The car ride home was as silent as expected; although that didn't mean there wasn't actual noise. It was more like a background fuzzing, and Yoh lifted one of his blaring headphones to see if anything was actually happening. Janet seemed to bedrilling Hao onhis life in America, whilst Ian was keeping a beady watch on him - and on the road he was supposed to be driving on. (He had offered to drive after all.) Although Yoh wasn't really into the whole 'watching people suffer for the sake of it' thing, he was quite amused at the way Janet seemed to be interrogating his twin, and yet, failing miserably.

Plus, it slightly worried Yoh that Ian seemed to be keeping such a close eye on Hao.

America couldn't have been thatbad, could it?

Yoh turned his thoughts back onto his fuming mother, and revelled in the way her shoulders had hunched up, and how her bony fingers had clenched furiously into her handbag.

"So...did you make many friends in America then?" Janet asked, one last ditch attempt at making conversation with her other son. It confused her to no ends that the very splitting image of Yoh could be so alike, and yet so different. It was so easy to talk to Yoh (he always responded with a smile or a nod), but however much she tried, Hao just wouldn't respond the way she wanted him to.

"One would think so." Hao replied, and then he smirked slowly. "I made some acquaintances over the years, but they could hardly be called my friends."

"And what were their names?" Janet enquired, desperately.

"...I forget."

Yoh snickered, earning a narrowed glare from Janet. Her face pinched up, and Hao watched on with subtle curiosity.

"I don't know why you're laughing; you still can't even make one decent acquaintance in your home country." She snapped, disgust clouding her features for one, ugly moment.

It was an old argument; you could just tell.

And not surprisingly, she was met with abrupt silence as Hao and Ian looked on in veiled confusion; Yoh jabbed darkly into his CD player, turning the volume up one fatal notch.

……………

If possible, the atmosphere at the dinner table was worse than the one in the car journey home, and the 'chink' of tableware resounded throughout the room. Yoh and Janet were blatantly ignoring each other, Ian had no idea on what was happening, and Hao was just content to sit back and watch. With amusement just rolling off him in waves.

Ian coughed; a brave venture into the icy silence. He grinned, and Hao rolled his eyes at the fake expression.

"So...when is Hao going to start school?"

"Tomorrow." Janet replied, snapping shortly. "He'll be in the same classes as Yoh," At the mention of her other son, she shot a nasty glare towards his direction. Yoh ignored her, half sprawled on the table, halfstabbing a fork into his vegetables, making surethe metal scratched harshly against the expensivetableware.

More silence.

Though finally, Yoh slowly unwound from his sprawled position on the table, and eyed Hao curiously. He ignored his parents.

"Won't you be too jetlagged for school?"

"Rubbish," Janet stated, brushing crumbs off the table. "Education is the most important thing right now - maybe Yoh can learn from Hao's example."

Hao raised an incredulous eyebrow; Ian did the same. Janet saw this and carried on, regardless.

"He's only interested in useless music and sleeping, Hao can't possibly be worse."

"Believe me, he can be." Ian stated, gesturing in Hao's direction. "At least Yoh has friends; or at least ones that are sane." The last thought was muttered, mainly to himself, but it was still audible. Yoh saw Ian's lips twist with bitterness, and much like Hao had been interested with his relationship with his mother, Yoh was interested in this new development. As a family, just how fucked up were they?

Janet's sharp glance towards Hao made it clear that she had not forgotten the previous conversation in the car, and Yoh stood up, chair scraping against the hard floor. He wasn't too eager to drag this out any longer.

"May I be excused?" He asked, rolling his eyes as he saw Janet hesitate - she still wanted to talk with Hao about his failures. But she nodded nonetheless. Yoh grinned, and looked at Hao. "Hey, are you coming or what?"

Hao smirked, nodding slightly in agreement, and maybe in gratitude for the obvious rescue.

The twins made their way upstairs, leaving Janet and Ian with an empty table.

Family reunion indeed.

tbc