The Forked Path

A/N: *It's funny how when I reread this, I find sooo many unforgivable mistakes that its embarassing. But then again, since this was my first fanfic, its not hard to see how I wasn't as detailed as I am now. So I apologize if this has been a difficult read for you all up till now.

Do continue to review should you feel anything else needs to be changed. I know there's lots that should be but I didn't want to edit it too much due to sentimental reasons, it being my first fanfic and all since a very important turning point in my life.

*HugZ to those who have left lovely reviews so far. Thanks*

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Chapter 9

I woke up to the warm morning light streaming in through the majestic curtains hanging from the windows. I breathed the morning air deeply, cherishing its sweet scent, relishing in the delight that I had the opportunity to wake up to the songs of singing birds again. Then I noticed, the window seemed to be on the wrong side of the bed. Ah, now I remembered. I was in a different room this time. I sat up slowly on my bed and stayed in that position for a little while, waiting for the drowsiness and light headedness to disappear before cleaning myself up.

The maids came in bringing me breakfast to start my day not long after I had dressed myself in casual clothing. It was nice being sick as it meant that mother would pamper me by allowing our maids to provide us with more treats than we usually had. I climbed back into my bed and started having my breakfast. A few minutes later Hikaru popped his head in to check on me.

“How are you feeling today?” he asked in a cheerful tone.
“Better I guess and I can’t complain about the preferred treatment. Hehe.”

Hikaru chuckled with me.

“Well take your time.”

“What time is Kyouya coming over for a visit?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention? A bunch of them will be here soon to visit you.”

“A bunch? I thought you said only Kyouya?”

“I didn’t say only him, I said he was coming, I just forgot to mention that the rest were as well and no I didn’t do it on purpose. Disappointed are we?”

“No, I didn’t say that. Its just that over the phone yesterday..”

“Yeah I guess it did sound that way. Well, seems like he’s bringing a whole group of people with him.”

“I see.”

“You really are disappointed, aren’t you?”

“No… not at all! In fact I’m kind of relieved that I don’t have to deal with him alone.”
“No reason to be afraid is there? Hope this isn’t because of the date thing. You never really gave me the details of how it went. I hope he didn’t go overboard.”

“No, he didn’t do anything of that kind. Not even close. Then again, it’s not like you seemed to care then.” Kaoru managed to hide the wince with the memory of that kiss he unconsciously passed on. He felt guilty but reasoned his actions as no different that what Hikaru had done with Haruhi.

“Well, you’re the only person who seemed to think that I didn’t care back then and… I hope you’re still not mad at me and Haruhi.” Hikaru stated hesitantly.

“I can’t say actually. I’m still confused. I love you it’s just that I’m torn between what’s right and what I want. You know as well as I do that I’m trying to decide which will make the both of us happiest.” I replied with genuine concern. After all, incest was the one of if not the biggest taboos in society.

“I still don’t get why you can’t come to that conclusion on the spot when it’s obvious that the only way us to be happy is if we both stop acting like we’re only brothers.”

Hikaru looked hurt as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him whilst sitting at the edge of my bed. I placed a hand on his, gently caressing it, trying my best to reassure him that I did love him although I couldn’t decide in what way. It really pained me to see him in that state. But one of us had to be strong and Hikaru was never one to keep his emotions in check as well as I was capable of doing. He turned to look at me longingly.

“You know, I did miss you last night. Your warmth wasn’t there in the morning and I missed it.” I told him softly, my eyes watering slightly from trying to keep the unexpressed emotions in. Hikaru stared at me intently, his eyes burning with a kind of passion that only a person who was madly in love was capable of. Finally, unable to bear the silence any longer, he lunged at me. Taking me into his arms, he kissed me deeply, his tongue intertwining with mine as we embraced tightly both wanting to get closer to each other - wanting to taste more of each other as we alternated between light nibbles around the lips and fully plunging into each other’s mouths . At last, out of breath we paused, panting heavily, his forehead touching mine, his arms around my shoulders whilst mine wrapped around his waist. Looking at me with half lidded eyes, he shifted a hand to caress the skin on my neck sending delightful shivers down my spine. Just when I was about to touch the bare exposed skin at his waist, I heard footsteps and light chatter. I pushed myself away from him in time for the maids to come into the room bringing a whole group of people with them.

The room was suddenly filled with the arrival of the entire Ouran Host Club and including a surprise visit from Hani and Mori-senpai. Hani, being his old self, ran towards me, bawling away at how he had been so worried about me being in the hospital. Luckily Hikaru and Mori-senpai was there to stop him from jumping onto my bed and onto me. That would have been deeply unpleasant as I was still quite sore and stiff from the lack of movement.

“Morning Kaoru. You look well today.” Tamaki wished me first, he was after all still our president.

“Hello everyone, now this is nice.”

It was then that I noticed. Haruhi was missing.

“Hmm, we’re missing Haruhi.”

“She had to help her father with something today. She apologizes for not being able to be here but sends you these to wish you well.” Tamaki explained whilst proceeding to arrange a bunch of white lilies in a vase on my desk. It was lovely to see how everyone in the club cared so much for me. It even made the situation I was facing a little lighter and easier to deal with as I realized how much more there was to live for in life. The busy chattering and the noise was most annoying at usual times but today I welcomed it. Everyone was eager to hear the story of how the procedure was done, what it was like at the hospital and whether I had been attracting any unwanted attention from the nurses.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t been to the Hitachiin household before have we, Takashi?” Hani exclaimed excitedly.

“Mm.” Mori-senpai replied in his usual manner.

Everyone turned to stare at Hikaru with puppy eyes, obviously wanting to be taken around the house on a tour.

“Fine. I’ll show you around the house. This way please.”

He started guiding people out of my room, well, everyone except Kyouya that is, who seemed to have made no effort to follow. Hikaru noticed the situation, “Coming?” he asked.

“You all go ahead, I’ve seen some of your house already and I’ll join you later.” Kyouya sounded stern, which meant he had something important to say. Hikaru understood and reluctantly closed the door behind him soon after everyone had exited. I couldn’t believe he left me there to face him alone. What the fuck was he thinking? Didn’t I just say I didn’t want to be in the same fucking room as Kyouya? That ass hole, sometimes, I never know what the fuck is on his mind. I wasn’t ready to hear what Kyouya had to throw at me. But, what was he going to throw at me was a whole other problem to worry about.

“Sorry about this but I just wanted to have a little private chat. Just so you know, I was really worried about you.” Kyouya asked maintaining his distance from me as he knew I’d become uncomfortable if he came any closer. His eyes were kind saying those words, making me feel a little better but not by much as I was more afraid of being mentally abused rather than the physical torture from Kyouya. He was more capable of mental manipulation than most people in this world, thus making him the “shadow king”.

“I suppose you do have something to say to me.”

“Well, I just wanted you to know I was worried.”

“Right, that can’t be all. What else do you want to say?”

“That I think Hikaru’s an asshole.”

“Well that doesn’t surprise me.”

“And that Tamaki’s sorry for telling Hikaru to pull a stunt like that.”

“What?!”

“He didn’t have the balls to apologize so I’m doing it on his behalf.”

“Right, was Haruhi on drugs when she took his advice?”

“Well, it got her a kiss, didn’t it?”
“Yah but, that’s not how you go about it. Doing things like that is just wrong although, now that you’ve mentioned it being Tamaki’s ‘bright’ idea, I guess I can see how things went way off track.”

“I know, it was more than just a silly option. I was also asked by Haruhi to say she was sorry. Unfortunately she didn’t have the guts to show today either. She’s at home, sulking over how Hikaru had pushed her off really hard when he saw you collapse. She hurt her hand because of that as well. That’s why I think he’s a real ass hole. He should know better than to do something so un-gentlemanly.”

“So what if he shoved her off later? He could’ve done it earlier before she started lapping at his lips ferociously.”

“Well, he didn’t see that as anything wrong. You guys were fighting at that time and he really didn’t initiate it. He saw no point in shoving her off until he saw you collapse. Basically, I’m saying that he loves you and that you should be really happy because of it.”

“But you told me that it was wrong. That the feelings I had for him were wrong!”

“I remember distinctively that I said it’s wrong to force love upon someone. I thought he didn’t see you in that way. But after what I’ve witnessed recently, I realized that no one could tear you both apart. Even if the whole earth had split into two and you were each on one half, the both of you would still be longing for each other and you would eventually find a way to build a bridge in between. The power fueling that is great and there is nothing more beautiful than that.” Kyouya smiled. I could see him tearing and I felt sorry, he had tried to love two people and lost them both to others. I had had that experience only once with Hikaru, thinking that I had lost him to Haruhi and even if things had turned out the way I wanted, the pain still haunted me. I can’t even to begin imagine what it was like going through this twice.

“Kyouya, I…”

“Stop there. I’m not done yet.”

I stopped and stared at him blankly.

“Now it’s my turn to say I’m sorry you went through so much before arriving at this. I’m really sorry that we, Tamaki and I that is, had to put you both through this to realize everything.”

“You and Tamaki? Alright Kyouya, what’s going on this time??”

Kyouya looked at me serious at first. Then I saw it, his lips curling slightly into a smile, the devilish scheming look that always came to serve up more evil plotting. The smile turned into a sly grin and from the grin, Kyouya began giggling.

Suddenly, I felt furiously humiliated and as my faced turned deep red with anger, Kyouya’s giggled turned into laughter and soon, he burst into a mixture of laughter and tears.

Oh God. Me and Hikaru might just have been the biggest fucking pawns in Kyouya’s game of life.

TBC

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