Heaven Only Knows

Heaven Only Knows

By: Raiha-chan

Italicized words indicate thoughts.

//Blah// indicates flashback sequences.

###Blah### indicates lyrics sung.

=======================================================

[Chapter Four: Hopeless]

Miki wandered through the halls, a laundry basket tucked securely under one hand. The guests left for the beach again. Akira was still sleeping when the blue-hair girl checked on him last. Rui was probably off somewhere playing with his pet. And Hiroshi…

//And thus, Operation Yuki begins!//

Miki let out a mental groan. She had told that boy not to go after the guitarist. Of course, the boy never listened to her anyway. Yuki was attractive, even the young woman admits that. But his looks hit too close to home.

The girl pushed open the door to the laundry room and set the basket down onto the nearest table. She thought back to one of her cousin's longest flings. She couldn't quite remember the guy as she hardly saw him. But from what she CAN remember, based on his looks alone, she realized that he resembled Yuki a lot.

And if that's the reason Hiroshi is going after Yuki in the first place… Miki let out another groan, this time out loud and threw the clothes into the washing machine.

"This is ridiculous," the young woman mumbled under her breath, as she watch the machine kick up.

+++++

"'Niichan!" Hiroshi burst into his brother's room without knocking and pounced at the figure on the bed. Kitsune let out a loud growl, as his nap was disturbed, before promptly ignoring the bouncing teenager.

Hiroshi ignored the pet and instead, focused his sole attention on waking Rui. He shook the older man roughly. When that triggered no response, he tried screaming loudly into Rui's ears.

Rui moved slightly but did not wake. His brother, frustrated, stalked to the bathroom and began his search for a container of sorts. When he found a small pail sitting on the floor, he immediately picked it up and filled it with ice-cold water from the sink.

That task accomplished, Hiroshi padded outside again. Getting atop his brother again and straddling the older man's hips, Hiroshi grabbed the pail with both hands and proceeded to dump everything on Rui's face.

THAT brought the older man to full awareness.

"What the--?" Rui rubbed the water from his eyes then gave Hiroshi the nastiest glare the latter have ever received from his brother.

"You wouldn't wake up!" Hiroshi protested, as Rui threw the smaller figure from him. The black-hair boy landed onto the carpeted floor with a loud 'thud'.

"What do you want?" asked Rui, as he finally took in his current state.

"Well, you see…" Hiroshi stood, rubbing his sore bottom. "As I told Miki-chan… Operation Yuki begins today!"

"Operation WHO?" Rui blinked.

"Yuki. You know…that guy I was talking about last night? Black/purple hair? The guitarist from…"

"Yes, I know! Why?"

"Where you paying attention to last night's conversation at all, 'niichan?!"

"Yes. I remember Miki telling you not to go after him."

"When was the last time you saw me listening to her? Never! So why should I start now? Besides, I don't know why she's so against it anyway…"

"She must have a good reason," Rui stood and walked over to his closet. Picking a new shirt from it, Rui looked back at Hiroshi. "I'd suggest you cancel that operation Yuki of yours."

"Just because of Miki? That's just ridiculous!"

"Remember the last time she told you not to chase after that girl but you did anyway?" Rui asked as he replaced the soaked shirt with the dry one.

"Well, I didn't know she was dating that stupid so-called leader of the school gang! If I knew, I wouldn't have tried to court her. Really."

"Miki knew. That's why she told you not to court her. And look how you ended up."

"I was young and stupid then! Wait a minute…are you saying that Miki know something so that's why she told me not to go after Yuki?"

"I always knew you weren't quite so smart…" Rui shook his head.

"But what does she know? And how would she know it? The band has only been vacationing here for one week tops."

"That's for her to know and for you to find out."

"Ch'. She never tells me anything…" Hiroshi pouted. Then he immediately brightened up. "But I'll ask her anyway!"

"And threaten her?" Rui raised an eyebrow, all too aware of his younger brother's ulterior motives.

"Of course not!" Hiroshi grinned broadly. "I'll just ask her nicely, is all!" Rui cast the younger man a tired glance.

+++++

When Hiroshi found Miki, the latter was still in the laundry room. She was leaning against the washing machine with her back facing the door.

"Miki-chan!" Hiroshi hugged the older girl from behind. "Doing the laundry, eh? Looks like you can use a hand. I'll help!"

Miki let out a mental groan. "You want something, don't you?" she accused, disentangling herself from the other's arms. She didn't bother to turn around to face the younger boy.

"Why would you accuse me of such thing?" Hiroshi faked tears.

"Spit it."

"'Niichan and I were talking. Remember the night when you said you'd rather me not go after Yuki? I realized that you're keeping something from me."

"When was I ever NOT keeping something from you?" Miki finally stood and turned around to stare down at the boy.

"Hidoi!" Hiroshi clutched at his heart. "Friends shouldn't keep secrets from each other. Especially if they're as close as us. Aren't I right, Miki-chan?"

"Wonderful," Miki rolled her eyes. "When you want something, I'm your best friend. When you DON'T want something, what the hell am I then? Lint?"

"Mou!" Hiroshi pouted. "Don't say such things! I would never compare you to lint!"

"Get out and leave me to my job," Miki made a gesture towards the door. Hiroshi opened his mouth to protest but the young woman slapped her hand over it to prevent any words from leaking.

"One question, however," Miki said, her hand still covering her cousin's mouth. "Do you remember Hikaru?" Miki didn't move her hand as the sudden widening of her cousin's eyes were enough to answer her question.

Finally, she dropped her hand and stood, facing the washing machine again. Hiroshi stood as well, still recovering from the shock. He looked at the young woman so intent on her job for a moment then turned to leave.

Closing the door softly behind him, Hiroshi slumped against it, wondering why his cousin would suddenly bring up the topic of his first boyfriend.

Still inside the laundry room, Miki rested her elbows on top of the machine, chin in hands. In her mind, she was going through various ideas of how to get Hiroshi away from the guitarist.

And pairing Yuki up with Sakuya… Miki snickered. Oh, how she loved playing matchmaker.

+++++

"Sakuya!" Miki bounced into the room and immediately latching herself onto the vocalist. The black-hair young man looked down at her, eyebrows raising slightly.

"Come on!" Miki pulled at his arm. "We're going to have some fun!"

"God, you could just see the hearts oozing out at this moment…" Akira groaned. "Beware of my sister when she's extremely cheery and bouncy. Either she want something, has something evil planned or she's just high on something."

"I'm in a happy mood so I'm not gonna fling anything at you," Miki said in a strained voice. "But never doubt that I won't later." Akira gulped audibly.

"Now… let's go, Sakuya!" With that and another backward wave to the group, Miki pulled the bewildered Sakuya out with her.

Once outside, the young girl broke into a small jog, all the while singing a disgustingly (as Sakuya called it) happy tune. The taller man stumbled in his steps after the girl, as she still held onto his arm.

"Hey, wait," Sakuya tried to pull away. "Where are we going? And what are you doing?"

"We're going to the beach!" Miki replied. "And I'm going to play matchmaker!"

"You're going to play what?" Sakuya sigh in relief as the girl finally let go of her grip on his arm. Miki cast him a look.

"You heard me."

"But why? And with who? And what hell does it have to do with me?!"

"Because I felt like it. And with you and Yuki, silly! And it has everything to do with you!" Sakuya froze in his tracks and stare at the girl with an expression akin to horror on his face.

"Hey, it's you or Hiroshi," Miki shrugged. "Take your pick."

"What does your cousin have anything to do with this?"

"Don't you know?" the blue-hair girl suddenly took a great interest in her nails. "Hiroshi is trying to court Yuki."

"Oh. But what does that… he WHAT?!"

"Now," Miki placed her hands on her hips in an intimidating way. "Either I set you and Yuki up. Or I set Hiroshi and Yuki up. Either way, I get my fun as the matchmaker."

Sakuya stared at her for a long moment before finally saying, "Well then, go set Yuki up with your cousin!" And with that, the vocalist turned and barely made a step forward before Miki's laughter halted him.

"Would you have allowed that to happen?"

"Why do I suddenly care who's trying to court who?" Sakuya turned and shot the blue-hair girl a glare.

"No, you wouldn't," Miki replied. "But you would to who's courting Yuki. I personally doubt my cousin will ever have a shot in hell with Yuki, though."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Let's just say I asked him a very thought-provoking question earlier. And if he ever stopped to think about it, he might actually get my point and that would lead to the end of his 'operation'.

"Look, enough about him. I honestly don't want Yuki with him because I know how it will end up and…"

"And how will it end up?" Sakuya interrupted.

"Miserably," Miki shot him a look. "Extremely miserable if Yuki falls too deeply and I'm telling you, Hiroshi has a way of making people fall hard for him. And it's usually unintentional."

"What makes you so sure it'll end up that way?"

"Because Hiroshi isn't stupid, as much as he looks the part. Sooner or later, he'll realize exactly how much Yuki resemble Hi---never mind." Miki shook her head, mentally swearing to herself. Sakuya rose an eyebrow.

"How much Yuki resemble who?" he prodded.

"That's really none of your business," Miki glared daggers at him. "If you want to see Yuki ending up with Hiroshi, you'll walk away right now. If you don't, you'll take up on my offer."

Sakuya considered his options for what felt like forever. Finally, he looked Miki right in the eye and mumbled out a 'fine', causing Miki to broke into a big grin.

+++++

Akira dragged the bags of food over to where the others were situated. Miki had said that they were going to have a little outing by the beach, a barbecue of sorts. Yuki and Towa had already taken the grill outside with little difficulty. And of course, Miki just had to stick the job of dragging out numerous bags of food to her younger brother.

//It makes you stronger!//

//What?!//

//You may as well just make him carry the grill then//

//Oh, HELL no! I'll take the bags, thank you!//

Setting the bags down, Akira flung his sore hands around. Taking a glance around the beach, he found Yuki and Towa playing yet another game of volleyball with Yuka, Aine, Hiroshi and Atsuro. Santa seems to be harassing Sakuya about something or other again. Miki was playing in the water with the little fox and Rui was lying face down on a lounge chair.

Looking over to a shady area to the left of Sakuya's resting spot, he found some music equipment set up, all ready to go. Scratching his head, Akira wondered why they were there.

Shrugging slightly, Akira jogged over to his older sister and proceeded to startle the latter by dumping her head into the water for a good 10 seconds. When Miki resurfaced later, she was furious. However, she only gave her brother a look - promising some suffering later - and headed back towards the others.

The blue-hair girl whispered something to Rui, who nodded back in response before going back to his nap. Then she sauntered over to the dark-hair vocalist. Santa, by this time, had already left Sakuya and went into the ongoing game.

"Okay," Miki sat herself down. "All set."

"Your plan sucks," Sakuya commented, his eyes closed.

"That's not what you said a couple of hours ago."

"So I say it now. Your plan sucks."

"It's not like I have a lot of options, you know. We're on a remote island with barely anything. If we're back in Japan then…oh, the fun…"

Sakuya shivered slightly. "You sound creepy. And evil."

"Thank you! You know, I've never heard you sing."

"Pity, then."

Miki laughed. "I'm sure you sound wonderful. Well, I'd really like to hear it so should we start now?"

"Whatever." Miki broke into a small grin.

"Okay, minna-tachi!" Miki jumped up from her seat and clap her hands together. Speaking in a voice loud enough to carry over to the others playing ball, Miki informed everyone that a performance will now begin. "And have fun!"

+++++

###Sunrise,

You're an object standing by the windowsill,

Once I touch you,

You changed into a thousand tears###

"Oneechan," Akira poked the said girl in her ribs lightly.

"What?" Miki tilted her head to the side questioningly, while popping another piece of chicken in her mouth.

"You're planning something evil."

"I am?" Miki blinked wide eyes at him.

"Yes. I know your antics well. And don't look at me like that!"

"Like how?" Miki blinked again.

"Like THAT! All wide-eyed and innocent and stuff…"

"So what if I am planning something evil?"

Akira gave a mock gasp. "And you're not involving ME in it? I'm so hurt!"

"You'll just ruin everything," Miki eyed her brother.

"I will not!"

"Very well. I'll tell you what I'm planning…" Leaning over, Miki whispered four words into her brother's ear.

"Sore wa…himitsu desu!" Sticking her tongue out childishly, Miki ran off while cackling like a maniac, leaving her younger brother behind to fume.

###Sunset,

Just as the frozen moon melts,

Holding up a lighter to the darkness,

Lonely Venus###

The light was rather dim on the stage area so no one noticed the blush creeping up on Yuki's face. He concentrated on his playing, hoping it will chase the blush away.

I can't believe he just did that…

Rui watched the performance from where he was still laying. While others may have been totally oblivious, he noticed every little thing that was going on. A small patch of red had made its way across Yuki's face, slowly subsiding after a while. And the cause of that blush in the first place was Sakuya.

"And Miki missed that," Rui chuckled softly.

"Did not," came the blue-hair girl's voice from behind Rui. The older boy scooted over a bit, allowing Miki room to sit down on the same chair as him. The two looked at the performers once again, then at each other, before finally collapsing in another giggling fit.

"That was cute…the whole rubbing hips thing…" Miki giggled. Rui only laughed even more in response.

###You are in a jail of sadness,

Though no one can rescue you,

Trembling Cherry, I'll kiss you softly

And put you to sleep,

The sigh that glides through the night is a Fairy Dance,

Beloved Cherry, shaken off by the spinning stars,

If I can save your dreams,

I'll embrace them###

The band sang a random song every half an hour or so. As they do so, the others sat back and enjoyed the lovely melody. Hours was spent singing, dancing, playing, eating and drinking. Finally, it was time for…

"Storytelling!" Miki chirped.

"What?!" Santa choked on his drink.

"Storytelling," Miki repeated. Everyone was sitting in a circle by the waters, a small fire burning inside the circle. Night has fallen and the stars were out. "Anyone has anything to share?"

The blue-hair girl looked around the circle, no one replying. Smirking inwardly, she continued. "Well, then. I got one. It's a ghost story, set in our very own hotel decades ago. Would you guys like to hear it?"

Six pairs of eyes regarded each other silently. Sakuya cast a glance over to Miki, who smiled sweetly back.

"Well?" Miki asked.

"Sure, we don't see why not," Towa shrugged.

"Okay then," Mill grinned, making herself comfortable on the sand. "No one really knows the exact date but it was believe to have happened on a night exactly 50 years ago. Tonight marked the 50th year."

"There was a couple," Rui continued in a low tone. "Who was managing the hotel then. During that time, many people heard of this island so it was always swarming with guests. The island was much bigger and beautiful then, than it is now. The surrounding smaller islands you see on the other side used to be connected with its mainland.

"The couple was really cute. The man was named Kenji, and the woman was named Yuri. These two were really kind and sweet. They were also scheduled to be married in less than 2 weeks."

"The days were spent doing normal hotel-related things," Miki continued the story. "And their wedding day were getting closer and closer. On their wedding day, many people came. Most of them had been guests at the hotel once and have managed to meet the couple. It was a happy day, indeed. A year later, the lady gave birth to a cute little baby girl, whom they named Nanami."

"Whoa, wait a minute…this is a ghost story?" Santa interrupted.

"We're getting there," Miki replied. "Be patient. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The family led quite normal lives. Then, one day, when Nanami was barely 4, she disappeared without a trace."

"The couple haven't the slightest idea where she could've been," Rui added. "They searched all over the hotel but found nothing. Then they searched outside, and still found nothing. One full week passed before they finally found her body laying on the beach, close to the waters.

"When they found her, she hadn't been breathing. So they assumed she was dead. The funeral occurred 3 days later. The little girl was buried right under her favorite tree."

"Said tree is over there," Miki pointed to the area where the stage the band performed on earlier was still sitting. Yuka and Aine paled.

"The couple had been so devastated that the island was closed off to visitors for months afterwards," Rui continued. "Then one night, the lady decided to visit her baby's grave, only to discover that someone dug up the grave. She screams as she saw the coffin opened, and the little girl's body nowhere in sight.

"The man came running. When he reached her, he asked her what was wrong. All she could do was point at the gravesite. After seeing what she was screaming about, the man led his wife back inside the hotel. There was nothing he could do. The island was too far away and it wasn't as if there was any authorities in the area as well.

"The man took his wife upstairs to their bedroom and spent hours coaxing her to sleep. When she finally did, the man left the bedroom and headed back to the gravesite again. He wanted to find clues on what might have occurred."

//Someone must have dug it up//

"He knew someone must have dug it up," Miki continued. "But the only ones there on the island were him and his wife. There was no one else. He inspected the lock on the casket carefully, realizing that it was broken."

//Either someone used some sort of weapon to break it or…//

"He deduced that a weapon must have been used to break that lock," Miki sipped her drink. "But like I said earlier, there was no one else on the island. If there had been, he or his wife must have known about it. Unless that person was really good at hiding, of course.

"He lifted the lid of the casket up and dumped it into the ground. The action caused the lid to flipped onto its top, allowing the inside of it to face upwards. Then, the man noticed it. Blood.

"There were long lines of dried blood running from the top to the middle of the casket. As the man leaned in closer to look at the newly found evidence, he also discovered scratch marks where the blood was."

//Masaka…//

"Hearing a soft rustling sound behind him, the man whirled around to find his very own daughter standing there, her hair flowing beautifully and freely behind her," Rui leaned back on his elbows, continuing the story. "The little girl held out her hands, smiling sweetly the entire time. The man rubbed his eyes, thinking that it was a mere illusion. But she was still there.

"He spoke her name questioningly. She steps closer. He asks, 'is that really you?' She takes another step forward. Before the man even had time to analyze the whole situation, he found himself falling backwards into the empty coffin. The lid slid itself over the casket slowly. The man tried sitting back and escaping but he was so terrified that he couldn't move. Finally, the lid closed with a resounding 'click'. And the man was finally able to break out of his trance.

"He pounded on the door, screaming for help. He screamed for what felt likes hours to him, before his voice turned hoarse and finally, he could scream no more."

//Wait for me…//

"The next day," Miki continued in a much softer tone. "The lady found her husband gone and couldn't find him anywhere. As she neared the gravesite yet again, she realized that the area was different. Glancing down, she could see that the ground was never disturbed and no empty caskets stare up at her.

"Given this, the woman thought what occurred the night before had only been a mere dream. So she went off to find her husband again. When she couldn't find him, she didn't panic. He made several disappearing acts earlier in the years, only to come back later to report that he had left for the nearest city. She figured this must be the reason why he wasn't on the island.

"As she prepared for bed that night, she stole a glance outside the balcony window. She thought she was a little girl facing the water. But when she blinked once, the little girl was gone."

//I must be seeing things//

"Dismissing that without a second thought, she slid into bed and slept," Miki continued. "As the clock struck midnight, the woman who had been sleeping and dreaming so peacefully suddenly woke up, drenched in cold sweat. When the clock chimes ended, a new sound began.

"Laughter. It sounded like the laughing sound of a little girl. Wondering what it was, the woman went outside and followed the sounds. As the sound got louder and louder, the gravesite got closer and closer. The woman suddenly froze in her tracks. The scene before her had been so shocking. She saw his husband playing with their deceased daughter.

"The laughter died away then. The little girl looked up at her mother, still smiling widely. She held out her left hand, beckoning the woman to come forth. When she didn't move, her husband held out his right hand, mimicking their daughter's previous action.

"She finally moved forward, a slow smile working its way up onto her face. The reunited family danced under the pale moonlight, laughing loudly. Then, as the clouds above covered the moon in half, the little girl and the man began to disappear slowly. The island was thrown into darkness as the moon was blocked completely by the moving clouds. When the clouds dispersed, they were gone.

"Knowing now what she must do, the woman walked slowly and excitedly over to the gravesite, the ground now open again and the casket empty. She jumped down onto the wooden coffin and slid the lid over it herself.

"She died with a smile on her face."

//Together forever//

[End Chapter Four]

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A/N: I hate ghost stories… I somehow managed to creep myself out as I was writing that. o.O;;;;