Matters of the Heart

Chapter 4 – Trouble always comes in pairs…

-.-

The halls of the International Middle School were filled with the gasps and squeals of students. Girls had lined the walls, excited over the pair that was coming down the hall. They had finally returned to school…

-.-

Ai burst into the classroom, seconds before the bell rang for homeroom. The slam of the door had caused Ren to jump out of her nap. Her sleepy eyes drifted to Ai, who was huffing in the doorway.

“Nee-San! Kimi-Chan! They came back!”

Ren cocked an eyebrow and Satsuki rose from her seat, excitement in her eyes.

“EH?! They did?!”

Kimiko pushed herself out of her seat, and ran to the doorway, shoving Ai out of the way. The brunette stuck her head into the hallway, and gasped loudly.

“Holy crap! She’s right! They did come back!” She looked back and grinned widely. “C’mon guys! Let’s go greet them!”

Before anyone could oppose her offer, Kimiko was out the door and running down the hall. Ai sighed.

“So much for greeting them together.”

Ren stood up, staring at the twins, who were the only other people in the room.

“Uhm… Can I ask? Who… Came back?”

She was more confused now, more than she had ever been in her lifetime. Now, hearing the noises in the hall, she was even more curious. The twins glanced at each other, and grinned. They each placed a hand on Ren’s shoulder, and began leading her to the hall.

“Y’Know… We aren’t the only set of twins here…”

Ren blinked.

“EH?! Really?”

She immediately thought it would be fun to have people to tell apart. A stupid smile formed on her lips, and Ai knew right away what her best friend was thinking. She flicked Ren on the nose, and peered at her.

“Don’t think too far ahead…”

She gave Ren a shove forward, and the twins stopped walking, watching Ren stumble into the hall.

-.-

Staring in awe at the two people coming down the hall, Ren’s jaw nearly dropped. There was a boy and a girl, and Ren could have sworn Ai and Satsuki said they were twins.

They must have lied.

With her long, curly, purple hair, the girl was shorter than her brother, but not by much. Ren immediately thought she was a model, when she saw how dark the girl’s eyes were. After gazing at the girl for a moment, her eyes shifted to the boy next to her. He had the same hair and eye color as his twin, yet he looked different. Ren could tell immediately that they must be exact opposites. His eyes held uneasiness and anger in them, while the girl’s eyes were calm and collective. Ren’s fist landed in her palm, indicating that she had just figured something out.

“Paternal!”

Her twin friends fell over anime style, and yanked on her braid, their mouths dangerously close to her ears.

“Shut up, retard!”

“Yeah! Don’t say anything stupid or mean to Kyra!”

“Desi’ll kick your ass…”

“And won’t care that you’re a girl when doing it!”

Ren cringed in her friend’s grasp, not liking the sound of that.

Overprotective…

“Ai and Satsuki?”

Ren spun around, as the sound of a girl’s voice, facing Kyra and Desi. She was quickly moved out of the way, and Ai and Satsuki smiled happily.

“Kyra! Desi…!”

“How come you’re back so early?”

“Are you really better this time?”

Kyra smiled slightly, her face tense. She had just been released from the hospital, not even 24 hours ago, and her muscles were still quite sore. Her eyes told a different story; however, they shone with happiness.

“For now, I just have to take it easy for a while.” She explained, her voice smooth. Her brother scoffed, and raised an eyebrow towards Ai.

“Yeah, Ai. That means no modeling!”

Ren blinked. She was right about her being a model. She grinned stupidly, for being right for once. Ai whined loudly.

“That’s not fair! Modeling my stuff isn’t rough on the body! Is it, Kyra?”

She seemed desperate to be right, but Ren really wanted to say something. Having experienced modeling Ai’s outfits, she knew how rough it could get. Ai wasn’t the softest person out there. Ren kept her mouth shut though, anything could be the wrong thing to say, and she didn’t want to try anything. Kyra smiled, the kindest smile Ren had ever seen, and spoke up.

“No… But… I do have a lot to catch up on.”

The entire group went silent, none of them looking at one another. Desi broke the silence with a loud cough.

“Hey! Who’s the new girl?”

He pointed a rough finger right at Ren’s forehead, making her yelp out in shock. She backed up a few steps before bowing slightly.

“Umm… Umm… I’m… Ren Hi… Hi… HIYAKAMA! Nice to meet you!”

Stammering seemed to be her specialty when nervous; she could hardly speak without shaking violently. She looked as if she was terrified of him. Desi cocked an eyebrow, immediately recognizing her dialect. Even though he was from Italy, his ability to tell dialects apart was great.

“Heh, Osaka? How long you been here? Couldn’t have been long, you still sound like a hick.”   

Ren flinched. Her friends around her gasped at Desi’s rude comment, and silence scattered around. Ren gulped, feeling like she was being interrogated. The look in Desi’s eyes hinted that he wasn’t going to wait for an answer for too much longer.

“4 months…”

She flinched, again, at Desi’s scoff. He didn’t like people much, she could tell. Her eyes widened when he twitched funny. Kyra had jabbed him hard in the side.

“Shut up, Desi… It’s actually really nice to meet you Ren-Chan… What class are you in?” Ren widened her eyes, surprised at her calm tone.

Nothing alike…

“Ah… I'm in 1B, with Ai-Chan and Satsuki-Chan…”

Kyra frowned sadly.

“That’s too bad… I'm in 1A. You have class with my brother though. Please be kind too him. He may act tough, but inside he’s a softie.”

“AM NOT. She’s lying…”

Ren glanced at Desi, and heard the groans of her classmates. Obviously Desi wasn’t really popular in school. She was quite shocked though, not understand why the twins were split up between classes. Ai and Satsuki were twins, and they were in the same class. She gave it a lot of thought, and finally came to a, yet another, conclusion.

They must not get along...!

She thought too soon. Just as that came to her mind, Desi was pulling his sister close to him, gently. The look in his eyes told her that they were closer than any siblings out there. Everyone looked down the hallway when a voice echoed through it.

“Hey, Desi! How long are ya going to hold on to her like that? You pervert.”

Came the voice of a boy wearing the High School uniform. Ren twitched slightly. Just how many new people was she going to meet?! She looked over at Desi, who still had his arms around his sister. His could eyes revealed that he didn’t exactly like this guy. Ren noticed this almost immediately. Desi bared his teeth, looking like an angry dog.

“Che… Kurumas. What the hell are you doing here? You’re not in middle school.”

Kurumas frowned, weaving his way through the shocked middle schoolers. They were all surprised that a High School student was even in their building. Usually they stayed away from it, as if they were too good for the younger kids. Ren stared at the freshman, her eyes wide. Never in her life had she seen a person like Kurumas. She seriously thought he must have spent too much time in a tanning booth. His hair was a mahogany color, matching perfectly with his light brown skin. His eyes held kindness with their reddish color, and he was tall. Taller than any high school student Ren had seen. She wondered how old he was, and if he was held back in kindergarten. She resisted her urge to ask him where he was from.

“Seriously. You’ve got issues. Get over your perverted sister complex, and come back down to Earth.”

Kurumas still held a calm look, but his words were harsh. Desi kept his arms around Kyra, this time pulling her closer, as if protecting her. His fuse was growing shorter by the second, and Kyra could feel him tense around her.

“You’re always interfering! Go away!”

Ren tried not to laugh at how childish the boy sounded, and shifted her gaze towards Kurumas. Still, he was calm and collected, while Desi was seething. Ren could tell right away, if they were to fight, Kurumas would win. She didn’t know how she knew this, but something just told her Kurumas was holding it back.

“That’s because you are nothing more than an idiot. Hi, Kyra, it’s good to see you out of the hospital… Feeling any better?”

A snort of a stifled laugh came from behind them, actually two stifled laughs sounded. Ren could tell who they were from, and obviously Kurumas did too, for he had shot a glare over at the blue haired twins, who shut up immediately, their attention on Ai’s fashion magazine. Ren cocked her head. They knew something. She would definitely ask them about it later.

“Kurumas… I’m glad you came… I really was hoping to see you today.”

The girl had a cute smile on her face, causing the freshman to blush lightly. Thankfully, only Kyra noticed. Desi had the tendency to throw things at Kurumas every time he saw him blush. Kyra frowned suddenly, hearing the bell toll for the next class. She looked up at her brother’s face. He had calmed down just a tad, and wasn’t as tense as he was before. Now was a good time to free herself from his grip.

“Ok… Desi… I have to go to class, and it’s all the way on the other side of the school. So, if you could let go right now, I would be happy.”

She struggled in his grasped, making him whine, extremely loud.

“But! Kyr-“

“DESI VINCINTE!”

Desi flinched, not liking the voice he heard. All eyes went to the other hallway, the one that led to classes A and D. There came Rue Tanazaki, the most feared, loudest, short tempered, teacher of class A, storming down the hall. Every student scattered, returning to their classes. If there was one teacher to avoid angering, it was Tanazaki. However, she looked angry already. Desi frowned, leaning his head atop Kyra’s.

“Tanazaki… What do you want?”

Tanazaki twitched, a vein pulsing on her forehead. Her mahogany eyes narrowed down at her least favorite student.

“What am I doing? It seems you have one of my students held captive. I’ve come to rescue her and bring her to class. Leggo lover boy.”

Desi and Tanazaki seemed to have a staring contest, neither one of their eyes leaving the others. Finally, Desi sighed in defeat. He knew he couldn’t go against a teacher, especially not this one. He removed his arms from around Kyra, and instead cupped her face. Only Ren seemed horribly shocked when Desi kissed his twin passionately on the lips. When they parted, he leaned his forehead on hers and smiled lovingly.

“See ya later, sis…”

-.-

Once Kyra had been escorted to class by Tanazaki, the entire class B groaned in their seats. Due to Desi’s return, they had to move some seats. Now instead of Ai and Satsuki being dead front, they had been moved to the back, right next to Rue and Ren. A thud sounded, as Ai’s forehead hit her desk.

“Aw man! This sucks! We-“

“Can it, Nee-San.”

“Well! It’s true! This means we gotta deal with that per-“

“SHUT UP!”

Satsuki hurled her bag at her twin, striking her right on the side of the neck. Ai rubbed it in pain, grumbling about two perverts being in class with her.

Ren stared at her fighting friends, but her thoughts traveled back to the scene of Desi and Kyra kissing. She was confused as to why everyone else acted like it was a normal thing. She thought long and hard, tapping her pencil wildly.

They’re siblings!

Siblings usually don’t do things like that. As she tried to bring her self to a conclusion, she didn’t notice that her gaze kept going towards Desi, who sat 3 desks over. Rue, who was actually awake this time, noticed this and frowned.

“You can’t have him.”

Ren jumped slightly, and spun around to face him, blush crawling to her face.

“Wha-…. Wait… Why not?”

It wasn’t that she wanted him, she was curious as to why she couldn’t have him. Rue rolled his eyes, and looked out the window.

“He’s in love with someone already.”

Ren blinked. She stared at the raven haired boy before turning to think. It was a long process, and Rue could have sworn he heard the gears in her mind grinding. Finally, she understood. Ren stood up and slammed her hands on Rue’s desk, scaring him half to death.

“WHAT?! HIS SISTER?!”

She immediately regretted that action, because the entire class was now staring at her, including the cold stare of Desi. She bowed slightly, as a silent apology, and sat back down. Rue tried not to laugh at her flushed face.

Cute…

Ren put her head on her desk, and rolled it around a few times. Her head hurt. She had heard of cases of incest, but never in her life heard of twincest. The simple thought of it made her stomach turn.

-.-

School ended late that day, due to interruptions with the twin’s arrival. It was clean up time in Class A, and Kyra was in charge of the black boards.

Kyra sighed heavily. She had to admit, even though she loved her brother, sometimes he went too far. Annoyed, she began scrubbing the board, water dribbling to the floor, creating a puddle. She zoned out, lost in thought, scrubbing aimlessly. She didn’t notice when her roommate, and the class president, Serenity, came up to her.

“-Ra! Kyra!”

Kyra snapped out of her trance, and deep blue eyes fell upon the silver haired girl. She smiled weakly.

“Ah… Serenity… Hey…”

Not only was Serenity beautiful, but she was also kind. Her warm smile sent a shiver down the frail girl’s spine, and Kyra tried not to stare into Serenity’s shimmering aqua eyes. Kyra’s angelic vision of Serenity cracked like glass when the girl held up a mop.

“You’re cleaning that up.”

Kyra’s eyes widened and she took the mop from her. She glanced at the floor, where a large puddle had pooled around her shoes. She sighed in defeat.

“Sorry, Serenity. I’ve got a lot on my mind today.”

It was true. Lately she had been trying to find way of doing things, without her brother finding out. He wouldn’t let her go anywhere or do anything without him knowing exactly where it was, what it was and who it was with. She was forbidden to talk to boys without him around, especially not Kurumas. Desi hated Kurumas, with a burning passion, even though they were roommates. That was one of the reasons why Kyra never told him that Kurumas had come to visit her every day, since she entered the hospital that year. She swirled the mop in the chalk colored water, and sighed.

“If only we went to different schools.”

She wrung out the mop pad, before dipping it back into the puddle. As twins, Kyra and Desi were hardly ever separated, but that was only to please Desi. Kyra could survive just fine without him around, but her brother had serious separation issues. He never left her side if he had a choice, and he fought hard against the school to get a room with her in the dorms. The only reason they declined him, was because of the separation of genders on each floor. If it were any different, she would be sharing a room with him.

The thing that bothered Kyra the most was the sheer fact that Desi was “in love” with her, and it was a serious thing too. Everyone knew about it at school, and stopped asking questions when Desi threatened to kill each and every student. That was the reason why she was forbidden to talk to boys and to go out alone. Desi had “claimed” her as his, and was always trying to kiss and touch her, as he did earlier. Kyra frowned, wiping her forehead free of sweat. It was more annoying than anything. Her attention was turned to the doorway, when a girl she hardly spoke to, called her name.

“Hey, Vincinte! Kurumas-San is here! He says he’s gonna walk you home!”

Kyra blinked, and looked over her shoulder, seeing Kurumas standing at the door, a bashful blush on his face. She looked over at Serenity, who bowed her head in frustration.

“Yeah yeah, go have fun. I’ll meet you at the dorms, kay?”

Kyra nodded in agreement, and happily grabbed her school bag and jacket, just before meeting Kurumas at the door.

“Kurumas? Why are you here, anyway?”

She asked this, even though she knew the answer. She just liked talking to him whenever possible. The freshman gave her a strange look, and they began walking down the empty hall.

“What? Should I just leave you here to walk home alone, so you can pass out in the street, and die or something?”

Kyra cringed at his tone. She still wasn’t used to his sarcastic way of life, and it bothered her. Her eyes fell to her feet.

“No… I just…”

Kurumas glanced at her, seeing her hurt expression. Gritting his teeth, he looked away.

“Uh… Sorry. That’s not what I meant…”

Kyra raised her eyebrows and giggled at his cute look. She sighed. Going to school, even for just one day, was exhausting. Even carrying her school bag was hard on her muscles. She considered herself extremely lucky to have so many people that cared about her. She was about to zone out again, when Kurumas coughed loudly. She looked up at him, but he kept his eyes forward.

“So… How long before you have to go back?”

He was worried about her. This year alone, Kyra had been in the hospital 4 times, the last one was for 4 months straight. He had finally realized that anything could happen to her at anytime, and he wanted to be ready for it. Kyra frowned, hating the thought of going back to the hospital.

“It depends… If I have an asthma attack or another seizure, I have to. Other than that, I don’t have to go back too soon.”

Due to the lack of a strong immune system and a strong body, Kyra would be in the hospital for months at a time. She was once there for a year straight, due to a collapsed lung. Asthma, violent seizures, permanent vasovagal reaction [1], and Acid reflux disease, were just a few of the medical problems Kyra had to worry about. Besides those, her metabolism was incredibly fast, faster than any her doctors had seen. She had to eat at least 5 times a day, not excluding snacks. Someone had to keep an eye on her at all times, due to her vasovagal reaction. She was known to faint or fall asleep randomly, especially if her emotions were high that day.  Kurumas grinned at her news.

“Well… Make sure you don’t have any attacks!”

Kyra peered up at him, and he was grinning like a child. She looked down though, deep in thought. At the start of the year, Kurumas had told her that he liked her, but at that time her condition was worse than ever, and she had only met him once before. She never had the chance to respond, but yet, he would still visit her every day. The more he visited, the fonder of him Kyra became, but she had her doubts. She had begun to wonder if he ‘liked’ her because he felt sorry for her. He hadn’t mentioned his confession at all over the year, so she figured he didn’t like her like that anymore.

-.-

The pair arrived at Kyra’s dorm room, just as the sun was setting in the east. Music was heard down the hallway, most likely coming from Ai and Ren’s room. They were always doing something this late. Kurumas scratched his head, nervously, before opening the door for her.  

“I have to go… I'm sorry for having to leave you… But if you need anything, you have my number. Stay outta trouble…”

Kyra nodded, receiving a grin in return. She felt her heart sink as she closed the door and heard him run down the hall.

He definitely feels sorry for me…

-.-

END CHAPTER 4