Chapter 15: 10 Years Later

"Sachiko!" Hikaru yelped as he walked in the door and nearly tripped over his six year old daughter who was lying in front of the door coloring a picture of their rather ticked off old cat Kyo who was perched atop the book shelves beside the door. Hopping onto his bad leg, Hikaru fell to the ground with a thud beside her and rolled over with a sheepish grin and a muttered, "I meant to do that."

The little girl looked over at her dad and grinned at him with her magnified tawny golden eyes sparkling behind her glasses. "Afternoon Daddy!" As she stood up, her dark brown bangs flopped over her glasses and she blew them back into place with a frown; Sachiko was so much like Haruhi. Leaning down to offer her dad a hand, Hikaru grabbed it and then pulled her back down onto his lap with one hand while the other snatched up her drawing. As he looked down at it in awe of his daughter's talent, he felt her twin brother leap up onto his shoulders and nearly kicked his sister in the face. "Careful Chirou!" Sachiko exclaimed using her brother's nickname as she crawled off Hikaru's lap and gave her twin a glare.

Sticking his tongue out at her, Kichirou pushed his glasses back up from where they'd fallen to the tip of his nose in his enthusiasm as he fired back, "Careful yourself Sachi!" Their identical tawny golden eyes glared at each other and Hikaru sighed; he and Kaoru had never fought as kids granted now they had separation issues but at least his parents never had to deal with the quarrels. Standing up with much effort and an unwilling wince, Hikaru limped over and stepped in between them giving each a pointed look that he'd never been capable of pre-kids.

Upon hearing the commotion, Sachiko and Kichirou's babysitter for the day appeared with his new son Hajime in his arms. "What'd I miss?"

"You're kidding me, right?" Hikaru fired back at his own twin who merely shrugged as he rocked back and forth to keep Hajime sleeping. Rolling his eyes at Kaoru, Hikaru turned to look back at his own kids who were glaring at each other around him. "Come on now, this is nothing to fight over. So Chirou you can apologize for nearly kicking Sachi and Sachi you can apologize for yelling at him. Got it?"

The pair sighed in unison in an overdramatic almost Tamaki-like manner causing Hikaru to silently reprimand himself for letting Tamaki babysit even for a day. Hikaru could clearly afford a babysitter however all their friends and family kept volunteering instead and since Haruhi argued that it helped their kids learn how to deal with people, Hikaru had agreed. He always agreed when it came to Haruhi in the then, in the now, and in the future when.

While he was focused on the twins and their mumbled apologies, a lithe, petite figure snuck in and placed her briefcase down as quietly as she could. Sneaking up behind him, she covered his eyes and whispered in her best attempt at a manly voice, "Guess who?"

"Mom!" Chirou and Sachiko shrieked in unison as they ran towards her and tackled her to the ground. At the sound of that, Hikaru turned around and smiled lovingly at Haruhi while Kaoru quietly began to take his leave. Though his twin's children loved their Uncle Kaoru, they needed some quality time with their parents now and again.

As Kaoru began the process of slipping away, Chirou and Sachiko proceeded to relate how terribly Hikaru was at punishing them while Hikaru blushed and muttered excuses. Glancing back at them, Kaoru grinned. Both Hikaru and Haruhi had had more than their fair share of trouble and the pair had earned this, a happy married life with the perfect jobs for them and ample time to spend with their beautiful twins.

That wasn't to say that their past was behind them, Hikaru had died his hair a dark ash color and still walked with a limp on a day to day basis while Haruhi hated to be left alone, especially in hotel rooms. On his bad days, Hikaru was forced to lean heavily on a cane just to get around; Kaoru's wife always made jokes about how he looked like this Dr. House character from an American television sitcom which always earned Murai Hitachiin a glare. Speaking of his wife, Kaoru turned back around and began to gather his things to leave pausing only to kiss Hajime on the top of his head before he lifted up the diaper bag and headed toward the front door. Hikaru, Haruhi, and Sachiko had already headed to the kitchen to deliberate where they were going to go to dinner tonight.

"Leaving already Uncle Kaoru?" Chirou asked with a slight tremor filling his young voice and his tawny golden eyes looking a little rounder than usual behind his glass frames. Kaoru nodded before looking back at his nephew and finally registering the fear in the boy's eyes. He used to be so good at picking up emotions that many of his instructors insisted he would make a better psychologist than a fashion designer. Despite their prodding, his family ties had won out and he had become the fashion designer his family had wanted him to be and truthfully he needed to be to become independent yet not become so totally cut off from his twin brother that he never saw him.

But let bygones be bygones, right now his nephew needed him so the past and his memories of it would just have to wait. "Yep, Hajime wants to see his mom." His nephew nodded because he understood yet Kaoru sighed noting that Chirou was like him in that he needed extra reassurance, especially the night before he started first grade. "But I need help getting everything to the car, if you don't mind."

Kichirou nodded happily, even at six years old he understood that that meant he was getting extra time to talk with his uncle. Kaoru again was brought into the past as he took in Chirou's thoughtful expression. His nephew was way too much like him because not only was Chirou the younger twin but he was also the thoughtful and more emotional one. Now don't misunderstand, because Chirou was like his parents in that he did have the same bountiful energy that Hikaru had as a child, not to mention Haruhi's intelligence and terrible eyesight; both twins had inherited that. "Uncle Kaoru?"

"Yes, Chirou." The still orange-haired man replied as the younger fellow interrupted his wandering thoughts. Their tawny golden eyes met and Chirou tore his eyes away in embarrassment. "Is something wrong?"

As his nephew starred at his sandaled feet, Kaoru stopped in his tracks in order to give the boy more time to think. After a step or two more, Chirou too stopped and whispered his question, "What if they don't like me?"

Out of all the questions that Kaoru had been expecting, this one had been at the top of the list, mostly because he had asked the very same one on the morning of his first day. Taking the last few steps forward, Kaoru opened the car door and carefully placed Hajime in his car seat and buckled him in, before getting down on one knee in front of his nephew. "Do you know what the name Kichirou means?" Chirou nodded but let his uncle answer his own question, "It means lucky son, and that makes you lucky, right?" The boy opened his mouth as if to argue but Kaoru continued talking which preventing him from doing so. "You also have two parents and a bunch of "uncles" who are extremely good at meeting people and making friends, right?"

"I suppose that you're right Uncle Kaoru." Chirou conceded but still looked more than a little frightened.

Placing a hand on Chirou's shoulder, Kaoru continued, "Do you want me to tell you what your dad told me?" His nephew nodded and Kaoru began reciting Hikaru's words from memory, "'It doesn't matter if they like you or not, I'll never leave you.' And I'm sure that Sachiko will never leave you either, right?" The six year old grinned at that as he glanced back at their house and where his twin sister was waiting. Uncle Kaoru was right, Chirou reasoned as he gave his uncle a hug before dashing back inside. Kaoru laughed as he drove away and Hikaru watched the interaction end between his twin brother and his own son from the window with a smile.

No matter how many years passed since the two became independent of each other, Hikaru and Kaoru remained deeply bonded to the point that it still caused a nervous twang of his heart strings whenever he saw him leaving because he was, in truth, still scared of being left alone. "Lost in thought, Hika?" Haruhi asked as she wrapped her arms around his middle and pressed her face into the back of his shirt. Breathing in his scent, Haruhi relaxed at the same time as Hikaru registered her embrace and leaned back into her. It was only because of her that he and Kaoru had separated at all and it was only thanks to her that he could still remain away from Kaoru.

"Just a bit. Bad day at work?" He continued and she sighed in response which translated to a yes. It was a case similar to theirs, with a break-in and an assault of both the man and woman she was representing. "Well it's over now, eh?" She nodded and he turned around to pull her into a hug. "Whatever it is, I will always be there to save you." Hikaru promised and Haruhi grinned at him as Sachiko and Kichirou ran in and they each picked up one of the twins in stride. Six years of being a parent created fast reflexes, especially for parents of twins.

Clutching her son close to her chest, Haruhi laughed happily causing Chirou to give her a funny look, "What's so funny Mom?"

Hikaru grinned at his wife and she smirked back at him before answering, "I'm just happy to be home with my favorite kids."

Sachiko raised an eyebrow from where she sat in Hikaru's arms, "We're your only kids!" She exclaimed with a disapproving look that turned into a giggle, no six year old could stay serious for too long. Haruhi had been able to but she was one of the few and that was only because her mother had died a few years before.

In response Hikaru pulled his wife into a hug squishing his twin children between them as he replied, "We're each other's home through thick and thin." Both Sachi and Chirou were fake gasping for air when their parent's pulled apart but despite their dramatics, they had matching grins on their faces and matching giggles when their father continued onto a lighter topic. "So what are we having for dinner again?"

So this is the end of my tale, I hope you enjoyed it and will please read and review. If you want to have a story written, by all means leave a review and I will be your scribe. Arigatō and I hope that you enjoyed my tale.