Yay!! Update!! Amazing, isn't it?!? ...Well, I think it is. :D I finally had the inspiration to finish typing it up, because between making mass AMVs and RPing and feeling the need to spend more quality time with people and after school activities, I haven't really been writing much. But, still, enjoy!

Chapter Six:

Snooping From France

Tiredly blinking, Kyouya rubbed his eyes and suppressed a yawn. His senses - barely awakened in the still infinitesimal hours of the morning - were slowed, jet lagged and dulled by a noun best known as 'blood type', but even in his current , grumpy, lethargic stupor, the Ootori still managed to sit upright and hold a casual telephone conversation with someone. That someone, of course, being the source of his current headache.

"Kyouya~!!" Whined the demeanor voice on the other end of the line. "Why didn't you tell me you were getting married!?!? I would have thrown you the most excellent, amazing, -tastic and utterly unbelievable stag party!"

"Sorry, Tamaki," the brunette sighed as the hum of pavement against wheels made its way through the seat. "It was a rather impromptu affair, one set in motion by our parents and solely for financial reasons. In fact, I'm amazed that the bridal shower and wedding were put together in the allowed time, let alone even the thought of a bacholorette or stag party."

There was an audible pout from the other end of the telephone, and just as Kyouya was about to tell his friend to 'either talk or hang up; I'm tired', Tamaki spoke again. "Well, why didn't you call to tell me!?! We must have talked countless times, and yet you mentioned nothing about this woman!!"

"That would be because you monopolized our long-distance conversations with questions about Haruhi and the baby, when you could have just talked to her about those sort of personal things."

"I do talk to Haruhi, but I needed an objective third party opinion! We both know that Haruhi would never admit anything was wrong with her, but in reality, I know that there is always something that could be improved upon in her previously impoverished life-style, don't you agree?" Tamaki took a breath, but did not leave the other man enough time to respond before going off, quite loudly, on another track. "Speaking of wrong, what has defected your brains!?! I don't even find out about this marriage until I call Haruhi's cell and ask why someone's playing the wedding march in D-major, only to get told 'Kyouya's getting married - love you, bye' and hung up on!? Who was your best man!?! Who taught you how to dance!?! And who was this girl, anyway!?!"

When it finally seemed the blond Suoh had ended his miniscule rant, Kyouya took a moment - pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose to stall for a moment to think - before he carefully started, "As I said before, Tamaki, this is an emotionless marriage, and while she seems like a nice enough girl, I believe she may be more into women than men to begin with, and is nothing more than a tool to trade between companies -"

"KYOUYA!!" Tamaki objected angrily at such a reference to a woman, but was paid no heed.

"-That would probably be why neither Haruhi, nor I, deemed it necessary to tell you. As for my best man, Rei-san and Hunny-senpai shared the role - and before you ask, yes, Haruhi was a bride's maid and she looked very nice in her dress." Although the other couldn't see it, Kyouya took the time to roll his eyes at the pleased giggle-sound from the other end of the line. "And her name is Kaoru."

Silence reigned, and in lieu of an exaggerated and overzealous response from the Suoh on the other end of the connection, Kyouya wondered whether or not they had been disconnected (France to Japan phone calls just weren't what they used to be). But then the conversation resumed on a completely different level and with a completely different tone.

"...I don't like that name..." Tamaki blubbered scathingly.

Rolling his eyes, even though he knew the gesture was unseen, Kyouya groused back, "Is this about those boys in your old school? The ones that tortured you and stole your chocolate milk?"

There was a sniffled of indignant displeasure. "No. No, those genetic freaks of nature traumatized boy myself and half the population of the school, but I would die before I let them have my chocolate milk! ...They did steal my pocky a couple times, though..."

Kyouya's car had just pulled into the parking garage of Ootori Zaibatsu's main office, and was now meandering down into the lower levels, toward the personalized parking spaces; the work day was well on its way to beginning.

"Listen, Tamaki," Kyouya began in his this-conversation-bores-me-is-of-no-importance-to-me-and-will-probably-not-even-stick-in-my-memory voice. "As enraptured as I am by your childhood exploits in your home country, I don't have time for mindless banter about the twins who tormented you in elementary and middle school at the moment; I have to work." Another audible whimper. "Call Haruhi if you're bored, and I can talk to you later this evening."

A long, exaggerated sigh. "Alright. Go do good things at work, Mommy."

Personally, Kyouya hated that nickname, but had long since learned that Tamaki would never call him anything else, and had trained himself to ignore it. "I'll see you when you return from France."

"Adieu, mon ami!"

"Goodbye, Tamaki."

They disconnected.

Someone was shaking his heavy, dead-weighted body. It was soft, feminine, and not enough to completely wake him from his stupor, but persistent enough to annoy him. Moaning and rolling onto his stomach in an attempt to ward off the offending action, Kaoru felt whoever it was attempting to wake him slide off the bed, and the hands leave his shoulders. Success - he sighed in relief.

But suddenly, viciously, a pillow to the head replaced the shaking and reflexes kicked in. Kaoru sat bolt upright, almost upsetting Ootori Fuyumi, who reeled back for another blow, singing something like, "Wake up, Ginger-Sister."

"I'm up! I'm up!! You didn't have to hit me!!" he snapped, reaching up a hand to smooth down his severely rumpled hair (plus extensions) and glowering at the brunette woman he'd met only twice before and who was already treating him like a doll or puppy.

Fuyumi shrugged, looking indifferent and smoothing out the wrinkles in the pillow case as she replaced it. "You sleep like the dead, Kaoru-chan. I was simply trying to tell you that you missed breakfast. Whatever you must have done last night must have really tried you out," she cooed with a wry smile, looking the red head up and down in such a way that made him feel the need to wash in boiling water in order to cleanse himself. "Tsk, tsk. Didn't even get out of your wedding dress, I see..."

"It's not like that!!" Kaoru protested, feeling his face flash the most indignant shade of red.

The woman was waving her hand, dismissively though, and his protests fell on deaf ears. "No need to be shy about it, Kaoru-chan. A marriage's wedding night is nothing new - especially to anyone in this residence. Save Haruhi, perhaps..." Fuyumi somehow managed to make crawling off the bed a graceful action, even under months of pregnancy weight and pounds of foul attitude.

Cautiously, Kaoru stood too, soothing down the front of his elaborate dress (that now, come to think of it, was too insanely heavy and beaded that it was a wonder he had managed to have a full night's sleep in it) and onto the cool carpet of his new bedroom. Someone had gathered his mess of scattered items and placed them neatly on the smooth table-top of a dresser (judging by the, erm, inherent lack of anything remotely resembling a magazine, Kaoru figured Kyouya must have disposed of it - thankfully); casually, he started for the pile and selected the androgynous change of cloths that had been folded and neatly placed under his sketch book.

"Oh...dear..." Kaoru head Fuyumi 'tsk' again, and found the sound utterly annoying. He turned to her, upper lip raised in a half-sneer to see that she was shaking her head. "You're not going to wear that, are you? I thought you were the daughter of a fashion designer."

"What's wrong with it!?!"

She continued to shake her head, murmuring more to herself than to him, "Oh, and I had hoped that Haruhi-chan would be the only one we ever met...What happened to that pretty dress you wore to the shower, Kaoru-chan? Do you have anything more like that and less like...that?"

Kaoru blushed again as Fuyumi degraded his choice of clothing. "They're being sent here today...All of them..."

Fuyumi was observing his body again. "We look about the same size - or rather, if I weren't pregnant. My old dresses may fit you - come with me, Kaoru-chan."

"What? Fuyumi-san, I can't -" the red head protested as his new sister-in-law grabbed him by the upper arm and, with far too much strength for a pregnant woman and too much enthusiasm for an adult, dragged him from the loft.

"Yes you can - the only thing you can't do is attend lunch looking like some sort of...tehe, commoner."

Lunch had been a splendid affair - rich, supple and exotic - but intensely silent on Kaoru's part. Haruhi (who seemed to be staying with the Ootori's until her husband returned from France), Fuyumi, Matsuki and Yuki all sat close together on the opposite side of the table from him, huddling heads as if conspiring to some innocent person's doom. They talked about things that Kaoru didn't understand; lawyers, pregnancies, their husbands - who Kaoru more of didn't know rather than didn't understand - and he didn't even think he wanted to know what it meant to be fully dilated.

After they had eaten, Fuyumi and Matsuki left - dragging Haruhi with them - to go 'commoner shopping' for the nursery, and Yuki had left for her ten-week check-up, leaving Kaoru utterly and completely alone. From what he understood, the Ootori men all but lived at their offices, and often did not return until late at night, if at all. And this, if understanding served, left the newest addition to the Ootori clan completely alone in the grand estate that, for all visual purposes, reminded him of a twenty-four-hour fitness center.

Three minutes on his own and Kaoru was already bored (a dangerous state of mind for any Hitachiin) and took to one of his and Hikaru's favorite childhood pastimes. No, no, not causing massive amounts of chaos, but rather, playing 'ninja', or exploring.

And thus Kaoru began to meander through the hallways that somehow managed to be light and dark at the same time, shuffling his feet in the carpet and actually pretending to be interested in the elaborate, scenic portraits on the wall, or bowls of perfect-looking fruit. He liked them all, generally, but in the amount of time it took for him to actually recognize the picture for what it was, he was bored of it; and as Hitachiin tradition dictated, if something was boring, get rid of it. So he walked away.

The maids quarters were painfully bland and personal - far too many pictures of little children that the cleaning staff only saw over the weekend - to be entertaining, and while the idea of turning the kitchen into a flambé was highly appealing, it seemed uncouth. That left the other family member's rooms - an interesting field of information and secrets that Kaoru was ready to exploit joyously for the sake of alleviating his boredom.

Only...the rooms were locked. All of them.

Sighing and slumping down into a defeated crouch by Yuki and Rei's private quarters, Kaoru pulled out his personalized cell phone with a flourish and set about composing a lengthy text message that managed to cure his boredom, if only for a moment.

To: Hikaru H.

You would not believe how unbelievingly dull it is at this place. It's like a doctor's waiting room - everyone's fertile and just sitting around - but the doctor never calls us in! Arg! And I can't even properly snoop; all the doors here are locked and the whole estate is so spotless that not even a spec of dust is left to amuse me!! Talk to me? Come over? Please, nii-san?

From: Kaoru H.

He reclined, head making an insultingly hollow 'thunk' against the wall. Various ideas swarmed through Kaoru's head, entertaining him with the possibilities of the contents of his twin's reply; maybe Hikaru would just bust in valiantly at any moment and rescue him from the unending spiral of destitute ennui. He turned the phone over and over in his hands and was just at the point of starting to hum (had it really only been...okay, five minutes, but still) when it buzzed dramatically, the screen alighting to display 'New Message: Hikaru H.' in blocky lettering. Eagerly, the younger of the Hitachiins flipped open the screen to find a rather...disappointingly short reply.

To: Kaoru H.

Can't talk now. Mum took me to a business meeting. Call later.

From: Hikaru H.

He wilted - almost visibly - as he closed the phone and pocketed it. So he truly was all alone. For some reason, now that that fact was confirmed by someone who wasn't even really there, it hurt a lot more and Kaoru found himself looking down at the floor. He pulled at a corner of the short-sleeved green dress Fuyumi had loaned him and dabbed surreptitiously around dry eyes - lashes laden down with copious amounts of mascara.

Someone shuffled somewhere close to him, and the sudden overwhelming sense of humiliation of being watched in his moment of despair. Quickly, Kaoru scrambled up, and although unable to pretend that he was doing something other than mopping about, the boy had spent enough time around the help in France that he knew how to pretend that he'd done nothing wrong.

The maid - a pretty little bint - bowed demeanorly and addressed him, "Ootori-sama, is there anything that I could do for you?"

Wincing only a tad at the way she said his 'name', Kaoru only shrugged. "What do people do for fun around here?"

"I...Uh...What do you mean by fun, Ootori-sama?" the girl seemed confused and it showed on her face. "Well...Most of the other women of the house go out shopping for clothing or baby toys."

Before he could stop himself (belittling maids usually led to dirty bedsheets in a totally non-sexual way) Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't need either do, I, so is there...a games room or a mysterious attic to explore."

She looked like a fish, mouth open and gaping with the inability to properly form words. It was unlikely that he was going to get any information trivial to his pursuit of fun from her. Sighing heavily, the red head turned his back on her and made toward the opposite side of the hallway. Maybe there just wasn't anything to do here anyway...

"Uh, wait, Ootori-sama!!" the young girl suddenly called after him, and raising an eyebrow, Kaoru turned back to her.

"Yes?"

"Uh, well, there is the young masters' private library - it's where all the young Ootori men spend most of their time when at home, so I - uh...that might be fun." She looked away abashedly, but Kaoru's grin widened.

"See? Fun~" he semi-taunted. "What's your name, anyway?"

She looked up. "Uh...Yuuri. Tsutakawa Yuuri."

"Well, thank's Yuuri," he said, smiling before hoisting the hem of the dress far enough off the ground for him to be able to jog toward the direction that Yuuri had indicated.

After only a couple seconds, Kaoru fell upon an unlocked door - this one even opened ajar to reveal shelf after shelf of large books with dull-colored bindings and multi-colored titles. A few were dusty, but all in mint condition; it wasn't as if they had been kept and cherished this way, rather that they had never really been read (or read and then replaced wither newer copies). Upon closer inspection, Kaoru was able to discern between the genres: biography, classic, informative, Almanac, encyclopedia, school text books, medical journals...boring, boring, boring.

What had that woman been thinking?! Was everyone in this household colorblind to the proper definition of fun and adverse to getting down on their knees and a little down-'n-dirty when playing hide-'n-seek or tag? That itself did not bother him as much as the apparent contagious nature of this humorless-ness.

Sighing, Kaoru began poking around the desks, all located in various secluded corners of the library and close to bookshelves that seemed to be personalized with the occupant's key subjects of interest or learning. Rei and Akito with financial and medical journals, Yoshio with a mix of everything, and Kyouya...more than just everything. Everything and more. Including...

"Diaries?!" Kaoru demanded aloud, scoffing as he pulled one of the many ledgers out of the confines of the shelf. Holding the spine in the palm of his hand, the red head allowed the bound covers to fall open before lazily flicking through the pages. Neat, flowing handwriting covered each printed line from margin to red margin in small, perfectly measured and equal script that would easily put a type-writer to shame. Dates were carefully set apart from other paragraphs and underlined, with important side notes standing apart from the general flow of writing and marked with thin parenthesis.

-

July 22nd

The Suzushima trading company sunk three of their international ships in an off-shore storm. They should consider shipping merchandise through air, not primarily on water - it would be a useless move for our company to suggest this, though. Pilots are less numerous than crews men, and more expensive to insure and employ, but they, at least, cannot abandon ship and merchandise at the first sign of a problem.

The degrading billboards advertising degrading cosmetics should focus more on the sexuality aspect rather than old women, perhaps showcasing younger, more youthful females in place of those far beyond the age where wrinkle cream and rejuvenating lotions will help.

-

Easily moving into the high-backed plush arm chair behind the desk, Kaoru kicked off his shoes and drew his feet up under him. Vaguely, he couldn't help but think about how cruel Kyouya seemed on paper, especially critical of this rival Suzushima company. It was a bit...disconcerting, but it almost showed how...dedicated the brunette was?

-

July 30th

Tamaki's left for France to deal with business affairs. I believe this is a goad from his grandmother, and I continually wonder if he's being followed to see if he dares to seek out his mother or attempt to reconnect with his past. If he proves stupid enough to do so - and get caught - I'm not sure he realizes that I will have no choice but to sever all ties with him... And yet he still leaves the recently impregnated Haruhi at my estate to 'look over'.

Idiot...

-

Kaoru felt his eyelids begin to droop and couldn't suppress a yawn as he turned a page.

-

August 2nd

My father has decided to buy out flamingly brilliant, yet newly developed, companies, just for the sake of portraying a more upbeat image to the public and a more powerful, domineering one to our rivals. Shizasakura Herbs to appeal to those who prefer more natural remedies and medicines; Aou Chou's secret line of security systems (which he refused to sell us through normal means), and other various companies - even Hitachiin Yuzuha's fashion company, and Yoshida Daichi's Plastic Surgery clinic. Perhaps to project an ideal of our hospitals carrying only the most therapeutic, color-coordinated gowns, although personally I think jasmine, alarms and complimenting pastels are a waste of money.

-

Maybe it was because the book was boring - boring like Kyouya, Kaoru thought in distaste - or because Fuyumi had woken him after a restless night of tossing and turning, but the chair that the red head had settled in was suddenly feeling very comforting and warm, and he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

-

August 7th

I've returned from the successful business trip throughout the America's that Tamaki and I started out on together before he left for Paris. Tomorrow, supposedly, I meet the bride that I was betrothed to while away - which I have yet to decide if I'm happy about or mad. I suppose, the only think I can reasonably hope about this girl is...

-

Kaoru did not find out what his husband hoped about 'that girl'. Eyelids slide closed - intending only to blink - and remained closed. He didn't even flinch when the ledger slipped from his fingers and landed on the floor with a soft 'fump'.

Fuyumi was waiting outside of Kyouya's (and now Kaoru's) room when he returned from work. She was doing a decent job pretending to observe their mother's portrait, but her brother was not the kind to be easily fooled, let alone by someone he'd known for his entire life. Walking down the hallway toward her, Kyouya asked, "What is it, onee-san?" before the woman could either turn around or speak. She did, however, smile broadly.

"Your new wife."

"What about her?" A dainty eyebrow arched.

Fuyumi chuckled lightly. "She's nosey. In the library. With your...eheh...ledger."

While his stomach did not drop, Kyouya felt his gut contracting a slight bit. He did not like his other people touching his stuff, especially not his notebooks. It had, in fact, been his original intention to lock all his notes in a file cabinet, but after his Father's subtle hint that they would look more professional and complete on a blank shelf in the study, the youngest son had relented and handed his collection over.

While not personal, per say, these notebooks held information that he did not want people to see.

"She's reading them?" he questioned, resting his brief case next to the door jam (he'd have to deal with this before he could really relax).

Here, Fuyumi gave up the chuckle for a blatant cackle. "Must have been at one point - Kaoru-chan fell asleep."

Conflicted, Kyouya did not know if he was supposed to be bemused or annoyed at the insinuation that his notebooks were boring enough to make someone fall asleep. He took good notes - very good notes - and excellent summaries. "She fell...asleep?"

"Mhm...Perhaps you should go in and wake her - be nice, though; I'm sure throughout all your 'conversation' you neglected to ask her what her blood type, and although there have been many a times where I wish you had to deal with your cranky morning-self, I think Father and our brothers would be displeased if the study was destroyed..."

The young man rolled his eyes at his sisters long, drawn-out (but truthful) rant. "Type B."

"Clever, but be nice anyway..."

Someone was shaking his shoulder - again.

"Ah....m-not sleeping!" Kaoru pressed, eyes jerking open wide as he sat up a little straighter. Of course, this only resulted in his nose and Haruhi's forehead colliding painfully and both of them reeling back with hands clutched to their faces. "Ow!"

"S-sorry!" the chocolate eyed woman spluttered for a second before regaining her composure and giving the other a small smile. "Kyouya told me to wake you. Said you were reading his journals in here and fell...asleep."

Amber eyes immediately narrowed at the mention of the youngest Ootori's name. "His diaries, you mean?"

Haruhi shrugged. "I don't know. Fuyumi-san calls them ledgers, but I'm pretty sure not even she has read them...No one's really allowed to...Kyouya usually gets mad when we do."

Kaoru sweat dropped, glancing at the splayed book on the ground between his legs. He suppressed a slight shudder. First day married and I manage to do something to piss off my 'husband' AND I get caught... A little shakily, the red head stood and bent to pick up the book before replacing it on the shelf. His face felt hot. "Uh...Is he mad?"

There was silence for a second before Haruhi responded. She...wasn't quite sure what to say. That Tamaki and Kyouya had had their first and only real fight about reading those ledgers: That Kyouya had once destroyed an entire company by writing in that notebook before ripping out the pages and passing them to the proper recipients at a business meeting? That his notebooks reminded her of the Death Note (an animated series that Renge had forced her to watch back in high school, only Kyouya already knew everyone's last name) so much that she had had nightmares about it? Or that she had found Kyouya in the library, watching kaoru sleep and looking...well, she didn't know what he was looking, but it wasn't angry per say.

Conflicted, Haruhi opened her mouth, and it almost seemed as though Tamaki-esque words flourished from her throat. "Not angry, but maybe going mad."

"Is that supposed to be a jive off the Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatter?" Kaoru snapped in a tone that clearly said 'I think he's more if a painting-the-roses-red Shadow Queen'.

In turn, Haruhi chuckled. "I guess...But you should probably ask him if he's mad or not."

"Hell no."

:D Eh? Eheh? Enjoy it? Well, drop reviews either way, alright lovelies? They'll make me feel accomplished.

So, how do you guys feel about perhaps a filler chapters in the future? I dunno...Maybe about Haruhi and Tamaki - because there IS going to be something interesting about them in the near future - or maybe about Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki's pasts in France~? 'Cause I don't know if everyone picked up on it, but they all went to school together - which is going to make things VERY interesting~! ^^

Anyway, chapter preview: Fuyumi plays tea-party with her new favorite toys, Kaoru is a fiery red head, and it seems that ALL women think the Ootori men are nothing more than selfish faggots. And, of course, any good wife won't stand for that...

And...-coughcough- Thank you to the anon who pointed out I called Fuyumi a boy, or rather, 'big brother'...It's not that she's got man bits, but more of she's a manly woman~ xDDDD