Chapter Five:

"Pour me another." Hikaru demanded, motioning to the empty shot glass that sat before him. As much of a good influence Renge was trying to be, Hikaru could not escape the demons that haunted him. Losing his brother was more than he could stand, constant company or not.

"I think you've had enough." The bartender smiled sweetly, placing a glass of water in front of him. The look of sympathy that crossed her features was too much for him, his own twisted sense of rage flooding through him.

"I'll tell you when I've had enough. Pour me another." He demanded again.

"I really can't, sir." She frowned.

"My brother fucking died. Do you know what that's like?" He asked, glaring across the bar at her. "He fucking died because I was driving too fucking fast."

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, blinking back the shock.

"So the very least you could do for me is your job. Pour me another shot." He snapped, pushing the glass a little harder than he had meant to, sending it toppling over her side of the bar to shatter upon the floor.

"What are you doing?"

Closing his eyes, Hikaru let a groan fall past his lips. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm drowning away my sorrows. What the hell are you doing here, Renge?"

She crossed the bar so she was standing before him, her hands upon her hips as she glared down at him in disgust. "You're drunk."

"I'm sad." He countered, pouting out his bottom lip slightly. "I read on the internet that alcohol numbs the pain."

She rolled her eyes and pulled out twelve hundred yen, placing it down on the bar. "Does this cover it?"

The bartender nodded meekly. "That should just about do it."

"Good." Renge huffed, turning her agitated gaze back at the inebriated boy before her. "We're leaving."

"Fuck no I'm not." He snapped. "I want another shot."

"If you drink any more they're going to throw you in the drunk tank for the night. What wonderful headlines that would be: Grieving designer's son locked away for intoxication." She chided, "Your mother will be so proud."

"Don't mother about my talk." He snapped, glaring at her.

"You're brilliant when you're drunk. You know that?" She snapped, reaching out and grasping his arm at the elbow. "I'm taking you home. Now."

"I don't want to go!" He practically screamed, ripping his arm out of her grip as he rose to his full height. She stood no chance against him, tiny in comparison to his height and much weaker even on his worst days. "I want to stay here and I want this idiot to give me another drink." He roared, his face flushed from a mixture of the alcohol and the rage.

"You're being a jerk!" She yelled back, well aware that almost every eye in the dinghy bar was upon them now. "We lost him, too!"

Hikaru flinched slightly, his glare never softening. "You didn't lose shit. You all went about your lives like you were fucking fine." His words were slurring, his body swaying slightly.

"Just because Kaoru is dead doesn't give you the right to treat everyone else like this," she hissed, reaching out to grasp his arm again. This time he did not pull away. "We all lost him. We all died a little inside with him. So don't you dare claim that we moved on with our lives because we will never let him go. Ever."

He almost softened beneath her gaze. "Just fucking leave me alone."

"No."

"Just go!" He snapped, somewhere in the exchange he had gripped onto her arm for balance both of body and soul.

"I'm not leaving you, Hikaru. You may not want to admit it but you need me and I'm not going to let you do this to yourself. You can't drown your sorrows no matter what the Internet chooses to tell you," she rolled her eyes again at his stupidity.

"The internet doesn't lie," he hissed.

"Well neither do I, and I say you've had enough and it's time to go home." She glared, her gaze daring him to argue any further. "I'm taking you home with me if I have to knock you out and drag you out of here myself."

"Miss, is everything okay here?" An overly sized man asked, placing his hand upon her shoulder. "Is this man bothering you?"

"She's bothering me," Hikaru slurred, leaning closer to her so their noses were almost touching.

"We're fine," Renge sighed, trying not to breathe in the scent of his breath. "We were just leaving."

"No, we're not." Hikaru demanded, stamping his foot like a child.

"You're going to pass out any moment. I can wait." She rebutted, watching as his body swayed before her.

"No, I'm not." He hissed, their lips almost touching he was so close to her face.

"Don't you dare kiss me," she hissed.

"As if I would want to do something as disgusting as that," he laughed, his eyes rolling back slightly as his body crumpled forward and against her.

Had the man who had stepped up to her aid not been standing right behind her, Hikaru would have toppled her to the floor, his weight crushing her beneath them. Luckily, the stranger steadied them both.

"Are you okay, miss?" He asked, holding onto Hikaru by his arm as the boy hung limply between them.

"I'm fine," she sighed, taking a deep calming breath. "Could you help carry him to my car?"

"Hnn." He nodded, practically throwing the drunken man over his shoulder.

Xxx The Next Morning xxX

"Rise and shine," Renge cooed, sitting on the edge of the couch as Hikaru began to rouse.

"I feel like I was hit by a truck," he huffed, rubbing the heel of his hand against his forehead and putting slight pressure on his eyes.

"Take these, they'll help." She offered, holding out a glass of orange juice and a couple of green tablets that looked like asprin.

"What happened?" He asked, drowning the entire glass of orange juice as he took the pills.

"You decided to invade the bar last night and scare the locals. You did a pretty nice rendition of Singing In The Rain on top of the bar." She teased.

"I don't remember any of that." He sighed heavily.

"Because you were incredibly drunk. You literally passed out on top of me." She smiled.

"We didn't….?" He asked, his eyes wide in shock.

"No," she chuckled. "At one point I thought you might kiss me and you actually said, As if I would do anything as disgusting as that."

"Ugh." He groaned.

"No apology needed," she rolled her eyes.

"I really cannot remember anything from last night." He practically moaned.

"That's probably for the best." She didn't feel the need to tell him he had been a complete ass to everyone within a ten-mile radius.

"Will you please stop screaming at me?" He groaned, burying his head back underneath one of the pillows.

"Sure," she whispered. "I'll just go get you some more juice."