Day Three: With One Look
"Morning, Haruhi," Kaoru said with a sadistic sort of smirk as he walked in. The girl took one look at him and her eyebrows scrunched together.
"Good morning… what happened to your ear?" she asked, leaning in to see odd flat red marks along the bottom of his left ear. "They… they look like teeth marks."
Kaoru continued to smile his sadistic smirk, while Hikaru watched silently, jaw twitching.
"Yeah…"
Haruhi's eyes widened. "Who bit you?"
Kaoru waved his hand. "Oh, there's a boy at the house where I'm staying…"
Haruhi gave him a look. "What did you do to make him bite you?"
Kaoru grinned widely. "He was misbehaving, so I tied him up."
Haruhi gave him a stern look. "Little children don't understand that you're just playing, Kaoru. That's a terrible thing to do to a child."
"Oh, it was all in good fun." He smiled even wider as Hikaru shifted in his seat, every muscle in his body stiffer than a board. "Actually, I rather think he enjoyed it."
"He enjoyed being tied up?" the girl demanded. Kaoru chuckled.
"Well, he got out in the end. And then he tied me up, which he seemed to enjoy more." He fingered his ear with a mild wince. "Although he seemed to feel that this wasn't punishment enough."
Haruhi looked scandalized. "How many times did he bite you?" she demanded. Kaoru shrugged, still smiling.
"I lost count."
"But I don't see any more marks…"
Kaoru chuckled. "Yes, well, I was wearing a t-shirt then, rather thin. You should see the rest of me."
It was at this point that Hikaru stood up and left the classroom, slamming the door behind him.
"Kaoru, how'd you get that bite-mark on your ear?" one girl asked, eyes wide. Kaoru looked down at her with a smirk, eyes flickering to a shadow in the corner of the room to grant a certain dark form one look of shared amusement. Hikaru followed his gaze to where Kyoya was sitting, typing away on his laptop, seemingly not paying attention to his surroundings. As soon as Kaoru glanced at him however, a smirk flickered at the corner of his lip. His head did not turn to acknowledge that he had seen the younger boy's expression, and Hikaru was not positive how exactly he'd been watching his brother, but at that very second he knew. And the realization set his blood boiling hotter than molten gold.
"Oh, well there's a boy staying at the house of a friend I'm staying with…"
Hikaru stood up suddenly, startling his customers.
"Kaoru, can I speak to you for a minute?" he demanded. The younger boy looked up with a raised eyebrow. Yes, he was definitely spending time with Kyoya.
"Whatever about?"
"You know exactly what about," Hikaru snarled between his teeth. Kaoru smiled politely at his customers.
"Excuse me for a moment."
Hikaru grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him out of the room off into a side door as all the girls and hosts watched, eyes wide. He dragged his brother down the hall for a good twenty feet before opening a side door at random and dragging them both inside. It turned out to be a broom closet, but Hikaru didn't mind in the least, pulling on the light chain with an unbefitting ferocity.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
Kaoru smiled innocently. "Whatever are you talking about?"
"Don't pull that shit with me, Kao. You're sleeping with Kyoya, aren't you?"
Kaoru's feigned surprise wouldn't have fooled a cow. "How did you know I was staying with him? He didn't even tell his family!"
"That's not what I meant by sleeping, and we both know it."
"Hikaru, such a black mind…" Kaoru drawled, mind flashing back to Kyoya's face as he repeated the Shadow-King's words.
Hikaru growled angrily and pinned his brother to the wall. "Kao, I'm asking you to stop this. I apologized! What more do you want from me?"
Kaoru smiled sadistically. "Understanding," he said, shoving back so hard Hikaru hit the opposite wall, knocking aside a broom resting in the corner with an audible clatter. "And the way we are right now, you couldn't understand a single thing."
Hikaru's eyes were wider than saucers as he stared in shock at his mirror image.
"Oh, give up the innocence," Kaoru said scathingly. "The uke role doesn't suit you."
Hikaru blinked at his brother with wide eyes, glimmering suspiciously in the weak light of the closet. It was this one look that had broken Kaoru so many times, this perfect picture of horrified innocence. Those times, of course, it had all been feigned, but the expression had always made him weak in the knees and Hikaru had exploited that whenever he could on the days when Kaoru got tired of always being the one on the bottom. This time, however, the younger twin brushed the twinge in his chest aside without so much of a twitch. "Don't do this, Kaoru." The younger boy didn't even flinch. "I love you."
Kaoru laughed wildly, throwing open the door to hit Tamaki right in the nose. It bled freely as he glanced over his shoulder at his mirror image. "That's not enough anymore, Hikaru." Ignoring the group of shocked hosts (minus Kyoya, who had stayed in the Club room) gathered around the door, he walked back towards the Third Music Room. "Frankly? I wonder if it was ever enough."
Kyoya was expecting two calls after Hikaru and Kaoru's PDA (public display of animosity). Instead, he got four.
"Kyo-chan, how could you do this to Hika-chan?" Huni demanded from the other end of the line. Kyoya held the phone far away from his ear in surprise. "He was crying!"
Kyoya sighed. "I'm housing Kaoru until this fight is over. I see no crime in that. If I were to force Kaoru out, he wouldn't go back. He'd simply rent a hotel room or some such nonsense."
"You're lying," Mori deadpanned from the other end of the line.
"I'm not lying, Mori-Senpai…"
Tamaki's call was even worse, although he was far more prepared for it.
"YOU'REMYBESTFRIENDHOWCOULDYOUDOSUCHATHINGITHOUGHTBETTEROFYOUKYOYA! WELLYOUKNOWIFICAN'TTRUSTYOUTOTELLMETHINGSTHENI'MNOTGOINGTOTELLYOUANYTHINGEITHER! DOYOUHAVEANYIDEAHOWUPSETWITHYOUIAM? ICAN'TBELIEVE…"
Kyoya wasn't sure if the boy even took a breath in between sentences.
Haruhi's was more tame, albeit as equally as Huni's, but the guilt that came crashing down upon the very sound of her voice was stifling compared to Tamaki's shrieks. That and the awkwardness was enough to make him wish for a handgun.
"Hikaru was pretty upset, Kyoya-Senpai. Don't you think you could get Kaoru to talk to him, at least?"
"I've tried, Haruhi."
Haruhi cleared her throat nervously. "Well… that's not what it sounded like…" she said awkwardly. Kyoya closed his eyes and prayed she wouldn't finish her train of thought.
Of course, she did.
And then, of course, was the kicker. Hikaru, calling at nine fifty three and hanging up after one ring. Then again, at ten sixteen, hanging up as soon as Kyoya picked up the phone. He called twice to the same effect, once at ten thirty nine and again at ten fifty three. And finally again at eleven oh four, at which point began possibly the oddest and definitely the worst conversation Kyoya had ever had by phone.
"Hello?"
"Kyoya," came the lifeless voice at the other end. "Senpai." He tacked on the honorific as an afterthought.
"Oh… hello, Hikaru."
Kaoru's eyes raised from his paper for what seemed like the millionth time that night. He mouthed an apology, wincing slightly. Kyoya couldn't help but feel marginally encouraged by this; it was more of the original Kaoru than he'd seen in a long time.
"I… uhm… is Kaoru there?"
"Hai."
"Well, can you… can he not be… could you go to another room or something?"
"You… don't wish to speak with him?"
"I'd like to talk to you, first."
Kyoya shrugged at Kaoru and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He knew very well that if one pressed their ear to the door the echoes would make it more than easy to hear. He figured it was Kaoru's choice.
"Are you in another room?"
"Hai."
"Why the hell are you fucking my brother?" Hikaru snarled viciously.
Kyoya blinked at the sudden change in tone. "I'm not fucking your brother, Hikaru."
"Oh, come on," Hikaru said, and the Shadow-Lord was reminded unnervingly of the previous night, when the boy's twin had said the same exact phrase. "Have a little self-respect. Don't lie to my face." He paused. "Or, ear, whatever."
Kyoya tried not to see the humour in that and failed. "Fair enough. Fine, I will admit, we caught each other at a… marginally vulnerable moment and slept together once. I apologize, but frankly I'd like to ask you a question. What exactly did you say to upset him so?"
There was an anguished noise on the other side of the line. "I don't know."
Kyoya raised an eyebrow to the empty bathroom, putting down the toilet lid and sitting on top of the clean cream porcelain. "How do you not know?"
"Look, we went to bed together as usual, and everything was fine. But one minute I was dreaming and the next the lights had come on and Kaoru was pulling out a suitcase from the closet and grabbing pieces of clothing at random, and he was so upset… I don't even know what happened!"
Kyoya's brow furrowed, thinking. What could have possibly happened while Hikaru was sleeping…? And then the pieces fell together with a near audible click. "Oh… Hai, that makes much more sense."
"What?" Hikaru demanded.
Kyoya smiled bitterly. "You were dreaming about Haruhi, correct?"
Silence met his words on the other end of the line.
"You spoke in your sleep. That's why Kaoru is so inexplicably angry with you, and why he won't accept apologies. It was your subconscious that committed the crime in his eyes, and therefore your waking mind is not accountable."
"Well, what am I supposed to do then?"
Kyoya sighed. "Kaoru, he… I don't think he will be returning for some time."
"What? Why?"
Kyoya smiled another grim smile. "As long as you are in love with Haruhi as well as him, the incident can happen again. Therefore… I am almost positive that he does not intend to return until there is no chance of such a thing."
"…you mean… he's not coming home until I stop liking Haruhi."
"I'm afraid so."
"But… but that's ridiculous!" the older boy spluttered. "I have no control over that!"
Kyoya sighed. "I'm more than aware of that."
"Well… talk to him! Make him change his mind!"
"And how do you expect me to do that?" Kyoya replied, amused disbelief coloring his voice.
Hikaru was silent for a few minutes. "I'm not… this isn't what I want, but… if it'll get him to talk to me again then it's worth it." His voice was tight.
Kyoya waited.
"Kaoru… is particularly easy to convince using… a few dirty tricks, if you know what I mean."
Kyoya waited some more.
"Tricks that include pillows."
"You want me to seduce your brother?"
"I want him to talk to me again!" Hikaru shot back, obviously distressed. "I want to be able to… to talk to him without him acting like… like you! I want to be able to touch him without him flinching away. I want to be able to be in the same room with him without having to sit on the other side, I want…"
He trailed off brokenly, and Kyoya sighed.
"Just because you tend to use… a particular avenue to achieve your goals when it comes to your brother, that does not necessarily mean it is the best general way to do so."
"Well what are you going to do, then?" Hikaru demanded.
Kyoya took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose; he felt a headache coming on already. "I am going to try."
There was silence on the line for a few moments. "Thank you, Kyoya-Senpai."
Kyoya chuckled and closed the phone. Ah, the things I get myself into…
Getting up he opened the bathroom door, where Kaoru was lying on the floor, looking particularly flushed. Kyoya smirked.
"I know you were listening."
"I was not."
Kyoya chuckled. "Fine, have it your way. You weren't listening."
Kaoru gave him a speculative look, then shrugged and went back to reading. They'd both already finished their homework, but what with it being a Friday neither had seen any real reason to go to bed. Especially not when they'd expected another call from Kaoru's brother any minute.
"You very nearly broke Tamaki's nose," Kyoya said conversationally as he folded himself back onto the bed, typing away as usual. The gentle hum of the laptop on his legs was a soothingly familiar noise, and he concentrated on that instead of the situation Kaoru had worked them into.
And they all thought he was the manipulative one.
"I know."
There was a tinge of something more than exasperated apology in the boy's voice, and Kyoya's fingers paused on the keys as he turned to the red-head with a raised eyebrow.
"You did it on purpose."
"I know."
Kyoya set him with a sharp look that screamed 'What are you playing at?', but the boy ignored him, simply turning the page.
"You didn't think I would have any problems with you physically harming my best friend to the point of necessary repair?"
"Oh come on, don't tell me you never wanted to hit Tono with a door before."
Kyoya smirked despite himself. "Not with a door, no."
"Besides, he got the better end of it in the end."
Kyoya raised his eyebrow again. "How so?" he replied, taking the bait as he adjusted his glasses. Kaoru fixed him with a knowing smirk.
"Haruhi spent the whole entire club period fussing over him, didn't she?"
Kyoya watched him with a certain amount of marginally impressed interest. "You meant for that to happen, then."
Kaoru snorted. "Of course I did." He laughed sadistically. "Did you see Hikaru twitching while she was holding the napkin to his nose?"
Kyoya smiled grimly. "No, I was too busy watching the screaming fangirls. I checked the polls Renge set up on the website; apparently Tamaki and Haruhi's pairing's rating has gone up.
"Wasn't it already at fifty-something out of all Tono's pairings?"
"Fifty-six." Kyoya smiled grimly. "It's up to sixty-nine now."
"Sixty-nine?" Kaoru drawled, but in his mouth the word meant something else and Kyoya fixed him with another sharp glance. This one said 'It's not happening'. Kaoru grinned back cheekily; 'We'll see'.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I've been in London the past month, and the computer with all my stories was back home, so.... my bad? XD Anyhow tell me what you think of it? Good, bad? Terrible? Totally awful and I should just jump into a hole and die? XD But seriously, comments, flames, criticism's all good and welcome here. I'd like to know how I'm doing. And thanks to those who reviewed already. In response to a comment-I know Kaoru's being a little OOC but he needs to be for this plotline to work. I'll try to update soon!
