Princess Ouran-Chp6

“Alright, Book of Crossroads. Show me what my next task is.”

Haruhi was in the bathroom as usual opening the Book of Crossroads, waiting to see what was in store for her. After her meeting with Nekozawa and the upcoming engagement ceremony, Haruhi was more determined to complete her mission and get the heck out of this manor. Especially when she had discovered a few skeletons in the Hitachiin Manor’s closets.

For example, after her meeting with Nekozawa and after eating the cheese Pedro gave her, she went down to the kitchen secretly to get herself a glass of water when she accidentally saw Count Hikaru, Kyouya and Mori talking in hushed tones with a few burly-looking men in black coats and hats through the gap of the door of the study. When she quietly followed behind them towards the warehouse, she realized that Count Hikaru actually kept dark-skinned children at the underground coal cellar right beneath the warehouse. Some of them were about Mori’s age or older, but most of them were almost the same age as she was. They were all wearing dog collars which were chained together with each other, forming a long line, and there were ropes tied around their wrists that were so tight they bled. They were shouted at harshly and were gagged to stop them from crying out loud and some were whipped, kicked and beaten when they tried to resist. All of them were pushed into a huge cage connected to several carriages before it was covered with a huge canvas and the carriage driven down the mountain.

Turned out that Count Hikaru led a double-life—a fashion designer/merchant by day and an illegal slave trader by night. Because the mountain where he lived was facing the sea, he would receive a steady supply of dark-skinned children from the black market that traveled by sea to be sold to his fellow high-classed friends as slaves or labour workers. Another interesting discovery was that although Mori participated in the trading, when Count Hikaru was not looking or when everyone was in bed, the so-called errand boy would go off secretly to the woods and hand information about the trading to a little blonde boy who looked no older than a 5-year-old with a pink bunny plushie tucked under his arm but dressed like law-enforcers. It seemed as if Mori was working undercover for them to try and bring down Count Hikaru and his illegal trades, like an informant of sorts.

Haruhi decided to keep the secret she knew to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was get Mori into trouble. She realized that somehow she had developed a fondness for the teenage errand boy that was more than just brotherly love. She would blush every time he approached and asked her if there was anything he could do for her. The feelings she was supposed to reserve for her future baby husband were blooming at the sight of him and her heart would race every time he did something nice for her. She knew that she should not have feelings like this. Mori was only working undercover and may leave as soon as Count Hikaru gets arrested by the law-enforcers—and she is the future Young Mistress, after all—but she couldn’t help it. The warm and fuzzy feeling hung about her whenever she was around Mori. Times without him around were lonely and at nights she often feared for his life whenever she heard him sneaking out of the house to pass another one of his information to the young boy.

Besides, the Counts would have her head for this if this ever went public, so she had no choice but to keep this little secret hidden deep within her heart.

As she took a deep breath to clear her mind, the pages began to fill up again. But this time, they were not covered with words or pictures. Instead, a slow, steady pattern of red swam across from both corners of them to the middle of the book, flowing down the spine like someone poured red dye on them. The red colour continued to spread through the rest of the pages, making a shape of a pair of butterfly wings and smelt horribly of sulfur and blood, and within the pages she could hear the faint sounds of a baby wailing, getting louder and louder by the second…

Haruhi quickly slammed the book shut. What does this mean? Is there something going to happen? Nekozawa did say something about the book showing her future, so what was the book trying to tell her?

“Haruhi? Haruhi-sama? Are you in there?”

Before she could figure out what was wrong, the sound of knocking on the bathroom door and Mori’s kind voice woke her from her concentration. She quickly hid the book back behind the bathroom cabinet and opened the door.

“What are you doing in there so long, Haruhi-sama?” Mori asked with a naughty gleam in his eye, though his face remained stoic as usual. Despite his expressionless face that can almost compare to the Shadow King Kyouya (that’s what she called him behind his back), his eyes were windows of his soul and she could easily tell what sort of emotion is really going on within him.

“Nothing. Just an upset stomach,” Haruhi smiled as innocent as possible, trying hard not faint at the sight of his drop-dead gorgeous eyes.

“Uh-huh,” Mori looked unconvinced, then said, “You better hurry and prepare yourself as soon as possible. The maids are preparing the water for your bath but you must hasten. The engagement ceremony is tonight, and Kyouya-san has given me strict orders to watch you tonight so that you would not repeat the previous incident again. I will have to personally bath and dress you, so no going out tonight, understand?”

Haruhi nodded, feeling her body steam from head to toe. Mori bathing and dressing her? Him seeing her naked? It was something she both dreaded and looked forward to.

“Daijobu, Haruhi-sama. I will not go overboard in my duties. Rest assure my next course of action is non-sensual.”

Needless to say, she couldn’t go anywhere, not even to have another sneak peek of the book. She was kept under Mori’s watchful eyes all day and she couldn’t go anywhere without having Mori stalking her, watching her every move. At least the bright side was that she got to have Mori all to herself instead of having to entertain Count Kaoru or do the household chores alone.

Later that night, dressed in the same (but new) beautiful suit Kyouya bought to replace the other, Haruhi made her grand appearance before dozens and dozens of guests who came to attend the ceremony. While they waited for Count Kaoru to get ready to come down and complete the ceremony, Count Hikaru led her around the living room, introducing her to each and every Duke, Duchess, Baron, Baroness, Lord, Lady and Sir he knew. Everyone either whispered to each other about their opinion of the new bride-to-be or reached over to shake hands and compliment on her directly. Meeting dozens upon dozens of strangers who are going to judge you and consider your position as the future Young Mistress Hitachiin sure somehow gave the ever calm, collected Haruhi the jitters, not to mention the pressure of meeting up everyone’s expectation of being the perfect bride to the future heir of a Count. Her stomach was doing the flip-flops and butterflies were ‘flying’ all over her insides as she prepared herself to be blessed by the priest together with her fiancée who still resides inside her future ‘mother-in-law’.

Suddenly there was a slight commotion upstairs. One of the maids rushed downstairs and called for Count Hikaru to go up. He excused himself and went up, leaving Haruhi to take care of the guests. But she was not about to be left in the dark as well, so she asked Kyouya to take over and went upstairs to see what was going on. She was shocked to see that the bed Count Kaoru was lying on was covered with blood and Count Kaoru was still bleeding like it would never stop. Count Hikaru quickly called for the family doctor while the maids quickly took the bloody sheets away.

After what seemed like forever, the doctor was finally able to stop the bleeding and stabilize her. As Haruhi and Mori sent the guests away and watched over Count Kaoru, she heard the hushed conversation between Count Hikaru and the doctor.

“It was hard work, but he’s stabilized now. Your brother needs uninterrupted rest for now, and I’d advise that he be kept sedated most of the time. The ceremony today proved to be stressful for him, coupled with the excitement and nervousness. He’s lucky it did not result to a miscarriage.”

“Thank you for the effort, doctor.”

“It is best too that only your workers tend to him. Your daughter-in-law should be allowed visits as little as possible. We do not want to traumatize your son any further.”

“Make him well, doctor. I don’t care how much it costs or how long it takes. Make him well.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come, Haruhi-sama,” Mori said as he laid a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to leave. “We must let Kaoru-sama rest.”

Once inside the room, as Mori helped her change in her nightclothes, Haruhi began to shiver, not because of the cold, but because of fear. She was reminded of the sign the book tried to show her. Was that what it was trying to say? Is that what women have to go through whenever they’re having a baby? Would that happen to her once she got officially married with her baby husband and get pregnant? Her future looked even more bleak and scarier than it should.

“Don’t worry, Haruhi-sama,” Mori said as he stroked her back to comfort her. “Master Kaoru will get better soon, you’ll see. Having a baby is rather…complicated.”

“Then I’ll never have one,” Haruhi muttered.

“You’re a strong girl, Haruhi-sama. You’ll turn out just fine. Kaoru-sama’s body is just a little bit too weak to handle a baby, that’s all. After all, it is a slight oddity to be pregnant when you’re originally male. Off to bed, Haruhi-sama. I’ll tuck you in.”

Haruhi climbed up the bed and laid there while Mori pulled the blanket over her. She looked around, making sure that no one was around before braving herself to ask, “You’re helping the children in the cellars, aren’t you, by talking to the law-enforcers?”

Mori stopped short for a while, his face showing genuine shock and concern, “You…You saw?”

Haruhi nodded.

“Then you must know that Hikaru-sama is actually a very dangerous man.”

Another nod.

“Have…Have you told anyone?”

“No, I haven’t. I don’t want anything bad happen to you. You’re my friend, no, you’re like a brother to me…err…maybe more than that…”

Judging by Haruhi’s face that glowed almost as red as the freshest tomato you can find, Mori had pretty much figured out what she was trying to say. It was something he could not reciprocate, not with his current situation, and not with her status and life in the line. Besides, his heart belonged to another, and he could never accept her and love her as much as he loved that special someone. He reached over to hug her.

“Nor I to you. But you must understand…we are not meant to be. I’ve always treated you like a sister. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, what with me being a double-agent…”

“I know…” Haruhi replied, though her eyes brimmed with tears as her heart broke into a million pieces. Rejection is often so hard to stomach.

“You are the future Young Mistress Hitachiin, and even though I may finally put Master Hikaru behind bars, your marriage with Master Kaoru’s son is still binding and cannot be broken. And I can’t take you as my bride. My heart belongs to another.”

“But I never wanted to marry him in the first place…He’s also just like a brother to me…With you, I…”

“It’s too late for regrets now. What’s done is done. There is no undoing it. Just remember, Haruhi-sama, that you’ll always be dear to my heart no matter what happens.”

Haruhi nodded. She knew all that. Though it hurts not able to be with the one you want, life was not all about fairytales in her storybooks and novels. Finally she wiped her tears and said, “Do you know a lullaby, Mori?”

“Only one,” Mori smiled a little as he helped dry her eyes with his sleeves, “but I don’t remember the words.”

“I don’t care. I still want to hear it. I just want to feel like a little girl again. Sing to me, please.”

And so he did. As he held Mori close to his chest, he hummed the old forgotten song his grandfather used to sing to him before bed, gently lolling his little future Young Mistress Hitachiin to sleep…