I coughed in my scarf as I walked down the hallway, hugging my arms around myself as I was still shivering from being out in the cold all night. Even with my uniform blazer, leather jacket, and winter coat, I was still freezing to the point that my teeth were chattering, but yet my body was beginning to sweat. I knew that it was from the excessive amount of clothing I was wearing, but I didn't dare to take any of the layers off. I could feel the stares of the other students on me, probably wondering why I'm dressed for the Arctic, rather than a normal sixty degrees winter day.
As I stared down the hall, my vision began to make the long hallway look like it was spinning and I began to feel disorientated. I had no idea where I was, I don't even know if I passed my homeroom yet or not. All I knew was that I was on the second floor of the school. As my vertigo grew worse, I felt my stride began to be effective, instead of walking straight forward I began stumbling to the side at times as if I was on a rocking boat. I didn't want anyone to think I was under the influence of anything, so I grabbed the wall and sat down on the windowsill until my dizziness went away.
I began breathing heavier as if that was supposed to help with anything and closed my eyes when I felt my stomach churn in an uneasy way. Close to the time when I had a hangover.
"Hikaru?"
I opened my eyes to see a female student from my class looking at me concerned. She had brown round eyes with long straight brown hair that had two small buns on either side of her head. I think her name was Momoka Kurakano or whatever. All I knew was that she was the vice president of our class and Kazukiyo had a massive crush on her.
"Are you alright?"
I nodded before swallowing. "Yeah...I'm fine, just a little sick."
'Please go away, please go away. If I keep talking I'm going to get sick.'
"You look really bad. Do you need help getting to the nurse?"
"No, I'm fine."
'Please leave.'
"Are you sure? You look like you're going to pass out any second."
"I'm fine, really."
'Just fucking leave!'
"Alright, if you're-"
I couldn't sit there any longer. I felt like I was going to be sick any second. I shot up and ran off, just leaving a confused Momoka behind.
I coughed once my stomach finally emptied itself and I flushed the toilet as I wiped my face. I fell back so I was sitting against the stall wall, holding my stomach in pain. I groaned as I leaned my head against the door, grimacing as the pain in the stomach grew. I wanted to go home, but if I went home that means I would have to deal with mom again, who probably be angry that I came back home early and probably accuse me of lying about my sickness so I could get out of school.
The door to the bathroom opened and footsteps began making their way in until they reached the stall I was in and knocked on the door.
"It's occupied," I grumbled, tightening my arms around my stomach as another wave of pain hit me.
"Hikaru it's me."
I slowly lifted my head and looked towards the door. "Kyoya?"
"Yes, can you please open the door?"
I let out a sigh before lifting my scarf back over my mouth so he wouldn't be able to see my bruises and unlocked the stall door. Kyoya opened the door and once he saw me his expression turned grim, which I only rolled my eyes to.
"Don't pity me." I murmured as I laid my head back against the stall. "I'm not in the mood."
"I'm not here to pity you." Kyoya said. I rolled my eyes over to him as he continued. "I saw you run into the bathroom covering your mouth as if you were going to be sick so I wanted to check up on you."
"I'm fine." I falsely stated, which I could tell Kyoya didn't believe, "I just ate something bad this morning and-"
"That excuse is overused by you and Kaoru by now. You've been using that line since middle school." I looked away from him, which indicated to him that he was right that I was lying. "Does this have something to do with your mother?" I just remained silent. "I have a feeling you're not going to the nurse because she would send you home."
"I'm fine, really." I slowly got up, using the wall for support to try not to sway as I attempted to pass by him. "I have to get to class.
"Hold on." Kyoya said as he grabbed my arm, but I yanked it out of his grip as I continued to make my way towards the door. "Hikaru wait."
He grabbed my arm again, but this time in a tighter grip ao I couldn't yank my arm free. "Let go of me."
"Hikaru you're sick."
"Kyoya…please" I tried pleading, but he just ignored me.
"You need to-"
"I said let go of me!"
I began roughly yanking my arm to try to get him to let me go and when that didn't work I began hitting his arm to get him to release his grip.
"Hikaru stop. You're too sick to put your body through this."
I didn't give a shit what he said at this point as I continued to try and get free. I could feel my heart pounding loudly in my chest that it began to hurt. It was beginning to grow hard to breath, feeling as if I was being smothered as my breathing turned into pants. My body suddenly grew hot as if the temperature in the room skyrocketed one hundred degrees.
"Let me go!" I repeated almost the point I was thrashing around like a wild animal.
"Hikaru, if I let you go you'll hurt yourself. You need to calm down."
His voice was soothing and calm which was rare for him, but it only made me angrier. I tried to use my foot to kick him but since my movements were slow by being sick he was able to catch my leg with his arm which only caused me to panic more. He used this opportunity to get me onto the floor and sat down with me, locking me in a tight hold from behind. Flashbacks of what happened a couple of nights ago with Isao putting me in a choke hold as mom burned me invaded my brain.
"Please let me go." I pleaded, trying to unwrap his arms from around me.
"Calm down first then I will." He tightened his grip around me, causing me to claw at his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said as he tried to calm me down. "You know all I want to do is help. Just calm down."
"I...I can't." I said in between pants. "Please...just let me go…"
"Just breathe." He said. "Everything is going to be ok."
I finally listened to him and began to control my breathing. I took in a few deep breaths and in a few minutes, my breathing was finally getting back to normal.
"Can you let me go now?" I asked in a shaky voice, still trying to not pay attention to his arms around me so I wouldn't have another panic attack.
Kyoya finally listened to my request and finally released me. I took in a deep breath, finally being able to breathe normally again and scooted away from Kyoya as I continued to try and calm myself down and get my body to stop trembling.
"I'm sorry." Kyoya apologized. "I know that you don't like when people touch you, but if I released you could've hurt yourself by how much force you were using in your sicken state. Do you understand?"
"Yeah…" I quietly answered, my voice slightly cracking at the end.
I couldn't hold back the tears welling up in my eyes and felt them began to trail down my face. I knew Kyoya was only trying to help me, but my body reacted to it as a threat, especially after what happened in the past few days with all the abuse. It was like my body didn't even know who was safe anymore...and my brain didn't either.
I heard Kyoya footsteps walk up beside me and squatted to my level. I turned my head away from him so he wouldn't see my tears but I could tell he already knew that I was crying.
"Come on. I'm taking you to the club room."
"I can't," I said as I wiped away some tears, "I have to get to class or they'll call my mom."
"You're sick Hikaru, you need to rest."
"But-"
"I will tell Mr. Suoh that you're sick and couldn't attend class today, and don't worry about him not believing you're sick. Since your drastic change in personality within the past few months he trusts you more now."
"But why do you want me to go to the fucking Host Club out of all places? Aren't you going to have guests, or a meeting, or whatever?"
"The club is closed today because Tamaki has some family business to take care of, and we're going to the club room so you can rest because I have an inkling that you're not going to the nurse's office." He pushed up his glasses, making the light glare off his lenses. "Am I correct?"
I slowly nodded to his question. I knew that if I went to the nurse she would automatically send me home by how sick I was, and by how mom literally threw me out to go to the school, she wouldn't be happy to see me home only after an hour after I left. I didn't even want to imagine the beating I would get if I came earlier then she wanted me to.
I looked up to see Kyoya offering his hand to me. "Come on, let's go to the clubroom."
"Thanks." I said as Kyoya handed me a cup of tea.
"No problem." He took a seat in the loveseat across from me, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the seat. "Now, would you like to tell me what happened yesterday that made you so sick?"
I stared at my reflection in the clear, brown liquid, seeing the depressed person I've grown accustomed to seeing these past few weeks.
"My mom…" I started, swallowing the painful lump in my throat as the memories began to resurface, "she found out I failed my math test yesterday and punished me by locking me out all night in the storm. She said that the cold would make me smarter and when she tried to quiz me to let me back inside I failed, which only made her angier."
"Does that have to do with why you're wearing a scarf over your mouth and nose?" I just shrugged my shoulder, refusing to look at him as I fiddled with my scarf with my gloved hand. I heard him get up and walk over to me and only looked up when I felt his presence in front of him and saw his hand reaching over to grab my scarf. Before he could touch it I grabbed his arm, making him halt. "I'm not going to touch you, Hikaru. I just want to see what she did to you."
I continued to hold back his hand as I stared back at him, meeting his concerned gaze. I knew that he wasn't going to hurt me, he's one of the only people who hasn't hurt me in my life but my body still thought of him as a threat. But right now the main reason why I held him back was that I didn't want him to see the damage mom has done. It was the worse she has done in a long time and I knew that Kyoya would be livid, but I also knew that he would find a way to persuade me into telling him.
I let out a deep sigh as I gave up the fight and looked away from him again as I let go of his hand. He used his hand to pull down my scarf to my chin, exposing my bruised nose and lip.
"Hikaru…" Kyoya's voice was brittle, a tone that I rarely ever heard him use. He brought his finger to my chin but hesitated to touch me. "Can I?"
I gave a small nod and Kyoya hooked his finger under my chin to lift my head so I was looking up at him and began examining the bruises.
"Why didn't you call me?"
"I left my phone inside when mom locked me out." I said as Kyoya retracted his hand. "I guess Kaoru was trying to call me and it annoyed my mom so much that she broke it. I couldn't even turn it on because the battery was fried from being left in water for so long. Even though my phone is supposed to be fucking waterproof." I mumbled the last part.
"And you can't buy a new one because your mom still has you cut off from receiving any money." Kyoya stated, which I nodded to. We sat there silently for a few seconds, I could feel Kyoya's stare as I just played with my gloves. I moved my eyes to look up at him to see he was checking his watch. "I need to head to class." He walked over towards the supply closet across the room and grabbed a blanket and pillow before heading back to me. "You get some rest and I'll check up in you during lunch with some food."
He handed me the pillow and blanket, which I took from him a few moments later. "Kyoya you don't need to do this."
"I made a promise to you and Kaoru that I would be there whenever you need me. You don't want to go home and since the club is closed today I'll be taking care of you." He gave me a small smile. "Like what family should do."
I clenched down my teeth hard to fight off tears before looking down, so he wouldn't see my eyes growing wet. "Thanks Kyoya."
"There's no need to thank me. Just get some rest alright."
I nodded and placed the pillow down on the couch as I watched Kyoya leave the club room. I was still freezing so I decided to keep on all my layers of jackets as I wrapped the blanket around me. The couch was quite comfortable, which shouldn't be a surprise at a fucking high-end school like Ouran, though I had forgotten how they felt in the last two years. Kyoya always did want the best for the Host Club so he would sometimes go out of the schools budget to get certain items...or was that Tamaki..?
I let out a tired sigh, I was too sick to remember anything right now and laid down on the couch. As soon as my head hit the pillow I began drifting off and in only a matter of minutes, I was welcomed with the pleasure of sleep.
Kyoya
Kyoya trailed down the hall towards Hikaru's classroom. He already told Mr. Suoh about Hikaru being sick and he informed his teachers, but before he could go to his own class he needed to do one last thing.
"Haruhi!"
Haruhi jumped a bit at the sound of her name and turned around to see Kyoya walking towards her. She gulped but tried to make herself not look nervous in front of Kyoya.
She glared at him. "What do you want Kyoya?"
He challenged her glare with his own. "Look, I don't know the reason why you're upset with everyone and I've been giving you space for the past few months, but I need an important favor from you."
She huffed and turned to leave. "Kyoya, I'm really not in the mood for-"
"It's about Hikaru."
She remained where she was for a couple of seconds before turning back to him, her facade gone and concern evident on her face. "What about him?"
"His mother, she…" Kyoya glare fell as well and he crossed his arms over his chest as he let out a soft sigh.
"What did she do?" Haruhi asked in a weak voice, most likely scared to hear the answer.
Kyoya looked around the halls, seeing all the students chatting around them. "I can't say anything out here, but," he faced back towards her, "meet me in the club room at lunch. He's in there sleeping."
"I don't know…"
"Haruhi, I don't know what's been going on with you lately and I'm not going to intrude but even though you and Hikaru are not talking right now, you're the only other person that he trusts." Kyoya noticed that Haruhi still seemed unsure. She looked like she wanted to help, but something was holding her back, which Kyoya may have an idea what it was. "Don't worry, the other club members won't be there. Just the three of us."
Haruhi bit her lip, fiddling with the sleeve with her brown sweater. Kyoya didn't know what was wrong with her, and after trying a few times to get an answer why she was avoiding Hikaru and the host club (especially her boyfriend Tamaki) he just let her be. He first thought that maybe she and Tamaki broke up, but Tamaki completely denied that and if they did break up why would that make her start to avoid Hikaru. He then thought if Tamaki and Haruhi didn't break up, then Hikaru and her must've had a falling out, but again, if that was the case why would she be avoiding the Host Club?
Haruhi let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, I'll go."
"Thank you." Kyoya thanked, which Haruhi just nodded to. "Meet me in the club room during lunch."
Kyoya placed a bowl of soup on the coffee table in front of where Hikaru was sleeping. He first planned to wake him up so Hikaru could get some food in his stomach, but after seeing him sleeping peacefully, he decided against it. He needed as much rest as he could get right now.
Kyoya checked his watch, it was ten past noon. Haruhi was ten minutes late. She promised that she would come straight from class, but it didn't take ten minutes to get from the second-floor classrooms to get here. Kyoya even skipped getting his own lunch so he could check up on Hikaru, so she had no excuse.
"I swear, if she's not here in the next three minutes I'm going to give her a new debt to pay." Kyoya grumbled as he looked up from his watch, glaring at the door.
He didn't have time to wait for her, he could just call Mori to help him if need be...but even though Hikaru liked Mori as a person, he still didn't trust him so having Mori help treat him might cause Hikaru to have another panic attack, which definitely wouldn't help his health.
The sound of one of the club room doors opening broke Kyoya out of his thought and he turned to see Haruhi entering the club room with what seemed to be a first aid kit.
"Sorry, I'm late." Haruhi apologized as she made her way towards Kyoya. "I had to find Mori senpai so I could borrow his first aid kit." She hugged the kit to her chest and let her neutral expression fall to finally show her worried expression. "How...How is he?"
"Go see for yourself," Kyoya said as he motioned his head towards the couch, "he's sleeping on the couch."
Haruhi's gaze landed immediately on Hikaru sleeping peacefully on the couch and Kyoya instantly noticed the tears welling up in her eyes the second she saw him. He didn't know if it was from his injuries, or she was beginning to feel guilty for ignoring him for the past couple months, or maybe it was both, but even though she was trying to hide it before he could tell she still deeply cared about him.
Kyoya gingerly placed a hand on her back, silently telling her to go up to him. She was hesitant at first, but then listened to him and began making her way over to Hikaru, with Kyoya following closely behind her.
Haruhi's eyes scanned the bruises on Hikaru's face, letting out a small gasp when she saw the new bruise on the left side of his mouth.
"What…" She swallowed the lump in his throat. "What happened to him?"
"His mother locked him outside during the storm last night." Kyoya replied. "He didn't tell me how he got the bruises, but I have an inkling that she hurt him when he tried to get back in. All I know from what he told me was his mother broke his phone because she got annoyed that Kaoru kept calling him when he was locked out."
"Th...That's the reason why she broke his phone because it kept ringing..?"
Kyoya nodded. "Yes, and since his mother cut him off from their money he won't be able to get a new one."
"When did she cut him off?"
Kyoya shrugged. "I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. All he said was that his mom got angry a couple of months ago saying that he was spending his money on useless shit, and until he can prove that he was responsible enough to show he can be trusted with money, he will have to fend for himself.
"I had...I had no idea…"
Kyoya could faintly hear her voice cracking, as if she could start crying at any second, but he knew that Haruhi didn't really like being vulnerable with people, so if she was going to cry she would when he left, which was understandable. Almost her whole life she had to keep her emotions in so she wouldn't worry her father, who already had enough his plate trying to earn enough money for both of them so she didn't want him to worry whenever she was sad...but maybe that's what she needed right now.
Kyoya cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "I'm going to write a list of what I'm going to get him after school. Do you mind looking after him?"
Haruhi shook her head, not looking away from Hikaru as Kyoya walked to the table he had his bag on. He pulled out his notebook and opened it to the page that he had already written all the supplies he needed. He just wanted an excuse to get away from Haruhi so she could let some of her emotions out.
After a few minutes of pretending to write, he glanced up to see Haruhi gently running her fingers through Hikaru's bangs, most likely to get them out of his face, but it also seemed as if she was trying to soothe him while he slept.
Again, Kyoya had no idea why she has been avoiding them for so long, but he was just grateful that she was now here.
Hikaru
The first sound that I heard as I slowly began to wake up was what sounded like muffled laughter. I scrunched up my face in slight confusion but also irritated because of the irksome noise. I pushed my face deeper into the pillow, pulling the covers up to my nose as if that would block out the sound, but it was futile.
Soon the sound grew cleaner and I began to distinguish the sound of girls giggling, which only confused and irked me further. I slowly crept my eyes and when my vision finally began to unblur I saw a small group of female students surrounding the couch I was sleeping on. I looked from one girl to the other, trying to comprehend what was happening. They were smiling down at me as they giggled more and waved.
"Hi Hikaru." The girls giddily giggled.
I squinted my tired eyes in confusion, still trying to figure out what was going on, then when it suddenly hit me my eyes immediately grew wide and I shot up, only causing the girls to giggle more. I could feel myself began to panic by how close all these girls were to me, trapping me on the couch. Why were they here? Aren't they supposed to be in class? Was class over? If it was then where was Kyoya?
I wrapped the blanket tighter around me and leaned as far as I could in the couch so I could be as far away from them as possible as they surrounded me like hungry sharks.
The sound of the door opening ripped my attention away from the girls and I saw my savior from this fucking hell. Kyoya walked into the club room with a full white shopping bag. He immediately noticed the girls around me and saw the panic on my face.
He cleared his throat to get the girls attention. "Ladies, I'm sorry but the Host Club is closed today due to Tamaki being absent. He will return on Monday, but for now, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"Aww, but Kyoya…" One of the girls, who I now recognized as one of the girls in my class who had a massive crush on me, whined. "Hikaru is here and he hasn't-"
"I'm sorry Ms. Nakamura, but Hikaru is not feeling the greatest today and I would hate for any of you to get sick. I hope you all understand."
They all let out sad sighs and pouts before nodding and walking towards the door, but not before saying goodbye to me. Once the door closed Kyoya faced back towards me.
"I'm sorry about that." He said as he made his way towards me. "I thought I left a sign on the door stating the club was closed today."
"What time is it?" I sniffed, eying the bag Kyoya placed on the foot of the couch.
"Around 3:30."
"Really? I slept the whole school day?"
"Yes, which I'm not surprised by. You were exhausted by everything that happened last night that I'm actually surprised that you didn't sleep longer." He pulled out what looked like a thermometer from the bag and turned towards me. "Open your mouth."
I did as he said and he placed the thermometer under my tongue before allowing me to close it. For the next few moments, it felt a bit awkward to me. I haven't really had someone take care of since...really ever. Yeah, back then we had nannies and maids who took care of us when Kaoru and I were sick, but I could tell that they didn't really care for us. They were just doing their job. Then with mom and dad, they were always away on business trips to take care of us, and when dad disappeared mom was too drunk to even care about our well being. The only times' mom did care about us was when she was sober that short amount of time, but even though I knew she loved us, I felt like she was mostly just trying to make up for all the abuse.
The only person who took care of us were each other. I took care of Kaoru and vise versa, but I usually tried my best to not let Kaoru take care of me because I felt like I only needed to be the one protecting and taking care of him, even though he hated it.
The sound of the thermometer broke me out of my thought and Kyoya took it out of my mouth, checking the temperature.
"104," he grumbled as he wiped the thermometer with a tissue. "If your fever doesn't go down by the time we leave around five I'll have to take you to the hospital."
"Kyoya, I can't-"
"I'm not taking no for an answer." Kyoya cut me off. "Your fever is dangerously high and I don't want you to suffer more than you already are." He began to rummage through the shopping bag again. "You already have to deal with enough shit as is."
"But what if-"
"Your mom won't find out. I'll put you under my family's name so nothing be billed to your mother." His glare turned sympathetic. "I know that you hate having people worrying about you because you want everyone to see you as strong, but you can't always be strong in certain situations and have to have people help you sometimes. Even the strongest people need help time from time."
I let out a small sigh of defeat there was no worth in fighting with him. He was right, I wanted to make people think that I was strong, both physically and emotionally. I began working out at the start of high school so I could forget about everything that was happening at home and to win most of the fights I started so people would be threatened by me. I grew mean and harsh, not taking shit from anyone who decided to test me...but what people didn't know was that I was torturing myself by doing this. School was supposed to be our escape from home, but even though I was glad to be away from mom, I was still lonely at school because everyone either feared or hated me because of this fucking act I put up...and when I finally showed someone who wasn't Kaoru who I really was, I fucked up our relationship and she wanted nothing to do with me.
I looked back up at Kyoya when I saw him take out a medicine bottle with orange color syrup in it.
"What's that?" I asked as he began shaking it.
"Cold medicine, it's going to help get your fever down." He opened the bottle and poured some of the medicine in the cap before handing it to me. "Here, drink this."
I looked at the medicine for a few seconds before hesitantly taking it, staring at the strangely orange liquid. I wasn't afraid of taking it, but my stomach was still a mess and I really didn't feel like vomiting again, but I knew Kyoya wouldn't let me refuse taking it, so I had no other choice.
I took in a deep breath before downing the medicine as of it were a shot, or so I imagined, and I instantly began coughing by how strong it was. The citrusy, bitter taste was almost as bad as the vodka and whiskey I had a few months ago when Haruhi and I got drunk, but at least that went down smoother.
Kyoya saw that I was having a difficult time keeping the medicine down and grabbed the small trash can that he left near me before left for class, but I held out my hand to stop him as he bought it up to me.
"I'm fine." I grimaced before swallowing again. "It was just a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Kyoya apologized. "But this is the best fast-acting medicine that I know that works."
"Well, at least I got the hard part over with." I huffed as I flopped back down on the couch.
"Well, I wouldn't say that."
I looked back over towards him with a cocked eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
He looked at the back of the bottle, scanning the words on the back for a few seconds answering. "Since your fever was so high I gave you the highest dosage and because of that you'll most likely have some side effects."
"Side effects like?"
"Drowsiness, upset stomach, headaches, feeling restless, and you might feel loopy from how strong the medicine is."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this before I took the fucking medicine?!" I hissed.
"Because," he tossed the medicine back in the bag before facing back towards me, "if I told you all the side effects you might've refused to take it."
"Whatever," I grumbled as I wrapped the blanket back around me, "It's already done."
"You shouldn't worry," Kyoya tried to reassure, "the side effects rarely ever happen, and if they do they're usually mild."
"I'll take your word for it."
Haruhi
'Ok, you can do this. He's most likely still asleep so I just have to look after him, and even if he is awake he'll probably be too sick to be fully aware that I'm there. I can do this.'
Haruhi gripped the handle of the door of the music room tightly, trying to build enough courage to open the door. She really did want to see him and try to make up, but she wanted to do that when he was healthy and fully aware of everything not when he was sick as a dog.
She took in a deep breath before turning the handle, knowing that there was no turning back now. Even though she wasn't ready to apologize yet, she still deeply cared about Hikaru and wanted to take care of him, even though she didn't want to admit it. Once she let out the breath she took in she opened the door, where her eyes immediately met with Kyoya's across the room, who was sitting at a table with his laptop.
"Good, you're here." Kyoya said as he resumed typing.
Haruhi slipped into the club room and softly closed the door behind her. "Is he still asleep?"
Kyoya nodded. "Yes, he fell back asleep a few minutes ago after I gave him some medicine. Even though he'll most likely remain asleep for the next hours, I'll need you to look after him while I take care of some business."
"What type of business?"
"My father requested me to talk to him," Kyoya closed his laptop before placing it in his bag, "and before you ask, no I will not tell him about Hikaru, not yet anyway."
"Why not? You saw the wounds his mom just gave him in the last twenty-four hours. You should-"
"I know, and I hate that I'm doing this but," he let out a frustrated sigh, "if I go behind Hikaru's back he won't trust me anymore. He won't come to me when he's in trouble because he'll feel like I backstabbed him. So if the abuse becomes severe, he's most likely stay put at home instead of coming to me." He met Haruhi's eyes again, which for one of the first times ever, she thought she saw a little wetness in his eyes. "That's the only reason I'm keeping quiet right now."
Haruhi swallowed the painful lump in her throat before giving Kyoya a nod. She completely understood. That was also the reason why she was keeping quiet. She could've told someone when she was avoiding Hikaru, but she knew in the back of her mind that she wanted him to keep trusting her...just in case he needed her…
Kyoya looked down at his watch. "I have to get going if I want to make it to my father on time." He got up before making his way over to Haruhi. "Like I said before he'll likely remain asleep while I'm gone, but by the chance he does wake up he'll most likely be a little loopy from the medication I gave him, so if he acts a little like a drunken sailor, that's why."
"Alright."
"I'll be back in less than an hour." He looked at Haruhi with heavy eyes, again which Haruhi has rarely even seen him have. "I'm trusting you. Please take good care of him. He's family to me."
"I will, I promise."
Kyoya gave her a small nod before glancing over at Hikaru for a few seconds, then left without another word. Once the door closed, Haruhi just remained where she was. Shifting from foot to foot as she let her eyes slowly scan over the music room until her gaze finally landed on Hikaru passed out on the couch. She couldn't help the smile forming on her face when she saw the blanket messily sprawled over him, as it kept falling off of him and Kyoya just threw it over him out of frustration, and even though she couldn't necessarily see it, but she could tell that he had his legs curled up to his stomach. Which if he wasn't in a deep sleep right it would've been highly uncomfortable. He wasn't snoring, but since his nose was most likely stuffed he was breathing out of his nose, which gave off a quiet sound.
He actually looked a lot more peaceful than he did at lunch, which was most likely from the medication Kyoya gave him, but it made her happy to see him not in much pain.
'Well, since he's most likely going to stay asleep, I better start on next week's homework assignments.'
Haruhi made her way over to the couch across from Hikaru, so she had a comfy place to work, but also so she could keep a close eye on Hikaru as he slept. For the next ten minutes, Haruhi peacefully worked on her assignments, actually glancing over at Hikaru from time to time to make sure that he was still asleep. He would stir a bit, which made Haruhi pause her writing, but he would just go into another sleeping position without working up.
She let out a small grunt as she stretched her arms over her head after finishing her first assignment, letting her back give a satisfying crack. She had a few more assignments to go through, but right now she thought she should at least check up and see how Hikaru's fever was doing, but as she placed her textbook in her bag she froze when she heard him grumble something inaudible before turning his head towards her. His eyes slowly opened halfway, exposing his beautiful hazel eyes, and once he finally noticed her after a few seconds his squint turned confused.
"Haruhi…" He lifted his head slightly, squinting his eyes even more as if he was making sure he was seeing correctly. "Is that really you?"
"Uh…" She didn't really know what to say. She didn't think that he would wake up until Kyoya had gotten back, so she hadn't really prepared anything to say to him. "Yeah, I'm-"
"No, it couldn't be." He huffed as he flopped his head back tiredly on the pillow. "She hates me now. So there would be no way she would be here with me."
'He thinks I hate him..?'
Of course, he did. She's been ignoring him for the past two months so there was no wonder why he thought that way, and it made her heart actually shatter. She never hated him, she was just disappointed, mostly in herself but it took her too long to notice that she was protruding that on him by cutting Hikaru off by her own embarrassment.
"I don't hate you." She quietly replied, which made Hikaru open his eyes again. "I still care about you."
He let out a short laugh. "You have a really funny way of showing it." He turned over onto his back and tightened the covers around himself as he let out a tired sigh.
"You have to understand Hikaru, I-"
"Why is this school so fucking pink?"
Haruhi blinked a bit, confused by his sudden question that had nothing to do with the conversation they were having before as if he completely forgot what they were talking about. "Huh?"
"This school," he grumbled as if he was disgusted, "it's so pink and bright. I hate it. Why can't it be a gender-neutral color like white...or white?"
Ok, so he's beginning to get loopy like Kyoya had warned her about. Although, he didn't seem that bad right now. His words were just a bit slurred and he would just start to say random shit, but nothing that bad.
"I don't know." Haruhi finally answered, deciding to just go along. "Maybe you should ask Mr. Suoh about it?"
"Maybe…" He humbled quietly.
Hikaru remained quiet so Haruhi thought he fell back asleep. She decided to continue working on her assignments, but as ten minutes passed by she began to get a weird feeling as if someone was watching her. She turned back to where Hikaru was sleeping and almost jumped out of her skin from fright when she saw that he was staring dead at her with the blanket up to his nose.
'I thought he was asleep. How long as he been staring at me like that?'
"Uh…" She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Do you need anything Hikaru?"
His glare hardened at her as if he was trying to study her, but after a few seconds, he readjusted the blanket.
"I'm thirsty." He finally answered.
"Alright, then I'll get some water then."
Haruhi remembered noticing a water bottle in the bag that Kyoya brought for Hikaru and made her way over to it. She felt a little awkward as Hikaru kept his eyes on her like a hawk. Was he mad at her? It was understable, but almost kind of felt like the time they began their tutoring sessions with hi glaring at her because he disliked her.
She grabbed the water bottle and made her way back to him, but as she was about to hand the bottle to him he roughly grabbed her forearm with his hand, making her drop the bottle.
"Hika!" She gasped.
"Shh!" He hissed harshly before looking back at her hand.
His eyes began examining her hand as if he was studying it like some kind of foreign object. Then after a few seconds, he slowly released his grip from her arm before gently putting his palm against hers, intertwining their fingers.
His glare flattered and he let out a sigh that sounded like he was relieved. "It really is you. I'm not going crazy."
So that's why he was glaring at her, he didn't know if he was seeing correctly because of the medication. He was probably nervous that another girl who had similar features to Haruhi was trying to take care of him, so he had to make sure it was actually her.
"Yes it's me Hikaru, don't worry."
She let out a small yelp when his arms suddenly wrapped around her waist, burying his face into her stomach. "I missed you."
Haruhi just remained still, not knowing how to react. She knew he missed their friendship by how he always looked at her, but yet it still shocked her that she hurt him and he was still comfortable hugging her.
She gently patted his head, feeling a little awkward in the whole ordeal, but yet she also felt a little relieved that he still trusted her, even after everything she did. He might be high of the medication and that was the only reason why he was admitting this, but all that mattered to her was that he missed her as well.
She began running her fingers through his mussed dark hair again. "I've missed you too."
His grip tightened around her as if he was scared that if he let her go she would run away from him again, but Haruhi wouldn't let that happen. It was almost as if her nurturing instinct kicked back in and she felt like it was her job again to take care of him. So, for the next thirty minutes, she just sat on the couch with Hikaru's head in her lap. He had fallen asleep around ten minutes ago, but she continued to move her hands through his hair since it seemed to soothe him. Haruhi smiled as she watched him sleep, it seemed as if he finally let all the trouble in his life go at that moment which made her happy.
She looked at the time on her phone. Kyoya was supposed to be back in about twenty minutes and to be honest she kind of wished he would've stayed out a bit late. Yeah, Hikaru might be acting like a completely different person from the medication, but she was enjoying their time together.
She looked back at her books on the couch across from them. She really wanted to continue her studies, but she was afraid that is she moved she would wake Hikaru up, similar as if a person had a sleeping dog on their lap and didn't want to disturb them.
However, when she tried putting her phone back in her pocket, the sudden movement must've woken Hikaru up. She cursed to herself in her head as she heard him grumble as he shifted around on the couch.
His eyes crept open at Haruhi, furrowing his brows almost as if he was glaring at her for waking him up.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." She apologized in a soft tone to try to get him to relax again. "Just go back to sleep."
"I'm not tired." He murmured as he pulled the blanket up to his nose, but Haruhi knew he was lying by how tired he still sounded and closed his eyes again.
"Well, then try to fall back asleep again. You need the rest."
Hikaru just mumbled something under his breath as she began running her finger through his hair again. For the next few minutes she tried her hardest to keep her laughter in as she watched him struggled to stay awake, just like those puppies in the videos that her dad always showed her.
"Can I tell you something?" Hikaru asked in a hushed tone.
"Sure."
'Please don't make it inappropriate though.'
"That night after Kyoya's party when we got drunk and you know…"
'Oh God, not this.' Haruhi cringed as Hikaru continued.
"That was actually my first time doing something like that."
…
Haruhi just blinked, not knowing if she should be shocked that he just admitted to being a virgin himself before they slept together or have no reaction at all because is she thought about it, it wasn't that surprising. He hated being touched by anyone, and sex was literally just that (and of course other things) so it would be obvious that he was a virgin, even though just by looking at him people would think the exact opposite.
"That night...was your first time as well?" She finally choked out, which Hikaru nodded to.
"Yeah, if I could be honest, the furthest I've actually ever gone with any girl before you was kissing her. Not really even making out. Even though they tried to on many occasions."
"Why are you telling me this."
He shrugged before letting out a small yawn. "I don't know. I guess I just want you know that all those rumors are false about me. I haven't slept with someone, I haven't done anything sexual with someone. Hell, I haven't really ever held one of my former flings hands, but with you. I feel different."
"Different how?"
Hikaru remained quiet for a few seconds before slowly sitting up. Haruhi tried to get him to lie back down, afraid of what he might be planning to do but he just aggressively ripped himself out of her grip. She didn't want to hurt him so she just let him go and watched as he had his back to her, grumbling inaudible words to himself before finally facing her with a dark glare. Did she somehow upset him? He was fine until she asked how she was different. Was he angry that she didn't know the full reason why, but he shouldn't be since he never told her before?
"Hikaru, if you're mad-"
He cut her off by covering her mouth with his hand and leaned in close to her. "Shut up," he breathed out, "just shut up for a few seconds."
He slowly moved his hand to her cheek, cupping it as he stared into her eyes. Haruhi gulped as she began to feel her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Fuck, why was her body acting this way? It hasn't acted this way since she acknowledged Tamaki, but there had to be a completely different reason for why she was feeling this way right now. Maybe she was getting sick from hanging around Hikaru for so long. Yeah, that had to be it.
"Hika…"
They just continued to stare into each other eyes for a few seconds longer before he slowly leaned in and encased her lips with his. Haruhi didn't know how to respond or react, so she just stayed still with wide eyes as Hikaru just kissed her. Why wasn't she stopping him? She could have stopped him before his lips met hers, but she didn't. Was it out of shock? It had to be, there was no other reason why she would be letting this happen.
The kiss wasn't disgusting, it was actually quite nice. His lips were soft and sweet, and the kiss was innocent. No tongue, no biting, just lips against hers as if he was testing the waters a bit. The only issue she had with the kiss was that he was sick.
He separated from her before laying his head on his shoulder before letting out an obnoxiously loud cough, ruining the moment and finally breaking Haruhi out of her trance.
"Gross Hikaru," she grumbled before wiping her lips, "I swear if I get sick because of you I'm going to kill you."
He let out a deep grumble from his chest as a reply, as if he didn't fully hear her which caused her to glare at him. He might've been loopy from the medicine, but she wasn't going to let him get her sick because he wants to get close to her.
She placed her hands on Hikaru's chest to try and pry him off of her, but as her hands touched the thin fabric of his uniform shirt she halted when she felt that his shirt was soaking wet. It didn't take a genius to tell that it was sweat, his body underneath her hands was burning hot and his skin was moist. How the fuck did she not notice this sooner?
She gently pushed him off of her to see his face and saw that he was slightly panting as he had his eyes closed. His bangs were wet and sticking to his glistening forehead. His fever must've spiked up with all the layers he was wearing and was getting overheated. He needed to get his layers off before he gets heat exhaustion and gets even sicker.
"Hikaru," she said to get his attention, "you're getting overheated. You need to take your jacket off."
"No…" He drawled. "If I take off my jackets I'll be freezing. I want to keep warm."
"Hikaru..."
She cupped his cheek gingerly, her heart hurting a bit as she felt him stiffen by her touch. He didn't trust her anymore, and it hurt her. She knew that she had ruined their friendship, but reality finally hit her on how much damage she left. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and was about to remove her hand from his cheek when Hikaru placed his hand on top of hers and leaned his cheek comfortably in her hand as if it was made to fit there. Haruhi let a couple of tears fall as a small smile touched her lips. After everything he still trusted her, and she thanked God for that.
"I know that your cold but your body is overheating. I don't want you to get worse than you already are." She moved his bangs out of his face, making him open his eyes. "Please, if you get too cold I'll put the blanket back over you, alright?" He seemed hesitant for a few seconds but squeezed her hand tighter before nodding. "Alright, let's take your jackets then lie you back down."
Haruhi got up from the couch and got behind Hikaru before peeling off each top layer of clothing he had on.
'God, no wonder he's sweating profusely. He's wearing three layers if jackets in a seventy-one-degrees room.'
Once she unbuttoned his blazer and slipped it off she noticed he had stopped panting. Hikaru still had his eyes closed and seemed like he could doze back off at any moment, but his body was shivering a bit from not being protected by his jackets anymore, but he also seemed as if he was feeling a lot better from no longer being overheated. Now she only had to take off his shirt and she could lie him back down to rest.
The male Ouran uniform shirts were pretty thin, but since he was sweating so much his shirt was literally soaked, so it would only make him colder. Haruhi reached for his shirt to began to unbutton it but he gently grabbed her hand before she could undo the first button.
Haruhi looked up at him and saw that he still had his eyes closed. "Hikaru?"
"Don't…" His tone was hushed, barely a whisper. "Please don't…"
"Hikaru, I know that you're cold but once I get your shirt off I can wrap the blanket around you."
"That's not it. It's…"
His grip tightened around her hands as his jaw tensed as is he was trying you hold back the emotions that were threatening to spill out. Was he embarrassed about her undressing him? If she could be honest with herself she was too. She hasn't seen him shirtless since the night that drunkenly slept together and felt a little awkward that she undressing him (or she believed so) but this time sober. Hikaru's eyes crept open and he looked into Haruhi's, pleading for her to let go, but even though she wanted to listen to his request his health was far more important than their embarrassment.
"Hikaru, I need to take off your shirt. I can't risk you getting even sicker. I know you might feel a bit uncomfortable but I promise I…"
Her words trailed off when she gently placed her free hand on his chest, feeling his muscle twitch underneath almost as if her touch hurt him. She stared at her hand for a few seconds before slowly lifting it and looking back at the buttons on his shirt as a lightbulb lit up inside her head. He wasn't embarrassed about her undressing him, he didn't want her to see his body because…
Haruhi smacked Hikaru's hand away, startling him as she began unbuttoning his shirt quickly before he had any time to stop her.
"Haruhi-"
She ripped his shirt open, not even caring if any of the buttons popped off and instantly grew horrified at the horrifying image in front of her. Black, blue, and yellow bruises were covering his stomach, and the one in the center of his stomach looked fresh, as if it only happened less than a day ago. There was a large cut that started from his left shoulder, going down until the center of his chest, leaving a few inch gap before continuing until it met his right rib cage. The skin that was cut looked jagged as something other than a blade caused the cut. It looked a few days old and seemed like it was starting to heal, but it was uncertain if it was going to leave a scar or not yet.
"Hikaru…" She looked back up at Hikaru to see that he was facing away from her as if he was ashamed of her seeing his body like this. Kyoya only told her about Hikaru being locked out last night. Did he even know about the bruises?
She bit her lip to suppress the tears and anger that was building up inside her for his mother and herself. If she just stopped being so fucking stubborn and fixed their friendship then he could've come to her for help. She also wanted to ask him what his mother did for him to get this hurt, but decided against it since she needed him to rest.
She cleared her throat before sliding his shirt off. "Alright, let's lie you down."
"Haruhi…"
"Shh," she helped him gently to lie back down on the couch, 'just get some rest then later, if you want, we can talk about everything, alright?"
Hikaru nodded and Haruhi placed the blanket back over him, sitting on the armrest next to him as she watched him fall back asleep in a few minutes. She considered if she should now finish up her assignments for next Monday, but as she looked back down at Hikaru's face decided against it. There were more important things than school right now, and he was one of them.
Hikaru
I was awoken by a weird pleasurable sensation through my hair as if someone with angel-like fingers were running their fingers through it. After a few seconds of enjoying the pleasure, I suddenly grew confused. When I fell asleep Kyoya was the only one in the room with me, and I highly doubt it was him who was doing this. So if it wasn't him then who was in the club room with me?
I slowly opened my eyes to see who was here with me and instantly grew surprised when I saw it was Haruhi of all people. She was sitting on the armrest of the chair, reading a book that was in her free hand as she ran her free hand through my hair. Why was she here? Didn't she hate me after the night we slept together? So why was she here with me, and seemed to be comforting me?
"Haruhi..?"
Haruhi looked away from her book at me, and literally jumped up when she saw that I was awake.
"Oh you're awake." She said in a strangely calm as she placed her book on the coffee table. "How are you feeling? Do you want anything?"
"I uh…" I swallowed, feeling that my throat was dry, as I continued to stare at her confused. "I would like some water."
"Sure thing." She smiled, which only confused me further.
She walked over to the closest table to a white bag and pulled out a water bottle before coming back and handing it to me. I went to go reach for it, but as I extended my hand from underneath the blanket I finally noticed that it was bare from any clothing. I halted and brought my arm in front of my eyes to try and figure out what happened to all the layers I remembered having on when I fell asleep.
"Where's...Where's my shirt?" I asked.
"Oh uh," I looked back up at Haruhi who seemed a little hesitant to answer the question, "your fever spiked up so I had to take your jacket and shirt off so you could cool off." Her expression grew doleful. "I saw the bruises and cuts on your chest."
"Oh…" I quietly responded as I held the blanket tighter around my body, looking away from her eyes.
I didn't fully know why, but I suddenly wanted to just cry. It might have been that I felt vulnerable right now with my shirt off since I couldn't hide the damage mom did to my body, or maybe I was feeling a bit of happiness that she was actually talking to me and seemed to care for me after so long, but if that was the case...why did I want her to leave?
She must've felt my uneasiness and I could sense her reaching for my hand out towards me, but seemed to stop once she noticed my body tensing up. "Hika…"
"Can I have my shirt back please?" I asked, still facing away from her as I fiddled with the water bottle in my hands.
"Oh, yeah sure." She said and walked over to the couch across from us and grabbed my uniform from the armrest before giving it back to me. "It might still be a little wet. Just so you'd know."
"Thanks…" I quietly mumbled as I took my shirt from her.
We were silent for the next few moments as I put my shirt and began buttoning it up. Even though Haruhi had seen the wounds on my chest, I still turned away from her as I put my shirt back on. I still couldn't comprehend why she was here. Just yesterday she was ignoring me and barely look at me in the eye, but now she was suddenly taking care of me as if nothing happened. It was weird, but I wasn't going to lie, I was glad she wasn't mad at me anymore, hopefully. But I still couldn't help but feel extremely awkward about her being here. Especially seeing me so helpless like this…
I finished buttoning up the last few buttons of my shirt, keeping the collar open before letting out an exhausted, running my hand through my unruly hair. I could still feel Haruhi's eyes on me which was beginning to make me feel a little self-conscious. I knew that she was staring at my chest and face at where the bruises and cuts were. I instantly wrapped my arms around my body and turned my head away from me.
"Hikaru," she said as she sat back down on the armrest, "I know that it's been a few month since everything that happened, but I really want you to know-"
The door to the club room opened, ceasing Haruhi's words and made us look over to see Kyoya entering the club room with another plastic bag full of items.
"Oh good, you're awake Hikaru." Kyoya said as he closed the door. He walked over to us on the couch and placed the bag next to me. "Here," he reached into the bag and to my surprise handed me an IPhone box, "I got you this."
I just stared at him in complete shock then back at the phone, trying to form any words to respond. "You...got me a phone?"
"Yeah, you had a seven before right? They didn't have any XS's so I got you the XR." He put the box into my hand with a smile. "Hopefully you like red."
"Why?" I asked.
"I felt bad by how you lost your phone so after the meeting with my dad I stopped by a phone store along the way," his smile grew, "and don't worry, I got Kaoru one too. A white one."
"You didn't have to do this Kyoya. I would've been fine without a phone."
He let out a sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing you didn't have a phone to contact me if anything happened to you at home. I know Kaoru and you don't like anyone buying you guys anything, but this is important and I hope you'll be willing to take it."
"Thanks...This really means a lot."
Kyoya's smile returned before he ruffled my hair as I began opening the box. "Hey, that's what family is for. I also got you a case and a screen protector for you so you don't have to worry about breaking it."
"What about-"
"I already imported everything from your cloud. So you'll have all your contacts and messages on there. So you don't have to worry about that."
I turned on the phone, seeing the white apple logo pop up on the black screen for a few seconds before the lock screen popped up and when I was finally able to see the time my heart almost stopped. It was 5:30, I was supposed to be home an hour ago. Mom was going to be furious.
"I have to go." I said as I shot up from the couch, but before I could even take a step Kyoya put a hand to my chest to stop me.
"Hold on, you're not leaving yet. I still have to check your temperature to make sure you're well enough to go home."
"But Kyoya-"
I suddenly felt someone gently grab my hand and I looked down to see Haruhi cupping my hand in her. "Please Hikaru, we just want to make sure your fever has gone down. Then if it is you can go home, alright?"
I felt a slight blush heat up on my cheeks as I stared deep into her brown eyes. Hopefully, she didn't see my face reddening and thought it was just the fever. I let out a sigh and sat back down on the couch as Kyoya got the thermometer ready. Haruhi must've noticed that I was getting restless as we waited for the thermometer to finish and squeezed my hands as if she was trying to comfort me and I responded with squeezing her hand back.
The next few seconds were agonizingly slow as I waited for the beep to go off, praying that my fever has at least gone somewhat down so I wouldn't have to go to the hospital. I couldn't afford mom getting even angrier with me right now. Who knows what she will do after yesterday?
Once the beep finally went off, Kyoya took the thermometer out of my mouth and looked at the temperature on the tiny screen. I could feel Haruhi squeeze my hand tighter as she sensed my nerves grow, which actually was quite comforting. I don't know if we'll go back to being friends after everything that happened a month ago, but I was glad that she was here with me right now.
Kyoya was silent for a second longer before putting the thermometer away in his bag. "It looks like you fever has gone down to 100 degrees, which is good. We don't have to take you to the hospital."
"Great, can I go home now?"
"One more thing." Kyoya took out his wallet and handed me a card, which I just furrowed my eyebrows at.
"What's this?" I asked.
"A debit card. I was able to convince the bank to get me another card for you so you can have it to buy anything you need. There's no real limit on it, but don't just go out and buy everything you want, just the essentials you need and then some."
Kyoya this is too much. You already bought me a new phone and now you're giving me a debit card. I don't need all this."
"You have barely had any access to money for almost two months and I can tell it's wearing you down. You can't afford the high priced meals at school and I know your mother is refusing to let you bring any food here or you would have packed lunch for school. You've recently started trying to find ways to commute to school without taking your car because you can't afford to fill up your car."
"How did you-"
"I have my ways of getting information Hikaru, you should know that by now." I looked away from him, feeling ashamed that he found out about it. I know that he wanted me to tell him everything that was going on at home, but I knew once he found out he would become overprotective of me again and drop almost everything he was doing to make sure I didn't want him to worry and just focus on himself and not just me…
"Hikaru, you have nothing to be ashamed of." Kyoya said as if he could read my mind. "It's not your fault that you're in this situation, but I know you feel like it is. That's the main reasons why you don't like asking for help. Am I correct?"
I nodded after a few silent moments, agreeing with everything he said. "I know you're probably sick of me telling you this because I've said it so many times before, but I'm here for you and all I want to do is help you and Kaoru through everything. So please," he nudged me the card closer to me, "let me help you by taking this card."
I looked back up to him, seeing in his eyes that he was pleading for me to take it, and out of the corner of his eyes I could see that Haruhi was giving me the same look, which finally broke me. I took the card from him and made it seem I was scanning over it, but in reality I just didn't want them to see the wetness in my eyes.
"Thank you." I mumbled out, so my voice wouldn't crack. "Can I go home now? I was supposed to be home an hour ago. I don't want mom to get angry with me again."
"Sure," he handed me the bag he brought in with him," in here is some lighter medicine for you to take and I got you some sports drinks for you to get some electrolytes." I took them from him and nodded a thank you. "I would offer you a ride home, but I know you're just going to refuse it."
"I brought my car today, so you don't have to worry."
"Alright, call me when you get home. I want to make sure you're safe."
"Alright, sure." I huffed out.
"Oh, uh Hikaru." Haruhi quietly spoke up, but as I looked over at her she looked away from me as soon as we made eye contact. Was that a blush on her face as well?
"Yeah?" I asked once she was silent for a few moments.
"I uh…" She cleared her throat, still facing away from me as if she could stand to look at me anymore, which made my heart hurt. "Nevermind…"
My expression fell a bit at her response, but I turned from her before anyone could notice. Even though I thought it was too good to be true, I actually thought we might have been able to become friends again, but by the way, she was acting now, I guess not…
As I went to unlock my front door I couldn't stop my hand from shaking as I unlocked the door. I knew that mom was just on the other side waiting angrily for me. As I finally got the key into the lock I gulped before turning the key, my heart pounding as I heard the click of the door being unlocked.
I slowly crept open the door, trying my best to try to calm my nerves so I wouldn't show mom any weakness, but to my surprise when I opened the door wide enough to see inside the house, mom wasn't there. I just stood there confused. I didn't know if I should be relieved or worried that mom wasn't here. Usually if I came home late mom would be waiting for me and either be sickenly kind and bombard me with questions about how my school day was, or she would be furious with me and yell or hurt me.
I placed my bags and jackets on the couch before making my way over to her office. I didn't plan on her seeing me, I just wanted to take a peek to see if she was in there or not, which she wasn't. Now I was starting to grow worried. I saw that her car was in the driveway, but not Isao's, though he was probably still at work. I checked to see if she was in her room, but as I got up the stairs I saw that the door to her bedroom was wide open, which it never was.
Now I was on the verge of panicking. Where the fuck was she? I rushed down the stairs and ran to the kitchen to grab the phone to call Isao, but just as I was about to dial his number I noticed a note on the refrigerator door.
I walked up to it and plucked the note from the magnet that was holding it and read the note.
'Hikaru,
Isao and I will be in London for two weeks for London fashion weeks. While we're gone I expect you can be trusted by following the rules and tasks I have assigned you that are on the counter. Don't disappoint me.
-Mom'
I looked over towards the corner counter and saw a stack of papers in front of the coffee machine. I tossed the note to the side and walked over to the counter before grabbing the stack of paper, counting each page as I flipped through them, which ended up being around twenty-six pages. What the fuck was so important for me to so that it took up twenty six pages? I picked up the first page of the typed out, small print rules and began reading some of the rules.
-Every day you must clean and vacuum each room in the house. If anything is dirty when we get home you will be punished.
-You are not allowed to bring anyone home under any circumstances. If there is an emergency go to one of the neighbors houses.
-You must come straight home after school. If I hear one of our neighbors that you were late there will be consequences.
-Tend the garden everyday, as well as clean the back and front yard.
-When we return home, cook us a lavish meal to welcome us home?
What the actual fuck? Most of these rules were just shit and I haven't even read half the first page yet. We didn't even have a fucking garden anymore since mom let all the plants wilt away once she forgot about them, and what the hell was with the last chore on the page?
-Dye the pound pink!
She got that from a fucking movie, and we don't even having a fucking pond! I groaned as I set the stack back on the counter, rubbing my temples as I felt a headache coming on. I was too sick to deal with all this shit right now. All I wanted to do right now was have a quick dinner before going to bed. I coughed a couple of times in my sleeve before making my way over to the cabinet where we kept all the cereal, but as I opened it I saw that all the cereal was gone, and not just the cereal was missing, the whole entire cabinet was bare. I blinked a bit in confusion then opened another cabinet just in case the boxes were moved, but just like the cabinet before, it was empty.
As a bad feeling began to set in my gut, I began searching each cabinet and when I saw that they were all empty as well, even the pantry that was full of food this morning was bare. Where the hell did all the food go? I was positive that there was some here before I left for school, and even if there wasn't, why would they the country without having any food here for me.
My eyes caught the sight of a small white post-it note on the back of the wall of the pantry and I picked it off before reading it.
'Since you've been causing me a fuck ton of trouble these past few days, I decided to give some food to people who actually deserve it. If you want a meal, get it yourself!'
I growled and crumbled the note before throwing it to the wall with all the force I could muster, which wasn't much. Who the hell was so important that mom would give our whole food supply to and let her own son fucking starve. Well, I got my answer when there was a knock at the door.
I didn't know if I should answer it or not. I haven't read anything about answering the door, but granted I haven't even passed the first page. All I knew was that I couldn't bring anyone over, but what if it was farther down the stack saying that I'm not allowed to, or if I am able to and if I don't answer I'll be in trouble?
I decided to just answer the door, praying that I wasn't breaking any rules and once I opened the front door a crack I was greeted by the smiling Yoshido family, well the parents were smiling while Mari just smirked flirtatiously at me like usual.
"Yes?" I said as I opened the door the rest of the way.
"Hey Hikaru," Ayumi greeted sickening happily, "Mari told us that you weren't feeling well today so we decided to drop by to see how you're doing and give you some dinner we made you from the food you parents gave us."
"Food my parents gave you?"
I finally noticed that she was holding a baking pan covered in tin foil in her hands, which began to connect everything together for me. I could feel myself growing angry. These were the people that deserved our food more than me?!
"Yes, your parents dropped by this morning saying they were going away on a long trip and didn't want the food you mostly wouldn't eat go to waste. So since you're sick, I whipped up some Italian dish for you since Mari informed us you like pasta." She offered for me to take the pan from her. "I hope you'll enjoy it."
From how I almost puked eating the meal she made last time, I highly doubt it.
"Thanks." I grumbled as I took the dinner from her, not wanting to be rude in fear it would get back to mom.
"Well, I hope you feel better soon." Akio said as I looked back up from the meal. "If you need anything we'll be right across the street, alright?"
I gave him a nod before they said their goodbyes and left. Well of course, everyone except Mari, who remained where she was but I shut the door on her before she could even try to make a pass at me for the one hundred forty-ninth time this week. Yes, I've been counting and this number was the least of them all. I was already having a shitty day so I didn't need her adding more to it as she tried to get into my pants.
I let out another tired sigh and went to the dining room before grabbing a fork. Even though I knew that Ayumi's cooking was shit, it was the only thing in the house that was actually edible...hopefully.
I peeled back the tin foil on top of the pan and to my surprise saw an actual decent meal of Tuscan chicken pasta. I couldn't smell it due to my nose being stuffed, but I could only imagine that it smelled amazing. Maybe at the dinner at their house a few months ago she was just having an off day, everyone has one. I took a seat and stabbed a few noodles and chicken with my fork before eating it, and it was actually pretty good. The meal was far cry from what Gordon Ramsay would approve of, but for me, who hadn't had a real full meal in about two days, it was almost orgasmic.
I picked at the meal for an hour or so as I watched some TV, and once I literally could stomach anymore since the sauce was too thick, I placed the leftovers in the fridge before deciding to turn in early because I knew that starting tomorrow, every days were going to be hell for the next two weeks.
Haruhi
Haruhi groaned as she clenched her stomach as she laid on the couch, burying her knees to her chest so she was almost forming a ball. She was nauseous, her whole hurt, and she felt so fatigued that she could barely get up, probably from throwing up so much this past week.
"I blame Hikaru for all this." She grumbled as she tightened the blanket around herself. "I may have wanted to make up with him and tried to be friends again but not like this. I fucking despise him for doing this to me."
It's been a week since Haruhi took care of Hikaru when he was sick, and since then she was feeling like absolute shit, but not in the same way he was. He had a horrible fever while she felt completely fine other than her stomach. She's been vomiting about everyday and feeling too exhausted to get out of bed, so even though it was against her wishes she's been staying home all week, and doing homework her dad brought home whenever she felt well enough.
Although, even though Haruhi still felt like she was dying, she was actually feeling one thousand times better than from when she woke up. She usually felt extremely sick in the morning, mild or nothing at all during the afternoon and evenings, then sick again at night, and no amount of medicine felt like it was helping. Even chugging down a bottle of Pepto Bismol in one sitting did nothing.
Finally, after what felt like hours, which only was about thirty minutes or so, Haruhi's stomach finally began to settle and now the only pains she was feeling was hunger pains since she hasn't eaten anything all day.
But just as she sat up, there was a sudden fast-paced knocks at her door. She glanced over at the door confused. She wasn't expecting anyone today, and it couldn't have been her dad since he just left to go shopping. Could he have forgotten something and locked himself out? But he knew where the spare key was hidden so it couldn't have been him unless he somehow forgot where they've always kept the spare key since living here.
With an annoyed huff, Haruhi heaved herself off the couch and made her way to the door, and grew instantly surprised at who was in front of her once she opened the door.
"Hikaru?"
He jumped a bit since he wasn't facing her and turned his head towards her. He was soaked from the rain that was pouring outside, even though he was wearing two jackets. He had a grey hoodie underneath his leather jacket, probably because he was still a bit sick from his cold last week, and to also use the hoodie's hood to shield his head from the rain, but what really caught Haruhi's attention was that his facial expression was completely haunted, as if he was terrified of something major. Could have something happened with his mom and he came over for her help? But she would've thought he would go over to Kyoya before her since he might not fully trust her again yet.
"Hikaru, what's wron-"
"Haruhi can I ask you something?" He finally spoke, his voice brittle and shaky, which made Haruhi more worried.
"Sure, you can ask me anything."
"I, uh…" He looked away from her for a bit, shifting from foot to foot as he grew more nervous. "I-I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me, ok?"
"Alright, just tell me what's wrong."
"Af-After that night when we...we didn't use...you know..."
"Huh?"
"I just need to know because we did...I...and you..."
"Hikaru, you're really scaring me."
His eyes trailed to her midsection before finally meeting hers again for a few seconds then gulped before asking,
"Are you pregnant?"
...