A/N: While I do apologize for this chapter being a tad late, I have a valid reason. I am not the healthiest person in the world, and I'm trying to change it so that I can be a better person. So far, I've lost 12lbs (5.5kg) in two weeks and began slowing down to only losing a pound a day. Other than that, I've been heavily thinking about going to college soon, but I can only mentally focus on one thing at a time now.
Chapter 07
Second Chances
Now—
His steel blue gray hues stared at her for the first time in two months, and she was very, very pregnant.
If he remembered correctly, she was six months pregnant on the dot, and that she was carrying identical girls. However, ever since the day she almost miscarried, Haruhi stopped revealing emotions to others—other than her own children. Due to the crazy events, he had to step down and allow Mitsukuni and Yasuchika care for her. They were terrified at first, but they warmed up to the thought when she stopped showing feelings. Of course, it was mostly because of the fact that she was protecting the girls growing inside her… otherwise, she would probably be a little friendlier… probably.
"Good morning, Nii-san." Haruhi spoke almost firmly before looking at the man beside him. "You must be the lawyer that Mitsukuni mentioned." The lawyer gulped nervously as he bowed his head. "I think it's amazing that my brother-in-law has allowed you to keep your job after the incident last year when you sullied the Morinozuka name." That said, she walked between the two men, entering the living room. "This way please, we'll discuss the matter in here while the children are upstairs."
"Y-Yes ma'am." To protect himself, he lifted his suitcase up to his chest.
Takashi was somewhat confused by the information he just heard. Rather, the information that was being withheld from him. He could not recall a problem that occurred a year ago, in fact, everything was exceptionally normal. It also turned out that her demon aura was intact when dealing with others without emotion. This was something that his cousins failed to mention; he could only pray that the lawyer of the Morinozuka family did not run back to the boat in fear.
"T-Thank you for l-letting me come." The man stood in the middle of the room, shaking like a leaf.
"I didn't." She turned to look at him. "Had I known that Satoshi chose you for this, I would have made him choose my lawyer." Carefully, she sat down with Yasuchika's help who had been waiting in the room for them. "Nii-san, you're probably unaware of this since I had to personally clean up the mess. The man in front of you allowed gossip to scatter across Japan, how his daughter was dating you and that she was pregnant." She did not need to look at the giant to know that he would be shocked. "While it's known that Satoshi and I did the dirty work to savor the family name until almost three months ago, we never thought it necessary to explain the situation when we reserved this man's… resignation."
It somehow began to ring a bell in his head… there was one time when Satoshi mentioned that Haruhi was being completely violent and wanted a lawyer to be removed from the business, but it was ignored because she never gave any information about it. Satoshi had also been quiet about it, but stated that he also did not understand why she wanted it dealt with.
Takashi cracked a weak smile; Haruhi was a Morinozuka through and through—
"Don't smile, it's disgusting." Haruhi glared. "I just told you that he was defiling your name."
"A-Ah…" His facial expressions vanished and turned into a stoic wall of nothing. "Sorry."
The lawyer gulped nervously. "T-The will your husband made was very simple, H-Haruhi-sama."
"Then read it before I waste my breath on you." She obviously hated this man with a passion.
"E-Everything except one notebook g-go to you and your children m-ma'am! The notebook goes t—"
"Notebook?" Her right brow raised curiously. "You mean his black notebook?"
"Y-Yes… h-he's entrusting it to his brother, M-Morinozuka Takashi." He nearly jumped out of his skin when Yasuchika stepped forth to demand the papers. "A-Ah… h-here you go." It was taken easily.
Haruhi smiled as she received the papers from the Haninozuka, "thank you, Chika-kun." She observed the files. "I doubt Satoshi would leave nothing for his parents, and give my brother a mere notebook."
"I haven't tampered with it—he edit his will six months ago when he found out you were pregnant!" The lawyer was terrified. "B-But he mentioned something about a fight with Masayo-sama that month!"
She looked up at him in surprise from the paperwork, then smiled. "I see…"
Takashi, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on. "A fight?"
"Yes… your mother was accusing me of choosing your brother over you for a certain reason that you're aware of. She slapped me, so I punched her in the face." Haruhi placed the papers to her lips. "Satoshi is giving me the power to do what I wish in this situation…" Her eyes closed softly. "Such a bastard…"
"B-By taking his position, H-Haruhi-sama… y-you work—"
"I'm well aware of my responsibilities, now get out of my villa." The man nodded quickly before bolting out on a run. "Insufficient good for nothing imbecile." She sighed before opening her eyes and looking at the papers in hand. "Well… with this permission, I almost want to bring him back just to kill him for it."
Yasuchika smirked. "He was the kind of guy that would make you feel that way…"
"Hn…" Haruhi slowly rose to her feet with his help. "Do me a favor and get that for me, Chika-kun?" He nodded and left to do as asked. Her attention turned to Takashi, "he's going to get something for you to take back to Japan." That said, she turned to leave, only to have her hand taken in his. "What, Senpai?"
It had been two months since he last saw her, and she was in control of herself and emotions—well, her façade was intact at least. For the past few years, he would see her for about a week once or twice a year. Sometimes it was less if his schedule was out of control. Therefore, to see her so soon was nice, but he hated the circumstances in which they had to see each other for. His hand squeezed hers in hopes of getting her attention just for a moment so they could talk. Having left the night of the funeral like everyone else, he had no idea what the relationship would be like between them.
"My mother harassed you?"
"It's common for mothers to be protective. No one ever seems to believe me when I say that I'm not affected by your condition as the family blatantly calls it." Takashi immediately shrank, and she smiled weakly. "Seeing you act shy is new to me, and it's actually cute." He turned red at this. "Sorry, I'll go—"
"If I had been honest… had I told you that I had feelings for you, despite my problem, would you have accepted me?" Although he was embarrassed, he was dead serious. "Would you have been willing to date me and continued to have loved me the way you claim if you had known about the fact that I—"
"I can't change the past, Takashi." She interrupted softly. "There are too many variables now that I can't answer for, but I do know that I would have been accepting to all of you, just as I still am to this day." It became quiet, so she turned to leave, but he squeezed her hand a bit more. "Please, don't do this now."
Takashi pulled her closely, "…Haruhi."
"I don't want to want to hurt you, but if you don't let go of me, I'll break your hand." It took seconds for him to obey her demand, but he surely listened. "I will not betray my late husband, not even for you."
"I'm not asking for you to do that." She turned her attention to look at him. "I wanted to say that it was good to see you again, and to see that you're doing remarkably well without me by your side." Her gaze averted to hide the slight hurt she felt, which was noticed. "…did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, I—"
"No—it's nothing, I'm fine… t-the girls are kicking, that's all."
"I thought you said no lying." He easily became hurt by this.
"No, they're kicking," Haruhi took his hand and put it on her womb.
"Wait, I—" In seconds, he could feel them moving around inside her.
She smiled at the shocked expression on his face, then grimaced. "See? A kick."
"Yes, but I know that wasn't the reason why you looked away from me though."
"Perhaps, but it would be best if we leave it at that." Even though she had replied to him, he was completely fascinated by the movement inside of her. It made her want to giggle like a girl and tease him about all of this. "S—" She sighed. "Takashi," he still focused on her belly. "You know… you can be with a woman and have a child together, even if you can't have any of your own." His attention turned to her seriously as he withdrew his hand from her body. "I can see that it bothers you a lot, but there's no reason to let it take control over you. You can be happy with a woman, with or without kids."
"Taka-ojii!" Mamoru cheered, storming through the living room from the hall to greet him.
"Tata-obi!" Hisako called as she crawled her way to him with a pink stuffed animal in hand.
Takashi picked them up with a weak smile. "There's only one woman I ever wanted."
Haruhi opened her mouth to disapprove his words, but those were his true feelings. Instead, she watched him cuddle the kids a bit and sat down on the sofa with them as they told them what they had done so far for the day. Seeing him handle his niece and nephew with such care was the reason why she knew that he would one day be a great father. Satoshi's smile flashed before her eyes and she quickly looked away. On his way into the room, Yasuchika saw her look away in pain. He set the item down on the nearest table in order to run to her side in worry and panic.
"Are you okay? Kidney shot?" His eyes looked her over. "Not a contraction, right?"
"…I'm fine, I… I'm going to go to the library to read. Please give it to your cousin."
"But—" She was already gone. "…okay." He turned and grabbed the item. "Here…"
Takashi looked at it. "A vase?" He looked at it suspiciously as he set the kids aside.
"Don't be foolish, it's Satoshi's urn." In that moment, everything changed. "It was last minute, but she knew that he wanted to be cremated. The funeral was more of a memorial and a parting favor for him."
"Why give it to me? Haruhi—"
"—wants you to take it home to Japan. "
"I can't do that to her, Satoshi is her husband."
"But he's also a brother… and a son. Just take it."
Takashi hand to think about it, but declined. "I can't."
"Fine, but I'm not going to be the one to tell Haruhi that you refuse to take it." The blond set the urn back on the table. "I'm sure you already learned not to challenge her, right? Especially when pregnant?"
"…ah.
In the end, he accepted the urn in fear of the wrath of the pregnant Morinozuka Haruhi. However, he had to stay the night to rest before returning to Japan, otherwise he would arrive and look like a mess. He came out of the shower, drying his hair before his body, and looked at himself in the mirror as he was in deep thought about Haruhi's words. To hear that she would have accepted him all this time, but she was right… there was no need to dwell on the past. With his hair dry, he shifted the towel to set on his shoulders as he continued to stare at his reflection. The fact that he still wanted his late brother's wife after all the events, it made him sick to his stomach. Takashi hated himself for wanting her so badly after everything that had happened, so badly that he punched the mirror aggressively. It did not make him feel any better, but he was tired of wanting things he could not have. Instead of dwelling on what he could not have, he left the bathroom and got dressed without realizing his right hand was bleeding.
As he headed for bed, he heard Hisako crying.
Not even thinking, he hurried out and started to go into the nursery. Mitsukuni was already in the room making silly faces at the little girl before singing a song and doing a little dance for her. The giant was relieved to see that everything was settled, and turned to go to bed, only to see Haruhi with a knowing gaze. She motioned her head to her bedroom before walking away as an indication for him to follow. To stay alive longer, he obeyed by walking no more than a meter near her as they went inside the room.
"I will be absolutely honest with you right now." Her hand patted her desk chair for him to sit on as she somewhat waddled over to her bed to do the same. "With Satoshi gone, I'm thinking about returning to Japan for multiple reasons." His face lit up as he seated himself, facing her. "Mitsukuni's been away from his girlfriend long enough, and he wants to settle down with her. I can't have Chika-kun by himself with a hormonal pregnant woman either. So, I think it's only appropriate that the kids and I return."
His head nodded as he did his best to hold back his excitement. "I'll have a room prepared for you—"
"No," she interrupted gently as she placed a hand on her engorged belly. "But I do have a favor to ask."
"Anything." The fact that she was finally considering the idea of coming home was a blessing.
"I intend to move in with my father." Hearing this, his face fell. "You're slow sometimes, you know?"
"…you've stated that a few times over the last decade, yes." Takashi tried not to sound bitter about it.
"Well if you're going to be sour about the idea, I can stay here." Seeing his eyes widen in horror was nearly priceless, but she sighed softly. "I was going to ask you, so have a residential home for me, my father, and my children within the Morinozuka estate." His mouth opened, but she continued. "Not the main house, just… maybe a house near it or something—but if there's no availability, we can get an—"
"There's one next to it, it's yours if you want it." He had to ask. "Why not the main house though?"
"One, I'll kill your mother. Two, I don't want to bother your father's dojo sessions. Three, well… I think you know why I need to keep my space from you." His head dipped in depression. "You're a very passionate man, Takashi. You should really go out into the world and find a woman to get to know."
"The only woman that needs to know me, my misfortune, and my sterile presence… is you."
"You never know until you go out and look for someone else. Is that really the problem? You don't want to search for a woman because your sterile, or is it that you don't want to disappoint anyone?" Haruhi watched as he shook his head. "It would help me understand if you told me what the problem was—"
"I want you—I still want you, but I can't have you."
"…will me returning to Japan make it worse for you?"
He knew this question would come. "I want you in Japan."
"Distant waters don't quench the thirst as fast, though."
"May I ask a question." She nodded. "Can you love me?"
"Of course, you're my brother-in-law, what w—"
"Can you love me as a man, romantically." Although he knew that she was pretending to be clueless, he did not want to sound like the bad guy. "If there was one thing I knew about Satoshi, it was that he never wanted you to be alone." His attention turned away, "…he would want you to move on, Haruhi."
"That doesn't make it okay to be with his brother, the man that he had looked up to the moment he was born." She smiled weakly. "It's also your image that I'm concerned about. The Morinozuka family might not take kindly to me jumping to one brother to the next." His mouth opened to object. "Don't deny it."
Sometimes, Takashi hated that she was so smart. "I don't care what they think. I fell in love with you before Satoshi even knew that you existed!" He practically jumped at his own vocalized angry, looked away, sighing tiredly. "My negative energy is not good for your pregnancy… may I be excused?"
"You're such a handful." Haruhi smiled weakly. "Before Satoshi's funeral, you never wanted to talk about your feelings—so much as letting us date, get married, and have kids." She stood up slowly and walked over to him with a hand on her stomach. "I think it's terrible that you find the courage to fight for my attention after all these years, especially with Satoshi gone." In that instant, Takashi became depressed at the words; he felt like a huge jerk. "But," hearing this made him feel hopeful. He looked up at her with a sad frown. "To hear of your devotion for me lasting since high school… it's very flattering, thank you."
In a sense, it seemed that the conversation was nothing but a big tease. He could recall how she described Satoshi before his trip; a childish man with too much ambition and not enough ground. If he had know that his brother would have been so foolish, he would have hit him over the head enough times for him to learn how to treat a woman right. Although, saying that now what pointless. There was not much he wanted to change; a handsome nephew, a beautiful niece, and three more on the way…
Satoshi may be gone, but Takashi was damn well going to help raise his kids!
"I haven't seen that look in a long time." His attention drew to her as he pondered on what she meant. "Whatever you were just thinking of, it made you want to fight for it. Truth be told, I thought the Wild Host in you died out after the Host Club was discontinued." She rustled his hair. "Nice to see that side of you again." As she turned to go back to her back, he carefully grabbed her right hand before she left.
"I'll fight for you, now more than ever."
"You intend to fight for me—who's your opponent, the memory of my late husband?" The split second of determination that he had was deflated almost instantly. She raised a brow curiously as he faced the desk in disappointment, but could not help but smile weakly. "Even if you did, we would both be tainting his memory." Takashi did not seem too happy about hearing this. "Look, I know that you're a virgin in every way—" His eyes turned to her, hurt at the reminder. "But, I don't think a kiss would be that bad."
A kiss, with her? The thought of it made him blush.
"The reason why I wanted you to leave before, is because hormones go crazy. Normally I would have sex to fight—" Seeing his face almost glow bright red made her start over. "Anyway… how do I say this…" She looked away. "I can't say for certain if I'll be willing after the girls are born since I'll have to feed them a lot, but…" Haruhi bit her bottom lip. "As rude as it sounds, maybe I can turn my back one time, to let you experience what you haven't already." Takashi looked completely confused. "I'm not making any promises, though. I just feel guilty that you've always been holding a torch for me, that's all."
He smiled softly with a weak nod.
"But, I want something in turn, but it's for you." At that moment, Takashi knew that he was about to be in trouble. "If being sterile is really that big of an issue, I want you to get tested one more time, and see if whether or not it's treatable." His mouth opened to defend himself. "If you don't, I won't go to Japan."
Demon. It was the first word that came to his mind. Haruhi knew how to control him in every way that mattered, and it drove him insane. To have her close meant to face his nightmares in more than one way. As hopeful as he was about having sexual intercourse, he was doubtful, but grateful for the offer. She crossed her arms as she waited for an answer, which made it harder for him to think properly. He did not want to go through everything again as he did when he was in middle school, but… he would…
For her.
"…one test?"
"Just one."
"…okay."
A/N: I've been having a bit of a writer's block for this and every other story I have. But I will do my best. Please wish me luck on better health. It'll motivate me in working harder during the day and working on fanfics at night!
