Disclaimer: Takaya Natsuki is the rightful owner. I'm merely borrowing her creations for my own diabolical ideals. No, really.

Life's Many Indulgences
Chapter 20: Better Now Than Later

Both Yuki and Kyo sat side by side, facing the principal. Yuki's parents sitting to Yuki's left, and Kyo's parents sitting to Kyo's right. This was a crucial problem and the school wanted it to be settled as soon as they got wind of the news.

"I apologize for calling you all to come in when you all must have busy schedules to attend to, but the matter here at hand must be settled as soon as possible. I am Isobe Ryoutaro, principal of this school." He took a moment to look at each of the parents' faces, gauging their expressions to see how he should approach the subject. "As you all probably know, dating is prohibited within this school, and it is absolutely not allowed."

"Yuki and I know it's not allowed, Mr. Isobe," Kyo announced.

"If so, then why break the regulation? You're putting strain on our school."

"Say, this is more of a nuisance simply because he and I are guys, isn't it? I bet if it were a heterosexual couple, you wouldn't be all over this like you are about us right now, huh?"

"Mizunashi, please do not speak such utter nonsense. Our school has unity and we hold the utmost respect to treat all students equally, and this applies to the both of you as well. This problem would still be a problem whether you two be two males, or females, or a different sex couple. It is because dating is prohibited that I cannot allow you two to continue on. Please understand the situation."

"Kyo, please be more understanding," Mrs. Mizunashi said. "Your father and I will tell you the whole truth later."

"What whole truth?" Kyo asked, quickly turning to his mother.

"That will be for later, son," Mr. Mizunashi added. He wasn't a member of the family from the get go, but he has been informed long ago. And now that he was really part of the family, it was only proper and right he had a say in all this. "Your mother and I will apologize for withholding the truth from you for so long, but you will find out soon enough."

"If you're going to put it like that, of course you're gonna make want to know what it is this very minute."

"Mizunashi, please calm down. Whatever the matter is, it can wait until after school hours," Mr. Isobe said, ushering for Kyo to be quiet. "Again, please reconsider seeing one another, Usuda, Mizunashi."

"Yuki, say something!" Kyo was pissed, and Yuki knew if he didn't say anything, his boyfriend was only going to get angry at him later for not saying anything to their defense.

§ELSEWHERE§

"Yuki and his boyfriend got called into the principal's office; I guess he's trying to put a stop to them seeing one another."

"Don't say that, Nao. Against all odds I do think the red-head is gonna have his say about all this." Kimi smiled, not looking the least bit concerned, really. "Besides, this isn't something we should be gossiping about."

Naohito was taken aback by her words - usually she was the one to meddle and cause havoc everywhere she went, but not this time. In fact, this time he was the one being told not to be nosy, and to ease off something that was clearly not gossip material (at least to the student council).

"Well, whatever happens, I wish them the best of luck," Kakeru announced.

§LOWER DIVISION STUDENTS§

"This is awful, Haru. I didn't mean for things to turn out this way. It is all my fault."

"This is what toy get for blurting out something . . . At one time . . . which wasn't the truth."

"I know. Awww, now you're making me feel really bad! I wanna go apologize!"

"You can do that later, Momiji. Right now, you better turn your attention back to the head of the class, before our teacher throws a piece of chalk at you."

§YUKI'S FAN CLUB§"Minami, should this be considered good or bad news?" Mai asked, jade-green eyes flashing with anticipation. "We aren't against this, are we?"

"To let him be taken away by another boy? If it's Prince Yuki, then of course it is a problem!" Motoko roared.

"I thought you once told us that as long as Prince Yuki is happy, then you are too. Or was that all a sham to trick us, Motoko?" Minami turned to her side at her desk, facing away from the YFC president. Right now it was break time so the students were free to talk for a bit, and not have to worry about getting yelled at. (Not to mention this was the only class all the YFC members shared, since they were of different grade levels - this being art class.) "But it all seems inevitable anyway. They're seeing each other, and they've been called into the principal's office because of this prohibition crap we have. Worse yet, they're both guys as well, so this will only be more of a burden for the school if word gets out to the other districts. It'd make us look bad, you know?"

"So, it's a mix between good and bad?" Mai looked to Minami and then to Motoko.

"Mai, just stop talking, please," Mio said, lightly pushing at Mai, whom is sitting next to her. "My ears might just fall off if I hear the lot of you still rambling on about this. Do you guys want rumors to spread or what? We're supposed to be protecting Prince Yuki, right?"

The others fell silent, agreeing with Mio's words.

§END OF THE DAY§

As it turned out, Yuki didn't say anything. He did try but knew immediately though that no words were forming for him - he couldn't defend them even if he wanted to. Afterwards, the angry look in Kyo's eyes frightened him. Maybe Kyo didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. After all, he left with his parents, taking off in a brisk walk, and not looking back once. The maddening pounding of his heart ached with each beat. Yuki felt torn.

"Come, Yuki, let's go home. There's something we have been keeping from you, but it seems like now is the best time to tell you before things get any worse." Yuki looked to his adoptive mother, tears pooling down either side of his eyes. She tried her hardest to smile when presented with such a sad sight, if all in the hopes of being strong for her son. "Perhaps, it'd be best if you and that boy don't see each other anymore, okay?"

"But I love him, mother. I really do."

She said nothing further and didn't begin talking again until they were back at home. Yuki sat opposite his parents (as usual) when they tended to have discussions of some kind.

"Yuki, this may come as a shock to you, but you and Kyo are related."

The sudden revelation hit him like a bullet; his eyes grew wide and his mouth opened wide, as if to scream in protest, and that was just what he did.

He yelled at the top of his lungs, not caring if he was disturbing the neighborhood or not. "It can't be! It's a lie! I can't believe it!"

"It's the truth," Mr. Usuda supplied. "We were opting to tell you sooner than now, but Mr. and Mrs. Mizunashi told us to stay silent for a little while longer. We had no idea the two of you were forming such a forbidden relationship. And now that it is out in the open, we are asking you to call it to a halt."

"But I love him. I just can't stop loving someone that I have come to like for so long. I just can't stop."

"You two are half-brothers. Don't tread the path of incest . . . That," Mrs. Usuda was finding it a horrible thing to say, but she couldn't phrase it any other way, "is something I won't accept within this family; this is far worse than being a homosexual. Please understand, Yuki, and let it go."

"But I love him," Yuki repeated, staring at his parents' solemn faces.

He didn't care if they were related . . . Love prevailed all else. It didn't matter what his parents said, because he was free to choose who he wanted to be with. Tread the path of incest he would, just so as long as he could be with Kyo.

"You can still love him in a brotherly way. You can still be with him as a brother. That's just as good, isn't it?" Mrs. Usuda asked.

Yuki hung his head low, eyes shut tight.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Tooru was wide-eyed and gaping, really. She had no idea Yuki and her brother were related, and in the event that it was the truth, then it meant she was also related to Yuki as well. The unreadable expression that came to her brother's face was puzzling, and it made her wonder what he was thinking about after being told the unexpected news. She sat to the side, thinking. Shigure and Ritsu, too, were sitting beside her and neither said anything; they only watched.

"So, where is he now?" Mrs. Mizunashi perked at the question, looking at her son in earnest. "Where's that useless father?"

"He's in prison . . . But he'll be released soon. In a year or two, if I recall the time correctly."

"Hell! He should be locked up in there forever! He raped you, mom . . . Repeatedly."

Kyo was less willing to fight this case, because his mother had all the documents laid out in front of him. Official documents never lied, so he had no reason to object, and letting go of Yuki at the moment did not seem like a very hard thing to do at all. Let the truth be told, it was probably easily noticeable that Yuki harbored more of a love interest in him than he did in return. In fact, Kyo had been thinking about calling it off several times before, but he decided against it and went along with the flow. During the conversation with the school principal, he only tried to defend their relationship because he somewhat felt obligated to, not that he had really wanted to (as harsh as this sounded). But, at least, in the relative sense of the word, he liked Yuki.

"So, do you understand the situation, Kyo?" his mother asked.

"Yeah, I do, mom. I'll call it off with him."

"Oh, thank goodness. That is such a relief to hear; thank you for being so understanding."

"Ah, all ends well, then?" Shigure suddenly said, breaking the awkward moment between mother and son. "Kyon, you are being very mature. I'll have to say I admire you for that."

"Should learn a thing or two from me then," Kyo murmured, rolling his eyes.

"What was that?" Shigure asked.

"Nothing."

"What about me? Have I been doing well, too?" Shigure turned to his elder brother Ritsu, and nodded. "I am very happy! I've done well!"

"Yes, you have. Thank you for not telling anyone about this - Kyo and I only felt it was right that you knew about the problem too, seeing as you are our brother after all."

Kyo stood up, taking one last glance at his family members before announcing his departure. "I'm going to my room; I don't want anyone disturbing me."

"All right," Mrs. Mizunashi replied. "I'll have Tooru call you down once dinner's ready, if you don't mind."

Kyo said nothing and only walked away. He needed to be somewhere quiet where he could sort out his thoughts, and nowhere was better than his own room.

While inside his room, Kyo wondered why he had made the decision to go out with Yuki. At first, he didn't think much of it, but as time went on he wasn't idling around anymore. It was all right at the beginning . . . pretending didn't bother him at all, but when he had confessed, it made Kyo open his eyes to the reality of the inclination. Yet, he said 'okay' so easily and so very willingly. He even went so far as to turn red at the thought of dating another guy. And it was true too at the time, that he had suspicions of Yuki liking him, for he had said he didn't expect the gray-haired teen to confess at that instance.

Two men who date and love one another didn't particularly bother Kyo, but he couldn't say he was so accepting to the point that it didn't disturb him a bit either.

At the table during lunch when Yuki first came over, it had looked like his mother had wanted to say something. She must have suspected something, because her demeanor was different, Kyo had remembered. If she sensed something was going on between her son and her son's half-brother, why hadn't she said anything before? Or at least asked? Kyo wondered.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Yuki laid in his bed and wept for the longest of time. He didn't remember crying like this, not since he was a little boy. The news was simply too much - it would have been better if he had never found out. Why did Kyo have to be his half-sibling? Why couldn't it have been someone else?

Sound knocking on the door made Yuki stifle his moans, and he quickly rubbed at his eyes before saying, "yes?"

"It's me, your mother," came the reply. "May I come in, Yuki?"

"Ye-yeah."

She opened the door, her silhouette coming into the room from the hallway light outside. However, just as she closed the door behind her, the room became enveloped in darkness; she could make out the outline of her son, curled up on his bed, blanket draped over himself.

"You haven't curled up like that ever since you entered middle school. I remember you telling me you were too old to being doing such childish things like that anymore." She laid a hand on the middle of her son's back, lightly rubbing him there. "Are you crying?" Yuki didn't respond. "It's okay to. I must agree with you though . . . This is very shocking news. I was very surprised when I first heard about it. I think saw Mizunashi Kyo for the first time when he was a small toddler - at the age of three, I believe. You were there, too, you know? The sand castle you two made at the beach . . ."

"Say, did we look alike at all?" Yuki asked.

"Your eyes were very alike, even to this day they still are. Other than that, I'd say you both each resemble your respective mothers."

". . . My mother. What was she like?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that. She died right after giving birth to you. And before you say anything, Yuki, I am truly sorry for saying your mother died in a mobile accident. That was a complete lie."

"Who gave me my name . . .?"

"The doctor did, as I was informed. He named you Yuki because your complexion was as white as snow (although all babies come out looking a little reddish at first)."

The questions kept coming and Mrs. Usuda kept answering them to the best of her knowledge. All the while Mr. Usuda stood outside the bedroom doorway, silently listening to the conversation.

Chapter 20: END