Summary:
Yuzuha is sad that the twins no longer seem to miss her...
Refers to Chapter 45 in the manga, where Kaoru reveals that he used to sulk about his mother.
Piece of Thread
Although she would have liked to sleep in, a lifetime habit ensured that Yuzuha was awake at the crack of dawn. With her husband in Osaka, she was not surprised to find herself alone in their king-sized bed, rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly, even as her personal maid entered the bedroom.
Silver tray in hand, the maid bowed and presented a steaming cup which did not contain what Yuzuha normally expected; instead of Columbian mocha, a fusion of ginger and lemon tea awaited her on the tray, along with a packet of Chinese herbal medicine.
'No…' Yuzuha whispered, reaching up to touch the skin of her forehead; it was blazing hot, despite the cool air-con settings. 'I'm ill?'
The maid nodded.
'Yes!' cried Yuzuha. 'Day off!'
A different maid arrived with a trolley of breakfast, accompanied by Yuzuha's live-in secretary, who informed her that all appointments had been cancelled and re-arranged for next week. Yuzuha bowed her thanks and asked to see Hikaru and Kaoru, who eventually appeared in their Ouran Academy uniforms.
'Morning, Mom,' they said in complete unison, standing close to the bed so that Yuzuha could inspect them. As usual, they were identical, save for the partings of their cinnamon hair and the way that one of them was not quite looking at her.
Pretending not to notice, Yuzuha brushed imaginary lint from their blazers and straightened their ties, perfunctory gestures they knew were affection. Unlike normal mothers, Yuzuha was always busy, travelling between home and office to develop her designer label. Without meaning to, such a lifestyle had limited her time with Hikaru and Kaoru, a fact which the twins had slowly grown accustomed to. Try as she might to rectify the impact of her absence, it was just too late now to make them really miss her. They no longer searched the mansion for her presence these days and her constant failure at the "Which is Hikaru, which is Kaoru?" game had become a running joke. When there was nothing to do, nothing to distract her, Yuzuha would think of the twins and how things had changed, and it would make her wish at times for a life that was somehow different.
'Are you done?' asked the twin, whose eyes had moved from the tie in his mother's hand to the watch on his wrist.
This twin was Kaoru, the one that never looked at her.
Smiling, Yuzuha patted his shoulder. It made her sad that he disliked her in some way. Feeling tears prickling at her eyes, she turned her attention to a piece of loose thread sticking out from the sleeve of Kaoru's blazer. Concerned with this sudden flaw, she pulled at the thread, thinking it would simply come out, but there seemed to be no end to the thread she was pulling…
'Gotcha!' grinned the twins, as the thread finally finished on Yuzuha's blankets.
Yuzuha laughed and kissed them "goodbye". 'You sure got me,' she said.