"And all the wounds that are ever gonna scar me; for all the ghosts that are never gonna catch me...if I fall..."

-My Chemical Romance

Out of Maria's POV

Hikaru and Haruhi had been out to see a movie. Nothing big. It wasn't a date, they'd swear by it several times. After all, Haruhi did have a boyfriend, and Hikaru did have a sense of self-preservation. Really, he did. Honest.

It was just a simple get-together to alleviate boredom.

So, what if they went to see a scary movie and ended up holding hands?

So, what if they went to a restaurant together and he pulled out her seat for her?

So, what if on the ride home they…accidently…ended up in a compromising position, where Hikaru's mouth just happened to connect with hers?

And who gives a damn if the moment was over in a split second, quickly followed by an awkward clearing of the throat and a light dusting of what seemed to be blush on each of their faces?

It wasn't a date.

What the hell gave you that idea?

"Holy shit, you're blushing." Kaoru observed, as he opened the door to let his brother in.

"Yeah, and what of it?" Hikaru countered harshly, daring him to make a snide remark.

Realization dawned on Kaoru's face, and his features twisted up into a devilish countenance, "You didn't?"

"Didn't what?"

"You snogged Haruhi Fujioka." Kaoru stated, head shaking in wonderment.

"What makes you say that?" Hikaru asked, rolling his eyes, and taking his coat off to put on the coat hanger.

Kaoru got within an inch of his twin's face, seemingly examining him for god knows what, until finally his hands grazed over his lower lip, being left with a pinkish residue.

"So, I guess this means you wear lip gloss now?" said the younger brother, smirking in a way that made Hikaru want to injure him.

"…I…I…."

"Save it, lover boy." Kaoru said dismissively, backing away from him with a satisfied grin, and plopping onto the couch to continue more homework.

Hikaru could feel himself blushing all over again. If Kaoru had figured out so easily, who's to say that everyone else couldn't either? It was late, and all he wanted to do was go to bed, but his head was swimming with thoughts.

Maybe, possibly, he just might be in love with Haruhi. Yet he had been so certain just a few hours before that he wasn't. And even if emotions could change that quickly, should he act on them?

He groaned into his pillow. He wasn't used to playing the part of the lovesick teenage boy. It made him feel uncomfortable. Normally, people were clamoring to get a date with him, and all of a sudden he had to start dealing with the fact that he was too socially awkward to know what to do when he had feelings for a girl.

And not to mention the fact that she's already going out with Tamaki Suoh, easily deemed the most attractive guy in the school. Because let's face it, Tamaki's a stud muffin.

He hung upside down from his bed then; pillow still in face, as he whispered, "This sucks." before hanging there, since he had nothing better to do.

Later on, his brother Kaoru came upstairs to discover his twin had fallen off the bed, and fallen asleep on the floor. He merely covered him with a blanket, and shortly after crawled into the bed himself.

Because surely, there is no bigger dilemma than having an inner conflict between your heart and your head.

Maria's POV

I had a bit of a dilemma. My murderous colleague was in the back seat of my car; unconscious but sure to awaken at any moment, the directions to headquarters were impossible to read in the dark, and I was pretty sure the gas tank was miraculously running on empty.

But, besides that, life was pretty swell.

I called Tamaki several times, but he refused to answer his phone. That made me wonder if this was actually a trap to lure us into a secluded place and kill us.

Yet, I still can't seem to forget what Lorenzo said to me before Josh dragged me into his car.

"You're safe now, I assure you." he whispered, so quickly and quietly that I might have imagined it.

And, even so, it must have been a lie; because I was the opposite of safe. I nervously clamored through the glove compartment of the car, and managed to find a flashlight. I shone the light on the directions, and attempted to make my way back to the headquarters, where Tamaki was, and possibly the safe haven that Lorenzo had promised me.

Out of Maria's POV

"Tamaki, dear, wakeup." said the voice (too sweet to be real; there was only one voice that sounded like that).

Tamaki woke up, only to be assured that he wasn't awake at all. The sight before him was only but a dream. A figment of the imagination. It used to exist, but it doesn't anymore.

"You've grown so much." said the voice again; that damnable voice that hasn't changed.

And Tamaki reached out to touch the source of this voice, figuring it must have been a hologram, yet some foolish; boyish part of him dared to hope; dared to dream…

"Maman," yes, Tamaki was saying that word.

"Mon chéri, mon petit garçon. Oh, je vous ai manqué !" My darling, my little boy. Oh, how I've missed you!

Tamaki frowned then as he experienced an unpleasant feeling in his gut. There was something wrong; something so off about this picture.

As his mother wrapped her delicate arms around him, he realized that he had an overwhelming feeling of sickness.

Lorenzo had introduced her as the anti-director. She hadn't been in Paris at all. She hadn't been sick, broken, or alone. She knew where he was all along.

She knew.

Realization hit him dead-on, like an oncoming bus.

She didn't come looking for him. She didn't care about him, but what he knew. She lied to him about everything.

They were…. using him. Again.

He almost got sick all over her beautiful gown. He pushed her away, feelings all coming up to the surface. She gasped. What had gotten into him?

Lorenzo leapt forward, ready to defend the Anti-Director at all costs, even if it meant hurting a valuable friend. She motioned for him to be at ease, that this young boy was not a threat. Oh, she had been gone for too long to know who stood before her.

"Where were you?" he managed to choke out, words so small that they almost didn't exist, "I needed you all this time. You knew it."

His vocabulary was reduced to that of a little boy, small words strung together that didn't have much meaning, back when all he knew was French, "Pourquoi?"

Why?

Her eyes shone with pain, but for some reason her emotions seemed rehearsed, stiff as a piece of cardboard. Now that he thought about it, they always looked like that. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

"I'll let you know all of this soon. We'll…exchange information? How does that sound?" a smile made only for the heavens, yet it still did nothing to put him at ease.

"And then you'll come home?" he asked, hoping that he was more than just some business transaction to her.

"You know I can't do that." she stated, her voice filled with regret.

He smiled then, seeing the anguish he was causing her. He didn't wish to hurt her any longer, so he'd smile, if only for her.

She gestured for him and Lornenzo to sit at the table. She was ready to tell Tamaki everything, and Lorenzo would help fill in the blanks of the story.

"I…want to start off by saying that what you may come to find out is a bit of a shock. Please promise me you'll hold no grudge towards me. You have to understand." she started to plead with him.

"How can I ever be angry with you, Maman?" he answered, mimicking her smile from earlier; the smile that had the radiance of a million suns.

Yet, was about as fake as smiles could get.

One would wonder who he got it from.

Maria's POV

It was so late, and I was almost exhausted by the time I parked outside of what seemed to be a deteriorating building. I wondered what to do with Joshua's unmoving form, when I decided it would be best to wake him up and have him walk on his two feet. I'm not anybody's bitch, and there is no way I'm lugging him into the building. Even if I am the one responsible for knocking him out.

I slapped his face a couple of times, and found that he was groggily coming back to consciousness. Since he was taking too long, I found an half empty can of warm coke. I splashed it into his face. I think some got in his eyes. Oops.

After cursing profusely for the first couple minutes, he managed to look at me with something other than a murderous glare. It seemed to be…was that…admiration?

"Well done, Standford. I told them you didn't stand a chance. You proved yourself to be a useful asset to the Anti-Agency." he said, almost ruefully, yet with what seemed to be a genuine smile.

"Was…was this your idea of a test?" I asked. Oh, I hate tests.

"Eh, you can call it that."

"Wouldn't Lorenzo be pissed if he found out you tried to kill me?" I asked, exasperated. I thought these life-threatening tests were the kind of thing the Anti-Agency hated. The sort of thing we were fighting against.

"He instructed me to test you. Didn't say how. I could have made it easy, but hey, let's face it. I hate you, Maria. A lot." he said, resisting the urge to smirk.

And, strangely, hearing those familiar words were comforting, "I hate you more. In fact, I hate you so much that I'm going to leave you here." I declared, while skipping off.

He scowled then, and hopped through the air, doing a flip, and passing by the knife I still held in my hand, in a way that cut his binds into pieces.

"Let's not forget who the expert is, here." he said, with what seemed to be a wink, as he left me in his trail, my mouth agape.

Which left me with the possibility that…holy shit…he might have let me beat him.

He had style, I'd give him that.

Out of Maria's POV

"You had a sister." Tamaki's mother declared, leaving him numb with her words, "A twin sister, actually." He couldn't help but notice the past tense.

"Her name was Vivienne." Lorenzo whispered to himself, keeping his hands busy as he toyed with the circuits of a wire that belonged to a remote. One that had been taken apart countless times; one that he always kept with him when he felt that urge.

The Anti-Director seemed to hear him, but luckily Tamaki didn't. She shot him a look, as if to say her name doesn't matter.

But, it did matter, Lorenzo wanted to argue. It did matter that she was supposed to die at birth, but didn't. That her name meant alive. Which was so goddamn perfect for her because she was alive. Overflowing with life and energy and… it was hard to believe she was now perfectly still.

"Why have I never met her?" Tamaki demanded, seeming highly reluctant, yet starting to accept the possibility that maybe they were telling him the truth.

"Because she wasn't supposed to exist." it was funny how she said such cruel words in such a gentle manner.

But she did exist! Against all odds; a medical anomaly, she existed. A brilliant existence. A short one.

"Neither was I! I wasn't supposed to exist, I was a disgrace to my father's name." he countered, repeating the words that his grand mother told him.

Tamaki's mother's face was painted in sadness, if only for a moment, "Is that what they've been telling you?" she asked, grasping his hands into her own.

"It's what I know." he corrected, yanking his hands away from her manipulative grasp.

"You were of use to that wretched Suoh family. You were a boy, and with the right conditioning, they believed you could grow up to be the heir of a great fortune." she explained.

He got it now. His twin sister was never mentioned because she was of no use. It was nice to finally realize that the Suoh family operated just like the rest of the world. And that woman he called a mother; she was nothing but a hypocrite.

"I hid her existence for a while, even from your father. He didn't attend your birth. I had her sent to live with a relative, and I kept you. I went to retrieve her when I was certain she was safe."

That would explain why Tamaki had no memory of growing up with her. Because, they grew up separately, alone.

He remembered all those times when he would look at the Hitachiian twins, envious of them. Because when all else failed, they'd always have eachother.

He had thought he was an only child. Went about his life, always feeling that he was not whole.

Of course he wasn't whole. He was merely a reflection.

Reflection. That word stirred up something within him. A foggy memory. One that seemed to be years ago; when in reality it wasn't too long ago at all. His first mission. Those clues. He thought that was the end, but it was only the beginning.

"How did she die?" was all he could manage to say while resisting the urge to reach over and strangle his 'mother'.

The Anti- Director looked to Lorenzo.

Lorenzo's stomach lurched at the reality that she was waiting for him to tell the story. He refused to go into detail, because he had made another promise to Vivienne, which, along with the first one, were the only two in the world he intended on keeping.

"Promise me no one will hear of this. Especially my brother." she said, words coming out in wisps.

That was the first time she ever spoke of such a brother. At first, he had thought she said mother.

"Or else you'd kick me?" he said with a bitter smile. She had a habit of hurting him when things didn't go her way.

She smiled back, and Lorenzo felt tears welling up. This was the first time he'd seen her real smile. It wasn't as sickeningly sweet as the other one; the signature grin that ran in the family. It was small, but made a huge impact. It was shaking; on the verge of collapse, as if threatening to disappear.

People often reverted to their default setting in the face of death.

He smiled back, and let the tears fall, "Please…please don't leave me." he said, trying so hard to be strong but knowing deep down that he is weak, he has always been weak. She was usually strong enough for the both of them.

"I'd never…never leave you." she whispered, and he was so convinced.

That was the last lie.

Lorenzo cleared his throat, and although he'd never tell the story to a living soul, he'd at least let him know what happened, "She died saving my life."

No one on this Earth would ever hear of why, or how. There are only two people who know. One is dead, and the other is too busy mourning the corpse.

Maria's POV

No one questioned us as we walked through the hallways of the building. Just the mere presence of Joshua seemed to let us get through. I recognized a few faces from the crowd that night the Anti-Agents almost killed Tamaki and I.

It dawned on me that I must be a masochist.

I was led to a room, in which I saw three people sitting at a table. The first two were Tamaki and Lorenzo, both of them seeming incredibly tense.

And the third was a woman I had never seen before, but I managed to guess her identity as soon as I saw the resemblance.

"Holy shit, Suoh! It's your MOM!" I exclaimed, mouth open so wide that I feared I might break my jaw.

Tamaki smiled at that. He said, "Maria, I can always count on you to be vulgar and outlandish."

I hate proving him right.

"I'm sorry, but I nearly got my ass killed for like, the umpteenth time this year and now your mother is here—Hi, Tamaki's mom—and you have lots of explaining to do, mister."

"I'm still busy trying to understand myself." he said, looking a bit woozy.

That's when I settled down, seeing the look on his face. He was in some serious distress. Not saying that he isn't always in distress but this time it was exemplified times ten.

"Can we postpone family affairs to get down to official business?" Joshua asked, annoyed.

"Um, Josh, you have what seems to be soda all over your face." Lorenzo answered. He had a knack for stating the obvious, is what I've observed about this guy.

Tamaki raised his eyebrows as if to say, "You did that?" I nodded and we high-fived each other in secret.

"You of all people should know that these affairs need to be taken care of before business, or else business won't operate as smoothly." she hissed at him.

I was tired of all the bickering, so I made a point of yawning really loudly.

"They're tired. Maybe we should let them rest?" Lorenzo suggested, "I have a room set up for you two on the third floor."

"A room?" Tamaki and I both said in unison. Tamaki's mom seemed to click her tongue disapprovingly.

"You couldn't have gotten them two rooms?" Tamaki's mom asked.

"Well, by watching how they interacted, I gathered that they were, well, you know. Smitten with each other." Lorenzo said, slowly coming to the realization that it was a mistake.

I snorted, I was laughing so hard. Tamaki seemed to be just as amused by this as he said, "Maria, come over here so I can give you a huge smooch."

"Of course, love! Let's go up to our room." I said, stretching out the words to show how ridiculous they were.

"Suew, sweetheart. Anything for you." he said, and we skipped off hand in hand.

Lorenzo followed behind us, still muttering something about, "But…I thought…I was so certain that..."

"Can't you see? Maria can't be in love with me because she has a super crush on you!" Tamaki said, and I hit him in the arm for it. I watched the confusion on Lorenzo's face, so I had to quickly correct Tamaki.

"I do not, but this kid over here, he called you a hottie the other day." I told Lorenzo, which further confused him, and caused Tamaki to glare at me.

"It's not what you think." Tamaki assured him.

"It's exactly what you think." I countered, winking at Lorenzo.

Not quite knowing what to say, he stopped walking and appeared in front of a door, "I'll see you two in the morning." Lorenzo said, walking off sort of dazed.

"I'd tap that." I said, jokingly, as we went into the room.

"Most definitely." he agreed.

We then both made a mad dash for the bed. I knew he would definitely try to get to it first, but there was no way I was sleeping on the floor. We both ended up on the bed at the same time, but I was prepared to lie through my teeth if that meant getting the bed.

"I got here first!" we both said in unision, "No, I did! You lying little…" cue growl.

And then we were at it. Wrestling, I mean.

I had him in a headlock, but he managed to do a reverse head-lock, holding me in place,
"I called the bed! You know I always get the bed."

I broke out of it and landed a choke hold around him, then tried my best to fling him to the ground, but he was too heavy, "When did we establish this?"

"I don't know. I just always thought it was… one of those… unspoken rules." he reasoned, struggling to regain his breath.

I then realized that we were on a bed. And he was on top of me. No wonder Lorenzo got the idea we were "smitten" with each other! We probably did this stuff all the time without realizing the effect it had on other people.

Realization dawned on him as well, as he rolled off of the bed, cleared his throat, and said in a small voice, "Um, you can have the bed."

"No, you can have it." I said in an equally low volume.

"Oh, but I insist…"

"Take the damn bed!"

"No, you!"

And then we were practically beating each other down again before we came to the conclusion that neither of us would sleep on the bed. Instead, we slept on the ground, him on the left, and me on the right.

Who said we weren't smart people?

A/N: My Chemical Romance is amazing. I like their old stuff better; of course. Song above? Mama. I think the phrase "fits like a glove" is very appropriate here :D. I CRIED while writing this chapter. Honestly, I worry about myself. It was mostly the during Lorenzo's flashback, simply because losing a loved-one is one of the most tragic occurences in this world. Just, facing the fact that you'll never see that person; that goodbye doesn't mean until the next day, but possibly forever...'tis the worst.

Psttt. I have a secret. I KNOW what happened that day between Vivienne and Lorenzo and how she saved his life. BUT, to honor her wishes, I'm most likely not sharing that with any of you.

I hope you liked this chapter. Even if you didn't, I like it. It evoked emotion within me, and I hope it did the same for you. That's why I write. To make people feel something.

Have a wonderful day; never take your loved ones for granted; and give a hobo a five dollar bill.

Sincerely,

Your New Best friend /3