"Am I just bothering everyone?" Isan asked during her and Kyoya's tutoring session together.
Kyoya looked up from the math book. He laid it down with an exasperated sigh. "Why would you think that?"
Isan shrugged. "Just wondering."
Kyoya rested his chin on his hand. "Well, you're not. Everyone wants you here. Don't you believe that?"
"Not really."
"Why?"
A shrug.
"Well, if you're not going to tell me, then I won't pry. I won't gain anything from knowing what you're thinking, so I won't go out of my way. However, I will listen to you if you really need someone, although I should be the last person you go to."
"Ok."
--
Haruhi had gone home already. Isan was not sleeping over her house, and so she did not wait for her. She needed to study for the upcoming English test, not fool around with the Host Club. She walked into her comfortable apartment and took off her shoes.
"Dad, I'm home."
"Oh, hello, Haruhi."
"Hm?" Haruhi peeked her head into the kitchen where her father was sitting with his fingers wrapped around a mug of steaming tea. "What's the matter?"
Ranka sighed. "Gokai called me."
--
Tamaki danced down the hallway, waving to everyone as he went, and over to a large window. Right ahead of him was the huge clock. Kyoya and Isan must be out of their tutoring lesson, now. He turned to go toward the third music room just in time to see Isan bow politely to Kyoya and walk away in the direction opposite of Tamaki. Just then, Kyoya's cell phone rang.
"Kyoya speaking. Oh, hello; no, she's not here. What's wrong?" There was a pause, during which Kyoya made a few expressions of shock and worry that disturbed Tamaki. "What? Yes, I understand. Thank you for telling me Haruhi." He closed the phone.
"Kyoya, what happened?"
"Isan's hospitalized aunt died this morning, and her father is moving to Russia to work with a thriving architecture company that has a close partnership with one in Italy. Apparently, he'll be flying back and forth often, and so he's going to leave Isan with Kyo and Hailey so that she can stay in one school."
"What about her mother?"
"Haruhi told me that she moved to Paris with a man she had been cheating with, with no intention of bringing Isan with her."
"Even after all that trouble she put her through?"
"It seems it was just a show to seem like a better person in front of that man. Tomo, I believe?"
Tamaki looked up to where Isan had walked away, but she had already turned to corner.
--
Isan walked through the doors of Ouran into the sun. It was a warm, beautiful day. She hopped down the stairs and was stopped by Hikaru.
"Hey. Your dad came to my house yesterday," he said with a light smirk on his face.
Isan shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand. "Oh? Why?"
"To have a man-to-man talk with Kaoru."
Isan must have blushed, because her face became hot and Hikaru's smirk grew much more unpleasant to her eyes.
Isan coughed. "O-oh. What did he say?"
"The usual stuff. He wanted to know who he was and what he thought of you. Hey, where's he moving to?" Hikaru asked as the two walked toward Isan's limo. "And why aren't you going?"
"Moving? He's not moving."
"Oh. He told me-" Hikaru caught himself and shrugged. "I bet I heard wrong. I was pretending to be Kaoru, so maybe I was just having too much fun and wasn't listening."
"Maybe. He didn't tell me anything." Isan's voice lost its confidence as the sentence went on.
Why else would I still be living with Kyo and Hailey if he was staying? No, he would have told me. He would have!
--
Haruhi gasped. "Why are so many things happening to her?"
"Everybody has hardships in their lives. Some people just get them all at once." Ranka took a sip of his tea. "You know, I was so angry at her when your mother died because she had a loving family. Now, she's losing that loving family, and she doesn't even know it's happening. You only lost your mother, and although that's terrible to deal with, she's losing everybody
Haruhi sat down across from her father. "She's not a bad person! She doesn't deserve this."
"I know. And I'm worried about her."
--
Isan drove up to her uncle's huge estate. He and Hailey were waiting for her when she arrived. Kyo's hand was on Hailey's shoulder, and she stood with her hands clasped in front of her. The two looked so ominous and mysterious and sad that Isan didn't want to get out of the car and face them, but she did.
"What's wrong?"
Her aunt and uncle looked at each other before Hailey said, "well, your aunt has passed away, sweetheart."
Isan was not too saddened by that. For a long while she had been basically brain dead and unresponsive. It was only a matter of time. She had done all of her crying when her aunt had slipped into the coma, and there were only a few tears left for her dead aunt now.
"And you're father is moving."
"What? Where are we going?"
"You're staying here."
"Where is he going?"
"Russia."
"Russia!"
"Yes. To work with mathematics in architecture."
Although Isan was happy to be able to go to Ouran and be with her friends and cousin, she felt sad and forgotten. Everyone was leaving her behind, and eventually Kyo and Hailey would, too.
"Also," Hailey began. She took in a deep breath and let out quickly, "I'm pregnant."
-Ten Months Later-
It. Never. Stops, Isan thought to herself as Hakuchumu cried. His infant scream echoed down the quiet hallways and into each room of the house.
Isan let her forehead drop onto her homework papers as he screamed some more. The boy was never happy, but he was a cute baby.
His eyes were big and blue, like his mother's, but his hair was dark brown, like his father's. Isan was babysitting while her aunt and uncle were out at some important meeting or another about something.
She tiptoed out of her room and into her cousin's. Inside, a maid was trying in vain to get him to stop crying, and she looked up at Isan with sad, defeated eyes.
"Gimme 'im," Isan said holding out her arms. The baby was plopped into them immediately and the maid ran away, probably to get an Advil.
"Shh," she whispered to the baby. The clock rung four times, making it about time for a nap. She rocked him slowly and paced his yellow and green circus room.
"Leave the bright blue door on the white-washed wall," she sang in a voice that the baby had no idea wasn't in tune, "Leave the death ledger under city hall. Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today.
"Just leave the lilac print on the linen sheet. Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet. Let the sideways rain in the crooked street remain
"Leave the whimpering dog in his cold kennel. Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal. Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today
"Leave the sad guitar in its hard-shell case. Leave the worried look on your lover's face. Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain
"'Cause everything it must belong somewhere. Oh a train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs. Everything it must belong somewhere. I know that now, that's why I'm staying here."
She took in a deep breath.
"Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell. Leave the widower in his private hell. Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
"Just leave the epic poem on its yellowed page. Leave the gray macaw in his covered cage. Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
"'Cause everything it must belong somewhere. Sound-stage in California, televisions in Times Square, yeah. Everything it must belong somewhere. I know that now, that's why I'm staying here. Well I know that now that's why I'm staying here.
"Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed. Leave the garden tools in the rusted shed. Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today
"Just leave the restless ghost in his old hotel. Leave the homeless man out in that cardboard cell. Let the painted horse on the carousel remain
"'Cause everything it must belong somewhere. Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair. Yeah, everything it must belong somewhere. I know that now, that's why I'm staying here. Oh, I know that now, that's why I'm staying here.
"In truth, the forest hears each sound. Each blade of grass as it lies down. The world requires no audience. No witnesses, no witnesses!
"Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool. Leave the autumn leaves in their swimming pool. Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today
"Leave the novelist in his daydream tomb. Leave the scientist in her rubic's cube. Let the true genius in the padded room remain
"Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow. Leave the slot machines on the riverboat. Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today
"Just leave the hot, bright trash in the shopping malls. Leave the hawks of war in their capitals. Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
"'Cause everything it must belong somewhere. They locked the devil in the basement, threw God up into the air. Yeah, everything must belong somewhere. You know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here. You know it's true, why don't you leave me here?*" The last note was too low for her voice to reach, so she substituted it for a high one. She had been singing for only four minutes, but the real song was about six. It sounded like she had timed it right when she was singing it.
There was a small chuckle behind her, and it was only then she realized Hakuchumu was asleep.
She turned around to see Kaoru. Quickly, but careful to not wake the baby, she placed him in the crib on his back and left the room.
"Why are you here?"
Kaoru frowned. "I though you'd be happy to see me." He shrugged. "Fine, fine; I'll go home."
"No!" Isan placed her hand over her mouth then lowered her voice. "No, you don't have to."
He leaned against the look on his face was one of a troubled, angsty, good-looking, teenage boy. Had Isan not caught herself in time, she would have let out a squee similar to those the other Ouran females give out.
And it would have woken Hakuchumu.
"What's up?" she asked, coming up to him from the side and placing her hand on his chest, blushing, and then putting it on his shoulder. "I'something wrong?"
"I'm not sure. I'm not a very blunt person-"
Isan face fell flat with cynicism. Yeah, right.
"-and I get nervous really easily. I get worried about what people think of me, especially when I want to open up to them. I feel like everyone will reject me."
"Did something happen, Kaoru? Here, come sit with me downstairs. I'll get us something to drink and a snack, and you can tell me what's wrong." She began to walk away but he grabbed her by the arm.
"I like you," he said.
She turned to him slowly. "Hm?"
He let tightened his grip on her arm. "For the past year I've wanted to tell you, but you've had so much bothering you that I couldn't. I didn't want to to put you through anything. In retrospect, I guess I was a little afraid for myself, too. I was afraid you'd reject me."
Isan turned slowly to Kaoru. Part of her told her to run into his arms, but the larger, more cowardly part of her told her to get away from his as fast as possible.
"I'll... I'll..." and she ran away. She had meant to say 'I'll get drinks', but she sentence wouldn't form.
Kaoru watched her go for a moment and ran after her.
"Wait, please! Don't run from me!" He caught up to her quickly and blocked her path.
Isan didn't make eye contact with him. "Hmmhm?" she let out in place of 'yes'.
"I just knew that there was no reason to keep it a secret anymore," he told her. "I didn't want to keep making excuses! Don't run away from me!"
Isan took in a deep breath and clenched her fists with determination. She opened her mouth, but still no words came out. She laughed, and sat against the wall.
"What's so funny?"
Still mute, Isan took out her cell phone and sent him a text message.
The two got into a small conversation.
Isan stared at her screen before typing, I can't talk.
Kaoru's cell beeped twice. He read the message and sent back, Why?
I'm nervous.
Oh. Why did you run away?
For the same reason.
I'm sorry.
Don't be! Me, too.
You don't have to be sorry.
Not that.
Not what?
That's not why I said me too.
Why did you say it?
You know why.
Kaoru looked over at her with a sweet smile. "Do you?"
"Don't have such a big ego!" Isan yelled. Her answer was exactly the opposite of what she had wanted to say, and she grumbled.
Kaoru's eyes softened. He stood and held out his hand, which Isan took and stood. They walked down the hallway. Kaoru tried to grab Isan's hand as they walked, but she pulled away, blushing deep red, and folded her arms so that her hands were hidden. She picked up her pace so that she was a few steps ahead of him, head bowed, and all Kaoru did was chuckle.
The two drank sodas next to each other on a large swede couch as Kyo and Hailey walked in.
"Oh! Isan, you have a friend over?" Hailey asked.
"Yup."
"How's Haku-chan?"
"Fine."
Hailey raised an eyebrow. A sly smile crossed her lips. "Ok. Have fun."
The married couple walked into the kitchen.
"Who's that boy?" Kyo asked.
"Oh, Darling. It looks like her boyfriend."
"Boyfriend!" Kyo screamed, making Isan and Kaoru blush brightly from three rooms over.
Upstairs, the baby began to scream.
"Oh, look at what you've done! He must have been asleep." Hailey shook her head and sighed. "She's sixteen. Of course she's going to have a boyfriend. Mommy's coming, sweetheart!" Hailey ran upstairs.
Kyo looked into the living room, peeking slightly, resembling an overprotective father. The teenagers weren't even looking at each other. They looked as if the sodas on the coffee table were poison, or at least disgusting, because they stared at them without taking a sip or even touching them.
"Boyfriend," he muttered to himself as he walked away. "Over my dead body."
"You will not interfere," Hailey said as she came back downstairs with a quiet baby in her arms. "Leave the girl alone."
Kyo turned to see Kaoru kiss Isan and run from the house.
"Oh, my," Hailey said, more amazed by the boy's bluntness than the pale white man standing beside her or the rose-red girl on the couch.
Outside, Kaoru turned back to the house with satisfaction. He met his limo driver at the sidewalk and went home, his fingertips placed gently on his lips.
*"Everything Must Belong Somewhere" by Bright Eyes. I do not own, etc.
