Meet Me
Ouran High School Host Club, c. Bisco Hatori.
He needed a walk. The room was so painfully stifling and yet so completely, completely empty; it was a peaceful, terrible, lonely silence. He didn't enjoy video games as his brother did, and sketching out costume designs got old after a while. The entire mansion held an aura of heaviness; there were little details everywhere that sang too loudly of emptiness and vacancy.
His brother had left him for the company of another-- and that was a good thing, right? That he should be reaching out for others rather than himself and his mirror…it proved he was growing. It proved he was finally beginning to hold interest in new things; he was looking to new horizons, pardon the cliché of it all.
--
He was out in the snow and chilly ice now, thankful for the warm coat and scarf protecting him from the frost. Even outside, away from their lonesome mansion, it was terribly still. Cool, crisp air lightly pinked his cheeks, and breath warmed the air in puffs of white. His twin had gone somewhere with the girl, maybe to the fair that was in town for the holidays? Ah, that would be an excellent date. He smiled a little to himself, mentally cheering his brother on.
He wasn't angry, or jealous, nor did he herald any other sort of bitterness as others might have thought. Why should he be, when the person most important to him finally took a step forward? It was just a lonely period of time, but it would only be a matter of time before he got over it. Somewhat like a child getting over a little homesickness.
A person who was left behind shouldn't sulk, but rather, run harder to catch up.
He paused as two children, a young boy and a girl, laughed and ran past him. They looked a bit like siblings, or perhaps close friends: the boy a little older than the girl. He watched as they ran out and stood under an arched gate, and they stopped there, the girl catching hold of the boy's hand. The boy, all too eager to pass through, turned around, pressing gloved hands to the other. There, the girl spoke, and the boy made a promise; each were going separate ways, but their words…
He, the spectator, quickly turned away, shoving hands in his pockets and continuing his aimless stroll. Amazing, it was, how simple words could inspire this feeling?
Promise we'll meet here again later?
--
He had always compared their world-- consisting of he and his brother-- to have existed behind a heavily locked gate, walled in with towering structures, forming a cozy isolation. This world existed only between the two of them, and they had taken great precaution to not let anyone through. He had always thought that she had been the key to all those locks; and he knew that it was not the key's fault for opening a door. Fault lay with the one who guided the key and pushed it to the lock.
These doors were open now, and his brother had decided to wander out.
Can I still catch his sleeve to ask?
--
He'd gone far enough now. The air around his head seemed a lot lighter now, and the feeling of oppression was gone. His heart was cleared and was instead filled with a sort of resolve; funny how watching strangers interact could inspire him in this way. Turning around, he walked back down the paved path back to the mansion. There, he knew, those bittersweet memories would no longer seem so sour.
He knew now, that just because the gate was open, it didn't mean they would separate forever.
At the end of the day, the little boy comes home to greet the girl, and they share stories of their endeavors during their time apart.
--
"Hikaru?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise we'll meet again here later?"
"Hahaha, 'course we will, silly."