Dirty little secret
Kaoru grumbled, his eyes narrowed as he had his hands in his pockets as he stepped out of his car he was recently reunited with just yesterday, and walked his way up the stairs of thee old apartment once more.
He hadn't ben there yesterday, being too busy with reorganizing his office, and working things out with his brothers help.
That was a surprise in its self. He hadn't planned on his brother being the person he'd go to for advice in this sort or matter, but considering he was the second person inside of the host club circle to get married and the first to have kids, he really should have ben the very first person he should have turned to.
He guessed being married for almost four years and having three kids could make you pretty wise, though if it weren't for him, Hikaru wouldn't have gotten any of that, so he shouldn't really be given that much credit.
But that day in his office, his twin did seem rather proud of himself, and Kaoru just didn't have the heart to break down his big brother ego; at least not then.
Kaoru gave a hard sigh, blaming himself that he was probably going to be single again, he still didn't know where Suzuki was, she wasn't answering any of his phone calls, or replying to his messages, by this time he probably sent over fifteen since this morning.
He glared, not hesitating as he rapped his fist against the door, banging on it irritably, and probably a little more forceful than he needed to, but he couldn't help it, he was so irritated over this whole thing it just made his brain want to explode.
Now he knew how Hikaru felt all the time.
Quickly Becoming discouraged when his annoying knocks at the door weren't instantly answered, Kaoru sighed in frustration, standing there a moment with his arms crossed over his chest. quickly raising his head happily once he heard a dog barking on the other side.
Even though he knew that Sparta being there isn't a real guarantee that Suzuki would be there too, but the poor man could hope at least.
Snapping his head upwards once he heard the door give a slight jingle sound of opening, but he was instantly disappointed once again when it was just Akio who had opened it.
"Kaoru?" the woman muttered out loud, not surprised one bit that he was in front of her, considering his threat he made to her about coming again soon. "Not that I care, but what brings you by here... again."
"You know why I'm here," Kaoru pouted slightly in response, still upset that it was her who was there instead of who he was hoping for. "Look, sorry for bothering you again, I was just seeing if Suzuki was here."
"No." she answered instantly, as if she was irritated with his again and tried to get him away as soon as possible. While giving him a glare, she sighed and gripped the door knob, getting ready to close that door.
"She's not here Kaoru," Akio blinked, her voice lowering slightly as she looked down a little, sympathy getting to her as she felt bad when she saw the look on his face. "She hasn't ben here all day."
Kaoru closed his eyes as he looked down towards his shoes, thinking of what he would do next. "Yeah, somehow I thought she wouldn't."
"She did come by yesterday," Akio hesitated, just as his head came flying up again to look at her with hope in his eyes. "...But she only came to take her medication, then left right after."
Kaoru was silent, looking for the right words to say as he remembered his small talk he had with Andrew about Suzuki having some sort of sickness, and going straight to Kyouya the next morning to talk to him about it.
"Um, yeah," he murmured almost silently, he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't hear him. "That's what I wanted to talk to her about...but she keeps ignoring my phone calls and...she's never here so."
"Yeah, you upset her and now she hates you."
"S-she said that?!"
"No, but judging from the way she's acting towards you, I only guessed that, that was the case."
"...Oh."
Kaoru gave a huge sigh of relief and stuck his hands in his pockets again, not that it was cold, it was summer time, but his hands just found their way there, he was about to continue, then be on his way, when Akio opened her mouth again.
She glared towards him suddenly, as if she had just remembered at that moment that he did something wrong, and should be more than upset with him.
"That's right, you did upset her didn't you," she said, all sympathy towards the man all but washed away. "What did you think about bringing him here? thought you that goody-two-shoes boyfriend, always doing things right. You new and were told countless of times that he wasn't welcomed in her life and hasn't ben for the longest time."
Knowing she walk talking about Andrew. Kaoru nodded slightly, thinking of something to say that would defend him, but realized that he didn't really reserve that right anymore at the moment.
"I know, but-..." he paused, looked ashamed as he then remembered all the times where Akio had bad-mouthed Andrew and always said hatful things about him about Suzuki and him. "I just wanted-... I thought Suzuki would-... I just wanted him to know that I was going to propose to Suzuki, that's all."
"And what makes you think Suzuki would have wanted him to know?" She huffed, if she was surprised to hear about him proposing, she kept it hidden pretty well.
"But He had no idea who I was when he arrived," Kaoru agued, straightening his lips tight into a straight line as he noticed neither one of them were looking at each other now. "He-... If Suzuki would have said yes, I didn't want him going about life not knowing anything about what Suzuki was doing or who she was with, cause I knew she wouldn't have told him."
"He didn't have to know, and would have ben fine not knowing," she said sternly, giving him a hard stare. "He hasn't ben in her life since she was ten, and was barely in her life then."
"I know," he muttered, feeling like a child being scolded by their parents for the first time, since he was Akio's favorite before all this. "I should have thought about it longer before I went to America."
"That's another thing," she sneered, folding her short arms over her chest, contemplating on reaching for her walking stick to whack him upside the head with it. "You going to America, you lied to her about it being business. Foolish girl was depressed up until you came back."
"...But if I had-"
"And for what? you brought her father back with you."
"..."
For the first time, Kaoru was silent. Completely ashamed of himself and guilty for what he had done unintentionally, he should have known she wouldn't have liked it with Andrew coming here, but that was a complete accident in its self.
"But he wasn't suppose to come back with me anyway," he defended himself for the first time, taking a deep silent breath. "That's why I was just looking for him myself in America, it's just when my hired detectives finally located him, they were told to bring him to my location, I guess they were still following those orders even when I came back to Japan."
Akio turned her nose up at him, being a few feet smaller than him she could really take her gaze off him unless she turned completely around. "That doesn't matter anymore I guess, what's done is done."
"...Yeah, I guess," Kaoru pouted, sticking his bottom lip out slightly. "I have a friend who was upset because her father was almost late for her wedding, I just didn't want Suzuki not having her father there too... She hasn't really answered me yet but..."
"She wouldn't want him there anyway," Akio sighed, casting a look over her shoulder curiously then quickly looked back at him. "After Kimiko died, he wasn't allowed anywhere near her, he didn't want anything to do with her anyway, she was an accident, and we hadn't seen him for ten years after that, and Suzuki developed Addison's disease."
She gave a look towards his face, as if she was waiting for him to interrupt her, but he was too fascinated and interested to do so, so she continued.
"After that he demanded to see her again, but got drunk that one night and left her alone, he was gone all night, forgotten to give her, her medication," she blinked and took a breath before she added. "She was in the hospital for two days, so I brought her here back to America with me... And neither one of use has seen him up until now."
"He's staying in a hotel down in Toyokawa if you-"
"Nor do I want to see him."
"...Hmm."
"Look Kaoru," the woman sighed, stepping back a bit inside, gripping the door knob as she closed it just slightly so he knew she was done talking. "I know you're worried about her, but Addison's disease really isn't something you need to be concerned about, it's not serious."
"I know," He grumbled, running his hand through his bright orange hair, barely messing up his styled bangs. "I have a friend in the medical business, he told me about it... I just wanted to talk to her about it and apologize, she's never told me about it before so, I never knew."
"I've told her countless of times to," she muttered irritably at the thought, narrowing her eyes as he glanced towards the floorboards of the wooden porch of the apartment. "She just hadn't yet, I'm sure she wanted to."
"Yeah," He murmured almost silently, scratching at the wood beneath him with the toe of his shoe. "Well, I just wanted to see if she came back yet, I'll probably be back tomorrow, even if you don't want me to."
"Well now that you've said that, maybe I'll take a leave tomorrow."
"I'm still come."
"I thought you'd say that."
Kaoru smirked slightly for the first time that afternoon and wanted to laugh at how ridiculous her was acting over this, going to her house just to check if she was there every chance he got since it happened two days ago. He was so scared that she might not want to talk to him ever again, and the thought of her moving back to America had crossed his mind before, but he had gone down that road before, and it wasn't pretty.
"Listen Kaoru," Akio said, after a few long moments of them both being silent, just standing in front of each other. "I'll tell her you came by again, but I can't guarantee she'll even be back today."
"Thanks Akio," Kaoru let out a small sad sigh as he adjusted his hair again for no reason, turning around slightly in hint that he was going to walk away. "If she does come by, tell her to check her phone, unless she's ben ignoring me on purpose."
Akio nodded, and was about to close the door completely as he started on his way, but just then she thought of one more thing to say.
"What are you going to do about, him?"
"...I know a person who's great with these kind of issues, and if calling him doesn't work than I'll let him go back to America."
Akio nodded, watching Kaoru walk away down the wooden stairs, waiting until he was about to get into his car before she finally closed the door all the way.
She sighed, looking at the door just as she closed it, looking at it for a few moments before looking into the living area around the corner, where she crossed her arms over her chest again and sighed dramatically.
"I don't like lying, Suzuki."
Curled up on the small chair there in the corner, Suzuki sat, with her knees held up to her chin, her bangs hanging down, covering half her facial expression, wearing her cowboy hat, something she hadn't worn in a long time.
"I know." The blond said quietly, her voice raspy from crying before Kaoru had decided to show up. Having her grandmother lie right to her boyfriends face telling him she wasn't there, when she had ben all along.
She reached around, wrapping her fingers around her cell-phone, looking at all the text messages he had sent her she had yet to reply to, and all the phone-calls she had ignored.
"I'll talk to him," she muttered, feeling her eyes swell up again with more tears threating to come down her already red stained face. "Just... Not right now.
"Jump on daddy!"
"What? no!"
Hikaru felt the air knock out or him as he was suddenly tackled to the floor forcefully by three little bodies holding him to the floorboards. With his head landing on a massive pile of pillows thrown there from the large bed near the side wall, he snickered as he flopped down carelessly.
Having no work with it being Sunday, Hikaru was up in the triplets room, being caught just walking past rom the hallway, then was dragged in there reluctantly by his three minions.
Hayato growled through his teeth as he threw his body on top of his father who they successfully pulled to the ground, landing on his stomach. "Daddy, quite squirming."
Hikaru sighed, laying on his back as he felt the triplets climb all over his body, with one on top of him one clinging to his leg and the other trying to lie up his feet with rope. "Well who said I wanted to be tied up anyway?"
"Mommy said we can cook you for lunch."
"So we're cooking you for lunch."
"You're food daddy, food isn't supposed to talk."
"And here I thought you guys were starting to act normal," Hikaru muttered, feeling Keito tie a knot in the rope that was around his ankles, not believing a three-year old could tie it so tight, but with them being his children, he didn't have to think of it long. "Speaking of mommy, I think I hear her calling you."
"I don't hear anything," Hanako replied with hardly any emotion in her voice, as she tugged on her father knee, watching her older brother secure his legs together. "Daddy must be hearing things."
"That doesn't sound healthy," Hayato said, a little smirk growing across his face, pressing his small hands to Hikaru's chest. "Maybe daddy needs a doctor."
Hanako blinked curiously, looking up at her eldest brother who was making sure their dad would move as they tied him up. "What does that mean Hayo? shall we operate on him than?"
"I suppose, Daddy did say we'd become doctors someday," Hayato nodded, making Hikaru flinch, remembering his careless words he knew would be bad for him saying one day. "Where's the scissors Keito?"
"No! wait a second, daddy's fine!" Hikaru gasped flipped over, having Hayato land on his back on the floor, shaking off all the kids as he got on his hands and knees, but with his feet tied, that's just as far as he got. "Let go, go operate on your animals or something!"
"We already did," Keito finally spoke up, gripping his fathers ankles, pulling him down on his stomach again. "But we got tired of uncle Tama whining all the time so we gave him all our stuffed animals."
"Oh how nice of you," Hikaru whined, feeling the pace of his heart beat a little faster as he noticed Hanako climb off of his, digging through their large toy-box. "Look, daddy as work to do, could you let go?"
"No," Hayato replied instantly, crushing the mans dreams of running away and saving himself. "You don't have work to do, we checked your computer and all your documents, nothing is due until next week."
"How are you able to do that!?"
"Here daddy, hold still," Hanako advised with no innocence intentions planned. Crawling on her hands and knees as she got up to his face, holding a handful of things they had gotten from Kyouya and things they had stolen from the hospital after going to get their shots one time. "We gonna cut him open?"
"Is that really necessary?" Hikaru gave a sheepish laugh, slowly fighting his way up to his knees again with the weight of two of his children holding him down. "I was thinking we could sort of talk about this."
"Right, Hanako, hand me that scissor, knife looking things that people use for their hands," Hayato muttered determinedly, climbing on his fathers back, cowboy style. "Hold still daddy, you won't hear strange things anymore."
"No, maybe I want to hear strange things!" He shouted, wiggling his body to try to shake his eldest son off him. "Wait... what is that?"
Looking at what was really in his sons hands, Hikaru narrowed his eyes and recognized the small, thin metal colored plate.
"We found it in daddy's make-up bag he uses on mommy," Keito pointed out knowingly, climbing up Hikaru from behind. Watching his brother twirl the metal nail filer in his fingers. "What are we going to do with him?"
"How about you don't do anything with daddy," Hikaru grumbled, inching his fingers over towards Hanako as Keito and Hayato were busy. "And we just eat the kids for lunch, I hear they taste better."
Hanako squeaked loudly as her father wrapped his arms around her tiny torso, bringing her closer as she tried to wiggle away from him, but it just made him hold her tighter. "No daddy I don't wanna!"
Hikaru laughed, keeping himself up with one hand while he tucked Hanako under his body, holding her there with his other arm. While Hanako screamed, Hayato and Keito tried to climb on his back again, trying to get him to let her go. "Quit squirming, or I'll have no choice but to tickle you."
Hanako gasped lightly, with her eyes going wide as she felt her fathers hands dig into her sides slightly, tickling her gently, hitting her sensitive spots near her rib cages. "...N-no daddy, don't... s-stop!"
He smirked, rolling on his back as the boys moved to the front of him, but once on his back they flopped down on to of his stomach, trying to detach his grip on their sister.
"Don't stop~?" Hikaru snickered evilly, showing no mercy for the poor girl as he kept his grip around her and continued to torture her. "Well alright, if you say so."
"No! I-...I said stop!"
"You have to be more specific, do you want me to stop or not?"
"Yes!"
"No?"
"NO!"
Hikaru laughed, holding his daughter who was squirming and whining for him to let go, with her brown hair messily thrown over his chest, while the boys still tried to climb over him like some play-ground equipment.
But finally, he got tired, and decided to give to poor girl a break, and flopped his arms down beside him carelessly, laying down on the carpet covered floor, completely exhausted from just playing with them for half an hour. He was sure he was getting too long for it all.
Hanako panted, turning on her stomach so she could lay her head comfortably on his chest. With the boys throwing their bodies across their father's legs, panting hard just to copy the two of them.
Playing with their father wasn't their first choice, but being mother deprived for the longest time, they took what they got, and Hikaru seemed to be enjoying it, so they decided to humor him and play along. Though still every chance they saw Haruhi they'd try to persuade her to do things with them.
Hikaru took a deep breath as he went to lay his hand on his own chest, but with Hanako in the way, he just ended up laying it on her head.
Trailing his fingers through her hair brown slowly, contemplating on what time he should think about getting up, and wondered why his triplets where so content with just laying there quietly; it was nice, but also felt like something was missing.
Hikaru blinked, looking up at the ceiling as he gave a huge sigh. "What's your mother doing anyway?"
"Why?" Hayato muttered, flipping over on his stomach as he laid his chin on his father's knee. Smirking. "Daddy wanna get nasty with mommy again?"
"Shut up," Hikaru grumbled, grabbing one of the pillows that was next to his head and tossed it towards Hayato's head without getting up, though it missed. "That's not all mommy and daddy do, besides you know nothing about it anyway."
"Know about what?"
"...The birds and the bee's."
"The birds and the bees is where daddy locks up little girls in the basement."
"...No I was just...you know what, sure. Close enough."
Just as they were adjusting themselves on the floor, Keito poked his bottom lip out as he opened his mouth, ready to say something, when they all heard the front door shut from down stairs.
"I guess that's him," Hayato grumbled irritably, sticking his lip out in a sulk. "Icky people."
cuddling up on her fathers chest, Hanako sighed and rubbed her cheek slightly in Hikaru's shirt. "At least mommy didn't go to work to see him."
"Still, Keito mumbled, lowering his brow as he glared towards the ceiling. Getting ready for Hikaru to freak out. "...Hope he doesn't try to get nasty with mama."
"Woah," Hikaru said suddenly, sitting up straight, causing Hanako to almost roll on to the floor, and would have if Hikaru hadn't gripped his hands around her sides. "Just a second, who's down stairs with mommy exactly?"
"A friend."
"From work."
"He's a man."
"A man?" Hikaru grumbled just as Hayato had done, making Hanako squeak as he picked her up with one hand, holding her football style as he stood up. "What's a man dong here for Haruhi?"
"Mammy said so at breakfast that he was coming," Hayato reminded him. Standing up as well when he and his brother were suddenly thrown off his legs. "Doesn't daddy remember?"
Feeling more confused rather than guilty that he didn't remember something like that. Hikaru puckered out his lips as he looked towards the cracked door to the triplets bedroom and shook Hanako a little as he sat her down on her feet.
"Well, this should be interesting than won't it?" he muttered, shooing his children out with him. "Who wants to learn how to eavesdrop?"
All three of the triplets smirked evilly.
Haruhi smiled as she opened the front door, being down stairs working on lunch and doing some of her regular time sheets for work when she heard a few knocks on the door.
"Mr. Tatsuro," she greeted with her cute puppy-dog smile everybody seemed to like, opening the door wider for the man who had knocked to come inside. "I hope the house wasn't too difficult to find, I would have come by the office, but my husband insisted one putting me on some sort of house arrest for the day, don't ask why."
"Right," the man snickered, running his hand through his dark blond hair as he stepped into the expensive five bedroom house, half shocked at how much of the house props as furniture were so expensive looking, even when he knew there were a bunch of destructive three-year olds running around. "Well hopefully I'm not intruding too much, I'll be on my way as soon as we get this all straightened out."
"You're not intruding," Haruhi assured him, her face dropping slightly as it became too much of a bother to smile so much. "Just let me go get the court files, I left them in the kitchen, this may be while, if you want to make yourself at home."
"Oh, no, but thank you anyway," he smiled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he stepped into the main walkway. "Hopefully it won't be too long, I just left the kids with my neighbor, and they're a handful sometimes, I don't want to bother her too much with them."
"I understand," Haruhi sighed, rolling her eyes at how her kids were a handful with anybody, no matter who'd she'd leave them with. "I don't want to keep you, I suppose we could work out the rather annoying details some other day anyway."
"Yeah," he agreed, taking a deep breath of the cinnamon smelling house and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Uh, its pretty quiet here, you home alone or something?"
Haruhi scratched her cheek as he turned around and adjusted her shirt leading him into the kitchen where she placed all the stuff. "No, they're upstairs, I think, I don't know, they could be sleeping, or dead, I haven't checked on them in a while.
"...Oh..."
"Shhh!" Hikaru held up his index finger to his lips as all four of them tiptoed down the stairs, leaning up against the wall. "The trick is to be quiet."
After accidentally stomping on the last step he took, Keito blushed slightly and nodded his head. "Daddy, what are we eavesdropping for?"
"We're seeing what they're talking about.
"Can't we just go in there like normal people?"
"...What's the fun in that?"
"You've got a point."
Hikaru looked over his shoulder curiously, looking in to the main hall just as he watched a blond-haired man walk into the strange room with his Haruhi. It wasn't like he didn't trust Haruhi, and think she would do something; it was the man who didn't sit well with him.
After all, who comes to a woman's house alone? couldn't he have brought his kids or something?
Sheesh, the nerve.
After hearing Hanako step on a toy that squeaked, Hikaru slapped his hand over his face and just ended up picking her up instead, holding her normally on his hip. "What else do we know about this guy?"
"He's mommy's client person," Hayato muttered, covering the side of his mouth as he whispered. "He didn't want to be together with his wife anymore, but wanted to keep his kids."
"I custody case," Hikaru nodded, playing spy with his children really brought back memories, horrible, devilish memories of when he and Kaoru used to eavesdrop on their grandmother, but memories nonetheless. "I suppose this is the same man from before than?"
"He also got a ticket for speeding when he was in school at sixteen," Keito whispered, catching his father's attention.
"Ah, so we're dealing with a tough guy, huh?" Hikaru grumbled, his eye twitching as they tip-toed down the rest of the stairs. "Stay away from those kind of people kids, they're dangerous."
"Daddy get's speeding tickets all the time though."
"...It's different."
"Hikaru what are you doing?"
"Ahh!"
Hikaru flinched, covering Keito and Hayato's mouth as he pressed them all up against the wall, Hanako noticed this and also covered her own mouth and her father's mouth just to copy him.
Haruhi blinked, coming around the corner to go up to her home office to get some documents she forgot to put in her folder, when she found Hikaru and the kids all standing there in front of the door with their ears pressed up against the door. "What are you guys doing? lunch isn't ready yet, were hungry?"
"We were eavesdropping on mommy," Hanako admitted honestly, letting go of her mouth, only to have her father slap his own over her mouth.
"Honey, rule number 1 about eavesdropping," Hikaru sighed, his hand firmly against his daughters mouth, until she started licking his palm. "Don't tell people you're eavesdropping on them."
"Yeah," Haruhi rolled her eyes, folding her arms over her chest as she stood there looking them all down. "You don't have to hide, I knew you were there the whole time."
"Eh? since when?"
"Since I heard you coming down the stairs."
"...Ah."
Hikaru pouted to himself, setting Hanako down on her own and once down, all three kids thought it was a good time to escape, and ran away to hide upstairs, planning to put all he blame on their father.
Looking at the direction where they ran off to, Hikaru sighed, looking down at Haruhi who was giving him the look while she shook her head in disappointment. "What?" he muttered. "what'd you giving me that look for, you're quilty too."
"And what is it that I did, exactly?" Haruhi huffed, raising her eyebrow as she felt like a teacher catching a bunch of kids writing graffiti on the walls.
"Not telling me you were having company over for instance," he cocked his head towards her, raiser his brow. "Not to mention a man."
"Well Mr." Haruhi rolled her eyes again, walking past him as she gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I did tell you, you were just were too busy not paying attention after I said the word 'work'."
"That's your fault than for losing my interest."
"You don't have to worry about him like that Hikaru." she shook her head assuring him as he followed her.
"...You know why I do," he grumbled irritably, crossing his arms childishly as if he wasn't getting his way with something.
"I know, and its sweet of you, I guess," she shrugged her shoulder, stepping up to kiss him on the cheek, knowing that she couldn't really be upset with him for acting the way he was. "But seriously Hikaru, he's just a client, and you don't have to worry about him."
"Oh yeah? well what makes him different?"
"Well for one, he's gay."
Tranny!
"..."
"..."
"...Huh?"
"He got a divorce because he reconsidered things," Haruhi said hesitantly, trying to still seems somewhat professional around her husband, but often failed miserably at it. "So it fine, okay?"
"...He's still a man with manly parts in the kitchen..."
"Hikaru."
"Okay," he whined, sticking his hands in his pockets, as he turned towards the door to the kitchen. "Remember, if he gets scary, there's a pager in your purse."
"...I don't have a pager."
"Yes you do."
"...Oh, I didn't know that.
"And your phone is on the table in the living room."
"Yes I know."
"And the secret video cam is in the corner, so don't try to lie if he try's something."
"..."
Hikaru turned around in a fast whirl of a motion, turning on his heel to look towards the kitchen door again just as he turned around to leave. Pointing his finger towards the door that was indeed closed. "Ya hear that?! she might be manly sometimes but she's off-limits pal!"
"Okay, you're done," Haruhi declared, turning her husband around as she urged him out into the main hall. "Why don't you take the kids out for a bit? go get some icec ream, I promise he'll be gone by the time you get back."
"But-"
"Se you in a bit Hikaru."
"...Fine, I'm going." He sighed, "But if I come back with a car full of toy's you can't say anything about it."
"Deal."
