~*~Hikaru's POV~*~

When Mother opened the front door, I expected Father to walk in. Instead, Kaoru walked in! My eyes widened and my mouth was agape. He stopped in the doorway. "Hikaru?"

"Kaoru..."

He raced towards me and we embraced each other. There was then a knock on the door. Mother opened it and I saw Haruhi standing there. "I came to give Hikaru the work he missed."

Mother took the papers from her, thanked her, and she went to close the door. I shouted out, "Thank you, Haruhi!"

She turned around in time to show a smile. The door closed and Kaoru held me tighter. "I've missed you so much."

I returned the hug, "I've missed you too."

Father cleared his throat, "Your mother and I are going on a trip. Behave yourselves. We'll be having someone come by soon to keep an eye on you two."

We nodded and held each other's hands. "She should be arriving soon." Mother stated.

There was another knock on the door. Father opened it and a girl, about 19, stood there. "I hope I'm not late."

"No, in fact you're early." Father said. "I can tell we're going to trust you to keep these two in line." He handed her a slip of paper and whispered something to her.

She nodded and said goodbye to Mother and Father when they started to walk out. Both Kaoru and I said, "Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye, Father."

Father waved a hand, signaling that he heard us. Mother did the same. The door closed and there was a silence between the three of us. "So...uh...what's up?"

We looked at her. "Nothing much. You?"

"Eh, nothing really."

Kaoru and I had an arm around each other's waist. I tried not to let Kaoru see the bruises and cuts on my cheeks. However, he seemed to notice I was trying to hide my face from him. "Hikaru? Is something wrong?"

"N-no. Everything's fine."

He looked worried, and I just couldn't lie to him. I looked him in the eye and he reached up to touch my cheeks. "What happened?"

I grabbed his hand and closed my eyes. "I kept asking about you..."

The girl cleared her throat to tell us that she was still there. We looked back at her. "Sorry, your father told me to keep you two in line."

We nodded. "Kaoru...Where did they have you?"

He grabbed my hand and led me upstairs. The girl followed us and Kaoru opened a door that was the...guest room?

Oh come on! He get's the guest room and I get something like a prison cell? No fair!

"What about you?"

I grabbed his hand and led him back downstairs. I took him to the basement and opened the wooden door that was the room I stayed in. I looked at the corner where I first sat. I could see the dried blood from my knuckles. Apparently he noticed them too. He walked up to the stains and touched them. "What happened?"

"Eh...I was mad." I said, avoiding eye contact.

Suddenly, he appeared in front of my again and grabbed my hands. He lightly touched the scars on my knuckles. I stared at him and he then looked up. The girl cleared her throat again. We looked over at her. "What? Can we not care for each other?"

"Like I said, your father wants me to-"

"Keep us in line. We know." We said.

I felt Kaoru's hand touch my bruised cheek and I winced in pain. "Sorry."

We started to walk back up to the main room. Kaoru and I intertwined our fingers as we went upstairs. We all fell onto the couch and sat in silence.