Happy Birthday?

I Love You

Takao looked around questioningly as he poked his head out of his room to check if anyone was around. Today, he had woken up with a start as he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, telling him that something was wrong or that he was forgetting something important.

When the pony-tailed teen had woken up, he had checked the time and stared incredulously at the digital clock by his bedside. According to the tiny machine, it had been 1:14 A.M. in the morning, shown in little sharp green glowing letters. Takao was in shock. He never woke up that early. N.E.V.E.R. Heck! He had never even woke up before 10 since those times in the couple of years before! 'Meh, might as well take advantage of it and possibly find out the cause of the feeling of dread in my stomach.' Takao thought.

He silently made his way down the steps and decided to go into the kitchen. The teen grabbed himself a cup and filled it to the brim with cool icy water from the fridge. He sat around on the couch for a minute or two before going outside to do a favor and watered Gramp's bonsai trees for the old guy. After doing that, Takao went back inside and checked again to see if anyone was up beside himself. He went away to the rainbow unicorn land and got himself overweight from eating too much cotton candy clouds with sprinkles and pop rocks. Well, in his dream of course.

He managed to wake up again while not even getting another hour of sleep. The midnight haired teen just rubbed his eyes and groaned, knowing that it would be useless to try fall asleep again. Takao yawned and stretched like a cat before he walked over to the dresser to get his clothes. He picked out a simple black T- shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. Takao slipped on his clothes and went outside once more to take a short walk. As he walked along the streets, the teen had a multitude of thoughts running through his head.

'What was that feeling that was present when I woke up?' He asked himself silently.

Takao hit himself on the head lightly in frustration, unable to think of the cause of his uneasiness. Then he snapped out of his thoughts just fast enough to avoid hitting smack into a fence.

"What the! A fence?! Where the hell did that come from?" Takao said, startled.

Then he realized where his legs had taken him. A ghost of a smile made its way onto his face as he walked into the graveyard. Quite ironic really. The slender teen made his way past rows of gravestones before stopping on a particular one, one that almost made him want to cry.

With a slightly quivering voice, Takao made himself known to the silent cemetery.

"...Hey mom.." Takao had to bite back an onslaught of tears as he kneeled in front of his beloved mother's grave.

As he continued to talk, he was mentally beating himself up for almost crying so quickly.

"I'm sorry for not bringing flowers this time, but I guess that I wasn't really prepared. But I want you to know that everyone is all good. Gramps is as energetic as ever!" Takao laughed dryly which eventually became a sigh.

"Man, I hope that you're doing okay up there mom... I hope you're happy."

The teen chocked up tears as he covered his face with his right arm, the left gripping at his jeans. After a couple of seconds of muffled cries and sniffing, a slightly red faced Takao peered at the tombstone again.

"Hey, I'm sorry for crying like that, I bet that I'm not really fit to be your son after all, maybe you guys were better off with just Hiro..."

The midnight haired teen sighed again," If I weren't born, then maybe you would still be here mom."

"Well, I better not burden you with any other stupid things that I have to say, bye mom, I love you."

Takao stood up, not even bothering to brush himself off and turned, ready to leave, but not before glancing at the gravestone once more.

He left.

And behind him, a faintly seen woman, with a slender body, flowing midnight hair, cerulean eyes that almost shined with distant warmth, and a sunflower dress that ruffled slightly in the wind, could be seen, sitting on the gravestone. A trail of tears was streaming down her face.

A beautiful melodic but faint voice carried its message through the winds.

"I love you too."