Title: By Anyone's Rules
Pairing: Kyouya/Kaoru
Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club belongs to Hatori Bisco and related companies.
Spoilers: The entire manga and anime
Summary: A love story told in reverse. Hitachiin-Ootori Kaoru is 30 and newly widowed. Even from the grave, Kyouya keeps the promises he made. #1 in the Movie Adaptations Series – based on P.S. I Love You.
Let's not play by anyone's rules. Not even those that we've set for ourselves or each other.
PROLOGUE
.
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
W.H. Auden
.
(Thursday 7 September 2023, 30 years old, New York City)
A day before the fashion show of the designer label Flamingo&Maya, Hitachiin-Ootori Kaoru receives a phone call.
He answers.
He is not sure what happens after that.
He cannot regain his memory of it, and he never will.
This is what he knows as narrated to him four months later by Hikaru, who'd been an eyewitness: his face had taken on an ashy pallor, his eyes had dulled to an opaque blindness, and he'd looked hollow and fragile like a cracked seashell.
Hikaru will say that he'd taken the mobile from Kaoru's frozen hands, and that he'd never, ever felt more like he had to be an older brother to his twin than at that particular moment.
They'd gone to the hospital, away from the atelier in full knowledge that they're going to crack their heads open on the looming, unforgiving deadline of the show. Hikaru will say that Kaoru's mute stillness had frightened him unlike anything else he'd experienced. Hikaru will say that he'd needed Tamaki and Mori to be present like a physical ache, to tell him what to do, to help him hold Kaoru while he shatters apart. Hikaru will say that he'd been at a loss, at once hurting for his brother and mourning his brother-in-law.
Hikaru will say that –
After they'd identified the body – yes, it'd been a body and not a patient that had been waiting for them – Kaoru had turned away without emotion (as though nothing could register in his brain), and had returned promptly to the atelier to rush out the final uncompleted pieces with his usual acuity and flair. Not a soul at the atelier had suspected a thing.
The models had strutted the catwalk, the designers had taken their bow – Kaoru even had a passable stage mask plastered on – the esteemed audience had been air-kissed and mingled with.
At this point of the story, Hikaru will say that he can only guess at the following events because he'd been stupid enough to let Kaoru out of his sight for three seconds when he'd had to give instructions to the backstage team. It appears that Kaoru had gone to Hikaru's suite at the Roi Grand and swiped his passport, dyed his hair black, called for the Cessna and flown straight to Tokyo using Hikaru's identity.
Hikaru will say that he had been so out of his mind with worry that it had taken him an entire hour to realise why Kaoru hadn't used his own passport – because it would have required Kaoru to return to the penthouse on Fifth Avenue, the home that he'd made with Kyouya.
So, attempting to be responsible, Hikaru had pushed through his grief to arrange for his brother-in-law's body to be brought back to Japan, only to be told that even the vast wealth and power of a Hitachiin cannot override the coronial examination that must be undertaken by the OCME in cases of homicide. Caught between conflicting familial duties, he'd (of course) wanted to put Kaoru first but had also understood that Kaoru would need someone to attend to these matters, himself not being in a position to cope with it; it'd driven Hikaru to despair and desperation, and –
Wonderful, amazing Haruhi had shown up. With her gentle understanding of the torture of losing a loved one, the future doyenne of the Suou Empire – in America without her husband to investigate a recent lawsuit brought against Roi Grand by an ex-employee for negligence, and visiting old friends from Harvard – had relieved Hikaru of his burden and allowed him to tear off after Kaoru.
Hikaru had found his twin, catatonic with pain, hiding in the little attic that used to be their safehouse.
.
.
Notes
(a) The opening poem by W.H. Auden is commonly titled 'Stop all the clocks' or 'Funeral Blues'.
(b) The New York Fashion Week is the first week of September (Spring/Summer), and first week of February (Fall/Winter).
(c) Kaoru and Kyouya are legally married. Same-sex marriage became legal in the U.S. state of New York on July 24, 2011 under the Marriage Equality Act. The NY Act does not specify residency requirements, which means that any person may travel to New York State and have a legally binding marriage. This fic presumes that the Act is not overturned and remains in force even in the year 2023.
The same law also permits the official changing of surnames. One or both parties to the marriage may elect to change their surnames by entering the new name in the space provided on the marriage licence.
Kyouya and Kaoru have elected for a combination surname separated by a hyphen, since both the Ootori and Hitachiin names are legacy names. Their marriage certificate is proof that the use of their new name is lawful.
(d) Multiple citizenship is discouraged/prohibited by Japan. This means that if Kaoru or Kyouya had elected to apply for U.S. citizenship, they would have been required to surrender their Japanese nationality. Fortunately, foreigners are permitted to marry in New York, so their marriage remains valid. The both of them are permanently residing in NYC.
(e) At the time of Kyouya's death, both he and Kaoru are 30 years old. Kaoru had turned 30 in June, while Kyouya turns 31 only in November. In the canon work (manga), the specific year of birth of all the characters are never stated, only their birth days and months. In this vacuum, I have worked out the most plausible and fitting timeline. Please refer to the author's profile page for more information as this timeline applies to more than one fic.
(f) The Roi Grand hotel chain is canonically part of the Suou Empire. It is mentioned in Chapter 57 – there is a picture of its exterior on page 17, and a picture of its main lobby on page 18. Hikaru's home base is a grand suite in Roi Grand New York (of course he's not living with his brother and brother-in-law, that is awkward unless it is a threesome relationship, which sadly this fic is not catering for).
Many creatives and other famous people have been known to live in hotels as their primary residence. Because Hikaru is kickass and cool, he joins their club.
This connects with Tamaki's declaration in Chapter 55 and Chapter 57 page 6 that he intends to establish himself in the hospitality sector of his family's empire. By this point of his life, Tamaki will have been handed control over the hotel chain. As I hope to show, even years later none of them are able to untangle themselves from the rest. Host Club forever!
(g) Kaoru can use Hikaru's passport because, though Japan has switched to the biometric passport system, the biometric chips of most countries tend to store information relating to name, personal details and a copy of the person's passport photograph rather than biological material. Identical twins actually have only nearly-identical DNA, so if the chips contain biological material such as fingerprint scans, Kaoru would have been found out at customs. Physically, Kaoru still very much resembles Hikaru at 30 years old.
(h) Fifth Avenue = filthy rich. That is all. They also have a house in the Hamptons, as do Haruhi and Tamaki.
(i) OCME stands for Office of Chief Medical Examiner. In New York City, the office of coroner was actually abolished in 1915. The OCME investigates cases of people who die within NYC from criminal violence and other suspicious or unusual causes. If the victim is dead or dies at the scene of a crime, the body goes straight to OCME. If the victim is unconscious or dying, she/he will be rushed to the hospital to try to save her/his life. If the victim dies en route to hospital/at hospital, the body then goes to the OCME.
By law, the OCME may release a body only to New York State licensed funeral directors. Next-of-kin will then make arrangements with the funeral home to transport the body out of the country.
(j) The little attic makes an appearance in the Ouran special chapter 'Hitachiin Family Precepts', where Kazuha trespasses on their turf at will.
(k) This is, as mentioned, a love story told in reverse. Their backstory will unfold slowly with time! In the Japanese culture, names and honorifics are extremely important social indicators. Therefore, please have faith that I am paying close attention to it! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
23/08/2011