Notes: *blushes wildly* Otaku…ya think so? Oh, that's nice…uhm TA, about the tenses thing, sorry. That doesn't mean anything but me forgetting them. Anyway, I'll try to watch it from now on (oi, see the sacrifices I make for you guys? Hehe) Chibiwizardgreenmon(uhm, did I get your name right?)…I hope this is interesting enough for you!

PART TWELVE

Hisou released the breath he didn't realize he was holding and slumped his shoulders. He turned to face Houki who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, her face stern.

She raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

Feigning innocence, he smiled, "Huh?"

Houki's expression didn't waver, "You know what I'm talking about. Explain."

Hisou ran his hands through his hair, trying to look as tired as possible, "Long day, huh? Can we talk about this tomorrow?" He yawned for effect.

Not letting him go, she said, "No. We'll talk about this now. You've held up on me for a long time already."

Hisou took a deep breath and leaned against a drawer, "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, is it true?" she asked. Not letting him answer, she fired questions one after the other, "How can you be gay?? Didn't Mom and Dad raise you well? Didn't they raise US well? How can you even think of BEING gay? Was it a choice? Did you voluntary become one? What? Why aren't you answering my questions?"

Hisou stared at her, "First off, if you'd stop long enough for me to even THINK of an answer, I might. Second, keep your voice down, Mom and Dad STILL live in the same house, you know?" he said calmly, but fiercely.

Houki took a deep breath and signaled Hisou to do the same by waving her hands in front of her like a ninja master, "Okay, let's talk about this calmly and rationally. How did it happen?"

Hisou ran his hand through his hair again, a nervous gesture he seemed to be picking up, "I don't know! it's not exactly a conscious choice, you know. I didn't wake up one morning and said, "Hey! I wanna kiss some guys!" And no, I didn't volunteer for anything," he said, seething. How can she even say something like that?!

"Well, how long have you known?"

"Eight days, one month, five years, I don't know! all I know is that I am and apparently there's nothing I can do to change that." Hisou said, waving his hands in the air exasperatedly.

For a while, Houki looked confused, "I don't understand. You used to date girls. You even two-timed your former girlfriend with ANOTHER girl. Girls used to hang around you and you seem so happy about it. Oh nooo…they're cross dressers, aren't they?!"

Hisou's eyes went wide the size of dinner plates, "WHAT?! No! those are real girls, they have the same equipment you do and that, my naïve little sister, is what people call a 'cover up', look it up in the dictionary sometime. And for your information, girls STILL hang around me."

Houki snorted, "What? Are you telling me you just used all those girls?"

"No! I was going through a stage of denial that time," Hisou explained, brows scrunched up.

Houki smirked, "Well, have you kissed them?"

"Yes."

"Have you groped them?"

Eyes wide. "GROPE?! The things that come out of your mouth…"

"Well, have you?"

"I…yes, I…tried." He answered, and tried to keep from blushing.

"Have you had sex with them?"

"No! Of course, not. Houki, I was confused. Not a pervert."

Still smirking. "Wow. You really ARE gay."

Clenching his jaw, he stood straighter and looked her in the eye, "Hey! Just because I haven't—" then he realized something, "Hey. Are you trying to tell me you're not a virgin anymore? Have you had sex?!"

Houki's eyes grew wide at the accusation, "WHAT?! NO!"

Hisou smirked and leaned back on the drawer, "So, then your boyfriend's gay."

"He's not!"

"How'd you know? You've had sex, haven't you?"

"No, I did not!"

Hisou's eyes narrowed, "Who's the bastard? Tell me; is it your present boyfriend? It's Mark, isn't it? I knew I couldn't trust the guy. I just KNEW the moment I laid eyes on that greasy head of his. It's him, isn't it?"

"No!"

"Houki, I'm telling you. If you get pregnant at an EARLY age—"

Houki gritted her teeth. "Keep your voice down."

Hisou sneered at her, "Why, are you afraid Mom and Dad would know about your indecent acts?" He was enjoying this. It was obvious, Houki can practically hear the smile in his voice.

"Yes. Because I haven't."

Hisou continued to leer at her, which made her absolutely uncomfortable. But he didn't notice, or he decided to ignore her, because he continued the interrogation, "Then why are you keeping me from shouting?"

Houki took a deep breath; mostly it's to keep her from strangling her brother. Hisou's the epitome of perfection. He succeeds at almost everything. By everything, that includes being annoying. "Because I don't want them to think something that isn't true to be true."

"Oh, stop denying. I never liked kissing girls, but I thought that exact same way while going through that denial stage."

Houki grinded her teeth, "I'm not in denial!"

Realization dawned on Hisou's face and he ran his hands across the lower part of his face, from the chin to his neck and back to the chin again, "Oh, of course. You're just in hiding."

"I'm not hiding anything. I didn't have sex with Mark or with ANYONE."

"Yeah right."

Houki clenched her hands into fists at her side. Truthfully, she's five microseconds away from punching her brother into oblivion, but she controlled herself. Barely. "Of course it's right. It's true!"

Hisou got up from his leaning position on the drawers and turned for the door, waving his hands. "Whatever. Talk to me when you're out of the closet."

"Oh yeah? Speak for yourself!" And with that, Hisou closed the door shut. Houki, on the other hand, was left to stare at the closed portal, wondering how the discussion ended up with her as the topic.

Cursing her brother, she changed into her pajamas and thanked the heavens their house had thick walls.

~*~

On Monday morning, things were back to normal. Megumi was the first up and cooked breakfast for five, Hisou was, like his normal morning self, hard to wake up, Houki still took an eternity in the bathroom, and their father was still in the table already when they both went down, reading the newspaper. And since everything was back to normal at their house that morning, that meant they also have an early visitor.

"Hey Mrs. M! Where's Hisou?"

Megumi transferred the eggs to a plate and smiled at Hisaki, "Good morning Hisaki. Grab a plate and start with breakfast, Hisou and Houki will be down shortly." Then, she turned to the stairs, "Guys! Hurry up! 'Saki's here! You'll be late!"

Hisaki sat down and stacked five pancakes on his plate. While he was on the process of drowning his breakfast to death, Mr. Migoto greeted him, "Hi 'Saki. I trust you and Hisou fixed your issues?"

"Yeah, we're fine now." He said in between bites, "Man! I missed your pancakes, Mrs. M!"

Megumi laughed, "Thank you. Chew slowly, I wouldn't want to send you to the hospital for choking again."

Mr. Migoto laughed while Hisaki blushed and took smaller bites of his breakfast. Hisou and Houki went down three pancakes and two bacons later, arguing. "What's your problem? Oh, hey 'Saki."

Houki stomped off after Hisou, glaring at his back, "What I don't get is why won't you just tell me?"

"Will you guys simmer down? It's Monday. It's morning. I'm getting a headache."

Houki smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, Dad."

"Yeah, quit that bickering so early in the morning. You're ruining my breakfast."

"Oh, hi 'Saki. Enjoying?" She slapped him on the back as he was drinking his juice. This caused him to choke and go into a coughing fit. He had to cover his mouth to keep the contents of it from spraying across the table. Houki and Hisou laughed. Their parents, however, didn't see the humor in it. "Houki, stop that. You two, just eat and go, will you?"

After breakfast, the three of them were piled in Hisou's car, with Hisaki driving, Houki in the passenger's seat and Hisou at the back. Normally. Hisou won't let Hisaki near the driver's seat within a 5-mile radius, but him and Houki were arguing way too loud and way too long about who'll seat up front. So, as much as he hated doing it, he let them both seat up front.

"What the fuck're ya guys arguing about, anyway?" Hisaki asked, while keeping his eyes on the road.

Houki looked at him from combing her hair, "Hisou won't tell me who he likes."

"She won't tell Mom and Dad that she slept with someone." Hisou said from the back.

Houki whacked Hisou's head, "I did NOT!"

Hisaki looked at them, but didn't say anything. Hisou was rubbing his offended body part when the car skidded to a halt.

"What the HELL?!" Houki said while prying herself off from the windshield.

Hisaki still didn't say anything, but turned to her and looked at her with heated eyes. Hisou didn't notice for he was busy removing himself from the space between the front seats, when they stopped abruptly, he shot forward and was now stuck. While doing this, he thanked all the gods that he decided to bring the Toyota instead of his new car.

"What did you say?"

Both Hisou and Houki's head shot up at Hisaki's menacing tone. They've never heard him sound like that, even if he was mad.

"Huh?" Houki asked while arranging her hair back in place.

"You SLEPT with someone?"

"What? NO!" she turned to her brother who finally managed to remove himself from where he was earlier, "Tell him!"

"YOU fuckin slept with SOMEONE?"

"'Saki, I didn't."

"Fuck, tell me! Did you?" Hisaki asked, after he took hold of her shoulders and shook her.

Houki winced, Hisou tried to pry Hisaki away from his sister, "Hey, HEY! What's the matter with you? You're hurting her! Stop it!"

Finally, when Hisaki was calmed and removed from Houki, Hisou faced him, "What's the matter?"

"D-did she fuckin sleep with someone?"

"No! Hisou, tell him!"

Hisou looked at Houki and then back to Hisaki, "She didn't. We were just joking around. What happened?"

Hisaki ran his hand through his hair and leaned against the headrest, "Nothing. Just, Houki," he turned to her, "promise me. Promise me you won't sleep with anyone until you're married. Promise me you won't do anything so goddamn stupid while yer this young, okay?"

"Okay."

Then, he clicked, "Well then! Let's fuckin go to school! Oh shit! We're goddamn late!" Just like that, he accelerated the car and turned on the radio.

Houki and Hisou looked at each other, then leaned back into their respective seats. Hisaki seems…weird lately. Houki looked at him from the corner of his eye while he was busy overtaking various cars like a daredevil, going at sixty on a residential area. He seems normal…but not quite.

~*~

At lunch, Hisaki and Hisou were walking to the canteen when they saw Youshi talking to someone. Hisaki's blood boiled when he saw the blue hair that reached the person's back. Hisou felt the same way, but decided to keep his emotions in check when he felt Hisaki's fist clenched at his side. There's only one person in the whole school that has blue hair that reached to his back. They know this and they don't like it.

During the chat, Youshi spotted them and waved at them. Bidding his companion farewell, he walked over to Hisaki, but stopped when he saw who was standing next to him, "Hisou."

Hisou ran his hand through his hair, a nervous gesture, but Youshi doesn't know that. Hisaki, however, does. "Hi."

"Man, what the FUCK are ya doin talking ta that psychopath?"

Youshi blinked at him, "Who? Chuusei? He was just looking for his girlfriend."

Hisaki's eyes widened, "The freak has a fuckin girlfriend?! Who the hell'd be a nut to fall for that asshole?!"

Youshi's brows furrowed, he never did quite understand why Hisaki hated Chuusei so much, except for the Houki incident, he didn't seem to have done something to the red-haired guy. Even Hisou seemed to have gotten over his hatred for Chuusei, "Yeah, he does. Kouran, you know her? She's a junior, I think. Aiji introduced her to me before."

"The fuck. He's a Psycho AND a cradle snatcher, whaddya know?" Hisaki was fuming. He never liked the guy and whenever he remembers what happened to Houki, his blood boils anew.

Sensing the tension, Hisou spoke up, "Let's go eat, shall we? I'm hungry! Besides, Aiji might be waiting for us already."

When the reached the lunchroom, Aiji was, in fact, actually waiting for them there, "What took you so long? I'm so hungry! Hey, Hisou, 'Saki, nice to know your together again."

Hisaki elbowed him on the arm playfully, "Nice ta know yer still a geek."

"Funny. And for your information, I'm not a geek, I'm merely interested with academics."

"HEAVILY interested, you might say," Youshi teased, winking at Aiji.

Aiji's eyes widened, "Hey! How come you always pick on me, Hisou gets the same grades I do!"

Hisaki snorted, "Yeah he does, but he has a fuckin social life, which is more than I can say fer ya!"

"I have a social life!"

Hisaki picked at his lunch, "What the fuck is this?"

"And I have friends to prove it."

Hisou peered at Hisaki's plate, "Uhm…I'm not sure. Goo?"

"Tell them, Youshi. You're my friend. Tell them I have a social life."

Youshi looked down at his own plate, "I'm not really sure what this is, but people seem to be enjoying it." He looked around for evidence.

"I go out. We do, don't we, Youshi?"

Hisaki stopped at his inspection and turned to Aiji, pointing accusing fingers at him, "AAAAHHHH!!!! YOU'RE GAY, TOO?!?!?!?!"

The whole room was silenced at Hisaki's outburst. Aiji's face lost its color, Youshi's shoulders slumped, his mouth wide open, and Hisou sat there, looking at his best friend in fear. Hisaki turned to the whole room, as if to say 'what the fuck are ya looking at?!' but before he can say anything, Hisou sprang into action and laughed. "AHAHAHAHAH!! Don't mind him! It's just an inside joke!" Everyone settled back to their seats and he pulled his best friend down. "What the HELL is wrong with you?!" He asked, in a stage whisper.

Hisaki looked at him as if to say, 'What did I do now?'

When he saw that Hisaki didn't know what the hell he was talking about, he continued, "Never. Never joke about someone's sexuality in this school. These people don't take kindly to that. Remember what happened to Lucy from two years ago?"

Hisaki looked at him and realization dawned on his face. He turned to Aiji and said quietly, "Sorry man. I was kiddin."

Youshi turned to the boy beside him to find that Aiji was still rendered speechless and immobile by Hisaki's rather loud statement. After feeling the others' eyes on him, Aiji blinked. He looked at them and smiled. Finally, he turned to Hisaki and said, "It's okay. I know you were. I just…you know how I hate being singled out in a crowd. No biggie."

They continued eating and joking. But, the jokes were a little too forced and the air was a little too heavy. Hisou looked at Hisaki at the corner of his eye, something is terribly wrong with his best friend. His tactlessness is too much and he barely keeps his emotions in tact.

Well, not like ever does. But something seems amiss…

AN: Actually, I wrote the exchange (first scene, confrontation) first in a script-like manner. When I was about to type the whole thing complete with the visual images of the whole scene, my mom went down and saw me in front of the computer, wanna know what happened? Scroll down (this is the English Version)…

Qkslvr: *typing*

Mom: I thought you were asleep?

Q: I was. I just got up.

M: It's 2am. You got up to use the computer?

Q: No.

M: Why are you up?

Q: I don't know. I just am.

M: … *turns on TV*

Q: *realizing she's not planning on leaving anytime soon, shuts down computer and walks to the bathroom, script in hand*

M: What's that?

Q: Paper.

M: What?

Q: Paper. *closes door to bathroom* (take note: close not slam)

The next morning…

M: I didn't get much sleep.

Q: Why?

M: You woke me up.

Q: *really baffled* Huh?

M: This morning, when I woke up, I didn't get any more sleep.

Q: But why, I wasn't making noise…

M: Yeah, but I was looking for you. Mother's instincts. (okay, mom. I was DOWNSTAIRS, not on a plane to ENGLAND!)

Well, since I realize that the exchange seems to be longer than the actual story, I'll stop here. At least I can prove my point: Parents. Can't live with 'em. Oh yeah, another point is, I lost the whole visual because of it. Heh. Review mi amigas/amigos…whatever.