My Muse

Chapter 16

Yazuha opened her phone that afternoon and found that her name was trending topic. Or more specifically, her last name, and under every hashtag, one of her sons was the bud of ridicule.

It left a bitter taste in her mouth. And it wasn't just from her necklace she was biting into. It was because it used to be her.

She was the head of a company she built from just as idea she came up with in the shower. She was young, only nineteen, already a mother of two and wasn't even married yet. She was "incompetent" and "wouldn't last five years." Her clothes were ugly, her hair was too short, and she was a fool to have children with a nobody. Just a boy, who's only selling point was his father's newly established software company, that was already tasting the first stage of bankruptcy.

She was only twenty-three when the host objectified her and she made her last appearance on a live broadcast.

They all had the ability to file you straight down to bone.

And she could see they were doing the exact same thing to Hikaru and Kaoru. She just couldn't do anything about it.

Her pretty, bright red nail was scratching against her phone screen as she flipped through the comments just as the door to her office opened slightly, and her assistant quietly slipped through the thin crack between it and the door frame.

Trying hard not to be noticed, she figured, as the tiny girl flinched as she called out to her.

"Yuri," she perked up. "Is Kaoru back yet?"

Yuri was 4'11, with a small face and long black hair, and walked funny in her heels, and very well looked like a little glass doll from where she stood, with the whole length of her office between them. Especially with the way her face instantly took on a shade of pink once she mentioned her son's name.

"Kaoru? No." She said quickly. "No. He's not here yet. Maybe he got held up?"

Yazuha looked her over suspiciously. "Ah, are you hiding him in your office again? Yuri you fiend. I'm telling your father."

She gasped and surprisingly was able to turn a deeper shade of red. "I'm not! I really haven't seen him- And that's not what that was! We were only talking."

Yazuha cackled teasingly at her, her cheeks feeling numb as that was the first time that morning she had smiled. It felt strange. \

"Probably ran off to the cake shop again," she bet, "Be sure to smell for cake frosting the next time you two are fondling behind my back."

She nearly choked. "I- Madam!"

Deciding she'd done enough damage now, she gestured towards the cup of coffee that cradled in her fingers. "Is that mine?"

Yuri only nodded, biting her cheek in a pout as she counted her steps as she made her way to the fainting couch, were Yazuha had perched herself on, Although, she could only wonder why she called for coffee when she already had a glass of sherry hanging between her fingers.

She passed her the flimsy paper cup, getting a fair glance at the bags underneath her long lashes.

"Are you alright, Ma'am? You look pale."

"It's the lighting." she said unconvincingly, with a smile, flashing her teeth like a wrist of pearls. "Ah, speaking of which - It's terrible in here. Call to have our light crew bring more bulbs in. I want to look my best for that interview Monday."

Yuri nodded, reaching for her pocket notebook, unsure. The lighting didn't look bad to her. Yazuha's office was practically all glass. "Yes, madam."

"Ah Yuri- Hikaru hasn't called for Kaoru today, has he?"

"I haven't heard from him in months actually."

"Ah," she sighed, making a futile attempt to mask her disappointment. "I suppose that's a good thing, then."

"...Suppose."

It wasn't a date. It was just a casual cup of coffee, and a piece of cake.

It wasn't a date, even though they were sharing a plate.

But it wasn't a date, because even though she used to be his friend, he saw her an an enemy today.

It wasn't a date, because he knew he had ulterior motives. And he almost felt bad, because she didn't seem to notice.

"Caramel," she mumbled quietly, and his hand stopped, mid-scratch.

"Pardon?"

"How did you know I liked caramel on cheesecake?" She asked, there wasn't an ounce of suspicion in her voice. Just curiosity. "It's not even on the menu."

"Do you not?" he muttered, amused at the way she had scooped all the caramel off to the side and was now eating it plain. "Ah, it's Hikaru's favorite, so I guess I pick it out of habit."

Cheiko smiled halfheartedly. "Is it."

No. It wasn't. "Sorry," Kaoru's face fell. "Let's talk about something else."

Trap Set.

But her reaction to that wasn't what he was expecting. Though to be fair, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. A scoff maybe? A lame attempt to change the subject? Instead, her eyes lowered to her latte and she didn't respond at all. And the silence that fell between them after that made him uncomfortable.

He took a sip of his iced coffee, and it caught in his throat, now feeling a little guilty for even mentioning him. "Cheiko-"

"So that's why you invited me out here." She said and he tensed, nearly choking on an ice cube. "Are you mad at me?"

Kaoru's mouth gaped, as the gears in his head were taking a particularly long time to start working. So he wasn't being as discrete as he thought.

"What?" he played dumb, retreating into his seat like that accusation caught him off guard. "No I-"

He stopped, lowering his voice, watching her face twinge, suddenly feeling a little guilty. He never had a spine of steel like his brother in these cases.

"Why would you think that?" He asked gently.

She fiddled with the end of her fork, turning her poor piece of cake into a pile of moosh. "I know how they're treating him at the office."

Kaoru's first reaction was a deep rumble that came from his throat. Were they treating him badly? Haruhi hadn't said anything about it...

His second reaction was slouching into his chair, with his arms over his chest. "But that's not your fault."

"I heard he hadn't been back since that fight he had with your father." She added. "So I thought that's why you invited me here."

A fight with dad too? When? He dropped his chin into his hand in a pout. "Guess I've been out of the loop."

"...So it's not about Hikaru?"

"As surprising as it sounds, I'm not all that caught up in Hikaru's life anymore." He stifled a laugh, but as that realization sunk in, it was kind of sad. "And do I really need a reason to invite you for coffee? Honestly, you act like I bite."

"No, you don't." She mumbled. "Sorry. The cake's... nice. Thank you."

His scoff was met with silence as he was stuck watching her swish a blueberry around in the caramel. He didn't mean to stare, but the way her elbow perched on the table made her sleeve fall, and he could see a strange shadow across her wrist. It looked a little like a ring. And a little purple. Like a bruise.

That thought made him look up to the small bruise on her face he noticed earlier outside of the elevator, and his conscious eventually was wrapped too far around the theories running through his mind that he barely heard what she said next.

"Are you two fighting?"

"Fighting?" he murmured, wondering if he heard right. With Hikaru? He almost laughed again. "No. No, we're not fighting. We don't fight."

He stopped again to think. Why? Is he mad at me?!

"You said you don't know what he's up to anymore." Chieko said. "I thought you must not be talking."

"We talk," he answered, defensively, thinking back to the good morning text he'd sent to his brother before leaving for work that day. Then again, he never responded... oh god he is mad. Why Hikaru?!

"That's good then," she decided, quietly, her face relaxing at last, in a sad, and a relieved sort of way, before finally taking a bite of her cake, but with a spoon this time. "At least he still has you."

"Yeah," he agreed, hesitantly, watching her stare intently into her coffee cup. He wasn't sure why, but he no longer could stomach anymore cake. "I guess." He pushed away his plate.

She made a face at that comment. Like his uncertainty hurt her almost as it hurt him, and she finally raised her head, meeting his gaze for the first time since they sat down. "Nothing will happen to him, right?"

He didn't know how to respond. "What?"

"You promise you won't let anything happen to him."

Kaoru was taken aback by the desperateness in her voice. It scared him. Like she was afraid of something. Something that could happen to Hikaru. Though, for some reason, it sounded like she already knew what that was.

"Oh, Cheiko," he sighed, "What have you done."

Haruhi hugged her arms around herself, curled into a half ball on the floor, between the couch and coffee table.

He left her alone again.

He told her to sit tight, before disappeared into his bedroom. He'd been oddly cheeky sine they'd snuck out of Ito-Co. (He said snuck, but they really couldn't have been more obvious) and seemed pretty smitten with himself, all the way up the stairs to his studio apartment, holding her hand, while the flash drive was clasped inside his other fist. Like he was afraid to let it out of his sight -until he laid it on the table next to her for safe keeping to fetch his laptop -.

She picked up the flash drive, and caressed it under her thumb, amazed that Hikaru's life work could fit inside something so small. And to think, she thought his life's work was his painting, but she never seen him as at peace with himself while painting, as he did just talking about this project. In fat, she' never heard him talk so much about anything.

She only wished she understood what it was actually about. He lost her at Nvidia Pascal Graphics or whatever.

When he came back, he tucked himself beside her and a cushion that'd fallen off the sofa, and perched his precious laptop, that looked more like a small flat screen with a keyboard, and took the flash drive from her like he was plucking a small flower, then shoved it into the computer and sat back, waiting for it to work it's magic, as he called it.

The files started to load and he took her hand again, immediately rubbing circles over her knuckles. It was just then, she noticed he did that a lot now, but that thought didn't stay with her for long. And as the computer took it's time retrieving folders from the drive, she started to relax against him - the crook between his chest and his arm serving as quite a nice pillow - and- weird, he smelt different today. He must've changed his cologne.

"What's wrong?" He spoke up quietly, and she looked up, making the grave mistake of meeting his eyes.

"You've been quiet." He said.

She starting making something up, because well, she couldn't very well tell him what she was actually thinking. Then, she remembered-

"Hikaru?"

He hummed, chin sitting in his hand, and his elbow resting on his knee, pinkie thumping against his cheek. He looked back after she didn't respond, and saw a weird look on her face. Like she was thinking too much. "What's wrong?"

She almost forgot to breathe as he started to lean in closer, the longer it took for her to continue.

"How come... you don't talk to your mom anymore?"

He stopped, and immediately he could feel his face distorting out of place. "What brought that up?"

"Your mom invited you to dinner tonight, but you said you didn't want to go." She said.

"I haven't gone home for dinner in years,it'd be kind of awkward if I suddenly showed up." He tone sounded like a shrug and she wanted to roll her eyes.

"That's what you said last time."

"What's it matter?"

"I mean, aren't you lonely?" She said. "I haven't thought about it but you're always alone here when I leave and Kaoru doesn't come by anymore."

"What're you getting at girly?"

"That you should have dinner with your family tonight." She finally huffed.

Hikaru hesitated, pretending to contemplate that, lips tweaked for the whole show, before adding quietly. "Honestly, Haruhi, if you want to stay for dinner that badly, you could have just asked. As if I'd say no to you."

Haruhi ignored that. "So I guess you're not going to tell me."

"There's nothing to tell."

"It's that bad, huh?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about."

She frowned. "I'm envious of all the girls who've actually gotten your to talk about your feelings."

"Ah, well, if it makes you feel better, it's not many."

"Not sure if that does."

He just scoffed. "Maybe later."

They were both silent after that. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence that seemed to gnaw at her. It was a safe, and peaceful. His thumb grazing the side of her leg, after leaning it against his thigh, but just as she was about to lose her eyes and slouch against his shoulder for what she thought was going to be a well deserved nap, the laptop rang like a bell, and the screen lit up a bright blue, announcing all 65,798 files had been received.

"Holy shit." He blurted out and she scrambled up in a panic.

"What?"

"You must've downloaded his computer's entire memory onto the thumb drive."

She paled, wanting to insist that it wasn't her fault, and that he made her do it. "What does that mean?"

"Means he's going to be pretty mad when he goes to open his laptop and it's empty."

Haruhi almost choked on her gasp, her mind already trying to figure out how illegal this was and how much time she'd have to serve. "I thought we were just copying it. You didn't say we were transferring all of his stuff!"

"It's pretty cool huh?" He flashed his little thumb drive a proud grin. "Sure can hold a lot. I made it by the way. This was mine."

"Hikaru!"

"In my defense, I did say only one file. This was you, cupcake."

"Oh my god."

"Oh wow! His pictures too. I'mma peak."

Her heart sank for down into her stomach that she almost threw up. And reached over to try and close the laptop. "We have to put it back. Maybe he hasn't gone home yet. If we leave right now we could probably-"

He took her hand as she leaned over him, and brought it to his lips. He kissed her knuckles once before entwining their fingers and bringing her fist to his chest. Just above the slit of his shirt, where she could feel the warmth of that little bit of exposed skin. It made her bite down hard on her tongue, swallowing what she was going to say next, and quickly made her loose interest in what he was snooping through on the laptop.

She was so focused on their hands, his hands. and the sound of his breathing, and watching every time he took a breath, that she didn't notice what he was looking at until his grip tightened around her fingers and he tensed. She felt a hot whisk of breath fan across her hand then, quickly pulled away from him.

"Jesus Christ." He hissed.

He was snooping, she figured, but she wasn't going to, and pointedly turned her face away so she couldn't - That'd give her less to say in court once he'd sue - until curiosity got the best of her.

But cursed herself not a second later, as she immediately got a view of someone's partially covered breasts. To which she groaned aloud and quickly shut her eyes again. "Typical."

"Haruhi," His voice strained. It was a sound she'd never heard from him before. It was like he was in actual pain. It made her nervous to look at him. "That's Chieko."

The mention of her made her want to look even less, they were currently in legal battle with her, but she did anyway, and while she'd never actually gotten a good look at Chieko's face before, she could tell the woman in the photos were her. The girl she'd seen in court, hiding behind a giant ugly coat, and the girl she could see in the photo, holding her arms to her chest, wearing nothing but two thin pieces of lingerie, both hung their head with the same look of pitiful shame.

Her eyes traveled down, over the pictures of Chieko that took up the entire screen. Each of her holding a different pose. In different pieces of provocative clothing. Some were even of her holding her hand out to cover the camera's view as she changed.

Her initial shock dissolved as Hikaru started to scroll past the pictures, and they saw pictures of a different atmosphere. They were from a distance. One was a picture of Cheiko just leaving a department store. And one of her sitting outside of an ice cream parlor by herself. And one of her walking through the door of a tall glass skyscraper. It definitely looked like Cheiko was a victim of some creepy stalker.

Though It was one in the corner that made her take his hand off the mouse.

"That one." her voice hitched, making him flinch. "That picture- It's the one from court."

Still quiet, Hikaru watched as she leapt from her place beside him and started to dig through her bag. He lifted his brow as she ripped a picture from a folder - and held it up to the computer screen.

He looked between the two, feeling weirdly sick to his stomach. It was the picture of a bruise she'd said was from that night at the hotel. It was one he never wanted to see again.

"What about it?" He mumbled. Sure, it was weird Fujibayashi would have that picture on his computer, but it wasn't unfathomable.

"Look at that one up there," she said, pointing to one of Chieko in a dark setting, posing in a lacy piece he recognized as a set from one of his mother's newest lingerie line. "Zoom in here." He made a strange face, but obeyed, zooming in on a portion of her face, where he just now realized was a bruise.

"It's the same picture." She said. "Look. The lighting and angle is the same, and she's even wearing the same necklace."

"You think..." he paused, waiting for the gears in his head to start running faster. "She used the alteration of an old picture... in court?"

"I've seen crazier things."

"But," he frowned, still looking between the two photos, "that would mean she's lying about it."

"And if she's lying about this, then she's probably lying about she's said."

His face looked devastated, which honestly wasn't the reaction she thought.

"But then," he snatched the picture out of her hand, "Where did she get this from?"

The bruises? Haruhi looked over all the other photos from the same demented photo-shoot. All from different angles, showing other red marks and welts on her body. "If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say It's from the same person who took all these pictures."

Suddenly, he stood and slammed the laptop shut. Ripping away the thumb drive in the same feral swoop. He made it one full stride towards the door until he was jerked back as she latched onto his wrist.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go see her."

And tell her what?"

"You saw the pictures. If she's lying, there something's going on."

"If she's lying, she's not going to tell you why."

He let out a breath of distress, looking down where her fingers dug into his arm. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing." She said, and he shrunk back a little, as she laid both her small hands over his, eventually prying away the thumb drive. "Nobody can know we found the pictures like this. You'll get in trouble."

"And they're not on his laptop anymore." She added," Right now they're on your thumb drive, which gives them every right to think you're the one who took those pictures. You'd be the creepy stalker."

"So we finally have leverage and we're just going to ignore it?"

"We're going to wait until we have proof she's lying. Legal proof."

He slumped his hand into his hoodie, still looking at the thumb drive peaking out from inside her fist. "So what'd we do with it?"

"Hide it somewhere, and hope no one figures out who broke into his office today-" She said, before getting to their second problem. "Are there any reasonable explanations for a computer suddenly losing all of it's memory for no reason?"

Hikaru shrugged. "Not usually, but i'll think of something."

After saying it like that, Haruhi's eyes narrowed, distraught, and in pain from her chest down to her stomach. There was no way she managed to avoid all of the security camera. And even if the building was lacking in it's security like he said, someone had to have been suspicious of her. They could tell one of the higher ups. Hikaru's father was the chairmen, so he'd be let off easy but what about her? She was the one who went into his office. And Mr. Hitachiin even caught her leaving.

Her hands started to shake, as she ran them both into her hair, pulling it loose of it's pins. Hikaru saw, and grabbed her shoulders, turning her towards him. "Hey. Don't go having a panicking on me now."

"We're in deep shit, Hikaru." She admitted, her voice breaking. "I mean- If Fujibayashi finds out I was in there-"

He pulled her hands to him, and they were shaking. "Nothing going to happen. And if anyone finds out, I'll say it was all me. It's no big deal."

"What if he asks me about it?"

Her hands dropped to her sides as he cupped her face. Her fidgeting made her flush, and his hands felt cold, but she still tried to sink closer to him, and latched onto his sleeves just to hold him against her in a way he couldn't simply pull away and leave her trembling.

He swept piece of hair that was stuck to her face and rub his thumb over her cheek until she stopped biting it. "He won't. I won't let anything happen to you. I'll protect you, so don't worry about it okay? I'll fix it. Nobody's going to know."

"We're going to prison."

He pulled one of the loose pins out of her hair, opening it between his teeth. "We're not going to prison."

"And I- I still have debt."

He pushed the pin back into place above her ear. "So do I."

"And we're not going to be able to pay off our debt, because we'll be in prison."

Hikaru swept her bangs off her forehead and tilted her face up until she had no choice but to look him in the eyes, and it was then that her breath caught dead in her throat. Hikaru kissed between her eyes. Right on the worried knot above her nose. His warm breath fluttered over her lashes as he pulled away and she shivered, nearly melting right out of his arms.

When reality finally set and she felt him start to slip away, She slapped her hand over where his lips had been. "You kissed me." She accused, quietly.

He scoffed. "You've got no proof."

"Hikaru, this isn't funny." She almost sobbed. "I mean- what if you lose your inheritance over this? Kaoru will end me-"

She winced, as he quickly pecked his lips against her cheek.

"I don't really care about that anymore." He said, pulling back. "And besides that, I really don't have anything left to lose."

Before she could say anything else, he kissed her other cheek, and this time she let escape a breathless laugh that stretched his lips into a pleasant grin. Without a spare thought, besides wanting to hear that sound from her again, he peppered light kisses across her freckles, while sneaking a hand up along her side to prod right below her ribs.

But before he could commit that sin, a familiar sound, that he was starting to find very annoying, rang from her back pocket. It meant play time was over.

"It's six o-clock." She said.

He said nothing as he stepped away. She had to go home.

"My offer for dinner still stands if you want to stay." He suggested.

"Tempting," she admitted, amused. "But then what would my fiancee eat?"

Fiancee?

Ah, that's right. He almost forgot.