Hello everyone! Nina-chan finally got around to finish the fucking chapter. About fucking time.

Sorry it took me so long to update, but my life has been a bit hectic as of lately, and I just haven't had any time for anything. Three children, four if you count my husband, are driving me crazy. I never have time to sit down and work, which is one of the reasons why it took me so long to finish. Thankfully, my sister in law took my twins on vacations, which means me and my husband can catch a small break, since it's much easier to take care of a five month old than two energetic three years old. So I had finally had some time to write. I want to apologize, since this chapter is a bit shorter than what I'm used to write, but I just didn't want to give away too much, yet. I can't promise that the next chapter will be up soon, but I'm sure as hell going to try. In the meantime, bear with me.

Thanks to all of you for reading, and liking the story. You guys are the best.

Lots of love! Nina~

Chapter 25: Better Together

"How are you feeling, Cross-san?" One of the nurses was checking up on Kaien as she waited for the doctor to arrived. Yuki and Juri were standing in the corner, giving the nurse all the space she needed.

"Drowsy." Despite being awake, he wasn't fully conscious. The effects of the anesthesia were still present, and it showed.

"It's perfectly normal. It's going to take a little bit for the effects of the anesthesia to completely wear off."

The doctor came in a few minutes later and checked up on him. Once he was done, he approached the girls. "So far, everything is looking good. I'll check on him tomorrow, once the effects of the anesthesia have wear off, and if everything is fine, I'll discharge him. It's of extreme importance for him to take it easy the next couple of weeks. It's going to take some time for the leg to heal. As long as he follows the instructions I will be giving him, he should have a smooth recovery." Both girls couldn't feel any more glad to hear those words. Looks like this was just a big scare, nothing more. Soon enough, both the doctor and the nurse walked out, leaving them alone with their father, who was starting to talk nonsense.

"Dad, go back to sleep." As glad as they were to see their dad awake, his nonsense was driving Juri crazy. Yuki just laughed at the whole thing.

Soon enough, Kaien was sleeping once again.

"I think we should head home. We would probably be able to get some much needed rest tonight and be here first thing in the morning." Juri suggested. The two of them had barely gotten any sleep the night before, and they were tired. Now, knowing their dad's life was out of danger, they could sleep better. "We can inform a nurse to call us in case anything happens."

The first thought that crossed Yuki's mind was to oppose. She wanted to stay with her dad and be there whenever he woke up again, specially if he was as disoriented as he was the first time, but Juri had a point. They were both exhausted, and she knew that their dad will worry if he saw how tired they were, so Yuki nodded. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to fall ill, or worse, collapse.

"Alright, I'm going to talk to the nurse, in the meantime, text Yagari-san and tell him dad woke up."

As Juri spoke to the nurse, Yuki sent her text. She also decided to text Kaname and her friends, letting them know that her dad had woken up. Soon enough, the two girls were on their way home. It was a quiet trip, but that was because both girls were too tired to even speak, unlike last night where the two of them were too worried to talk. Soon enough, they reached home.

"I'm going to take one long, relaxing bath then go to bed. I'll wake up tomorrow and head to the hospital right thing in the morning, sounds like a plan?" Juri asked as they walked into the their home.

"Yes it does. I'll probably do the same thing as you, I'm exhausted." Juri nodded and headed towards her room. She grabbed her stuff and walked into the bathroom. She turned the hot water in the bathtub, put some bubbles in it and as she waited for it to fill up, she texted Haruka.

My dad woke up. He's looking good and will probably be discharged tomorrow. I'll probably be back in school next week.- Juri

She placed her phone near the bathtub. She tied her hair up in a messy bun, and once the tub was full, she turned off the water and got in. She has been wanting to have a minute to do this for quite some time now. She laid her head back and closed her eyes, trying her best to relax. Said task was interrupted by her phone going off. She grabbed it, only to see a text from Haruka.

I'm very happy to hear your dad is doing alright. I'll call you later okay? Right now, I'm dealing with a bit of a crisis.- Haruka

Everything okay?- Juri

What Haruka just told her worried her quite a bit.

Yeah everything's fine, it's just family stuff, no worries.- Haruka

While she wasn't too convinced with Haruka's words, she decided to drop it. She knew Haruka would tell her what's going on whenever he was ready to do so.

Talking about Haruka...they needed to figure out what were they are this point. Haruka had made it clear he liked her, and that he was interested on her, but besides that, she has nothing. He hasn't tell her how he really feels about her, and she couldn't exactly tell if he was being honest about everything, or if he was just using her for fun. As for her, one thing is for sure: she has fallen for him, and hard. She can try to deny it all she wants, but it's useless. Haruka is constantly in her thoughts, and just thinking about seeing him with another woman was enough to make her blood boil. She has had her share of fun with guys, but she's never felt like this before. Haruka has been the only guy who has manage to drive her crazy, literally. She couldn't stop thinking about him, all she wants is to be with him, yet she can bring herself to admit that to anyone. Based on the way they acted, anyone could assume they were a couple, but were they? She wants the answer to be yes, but doesn't want to admit to anyone, let alone Haruka. 'Well, there goes my relaxing time.' She thinks as her mind is filled with a thousand different scenarios of what might or might not happen.

Meanwhile, at the school

Kaname was having a shitty afternoon. Seeing and spending some time with Yuki helped him out, but by the time he was back at the school, he was in a foul mood again. He decided not to tell his brothers about what happened, last thing he wanted was to worry them. Unknown to him was that both his brothers noticed the kind of mood he was in, and how he was avoiding them, and that worried them even more. Currently, Kaname was sitting outside while everyone was having dinner. He wasn't very hungry, and was hoping that the cool temperatures helped him calm down. He had just gotten a text from Yuki letting him know that her dad had woken up, something he was glad about. The faster he recovered, the faster Yuki can come back to school. For now, he's trying to enjoy the solicitude, until both his brothers found him and decided to join him.

"Hey" Haruka sat to Kaname's right, and Shiki to his left. The two of them had noticed Kaname's mood, and they were going to figure out what was going on. "What happened between you and Rido?"

"What makes you think something happened between us?"

"You're moodier than usual, and you're avoiding us." Shiki pointed out. "Besides, I don't know if anyone has told you, but you're a horrible liar."

"Rido and I just spoke, that was all."

"About?"

"About business."

"Then why wouldn't he call all of us? And since when does he calls any of us talk about business?" Kaname was trying to avoid answering the questions, a sign that something was wrong.

"Why don't you tell us what really happened, nii-san?"

Kaname sighed, this was going to lead him nowhere. He knew how stubborn his brothers could be. "Rido's trying to figure out which one of us should take over, as his heir, and he's leaning towards me."

"That sounds...unusual for him." Shiki always thought his father wouldn't leave anything to them.

"What's the catch?" Haruka knew his father, and this sounded like the man was planning something.

"He wants me to marry Sara."

"WHAT!?" Both his brother yelled at the same time.

"Is he out of his fucking mind?" Haruka knew his father was type of person to do anything so things work out on his favor, but this was crossing the line, even by Rido's standards.

"Your refused right?" When Kaname didn't answer, Shiki freaked out. "You can't possibly be considering this Kaname."

"Here's the thing, Rido wants wants an alliance with the Shirabuki family, and the only way they would agree to form said alliance is through a marriage. If I straight up refuse, like I wanted to do, he's going to force one of you into marrying Sara." The last thing Kaname wanted was for his father to hurt any of his brothers, so he was going to find a way to deal with this mess. "I'll deal with it, okay? He seems more interested in me than in any of you, so as long as I go about this carefully, he shouldn't bother you. I'll find a way out of this, a way in which neither one of us has to suffer."

"No," interrupted Haruka. "We will all find a way out of this. Kaname, you don't have to deal with this all on your own. We're your brothers, we're here to help each other out. Besides, this affects you as much as it affect us. We'll figure it out, together."

"Haruka is right, you don't have to carry the world on your shoulders all by yourself." Kaname smiled at his brothers, and laid his head on Shiki's shoulder. He needed that, he needed some reassurance not only to deal with his father, His brother's were right, he had been trying to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and that was a heavy burden. I was stupid on his part to think he could avoid getting his brothers involved, considering this affected them as well. Besides, knowing he had this brothers' support made Kaname feel like he could actually pull this off.

"Together" Kaname said.

"Together"