I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA OR OURAN HIGHSCHOOL HOSTCLUB
Special thanks to: Guest, VP4444, Abbe, Makimashi Misao F.D.S.S.L.A, Guest(2), xXKillorbeKilledXx, madmanforever, Clockwork, Guest(3), Frog, Corralinne, MikaToshino, Magic Night Star Mage, Engineer4Ever, Adonisx, Relinadus, chylou34, YukinaBlueRose, Ayeilin, Joanne Frances Tiano Cajilig, Bluecean, Yuki Van Hellseit, KibaSin, Misty-Silver-Kitsune-Hanyo1230 and Lairenna!
Thank you for leaving reviews~!
Veni Vidi Amavi
Chapter 14
Of Trusts and Regrets
"Kaze no Kizu!" The enormous claw marks of Tessaiga's potent youki attack was blinding and created a wave of power so massive everyone braced themselves from the shockwave. Flesh rained down upon them as the attack heavily damaged the flesh like prison of their battlefield. She looked for the pinprick of pure light and automatically tunnel visioned towards where it was hiding behind a copious amount of deadly miasma.
"Hit the mark!" her bowstring swooshed past her and she watched the comet like arrow surge through the whole area obliterating random yokai who unfortunately gravitated nearby her arrow's path of purity. She hissed as a yokai tried to get close, the little imp turning into ash just by being exposed to her sheer aura alone.
"Sesshomaru now!" The demon lord gracefully leapt and unsheathed Bakusaiga along with Tensaiga, his regrown arm flexing around the fang of heaven. His youki swirled like a vortex, forming a maelstrom of unadulterated power that had everyone gasping from its pressure alone. Sesshomaru swung both swords as he catapulted himself using his own momentum, the twin fangs starting to glow in unworldly color as his power began building up like a volcano.
With a resounding crack and boom, the four attacks merged together. Nothing happened for the first milliseconds until a quick shine flashed and then everything was washed with light. The fleshy prison disintegrated into nothing and every single yokai allied with the West spilled forth like a tidal wave and clashed resoundly against the millions of opposing yokai that's under the spider's web.
The three warriors stood strong and steady as their kin rushed forward, three pairs of eyes ablaze with potent power as they glowed with ethereal light. Everyone present almost cannot bear to look at them for so long but their presence alone demanded full attention. Armored down to the teeth, the sons of the great Dog General and the Priestess of the Four Souls stood shoulder to shoulder as they all raised their weapons at the Spider of Chaos overlooking the raging battlefield.
"We are coming for you Naraku." They voiced as one and leapt head first into the legendary battle that is to be known as The Great Yokai War.
"Hikaru-sama, Kaoru-sama, Yuzuha-sama has arrived." Kaoru tapped his moping brother by the shoulder and sweatdropped at his childishness. They've been home for hours now and his twin apparently still hasn't gotten over getting duped by Kagome on that blasted commoner's game.
"Come on Hikaru. You know how kaa-san gets when we don't welcome her ourselves." Everything people can label from them as being obnoxious can only be blamed back to their mother. She was needy, melodramatic, eccentric and hella clingy. All of the above being passed down to the twins and more. One of her idiosyncrasies was the absolute need to be greeted by her sons whenever she arrives back home. Failure to complete such task usually results in her harping on the two boys until they start begging for reprieve or peace, much to the devilish twins' chagrin.
Hikaru groaned and childishly began kicking his feet in a mini tantrum, his bruised pride still sensitive and thus making his already foul mood even fouler. Nonetheless, the older twin picked himself up and walked towards Kaoru with angry eyes and a pouty scowl.
They followed their personal twin maids down the hall with Kaoru constantly trying to at least make Hikaru lose his scowl even just to save face. Their mother is already melodramatic as it is but now that she was pregnant and jacked up with hormones, she's like a waddling ticking time bomb on designer shoes.
"Where are we going?" Kaoru asked the twins when they walked in the opposite direction of the mansion's receiving room.
"Yuzuha-sama had a guest with her." one of the twins stated in her usual flat manner.
"They put her in one of the guest rooms." the other finished.
The auburn twins shared a confused look with one another at the oddness of the situation. They never were informed that they will be expecting someone. Not only that but why did Yuzuha of all people went with them in one of the vacant rooms?
"We have arrived." Already, they can hear their mother's voice speaking with their family driver from inside the chamber, worried and obviously distressed.
"Kaa-san?" Kaoru called out and gripped the handle open. It took awhile for the familiar raven hair scattered on white bed sheets and the awfully familiar face with it to register to the twins, their brain failing to process the most unexpected thing they'd see on their guestroom.
"Ah, Hika-chan, Kao-chan-"
"Is that fucking Kagome?!" Yuzuha blinked owlishly at her sons who seemingly teleported away from the door and into the unconscious girl's side.
"What the hell? Kaa-san?" Kaoru asked his mother.
The Hitachiin matriarch can only watch in wonder as her twins began fussing over the girl she brought home. She'd never seen them quite as distressed as they are now. Hikaru was looking at the young woman with blatant concern on his face, his amber eyes shining with worry and fear. Kaoru, who's obviously the sweeter of the two and therefore much easier to read, was in a similar state with his twin, hands gripping the girl's unresponsive ones.
"You know this young woman?"
"What happened." the older twin demanded more than asked.
The mother Hitachiin sighed.
"We saw her faint in the middle of the road so we took her here." Hikaru was almost ready to shout at his mother for not bringing her to a hospital like a normal human being but promptly swallowed his tongue when his hand, which was gripping at Kagome's wrist tightened in comprehension.
If she goes to a hospital, she'll get examined, she hates getting touched without permission. This is okay. It's fine. She'll be fine.
"Kagome? Kagome can you hear me?" Kaoru gently tapped at Kagome's face and inwardly panicked at how cold her skin felt. He observed her and scanned for injuries but only came up with her wet clothes.
"Hika-chan, Kao-chan, I think we should get her changed. It's bad for her to stay in those clothes." The twins stiffened at their mother's words and Yuzuha can only observe how her twins straightened over her unexpected guest as if she's some sort of precious china doll that should not be touched or handled.
"We'll wake her up. We can't change her without her knowing." Kaoru explained. He shared a look with Hikaru, nervous about his twin's curious nature. He knows how badly Hikaru wanted to know what made Kagome tick and his insatiable curiosity about things that she kept hidden. This chance is a literal one in a million for the older twin. He can finally find out about what she's keeping under wraps and avoid repercussions under the guise of Yuzuha not knowing any better.
Kaoru waited with baited breath as Hikaru held his gaze.
The older Hitachiin pursed his lips and stood beside him with the same warning look in his eyes.
"No one touch her until she's awake." Hikaru said. A burst of affection erupted from within Kaoru and he smiled at his brother with pride.
You changed Hikaru. For the better.
Yuzuha can do nothing but sigh at her sons, already aware that she already lost all rights to her unconscious guest the moment she saw that familiar stubborn gaze on her twins' eyes.
"Hngg.." Kaoru felt formerly unresponsive fingers tighten around his and he turned to Kagome who was finally starting to regain consciousness.
"Kagome? Can you hear me?" he asked the blue eyed girl.
Her brows crinkled and her head jerked from side to side, lips stretched in a grimace. The twins watched with worry as her eyelids started flickering, her sooty lashes trembling to and fro. Finally, familiar blues started to unravel as her eyes began opening up and both Hitachiins sighed in relief.
"Wh-where am I?" Hikaru smiled in reassurance as the miko glanced drunkenly about the room, not noticing the haze in her eyes nor the tension of her stance.
"It's okay 'Gome you're safe here."
"Where's Naraku? I have to find him, where is he?" she muttered almost unintelligibly, her body swaying from it's sitting position. Kaoru was quick to support her and glanced at the mumbling miko in confusion.
"It's not over.. I have to… Nooo."
"She's completely out of it what the-" Hikaru gripped Kagome's hands together and looked pointedly at her dazed blue eyes, mildly shaking the female into reality.
"Kagome wake up. Snap out of it." her head lolled to the side and Kaoru reached over to prevent her from hurting her neck, hands holding up her head as Hikaru continued to talk her gently into complete awakeness.
Finally, after another string of murmured words, some semblance of recognition lit up on her eyes and the twins sighed when she started blinking rapidly until she was looking at them in her usual raised brow confusion.
"Hikaru? Kaoru?" Kagome looked down, noticing the abnormal coldness sticking to her skin and saw her drenched clothes.
"What the heck-? What happened to me? Why am I wet?" At her question, the twins respectively took a seat on the bed and looked pointedly at their mother who gathered everything she saw into deep consideration.
"That's what we'd like to know as well right Kaa-san?" Yuzuha walked over and smiled gently at Kagome, taking pity at the woman who's probably confused out of her mind at the moment.
"Like I already said to these two, we're on our way home when we saw you suddenly faint in the middle of the road. We can't leave you there so we took you here." she gestured to Kaguya who silently observed everything, as curious as his employer about the relationship between the twin heirs and the unknown female.
Kagome cringed at the explanation and felt mortified that she got saved by the twins' mom of all people.
"Ah, thank you so much for taking care of me! I'm Higurashi Kagome, a first year student and I share the same class as Hikaru and Kaoru here." she bowed as low as she can in her position, biting irately at her lip.
"Oh dear! What a coincidence then! I'm glad we're the ones who found you. Why are you alone by the way? Where are your bodyguards?"
"E..er.. I don't have any." figures the woman thought that she's some sort of elite class after finding out she attended Ouran.
"Then what about your family? Should I call them? They must be worried." Both Hikaru and Kaoru panicked at their mom's word and it showed. The two stood up immediately and started babbling nonsense, trying to distract Kagome and Yuzuha from the can of worms the older woman had unknowingly opened.
"It's fine Yuzuha-sama. No need to worry about that." Hikaru and Kaoru glanced at Kagome who was smiling pleasantly at Yuzuha. They looked at her and frowned at how they could see through her fake smile so easily.
Yuzuha didn't push the matter, picking up on the heavy vibes emitting from her sons and their friend.
"Then I insist that you stay the night. It's dangerous outside since the rain just became much fiercer than earlier."
"Stay with us Kagome!" The twins bounced at her and she yelped at the force they almost sent her flying with when they dropped their whole body weight on the mattress she was on top of.
"Alright! Alright! I'm staying you damn foxes!" as the three then began to mock fight with both twins trying to tease Kagome who was halfheartedly threatening them to stay put, Yuzuha put a hand on her mildly swollen belly and softly smiled at the group.
Many things can be said to her, mainly about her failure as a mother to her two twins, more interested in mannequins and dresses than being there for them. Her life had been fully self indulgent, always focusing on the jewels and the chandeliers and the fun, not thinking that her absence will bring forth repercussions that can potentially shape her sons' future for the worse. She'd known about their struggles. About how they isolated themselves from others in fear that they will be left like how she did to them.
And it pains Yuzuha to know her neglect made them this way.
But eventually, she saw changes. They were miniscule at best but it was there. At first she was happy and relieved that she hasn't failed after all, thinking that their bouts of anger and loneliness was just a normal phase all teens were struck with.
But then, it dawned on her.
She did fail. She failed more, even. They never got better because of her. They simply got better without her.
Her twins had learned to not rely on their mother at all and Yuzuha can only blame herself for it.
So she promised.
She vowed that she won't make the same mistakes ever again.
And she'll start with this child she's carrying in her belly.
Looking up, she fondly watched her twins as they showed a side she has never seen before, her bright eyes flicking to the laughing raven haired female and feeling some sort of gratitude and a little tinge of jealousy.
She might've been just a shadow on her sons' life but she's glad that they've found a new light they can bask in and grow with.
-And this Kagome might be just what they need in order to fully heal from the wounds their very own mother might have unconsciously carved on them both at such a young age and into present time.
"Cute! Very cute!" Kagome stared dumbly at the two devilish boys and plucked at the sweater the two had lent her so she could change out of her wet clothes. While she inwardly cooed at how they both searched hard for something she'd be comfortable to wear with, a tiny bit of annoyance still managed to take root when they started piling more and more into her arms until she barked at them and simply picked a pastel pink oversized sweater that nearly swallowed her whole.
With her petite form nearly consumed by the fluffy cloth, the two twins didn't bother to fight the urge to cuddle the visually huggable miko.
"I can't breathe!" she yelped as she got smooshed by the famous Hitachiin sandwich.
It took a lot of convincing and heckling on their part but they finally managed to convince the miko into staying for a bit, saying that no one will even come and check on them seeing that they already told their mother that she was a friend from school and thus, free to spend time with them at their leisure.
Kagome usually won't care about her own image but was merely concerned for the two. After all, it's not quite normal for a girl her age to hang out with two boys inside their room, unsupervised nonetheless. They brushed off her concerns however and simply stated that Yuzuha is very open minded and very lenient, along with the rest of the Hitachiin staff so Kagome can rest easy and be assured that no honors were being questioned.
"I didn't expect your room to be so…" Kagome observed the walls painted in moss green color and wrinkled her nose at the drabby hue.
"..boring." Despite the sheer big grandness of the bedroom, nothing much is left to be said about the plain chamber. It kinda puts her off balance, to see the lively twins stay in a room that looks like it's more fitting to be owned by someone like Kyoya whose personality is as boring and straight-laced as the general layout and design of the area.
Miles away inside the Ootori household, a bespectacled host sneezed.
"How rude…" the twins pouted at their friend.
"You have a nice bed though." Kagome complimented as she laid on her stomach, a fluffy pillow cushioning her crossed arms where she put her head on. Hikaru and Kaoru were lounging sideways on both of her sides, amber eyes watching amusedly as the miko's legs swung up and down.
"Nee, nee." The mischievous grin on Kagome's face earned the twins' attention immediately and they recognized the way she smiled.
"Wanna call Tamaki?" she stated more than asked.
Hikaru and Kaoru snickered and nodded readily, eager to mess with their president whose reaction will probably more than prove to be enough to entertain the three troublemakers for the rest of the night.
Kagome readid her phone and they all tried to squeeze in the camera frame, Kagome in the middle while the two settled on hovering on top of her, faces grinning and smiling so wide she's afraid they'd split their face in two.
A couple of rings passed until Tamaki picked up the video call from his favorite miko.
"To what do I owe you the pleasure dearest Kago-go-go-go WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING THERE?!" Tamaki exploded the moment he recognized that Kagome was not alone in the video call.
"Why tono-" Hikaru began as they watched the host president rave and spit fire in what seemed to be his pajamas.
"We're having an exclusive Kagome sleep over!" Kaoru finished and emphasized his words with nuzzling Kagome on the cheek.
"No no no this is unacceptable totally unacceptable! How dare you monopolize her time alone without even inviting m-" Kagome then pressed the end button abruptly, cutting off Tamaki's rant as he started shooting off his rockers.
Almost immediately, the three burst into laughter and began crying tears of joy when Tamaki's signature ringtone specifically set for him alone rang through on Kagome's phone, the device almost shaking with the sheer amount of will Tamaki must've been feeding on the gadget from the other side of the line.
"I'm sure he'd pester Kyoya next!" Kagome guffawed, gleeful at the idea that she just caused Kyoya imaginable torture that was Tamaki who she was sure will absolutely cry his bestfriend's ears off at how the idiot twins stole his daughter away for themselves to taint.
Hikaru wheezed, giving Kagome a thumbs up at her quick but effective prank as Kaoru snickered silently, actually kinda feeling sorry for Tamaki who's probably having kittens at this very moment.
The glee died down eventually, leaving the three students silently staring at the ceiling, the foreboding topic of Kagome's situation once more rearing its head at them all. It was Kaoru who caved in, turning to his side to look at Kagome's profile.
He observed her unabashedly, his eyes following the bridge of her nose up to her unblinking eyes.
"Why did you faint Kagome?" his voice echoed around the room, soft and calm as usual.
Kagome didn't react to his question, still staring up and looking at the ceiling as if it held the answer to her friend's question.
She blinked slowly.
"I've dreamt of the past." A past that no longer exists.
"The past?" Hikaru parroted, shuffling closer towards the girl.
It was rare for them to be able to speak with her when it comes to her issues. They know she's got a bunch of demons in her closet nipping at her heels and they want to help. But it's hard to give your assistance to someone when you barely know the chess pieces you have to make a move on the chessboard.
No use in keeping quiet. She owes them an explanation at least, no matter how vague it is.
"It was raining… It was raining when everyone was ripped away from me." she breathed out, curt, straight to the point.
They aren't some sort of medical whiz like Kyoya but they know enough. And they know that this should not continue. She needs help. Fast.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Kaoru asked.
Kagome looked at him with eyes that held way too many burdens and smiled with lips tainted with lies.
"I'll be fine. You don't have to worry." the feel of her palm against his cheek was almost as heavy as the feel of her denial and Kaoru can't decide whether to hate her for her stubbornness or admire her for it.
Hikaru closed his eyes and cursed.
It's hard. To know that they can't do anything than watch as she falls apart slowly everyday as time goes by. They got their hands tied and a blindfold over their eyes, completely aware of their helplessness and simply forced to remain and sit and be good little kids until she started wasting away before their very eyes.
"Will you ever learn to trust us?" Kaoru felt as if he's going to vomit at his brother's words. The last time he heard that very sentence, it blew up right in their faces.
What are you thinking Hikaru?!
The younger twin held his breath when Kagome stilled at the question, lowkey panicking about how they will manage to fix things when they barely managed to scrape by the last time.
Tono will murder us.
On the other hand, Kagome can do nothing but look at the plain ceiling, Hikaru's familiar question running over and over again in her thoughts. Her initial response was anger and betrayal.
How could he?
After everything that had happened the last time he accused her of such he went and repeated it again?
But then again-
How could she?
They obviously sacrificed so much just to accommodate her. Changed so much just to please her. They had been a balm to her tired and injured soul and never did she show them any kind of compensation because by the end of the day, she had become selfish.
She just took and took without giving anything back.
Kagome sat up, blue eyes hidden behind her hair as Kaoru watched and waited for the bomb to go off.
It never did.
She raised her head and smiled at them so painfully beautiful that they were stricken for a full moment.
"I trust you." she shakily said before bunching up her sleeves and showing them the things they have been almost dying to see.
The twins never knew true despair until then.
(Unbeta-ed and unchecked)
Well this chapter was a whiplash.
And we encounter another loop to our emotional rollercoaster ride~
Thank you all for the constant amount of reviews which I appreciate greatly! I've been pumping out chapters left and right because of your kind words and for that I'm eternally grateful. Not gonna lie, I'm a review-whore(laughs)
R&R~
「And thus I wither」
