~Chapter 3
The ugly dog limped forward. Kaoru broke out in a cold sweat. He lifted his eyes to the beautifully bright, swirl of stars appearing in the sky, and was briefly reminded of one of his favorite paintings. He fought a shiver as the night air began to blow. He could hear the dog quickly approaching, and shut his eyes tightly.
'Oh, god, I hope this doesn't take long!'
He was honestly pleading to the heavens at this point to just make the pain stop. In a way, maybe this mutt was doing him a service. He could feel the warm, wet breath of the dog on his face now, sniffing him in a spastic, frantic sort of way. Kaoru unconsciously held his breath and grit his teeth.
*SLUUURP*
The dog's long, wet tongue traveled up one side of his face. Kaoru cracked an eye open. The dog was sitting next to him, whining softly. He put his cold, wet nose under Kaoru's chin and nudged him gently. Without really knowing why, Kaoru began to cry.
"Y-you stupid dog!" he croaked hoarsely through his tears. His cold hand involuntarily reached to stroke the dog's head. With the welcome attention, the dog sidled up snugly to Kaoru's body, and laid his head across his chest. Kaoru ignored the initial, extra pain it caused him, and continued to pet the dog with the only awkward, jerky movements he could manage. He was so warm… With the dog lying next to him, Kaoru barely felt the cold at all. He sensed the gentle thumping of the dog's crooked tail wagging against his leg. Judging by the dog's appearance, Kaoru guessed that he probably hadn't been touched in a very, very long time. He was amazed the dog was so friendly.
"Good boy…" he whispered, suddenly feeling very drowsy again. "Good boy."
When Kaoru next awoke, it was still dark. He felt a massive shudder overtake him, and noticed that the dog was gone. Hearing a noise above, he realized the dog was somewhere by the main road.
'Dumb dog…" he thought dizzily.
Oddly enough, he wasn't feeling much pain at the moment. It almost seemed as if his body was floating far away from his brain. He momentarily wondered if that was a good thing. As he began drifting in an out of a haze, Kaoru's foggy mind suddenly had a thought.
He felt his left arm and found his braided leather bracelet was still there. Slipping it off, Kaoru made a high pitched, kissing noise with his lips, (whistling was out of the question), and the dog quickly padded back towards him.
'Good boy,' Kaoru thought, rather than actually speaking. He felt around for one of the dog's front legs, and began clumsily tying the bracelet above one of his paws. Luckily, the dog didn't seem to mind and simply sat there, panting lazily, as Kaoru tried again and again to tie the knot. At last, he pulled the strings firmly and was sure the bracelet wasn't going to go anywhere. He then let his arms drop, exhausted. The dog stood, wagging its tail, and padded off again towards the road. As a heavy sleep threatened to overtake him for the second time, Kaoru hoped for the best.
'Find him, boy…'
**
Everyone had been searching for hours when the light of the rising sun began to slowly illuminate the woodland. The club had found Hikaru at some point in the early morning, wherein they'd all agreed to split up to cover more ground. Haruhi volunteered to accompany Hikaru, though. After seeing his completely vexed and pale face, the thought of leaving him by himself seemed cruel.
'Besides,' she thought rather guiltily, as they walked out of sight of the parked limo, 'This is all kind of just to make us feel better, anyway. They must have a hundred police sweeping the forest with a fine-toothed comb. It's not like 6 more people looking around are going to make that much more of a difference.'
She and Hikaru were walking along the side of the road with flashlights in tow. He had just finished talking to his father over his cell phone for the past few minutes. From what Haruhi could gleam, it seemed as if the police had covered most of the park with no success.
Hikaru's face was rather blank, but he snapped his phone shut with far more force than needed. "They're going to start searching the school." His voice was very husky from shouting all night.
"I guess that's the second best place to look," Haruhi agreed. They had left the park grounds over an hour ago, and were slowly making they're way up a hill of sorts. Haruhi stole a glance at the lone twin from the corner of her eye. Hikaru looked absolutely devastated, but he wasn't saying much. "Hikaru," she tried to sound reassuring. "I'm sure we'll find him soon."
"I should never have gotten that bike," he muttered. "I don't know, I think I wanted to rub it in his face a little, maybe. I just…"
His voice trailed off and he bit his lip with frustration. Haruhi shined her light down the grassy trench on the side of the road; still nothing.
"Kaoru's been changing lately, hasn't he?" she asked simply, facing opposite him. Hikaru glanced down at her in surprise. He then quickly looked the other way. "I mean, I've noticed how much you guys seem to be doing your own thing lately… You know, things changing can be a little scary sometimes, but usually, things have a way of working out for the best."
"But, I don't want things to change," Hikaru's voice was slightly strained. "Things were fine the way they were!"
"Well, I think you thought the same way before joining the host club, right? When we find him, give new Kaoru a chance. Maybe you'll both wind up being even better friends than you are now, eh?"
"But then stuff like THIS will happen," Hikaru spat bitterly. Haruhi was shocked at the tone in his voice. She didn't say anything more after that. They walked on in silence for a few minutes, and Haruhi noticed the sun had almost completely risen.
'Daylight,' she thought. 'We've been out here the entire night. If I'm tired, I'll bet Hikaru's completely exhausted by now.' As if to confirm her notions, Hikaru had just tripped over his own feet and barely caught himself from falling. The flashlight he'd been holding went sliding across the pavement to the base of the guardrail.
"I'll get it!" Haruhi quickly outpaced Hikaru in the direction the flashlight had gone. She bent over to retrieve it and suddenly came face to face with the ugliest, one-eyed dog she had ever seen.
"UAHH!"
Haruhi fell back in shock.
"What is it?!" Hikaru ran to her side.
"BARK, BARK!" the dog, excited at the commotion and noise, began to dance back and forth on its paws. It's kinked tail wagged most enthusiastically.
"God! That is one scary looking, demon dog!!" Haruhi gasped. After taking a few breaths, she smiled. "Seems friendly enough, though."
Hikaru, trying to mask his disappointment at the fact it was just a stray dog, took out his phone. "I'll call animal-control, I guess. Don't think a dog like this should be running around the pa-"
He stopped abruptly. Curiously, Haruhi looked up at him. He was staring at the dog intently, his mouth gaping in shock. Following his gaze, she noticed the thin, leather bracelet bouncing up and down on the dog's leg.
"BARK! BARK!" the dog suddenly hobbled off the side of the road, into the ravine below.
"Hikaru, is that-?"
Haruhi scrambled to her feet while Hikaru was already leaping over the railing. He slid down the side of the hill before hitting a rock and tumbling to a heap at the bottom. Quickly rising, he looked frantically about.
"KAORU?!" his haggard voice could barely carry any more.
"KAORU!!" Haruhi's clear tones echoed along the hillside behind him as she, more carefully, made her way down. "KAORU, ARE YOU DOWN HERE?!"
"BARK!"
They both heard the dog in the distance, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them over the thick vegetation, still wet from last night's storm. It had been only a couple of minutes before they both almost tripped over the half buried motorcycle. Hikaru made an awful choking sound as he surveyed the wreckage.
"BARK, BARK," the dogs cries faded into whines, and they both looked up to see him pawing at a seemingly lifeless body, lying against the bottom of the slope.
Neither Haruhi nor Hikaru moved for a moment. It was as if neither wanted to wrap their minds around the possibility of there being no life in the still and bloody form before them. Haruhi unconsciously gasped, covering her mouth in anticipated horror, as Hikaru, tentatively, approached his brother.
"Kaoru…" he said softly. It sounded to Haruhi as though he were trying to wake his brother from sleeping. Hikaru slowly bent down and took Kaoru's face gently in his hands. "Kaoru…?"
Kaoru's eyes fluttered ever so slightly. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, but somehow, he knew Hikaru had finally found him.
Hikaru gave a sob of relief at the sight. "Haruhi!" he cried, not letting go of his brother.
"Right!" Haruhi stood from the cowering position she had unconsciously sank into, and dialed Kyoya.
"Kyoya, we found him! We're a little past the south exit of the park, heading towards town! Ambulance, NOW! I'll come back up to the road!" This time, Haruhi hung up abruptly. She suddenly noticed the unfortunate looking dog, which had backed up a good distance when Hikaru knelt next to Kaoru. She held her hand out to it and clicked. The dog nervously took a step in her direction.
"Here, boy…" she called softly. "It's alright."
The dog slowly made its way to her side, wagging its tail with a bowed head.
"Good boy!!" she gushed, kneeling down and scratching vigorously behind the dog's grime ridden ears. "C'mon."
She began climbing the hill as fast as she could manage, the dog limping after her. Hikaru remained next to Kaoru's side, not taking his eyes off of him. He could not hold the tears back. Such a strange mixture of fear, relief, and pain was washing over him, he could barely think. Kaoru was alive, but he didn't look good. Hikaru could see deep red stains dotting the speed suit, and could hear the rasping noises Kaoru's chest made as he struggled to inhale every time he took a breath.
He gently touched his forehead to his brother's.
"I'm so, so sorry, Kaoru…" he whispered. "I've been such a fool about everything! Things will be different, I promise! Just…" his voice hitched as he gulped back the lump in his throat. "Just don't die, okay?!"
Haruhi had made it back up to the road, and could hear sirens approaching in the distance. The dog started to shrink at the noise, but she reassuringly put an arm around him. Paramedics were leaping out of the doors as soon as the ambulance came to a stop.
"This way, follow me!" she called. "And, driver!" she turned to the Hitachiin servant, who had followed the ambulance when they past his parked car. "Could you take this dog, please? Make sure nothing happens to it, okay?"
"Y-yes, miss," the driver stuttered, looking at the horrid creature. He hoisted the dog in his arms and proceeded to push the animal, which was somewhat unwilling at first, into the leather seats of his limo. The dog, completely wound up with the entire ruckus, pattered around the plush interior in a quick succession of circles, barking loudly as the driver slammed the door. His long, jagged nails were poking holes in the fine, Italian leather. The driver rolled his eyes with a long sigh. 'At least they found Master Kaoru,' he consoled himself.
Back down in the channel, Haruhi had to put her hands on Hikaru's shoulders and forcibly pull him away as the paramedics carefully lifted Kaoru on to the stretcher. He kept unconsciously gravitating toward his brother, even though they repeatedly asked him to stay back. He swallowed harshly as they strapped Kaoru in for the ascent. Haruhi laced her fingers in his and held his hand tightly for support. He gripped it back so fiercely, she had to struggle not to wince. Hikaru's grasp did not lessen, as they made their way back to the limo. The medics had told them they simply could not fit in the ambulance, and it would be much better for Kaoru if they followed by car. In the limo, the yellow dog had settled in the far corner. He looked at them with his one good eye, tail giving a small wag, as they climbed in and shut the door.
"Look, Demon Dog's tired too," Haruhi chuckled. Hikaru gave a strained smile, and his hand slackened a bit. Haruhi sighed in relief as blood returned to her limb.
"Demon Dog…" he repeated in a small voice. "Not the kindest name for a hero."
"No, but he sure looks like one, doesn't he?"
Hikaru only gave a slight nod, his eyelids drooping heavily. Haruhi put her hand into his red mop of hair and pulled his head down into her shoulder. His eyes closed and there was silence on the ride over. Haruhi knew he wasn't sleeping, but she hoped he was getting a rest of sorts.
