fanfic by volly
ouran high school host club (c) bisco hatori
...
There were several reasons why Kaoru hated the beach. For one thing, he always got sunburned too easily. For another, he always got sand in his shoes.
And lastly, because Tamaki loved the goddamn place.
"Cheer up, bro! Our next flight isn't for two days, at least, so let's relax while we can, hmm?" the Frenchman looped an arm affectionately around his little brother's neck and beamed at the scene around him. "Japan's beaches are so beautiful, aren't they? And...mm, so are Japan's girls..." he cast an appreciative look at all the bikini-clad femmes around them, flashing a charming smile at those who returned his gaze with interest. "Hey, Kaoru, check out--"
"Not interested," Kaoru cut him off, spreading a beach towel on the sand and opening up a large umbrella, angling it so that his seat was thoroughly shrouded in shade. "Go ahead and chase your girls, bro. I'm not interested." He'd never been much of a romantic, never even shown as much as a true hint of curiosity for the prettiest of women. It was one of the causes for many misleading rumors.
Tamaki opened his mouth, a gay jibe perfectly formed on the tip of his tongue--"So how about the guys, then? There're plenty, take your pick..."--but there was a metallic quality to Kaoru's smile and a slightly deranged-looking tic twitching in one cheek that made him reconsider. Go ahead, his body language seemed to challenge, go ahead and try it, if you dare.
"Uh...I think I'll just...go over there, now..." Tamaki mumbled, slinking off. His brother could be all too scary at times.
Kaoru gave a self-satisfied smirk and lay carefully down on the cloth, opening up his backpack to pull out a book. Well, maybe this trip wouldn't be too unbearable after all, if his annoying brother continued to stay out of the way. Let the kids enjoy the icy waves and the blazing sun and all of the shamelessly frequent displays of skimpy swimsuits. He'd content himself any day with the shadow, the occasional balm of ocean breeze and the pages of Defoe's novel...
Someone tripped over his legs and Kaoru looked irritably up from Robinson Crusoe to shoot the offender a vexed glare. "You oaf, watch where you're going..."
The person picked himself up from the ground, pushing wet red licks of hair away from his face and fixing Kaoru with a gaze he found only in mirrors. Two pairs of yellow eyes blinked in startled unison.
"Hey, you're--"
"--Kaoru, right?" the other finished, his lips stretching in a strangely familiar smirk. Kaoru nodded, feeling a bit bewildered. How'd he know his name?
"It said so on your name tag, back on the plane," the look-alike supplied, in response to Kaoru's unasked question. He extended a hand. "I'm Hikaru. Sorry about that, man."
"No problem, I guess." Kaoru found himself saying as he scrutinized Hikaru curiously. The other man was clad in only swim trunks, showing off his slim body and long limbs. If Kaoru didn't know better, he'd think he was looking in a mirror. "Man, we're almost identical, aren't we?"
"Heh, looks like it. I didn't really think so at first, though, what with your girl getup and all."
"Shut up," Kaoru growled, but Hikaru only laughed.
"Hey, that was a compliment. You made a hot lady, seriously." Another smirk.
"Oh, like that makes it any better," Kaoru muttered. A change of topic would be appreciated right about now. His wandering gaze landed upon a bucket swinging from Hikaru's fist, which piqued his interest enough for him to ask, "Hey, what's that?"
Hikaru followed his gaze and jiggled the container a bit, causing some of the seawater inside to slosh out over the edges and onto the ground. "Oh, I'm making a sand castle, want to help?"
"A sand castle?" Kaoru repeated, arching a brow. Hikaru looked about his age, which was to say about 21 or so, and he was still building sand castles? The other man caught his incredulous stare, but simply chuckled in response.
"Yeah, a sand castle. You've gotta take time off for some of the simpler joys of life, don't you think? C'mere." And with that, Hikaru grabbed Kaoru's wrist and tugged him forcibly to his feet. Robinson Crusoe dropped to the ground--Kaoru hoped vaguely that sand wouldn't get between the pages, it'd be a real pain to remove.
"What about my stuff?"
A laugh. "Oh, don't worry about that, it's not as if someone's going to steal it, right?"
Kaoru wanted to say something scathing in return, but Hikaru was pulling him through the sandbar and it was all he could do to narrowly avoid colliding into the random scantily-dressed beach babe or tripping over all the random pairs of bare legs that were sprawled over the place. Hikaru was grinning at him and it was as bright as the sun. Wait, where'd that come from? Since when did he start using such cliché comparisons? There was absolutely no connection, really, between that blinding smile and the horrible source of all his sunburns, but for some reason the phrase was so fitting.
He was jolted out of his very confusing thoughts when Hikaru abruptly came to a stop, causing his victim to nearly bowl him over with the momentum. "Well, what d'you think?" With an expectant grin, he stepped back to reveal his work of art.
And Kaoru just stared in awe.
It'd be an understatement to say that Hikaru was proud of the thing, from the fond look on his face, but Kaoru honestly couldn't blame him. The palace was about a foot high, and was comprised of a tall central spire surrounded by shorter citadels and hints of suburbs. The details on the structure were amazing--Hikaru must've picked away at the towers' walls with a toothpick to carve out those windows engraved in the sandy surface. He'd scavenged bits of shell, also, to line the lip of each fort. He'd even tied blades of grass to popsicle sticks to serve as little flags, and placed these adornments in a semicircle around the whole area.
Kaoru couldn't help but think back to the days he'd built his own sand castles--the lumpy, misshapen structures of a bored child--and just grinned weakly. "Wow. It's pretty awesome already, in my opinion."
Hikaru frowned. "You're only seeing half the story is why." He gestured to the other side of the palace, which looked like nothing more than Kaoru's memory of his homely works. "I need some help with this side. For some reason it's not coming out right, whatever I do."
"Well, if you think asking a random cross dressing flight attendant would help, I guess you're pretty desperate," Kaoru quipped. "I must warn you, I have absolutely no skill in sand castle building whatsoever. You might be better off fixing this thing on your own."
"Oh, don't be so pessimistic," Hikaru admonished, with a challenging smirk. "I hate to be cliché, but you never know what you can do until you try, right?"
Kaoru was nonplussed. It wasn't every day some mysterious passenger spirited him away on a beach only to demand help building a sand castle, of all things, after all. He dug his hands into the warm sand anyways and attempted to work, but by the end of a minute he still had nothing to show for his efforts but a shapeless lump. Hikaru glanced up from where he was still busy with the half-finished portion of his palace.
"Well, I guess that's a start," he commented, tilting his head to one side, as if trying to see whether the sad mound looked more aesthetic from a certain angle. "Y'know, it kinda looks like an...island, or something." He slid over to sit by Kaoru's side, his swift hands already moving, rubbing off some excess sand from the steeper inclines and making the island more gently sloping. There was a look of concentration in his amber eyes that made them far too intense. His thumbs were carving little waves out of the surrounding sand, but they paused when Kaoru spoke up again.
"So, you an architect or something?"
"Huh? No." A chuckle, as Hikaru's gaze flickered back to his incomplete sand structure. "I guess it kinda looks like it, though. I study medicine, actually--I'm a transfer student here and I'm doing research on some of the more 'traditional' Japan healing methods. Herbs and stuff like that. I'd like to be an architect, though, I've always liked designing things..." he drifted off again, poking his tongue out a bit between thin lips as he formed ridges of mountains, pushing together layers of wet sand, shaping the landscape like an all-powerful god constructing a new world. Kaoru continued to watch, a bit mesmerized.
"Anyways, how about you? You done with your studies already? Or are you serving in some transvestite bar in your spare time?"
"Man, quit it already with the cross dressing thing, will you? I was forced into it, it wasn't as if I had a choice." Kaoru traced out an airplane in the sand, halfheartedly.
"Really? Were you blackmailed or something?" The palace seemed to have been totally forgotten as Hikaru focused on the island, his hands running confidently over the miniature landmass. There was a stretch he'd seemed to mark out as a beach, Kaoru noted, that he'd smoothed down into a gradual slope, with faint lines of tides carved into the sides.
"As a matter of fact, I was."
"What with?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kaoru teased, making the outline of his plane bolder and tentatively carving out the surrounding sand. "I don't really want to talk about it, actually."
"Well, I guess I'm not gonna force it out of you or anything. Must've been bad, though, for you to agree to put on a kimono as girly as that one."
"It was bad, all right," Kaoru winced theatrically at the mere memory, biting back a smirk as he watched Hikaru shoot him a look of unmistakable interest, his curiosity obviously piqued. The strange thing, Kaoru realized, was that he might not actually mind all that much, telling Hikaru about that incident. Odd, but even though they'd met just ten minutes ago, he felt so comfortable lounging around with the other man, and his presence was so familiar, like they'd known each other for years.
"So, do I get a story now? I like stories."
"What are you, a kid?" Kaoru laughed at Hikaru's mock pout. "Oh, fine, I'll tell you. Well, back in high school, my brother Tamaki founded a host club. We all became quite close-knit, and once in a while we'd hold a reunion to catch up on things with each other."
"Host club?" Hikaru asked.
Kaoru grinned and ran a hand sheepishly through his hair. "Yeah, a host club. They're pretty popular over here in Japan, and it turned out that the girls in America can be quite the otakus as well. What we do in the club is...entertain the ladies, basically." It was an outrageous euphemism, but his listener bought it anyways.
"Ah," Hikaru nodded. He seemed to have built a volcano on the island, Kaoru noted, and was currently busy digging out a craggy crater at the peak. "Continue?"
And Kaoru obliged. "Several months ago Tamaki thought it'd be nice to have a little get together at New Year's. It was fun, but then some idiot broke out a box of tequila and that was basically when things went downhill. I'm a bit of a lightweight. I don't really drink much because of my job as flight attendant, and it's just too easy to get airsick when you're hungover. But I remember getting really stoned back then. All of us did, really--it was New Year's, after all. One of my friends, Mori, is a very affectionate drunk, even more so than when he's sleepy. He and I had a...romp, nothing sexual, just overly suggestive. Tamaki took pictures and, poof, perfect blackmail material. Normally I wouldn't really mind about the photos, everyone knows Mori and I are just friends and I'm not gay, but I have this amazing cousin who'd do the most horrific things with stuff like that..."
"Oh? Like what?" Hikaru stared openly at his storyteller, so caught up in the narrative that he didn't seem to notice that half of his crater had just caved in.
"My cuz Renge is the craziest fangirl you'll ever meet. Especially for BL stuff--boys' love," Kaoru explained, catching his acquaintance's puzzled look. "If she meets a hot guy, she'll automatically run off to look for another hot guy to pair him up with. She's that insane. One time someone sent her a picture of Tamaki hugging me, and she drew this outrageous BL doujinshi starring the two of us. Ruined my reputation back in high school, everyone kept thinking I was an incestuous gay freak and everything...so of course, Tamaki threatens to send the photos of Mori and me to her if I don't put on that ridiculous dress to completely humiliate me on my first international flight."
"He sounds pretty evil," Hikaru quipped, but there was a lewd smirk on his face. "Though I've gotta admit, he's got good taste."
"Pervert!" Kaoru cuffed the other man's ear, but he was grinning as well. "Well, I guess I kinda deserved it, actually."
"For what?"
"Uh, exchanging all his boxers for lingerie?"
A long blink. "Now why'd you do something like that for?"
"Hey, he was the one who put shaving cream in my shoes!"
"Why'd he do that?"
"Because I put super glue in his hair gel?"
"Why?"
"He flushed my new $100 razor down the toilet."
"Why?"
"I shaved Beelzenef."
A sigh. "And why was that?"
"Because the damn cat was shedding all over my clothes already," Kaoru growled. "And I just thought that if Tamaki wasn't going to give the mangy fuzzball a haircut, someone ought to, right?"
Hikaru chuckled and reached over to ruffle Kaoru's russet hair. "You're a maniac, aren't you? I like that, though, you're quite amusing."
"I'm so glad you find my misfortunes funny," Kaoru said sarcastically, but he couldn't resist leaning slightly into the touch. A part of him wondered what the hell he was doing, practically spilling out his whole life story for someone who, despite his friendliness, was still a complete stranger. Not to mention he was letting said stranger stroke his hair like he was some sort of show dog--he was probably getting sand on his scalp and it'd take a long time to properly wash it free again, too--yet he couldn't help but think that if he had a tail he'd be wagging it like crazy right now. Besides, he reasoned, if Hikaru was an utter stranger, it didn't hurt to talk with him. He always had to remind himself that there was more to life than pilot studies and steward duties and pranking Tamaki anyways.
"Hikaru!" a cheerful voice broke into his thoughts, and he noticed with some disappointment that the hand in his hair was gone. Hikaru was standing up, beaming and embracing the lanky young lad who had suddenly shown up.
"Hey, Kaoru! Come over and meet my sister, won't you?"
Ah, make that a young lady, then. Kaoru felt his lips stretch into that easy, flirtatious smile he'd employed so often back in the the host club so many years ago. He hefted himself to his feet, dusting off some grains of sand still clinging to his palms before offering it to the shorter girl. "Pleasure to meet you, miss--?"
"Haruhi," the girl answered with a blithe smile. "Just Haruhi, please. Ah, you're that stewardess from our flight, right? Kaoru, isn't it?" her gaze slid from Hikaru to Kaoru and back again. "You two look so alike!"
"Oh?" Kaoru allowed himself to look the girl over as well. Haruhi was modestly dressed in a baggy t-shirt and beige shorts. Her boyish hair and washboard chest did a good job at concealing her femininity. Yet when he compared Haruhi's large round eyes to Hikaru's narrower ones, Haruhi's brown irises to Hikaru's gold, Haruhi's dark hair to Hikaru's red...he laughed, scratching his neck sheepishly. "Well, Haruhi, if you'll excuse me for saying so, you and your brother don't look very alike at all."
"That's understandable," Haruhi said, while her sibling slung an arm fondly over her shoulders. "He's adopted, after all."
Kaoru felt his grin freeze. Haruhi didn't seem to notice, as she'd turned to confront her sibling. "Hey, there's an ice cream truck a block away, do you want to get some? Your friend can come, too! It's really hot."
"Yeah, I'm scorching," Hikaru arched a brow at Kaoru. He seemed to be acting rather oddly..."Hey, Kao, want to come?"
"Oh...sure. Yeah, ice cream sounds great." It wasn't until the three of them had started off on their way that Kaoru suddenly noticed something. "Wait, what did you just call me?"
"Kao. Why?" Hikaru just chuckled at the dirty look Kaoru threw him. "You're Japanese, right? Would you prefer it if I called you Kao-chan instead?"
"What makes you think you're above me?" Kaoru asked, rather miffed.
"Well, just how old are you?"
"21, thanks very much."
"Oh, so am I. Well, I was born in June, how about you?"
"I was too! Look, that's not the point, just what makes you think--"
Haruhi cut off their banter with a jubilant, "We're here! What flavor would you guys like?" They had stopped in front of a small ice cream truck, where a short blond boy was busy serving the chilled sweets to a group of customers standing in line. Hikaru peered at the faded stickers on the truck's flanks and fell silent as he examined each variety.
"These kinds are sure different from what we have over in America," he commented idly. "Ah, well, I'll just make a random pick. I'm sure none of them are too horrible." He closed his eyes before making a wild stab at a picture. "Alright, then, I suppose it'll be the peanut butter and sesame green bean cup. Wow, what a mouthful."
"Hey, they have bubble teas here," Haruhi exclaimed happily. "I love these things. I'll get strawberry, those're my favorite. Kaoru, what about you?"
"Oh, I'll just get a popsicle. Those lemon ones look fine." Kaoru fished in his pockets for his wallet, but Hikaru caught his wrist.
"Lemme treat, mmkay?"
"No, it's all right, I've got money--"
"Come on," Hikaru fairly whined, gently pulling Kaoru's hand out his pocket, clasping it in his own. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"Yeah, I guess," Kaoru said hesitantly, but Hikaru's wide grin made him reluctantly give in. Friends? He'd never found it this simple to make friends before. As a matter of fact, his only lasting friends were the other members of the host club, which he was forced to join in the first place. He'd never found it easy to relax around others--with the possible exception of pretty girls, and Tamaki--and he wondered when was the last time he had such an effortless conversation with a stranger.
"We'd like a strawberry bubble tea, a lemon popsicle, and a peanut butter and sesame green bean cup, please." It was finally their turn at the window, and Haruhi was ordering their ice creams, exchanging sunny smiles with the blond boy at the counter.
"'Kay, coming right up!" he chirruped, bustling around the vehicle, withdrawing the two ice creams from a cooler and reaching over to hand them respectfully to their owners. His brown eyes widened upon catching sight of Hikaru. "Kaoru? 'S that you?"
"What?" Hikaru blinked once in confusion, before jerking a thumb over his shoulder to his look-alike. "The name's Hikaru, kid, Kaoru's right behind me. You two know each other?"
"Honey!" Kaoru beamed upon recognizing his fellow host. "It's nice to see you again! I never knew you took up a job as an ice cream man. Weren't you studying at the Yamashina Institute at Akibo?"
"I still am. This is just a sort of part time job," Honey explained, pouring frozen strawberries into a blender for Haruhi's smoothie. "Besides, it's summer and I didn't sign up for any programs over break. I was actually planning to visit Takashi over in Alaska, my flight's in about a week. You've been taking international flights now, huh? D'you think you'll be there for mine?"
Haruhi and Hikaru looked on awkwardly as Kaoru chatted pleasantly with his old friend. It was only until Honey finished making Haruhi's drink that Kaoru seemed to realize he hadn't properly introduced them.
"You guys, this is my friend Honey. He was a host with me in high school." Kaoru took a casual lick of his popsicle and Hikaru found himself strangely distracted by the curve of his tongue, until Haruhi elbowed her brother hard in the ribs. "Honey, this is Hikaru and Haruhi. They're friends of mine."
"Nice to meet you," Haruhi said amicably, sucking on her straw. "Wow, this is an amazing tea."
"Thanks!" Honey replied cheerfully, but his thoughtful gaze lingered on Hikaru. "Sorry for confusing you, Hikaru! But, man, you two look so alike! Are you guys relatives? Kaoru, you never said anything about this back in the host club." His voice took on a mock-accusing tone, but Hikaru felt uneasy. Honey's eyes, a dark shade of sienna, were as big as a child's, but his stare was still faintly intimidating for some strange reason.
Kaoru sighed. "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot. But Tamaki's my only brother, alright? Hikaru's just an acquaintance, really, I've just met him today--it's probably just coincidence that we look alike, right?"
"Alike, Kaoru?" Honey repeated incredulously. "You two--you're near identical! Here, take a look--" he reached out the window to grab ahold of the truck's wing mirror, twisting it over so that the four could properly see themselves. Kaoru did a double-take. He knew that they were similar from the moment they'd laid eyes on each other on the plane, but it was one thing to compare yourself to someone on first casual sight. It was quite another to have said look-alike standing right next to him and look into a mirror to see exactly how symmetrical they both were. Two pairs of amber eyes widened in unison, two astonished expressions plastered on two identical faces. Kaoru had to reach up and touch his cheek to figure out which reflection was which.
"Hot damn." Hikaru was similarly shocked--the kid had yanked around the mirror before he had a chance to look away and here he was again, face to face with a looking-glass for the second time in a week. It had to be a new record, but he didn't really have time to think about that. He was quite busy staring at his reflection, trying to process the incredible fact that, yes, for the first time in what seemed like forever, he was staring not at a stranger imitating his features, but at himself. No...that wasn't true, he realized slowly. The man in the mirror, the mysterious apparition that had haunted him all his days was still there, and he was standing right next to...
"You alright, bro?" Haruhi tapped him on the shoulder, and he flinched at the contact, forcibly tearing his gaze from the glass. His sister arched a brow, but she was frowning and her eyes were bright with worry. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Well, Hikaru mused wryly, in a way, he had. "I'm just a little surprised, that's all," he lied, shaking his head, trying to avoid Kaoru's look of concern.
Kaoru laughed nervously, tucking a few stray bangs behind one ear. "Yeah, I feel much the same way. I mean, everyone seemed to notice we looked alike, but I never knew it was...to this extent." The sun had half-melted his forgotten popsicle, and he suddenly realized the sticky juice was running down his fingers. He quickly set to attacking the treat again, and Hikaru busied himself with examining the interesting pattern of gravel pebbles on the pavement.
"Hey, Hika-chan, you should eat your ice cream, too. It's starting to melt and you haven't even opened it yet." Honey pouted, a gesture that made the short youth look even more boyish, if that was even possible. Hikaru was grateful for the distraction, however, and set to freeing his treat from the wrapper. It was only after he took his first bite--for such a bizarre combination, it was amazingly tasty--that he noticed something.
"What, wait's with the Hika-chan?"
Kaoru chuckled as he licked the last traces of lemon from his popsicle stick. "Honey's older than he looks, Hikaru. You're 21, like me, right? He's your senior by two years."
"Really?" Hikaru couldn't help but give said senior a skeptical look-over. Honey was petite, with fluffy blond bangs and a kid's round eyes. The way his baggy clothes hung loosely on his narrow shoulders suggested a small, slight frame. It was hard to believe he was older than Hikaru was. Then again, it was rather hard to believe he was old enough to work as an ice cream man at all. There was nothing hidden in that cheerful smile, but when Hikaru looked into that clear brown gaze, he thought he could understand that Honey was much more than what simply met the eye.
"KAORU!" And the next thing he knew, he was being strangled. He staggered until the weight of his attacker, catching a glimpse of wavy golden hair and tanned skin before collapsing. He could hear Honey squeak, and Haruhi's appalled cry of "Stop killing my brother!" before a pair of strong arms--Kaoru's, he noted faintly--tugged his assailant off and away.
"Second time that's happened already, this is getting really irritating," he ground out as Haruhi hauled him to his feet. He'd dropped his ice cream, too, he noticed with dismay, and rounded on his attacker with righteous fury blazing in his glare. "Hey, you little punk--"
Haruhi instantly clapped her hands over his mouth, effectively cutting off his enraged diatribe. She smiled apologetically at the newcomer, who was looking between Hikaru and Kaoru--currently doubled over with suppressed laughter--with obvious disbelief. "There're two of you?"
Kaoru smirked and caught Hikaru's eye. Immediately he caught on to the other's plot, and an identically evil grin spread over his face as he pulled free of his sister's grip. The two stalked towards the bewildered Frenchman in unison, perfectly synchronized from the narrowing of their yellow eyes to the timing of their every footfall.
"That's right. There's two--"
"--can you tell who's who?"
Honey was staring at their performance, eyes wide as saucers. Haruhi looked torn between amusement and helpless exasperation. And their victim looked absolutely bamboozled. Hikaru and Kaoru struggled to keep their composure, but finally cracked at the exact same moment. They burst into hysterical laughter, startling all three onlookers as they struggled to stay upright through violent gigglefits.
"You two are real devils, aren't you?" Haruhi sighed, but she couldn't help smiling.
"So where's Kaoru?" the Frenchman asked, visibly wilting.
"Well, it'd help to remember what your brother was wearing, Tama," Honey piped up. He had already fetched another green bean cup and held it out for Hikaru to take. "Here, it's on the house, alright? For the awesome show. Did you guys practice?"
"Uh, no. I dunno, we kinda just made it up on the spot," Hikaru shrugged, gratefully accepting the new ice cream. "Thanks, man."
"No problem!"
"Personally, bro, I'm offended you didn't immediately recognize me," Kaoru sneered, leaning on the blond's shoulder. "Don't tell me you actually confused me for the look-alike over there?"
"Uh, no! Of course not!" Tamaki denied fervently, flapping his hands, his gaze flicking desperately to the others for help. "Hey, Kaoru, won't you introduce me to your friends?"
"Right. Well," Kaoru was, admittedly, still annoyed. After all, he was Tamaki's brother, they'd known each other all their lives..."This is Hikaru, y'know, the guy from the plane. And Haruhi, his sister." He placed a slight emphasis on the word 'sister', raising an eyebrow at his brother, who reddened as he remembered mistakening said girl for a male back on the flight.
But Tamaki recovered brilliantly and knelt theatrically at Haruhi's feet, clasping her free hand and gazing up at her with suddenly starry eyes. "I am honored to be blessed with your lovely presence, miss Haruhi. Consider me your loyal vassal for life and beyond." Haruhi flushed, but gently tugged her wrist free of the Frenchman's grasp.
"Uhm...thanks, I suppose..."
Hikaru growled, hands clenching into fists. "Are you trying to hit on my sister, man?"
"He acts that way with every girl," Kaoru chuckled, watching Tamaki's expression fall and Haruhi's face darken. "It's part of being a host. He never really grew out of it."
"What? No, that's not true! I truly admire your dear sister's graceful aesthetics, Hikaru!"
"Give it up," Honey suggested sagely as he fetched a random ice cream cone and offered it to the blond man. "Want some?"
"Ah, Honey, that would be much appreciated. My thanks," Tamaki exclaimed, accepting the treat and shoving a few dollars through the window. "Here, keep the change." Kaoru couldn't hold back a laugh--it was rather obvious that his brother was trying to appear gallant for his newfound princess, and from Haruhi's deadpan look he guessed that she had caught up to his ploy as well.
"I don't need it. What's an ice cream between friends?" Honey tried to return the money, but in vain.
"No, I insist!"
"Hey, Tama, I've more customers to take care of right now," Honey said desperately as he caught sight of a new wave of beach-goers approaching. He threw the bills back into Tamaki's hands and slammed the window down so that the Frenchman couldn't force the money back. "Bye, Tama, you'd best be going now, they'll be annoyed you're blocking the line! I'll call you and Kaoru later, 'kay?"
"Give it up," Haruhi huffed, reluctantly prying the Frenchman from the window. "C'mon, let's go back to the beach, you guys."
Hikaru hated to drive. He couldn't help it. There were mirrors all over the damn car, after all, even if few of them were designed to show the driver's reflection. Usually he let Haruhi take the wheel, which was fine by the both of them. She was the more careful and safer driver anyways.
So it came as a surprise to the two when he offered to drive them home once evening came and their little foursome parted ways. Haruhi's brows rose into her shaggy bangs--she glanced skeptically at their little rented car, then back to her brother. She had good reason to be wary, though, and he didn't hold it against her. He hadn't driven in months. Maybe half a year, even.
"Are you sure?"
"I can handle it," Hikaru insisted. Haruhi relinquished the keys with a hesitant grin, and they both took their seats. He inserted the key in the ignition, twisting it and feeling a bit heartened when the engine purred to life. He hadn't totally forgotten how to do this after all, he noted with a rush of relief. As a matter of fact, it seemed even easier now. He remembered being edgy every time he was boxed into the machine, and it had taken him forever to get his license, as he had a bad habit of never checking his wing or rear view mirror.
But now, as he pulled onto the road and rolled down the windows, he felt a strange calm overtake him. For once in his life, he felt comfortable in a car. His sister twiddled with the radio, switching channels swiftly, lingering on some that seemed slightly promising, before moving on. She finally settled on a light rock station, and leaned back contentedly in her seat as a woman's soft voice crooned out from the speakers.
"I've still got sand in my shoes, and I can't shake the thought of you--"
"I didn't know they played American songs over here in Japan," Hikaru commented idly. The open window allowed the refreshing sea breeze to play with his hair and caress his sunburnt cheeks. It was rather chilly, but not altogether unpleasant. And it had been a good day.
"I never knew that either," Haruhi said, sounding bemused. "Well, you learn something new everyday, huh?"
"I guess so."
They made their way through downtown Tokyo, where gaudy neon lights flashed and swarms of teenagers meandered through the crowded streets. It made for a slow, congested trip, but the siblings didn't mind. Their minds were free of worry, and they simply allowed themselves to enjoy the spectacle of the city at night with lazy smiles on their faces.
"Haruhi, you hungry? We could grab a bite to eat before going back home. Anything you want."
"My, aren't you the generous one tonight?" his sister remarked wryly. "Nah, there's no need. You'll probably spend hours looking for a place to park here, anyways. And I'm still fine with Honey's tea. That boy makes an amazing smoothie, seriously. I wonder what exactly he puts into that mixer?" She drifted off into thought, no doubt making a mental note to buy a blender on their next shopping expedition. "Hey, bro, ask Kaoru if he'd give me Honey's phone number, 'kay?"
"Yeah, sure." Hikaru drummed his fingertips boredly on the dashboard. They'd stopped at a red light at one of the largest and busiest crossroads in the city, and it looked as if they were in for a long ten-minute wait. On a whim, he pulled down the sun visor, even though the sun had long since set. And to both his and Haruhi's amazement, he found himself flipping open the little vanity mirror within the flap and scrutinizing his reflection. The man in the mirror was still there, he noticed with an odd sense of detachment. But there was a genuine smile on his face, and Hikaru had to reach up and touch his lips to find that he was grinning madly as well.
Haruhi stared at her brother, absolutely thunderstruck. "Hikaru?"
"Mm?" he hummed, studying himself a moment further before flicking the little looking glass back into its usual position and turning to casually regard his sibling, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred. "What is it?"
She just goggled at him in disbelief, her eyes widening comically and her jaw slack. She looked so ridiculous that her brother couldn't help but burst into laughter, and after a second of indecision, she joined in. None of them noticed as their stoplight turned green, and it was only after the minivan behind them honked in irritation that Hikaru proceeded onwards, while raising a brow at his sister. "What?"
"Oh...nothing," Haruhi said flippantly, dismissing the matter with a wave of the hand. "Nothing at all."
"Right," Hikaru was nonplussed, but his high spirits continued as they drove home.
"Ow! Not so hard, Tamaki! And go slower, damnit!"
"If you don't stop complaining, you can just go ahead and do it yourself!" Tamaki retorted with a scowl.
"But I can't reach all the spots."
"Then you'll just have to can it and let me do things my way, all right?"
Kaoru glowered at his elder brother, but reluctantly complied and fell silent, wincing every so often when Tamaki's fingers pressed too roughly against his sore skin. The blond man frowned as he continued to lather after-sun milk onto Kaoru's forearms. "How'd you get so many sunburns, anyways? Seriously, bro, you look like a broiled lobster or something."
"Thanks for the lovely mental image, man," Kaoru muttered. "Anyways, I did put on sunscreen, but it probably wasn't enough. I thought that I'd be spending the whole day reading under the umbrella, after all. How was I supposed to know some idiot would lug me off to build sand castles under the sun?"
"Oh, so you're blaming the whole thing on your friend now?"
"Well, when you put it that way...yes," he bit back a hiss as Tamaki's thumbs ran over a particularly painful area on his neck. "And he has a name, y'know," he added as an afterthought. "You don't have to go around calling him 'my friend' all the time."
"Heh. Hikaru, I know." Tamaki couldn't resist chortling as he carried on with his task. "Kinda silly name, wouldn't you think? Whoever named him must've had the same sadistic sense of humor as your mother. I must say, though--Haruhi, now that's a lovely name. Befitting of such a beautiful maiden."
Kaoru snorted. "And to think just a few days ago you'd mistaken said 'beautiful maiden' for a guy, eh?"
Tamaki flushed. "Hey, shut up! I was distracted that day by your look-alike!"
"Suuure," Kaoru teased, and yelped when his brother punched him on the shoulder. "Damnit, Tamaki, that hurt!"
"Well, then, you should watch your mouth, shouldn't you?" the Frenchman sniffed in what he obviously thought was a dignified manner. Kaoru pouted, but he fancied his brother's hands slowed in an attempt to be more soothing, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and relax slightly. The cool aloe vera gel felt sublime against his abused skin.
"Tamaki, what did you mean by 'my mother'?" he muttered accusingly. "Isn't it supposed to be 'our mother'?"
He felt the treatment lapse for a minute as his brother squeezed more of the lotion on his palm, before gently rubbing it into Kaoru's back. "Of course that's what I meant. Slip of the tongue, that's all," Tamaki answered after the break, but Kaoru wondered if the airy tone of his voice was forced or sincere. And he couldn't help but think back to Haruhi's blithe voice, her light admission at their first meeting...
"Hey, bro."
"What?"
"If--and I realize that this is a purely hypothetical question I'm asking here--if I was adopted, you'd tell me, wouldn't you?"
Another, longer pause. Then, "Yeah. Of course I'd tell you."
And Kaoru was satisfied with the reply. All things considered, he thought that today had been a good day. Even if he did get sunburned half to death, even with all the sand still stuck in his shoes and his hair...all in all, things weren't too bad. Nobody had stolen his book, after all, he got treated to a free popsicle, and he'd one-upped Tamaki. What more could he ask for?
"It's such a pity, don't you think?" Tamaki murmured, spreading gel over his sibling's chest. "If it weren't for the fact that the skin on your legs was peeling, you could wear this lovely miniskirt I prepared for our next flight..."
"TAMAKI!"
The moon shone serenely down on the hotel and the city and the beach on the coast. There was still a half-finished castle, and island, and an airplane sitting on the sandbar.
author's notes - apologies for such a long chapter. it just didn't want to end, really. sorry if it was a bit boring--the plot should be getting a move on the next chapter or two. also, a note: i just found out that kaoru's actually a girl's name, so ignore that little part last chapter when haruhi says it's not, 'kay?