Phone Call
A.N. I don't know why I'm particularly fond of injuring characters in my story...
Disclaimer: I don't and never will own OHSHC. Blood, sweat and tears spent, I still can't. So you no sue, okay?
XXX
Tamaki didn't like being idle. Yes, he has spent most of his time doing idiotic things but at least he was not idle. When he was at home, he felt as if he heard every tick of the clock, every gust of wind and every door rattle. He also hated being alone. It was okay as long as he had someone or something with him. A dog for example. Maro-chan, his big black Labrador kept him company whenever he was alone.
He did not buy Maro-chan himself. It was a surprise actually. What was more surprising was that the one who gave Maro-chan to him was none other than Kyouya himself. Now, Kyouya was not one to give gifts like dogs. But just when Tamaki was itching to have one, Kyouya suddenly thrust a bag to him and when he opened it, a black puppy.
Kyouya also scolded him whenever he forgot to feed Maro-chan. He rarely did forget, but he was sure the maid would give him something. He was so guilty afterwards that he gave Maro-chan his dinner.
Now, he was with Maro-chan in the gardens for all of the members of the host club were busy doing something. Kyouya was on his way to their health centre to inspect, the twins joined their mother to a fashion show in Paris. Hunny and Mori-sempai were away on a martial arts exhibition. Haruhi was away working with her father. He didn't have anything to do. Normally he would've marched out of the house to find something to amuse himself with, but not today.
He half-heartedly inspected the flowers in the gardens, noticing that the summer blooms were brilliant in colour. He picked a pink carnation and twirled the stem between his fingers.
He seriously needed a hobby. Should he take up painting? Nah... he wasn't that artistically inclined.
There was always the piano. But... for some reason, he couldn't play well lately. He didn't want to prod his mind too much in fear that he might discover something he shouldn't have.
Kyouya noticed too.
He asked him why he didn't play lately, when Tamaki visited his house. He played then.
But when he finished, Kyouya sat on the sofa, tight-lipped and silent.
Tamaki sighed.
He immensely disliked solitude. It was a time when he was coerced into thinking too much. He didn't want to think about many things. Many painful things.
He forced himself to think of something to do.
And someone to accompany him.
The closest one in the vicinity was Kyouya. Should he risk the Shadow King's irritation? Or should he just stay put in his house?
In the end, he dialled Kyouya's number anyway.
It took a long time before Kyouya picked up the phone.
"Neh, neh Kyouya!" Tamaki said cheerfully on the phone.
"Ta...Tama...ki..."
XXX
He was typing away on his laptop after his visit in the Health centre. It was good. Luxurious and comforting, just like what rich people want.
Suddenly, there was a bang against the hood of Kyouya's limo. There was shouting outside as well as alarming gunshots.
Kyouya immediately felt for the gun on the side of the leather seat. Even though they weren't really necessary since he had an entourage.
He locked the door swiftly. He needn't worry about bullets since the glass of the car was completely bullet proof.
"Nakashima-san, what's happening outside?" Kyouya asked the driver.
"We're under attack, Kyouya-sama!" Nakashima said his face very pale.
"How is that possible?" Kyouya snapped.
"Sir, we're being attacked by our own escorts."
"Bloody hell." Kyouya muttered eloquently.
Well, that was totally unexpected.
"Can't you call backup?" He asked. He tried doing so, but found out that the signal inside the car was cut off. "Dammit."
"I can't, sir. The lines were cut off." Nakashima said.
The answer was simple enough. "Do you have a gun?" He asked the elderly man.
"I do, sir. Two actually." The old man showed the guns.
"How many are outside?"
"Six." The man said after tersely surveying the surroundings.
"I'll take the ones at the back." Kyouya said.
Nakashima made some sort of protesting sound.
"What can you possibly do against six men when you're only one?" Kyouya raised his brow.
It was the first time this happened to him, but he had good training before.
Even though he didn't choose to fight as a hobby, he wasn't completely useless. After all they did own a private police force.
By why would his entourage do something like this? Financial motivation?
His mind worked rapidly as he, in contrast, calmly stepped out of the car. Nakashim followed suit.
"Kyouya-sama." One of them said.
"You have the nerve to call me that even after all this." He said dryly, meanwhile feeling the gun in his pocket.
One of them took a step forward.
Kyouya immediately whipped out the gun, holding it point blank to the forehead of the one who moved.
"Don't move." Kyouya snarled, and cocked the gun audibly.
"You're greatly outnumbered." One of them said. "Surrender now, Kyouya-sama. We don't want to do this."
"Then why are you doing it?" He asked. He was just buying time, even though he knew it was useless.
"We're just following orders."
Kyouya distinctly heard guns cocking and pointed at him. Kyouya calmly drew out his other gun and pointed it at another man.
"What do you want?" Kyouya asked.
"We are to take you to our boss. Conscious or not." The one who looked like the leader said.
"And who might be your boss?" He asked, raising his brow. At the corner of his eye, he saw Nakashima covering Kyouya's back from the other assailants. He tensed his hold on the guns, getting ready for action.
"You don't need to know."
Guns fired.
XXX
"Kyouya! Are you alright?" Tamaki asked frantically. "Are you sick?"
"Ta...maki... listen..." Kyouya breathed through the phone.
Kyouya's pain was almost palpable and Tamaki was scared for him.
"I... was ambushed." Kyouya gasped painfully.
If his phone wasn't made to be so tough, Tamaki would have snapped it to two. Fear clawed at him.
"Where are you?" Tamaki asked.
Kyouya didn't immediately answer and Tamaki could hear him breathe harshly to the point of wheezing.
"I don't know... exactly." Kyouya panted. "In the vicinity of the health centre..." He said through gritted teeth.
Tamaki strode to the garage and took his father's extra car. Fighting down the urge to panic, he asked, "How bad is it?"
"I don't know..." Kyouya exhaled weakly. "A couple of gunshots... a few wounds..." He inventoried, and chuckled morbidly.
Tamaki wanted to curse out loud. "Are the men still there?"
"Tamaki..." Kyouya's weakened voice was wry. "Do you think they'll let me use the phone?"
"Damn..." Tamaki muttered.
Kyouya went into a paroxysm of coughs, coupled with pained gasps of air and some shuffling.
"Nah... Tamaki. I think I have a wound on my shoulder blade." Kyouya informed him, all the while his voice fading.
"Oi! Kyouya!" Tamaki yelled through speaker phone in the car.
He drove, not caring a hoot if he was speeding. He was at least five minutes away from the health centre. Could he reach Kyouya in time?
"Nah... Tamaki... Did you feed... Maro?" Kyouya asked his voice almost inaudible.
Tamaki swallowed. "I did. Roast beef."
"Good..." He sighed.
"Kyouya!" Tamaki yelled.
He didn't answer. Tamaki's heart sank. "Kyouya!" He shouted loudly.
A few moments, "No need to shout Tamaki... Still here."
This was the first time Kyouya had ever said his name more than four times in one conversation. Tamaki would have been glad if Kyouya wasn't injured and possibly delirious.
This can't be happening. Kyouya, his best friend...
No! He wasn't going to let Kyouya die! No way in hell!
"Tamaki... they took my laptop..." Kyouya rasped, and coughed again.
"I'll buy you a new one." Tamaki said resolutely.
Kyouya chuckled. "You don't need to... I won't be able to use it anyway..."
"Don't! Don't talk like that!" Tamaki half-yelled, half-sobbed.
"If you come here... They might catch you too..." Kyouya said.
"I'm not scared."
Kyouya didn't speak for a while, only his harsh breathing can be heard and Tamaki's occasional inquiries if he was still there.
He wasn't going to allow Kyouya to die. He'd rather die himself that let it happen.
"Kyouya, what does your location look like?" Tamaki asked.
"I'm in some sort of shack..." Kyouya respired, his tone uneven. "From... the window... I can see the two big satellite receivers of our health centre."
XXX
Everything hurt like the very devil. He could feel his life's blood rushing from him. He was tingling and painful all over. The last time he checked his damages, he had two bullet wounds, one on the arm and the other lodged itself in his shoulder.
He didn't know how bad he injured the other men, but they were injured enough not to follow him. He didn't know what happened to Nakashima. When he tried to look for him, he wasn't there.
At the moment, he was too drained of blood to even think.
"Nah, Kyouya!" He heard Tamaki yell on the speaker.
He was too tired to speak. All he could do was to continue breathing, although breathing was hard itself.
"Ah..." He breathed.
Everything seemed brilliant yet dull. He stared transfixed at the bark of the tree across him. Everything had a pattern that was endless. From the ground to the roots to the leaves that connects to the sky and reaches the sun that shines back down to the earth. He couldn't see clearly. His glasses were still in place though.
"Neh, Kyouya..." Tamaki said his voice shaky. "Maro-chan grew an inch, you know."
"Ah..." He barely whispered.
"His fur got thicker too." His voice definitely trembled.
His hands were freezing yet he could barely feel them, his ears were buzzing. "Ah..." He answered. He couldn't hear his own voice.
Suddenly, Tamaki was kneeling in front of him. The blonde's eyes were filled with tears.
"Kyouya..." Tamaki grasped his shoulders and pulled him towards him.
The sudden movement was supposed to be painful but he was too numb to feel anything but warmth.
"Help is on the way Kyouya." Tamaki said.
"No... use..." He whispered.
"No!" Tamaki cried. "Don't you dare die on me like this Kyouya!" He said furiously.
Kyouya blinked and smiled weakly.
XXX
Kyouya's voice was getting weaker by the minute.
No. He wasn't going to die. He wasn't going to let him die!
God, please God, don't let him die... Tamaki prayed desperately.
He made his way through the woods, not minding the bushes and branched that snagged on his clothing.
Before he went into the woods, he called for help from his father to send someone. He just hoped that they would come soon enough.
Kyouya was lying somewhere inside this dense forest and who knew how long exactly he had been there. With his wounds, he could have possibly run out of blood by now.
"Nah, Kyouya." He asked through the phone. He still didn't hang up. The thin thread of communication was the only thing that connected him and Kyouya at the moment.
He couldn't let Kyouya down like this. Every time Tamaki was in deep trouble, Kyouya had been the one who always helped him.
He was the one who offered comfort to Tamaki that he felt as if he would be eternally grateful.
It was so hard to imagine Kyouya gone. It was basically unthinkable.
"Ah..." Came a very quiet response.
Tamaki was momentarily relieved.
He began chattering about inane things. About Maro-chan. He didn't remember everything that he said to Kyouya, but it was a desperate attempt to keep him awake.
Tamaki trudged on the shrubs, occasionally stumbling carelessly.
Suddenly, there was something on the forest floor.
A black shoe.
His heart pounding, he neared it. He didn't notice his whole body was trembling. He didn't even feel it when a branch scratched his face.
Two long legs came to view, sprawled as if resting.
"K-Kyouya..." He whispered, not noticing that he was still speaking on the phone.
Tears welled in his eyes, threatening to overflow as he approached his friend, leaning against a tree.
His throat constricted and could barely breathe. Kyouya was leaning back against a tree, his head bowed but presses against the earpiece of the mobile phone on his shoulder. Blood seeped through his clothes and shown crimson.
He looked so battered that Tamaki wanted to cry out loud.
"Kyouya." He knelt in front of him and took hold of his shoulders.
Kyouya was so cold that he feared he was too late. If Tamaki didn't see his friend's eyes, he would have assumed it was. But then, Kyouya's eyes came in contact with his.
Tamaki pulled him against his chest, trying to warm him the best he could.
"Help is on the way..." He whispered.
Kyouya made a soft noise. "No... use..." He rasped.
Tamaki swallowed hard and a tear fell down his cheek to Kyouya's forehead.
"Don't you dare die on me, Kyouya!" He yelled, but his voice was too constricted and sounded like a strangled groan.
"Tamaki..." Kyouya raised his hand to Tamaki's shoulder and grasped it as firmly as he could.
"Yes?" Tamaki croaked. He brushed some of Kyouya's hair from his face.
"Tell my father... I can't be his heir..." He whispered and smiled a little.
"What are you saying?" Tamaki asked incredulously.
"Take care... of Fuyumi...nee-san... She might be sad." Kyouya breathed.
Tamaki didn't like one bit what Kyouya was saying. It was like he was... saying goodbye.
"Don't say that, Kyouya..." Tamaki cried. Kyouya was so cold. His hand was freezing on his shoulder and his face very pale.
"And Tamaki... I'm sorry... I wasn't a good enough..." Kyouya really smiled sadly. His eyes were shining bright as if with fever.
"No. NO! Don't say that..." Tamaki sobbed. His eyes felt hot and realized that his tears were readily overflowing.
"Promise me... You'll live long and happy..." Kyouya squeezed his shoulder again.
How could he possibly ask that of me? Tamaki wanted to shake him. At the same time beg him to not say such things.
"Kyouya..." He choked and laid his cheek against Kyouya's forehead.
"Promise me Tamaki..." Kyouya rasped and turned his head to Tamaki's ear so he could here every whisper.
"I...can't promise about living long..." He struggled. "But I'll try..."
"That's... good to hear..." Kyouya sighed and closed his eyes.
Tamaki's spine jerked and grabbed Kyouya closer.
"Kyouya..." He said in an agonized whisper.
Dread seeped into him. "Nah... Kyouya... Wake up..." He whimpered and shook Kyouya.
No response.
Tamakis's body shook so hard it was convulsive. He wasn't able to emit a single sound for his chest felt like bursting. "Kyouya..." He choked out.
He was so grief stricken; he didn't realize there were footsteps behind him.
XXX
A.N. Oh dear... I can't believe I just killed Kyouya! (hysterical tears) No Tamaki! Don't kill yourself!