::Between Love and Hate::
Himura Kawaii
Chapter Five
*** Disclaimers apply... Blah blah. RK's not mine. Hail the Great Watsuki- sama. I'm now a college stud, but still poor!!.... Don't sue me! ^_^
It's hard love Because sometimes love Is just not enough Yes, it's hard love
"Arashi?" Kenji called as he knocked at the school publication office where Arashi was the news editor. He went in and found Arashi sitting on the floor with his eyes closed and in meditating positioon. Kenji wasn't aware that Arashi took meditating seriously. He was, after all, still new.
"Aa.?" Arashi replied with a hint of the slightest irritation in his voice. "I'm meditating Himura, is there something important you want to speak to me about?"
Kenji flushed from embarrassment. "Oh! I didn't know you took meditating seriously!! I will come back later." He started to exit.
Arashi cracked an eye open. "Mmmm.. never mind. Sit down." He gestured towards the couch in front of him and Kenji sat down. "What's up?"
Kenji looked at Arashi, it seemed uncomfortable for him to spill his guts to someone who seems to be more interested in clearing his mind of thoughts. But he still went on with his question.
"What's the real score with you and Kaori? I need to know, Arashi, because I don't take what's not mine, if you know what I mean."
Arashi abruptly came out of meditation and faced Kenji with his piercing cold blue eyes. "There's nothing to tell. Everything I told you before, that's all of it. She was never mine."
Kenji looked skeptical; there was something in Arashi's last sentence that was puzzling. "Are you sure? Don't get me wrong, I trust you, Arashi. But I have to know." Kenji's eyes pleaded.
Arashi sighed. "She's my sister, Kenji."
Kenji frowned. "I know you treat each other like you're siblings, but that's not what I meant." He wanted Arashi to clarify things further.
Arashi shook his head and reiterated. "She's my sister. I'm her brother. Our parents are together. Get the drift?" he looked away immediately after stating the facts.
"But. how.? Why?" Kenji asked, bewildered.
Arashi took a deep breath. "Kaori's mom and my mom are best friends, that's why we've known each other for ages. That's why we've spent almost every waking moment with each other as kids and as teenagers. You see, Kaori's mom had an unwanted pregnancy when she was eighteen. She didn't want to get married yet so she asked her best friend, who was then married but was unable to conceive, to keep the child. After a year, Kaori's mom got married and she bore Kaori."
Arashi paused and Kenji didn't interrupt, sensing he was going to continue at his own pace.
"I was the child, Kenji. My parents kept me and treated me as their own and we were all happy. Kaori and I were happy together. We always knew we'd end up together, and we loved each other since we were small. But when our parents saw that things were becoming serious, they decided to talk to us."
Arashi shook his head as if trying to remove the bad memories from his thoughts.
"That was when they revealed to us that, well, we were siblings!" He laughed bitterly as if everything was ironically funny. "Can you imagine how that felt? How everything you believed in suddenly crumbles before you. And you don't know where the lies end and where the truth begins."
Kenji was too shocked to say anything. For a moment, silence enveloped the two men, as each was deep into his own thoughts. Arashi smiled warmly at Kenji.
"Hey man, don't look so down. Thinking of it hurts, but we've both tried and moved on. I lost a girlfriend, but I gained a sister. Last New Year's Eve? The one Shino was talking about? That was the night, that after seventeen years of being with each other, we finally let go. That was our last kiss." Arashi explained quietly.
"Do you still love her? I mean, in THAT way.?" Kenji finally asked.
"She's a part of me, we have the same blood. If I couldn't be her lover, the next best thing is that I would be her brother." Arashi paused. "I still love her. I love her even more. But now, it's on a different level. The way I love her isn't romantic anymore, it's the love of a brother to his dearest sister. Of course there are times we wish things were different, but we've accepted the truth, and we've learned to live with it."
Kenji nodded. "I didn't know. I didn't mean to doubt you. I'm sorry."
Arashi shook his head, causing his straight hair to move about. "Iie. If anyone deserves to know, it's you. I know you two are meant for each other, there's no denying that. Take things slowly, Kaori has a hard head and is really dense. I know she likes you, but right now, she's still denying that fact."
Kenji bowed his head. "Thank you, Arashi, thank you so much."
Arashi patted Kenji's back and nodded. "Hey, what are friends for, right?" his tone became serious and said, "If there's anyone in this world that I would hand her to, I know it's you."
Kenji smiled graciously and stood up to leave. Just as he was about to turn the knob of the door, Arashi interrupted him.
"Take good care of her, Himura. For me." Arashi quietly requested, his back facing the door.
Kenji nodded and left.
Kaori woke up with a start and looked at the clock on her bedside table.
"Eleven o'clock?! I must've overslept!!" She immediately jumped out of her bed and put on her robe. "I'm late for school!!"
She suddenly realized that today was a Saturday and she collapsed almost immediately back to bed.
"Damn, almost had me fooled."
She was almost snoring when she remembered that today was also the day of the presentation. If she slept now, she would surely oversleep and would keep Kenji hanging.
Why would I care if I left him hanging or not?!
She groggily sat up again and sighed. "I don't have anything to wear."
Whaaa? Why would I worry about what to wear?!
She shook her head and tied her hair into a ponytail. She went down to drink two mugs of coffee and went up again to take a bath. She pulled on a sky blue sweater that matched her eyes, black jeans and sneakers. She put a white and blue bonnet over her head and looked at the time.
"1:50, perfect. " She muttered to herself. Even if she loathed Kenji, she still wanted to keep her word and not be late for the play.
She sighed and sat down on her bed, contemplating on the events in her life.
She thought of Kenji- the slender, red-haired guy that seemed to exude an unlimited amount of kindness towards her. She honestly didn't know what she felt for him. The only emotion she was sure of was that she hated him for his perfection and his goodness. But as the days progress, it seemed more and more difficult for Kaori to hate him. It had been effortless during the first days, but now it seemed like a force was tugging her to the other side. If she let her guard down, she knew she would like him and become distracted. She wouldn't want that.
Her eyes wandered over to her wrist. A blue and white beaded bracelet was tied to it. "Arashi." Kaori whispered. The bracelet was a trinket from him. He had made it for her to give to her on her seventh birthday.
If only circumstances were different, we might still be together, and this Kenji guy wouldn't be driving me crazy.
She had accepted the fact that they can never be together, and she knew their fondness for each other had been raised to the next level- the level of brotherly love.
She focused her attentions back to Kenji. The guy was impossible, she decided. She knew she wanted him out of her hair, but she also knew, in some weird way, that she didn't want him to completely leave her alone.
A car pulled up in front of her house and she looked down through the window to see Kenji getting out of his car to ring the Kamiya's doorbell.
She quickly went downstairs.
Their housekeeper was just letting Kenji in when Yoshi, her younger brother suddenly zoomed in to the hallway.
"Who are you?" Yoshi demanded as Kenji stepped in.
Yoshi had brown hair that was spiked like Shino's. He was wearing a red shirt and wide-legged pants and leather slip-ons. He was shorter than Kenji, but he towered over him at that instant.
"What are you doing here, Yoshi?" Kaori asked her brother. She then turned to Kenji and introduced the two.
"Kenji, this is my brother Yoshi. He's really obnoxious, so don't mind him." Yoshi stuck his tongue out at Kaori.
"So, are you dating busu here?" Yoshi asked again.
Kenji's eyes widened at the kid's candidness. "Oro."
Yoshi eyed Kenji skeptically. "Does Arashi-niichan know about this?"
Kenji squirmed. "Errm.. yes, I think so."
Kaori whacked Yoshi and glowered at him. "Shut up Yoshi-chan. Go play with your stuff."
Yoshi pulled Kaori's hair. "For your information, I am now twelve years old. I am not a 'chan' and I do NOT play with anything anymore! I AM A MAN." He informed her haughtily.
"Yeah, whatever." Kaori waved her hands to dismiss the subject. "Let's go and leave this MAN alone."
Kenji looked over his shoulder and grinned at Yoshi. "You should meet my sister sometime."
"Not if she looks like that busu sister of mine!" Yoshi shouted back jokingly. "I like this guy, Kaori!" He waved and got on the backseat of one of the Kamiya's cars.
The drive to the theater was quiet and Kaori didn't want to Kenji to think that she was warming up to him. No way.
As they were about to go outside after the play, Kaori's eyes lit up as she looked through the glass doors of the building. She tugged at Kenji's polo shirt and pointed to the door.
"Look! It's snowing! Its finally winter!!" She gleefully claimed while still clutching Kenji's shirt.
"I take it you love winters?" Kenji was puzzled at her sudden change in temperament, but it didn't mean that it was unwelcome.
Kaori nodded happily. "She grabbed Kenji's hand and dragged him with her. "Let's go outside! C'mon!"
Kaori trudged over to the snow that was quickly piling up. She took some and threw it at Kenji who had his back to her.
"What the-?!" Kenji turned to face Kaori as another snowball hit him in the face. "Oro!"
You hit me like I never felt before
Hit me like a sucker punch, you're rotten to the core
You know you hit me like I've never felt before
Silly for the last time
You Never Know Goo Goo Dolls
Kaori laughed hysterically as Kenji tried to wipe the wetness off his face. He smiled at Kaori's tinkly laugh and with one quick movement, threw a snowball at her. It hit her on the shoulder.
"Hey! That's uncalled for!" Kaori hotly complained. "I declare war!" She threw another snowball at Kenji and soon a lot of people have joined their little war.
For Kaori, a part of her was releasing some pent up anger towards Kenji. But a bigger part of her was opening up; a feeling welling over her.
She felt warm inside, even if it's freezing outside.
I wonder, she thought, if he could be.
If she was.
*** Yes! My tests are over!! ::does a little dance:: I think I might've gotten a low score on NatSci and maybe a good one in Philo. ::keeping my fingers crossed:: I hope I pass. ( Okay, more tests coming up.. finals are coming up too!!! OHWOW.
So, how was the revelation? Remember, they didn't know they were related before. So forgive them for having a relationship. ( It's not disgusting, or anything I hope. ^_^
Hmmmm.. Finally some good old KnK moments!! But, oh! I'm sorry I have to interrupt the WAFFy moment, cuz Kenji still has to go through the hostile stage. that will make things more interesting, I think. :)
Thank you thank you thank you soooooooo much to the person who suggested that Tsubame and Yahiko should appear in this fic. I've never given them much attention in my other fics so I hope I could do something with them now. ^_^ Thank you ever so much!!
Thank you minna for reading this fic and for suggesting and bearing with my delays and me!! I hope that this fic will turn out the way I planned it to and that you'll all like it. In the meantime. I write and hope what I write is good enough! ^_^
Himura Kawaii
Chapter Five
*** Disclaimers apply... Blah blah. RK's not mine. Hail the Great Watsuki- sama. I'm now a college stud, but still poor!!.... Don't sue me! ^_^
It's hard love Because sometimes love Is just not enough Yes, it's hard love
"Arashi?" Kenji called as he knocked at the school publication office where Arashi was the news editor. He went in and found Arashi sitting on the floor with his eyes closed and in meditating positioon. Kenji wasn't aware that Arashi took meditating seriously. He was, after all, still new.
"Aa.?" Arashi replied with a hint of the slightest irritation in his voice. "I'm meditating Himura, is there something important you want to speak to me about?"
Kenji flushed from embarrassment. "Oh! I didn't know you took meditating seriously!! I will come back later." He started to exit.
Arashi cracked an eye open. "Mmmm.. never mind. Sit down." He gestured towards the couch in front of him and Kenji sat down. "What's up?"
Kenji looked at Arashi, it seemed uncomfortable for him to spill his guts to someone who seems to be more interested in clearing his mind of thoughts. But he still went on with his question.
"What's the real score with you and Kaori? I need to know, Arashi, because I don't take what's not mine, if you know what I mean."
Arashi abruptly came out of meditation and faced Kenji with his piercing cold blue eyes. "There's nothing to tell. Everything I told you before, that's all of it. She was never mine."
Kenji looked skeptical; there was something in Arashi's last sentence that was puzzling. "Are you sure? Don't get me wrong, I trust you, Arashi. But I have to know." Kenji's eyes pleaded.
Arashi sighed. "She's my sister, Kenji."
Kenji frowned. "I know you treat each other like you're siblings, but that's not what I meant." He wanted Arashi to clarify things further.
Arashi shook his head and reiterated. "She's my sister. I'm her brother. Our parents are together. Get the drift?" he looked away immediately after stating the facts.
"But. how.? Why?" Kenji asked, bewildered.
Arashi took a deep breath. "Kaori's mom and my mom are best friends, that's why we've known each other for ages. That's why we've spent almost every waking moment with each other as kids and as teenagers. You see, Kaori's mom had an unwanted pregnancy when she was eighteen. She didn't want to get married yet so she asked her best friend, who was then married but was unable to conceive, to keep the child. After a year, Kaori's mom got married and she bore Kaori."
Arashi paused and Kenji didn't interrupt, sensing he was going to continue at his own pace.
"I was the child, Kenji. My parents kept me and treated me as their own and we were all happy. Kaori and I were happy together. We always knew we'd end up together, and we loved each other since we were small. But when our parents saw that things were becoming serious, they decided to talk to us."
Arashi shook his head as if trying to remove the bad memories from his thoughts.
"That was when they revealed to us that, well, we were siblings!" He laughed bitterly as if everything was ironically funny. "Can you imagine how that felt? How everything you believed in suddenly crumbles before you. And you don't know where the lies end and where the truth begins."
Kenji was too shocked to say anything. For a moment, silence enveloped the two men, as each was deep into his own thoughts. Arashi smiled warmly at Kenji.
"Hey man, don't look so down. Thinking of it hurts, but we've both tried and moved on. I lost a girlfriend, but I gained a sister. Last New Year's Eve? The one Shino was talking about? That was the night, that after seventeen years of being with each other, we finally let go. That was our last kiss." Arashi explained quietly.
"Do you still love her? I mean, in THAT way.?" Kenji finally asked.
"She's a part of me, we have the same blood. If I couldn't be her lover, the next best thing is that I would be her brother." Arashi paused. "I still love her. I love her even more. But now, it's on a different level. The way I love her isn't romantic anymore, it's the love of a brother to his dearest sister. Of course there are times we wish things were different, but we've accepted the truth, and we've learned to live with it."
Kenji nodded. "I didn't know. I didn't mean to doubt you. I'm sorry."
Arashi shook his head, causing his straight hair to move about. "Iie. If anyone deserves to know, it's you. I know you two are meant for each other, there's no denying that. Take things slowly, Kaori has a hard head and is really dense. I know she likes you, but right now, she's still denying that fact."
Kenji bowed his head. "Thank you, Arashi, thank you so much."
Arashi patted Kenji's back and nodded. "Hey, what are friends for, right?" his tone became serious and said, "If there's anyone in this world that I would hand her to, I know it's you."
Kenji smiled graciously and stood up to leave. Just as he was about to turn the knob of the door, Arashi interrupted him.
"Take good care of her, Himura. For me." Arashi quietly requested, his back facing the door.
Kenji nodded and left.
Kaori woke up with a start and looked at the clock on her bedside table.
"Eleven o'clock?! I must've overslept!!" She immediately jumped out of her bed and put on her robe. "I'm late for school!!"
She suddenly realized that today was a Saturday and she collapsed almost immediately back to bed.
"Damn, almost had me fooled."
She was almost snoring when she remembered that today was also the day of the presentation. If she slept now, she would surely oversleep and would keep Kenji hanging.
Why would I care if I left him hanging or not?!
She groggily sat up again and sighed. "I don't have anything to wear."
Whaaa? Why would I worry about what to wear?!
She shook her head and tied her hair into a ponytail. She went down to drink two mugs of coffee and went up again to take a bath. She pulled on a sky blue sweater that matched her eyes, black jeans and sneakers. She put a white and blue bonnet over her head and looked at the time.
"1:50, perfect. " She muttered to herself. Even if she loathed Kenji, she still wanted to keep her word and not be late for the play.
She sighed and sat down on her bed, contemplating on the events in her life.
She thought of Kenji- the slender, red-haired guy that seemed to exude an unlimited amount of kindness towards her. She honestly didn't know what she felt for him. The only emotion she was sure of was that she hated him for his perfection and his goodness. But as the days progress, it seemed more and more difficult for Kaori to hate him. It had been effortless during the first days, but now it seemed like a force was tugging her to the other side. If she let her guard down, she knew she would like him and become distracted. She wouldn't want that.
Her eyes wandered over to her wrist. A blue and white beaded bracelet was tied to it. "Arashi." Kaori whispered. The bracelet was a trinket from him. He had made it for her to give to her on her seventh birthday.
If only circumstances were different, we might still be together, and this Kenji guy wouldn't be driving me crazy.
She had accepted the fact that they can never be together, and she knew their fondness for each other had been raised to the next level- the level of brotherly love.
She focused her attentions back to Kenji. The guy was impossible, she decided. She knew she wanted him out of her hair, but she also knew, in some weird way, that she didn't want him to completely leave her alone.
A car pulled up in front of her house and she looked down through the window to see Kenji getting out of his car to ring the Kamiya's doorbell.
She quickly went downstairs.
Their housekeeper was just letting Kenji in when Yoshi, her younger brother suddenly zoomed in to the hallway.
"Who are you?" Yoshi demanded as Kenji stepped in.
Yoshi had brown hair that was spiked like Shino's. He was wearing a red shirt and wide-legged pants and leather slip-ons. He was shorter than Kenji, but he towered over him at that instant.
"What are you doing here, Yoshi?" Kaori asked her brother. She then turned to Kenji and introduced the two.
"Kenji, this is my brother Yoshi. He's really obnoxious, so don't mind him." Yoshi stuck his tongue out at Kaori.
"So, are you dating busu here?" Yoshi asked again.
Kenji's eyes widened at the kid's candidness. "Oro."
Yoshi eyed Kenji skeptically. "Does Arashi-niichan know about this?"
Kenji squirmed. "Errm.. yes, I think so."
Kaori whacked Yoshi and glowered at him. "Shut up Yoshi-chan. Go play with your stuff."
Yoshi pulled Kaori's hair. "For your information, I am now twelve years old. I am not a 'chan' and I do NOT play with anything anymore! I AM A MAN." He informed her haughtily.
"Yeah, whatever." Kaori waved her hands to dismiss the subject. "Let's go and leave this MAN alone."
Kenji looked over his shoulder and grinned at Yoshi. "You should meet my sister sometime."
"Not if she looks like that busu sister of mine!" Yoshi shouted back jokingly. "I like this guy, Kaori!" He waved and got on the backseat of one of the Kamiya's cars.
The drive to the theater was quiet and Kaori didn't want to Kenji to think that she was warming up to him. No way.
As they were about to go outside after the play, Kaori's eyes lit up as she looked through the glass doors of the building. She tugged at Kenji's polo shirt and pointed to the door.
"Look! It's snowing! Its finally winter!!" She gleefully claimed while still clutching Kenji's shirt.
"I take it you love winters?" Kenji was puzzled at her sudden change in temperament, but it didn't mean that it was unwelcome.
Kaori nodded happily. "She grabbed Kenji's hand and dragged him with her. "Let's go outside! C'mon!"
Kaori trudged over to the snow that was quickly piling up. She took some and threw it at Kenji who had his back to her.
"What the-?!" Kenji turned to face Kaori as another snowball hit him in the face. "Oro!"
You hit me like I never felt before
Hit me like a sucker punch, you're rotten to the core
You know you hit me like I've never felt before
Silly for the last time
You Never Know Goo Goo Dolls
Kaori laughed hysterically as Kenji tried to wipe the wetness off his face. He smiled at Kaori's tinkly laugh and with one quick movement, threw a snowball at her. It hit her on the shoulder.
"Hey! That's uncalled for!" Kaori hotly complained. "I declare war!" She threw another snowball at Kenji and soon a lot of people have joined their little war.
For Kaori, a part of her was releasing some pent up anger towards Kenji. But a bigger part of her was opening up; a feeling welling over her.
She felt warm inside, even if it's freezing outside.
I wonder, she thought, if he could be.
If she was.
*** Yes! My tests are over!! ::does a little dance:: I think I might've gotten a low score on NatSci and maybe a good one in Philo. ::keeping my fingers crossed:: I hope I pass. ( Okay, more tests coming up.. finals are coming up too!!! OHWOW.
So, how was the revelation? Remember, they didn't know they were related before. So forgive them for having a relationship. ( It's not disgusting, or anything I hope. ^_^
Hmmmm.. Finally some good old KnK moments!! But, oh! I'm sorry I have to interrupt the WAFFy moment, cuz Kenji still has to go through the hostile stage. that will make things more interesting, I think. :)
Thank you thank you thank you soooooooo much to the person who suggested that Tsubame and Yahiko should appear in this fic. I've never given them much attention in my other fics so I hope I could do something with them now. ^_^ Thank you ever so much!!
Thank you minna for reading this fic and for suggesting and bearing with my delays and me!! I hope that this fic will turn out the way I planned it to and that you'll all like it. In the meantime. I write and hope what I write is good enough! ^_^