Kaoru didn't bother waiting for anyone as he left the school, trotting down the stairs two at a time. He wasn't going to bother trying to get a ride with anyone. He had decided that he was just going to walk home and stew things out.
"Kaoru!" Haruhi called, running up to him as he reached the bottom of the stairs. She didn't waste any time getting to the point. "What time should we meet up with Kyoya tonight?"
Kaoru sighed. "Do we have to?"
Haruhi scrunched up her face angrily. "What time?"
"Same as last night," Kaoru said shortly and began walking again with hunched shoulders.
"That doesn't tell me anything!" She followed him, keeping his fast pace easily. "I don't even remember what time we went out last night."
Kaoru rubbed his hand across his forehead in frustration. "Let's just make it midnight."
"Great!" she said, giving him a playful punch to the arm. "I'll go tell Kyoya! See you tonight!"
"You do that," Kaoru muttered under his breath, watching her sprint away. She was too nosy for her own good.
He arrived at home in a dismal mood. All Kaoru could think about was his damned test he had to study for. But how would he be able to study when in the back of his mind, all he would be thinking about was his meeting with Kyoya and Haruhi? Damn it all! Couldn't everyone just mind their own business?
Kaoru shoved his key into the lock and struggled it open. Inside, Kaoru dropped his bag by the entrance and kicked off his shoes. "I'm home!" Kaoru called, not expecting a response.
But that's when he heard it. It was a soft whimpering coming from upstairs that sounded so pained that it stopped Kaoru in his tracks. His heart thudded in his chest. "Emi," he whispered.
Suddenly, he took off running, up the stairs in a flash to the source of the whimpering in the bathroom. "Emi?" he called out, rounding into the bathroom. He stopped frozen.
Emi was on the ground of the bathroom, but she wasn't the one whimpering. She was holding a crying and moaning Ryota who was struggling against her small arms. Kaoru paled at the sight. "What's-?"
Emi's head shot up. Her eyes were streaked with tears that ran with her makeup and she looked terrified. "He-he's having a fit!" Emi said desperately.
Ryota struggled hard and Emi was jostled harshly. She groaned in determination and slammed him back, hard, against the base of the tub. "He needs his medication!"
"No, no, no, no, no! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" Ryota screamed, thrashing.
Kaoru flew to the cabinet, feeling his heart pound hard in his chest, and ripped open the small door to reveal the bottles lined up on each shelf. He shoved bottles aside, looking desperately for Ryota's medication. "What does it look like?" Kaoru said in panic as Ryota pushed Emi violently. His shaking hands knocked bottles into the sink with a hard crash. Ryota moaned at the loud noise.
Emi attempted to shush him before turning to Kaoru. "Top shelf! It's an orange bottle."
Kaoru grabbed several bottles from the top shelf and brought them over to Emi. "I don't know which one it is!"
Emi attempted to take a bottle from Kaoru, moving her hand for only a second from Ryota's body, before he pushed her. Her head smacked with a loud clash against the tiles. She gasped but threw her hand back onto Ryota's shoulder to restrain him. "Kaoru you have to give it to him! I can't move my hands."
"Which bottle is it?" Kaoru asked shakily, moving the bottles in her eye line.
Ryota bucked wildly, nearly knocking the bottles from Kaoru's hands. "The first one in your left hand! Quickly!"
Kaoru dropped the other bottles into the tub and Kaoru unwound the top with shaky hands. "How many?" he asked as he poured almost half the bottle into his hand.
"NO!" Ryota roared. He jerked his knee upwards, knocking Kaoru's hand upwards, sending the pills flying all over the bathroom.
"Damn it!" Kaoru leaned back, pouring more into his now empty hand.
"Two, Kaoru. Two." Emi said urgently. She dug her hands into Ryota's side, turning her knuckles white.
Kaoru poured the rest back into the bottle until he was holding only two. He approached Ryota wearily. "No, don't do this to me!" Ryota cried out, blind to anything that was happening around him. "PLEASE!" It was the most pitiful and frightened scream Kaoru had ever heard come from Ryota and Kaoru almost felt bad.
Quickly, Kaoru hardened his resolve and went to the opposite side of Emi and held down his right arm. Ryota thrashed, ripping his hand from Kaoru's grasp, and nearly clobbered Kaoru with his arm. Kaoru growled and pushed the arm back and pinned it against the tub wall. "Sit still," Kaoru hissed, clenching the pills. He used his weight to hold Ryota's arm and used his arms to wrench at Ryota's mouth. "Come on, open up."
That's when Ryota bit him. Hard. Kaoru jumped back with a yelp. He looked down at his hand and was grateful that it was only red and throbbing at the tip of his fingers. Kaoru turned back to his guardian and glared. "I guess we are doing this the hard way," Kaoru hissed.
Still pinning Ryota's arm beneath him, Kaoru used one hand to plug Ryota's nose, blocking off his air flow. Ryota was forced to open his mouth. "Easy does it," Kaoru said in absolute concentration as he dropped the pills into Ryota's open mouth. He barely avoided another snap of Ryota's teeth.
"Water," Emi said, passing a glass that Kaoru had not noticed sitting on the toilet.
Kaoru grabbed the plastic glass and poured the contents haphazardly into Ryota's mouth and all over his face and down his shirt. "Swallow!" Kaoru murmured forcefully, and Ryota did. But he did not like it.
Ryota screeched out, thrashing hard than ever, and Kaoru found he was having a hard time keeping Ryota in place. In a last ditch effort, Kaoru grabbed the metal waste basket and swung. A loud clang echoed through the bathroom and then silence.
Ryota went limp against Kaoru and slowly, he put the waste basket down, feeling only slightly guilty about the red mark growing across Ryota's forehead. Kaoru let his breath and looked at Emi.
"Thank you," Emi whispered, pulling her hands off her husband. Her face was drawn into complete worry as she smoother his shirt. "He'll be okay now. Thank you."
Kaoru didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. He just removed his self from the bathroom quietly, leaving Emi to whisper soft words to Ryota.
Kaoru was trying. He was! But the words blurred before his eyes as he tried to read his review sheet. He blinked sharply before looking back down at the sheet. He read the first few definitions again before he realized that, once again, none of it was sticking. The anger in Kaoru boiled over and cried out and he pushed everything off his bed harshly. It all clattered to the ground, falling into a disorganized pile.
Sitting there, breathing hard, Kaoru glared at his textbook that laid bent over the crumpled papers. Kaoru gritted his teeth and threw himself off his bed and dropped to his knees beside the fallen papers. He gathered them all up, one by one, into a disorganized pile before shoving it all onto his dresser.
He glanced at the clock. It was near eleven and Kaoru had wasted his whole evening not learning a damn thing for the test. Whatever, good enough. He stood angrily and crossed his room and wrenched his door open. He sauntered down the hall and poked his head into Emi and Ryota's room. Emi was pressing a cold cloth onto a sleeping Ryota's forehead. "I'm going out," Kaoru said shortly.
She didn't even look up and nodded distractedly. Kaoru took that as permission and trailed downstairs and to the door. That's when Emi realized what she had agreed to and she appeared at the top of the banister. "Wait, Kaoru! You can't just go-"
Kaoru was out the door, cutting off her words. The night was clear and warm just like the past few nights. The familiarity of it lightened Kaoru's mood but not by much.
He walked down the quiet, dark road and stopped on the outside of Haruhi's house, glancing up at her window. Her light was on but Kaoru couldn't see her. But suddenly, the weight of everything came crashing down on Kaoru and he felt crushed. He wanted… No, he needed to talk to Haruhi, even if it was just about trivial things. He needed to feel that he was normal; he needed Haruhi to tell him that he was easily fixed. Because right now, it felt like Kaoru was starting to lose a part of him that he might not get back.
Suddenly, Kaoru caught movement in the window and Haruhi was there, staring out the window at him. Kaoru attempted to give her a shaky smile but it was an utter fail. So he just looked away and started walking away. He knew that Haruhi and Kyoya wouldn't be far behind.
Next is the reveal to Kyoya!