Chapter Six
There were two new girls when Kaoru returned to work on Saturday. Both were tall—one blond and one a dark brunette and both with blue or grey eyes. The blond one looked scared, her blue eyes wider than what would be considered normal behind the thin frames of her dark blue sunglasses and lips pressed thinly together. She didn't look native, blond was not necessarily native to Japan, but she was pretty. Her flat stomach was accented by something that was called "the Pages Collar", a dark red belly dancer uniform that was generally just a red, plaid-printed bikini that every newcomer had to wear. It was her mark as a beginner, and a discriminating factor. Poor girl.
The second one was different. She had dark brown hair and pale grey eyes, narrowed in malice and power. Her clothing was dark black, and it resembled a suit more than skimpy clothing. Well, if you considered black leather pants and a plastic black zip-up turtle neck to be a suit. Her bulky black belt held three things: a cell phone, handcuffs and…a gun. Since when were the prostitutes allowed to carry guns…unless…
Kaoru crossed the main floor to the back room, which was more alive in the early morning light than the other room was. He coughed, overwhelmed by cigarette smoke, perfume and the overpowering smell of sweat and sex. It was hot in the back room, and the loud and somewhat rowdy talk of the girls and boys as make-up flew and stories were swapped. The red head immediately spotted who he wanted—the one person who knew almost everything about this place.
"Kanako—did we get a new overseer?" Kaoru asked, elbowing his way impolitely through the sea of bodies and clothing. "Who's the leather-lady?"
The brunette with the short brown hair blinked, looking up from the boy she was smothering in makeup. Smiling with her trademark seductive smile and continuing to apply the rouge to a boy that Kaoru recognized as Suzushima, she answered, "Oh yeah! Didn't you hear; the boss had him shot or fired—something, anyway—yesterday. Something about him hassling the clients AND us!! Yeah, he was a real pig and apparently that's something not tolerated around here. So the snake-faced leather-lady out there took his place." Kanako snorted. "This ought to be interesting, won't it? I've heard Ayanokoji is a real bit—"
Everything got quiet ever so suddenly and as the chatter gradually died down, the younger of the Hitachiin twins turned his tired eyes towards the door. There was the leather lady, and what was more, she had the new girl—the one in the Pages Collar—by the upper arm. Pages-Collar looked like she wanted to slap Ayanokoji, but just couldn't quite bring herself to do it. Shaking her slightly, the new overseer glared around the room.
"Who's going to show her around." It should have been a question, but it wasn't. No one said anything, quietly testing the new woman in power. Her eyes hardened and, for some reason, Kaoru figured she was a very competitive person—the type who'd do almost anything to show her power. "You."
Oh damn…
"You're talking to her, right?" Kaoru asked, pointing to Kanako. The brunette snorted.
Ayanokoji said it again—slowly and deliberately. "You—red head! Show her the ropes."
The Hitachiin sighed. He remembered…vividly…when he'd been shown the ropes. Somehow that act had gotten the last overseer killed. Kaoru grinned, wolfishly. He pushed off of the mirrored countertop and lazily strolled over to the two new girls. Up close, the Pages Collar looked dirty and rumpled, nasty white splotches on the chest. He sneered. "Welcome to hell," the boy greeted, remembering what the others had said to him on his first day.
The overseer released the new girl and removed herself from the room—immediately the dressing hookers began to talk again, although their topics of conversation had shifted from various things to the actions of Ayanokoji. Kaoru flipped his hair in contempt, looking the new girl square in her sun-glassed eyes and winking.
"I meant what I said, Page," he drawled, waving goodbye to Konako without even looking at her. "Welcome to hell. What's your name?"
She looked like she didn't want to say it, biting her lip and narrowing her eyes. They were startlingly blue—bluer than he'd originally thought. Pigment-less foreigners. "Éclair."
"Nice. People call me Kitten. What's your real name?"
"Éclair." She insisted, and this time Kaoru caught the accent.
"French?" he remarked, nodding slowly and pushing her out of the door. "Nice. The only thing I can say in French is…well, kind of sick. So, I'd get used to speaking Japanese—and get rid of the accent. It'll be bad for business. Also, we only have one main rule that you need to worry about: Don't deny a customer." He grinned cheekily and remembered how good it had been when he hadn't denied Kyouya. It had been nice.
"…Who are you?"
"Call me Kitten. Everyone else does."
"But…" she struggled for a second, looking around. "I…I don't understand… Who are you?"
Kaoru shrugged. If this girl was going to be purposefully dense, then so be it. "My name's Kaoru, okay? But around here, you can call me Kitten. It doesn't matter either way."
Lights were beginning to strove in the main room, even though the fact that it was still reasonably early in the morning ruled out the idea of any possible customers. The "Show" was about to start and the audience seemed to sense it. There was a sudden rush and then everyone was gathered in the main room, lounging at the bar, next to the door, on the sofas and everywhere in between. Half of them (mostly the men) surrounded Kaoru and Éclair, closing in and leering. Kaoru smirked.
"What….what's going on?" the French girl asked sharply, attempting to gain control of her surroundings. She glanced this was and that, practically blind in the dark room behind her sun glasses, yet unwilling the take them off.
He didn't want to partake in this. It was bad enough when his own initiation ceremony had happened, and watching would only bring back memories. So, looking down, the boy forced a grin. "Just do what they want, okay?" he warned Éclair in a tone that could have been snide. "Have fun, okay?" And taking his chance with the first client that happened to walk in the front door at that very moment, Kaoru took his leave and elbowed his way through the surrounding circle.
--
---
--
Haruhi jotted down the name 'Éclair' on her legal pad, massaging her temples (that name if far too familiar, she though) and tapping her pen idly on the desk. "What's the purpose of telling me about the new girl?" she asked—a trace of fatigue in her tone.
Kyouya didn't smirk this time, but instead picked a spot in the table in a sort of mock imitation of his lawyer. "Her body was found the day after—naked from the waste down and beaten. She was strangled." He looked Haruhi in the eye with a gaze on intense in-scrutiny and boredom. "Every day, at least one prostitute dies and maybe their deaths are reported, but no one's ever punished. I don't understand why this particular…death stirs up so much trouble."
"Most of their deaths are a mix of exposure and drug overdose. There's also the usual suicide and—occasionally—there's a murder. If our M.E. ever find cause for suspect of fowl play, we take those cases very seriously. A rope was found around that girl in the park's neck, and the only transfer was her own epithelials. There was no reason to think she was murdered."
"Spoken like a woman with something to hide," Kyouya smirked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table casually. "You suspected it was murder, didn't you?"
A small red ting spread across her cheeks. "Even if I did, I don't get a say in the matter." She busied herself with the papers around her and extracted a single one from the case file, inspecting it carefully before asking. "There were…traces of Xanax in Kaoru's system… Did you give it to him? You do have unlimited access to medicine."
Kyouya nodded. "Yes, I did. He was having trouble sleeping, so—as a doctor—I prescribed him some. You can check my records at the free clinic. I spend very little time there, so it shouldn't be hard to find my records."
Haruhi nodded. "I'll do that. But until then…Why was the boy having trouble sleeping?"
--
---
--
Hikaru did most of his business in the park. It was covered, full of people, varied and it was a good paypoint. He sold to a large variety of customers—from Americans, to Chinese; children to his elders; respected business men to the bottom of the barrel. The lot. The whole point of this operation was 'no questions asked', so when he received an order that was reason for him to go to the free clinic downtown, he did so with the slightest suspicion that he was getting himself into more than he knew.
Sure enough, when he took up a spot next to the designated dumpster behind the hospital, he was met a few minutes later by non other than…
"You?" he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow and stomping on the lit cigarette he'd just thrown to the ground. He propelled himself off the side of the trash can and walked tentatively towards the man at the other end of the alley. "Listen, just because you're doing my brother doesn't mean we have any business together—got that? I don't like you, so fuck off."
"Ah," Kyouya said, jutting out an arm to catch Hikaru before he could storm past him. "I do have some business for you. Here." He thrust a small, white medical bag into the red head's hands—as well as a small slip of paper.
Hikaru studied them, opening the bag and pulling out an orange bottle of prescription pills. He popped the cap with expert ease and dumped half the contents into his ungloved palm. The red head snorted. "These aren't Tylenol," he deadpanned, slipping the small things back into their container and waving the white paper in the man's face. "Why does this say Tylenol when they're really Xanax."
The brunette smiled. "It's a good thing that your twin has someone looking out for him. I actually expected you to know the difference and to understand why something that would be harmless under any other circumstances would have the dosage directions of a powerful sleep aid." Kyouya dug into his breast pocket and produced a roll of dollar bills, all of which he pressed into the elder Hitachiin's hand. "I trust that will cover your fee."
Whistling, Hikaru shrived everything but the money into the bag and tucked it into his coat pocket before proceeding to lick his fingers and count out the cash. "Alright…" he said after his initial count of the money proved to me more than enough. "Alright, I'll do it. Who are these for?"
"Your brother."
"Forget it."
"What?"
"I'm not giving my baby brother any of the shit you deal with," Hikaru just about yelled, violently reaching into his pocket for the medicine. He shoved everything into Kyouya's hands and folded his own securely across his chest. "I've seen what can happen to people who get hooked on these, and I'm not gonna sit by while you play doctor with my brother's addiction system. Go. Fuck. Yourself—and leave Kaoru alone. He doesn't need any pills."
And the boy made to push past the man and storm away from one of his—then—least favorite people in the world. Cursing the Ootori in his head, Hikaru dug both hands into his pockets and froze, procrastinating as long as he could before whirling about. 'What does he need them for?"
A snake-like grin spread across the brunette's features and he extended the bag and money back out towards the mirror image of his lover. "He can't sleep. I figured I'd help. Your brother's stressed, so I figured I'd help him the best I could. Since I can't treat the cause—treat the symptoms"
Hikaru pressed a few fingers to his head before pointing them towards the man. "Don't talk to me in riddles, man. Just don't. Do you know something about my brother that I don't? You'd better tell me."
Kyouya shook his head and exhaled, a low curl of steam rising from his nostrils and mouth simultaneously. He looked from left to right as though searching for someone who was wire tapping this transaction. Hikaru's impatient tapping of his feet made this who thing a little irksome, but the man managed to keep his cool. "No," he confessed. "I don't know anything about your brother—he won't talk to me either, but I am paid to understand what's going on without anyone telling me or with someone lying to me. So—Hikaru, was it?—take this to your twin."
The elder of the twins glared, narrowing his eyes. "And how the hell do you expect me to believe that either of us should trust you. We were doing just fine before you came along. Why should I think you're not going to hurt him?"
This successfully shut up the older man. The folds of his suit rustled in the chilly wind as the sound of an approaching ambulance startled both of them. The sirens blared and Hikaru motioned towards the back entrance of the hospital—which stood open a tad.
"Shouldn't you get back in?" he asked blankly, proving Kyouya with an easy out. "Some fancy, rich…illegal prescription writing doctor like you should probably change out of that suit and save some lives—isn't that what you're paid for?"
"Wrong, Hikaru," Kyouya corrected, turning and striding back towards the propped open door. "I don't work here. I own the place."
The red heads mouth worked silently for a few seconds, shock evident in his face and eyes slightly boggled. "You—You're an Ootori?!?!" He called after the bespectacled upperclassman.
He got no response.
--
---
--
Maybe…maybe something was wrong with Kaoru… Hikaru thought placidly, turning the pill bottle over and over in his hands and holding it up to the light. Sure enough, that was Xanax, enough for about a month's time and perhaps a little over.
Who the hell does that doctor think he is…It's not like he can tell me there's something wrong with my brother! He doesn't know Kaoru as well as I do, even if Kaoru's virtually accepted him into our world—that still doesn't mean he has the right to tell me about my own twin…He had no idea!
But he sure seems to, an unbidden voice in the back of the other twin's head.
Hikaru sat alone in his and Kaoru's room, bouncing idly on their bed and allowing his left hand to muss up his sheets while his right tossed the Ootori given medicine bottle up in the air and catching it again. He debated simply not giving the thing to his twin, but then…Kaoru would want to know why his brother was questioning his happiness because—yes—Hikaru was going to have a "heart-to-heart" with his brother about exactly why he needed the pills…
But…then…It was killing him! What was wrong with Kaoru! He needed to—
The front door creaked open in the other room, a signal that the younger of the Hitachiin twins were home. Hikaru caught the bottle once more and then froze in the dark, waiting…waiting….waiting… Until the bedroom door opened and the other twin stood, outline silhouetted by the backdrop of hallway light and looking tired.
"Hikaru?" he questioned, walking in and dropping onto the bed so as to sit next to his brother. "Why are you still up?" The elder didn't answer. "Hikaru?" the younger asked again, reaching out to brush a hand tiredly against his brother's. "Hikaru, what's wrong?"
"I should be asking the same question."
"What? Hikaru, you're not making any—"
"Kaoru, are you sleeping?"
This threw him off effectively, silencing them both and causing the younger of the two to look at his brother's hand, the one he had been stroking. The white end of a prescription bottle was sticking out from the O shape that Hikaru's pointer and thumb made, and then Kaoru caught on. "Did Kyouya give you that? That's the only reason you'd be acting so weird…"
"Why are you having problems sleeping?"
Oh…Oh…
Kaoru shuffled his feet before pulling them up to his chest and laying his head on his knees, red hair flopping with general fatigue. He sighed. "Yeah, yeah I am…"
"How long?"
"Three weeks; since I met Kyouya." He felt more than heard his brother stiffen beside him and hastened to add. "No, it's not him. It's more of that people generally hate it when you find someone secure and they tend to…" he flinched. "Hassle them."
Oh… "Oh…" Hikaru relaxed, only to stiffen again. "What do they do?" he demanded.
"Nothing much," Kaoru insisted. "I swear. They just steal my cloths—drench them, and all of that. Sometimes they just take the best customers away from me, but they've never hit me or anything, so there's really nothing to worry about." He held up a hand to stay his twin's objections, and laying back. "Look, it's fine, Hikaru—I'm fine."
"But—"
"I am!" Kaoru insisted, his voice getting a little louder than he intended. Both the boys froze as there was the sound of disrupted snoring from the room next to theirs. Kaoru looked to Hikaru and then down to the sheets as the regular sounds returned to the house. Suddenly, the younger of the Hitachiins looked woozy and allowed gravity to take care of the rest, his body bouncing on the mattress.
Hikaru startled. "Kaoru--!" His twin blinked open a bleary eye and tried to smile. He couldn't, but the general fact that he could move put the older of the twin's nerves to slight rest.
"Go to sleep, Hikaru."
"What about you?"
Kaoru paused. His eyes darted to the pill bottle that his brother was holding, then back up into a mirror set of amber eyes. Hikaru looked away; he didn't want to, and jumped when he felt his brother's hand on his elbow. Without words, the two knew what was going to happen eventually. He sighed and, without any gusto, shoved the bottle into his twins hand.
"Thank you, Hikaru," Kaoru said as his mirror image lay down next to him, and he popped the bottle top.
Sleep…
--
---
--
"So, you don't deny it?" Haruhi asked, jotting that down on the paper. Distastefully, she noticed that she'd reached the end of her first legal pad page. She folded it back and began on the new page, paying no attention to the indents of the pervious.
'Of course not," Kyouya conceded. "I told you it was me, and my reasons for giving him the drugs. How can I deny what I've already told you? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"
She bit her tongue to hold back a reply—one that would undoubtedly scathe and hurt—and busied herself with clicking the back of the retractable pen. "Alright, then. You still haven't told me anything of interest, Ootori."
"But you're not really after anything of interest, are you, Haruhi?" Kyouya asked softly, a smirk curling his lips. "You're just waiting for me to slip up in my story."
Her chocolate brown eyes narrowed. "I am not, Ootori."
He laughed slightly, a hollow sounding laugh that echoed. "Well, I guess you've caught me then. The girl who died—her name wasn't really Éclair. I just enjoyed watching you jump. Her real name was Leah, and the reason she had those opera glasses was lack of pigment in her light blue, American eyes. Interesting, isn't it? That I can take something so unrelated and bend it to fit the circumstances."
Her face fell. "You…you lied to me?"
"Of course."
"You…you…KYOUYA!!" Haruhi slammed her hand on the table and made to stand up, leaning over the table so that her face came within a foot of the brunette's. Her cheeks tinged ruddy pink with rage. "Kyouya, I'm only trying to help—I'm only interested in the little boy who you said you loved, and you're making this overly difficult for me by lying and—why are you smiling…"
Indeed he was. "You called me 'Kyouya', Haruhi."
She froze. Had she? Why yes, she had. Reverting to old and broken habits were never good, especially when those habits could tie you to a potential murderer. Haruhi sank, slowly, into her chair, smoothing her skirt and hair, praying to the gods (and her mother) to give her patience. Shadow King…
Kyouya gave her a smile that clearly said Androgynous Commoner.
--
---
--
The next morning was anything but laid back. A good night sleep—or more the ability to pretend to sleep under the influence of the muscle relaxors—had opened new sensory doors for Kaoru. He was now aware of things that had just seemed so unimportant when he'd been too tired to function. The sweaty clamminess from the numerous shots of adrenaline and orgasms made his skin crawl, the dingy light that filtered through the rooms shuttered windows woke him, and the sound of the garbage man doing his daily business. Vaguely, the red head wondered if the trucks had always driven these streets, only to figure that of course they had.
The sheets were mussed and tangled, taught around Kaoru's torso as only another figure in the blankets (hogging them) could cause. He startled for a second, wondering who he had slept with the night before and what they had given him for such an excellent downer. Then it came back to him; his brother had given him Xanax, and although it had been his twin who had given him the pills, it hadn't been for the sexual experience of screwing someone with corpse light tendencies.
Smiling slightly to himself, the younger of the twins skillfully disentangled himself from the sheets, having numerous experiences with waking up next to someone who was considered coyote ugly, and made his way to the shower.
Sure it was cold, dirty and cramped, but after seven minutes under the high pressure nozzle, one never felt dirty. However, that may be a given, what with the damaged nerve endings, hypothermia and allover chill. When his hair was thoroughly drenched, Kaoru took a moment to grope for the soap bar, only to remember that they didn't have one. He sighed, turning off the water and stepping onto the cold tile floor, the sensation more than enough to send a violent shiver up his already frozen spine.
He tried not to inhale the smell of sweat and sex when he put on the black and blue sweat shirt that doubled as a sleeper. Kaoru noticed, mutinously, how thin his waist was—his ribs acting like the shadows of a chain link fence, and his hips the dramatic shelves. It was a rather unattractive hourglass frame, portraying that he was anorexic or something similar. Sneering at his reflection in the mirror, the young Hitachiin examined his image very carefully, pulling the baggy clothing tightly around his midsection before letting it go: there was a major difference.
"Oh, you're up early," came a tired voice from the door frame. Kaoru paused and looked around, spotting his mother and waving slightly in place of a hello. She smiled—or rather, tried to, but the large bruise on her cheek at the split lip made it rather hard to do so. "You look like you've had your first good night's rest in a long time, Hikaru."
Kaoru didn't have the heart to tell her that this had been the first good nights rest he'd had, nor that he was not Hikaru. "Yeah, mom," he managed weakly instead. "I feel much better."
"Are you going to stay and have breakfast with your father and me? It would be just like old times, don't you think? Sitting around, eating, laughing, talking…" Yelling, cursing, hitting, drinking…
"No," Kaoru said, reaching up a hand to self consciously twirl his damp bangs around his finger. "No, I think I'm going to go out and take a walk…Thanks, though. And, mom, if Hi—Kaoru wakes up, will you tell him that I'll meet him at the downhill deli at lunch time, please?"
"Sure thing, sweet heart," the empty shell of the female Hitachiin replied, already drifting down the thing and narrow hallway towards the living room. In a matter of seconds, Kaoru could hear the sound of her light snoring and the rustle of the newspapers she must have fallen asleep on.
Be that as it may, he had been serious about that walk. The whole house smelled like mold and smoke, and it was a nasty display of peeling wall paint and broken furniture in the daylight. Perhaps some fresh air would do him good, so Kaoru hurriedly snuck back into his joint room and tore a piece of notebook paper from a notebook and penned a quick note to Hikaru, much saying the same thing he had asked his now incapacitated mother to relay. He managed to remember to grab a jacket before exiting the room with a quite click of the door closing, and even managed to sneak past the rest of the houses' occupants unnoticed.
Kaoru was a ninja.
The one thing about the Xanax—in warm weather, it was perfect on an empty stomach. In the biting cold of the winter season, it caused Kaoru's nose to run, which resulted in him sneezing violently. This seemed to be a key reactant for his gut to cramp slightly, complaining openly about the lack of nutrition in its depths and sending volt after volt of muscle seizures throughout his body. This made the younger of the red heads pause less than three blocks into his stroll, hunch over, and wretch dryly while leaning against a wall. Little to nothing came up in the first three go's, but on the third attempt in that spot, some milky white, putrid liquid forced it's way up his throat and out his mouth.
The Hitachiin straightened up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He hated throwing up as much as the next person, but to do it with nothing to throw up was disgusting and allover useless form of the discomfort. He hated it.
The vomiting left his knees weak and somewhat shaky from the aftershock, and, thinking it for the best, Kaoru sat a couple feet away from the initial site of the unpleasant reaction and decided to look to see where his feet had taken him. It was a site reasonably close to the bus stop he got off at after work; in fact, the place must only be a few blocks in one direction or another, and the building behind his back was defiantly familiar. Cold, stone brink pressed through the fabric of the jacket on the nearly deserted comfort shopper strip, the grocery store, baby boutique and post office alight, but with no friendly jingles that announced the entrance or exit of customers. It was sort of like a dead holiday card.
Kaoru's breath rose in a smoldering pillar above his head, doubling in quantity once he tried to stand again, feeling the sudden power sure in his knees and knowing it was now or never. He moaned lowly, but managed to stay balanced and aloft. "Gravity," he said darkly, "I have beat you again."
Perhaps the park was open…
He began to walk towards the general area that he knew an old children's school playground sat, rusting away, fighting the urge to whistle. It was looking to be a better day than most.
He heard it too late.
The general taptaptap of a rapid walker, and the heavy breathing of someone who was working themselves up to do something drastic. Kaoru was about to turn to see exactly who else was out this early and why they were walking this way when something thick and heavy hit him square in the chest. The red head fell to the ground, coughing and feeling as if his lungs had burst open on contact.
There was a sudden pained pressure in his gut and two massive hands wound their way around his own ones, trapping Kaoru, defenselessly, against the pavement. He wanted to cry out, but couldn't—there was barely enough air in his lungs as it was to keep blood and oxygen flowing through his brain as it was! His head hurt, as well as the back of his eyes, and he was sure his back would re-bruise the markings he had had before. But more importantly at this time was the man who, was now pinning him with a deadly intent in his eyes.
"Whore!! You slut!! Do you know what you've done to me, you stupid harlot!!" If Kaoru had any question of who was doing this to him before, he didn't even have to open his eyes to realize that it was… "You've ruined me! You got me fired over some stupid and harmless harassment—and now you're going to pay, you stupid, fucking hooker!!"
It was the Ringleader.
Oh no.
Fighting for his breath, the red head managed to gasp. "I didn't do anything! I don't even know why you were fired! Please—let me go! I'm begging you—"
"SHUT UP!!" Kaoru felt the cold sting on his cheek of being slapped, the pain emphasized by the cold and the ring that the man on top of him was wearing. He bit his cheek and felt his head fly sideways, smacking the pavement. "You shut up, you filthy little slut! I got fired because one of you said I fucked you when you didn't want it, and since I haven't screwed any of you whores, ever, it was a lie and only you would tell such a lie, Hitachiin."
Kaoru had no idea when this whole thing had moved to a alleyway, but as he looked around in dismay at the garbage cans and the stray alley cats, he felt a sense of impending doom descend upon him. The ringleader moved his knee to the side of the younger boy's thigh so that he was straddling him, keeping legs and arms effectively pinned as the red head struggled. He thrashed, groaning and gasping as every which way he turned was thwarted by the bigger, and considerably stronger, man on top of him.
"Get off! Please—I didn't do it! I didn't do anyth—"
"You think because you've got a rich fucking regular that you're better than us, don't you, but you can't help remember who you started with, can you! You're so high up their on your horse that you figure the Ootori can save you—bur guess what. He'll use you and deny any contact with you as soon as he gets a better wife. You should give it up, Hitachiin. Ootori doesn't love—he won't even fucking miss you when I'm done with you."
The boy felt his eyes grow wide and his pulse quicken as his movements became more irate and jerks. "L-let go! Please, don't kill me. I'll do whatever you want. Just don't hurt me." He had no idea what was coming out of his mouth—it sounded like gibberish, and it very well might be considering that the man had now moved both of Kaoru's wrists into one hand and had reached the other down to pull viciously on the buttons on his blue jeans.
"You think you're so pure and clean—I'll fucking ruin you." And he believed him.
Worming one hand free, Kaoru balled his fist and sunk it as hard as he could into the ringleader's gut, forcing the other man off him and leaving the boy with a harsh throbbing in his wrist. It felt broken.
Flipping over as fast as he could, Kaoru managed to get to his hands and knees before he heard the other man launching after him and left his body hit the disgusting pavement ground with the force of a bomb. His face ground in the cement for a moment before, swearing, he was forcibly flipped over.
"Try a stunt like that, and I'll cut your mother's throat," came the warning growl as the face of the older man came nearer and nearer to the younger. Kaoru felt his pants being unbuttoned and thrashed again. He would have kneed the other if his knee caps weren't pinned under the man's legs, and he would have hit him again if there wasn't a sense of foreboding that the second he could try, his neck would be broken and that threat on his mother's life would be made good.
Kaoru hated this. He could feel the other—hot and sweaty against him, moving and laughing lowly, like this was his fetish to rape sex slaves in an alleyway before killing them. The red head's stomached lurched again, and, for a second, it felt like he was going to chock on his own vomit—but the bile reseeded in his throat mercifully.
By now, his pants were worked down to his knees, and the ringleader was hoisting himself off Kaoru's lower half for a good few seconds. He curled into a ball, bringing up both knee's sharply into what could have been anywhere between the man's thighs and chest, before forcing himself to flip over again and make a run (or crawl) for the mouth of the alley way as a low moan sounded from behind him.
"YOU WHORE!!"
Kaoru's hand landed on a medium sized chunk of brink—the same color and general shape of the building they were behind—and without even thinking, turned just enough so that he was allowed by his position to hurl it at his attacker. That did little to nothing.
There was a sharp intake of breath on the Hitachiin's part before he curled up into a ball and felt his side suffer several series of rough kicks and one or two punched. His head was swimming and the man forced him onto his back once more, the body beneath him going limp and slack. He smiled triumphantly. "They said I fucked you—well, I didn't—so the crime might as well fit the punishment…"
His words were making no sense. Kaoru coughed as he felt two thick hands encircle his neck and bring his head off the pavement. A dark, threatening abyss of darkness was hovering around the corners of his eyes and the bile was rising in his mouth again; he wanted so much to be allowed to slip into that deliciously numb coma, but as the man lowed himself closer to the boy's ears, he couldn't.
"I'm going to get your twin, too, you whore. I will find him, and I will kill him and I will fuck him up, too. This will be double the fun."
The abyss froze—froze stark white and furious. "Don't…" Kaoru struggled, his tongue feeling leaden and weighted. "Don't you dare…fucking touch him!!"
And with one final heave and effort—the ring leader was thrown flat on his back and Kaoru sat bolt up right, ignoring every single pain he felt and propelling himself towards the end of the alleyway. And there, clear as day, was something that might have been akin to an angel.
There, garbed in a white overcoat and carrying a bag of bread, vegetables and other miscellaneous things from a grocery store, was a man. A man wearing a thick and puffy black cap that shielded his eyes from the wind, but failed to cover all of his bright blond hair. A man who paused for a second and turned when he heard something that sounded like an animal screaming for help. A man who's eyes narrowed underneath the cap when he saw a thin little red headed "child" reaching out a hand while simultaneously trying to throw off an oversized man.
"Oh my god…" he whispered to himself for a split second before dropping his bag of items into the soggy gutter without a second thought and taking a step forward.
--
---
--
"Yes, I get it, Ootori," Haruhi said exasperatedly. "You weren't the only one who wanted him dead."
"I didn't want him dead at all, Haruhi. You're reading far too between the lines. All of you people are, if you ask me. And with all due respect, aren't you supposed to be on my side. You are my lawyer, after all…" Kyouya offered her a cocked eyebrow and a quietly shared smirk.
"I have yet to form my opinion of you—as of now, I think you killed him, and I'm determined to get to the bottom of this. Now, if you don't mind, tell me what happened the day that the Hitachiin boy was almost raped…" She winced, mentally adding an 'again', to the end of that statement.
There was a chuckle. One that was really starting to piss the commoner off. She glared, but before she could snap out anything, Kyouya held up a hand and asked jovially. "He didn't tell you?"
"Who not tell me what?!" she demanded. There was a prickling sensation that ran along her back that she should have paid attention to, but the intensity of which she was focusing on the brunette's eyes was a little too much so to leave feelings for such trivial things as shivers. "What are you talking about?"
"And here he preached to us both to always be open with our daily events in high school. I remember that he wanted you to tell him how many dresses you discarded and how many companies I put out of business one day, but was so exhausted from the all nighter that he pulled, that the fool asked me how many dresses I had destroyed and asked you how many stocks you had tried on." He allowed himself another chuckle. "Epic times…And you he didn't tell you about saving a human's life while he went shopping…How interesting…Do you think that he told the daily events to his fiancée before the two of you became adulters and eloped?"
There was a tender and vivid blush upon Haruhi's cheeks, but she bit back a stinging response and gritted her teeth. "No…" she ground out. "Tamaki did not tell me about saving a prostitute from an upset pimp…Would you care to elaborate?"
A wolfish smile. "Don't I always fill in where he screws up?"
--
---
--
It was am angel, although it appeared to be nothing more than a man when Kaoru saw him up-close. A blond man, with slightly larger than normal, violet-blue eyes that spoke fathoms of detail and happiness. He seemed to be smiling a great deal for someone who had just beaten up a rapist and turned him over to the police. The red head wondered if he now expected something in return, and self-consciously made a fist around the button and zipper of his pants under the coffee shop table, intending to keep the two firmly in place for as long as he could without looking ungrateful or weird.
The blond man returned to their table with two steaming mugs of brown sludge and extended one out to place on a logo emblazoned coaster. Kaoru reached for it and was slightly surprised to see marshmallows floating in his drink. "Uh…excuse me…"
"Yes?" the blond man asked, an ancient French accent hidden well under many years of experiencing the Japanese cultures. "What's wrong?"
"Uh, nothing's wrong, sir…I was just wondering why you put marshmallows in your coffee…It seems a bit odd, I'd say."
"Odd?" the blond man echoed. "Coffee? Dear child, this is hot chocolate. Haven't you ever had it? It's quite popular—try some! It's delicious!!"
Kaoru was weary. His face hurt and smelling the drink too deeply hurt the side of his face that the ringleader had cold cocked him on half an hour before hand. The inside of his mouth hurt something awful, too, and whenever he tongued the cut on the roof, he could taste blood. Perhaps drinking this wasn't that good of an idea, but the open and expressiveness of the man's eyes almost made him want to.
Gingerly, Kaoru took a sip, eyes never leaving the other's, and ready to pull the cup away if he was given the slightest inclination that the other was lying to him. There was no lie: the chocolate was delicious and as soon as he started, he couldn't stop sipping—drinking it a little by little so as to savor the flavor, and texture. Somehow, the marshmallows made everything taste better as well.
By the time the red head lowered the cup again, only the dregs remained, as well as the violet gaze. The blond smiled and extended a hand over the table towards the boy. "I'm Tamaki."
"Kitten." Kaoru responded, shaking the hand before adding, unsurely, "But…you can call me Kaoru."
There was that damned happy smile. It made no sense. Who would be smiling? Why now? "Nice to meet you, Kaoru. Are you alright, by the way? That man worked you over pretty well—was it personal? He seemed to have it out for you, and I'm scared he would have killed you if I hadn't stepped in."
Amber gaze darted down and he allowed his dirty bangs to flop into his face. "He probably would have. I don't know his name, but I work with him…"
"Oh, you work!?!" there was a tone of childish curiosity that made Kaoru look back up at Tamaki with an incredulously look. "You're so young! Where do you work? Was he a colleague?"
Kaoru gaped. "…I guess you could say that I'm a…Host? Whatever you'd like to say about it. And…I guess you could say he was a disgruntled employee…I don't know how to explain this…it's a long story and my brother should be here soon."
"Oh, you have a brother? Lucky! I always wanted one, but I was an only child instead. Do you have any other family?" Tamaki was…odd. But in a nice way.
"I have a mother and a father. You?"
There was a childish smile to match his voice. "I have my father and my grandmother and my fiancée…Oh, and I have my mother somewhere, but I don't know where." His gleaming eyes never left Kaoru as he began to embark on what the Hitachiin was sure would soon become the blond's life story.
"Yeah…lucky…I wish I didn't know where my parents were…Did she leave you?"
A sudden, slightly deflated air sounded around Tamaki and he glanced away for a second. "Ah…no. I, uh, I left her so I could become the heir to my father's estate…But I regret it every day."
"You left her, then? Good for you…"
There was silence, in which Kaoru took the liberty of stirring his spoon around the bottom of his cup and licking the utensil one it had a reasonable chocolate coating while waiting for Tamaki to speak. Where was Hikaru?
"I guess you've had a rougher life than I have…I envy you…"
He was speechless for a second, then came back with a slightly croaked voice. "You…you what?"
"I envy your life experience…it seemed expansive if you think it's best for a person to be lucky to leave his family…You seem like a smart kid." There was nothing mocking or derogatory about his tone. It was just simple and understanding, and Kaoru suddenly felt eons away from this man in his fancy white coat and hat, while he sat there in his filthy clothing, mussed up hair and bruised face. There were some extreme differences between the two of them, but for a second, Kaoru understood Tamaki with an utmost respect.
The bell above the door jingled and, instinctively, Kaoru turned to see his twin entering the shop, looking around and waving happily for a second, his expression suddenly becoming serious when he saw his little brother's face. If this space were anymore cramped, Hikaru would have sent tables, chairs, papers and babies flying in his haste to get to his twin and talk to him. The look in his eye clearly said 'prepare for emergency hug landing' and Kaoru obediently stood up, putting his arms around Hikaru's neck and saying a quick hello.
They let go of each other and Hikaru turned to stare at Tamaki, his eyes guarded and defensive, almost as if he thought the blond had done this to his twin. Kaoru could feel his brother's hands bunch up, and hear the grinding of his teeth, and quickly extended a hand to calm him. Tamaki seemed to sense that he was the prime suspect as well, for he hurriedly made to stand an extend his cup of barely drunk hot chocolate towards the two of them. "Uh, here you go. I'm not really thirst and I must be going…" his cheeks were tinged a bit red, but that could be attributed to the cold. "Farwell, Kaoru…Mr. Kaoru's brother…"
"You talk like an ancient lord," Hikaru pointed out rudely, pointing and not accepting the cup.
Tamaki looked taken aback. "Ah…yes, I guess I do."
"Do you expect us to bow down and call you our lord? Do you expect us to worship you as such?"
"Ah…of course not…"
Hikaru blinked contemptuously. "Alright then…Goodbye, my lord…"
Tamaki looked confused. "Ah...goodbye…"
And he left before Kaoru could even murmur a quick 'thank you' under his breath, a chill wind floating through the door as he exited and the jingle accompanying him as he walked. The twins watched him go, Kaoru tenderly detaching his hand from his twin's death drip and taking the cup that Tamaki had placed back on the table when he had placed the money down for the tab. He sipped it quietly as Hikaru watched the retreating white-coated back of the blond until he was out of sight.
"Kaoru…Who the hell was that and what was he doing to you."
Kaoru paused, his lips brushing against the cups brim as he thought of the best way to put the conflicting emotions in his head into words. Something clicked somewhere and a light bubl went off.
"He's just a friend…"
"A friend like Kyouya?"
"No…A hot chocolate friend…But let's go see Kyouya…"
OMG! DRAMA, if I do say so myself. Anyone enjoy my little double!usage of Eclair? I had fun with it! Originally, I just screwed up and only realized it when jumping back to present (I have no patcience for revising) and slipped that in. Rather effective, if I do say so myself.
Anyway...Like? Hate? Love? Want-to-throw-up-every-other-sentance? Drop a review, please. They make up for my horrible love life.