"Hmm, that doesn't look good," Yuzuha murmured as she sat in the car with her youngest, examining his now swollen shoulder with concerned eyes. Kaoru just stared out the window, his expression thoughtful.

'I can't believe I just did that,' he thought, blocking out his mothers constant muttering with his own inner monologue, 'his face, he looked so hurt,' he paused, flinching a little as Yuzuha poked at his shoulder. He did nothing but cast a weak glare back at her before resuming his thoughts. 'But then, it has to be done, I need my own space and so does he, and it has been rather awkward the past week or so, maybe this is the best action to take. Hopefully it will spur him into actually talking to me about what's going on."

"Kaoru?" Yuzuha pulled him out of his reflection, her expression one of extreme concern. He turned to her, a small frown pulling the corners of his lips down, his whole expression downcast and dejected. "Want to tell me what's going on with you and your brother?" She asked, her voice ever hopeful he might know what the problem was so she could do something to help.

Kaoru sighed. "I wish I knew," he muttered, looking back out the window, his expression miserable. He could feel his mother slump a little beside him, lost at what to do.

The rest of the journey was silent, Kaoru eventually gently leaning against his mother, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Kaoru?"

"What?" Kaoru spun around, wincing as a stab of pain shot through his shoulder. Standing behind him, dressed in a black smart-casual suit with an open collar, showing a nice amount of collarbone, was Kyouya, eyebrows raised. He looked at the redhead questioningly, still managing to look as cool as ice. Kaoru blushed a little under his gaze, holding his arm a little tighter. "Kyouya-sempai, what are you doing here?"

"This is one of my family's hospitals," the older boy replied, "I have a few business things to settle here this morning," he explained, "I'm more concerned with what you are doing here."

"Fell out of bed," Kaoru shrugged his good shoulder, "hurt my shoulder, figured I should get it checked out."

"Kaoru honey, you're checked in, but there's a twenty minute wait," Yuzuha called, walking over from the desk nearby, "oh, hello Kyouya darling, I wasn't expecting you here."

"Business," Kyouya said with a polite nod of his head, "Always nice to see you Hitachiin-sama. If you don't want to wait, I've just finished and have an hour until my next meeting, I don't mind giving you a check up myself. I've taken the liberty of learning about the medical side of my family's company, as well as the business side of things."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to-" Kaoru started, shaking his head and avoiding eye contact, but Yuzuha cut him off.

"That would be wonderful," she gushed, "so long as it's not too much trouble of course."

"It would be my pleasure," Kyouya said, giving a far too polite smile and gesturing for them to follow as he turned and headed down the corridor towards the lifts, telling one of his bodyguards to cancel Kaoru's original appointment. They took the lift to the top floor, where it was almost deserted, sparkling pristine white and silent. The private ward. Kyouya sent Yuzuha off with his guard to get a coffee so they could do the check-up in private.

"Shirt off," Kyouya said, taking off his jacket and rolling his sleeves up.

Kaoru complied, a faint blush dusting his cheeks as he un-buttoned his short-sleeved shirt and laid it down next to him as he sat on the surprisingly comfortable hospital bed. He unconsciously brushed his fingers over his bruised skin, biting his lip nervously.

"Now, fell off or kicked off?" Kyouya asked, moving to stand next to the redhead and began to examine his shoulder.

"What?" Kaoru looked over, wide-eyed. Kyouya pushed his chin away so he could start pressing his thumb gently on the bruise that had now spread halfway up his neck.

"You heard me, tell me when this starts to hurt," he ordered.

Kaoru sighed, not exactly wanting to turn his brother in, but knowing that he would probably work it out one way or another.

"Kicked off, and there, ow!" he winced as Kyouya pressed his thumb over a particularly sore spot. He heard the sound of teeth being clenched together and glanced over, resisting the urge to turn his head. The look on the older boy's face shocked him. He looked almost murderous, glaring daggers at the dark mark covering his shoulder.

"Alright," Kyouya started, taking a deep breath "I would say it's definitely fractured at least, but I'll sort you out with an x-ray just to be certain." He sat down at the desk across the room and began filling in a few forms, pen moving quickly and rigorously across the paper. Kaoru briefly wondered what had the boy so suddenly mad, but not seeing the obvious.

Kyouya helped him back into his shirt and tied a sling around the redhead's neck, gently moving his arm into a comfortable position inside the white cloth.

"There's a slot for an x-ray in twenty minutes," Kyouya said, "I've booked you in and I'll escort you to the waiting room myself, it's quite a maze."

Kaoru nodded mutely, chewing at his bottom lip. He couldn't work out why Kyouya was so angry all of a sudden.

Unless...

He couldn't be mad at Hikaru for kicking him off the bed, could he? He had to know it was an accident.

An accident that kept happening, but an accident all the same.

"Hey Kyouya-sempai?" he asked, almost surprised at the sound of his own voice leaving his mouth. He did not remember giving the order to talk.

The older boy looked up, expectant.

"Are you free this evening?"

'What are you doing? Shut up!'

Kyouya thought for a moment, "I don't have anything that requires my immediate attention, why?"

"Do you want to help me move?" Well, there was no backing out now, though he still had no idea where these words were coming from. "I'm moving into the room on the top floor, and there's a few pieces I don't trust my maids with, and I... well..." he trailed off, looking down at his shoulder with a wince.

There was brief moment of silence as Kyouya contemplated the request.

"You're moving rooms? Without Hikaru I assume?"

Kaoru couldn't help but grimace as Kyouya helped him stand and led him out the room.

"I'm guessing he didn't take it well?"

"No idea," Kaoru said with a sigh, "Mother rushed me to the hospital before I could see his reaction." It was a tiny lie, yes, but the redhead didn't exactly want to explain the hurt he had seen in his brother's expression, the betrayal in his eyes. It pained him to even think about it. This would be good for them, he knew it would, but he was finding it difficult to see that right now.

Maybe once he was settled in...

"I'd be happy to help." Kyouya's voice broke him out of his thoughts and he looked up in surprise, half expecting a 'but' that never came.

"Really?" He smiled wide, happy at the thought of spending more time with the older student. He liked the fact that they had grown closer over the weeks, Kyouya was beginning to trust him more and Kaoru was seeing this as more than just a quest to see him smile, but as a genuine friendship. He never would have imagined the shadow king to show an interest in him of all people, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. At least he could have a decent conversation with him, which was more than Hikaru was giving right now.

"Sure, I finish at three, I'll come right over."

"Sounds great."

Or, you know, not.

Kaoru stood at the end of the corridor that that led to his room (old room he had to remind himself) staring at the pile of boxes and bags that littered the hallway.

It would seem Hikaru got a little ahead of himself.

He glanced at his watch. Only twelve thirty and Kyouya wasn't due to arrive until around half-three. These boxes couldn't just stay in the hall, the only place he could put them was his new room.

"Should I ask?"

Kaoru whirled around at the voice.

"Dad! You're home!" he exclaimed, all bedroom and moving worries flying out the window as he threw his good arm around his father's neck in an awkward hug. The man hugged back with extreme care, noticing the sling around his son's neck. "How was your trip?"

"Fine, fine," the man waved the question off, still staring at the boxes in the hall, "I'm more interested in this," he waved a hand in the general direction of the mess, "and this," he pointed at the sling.

"I fell out of bed this morning," Kaoru explained, "fractured shoulder, but Kyouya-Sempai patched me up, and I'm moving out."

A shocked silence followed.

"Only upstairs," Kaoru clarified, chuckling a little as the raised eyebrows dropped. "Need my own space, and it's next to the atelier, so I'm not dragging my stuff up and down stairs all the time."

"That... makes sense," the older man said, "need a hand?"

Kaoru rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "well, Kyouya was meant to come over and help me pack up later, but it seems Hikaru beat him to it, and it can't stay out here, so yeah, I suppose I do."

His father seemed to sense the concern in his voice, "don't worry," he said with a smile, "we'll get the maids to help get the boxes up there, and your mother and I will make sure the important stuff doesn't get broken. Kyouya can help you unpack."

"Thanks."

"Just, talk to your brother, I don't think he's taking this well."

"Alright," Kaoru muttered.

'If only he'd talk back.'

"Hikaru! Open up!"

There was no answer.

Not that that was particularly surprising. His twin was most definitely sulking. He could hear the sounds of some video game from the other side of the door, so the boy was most certainly in there, just refusing to open the locked door.

Which was hardly much of a barrier.

With a sigh, Kaoru reached into his pocket and pulled out a bobby pin, kneeling on the ground and using it to fiddle with the lock for a few seconds, before the click told him it was now open.

He pushed the door, walking into a surprisingly dark room, the only light coming from the TV screen at the end of the room. Hikaru was slumped on a beanbag in front of it, dressed in sweatpants and an oversized hoodie.

"Care to explain?" Kaoru said, gesturing to the now empty hallway. Hikaru missed the gesture but understood all the same.

"You're moving out, I just helped," he murmured, not really paying attention.

"Why are you so pissed about this?" Kaoru asked, trying very hard not to get frustrated at the lack of enthusiasm from the end of the room. His brother mumbled something inaudible. "What?"

"You could have discussed this with me before," he muttered, slightly louder.

"We need our own space Hikaru," Kaoru tried to explain, "we've grown out of this," he waved an arm at the now half empty room, "well, I think I have at any rate, I need to have a room of my own, and somewhere I can sleep without being booted to the floor every other night. Which by the way, since you asked so worriedly, has broken my arm, thank you very much." His voice was dripping with sarcasm by the end.

Stubborn silence met his speech, and he almost growled in annoyance.

"Look, I have my reasons, I've made my choice, and you're just going to have to grow up and accept it."

Without another word, he stormed out the room and up to his new bedroom, muttering angrily to himself the whole way.

The younger Hitachiin had calmed down by the time Kyouya arrived, forgetting for a few hours that the older boy was even coming over.

"I see you've coped pretty well by yourself."

"Kyouya-sempai!" Kaoru exclaimed, jumping from the bed as the man in question stepped into the room through the open doorway, "I'm sorry, I should have called, there's not much left to do."

"It's no problem," Kyouya said, a hint of a smile playing on his lips, "how'd you get this done so quickly?"

Kaoru sighed, dropping back to the soft mattress. "Basically, Hikaru threw a hissy fit of epic proportions, and simply packed up all my stuff while I was at the hospital and chucked it into the hall, where it was kinda in the way, so we moved it all upstairs, then I got bored, so I just unpacked one box, but I got a little carried away." He gestured to the nearly furnished room.

"Not bad considering you've only got one arm," Kyouya pointed out with a smirk.

"I know!" Kaoru grinned, "I'm actually quite proud. But I'm sorry I dragged you all the way out here for nothing."

"You realise I didn't just come to help right?" Kyouya said slowly, looking at the younger boy with an unreadable look, "believe it or not, I do actually enjoy spending time with you."

"Seriously?"

Kyouya rolled his eyes, "despite what others may say, I don't actually have a heart made of stone," he chuckled a little at the raised eyebrow and growing smirk on Kaoru's face.

"Can I get that in writing?" he asked, trying not the laugh at the indignant look on Kyouya's face, "I'm not sure the others will believe me."

"Don't push your luck, you're already pretty high on my hit list, you don't want to move up now, do you?"

That wiped the smirk off Kaoru's face very quickly. The thing about Kyouya was that you could never tell if he was joking, it always sounded like a serious threat.

"Do you want to go to dinner?" Kyouya asked, quite out of the blue, and Kaoru almost had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't hearing things. Was Kyouya Ootori, the anti-social Shadow King himself, seriously asking him to dinner. Even though he knew they were only friends (he thought... maybe), it sounded a little like a date. Which of course it wasn't, but once the thought was there, it was hard to get rid of.

And strangely enough, if the butterflies in his stomach were anything to go by, the thought didn't sound quite as terrible as he imagined it would.

"That would be wonderful."

LOOK! LOOK WHAT I JUST DID! I ACTUALLY UPDATED IT!

I was going through some of my old stuff on my computer this evening, and came across this. I started reading, for old times sake, and despite being horrified at my writing from almost three years ago, I couldn't help but get sucked back in, ideas, old and new, flooding in, and before I knew it, I was typing away at a pace I haven't seen myself do in months. I'm not sure what happened to this, it just kinda upped and died somewhere two years ago. I don't really have much of an excuse, but I will apologise, to those who followed this since it was a nothing but a prologue and to those who have continued to hit the follow and favourite button even long after I gave up. But I am now determined to finish, and even have a few solid ideas to work with.

So, quick update on my life I suppose, since my last update I have started University, dropped out of University, moved out of my parents home permanently, started another job (which is actually the same as my old one, just a different branch) and started a short course to be an air stewardess, and have an interview for an actual airline job on Thursday. It's all very exciting. And also means I'm rather busy most days, prep and all that, it's a pretty intense interview.

I will hopefully update soon, and do leave a review if you're still around, it would be nice to hear from you, and if you liked this newest addition.