The good old days, the honest man

The restless heart, the Promised Land

A subtle kiss that no one see

A broken wrist and a big trapeze

Missy hummed along to the music playing from her phone, her attention focused on the suitcase sitting open on her bed. She had been pulling articles from her closet for the past twenty minutes, folding them meticulously so that they would all fit within the confines of the leather case.

A knock on her door pulled her from her reverie, to which she beckoned for the person to enter.

Upon their entrance, her gaze met with calm amber eyes, perfectly coiffed red hair, and a grin that suggested the wearer was all too pleased with himself. He strolled towards where she stood in front of her bed lazily, a relaxed lull in his steps, his hands placed carefully behind his back.

"Kaoru-kun?" she asked, directing her attention to him as she placed another neatly folded t-shirt in her luggage.

"Yes?" he asked, pleased that she had guessed correctly on her first try.

It had become a subtle game, of sorts, between them for the last few weeks. Every time she saw him alone, she would greet him with his name in the form of a question. She was obviously trying to establish a baseline, a way to determine who was whom in their elaborate and never ending game of 'which one is Hikaru?' In it, she began asking a deeper question, one that he hadn't ever really heard before.

Which one is Kaoru?

She had about a ninety percent accuracy, a number she should be proud of achieving considering the duration of her stay had only been a few months.

Missy smiled at him as she folded yet another pair of sweatpants. "Just checking."

Maybe it would have surprised anyone else to find that he had not assumed his brother's identity in their conversations after their first meeting. Something about the way her dark blue eyes narrowed in his direction made him think that maybe he wanted to keep their conversations to himself. That, maybe, she was worth skipping past their usual deceptions.

Kaoru looked through the pile of clothes on her bed, his amber eyes narrowing in disgust at the contents. "Are you just packing t-shirts?" he asked incredulously, picking up the offending garments with the tips of his fingers on his left hand, his right still securely behind his back. "Won't you be cold?"

The brunette pulled the plain grey v-neck from his grasp, clutching the garment tightly to her chest to protect it. "For your information, it's warm in Texas. Even during Christmas."

"Texas?" he asked, his interest piqued. "Where the hell is that? Is that even a real place?"

Missy rolled her eyes as she stepped away from her bed and moved towards her closet. Kaoru had to turn to avoid having his back to her, something she considered to be oddly amusing. "Southern United States. Just north of Mexico. In fact, it shares the Rio Grande river border with Mexico," she replied, pulling her beloved nikes off one of the many shelves in her unnecessarily large walk-in closet.

"Is that where you're from?"

"No," she said as she walked back to her suitcase, placing the shoes at the bottom. "I was born in Exeter, England. However, that's where Josh and Marisol live."

Kaoru turned again, hoping that it wasn't painfully obvious that he was hiding something behind his back. His eyes lit up at the mention of a new name. He couldn't remember he mentioning a 'Marisol' before, so this was something new to discover about the frequently closed off model. "And Marisol is . . .?" he prompted.

"Josh's mom. She's the absolute nicest woman. The epitome of Southern Hospitality, which makes sense since she was born in Corpus Cristi. Her parents still live there since they like to be close to the beach. Marisol says their house there looks just like the one they had in Colombia, according to the pictures," Missy added, a serene smile on her face.

He watched her go through the emotions she was feeling with interest. Obviously she missed her brother and his mother. He wondered if the model would miss him and his brother while she was gone. "She sounds really interesting."

"She is. I owe her a lot. I was only thirteen when I met her. She has no blood relationship to me. Nothing to give her the impression that she owed me anything. But she took care of me until I started living with Josh. Which changed when I bought that house in L.A."

"That seems like a lot of different homes," Kaoru observed. He couldn't imagine it. Sure, his family owned dozens of vacation homes around the world, but he had always considered his home to be the main estate, closest to Ouran and his friends.

She laughed ruefully as she folded a jersey hoodie, wrapping the hood around the folded fabric. "That's not even half of them."

Kaoru wondered if she owned anything besides athletic clothes at this point, noting that her suitcase currently contained only two pairs of denim and zero dresses or skirts. Of course, he knew she owned plenty of designer clothes, considering her profession, not to mention that she had the entire Hitachiin line at her disposal. It was remarkable to him that someone with so much fashion at their fingertips could stand to dress so blase on a daily basis.

"You know, you could get one of the maids to do that. Just a suggestion," he said as he sat down on her bed, right in front of her pile of clothes to be packed.

Hands on her hips, she stared at him. "You're in my way."

"That's the point."

Missy's stern expression turned curious at his statement. "Why would you want to be in my way?" she asked.

He rolled his eyes, moving his hands from behind his back to his lap. "So I can have your undivided attention when I give you this," Kaoru stated smugly, handing her a piece of paper.

Hesitantly, she took it from his hands, her focus shifting to the picture on it.

"Merry Christmas!" he said happily as he let go of the picture. "Technically, it's from Hikaru and I, but it was my idea."

He expected her to be jumping up and down with excitement, or at very least, smiling. Instead, her brow furrowed in confusion. Finally, she look up, her blue eyes meeting his own gaze. "A picture of a dog?"

"It's yours."

"The picture?"

"No," he scoffed, taking the paper from her hands and pointing at dramatically. "The dog! And here I was, thinking you were so smart all this time . . ." he teased her, his amber eyes glinting with mirth.

"You- you got me a dog?" she whispered, her eyes wide with shock.

Kaoru suddenly felt his entire body stiffen. He had assumed that she would really like the gift, considering she had made that the terms of their bet a few weeks prior. He had spent hours researching pedigrees before deciding that she would want a rescue dog over some pampered certificate holding showdog. He swallowed thickly, suddenly at a loss for words. "I-I did. I, um, I thought you would like it," he replied quietly, the excitement in his eyes disappearing as he looked down into his lap, the picture of what he had thought was the perfect gift practically slipping from his hand.

Before he had time to process what was happening, he was enveloped by the warm fluff of a maroon hoodie and soft strands of dark hair. He had to throw one arm behind him in surprise to keep from being knocked over entirely. The smell of vanilla and coffee beans and coconut hung in the air around him and it took the young Hitachiin entirely too long to figure out that the smell and the blur of red was her.

"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder, her thin arms tightening around him. He allowed the arm the wasn't supporting his weight to circle around her waist, holding her closely to him, for just a moment, he assured himself. Just a moment.

He felt something press against his cheek and his body tensed.

She had kissed him.

Lightly, feather-soft, a show of simple gratitude and appreciation. But the simplicity of the kiss struck him and he found himself smiling even wider at her bold actions.

After a few seconds, she extricated herself from the embrace, sitting back on the plush comforter, and all too soon the soothing presence she offered was too far away from him.

And thus, Kaoru was awarded one of her world-shattering smiles. The kind that lit up her whole face and made the corner of her eyes crinkle. He couldn't help but smile back at her. Quickly, she pried the paper from his hand, slightly crumpled from when she had launched herself at him only a minute prior. Her eyes roved over the image, while her face lit up with joy. "You can pick him up when you get back from America. He'll be old enough to leave the shelter by then."

Missy looked up at him, blue eyes wide again as she gripped the edge of the paper. "Him?"

Kaoru nodded. "A Samoyed husky mix. They rescued his litter from an unlicensed breeding facility outside of Kyoto, and they're trying to find homes for all of them. His eyes are the same blue as yours," he said, pointing towards the eyes of the puppy on the picture.

"How did you know I wanted a dog like this?"

He looked at her sheepishly and scratched his neck. "I may or may not have stalked your pinterest page . . ." he admitted.

She grinned at him again. "Thank you, Kaoru-kun. I mean it. Thank you. This has got to be the fluffiest dog I have ever seen," Missy giggled out as she folded the picture and put it in her suitcase. "I actually have something for you and your brother, but I don't think it compares to such a fluffy little monster."

"Naturally, I am the best gift giver," Kaoru said with a wink, leaning against the obtrusive pile of clothes. "We'll just have to start a penalty game."

Missy only laughed as she stood up and moved to her dresser, opening the top drawer and pulling a wrapped package from inside. She handed the carefully wrapped object, tied neatly with a green bow, to the younger twin. Quickly, he shredded the wrapping paper, removing the bow and setting it beside him. He held the object in his hands with delight and fascination. "A CD? Isn't that a little cliche?" he joked.

"That is a very important CD, I'll have you know," she growled at him, wrinkling her nose while her eyes danced with amusement. "Do you remember the shoot we did the other day? And you and Hikaru-kun commented that you liked the song?" He nodded in reply, understanding dawning on his face as he turned the object over in his hand. "That's the CD we were listening to. The Killers' 'Greatest Hits' album. One of my favorite albums of all time, actually," she added with a soft look at the case in his hands.

"And I also hope that it will be the beginning of a new understanding between us. I don't know a lot of local music, and your knowledge of western music ends at Taylor Swift."

"And Beyonce," he interrupted. "Everyone knows Queen Bey."

"And Beyonce," she giggled at him. "I figure, I'll share the greats with you, you share the greats with me. And then we're all a little better off."

"I think I like that idea," he murmured.

"Good," she agreed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom. Please don't repack my suitcase in my absence, or I will wreck you," Missy warned as she headed towards her private bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Kaoru grinned as he moved towards her closet. "That sounds like an invitation to me," he joked as he pulled a red cocktail dress, two pairs of heels, and two skirts from her closet, folding them quickly on the bottom of her case. Hopefully, the model wouldn't notice the changes in her packed wardrobe until after she arrived in America.

With the click of a shutting door, Kaoru was forced to move back into his previous position as quickly as possible, an innocent expression on his face.

"I hope you didn't try to hide anything in there," Missy said as she moved back to her suitcase, searching for another pair of leggings.

He grinned in reply. "You know I would never do such a thing."

"Uh-huh, sure."

"So why The Killers?" he asked suddenly, hoping to distract her from her probing and keep her from searching the contents of her suitcase.

Missy stopped folding the leggings she held, choosing to lay them down flat on her bed. "That was the first band Josh and I ever saw live together. The first concert of a long list of venues that we've been to. That's what started it all," she said softly, running a hand through the thick waves on her head. "Whenever he was deployed, I would listen to one of their albums and remember how much fun we had that night."

"You two are really close," Kaoru observed, his eyes trained on the girl in front of him.

"We are," the brunette agreed, resuming the packing.

Josh had been her best friend since she found her way to his mother's kitchen all those years ago. He was the only person she had found it in her to trust for a long time, and even as her circle expanded, he remained the closest to her. But even as her trust widened, she was still closed off to many, allowing her walls to stay up, no matter who was looking to bring them down.

Maybe it was time to consider building some kind of access gate.

A/N: Merry Christmas, my loves! Here's the beloved Christmas special. It's been done for a while, but I had to wait on posting it. Also, thank you so much for loving this story. After posting the last chapter, I realized that this is my longest story yet, and my most followed (though not most reviewed, hint hint). Thanks for making this so special guys!

-Wri