Welcome to Gaia! ::

Daichi nodded at the request about the cake. Maybe eating it would cheer Kaoru up a bit. Once at the main house, he apologized, which upset Kaoru. But he couldn’t help it. He had failed Kaoru. He had promised Kaoru that his mother would never hurt him again and yet… here they were, staying at the main house because Daichi had failed. He couldn’t accept what Kaoru was saying, so he said nothing. Just gathered his family from the car and walked up to the front doors. They were greeted by his mother. Daichi hugged his mother with one arm for a moment before her attentions turned to Kaoru. It had been a while since he had ever seen his mother act so affectionate. All her kids were grown after all…

Daichi wasn’t surprised his mother got angry when she heard Kaoru say ‘it was part of his training.’ He got his temper from someone and the apple never falls far from the tree. Daichi looked at his mother, then nodded. “I have groceries in the trunk, please use them. And there’s a cake in the front seat that we’d like to save for later.” He said softly. His voice wasn’t as animated as it usually was… he had to focus more of his energy to remaining calm… otherwise he was going to go hunting and he would probably end up in jail. He took Kaoru’s hand and lead him to the family room. Maybe now she would understand a bit more of what Daichi had been going through with Kaoru. His ‘training’ was definitely a strain on their relationship, which poor Kaoru couldn’t help it. His self-esteem was just… so non-existent… Hopefully Rui could help with that…

Daichi held Hana to his chest, petting her as the doctor checked out Kaoru. Nothing broken, no internal bleeding, but rest was prescribed. Daichi had walked over to stand in front of Kaoru, offering his hand to help the male stand. He looked down into Kaoru’s eyes and shook his head at the question. But frowned as Kaoru continued. He knelt down, placing Hana on the floor before he looked up at Kaoru. “Don’t call yourself stupid.” His voice sounded a bit sharp. “I hate it when you say that. You’re not stupid.” He still sounded upset, but he sighed and reached up to hold one of Kaoru’s hands. “You did nothing wrong. There’s something wrong with her, not you. I don’t now what it is, but I know you are not the problem.” He lifted his hand to cup the side of Kaoru’s face. “I understand you want to love your mother… but you can still hate how she treats you… and you should…” He rose up and kissed the top of Kaoru’s head. “Let me know you my room.” He said, holding his hand out to Kaoru, hoping new surroundings would make it so that Kaoru wouldn’t want to cry anymore.

Servants were still moving their things into the kitchen and up the stairs to their room. Daichi lead Kaoru down the hall and directed him into an open door. Their suit cases were at the foot of the bed and a servant had just placed Hana’s things down. She bowed softly before leaving. Daichi’s old room was plain. Bed, dressers, a closet. He had taken most of his personal items with his. There was however a small stuffed panda laying on the bed against the pillows. “The bathroom if through that door.” He said, pointing to the door on the far side of the room. “Personal bath so you don’t need to worry about being walked in on.” He said softly.

Daichi shrugged when Kaoru mentioned his relationship with his parents. “My childhood was fine… I started to rebel when they started to talk about our wedding.” He really had no problem with his parents. He hated he was forced into a stupid out dated tradition. But besides that… he was just polite around them, and that sometimes came off as indifferent. Daichi walked over to Kaoru and sat next to him. He ran his hand through Kaoru’s hair, trailing his fingers down to Kaoru’s neck. “It’s not perfect… but none of that is your fault.” He said softly. He knew Kaoru wouldn’t believe him. “If you get to blame yourself for all of this, I’m going to blame myself too… if I was better at communicating my feelings, then you never would have thought that… you needed to vanish to make me happy… then your mother wouldn’t have gotten involved… so really this is all my fault.” He said, completely serious.

He tilted his head when Kaoru told him it was okay to leave him there. Did he really think he was going to leave him alone again? Sure they were at the main house, more security… but… hell no! People could come to him. He’d stand in the hall and talk to people. And it wasn’t because he thought Kaoru would hurt himself… Daichi shook his head, but gestured to the bed. “If you want to lie down, go ahead. But I’m not leaving.” He said softly, standing to pull the sheets out for Kaoru. “The doctor prescribed rest anyways… Are you in pain? I can have some pain medication and a glass of water sent up…” he gestured for Kaoru to get into the bed. If Kaoru could sleep, Daichi could make a few calls and talk to his mother out in the hall privately. Not that he wanted to keep anything from Kaoru… but there was no need to worry the male over things he had no control over.

Rui cleared his schedule for the day and headed to the main house. He could only imagine the state in which Kaoru was in currently… just when they were making progress… he hoped he could talk to Kaoru tonight… hopefully help calm the boy so he could sleep well under the main house roof.

Daichi ran his fingers through the short hairs on Kaoru’s neck and gave him a small nod. “Ya, we’re both to blame.” He agreed. Miscommunication was a two-way street. He was sure Rui would be so smug right now if he was here. Daichi frowned softly when Kaoru said he was used to the pain. But he could see how tired Kaoru was, and he didn’t want to keep him awake unnecessarily… when he woke up, Daichi would give him some pain medication. He tucked the blankets around Kaoru, then sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Kaoru to fall sleep. He smiled gently and nodded at the mention of the cake, “Sure, Kaoru.” He said softly. He smiled to himself, reaching up to pet Kaoru’s head as sleep over took the boy. Daichi made sure Hana was tucked in comfortably too before his mother came up to check on them.

Daichi looked at Kaoru once more before he rose up and headed out to the hallway. He stepped outside, slightly closing the door before he turned to his mother, who in turn hugged him. Daichi accepted the hug fully, needing some comfort after all that had happened. He held his mother for a moment longer before he let the hug break. Daichi nodded and looked back at Kaoru through the crack in the door. “When I learned of what she had done to him, I was furious… but I never thought she’d go after him after the wedding.” He said, balling his fists. “She needs to be found, mother. And ended.” He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t wake Kaoru, but his anger was strong. He clenched his jaw and looked back at his mother. “I don’t think I should be around when we find her…” There was an angry intent in his eyes. He would kill her if she attempted to get close to Kaoru again. No doubt. “If she lives, I want her life ruined. Completely.”

He sighed softly, forcing himself to relax and calm down. There was no point of getting upset when there was nothing he could do right now. He needed to handle a few things while Kaoru slept. “Think Brother could send someone from the main branch to handle the company for a while. I don’t want to return to work with all of this on my mind… and I have some vacation saved up…” he pinched the bridge of his nose. This would be the first time he ever took more than a few days off work. But it was for Kaoru, and therefore worth it. “I also need to call my apartment and cancel my rents.” He sighed softly again. “In the heat of the moment, I ended up buying the place across from me, in case Kaoru needed his own space.” He looked back into the room at Kaoru and crossed his arms again. “Can you watch him while I make a few phone calls?” he asked, hating to ask his mother to take time out of her day to just sit in a room with a sleeping man. But if he felt Kaoru was safe with anyone, it was his mother.

With Kaoru properly guarded, Daichi returned to his car to grab his laptop and blue tooth. He decided to make the calls outside, instead of inside where it was crowded and quiet. He called his company, his friend that worked there and explained there was a break in at his house and he had to deal with a few things, so he’d be gone for a while longer. He asked for progress reports and updates be sent to him every evening, so he could monitor things from home. He called the apartment complex and cancelled his leases. He’d have a week to move all his things out. He called a moving company to move their things into a storage unit for now. The piano would be delivered to the main house for storage by the end of the week. He was finishing up his calls when he saw Rui driving up the drive way. He waved at the male as he finished his call and as Rui parked. Slipping the Bluetooth and his phone into his pocket, he walked over and shook Rui’s hand. “Sorry to keep calling you for house visits…But thank you for coming.” he said softly.

Daichi smiled softly, nodding his confirmation that family came first. Rui was family, had always been family to Daichi. “He’s in my room sleeping with my mother watching. The doctor has already checked him out. He had some bruising but nothing’s broken, no internal bleeding…” he looked up at the house while he spoke, but turned back to Rui when he asked to speak with him. He looked at Rui and his anger flared at the question. He opened his mouth to defend himself but Rui continued. “He won’t need my protection if she’s gone. Mother with manage her connections and she’d be out of the picture.” He interjected. He frowned, crossing his arms across his chest. He wanted to say something along the lines of ‘With your therapy, he should be able to adapt to living on his own.’ But he knew going out and hunting that vile woman down wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Even if he managed to get away with it, Kaoru would probably be upset.

Daichi rose an eyebrow at the mention of teaching Kaoru martial arts. “That’s a terrible idea…” he blurted out. “The me being the teacher part… I’ve barely gotten Kaoru to understand that I would never do him any harm, that I would never lift a finger against him.” He huffed, slightly frustrated. “Surely, He can’t then the different between sparing and actually fighting… He’s going to think I’m yelling at him every time he misses up… There’s a reason the head master keeps me away from teaching the children.” He said, throwing his hand up in weakly in outrage before he tucked them into his pockets. “I guess, we could try forms… but Rui, I’m going to scare him.” He sighed, glancing down, looking tired and defeated.

Yui looked up from her book when Kaoru shot up from his bed. “It’s okay honey. You’re safe.” She said, quickly bookmarking her page. She set the book down and got up out of her chair. She walked over to the edge of the bed and sat, reaching over for the bottle of pain medication. She opened the bottle and dropped two pills into her hand, then set the closed bottle back on the table. She grabbed the water and held them out for Kaoru. “He’s outside, making a few phone calls. He didn’t want you to be alone, so he asked me to watch over you.” She answered. “Here, take these. It’ll help with the pain.” She said, not giving Kaoru room to deny he was in pain. “He’ll be right back, dear. So just rest. Are you hungry?” She asked, taking the glass from Kaoru after he took his medication. She set the glass back down on the bedside table. “I could have my chefs send something up for you and Daichi? Soup, sandwiches? Maybe something more substantial?” she asked softly, acting very motherly. You fed your babies when they weren’t feeling good, or you bought them things, or you babied them in other ways…

Daichi glared at Rui. “Martial arts is loud art form. I wouldn’t be yelling at him, but I would…” he frowned deeper. Rui didn’t understand. Daichi looked down, thinking, when Rui mentioned having the grand master teach him. “That might work… if Kaoru wasn’t too uncomfortable…” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t exactly spare with his hand like it was anyways… so they have to start off with general forms and basics. He sighed again and nodded. “I’ll see if he’d be interested.” He gave in, too tired to fight another battle. He looked up when Rui took a step closer. He ran his hair through his hair again as Rui spoke. The anger and the coldness was his wall… it preventing him from getting hurt. Pulling that wall down was a terrifying thought. But Daichi nodded. “I’ll try… I am trying… with Kaoru…” he pulled his arms around himself again, crosses them in front of him. He tried to look casual, but it probably looked like Daichi was trying to keep himself together. “I get annoyed with him… when he tries to follow his training… I know he doesn’t know better… but it makes me not want to touch him when he starts…” he shook his head and looked up at the house. “He knows it bothers me… but he can’t help it… he doesn’t know how else to act… How do I deal with that?” he looked to Rui for answers.

Yui noticed the flinching, and the tension in Kaoru’s shoulders. But she kept her movements slow, and nonthreatening as she could. She titled her head, waiting for answer. She smiled at him gently, trying to coax an answer out of him. But it was her turn to give Kaoru a look of confusion. “Why would I be angry with you Kaoru?” she asked softly. She frowned sadly and carefully moved her hand to grasp one of Kaoru’s “Oh honey. None of that was your fault. Your mother is the one who put my family in danger… and that includes you. She hurt my son in law…” she forced herself not to show her anger for the woman in front of her son. Yui felt her heart break for Kaoru, listening to him sound so lost and scared. His home life had been so strict… he had been forced to fill a mold and now that the mold was gone, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be. “Maybe I can help with that…” she said in a soft, friendly voice. “House room number one: Always remove your shoes at the door.” she said with a smile. She knew these weren’t the kind of rules Kaoru were talking about. But maybe having some kind of house structure would help Kaoru relax so he could focus on the more important things. “House rule under two: You have to spend at least four hours outside daily. I don’t care what you do, play in the yard, go to a friend’s house, work in the garden… whatever you want, but it has to be outside of this house.” She was actually reciting the rules she had given her boys during their summer breaks. “Rule 3: chores must be done before leisure time.” She started to count on her fingers as she continued. The rest of the rules were pretty standard for boys during summer vacation. Make your bed, brush your teeth, in bed before 10pm, Only a few hours of TV or video games, family dinner at 6pm, Saturday breakfasts at 9am… things like that. Once she finished with her list, she gave Kaoru a smile. “And the last rule: don’t be afraid to voice your opinion… you won’t get in trouble for it.” she tilted her head slightly, trying to look Kaoru in the eye. “And when it comes to Daichi, he hates the whole ‘wife’ thing… has for years… so if something in your ‘training’ tells you to do something, stop and ask yourself, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ … If the answer is now, then don’t do it, or tell Daichi you don’t want to do it… and if the answer is yes, do it, Tell Daichi you want to do it…” she kept her smile friendly. “The two of you will figure it out. I can already tell my boy loves you… it just takes him a while to admit things like that out loud.”

Ask him? At this point, everything Kaoru did was under questioning… The only thing he knew for sure was that Kaoru liked to hold his hand in public… because he had asked. Daichi sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. He really needed a shower. And sleeping for a week sounded great. He nodded at Rui… baby steps… focus on the small victories… hopefully that would make things better because right now, Daichi felt like he was the end of a rope, hanging thirty feet in the air. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Forcing his shoulders back, he stood to his full height. “Let’s go inside… I want to relieve my mother from guard duty.” He said softly. He walked with Rui up to the main doors. Once inside, he quickly shut the door, locking it, before he started to head up to his old room. “When do you think we should suggest to Kaoru about training with me at the dojo?” he asked as they walked up the stairs. “I guess there’s no reason we couldn’t start here… I think my old training room is still intact. Unless mother turned it into one of her events rooms.” He said softly as they approached his room.

Yui watched at Kaoru studied her, could practically see the gears in his head turn as he tried to memorize the rules. She smiled and nodded when Kaoru spoke. “Well, I’d hope so. He is my baby boy.” She smiled endearingly. Yui’s smile fell softly when Kaoru tried to deny her ‘love’ statement. He really didn’t know…poor boy. But she smiled at the boy, who started blushing when he stated his feelings out loud. “I know so Kaoru. My boy doesn’t get worked up over just anyone. The last partner he was with…” she shook her head. “Poor lad had some drama happen, nothing like yours, but still drama… My boy just ghosted him… I don’t even think Daichi realized he was doing in until his partner broke things off… Daichi is a bit thick headed when it comes to relationships… but he has tell signs…” She rose her hand again to count of her fingers when she spoke. “He gets upset over things dealing with you, like visibly upset… He takes time off work or changes his schedule to be with you. I have never seen him do that with anyone… and he’s overly protective of you. He wouldn’t even let one of the servants watch you. He instead requested I stay in his stead…” she smiled and put her hands in her lap. “Be patient with him, but eventually he’ll say it…” she said knowingly. “He loves you… and I can’t say what is wrong with your mother but… just because she doesn’t love you doesn’t mean you are unlovable…”

The door opened slowly and Yui turned to smile at Daichi and Rui. “Perfect timing.” She rose up to greet Rui. “Thank you for coming Rui.” She hugged the male. “Okay, I’ll leave the three of you to talk. I’m going to go down to the kitchen and have a late lunch prepared for anyone’s whose hungry.” She said with a smile. She gave Daichi’s arm a squeeze before she left. Daichi smiled at his mother, gently saying his thanks as she left before he went to Kaoru’s bedside. His mother’s head popped back into the room before he spoke though. “Oh, Daichi-dear, You remember the summer house rules?” she asked, then continued before Daichi could speak. “They go into effect tomorrow.” She was gone before Daichi could complain. “Seriously… the summer house rules…” he groaned, but he was smiling softly. He turned to Kaoru with that same smile. “How are you feeling? Hopefully my mother didn’t bore you to death.”

Daichi just chuckled a bit about the rules. “It’s alright. She usually starts up some kind of rules when I come home for more than a day.” he said with a shook of his head. “It’s not because of you, though she did probably feel like the summer rules give you a bit more structure.” He shrugged. He was glad Kaoru wasn’t feeling pain. He’d have to thank his mother later for the proactive action. “I’ll be fine. Really…” he gave Kaoru a comforting smile. Daichi looked down at the pup and smirked before he pulled his hand up to start playing softly with the pup.

He chuckled at Hana’s reaction to the rope toy, but quickly grabbed an end and began to hold it in place, leading Hana pull against him. Daichi had been staring at Hana, pulling the toy back and forth as Hana tried to take it from him. So when Kaoru spoke he had to look up. “Ya, I got everything handled… for now. There will be some more stuff I’ll have to do tomorrow and later in the week, but for now, it’s all handled.” He said, but paused when Kaoru showed concern for him. His eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head in question. “Worried about me? Why?” he asked confused. He glanced at Rui then back at Kaoru, lost. “I’m fine…”he tilted his head a bit. Maybe something was wrong and he hadn’t noticed? … was he that tired. “…Just a bit tired, I guess…”

((sorry, short!))