for various surgeries in the first few months of his life, and even after that, the doctors had said that he'd have heart and lung problems for the rest of his life. Saddest of all, he was mute.
And, even though the other three had already shown a fascination with certain things almost before they could walk, Yutarou still didn't seem inclined towards anything.
RYOU
"Mother, the charity concert is today at ten," I said. "Will you be able to fetch me?"
"I should be," she replied, directing a look at Father.
"Haru, Aki, would you like to play tennis today?" inquired Father of my sisters, as if Mother had just asked him to – that was how Mother and Father communicated, without words.
Haru pouted in concentration. "I think that we –"
" – should play doubles today –" Aki put in.
" – because Sakuya-nee-chan is coming over today –" added Haru.
" – and it wouldn't be nice to leave her out," finished Aki.
Their… unique… way of finishing or continuing each other's sentences was something we were all used to by now, so nobody remarked on it.
"Saa, I'd nearly forgotten about Seiichi-kun's daughter... But who said that we can't play doubles? In fact, that was what I was about to suggest," said Father.
"Ryou, I'll take Yutarou along to your concert," Mother addressed me. "I think some of my friends may be attending it, and I want to introduce you two to them."
Father tilted his head slightly in Mother's direction, not saying anything but raising his eyebrows in a question. She saw it and answered, "Tano-san said that she'd be coming."
It was another example of their silent communication. When I was younger, I'd thought that it was normal, that all parents could do that. But then I realized that Yumiko-ba-san and her husband Kai-ji-san always had to say out loud what my parents understood without words, simple things like 'what about the kids' and 'I'll do that'.
I'd also always thought that being extremely good at things was a requirement for parents – that is, until I saw Yuki-ba-san trying to do gymnastics with Mother. My eyes still burn at the very memory.
One more thing that made my parents stand out – they were, or so everyone seemed to think, extremely beautiful. When I'd first started school, a lot of the students, particularly my sempais, were staring at them and whispering; when the teacher – a male – met Mother, he started stuttering and falling over himself. But they weren't vain, in a sense. They knew they looked good, but they didn't exactly go around fishing for compliments.
My parents were tensais, and thus, so were us children.
TSUKI
"Hello, Tsuki-chan. It's been a while, ne?"
I turned to see who had spoken, and there stood my old friend and captain, Tano Hikari. "Tano-san!"
She laughed. "Technically I'm not 'Tano' anymore; I'm 'Niou'. Your son Ryou is the star of this concert, if I remember correctly."
"Now that makes me feel old. I never thought I'd have kids so early," I said. "Ryou, remember Hikari-ba-san?"
My older boy nodded politely. "Ohayo, Hikari-ba-san."
"Ohayo, Ryou-kun," Hikari-chan replied. "Play well today, ne?"
"I will," he replied politely.
"And this is Yutarou," I added, gesturing at the chair beside me – Yutarou got tired easily, even just standing. "He's my youngest."
"Ohayo, Yutarou-kun," she said. "Did you come to hear your nii-san's performance?"
Yutarou stared back at Hikari-chan with large, solemn eyes before shaking his head slowly. I smiled. "He didn't come to hear Ryou's performance because he hears it all the time at home."
Hikari-chan, who'd looked rather startled, sighed in relief. "I was wondering if there was some kind of animosity between them."
Just then, the announcement blared over the sound system. "All musicians, please gather backstage immediately."
FUJI
The twins were currently trashing Sakuya-chan and I. Of course, the twins had been in sync almost since the moment they were born, and they knew exactly where the other was as well as where to move to next for the best advantage. Plus, I wasn't really trying.
"Fuji-ji-san, why are they so… together?" asked Sakuya-chan, Seiichi-kun's only child – for now. She had Yuki-chan's dark ebony curls and Seiichi-kun's soft eyes, and she was a year older than my twins.
"Maybe because they're twins," I replied, smiling. "Twins are always better at synchronizing themselves – in anything, even tennis. Don't worry, Sakuya-chan; you're also good for your age."
"But Haru-chan and Aki-chan are better," she pointed out. "I think maybe it's because you and Tsuki-ba-san are also very good at tennis… I don't know how to say it… it's in them?"
"I think you mean to say 'inbred', I said gently. "And maybe you're right. It probably is inbred, their sports sense and flexibility."
TANO
"That was a truly magnificent performance," I said with real feeling after Ryou-kun had ended the grand finale with a few other fellow musicians. "It was… superb."
"Yes, it was good," said Tsuki-chan. "Ryou's been practicing for quite a while for this performance; he really likes to get things done right."
"It doesn't sound like he got those genes from either of you," I joked.
"Oh, he did. It's just on our hidden side," she replied, helping Yutarou-kun to his feet. He wobbled slightly, shaky on his feet even at the age of five when normal children should be able to walk without help.
"By the way," she continued, leading the way out, "I've been meaning to ask you why you didn't bring your husband or kid – kids? – along."
I stared at her in disbelief. "You don't know why I didn't bring them along? Why, they'd wreck the place in ten seconds flat. Koharu is a miniature of Masaharu. I swear by Buddha-sama's increasingly expanding belly-button, I really respect my in-laws for being able to bring him up to be half decent."
"At least he's healthy, though." Tsuki-chan patted Yutarou's head. "Yutarou really doesn't have much going for him. He can't do sports like my girls because of his respiratory problems; he doesn't have any inclination towards music like Ryou… really, he doesn't seem to show much interest towards anything, so far."
"Koharu has a compulsive desire to destroy the house and drive me out of my mind, and Masaharu isn't exactly helping," I said dryly. "Ah, the trials of a married woman…"
Tsuki-chan laughed. "Yes, indeed so." Catching sight of her elder son, she waved a hand to catch his attention.
"I made a mistake in the third movement," said Ryou-kun upon reaching us.
"I couldn't hear a thing," I told him. "It's fine."
"Just try harder next time," his mother said with an encouraging smile. "After all, you've got it in your own veins to be a tensai – it's inbred."
YUTAROU
"He can't do sports like my girls because of his respiratory problems; he doesn't have any inclination towards music like Ryou… really, he doesn't seem to show much interest towards anything, so far."
I heard Mother's words repeating, again and again, over and over in my mind, like an itch that I couldn't scratch.
It wasn't my fault that I was disabled. I hadn't asked to be born early. But, as I heard her say that second set of words - you've got it in your own veins to be a tensai – it's inbred – I wondered, if Ryou had it in his veins, then so should I, since we had the same parents.
I'd thought of trying music before, but Ryou was much too good already; I'd never be able to make a name with his shadow over me. In any case, although I did enjoy listening to it, I didn't feel the need to be the one to produce it – Ryou produced more than enough for the whole family.
Of course I couldn't try to do sports like Haru and Aki – I couldn't even walk normally; I still had some difficulties. But I often wondered what it was like to run freely across a wide expanse, with nothing to hold you back, least of all yourself.
For days of silent thinking – not that I could talk, in the first place – I wondered what it would be like to be able to draw, to capture the images of freedom. My brother with the music swelling out from under his fingers, his eyes half-closed as he played; my sisters, with energy pouring out of their bodies as they chased after the tennis ball. Mother and Father, with those particular smiles that were only reserved for each other.
TSUKI
"He wants to draw," I told Syuusuke.
He yawned, turning over. "I did see a sketch of Ryou playing the violin in his room… but it's not just a passing thing, is it?"
"I don't think so… because I found three more sketches, all of Ryou playing the violin, all in different angles and lightings. I think this is it for Yutarou, Syuusuke," I insisted.
"So he'll be an artist, ne?" he smiled.
"It's so well-balanced, really," I mused thoughtfully. "Ryou is a music tensai, Haru and Aki are sports tensais, and Yutarou can be the art tensai. It all works out so well."
"They all had it from us, though," he reminded me. "It's inbred."
Now I smiled too, sliding closer to him. "It's inbred… from us. What do you think would have happened if either of us lost that challenge from so long ago?"
"We'd have regretted winning," was the prompt reply. "Because then not all our kids would be tensais."
They would all be tensais, yet they wouldn't be the same. They would hopefully not go through what we had… even if the experience was similar, let it not be congruent.
OWARI
A/N: It's over…. Boohoohoo… Not the best ending, was it? Don't kill me and please review one last time!!
Special thanks to my beloved faithful reviewers – Kiyoshi Kozue, Khyhara, AngelofDestiny, Jezeka, DarkShadowMuffin, xzlioness, darkxXxflames, Ki9535!!! Check out my other mulitchapters if you have yet to do so!!