Thanks for all the encouraging reviews! You made my day, even in my darkest hour with my fic Together Again (for the full rant see my bio), so…
I LOVE YOU ALL!
I don't own anything.
Uozumi
The Brother Project
Chapter Two
"K-L's right!" Miaka smiled, "Who knows? Maybe he's your soul-mate or something!"
'When I see her again, I'm going to kill her,' Nuriko began stuffing everything he didn't need into his locker. 'That comment's been haunting me ever since!' Muttering, he yanked his skateboard out, then adjusted his book bag before letting his finger slide through the back opening of his hat so he could carry it to the sophomore hall. Turning away from his locker, he paled, then blinked, "Hotohori? What's up?"
"I wanted to tell you that I'm going to go home and pack, then go to your house, but I don't know where that is, so…."
"So?"
"So, I'm offering to drive you and Kang-Lin home so I know how to get there later."
Nuriko stared, then nodded, "Let's go find her, so she knows before she surprises me like she did this morning."
"What she do this morning?"
"Get a ride and not tell me."
Hotohori stared a minute at Nuriko, unable to fathom why he would be so upset over a trivial matter such as how someone got to school. In his family that would just be a matter of some common sense, critical thinking, and then you would be on your way and not remember it at the end of the school day.
To Hotohori, Nuriko was definitely an enigma.
It was a small gray two-story ranch with a basketball hoop on the garage, a chain-link fence in the back, and an American flag in the flag holder. The flag was a permanent fixture since his mother believed that their family should always remember that they were now in America due to the hard work of their father and their paternal grandparents. Every day was Independence Day for their family in a metaphorical sense, so they should display their thanks by showing their love for their new country.
"This is our home," Nuriko smiled as Kang-Lin nodded from where she sat shotgun at Nuriko's insistence. "You think you can remember how to get back here?" Nuriko tossed his skateboard into the yard, then jumped out of the car as Kang-Lin stepped out, her roller blades on her shoulder.
"Yes, this is 5 Red Deer Drive; correct?"
"Yup."
"Then I'll see you at five; all right?"
"All right!" waving slightly as Hotohori drove away, Nuriko turned to Kang-Lin who had been staring at him.
"What?"
"Oh, your face."
"What about my face, K-L?"
"Nothing…" singing, the youngest Tiao child happily skipped into the open garage, her brother at her heels.
"Now, I would tell you to clean your room, but Mr. Ri said to make this house stay the way it is as though your partner was always part of our family, so…" a woman a little shorter than Nuriko pursed her lips, then sighed, "Go upstairs and do something to that cyclone room, so we can at least fit both of your mattresses in your room."
"Mama, how are we going to fit both of his mattresses into Liu-Chuan's room?" Kang-Lin inquired as her brother thundered up the stairs.
"Oh, Liu-Chuan will figure something out, he knows how to deal with a seven by eleven foot room already, and he has enough problem solving skills to help him out."
(A/N: My bedroom is seven by eleven and with all the crap in it, I couldn't possibly attempt to put both my mattresses on my floor, and I have the bear essentials in my room!)
"Ahahahahahahaha…" breathy, Nuriko's voice trailed as he surveyed the room packed with a full bed, a small dresser, a small bookshelf that was overflowing with anything and everything, a desk, and a night stand. "Well, it looks like there isn't any way around it, I have to create a fire hazard."
Stuffing his desk chair into his closet, he pulled his two-shelved double dresser so it went horizontally across the area behind the foot of his bed and behind where the mattress would go. Hurriedly he stripped the bed, throwing everything either on or behind his dresser before parting the regular mattress from the box springs mattress underneath. Then he threw the box springs mattress on top of the mattress, before placing the frame vertical in the air. Somehow managing to wheel the frame around the mattresses, he leaned it against his door, then set the box springs mattress down in the corner, the regular mattress beside it.
Sighing, his maroon eyes surveyed the room, and then he smirked, "This would be the perfect time for a fire, my door's locked, and my window's cut off…."
"Are you speaking to yourself again, Nuriko?"
Narrowing his eyes at the door, he sighed, "No, but I think I'm trapped."
Kang-Lin just laughed, "You can figure it out, Mama said so."
Shaking his head, Nuriko placed his regular mattress back on the box springs mattress, then opened his inward-swinging door to push the frame out before resetting the bed.
Hotohori surveyed his walk-in closet laden with clothes. They were all designer, fashionable outfits that definitely wouldn't jive with the Tiao's modest middle-class home. Searching, he secured several subdued shirts and slacks, reasoning that if he did live with them, he would have a job and could buy the least expensive articles in his closet.
Right?
Shaking his head, Hotohori chided himself for pondering it too long. He couldn't exactly put his favorite clothes in his duffle and suitcase if he hoped to truly be a Tiao.
Right?
Sighing, he zipped up the duffel and locked the case, then looked at himself in the mirror. He wore a black T-shirt he normally would put a jacket over, with khakis. If he had known this would occur he would have bought some jeans and clothes that came from Kohl's instead of a catalogue.
Automatically responding to a hesitant knock at the door, Hotohori bid the visitor entrance.
"Sir?" his mechanic folded his hands, "I heard about your order for me to drive you, and then return here with the car, but…"
"But…?" the heir raised an eyebrow.
"I figured since you found the car too gaudy for your excursion to your partner's house that you would like to borrow my clothes so you could hide your elegant upbringing."
Hotohori blinked. How many times had they joked that they could pull off a semi-Prince and the Pauper joke since they wore the same size and were the same build?
Smiling, Hotohori nodded, "How can I repay you?"
"Well, you could let me have the car tonight…"
"When will he get here?" pacing Nuriko moved in rhythm with the opening music to Yu Yu Hakusho, which his sister watched almost religiously. (A/N: I love this show!) "I mean it's six o'clock! Perhaps he won't come, and –"
"Nuriko, do you know who you remind me of?"
Nuriko paused, gazing at his sister as the announcer proclaimed what had happened on Friday. "Who?"
"Subaru Sumeragi."
"Who?" Nuriko sighed. His sister was a mild-otaku (she was devoted, but not to the insanely scary obsessed factor over anime and manga), and he hated her analogies to characters he didn't know, let alone understand.
By the name, he had a premonition that it was from CLAMP, most likely X/1999, or X, or whatever it was called, and that meant that he wasn't about to understand it.
If he wanted to get a course in extreme symbolism, all he'd have to do was pick it up, especially volume 9, and he would ace any symbolism test you could throw at him.
That is, if he could understand it….
"Okay, let me go grab X, and –"
"No way!"
"But, Nuriko, you at least want to see who Subaru is, don't you?"
"No."
"But –"
"Just watch your show."
"But –"
Then, the bell rang, and Nuriko rushed to the door, ready to tell Hotohori off for being late. Flinging the door open, he opened his mouth to shout, then sighed, bowing his head, "Oh, it's only you."
The man in his mid-twenties stared, "What do you mean, 'Oh, it's only you,' Liu-Chuan?"
Nuriko closed the door behind his brother, shaking his head, "Everything."
The man stared, shocked, about to whine, when the doorbell rang again.
Thrusting the door open, Nuriko began to dig in instantly, "Where the heck have you been?! It's six o'clock, you were supposed to be here an hour ago, I mean –"
"Calm down," Hotohori smiled, "it's going to be just fine."
"No, it's not! Because of you we're going to –"
"Oh, that's right!" Nuriko's brother triumphantly presented him with a bag, "Happy birthday, little brother!"
Hotohori gaped, Nuriko sighed, and Kang-Lin left her show to come watch the antics.
"It's your birthday?"
"Why wouldn't it be Liu-Chuan's birthday?"
"But –"
"I mean, he was born on this day, and I remember it, so –"
"Okay, you two, if you're going to talk about me, include me in your conversation or shut up!" Nuriko turned on his heels. "I'll go put this in the kitchen, and –"
"Come in the kitchen and die!"
Nuriko stared from where Mrs. Tiao's voice had come from around the corner as Hotohori gaped anew. What kind of mother would tell her son that to do something would result in her killing him? Even his mother didn't do that.
Kang-Lin studied Hotohori intently. After seeing Nuriko's reaction to the idea of him coming over, after linking it to Subaru Sumeragi, then how their relationship was that of Hokuto (his twin sister) and Subaru, the only logical thing her brain could sum up was Hotohori was going to be Seishiro Sakurazuka, and that was more than unsettling.
If he broke her brother's heart…
"Okay," the matriarch of the Tiao home appeared in the foyer, "What are you standing around here for? I need you two in the kitchen," she indicated Nuriko's siblings, then turned to Nuriko, gazing at him intently.
Blinking Nuriko gave an "Oh yeah!" then smiled, "Mom, this is Xing-Shu Li, but we all call him Hotohori."
"Good evening, Xing-Shu, we welcome you into our home. Liu-Chuan will fill you in on rules as he gets you settled into the room you will be sharing. We would love to provide you a separate room, but we have none to spare, and I projected that you would rather stay with Liu-Chuan than his brother." Smiling, she nodded her head, then turned to her younger son, "Well? What are you meandering here for? Go show him to your room!" making a swishing motion she herded them up the stairs, then returned to the kitchen to continue dinner preparations.
"This is my room as you can see it's economical, so stuff your stuff somewhere, and pray you remember where you put it, or just show me, because I know where everything is, even after messing it up farther."
Hotohori stared in horror at the mess, unable to fathom how someone could live in such clutter. How was he going to survive this for a week? What if it changed him so he created a grade A hurricane in his room?
His mother would kill him if that even remotely happened.
"Anyway, do you like spaghetti?"
"Eh?"
"Mama's making spaghetti, so you better tell her now if you don't like it, otherwise she'll go ballistic," Nuriko sighed, perching on his dresser, "I mean, I could tell that she now considers you her third son, so…well…
"Just be prepared for things you won't understand immediately.
"We don't use nicknames inside the house, but if you're in the backyard, or something like that we can use them. So remember, I'm Liu-Chuan, you're Xing-Shu, and Kang-Lin's Kang-Lin and not K-L."
"K-L?"
"K-L."
Hotohori filed the information away, his hazel eyes still taking in the room in disbelief. Would the rest of the week be so surprising? Could he survive?
Or, more importantly, could he survive Nuriko being at his house the next week?
Sighing, Hotohori glanced at the door when the knock came.
"Dinner's ready!" Kang-Lin announced, muffled.
"Okay!" Nuriko shouted back, then turned to Hotohori. "Prepare to be amazed."
To be continued…