Chapter 4

To Love and To Be Loved

"Calm down. Take a deep breath," Kyoya murmured into Nanami's ear.

Nanami gradually sucked in breath and then let it out slowly. She turned to her husband and fiercely whispered to him, "I hate you!"

Kyoya smirked and kissed her temple. "Yes, that's precious, Nanami."

"Hi! Welcome!" Nanami greeted a guest with a fake smile plastering her features. Kyoya watched on as his wife of two years chatted with the guest for a couple of minutes before the guest moved away to chat with others. The woman walked back to her husband, discreetly punching him in the side. "I'm going to kill you later," She quietly said to him.

He smiled humorously at her. "You did say something before that if we ever got married, we'd end it violently. This is obviously the perfect time to."

Nanami hated the subject of money, high status, and these sophisticated, hoity-toity parties that the rich hosted. She didn't care if it was her son's first birthday. She hated dressing up and talking to people she didn't know or even like. It was her son's first birthday. His name was Ayumu. He adorned his father's well-kept black hair and his eyes. Nanami was just waiting for him to ruin his eyes somehow just so he would start wearing glasses and look like the spitting image of Kyoya.

Even though Kyoya was the first of his brothers to get married and produce an offspring and was officially announced as the heir to the Ohtori name, the (current) family of three was living in a very common, two-story house with only one maid. They owned two mansions and a large variety of vacation homes. They didn't exactly use them all the time, so Nanami thought them to be rather useless to have. They were used for special parties such as birthdays and other occasions. Nanami disliked being the hostess and planning events. Talking to her husband's co-workers and other families of the rich was tiring and a hassle. Kyoya always calmed her down, and he was used to the threats she issued to him when at the parties. But this time, at Ayumu's first birthday, Nanami was a little more willing to stick it out. She had invited some of her friends so she wasn't going to be completely tired.

"Nanami! Kyoya!" A voice called.

Both turned their heads to see Tamaki, his wife Haruhi, and their two-year old daughter Shizuka clutching Tamaki's old Beary. Shizuka had her mother's features except for the eyes. She had her father's sparkling purplish-blue eyes. She was a quiet child around strangers, but she was just as chatty as Tamaki when she was around people she knew and liked.

"Nana-san! Kyou-san!" Shizuka called excitedly. She ran towards them, and Nanami picked her up.

"Shizuka! You're getting really big now!" Nanami cooed as the toddler giggled excitedly.

"How are you?" Tamaki asked his best friend as he clapped him on the back.

"Excellent. You?"

"Never better!"

"So where's the birthday boy?" Haruhi asked.

"Oh, I sent him off to play with Miki and the other kids," Nanami answered. She set Shizuka on the floor and stooped so they were seeing eye to eye. "Shizuka, why don't you go find Ayumu and bring him here?"

The girl brightened up. "Okay!"

"I'll come along as well, honey," Haruhi replied. She took her daughter by the hand and they set off together to find the birthday boy.

"How's married life treating both of you?" Tamaki asked.

Like in all marriages, the first year is always the hardest. Adjusting to living with another person and his or her habits is difficult. Kyoya and Nanami especially had a difficult time in their first year together. Nanami had to put up with her husband's low pressure in the morning, and Kyoya had to endure his wife's cooking. Cooking was the one thing that Nanami forbid the maid from doing, much to Kyoya's dismay. They rarely had dinner together though. Kyoya was always working late and his wife never saw him until the next morning. Nanami even went as far as to wait up for him. It was a good idea that they didn't decide to have Ayumu until after their first wedding aniversary.

Nanami immediately cut her husband off and answered, "Terrible. It's hard living with this one."

Kyoya sighed. "She's lying." Well, not completely. They were somewhat used to each other's habits, but it still needed a little work.

She ignored him. "Well, if I had known he was such a prima donna at home, maybe I wouldn't have married him," She continued pleasantly. Kyoya mouthed to Tamaki that she was lying again. Tamaki grinned with laughter. "He's so grouchy in the mornings and whenever I cook."

The man in question raised his eyebrow quizzically. "If you find me that bad to live with, why do you put up with me?" He asked.

"Because you are my husband, I vowed to always be at your side, and the usual stuff," She answered simply.

"You should take that as a compliment, Kyoya." Nadeshiko chirped as she and her sister appeared from behind holding their gift.

"It basically means she loves you." Barako added.

"Oh, welcome!" Nanami added when she saw the Kuronuma twins.

The girls held out a gift towards Kyoya and Nanami. It was a big, thin box.

"He's a birthday present for Ayumu!" The replied in unison.

"Thank you!"

"So what is it?" Kyoya asked as he stared at it.

"A chemistry set."

"For a one-year old?" Nanami and Kyoya asked together.

"Sakurako was already teaching us chemistry ever since we were three." Barako remarked enjoyably. (Sakurako is Nadeshiko and Barako's older sister. She was mentioned in one of the Love Egoist stories, and is seen in the Love Egoist story in the ninth volume of OHSHC.) She and her sister didn't seem to notice the astonishment on Kyoya and Nanami's face.

All was distracted when Haruhi came back holding Ayumu in her arms and Shizuka next to her.

"Here's the birthday boy!" Haruhi called.

Ayumu brightened at the sight of his parents. He extended his arms out towards them, wanting to be held be either one. Nanami took her son from Haruhi, cuddling him with utter fondness.

"I wonder if it is good to smother him with such affection," Tamaki mused out loud.

"You're one to talk." Haruhi replied. "You smothered Shizuka with such adoration when she was a baby."

"She still is one!" Tamaki lift his daughter up and began tickling her.

Nanami beamed at Ayumu and then at Kyoya. With that look on her face, he knew he and Ayumu were her pride and joy.

"Well, just like Tamaki loves his daughter, I love my son very much," She replied softly. "And he is just as handsome as his father." She winked at her husband. Kyoya smiled and placed a tender kiss on his wife's forehead and then on his son's. Ayumu clapped his hands gleefully.

"Here's a thought!" Tamaki exclaimed. "How about we engage Shizuka and Ayumu together?"

"Idea rejected," Haruhi and Nanami answered immediately.

The Kuronuma twins broke into laughter, shortly followed by Tamaki and Nanami. Haruhi and Kyoya smiled along.

"When they get older, I'm sure they will make their decision about how they feel for each other. If they cannot, we can help them along," The twins remarked.

Nanami's grin widened as she hinted, "What about you girls? Isn't it time you both settled down with someone?"

Nadeshiko and Barako began to say together, "I will only settle down once I meet a man who will love me more than I love the idea of being in love. It is better to be with someone who loves you more than you love them. He has to be willing to chase after me even if I have lost my memories—" They looked at Haruhi and Tamaki, "—or when I push him away more than once." They looked at Kyoya and Nanami. "To love and to be loved leads to everlasting love and happiness that words cannot explain."

(- -)

Aftermath

With Tamaki and Haruhi and Kyoya and Nanami, there was that happiness in the years to come. There were times they fought and argued, but at least they made up at the end of the day or the next day or when they felt ready to forgive the other.

The Suohs had another child when Shizuka had turned four. It was another girl named Kimiko. Shizuka had her doubts about being an older sister, but she loved setting an example for her younger sister afterwards. After Tamaki's grandmother had passed on, all power was given to the Chairman. In his old years now, he made his son Chairman and moved to France to be with the woman he loved. Haruhi became the lawyer she dreamed of becoming after intensive studying. Even after working so hard, she always finds time to spend with her family. Shizuka would grow up to be a tall, beautiful woman. Tamaki wanted her to take over the business, but she seems to be more interested in pursuing modeling. (He later asked Haruhi for another child, to which she refused point blank. Two kids were enough trouble.) Kimiko looked very much like her dad with her light brown hair (almost blond) and purplish-blue eyes as she grew up. She was always smiling and she maintained a cheerful attitude around everyone. She didn't mind taking over for her dad, and it seems that she made a promise with Ayumu to marry him when they were young.

The Ohtoris settled with only Ayumu as their only child. Nanami enjoys doting on him with every ounce of motherly love, but to Kyoya's request, she stopped spoiling him. Kyoya was strict and hard on his son, very much like the way Yoshio was on Kyoya. Ayumu didn't have a sibling to compete with, but his father egged him on to be the best of the best. As Nanami expected, Ayumu looked exactly like his father as he got older. He had to get glasses because of his frequent reading, but took up contacts instead and only wearing the glasses before going to bed. Ayumu grew up to be quiet and intelligent, but Kyoya was certain that his son was just as calculating and devious as him on the inside. Kyoya and Nanami's only son became childhood friends with Shizuka and Kimiko. Ayumu doesn't remember making that promise of marriage with Kimiko when they were younger. The Kuronuma twins later hinted to the boy that in several years, if both felt strongly for each other, they could renew that promise. Nanami suspected her coworkers-slash-friends would be trying to bring them together and has kept an eye out on them ever since.

Nadeshiko and Barako enjoyed their singles lives for a couple more years. Barako was the first to get hitched, and much to her delight, the man she fell in love with was a date doctor. She left her job as a Chemistry teacher at Ouka to help her husband bring couples together in harmony. Can you say Hitch? Good. The new teacher that replaced Barako's position created quite a spark with Nadeshiko. Like the Kuronuma twins' uncle said before, "Reactions between two chemical substances can hold unknown potential. In much the same vein, reactions between two people can lead us to potential we never knew we had in us." It was fate that these two were brought together, or maybe it was just Barako and her husband's work. They weren't saying anything... Oh, and kids? Don't bring the subject up yet with either girl. They are simply enjoying their married life for now.

Hikaru and Kaoru became famous fashion designers. They didn't have much time for relationships with their schedule. Of course, that didn't stop them from having a few flings with the models. The only models the twins were not allowed to touch were Haruhi (who the twins kidnapped time to time), Nanami (who they also forced to model for them on her free time), and Shizuka. Tamaki would murder them if they ever made a pass at his wife and his oldest daughter. Haruhi would then have to take up this murder case as her husband's lawyer. Nadeshiko and Barako tried unsuccessfully to get their dear cousins hitched, but the boys knew better. When they were thirty-three, Hikaru and Kaoru scrambled to find someone because if they didn't get engaged by the age of thirty-five, their mother was going to pull one of them into an arranged marriage. They both wanted someone equivalent to the natural charm that Haruhi had, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Needless to say, both were wound up in arrange marriages, and were happy that it wasn't a complete disaster like Kyoya and Nanami's first engagement.

And now what happens to these characters and their children is up to you and your imagination. No, there will not another sequel, and now I'm done writing…

Oh, I love the girls' final words. It's pretty true as well. So...this is the end of this...would series be appropriate? Saga? Chronicles? No, I think series would be best. So ends the series featuring the amazing Kuronuma twins, Nadeshiko and Barako! They were fun to portray. They really are the ringleaders of love. I may write them again in the future under different circumstances and settings, but right now, I have no clue. I've been writing so much that my brain has been getting emptier.

I wasn't originally going to write an Aftermath, but since this is the end, I couldn't let the main couples have all the fun! I wanted some recognition for the other characters so people wouldn't be wondering what happened to them! Anyway...bye-bye everyone and my faithful readers and reviewers who loved this series!