-huggles Hikaru- He needs some love. x3 He has a fair share of angst too. The complementary moment with Tears.

Warning and Disclaimer: Some implications, but that's mostly because of Hikaru's damn innocence and Kaoru's mentally more mature state.


Moment Nine-

Smiles-

You don't smile, Kao-kun. And... I missed your smile.


My eyelids collapse, as I lose the feeling in my legs, and collapse into what's hopefully my bed. I place my hands into the pillow, not even bothering to take off my clothes. I don't care- I have a lot more suits in the closet just waiting to be worn, and I'm just waiting until Hikaru would jump into my bed and-

"Kao-kun, you're just going to sleep like that? That's not good." I pop open an eye sleepily, scanning his annoyed posture, before sighing, sitting upright as he pulls on my wrist.

I stumble sleepily in the direction he's leading me towards, and then the door closes, and I open my eyes a bit, letting out a long sigh.

"Hikaru, just why are you in the bathroom… with me?!" I frown, my eyes narrowing, as he walks past me, his bare feet against the white tiles, and he pulls the shower curtains open.

"… Kao-kun, you have to take a shower-"

And I stare at his blank features, his words coming out in a strange monotone whisper-

"-so I'm going to watch you," and he says it with the most no-nonsense face ever.

I just look at him, there's nothing else that I can do, "What the- Hikaru, you want to watch me?"

He averts his eyes, and sighs, in the way that shows that he's very, very sad, "Just shower, Kao-kun. Don't make me feel bad."

I frown, as I watch him sit onto the counter, his eyes on me, my eyes on him. And he's probably going to be there until I'm done.

I sigh long and hard, entirely ready to fall asleep in the bathroom. I undo my tie quickly, unbuttoning my dress shirt, feeling slightly awkward. Hikaru's just looking at me, and he's not even doing anything-

"Hikaru," I turn to look at him, "Can you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" he echoes, his innocent eyes blinking, as he pulls his legs entirely onto the counter.

"Leave, Hikaru," I give him a stern glance, and I almost expect him to retaliate like he normally does-

Instead, he just shrugs and jumps off the counter quickly, sliding the doors quietly after him.

And I just stare, at the solid door, the shirt in my grip crinkling, as I grip it harder.

It's strange that Hikaru's suddenly so quiet and compliant… I like Hikaru better when he's loud and annoying, and stubborn.

This isn't really him.

Right?

"Stay in your room, Kaoru-kun," she commanded, and I watched as the door clicked locked, "And don't come out until I tell you to."

What's happening? Why's obaasan saying that? Was there something dangerous?

I crawled slowly off my bed towards the door, inching slowly to place my ear against the door. I could hear faint sounds- of shouting, of crying, of yelling-

How little did I know of the entire situation? And I still didn't know what had happened downstairs-

I could hear a bit-

"We could just let the elder inherit and you can do anything for the yours!" a foreign voice, I'm sure- but slightly familiar-

"No, it can't be that easily-" obaasan's angry voice, "That brat of yours doesn't deserve Yuzuha's hard work."

"But if you're not willing to comply-"

"I don't want to comply! I raised Kaoru and I'm the one who's deciding his future!"

"Oneesan!" and I heard his voice, and I widened my eyes, he's- he's crying again- "If I can't play with Kao-kun anymore, I don't want it! Just give it to Kao-kun! I don't want it!"

And I fingered the knob, desperate to open and see his face again, or try to make it better-

But I had no idea what they were talking about-

"Hikaru-kun, stop. This isn't for you to decide-"

And his sobs were still loud, and then I heard footsteps, footsteps near the stairs, running up the stairs, and suddenly something was knocked against the wall near my door, near the small corner of the hall, and I could hear the quieting chokes- and I want to open the door, shake it, to say that I was there-

"Kamisama, they're twins, you can't expect them to be able to compete against each other," the mellow voice continued.

"But the will said that only one could inherit her company-"

I could hear a small whisper from him, "Then, I don't want it. Kao-kun can have it."

And I raked my fingers over the thick wood, my eyes closing, a small tear falling down my eye.

I blink my eyes once, twice, before I realize that one, the alarm didn't go off, two, it was already late morning, and three, I'm in my bed without any clothes on. And it's freezing cold.

My eyes snap to the classical clock on the wall, the time reading just ten minutes short of eleven…

Kami.

I'm late for work! I spring out of my bed, not bothering to be discreet, the towel sliding off my waist, as I search for clothes in my closet, slipping on my boxers quickly. I only had my hands on a light blue shirt, when I finally notice-

The cold's more pronounced then ever and I look around my room, my heart chilling-

"Hikaru?" I call to the empty room, but he's not there, not in bed, not lying on the floor, not anywhere-

Kamisama, where did he go? My heart panics, and I tear myself away from my closet, my jacket practically hanging off of my shoulders, shirt unbuttoned, and I'm being unrational and overprotective, but-

Hikaru's gone.

And it hits me even harder than before.

"Can you smile for me, Kao-kun?" he asked, his hazel eyes looking at me, curiously.

I blink, swinging my legs over the side of the bench, before I look away, a tint of pink on my face, "That's kind of a hard thing to do."

He smiled at me, his teeth glinting in the sunlight, "See, it isn't hard. I think you can be so much cuter if you smile."

And then, I didn't get it, but I placed a hand over my mouth, because what he just said was so… cliché-

"See, see, Kao-kun!" he laughed, prying my hand off of my mouth, and I found myself laughing as well, "You're smiling."

And he hugged me tightly, like he didn't want to let me go, and I'm smiling, because… it's the first time and last time I did.

Hikaru's definitely a strange person. Sometimes, I'd think he'd be so annoying, the next thing would be that it would benefit me… somehow. But I couldn't have guessed that he even dared to turn my alarm off, dared to put me into bed, or dared to run away after all that.

All the maids, and then the employees just stare at me as I rush towards my office. I'm adjusting my tie quickly, trying to fix my suit as quickly as possible- and my priorities are so mixed up I spent the first half hour trying to look for Hikaru, and finally I notice that I need to do my work-

Hikaru destroyed my life.

"Hitachiin-san," one of the secretaries say, making me screech to a halt, "I have the business reports that you've requested to be copied."

And she raises a brow as I snatch the papers from her- and it's the same papers that I was trying to finish the night before. I don't say anything as I push the glass door open, meeting a strange sight-

There are papers all over the ground, crayons scattered as they were the night before. My desk has a lot more papers then what I remember, and I cautiously make my way over to the black desk, picking up a paper from the tabletop, my eyes running over it.

It's another sketch, in a different style, and there's a lot of them- and they look like Hikaru's scribbles- and it's in an impeccably clean style- it's Hikaru's. Hikaru did it.

But… I run my eyes over the rest of the office, Hikaru isn't here.

"Kao…kun?" I hear a surprised tone behind me, as I shift around to meet a someone who looks just like me, and yet, doesn't-

"Hikaru? You…" I say quietly, my eyes widening in surprise, and I place the paper down slowly, as he closes his mouth into a line and then curves it up slowly-

"Kao-kun, you weren't done with work, yesterday! So I tried to help, but…" and he looks timidly to the ground, "I don't think it's good…"

I don't reply. I just look at him, daring him to lie, to cover up his tracks again-

"Datte! Your sketches are so good I can copy from them!" he chirps, walking briskly over to me, picking up the same sketch that I did, and tries to search for another, "See… it looks just like…"

"It doesn't," I say, snapping him out of his rambling. His cheery face falters for a second, as I continue, "You didn't copy my style…"

"I- I-" he mumbles, his chirp gone, and then he averts his eyes, "I…"

He looks out into the windows, and I notice now- without his strange attire, he looks just like me, and his light brown hair is gelled up, like mine- and if I didn't think twice, I could've even mistakened him from me-

"I made you sad," he finally says, and he's not looking at me, leaning against the desk, "I just wanted to see what makes you happy… Gomenasai, Kao-kun…"

And I blink, finally getting why he had been acting strangely last night, but, still- I thought-

"You don't smile, Kao-kun," he says, a depressed look on his face. And then, he smiles, just a little happy, a little sad, "And… I miss your smile."

And a pang hits my heart, and I look at his eyes, shock reaching my eyes- he-he remembered?

"I… don't like you crying, Kao-kun. So… smile? For me?" and he smiles again, asking, begging me to smile-

-but I can't, because-

-he looks so damn sad.

I avert my hazel eyes, my mind trying to conjure up a good answer, even if I don't have one-

"Travel. I… I want to travel around Japan," I choke out, my eyes blurring, as I finally say it-

And then, his smile widens, and he propels himself off of the desk, and wraps his arms gently around me-

And I like it.

"Okay," he chirps, and I can almost see his happiness radiating off his smile, "Let's go traveling!"

And I can't believe why I feel so calm when he's happy.