The Memory of Murder

By E.M. Megs

Chapter 1 – Suicide

There was blood. It splattered the sky blue walls like the ends of a sunset. Pooled on the white marble of their kitchen floor. Soaked through the fabric of his button-up shirt. Ran into and over the few cracks. And tainted absolutely everything it came in contact with. Creeping silently, slowly, toward where she had fallen to her knees just two feet from where he had dropped. Dead.

There was silence. The kind that falls suddenly in that moment of slow motion when falling in a dream. Not a single thing moved or spoke. The world had frozen as her shock set in. Every beautiful yet painful detail she witnessed spoke more than the picture as a whole.

The fabric of his shift, tainted by the blood pooled around his head.

The paleness of his skin, splattered in a similar way as the wall.

The gun. Harsh, black, sleek, lethal metal and plastic held by screws and industry strength glue. Barrel dipped in red shine. Handle a foot from his hand.

His once beautiful, lively obsidian eyes, blank and staring at nothing.

The hole. The ragged flesh bordering the sides where the endless stream flowed. Where metal had entered. The hole in his head. The hole in her heart. The hole in the entire world that had destroyed everything.

A scream, previously caught up in her throat now wrenched free with the reappearance of time.

"KYOYA!"

With scrambling feet that couldn't seem to find purchase, she ran the three remaining feet to his side. His cell phone lay in shattered pieces across the floor where he must have dropped it while falling. Without realizing cries of anguish ripped from her throat. She was holding his head in her lap one moment and beating on his chest the next screaming, "WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? HOW COULD YOU?" until her voice and anger gave way to the sobs that she rarely allowed free. "Why, Kyoya?"

"Kyoya, I'm on my way home. Don't move, okay? We'll straighten this out."

"Haruhi… There isn't anything to straighten out."

Another scream ripped from her being as she cradled his bloody head to her chest. A yell from the front door announced the twins' arrival. "Haruhi!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, they're right. I murdered the Takahashis."

Something hadn't sounded right about his voice. Something thick and heavy about it. Sad, but scheming at the same time. Weary, like he'd given up hope.

"Haruhi!" Kaoru was yelling at her now, "You've got to let him go!"

"No!" she yelled, still distraught with grief. There was no way she was letting go. This wasn't real. It was some nightmare that she would wake up from and find him lying there beside her in bed smiling like every morning.

"Don't be silly, Kyoya."

"I'm not kidding, Haruhi. I killed them."

She hadn't believed him. Even though everything had circled back to him, she had never believed any of it.

Until now.

"You weren't a murderer," she whispered, stroking his cheek with the back of her fingers. The ring on her hand glittered maliciously, it too having been tainted with his blood.

"Kyoya… You're scaring me."

"I'm sorry. I really am. I love you."

Until she heard the gunshot from the other end of the phone just as she was pulling up to the apartment.

Two pairs of arms gripped her under the arms and pulled her up. She struggled. Kyoya's head rolled off her lap. She stared to tell them to leave her alone when she was engulfed in a familiar part of arms. Surrounded by a familiar scent.

She cried. She cried more tears that she had ever shed in his life. Now she knew how her father had felt when her mother had died. The pair of arms now holding her scooped her up, but she pushed him off and scrambled back to the floor.

"Haruhi…"

"Shut up, Tamaki," she growled, voice croaking from her tears. Carefully, gently, she pulled the diamond ring from her left hand and pressed it into Kyoya's lifeless fingers, pushing them until they enclosed around it. "I can't wear that thing knowing that he did this. Knowing that I'll never marry him."

This time, when Tamaki moved to pick her up, she let him.

Images of the scene haunted her for weeks to come.

~o~

A/N: So~ Here we are~ The newest addition to my KyoHaru crime muse~ Teehee~ Enjoy~ And keep in mind that the timeline for this is going to be VERY skewed. Each chapter will be from a different time in the actual plotline. You'll see what I mean in two weeks when I post the next one. These chapters are also a hell of a lot shorter than LD ones so I'll probably update this more than that.

Bit of background on this. This is five years after OTHD and Haruhi and Kyoya have been together for that entire period of time. Tamaki and Kaoru are both married. Hikaru is engaged and Hunny and Mori both remain single. Ken, as you'll find out in the next chapter, has been replaced as sheriff, but is still around. Nekozawa's still coroner and Renge is still around as well. Wohoo!

Drop me a review and tell me what you think! :D