Title: Things that change for better or for worse
Chapter 7: Other Changes 4
By: Sissy

Disclaimer: DRRR shall never belong to me otherwise there'd be more yaoi.
Warning: Twins being twins.

Aoba relaxed into his bathtub. The hot water seeped into his muscles and he could feel himself getting lighter. This was his ritual for whenever he had worked too hard or had been stressed too much during the day and needed something to relax himself with. He always felt better once he was done. Today, sadly, was an exception.

"Come on Kuru-nee! You need to get that blood off of you!" Mairu's voice broke his silence and he quickly looked to his right to see the twins enter the bathroom. Almost immediately, he felt like screaming at them but remained frozen in place.

"Ah." Were Kururi's simple thoughts once she noticed Aoba in the tub. Mairu, on the other hand, broke into a grin before saying anything. Neither tried to hide their exposed bodies or the blood on them.

"Oh, Aoba-kun! You sly perverted dog! You wanted to see Kuru-nee and me naked this much?" She asked, while hiding her grin and edging him on with her free hand. "Don't try to deny it; you were caught red handed after all!"

"You do realize you two were the ones who just came in, right? Technically, you two wanted to see me naked." Aoba replied with a frown, deciding to ignore both women.

"Hold on! You're just going to ignore this beautiful body Kuru-nee has? You're impotent right? Or is it gay? How sad. Should I fix you up, dear landlord?" Mairu came forward to him and bent down a bit to see him better. Her exposed chest was right in his eyesight but Aoba looked away and got further into the tub.

"You're not in my range, Mairu." Aoba replied and closed his eyes. He told himself he would relax and not even the twins barging into his ritual would ruin it.

"Kuru-nee! Attack!" Mairu ordered her older twin with a wide grin.

"Roger." Said twin replied with a nod and jumped into the tub with Aoba.

"What the hell are you doing?" Aoba screamed, finally noticing all the blood on her. He was never worried since the twins had never gotten hurt and would never get hurt since they were as agile as Izaya when the latter would play around with Shizuo. But he was surprised since she looked really scary with all the blood on her. "Just take a damn shower and clean yourself up!"

"Warm." Kururi replied and dropped down on Aoba's chest, relaxing her muscles as well.

"Hey!" Both Aoba and Mairu screamed in surprise.

"Good." Kururi explained with a soft smile and closed her eyes. In a matter of seconds, she fell asleep.

"Is it that relaxing? I'll have to try it some other time." Mairu said and stood up straight. "Don't you dare do anything to Kuru-nee!" She warned and turned around to use the shower.

You're the one who ordered her to get in. Aoba sighed and looked down on Kururi. It was never his intention to get this close to the twins but they always hung around him so when they lost their lease on their apartment, he ended up offering them his free room. Despite their my-pace personalities, the two were probably the only real friends he had.

So it was never his intention to feel anything for them, but it was just a slight feeling. Maybe I do feel something, Aoba thought to himself. But he was already in no position to make a move. All three were at a complete standstill. And it was thanks to the twin's beloved idol.

… … …

Masaomi was in the middle of work when a familiar face came in. He immediately frowned a bit when he saw the person. Unlike Masaomi, he was famous and had really good looks. He even drew in more girls than his boss ever could, yet even Chikage approved of him as a worthy and reachable rival. But he was never one to step into a shop like the one Masaomi worked in. No matter how well acquainted they were.

"Good evening." Hanejima Yuuhei, or rather Heiwajima Kasuka, greeted Masaomi from behind his sunglasses. It was way too suspicious to wear them at night and indoors but that just helped Kasuka in driving away any person nearby.

"Good evening! Would you like a seat, sir?" One of the other hosts greeted Kasuka with a smile, not realizing who Kasuka was, and simply focusing on the fact that a male customer had come in. It wasn't rare, but it was sometimes a pain. Though they always left good tips.

"Ah, I'll take this." Masaomi intervened and smiled to Kasuka. "Good evening, Kasuka-sama. Would you like a private table or a seat at the bar? If you're looking for company, I'll try to do my best to entertain you." He greeted him like a true host and saw his coworker leave with a small frown but a relieved sigh.

"No, it's okay. I'm looking for brother and Ruri-san. It seems she went out to hand him something and hasn't come back yet." Kasuka explained in his deadpan expression.

Masaomi sighed at those words and scratched the back of his head. "You can usually find Heiwajima-san if you follow the mayhem and destruction. Though, I heard something strange today. It seems he hasn't gotten really angry at all these past two days."

"Yes, I heard. Tom-san mailed me about that. He's worried about brother being sick so Ruri-san had gone to get him some medicine." Kasuka nodded and finished his explanation.

"Ah, I get it. She's worried about her brother-in-law. Did you try his place? Wait, knowing you, you've already tried all the usual places." Masaomi went into thought and nearly fried his brain. "Sorry, can't help you. I got no idea. I'm not really that much of a friend to Heiwajima-san. Sorry."

"No, it's alright. I'll see you some other time. Perhaps at the nursery?" Kasuka turned around to leave but glanced at Masaomi to ask him that.

"Yeah, if I have a day off." Masaomi laughed and saw him leave. Kasuka had been referring to Saki's workplace which is how they had gotten acquainted in the first place. That was one of life's biggest surprises to him.

… … …

"Ruka, don't go too far!" Hijiribe Ruri, legally Heiwajima on paper, called out to her four year old son as she watched him go down the stairs of the small apartment building she and Shizuo sat in. When she finally found Shizuo, thanks to her son's good sense of smell, he had been sitting here lost in thought.

She was a bit worried about him and simply decided to keep quiet until Shizuo spoke to her. Her clothing was a bit light, but she had wanted to remain inconspicuous for a while. She was still an actress who wanted to respect Shizuo's choice of remaining unknown as Kasuka's brother to the media.

"A friend lived here. He doesn't anymore." Shizuo began to explain to her, knowing she was simply worried about him and didn't really require an explanation. "Supposedly he came back but he hasn't said a word to me."

"Did you two have a fight before he left?" Ruri asked, trying to understand a bit.

"A fight? Maybe that was it. I was a bit angry about that. But I pushed too much and then waited for too long." Shizuo rambled a bit and Ruri looked thoughtful before answering to his comments.

"You thought you were wrong but are still angry he left without saying anything? Maybe you should give it some time?" She offered her opinion but gave a second one at the same time. "Or you could pursue him. Kasuka-san forced himself on me so we ended up together thanks to his tenacity. If you're brothers, don't you think you also have that kind of tenacity?"

"I don't want that kind of relationship!" Shizuo suddenly yelled at her. "It's not that kind…" He told her but she felt it was something he forced himself to say. Or maybe he really did mean it. She wasn't sure anymore. Her mind was a bit more focused on keeping her son in eye range.

To Be Continued…