Saturday, January 2, 2010

Princess Ouran-Chp9

The rain was pouring outside the manor, signaling the rainy seasons. As Haruhi would volunteer to send in Count Kaoru’s meals for the day, she accidentally overheard the conversation between Count Hikaru and Kyouya and his men in the study. She was surprised that Mori was not in the room as Mori was also part of the trading business—pretending is more like it, to be exact. From what she understood from their hushed talking, she discovered that the Count had begun to suspect that there is a mole in the manor trying to bring their slave trading down and throw them into the slammer. They were planning to investigate and interrogate each and every one of the workers in the household as they were the most suspected ones, and errand boys were not excluded.

Haruhi’s heart skipped a bit. Errand boys? But that would mean Mori would be interrogated as well! What if Mori didn’t know what to say? What if the Count and Kyouya saw through his façade and lies and execute him on the spot? That would be detrimental for the both of them! She would never get to live in Mori or Honey’s family estate or see her father and would have to spend the rest of her life under the Count’s tyrannical regime! She couldn’t let that happen to him! She had to warn him somehow!

She was so nervous that she accidentally dropped the bread from the tray, making a considerable loud thump. Hastily, she picked up the bread and ran as quietly as she could upstairs to deliver Count Kaoru’s meal. Before she went off to warn Mori, she decided to check on the oni-neko root first. Cautiously, she crept under the bed and checked the root out. It didn’t seem like it’s moving, just lying there quietly without making a sound. Haruhi was worried that it was no longer alive, ever since Nekozawa denounced her from her Ouran home.

“You’re not moving,” Haruhi whispered as she poked and prodded lightly at the root. “Are you ill?”

Before she could get a reaction, she suddenly felt a tug at her ankles. It was Kyouya, pulling her out of the bed and in front of Count Hikaru’s shoes. Count Hikaru pulled her up roughly and growled, “I heard a noise. Didn’t think it was you. What are you doing down there?”

Haruhi didn’t know what to say. Count Hikaru decided to investigate by himself. He reached down and took out the bowl of milk carrying the root. By now, through time, the root had begun to grow and assimilate with the bowl, making the bowl as part of its body. Count Hikaru took a whiff and was taken aback by its gingery manure smell. He glared at Haruhi and asked, “What the hell is this?”

Haruhi was still speechless. All she could do was shake her head as she watched him with trepidation. How could she tell him the truth? How could she tell him that it was given by a neko demon who left her in the human world for dead? She doubted that he would believe him. Seeing that his daughter-in-law was not talking, Count Hikaru grabbed the root and pulled it out of the bowl, breaking parts of the smaller roots that connect it with it. Haruhi was horrified. He can’t do that! He can’t! He would kill his brother and the baby! She tried to reach over to take the root from his hand but she was held back by Kyouya.

“No! No! No, please! Leave it alone! Please, no!”

“Oni-chan! Leave her alone, please!”

Count Hikaru turned around to see his beloved brother awakened by the commotion. Mori, who just so happened to finish his chores and wanted to come up and see Haruhi, found everyone in that state.

“Master, is there something wrong?” Mori asked as he pried Kyouya’s hands away from his Young Mistress.

“Yes, oni-chan. What is the matter?” Count Kaoru asked.

“Look at this!” Count Hikaru said as he brandished the root at his twin, who in turn was shocked by the sight of it. “Look what she was hiding under your bed! What do you think of this?!”

“Haruhi-chan, what is this thing doing under the bed?” Count Kaoru turned to Haruhi, looking confused.

“It’s…It’s a magic root that a…a neko demon gave me…I…” Haruhi replied, tears trickling down her face. Her heart ached at the sight of her Oka-sama’s face. Please don’t look at me this way, please…

“This is what you get when you have a daughter-in-law who reads all this junk! Look what it has done to her!”

“Please, sir,” Mori stepped forward and coaxed Count Kaoru to lie back in bed. “She is my responsibility. I’ll talk to her. I promise this will not happen again.”

Count Hikaru glared venomously at Haruhi, then threw the root for Mori to catch and said, “Fine. See to it that it doesn’t. And Mori, meet me later this evening in the study. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“Yes, Master.”

With that, Mori waited until Count Hikaru and Kyouya left the room before excusing himself from Count Kaoru and dragging the teary Haruhi along with him to his room. Once inside, Mori asked, “What is the meaning of this? You know better than to believe in all sorts of nonsense like this. This is nothing but a dead root left to stench. What were you thinking?”

“The neko demon told me he would get better with this. And he’s right; he did get better. Don’t you see…?”

“Kaoru-sama got better because of the doctor’s treatment, not some stinking dead root left under the bed waiting for the tooth fairy to pick it up. Haruhi-sama, you have to listen to Hikaru-sama for the time being. You have to be patient. You have to stop all this if you want our plans to work. We’re so close. We’re close to a breakthrough. The last thing I want is for you to screw it up.”

“No, I want to leave this place! Please, take me away from here! Please, let’s just go! I don’t care about my marriage anymore. It means nothing to me. I just heard them talking. They’re starting to suspect you, and they’re going to interrogate you this evening. Please…let’s just go, please…”

“I have suspected that much. I’ll know what to do when that time comes. But now, things are not that simple. The world is a cruel place, Haruhi-sama, and you’ll learn that, even if it hurts.”

So saying, Mori walked closer to the fireplace and threw the root he was holding into the burning flames. Haruhi was horrified. How could he do that? Out of all people, why him? He’ll kill Count Kaoru and the baby! He has to take it out!

“No, no, Mori! Please, you’ll kill the baby…”

“Haruhi!” Mori spun round, raising his voice at her for the first time since they’ve been friends—calling her by her name instead of adding the honorary title at that—and grabbing her shoulders, shaking her. “Magic does not exist. Not for me, you or anyone else. Do you hear me? No more of these theatrics! No more!”

Haruhi had no choice but to watch the poor oni-neko root squeal and squirm as the fire consumed it whole. Though the rain and the sound of crackling flame overpowered its voice, making Mori deaf to its cries, Haruhi could still hear it, and it was a sound worse than death.

Suddenly they heard the maids screaming for help. As Haruhi feared, her Oka-sama was in pain. His time had come, and the labour pangs were starting to kick in. Count Hikaru hollered for the doctor and the maids were moving in and out of her room with the things needed to facilitate the birth. Mori left her alone and went off to help out with whatever else they needed. Haruhi could hear Count Kaoru’s moans and groans of pain coming from his room and feared the worse. She wanted to take the root out and salvage what was left of it, but she was too late. The oni-neko root had shriveled up and burnt into a crisp. There was no way she could bring it back to life again.

As the doctor went in to start the delivery process, Count Hikaru, Haruhi and Mori waited outside. Many things went through her mind as they waited nervously for the birth to be over. What was going to happen to Count Kaoru and the baby? Would they be alive and well? Would they live or would they die? How could they be sure it would turn out to be a boy? Renge-sama made wrong predictions before, so what if she was wrong about the sex of the baby? Or its fate for that matter? For all she know, she could end up being married to a girl or the baby would end up being stillborn despite the engagement ceremony. What would her future hold then? She shot Mori a I-told-you-so look before shrugging off harshly any attempts of him trying to comfort, distancing herself away from him. Mori looked at her with an emotion that said he didn’t know what to believe anymore.

After what felt like forever, tiny squalls of a baby could be heard from the room. Count Hikaru quickly made his way to the door and waited for it to open. There were good news and bad news written all over the doctor’s face as he came out wiping his bloody hands. The good news was that the baby was alive and well, and was a boy. The bad news was that Count Kaoru had lost so much blood that he died as soon as the baby was out. He never even got the chance to hold him or see him.

Needless to say, Count Hikaru shouted for everyone to leave the room and slammed the door shut, locking it tight before letting muffled wails and cries as he mourned for his dead beloved on the bed for almost a week, leaving the baby in the care of Mori and the maids.

An elaborate funeral was held behind the manor to bury Count Kaoru. It was a mixed feeling between the celebration of life and the mourning of the dead as everyone attended the funeral. Count Hikaru made plans with the priest and Renge-sama for the baptizing of his son whom he named Hikari Kaoruko Hitachiin while Haruhi helped to put away Count Kaoru’s things into the attic. She found it sad that the Count did not want to leave anything of remembrance for his son to think of his ‘mother’ by, and that he’d rather suffer the grief of the loss of his beloved by putting him in the past as a forgotten memory, but she was in no place to question his authority. She was the Young Mistress Hitachiin, and before her husband comes of age and become the next Count Hitachiin, she had no say over anything and must fulfill her duties to the current Count.

Before she left, she saw the bottle of sedatives the doctor gave the late Count Kaoru when he was still pregnant and very ill. She picked it up and looked at it for a while, a considering look ran across her face. Finally she decided to keep the sedatives. Pocketing it, she carried the rest of the Count Kaoru’s stuff and made her way into the attic.

She would think of some way to use it sooner or later.

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