'Til Death Do Us Part
Hi everyone! I know I've already done a sort of background information on this story, but it's just not as official unless you do a little rant at the beginning.
It's been a while since I've posted story. This isn't going to be a oneshot, as you'll be able to tell at the end of the chapter, but it is my first HikaKao, or Hikaru X Kaoru. So hopefully you guys can manage to bear with me through this story. And, as a warning, this WILL be a yaoi, and is a tragedy. If you dislike either, you might as well turn now.
Any reviews would be appreciated. And I hope at least some of you enjoy it!
***Oh, by the way, I do not own, use, or manipulate these two lovely twins or any aspect of their anime in anything other than this fanfiction I am presenting to you.
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We grew up together, you know. Well… Of course you do. Hikaru and I are identical twins in every aspect of our lives. We walk with the same haughty stride, capturing the attention of any who happen to glance our way. We think alike in every way from planning pranks on those below us, to concocting new games to baffle those around us. In every way we remain the same… that is, except for our personal histories.
Our lives had always been the same. From a very young age we were close and were both inseparable and insufferable. However, at the age of four, a bump appeared in our similarity. Even though I remember parts of it, our parents occasionally discuss that misfortunate event. It happened on October 22. It was a very cold night outside as the wind howled around the contours of our home, rattling loose windows and giving a good prediction of even colder weather to come.
Inside we had been playing. Lettered blocks of wood passed between our hands as we made a collaborative effort to spell words we had learned. Our goal, even at that age, was to prove that we could be superior to others in any way. I nudged Hikaru to hand me the 'R' next to his right foot. It was the last letter we needed to spell 'Remember' before we could gloat to our parents that it had been a successful mission. Smiles plastered on both of our faces, his slender hand, so similar to mine, reached for the smooth contours of the box.
But suddenly, he stopped. Confused, my bright hazel eyes turned up to his dull ones. Seconds went by that seemed like hours as his body slowly seemed to fold in on itself and he finally just collapsed to the floor. My lip trembled as I stared for barely a moment at his folded body.
"Momma! Momma!"
Choked by emotion and distracted by the tears streaming down my face, the voice was barely my own as I curled my body around my brother's, his own flesh still warm as he remained motionless in my arms. No matter how much love that we had shared between the two of us up to this point, it wasn't about to fix whatever had happened to Hikaru. My tears flowed heavily onto the nighttime flannel of my twin as faint, distant footsteps grew louder down the hallways.
The playroom quickly began to swell with servants and our mother entered the room, swiftly scooping my twin from beneath the cover of my body. I didn't like that idea well at all. My solitary tears turned into wails and screams. Our older maids tried to calm me down, but I would not be comforted! My place was beside Hikaru and that was the only place I would accept to be! I was not pacified until I was reunited with him in the cramped inside of an arriving ambulance and hauled off to the hospital. My hand, so similar to his, intertwined with his still lifeless fingers as the red and white chariot of hope hastily made its way to what would hopefully be the saving of my brother. My tears finally stopped coming as the vehicle stopped and lots of shouting arose around us. Hikaru couldn't die. I knew he wouldn't. Why's that? Well, because…. If he died…
Then I would die, too.
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"Kaoru?"
I slowly opened my heavy lids to reveal a blurry outline of my twin. I blinked my eyes slow and hard in an attempt to disperse the fuzzy lingering of my dream. There was no more need to stress. His kidney had failed that day, but a rather fateful discovery of an available kidney had saved his life. As long as he was alive and well, there was no reason to worry. As my eyes reopened I interpreted a look of concern from Hikaru's face as I remembered where I was.
We were in class, and I was supposed to be paying attention. Yet, despite that fact, I had been quite asleep. I gave my brother a reassuring, yet drowsy smile as I smoothed out the creases on my sleeves and made an attempt to discretely wipe away a massive puddle of drool on my desk.
"I'm sorry, Hikaru. Did I worry you?"
His face came closer to mine as he gently raised my face to look directly into his. His lips lightly brushed across mine in not-quite-a-kiss. Our fans swooned and cooed over our brotherly affection, but I was more concerned over the leftover tingle where his mouth had ghosted over mine. A blush crossed my face as I glanced away from the penetrating look in his eyes.
"I did worry little brother. However, if I thought you were always so frail, I would be afraid to hurt your delicate body in the activities we participate together in when we're all alone."
Another uproar of almost irrevocable affection reverberated in the classroom. That's all this was supposed to be: an event for others to "Ooh," and "Ahh," at. It was never meant to be anything more between us.
"H-Hikaru!" I stutter, my natural docility rising to the surface, "You mustn't say such things while we're in public! It's embarrassing!"
Our scene was cut short as the class representative cleared his throat. All activity previously concerned about the two Hitachiin brothers dispersed in lieu of planning a class event. However, we decided amongst ourselves that it was of no importance to us and that we would pay it no heed. Instead, we gossiped about the theme the Host Club was preparing for today.
"Ehh… Can you believe our lord is making us do the Alice in Wonderland theme again?"
I shrugged at the question and glanced in the direction of Kyoya's class.
"I heard it's going to be him directing it this time. Apparently we got so many new customers that day that it's worth another shot."
We simultaneously shrugged at the oddness of it all as the bell rang for class to end. That sort of thing tended to happen. We would become so enraptured by each other's presence that the time just flew by relentlessly, never stopping to warn us to savor and enjoy our time together.
Thoughts aside, we actually arrived on time for once. I'm pretty sure the only reason such a phenomenal event occurred was because Haruhi accompanied us the entire way over to the music room. Upon entering, our costumes were thrown to us and we made our way in the changing room that we always shared.
This time, however, there was an unfamiliar sort of tension filling the air. I couldn't quite understand what was wrong. I turned to Hikaru to inquire about the nature of the emotion when my eye was caught by an odd, discolored patch of skin on his back. I had never noticed it before, and I began to realize that there were many of the said patches scattered across his back.
"Hikaru…? What are these?"
Before I could place my hand upon it, he gently smacked away my hand and turned around to face me. If I wasn't already shocked because of the fact that he had never denied my touch before, I was internally in pain because of the apathetic look he gave me. It wasn't entirely about the fact that he had given me a strange look before.
The heart-wrenching point was that he never gave me that kind of look before. A deep sigh escaped from between his lips as his emotionless look turned to one of repressed pain. His hand rose to caress the side of my face as he began to speak.
"I don't know, Kaoru. They've been there for a while, but I don't know what it is."
I could have strangled him. Even after he'd come so close to exchanging a kiss with Death so many years ago, he still refused to let others know about anything if something was wrong. He did it so I wouldn't stress much about his condition. It did nothing but make me worry even more.
I refused to let us out of the dressing room until he agreed to make a trip to the doctor the next day. I would not be the one responsible if Hikaru lapsed into another episode of our childhood. I just absolutely would not allow such a thing to happen to him. Not while I was still there to make sure it didn't.
The day's activities flew by in a whirlwind of time. People acknowledged my presence. They even spoke to me, but everything I remember remained nothing more than a blur of dissimilar faces, bodies, and personalities. In all the mess and confusion, the one thing I always recalled clearly was the same hurting look I had witnessed earlier mixed in with the brotherly affection we showed our audience on a regular basis. Apparently neither of us could keep our minds on the job we are made to perform each day.
But we still fooled the crowd just as well.
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It never takes very long to make it home after the school day is over. This time, however, it felt like an entire lifetime passed by in such a short span. The trip home remained a silent one and we did not speak of the incident again until we had eaten dinner, showered, and ultimately prepared ourselves to have another night's rest.
As I snuggled in to the smooth contours of my Hikaru's chest as his body spooned around mine, I couldn't help but nuzzle my head under the curve of his chin. I could feel every movement as his body pressed even closer to mine as a contented sigh escaped both of us.
No matter how hard things had been or would be, this was now. This was what we had always been: one entity, within our own world, ruling over the vast expanse of world before us so far as our eyes could see. And, frankly, there was no other place I would ever rather be. Hikaru and I would be together forever. That was something I was all too sure of.