A/N: Due to a few reviews asking for a chapter two. I figured, what the heck. It'd be a waste if it stayed a one-shot anyway. If I get more reviews, I might actually post a Chapter Three. XD
Chapter 2: The Distance
Hikaru crumpled the letter in his hands as he stood up and ran out of his room. Scandalized servants stood to the side as their young master ran past them, a piece of paper in his hands. He took the stairs two at a time.
Damn his brother for making such a stupid decision!
"Where is he? Where's Kaoru?" He demanded when he caught up with one of the twin maids that his mother had employed with them.
The girl paused in her task to answer him, setting aside the feather duster to regard her employer's son, "Kaoru-sama has already packed. I think he's heading to the airport now to join your father abroad. He had your mother arrange his dropping out of school so that he can enroll there instead."
Hikaru felt like the bottom had dropped out of him. "How long has he been gone?"
"He's been preparing to go for a few weeks now. Didn't you know that Hikaru-sama?" The maid asked, as if taunting to Hikaru's ears. He didn't know. He didn't know because Kaoru never told him. And yet they told each other everything! They always did!
"He's been gone for a few hours now. He started packing when you left to visit Fujioka-sama."
And then he remembered exactly why Kaoru left. Because his brother had thought that he was going to get left behind, because he, Hikaru, had been spending more time with Haruhi. He wanted to punch himself.
"Hikaru-sama should prepare for dinner. The mistress Hitachiin will join him later," the maid told him, returning to her task.
His mother! His mother could surely put a stop to this madness!
Hikaru quickly climbed up the stairs, taking long strides to reach his room. His room. How could he have been so blind? Kaoru had stopped sleeping in his room. He should've known there was something wrong, but he was too blind! And since when had it been his room?! Wasn't it supposed to be their room?
He slammed the door behind him, throwing the crumpled piece of paper in a wastebasket nearby, and trying his best not to cry as he dressed for dinner. He couldn't bear to look at the mirror as he stepped out. If he saw his reflection, he might be a fool enough to think that it was Kaoru looking back at him.
"You mean you didn't know?"
And there it was again. That innocent question. It meant that everyone knew. Everyone had known and had not bothered to tell him because they thought that he knew. They thought he had been informed firsthand. And the answer to that question is Yes! Of course he didn't know! Kaoru hid it from him! How was he supposed to know?
One question isn't supposed to hurt so much, but it did. And answering one question shouldn't have made Hikaru's voice tremble. But it did.
"He didn't tell me."
His mother chewed on her dinner thoughtfully. Now this was strange. Whatever the other knew, the other always caught on fairly quickly. Why would her son hide such a big decision from her brother? It just didn't make any sense.
"Well, if you miss him. You can always e-mail him or call him. That's what technology is for, isn't it?" She asked Hikaru. Indeed, that was how she and her husband communicated, although she would admit that it definitely did not satisfy her as much as she thought it would.
E-mail right. Kaoru made it clear that he'll be avoiding me.
"I think you're forgetting that Kaoru and I own only one phone. And he left that phone with me," Hikaru replied testily. He wasn't touching his food and his mother was quick to notice it.
His mother sighed and gently placed the fork on her plate, "Is there something I should know about?"
Hikaru looked away, a scowl on his face, "It's nothing." It's everything. "I'm just upset that no one told me." How could he leave me? "And we have no way to communicate." He won't even talk to me, even if we could. "Will he come back soon?" Bring him back. Or else, I will.
His mother regarded him intensely. There was something her son wasn't telling her, but it wouldn't do good to force it out of him.
"Kaoru thought that it would be best if you two could be your own person, not shadows of each other. Personally, I think it's good for both of you. It might open your world up to other people."
And without knowing it, his mother had hit the proverbial nail on its head; opening up their world to others. That was it; this whole problem was because of this notion - this stupid idea - that someone should step in and ruin everything they had.
Hikaru's eyes widened when it finally hit him.
Kaoru had never wanted to step out of their world.