Hikaru and I stood there as Kyouya and Suki filed out. Mother's face was stony, and Father kept most of his attention on her.
"Let me explain," Hikaru said quietly, glancing at me under hooded eyes. "It's definitely not what you think."
"Son, I think it's exactly what I've been told it is. I've spoken with the staff we left here, and they all say the same things."
"How do you know they're not lying?" he hazarded, keeping away from the issue.
"They do the laundry, Hikaru," our father explained in a very low voice. I wondered where I put my paper bag for a moment before experiencing a nose-tingling, plunging sensation. I was almost dizzy.
"I love Hikaru," I whispered, eyes trained on the ground. "He loves me. We're all we need. Please understand: no one could ever know me like him, and I wouldn't want that from anyone but him."
"Kaoru…" Hikaru murmured with an expression I'd never seen on anyone before slapped on his face.
"It's better to just be honest sometimes," I told him.
"Kaoru, you know what you're saying, don't you? Boys, this isn't…right! What…" Mother cried, hands moving around her words. "What did we do wrong, to have such confused sons?!"
"Mom, we're not confused!" Hikaru jumped in. "For once, I'm actually positive about what I want. I need Kaoru, and I'm not going to leave him, no matter what."
"You…" her eyes grew tight and cold. "We'll see."
She stormed out, leaving behind our father.
"Aren't you going to say it, too?" Hikaru demanded, hand finding my shoulder. "We're sick, aren't we?"
"Oh, sons," he sighed, smiling in that hard-to-describe fatherly way. "If…If this makes you happy…as long as it stays fairly secret, I will support you."
Hikaru was dumbfounded, but I smiled at the man. Kyouya reentered the room as our father asked, "But are you sure this is what you want?"
"Hitachiin-san, I believe your wife is terrorizing the maids. It would be pertinent to fetch her before she makes this into a major scene," he sniffed, though not unkindly for him.
As our father sighed and excused himself, Hikaru held me close to him.
"At least he's on our side," I whispered, feeling my twin nod in agreement into my neck.
"Now, where'd that bitch go?" he growled, turning to Kyouya.
"Home," the other replied, straightening his glasses. "She's giving you that week now."
"Damn whore," Hikaru swore, slipping out of my grasp.
I couldn't disagree.
How could I defend her anymore?
Hikaru was rightly infuriated.
"Meddlesome bitch!" he continued, kicking the bed viciously before falling atop it with a thump.
"What now, Kaoru?" Kyouya pressed gently, scrutinizing gaze dissecting my resolve.
"I…I think I'll have a chat with Akira when he comes home from college tomorrow."
"He's in college?" the bespectacled boy asked, mildly interested.
"Sophomore," I replied, biting my lip. "I want to know just how much she's been lying to me."
Aikawa Akira sounded, through reputation, to be much like Ootori Kyouya. Top of his class, heir to his family, cool, collected, calculating…
…and not to mention evil to the core.
Sitting across from him in my won living room, I was experiencing an odd emotion of split disappointment and relief, as the young man before me appeared nothing like what I'd expected.
Of course, it should first be addressed exactly how he came to be sitting in my living room…
Suki had told me some days before that her brother would be coming home from university—Tokyo University—on the day following her little coup. I had mentally filed this away without even realizing I would need it for this or any occasion.
"But how do we contact him, Kaoru?" Hikaru demanded icily. I felt storm clouds beginning to rise around him and I swallowed my fear, nearly choking on it.
"That's where you come in, Kyouya-senpai," I said, turning to the frowning afore-mentioned. "Surely your family would have done business with the Aikawa family in the past! Can't you dredge up a number?"
"Not Akira-san's, no. Possibly the main house number; but I already said I wouldn't help, Kaoru," came the frosty response.
"Smirk all you want, Kyouya-senpai," Hikaru sneered, "but this is serious!" He turned to me. "Kaoru, how can you possibly expect meeting with this 'Akira' will solve anything?"
To which I smiled and said, "I don't." Soon afterwards, Kyouya agreed to help me.
With his aide, I managed to contact his cell phone through the main house, and we spoke for the first time.
"Aikawa Akira. Who is this?" His voice sounded guarded.
"…Hitachiin Kaoru," I said, holding my breath and wondering just what Suki had told him, or her family for that matter.
There was a pause.
And a sigh.
"…Ah. I suppose you want to speak to me about my sister."
"Probably not about what you'd expect, but yes. I think it's a fairly important matter."
"Of course. I'll be in town tomorrow…as you've probably heard. I'll come by at night, to avoid…complications."
"I understand. Thank you very much for your time."
"Not at all."
I hung up the phone, teeth grabbing my lower lip again.
Hikaru shot me a half-concerned glance.
"What'd he say?" he asked with a frown.
"He'll come by tomorrow night. I should tell Kyouya-senpai…" The Ootori had left some time earlier to procure the desired number. "I guess I'll call him."
"Don't bother," Hikaru spat, glaring at the wall. "Let the prick wonder."
I sat down next to him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently. "Don't be mad. Please, don't be angry with him. I've always been selfish with him; he might have just had enough."
"What kind of friend leaves when it's inconvenient?" he growled. His eyes held a deeper hurt than I'd expected, especially considering how he'd never lingered when it would be 'inconvenient'for him.
'Is that it? Is he jealous because of something like that?' I wondered.
"Hikaru, you know I love you, right?"
He blinked, looking over at me.
"Well, yes but—"
I shut him up with a kiss.
"Then stop worrying about Kyouya-senpai and relax. We'll figure this out."
The door flew open and we jumped apart as our mother stormed into the room.
"Okay, boys; just because I can't stop your…unnatural relationship does not mean I'll encourage it. From now on, I want you two sleeping in separate wings. There are plenty of open rooms. I don't care who it is, but you can't both sleep in here!" she bellowed, stance defiant, bleeding authority.
"I'm afraid I have to agree with your mother on this one," Father said, timidly joining the room and standing beside our mother.
"No," Hikaru said plainly, hand rejoining mine.
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Mother demanded. "It isn't up to you!"
"I can't sleep without Kaoru here. I worry too much."
"Hikaru…" I whispered, squeezing his fingers. "I can't sleep without Hikaru either," I said in a louder voice.
"You two…I will not let up on this one! You will both separate at night! I will not allow you to…to…"
"We won't have sex anymore, if that's what you want," Hikaru tried to compromise, bluntness making me wince a little. "We won't separate because of that. What we have means more than that."
"Boys, it's not just the sex…We think you've just been together too long. You're mixing that up with love. You just need time apart."
"Father, we've been apart before, and it hurt so much…I hated it, Father!" I explained with emotion. "He was gone, and it hurt so much…"
"Only because you'd always been a pair!" Mother shrieked. "Oh…why couldn't you have been normal? Don't you want families and children of your own?" the woman sobbed, making a complete emotional 360. She pulled out a handkerchief, fleeing the room—again—like a miffed toddler, leaving our father to make things right again.
"Looks like we won," I commented dryly as he slinked out behind his wife, turning to my twin. He was looking away from me. "Hikaru?" I reached for him, but he flinched away from my touch, pulling his other hand out of mine to cover his face.
"Hikaru, what's wrong?"
"I'm s-sorry," he blubbered, beginning to sob. "I…I really did hurt you, didn't I?"
"Hikaru, that's all gone now. We're here, where we are, all because we can both be hurt so much. Don't you feel happy?" I asked, making him let me touch him, rubbing his back as I watched him shake.
"Who w-would be hap-py knowing that they h-hurt the only person they care about, Kaoru?" I forced his body around so I could hold him to me, smiling as he cried like a baby.
"Because I'm happy now, Hikaru. Please believe that I am happy."
His fingers clutched at my shirt.
"I'm glad that me being sad makes you sad, Hikaru."
"Don't…Don't mention it," he snuffled, head on my shoulder long after his tears had run dry.
"What do you want to do tomorrow? We don't have school."
"Let's go to the Ferris wheel," he mumbled into my skin. "You like them, right?"
I laid us down, pulling the sheets over his shoulders as I consoled him still.
"Okay, but what about you. What do you want to do?"
"Baseball…game…" he murmured drowsily.
"All right. Now, go to sleep. You must be tired."
"Long day…" he groaned, shifting his weight slightly.
"Yeah. It was, wasn't it?"
While the following day was spent in merriment and fun, I had been dreading the meeting the entire time.
And soon enough, I was sitting before Aikawa Akira, fighting to keep my anxiety from swallowing my resolve.
"Hitachiin-san, I think it's best to talk through this matter quickly. I need to be back before I am discovered missing."
Neat, stylish black hair, expensive semi-casual dress, business-like manner, aura of importance…
His eyes set him apart from Kyouya.
Akira's eyes were blazing green beacons of hope and good intentions swirling around a dark pool of determination that I was familiar with. Of his well-defined and chiseled features, the eyes alone gave his face life and openness one would never find from Ootori Kyouya.
"Right. All right then. I suppose we should begin with…" I trailed off, sighed, and fixed him with a challenging glare. "I need to know your intentions towards Suki."
The look on his face told me all I needed to know.
"What…What are you talking about?" He sounded taken aback, and looked no less.
"You never wanted to marry her, did you?" My gut was feeling comfortable in my shoes, chilling the rest of me. My face was numb. My teeth couldn't even anchor themselves to my lip.
"No!" he denied sharply. "Originally, that was my parents' idea, but there's nothing to gain from taking her as my wife, political, emotional, or otherwise." Akira was shaking his head. "We both decided to defy them in that aspect; she really is like my sister."
Now his arms crossed and he leaned back to observe me critically. "Why? What are your intentions towards my sister, Kaoru-san? I've heard a fair bit about you…"
"Nothing in particular," I muttered, keeping my gaze away from his eyes that pierced me in the same way only one other's could. "We're supposed to be friends."
" 'Supposed' to be? What's been happening?"
I offered him a grimace, looking at him between his eyes.
"She's blackmailing me."
"Ah. And you were friends before?"
"Yes! We were fairly close," I stated defensively.
"…Are you sure?"
My mouth ran dry as a new emotion entered his face.
One I didn't ever appreciate.
"What has she…been doing?"
"Suki told me everything, Kaoru-san. The Hitachiin family really would be an opportune alliance for the Aikawas."
I stood up, knocking over my chair.
"You've been…from the beginning…"
He smirked at me, green flaring and darkening. The emotion I'd glimpsed before blossomed into an ugly spectacle of overbearing arrogance.
"We have plenty of evidence against you, Kaoru." He dropped the honorific, fixing me with a diseased smile. "I suggest you cooperate. The business opportunity is great for you as well."
"You…You came into town because…"
"Yes. We passed a proposal to your parents earlier while you were out on your little 'date'; they'd be foolish to pass up this chance, especially since we're poised to buy out one of your prominent minor enterprises."
I stood there, feeling a panic attack well up in my gut, still in my shoes.
"I'll just see myself out," he said, rising and brushing off his coat. "I'll be looking forward to our next encounter."
As the door closed behind him, I fell to the floor, hands and knees barely supporting me as racking heaves came from my lungs and diaphragm.
I wanted to call Hikaru, or Kyouya, or even my parents at this point.
I knew how I probably looked—pathetic and incapable—but I truly couldn't stand up to escort myself to where Hikaru was, no matter how much I needed him.
I fell over on my side, lungs fighting to inflate.
"—karu…Hikaru…" I whispered, feeling my consciousness drifting in and out…
…and used my last moments of awareness to switch off the tape recorder in my pocket.
I came to with Hikaru stroking my hair.
"Was it that bad?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, in fact. With Kaoru's weak constitution, I'm amazed he didn't begin the attack earlier."
I sat up, struggling past Hikaru's half-hearted attempts to keep me down. Kyouya set the tape recorder down on the bed beside me.
"It's…well, it doesn't look good for you two. They really planned this well."
"But…why Kaoru?" Hikaru demanded. "We're not the richest or the most hospitable or even the best connected! Why not milord?"
Kyouya frowned at him, but explained, "Kaoru is probably more of a trophy to Suki. Akira-san probably told her to pick one of all of us to target. She could have been drawn to Kaoru for any number of reasons."
"It's not fair!" my brother shouted after a long pause. I patted his arm softly.
"And what is fair, Hikaru? Why do you deserve to be happy? What extraordinary thing have you ever done to justify your getting your every wish and whim?"
Hikaru blanched, looking down.
"It's not supposed to be fair, Hikaru," I said with penetrating bitterness.
We were in our room, as I could only realize as my vision cleared.
"What now?" I wondered aloud, room resonating with the misery of its masters.
"Plan our next move," Kyouya said with a trace of a smile. "Akira-san may be intelligent, but he's never fought with someone like me before."
Kyouya's words always held power.