Darling
Chapter One
(English is still italicized)
A light, powdery snow fell onto the earth, covering the ground with its pure white essence, and in the distance, the sound of Christmas bells and carols could be heard…
Boy, wouldn't it be nice if that were the truth?
"Ah, damn snow," cried an irritated man, stomping his feet to rid himself of the snow that had accumulated on his boots. "It's a blizzard out there!" This man was a Japanese-American, with short black hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He ceased his annoyed stomping when he heard his wife call back to him.
"Oh, you say that every year," she said, entering the kitchen, where her cold, snowy husband had come in. The two had a strange relationship from an outsider's point of view. The husband, Jiro, was able to speak both Japanese and English, but favored the former, and spoke it by default. The wife, Susan, was also able to speak both, but usually only spoke English. In order to follow a conversation between the couple, one had to be able to speak both languages.
It was this couple that had brought Hikaru had Kaoru to a suburb just outside of Madison, Wisconsin—the original home of their significant others. Though Minori and Izumi hadn't really lived at home much since they had been on a Japanese children's television show when they were seven, they still returned to the place of their birth every holiday season.
"Otou-san!" called Minori, running in to glomp her father, who barely managed to keep from falling over.
The man laughed, "I'm guessing this one's Minori."
"Honestly, dear," chastised his wife, "You can't even tell your daughters apart?"
"Oh, lay off, woman! I haven't seen my girls in forever," he said, engulfing Minori in a bear hug like she was still five. Susan rolled her eyes at her husband, but remembered something when she glanced at their guests out of the corner of her eye.
"Dear," she called, beckoning Hikaru and Kaoru into the kitchen, where the mini-reunion was taking place, "These are the Hitachiin brothers, Kaoru and Hikaru. You know, the ones that Izumi was telling us about."
He let go of his oldest (by two minutes) daughter, approaching where the two young men stood. "It's said, that if you're a girl, the guy that your father hates is the right one for you," he gave them a lopsided grin that reminded them both of Izumi when she wasn't scowling, "Let's hope I don't like you boys, hm?"
"Tou-san, stop teasing them," Izumi said, entering the kitchen behind the twins, to which Jiro only laughed heartily in reply, while Susan rolled her eyes once more.
"Jiro, pick up your boots, please. My parents will be here any minute."
He stopped laughing, and turned with a grunt to do as he was told, picking up the offending boots and taking them into the bathroom so that the snow could melt into tub. Upon his return he inquired after the whereabouts of his only son.
"He's in Japan," Minori explained absently, checking the turkey, "I think he's visiting a girlfriend, or something."
"Hon', I told you that he wouldn't be coming, remember?" his wife reminded him patiently. There was no mistaking which twin took after which parent; Minori was serene and nurturing like her mother, and Izumi was forgetful and easily annoyed like her father—one could even go as far as to compare Komugi to his father, and Sumire to her mother, as if the siblings had planned on splitting down the middle.
The door opened, then, and in walked the parents of Susan, brushing the snow off of their coats, and greeting everyone in the kitchen with warm smiles. At this point, everyone would have to speak English for the benefit of the elderly couple.
"Grandma, Grandpa," Minori greeted them excitedly, giving them both hugs, "I've missed you!"
"Oh, we've missed you, too, Brianne," they turned their attention to Izumi, then, "And Leanne, good to see you!"
Both male twins stifled laughter. "Brianne," started Hikaru.
"And Leanne?" finished Kaoru.
"What's with the names?" they asked Izumi, in quiet unison.
"Those are our middle names," she whispered back peevishly, "It's what Mom's side of the family calls us." She shot them dirty looks, as Hikaru and Kaoru continued to snicker to themselves.
"And who are these strapping young men?" asked the grandmother, "Boyfriends?"
Minori was quick to nod and introduce the Hitachiin twins, "Yes, this is Hikaru and Kaoru."
Their grandparents paled slightly; they hated trying to pronounce 'foreign' names, for fear that they would say it wrong and offend the person they were talking to. Needless to say, family gatherings that also included the Shigemiwa side of the family tended to be quite uncomfortable.
"But we call them Ben and Jerry," Izumi stepped in, taking revenge on them for laughing at her name. "Come on into the living room and I'll call Violet down…"
Kaoru followed his girlfriend into the living room gloomily, while Hikaru hung back to speak with Minori.
"Who says I'm your boyfriend?"
She smiled innocently at him, "Well, I just thought that sleeping together meant that people were dating."
His face flushed noticeably, "You swore you'd never mention it, ever."
Minori, however, ignored him, "Perhaps I should ask my father what it means when a guy—"
"Okay, okay, okay, okay! We're dating, just shut up about it."
With a self-satisfied giggle, Minori left him blushing in the kitchen, to go join her family in the living room.
Haruhi glared down at the stick in her hand. A plus sign, she thought, heaving a sigh, How am I going to tell him? It was then that the aforementioned 'him' came in excitedly, holding a small, gift-wrapped package.
"Merry Christmas, Haru….hi," Tamaki blinked at his girlfriend, who sat on her bed, staring down at something she was holding. Concerned, he asked, "Haruhi, what's wrong?"
She looked at him for a minute, weighing her options, before holding the home pregnancy test out toward him. "Merry Christmas," was all she could bring herself to say, as he accepted the device and looked at the reading closely.
His eyes widened a moment later, telling her that he had just figured out what was going on, and he began to look back and forth between her and the test, mouth opening and closing repeatedly. His eyes closed then, as his arms fell limply to his sides, the test falling to the ground beside him.
"Senpai?" She stood, approaching him to examine his face better. Her brow furrowed, as she brought a hand up to him, "I know this is a surprise, but the least you could do is say some—"
He grabbed her hand suddenly, using the momentum to pull her to him. "Haruhi," he squealed happily, effectively cutting her off, "I'm going to be a daddy! This is the best Christmas ever!"
She resisted the urge to remind him that that's what he had said the Christmas before, the first time they had spent the night together. She did the second thing that came to mind instead: she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back. Haruhi didn't even get the chance to say anything before Tamaki was off on something else.
"Oh, there's so much we have to do to get ready! We need parenting books…"
"Senpai—"
"And we need to put together a nursery. In fact, we'll need to relocate you; I can't have the mother of my child living in a place like this…"
"Senpai—"
"Ah! The mother of my child?! What is wrong with me? I should marry you!"
"Senpai—"
"And we have to start interviewing nannies—you can never choose one too early, you know."
"SENPAI!"
Tamaki froze, turning to look at the woman who had just yelled at him, "…Yes?"
"How about we start with a visit to the doctor?" she suggested, ever the rational one.
He blinked at her, nodding dumbly. "Yeah," he pouted, "I guess we could do that, too."
She gave him a gentle smile, finding that his antics were becoming more and more endearing the more time she spent with him. With one affirmative nod, she put her coat on, "Are we going to my dad's or what?"
The streets were decorated with a beautiful array of colored lights in preparation for the holiday season; even through the dark tinted windows of a Mercedes-Benz, the colors were barely dulled. Amelia watched silently out her window at all of the people who were walking along the sidewalks. Mostly couples, she noted with a roll of her eyes at all of the people holding hands. She gave a sidelong glance at Mori, who sat to her right, eyes fixed out his window, probably thinking rather than actually looking at anything.
She was no Scrooge, but Christmas wasn't exactly her cup of tea, either. She had spent more than enough Christmases alone in the past, or worse yet, Christmases with her mother and Isaac at some ridiculous "charity" ball, or another. She was doing better now, but when thinking of the past, she couldn't help but be a little bitter.
As for her contempt for the couples on the street… It wasn't like she and Mori never showed affection towards one another, they just weren't the kind of people to be overly touchy-feely in public. Whenever the two of them went somewhere with Miss Natsumi and her husband (as Amelia was better acquainted with Natsumi than with Hunny), the married couple would always walk in front of them, hand in hand, while Mori and Amelia would walk behind, rarely touching. This was, of course, a completely different story when they were alone, as the two had a very… hands-on relationship behind closed doors.
She was pulled from her musings when the vehicle came to a stop outside the home of the little couple that had been a part of her thoughts only moments before. The chauffer got out, first opening Mori's door, then coming around the car to open hers, waiting for the pair to make their way to the front door before driving off to park.
They were greeted by a maid, who led them to a sitting room. Only a few short minutes after that, a blond head came bouncing in excitedly.
"Takashi!" He plopped down onto a mat next to his cousin and began talking animatedly, before a much calmer presence entered the room after him.
"Thank you both for coming," Natsumi said, bowing to their guests. A year and a half of being married to Mitsukuni had helped her to cure herself of her shyness, though she still got uncomfortable in large crowds of unfamiliar people.
Mori and Amelia both gave twin nods of acknowledgement, to which Natsumi smiled and sat on one of the unoccupied mats, while Hunny continued his excited chattering.
The next few hours passed quickly, as the four of them conversed about the usual things (the married couple doing most of the talking) over dinner, before they all wished each other Merry Christmases, and Mori and Amelia were on their way back to Amelia's condo—which actually belonged to the Morinozuka family.
Hunny stood at the window, watching the taillights of his cousin's car disappear in the night, turning to look at his wife once the vehicle was out of sight. Said wife sat on the floor next to their Christmas tree, sketching thoughtfully in a dog-eared sketchpad, the charcoal of her pencil already staining the edge of her right pinky gray. She always had an ink stain of some sort on the side of her hand.
As if sensing his attention, she finally looked up at him, smiling sheepishly when their gazes met. Her face further flushed when he abruptly planted himself on the floor next to her, looking at the page where she had been drawing.
Hunny gave a sigh, having long since given up on asking her to explain her abstract pieces to him, and simply chose to enjoy their moment together instead. With a slight yawn, he maneuvered behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, while leaning gently on her back and peering at her illustration over her shoulder; eventually being lulled to sleep by her rhythmic pencil strokes.
Mori reclined against the back of a purple plush couch, appreciatively watching the woman in his lap, with her head resting on his chest. Though the condo was big enough for one, Amelia didn't bother putting up a tree, and so the couple made good use of the light dimmer switch instead. They had also forgone presents this year—having found out that neither of them were much good for selecting gifts the year before, which was good, because he wouldn't put it past her not to sell her hair at some point. The thought made him smile, and the woman in question (almost as if she sensed the humor at her expense) stretched against him like a lazy cat, settling into a more comfortable position.
Neither of them were arrogant enough to declare that their relationship was perfect, but there was a mutual understanding between the two that had no need to be spoken: if it wasn't perfection, it was closer than either believed they would ever get. Their biggest obstacle these days were his father, who had had no objections to his son dating the Willard-Jones heiress, but had suddenly gotten cold to the idea when she suddenly stopped being an heiress. The older man now regarded her as a temporary plaything for his son, until another omiai could be arranged, though Mori didn't plan on even meeting any of these girls; he had already turned down three—without Amelia's knowledge, of course.
The night further went on, with nine o'clock becoming ten, then eleven, and then twelve. Even then, the couple didn't move from their place on that overstuffed, deep purple couch, too content with each other's silent company to be bothered with the formalities of a proper goodbye, or a (less than proper) goodnight.
Every year, the Ootori family (as well as a number of other prominent families) was invited to a charity Christmas ball. To not attend was to personally insult the host, and Kyouya wasn't the kind of person to vex anyone who could help him reach his goals, especially when it was just as easy to keep "good interpersonal relations" with anyone who had money or power. In the case of the man who held these annual parties, Kyouya was extra careful, for this man—an obnoxious creature by the name of Ujiie Kaito—had both money and power.
Of course, these parties were rather dull for anyone who wasn't particularly interested in relations of the interpersonal kind, an example of this kind of person was Renge. While she was an excellent businesswoman, who conversed easily among other businessmen and women, and who had an undeniable streak of cunning in her, she lacked interest in upward growth at the expense of others, and was too honest for her own (or Kyouya's, for that matter) good.
As he observed the bored look his fiancée surveyed the room with, he couldn't help but silently agree that he'd have rather been elsewhere on Christmas Eve, as well. He could be at home, in his office, looking over his files, or secretly checking on what Renge happened to be doing with her father's company-not that he didn't trust her judgment, or anything.
With a sidelong glance across the room at Ujiie, Kyouya leaned close to Renge's ear to speak privately with her. "As soon as he's finished with Yumoto-san," he explained, "We will get a turn to speak with Ujiie-san before anyone else can."
She looked warily in Ujiie's direction, "We? You mean the 'we' where you do all the talking and I just stand and look pretty, or the actual definition of 'we'?"
Kyouya's eye twitched at the woman's blatant resentfulness at her part in this great big game of Monopoly. Taking a calming breath, he turned to her, making sure to keep Ujiie in his peripheral vision. "Renge, I'm going to be honest with you," he said, meaning it, as he took her hand and began to lead her in the general direction of the night's target. "I want you with me because I trust your ability to read into people's characters. I am confident that I can handle things very well on my own, but… I find your input valuable."
She was silent, as they approached Ujiie Kaito, and Kyouya began a conversation with the man. As they moved out of the casual things, and slowly set into business territory, Renge had to force herself out of her stunned state so that she could pay attention to the boisterous man's reactions. She couldn't very well let Kyouya down now, not after a confession of that magnitude. Sure it hadn't been a romantic confession, but for a man like Kyouya, with the rules of business so deeply ingrained into his being, telling someone that you trusted them and valued their contribution practically was a love confession.
When the conversation came to a close and Renge was sure that Kyouya had managed to mind-rape the man several times during their little chat, she turned, grinning up at Kyouya. The two of them stood in their corner once more, Kyouya watching for a new victim, Renge watching Kyouya. "There's some mistletoe over there. I'd try to trick you under it," she jutted her lower lip out at this, "But you're probably too smart for that, huh, Kyouya?"
"Yes," he affirmed, offhandedly, "And don't think that you can force me into an act of romanticism by pouting like that, either."
She crossed her arms, pretending to be testy about his answer, but inside, she didn't feel it was so bad. After all, what he had confided to her was worth more to her than an obligatory peck on the cheek would have been, anyway.
A/n: If you're confused about what's going on or wondering who these mysterious characters are, I'll refer you to Dearest Starling, which this is the sequel to.
If you've already read DearStar, this is set a year and a half later. Seems like a long time, I know, but nothing much has changed. Hunny and Natsumi are still happily married, Mori and Amelia are still together, Kaoru and Izumi are still together, Hikaru and Minori are on-and-off, Kyouya and Renge are still in their mutually beneficial engagement, and... Well, Tamaki and Haruhi have some big news.