The Forked Path

A/N : Some of you probably hate me now for making Hikaru kiss her. I hate myself too but, it can’t be helped. That’s the way the story’s going and its still going. :) Do review.

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Chapter 8

“Kaoru…”

*Someone’s calling me*

“Kaoru please wake up”

*I know that voice*

“Kaoru please don’t leave me…”

*Who is that and where am I going?*

“Kaoru, I’m sorry…”

*I hear crying*

“I’m so sorry… please just wake up. I have so much to say to you.”

*I’m not awake?*

“I should have told you the truth.”

*Its getting brighter….*

I could feel my eyes opening but the light streaming in through the slits was making it difficult for me to open them. I tried to focus, bearing the pain from the glare. I needed to see. Who was this person next to me? He was calling out to me constantly. I could hear this person crying. Who was it? I fluttered my eye lids some more, catching a glimpse of the silhouette calling my name and trying my best to fight-off the blurred images and intrusive lighting.

“Kaoru? Kaoru! You’ve woken up!” The shadow before me cleared slightly and I could now recognize the shape of the person. It was Hikaru. Suddenly, I recalled everything before I went blank. That’s right. The ass hole had been kissing Haruhi on the couch. Along with that thought came all the rest of the pain, and pain it was! My head was aching, my chest was heavy and I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

“Ow…” I groaned.

“Kaoru don’t move I’ll get the doctor.”

I tried to move some of my limbs and discovered that all of them were still functional although they were horribly sore. I also found that my neck was extremely stiff, someone was constantly bashing my head to pieces and I had trouble breathing as well but everything else seemed to be alright which I was thankful for. There were times recently that I wondered whether I would’ve been better off dead but having this experience tells me that I still wanted to live. I felt relieved to know that I was feeling pain and still very much alive.

After leaving for a few minutes, Hikaru returned, this time with an entourage of people, our parents included. Needless to say they had extremely worried looks on their faces as the doctor examined my charts, my pulse monitor, took my temperature and listened to my breathing. After asking me a few routine questions he proceeded to explain what happened to me.

“You’ve suffered a heart failure, attributed to an enlarged hole in the heart, which we have corrected with some minor surgery.” *UGH! I’ve been operated on! I HATE knives! Oh, wait, its over, phew.*

“That’s strange. He passed his full medical check up when he was younger and I’ve never seen him turn blue in my life!” My mother replied in shock.

“Yes, I guess some doctors tend to make mistakes and in your son’s case, it was easy to see why it was neglected. The hole was hidden and probably tiny at first enlarging only in the recent years of his life. But I’m glad to say the operation was successful but Kaoru, you should take it easy in terms of athletics from now on. Got it?”

“Definitely.” I mumbled.

“Good and rest well. I’ll be back later to check on your progress.”

With that the doctor left the room. I was so thankful that I had not been aware of the surgery. Knives and needles were my two biggest fears in life and I did not want to have anything to do with them ever!

“Kaoru, we’ll be heading back to get some of your things any special requests?”

“Yes mom could you get my drawing book?”

“Certainly, come Hikaru lets go.”

“Its fine mom, I’ll make my way back home on my own” Hikaru replied.

“Kaoru’s going to be fine. Just let him rest here.” My dad interjected, worried that the two of us were still at odds with each other, which wouldn’t do too well for my health.
I, however, was curious to hear what he had to say in justifying his bloody actions.
“Its alright mom, dad, I could use the company.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then, have a good rest dear.” With a couple of hugs they were out the door with mom most likely heading home to call her lawyer immediately to sue my pediatrician.

“Erm.. so.. how are you feeling?” Hikaru asked, sheepishly.

“Fucked –up.”

“Stupid question to ask wasn’t it?”

“Yeah I guess that was pretty dumb.”

“Look Hikaru, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“That you and Haruhi have been banging each other for a while now?”

“NO! Of course not, you know I wouldn’t do that.”

“Well, it looks like you two were having a pretty good snogging time on the couch if you ask me.”

“Oh.. err… that. Look, it’s not what it looked like.”

“Hmm… now let me see. First you accuse me of being untrustworthy, then you kiss her over and over again in front of me and then you say it’s not what it looked like? Tell me Hikaru, which part of this makes sense? Or do I really have to be an Einstein to figure it out?”

“No, Kaoru, seriously. We were playing.”

“Playing? Kissing like that is playing?!” *Fuck, this is making my head ache worse*

“She asked if she could kiss me, just once.”

“That wasn’t ‘just once’ Hikaru, so just admit it!”

“No, I won’t admit it! All I did was give her a peck and then she came back and devoured me, what was I supposed to do, shove her off? She’s a girl God damn it!”

“Ah, right, the “we don’t shove girls excuse”. How the fuck do you expect me to believe that? Nothing of what you said has made any sense or bares any truth in it. Here you are accusing me of being an ass about not telling you things and then you go and jump on her?”

“I didn’t jump on her Kaoru, damn it! I know I screwed up but she… seriously, it was play kissing.”

“But you kissed a girl who’s in love with you for fun Hikaru! That’s what’s fucked up!”

“Kaoru, she knew that I didn’t like her in that way. I told her just before she asked me for a kiss. She said it was a little memoir!”

“Oh really, and I suppose it was alright to kiss her because she just wanted a small token of your affection. It’s not like you wanted to give it to her? Cool Hikaru, lets see, what other rubbish you can come up with?!” I cringed, my chest was still sore and my head was throbbing madly.

“Calm down Kaoru please and its not like I like what I did.”

“Then why the fuck did you do it? Why? What other God damn reason could there be for this?!”

“Well… its because…”

“Because of what?!”

“because…..”

“There’s no reason is there? Just admit it you have the hots for her and you’re fucking around with her!”

“No! Fine, you want me to admit something? Here’s something I’ll admit. Yes, I’m frustrated and yes I’m all pent up with the hots for YOU and not for her!”

“What?”
“There, are you happy now? It’s a good thing you asked for that separate room cause I guess it makes sense now for you to have it, doesn’t it? You know what, I’m not going to stay here any longer to explain just how fucked up the both of us are. I’ll make sure the room’s ready for you to fuck-off in when you get back.”

“He wants me?”

“Hikaru… wai..t”. He had left my room. “Oh my GOD! What the hell just happen!” In an effort to confirm what I just heard, I attempted crawling out of my bed despite my entire body shouting for me not to do so. It was excruciating, the effort it took to throw my legs over the bed, whilst pulling wires and whatever else that was attached to me. I opened the door and walked out to the corridor only to see his back slowly fading. No matter what, I had to stop him, I had to hear it again.

“Hikaru..” I called out weakly, reaching out for him whilst attempting a half limping run.

“Hikaru…” I called out again, this time as loud as I could. He turned around in time to see me trip and fall over my own steps. He ran towards me.

“Kaoru, what the fuck are you trying to do?”

“Did you mean what you said?” I asked through choked breaths.

“Yes, every word. Oh God Kaoru, I’m sorry, I really am sorry.” He shed tears as he held me and I felt a pang in my heart.

“Please don’t, don’t go.” I said breathing heavily.

“Shit you crazy ass hole, you shouldn’t leave your bed.”

He picked me up slowly and as gently as he could. My frail body must have seemed light to him as he lifted me with such ease, I was slightly awestruck, the warmth of his embrace was heavenly, nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. He carried me in his arms all the way back to my room and my bed with a few nurses trailing him. He watched me as the nurses quickly put everything back into place, checked my pressure, pulse and temperature before nodding in satisfaction to each other in agreement that I was alright.

“Shall we put some restraints on him?” A nurse turned to ask Hikaru with a sly smile.

“Do you need restraints Kaoru?” Hikaru raised an eyebrow at me sarcastically.

“Err, no. I’m not a mental patient.”

“I don’t know Kaoru, you seem pretty mental to me.”

“Fuck you.” I threw daggers with my glances at Hikaru.

“You know what nurse? Maybe he does need the restraints.”

“Hikaru?! What are you saying?”

“I was joking. No its alright. I think he should be under control now.”

He turned to smile at me, which made me blush furiously. Hikaru moved next to my bed and sat beside me placing one hand over mine. He leant in, brushing aside loose strands of hair that had fallen over my face. We stayed silent for what seemed like hours, each pondering inwardly about the after effects of this exchange. At first I was flooded with overwhelming joy, having longed for ages to hear those words, having given up hope on hearing those words as well. But now I started to feel afraid, like as if the person who had just given me the candy was going to take it back straight away. I wondered if it was even possible for us to go unnoticed forever, and even if it was possible, whether we’d both be content with just that. If we were ever found out, the consequences would be grave indeed.

“Kaoru, stop that.” Hikaru spoke to me softly, jolting me from my worries.

“What?”

“Stop thinking, just sleep and rest for now. We’ll deal with the rest later.”

“How do you expect me to do that?”

“Like this.”

He leant in closer and before I had time to comprehend what was to happen next, he locked us both in a kiss. My mind faded into a swirl of ecstasy as I felt his slightly chapped lips against mine. Hikaru nibbled and licked my lips softly and I let him in, allowing his tongue to massage mine luxuriously. It was at that sweet moment that I finally felt what it was like to be complete.

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It had been a week since my attack and I had just been discharged from the hospital. I wasn’t supposed to be let off this early, but due to my health improvements and extreme persuasion from my parents, my doctor gave the green light. Unfortunately, when I was back at the mansion, mother had already prepared my new room. It was as usual overly decorated but not dissimilar to Hikaru’s. A huge custom double king sized bed draped over with blood red sheets acted as the center piece as opposed to Hikaru’s dark blue themed bed. I let out a small sigh.

“Why, Kaoru, don’t you like what I’ve done with the room?” My mother asked picking up on the sigh I had accidentally let out too loudly.

“No, definitely not. I love the colour red. It represents passion.”

“Glad you like it. Well then, I shall leave you to rest.”

Mother smiled brightly and started ordering our maids to unpack my things and soon left me to settle in.

I sat on my bed and scanned the perimeters of the room, taking in the rose wood desk, the mahogany carpet and heavy drapes. It was lovely but depressing. It made me regret that I had even thought of the idea and now that we had our own rooms, it felt so empty. I started crying.

“Kaoru?” Hikaru popped into my room and approached me.

I quickly wiped any trace of tearing with the sleeve of my night robe.

“What’s up?” I answered forcing a feeble attempt at a smile.

“More like what’s getting you down.”

“Nothing.”
“I’m just next door you know. Anyway, its better like this. Makes things less detectable, don’t you think?”

“Its not that simple Hikaru. Things don’t just miraculously turn fabulous. We’re both sinners and we’re going to pay for it.”

“Kaoru, that’s enough. Why can’t you just live for the moment?”

“Because everything in life isn’t a fairy tale. People out there look down on people like us.”

“Firstly, who’s going to know. Secondly, why the fuck should we care what people think?”

“I don’t know Hikaru, I just need some time.”

He looked at me for a little while, sizing me up and planning his next approach. He walked up to me and placed a hand on my cheek. He caressed it softly, displaying his concern and affection, which succeeded in calming my fears a little.

“Alright, I understand. Just don’t miss me too much while you’re lost in your never ending misery.” With that he turned around and as he was about to exit my room, his cell-phone started ringing. Putting a hand in his pocket, he proceeded to answer.
“Ah, Kyouya… mmm… yeah. He’s back home. Sure. Tomorrow’s fine. See ya.”

“Kyouya called?”

Hikaru turned to look at me with a cunning grin
.
“Well, your ‘loverboy’ seems to want to pay you a little visit tomorrow.”

I blushed in humiliation.

“That’s not fair to say.”

“Oh we’ll see. You better get some sleep and trust me when I say you don’t want me coming over there to force-tuck you in.”

I made no effort to resist his orders as I was extremely tired and proceeded to pull the covers over my chest. I slept almost instantly.

TBC

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