Kiku breathed in, then breathed out. Be quiet, self. You do not want to be caught. Shouting could be heard very clearly from outside.

"I told you to leave her be-"

"Well, you're not the boss of me, are you?"

It was dark and damp here, and it smelled of cologne. What was he doing in a closet, he had no idea whatsoever. The honorable, loyal Kiku Honda, in a closet, overhearing a conversation between two siblings? It was shameful.

He'd have to wait until the owner of the room left with his twin. He would make Ludwig pay for asking him to visit this place, it wasn't like he had asked for this.

Two hours ago, he had been minding his own business, reading books in the vast study of the Beilschmidt Estate. Feliciano was asleep in a corner, and Ludwig was doing homework.

"Oh, no."

Ludwig sounded horrified.

"What is it?"

"The Student Council File. I think I left it at Jones's house."

Kiku couldn't get how a careful person like... Ludwig could forget his files. The Senior President of the School scrunched his face up in exasperation.

"Going to that house is a nightmare, with Jones being noisy, I have headaches afterwards..."

He knew only too well as the Treasurer of the Student Council about how noisy the younger boy was, but he didn't mind that much. Excepting the fact that Jones yelled in his ear far too often.

"Kiku, could you please do me a favor and-"

"No."

Kiku refused, point-blank. He could guess what was coming for him.

"Well, that's too bad."

Ludwig ran his hands through his golden hair, then gave him a thin smile.

"I remember that Elizaveta left a file behind the last time she came here-before she broke up with Gil-and there were a few interesting pictures of you. You wouldn't want our dear Hercules seeing them, would you?"

Kiku stood, putting his books into the randousel bag he so treasured.

"I wonder why I ever started getting along with westerners."

Ludwig only shrugged, waving him out.

"So, you are here to see Alfred, chéri?"

Kiku gave a curt bow to the Frenchman who had gotten the door for him.

"Yes, Francis-san. Is he here? I have come in Ludwig's stead-apparently he left his file behind in Alfred's room."

For some reason the usually cheerful man seemed down, shaking his head.

"Non, he is not here-he is out, perhaps with Gilbert or your sister-"

"Well, Ha Yeon is with Matthew, they have a bio project."

He had heard his sister discussing about the bio thing with Matthew over the phone, her voice high and loud just like usual.

"Your sister needs to make up her mind, really."

"Excuse me?"

As he raised an eyebrow Francis gave him a look that spelled out something like shock.

"Tell me at least one person in your family is actually good with amour."

"I don't understand-"

"The copain of your little sister is either Alfred or Mathieu, is it not obvious? But one of them will be devastated, and it breaks my heart to see these boys quarreling like dogs over a piece of meat."

Oh, that.

"Alfred has been on edge around Matthew after Halloween, for some reason, and Matthew isn't acting like himself."

A hand clapped on his shoulder and Kiku turned sharply.

"Come on, frog. Kiku doesn't need to know about the disasterous love lives of our family."

Arthur was now entering, taking his hat off and hanging his coat on the peg.

"But it is his sister-"

"It's not his job, and he's not playing matchmaker for either of the boys. Come on in, Kiku."

An uncomfortable silence followed him as he climbed upstairs, and hushed voices could be heard from downstairs. He'd just find the file from Alfred's room and leave.

He'd been in the house for a thousand times, but he hadn't visited Alfred's room for about three months. It had changed a lot, and Kiku gave the newly added Playstation a long glance of longing. Yao was a good brother, and he wouldn't trade Yao with Arthur, but Yao would never buy them a Playstation. One of the actual reasons Ha Yeon and Alfred had started being close was because of their incredible love of games, and the crazy high scores they had created. Something caught his attention, and Kiku smiled as he saw his present for Alfred on Christmas- a minature of the boy- on the nightstand. He then frowned, searching for the file among the cabinets.

Found it.

Kiku reached out, then pulled the file out. It wasn't Ludwig's file, just one that looked almost identical to it. The blue binding along with the constellations was the same, but Ludwig's file had his name on it, while this one had DO NOT OPEN on it. Unfortunately, one of the methods to attract more attention to things that should be kept as secrets were words like these. Feeling a small amount of guilt he opened the file.

It turned out to be boring, just a file filled with pictures, marked with dates. How unjocklike, of course the boy wouldn't want anyone to know about the Matthew-like, sentimental things he did. Kiku smiled, leafing through, and found his picture with Alfred with a couple of others. As he skipped to another page, his grin was wiped completely.

July 14th. Best Birthday Present ever.

A picture of a smiling girl holding a plushie shaped like a bun.

The problem was, that was only the beginning of these love-sick pictures with captions. There were occasional photos of himself or Leon, or Mei in the background, and there were some family photos. But more than half of the photos were related to his sister, and Kiku stared at the last picture for a long time.

Does she know?

A picture of the Jones boys and Ha Yeon. They were obviously at a cafe, and his sister looked blissful in the middle of the boys. Alfred had a confident look on his face, while Matthew looked a little sad and uneasy. The date was yesterday, and Kiku sighed. He'd have to talk about Yeon about this entire hullabaloo.

An hour passed, but Kiku was still stuck in the room. The reason? He'd found the file, but now Kirkland-san and Bonnefoy-san was having an argument downstairs. It would be awkward to run downstairs. He'd stay here for a few more minutes, and ask Alfred to take him out as soon as the boy arrived. He'd read all of the books in the shelves, and now he had moved on to something else; but then a screen flashed inside the room. Alfred's computer was now flashing, perhaps some emails that the boy had received. Come to think of it, he'd never gotten to see Alfred's computer-Do not commit such shameful behavior, Kiku. Please, Kiku, don't open his computer, you've already seen his files...

He groaned, finding himself sitting down on Al's beanbag chair and clicking on the American's computer. It was a Facebook Message from-Hercules.

Don't panic, mind.

He already was, his hands were sweaty.

Hi?

Great, now he would have to pretend to be Alfred.

Yo, buddy.

Kiku banged his head on the desk, in irritation.

So, hey, how did the confrontation go with Matt?

He had no idea what the Greek was talking about, but he'd make it up.

Not bad.

The Greek sent Alfred-no, Kiku a smiley face with the thumbs up.

Good, I don't understand why brothers like you two would quarrel over Lee, even if she's a cool person and a pretty kid.

Kiku face-palmed. It seemed the entire school, excepting his sister knew about the brothers fighting over her.

Anyways, any advice on my situation?

What situation was Hercules talking about? He'd heard that the Greek wasn't exactly affluent, was this financial? Kiku scratched his head, unlike his usual self.

Oh, yeah, you're worse of than me in love life. Perhaps I should ask Feliciano or Lovino, or Mr. Vargas... Sorry.

The Greek was having love issues?

Love, dude? Srsly?

He typed in these weird words that he'd seen his younger siblings using, then squinted. The answer was almost instant.

Come on, you all know. He's never gonna like me back.

Good, at least he knew Hercules was not straight. But then, it could be bad.

Who's this guy?

The message was written with trembling hands.

Stop pretending to be dumb, idiot. Honestly, I remember Kiku saying something about your brain cells all dying out but then I didn't take it that seriously.

Really, he would not say something that rude, even if Alfred could be triggering at times.

I did not say that!

Whoops. He had blown his cover.

Really, Alfred? You're making a lot of typos lately. Geez, this romantical business must be taking its toll on you.

Kiku thanked kami-sama for his luck.

Sorry, dude. This is really difficult.

No problemo. I totally get it.

He had to ask Hercules about the he that had been mentioned, but then he couldn't, what if he said he liked Sadiq, the hot Turkish dude that had been Herc's frenemy for ages? Kiku couldn't risk getting his heart broken, he couldn't, so instead he veered off in another direction.

BTW, what do you think of Kiku?

You call that a question? You already know! Must I really answer that, you burger-eating jerk?

What did Alfred know about Hercules' feelings toward him?

Come on, answer the question, dude.

There was a extremely long pause, then the message arrived. Kiku gulped as he scanned every word.

Well, he's a great person, even if he doesn't talk much, and when he talks, he's cute.

He's cute? Was that it? How was he supposed to know if Hercules liked him or not?

Do you like him or not?

What's with the questioning?

The Greek had sent him a GIF with a shrugging face on it.

Oh, nothing.

There was a commotion downstairs, and Kiku whipped around. The door had opened, judging from the noises.

"I'm home."

Great, Kiku turned the computer off, deleting the messages in the speed of lightning-a skill developed through years of practicing. Alfred wouldn't like to know that he'd been sending messages in his name. Now he could leave with Alfred's help as the adults would stop fighting.

"Ah, you're back."

Arthur and Francis had decided to stop arguing for Alfred's sake, but then the door opened again downstairs.

"Matthew Jones! You are a jerk!"

Apparently, Matthew had been the earlier person in arriving home, and Alfred had just returned.

"Please, boys."

Francis sounded tired and Kiku could swear he could hear the Frenchman sigh.

"Oh, really? Why are you calling me a jerk in the first place?"

"Come on, you know, stop pretending to be all innocent and naive!"

The Captain of the Basketball team and the self-proclaimed hero of the school was bellowing his anger for some reason.

"Stop yelling, if you're fighting, you can fight in your room."

Arthur had decided to use sarcasm, but Alfred had gotten it as a piece of advice.

"Well, great! You and I are going to have a talk about blood traitors, Matthew!"

The sound of feet storming upstairs, and yelling. Two pairs of feet could be heard down the corridor. Kiku studied the window in Alfred's room. He could jump, but then he'd probably die. It would be awkward to see the brothers, but then it wasn't like he could hide-no, he could. The wardrobe in the corner was enormous, and he could most surely hide in there.

He ran across the room, taking his bag in his arm along with the file in one hand, and jumped into the wardrobe, closing the door just in time. The door slammed open and he could see the twins through the tiny crack in the wardrobe-which wasn't exactly a pretty sight. Alfred was red, his face flushed. To his immense surprise, Matthew also looked infuriated.

"What do you think you are, stealing my friend?"

"Does Yeon have a nametag on her, saying Property of Alfred F. Jones?"

"Oh, it's Yeon now, is it? What gave you the confidence to call her that?"

Kiku quailed at the monstrous expression on Alfred's face, but Matthew just pushed it aside, crossing his arms.

"She's not just your friend, she's my friend as well, and she said it was okay."

"Well, I'm not okay with it, get it?"

"What are you, her boyfriend? Because the last time I checked, she didn't have one."

"Argh! Matthew Jones, you are such a backstabber!"

In his anger, the American threw his phone halfway across the room, chucking it on the floor.

"It's not my fault that you're not getting into a relationship with Ha Yeon, and you know it."

"What do you mean, it's my blithering fault? You're the one who's butting into everything! You started acting like a jerk from Halloween!"

"It's called being truthful to my feelings, not being a jerk."

Kiku had to admit, Matthew was good at keeping his ground. He could hardly believe it was the same polite Matthew who came over to his house. He was also good at pissing Alfred off.

"No, that's not even being a jerk, you don't even like her the way I do!"

"Well, at least I'm not the reason she began fighting with her dear twin brother!"

Alfred flinched quite obviously but Matthew went on.

"You're flirting with nearly all the girls in the school, even with Bradinski, and Hedervery! Some people even asked me if you were gay, because you're like everyone's boyfriend, and you're accusing me of not liking her?"

"I told you to leave her alone-"

"Are you the boss of me?"

"Well, maybe I'm not, but you're the person who's making things awkward! You're always jealous of me because Arthur and Francis likes me more, and just because I'm School President, but that can't justify you trying to steal my friend from me!"

It would be good to leave the wardrobe, it was hot, and it smelled of cologne, and his head was starting to ache from the shouting battle in the room.

"Anyway, you want evidence that she's more my friend than yours? Let's call her family and see who wins!"

Alfred marched across the room, and picked up his phone. He began to dial, and Kiku could see Alfred biting his nails waiting for the person on the other end to answer.

"What is it, motherfuxxer?"

Ha Eung was answering, and he sounded displeased.

"Tell me who Ha Yeon likes between me and Matthew!"

"Is that even a question? You sound like a seven year old. Now I'll kindly hang up, I need to do homework."

Matthew smirked seeing the crestfallen expression on Alfred's face.

"Oh, yeah, her brother thinks you're trash. Yao thinks you're trash, and you know that Ha Yeon won't dare cross Yao."

"Shut up!"

Alfred was now dialing another number, and the dial tone could be heard in the room.

"Kimi no zen zen zense kara boku wa kimi wo sagashi hajimeta yo, sono bukiccho na waraikata wo megakete yatte kitanda yo!"

Kiku cursed in his head. His phone was ringing. In sound mode. There was a long silence in the room.

"No way."

Alfred sounded horrified.

"Oh, no."

Matthew's voice was vanishing.

In one stride, the wardrobe door was flung open, and both boys were staring at the senior in the closet, all three looking mortified.

"I...I just came over to find Ludwig-kun's file for him... I did not mean to...overhear..."

"Just pretend you didn't hear anything and leave."

Red-faced, Kiku stuttered another apology and fled. He couldn't wait to go home. As he ran downstairs, he could hear the adults talking about something, but he didn't exactly listen to it. He flung open the door, closed it and ran down the street. Home sweet home.

"Just where were you?"

Hands on hips, Yao glared at Kiku, who had just rushed in. For some reason, his brother was awfully early, and he looked very angry. Very, very angry.

"My greatest apologies, brother. I... had something..."

"Well, I understand. Come on, you're going to the hospital with me."

"The hospital?"

Now to think of it, the place was awfully quiet. Was somebody hurt badly? Ha Eung couldn't be hurt, he had been talking about homework only a few minutes ago.

"Yes, the hospital. Leon had the immense great luck to drive. Without a license. He somehow managed to get into an accident. Kirkland's been calling me for about an hour."

So that was why Arthur had been talking to Francis in lowered voices.

"The press isn't going to like it, is it?"

His brother looked worried behind reason, running his hand through his hair, frowning.

"The press isn't the problem, I might lose custody of Leon."

Kiku couldn't imagine the Han Estate without Leon, it would be weird, just like not having a limb, an arm or a leg.

"Kirkland was extremely angry, he was talking about the papers and-"

"Let's just go to the hospital, are the others there?"

Yao only nodded, his face grim. For some reason, Kiku could feel that this was his Murphy's day.

"It's not like I'm dead, stop fussing."

Leon's arm was in a sling, his face was white, but he was grumbling about everything just like normal. At these words, Kiku gave him a thwack on the head.

"What were you thinking, driving without a license? Nisan was worried sick! And whose car did you borrow anyway?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Honda."

It was Emil, Leon's friend. The usually cool boy was blinking fast, his face red. His eyes were puffy as well.

"Well, you should have known better than to let him drive! Seriously, out of all people, Emil? And I thought Jones was a bad influence!"

Yao pulled up a chair next to Leon's bed and fussed over the covers.

"No fever? No temperature rises? Are you okay? Do you feel sick?"

"Your fretting is making me sick. And where the heck did the twins go to?"

"Wang Leon, you don't say stuff like heck to older brother! That's only for me!"

Ha Yeon marched into the room, carrying a bag of shopped goods.

"Here, your milk and chocolate."

The Korean girl tossed the things on Leon's bed, and the Chinese boy glared at her.

"Geez, can you be kind for once?"

"You make it extremely hard for us to be kind."

Ha Eung was gruff, giving Emil a look that could kill.

"You're going to have a talk with me, Mr. Youngest of the Nordic Industry. I heard you were pretty intelligent, did your mind go and take a cliff dive?"

"Gege, I know you're a psychopath, but there's no reason for you to get all worked up over a small bump-"

"A small bump? You could have died! You could be in that family grave! We could be visiting you for Christmas, you fool!"

Leon's face turned solemn as the family members locked eyes with each other. To think about it, the twins had been orphaned by a car accident. No wonder they were furious with Leon.

"And besides, do you know what meimei's doing? She's in the infirmary, she fainted because of you, you idiot!"

Mei fainted?

Kiku dropped his phone in shock, then picked it up with shaking hands.

"Nisan, where's Mei?"

"She's right next door, but she's going to wake up soon. The doctors say it's because of stress, but I think it's all because of this fool over here."

A weight seemed to fall on his heart, as Kiku thought about his little sister, with flowers in her hair, and her small smiles that warmed his heart. Her trusting behavior, her politeness and demureness. And he had so been uncaring towards her after he had discovered his crush on Hercules. Avoiding talking to her, spending time with his crush who might not even like him-he was a fool. The talk of the others sounded like background noise now, and Kiku left without excusing himself.

The room was white, the curtains a deep stain of red. Mei looked small and vulnerable, curled up in a ball. It dawned to him that she had shadows under her eyes, and Kiku couldn't help but feel guilty. But for what? Leaving her behind in the dust? Not caring about her loneliness? Being caught up in his love life? It suddenly occured to Kiku that he and Mei had stuck together just like the twins had, for more than ten years. They had been for each other through thick and thin, Mei had always been the first to wait for him to recover after his dark period, singing to him, trusting him, forgiving him.

"Mei, please wake up."

There was no answer, just the sound of subtle breathing, and the sound of heels echoing down the hall.

"She's tired, can't you see?"

It was his annoying brother, the psycho. Ha Eung had punctured a hole in his cider can, and was downing the cider through the hole.

"You... What's wrong with you?"

"No, what's wrong with you?"

The Korean looked angry, throwing the can in the trash. It went through, landing perfectly in the trash can, but Kiku glared at the younger boy.

"You're making it uncomfortable for Mei to sleep!"

"Well, you're the one who's giving her all this stress! Are you blind? Sometimes I wonder if I'm really the person who doesn't have a heart or a conscience in this family!"

Kiku scrunched his face at these words.

"What do you mean, I'm the person who's stressing her out? I'm her favorite sibling!"

"Did it never occur to you that she might be seeing you as something more than a sibling?"

Ha Eung's voice was starting to go on the rise, but Kiku couldn't register the change.

"You're crazy. We're siblings, everyone knows-"

"Are you related by blood?"

"Well-"

"Her name is Wang Mei, and yours is Honda Kiku. Can't you just see? She's been liking you ever since preschool!"

In exasperation, the younger boy slammed his foot down on the floor.

"Why-"

"How am I supposed to know why she likes a jerk like you? If Ha Yeon said she liked you, I'd tell her to commit suicide or something!"

Kiku couldn't answer, his throat was starting to scratch, his eyes were starting to burn up.

"And you, you just had to go and tell her all about your boyfriend-buddy-whatever! Do you even have a conscience, telling her stuff like that? You literally threw her heart in her face and ripped it out!"

It made sense that Mei had never liked Hercules. It also made sense why she had looked so uncomfortable around his talk about romance.

"You're lucky that Yao took all my knives away in confiscation, you jerk-"

Movement from the bed made the brothers whip their heads around. Mei was stretching, her face pale. As she locked eyes with them, she looked troubled.

"Where-Leon-Is he-"

"He's fine, and he's loud, and he's very much alive. No need to worry about that jerk."

Ha Eung filled Mei in with a sniff, and a very disgusted look directed at Kiku.

"You need a good lie-down and a rest, stay here."

As his brother left, leaving him with Mei, an awkward silence fell over the room.

"Kiku? I'm sorry to have bothered you-"

His lower lip trembled at his sister's words, and Kiku forgot all about Ha Eung's words. He wished to forget, wished to be able not to feel.

"Are you all right? You look upset, I'm sorry-"

His sister's expression changed to shock as Kiku threw his arms around Mei.

"No, I'm so, so sorry."

Mei's eyes were filled with confusion, then horror.

"He told you!"

"I'm so sorry."

"He...Ha Eung..."

"It's all my fault."

Mei pulled herself out of his hug, her face turning cold.

"I don't want your sympathy. Just go, please."

"Mei-chan..."

"Go."

As he left, Kiku wondered how messier his family could possibly get. Yao, who was already tired because of a stalker, was going to fight with Arthur because of Leon. His sister Mei had a crush on him. Ha Yeon was in a love triangle that included the two most influential juniors in the school. Ha Eung was just a plain psychopath, and he was ready to murder Kiku. Leon-well, Leon was now officially stuck in a hospital. And Kiku? His crush thought he was cute, nothing more. His friends were now thinking that he was some kind of person who was dishonest and listening behind doors. His family was falling into a mess. He only hoped they'd make it out.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this is one troublesome chapter. I thought it would be better to draw all the trouble out in Kiku's perspective, since Ha Eung is too cool about everything along with Leon, Mei's too sweet, and Ha Yeon too direct. Yao-well, Yao's postive about everything except for Alfred and Ivan. Therefore, I have given Kiku a bunch of the burden. I really thank the eight favorites and ten follows. It gives me energy to see that some people like my work-and I really thank you, Cone of Depression for your review. I was wondering if NKBel was really a good choice...Haha... Next chapter will be something on Leon, I guess. Bye, people.