The weather is as ugly as his mood, despite the fact that it's Summer. Not a single star to be found in the sky, as if even the galaxy itself wants Kaito to lose his way.

Not that he has time to be looking at it anyway; hard enough to drive in this weather as it is, never mind while he's also on his phone. He should have invested in one of those magnetic holders for your car, but he wasn't much of a social person, so he never previously had the need for one. Now he was stuck. No time for distractions…no matter how much he wishes he could afford one at this moment.

If it was anyone else, he would have hung up on their face by now. It would be the smart, sensible thing to do, not to mention this call has gone on for long enough. Around twenty minutes, if the distance travelled on his GPS is correct.

But no matter what, he had never hung up on his brother for all the twenty five years the boy had been on this planet, and he wasn't going to start tonight. No matter how angry the conversation is making him.

So he settles for trying to end it for good, "For the last time, you're not getting me to change my mind, so drop the subject." he growls.

"I won't drop it until you at least talk to me! You're being completely unreasonable!" Haruto shrieks so loudly from the other hand, that Kaito almost misses a turn, swerving his car in a panic to compensate.

And in all honesty, most people would be on Haruto's side if they knew the context.

But Kaito isn't most people, so he replies a little too loudly, "Like I keep telling you, I'm driving right now, the rain is horrible, and there's no light besides mine on this road. I have to hang up."

Before he can do so, Haruto keeps pleading, making him unable to drop the call, "Then pull over already, because I am never speaking to you again if you don't settle this matter now." he threatens, "I know how you are, niisan; you've been avoiding this conversation for months, and no way you'll ever confront me once you're settled into your new home, which you just had to buy this year and move into in a hurry, even though you're going to be jobless for a few months as a result."

"So? I've been working since I was eighteen, and even buying that house made no dent in the inheritance father left me. If I want to take a year off from the slavery that is scientific research at a nice house with a private beach, then who is going to stop me?" he challenges.

His brother responds with a pout, "Obviously, not me." and the guilt ridden tone almost makes Kaito feel bad over this whole thing.

Almost.

He's still far too lost in his own pain to empathize with his brother. Because he knows the moment he does that, is the moment Haruto wins…and Kaito isn't ready for that.

"Niisan, I know why you insisted on moving today, even though you left in such a hurry you didn't pack anything but the clothes on your back." Haruto keeps going from the other end, voice much gentler now, but also resigned, "And no matter how much you run, the truth is, you can't escape reality forever. In a few months, it will happen, so before that, I wa—"

"Shut up." he interrupts with a furious whisper.

He knows his brother just flinched from shock from his end. And yet, Kaito doesn't feel anything about it. His hand wanders over to his pocket, feeling the little box inside it…and like that, his heart is overwhelmed with pain all over again.

His vision turns blurry as his eyes brim with shameful tears, the road becoming nothing but a hazy mess.

For once, Haruto has no right to ask anything of him. Not after everything Kaito did for him, only to get betrayed in the end. Which is why Kaito isn't even listening to him any more; he isn't listening to anything, really.

Just going over that fateful day over and over…as he has done for the past half year…

Suddenly, his vision flashes white, "Niisan, don't you hear tha—"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The sun shines so brightly, it's almost blinding. The sky is the prettiest blue Kaito has ever seen, not a cloud in sight. It's almost as if the planet is trying to pretend last night's weather wasn't real.

All the better to welcome Kaito into his new home. Even if he feels like there's a thousand shackles as he gets up from his bed, devoid of any sheets or covers. Sleeping in his coat didn't help either, and now his entire body is complaining.

But it's not surprising that he's such a mess now. The fight with Haruto on his drive here completely wiped him out. As they have done for the past half a year.

Hopefully, this new-found distance will help Kaito recover, because even someone like him has reached the limits of what fatigue his body can take by now. He never thought he'd be the one to separate from his beloved younger brother…but that's how life is sometimes.

The too loud sound of some kind of seabird reminds him to get to work. Frankly, he's in no mood to unpack, but contrary to what Haruto said yesterday, most of Kaito's stuff was already here, including most of his electronics. He just has little energy to unpack most of it…but he can at least get his bed in proper order, and get some fresh clothes to change into after he takes a quick shower.

Thankfully, there's some frozen food and stuff like ramen and cereal around, which is all he could cook anyway. Usually, he resorts to eating out and ordering take out, but he doesn't feel like talking to anyone else for a good long while, and as for driving…after last night, he doesn't want to step foot into his car ever again.

Eventually, he'll have to, of course, but until he's forced to do so, he's likely going to hide away in this hole for as long as he can. Likely a month, should he skip meals like usual, though there's little but thoughts of Haruto to distract him…maybe he should have brought some research to do, as Chris could have hooked him up. But what is done is done, and he had around eight years of vacation time saved up anyway.

Speaking of Chris, he checks his phone for new messages, even though he dreads seeing how many calls Haruto pestered him with after he put his phone in airplane mode. But much to his surprise, there's nothing waiting for him, and Chris' last message is 'If it gives you peace, go ahead. But if you want to come back right away, don't be ashamed to do so. As always, I'll be here to talk to you anyway.'

It's nice of his oldest (only) friend to be supportive, no matter how much he disagrees with Kaito's life choices. While Kaito doesn't feel like talking yet, he does send a quick message back saying he's arrived safely, and he'll go online and discuss things further when he feels better.

Because this is how Kaito personally deals with his issues; unlike most people that want to share their problems with others, even if just to get a friendly ear, he's the type to like to mull things on his own. Sure, he spends most of that time torturing himself and making things worse, but eventually, the pain that self-inflicted torture brings shifts into a dull ache, and that's how Kaito knows he's 'over' it.

For the sake of Haruto, he usually never lets such moods last too long, or makes an effort to keep them private. Without him around, only time will tell how long he'll need to be in isolation this time.

For now, he turns everything social related but email on his phone off. Clearly, Haruto wasn't that desperate, if he had given up after that call on the phone, no matter how long it was.

Which was all the more reason for him to keep being stubborn, of course.

He spends some time taking in what will be his new home; it's a rather small place, two stories, but cramped and with only one bedroom on the second floor. It was pretty old and needed a lot of renovations, but it was just what Kaito needed. Or so he thought, but the sound of those darn birds was annoying him already…

For the most striking feature about the property was not the old house itself, but what was on the end of it; a very small cliff that led to the sea, very near a small actual beach. This place was full of beaches, but the realtor had assured Kaito no one would come to the one nearest him, as apparently the waves in there were so violent, the few meters of sand available wasn't worth the trouble.

The man wasn't lying, as even on a clear, hot day like this one, the wind was extremely strong. He could hear it rattle the windows on the top floor, making him wonder how the hell he was able to even sleep through that ruckus at all. Surely, the wind was even worse when it was raining. Goes to show just how exhausted he was.

His wet car must have left the small garage a complete mess. He really should go and clean it, as there's not much else to do anyway. But something makes his steps falter on the way, and when he's standing right in front of the door that leads into it…his hand trembles as it hovers over the doorknob, he can feel himself sweating cold, his breathing is getting out of control…

Like that, he turns around and decides to put aside his neat freak tendencies for once. It can wait for when he's feeling better, even if he has no clue why his body reacted that way at all. Must be all the stress of his life getting the best of him. If this continues, much as it pains him to do so, he might have to seek out a doctor for anxiety medication. Maybe something for depression as well, as long as they don't try to talk him into doing something useless like therapy (but knowing the pharmaceutical industry like he does, they will be more than happy to just shove pills onto him, as long as they can make some sort of money).

Later. When he gets the will to go outside. For now, he should procure something to eat.

He honestly can't even remember doing the dishes, much less what he ate, but it must have been some sort of cereal bars like always, as he's far too incompetent in the kitchen to even fry up some eggs, and there's no trace of smoke in the house. He spends the rest of the morning in a daze, not really knowing what he was doing all the while, if he even bothered to turn on the TV at any point. His luggage remains mostly unpacked save for what he needed for the bed, and his phone is discarded on a random table. Not that it gives off any signs of life. The few close people in his life must be respecting his need to be by himself for once (or, most likely, Chris is doing so. Haruto is likely mad and giving him the silent treatment. And there's literally no one else to even care. Not since he broke up with—).

After he comes out of his daze blinking in surprise one too many times, he decides enough is enough, and forces himself to do something, anything. Since nothing in the house is able to catch his attention, he chooses to go outside, and check out the beach the realtor hyped up to him so much. While he does hate beaches usually, it's more because of their tendency to be full of loud, awful human beings. He actually enjoys nature quite a lot, given that he grew up in the countryside for a good portion of his life. A remembrance of happier times, chasing insects around with Haruto on the days the boy could actually move around…

Shaking his head, he fetches his keys, and before he leaves, makes sure there's still plenty of daylight left. And while the wind will annoy him, maybe focusing on it will ground him to the moment, while also letting him forget the reason he came to this remote location in the first place.

(It occurs to him that maybe he should have lunch before he goes, but as it's normal for him, he's not hungry at all. And without someone else around to remind him to take care of himself, he lets that fall to the wayside.)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The darn realtor fudged facts a little, it seems, as the 'beach' isn't exactly on his property, but a little ways off. He has to make his way down to get there, and it's under a vast cliff that actually is on his land. Teaches him to actually thoroughly check the thing himself before buying and ordering minor repairs on it, but honestly, it's not something that bothers him. He bought the house for the excellent price and isolated location, not because it came with a vast amount of land that had a beach on it.

It is little wonder the house was so cheap despite the vast size of the land though, and he knows the realtor isn't lying about people not coming to this beach at all, even if it's technically public property. Something about this place scares him as he goes down the rocky, almost slippery path, and the vast cliff looming over the pathetic amount of sand covers almost every bit of good sunlight anyway. Little reason for anyone to come here unless they want to swim, and again, the wind makes the waters rather dangerous even on a mild day like this. When there are so many other options in this seaside village, why pick this one?

The only reasoning he can come up with, is if someone is just as reclusive as him, and the fact you're guaranteed to be completely alone in here is worth all the trade offs. But unless you're a sand art enthusiast or enjoy swimming in freezing waters, why spend any time here at all? And most people into those activities tend to be the more social type anyway. You have to, in order to spend so much time at a beach trying out those kinds of things long enough to develop a predilection for them.

Yes, there's very little motive for anyone to come here.

So what the heck is a brat doing here?

Or to be more precise, on the cliff. The one that belongs to Kaito, so this does count as trespassing. And yet, that's exactly where Kaito finds when he makes his way up again; some teenage boy, sitting a little beside the edge of the cliff, looking pensive as he stares off into nothing. His stupid spiky hairstyle looking all the more ridiculous as the wind makes a total mess of it, red bangs flapping around like some sort of bunny ears.

Well, he just can't let that stand. And he's so angry that he doesn't even stop to think that accosting a strange teenager who has a better build than he does, even from afar, is likely not the best idea in the world.

"What the heck are you doing here?" he half growls, half shouts, annoyed that the other hadn't even turned to look around even as Kaito's footsteps on the withered grass could be heard from a mile away.

The other is visibly startled, almost jumping in place. Finally, he turns around so fast, Kaito is surprised he doesn't get whiplash from it. And even then, he doesn't even give Kaito the dignity of an answer. Just stares at him with wide eyes, mouth open like a fish. A stupid goldfish, if Kaito is charitable at all.

Annoyed, he glares down at the other, stomping his foot and crossing his arms as he keeps a wide distance between them, "Well? If you don't want me to call the police right now, you better start explaining. And if it's not a good one, be ready to get your rear handed over for trespassing."

He's bluffing, of course, as his cellphone is back at the house. Again, not the brightest idea, to accustom a stranger drowning in the angry hormones of puberty in this manner, when Kaito has always been little more than a stick physically (and while he's rather flexible and fast, sheer strength is certainly not his aptitude).

But thankfully, the boy seems to be rather dumb, as he keeps blinking several times, before mumbling, "Wait, you are—?"

Kaito gives him an odd look, and that seems to snap the other out of it. Shaking his head, the kid turns to look at him, this time with normal surprise rather than sheer bafflement, "Wait, trespassing? But this place hasn't belonged to anyone since I was born!" he argues back in an almost pleading way.

With a scoff, Kaito rolls his eyes, "Going by the price and the maintenance I had to order in, I'm sure you're telling the truth. But that is no longer the case." he informs in a strict tone, "This land is mine, and now that I have moved in, coming to this cliff is trespassing. So unless you have a good reason…"

Immediately, the kid cuts off his threat by putting his hands in front of him in surrender, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean any harm…I've just been coming here for years, that's all. I didn't destroy anything in your place, not even when it was abandoned, I swear!"

A very likely story. Considering how boring this place is besides the beaches, Kaito has no doubts that his new home was once either a make out spot, or a 'haunted' place kids dared each other to spend. That reminds him to contact the building company again, and get some tall walls built around the whole thing, stat. Though how he will cut off the path of the cliff that belongs to him from the beach hiding beneath that doesn't, is another question entirely…

Still, something about this boy's voice and attitude makes Kaito believe that he's being honest. And if the story of coming here for years is true (why he'd do so is anyone's guess), he can't very well blame him too much. Not like Kaito had put a local announcement in the newspaper that he was moving in, and the brat obviously had to go to school. It was getting rather late, so it's not too much of a stretch he always came after the workers were done with his house for the day, and given that he didn't look to be all that intelligent either, not too far out of reach that he missed the house looking better as the month went by.

So, for once in his life, he is merciful when he does little but give him one last stare down, then turns around and starts to walk away, "Well, now that you know, make yourself scarce, and never come back here again. This was your first and final warning." he says over his shoulder.

"Hey, wait!" he can feel the other scream behind him.

But Kaito pays him no mind, and almost rushes on his way back to the house. For some reason, it seems the other made no attempt to run after him, or if he did, Kaito was unable to hear it.

As he closes the door of his new home with a little too much force, Kaito grunts under his breath. Just what he needed on his first day here; to be forced to socialize with someone else, in a rather unpleasant way. When his reasoning for coming to live here in the first place was to get away from the whole world for however long is needed.

It makes him decide to turn off his phone and disconnect the internet modem entirely. Screw missing possible communications from Haruto and Chris. Screw checking anything online. Screw looking over if the nearby city does food deliveries at all. He'll survive on nothing but ramen and frozen food for a month if he must, do nothing butch watch cable tv and read for entertainment, and will postpone his job search for the time being.

All so he can be alone and forget about everything else just once in his life. That's all he wishes for, and he'll be damned if he lets some darn brat ruin it all.

With that in mind, he makes sure to close every window and draw every curtain. For some reason, as the sky turns steadily dark, he feels a pressing urge to do so, his skin prickling in almost sheer terror. He only gets some relief when he's sure not a bit of moonlight can come into his abode, and after he does so, feels rather stupid for it.

Then, completely exhausted, he crashes into bed, and his consciousness goes out like a light.

Before it's completely gone, he gets the distant, odd feeling that he's suddenly not alone any more…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day, he gets woken up by an awful sound that makes him jolt out of bed. It's loud, obnoxious, and drags along the ground as it gets increasingly lighter.

It takes him a while to figure out what it was: a motorcycle.

Just his luck, he thinks to himself as he struggles to get up. He came here for the quietness, and yet this is how he awakens on his second day. That better just be someone passing by, and not the hobby of one of the villagers, or he seriously has to second guess his decision in coming here.

Fighting in order to stay conscious at all, he barely manages to shower and eat something. There's not enough garbage to take out yet, so he finishes his morning by sitting on the couch and staring at the TV. The little table with the remote is where he left his phone the day before, and for a long while, he wonders if he should turn it on or not...someone could be trying to contact him for an emergency.

Eventually, he decides against it.

Like that, several days pass. He's always woken up at the same time, by the now familiar motorcycle, leading him to wish the owner would crash in his less finer moments. He can't remember what he does most of the day, honestly, except the weird glow of the TV. Not even what he's had to eat each day, only that his stock of food is still aplenty, which means he might be able to be a complete hermit for more than a month. Which is good, as each time he's gathered enough will to decide to go clean the garage (his car must be such a mess with the tracks of the dried rain now), the same thing keeps happening; his body is overwhelmed with the trembling, and he's unable to step a foot inside.

Maybe it's all psychological. He associates the car with the reason he came here in the first place, and even now, he doesn't want to think about the reasoning at all. Doing so might cause him to break and call Haruto himself.

Like he observed previously, he has plenty of food still, and money left in the bank. When it comes time to pay the bills, he can just turn his internet back on, and pay it all online. He'll take the opportunity to reach out to his old professional contacts and try to find a job. Before he went into his father's fields of studying, he dabbled into AI development; perhaps, he can find a way to do that remotely now. Or just turn into a freelance programmer and manage his life like that.

After all, he was never a big spender, and he now has even less things to spend his money on, now that he's completely alone.

First though, he needs to rest, as he gets the impression all his recent stupor is due to a stressed mind. So instead of going out and exploring his land again, he chooses to stay inside and nap as much as possible, and will keep doing so until he becomes stir-crazy.

Like that, it's almost as if he's frozen in time, while the rest of the world goes on without him, uncaring.

It's quite sad how pleased that thought actually makes him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." a voice keeps sobbing next to him. There's something warm enveloping his hands, followed by something wet hitting his skin. But try as he might, Kaito cannot will himself to open his eyes, and whoever is making that sound keeps on going.

It's a familiar voice too, he knows. But again, his tired brain cannot make the connection as to who it is.

It's so cold in here. Smells weird too. And there's some sort of beeping noise that annoys him to no end. Where the heck is he?

"I'll never force you to talk about it again. So please…just wake u—"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kaito wakes up without the 'lulling' sound of the loud motorcycle for once, face drenched in cold sweat. After blinking the darkness away, a quick check of the watch by his bed reveals why: it's still midnight.

Struggling to regain his breath, he keeps a hand on his chest, feeling his heart constrain painfully. Because of the rude awakening, he can still remember part of what he was dreaming, and cannot understand why his body is reacting this way. That couldn't be considered a nightmare, and yet, he's never felt more terrified in his life.

And speaking of fear, as he gets up to go wash his face, he passes by the large window in his bedroom…and freezes in utter terror. He spends several minutes looking at it, turning his bedroom light on and off several times. For some reason, he has to make sure not a strand of light is somehow making its way past the blinds and curtains. Even as he regains some composure and does go to the bathroom, he still finds himself so overwhelmed by the fear, he cannot fall back into sleep.

Eventually, he decides to take a flashlight, and goes back into the bathroom. He turns it off once he's there, to be certain the bathroom window is completely sealed as well, and then decides to make his way down. Perhaps, if he checks the rest of the house, he can put this odd bound of paranoia behind and go back to sleep peacefully.

His steps only get more unsure with every window he checks. Just why? He wasn't ever the type to be scared of the dark, not even thunderstorms…is this an effect of living alone?

As if to confirm that, as he moves to check the living room window, he hears something behind him.

A rustling sound, as if a rat is trying to hide itself. But much louder than it should be, unless it's a sewer rat.

Now freezing with perhaps not unfounded fear, he wonders if he should go back into the kitchen to grab a knife. They might attack him from behind if he does so…but he has nothing else he can use, and as noted earlier in the day, he truly is crap at self-defence.

Acting on instinct, he grabs a nearby pot, filled with a plastic plant that Chris got for him as a 'house-warming present for lazy people', and shines his flashlight around, searching for any sort of movement. Drunk on adrenaline, he loses his common sense and shouts, "Who's there?"

Not a good idea, but it did scare whatever it was to move some more, finally allowing Kaito to catch its current location: behind the couch.

Swallowing a knot in his throat, holding the pot in one hand and the flashlight in the other, he makes his way to the narrow space behind the couch, hoping against all hope it's just a rat or a gigantic cockroach…

Only to almost drop the pot once he sees what it actually is, "What the heck are you doing here?!"

The kid he met on the cliffs that first day can only flinch into himself, covering his head with his hands for protection, "Please don't hit me!"

And Kaito is so at a loss for what to do, he can only stand there baffled.

A/N: Back with another fic that barely qualifies as a long one, this time, a Halloween au Like is usual for me, story is already complete, and will have a new chapter each monday, each hovering around the 4-6k mark. No need to fear it will be dropped, and no planned hiatus this time, it is a smooth ride to the end. Hope you enjoy! I also have a cover image done for this, but isn't letting me upload the image as a cover...I'll let you know when it's uploaded on AO3, as it pertains to a future chapter.